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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e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 183
6 - 12 March 2004


CONTENTS:

SUDAN: Militias ravage Darfur in gangs of hundreds
SUDAN: Alarming levels of malnutrition in Darfur
SUDAN: Gov't detaining Darfur rights defenders, says watchdog
SUDAN-ERITREA: Biggest convoy of returning refugees this year
ERITREA: Government denies soliciting for Nigerian mediation
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Border deadlock might get "dangerous", says Annan
ETHIOPIA: Central government apologises for Gambella massacre
ETHIOPIA: Food aid reduced for thousands of refugees
ETHIOPIA: Two million threatened by landmines, survey finds
SOMALIA: Campaign against FGM launched on Women's Day
SOMALIA: Final phase of talks to be launched on 13 March
DJIBOUTI: Free ARVs distributed for the first time

ALSO SEE:

SUDAN: Special Report IV: Who is who
Full story

SUDAN: Interview with SPLM Women's Commissioner Kezia Layinwa Nicodemus
Full story

ETHIOPIA: Focus on local manufacture of anti-retroviral drugs
Full story

ETHIOPIA: IRIN interview with head of mine clearance operations
Full story


SUDAN: Militias ravage Darfur in gangs of hundreds

A total breakdown of law and order is reported in Darfur, western Sudan,
as militias roam the region in gangs of hundreds, attacking one village
after another. The entire Jabal Si area, previously home to about 70,000
people living in over 119 villages, had been cleared of civilians, the UN
said following an assessment. Many of the displaced, over 90 percent of
whom are women and children, have fled to Kabkabiyah town in Northern
Darfur.

All along the road between Tawilah and Kabkabiyah, aid workers had
observed "nothing but burned and abandoned villages" and a large number of
abandoned donkeys roaming around water points, it said. Some civilians,
living in a state of constant terror, had resorted to paying the Janjawid
militias not to attack them. In Birkat Saira, a village about 75 km from
Kabkabiyah, residents have paid the militias about US $7,000 since August,
according to the deputy community leader there, who keeps the accounts.

In a separate development, food hand-outs being given by aid workers to
the region's 700,000 displaced are also being looted. The World Food
Programme (WFP) had decided to make more frequent distributions of smaller
amounts of food as a means of protecting displaced people from attacks,
Laura Melo, the WFP spokeswoman, told IRIN on Monday. "Hopefully, with
less food in the house, people will be less attractive to looting," she
said.

UN workers have been asked not to give aid to some villages, as it would
turn them into targets for attacks.

Full story

Addressing the Committee on International Relations Sub-Committee on
Africa in the US House of Representatives on Thursday, Roger Winter, the
assistant administrator of the US Agency for International Development
(USAID) Bureau of Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance,
described the war in Darfur as today's most serious humanitarian crisis on
the African continent today.

He accused the Sudanese government of mounting a "scorched-earth policy"
to crush rebellion in Darfur through large-scale human rights abuses
against civilians and the obstruction of humanitarian access to the
region. "The extent of the violence and terror being inflicted on the
population is frightening," Winter told the hearing.

"Humanitarian workers have witnessed the looting and burning of villages
by the Janjawid militia and have seen that the government police and
military forces in the area do nothing to stop the violence," said Winter,
who himself led a delegation to the three Darfur states in February.


SUDAN: Alarming levels of malnutrition in Darfur

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has found "alarming nutritional needs" in
war-torn Darfur, western Sudan. While vaccinating 4,900 children in the
town of Garsila, Western Darfur, MSF staff identified 111 severely
malnourished children and 387 moderately malnourished children.

"MSF is extremely concerned about the food security of the population of
Darfur, and fears that continued violence and insecurity, coupled with an
insufficient international response, means that the situation can only
deteriorate," said a statement.

Garsila is one of numerous towns in Darfur that has been overwhelmed by
influxes of people fleeing for their lives from militia and army attacks,
as they are pushed off their farmland into local towns. Usually home to
4,500 people, Garsila hosts an extra 18,000. Similarly, Dulayq, home to
5,000, currently has a population of 22,000, while Umm Khayr is trying to
cope with an extra 13,000 on top of its regular 5,000. "This is a pattern
that is repeated in all the areas MSF has been able to assess," MSF
reported.

Full story


SUDAN: Gov't detaining Darfur rights defenders, says watchdog

The Sudanese government has arbitrarily detained two human rights
activists, apparently for their work in the war-torn western region of
Darfur, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday. Both are feared to be at
risk of inhumane treatment, miscarriages of justice and possible
execution.

Dr Mudawwi Ibrahim Adam, the head of the Sudan Social Development
Organisation, had just returned from a mission to Darfur where he
distributed aid to displaced people when he was arrested on 28 December.
He was arrested by security forces in the capital, Khartoum, and is
detained in Kober prison there. On 8 February he was charged with waging
war against the state, provoking hatred among religious sects, spying,
releasing secret information, revealing military information and
establishing a criminal organisation. Some of the charges carry the death
penalty.

