U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 168
22 - 28 November 2003


CONTENTS:

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Asmara denies troops moved towards border
ERITREA: UN, gov't urge help for nearly 2 million people
ERITREA: Repatriation possible as thousands of refugees registered
ETHIOPIA: MSF warns of increasing death rates in resettlement camps
ETHIOPIA: WFP appeals for food for refugees
SUDAN: Heavy fighting reported in west Darfur
SUDAN: "Marginalised majority" to reject bilateral deal, say Darfur rebels
SUDAN: Oil companies complicit in massive displacement, says rights group
SOMALIA: UN warns of humanitarian disaster in Sool Plateau
SOMALIA: Massive displacement in central region

ALSO SEE:

ETHIOPIA: Interview with UNAIDS head Bunmi Makinwa at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38142


ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Asmara denies troops moved towards border

The UN on Thursday said Eritrean troops had been moved to the western
border region with Ethiopia, outside the demilitarised Temporary Security
Zone, which separates the two countries. Gail Bindley Taylor Sainte,
spokeswoman for the UN Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia (UNMEE), however
said they were "not concerned at this time" by the alleged troop movement.

"UNMEE has been given the explanation that the extra EDF [Eritrean Defence
Forces] troops are there for harvesting, agricultural and construction
purposes," she told a weekly press briefing linking Asmara and Addis
Ababa.

However, the Eritrean government denied that troops had been moved to the
area. "We are concentrating all our efforts on national development,"
acting Information Minister Ali Abdu Ahmed told IRIN. He stressed that
preparations underway for regional elections were one of the government's
top priorities. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38119]

ERITREA: UN, gov't urge help for nearly 2 million people

The Eritrean government and the UN on Friday appealed for over US $145
million to help nearly 2 million needy people in the country next year.
The 2004 humanitarian plea, known as the Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal,
asked for US 147.2 million in food and non-food assistance to assist over
1.7 million Eritreans from displaced, returnee and vulnerable communities
affected by war and drought.

Speaking at the launch in the capital, Asmara, UN Resident and
Humanitarian Coordinator Simon Nhongo said despite earlier optimism that
the rains would yield a higher cereal output, this year's rainy seasons
were "inadequate and unevenly distributed".

"So the need for humanitarian assistance in 2004 will be about the same as
2003,” he said, according to a press release from the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38141]

ERITREA: Repatriation possible as thousands of refugees registered

 The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the Eritrean government are carrying
out their first-ever joint registration of around 4,000 refugees, some of
whom have been in the country for up to 10 years. UNHCR spokeswoman Wendy
Rappeport told IRIN they had been discussing the joint registration for
some time and it was now the "opportune time" to do it.

"This is part of our mandate, to better tailor needs and create durable
solutions," she said on Monday. She added that the exercise was
effectively a re-registration, as refugees were registered when they first
arrived in the country but since then families had grown and circumstances
had changed.

The first exercise was carried out on 21 November by staff from Eritrea's
Office of Refugee Affairs and UNHCR at Emkulu camp near the coastal city
of Massawa. The camp hosts an estimated 3,315 Somali refugees - a figure
which will be verified by the registration. After Emkulu, registration
will continue in western Eritrea's Elit camp for Sudanese refugees, and
for urban refugees in the capital, Asmara. The entire exercise is expected
to be completed by the end of 2003. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38045]

ETHIOPIA: MSF warns of increasing death rates in resettlement camps

Death rates among children at resettlement camps in northwestern Ethiopia
have reached “catastrophic” levels, the NGO Médecins Sans
Frontières-Holland (MSF) warned on Thursday. It said 32 children – all
under five years old - had died at one resettlement camp in Amhara region.

The warning comes just days after the Ethiopian government took
international donors on a three-day helicopter tour of some resettlement
sites in three regions of the country. According to government-controlled
media, ambassadors and representatives of international organisations
described the resettlement programme as “encouraging”.

The government has launched a massive resettlement plan – under which some
two million people will move in three years – and appealed for US $217
million to fund the scheme. Resettlement is a central plank of the
government’s fight to address the increasing dependence on international
food aid to help feed the spiralling 70 million population. But MSF warned
that despite preparations by local authorities, the health situation at
two sites where they work has worsened – fuelling high mortality and
malnutrition rates. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38112]

ETHIOPIA: WFP appeals for food for refugees

Tens of thousands of refugees in Ethiopia face severe food shortages early
next year, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday. It has
appealed for $5.3 million to help feed 123,000 refugees - mainly from
war-ravaged Sudan and Somalia.

Wagdi Othman, spokesman for WFP, said that the lack of food could hamper
efforts to help Somali refugees return home. In 2002, over 29,000 Somalis
went home, allowing two of the five remaining Somali refugee camps to be
closed.

