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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 165
1 - 7 November 2003


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: Another delegate dies mysteriously in Nairobi
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Troops not involved in shooting incident, says Addis Ababa
ETHIOPIA: Defence trial of ex-president begins
ETHIOPIA: Use cash, rather than food aid, to avert famine - NGO
ETHIOPIA: Visiting USAID head urges "substantial" reform
ETHIOPIA: The Netherlands to aid education
ERITREA: Humanitarian situation still serious, says top UN official
SUDAN: Gov't, Darfur rebels extend ceasefire for one month
SUDAN: Religious leaders' efforts to promote peace

SOMALIA: Another delegate dies mysteriously in Nairobi

A delegate attending the ongoing Somali peace talks in Kenya has died,
just two weeks after the mysterious murder in Nairobi of a senior member
of Somalia's Transitional National Government.

Ahmad Rashid Muhammad, a Somali with Canadian citizenship, reportedly
collapsed and died early on Thursday morning at the Kenya College of
Communication Technology (KCCT), Mbagathi, the venue of the talks.

A statement from the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD),
the facilitator of the talks, said the cause of the delegate's death was
still unclear, and police were investigating "this unfortunate incident".
[Full story: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37681]

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Troops not involved in shooting incident, says Addis
Ababa

On Tuesday, the UN said it was investigating an alleged clash between
armed Ethiopians and Eritrean militia along their contested border. One
Eritrean militiaman was killed in the skirmish, which took place on 1
November, according to claims being looked into by the UN peacekeeping
mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).

Maj-Gen Robert Gordon, the commander of the force, said they had "forensic
evidence that a firing incident did take place" in the demilitarised
Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) that separates both countries. "UNMEE deeply
deplores any such activity in the TSZ which has the potential of
destabilizing the peace process," the force commander added.

Tensions have been increasing between Ethiopia and Eritrea over the
disputed 1,000-kilometre frontier that separates them and which sparked a
bitter two-year war. Both countries have warned of a risk of renewed
conflict over the dispute. [Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37640]

The Ethiopian government, on Wednesday said its troops were not involved
in a "shooting incident" on its border with Eritrea. In a two-page
statement released by the Ministry of Information to journalists late on
Wednesday, the government said its troops were not involved in any border
attacks. "Ethiopia has not deployed a single soldier in Eritrea and has no
intention of doing so in the future," the statement said. "Ethiopia firmly
remains loyal to the peaceful settlement of the case and never resorts to
any violent means," it added.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37678]

Both countries, however, subsequently said they would cooperate to avoid a
recurrence of last weekend's shooting incident in the border area. The
assurance was given at a meeting of the Military Coordination Commission
(MCC) in Nairobi on Wednesday.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37677]


ETHIOPIA: Defence trial of ex-president begins

The defence trial of ousted Ethiopian ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam, who is
facing genocide charges, began on Tuesday, almost a decade after the
original hearing began. The former president, who fled to Zimbabwe after
his overthrow in 1991, is being tried with dozens of top officials accused
of crimes against humanity during his 17-year rule.

Some 37 senior officials appeared in court on Tuesday to answer 206
charges that they were responsible for the infamous red terror campaign
unleashed in the 1970s.

Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Fikre Selassie Wogderesse made an
impassioned appeal on behalf of his fellow defendants for financial
support to conduct their defence. He told three judges presiding over the
case that the defendants were "penniless" while the Ethiopian government
had received financial support to fund the trials.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37617]


ETHIOPIA: Use cash, rather than food aid, to avert famine - NGO

Cash should be used to replace food aid to help protect impoverished
families from droughts and famine, Save the Children UK said on Tuesday.

John Graham, who heads the UK charity in Ethiopia, told IRIN that if food
was available in local markets then cash was a better alternative. His
call came as the charity launched a US $1 million cash-for-work scheme
funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

"There are two very positive aspects to this programme," Graham said at
the launch of the scheme as he welcomed the move by USAID, who have faced
criticism for relying on US imported food aid. "The first is the use of
cash instead of food, which we feel will stimulate the local economy," he
said. "The other major advantage is the provision of the full nutritional
requirements of the beneficiaries."

