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

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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 156
30 August - 5 September 2003


CONTENTS:

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Germany to help move Eritrean refugees
ERITREA: EC to support democracy, human rights project
ETHIOPIA: Water diseases causing "misdiagnosis" in food crisis areas 
ETHIOPIA: EC to help ensure free and fair elections
ETHIOPIA: UN spearheads campaign to end food dependency
DJIBOUTI: UNHCR struggling to cope with asylum seekers
DJIBOUTI: Deadline for immigrants' departure extended
SOMALIA: UN expert calls for urgent attention to IDP camps
SOMALIA: Migrants and traffickers arrested in Puntland
SOMALIA: Freelance militias disarmed in Kismayo
SUDAN: Rebel leader to meet Sudanese vice-president
SUDAN: Darfur ceasefire accord signed
SUDAN: Malnutrition steadily worsening in south


ALSO SEE:

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Feature - Help for border communities as peace process
drags on at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36297

SOMALIA: Interview with Abdirashid Duale, CEO of Dahab Shiil money
transfer company at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36382



ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Germany to help move Eritrean refugees

The German government has pledged E250,000 to help move thousands of
Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia away from the border between the two
countries. The money, provided to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), comes as
both countries prepare for the twice-postponed demarcation of the border
next month. "In Ethiopia, E250,000 is being made available to the UNHCR
for the resettlement of Eritrean refugees from refugee camps near the
border to the country's interior," the German embassy in Addis Ababa said.
The move follows increasing calls to relocate the refugees - many of whom
fled during the bitter two-year war between the countries - from the
border area for their "protection and emotional safety." Fighting erupted
in May 1998 over a border dispute and formally ended with a peace deal in
December 2000 - with a new internationally recognised border part of the
agreement. UNHCR has told IRIN a new site has been identified for the
Eritrean refugees, although preparation work for their arrival still has
to be completed. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36299]

ERITREA: EC to support democracy, human rights project

The European Commission is to provide financial assistance to Eritrea
under an initiative to back democracy and human rights. The funding will
be released under the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights
(EIDHR) which is aimed at "supporting democracy, good governance, the rule
of law and promoting the building of sound and durable democratic
societies", the EC said in a statement. According to the statement,
Eritrea had been selected as one of the "focus countries" where EIDHR
support "can achieve greater impact and complement other community
assistance programmes and EU political dialogue". It said 580 global
proposals were received, out of which 51 were selected for funding in 2003
amounting to a total of E31 million. An EC official told IRIN a mission
would determine how the money would be allocated, and the project was
still in the planning stages. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36358]

ETHIOPIA: Water diseases causing "misdiagnosis" in food crisis areas

Malaria and water borne diseases are compounding the famine in Ethiopia
and sparking misdiagnosis of food crisis areas, the UN has warned. Poor
health and water facilities are also "undermining" the food aid response
aimed at combating the unprecedented crisis that has hit the country. And
according to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA), it is mainly children who are falling victim to the "vicious
cycle" of malnutrition and disease.  Widespread malnutrition is disguising
and making diseases like malaria hard to spot with the inevitable
consequences for the already weakened children, the UN said. The warning
follows a study in the hard-hit Southern Nations and Nationalities
People's Region in southern Ethiopia. The multi-ethnic area has baffled
humanitarian aid agencies as it is traditionally food abundant. But it has
received massive food interventions since the crisis emerged. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36331]

ETHIOPIA: EC to help ensure free and fair elections

The European Commission (EC) has pledged over E500,000 to help ensure
democratic and fair elections in Ethiopia in 2005. The funding is part of
a worldwide initiative for developing countries worth around E31 million
aimed at ensuring global "peace and stability". Opposition parties are
gearing up for the elections in a bid to end the decade-long rule of the
coalition Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The
EPRDF won the last election in 2000 taking 472 of the 522 seats. But
opposition parties complained of harassment during polling. In Ethiopia,
the EC money will be used to support the German Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
(FES) organisation which has been working in Ethiopia since the 1960s.
"Like many other countries in Africa, Ethiopia is in a process of
transforming itself economically, socially and politically towards a more
open, pluralistic and democratic society," FES said. The organisation said
it had helped educate some 150,000 voters during the last elections - the
second democratic elections ever to take place in the impoverished
country. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36327]

