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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 209
28 August - 3 September 2004


CONTENTS:

ERITREA: ICRC repatriates 219 Ethiopians
SOMALIA: New parliament elects temporary chairman
SOMALIA: Drought-affected people in "desperate situation" - UN
SOMALIA: Transitional federal parliament welcomed
SUDAN: Agencies focus on IDPs health, housing and food needs
SUDAN: Gov't, SPLM/A extend truce agreement for three months
SUDAN: Armed men burn village, top UN official decries abuses
SUDAN: "Major protection crisis" in Darfur - UN mission


See also: SUDAN: Interview with Al Zhawi Ibrahim Malik, Information and 
Communications Minister at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42972


ERITREA: ICRC repatriates 219 Ethiopians

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has repatriated 219 
Ethiopians from Eritrea, the agency said, adding that the returnees 
arrived in their home country on 27 August after crossing a bridge over 
the Mereb river that separates the two countries. "We only repatriate 
people who want to leave," Sebastien Brack, the ICRC communication 
delegate in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, told IRIN. "Usually it's because 
life has become too difficult in the country they live in," he added.

Over 42,000 Ethiopians and 5,500 Eritreans have returned to their 
countries of origin since the ICRC began carrying out the repatriations in 
June 2000. The returnees were among the thousands of people who found 
themselves separated from their families and friends when war broke out 
between Ethiopia and Eritrea in 1998. "In the beginning, repatriations 
were linked directly to the war, but as time went on the motivations have 
changed," Brack said. "It's now more due to economic and social problems 
such as difficulty in finding jobs." Upon arrival in Ethiopia, the 
government's Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Commission gave 
transport to the returnees to their chosen destination, some money, 
blankets and nine-month rations of wheat.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42958 ]


SOMALIA: New parliament elects temporary chairman

Somalia's newly constituted transitional parliament held its first meeting 
in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Thursday during which members elected 
Hersi Bulhan Farah, 83, to serve as temporary chairman pending the 
election of a speaker. "It is a new dawn for the Somali people," Marian 
Muhammad Mursal, one of the members attending Thursday's session, told 
IRIN. "As a woman, however, I am disappointed that 34 seats allocated to 
women have not all been filled. I am appealing to our male colleagues to 
complete the women's quota," she added.

Five new members were sworn in during the first sitting, meaning that only 
12 MPs in the 275-seat parliament were yet to take their oath of office. 
Some 25 women MPs were among those selected by the various clans. "Today 
is a historic day for all of us and will mark a new beginning for 
Somalia," another MP, Awad Ahmed Ashara, told IRIN. Ashara said 
international support was needed "to enable us fulfil our objectives and 
bring about total reconciliation and stability in our country."
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42987 ]


SOMALIA: Drought-affected people in "desperate situation" - UN

People in the drought-affected regions of northeastern and northwestern 
Somalia have lost most of their livestock and are now in desperate need of 
help, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Somalia, Maxwell 
Gaylard, said. "The drought affected areas are now in a desperate 
situation, with inadequate pasture for remaining livestock and the 
consequent destitution of many families," Gaylard, who recently visited 
the areas, said in a statement.

"It is imperative that agencies redouble their efforts to address the 
acute suffering of those in need, that donors provide the means for this 
to happen and that concerned authorities fully support this emergency 
response," he added. "Our fears that the recent rains have not been 
sufficient have now been confirmed," Gaylard added. Preliminary 
assessments by the Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU) of the UN Food and 
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and USAID-funded Famine Early Warning 
Systems Network (FEWS NET), show that up to a million people are in need 
of urgent humanitarian assistance throughout Somalia, including more than 
600,000 who are directly affected by the current drought. The drought has 
spread to parts of Bari, Nugal, Mudug and Galgaduud regions in addition to 
the existing drought-struck areas of Togdheer, Sool, and Sanaag.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42962 ]


SOMALIA: Transitional federal parliament welcomed

The European Union and the United States have welcomed the setting up of 
Somalia's transitional federal parliament, a move that paves the way for 
the formation of an all inclusive government in Somalia. "The European 
Union commends the efforts of Somali leaders in achieving this significant 
outcome and calls upon them to ensure that the same spirit of positive 
cooperation prevails during the remainder of the reconciliation process," 
a statement by the EU presidency in Brussels on Tuesday said. A second 
group of members of the newly created Somali federal assembly was sworn-in 
in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on 29 August, bringing the number of MPs 
who had taken the oath of office to 258.

