U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 201
25 - 31 December 2004


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: UN agencies appeal for help for tsunami-affected communities
ETHIOPIA: Gov't, relief agencies launch humanitarian appeal
SUDAN: Clashes force WFP to suspend food convoys to Darfur
SUDAN: UN warns polio could spread as reported cases rise


SOMALIA: UN agencies appeal for help for tsunami-affected communities

UN agencies appealed on Friday for immediate assistance to communities on 
the Somali coast that were affected by the earthquake-generated tsunami 
which devastated much of South Asia on 26 December. "We need to act now 
and mobilise the needed resources," Wafaa El Fadil, a humanitarian affairs 
officer with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
(OCHA), who was in a UN assessment team that flew over some of the 
affected areas on Thursday, told a news conference in the Kenyan capital, 
Nairobi.

An estimated 114 people were killed in Somalia when the tsunami, triggered 
by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean, struck the Horn of Africa coastline 
on Sunday, according to relief workers and local authorities. About 
10,000-15,000 affected people were in need of immediate assistance.

Sunday's tsunami waves also slammed into Tanzania, where at least 10 
people, mostly children, died, police in the commercial capital, Dar es 
Salaam, said. In Kenya, authorities sealed off the beaches on Monday to 
prevent people from exposing themselves to the danger posed by the rushing 
waters. Sources said three people died, but police confirmed one. The 
beaches were later reopened.

The tsunami, caused by an earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, 
hit coastal areas in the archipelago, as well as in Sri Lanka, India, 
Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, The Maldives, Malaysia and Myanmar, 
leaving a trail of death and destruction. Nearly 135,000 people are known 
to have been killed by the surging waves.

Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44868&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=SOMALIA


ETHIOPIA: Gov't, relief agencies launch humanitarian appeal

The Ethiopian government, UN agencies and their humanitarian partners have 
appealed for 387,482 mt of food valued at approximately US $159 million to 
help an estimated 2.2 million needy people in the Horn of Africa country 
in 2005. Another $112.74 million worth of non-food assistance would be 
needed to meet emergency humanitarian requirements, the government and aid 
agencies said in their appeal, which was launched on Thursday.

They said for the first time in Ethiopia, an effort had been made to 
separately handle chronic and acute caseloads. The 2005 Humanitarian 
Appeal is expected to attend to the acute needs of the unpredictable 
demand, while the Productive Safety Net Programme will tackle longer-term 
food security needs.

>From January 2005, about 2.2 million people will be provided with 
emergency food assistance under the appeal, while more than 5 million 
chronically food-insecure people will be given assistance in the form of 
cash or food for labour-intensive public works.

Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44806&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=ETHIOPIA


SUDAN: Clashes force WFP to suspend food convoys to Darfur

The World Food Programme (WFP) has suspended relief convoys carrying 
urgently needed food from central Sudan to the western region of Darfur as 
a result of an attack in neighbouring Kordofan. It halted three convoys of 
70 trucks transporting more than 1,300 million mt of food aid to El 
Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur, and Nyala, the capital of 
South Darfur, after rebels attacked the market town of Ghubaysh in West 
Kordofan on 26 December, WFP's Laura Melo told IRIN on Wednesday.

The UN Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS) said in a statement issued on 
Tuesday that the attack by the rebel Sudan Liberation Army on Ghubaysh was 
the second carried out by the group since 19 December, when the Sudanese 
government agreed to an immediate cessation of hostilities. Jan Pronk, the 
special representative of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to Sudan, called 
for the immediate return of the stolen vehicles.

Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44845&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=SUDAN


SUDAN: UN warns polio could spread as reported cases rise

The UN has warned that an outbreak of polio in Sudan could lead to a 
spread of the disease to other countries in the region unless it is 
quickly contained. UN and government officials held an emergency meeting 
on Thursday in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, to discuss how to contain 
the disease amidst reports that 79 new cases had been recorded across the 
country.

"This is quite dramatic, considering there were no reported cases of polio 
last year," Ben Parker, communication officer for the UN Chidren's Fund 
(UNICEF) in Sudan told IRIN on Friday. "Sudan was well underway to being 
officially declared polio-free, but the country has now become the number 
two or three in the world in terms of the number of polio cases reported 
this year," he added.

Thirty-two of the reported cases were found in the state of Khartoum, 
while Unity state and Western Upper Nile in the south, each reported 5 
cases.

Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44809&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=SUDAN


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