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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 207
14 - 20 August 2004


CONTENTS:

ERITREA: Mosquito nets to boost anti-malaria efforts
ETHIOPIA: More than 7.6 million in need of food aid - gov't
SUDAN: Joint mission to assess government plans for Darfur
SUDAN: Heavy rainfall hampering food delivery in Darfur
SUDAN: Darfur IDP camp reopened to relief workers
SUDAN: Darfur still living in fear as first AU troops arrive
SOMALIA: Names submitted for proposed MPs but divisions linger
SOMALIA: UN condemns arms embargo violations, extends mandate of
   monitoring group
SOMALIA: UNDP to encourage Somalis abroad to help motherland
SOMALIA: 120,000 livestock farmers threatened by drought
SOMALIA: More than 20 killed in fighting in Bay region



ERITREA: Mosquito nets to boost anti-malaria efforts

Eritrea, one of the few African countries that have been able to
significantly reduce the number of reported malaria cases, is to further
boost its campaign against the killer disease using a donation of 30,000
long-lasting mosquito nets. According to officials, the number of reported
malaria cases in Eritrea fell from 200,000 in 1999 to 45,000 in 2003.

"The success of Eritrea can be explained by various strategies. One of
those is using impregnated bed nets," Berhane Ghebretinsae, the Eritrean
director general of Health Services, told IRIN in the capital, Asmara.
"Another is case detection and early treatment of the case. [And] By
involving the population we try and drain wherever there are small pockets
of water where mosquitoes can breed," he added. Initially Eritrea tried to
sell bednets to the population, but the take up rate was so low that the
Ministry of Health decided to offer them free to vulnerable groups such as
women and young children. Now the Ministry estimates that there are
600,000 nets in use in the country. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42682 ]


ETHIOPIA: More than 7.6 million in need of food aid - gov't

The number of Ethiopians in need of food aid has risen to more than 7.6
million as a result of crop failure and lack of pasture following poor or
erratic long rains earlier this year, the country's disaster prevention
commission said. More than 6.6 million people in the Horn of Africa
country had already been dependent on food aid following a prolonged
drought that hit the region in 2002 and 2003.

The needy would require nearly 500,000 mt of assorted foodstuffs between
August and December this, according to a report released on Monday by the
Ethiopian Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC). The
report said that the "Belg" [early] rains in many parts of the country
this year either started late or were irregular and insufficient, and that
a long dry spell in February had led to the wilting of long-cycle crops
such as sorghum and maize. Areas hardest hit by the crop failures included
the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, North and South
Wollo zones in the Amhara Region and East and West Haraghe zones in the
Oromiya region, according to the report. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42706 ]


SUDAN: Joint mission to assess government plans for Darfur

A team of United Nations and Sudanese government officials will visit the
troubled Darfur region of western Sudan from 26 to 29 August, to assess
progress Khartoum has made in meeting its pledges to restore calm in the
area, the UN said. "The JIM (Joint Implementation Mechanism) will visit
Darfur to make a final assessment for the implementation of the Darfur
plan of action," Radhia Achouri, spokesperson for the UN mission in Sudan,
told IRIN on Thursday. "The JIM will thereafter report on its findings to
the [UN] Secretary-General who will report to the Security Council."

The JIM was set up by Khartoum and the UN in July, to monitor the
implementation of commitments made by the two sides to alleviate the
humanitarian crisis in Darfur. It is co-chaired by the Secretary-General's
special representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, and the Sudanese foreign
minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail. Ahead of the trip to Darfur, the Sudanese
government was due on Thursday to provide UN officials with details of
steps it intended to take to fulfil the pledges contained in its plan of
action for Darfur, at a meeting of the JIM in the Sudanese capital,
Khartoum. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42750 ]


SUDAN: Heavy rainfall hampering food delivery in Darfur

Heavy rains are hampering the delivery of badly needed food to hundreds of
thousands of displaced people in the troubled Darfur region of western
Sudan and creating a "logistical nightmare" for relief workers, a
humanitarian source in the region said. "The rains have become extremely
heavy, slowing down food delivery and making more areas inaccessible,"
Richard Lee, World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman, told IRIN by phone from
Darfur on Wednesday.

"For example, it rained so heavily yesterday that the main airstrip in El
Geneina [capital of West Darfur] could not take cargo planes until after
2.00 pm today [11.00 GMT]," Lee said. "If the weather continues like this,
it will make our logistical problems even more difficult." The UN food
agency, in a statement, said it was scaling up its air operations using
three Antonov 12 cargo planes to airlift nearly 100 mt of food daily to El
Geneina. "As the rainy season reaches its peak, WFP is facing an
ever-greater challenge in meeting the needs of Darfur's displaced and
dispossessed," it said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42729 ]


SUDAN: Darfur IDP camp reopened to relief workers

Relief workers have regained access to a camp for internally displaced
persons (IDPs) in Sudan's South Darfur State, which had been closed to
them following the recent killing of an IDP during a disturbance at the
camp. Sudanese authorities reopened the camp on Monday, a day after the UN
special envoy to Sudan Jan Pronk appealed to the government to allow
humanitarian workers into the Kalma camp, which hosts thousands of IDPs
from the Darfur conflict, UN News reported on Monday.

A crowd had, on Thursday, attacked a group of IDPs from a nearby camp,
suspecting them of being involved in attacks against other displaced
persons. One IDP was killed and another hospitalised. UN News reported
that following the incident, the government ordered the suspension of all
humanitarian activities and African Union (AU) observers were denied entry
into the camp. Pronk noted on Sunday that the denial of access to the camp
would have "serious consequences on the IDPs' needs for relief and
assistance, particularly severely malnourished children who require daily
assistance in therapeutic feeding centres inside the camp". [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42704 ]


SUDAN: Darfur still living in fear as first AU troops arrive

The situation in the troubled Darfur region of western Sudan remained
tense as the first batch of an African Union (AU) force, consisting of 154
Rwandan troops, arrived to protect an AU observer mission, relief workers
said. "The overall situation on the ground throughout the Darfur region
remains very tense," Jennifer Abrahamson, public information officer for
the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) in Sudan, told IRIN on Monday.

