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Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 180
14 - 20 February 2004


CONTENTS:

AFRICA: First ladies vow to fight mother-to-child HIV/AIDS infection
AFRICA: Leaders set timetable for peer review
SUDAN: Peace talks resume in Kenya
SUDAN: Humanitarian crisis in Darfur escalates
ETHIOPIA: Human Rights Watch accuses government of harassing journalists
ETHIOPIA: Calls to ease trade restrictions at Addis Ababa conference
ETHIOPIA: Visiting US general calls for greater anti-terrorist 
  cooperation
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: UN special envoy arrives in Addis Ababa
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Irish minister calls for implementation of border 
  ruling 
ERITREA: IDPs continuing to suffer war and drought consequences
SOMALIA: Emergency assistance needed in the north


ALSO SEE:

AFRICA: Focus on EU/ACP trade conference in Addis Ababa at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39491

AFRICA: Interview with EU International Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39543

SUDAN: Special report II: Chad and the Darfur conflict at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39496


AFRICA: First ladies vow to fight mother-to-child HIV/AIDS infection

Five African first ladies and representatives from four other countries
have vowed to redouble their efforts to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS on
the continent and, in particular, to prevent mother-to-child infections.
"The first ladies emphasised the need for urgent action in scaling up both
HIV prevention and care services," a communiqué issued on Monday in the
Rwandan capital, Kigali, after a two-day conference of the first ladies,
said.

The conference, facilitated by UNAIDS, the UN World Health Organisation
and the UN Children's Fund, ended on 14 February. It was attended by the
first ladies of Gabon, Kenya, Rwanda, the Republic of Congo and Senegal.
Those from Ghana, Mali, Mauritania and Uganda sent representatives.

The first ladies and officials of two pharmaceutical companies – Abbott
Laboratories and Boehringer-Ingelheim – agreed to increase cooperation in
expanding access to prevention-of-mother-to-child treatment services for
greater numbers of HIV-positive mothers and their children.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39519]


AFRICA: Leaders set timetable for peer review

African heads of state and government have agreed to start a review
process on the key areas of good governance, democracy, human rights,
transparency and domestic business environment under the peer review
mechanism of the New Partnership for Africa's Development. At a two-day
conference that ended on 14 February in Kigali, the leaders agreed to
review their economic and political policies, with the aim of winning over
donors and wooing foreign investors.

The countries whose review is expected to take place in 2004 are Ghana and
Rwanda, in April and June respectively. Kenya and Mauritius will also to
be reviewed, but the process for these nations is expected to end in early
2005. "The most important thing is that we can start the review process
now," President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria said.

Angola became the 17th African country to sign up for the peer review
mechanism. It joined Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana,
Gabon, Kenya, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, ROC, Senegal,
South Africa and Uganda.

Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39504; also see:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39484]


SUDAN: Peace talks resume in Kenya

A possible final round of Sudanese talks resumed in Kenya on Tuesday, with
both warring parties reaffirming their commitment to signing a peace deal
to end the country's 20-year civil war. The talks, facilitated by the
regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), are widely
expected to lead to the signing of the final peace agreement between the
government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).

The talks, which had made substantial progress in the areas of
wealth-sharing and security arrangements during a six-year transitional
period to follow the signing of a final accord, were adjourned in early
February at the request of the government delegation to enable its members
to travel to Mecca to perform the Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj.

The two pending issues are of power-sharing and the status of three
disputed regions, namely Abyei, Nuba Mountains and southern Blue Nile
during the transition. The outstanding issues are expected to be resolved
during direct negotiations between First Vice-President Ali Uthman
Muhammad Taha and SPLM/A Chairman John Garang, both of whom arrived for
the talks in Naivasha on Tuesday.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39548]


SUDAN: Humanitarian crisis in Darfur escalates

Humanitarian access to Western Darfur remains limited despite government
claims to have opened relief routes, say humanitarian sources. "There is
absolutely no access to any place, no humanitarian access," said Refugees
International, quoting an agency trying to bring supplies to Darfur.
"Things are not changing at all. If they are changing, they are changing
for the worse."

Last week, President Umar Hasan al-Bashir declared victory over the
Darfur-based rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and
Equality Movement, promising to unlock humanitarian access to the region.
The rebel groups, which have dismissed the government's claims, on 13
February reportedly attacked Sellya'a and Yasin in Southern Darfur.

