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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 221
29 November - 3 December 2004


CONTENTS:

SUDAN: More violence reported in Darfur region
SUDAN: Aid agencies seek $1.5 billion for programmes in 2005
SUDAN: Rising tensions reported in areas of Upper Nile
SOMALIA: New interim federal cabinet named
SOMALIA: Women demand greater role in new government
SOMALIA: Forty people killed by landmines in 2003
ETHIOPIA: Prime minister's wife takes public HIV test
ETHIOPIA: EC launches drive to provide safe water


ALSO SEE: SUDAN: Mines may hinder reconstruction in the south at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44432&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=SUDAN

ALSO SEE: IRIN Web Special on Humanitarian Mine Action (with special focus
on the 2004 Nairobi Summit of a Mine Free World) at:
http://www.irinnews.org/webspecials/HMA/default.asp


SUDAN: More violence reported in Darfur region

Clashes between government troops, armed militias and suspected rebels
were reported on Thursday in the western Sudanese state of South Darfur,
two days after attacks were reported in neighbouring North Darfur state,
relief workers in the region told IRIN.

The African Union (AU) warned that it might resort to force to protect its
peacekeepers deployed in Darfur. AU spokesman Assane Ba told IRIN on
Thursday that the current 830-strong peacekeeping force in the region
would "not give in to intimidation".

The warning came after a Chadian AU ceasefire monitor was shot in the
shoulder on Wednesday when their convoy came under attack in South Darfur.
"This is the first time we have come under attack since we arrived in
Darfur," Ba said in Addis Ababa. "This is unacceptable. It comes as we are
increasing our presence there so we think this may be to intimidate us,
but this will not stop us."

The latest reports of fighting, relief workers said, had come only a day
after aid workers were reported to have started returning to Tawillah, the
base of the North Darfur region, where rebels launched an attack last week
in violation of ceasefire accords. On Tuesday, armed men had attacked a
village in the western Sudanese state of North Darfur forcing about 2,000
IDPs to flee from their homes, the medical charity Medecins Sans
Frontieres (MSF) reported.

Full story at:
http:/www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44500&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=SUDAN


SUDAN: Aid agencies seek $1.5 billion for urgent programmes in 2005

The UN and its partners in Sudan launched their 2005 work plan on Tuesday
with an appeal for US $1.5 billion for urgent programmes to support
humanitarian, protection, recovery and development activities in the
conflict-ravaged country.

"The global annual UN humanitarian appeal for 2005 asked for $1.7 billion
to save the lives of people trapped in 14 crises around the world," Dennis
Johnson, head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) in southern Sudan, told the launch ceremony in the Kenyan capital,
Nairobi. The plan was due to be simultaneously launched in Khartoum,
Geneva and New York City.

The agencies estimate that between 640,000 and 1.2 million internally
displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees will, in 2005, return to their areas
of origin, mainly in southern Sudan. There are, however, already 1.5
million IDPs and conflict-affected people in the south.

The work plan contains some 304 projects to be implemented by 49 agencies
and non-governmental organisations, including those that focus on southern
Sudan, the transitional areas (Abyei, Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains),
Darfur, and eastern Sudan. There are also a number of national programmes
to support the peace process.

Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44419&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=SUDAN


SUDAN: Rising tensions reported in areas of Upper Nile

A build-up of armed militias, government troops and southern-based Sudan
People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) fighters in various areas of
the Upper Nile region has raised tensions between local civilians and the
armed groups, sources in Malakal told IRIN on Thursday.

According to the sources, clashes had been reported between armed militias
in the area of Gualguk, some 130 km northwest of Nasir town close to the
oil area of Adar. One person was killed before government authorities
intervened to stop the fighting.

Clashes were also reported around Mandeang, across the Sobat River,
between 6 and 8 November when armed men believed to be government troops
based in Ketbek, near Nasir, shelled villages. The armed men, the sources
added, also launched attacks on villages in Duk Padiet, killed a number of
people and abducted some children.

The USAID-funded Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS-Net) warned in
a report entitled "Southern Sudan Food Security Watch", issued on
Wednesday, that an increased presence of armed men along the Sobat River
zone was likely to threaten dry-season food sourcing in the eastern flood
plains.

Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44359&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=SUDAN


SOMALIA: New interim federal cabinet named

The interim prime minister of Somalia, Ali Muhammad Gedi, on Wednesday
named a partial government of 27 ministers who immediately took oath of
office at a ceremony attended by President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed in the
Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Gedi's director of communications, Hussein Jabiri, told IRIN that the full
government would consist of 31 ministers, 31 vice-ministers and five state
ministers. The rest of the cabinet along with the vice-ministers, he said,
would be named "within a few days".

"After long consultations with the various Somali parties, the prime
minister has come up with a broad-based, all-inclusive cabinet," Jabiri
said. All Somali factions, he added, were represented in the new cabinet,
with some faction leaders being given important ministry positions.

