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

Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 200
25 June - 2 July 2004


CONTENTS:

SUDAN: Powell and Annan in Khartoum for Darfur talks
SUDAN: Rebel-held villages in Southern Darfur reportedly bombed
SUDAN: UN expert calls on government to end abuses in Darfur
SUDAN: UNHCR appeals for US $90 million to prepare for return of refugees
SUDAN: Returnees stranded in Kosti and Malakal
ETHIOPIA: Electoral body pledges fair poll in 2005
ERITREA: Poor harvest prospects due to inadequate rainfall
SOMALIA: Food shortages worsen as dry conditions persist
DJIBOUTI: Rising food prices could trigger crisis - FEWS Net


ALSO SEE:

SUDAN: Gov't still denying humanitarian crisis despite international
pressure at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=41967

ETHIOPIA: Focus on new safety-nets scheme for poor farmers at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=41930


SUDAN: Powell and Annan in Khartoum for Darfur talks

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Uthman Isma'il has said Sudan is ready
to accept assistance from the US government to solve the Darfur crisis.
"We are ready to accept help," he told reporters in the Sudanese capital,
Khartoum, at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Colin
Powell on Tuesday evening.

Isma'il said that Khartoum would "look at" specific measures Powell had
requested of the Sudanese government. "We will look at these, including
the lifting of any restrictions concerning humanitarian aid, also more
security arrangements to protect civilians and disarm militias," he said.
"We are looking seriously before the end of the visit of Secretary Powell
to reach an agreed plan [on] how we can help bring the situation in Darfur
to normal."

Powell told reporters that the purpose of his visit was "to be helpful",
and that he had had "very candid" and "very direct" conversations with
Isma'il and President Umar Hasan al-Bashir. He said he had "indicated to
the minister and to the president the deep concern that is felt in the
international community" about Darfur, adding that unless improvements
were seen, "it may be necessary for the international community to begin
considering other actions - [UN] Security Council action." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=41927; also see:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=41905 ]

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Khartoum on Wednesday, and
discussed the situation in Darfur with government, UN and NGO officials,
as well as the difficulties faced by aid workers trying to deliver
much-needed relief to an estimated two million people affected by the
conflict there, according to the UN. Annan also held talks with Powell on
the Darfur crisis and steps being taken by the international community to
alleviate the situation.

During a separate meeting, Annan asked a group of Sudanese ministers to
help disarm the Janjawid militias and to remove all impediments to
humanitarian relief, such as delays in granting visas to aid workers or
releasing essential equipment from customs. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=41943 ]


SUDAN: Rebel-held villages in Southern Darfur reportedly bombed

Several villages in rebel-held areas of Southern Darfur State were bombed
on Thursday, relief workers said. Initial reports suggested that the
villages of Marla, Labado and Muhajiriyah, all controlled by the rebel
Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, had been attacked, the sources in Southern
Darfur told IRIN.

Helicopter gunships had flown over Kalma camp, outside Nyala, the capital
of Southern Darfur, on Wednesday evening, one of the relief workers told
IRIN. On Thursday, the same gunships again flew very low over Kalma camp,
pausing for effect, then travelling east to an unknown destination in the
late morning and evening.

Displaced people in Kalma later told relief workers that they "saw" and
"heard" explosions to the east, IRIN was told. Local sources said they
believed that the government could have commenced a military operation
against the rebels to the east of Nyala. It was not immediately possible
to get a comment from either the Sudanese military or government
authorities. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=41975


SUDAN: UN expert calls on government to end abuses in Darfur

Asma Jahangir, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions, has called on the Sudanese government to end the
"culture of impunity" for those committing human rights abuses in the
western region of Darfur. Briefing reporters in New York after completing
a 13-day tour of Sudan earlier this month, she was quoted by UN News on
Wednesday as saying that "there was no doubt that Khartoum had sponsored,
armed or recruited" the Janjawid militias, which have been blamed for
committing most of the atrocities in Darfur.

Jahangir said "nearly every third or fourth family" she had spoken to
while visiting camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur had
lost a relative to the militias. "It's very hard to say [accurately] how
many people have been killed," she said, but interviews with IDPs
indicated that it would be "quite a large number... They are bound to be
staggering," she added.

She went on to say that the militias, who, like the indigenous African
they were targeting, were predominantly Muslims, often wore the uniforms
of Sudanese government soldiers and used government vehicles. They often
raided villages "in concert with attacks by military forces", she added.
She cautioned, however, that she did not have enough information yet to
categorise what had happened in Darfur "as either ethnic cleansing or
genocide", but "there are strong indications of crimes against humanity".
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=41923 ]


SUDAN: UNHCR appeals for US $90 million to prepare for return of refugees

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has appealed
for US $90 million to fund preparations for the potential return of more
than 500,000 refugees who fled conflict and war-related hardships in
southern Sudan during the past two decades. Many of them are expected to
opt to go home after a comprehensive peace agreement is signed to end 21
years of war between the government and the rebel Sudan People's
Liberation Movement/Army.

