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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 171
13 - 19 December 2003


CONTENTS:

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Boundary commission scaling down staff
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Sides pledge to maintain military stability
ETHIOPIA: New partnership aims to combat child mortality
ETHIOPIA: Africa-China cooperation boosted
ETHIOPIA: UN refugee agency evacuates staff from Gambella
SOMALIA: Over 60 killed as fighting resumes in central region
SOMALIA: Leaders' retreat again postponed
SUDAN: US protests against press closures
SUDAN: Opposition leaders warn against bilateral peace deal
SUDAN: Progress at peace talks




ALSO SEE: 

ETHIOPIA: Interview with Dr Pascal Villeneuve, UNICEF director of health
at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38510

ETHIOPIA: Interview with Chinese ambassador Ai Ping at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38415

SUDAN: Feature - Displacement in Darfur at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38412


ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Boundary commission scaling down staff

An independent boundary commission set up to rule on the frontier between
Ethiopia and Eritrea has begun scaling down staff, the UN said on
Thursday. Gail Bindley Taylor Sainte, spokeswoman for the UN Mission in
Eritrea and Ethiopia (UNMEE), told journalists the decision had been made
because of a “lull” in the peace process. Sainte, speaking at a
video-linked press briefing between Asmara and Addis Ababa, declined to
say how many staff were being “suspended” or when they would return. The
move comes amid the stalled physical construction of the 1,000 km border
between the two countries. A border skirmish in May 1998 sparked a bloody
two-year war, which was formally ended by a peace deal in December 2000.
The Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) was set up under the peace
accord to establish an internationally recognised frontier, but Ethiopia
has rejected the ruling as flawed. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38489]

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Sides pledge to maintain military stability

Armed forces' leaders from Ethiopia and Eritrea have committed themselves
to maintaining military stability between the two countries, the UN said
on Monday. The pledge came at the latest Military Coordination Commission
(MCC) meeting in Nairobi, Kenya - the only forum where the two sides hold
face-to-face talks, under UN auspices. In a statement, the UN Mission in
Eritrea and Ethiopia (UNMEE) also said the two countries were looking at
setting up three separate military bodies to resolve "incidents in the
border areas." Three Sector Military Coordination Committees (SMCCs) would
be established for the western, central and eastern border regions of the
1,000 km frontier. Both countries fought a bitter two-year border war
which claimed tens of thousands of lives, but they agreed to a full peace
deal in December 2000 after a six-month ceasefire. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38435]

ETHIOPIA: New partnership aims to combat child mortality

Almost half a million children in Ethiopia are dying each year from easily
preventable diseases, international health officials revealed on Tuesday.
Ethiopia has the sixth largest number of children dying annually – with
only India, Nigeria, China, Pakistan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo
faring worse. But a new global partnership is now aiming to slash that
“unacceptable” death rate by two thirds to meet the UN Millennium
Development Goals by 2015. Officials from the 'Child Survival Partnership'
said that improving nutrition for children under five was vital and should
be a key strategy if death rates were to be reduced. Joy Phumaphi,
Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organisation, said simple
treatment for diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia could save millions of
lives globally. Dr Anne Peterson, who heads the global health programme
with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said Ethiopia
stood at a crossroads. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38463]

ETHIOPIA: Africa-China cooperation boosted

A China-Africa summit ended in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on
Tuesday with promises of trade deals, debt reduction and increase in
political cooperation. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhoaxing told
journalists that a raft of proposals, including US $680 million in trade
agreements, had been agreed during the two-day conference. Africa is the
world’s poorest continent where 300 million people are living on the
poverty line. China – with a 1.3 billion population - has a per capita
income of US $940 a year. China is also planning to slash taxes on certain
goods from 34 of the world’s poorest African countries, officials said, as
part of a “zero tariff trade deal". China and Africa are aiming to treble
trade to US $30 billion within three years, the conference was told.
Political leaders and trade officials said the proposals were aimed at
overcoming "imbalances” with rich nations who “exploit and bully”
developing countries. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38462]

ETHIOPIA: UN refugee agency evacuates staff from Gambella

The UN refugee agency has evacuated its non-essential staff from western
Ethiopia after violence that left an estimated 30 people dead and dozens
injured. UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said the local hospital had been
“overwhelmed” after a weekend of fighting in Gambella, 800 km west of
Addis Ababa. A daylight 7am till 7pm curfew has also been imposed in the
ravaged town by the regional authorities, according to UN sources with
contacts in the town. A large military presence has restored calm but the
situation is still extremely tense. Fighting erupted on Saturday when
seven people were killed in a vehicle which came under machine gun fire as
they drove to a new site for a refugee camp which will house some 24,000
people. Four men were killed instantly, while the others – who were
government refugee workers - were chased into the bush before being shot,
Janowski said in a statement from Geneva. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38460]

