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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 174
3 - 9 January 2004


CONTENTS:

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: UN urges Ethiopia to cooperate with border commission
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: UN should go further, Asmara says
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Peace process remains difficult, says Annan
ERITREA: Isayas calls for action to "compel" Ethiopia to accept border 
  ruling
ERITREA-SUDAN: Khartoum knows its claims are baseless, Asmara says
ETHIOPIA: New film depicts the suffering of women living with HIV
SOMALIA: Somaliland tells Puntland to pull out of disputed region
SOMALIA: Museveni to hold consultations ahead of leaders' retreat
SOMALIA: Drought increasing risk of malnutrition in the north -UNICEF
SUDAN: Wealth-sharing agreement gives southern Sudan economic 
  independence
SUDAN: Gov't, rebels reach agreement on wealth sharing
SUDAN: Thousands fleeing attacks in Western Darfur

Also see: 

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Interview with UN Special Envoy-designate Lloyd Axworthy
at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38711

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Review of peace process in 2003 at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38808

ETHIOPIA: Focus on Gambella violence at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38798



ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: UN urges Ethiopia to cooperate with border commission

The UN Security Council has said it is disappointed with Ethiopia's
rejection of an independent ruling on its border with Eritrea and
expressed concern over the deadlock in the peace process.

In a statement read by Council President Heraldo Muñoz of Chile on
Wednesday, members reaffirmed the final and binding nature of the
decision, issued by The Hague-based Boundary Commission. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38794]

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: UN should go further, Asmara says

Eritrea has welcomed a statement by the UN Security Council on the border
situation with Ethiopia, but says it does not go far enough.

In the statement issued on Wednesday, Council members expressed
"disappointment" over Ethiopia's rejection of an independent border ruling
and they reaffirmed the final and binding nature of the verdict.

But Eritrea's acting Information Minister Ali Abdu Ahmed said the Security
Council "could have gone beyond that". "While Eritrea welcomes the
reaffirmation of final and binding and the rejection of an alternative
mechanism, words are not enough," he told IRIN on Friday. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38824]


ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Peace process remains difficult, says Annan

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has stressed that the peace process
between Ethiopia and Eritrea "remains difficult, even precarious". In a
report to the UN Security Council, released on 2 January, he stressed that
a "fundamental requirement" for peace lay in demarcating their common
border.

"The situation between Ethiopia and Eritrea remains difficult, even
precarious, and I am concerned that a minor miscalculation by either side
could have serious consequences," Annan said in the latest quarterly
progress report on the peace process. "There is no doubt that a
fundamental requirement for the successful completion of the peace process
and future normalisation of relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea lies in
the expeditious demarcation of their common border." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38710]

ERITREA: Isayas calls for action to "compel" Ethiopia to accept border
ruling

Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki has insisted that Ethiopia must be
"compelled" by the international community to implement a suspended border
ruling. In a two-page letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the
Eritrean leader said that was the "only way" to resolve the ongoing border
dispute between his country and Ethiopia.

His letter, sent on 24 December, was in response to a letter Annan had
sent two days earlier informing him of his decision to appoint former
Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy as his special envoy to help
resolve the crisis between the two countries. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought
a bloody two-and-a-half-year war over their disputed border that claimed
70,000 lives and cost the impoverished nations millions of dollars.
Finally, under a peace deal signed in Algiers in December 2000, both
countries agreed to the setting up of an independent boundary commission
to end tensions by demarcating their common border. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38707]

ERITREA-SUDAN: Khartoum knows its claims are baseless, Asmara says

Eritrea has again denied arming Sudanese rebels in the Darfur region,
describing Khartoum's allegations as baseless. On Monday, Sudan's Foreign
Minister Mustafa Isma'il lodged a complaint with the UN Security Council
claiming Khartoum had evidence that Asmara was supporting anti-government
rebels in the western Darfur region.

"These allegations are baseless and Sudan knows they are baseless,"
Eritrea's acting Information Minister Ali Abdu Ahmed told IRIN. "We are
very surprised to hear these kinds of allegations." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38772]

ETHIOPIA: New film depicts the suffering of women living with HIV

Ethiopia’s first-ever film depicting the real-life tragedy being brought
about by HIV/AIDS was broadcast across the country on Monday. The
documentary is a powerful portrayal of the lives of women in Ethiopia who
have become victims of discrimination and stigma because they are infected
with the virus.

"It is a very depressing film," said Meaza Ashenafi, who heads the
Ethiopian Women’s Lawyers Association, after seeing the premiere of Siwir
Enba, or Hidden Tears. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has had a crippling effect on
Ethiopia, where, according to government estimates, some 2.2 million
people are living with HIV. [Full stroy at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38740]

SOMALIA: Somaliland tells Puntland to pull out of disputed region

The authorities in the self-declared republic of Somaliland have warned
neighbouring Puntland to withdraw its forces from the disputed region of
Sool, a senior Somaliland official told IRIN on Wednesday.

Tension has been rising between the two sides ever since forces of the
self-declared autonomous region of Puntland took total control of the Sool
regional capital, Las Anod, late last month. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38773]

SOMALIA: Museveni to hold consultations ahead of leaders' retreat

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, current chairman of the
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), is expected to hold
consultations with Somali leaders ahead of a proposed retreat to promote
the peace process, an IGAD official said.

Museveni is expected to arrive on Thursday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi,
to "hold consultations with Somali leaders separately", said Ziyad Du'ale
of IGAD, which is facilitating the peace talks. "It will be a day-long
thing and the president will seek the views of the leaders on the way
forward," Du'ale added. Museveni would then launch the 10-day retreat on
Friday , and on Saturday it would move to Mombasa, he said. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38742]

SOMALIA: Drought increasing risk of malnutrition in the north -UNICEF

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned that a drought
currently affecting the Sool and Sanaag regions of northern Somalia is
increasing the risk of malnutrition.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the agency said that in response, UNICEF
and other humanitarian agencies would launch "a second phase of emergency
interventions this week". Last month, the UN's World Food Programme
delivered 732 mt of "mixed food commodities" to 39 villages in the area.
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38741]

SUDAN: Gov't, rebels reach agreement on wealth sharing

The government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation
Movement/Army (SPLM/A) on Monday reached agreement on wealth sharing,
bringing them one step closer to a comprehensive peace deal.

Under the agreement, which is due to be officially signed on Wednesday, 50
percent of non-oil revenue from southern Sudan will be given to the
central government during the six-and-a-half-year interim period, the
SPLM/A spokesman, Samson Kwaje, told IRIN. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38732]

SUDAN: Thousands fleeing attacks in Western Darfur

In the last ten days an estimated 3,000 families have fled to the town of
Junaynah from militia attacks in Western Darfur, according to local
sources.

Over the weekend between 3,000 and 4,000 people had streamed into the town
after their villages were burned and looted, and were continuing to arrive
on Monday, said one source. Many of the displaced are reportedly sleeping
in the open without shelter, while some have been taken in by local
people. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38720]


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