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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 169
29 November - 5 December 2003


CONTENTS:

SUDAN: Rebel group sends first-ever delegation to Khartoum
SUDAN: Resumption of ceasefire unlikely, say Darfur rebels
SUDAN: Peace talks resume
SOMALIA: Money transfer companies form association
SOMALIA: Retreat must not be parallel conference, says SRRC
SOMALIA: UNICEF urges leaders to join fight against HIV/AIDS
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Four killed in mine accidents
DJIBOUTI: ADB loan for port project


ALSO SEE: 

ETHIOPIA: Feature - Tackling HIV/AIDS at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38161


SUDAN: Rebel group sends first-ever delegation to Khartoum

The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) has sent a high
profile "goodwill delegation" to meet government officials in Khartoum, as
peace talks shifted into final gear in the Kenyan town of Naivasha. SPLM/A
spokesman George Garang told IRIN on Friday that a delegation, comprising
senior members of the rebel movement, left Kenya on Thursday for Khartoum,
for the first time since the rebel movement was launched in 1983. The
delegation would pass through Uganda and Libya and was expected in
Khartoum on Friday. It would send a message to the Sudanese people that
the current momentum towards peace was "irreversible", Garang said. "This
is a very serious development," he stressed. "We have sent the delegation
to tell the people of Sudan that peace is inevitable. Some of us have been
away from Sudan for 23 years." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38249]

SUDAN: Peace talks resume

A crucial round of talks, between the Sudanese government and rebel Sudan
People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) resumed on Monday with both
sides reiterating their earlier commitment to reach a final agreement
before the end of the year. During the talks, being held in the Kenyan
town of Naivasha, the parties are expected to hammer out the final details
of a comprehensive peace agreement to end the country's 20-year civil war.
Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, Sudanese deputy ambassador to Kenya, told IRIN
from Naivasha that a target date of 20 December had already been set by
both parties and mediators to sign a draft accord. The first four days of
the talks would be dedicated to technical details, he said, after which
Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha and SPLM/A leader John
Garang were expected to arrive on 5 December to begin high level
negotiations. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38169]

SUDAN: Resumption of ceasefire unlikely, say Darfur rebels

The resumption of a ceasefire agreement between the Sudanese government
and Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) in Darfur, western Sudan, is
highly unlikely, according to the rebel group. "We have no interest in
going to peace talks. There will be nothing new, there will be continued
aggression from the government," SLM/A spokesman Ahmad Abd al-Shafi told
IRIN on Wednesday. The frequently violated agreement, which was brokered
by Chad on 3 September, was renewed on 4 November for one month. "This
ceasefire is a waste of time," said al-Shafi. "There is no ceasefire." He
added that the SLM had been requested to attend fresh peace talks by the
Chadian government, which has brokered the ceasefire deal to date. "Unless
we settle some points we cannot go to talks," he said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38203]

SOMALIA: Money transfer companies form association

Somali money transfer companies launched the Somali Financial Services
Association (SFSA) on Thursday at a two-day conference in London, attended
by representatives of remittance companies, financial regulators from
Britain, continental Europe and the United States. According to a UN
Development Programme (UNDP) press statement, the two-day conference was
an opportunity for both international regulators and the remittance
companies to discuss obstacles facing the sector.  The new body, which is
supported by UNDP, brings together 14 money transfer companies "and aims
to provide both advocacy and technical support to the industry while also
serving as a conduit between members and authorities in foreign countries
on issues such as legislation".  [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38245]

SOMALIA: Retreat must not be parallel conference, says SRRC

Members of the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC)
attending peace talks in Kenya have called on the conference organisers
not to allow a proposed retreat for Somali leaders to become a parallel
conference. Col Hasan Muhammad Nur Shatigadud, the current SRRC chairman,
told IRIN that the Council welcomed any effort to move the peace process
forward. "However we will not accept another conference," he said. "There
should be a time limit to it [the retreat], and the discussions should not
be used as a means of revisiting issues already settled." In a letter to
the conference chairman Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat of Kenya, on behalf of
the SRRC, Shatigadud said participation in the retreat should be limited
"to the 24 leaders who signed the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement [in
Eldoret in October 2002], plus [Transitional National Government
President] Abdiqassim Salad Hassan". [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38189]

SOMALIA: UNICEF urges leaders to join fight against HIV/AIDS

On the occasion of World AIDS Day, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has
appealed to Somali leaders to join the fight against the disease and
support the youth in tackling it, according to a press statement issued by
the agency on Monday. "Leaders must rise to this huge challenge and
mobilise the youth, not to fight political battles, but to spearhead the
fight for their own survival, and that of Somalia against AIDS," the
statement quoted Jesper Morch, the UNICEF representative for Somalia, as
saying. Unlike many of the surrounding countries, in Somalia the
prevalence of HIV/AIDS had remained relatively low, thereby providing a
setting in which an effective, comprehensive and nationwide prevention
programme - if put in place now - could achieve a reduction in the number
of future HIV infections, said the statement. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38162]

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Four killed in mine accidents

Four people have been killed in recent mine accidents in the
Eritrea-Ethiopia border region, the UN said on Thursday. Gail
Bindley-Taylor-Sainte, spokeswoman for the UN Mission in Eritrea and
Ethiopia (UNMEE), told a weekly press briefing that three Ethiopian
herdsmen were killed on the Ethiopian side of the Mereb River on 20
November. The incident, which was possibly caused by an old mine washed
down the river bank, had only just been reported to UNMEE, she said. In
the second incident, an Eritrean boy was killed near the town of Tserona
while playing with "old and unstable unexploded ordnance". [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38248]

DJIBOUTI: ADB loan for port project

The African Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of US $10 million
to finance a project to build a bulk terminal at the port of Djibouti.
This project involves the development, design, construction, ownership,
operation and maintenance of bulk terminal facilities for cereals and
fertilisers over an area covering 42,000 sq metres, the ADB said in a
statement. Upon completion, the project is expected to expedite food
delivery to Ethiopia by improving port turnaround time. "It adds value and
improves competitiveness of the service sector, the main economic sector,
which in turn contributes to improving living standards in the subregion.
It will create new business opportunities in servicing the port operations
and associated logistics," the statement said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38225]


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