"WFP will face a food pipeline break early in 2004 unless contributions
are provided immediately," Othman said. "Despite progress towards peace in
Sudan, refugees are not expected to return home in 2004, and will continue
to rely on the international community's assistance," he added. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38075]

SUDAN: Heavy fighting reported in west Darfur

Since 23 November, 210 people have been killed in fighting between
militias and a rebel group on the outskirts of Junaynah, western Darfur,
according to a local rebel group. Armed Arab militias had burned down
three villages in the area, killing 24 people, injuring 18, and looting
everything in sight, Abu Bakr Hamid al-Nur, spokesman for the Justice and
Equality Movement (JEM), told IRIN. The rebel group and local civilians
retalitated by killing 186 members of the militias, he said.

Without any international monitors in the region, there is no independent
confirmation of the figures.

Many of the Arab militia members came from neighbouring Chad, al-Nur told
IRIN. "The Sudanese government gives them money and weapons and support
from its soldiers," he claimed. On Thursday Amnesty International said
there was "compelling evidence" that at least some elements of the
Sudanese army were supporting the militias. The government has
consistently denied the allegations. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38140]

SUDAN: "Marginalised majority" to reject bilateral deal, say Darfur rebels

The "marginalised majority" in Sudan, including rebel groups fighting
against the government in the country's only remaining battlefield,
Darfur, will not accept a bilateral peace agreement between the government
and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), according to a
Darfur rebel group.

"A deal between the SPLM/A and the government will not bring peace to
Sudan," Dr Khalil Ibrahim, the exiled chairman of the JEM, told IRIN from
France. "This agreement is not fair for the other regions. The SPLM does
not represent the other regions, only the south. After a peace agreement
between the SPLM and the government there will be heavy fighting," said
Ibrahim. "It will be a period of dictatorship sponsored by the
international community."

Various groups would try to topple the Sudanese government, led by
President Umar al-Bashir, which would be unable to hold on to its limited
power-base for much longer, he added. "The north is not just one entity;
it is made up of five separate regions. Since 1956, we have been ruled by
elites from the northern region, but we are the majority. The population
of Darfur and Kordofan account for over 50 percent of the total
population," he said. "Power will be taken over by the marginalised
majority." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38100]

SUDAN: Oil companies complicit in massive displacement, says rights group

International oil companies in Sudan share full responsibility with the
Sudanese government for the displacement of hundreds of thousands of
civilians from oil concession areas, as well as countless other human
rights abuses, according to the advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Oil company executives had "turned a blind eye" to well-reported
government attacks on civilians and civilian targets, including aerial
bombings of hospitals, churches, relief operations and schools, it said in
a new report entitled "Sudan, Oil and Human Rights".

But the international oil companies have repeatedly denied any complicity.
Canadian Talisman repeatedly claimed it was a force for good in the region
by providing "development" opportunities for local Sudanese, and adopting
a set of "Sudan Operating Principles" which promoted human rights
protection, HRW said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38074]

SOMALIA: UN warns of humanitarian disaster in Sool Plateau

The WFP has appealed for funds to avert a humanitarian disaster in
northern Somalia's Sool Plateau. In a press release on Tuesday, the WFP
representative for Somalia, Robert Hauser, noted that the area had been
devoid of rain for a long time and groundwater reserves were drying up.
WFP was expanding its operations to respond to "the worst drought to hit
the region since 1981".

"We need to intervene immediately to prevent widescale malnutrition and
stave off a humanitarian disaster," Hauser warned. Some 60,000 vulnerable
people are facing severe food shortages in the region. WFP noted that the
Sool Plateau - covering parts of Sool and Sanaag districts in Somaliland,
as well as parts of Bari district in Puntland - had suffered three
consecutive years of drought.

"WFP urgently needs more funds if we're to continue our planned assistance
over the next five months," Hauser said. "We need some US $6.5 million to
buy about 8,600 tonnes of food aid."

SOMALIA: Massive displacement in central region

Hundreds of families who were driven out of their homes by recent fighting
in the Galgudud Region, central Somalia, are said to be living in
"destitute" conditions. Local elders told IRIN the exodus was due to heavy
fighting two weeks ago between the Darod subclan of the Marehan and the
Dir subclan of Fiqi Mahmud. The clashes were concentrated in and around
the village of Herale, some 80 km northwest of Dhusa-Marreb, the regional
capital.

Many of these 2,000 or so families were now living in the open, with
little or no food, Abdiqani Shaykh Yusuf, a Dir elder said. "Many of them
have lost all their livestock and now depend on the goodwill of the people
of Dhusa-Marreb."

The plight of the displaced is compounded by the prevailing drought in the
area. "There have been no rains this year in Dhusa-Marreb and the
surrounding areas," Yusuf Hasan Iyow, the governor of Galgudud, told IRIN
on Monday. He said there was no aid agencies in the area helping either
the displaced or the residents affected by the drought. Moreover, due to
their weakened state, many of the displaced, particularly the young and
elderly, were succumbing to disease, Abdirahman Ali, a health worker in
Dhusa-Marreb, told IRIN. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=38051]


IRIN-CEA
Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
Email: IRIN@ocha.unon.org

[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or to
change your keywords, contact e-mail: IRIN@ocha.unon.org or Web:  
http://www.irinnews.org . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this
item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003


distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
    Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Horn of Africa                   www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/hafrica