The MPs were chosen by elders and political leaders from their respective 
clans who had been attending the reconciliation conference, sponsored by 
the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). The EU 
said it welcomed "the cohesiveness" shown by IGAD member states - 
Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda - and their resolve 
to adopt a common approach to the Somali crisis.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42959 ]


SUDAN: Agencies focus on IDPs health, housing and food needs

Humanitarian agencies continued their efforts to alleviate the health, 
housing and food needs of displaced persons and their hosts in Darfur, 
western Sudan, while grappling with a multimillion dollar shortfall in 
donor funding. UN agencies were due to move more than 2,700 internally 
displaced persons (IDPs) from schools where they had been living since 
February, to a new extension of the Krinding camp on the outskirts of Al 
Geneina, the main town in West Darfur State, the United Nations Office for 
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), reported.

"OCHA and Islamic Relief Worldwide met with camp leaders earlier this week 
to prepare them for the move," Jennifer Abrahamson, OCHA Sudan 
spokesperson, told IRIN on Wednesday. "The school year began in early 
August and many children have not been able to attend class, causing added 
friction in [Al] Geneina town." "Once they arrive at the new location, the 
UN and other agencies will provide them with food, plastic sheeting, 
indigenous materials used to build traditional dwellings and other crucial 
supplies," she added.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42981 ]


SUDAN: Gov't, SPLM/A extend truce agreement for three months

The Sudanese government and the southern-based Sudan People's Liberation 
Movement/Army (SPLM/A), have extended a cessation of hostilities agreement 
signed nearly two years ago to allow peace talks aimed at ending two 
decades of civil war to continue, both sides said on Thursday. The 
Memorandum of Understanding on Cessation of Hostilities was extended on 
Monday for a further three months from 1 September to 30 November 2004. 
The agreement, signed in October 2002, was initially intended to last 
three months, but has since been extended every three months as peace 
talks between Khartoum and SPLM/A continued.

A statement from the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, said Khartoum's envoy to 
Kenya, Ali Abdul-Rahman Al-Neimeri, signed on behalf of his government, 
while Commander Taban Deng signed for SPLM/A. The IGAD [Intergovernmental 
Authority on Development] special envoy on Sudan's peace process, Gen 
Lazaras Sumbeiyo, was among those present. The SPLM/A, in a separate 
statement issued by its spokesman, Samson Kwaje, said: "As of date, nearly 
all the root causes of conflict and violence in [south] Sudan have been 
adequately addressed through the six protocols already signed."

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42984 ]


SUDAN: Armed men burn village, top UN official decries abuses

Armed men travelling in three vehicles attacked the village of Nortik, 75 
km south of El-Fasher, in the Sudanese region of North Darfur on Friday, 
burning down 48 huts and injuring 18 people, the United Nations reported. 
In a situation report issued on Tuesday, the UN said that clashes had also 
occurred between Sudanese government forces and rebels in two locations in 
Darfur - along the Tawila-Kabkabiya road and between El-Fasher and Tawila.

The report was issued as the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian 
Affairs, Jan Egeland, said in an interview on the BBC Hard Talk programme 
that the Sudanese government had not done enough to improve the security 
situation in Darfur. "There is still rampant abuse, rape and killing of 
civilians. We need to see that the Sudanese government is doing its best 
to disarm Janjawid [pro-government] militias as fast as it can," Egeland 
said. "The government has not done enough."

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42970 ]


SUDAN: "Major protection crisis" in Darfur - UN mission

Reports of rape are still rife in Darfur, western Sudan, perpetrators of 
abuses act with impunity, and civilians are being pressured to return to 
insecure areas, a UN team said on Monday. "There is a major protection 
crisis in Darfur in general. All the agencies confirm that, and so do the 
IDPs [internally displaced persons] we saw," Dennis McNamara, special 
adviser on displacement to the UN Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, told 
IRIN.

"There is still undue pressure by the authorities for the displaced to 
return to unsafe areas, while general insecurity continues around the 
settlements," added McNamara, who is also the director of the Inter-Agency 
Internal Displacement Division of the UN Office for the Coordination of 
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). McNamara, who led a three-member mission to 
Darfur last week, said that sexual violence and rape were still a major 
concern there. He said the overall response to sexual crimes had been 
ineffective and perpetrators acted with impunity. "There has been no 
serious attempt to prosecute," said McNamara, whose mission visited IDP 
camps in four locations in South Darfur - Kass, Kalma, Nyala and Otash - 
on 25 and 26 August.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42920 ]


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