"Although peace is not yet final, we feel that there are solid grounds for
optimism, and we must be fully prepared to repatriate, receive and
reintegrate those refugees who wish to do so. Returning refugees are
persons who have voted with their feet in favour of peace, and
repatriation creates its own momentum for further repatriation and peace,"
UN Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees Kamel Morjane told a news
conference in Geneva on Tuesday after returning from a five-day visit to
Sudan:

UNHCR was taking a step-by-step approach to repatriation, Morjane said.
"Our plan of action is ready, it has been ready for a few months now," he
said of the repatriation programme, noting that some refugees had already
started going home on their own. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=41935 ]


SUDAN: Returnees stranded in Kosti and Malakal

About 3,500 southerners returning home from the north have been stranded
in Kosti and Malakal with little access to food, shelter or sanitation,
according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA).

Of these, about 1,500 - some of whom left their homes three months ago -
were currently squatting in Kosti due to a lack of barges travelling
down-river, money to pay for the journey, or fear of getting stuck in the
garrison town of Malakal, about 900 km farther south along the Nile, Ann
Kristin Brunborg, an OCHA programme coordinator, told IRIN. The other
2,000 have managed to make it to Malakal, but are stuck because of general
insecurity in the area and the lack of passenger space on barges,
according to OCHA. In any case, barges were unable to travel far beyond
the town due to low water levels, Brunborg told IRIN.

"They have some plastic sheeting for cover, but the ground is muddy, and
with the rains and the defecation in the open, the living conditions are
desperate," she said. Grains and oil had been distributed by an NGO, the
Adventist Development and Relief Association, in Kosti, she said, but a
local mill was refusing to grind the grains. In consequence, many of the
returnees, who had exhausted funds raised from selling their possessions,
were now complaining of stomach pains. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=41908 ]


ETHIOPIA: Electoral body pledges fair poll in 2005

The head of the National Election Board (NEB) on 24 June urged government
and opposition parties in Ethiopia to ensure "free and fair" elections
next year. Asefa Biru, the NEB executive secretary, told IRIN that the NEB
"will insist government closely cooperate with the election board to take
measures when any official or overzealous cadre interferes". The polls are
expected to be held in May 2005, but both the government and the
opposition are already gearing up to contest.

Asefa said voter education would ensure fair elections and that the NEB -
which comprises seven independent officials - was training election
officers. He dismissed criticisms levelled at him by opposition groups
that he was "not independent" because he had been appointed by parliament
and was too closely linked to the ruling party, the Ethiopian People's
Revolutionary Democratic Front.

He also rejected calls for the participation of international election
observers, whom he described as "tourists", saying they often had little
understanding of the country and its languages. "An election that is run
by foreign aid is not sustainable, because a certain standard would be set
with fanciful election materials, and if that support does not continue,
then the next election would be considered substandard," Asefa said. "The
integrity of the process would be in jeopardy." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=41907 ]


ERITREA: Poor harvest prospects due to inadequate rainfall

Poor rainfall has dulled prospects for the 2004 agricultural season in
many of Eritrea's regions, leading to increasing shortages of water and
food items, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported. According to WFP,
the Northern and Southern Red Sea regions have received below-average and
sporadic rainfall so far this year. The resulting shortages have forced
many people to walk long distances in search of drinking water, while
sugar, bread and milk have become less easily available in the markets of
the port city of Massawa.

In Anseba Region, rains, which normally fell in May, were delayed,
resulting in severe water shortages and delays in sowing of the main
cereal crops, WFP said in its latest food emergency report.

Meanwhile, the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS
Net) reported that whereas the short (azmera) rains between March and May
had ranged from below normal to normal, erratic distribution had disrupted
the planting season and the growth of long-cycle crops. According to a
FEWS Net forecast, the June-September seasonal long (kremti) rains would
be near to below normal in most of the kremti-rain-dependent areas of
Eritrea. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=41945]


SOMALIA: Food shortages worsen as dry conditions persist

Widespread and severe food shortages have continued to affect people in
the northern pastoral and southern agricultural areas of Somalia as a
result of prolonged drought, according to OCHA.

Many parts of the agricultural areas of southern Somalia had reported
total to near-total crop failure due to lack of adequate moisture to
sustain the crops, OCHA said in its June update on the humanitarian
situation in the country. The Food Security Assessment Unit of the UN Food
and Agriculture Organisation had predicted a cereals shortfall of about
70,000 mt.

In the northern and central regions, meagre rainfall had led to haphazard
migrations by some pastoralists, while others had either been unable to
move with their animals without becoming destitute, according to the OCHA
report. Field reports covering pastoral areas in the north continued to
indicate a deteriorating food- and livelihood-security situation,
particularly in the Hawd of Toghdeer, the Sool plateau, northern and
southern Nugal, southern Bari, Mudug and Galgadud, it added. The drought
had affected about 200,000 people in the north, of whom more than 93,000
were in humanitarian crisis, following a total collapse of their
livelihoods. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=41892 ]


DJIBOUTI: Rising food prices could trigger crisis - FEWS Net

Food prices have risen by between 25 percent and 30 percent since August,
and should this trend continue, then a significant number of Djiboutian
households could face a food crisis, a food-security early warning
organisation has warned.

A report released on Monday by FEWS Net said the prices of rice and wheat
flour had risen significantly because of a decline in the value of the
dollar, lower levels of cereal production, rising prices for oil and
concerns over reduced rice production in the Far East, among other
reasons.

It added that basic expenditure for very poor households in the capital,
Djibouti City, had risen from about 20,000 Djibouti francs (US $113) per
household in September to about 21,800 francs last month. Should this rise
to 22,000 francs, then there could be crisis, it added. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=41928 ]


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