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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 227
28 May - 3 June 2005


CONTENTS:

DJIBOUTI: Malnutrition widespread in drought-affected areas
ETHIOPIA: Fresh elections held in six constituencies
ETHIOPIA: Opposition group takes legal action over polls
ETHIOPIA: Floods disrupt relief efforts in Somali region
SOMALIA: UN special representative meets with president
SOMALIA: Baidoa town reported calm
SUDAN: Southern pact basis for addressing other conflicts - Annan
SUDAN: African Union urges more help for Darfur
SUDAN: MSF officials held over Darfur report


DJIBOUTI: Malnutrition widespread in drought-affected areas

Malnutrition among children and women is widespread in Djibouti,
according to newly released results of a nutrition and health assessment
of drought-affected areas of the tiny Horn of Africa nation.

Moderate acute malnutrition rates were high in communities dependent on
food aid, according to the survey carried out in May by the UN World
Health Organization and Djibouti's health ministry in collaboration with
the UN Children's Fund and the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

"High rates of moderate acute malnutrition and some cases of severe
malnutrition were found in communities that had a high morbidity rate,"
the survey, released on Thursday, said.

The assessment showed that the main health problems among children were
diarrhoea, fever, respiratory disease and measles, and illness was often
associated with malnutrition. Chronic malnutrition or stunting was found
to be very high - over 40 percent - in all communities that were
surveyed in the country whose population is 700,000.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47460]


ETHIOPIA: Fresh elections held in six constituencies

Fresh elections were held on Thursday in six Ethiopian constituencies
where disputes arose following allegations of fraud and irregularities
in the May 15 polls, the National Electoral Board (NEB) said. "Voting
was interrupted in 16 polling stations in these six constituencies and
so the electorate have to be allowed to exercise their democratic
right," said Mekonnen Wondimu, the NEB's registrar of political parties.
The board also announced it was suspending the release of results from
five additional constituencies across the country where it is
investigating allegations of widespread vote-rigging.

He added that the election board might order new elections in other
areas based on evidence presented to them by political parties. "We may
hold new votes in other areas, but it all depends on the evidence," he
said. Mekonnen said the irregularities included disruptions of voting,
under-age voting and violent confrontations between supporters of
political parties. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's Ethiopian People's
Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has so far won 301 seats out of
the 513 counted. Its allies garnered 21 seats, according to provisional
results released by the NEB.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47450]


ETHIOPIA: Opposition group takes legal action over polls

Ethiopia's main opposition group, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy
(CUD), on Tuesday launched legal action to prevent the release of
disputed provisional results of the 15 May parliamentary polls that
showed that the ruling party had won. CUD said massive vote rigging had
cast doubt on the results, and threatened nationwide protests if the
announced returns were made final. "The CUD has filed charges in court
demanding that the National Election Board (NEB) desist from issuing
election results that include disputed constituencies," Berhanu Nega,
vice chairman of the CUD, told reporters.

He added: "CUD has requested the court that the illegal banning of
public demonstrations the prime minister has imposed on the people of
Addis Ababa, thus violating their constitutional right to assemble
peacefully, be lifted."

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47429&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&S


ETHIOPIA: Floods disrupt relief efforts in Somali region

Floods disrupted relief efforts in Ethiopia's southeastern Somali Region
making travel impossible in some areas, a UN agency said on Wednesday.
Trucks laden with relief items had been stuck on impassable roads for
nearly three weeks, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) said. "Efforts by the government, UN and relief agencies
are being hampered by poor road conditions, making travel impossible in
some areas," Paul Herbert, OCHA's head in Ethiopia, told IRIN.

The flooding was causing new displacements in an area stretching from
Kelafo to Mustahil town, where original floodwaters had receded and
people were returning to their homes. A joint government and UN
assessment team arrived in the region on 25 May to assess the scale of
the floods and to recommend an appropriate emergency response. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47427]


SOMALIA: UN special representative meets with president

Francois Lonseny Fall, the newly appointed special representative of the
UN Secretary-General to Somalia, met with interim President Abdullahi
Yusuf Ahmed on Monday and assured him of the UN's commitment to helping
consolidate the Somali peace process. "Ambassador Fall assured President
Yusuf of the commitment of the United Nations under his leadership to
work strenuously for the consolidation of the achievements of the peace
process that was led by IGAD [Inter-Governmental Authority on
Development]," said a statement issued by the UN Political Office for
Somalia (UNPOS).

