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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 190
17 - 23 April 2004


CONTENTS:

SUDAN: IGAD trying to break peace-talks impasse
SUDAN: Thousands displaced by militias into Malakal
SUDAN: Number of IDPs in Darfur now one million, says UN
SUDAN: UN human rights mission heads for Darfur
SUDAN-CHAD: Sudan government and Darfur rebels start fresh peace talks
SUDAN-UGANDA: Sudanese militia vow to fight LRA rebels
ETHIOPIA: Substantial rains reported
ETHIOPIA: Landmine-awareness workshop opens
SOMALIA: Stalled peace talks to resume in one week
DJIBOUTI: Repairs start as torrential rains subside
HORN OF AFRICA: Food assistance needed for 16 million people


ALSO SEE:

SUDAN: Displacement and food shortages in Darfur at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40631

SUDAN: IGAD trying to break peace-talks impasse

Mediators are trying to break an impasse at the Sudanese peace talks
currently under way in Naivasha, Kenya, under the auspices of the
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an IGAD source
involved in the proceedings said. Peace negotiations between the Sudanese
government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) hit a
deadlock over power-sharing and the application of shari'ah in the
capital, Khartoum, and IGAD "is trying to come up with a compromise
proposal", said the source.

As a symptom of the difficulties facing the negotiators, Sudanese First
Vice-President Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha, the head of the government
delegation to the talks, returned to Khartoum on 17 April for
consultations with his government over the talks, according to a Sudanese
government official. "Since there were no planned meetings scheduled
between the vice-president and Mr [and leader of the SPLM/A, John] Garang,
he left for Khartoum for consultations," said Ahmad Dirdiery, the Sudanese
deputy ambassador in Nairobi.

Dirdiery told IRIN that the negotiators were awaiting an "IGAD proposal"
to break the log-jam. "All hinges on this new proposal on power-sharing",
he said, also noting that the application of shari'ah in Khartoum remained
"the main bone of contention". The SPLM/A reportedly opposes this,
maintaining that since the city is the national capital, "shari'ah should
not be applied in Khartoum", according to the IGAD source. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40683 ]

It was then reported that Garang had also left Naivasha. Samson Kwaje, an
SPLM/A spokesman, told IRIN on Friday that "since Taha is not in Naivasha
there was no point in Dr Garang hanging around". "He left on Thursday to
attend to other business," Kwaje said, adding that Garang would be back
"as soon as Taha returns". [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40726 ]


SUDAN: Thousands displaced by militias into Malakal

Up to 30,000 people, mostly women and children, have been displaced by
fighting into the garrison town of Malakal in Upper Nile, Sudan, according
to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the
capital, Khartoum. The figure of 25,000 to 30,000 of such internally
displaced persons (IDPs) was likely to be a "conservative figure", Nadia
el Maaroufi, an official with OCHA, told IRIN on 16 April.

A regional analyst told IRIN that up to 75,000 people were believed to
have been displaced by conflict in the nearby Shilluk kingdom, which pits
government-backed Nuer and Shilluk militias against the SPLM/A.

The vast majority of the IDPs were women and children, who had arrived in
the town with scant personal belongings, reporting looting, burning of
villages, killing and rape, especially around Tonga, about 75 km west of
Malakal, according to Nadia. The men are believed to have scattered into
"the bush" to protect their cattle. An eyewitness reported that Nuer
militiamen had shot men and women in Tonga on 22 March, and then laid
landmines around a man’s body to prevent its burial. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40632 ]


SUDAN: Number of IDPs in Darfur now one million, says UN

The number of IDPs in the western region of Darfur has risen to one
million, the UN said on Tuesday. In a report issued in New York, OCHA
warned that the situation in Darfur was compounded by shortfalls of
shelter, clean water, food and health-care supplies. It warned that "all
funds contributed for relief efforts in Darfur so far have already been
exhausted", noting that the UN expected to revise its humanitarian appeal
for the region beyond the US $115 million requested earlier this month.

OCHA quoted the UN's country team in Sudan as reporting that shelter
materials for IDPs in Darfur were now "completely exhausted". Many IDP
settlements were in remote areas without access to water points and
therefore needed "urgent emergency water deliveries". The team warned that
this situation, coupled with the problem of overcrowding, was "likely" to
lead to outbreaks of cholera, meningitis, measles and diarrhoea.

