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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 201
18 - 24 September 2004


CONTENTS:

SUDAN: Conflict affecting more people in Darfur region
SUDAN: Insecurity remains major hindrance to humanitarian work in
   Darfur - UN
SUDAN: Khartoum condemns new UN resolution on Darfur
SOMALIA: Clashes reported in disputed Sool region
SOMALIA: Calm in the south after factional violence
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Light at the end of the tunnel - UNMEE
ERITREA: Release detained journalists, watchdog groups urge
ETHIOPIA: Somali Region "near emergency" say government and aid agency
ETHIOPIA: Child survival project launched
ETHIOPIA: US launches $231 million programme on food security


SUDAN: EU welcomes Security Council resolution on Darfur

The European Union (EU) has welcomed last week's adoption by the United 
Nations Security Council of a resolution that warns Sudan of punitive 
measures, including sanctions, if it failed to protect civilians in the 
strife-torn western region of Darfur. "The EU fully supports the appeal 
made by the Security Council on the government of Sudan to meet its 
obligations towards all Sudanese and the international community," said a 
declaration issued by the EU presidency in Brussels on Wednesday. "The 
European Union joins the Security Council in deploring the recent 
cease-fire violations and stresses the urgency of ending the climate of 
impunity in Darfur by bringing to justice those responsible, including 
members of the popular defence forces and Janjawid militia."

The conflict in Darfur pits the Sudanese military and militias said to be 
allied to the government against rebels fighting to end alleged 
marginalisation and discrimination of Darfur residents by the state. The 
militias, locally known as Janjawid, have been accused of committing 
atrocities against civilians. The fighting, which erupted early last year, 
has displaced about 1.45 million people and sent another 200,000 fleeing 
across the border into Chad. The UN has described problems spawned by the 
fighting in Darfur as currently being the worst humanitarian crisis in the 
world. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43315 ]

SUDAN: Conflict affecting more people in Darfur region

The number of people affected by conflict in the troubled western Sudanese 
region of Darfur rose to 1.8 million in August, of whom 1.45 million were 
internally displaced persons (IDPs), the United Nations said on Wednesday. 
"The number is higher because of a combination of two factors - we are now 
accessing new areas and have registered new IDPs, and there have been 
fresh arrivals of IDPs fleeing their villages," Jennifer Abrahamson, 
spokesperson for the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
(OCHA) in Sudan told IRIN. "The number is likely to increase because we 
are now reaching more rebel territory."

According to the UN's Darfur Humanitarian Profile for September, which was 
released on Wednesday, another unknown number within Darfur's estimated 
population of six million who were neither IDPs nor host community had 
also been affected. "Despite the signalling of a ceasefire agreement on 8 
April, general insecurity persists throughout the region with continuing 
violence, banditry and lawlessness by various armed groups," it said. "The 
scale and impact of the crisis on the civilian population continues to 
rise due to an uncertain security environment."

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43297 ]


SUDAN: Insecurity remains major hindrance to humanitarian work in Darfur - 
UN

Insecurity and clashes between the various armed groups in the troubled 
western Sudanese region of Darfur have continued to hinder efforts by 
humanitarian organisations to reach some of the people affected by the 
conflict there, a UN spokeswoman said on Tuesday. During the month of 
August, an estimated 100,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur 
could not be reached by aid workers because of clashes between armed 
groups and general insecurity, Jennifer Abrahamson, spokeswoman for the UN 
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told IRIN by 
telephone from Khartoum.

Some 70,000 of those who could not be reached were in South Darfur, 25,000 
in North Darfur and another 5,000 in West Darfur, Abrahamson said. "It is 
a relatively fluid situation. Insecurity remains an enormous concern for 
us," she added. [Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43277 ]

SUDAN: Khartoum condemns new UN resolution on Darfur

The Sudanese government has condemned as "discreditable" a UN resolution 
threatening to impose sanctions against the country if Khartoum does not 
improve security and protect civilians in the troubled western region of 
Darfur. "This resolution, according to our assessment, frustrates our aims 
and is discreditable," Mutrif Siddiq, undersecretary in Sudan's Foreign 
Ministry, said on state-run television on Sunday.