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37619]


ETHIOPIA: Visiting USAID head urges "substantial" reform

Ethiopia must privatise its land to help fight future famines, Andrew
Natsios, the head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID),
said on 1 November. He urged the government to engage in "substantial,
widespread, in-depth economic reform" as a means of helping to avert
recurrent food crises in the country.

"There will come a time when no amount of food aid will be able to deal
with the crises unless Ethiopia grows economically," Natsios told a press
conference during a three-day visit to Ethiopia, whose greatest single
donor is the United States. Over the past year, the US had shipped in 1
million mt of food worth US $525 million, representing about 60 percent of
Ethiopia's food aid, he said.

Natsios went on to say that the country also needed to ensure that
opposition political parties were allowed to compete "on a level playing
field" and that no constraints were applied to the media. "We urge the
country to move towards a more pluralistic democracy," he stressed.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37593]


ETHIOPIA: The Netherlands to aid education

Six million schoolbooks are to be printed and distributed to children
throughout Ethiopia, the Dutch government announced on Wednesday.

Mieke Vogels, an education expert with the Netherlands embassy, told IRIN
that a massive shortfall of textbooks was hampering teaching efforts
across the country. "The quality of education is being negatively
influenced by the fact that lots of children have to share textbooks," she
said after her government announced a grant of US $3 million to fund the
printing and distribution of the textbooks.

Ethiopia has one of the poorest levels of education in the world, with
about half the population receiving no teaching at all. However, under the
government's current $100 million Education Sector Development Programme
(ESDP), the number of children attending schools has increased
dramatically. [Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37648]

ERITREA: Humanitarian situation still serious, says top UN official

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Eritrea has said the situation in the
country has improved slightly, but there is still major cause for concern.
Simon Nhongo noted that donor response to appeals for humanitarian
assistance was initially very slow, but picked up in the latter half of
the year. From a 20 percent response in February, the level had now
reached about 62 percent for food and non-food aid. "We are very thankful
to the donors, although we would of course like to do better," he told
IRIN on Wednesday.

In a normal year, Eritrea usually produces 450,000 mt of cereals. Last
year only 54,000 mt were produced, and the forecast for this year is
around 210,000 mt - still way below the potential production. Total
requirements are around 600,000 mt per year.

Nhongo blamed the shortfall on inadequate rains earlier in the year, and
poor distribution of the late rains. The situation was further exacerbated
by the ongoing drought - which has had a devastating effect on the country
- and the lingering fallout of the 1998-2000 war with Ethiopia.

Some 60,000 people, out of an initial displaced population of 1.1 million,
are still in camps for the war displaced.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37647]


SUDAN: Gov't, Darfur rebels extend ceasefire for one month

The government of Sudan and the rebel group operating in Darfur, the Sudan
Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), extended a ceasefire agreement for one
month on Tuesday in the Chadian town of Abeche.

The SLM/A spokesman, Ahmad Abd al-Shafi, told IRIN that although the
agreement had been renewed, key issues still had not been resolved.
Nevertheless, a committee comprising representatives from the Chadian
government - which is mediating peace talks between the two sides - the
Sudanese government and the SLM/A would continue to meet, he said.

A ceasefire agreement between the two sides expired on 18 October. Abd
al-Shafi said the SLM/A group had a number of demands which were not being
addressed by the government.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37662]


SUDAN: Religious leaders' efforts to promote peace

The government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army
(SPLM/A) have hailed recent efforts by Muslim and Christian leaders to
promote peace and dialogue as part of efforts to end their country's
20-year civil war.

The Sudanese deputy ambassador to Kenya, Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, on
Tuesday said any initiative by religious leaders to ease the tensions
between Muslims and Christians was welcome. "We welcome all religious
dialogue between Christians and Muslims. Religious leaders always have a
very important role in societies such as ours," he said. "They should
assist to ease the tensions and send a message of tolerance to their
communities. The idea we have as a negotiating party is also to sensitise
civil society and other groups," he added.

He was commenting on recent remarks by the general secretary of the All
Africa Conference of Churches, the Rev Mvume Dandala, challenging Sudanese
church leaders to gear themselves up for the task of "profiling and
marketing peace" in their country. Earlier this week, a leading Sudanese
Islamic leader, Hasan Abdullah al-Turabi, also called for the enhancement
of inter-religious dialogue in Sudan.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37676].


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