According to the report, existing food stocks were dwindling and would
"need urgent replenishment". It noted that IDPs and vulnerable groups
which had access to land would need to prepare it for cultivation before
the rainy season started in June. "If humanitarian groups cannot urgently
provide farmers with seeds and tools for planting, food insecurity and
thus humanitarian needs will increase," it said. Darfur was also affected
by a health crisis, it noted. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40682 ]


SUDAN: UN human rights mission heads for Darfur

A fact-finding mission from the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) left Geneva on Tuesday for Darfur
region to investigate the human rights situation there. The OHCHR said in
a press statement that the five-member team was travelling to Sudan at the
invitation of the Sudanese government. It was due to arrive in Khartoum on
Tuesday, and then travel to Darfur on Wednesday.

The statement said Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand
Ramcharan had sought assurances from the Sudanese government that the team
"could visit any place it wanted, talk to anyone it wished, and be assured
of security during its tour".

It noted that the team had already spent nine days in neighbouring Chad,
interviewing Sudanese refugees who had fled the conflict in Darfur. The
refugees had raised "serious allegations of a troubling nature", which had
been submitted to Ramcharan in a report. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40700 ]


SUDAN-CHAD: Sudan government and Darfur rebels start fresh peace talks

Representatives of the Sudanese government and two rebel movements in the
western region of Darfur met in Chad on Tuesday to discuss a political
solution to the 15-month-old conflict that has forced more than 800,000
people to flee their homes. A Sudanese diplomat told IRIN by telephone
from the Chadian capital, N'djamena, that the talks were due to begin in
the presence of Chadian President Idriss Deby. Official sources told IRIN
that the negotiations finally started behind closed doors on Tuesday
night.

Deby's government mediated an earlier round of talks between the two sides
which led to the declaration of a 45-day truce that took effect on 11
April.

The ceasefire was supposed to allow relief agencies to gain immediate
access to more than 700,000 IDPs within Darfur. However, the rebels have
accused government forces of violating the truce, and international relief
agencies have complained about continuing difficulties in gaining access
to government-controlled areas of Darfur. However, the Office of the UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights announced on Tuesday that the Sudanese
authorities had granted permission for a UN human rights fact-finding team
to visit Khartoum and the Darfur region. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40671 ]


SUDAN-UGANDA: Sudanese militia vow to fight LRA rebels

A southern Sudanese militia has vowed to wage all-out war against Uganda's
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in apparent retaliation for LRA
attacks on civilians inside Sudan. In a statement issued over the weekend,
the Equatoria Defence Force (EDF), a militia group formerly allied to the
LRA and the Sudanese government, promised to "take the war against LRA
rebels in south Sudan to all their hide-outs".

"We shall smoke LRA rebels in their holes and they will be killed like
rats when they run out", said the statement, signed by EDF
Secretary-General Charles Kisanga.

Kisanga asked Uganda to help his militia against the LRA. "EDF is
appealing to the Ugandan government to help us get rid of this brutal
terrorist guerrilla force," he said. "It has been years since UPDF
[Ugandan People's Defence Forces] started pursuing LRA in south Sudan, but
Uganda can rest assured that EDF has the capacity to do this job in a much
shorter time and at a lesser cost if we are afforded the facilities we
need to get the job done". [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40660 ]


ETHIOPIA: Substantial rains reported

Widespread rains have begun falling across Ethiopia as it emerges from a
two-year drought that affected 13 million people. Humanitarian agencies
said the rains, known as the Belg or short rains, would help to offset the
continuing effects of the drought across the country.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said the "substantial" rains would help
the drought-hit areas regenerate crops. However, its weekly emergency
report on Africa and the Middle East, released on 16 April, noted that
there were still "pocket areas where problems remain". "In Belg-crop
producing parts of the country, the rains of the past two weeks have been
helping to revive crops which had been wilting due to an earlier dry
spell," WFP said.

