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Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 231
12 - 18 February 2005


CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Security Council warns over border situation
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: EU urges restraint over unresolved border dispute
ETHIOPIA: Concern over high child mortality in Somali region
SOMALIA: Two dead, six injured in Mogadishu explosion
SOMALIA: Ministers to explain new government policies in regions
SOMALIA: Preparations for relocation to Mogadishu on track, say officials
SUDAN: Refer Darfur violations to the ICC, senior UN official urges
SUDAN: New proposals on Darfur suspects could delay justice - HRW
SUDAN: IFAD to fund Kordofan farmers, pastoralists
SUDAN: More than 750 prisoners of war to be released soon


ALSO SEE:

ETHIOPIA: Focus: Pastoralists lament loss of grazing land at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45584

ETHIOPIA: Fighting female circumcision at local level at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45585


ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Security Council warns over border situation

The military build-up on the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea could 
"aggravate" simmering tensions, the president of the UN Security Council 
said. Ambassador Joel W. Adechi of Benin said the 15-member body was 
considering asking UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to send either an 
envoy or a mission to defuse pressure, UN News reported on Tuesday.

His comments came as the European Union said they were "particularly 
concerned" by the military build-up along the 1,000-km border that 
separates the two countries. The UN peacekeeping mission for Ethiopia 
and Eritrea (UNMEE) also confirmed that it had been asked by Ethiopia to 
investigate a new clash between armed men on the border. According to 
spokeswoman Gail Bindley Taylor Sainte, the Ethiopian army informed the 
peacekeepers that they killed two men and captured five on the border, 
who they believed to be Eritrean soldiers.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45589]


ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: EU urges restraint over unresolved border dispute

The European Union (EU) expressed concern on Monday over the military 
build-up by Ethiopia and Eritrea and urged both sides not to ignite 
another war in the Horn of Africa. The Dutch ambassador, Rob Vermaas, 
whose country currently holds the EU presidency, said: "The EU is 
particularly concerned about the recent military build-up on both sides 
of the border and urges both sides to refrain from any action that could 
lead to a resumption of hostilities."

Vermaas added that development support to Ethiopia could be "directly 
influenced" by political and governance issues, citing the unresolved 
border dispute with neighbouring Eritrea. "In this context, the EU would 
like to reiterate its firm commitment to assist Ethiopia and Eritrea in 
finding a way forward to implementing the decision of the Boundary 
Commission," he said. His comments came as Prime Minister Meles Zenawi 
presented the government's annual economic progress report to donors and 
appealed for more aid to help reduce poverty.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45543]


ETHIOPIA: Concern over high child mortality in Somali region

The death rate from disease among young children in a remote pocket of 
Ethiopia's Somali region has reached crisis point, the global charity 
Save the Children UK (SCF-UK) warned on Tuesday. It called for immediate 
medical intervention in Gashamo district, where as many as 18 children 
in a population of 14,000 were dying each week from diarrhoea. 
Nutritionist Hassan Taifour, who carried out the survey, told IRIN that 
one in three children was affected.

"The situation there is critical," said Taifour, one of SCF-UK's 
emergency response personnel. He said his team had seen fresh graves as 
well as children being taken for burial. According to accepted 
international guidelines, an under-five mortality rate above two out of 
10,000 per day should be treated as an emergency. Statistics provided by 
SCF-UK showed the daily death rate had reached 4.87 per 10,000 in 
Gashamo. At a recent government-led Emergency Nutrition Coordination 
Unit meeting in Addis Ababa, aid agencies noted that mortality rates 
there were among the "highest ever" seen.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45582]


SOMALIA: Two dead, six injured in Mogadishu explosion

An explosive device went off on a street corner in the Somali capital, 
Mogadishu, early on Thursday, killing at least two people and injuring 
six others, local sources told IRIN. "The device, believed to be a bomb, 
was left in a box on a motorcycle near the former Foreign Affairs 
ministry building," a Mogadishu resident said. "The explosion took place 
at around nine o'clock [0600 GMT] and could be heard a kilometre away." 
The explosion occurred while military experts from several African 
countries were in the city to assess the situation, ahead of the 
proposed deployment of an African Union (AU) peace mission.

Somalia's Prime Minister, Ali Muhammad Gedi, is expected in Mogadishu by 
the end of this week. The special adviser to Gedi, Abdurrahman Ali 
"Malaysia", said the prime minister had condemned the explosion "in the 
strongest terms and sends his condolences to the families of those 
killed and injured".