Attacks by bandits have been reported all over Darfur, especially along
roads linking Al-Fashir and Nyala and Nyala and Al-Da'ayn. "It is true
that the GOS [Government of Sudan] has captured major towns in Darfur. But
it is hardly believable that it controls the whole of Darfur," a source
told IRIN on Monday. "Rebels might have changed their tactics. Now they
are everywhere and nowhere." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39513]

However, according to the World Food Programme (WFP), refugees from Darfur
who have fled from government bombing and militia attacks into eastern
Chad are about to receive food aid for the first time. The WFP was to fly
13 t of high-energy biscuits to the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, on Friday
night, after which food would be trucked to eastern Chad. WFP planned to
pre-position food for the over 110,000 refugees encamped on the Chadian
side of the 1,000-km border with Sudan before the onset of the rainy
season in June when transport would become impossible, a WFP spokeswoman,
Lara Melo, told IRIN. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39479]

On Tuesday, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said in a statement that
internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur were in "extreme danger",
for so long as emergency aid needed to ensure their survival was lacking.
Access for aid workers was "extremely limited" and "the amount of
assistance and the number of humanitarian actors were still too weak. This
dire situation can only be addressed thanks to a massive mobilisation of
international agencies and a much broader access to the region," it said.

In the last few days, 10,000 IDPs had arrived in the town of Murnei,
Western Darfur, where some 30,000 had been camped for several weeks, MSF
noted. Field teams had observed "catastrophic mortality rates" among the
IDPs, due to displacement, "critical living conditions" and inadequate
food supplies. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39523]

Also on Tuesday, the US-based Center for the Prevention of Genocide (CPG)
claimed that 81 civilians in Western Darfur had been massacred by
pro-government Arab militias. It said it had received confirmation that
the massacres were perpetrated by the Janjawid militia during an attack on
the town of Shatatya and its surrounding villages on 10 February. It also
reported the abduction of 32 teenaged girls by government forces in
Mugjar, a town currently inundated by thousands of IDPs in the Wadi Salih
area (near the border with Chad), CPG said in a statement.

However, the Sudanese ambassador to Uganda, Siraj al-Din Hamid, told IRIN
from the Ugandan capital, Kampala, that sanctioning militia attacks on
civilians contradicted his government's overall objective of bringing
stability to the region. "The government cannot initiate attacks against
people," Siraj al-Din said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39544]

The UN said on Thursday that a team of its experts had arrived to assess
humanitarian needs in Darfur, while front-line UN agencies had begun
delivering and pre-positioning food and other supplies for 250,000 IDPs.
The 13-member team had arrived in Nyala, Al-Junaynah and Al-Fashir,
respectively the state capitals of Southern, Northern and Western Darfur,
to assess the needs of the IDPs, the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

OCHA, however, warned that because the region remained highly volatile for
both civilians and the humanitarian community, reaching the majority of
those who needed help remained difficult. "This assistance is long
overdue," Jan Egeland, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, said in a
statement. "However, we are still not reaching the majority of those in
need," he added.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39583]


ETHIOPIA: Human Rights Watch accuses government of harassing journalists

The government was on 13 February accused of trying to silence the
country’s fledgling independent media by harassing journalists. Human
Rights Watch (HRW) asserts that "government repression" is being used as a
means of tightening the state's grip on the increasingly critical free
press.

HRW's accusation comes in the wake of the government’s decision to ban the
beleaguered independent Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association
(EFJA). In a letter sent to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the New
York-based organisation described the ban as "politically motivated". "The
Ethiopian government is trying to muffle the independent press," Peter
Takirambudde, the executive director of HRW’s Africa division, said in the
letter. "The government’s harassment of the Ethiopian Free Journalists'
Association violates the freedoms of expression and association." [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39478]

On 14 February, EFJA was reported to have taken the first step in taking
legal action against the government over its banning of the association.
The EFJA has filed the suit with the federal court, stating that the ban
was illegal. In court papers, made public on Saturday, the EFJA said the
decision to close down the 100-member organisation should be reversed. The
organisation is also trying to overturn an election organised by the
government in which the leadership of the EFJA was overthrown and
replaced.

