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 227
15 - 21 January 2005


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: Thousands of tsunami-survivors were displaced people - gov't
SOMALIA: Government relocation to last two to three months
ETHIOPIA: Parliament amends electoral law
ETHIOPIA: Drought affecting pastoralist livelihoods in Afar
ERITREA: More than two million people in need of food aid - FAO
SUDAN: Polio vaccination campaign starts in SPLM/A areas
SUDAN: Cairo deal to help consolidate peace
SUDAN: North and West Darfur extremely food insecure - report


Also see:

SOMALIA: After the tsunami 
http://www.irinnews.org/S_report.asp?ReportID=45125&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa

SUDAN: Fragile peace despite southern agreement 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45098&SelectRegion=East_Africa


SOMALIA: Thousands of tsunami-survivors were displaced people - gov't

Thousands of people affected by the tsunami in Somalia had already been 
displaced by years of successive drought from their areas of origin and 
had moved to the coastal areas in search of opportunities, a report 
released by the Somali government and various agencies said.

"They [had] lost their livestock in the drought and the rest of the 
animals were decimated by torrential rains," said the report, compiled 
by a government assessment team that recently visited the affected areas 
in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland. "Thereafter, they moved to 
the coastal areas in view to get job opportunities and sustain their 
daily livelihood."

According to the report, about 3,344 families living in areas recently 
assessed for damage by the December tsunami in Puntland had suffered a 
"triple disaster". First, they had been affected by four years of 
successive drought, which displaced them from their areas of origin. 
Then their livestock perished in considerable numbers and finally came 
the tsunami.

About 20,000 people from these families, it added, were now "idly" 
living "in caves and under trees" near the coastline. Around 298 
citizens died or are missing and as many as 283 have been injured as a 
result of the tsunami in Puntland, the report said. Various relief 
agencies working in the region, however, said about 150 people are 
estimated to have died throughout Somalia, while 54,000 were in need of 
emergency assistance. Northeastern Somalia was the worst affected, 
particularly a stretch of around 650 km between Hafun [Bari region] and 
Garacad [Mudug region].

Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45157&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=SOMALIA


SOMALIA: Government relocation to last two to three months

Somalia's new transitional federal government (TFG) will begin the 
process of relocation to Somalia within the next two weeks, but the 
process may take up to three months to complete, a spokesman said on 
Wednesday.

"The process [of relocation] will start in the first week of February 
and will tentatively take two to three months to complete", Hussein 
Jabiri, the prime minister's director of communications, told IRIN.

The new Somali cabinet resolved to start preparations for a return to 
Somalia during its first formal meeting on 15 January. Three teams 
composed of cabinet ministers were formed for that purpose, according to 
a statement issued on Tuesday by the prime minister's office.

"Preparations are already underway to implement the decision of the 
cabinet," Jabiri said. The first team of ministers to leave for the 
Somali capital, Mogadishu, by early February would "consist of 30 
members and will be led by the prime minister", he added.

Smaller groups from the first team were expected to be deployed to other 
regions in the south and central Somalia. These groups would aim "to 
establish the TFG's presence there, but also start dialogue with the 
people", Jabiri told IRIN. The second group of ministers would be tasked 
with the "physical relocation of the Members of Parliament and the 
delegates who participated in the peace process", he added.

The third team, which will remain in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, would 
"assess the challenges and obstacles" to the relocation process and 
"prepare the agenda, strategies and an action plan for the installation 
of the government" inside Somalia.

Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45124&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=SOMALIA


ETHIOPIA: Parliament amends electoral law

Ethiopia's parliament reformed the country's electoral law on Tuesday 
ahead of May's general election, but the ruling stopped short of hopes 
by opposition parties.

It was the first time that the law had been amended since the ruling 
Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) came to power 
in 1991. The reform agreement was made by the EPRDF and the United 
Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), a 14-strong coalition of opposition 
groups.

However, opposition groups insisted on Wednesday the reforms did not go 
far enough and said they are still undecided over whether they will 
participate in the 15 May elections. Merera Gudina, chairman of the 
UEDF, told IRIN their fundamental concerns over the impartiality of the 
country's electoral commission still remained.

"The fundamental problem, the question of restructuring the electoral 
board, still remains," he said. "There are some minor changes, but it 
has not gone far enough. We are in a dilemma over whether to participate 
in the election because of this problem."

Tesfaye Mengesha, deputy head of the National Election Board, however 
rejected claims that the commission was linked to any political parties. 
"We are appointed by parliament," Tesfaye told IRIN. "We are non 
partisan."

Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45155&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=ETHIOPIA


ETHIOPIA: Drought affecting pastoralist livelihoods in Afar

Increasing livestock deaths are threatening the livelihood of nomadic 
pastoralists in Ethiopia's drought-hit Afar region, the UN and aid 
agencies said on Tuesday.

Paul Herbert, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian 
Affairs in Ethiopia, said drought had continued to whittle away the 
assets of Afar pastoralists. It was vital, he added, to prevent more 
livestock deaths and protect the dwindling wealth of herders in the 
region.

"We do think the situation is continuing to deteriorate," he told IRIN. 
"There needs to be some very quick action. Food is needed, but the 
critical problem is with livestock and what to do in terms of providing 
fodder and water."

Some 1.2 million people live in Afar, a lowland region bordering 
Djibouti and Eritrea, covering 270,000 sq km - about one fifth of the 
entire country. "There needs to be more assistance than we have actually 
planned for because the situation has gone to the worst case in Afar 
region," Herbert added.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation has requested funding to help 
support the growing numbers of cattle that are dying in the region. As 
yet, however, the numbers of people who need food was unclear, according 
to Herbert, although 352,000 were receiving food aid in Afar.