WFP said, however, that whereas the rains were welcome, food relief for
families facing shortfalls remained vital. The country, it added, still
faced a shortfall of food aid of 325,000 mt, which represents almost half
the food aid needed from April to December. "However, there are
substantial contributions under negotiation that are anticipated to cover
a significant part of this shortfall," it said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40633 ]


ETHIOPIA: Landmine-awareness workshop opens

The UN has warned of the dangers of landmines in Ethiopia, ahead of a
high-level workshop aiming to highlight the risks these "brutal weapons"
pose. Bjorn Ljungqvist, the UN Children's Fund representative in Ethiopia,
stressed the devastating consequences suffered by families whose members
have been involved in landmine accidents. The five-day conference,
convened by the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining
opened on Monday in Mekele, the capital of Tigray National Regional State.

"Ethiopia continues to suffer from extensive landmine and unexploded
ordnance contamination," Ljungqvist said. "Many of the mines and
minefields are near populated areas, and inflict casualties on both people
and livestock. Mines pose dangers to resident populations, internally
displaced persons and humanitarian relief efforts. That is why MRE [mine
risk education] workshops such as this one are so important to help us
protect communities in the mine-affected regions of Ethiopia, and prevent
more children and their families from being maimed or killed by these
brutal weapons," he added.

The conference is being attended by representatives of the Ethiopian Mine
Action Office (EMAO), the Office for Rehabilitation and Social Affairs
(ORSA) of Tigray State, the Disaster Prevention and Food Security Board of
Afar State; and the indigenous NGO Rehabilitation and Development
Organisation. UNICEF is facilitating the proceedings through its
government counterparts, EMAO and ORSA. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40629 ]


SOMALIA: Stalled peace talks to resume in one week

The Somali reconciliation conference sponsored by IGAD is scheduled to
reconvene in a week's time, according to an IGAD source close to the
talks. Preparations for the final phase of the talks, being held in the
Kenyan capital, Nairobi, were proceeding smoothly, said the source. "We
are in the process of bringing in traditional elders from Somalia. We
expect that exercise to take about a week. We will then proceed to phase
three of the talks," he told IRIN.

This final phase involves the contentious issue of power-sharing, and
therefore "should not be rushed, but take as much time as is needed to
ensure that the outcome is acceptable to both the Somalis and the
international community," he stressed.

However, Awad Ashara, the spokesman for the Somali Reconciliation and
Restoration Council, told IRIN on Tuesday that there were still
outstanding issues that needed to be resolved before the talks proceeded
to the final phase. The Council had said earlier that for the Nairobi
conference to succeed, all IGAD member states must be represented. It also
demanded clarification on who would participate in the selection of
members of parliament. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40657 ]


DJIBOUTI: Repairs start as torrential rains subside
 
The Djibouti government has deployed hundreds of workers to repair the
electricity, telephone and water supply systems in the capital, Djibouti
City, that were damaged when heavy rains pounded the country last week.
Government officials said on Monday that at least 53 people were confirmed
killed by floods. The UN, which sent an assessment mission to Djibouti,
said in a statement on 16 April that at least 100,000 people had been
affected by the floods.

Railway traffic between Djibouti and the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa,
remained disrupted. The railway line, which had been carrying at least 700
mt of food to the port city of Djibouti each week, was still closed after
flood waters swept away parts of the line.

The USAID-funded Famine Early Warning System (FEWS-Net) said over 100 mm
of rainfall inundated much of the tiny Horn of Africa country over two
days. That rainfall accumulation, FEWS-Net added, approached Djibouti's
normal annual total. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40640; also see:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40621 ]


HORN OF AFRICA: Food assistance needed for 16 million people

Some 16 million people in East and the Horn of Africa face will face food
shortages this year, requiring emergency food and non-food assistance,
FEWS Net reported on Monday. Another 7 million to 8 million were at risk
of facing food shortages, it added.

According to FEWS Net, overall food insecurity in some countries in the
region has continued to deteriorate mainly because of increasing chronic
vulnerability, compounded by conflict and inadequate rainfall.

"As many as 16 million people require emergency food and non-food aid
during 2004. Different forms of livelihood support may be needed for
another 7 million to 8 million people who are moderately food insecure and
coping, but whose food security conditions could deteriorate in the coming
months," the report said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=40674]


IRIN-CEA
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