The justice ministry was also summoned to appear at the Federal First
Instance Court when the hearing is due to open on 23 February.
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39505]


ETHIOPIA: Calls to ease trade restrictions at Addis Ababa conference

The US and EU on Tuesday faced calls from impoverished nations to ease
trade restrictions ahead of talks aimed at kick-starting stalled world
trade negotiations. Jean-Robert Goulongana, the secretary-general of the
African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, said subsidies and tariffs
upheld by the US and EU were "distorting" fair trade. "I don’t think
anybody can say subsidies are good and are not harmful," he told
journalists at a press conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Goulongana was speaking during a four-day summit held in Addis Ababa
between 300 parliamentarians from the EU and the 78-nation-strong ACP
countries. The ACP represents more than 650 million people and includes 40
of the world’s poorest countries, many of them dependent on commodities
for their economies. The ACP and EU parliamentarians were meeting to
discuss peace and security in developing countries, aid, trade and the
health crisis in poor countries. Trade between the ACP group and the EU
totals €58 billion (about US $74 billion), with the EU importing goods
worth about €30 billion. But subsidies and tariffs are hampering further
growth.

"This is a good opportunity for the EU and US to overcome their
intransigence, which prompted the collapse of the Cancun talks," said Sam
Barratt of Oxfam International told IRIN in Addis Ababa. "Both the
European Union and the US need to go much further in cutting their
subsidies if they are really committed to helping the world’s poor," he
added. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39524]

On Wednesday, world leaders were criticised for falling far below global
commitments to spend US $17 billion a year on improving reproductive
health care. Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, the head of the UN Population Fund, said
underspending was resulting in hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths
each year. "This is of serious concern, as there are already serious gaps
in the provision of services, and serious shortfalls of contraceptives,
condoms and other essential supplies," she said. Addressing the EU/ACP
conference, she said the global community was capable of meeting the
funding gap inasmuch as it was channelling $18 billion a day into military
spending.

The delegates at the conference were told that millions of women and
children were dying or succumbing to diseases each year due to inadequate
health and family services. Moreover, by virtue of lack of access to
contraceptives, many women were condemned to undergoing unwanted
pregnancies, unsafe abortions and death.
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39580]


ETHIOPIA: Visiting US general calls for greater anti-terrorist cooperation

A terrorist threat still exists in eastern Africa, and greater military
cooperation is needed to defeat it, a senior US military commander warned.
Gen John Abizaid, whose central command is responsible for Afghanistan,
Iraq and East Africa, said on Monday that East African countries should
work more closely together to fight terrorism.

"The threat is clear, but the threat can be deterred and can be defeated,"
Abizaid told journalists at a press conference in Addis Ababa. He said
more must be done to prevent extremist groups like Osama bin Laden’s
Al-Qaeda from gaining an "ideological foothold" in the region. "The level
of cooperation that we have in the region in my view needs to be
strengthened from a very important point and that is of collective
security," Abizaid said.

He stressed the need for East African countries to cooperate in the
military and intelligence spheres in order to overcome terrorist activity.
"This terrorist threat knows no boundary," he said at the end of a
three-day visit to Ethiopia, adding that politics and economics also had
key roles to perform in combating terror. "When we operate only on a
nation-state basis, we will be unable to really get at the heart of the
terrorist problem, which is transnational."
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39521]


ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: UN special envoy arrives in Addis Ababa
 
Lloyd Axworthy, who was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to
seek a solution to the deadlock in the stalled peace process between
Ethiopia and Eritrea arrived in Addis Ababa on Thursday. He told reporters
hours later that it had not been determined when he would see Eritrean
President Isayas Afeworki. Axworthy stressed, however, that this did not
spell the end of his mission. "It doesn’t help, but that doesn’t mean it
is a permanent state [of affairs]," he said. "If we feel there is
something we can build on, then we will make every effort to talk to him
about it."

Axworthy insisted that his plan was to ensure the observance of the ruling
of the ruling by the boundar commission on the border between Ethiopia and
Eritrea. "The purpose here is to help bring about implementation," he
noted. "We have to make it clear we are not here in any way to replace
that decision or to even find an alternative way of dealing with the
mechanisms. The president of Eritrea is still showing reservations and
continues to assert that this is a replacement mechanism when in fact it
is not," he said.