Salih Mahmud Muhammad Uthman, a human rights lawyer, was arrested on 1
February 2004 and has been held without charge. He works in Nyala,
Southern Darfur, providing free legal assistance to people accused or
convicted of crimes without fair trial, and in many instances without
counsel.

Many of his clients face severe punishments, such as the death penalty or
cross amputation - where the right foot and the left hand are amputated or
vice versa. He was arrested in Wad Madani, Al-Jazirah State in eastern
Sudan, and transferred to Khartoum two days later. He is also being held
in Kober prison.

Full story


SUDAN-ERITREA: Biggest convoy of returning refugees this year

After more than 30 years in exile, 1,770 Eritrean refugees left their
camps in eastern Sudan for home this week, in the biggest return convoy
this year. On Wednesday, a convoy of 58 passenger buses and more than 30
luggage trucks carrying the refugees and their belongings crossed into
Eritrea, escorted by Sudanese and UNHCR oficials.

At a desolate border crossing inside Eritrea, known as Check Point 14, the
returnees were transferred to Eritrean vehicles and taken to the western
town of Tesseney, where they were issued with assistance packages and new
ID cards, pending their onward journey to their home areas.

The convoy was the fourth out of 25 return movements planned up to the end
of June. So far, more than 118,000 refugees have returned home under the
programme - which started in 2000 - including more than 3,200 this year.

Full story


ERITREA: Government denies soliciting for Nigerian mediation

The Eritrean government has denied soliciting for Nigerian mediation in
its border conflict with neighbouring Ethiopia. In a statement, the
Eritrean embassy in Nigeria said contrary to reports in the Nigerian
daily, The Guardian, on 3 March, the Eritrean government had not sought
any assistance from that country to intervene in the matter, because it
regarded the April 2002 ruling of the boundary commission as "final and
binding".

Nigerian Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeneji was quoted by international
media last week as saying that Eritrea had asked his country to intervene
in the dispute. "We do not know the source, particularly as it was not
signed, or the underlying motivation," the Eritrean statement said of the
article entitled "Eritrea seeks Nigeria's help to avert war with
Ethiopia".

"The article was a misrepresentation of the facts," it added. Eritrea,
however, confirmed that a meeting took place between its ambassador to
Nigeria, Daniel Yohannes, and Adeneji, to whom the former had delivered a
"standard" message from President Isayas Afeworki to his Nigerian
counterpart "as part of Eritrea's routine diplomatic activities to keep to
keep African heads of states informed of the situation of the peace
process".

Full story


ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Border deadlock might get "dangerous", says Annan

Escalating tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea are threatening their
current military stability, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned on
Monday. He said there had been a "gradual deterioration" in cooperation
between the two countries and the 4,000 UN peacekeepers in the region.
Annan's comments come just one week before the UN Security Council
convenes to discuss the renewal of a six-month mandate for the UN Mission
in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).

The 13-page report said that because of "heightening tensions", which are
being fuelled by a lack of political progress, UNMEE - costing US $15
million a month - should remain in place. "The current stalemate is a
source of instability and therefore has the potential to become
dangerous," Annan warned.

Annan urged Ethiopia to reconsider its decision to reject the independent
boundary commission's ruling on its border with Eritrea. He also said he
was "saddened" by Eritrea’s decision not to meet UN Special Envoy Lloyd
Axworthy, who visited the region last month to try and end the stalemate.

Full story


ETHIOPIA: Central government apologises for Gambella massacre

The Ethiopian government said on 5 March that it had apologised to local
tribes for its inadequate response to prevent a massacre in the troubled
western region of Gambella. A statement released by the federal affairs
ministry said the government had not performed "proactively", but promised
that the killers would be brought to justice.

At least 60 people were murdered when fighting erupted in Gambella town in
December, almost all of them members of the Anyuak ethnic group. UK
officials say up to 150 were killed.

"The government has apologised for not acting proactively and promised to
stand on the side of the victims to see that justice is done," said the
statement, issued on 5 March.

Federal authorities have started sifting through evidence of the massacre
with the aim of ensuring that the alleged instigators can be tried. Some
37 people have been identified. Forty others, suspected of involvement in
clashes at a gold mine in Dima, in Gambella region, on 30 January, in
which up to 200 people were killed, had also been seized, the statement
added.

Full story


ETHIOPIA: Food aid reduced for thousands of refugees

Refugees in Ethiopia have had their food relief slashed because of major
shortages, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) said on 5 March.

Rations for tens of thousands have been cut by up to one-third due to what
UNHCR described as a refugee food crisis in East Africa and the Horn of
Africa.

"In Ethiopia, some 126,000 refugees - mainly from Somalia and Sudan - have
already seen their food rations cut by 30 percent," said the UNHCR
spokesman, Peter Kessler.

"They now receive 1,500 kilocalories [kcal] per person per day, down from
the standard 2,100 kcal requirement." He warned that food stocks would run
out by May, after which about 300,000 refugees would have nothing to eat.

In a statement released from Geneva, Kessler noted that the countries
mainly affected by the shortages were Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Chad, and
the Democratic Republic of Congo, and that some US $48.3 million was
needed to feed about 600,000 refugees in these countries until the end of
the year.

