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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 201
25 September - 1 October 2004


CONTENTS:

DJIBOUTI: Pastoral areas facing food shortages due to poor rainfall
ETHIOPIA: Federal parliamentary elections set for May 2005
SUDAN: Cases of suspected Hepatitis E on rise in Darfur - WHO
SUDAN: Renewed fighting reported in South Darfur
SUDAN: MSF alarmed by inadequate emergency intervention in Darfur
SUDAN: Tight security in Khartoum as gov't claims coup attempt
SOMALIA: Heavy rains leave 300 families homeless in Sanaag region
SOMALIA: AU welcomes progress in peace process


See also:

ETHIOPIA: Interview with WHO Assistant Director-General at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43359]


DJIBOUTI: Pastoral areas facing food shortages due to poor rainfall

Inadequate rainfall from July to September has brought about food
shortages in the southeastern and northwestern pastoral zones, causing an
increase in food prices since September and bringing hardship to many
households throughout Djibouti, a famine alert agency reported. July rains
were below normal throughout the country, but there had been some
localised improvements in some areas during August, the USAID-funded
Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net) said in its latest update
on Djibouti published on Friday.

"Future prospects are not promising for the Karan/Karma [rain] dependent
areas, which face a long, dry six months before the next rainy season
resumes," said the FEWS Net report. "Staple food prices have stabilised at
higher-than-average levels following continuous increases since September
last year." In the southeastern pastoral zone, failure of the seasonal
rains had led to unusual movements of livestock in search of pasture and
water, but the situation had improved somewhat where localised rains have
occurred.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43385]


ETHIOPIA: Federal parliamentary elections set for May 2005

Ethiopia will hold national elections for its federal parliament on 15 May
2005, officials told IRIN. Ten national and 57 regional parties will run
in the polls, with results announced on 8 June 2005, officials from the
National Election Board (NEB) said on Saturday. Ethiopia's Information
Minister Bereket Simon said that the elections were likely to be fought on
the issues of the economy and democratic reforms, adding that it would
allow the electorate to vote on the government's economic and development
record.

"The most important issues in the 2005 elections are going to be economic
progress, good governance and development," he said. "The issue of
conducting a free and fair election is going to be a priority for the
government." International election observers have been invited into the
country to monitor the polls, which were previously marred by serious
irregularities. Some 38 million people are expected to vote at 35,000
polling stations in Ethiopia's 547 constituencies, costing US $5.2
million.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43362]


SUDAN: Cases of suspected Hepatitis E on rise in Darfur - WHO

The number of reported cases of suspected Hepatitis E in western Sudan's
strife-torn region of Darfur has risen to 6,861, including 87 deaths, the
World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest update on the outbreak
issued on Tuesday. According to WHO, the total number of reported cases
per week had continued to increase, with West Darfur State still the most
affected area. The disease was first reported in camps for internally
displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur in May.

Health workers from Sudan's Health Ministry, International Committee of
the Red Cross, Medecins du Monde-France, Medecins sans Frontieres-Holland,
Oxfam, UN Children's Fund and UN Joint Logistics Centre have been working
with WHO to step up mass hygiene education programmes, increase the
availability of soap, dig new wells, and ensure effective chlorination of
water bladders and wells. South Darfur State had the poorest water and
sanitation indicators, according to WHO. The agency said it was working
with the water and environmental sanitation department of the Sudanese
government and the state Ministry of Health to develop an emergency
environmental health plan for IDP camps in South Darfur.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43416]


SUDAN: Renewed fighting reported in South Darfur

Renewed fighting in South Darfur State has reportedly driven at least
5,000 people from their homes in the last three days, non-governmental
organisations operating in the area said on Tuesday. The displaced, they
added, were now seeking shelter under trees and waiting without food,
water or shelter. It was not however possible to confirm who was fighting
who, Martha Clarke, head of public relations for Action by Churches
Together (ACT)/Caritas, told IRIN.