An action plan to combat the situation had been sent to the federal 
government's disaster prevention and preparedness commission from the 
regional authorities, he added. It will spell out specific needs and the 
number of people in need.

Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45107&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=ETHIOPIA


ERITREA: More than two million people in need of food aid - FAO

An estimated 2.3 million Eritreans are in need of food aid following 
prolonged drought and delayed rainfall that resulted in inadequate 
harvest, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Tuesday.

The agency said those affected by the shortfall would need more than a 
quarter of a million mt of food this year to supplement their meagre 
harvest. Cereal production late last year was forecasted at about 85 mt, 
less than half of the average of the last 12 years. Another 80 mt was to 
be purchased and 80 mt donated, leaving the need at 262,000 mt, 
according to FAO.

Failure of the March to May Azmera rains, during which farmers prepare 
the land and the unusually short June to September Kremti growth rains, 
not only reduced cereal production, but forced pastoralists to move 
their herds early. This could result in shortages of animal feed early 
this year.

Since the end of the 1998-2000 Ethiopia-Eritrea war, Eritrea has 
suffered from successive droughts, with harvests hit particularly hard 
in the main grain-producing regions of Gash, Barka and Debub. The 
destruction during the war, the current stalemate in the peace process, 
along with the cumulative effects of drought have dealt a serious blow 
to the economy, reducing Eritrea's capacity to cover food requirements 
through imports.

Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45128&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=ERITREA


SUDAN: Polio vaccination campaign starts in SPLM/A areas

The second leg of the nationwide polio vaccination campaign started on 
Monday in Upper Nile and Bahr el-Ghazal states, which are controlled by 
the southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), UN 
officials said.

The campaign, which ended on Thursday, targeted almost a million 
children under the age of five. It followed an emergency campaign in 
December that targeted 500,000 children in the north where polio cases 
had been confirmed.

"The major difference with polio vaccination campaigns in northern Sudan 
is that there is little to no routine immunisation in the south," Paula 
Gleeson, polio officer for the World Health Organization (WHO), told 
IRIN on Monday.

"This campaign is the only chance to get some control over the polio 
outbreak," she added.

According to Gleeson, "more than 2 million children will be targeted in 
SPLM/A-controlled areas when a full campaign gets underway across south 
Sudan from 25 to 28 February".

The WHO and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Khartoum 
announced on Sunday that the preliminary results of the three-day polio 
vaccination campaign in the government-controlled areas had indicated 
that the first leg reached more than five million children.

The northern campaign was jointly organised and conducted in 23 states 
by the Sudanese Ministry of Health, WHO and UNICEF, as well as partner 
national and international NGOs. Of the 112 cases of polio that had been 
identified in Sudan by the first week of January, four were in 
SPLM/A-controlled areas, WHO said.

Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45099&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=SUDAN


SUDAN: Cairo deal to help consolidate peace

The agreement signed by the Sudanese government and the National 
Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Sunday will further consolidate the peace 
accord signed with the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army 
(SPLM/A) on 9 January, sources said.

The NDA, which is based in Eritrea, signed the tentative agreement with 
the government in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. It supports the southern 
peace agreement, backs the drafting of a new constitution and calls for 
the formation of a neutral, professional army.

"This is a positive development," George Somerwill, deputy spokesperson 
of the United Nations Advance Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS), told IRIN on 
Tuesday. "At this time of great change for the people of Sudan, we 
welcome any move that contributes to the consolidation of the peace in 
the country."

The deal represents a framework for a comprehensive political solution 
between the two sides. It aims to lift the state of emergency, which has 
been in place since 1989, and to re-integrate the NDA into Sudan's 
political life. The two sides also intend to set up a commission to 
re-integrate 3,000 armed fighters on the eastern Sudanese border with 
Eritrea, back into the regular Sudanese forces.

Under the power-sharing agreement between the government and the SPLM/A, 
52 percent of the government will be from the ruling National Congress 
Party (NCP) and 28 percent from the SPLM/A, with other northern parties 
taking 14 percent and other southerners 6 percent.

The Cairo agreement provides for the setting up of a committee on 
political representation that will discuss the proportion of posts the 
NDA will hold in the legislative and executive bodies during a 
transitional period.

A final agreement is expected to be signed on 12 February in Cairo.

Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45109&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=SUDAN


SUDAN: North and West Darfur extremely food insecure - report

The food security situation in the western Sudanese region of Darfur and 
certain parts of southern Sudan remains a matter of concern, the 
USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) warned.

While calling the situation in North and West Darfur "extremely food 
insecure", FEWS Net in their Greater Horn of Africa Food Security 
Bulletin for January 2005, said conflicts and civil insecurity were 
likely to continue to imperil the food security of populations in the 
region.

An ICRC assessment team, which had evaluated the food security situation 
in 20 rural villages in September, reported that agriculture had 
collapsed and a combination of insecurity and drought had destroyed 
traditional coping mechanisms of communities in Darfur. In many cases, 
farmers' seeds and tools had been looted and their cattle stolen.

A comprehensive nutrition and food security assessment, released by WFP 
on 26 October, estimated that almost 22 percent of children under the 
age of five were malnourished, and close to half of all families did not 
have enough food.

FEWS NET said it expected that the successful peace agreement would 
increase population movements, especially the return of previously 
displaced people. Since the returnees would not have been able to 
produce their own food, they would need relief assistance.

Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45154&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=SUDAN


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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
2005


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