ETHIOPIA: UN spearheads campaign to end food dependency

Ethiopia has reached a "major turning point" in tackling its chronic food
shortages, the head of the United Nations in the country stated on Monday.
Sam Nyambi, who heads the UN's Development Programme (UNDP), said "new
efforts" were needed to overcome the massive hurdles that spark recurrent
food crises in Ethiopia. His rallying call comes after continuous high
level talks in the capital between international and Ethiopian experts
over the last six weeks on how to reverse decades of dependency. "We need
to do business differently to address the challenge of rural livelihoods
and food security, and we believe that the new coalition is the right way
forward," said Nyambi. "The forum was a major turning point in the
country's efforts to find a lasting solution to the issue of chronic food
insecurity," he added. Among key experts at the summit were officials from
the World Bank and US Agency for International Development (USAID). They
aim to slash food dependency in famine stricken Ethiopia "within two to
three years."
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36296]

DJIBOUTI: UNHCR struggling to cope with asylum seekers

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says it is struggling to cope with thousands
of illegal immigrants who thronged to a transit centre in Djibouti in an
attempt to apply for asylum and legalise their stay, ahead of a government
deadline to leave the country. Djibouti Interior Minister Abdiqadir Du'ale
Wa'ays in July warned illegal immigrants to leave by the end of August or
face expulsion, but the deadline was later extended until 15 September.
The crackdown on illegal immigrants - who mainly come from Somalia,
Ethiopia and Yemen - is thought to be motivated by economic and security
concerns. UNHCR said that an estimated 10,000 people showed up - instead
of the expected 4,000 - at a stadium, where they were supposed to gather
before being transferred to transit centre at Aour-Aoussa, 120 km south of
Djibouti city. The large turnout "outstripped the vehicle capacity
arranged by UNHCR" forcing the government to provide additional
transportation, it said.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36352]

DJIBOUTI: Deadline for immigrants' departure extended

The deadline imposed by the Djibouti government for thousands of illegal
immigrants to leave the country has been extended by two weeks, a local
journalist told IRIN on Monday. Djibouti Interior Minister Abdiqadir
Du'ale Wa'ays last month warned illegal immigrants to leave by the end of
August or face expulsion. "The government has extended the deadline for an
extra 15 days," the journalist said. "All immigrants are now expected to
leave by 15 September." He said about 42,500 illegal immigrants had left
of their own accord over the last four weeks, to beat the deadline. "Those
caught after the new deadline will be put in transit camps and then
deported to their countries and risk not being allowed to take anything
with them," he noted. On Monday, Wa'ays acknowledged there had been
problems associated with the immigrants' departure. "We are aware that
several people wishing to voluntarily return to their homes are not able
to depart, either because they were not able to travel by train or road,
given the fact that trains and buses were fully booked, or because they
had not adequately prepared themselves to leave before the deadline
expired," he said, according to the Djibouti news agency ADI. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36303]

SOMALIA: UN expert calls for urgent attention to IDP camps

A UN-appointed independent expert on human rights for Somalia has said
that appalling conditions in camps for internally displaced people (IDPs)
should be tackled urgently. Speaking at the end of an 11-day mission to
Somalia, Dr Ghanim Alnajjar called on the international community, local
authorities and civil society groups to address the issue, according to a
press statement from the UN Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator's Office
for Somalia. "The camps are in the worst conditions you can imagine," Dr
Alnajjar said. "They have absolutely no basic services such as water,
health facilities or schools. They have to pay to use very basic toilets
on the land on which they have settled and in addition, are also charged
rent." There are an estimated 370,000 IDPs throughout Somalia, "most of
them living in abject poverty and in areas under the control of armed
faction leaders", the press statement noted. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36384]

