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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 195
22 - 28 May 2004


CONTENTS:

SUDAN: Government, rebels sign landmark protocols
SUDAN: Urgent action required on Darfur - ICG
SUDAN: New restrictions imposed on NGOs working in the south
SUDAN: Ebola confirmed in Western Equatoria
ETHIOPIA: Human rights council criticises security forces and students
SOMALIA: IGAD warns Somali leaders as talks enter final phase
SOMALIA: UN concerned over renewed fighting in Mogadishu


ALSO SEE:

CHAD-SUDAN: Refugee camps overcrowded as influx from Darfur escalates Full story

SOMALIA: Interview with Robert Hauser, WFP Country Director Full story


SUDAN: Government, rebels sign landmark protocols

The Sudanese government and the main rebel group, the Sudan People's
Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), signed three key protocols in the
Kenyan town of Naivasha on Wednesday evening, bringing them one step
closer to a comprehensive peace agreement. The deals, which cover
power-sharing arrangements and the administration of three contested areas
during a six-year interim period, bring to an end direct political
negotiations between Sudanese First Vice-President Ali Uthman Muhammad
Taha and SPLM/A Chairman John Garang. The bilateral negotiations have been
in progress on and off for nine months.

After a three-week break, technical committees are expected to resume
talks to work out methods of implementing the six protocols signed to date
and agree on a formula for a permanent ceasefire by mid-July, after which
a comprehensive peace agreement will be signed.

But watchdogs like Human Rights Watch (HRW) are urging caution. HRW
pointed out that a civil war continued to rage in the Darfur region of
western Sudan, where over one million people have been displaced by
government-allied militias. The signing of the peace protocols must not
deflect criticism of the ongoing campaign of "ethnic cleansing" there,
said HRW on Wednesday. Similarly, in the Shilluk Kingdom of Upper Nile,
militias have displaced between 50,000 and 150,000 people since February
in clashes over territory and resources.

Full story

Details of
protocols


SUDAN: Urgent action required on Darfur - ICG

The international community has a last chance to prevent hundreds of
thousands of people from dying in a man-made catastrophe in Sudan's
western region of Darfur, the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank
warned on Sunday. "Urgent action is required on several fronts if Darfur
2004 is not to join Rwanda 1994 as shorthand for international shame,"
said ICG in a new report entitled: "Sudan: Now or never in Darfur". The
humanitarian situation was likely to get much worse before it got better,
ICG warned.

While it was too late to prevent "substantial ethnic cleansing" in Darfur,
provided the UN Security Council acted decisively, there was "just enough"
time to save hundreds of thousands of lives now directly threatened by
Sudanese troops and militias, as well as by looming famine and disease,
said ICG.

The Sudanese government has repeatedly rejected allegations by a number of
rights groups and the UN that it is implementing a policy of ethnic
cleansing against non-Arabs in Darfur. Government-allied militias, known
as the Janjawid, and troops are said to be implicated in the ongoing
attacks on civilians.

Full story

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council condemned attacks on civilians in
Darfur, and called on the government to disarm the Janjawid militia, which
has largely been blamed for the violence.

UN News on Wednesday quoted a statement read out by the current president
of the Council, Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan, as saying thousands of
people had been killed in Darfur, while hundreds of thousands were at risk
of dying in the coming months, due to the deteriorating humanitarian
situation.

"The Council also expresses its deep concern at the continuing reports of
large-scale violations of human rights and of international humanitarian
law in Darfur, including indiscriminate attacks on civilians, sexual
violence, forced displacement and acts of violence, especially those with
an ethnic dimension, and demands that those responsible be held
accountable," Akram said.

Full story


SUDAN: New restrictions imposed on NGOs working in the south

Aid efforts in southern Sudan are being hampered by restrictions on work
permits and ad hoc taxes imposed by the emerging government and local
authorities, according to humanitarian sources.

NGOs in southern Sudan were being asked to pay a growing number of taxes
or "fees", humanitarian sources told IRIN. Such tariffs included
off-loading fees at airports; airport taxes (in addition to landing fees
paid by aviation companies); a 10-percent tax on staff salaries; road
licence fees; work permit fees; fees for boreholes in an NGO compound;
three-month visas for foreign staff; and separate taxes for the use of
email, short-range radios, long-range radios and satellite phones.