SOMALIA: Over 60 killed as fighting resumes in central region

At least 60 people were killed and another 90 wounded in renewed fighting
on Tuesday in the northwest of Galgadud Region, according to local sources
in the regional capital, Dhusa-Mareb. The latest fighting broke out on
between the Darod subclan of the Marehan and the Dir subclan of Fiqi
Muhumud, and was concentrated in and around the village of Herale, some 80
km northwest of Dhusa-Mareb, said Nur Mu'allim Dhere, a member of the Dir
clan. Last month Herale, which is populated by the Fiqi Mahmud, was also
the scene of serious fighting between the two sides which left over 50
people dead. Nur told IRIN that in the latest clash, 18 fighters on his
side had been killed and 29 wounded, while the other side suffered 25
deaths. Sources in Abud Waaq, 40 km west of the Herale, where the Marehan
have taken their casualties, told IRIN that at least 30 dead and 70
wounded had been brought in. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38466]

SOMALIA: Leaders' retreat again postponed

A proposed retreat for Somali political leaders to discuss contentious
issues affecting the peace process has again been postponed. The retreat
had originally been scheduled for 9 December, then postponed to 18
December. Now it has been put off again, said a source from the
Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) which is facilitating
the talks. Meanwhile Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who is the current
IGAD chairman, has called a meeting of Somali leaders in Kampala, ahead of
any proposed retreat, the source told IRIN. That meeting is due to take
place on 22 December. But no new date has been set for the retreat, and
there is now serious doubt that it will ever take place. "It looks as
though the Kampala meeting might replace the retreat," a Somali political
source told IRIN. "Museveni is such a strong leader, he might be able to
bang heads and accomplish what the retreat aims to do. Besides, he is
someone Somalis like and trust." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38438]

SUDAN: US protests against press closures

The US embassy in Khartoum on Wednesday protested against the suspension
of two newspapers by the Sudanese government, despite Khartoum's pledge to
lift restrictions on press freedom. The English language ‘Khartoum
Monitor’ has been closed since 24 November and the Arabic 'Al-Ayam' since
17 November. “The government’s action against the newspapers – convicted
of no wrongdoing and charged under dubious circumstances – inflicts grave
financial losses on the newspapers and puts into question the commitment
of the government to press freedom,” said a US embassy statement. “The US
embassy also wishes to reiterate that Sudan’s human rights performance
will be a chief factor – along with the peace process – in determining the
pace of hoped-for improvement in our bilateral relations,” it warned.
However, the Sudanese government says the papers published "controversial
issues that did not promote an atmosphere of peace and concord", 'Al-Ra'y
al-Amm' newspaper said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38465]

SUDAN: Opposition leaders warn against bilateral peace deal

Opposition leaders in Sudan have warned against a bilateral peace
agreement between the government and rebel Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement/Army (SPLM/A) that does not directly address the grievances of
Sudan’s marginalised northern populations. “If the peace process is a
bilateral process, it will be a very temporary peace that will unravel
very soon,” said Sadiq al Mahdi, leader of the Umma party which enjoys
wide popular support in the violence-wracked western Darfur region. “There
is a cocktail of ethnic based political dissent, armed and supported from
outside. It is going to be copied by others unless problems are
universally addressed,” he said. Islamist leader and former parliament
speaker Hassan al Turabi, who heads the Popular Congress Party, concurred
that a bilateral peace deal would lead to an escalation of conflict in
both western and eastern Sudan. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38464]

SUDAN: Progress at peace talks

Sudanese peace talks on Monday moved closer to an agreement to end the
country's 20-year civil war, although doubts remained over its viability
because of ongoing fighting in the west of the country. A source close to
the Kenya talks between the Sudanese government and rebel Sudan People's
Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) told IRIN on Monday that the parties
were close to reaching an agreement on wealth sharing, one of the three
remaining sticking points. The other remaining issues in the talks
facilitated by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD,
include power sharing and the status of three disputed regions during a
six- year transitional period. According to the source, both sides had
agreed on the idea of a central bank with two "windows" - one overseeing
an Islamic banking system for the north and the other commercial banking
for the secular south. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38420]


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