IGAD, which includes Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda
and Somalia, sponsored peace talks between Somalia's various clans and
factions that culminated in the establishment of the Somali transitional
federal government (TFG) in 2004. The TFG remains in Nairobi, where it
was set up, because security concerns and lack of resources have
prevented members of the administration from moving to Mogadishu, the
Somali capital.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47404]


SOMALIA: Baidoa town reported calm

The southwestern Somali town of Baidoa was reported calm on Tuesday, a
day after fierce fighting between rival factions killed 12 people and
wounded more than 20 others, a local source told IRIN on Tuesday. The
fighting between factions of the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA), which
controls much of Bay and Bakol regions in southwestern Somalia, erupted
on Monday morning. Forces loyal to former RRA chairman Hasan Muhammad
Nur Shatigudud and former RRA first-deputy chairman Shaykh Adan Madobe,
who are currently ministers in the transitional Somali government,
attacked the town, which is controlled by forces loyal to Muhammad
Ibrahim Habsade, an MP.

A local businessman who requested anonymity told IRIN that "things seem
to be returning to normal. Almost all businesses which were closed
yesterday [Monday] have reopened and people are coming out of their
houses and assessing the damage of Monday's fighting". The death toll
from the clashes rose on Tuesday. A Baidoa hospital source told IRIN: "A
number of people have died of their injuries, bringing the total of
those who have died since Monday to 12," he said. Among the dead were
four children whose house was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47403]


SUDAN: Southern pact basis for addressing other conflicts - Annan

The peace agreement signed this year between the Sudanese government and
the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) constitutes a road
map for resolving other conflicts in the country, UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan said during a visit to Sudan. Annan called for a quick
implementation of the agreement, which was signed in the Kenyan capital,
Nairobi, on 9 January. "The Naivasha process [which resulted in the
southern peace agreement] and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement have
provided a road map which could be the basis of a peace agreement in the
troubled region of Darfur," Annan said when he addressed the National
Constitutional Review Commission (NCRC) in the southern Sudanese town of
Rumbek on Sunday.

Annan urged delegates - including SPLM/A chairman John Garang, NCRC
co-chairman Abel Alier and members of the commission - to finalise their
work as soon as possible and establish a government of national unity by
July. "I urge you to continue in your efforts to complete this essential
task in a timely manner. The momentum of the peace process depends on
it," Annan said.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47409]


SUDAN: African Union urges more help for Darfur

The African Union (AU) on Thursday urged wealthy nations to donate more
for the war-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur, saying they had not
pledged enough to help end the suffering there. AU Peace and Security
Commissioner Said Djinnit said that he was "not satisfied" with the US
$300 million additional cash pledged by donors recently to end one of
the world's worst humanitarian disasters. "We need more cash," Djinnit
said as he flew into Sudan's western region to begin a two-day visit
ahead of the resumption of peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria.

The AU had appealed for $466 million to boost its peacekeeping force
from 2,270 members to 7,700 members by the end of September. It needs a
total of $723 million to expand the force to 12,300 by next year. "My
problem is that there was a lot of enthusiasm, but it was focused on the
same kind of support so there was a lot of overlapping," Djinnit added.
War-induced hunger and disease in the region has killed more than
180,000 people, according to UN estimates. About two million others have
fled their homes. The peacekeeping operation is a critical test of
international commitment and Africa's resolve to end conflicts on the
world's poorest continent.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47448]


SUDAN: MSF officials held over Darfur report

Sudanese authorities arrested two senior officials of the medical
charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) over a report that claimed that
hundreds of rapes had taken place in the western Sudanese region of
Darfur, MSF said. Paul Foreman, the head of MSF-Holland was interrogated
for three-and-a-half hours, then released on a one million Sudanese
dinar [US $4,000] bond on Monday in Khartoum, while Vincent Hoedt, the
MSF regional coordinator for Darfur, was ordered to the Sudanese capital
for questioning on Tuesday.

"I'm technically arrested and not allowed to leave the country," Foreman
told IRIN on Tuesday morning while on his way to a second round of
questioning. "The district attorney charged me with crimes against the
state, publishing false information - and they are investigating other
areas," he added. Mohamed Fareed, a prosecuting attorney, said in a
statement that "upon interrogation, [Foreman] was not able to
substantiate the claims nor could he provide any documents to this
effect." If the crimes had really happened, the culprits would be
punished, he added.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47405]


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


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