"The sooner demarcation begins the better trust there can be so we can
address other issues," Axworthy stressed, adding that his current visit
was "open ended" to enable him to listen to concerns and try and get some
kind of dialogue going.
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39572]


ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Irish minister calls for implementation of border ruling

Speaking in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, Tom Kitt, the Irish minister of state
for development cooperation and human rights, urged Ethiopia and Eritrea
to overcome their border stalemate and take action to effect the "rapid
implementation" of the two-year-old border ruling rejected by Ethiopia.
The call was made a day after Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told
European officials that the ruling relating to his country's disputed
border with Eritrea was a recipe for disaster.

"Both parties must honour their commitment to accept the ruling of the
boundary commission as final and binding," said Kitt, whose country
currently holds the EU presidency. "Justice and the rule of law are at the
core of a peaceful settlement of the dispute and of harmonious coexistence
both at national and international levels," he said.

Kitt revealed that the EU was preparing to send a three-member ministerial
mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea "in the very near future" in a move aimed
to edge the stalled peace process forward. "We certainly underline the
importance of the need to move forward, and our role is to be facilitators
as best we can in this process," he said. He noted that as part of its
role as one of the four guarantors of the 2000 Algiers peace process, the
EU would be willing to offer its support towards bringing about a "lasting
reconciliation" between the two countries.
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39547]


ERITREA: IDPs continuing to suffer war and drought consequences

IDPs in Eritrea continue to suffer the consequences of war and drought,
resulting in inadequate fulfilment of basic needs such as food, water,
health care, shelter and education, OCHA has reported. It said the country
still had 58,953 IDPs, living in and outside camps and unable to return to
their places of origin. "Although much has been accomplished to assist
these IDPs, many basic needs are not yet fully met. A continuous effort is
required to avoid a deterioration of the situation," it said.

"The UN and partners would welcome a return of IDPs to their home
villages. However, this confronts reality on the ground where demarcation
of the contested border is yet to take place, damaged infrastructure has
to be rehabilitated, and the pace of demining has to be accelerated," OCHA
said in its January donor update.

In addition to IDPs, there were also about 16,845 rural expellees in the
camps and other settlement areas, it added. "The temporary shelter
situation in IDP and expellee camps is currently very critical. The tents,
which are totally or partially damaged due to wear and tear or weather
conditions, need to be urgently replaced or repaired," OCHA added.
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39512]


SOMALIA: Emergency assistance needed in the north

About 6,200 people living in the lower Nugal Valley of northeastern
Somalia are in need of immediate emergency assistance, the monthly food
security assessment report for January, produced by the UN Food Security
Assessment Unit, said. It said the lower Nugal valley, which includes the
areas of Huddun, Taleh and Garowe, was "of greatest concern, as households
had suffered extensive livestock losses due to successive rainfall
failures. The [area] is in need of quick and effective emergency
assistance to preserve livelihoods for approximately 20-25 percent of the
original population."

The assessment found that parts of the lower Nugal valley, the Hawd of
Garowe and Eyl, the Hawd of Burtinle, the eastern half of the Hawd of Las
Anod and the western part of the Addun in Jerriban, had been hit by
current rainfall failure. As a result, there had been extensive livestock
movement to other areas like the eastern Sool plateau in Bari Region.

"Food shortages have increased for poorer households, and recent reports
from the field indicate water prices are continuing to rise in parts of
Addun and Hawd of Burtinle and Jerriban," the report said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39501]

Meanwhile, extensive drought in the northern Togdheer Region of the
self-declared republic of Somaliland, where about 350,000 people live, had
forced schools to close, water wells to dry up and the livestock
population to decline significantly, the Famine Early Warning Systems
Network (FEWS NET) said on Monday.

"There is currently a severe drought in Togdheer Region, particularly [in
the] south and northwest due to successive rainfall failures," FEWS NET
said in a report. The prevailing harsh conditions in the region, it said,
had by December forced about 40 percent of children to drop out of school.
The report said that of 1,638 water sources found in nine villages, about
60 percent were either disused or damaged, and only 16 percent of the rest
had water levels ranging from 25 percent to 75 percent of their capacity.
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=39501]


IRIN-CEA
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Fax: +254 2 622129
Email: IRIN@ocha.unon.org

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