Humanitarian assistance, Abrahamson added, was getting in, but "some areas
of concern remain". The internally displaced persons (IDPs), for example,
still did not feel secure enough to return to their homes, she said. On 12
August, a crowd attacked some IDPs from a nearby camp, suspecting them of
being involved in attacks against other displaced persons. One IDP was
killed and another hospitalised. The government authorities ordered the
suspension of all humanitarian activities at the camp and AU observers
were denied entry, according to the UN. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42681 ]


SOMALIA: Names submitted for proposed MPs but divisions linger

Most Somali clans had on Thursday submitted to mediators the names of 205
people who would take up seats in the proposed 275-member transitional
parliament, but some were still divided on how to share their quota of
representatives to the assembly, sources close to the ongoing
reconciliation conference said. "Some sub-clans are having great
difficulty dividing the allocated seats," one of the sources, who asked
not to be named told IRIN. "The Harti sub-clan of the Darod is one of
those that has not produced the list of their MPs. I'm sure it will take
more than a few days for them to come to an agreement over the sharing of
seats," he added.

Also unable to come up with their list of MPs were the Dir from southern
Somalia. Ministers from members states of the Inter-Governmental Authority
on Development (IGAD), who are mediating the talks in the Kenyan capital,
Nairobi, are due to meet on Saturday and Sunday, by which time they hope
all members of the transitional parliament would have been nominated. The
inauguration of the transitional parliament has been postponed several
times because of clan disagreements over how to share the seats. The
process of allocating seats and naming the MPs has been particularly
contentious for two clans - the Darod and the Dir. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42752 ]


SOMALIA: UN condemns arms embargo violations, extends mandate of
monitoring group

The United Nations Security Council has condemned continuing violations of
an arms embargo on war-ravaged Somalia, and extended the mandate of a
group tasked with monitoring the 12-year-old ban on the export of weapons
and military equipment to the Horn of Africa country. The Council said
that weapons and ammunition supplies continued to flow to and through
Somalia, and requested the UN Secretary-General "to re-establish, within
30 days and for a period of six months, the Monitoring Group focusing on
the ongoing arms embargo violations, including transfers of ammunition,
single use weapons and small arms."

The Council, in a statement issued on Tuesday, expressed its determination
to have violators of the embargo, imposed in 1992, "held accountable". In
its report to the Council, the Monitoring Group, which is based in the
Kenyan capital, Nairobi, had said that while in the past Somali warlords
were known to have been the main importers of arms and weapons, arms
traders and other businessmen were increasingly involved in the illicit
trade. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42726 ]


SOMALIA: UNDP to encourage Somalis abroad to help motherland

The Somalia office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said
on Wednesday that it had launched a project to encourage Somali
professionals living abroad to use their skills to improve the lives of
their compatriots back home. The project, dubbed Qualified Expatriate
Somali Technical Support (QUESTS), is modelled on the UNDP global
initiative known as Transfer of Knowledge Through Expatriate Nationals
(TOKTEN), which encourages expatriate nationals to volunteer their skills
in the service of their homelands for short periods of time, the agency
said in a statement.

Under the QUESTS project, authorities in Somalia and local and
international humanitarian organisations will identify priority sectors,
which would benefit from the skills of Somali expatriates. Health,
education and agriculture have initially been identified as the priority
sectors. "The project will engage Somali institutions operating in these
sectors by encouraging them to identify immediate, short-term capacity
needs and diaspora professionals to fulfil them," UNDP said. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42725 ]


SOMALIA: 120,000 livestock farmers threatened by drought

Environmental degradation resulting from a prolonged drought in northern
and northeastern Somalia is threatening to destroy the livelihoods of an
estimated 120,000 livestock rearers, a United Nations official said on
Monday. "The livelihoods of 120,000 people are threatened and they have to
find other means of livelihood," Robert Hauser, World Food Programme (WFP)
Country Director for Somalia, told IRIN.

He said that goats and sheep belonging to livestock herders in the region
had eaten up all vegetation and even consumed roots and that the people
had engaged in charcoal burning for survival, leaving the area a virtual
desert. Those in the devastated areas would have no alternative in the
near future but move to towns in search of work, Hauser said. The area, he
added, would take years to recover from the effects of the drought because
the top layer of the ground, which had been stripped bare of all
vegetation, had lost the capacity to retain water even in times of
sufficient rainfall. [Full story:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42700 ]


SOMALIA: More than 20 killed in fighting in Bay region

More than 20 people have died in two days of heavy factional fighting in
the Bay region of south-central Somalia, local sources in the regional
capital, Baidoa, 240 km southwest of Mogadishu, told IRIN on Monday. About
thirty others were wounded. The fighting broke out on Friday between the
Dabare and Luway subclans of the larger Digil-Mirifle group. The clashes
were concentrated in and around the town of Dinsoor, 90 km west of Baidoa,
and in the surrounding villages, according to one source.

The violence was triggered off by a land dispute and "differences over who
should be represented in the Dinsoor district council," a source, who
asked not to be named, said. "It is more about land and who has a right to
be in Dinsoor," he added. The Dabare, who are indigenous to the Dinsoor
area were resisting attempts by members of the nomadic Luway to join the
district council, he added. The fighting reportedly displaced many
families, leaving them with no access to wells and other water points. The
source stressed that water points had been targeted during the fighting
"so people avoid them".

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42698 ]



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