"Threatening to impose sanctions gives wrong and negative signals which 
could be harmful ... It also gives a negative signal to the armed groups, 
telling them a sword has been put on the Sudanese government and therefore 
it has to wait and see... the armed groups will not negotiate with good 
intentions," Siddiq said. The UN Security Council on Saturday adopted a 
US-sponsored resolution threatening to "consider taking additional 
measures, including sanctions, to affect Sudan's oil sector and the 
government or its individual members" unless there were tangible efforts 
to protect civilians in Darfur against militia attacks.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43259 ]


SOMALIA: Clashes reported in disputed Sool region

Troops from the self-declared republic of Somaliland and those of the 
self-declared autonomous region of Puntland clashed on Wednesday in the 
disputed region of Sool, to which both sides have laid claim, a local 
source said. "A heavy exchange of gunfire took place around the village of 
Abeseoley [22 km north of the regional capital, Las Anod]," Muhammad Sa'id 
Kashwito, a journalist on the Bosaso-based Midnimo Radio, told IRIN on 
Thursday.

He said reports from the area indicated that the fighting was between 
"reconnaissance units" from the two sides. It was not immediately clear 
what triggered the fighting or what the exact casualty figures were. Both 
sides blamed each other over the fighting. The regions of Sool and Sanag, 
in northern Somalia, geographically fall within the borders of 
pre-independence British Somaliland, but most of the area's inhabitants, 
the Warsangeli, Dhulbahante and Majerteen communities, who are members of 
the larger Darod clan, are associated with residents of Puntland.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43318 ]


SOMALIA: Calm in the south after factional violence

Southern Somalia's port city of Kismayo was reported calm on Tuesday 
following last week's fighting between two rival armed factions in the 
surrounding areas, residents said. "There has been no fighting anywhere in 
the Juba Valley since Saturday," a source told IRIN by telephone from 
Kismayo. The city is situated in the Juba Valley area. He said that most 
of the people who fled their villages near Kismayo had returned to their 
homes.

Those who fled included an estimated 500 people who crossed the border 
into Kenya at the end of last week and who are now living with local 
communities on the Kenyan side of the frontier. Most of the Somalis came 
from the village of Dhobley, not far from the border, and entered Kenya 
through the border town of Liboi on Friday and early Saturday, UNHCR 
spokesman Emmanuel Nyabera told IRIN on Monday. He said most of them had 
expressed willingness to go back to their home area once calm had 
returned.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43278 ]


ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Light at the end of the tunnel - UNMEE

The new Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and 
Eritrea (UNMEE), Maj-Gen Rajender Singh told IRIN on Monday he was 
optimistic that the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea could 
eventually be resolved peacefully, adding that the military situation was 
fairly stable. "I am basically an optimist. I do see a light at the end of 
the tunnel from the fact that the leadership on both sides is fully 
committed to peace [and] have reaffirmed that over and over again, 
including at the MCC [Military Coordination Commission] meeting today," 
Singh said in an interview.

UNMEE was established after Ethiopia and Eritrea signed an Agreement on 
Cessation of Hostilities on 18 June 2000 in Algiers, Algeria. The two 
countries had gone to war in May 1998 because of a border dispute. The 
cessation of hostilities agreement was followed by the signing of a 
comprehensive peace agreement on 12 December 2000, also in Algiers. "I am 
quite hopeful that the current political impasse will be broken and I do 
see some better times coming as far peace in this region is concerned," 
Singh told IRIN in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. "As far as UNMEE is 
concerned, there is no lack of effort. It will be our endeavour, the 
endeavour of my troops on the ground to ensure that we do our best to 
ensure that peace and stability remains in the TSZ [Transition Security 
Zone], and that we carry out our tasks as per the mandate of the Security 
Council," he added.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43298 ]


ERITREA: Release detained journalists, watchdog groups urge

Ten media watchdogs have called on the government of Eritrea to free 17 
detained journalists, a statement issued on Friday by the New York-based 
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said. "Those detained include more 
than a dozen journalists who have been incarcerated for over three years 
without being formally charged," CPJ said. "Jailing people for the 
peaceful expression of their opinion is a serious violation of human 
rights."