Female Somali leaders, however, decried the lack of gender balance in the
new cabinet, which has only one full woman minister, Fawzia Muhammad
Shayka, for gender affairs.

Asha Abdalla, an MP, told IRIN that the appointment of one woman would be
"an injustice against Somali women".

"There should have been at least four women ministers," she added. "This
is a continuation of the marginalisation of women."

Asha Haji another MP told IRIN: "It is unfortunate that women are once
again marginalised. We have been denied our quota in the parliament and
again in the cabinet."

Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44450&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=SOMALIA


SOMALIA: Women demand greater role in new government

A group of 19 Somali NGOs have called for a stronger women's
representation in the country's new government, saying women should be
given "significant ministries" to reflect their true position in the
Somali society.

The demand was contained in a statement issued on Saturday following a
week of "informal and formal" meetings in the capital, Mogadishu. Halimo
Abdi Arush, of IIDA (Women's Development Organisation) told IRIN on Monday
that the women were demanding "what is rightfully theirs".

The Somali interim constitution stipulates that 12 percent of members of
parliament should be women. However, they only account for eight percent
of the 275 parliamentarians, said Halimo.

Halimo said women carried the greatest burden of the Somali society
throughout the civil war. "We cared for the weak and the dispossessed,"
she told IRIN. "It would be unfair to deny the women their rights of
political participation at this stage."

Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44389&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=SOMALIA


SOMALIA: Forty people killed by landmines in 2003

Forty people were killed by landmines in Somalia during 2003 out of 75
reported casualties, an international humanitarian organisation, Geneva
Call, reported on Thursday. The findings are contained in a report of the
first joint assessment of the mine problem in the Somali region of Hiraan
and Bakool since 1991.

"There is little or no mine action currently underway in central and south
Somalia," Pascal Bangard, programme coordinator with Geneva Call, told a
group of mine-advocacy groups and donors in Nairobi. "There is a need for
rapid action to reduce the impact of landmines and UXOs [unexploded
ordnance] in Somalia, starting with mine-risk education and clearance."

Although the exact scale of the landmine problem in Somalia was unknown,
it has had a significant negative impact on the local population,
resulting in human and livestock casualties, denial of pastoral and
cultivable land, and road closures, the report said.

"The most affected today are young children who do not know the dangers of
landmines, and girls and women collecting firewood," Suleiman Haji
Abdulle, manager of the Puntland Mine Action Centre, told IRIN after the
launch of the report.

Meanwhile, Somalia's new Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi appealed to the
international community on Friday to assist the war-torn nation to
eradicate landmines, saying mines were a "threat to reconstruction
efforts".

"Now that peace is in hand, we request you to join these nations in
supporting our efforts to free Somalia from the scourge of landmines,"
Gedi told delegates at the Nairobi conference on landmines.

Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44499&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=SOMALIA


ETHIOPIA: Prime minister's wife takes public HIV test

The Ethiopian prime minister's wife became one of the few high-profile
figures in the country to take a public HIV test on Tuesday. Azeb Mesfin,
38, joined seven female ambassadors to take the test to mark World AIDS
Day and urged others to be tested and "know their status".

"I would encourage others to follow our example and find out their
status," the mother of three said after her test at Zewditu Memorial
Hospital in Addis Ababa, currently Ethiopia's largest HIV/AIDS treatment
centre.

She is spearheading a campaign in the country to raise awareness, as part
of the National Coalition of Women Against HIV/AIDS, a group of
high-profile women including senior government ministers. Azeb added that
her husband, Meles Zenawi, had taken a test.

Voluntary counselling and testing is seen as a critical weapon in the
fight against the epidemic. Still, few Ethiopians have the opportunity to
be tested, as there are only a handful of centres around the country.
Currently, some 9,000 Ethiopians receive antiretroviral treatment. The
government hopes to expand that number to almost 50,000 by next year.

Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44444&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=ETHIOPIA


ETHIOPIA: EC launches drive to provide safe water

The European Commission (EC) launched a massive drive on Tuesday to help
millions of Ethiopians gain access to safe water. Tim Clarke, head of the
EC in Addis Ababa, announced the =80180 million (US $238,932,000) package,
for which, Ethiopia is one of ten priority countries being targeted.
"Ethiopian needs are paramount," he said.

Some 25 million people in the country do not have access to safe water.
Dirty water has a serious impact on the health of the country and causes
thousands of deaths each year. To overhaul the entire water sector, it is
estimated, would cost the government about $2 billion, while a further $3
billion would be needed for improving sanitation.

According to the UN Children's Fund, only six percent of Ethiopians have
access to basic sanitation facilities - fuelling diarrhoeal and other
water borne diseases. Less than a quarter have access to clean water.

Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44415&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=ETHIOPIA


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