U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 158
13 - 19 September 2003


CONTENTS:

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Children killed in explosion
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: UNMEE Mandate extended
ERITREA: Rights groups call for release of political prisoners
ETHIOPIA: Food aid needed to save lives, says WPF deputy director
ETHIOPIA: Opposition umbrella launched
DJIBOUTI: Thousands leave as deadline passes
SOMALIA: Somaliland ministers hold discussions with donors
SOMALIA: Support peace pact, committee urges Somalis
SOMALIA: Peace talks in jeopardy following announcement of breakthrough
SUDAN: UN plans for post-conflict era
SUDAN: It's now or never for peace deal, says think tank
SUDAN: Armed attacks reported in Darfur despite ceasefire


ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Children killed in explosion

Two children have been killed while playing with an unexploded
rocket-propelled grenade, the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and
Eritrea (UNMEE) said on Thursday. The blast occurred on 13 September, but
has only just come to light. It took place inside the 25-kilometre wide
Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) between Ethiopia and Eritrea, near the town
of Tserona in the central border region. Phil Lewis, who heads the
peacekeeper's Mine Action Coordination Centre (MACC), said the youngsters
had entered an unmarked minefield where they found the grenade. "The two
children had gone into a minefield and picked up a rocket-propelled
grenade, an unexploded piece of ordinance, and were playing with it when
it went off and killed them both instantly," Lewis told journalists.
De-miners are working in the area, but the region is one of the most
heavily mined in the world: there are an estimated 600 square kilometres
of mined areas in the TSZ alone. "And it is impossible to mark and fence
them all," Lewis said before adding that MACC was constantly marking out
new mined areas as warnings for local communities. The two children are
believed to be nomadic Afar pastoralists who had travelled with their
families from the Red Sea to the area in search of pasture for their
animals. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36679]

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: UNMEE Mandate extended

Extending the mandate of the 4,200-strong UNMEE peacekeeping force for six
months, the UN Security Council warned that it was vital for demarcation
of the contested Ethiopia-Eritrea border to get underway as scheduled in
October. The council called on both countries to "assume their
responsibilities" under the peace deal agreed at the end of their bitter
war. It also urged the two countries to cooperate "fully and promptly"
with the boundary commission and ensure security of personnel carrying out
the demarcation. Demarcation has been delayed twice but diplomats told
IRIN they were optimistic that the process could start in the
uncontroversial eastern sector. Ethiopia is opposing key sections of the
April 2002 boundary ruling that relate to the western and central sector
of the border and which place areas such as the symbolic village of Badme
and parts of Irob in Eritrea. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36584]

ERITREA: Rights groups call for release of political prisoners

Two international human rights organizations called on the Eritrean
government on Wednesday to release all political prisoners, almost two
years to the day after a crackdown against dissidents and journalists in
the African nation. A group of 11 prominent dissidents, who had publicly
criticised President Isayas Afewerki and questioned the development of
democracy in the country, were detained in 18 September 2001. They
included the former number two [de facto vice-president], Mahmoud Sherifo,
and former foreign minister Petros Solomon. A wave of arrests of
independent journalists followed, along with the closure of all private
newspapers in the country. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), "in the
two years since, the government has arrested scores more, either because
of their ties to the dissidents or their perceived political views".
Amnesty International said the Eritrean government had refused to say
where the detainees were being held and appealed to the government to
allow their families to see them. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36656]

ETHIOPIA: Food aid needed to save lives, says WPF deputy director

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) rebuffed criticism on
Wednesday that food aid was failing to help solve the recurrent crises in
Ethiopia. Jean-Jacques Graisse, deputy director of WFP, dismissed claims
that sizeable food aid shipments to Ethiopia came at the expense of other
key areas like health. Speaking at the end of a four-day visit, Graisse
defended his organisation's approach to averting widespread hunger. "We
are definitely part of the solution because when the situation reaches
such critical proportions there is no other way but to save people," he
told journalists. "There is no other way than to pour food into this
country. We will continue to feed them as much as we can." International
famine experts sponsored by the US Agency for International Development
(USAID) had stated that food aid had failed to avert the continuing crisis
engulfing the impoverished African country. A team from Feinstein
International Famine Centre at the US Tufts University said too much
emphasis has been placed on food "at the expense" of key areas like
health, agriculture and water, and that this had exacerbated the crisis.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36652]

ETHIOPIA: Opposition umbrella launched

The United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), the country's largest
opposition grouping, was officially launched in Ethiopia on Monday. The
new umbrella is made up of 15 groups which joined forces at a conference
in Maryland, United States, before launching the UEDF in Ethiopia. It
marked the launch by blaming the government for a famine affecting 13.2
million Ethiopians and expressing its opposition to an international
ruling on the demarcation of the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea. UEDF
head Beyene Petros said a lack of land reform and poor market reforms had
exacerbated drought and led to famine. "The famine that is raging in this
country cannot be directly equated to the drought," Petros said. "The
current government in power is responsible.  "We believe the farming
system and land ownership has to be addressed," added Beyene, a
53-year-old professor at Addis Ababa University. "Famine here is manmade
and is the result of distorted economic policies. We firmly believe we can
produce enough food for the country." His party feels more emphasis must
be placed on commercial farming, privatisation and implementing land
reform and ownership. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36614]

