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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 201
6 - 12 November 2004


CONTENTS:

ERITREA: Education system to be improved
ETHIOPIA: Old alphabet adapted for modern use in technology
SOMALIA: Areas of Juba Valley inundated by floods
SUDAN: Continuing violence reported in south Darfur
SUDAN: Khartoum accepts no-fly zone, signs deal with rebels
SUDAN: Insecurity hampers WFP food deliveries to Darfur
SUDAN: Clashes reported in eastern Upper Nile


ALSO SEE:

EAST AND HORN OF AFRICA: Relief agencies seek US $479 million for Eritrea,
Somalia and Uganda http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44113

DJIBOUTI: Feature: FGM still a major challenge
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44073



ERITREA: Education system to be improved

Eritrea's education system is to undergo a US $27 million transformation
to improve access to schools and boost quality. The government is planning
to construct 349 new classrooms in 60 schools and equip science
laboratories with funds received from the African Development Fund (ADF).
Computer equipment and reference libraries are also to be established in
schools around the country, said the ADF on Wednesday. It is providing 90
percent of the funding for the projects, a statement issued from Tunis,
Tunisia said.

According to the ADF, the four and a half year project, which will begin
in January 2005 and will be partly funded by the Eritrean government,
focuses on three core areas. It aims to improve access to quality basic
education, improve access to quality secondary education and build the
capacity of the education system. According to the UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF), less than half of women and only two thirds of men can read or
write. A little over half of children attend school and one in five girls
ever make it into secondary schools, UNICEF said in its 2004 State of the
World's Children report.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44098]


ETHIOPIA: Old alphabet adapted for modern use in technology

One of the world's oldest living alphabets could make its debut soon on
mobile phones, Ethiopian scientists said on Thursday. In groundbreaking
research, the ancient script of Ethiopic, which dates back to the fourth
century, has been adapted so it can be used for SMS text messaging. The
scientists believe it will open up the digital age to millions of people
in Ethiopia who cannot speak or write English, but use their own
centuries-old alphabet.

Samuel Kinde, who proposed the research, said the breakthrough means rural
farmers can access healthcare via text messaging, e-commerce and banking.
"We are enabling one of humanity's oldest scripts to enter the wireless
age," he told IRIN. "Think of a rural coffee farmer who will be able to
text yield and price information to dealers in the capital and elsewhere
in real time."

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44097]


SOMALIA: Areas of Juba Valley inundated by floods

Large areas of the Juba Valley in southern Somalia have been flooded, with
thousand of hectares of farmland inundated by rainwater, according to
sources in the affected region. The district commissioner in charge of
Jilib town, 380 km south of Mogadishu, Abdullahi Moalim Hussein, told IRIN
the floods had destroyed farms and properties in the Middle Juba region.
"In October, we had more than three weeks of non-stop rain and it is still
raining," he said. "People have lost their crops and houses".

He said the Deyr rains (September-December) started early this year and
"have been the heaviest seen in a long time". Abdullahi said the area had
been affected by a combination of flash floods caused by the heavy rains
and overflow from the Juba River. "In some villages, the only way in or
out is by boat", he added. "All roads have been cut off, severing business
activity between the town and the villages."

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44076]


SUDAN: Continuing violence reported in south Darfur

Sudanese security forces on Tuesday entered the Al Geir camp for
internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the South Darfur state of western
Sudan for the second time in a week, relief sources and human rights
organisations said. Amnesty International, in a statement, called for an
immediate halt to attacks on IDP camps in Darfur. "The latest assault on
residents at the Al Geir camp near Nyala, is the fourth time over the past
10 days that IDP camps have been attacked," it said.

According to Amnesty, police fired tear gas during the attack, assaulted
residents and bulldozed shelters in the camp, ignoring the protests of
representatives of the UN, the African Union and international aid
agencies who were present during the attack. "Journalists also came under
fire and the deputy chief of the camp was beaten up and arrested," Amnesty
noted.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44094]


SUDAN: Khartoum accepts no-fly zone, signs deal with rebels

The Sudanese government has agreed to end military flights over Darfur and
has signed a peace deal to end 20 months of hostilities with rebels from
the western region. After three weeks of difficult talks sponsored by the
African Union (AU) in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, the parties to the
conflict late Tuesday signed a series of breakthrough agreements touching
on security and humanitarian issues.

The deals, which include measures to end further fighting, along with the
Sudanese government agreement to observe a no-fly zone over Darfur, will
enable the launch of massive relief for the more than 1.5 million people
displaced by the conflict. The peace talks had been held up by the
government's refusal to agree to the no-fly zone. The two rebel groups
attending the talks - the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice
and Equity Movement (JEM) - had repeatedly accused government forces of
carrying out air attacks in breach of an existing ceasefire.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44077]


SUDAN: Insecurity hampers WFP food deliveries to Darfur

The number of people in the western Sudanese region of Darfur who received
food from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in October dropped by nearly
175,000 compared to the previous month as a result of increasing violence
there, a WFP spokesman told IRIN on Tuesday. "The escalating violence is
undermining WFP's ability to operate effectively across the three states
of Darfur," said WFP's senior spokesperson, Peter Smerdon. "Large pockets
of Darfur are closed to UN agencies as 'No-Go' areas, making it impossible
for food and other assistance to be provided."

Fighting with heavy weapons broke out seven km from Nertiti in West Darfur
on 21 October, prompting WFP NGO-partner CARE to suspend distributions in
the town. The fighting also stranded a convoy of 22 WFP-contracted trucks
bound for nearby Golo. On 30 October, gunmen attacked a convoy of five
trucks with a police escort in South Darfur. Five attackers and one
policeman were killed.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44071]


SUDAN: Clashes reported in eastern Upper Nile

At least three people have been reportedly killed in clashes between armed
Sudanese militias and civilians in an area controlled by the Sudanese
People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) near Nasir town in eastern
Upper Nile, sources in the area told IRIN on Tuesday. The clashes, the
sources added, occurred after a disagreement over territory. The militias
had wanted to secure a newly constructed airstrip, but allegedly met
resistance by armed civilians from Mandeang locality, southeast of Nasir.

The militias were later driven back, the sources added. The US-funded
Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) had in October reported that
armed groups, including the Sudanese national army, military intelligence
and various armed militias - purportedly aligned to the government -
mistreated civilians on several occasions in southern Sudan.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44055]


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