U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 172
20 - 26 December 2003


CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA: Rabies threat to rare wolf under control
ETHIOPIA: Minister blasts MSF over malaria treatment
ETHIOPIA: 56 arrested after ethnic killings
SOMALIA: WFP delivers desperately needed food in north
SOMALIA: Massive displacement in Galgadud
SUDAN: Thousands threatened by kala-azar epidemic in south



ALSO SEE:

ETHIOPIA: Focus on constituency building for NGOs at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38581


ETHIOPIA: Rabies threat to rare wolf under control

A rabies outbreak threatening to wipe out the rare Ethiopian wolf is being
controlled by an unprecedented vaccination campaign, wildlife experts said
on Wednesday. Dr Stuart Williams, a conservationist fighting to save the
endangered animal, told IRIN it was the first time that wildlife in
Ethiopia had been vaccinated against disease. There are less than 500
Ethiopian wolves - an animal as rare as pandas - left in the wild, the
majority living in the remote mountainous areas of southern Ethiopia.
“This is a very significant step and sets a precedent for wildlife
conservation in Ethiopia,” added Williams heads the Ethiopian Wolf
Conservation Programme (EWCP). The rabies outbreak occurred in late
October, and according to experts threatened the entire wolf population in
the Bale Mountains area, 550 km from the capital Addis Ababa. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38582]

ETHIOPIA: Minister blasts MSF over malaria treatment

Ethiopia's Health Minister Kebede Tadesse on Tuesday launched an
unprecedented attack on the aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). His
comments come amid an escalating row over how to treat a major malaria
epidemic, threatening 15 million and currently killing at least 20 people
a day. "It pains us to see a once exemplary organisation being led by
charlatans masquerading as the sole agents of medical and scientific
knowledge," the minister told a news conference in Addis Ababa. MSF has
called for the introduction of a new cocktail of anti-malarial treatment,
arguing that existing treatments are proving ineffective. But Kebede told
journalists it was "inappropriate" to call for new treatment in the middle
of an epidemic. "We cannot introduce a drug because somebody is dying,"
the minister said. "This is unethical. We are in the process of pilot
testing." The government is currently carrying out tests on the new method
- known as Artemisinin Combination Therapies - and is expected to announce
the results in January. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38569]

ETHIOPIA: 56 arrested after ethnic killings

Police have arrested 56 people after fighting erupted in western Ethiopia
last week leaving at least 30 people dead, officials said. Those seized
are being held in connection with fighting which broke out in Gambella
town after seven people – including a policeman – were shot dead in a Red
Cross vehicle. Ethiopia’s Minister of State for Federal Affairs Gebreab
Barnabas said “anti-peace forces” were to blame for the killings but did
not name any specific group. “The cold-blooded killings aimed at specific
groups, non-indigenous groups to begin with, followed by indigenous ones,
is hopelessly aimed at putting a wedge between brotherly communities,” he
said in a statement. Several incidents were reported, including the
lobbing of a hand grenade into a compound shared by UNHCR and its
government partner, the Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs,
at Fugnido camp, 100 km from Gambella. The camp houses more than 28,000 of
the region’s 85,000 mostly Sudanese refugees. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38539]

SOMALIA: WFP delivers desperately needed food in north

The World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered food rations to thousands of
drought-affected nomads in the Sool Plateau in northern Somalia. In a
statement issued on Monday, the agency said that over the past three weeks
it had delivered 732 mt of "mixed food commodities" to 39 villages in the
area. "We have managed to reach nearly 77,000 people affected by the most
severe drought in the region for more than 20 years. We targeted those
least able to cope - malnourished children, the destitute, the disabled
and the aged," said Robert Hauser, the WFP representative for Somalia.
Humanitarian access to the region was guaranteed following extensive
discussions on security issues between the WFP and the administrations of
the self-declared republic Somaliland and the neighbouring self-declared
autonomous region of Puntland, both of which claim the area. The Sool
Plateau falls geographically within Somaliland, but most of the clans who
live there are associated with neighbouring Puntland. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38566]

SOMALIA: Massive displacement in Galgadud

Inter-clan fighting in Somalia's central Galgadud region has left over
2,000 families displaced and the numbers are growing, local sources told
IRIN on Monday. Dr Ahmed Madhi, who works at the hospital in the regional
capital Dusa-marreb, said the health situation was critical and facilities
were overwhelmed by casualties of the fighting. "The hospital [in
Dusa-marreb] does not have the equipment, drugs and the expertise to treat
the number and type of wounds we are receiving," he said. "We have no
surgeon and not enough drugs for patients." He appealed to aid agencies to
come to the assistance of the victims "and to save lives". A statement
issued by the UN on Monday said fighting between rival militia of the
Marehan and Dir (Fiqi Muhumad sub-clan), had left an estimated 400-500
households displaced in Heraale, Abudwaaq district. A further 1,100
households had fled fighting between the Murusade and Duduble clans in
Elbur district, added the statement by the Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs. It described the humanitarian situation as serious.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38546]

SUDAN: Thousands threatened by kala-azar epidemic in south

There is growing evidence that kala-azar, a deadly parasitic disease
transmitted by the bite of the sand fly, is spreading at alarming rate in
southern Sudan threatening thousands of already-vulnerable people, the NGO
Medecins Sans Frontieres warned on Monday. In a statement, it said it had
noted a rapid increase in the number of people suffering from the deadly
parasitic disease in Latjor, a state in the Upper Nile of region of south
Sudan, suggesting a new epidemic in the region. The medical relief agency
said that within a week of setting up a clinic in the small town of
Bimbim, it had admitted 150 kala-azar patients. "Twenty more arrive every
day," the statement said. "Most of the people reported that they had
already lost at least one family member to the disease." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38543]


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