The CPJ issued the statement to mark the third anniversary of the 
detention of the journalists, most of whom were detained in September 2001 
following the government's imposition of a ban on all private and 
independent publications in the country. The independent media were closed 
down after being accused of engaging in activities that "endangered 
national security and unity". They were accused of carrying the opinions 
of government dissidents, 11 of whom are also in detention.

[Full story 
at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43274 ]


ETHIOPIA: Somali Region "near emergency" say government and aid agency

Parts of the Somali Region in eastern Ethiopia are facing "near emergency" 
conditions, government and aid workers warned on Tuesday, blaming poor 
rains in both 2003 and 2004 for steadily worsening food, water and health 
conditions in the area, one of the most remote in Ethiopia. Currency 
fluctuations caused by a breakthrough in peace talks between rival 
factions in neighbouring Somalia had exacerbated the problems, they said.

The warning came in the latest Somali Region Food Security Highlights, 
which is jointly issued by the Somali Regional Government emergency arm 
and Save the Children UK (SC UK). According to a recent survey, the number 
of people currently in need of food assistance up until December is 1.4 
million. The report said local conflicts between rival clans were also 
playing a role in worsening conditions in parts of the region's nine 
zones. "Clan conflicts continue to be a problem in a number of zones," the 
report noted. "Conflicts restrict pastoral mobility, undermine traditional 
resource sharing, and increase risks and slow trade activities and force 
prices upward."

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43294 ]


ETHIOPIA: Child survival project launched

A major child survival programme has been launched to cut mortality rates 
and increase access to health care for mothers and their children, UN 
agencies said on Friday. Six million children in Ethiopia are being 
targeted under the initiative launched by the UN's Children's Fund 
(UNICEF) and World Food Programme (WFP). The project, known as Enhanced 
Outreach Strategy (EOS), is a three-year child survival programme in seven 
regions of Ethiopia.

Some of the country's most remote villages have been specifically targeted 
under the scheme funded by the Canadian government. "The EOS activities 
are ensuring that mothers and children receive basic preventative health 
care that is their fundamental human right," Bjorn Ljungqvist, head of 
UNICEF in Ethiopia, said. "By taking health care to the village level, 
working with community volunteers, we ensure that every mother and child 
gets the care they are entitled to." "We are ensuring that preventable 
diseases are treated before they become more serious and endanger 
children's survival," he added.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43261 ]


ETHIOPIA: US launches $231 million programme on food security

The United States is to launch a US $231 million programme aimed at ending 
food insecurity, hunger, and poverty in Ethiopia, the US embassy said on 
Friday. The ambitious five-year scheme is designed to boost economic 
opportunities for impoverished Ethiopians in almost all regions of the 
country. It includes $19 million for a Productive Safety Net Program that 
aims to insulate impoverished farmers from drought and poor harvests, the 
embassy said. A further $100 million would be directed into the scheme as 
food aid.

Five million farmers are to be targeted under the program. International 
donors and the Ethiopian government argue that the new scheme can build 
people's assets by providing support not just at times of hunger. But they 
say it needs to ensure that the disabled or other vulnerable groups will 
still have access to food aid or financial support even if they are unable 
to work. Safety programmes were backed by the G8 at their June summit in 
the US as a way of breaking the cycle of famine that stalks the Horn of 
Africa. It is one of four critical areas in the Ethiopian government's 
Coalition for Food Security.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43260]


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