Aid workers say they are finding it increasingly difficult to explain the
growing expenses to donors, who want to know exactly what their money is
being spent on. "Our budget is from individual church-backed donors, who
want to see all of the money going to the beneficiaries," said Jürgen
Prieske, the regional representative of Diakonie Emergency Aid.

Full story


SUDAN: Ebola confirmed in Western Equatoria

Nineteen cases of the Ebola virus have been confirmed in Yambio county,
Western Equatoria, southern Sudan, according to the World Health
Organisation (WHO). The Atlanta-based Centre for Disease Control and
Prevention had confirmed that the virus was Ebola, but was unable to match
it with other known strains, Dr Abdullahi Ahmed, the head of the WHO
office for southern Sudan, told IRIN. "It might be a new strain," he said.
"They're still doing genetic sequencing tests."

As of Monday, nineteen people had contracted the viral fever, of whom four
had died, he said. A further 118 people who had had contact with the
patients were being monitored for a period of 21 days.

So far all of the cases have been confined to Yambio payam (an
administrative unit) in Yambio county. Nevertheless WHO was advising
people not to engage in any "unnecessary travel" in the area, Abdullahi
added.

Full story


ETHIOPIA: Human rights council criticises security forces and students

The Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) has criticised both the
security forces and Oromo students over recent clashes that left one
student dead, and called for international pressure to be brought to bear
on the forces to end alleged abuse.

In a five-page report, EHRCO described as "illegal" measures taken by the
security forces to quell protests in Oromiya. The report, which contained
what EHRCO said was evidence of beatings, detentions and the killing of
the 20-year-old student, was addressed to the government and international
organisations. According to EHRCO, the police also attacked three female
teachers during the troubles that broke out between February and April,
across the region.

EHRCO criticised the students for rioting and stoning vehicles and police
personnel. "The actions of some of the students who threw stones and
destroyed property were also illegal and have to be condemned," it said in
the statement sent to IRIN.

Full story


SOMALIA: IGAD warns Somali leaders as talks enter final phase

The member countries of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development
(IGAD) have warned Somali leaders not to frustrate the final phase of the
war-torn country's peace talks which opened in the Kenyan capital,
Nairobi, on 22 May.

A statement issued on 22 May by the IGAD ministerial facilitation
committee on the Somali peace process in Nairobi said: "They [the IGAD
ministers] warned that punitive measures would be taken on those who would
be found obstructing and frustrating the finalisation of the remaining
part of the peace process."

Sources at the meeting told IRIN on Monday that the various clan members
who had already arrived in Nairobi had decided to wait until the end of
the week for the leaders who were absent. Meanwhile they had started the
selection of a chairman for the final phase. The two-day meeting, which
ended on 22 May, was attended by the foreign ministers of Djibouti,
Ethiopia and Kenya while Eritrea, Sudan and Uganda were represented by
ambassadors. A number of IGAD partners also attended.

Full story


SOMALIA: UN concerned over renewed fighting in Mogadishu

The UN has expressed concern over reports of continuing fighting between
rival clans in the capital, Mogadishu, and called on Somali leaders to
bring the violence to a peaceful end. In a statement issued on 20 May, the
UN secretary-general's representative for Somalia, Winston Tubman, and UN
Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Maxwell Gaylard said Somali leaders
should resolve their differences peacefully, as agreed in the ongoing
Somali peace and reconciliation process.

At least 60 people have died in clashes that started on 9 May, with
hundreds wounded and thousands displaced. The fighting started following a
disagreement between two militias of the same clan who are loyal to two
business people. It involved forces guarding a hotel in the northern
district of Behani, and those loyal to a local businessman from the
Warsangeli clan, which reportedly attacked the hotel, the property of a
businesswoman from the Wabudan clan.

A Mogadishu-based human rights group condemned the violence. "We have
called on both sides to stop these indiscriminate attacks on unarmed
civilians," Marian Awreye, Director, of the Isma'il Human Rights Centre
told IRIN. "Those suffering the most are noncombatants." Sources in
Mogadishu on 20 May said the fighting had continued, displacing more
people in the northern parts of the city.

Full story


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