Full story


ETHIOPIA: Two million threatened by landmines, survey finds

Landmines threaten the lives of 2 million people in Ethiopia, according to
the findings of an international two-year survey released on Thursday.

The Ethiopian Landmine Impact Survey also reveals that over the past two
years 16,000 people have been involved in landmine blast incidents, of
whom 1,295 were killed or injured.

"There is a chance that anyone of these 2 million people could be injured
or killed by landmines or unexploded ordnance. Their daily lives are
hindered in one way or another by landmines," Adam Combs of Norwegian
People’s Aid, the survey's director, told IRIN on Wednesday.

Ethiopia is one of the world's 10 most heavily mined countries – a legacy
of successive conflicts over the last 70 years that have ravaged the Horn
of Africa. There are around 2 million landmines, some dating back to the
Italian invasion by Mussolini in 1935. The government estimates that they
will take another 20 years to clear.

Full story


SOMALIA: Campaign against FGM launched on Women's Day

On the occasion of International Women's Day on 8 March, a campaign
against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) was launched throughout Somalia,
where an estimated 98 percent of all women have undergone the ritual.

The campaign was led by four networks of Somali women’s organisations. The
networks represent nearly 90 grass-roots women's groups, Maryan Abdulle
Qawane, an official of one of them, told IRIN.

The campaign was launched simultaneously in Hargeysa, the capital of the
self-declared republic of Somaliland, Bosaso, the commercial capital of
the self-styled autonomous region of Puntland, and in the Somali capital,
Mogadishu, as well as in other towns. In Mogadishu, over 10,000 women
turned out, chanting slogans such as "Save your daughter from FGM" and
"FGM is not a religious obligation", according to Maryan. They were
addressed by the president of the Transitional National Government of
Somalia, Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, who attended the event accompanied by
his wife, Maryan said.

Most of the Somali women who have undergone FGM have experienced the most
drastic form "in the mistaken belief that they were observing a religious
obligation", she said. The aim of the campaign was to sensitise the Somali
people, particularly women, "to the harmful effects of the practice", said
Maryan. "We want to make it clear that there is no religious basis for
this practice."

Full story


SOMALIA: Final phase of talks to be launched on 13 March

Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka, who is also the chairman of the
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) ministerial
facilitation committee for the Somali peace talks, said on 5 March that
Somalia's interim charter will be launched on 13 March by the IGAD Council
of Ministers. The ceremony would be attended by Alpha Oumar Konare, the
chairman of the Commission of the African Union, and Amr Musa, the
secretary-general of the Arab League, according to Musyoka's press
statement.

Also present will be Somali political leaders, traditional leaders,
delegates and members of the IGAD Partners Forum. "The Transitional
Federal Charter provides the legal framework for a five (5) years
transitional period," said the statement. Musyoka called on all Somali
leaders who had left for Somalia to return and participate in the final
phase of the conference "in order to realise sustainable peace and
all-inclusive government for Somalia".

Full story

Subsequently, on Wednesday, over a dozen faction leaders participating in
the talks warned that the launching of an interim charter as planned could
lead to the failure of the talks, claiming that unresolved issues remain.
"We feel that the formal launch of the Transitional Federal Charter of
Somalia... is uncalled for as the contentious article 30 (1) of the
charter still stands unresolved," said a statement signed by the leaders.

The "contentious article" deals with the selection of members of
parliament. It states that members would be selected "by recognised
political leaders comprising the Transitional National Government, the
National Salvation Council, regional administrations, the Somali
Reconciliation and Restoration Council, the G8 and civil society
organisations, and be endorsed by genuine traditional leaders".

Full story

However, the members of IGAD facilitation committee and international
observers at the talks immediately responded in a statement expressing
support for the process of moving the talks into their third and final
phase, according to a joint statement issued on their behalf. It noted
that article 30 had already been clarified by Musyoka on 17 February and
"should be seen as a means to assist with the implementation of the spirit
of the Safari Park agreement" of 29 January.

It also called on those Somali leaders who had abandoned the talks and
gone to Somalia to return and "work for a speedy conclusion to the Somali
National Reconciliation Conference".

Full story


DJIBOUTI: Free ARVs distributed for the first time

Some 40 HIV-positive people on Tuesday began to receive free
anti-retrovirals (ARVs) after Health Minister Muhammad Ali Kamil launched
Djibouti's first distribution of ARV medication at Peltier Hospital, the
country's main medical centre. Medical staff at the hospital told IRIN
that the treatment was started through a donor-funded programme called
Global Care for People Living with AIDS.

In addition to contributions from numerous donor countries and UN agencies
- UNAIDS in particular - the IMF provided the Djibouti government with US
$12 million in support of the initiative.

According to Kamil, one in 20 youths in Djibouti is HIV-positive. "While
not mandatory, out of those who have chosen to be tested, at least 8,000
people have been found to be HIV-positive, while an estimated 10,000
others are HIV-positive and do not know it," he said at the launch.

National health authorities estimate that the HIV prevalence rate
country-wide is about 3 percent of a total population of some 600,000. The
disease is primarily spread - in an estimated 90 percent of the cases -
through sexual contact.

Full story


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