SOMALIA: Migrants and traffickers arrested in Puntland

The authorities in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland have
detained a group of migrants who were waiting to be smuggled into Yemen
and the Gulf states, Puntland's deputy information minister told IRIN on
Wednesday. Abdishakur Mire Adan said 52 migrants "who were trying to get
on boats" to Yemen were arrested in the coastal village of Marer, 10 km
south of Bosaso. The crackdown comes two weeks after at least 30 would-be
refugees, who left Puntland, drowned off the coast of Yemen. Abdishakuur
said those arrested included "20 Ethiopian nationals, with the rest from
southern Somalia". "The police have also arrested 10 suspected
traffickers", in Bosaso, the commercial capital of the region, he added. A
local journalist told IRIN that the traffickers make most of the
arrangements, such as collecting the fee and making deals with the boats
in Bosaso, and then send the people to Marer to be picked up.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36360]

SOMALIA: Freelance militias disarmed in Kismayo

The Juba Valley Alliance (JVA), which controls the port town of Kismayo,
southern Somalia, has launched a security operation aimed at clearing guns
from the town's streets. "The operation has a dual purpose," JVA spokesman
Abdirahman Haji Waldirah told IRIN on Tuesday. "To encamp all the JVA
militias and then identify and arrest the freelance gunmen who have been
the major cause of insecurity in the town." "We have put all JVA forces in
four camps to keep them out of the town. Anyone carrying a gun outside of
these camps will be treated as a criminal," he said. "So far we have
removed 1,374 guns from the streets and arrested over 47 suspects on
various charges," he added. The operation which was launched last month
"went into top gear in the last week or so", a local humanitarian source
told IRIN. "I hope they sustain it. Kismayo has been experiencing an
increase in insecurity in the last few months. Since the start of this
operation there has been a marked improvement in the security situation of
the town." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36329]

SUDAN: Rebel leader to meet Sudanese vice-president

The leader of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A),
John Garang, is to hold face-to-face talks with the vice-president of
Sudan, Ali Osman Taha, in Kenya aimed at breaking the deadlock in peace
talks. "We have come fully prepared to resolve the issues," Garang told
reporters in Nairobi before departing for Naivasha in the Rift Valley to
begin the talks. "We are under pressure from the Sudanese people, they
want peace and we want peace." Garang, who is to meet Taha for the first
time, said it was up to the regional Intergovernmental Authority on
Development (IGAD) mediators to decide how long the talks would last. He
reiterated that the key issues remained security arrangements, wealth and
power sharing arrangements, and the issue of the presidency. He said the
government currently had 100 percent power and 100 percent wealth in Sudan
and the key question was how much it was willing to relinquish. SPLM
spokesman Samson Kwaje added that the movement was "ready and prepared to
make tough decisions". The SPLM/A expected Taha to "have the courage to
make the required decisions, to accept change and the inevitable
transition to peace and democracy", he added.
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36386]

SUDAN: Darfur ceasefire accord signed

The Sudanese government and Darfur-based rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA)
signed a ceasefire accord in the Chadian town of Abeche on Wednesday under
the auspices of the Chadian government, Sudanese television reported on
Thursday. Ismat Abd-al-Rahman Zayn-al-Abidin, the commander of Western
Military Area, signed on behalf of the government and SLA army chief of
staff Abdullah Al Bakr signed on behalf of the rebels. The signing
ceremony was attended by Abdullah Moussa Abderahmane, the Chadian minister
of public security and immigration. "The agreement covered ceasefire,
cessation of all operations that contribute to the deterioration of the
situation [in Darfur], ways of controlling armed irregular groups, and
release of all prisoners of war and those detained in connection with the
crisis from both sides," the television said. The accord will go into
effect on 6 September for a duration of 45 days, it added.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36385]

SUDAN: Malnutrition steadily worsening in south

Average rates of malnutrition in southern Sudan have been steadily
worsening since 2001, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). Every
survey undertaken in Bahr el Ghazal and Upper Nile since the beginning of
the year showed at least 20 percent malnutrition rates. The measure -
Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) - applies to children under five who are
below 80 per cent weight for their height. Mortality rates in Old Fangak,
in Upper Nile, which currently has the worst rates of malnutrition in the
world, have almost doubled since September 2002. But while in Bahr el
Ghazal there is a coordinated response to the situation from aid agencies
and the UN, many areas of Upper Nile are not being catered for with
feeding programmes, UNICEF said. This is mainly due to general insecurity
and oil-related militia activity, the expense of having to fly aid into
the area, and resource problems within agencies.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36336]


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