DJIBOUTI: Thousands leave as deadline passes

Thousands of illegal immigrants left Djibouti in the past few weeks, ahead
of the expiry on Monday of a deadline set by the country's government, a
local journalist told IRIN on Tuesday. In late July, Djibouti's Interior
Minister, Abdiqadir Du'ale Wa'ays, had warned illegal immigrants to leave
by the end of August or face expulsion. He later extended the deadline to
15 September. "Roughly 70,000 people, or about 80 percent of immigrants,
appear to have left the country," the journalist said. "Others who opted
to remain have been taken to the Aour Aousa camp to be registered.
Millicent Mutuli of UNHCR told IRIN that Aour Aousa - set up as a transit
centre for 3,000 asylum seeker - now houses 10,000 people. However, other
people were hiding in Djibouti city to avoid expulsion, according to
reports. "We have reports of refugees undertaking fake marriages, and
others buying fake IDs," the journalist told IRIN. A joint police and
military operation comprising 5,000 men on Tuesday netted 100 illegal
immigrants in the two districts of Ambouli and Gabode in Djibouti City, he
said.  [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36619]

SOMALIA: Somaliland ministers hold discussions with donors

Ministers from Somaliland have held unprecedented talks with international
donors and the United Nations. Foreign Minister Edna Adan Ismail described
the meeting, held on Wednesday, as a breakthrough for the self-declared
republic, which is seeking international recognition. "It gives us status
and it gives us political importance that we have never been accorded
before," she told IRIN at the end of the talks. Officials from Ethiopia
and Djibouti also attended the day-long talks, which focused primarily on
the 600,000 displaced people in Somaliland. Other participants included
the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF,
the World Bank and embassy officials from the US, Britain, Canada, the
Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Finland. The talks, held in Addis
Ababa, form part of preparations for a consolidated appeal by the United
Nations and NGOs for humanitarian assistance for Somalia. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36700]

SOMALIA: Support peace pact, committee urges Somalis

The Somali leaders Committee at peace talks currently underway in Kenya
have dismissed a recent statement by the president of the Transitional
National Government, (TNG) Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, rejecting the adoption
of the interim constitution. In press statement issued on 18 September,
the leaders said that Abdiqassim made the statement "in his personal
capacity and do not necessarily represent that of the Somali people since
his term of office has officially ended on 12 August, 2003". Abdiqassim,
along with a number of faction leaders, issued a statement on 16 September
saying that the peace conference had collapsed and that they were
withdrawing from it. "This is the end of this conference," Abdiqassim told
IRIN at the time in reference to the adoption by delegates of the Somali
National Charter [interim constitution], which will form the basis for the
transitional federal government in the next four years.  [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36677]

SOMALIA: Peace talks in jeopardy following announcement of breakthrough

Delegates at Somali peace talks taking place in Kenya adopted an interim
constitution on Monday in what has been termed "a major breakthrough".
However, some political groups have come out against the agreement.
According to a statement from the mediators, delegates attending the
conference "this [Monday] evening adopted a Transitional Federal Charter",
which will pave the way for the formation of a transitional parliament
that would last four years. The statement said its members would be
selected by Somali traditional leaders and politicians officially invited
to the talks in Kenya by an IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on
Development) Technical Committee that organised the meeting. However, the
agreement was rejected by the president of the Transitional National
Government (TNG), Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, who, along with a number of
faction leaders, had earlier walked out of the talks but returned to
Nairobi on 14 September to resume their participation in the discussions.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36621]

SUDAN: UN plans for post-conflict era

The UN has submitted a plan to the Sudanese government, the Sudan People's
Liberation Movement/Army rebel group and donors to spend over US $140
million on immediate assistance to the country in the event of a peace
deal. The quick-start programme, designed to support the Sudanese peace
process, envisages spending US $142,330,800 in a one-year programme. It
hopes to "demonstrate the positive impact of the peace process in key
conflict-affected geographical areas" by allowing the Sudanese to benefit
from "peace dividends". Once a deal had been signed, expectations among
Sudanese populations would be very high, said the UN. "It will be
necessary to provide recovery assistance that responds rapidly to the
legitimate expectations and demands of Sudanese populations who will be
eager to see rapid improvements." The money is to be divided among various
UN agencies, and spent across northern and southern Sudan in 37 separate
projects.  [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36658]

SUDAN: It's now or never for peace deal, says think tank

The past two weeks have seen the highest-level and most important meetings
between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation
Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in the last twenty years, yielding high hopes for a
peace deal, according to the think-tank, International Crisis Group. While
the process was now "delicately poised between success and failure" and
both sides needed to become more flexible, the key decisions-makers were
all present at the negotiating table, and good proposals were being put
forward, said John Prendergast, ICG Africa Programme Co-Director. "All of
the excuses for non-agreement have been stripped bare," he said, adding
that SPLM/A leader John Garang and Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman Taha
had already had 25 hours of unprecedented face-to-face discussions. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36628]

SUDAN: Armed attacks reported in Darfur despite ceasefire

The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) rebel group has accused the government of
Sudan and allied militia of repeatedly attacking civilians in Darfur,
northern Sudan, since the signing of a ceasefire agreement in neighbouring
Chad on 3 September. However, the Sudanese government has denied the
claim. "Since the ceasefire until yesterday, there have been almost
continuous attacks," Minni Minawi Arkou, Secretary-General of the SLA,
told IRIN. "Sometimes they attack with aircraft, sometimes with tanks,
sometimes with militia, sometimes they come together," he said. On Friday
two helicopter gunships attacked Khashaba, about 30km north of Kutum,
northern Darfur, he said. As people fled from fields to escape the
gunshots, militiamen arrived to steal their cattle. About 75 people were
killed in the incident, while over 40 had gone "missing" since the
attacks, he said. On Saturday a further 17 civilians were killed by
militiamen in Abu Leiha, about 100 km west of Kutum, said Minnawi. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36603]


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