"We are very concerned about this highly insecure and dangerous situation.
We are seeing more and more civilians being driven from their homes by
fighting. The international community must continue to try and negotiate
peace in the region," she said. In Khartoum, the Sudanese news agency
reported that the Minister of State at the Ministry of Humanitarian
Affairs, Muhammad Yusuf Abdallah, had accused rebel groups in Darfur of
violating a ceasefire agreement reached earlier with the government.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43409]


SUDAN: MSF alarmed by inadequate emergency intervention in Darfur

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has expressed concern over the plight of
tens of thousands of displaced people in Sudan's South Darfur region, whom
it said, continued to suffer because the emergency operation was
inadequate, which had led to high child mortality rates. "It is a disgrace
that just minutes from Nyala international airport, up to 66,000 displaced
people continue to live without adequate food or sanitation," said Vince
Hoedt, coordinator of MSF's programmes in South Darfur, in a press release
issued by the agency on Monday.

"The people in Kalma camp are completely dependent on food distributions
that are irregular and insufficient," said Hoedt. "People fleeing ongoing
violence in the region continue to arrive." Hoedt said that MSF was
providing healthcare and nutritional support in Kalma camp, but more help
was urgently required to prevent the situation from getting worse. Newly
completed epidemiological surveys carried out by MSF in South Darfur
showed that the overall level and quality of aid remained insufficient.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43386]


SUDAN: Tight security in Khartoum as gov't claims coup attempt

Sudanese security forces set up roadblocks, searched vehicles and houses
and intensified surveillance around the capital, Khartoum, after the
government on Friday accused the Islamist opposition Popular National
Congress Party of former speaker Hasan Abdullah al-Turabi of plotting to
overthrow President Umar Hasan al-Bashir's administration. Bashir, in a
meeting with supporters from eastern Sudan, said a plot had been uncovered
to capture power "regardless of what might happen to the people" of Sudan.
He said the foiled coup attempt was "plotted under the leadership and
direction" of Turabi.

"We shall fulfill all our duties towards our homeland and defend the
rights of the Sudanese people," Bashir said. "There is true conspiracy
against Sudan through the use of sedition, alleged racial cleansing and
genocide." An opposition leader dismissed the alleged plot. "It is all
made up to divert international attention and pressure over the Darfur
conflict and other related issues," Sudan People's Liberation
Movement/Army (SPLM/A) spokesman Samson Kwaje told reporters in Nairobi.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43363]


SOMALIA: Heavy rains leave 300 families homeless in Sanaag region

Heavy rainfall has lashed the Sanaag region of the self-declared republic
of Somaliland destroying the homes of some 300 families who have been
receiving help from the local authorities, an official said on Tuesday. A
mission from the Somaliland administration had been to the affected area
to assess the extent of the problem caused by three days of torrential
rains that also made many roads impassable, Somaliland's Information
Minister Abdillahi Duale told IRIN by telephone from the capital,
Hargeisa.

Sanaag is one of the northern Somalia regions that had been ravaged by a
prolonged drought, which caused the deaths of large numbers of livestock
and left hundreds of thousands of people in desperate need for food aid.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43396]


SOMALIA: AU welcomes progress in peace process

The African Union (AU) on Thursday welcomed recent progress made towards
the reestablishment of a functioning government in Somalia and urged the
international community to assist the country's national institutions once
they are fully installed.

Delegates attending the Somali reconciliation conference in the Kenyan
capital, Nairobi, formed a transitional federal parliament in August. The
275 members of the assembly are due to elect the country's president on 10
October. The president will in turn appoint a prime minister, who will be
required to form a government.

The AU's Peace and Security Council (PSC), which met at the Pan-African
body's headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on 17 September
urged members of the transitional federal parliament "to remain focused
and to work for the early election of the president and the formation of
the Transitional Federal Government", the AU said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS
NET) has said that at least 1.3 million people in southern, central and
northern Somalia will require emergency food assistance until early next
year. Of this total, about 700,000 are struggling to recover from years of
successive drought coupled with the effects of frequent outbreaks in
factional fighting.

[Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43431&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=SOMALIA]


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