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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 214
2 - 8 October 2004


CONTENTS:

SUDAN: UN panel to probe genocide claims in Darfur
SUDAN: Peace talks resume between gov't and SPLM/A
SUDAN: Harassment of civilians reported in Shilluk
SUDAN: UN envoy criticises government over Darfur
SUDAN: Security worsening for those displaced in Darfur
SOMALIA: Presidential candidates in final campaign push
SOMALIA: School-feeding programme to be expanded
ETHIOPIA: Famine-prone areas worse off


ALSO SEE:

SUDAN: Desperation on both sides of the frontline
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43567&SelectRegion=East_Africa


SUDAN: UN panel to probe genocide claims in Darfur

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has set up a commission of
inquiry to investigate and determine whether genocide has been committed
in Sudan's strife-torn western region of Darfur. He appointed an Italian
judge to lead the probe.

The five-member commission, which was formed on Thursday, will also
investigate reports of violations of international humanitarian law and
human rights in Darfur, where militias locally known as the Janjawid stand
accused of killing and raping thousands of villagers since February 2003,
when rebel groups took up arms against the Sudanese government. The
Janjawid, made up largely of ethnic Arab tribes and who are allegedly
allied to government troops, have been accused of committing atrocities
against black African communities in Darfur.

Annan's decision to set up the commission of inquiry followed the
Council's request that he do so in a resolution adopted last month on the
humanitarian and security crises engulfing Darfur, a vast and impoverished
region. About 1.45 million people are internally displaced within Darfur
and another 200,000 are living as refugees in neighbouring Chad. UN
officials have described the situation as the world's worst humanitarian
crisis.

Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43564&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=SUDAN


SUDAN: Peace talks resume between gov't and SPLM/A

Talks aimed at thrashing out a final peace settlement between the Sudanese
government and the southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army
resumed in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Thursday after a two-month
hiatus.

"My presence here is an expression of our unwavering commitment [...] to
clear all outstanding issues," SPLM/A leader John Garang said at the
opening ceremony. "I wish to assure you all that I am prepared to remain
here to complete negotiations and agreements on all outstanding issues and
sign a comprehensive peace agreement," he added.

The Sudanese Vice President Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha said that Khartoum
was committed to the peace process and pledged that "the world would
receive good news" at the end of the current fifth round of face-to-face
talks between him and Garang. "I confirm the readiness of the government
of Sudan to continue negotiating with sincerity and good faith," he said.
"We understand the importance of these negotiations. We are therefore
going to give the negotiations their due attention," he added.

The conflict in southern Sudan erupted in 1983 when rebels in the mainly
Christian and animist south took up arms against authorities based in the
in the Muslim, largely Arabised north to demand greater autonomy for their
region.

Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43558&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=SUDAN


SUDAN: Harassment of civilians reported in Shilluk Kingdom

Armed groups including the Sudanese national army, military intelligence
and various armed forces aligned to the government have abused civilians
on several occasions in southern Sudan, the United States-funded Civilian
Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) reported.

"There is an unmistakable pattern of looting of civilian livestock assets,
which coupled with harassment and intimidation of civilians, spell grave
humanitarian consequences for the IDP [internally displaced persons] in
Malakal [in Upper Nile State]," the CPMT said in a new report released on
Wednesday.

"The government must immediately end the insecurity being posed by its
allied forces in order to avert a humanitarian crisis in Malakal and
surrounding areas. The local population should be allowed to resume their
livelihoods and IDPs must feel safe to return to their homes and plant
their crops before the end of the current rainy season," it added.

Malakal, the headquarters of Upper Nile, has an estimated 35,000 IDPs,
who, according to the CPMT, live under difficult humanitarian conditions.
The IDPs fled into the town to escape instability that has been
experienced in Shilluk Kingdom since the October 2003 defection of Lam
Akol from the government-allied SPLM-United [Sudan People's Liberation
Movement break-away faction) to the SPLM/A [Sudan People's Liberation
Movement/Army].

Lam Akol was a senior member of the SPLM/A before breaking away with
others to form the SPLM/A-Nasir in a rebellion that split the movement in
1991. He again broke away in 1995, becoming chairman of SPLM-United,
signed an agreement with the government in 1997 and served as its
transport minister for five years.

Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43543&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=SUDAN


SUDAN: UN envoy criticises government over Darfur

There has been no systematic improvement of security for people living in
the troubled western Sudanese region of Darfur, where frequent attacks by
armed militias have continued alongside breaches of the ceasefire by both
the Sudanese government and the rebel groups, Jan Pronk, a senior United
Nations official, said on Tuesday.

In a briefing to the UN Security Council in New York, Pronk, special envoy
of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said there had also been an alarming rise
in armed banditry. He said that while Khartoum had not reversed the gains
it had achieved in August, "there was no systematic improvement of
people's security and no progress on ending impunity".

Pronk told reporters in New York that he had urged the AU to increase the
size of its force and the number of its monitors, currently standing at
3,500 and 350 respectively. "The AU is willing, there is no lack of
political will in the AU, but there is a capacity problem and that has to
be supported by other countries," he said.

Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43527&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=SUDAN


SUDAN: Security worsening for those displaced in Darfur - CARE

The humanitarian agency CARE said on Monday that insecurity was worsening
in the strife-torn Sudanese region of Darfur and warned that those
displaced by the conflict would not be able to return to their homes in
the near future unless security was restored.

"Insecurity in Darfur is increasing, leaving victims of violence more
vulnerable and more desperate. Unless the Government of Sudan, supported
by the African Union [AU] and the international community, can ensure
safety and security in the region, people will continue to live in fear
and be unable to move out of their dismal, temporary housing and return
home," CARE-USA said in a statement.

According to CARE, fighting between government and rebel forces had
intensified in September and that cases of banditry had increased.
Insecurity had forced more people to flee their homes, causing a continued
influx of people into camps in South Darfur State in particular.

Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43477&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=SUDAN


SOMALIA: Presidential candidates in final campaign push

Somali presidential hopefuls campaigned among their fellow members of
parliament on Thursday, the final opportunity for each of the candidates
to drum up support in the assembly, which will vote to choose the
president on Sunday.

Twenty-seven men and one woman are contesting the presidency in what is
widely seen as the culmination of a tortuous two-year peace process in
Kenya, mediated by the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on
Development (IGAD).

Delegates to the Somali reconciliation conference formed the transitional
federal parliament in August. The 275-member assembly last month elected a
speaker, who will on Sunday preside over the election of the president at
the Kasarani Sports Stadium in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. The president
will in turn appoint a prime minister mandated to form a government.

Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43555&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=SOMALIA


SOMALIA: School-feeding programme to be expanded

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) plans to expand its
school-feeding project in Somalia once a government has been
re-established and security restored in all areas to facilitate the
revival of the Horn of Africa country's poor education system, a senior
WFP official said.

"What we definitely will do is to greatly expand our school feeding
project," Robert Hauser, WFP's country director for Somalia told IRIN on
Wednesday. "The education sector at the moment is the highest priority of
the UN system and of most of the donor community also."

He said a pilot school-feeding programme run by WFP in 23 schools in the
self-declared republic of Somaliland in northwestern Somalia, had led to a
50 percent increase in enrollment rates, with 35 percent more girls now
going to school. The Somaliland school-feeding project would be extended
to 37 other schools by May next year.

Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43528&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=SOMALIA


ETHIOPIA: Famine-prone areas worse off

Famine-prone areas of Ethiopia are worse off now than 20 years ago at the
time of the 1984 tragedy that claimed up to a million lives, Save the
Children UK (SC UK) said on Monday.

Mike Aaronson, head of SC UK, said in a statement it was "shocking" that
millions of children still went hungry in Ethiopia, blaming apathy by
world leaders. "Millions of people in the historically famine-prone
northeastern highlands are worse off and more vulnerable than ever," he
said on the eve of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's three-day visit to
Ethiopia to push Africa's plight to the top of the world agenda.

SC UK stressed that 4 million people faced starvation each year without
western handouts - 20 years after Bob Geldof formed Band Aid to help feed
desperate Ethiopians when 8 million faced starvation. "It is shocking that
20 years after Band Aid millions of children still experience hunger,"
Aaronson said.

"We know what world leaders need to do to meet their promise to halve
world poverty by 2015," he said. "Yet, in the last 20 years, donors have
shown a lack of political will and a short-sighted approach to aid that
has compounded poverty in Ethiopia."

Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43504&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=ETHIOPIA


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