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45615]


SOMALIA: Ministers to explain new government policies in regions

At least 40 members of Somalia's interim government left the Kenyan 
capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday for various regions of Somalia to explain 
the new government's policies to the public, an official in prime 
minister Ali Mohammed Gedi's office said. The delegations, made up of 
five teams of ministers and members of parliament, were due to visit 
regions in southern and central Somalia.

The teams were to spend five days "explaining government policies and 
establishing a presence" in those regions, he said. The trip is the 
latest indicator that momentum is building up for the Kenya-based Somali 
government to return home. It is the first "bold" trip for the new 
government to venture into the regions, according to a Somali political 
source.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45593]


SOMALIA: Preparations for relocation to Mogadishu on track, say 
officials

The interim Somali government, based in Nairobi, Kenya, is continuing 
its plans to start relocating to Somalia on 21 February despite the 
killing of a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) journalist in 
Mogadishu last week, the prime minister's office said. "The plan to 
relocate the government to Somalia is still on track," Abdurrahman Ali 
"Malaysia", the special adviser to the prime minister, Ali Mohammed 
Gedi, told IRIN on Monday.

The first group of cabinet ministers that is expected to leave for the 
Somali capital, Mogadishu, will be led by the deputy prime minister, 
Hussein Aydid. The "prime minister will definitely be in Mogadishu 
within the next five days", Ali said. "The PM [prime minister] was 
horrified by the killing of [Kate] Peyton and has condemned the 
killing," Ali added. Ali quoted Gedi as saying: "If those responsible 
were expecting to scare us, then they are mistaken. We will not be 
deterred. We will return to Mogadishu."

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45546]


SUDAN: Refer Darfur violations to the ICC, senior UN official urges

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, on Wednesday 
recommended that the UN Security Council refer reports of human rights 
violations in the western Sudanese region of Darfur to the International 
Criminal Court (ICC), a statement from the UN in New York said. "The 
Commission held the view that referral to the ICC was the only credible 
way of bringing alleged perpetrators to justice and advised against 
other measures," Arbour said as she presented the findings of the UN 
appointed Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, to the Council. She said 
crimes such as murder, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of 
villages, rape and forced displacement had been perpetrated on a 
widespread and systematic basis.

"What is most urgently needed are concrete measures to bring the current 
violence to an end and restore security and dignity to the people of 
Darfur," Arbour noted. "The Commission, in my view, eloquently and 
powerfully argues that referral to the ICC is the best means by which to 
halt ongoing violations and prevent future ones," she added. The United 
States, which opposes the first permanent global criminal tribunal, had 
proposed an ad hoc war crimes tribunal be set up, arguing that it could 
begin operating quickly by sharing infrastructure with the Rwanda 
tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45616]


SUDAN: New proposals on Darfur suspects could delay justice - HRW

The proposal to try suspected perpetrators of crimes against humanity in 
the western Sudanese region of Darfur in a new ad hoc tribunal in 
Tanzania, rather than referring them to the International Criminal Court 
(ICC) could delay justice, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said. "The US 
proposal to create a new tribunal for Darfur is a mirage of a solution," 
Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at HRW, 
said in a statement released on Wednesday. "A new ad hoc court would 
lack the speed and staying power to get the job done."

The report of the UN Commission of Inquiry for Darfur recommended that 
the UN Security Council refer the situation in Darfur to the ICC to hold 
those most responsible to account. The US, which opposes the global 
criminal tribunal, has proposed an ad hoc war crimes tribunal be set up 
instead, claiming it could begin operating by sharing infrastructure 
with the Rwanda tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania. To complete its existing 
docket on schedule, the Rwanda tribunal will have to use every resource 
it has," Dicker said.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45594]


SUDAN: IFAD to fund Kordofan farmers, pastoralists

An estimated 200,000 households in the impoverished central Sudanese 
region of Kordofan are to benefit from a new programme by the UN's 
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Farhana 
Haque-Rahman, IFAD's chief of media relations, said in a press statement 
on Monday. The loan agreement was signed by Lennart Bage, president of 
IFAD, and Magzoub El Khalifa, the Sudanese federal minister of 
agriculture, at IFAD headquarters in Rome. IFAD, the statement said, 
would provide more than half the financing for the Western Sudan 
Resources Management Programme, with a loan of about US $25.5 million.

According to Haque-Rahman, resource management, which was a source of 
conflict in the past, is the central element of the eight-year 
programme. Various activities will be undertaken to regulate land and 
water use, thus helping to reinforce stability in the region. A land-use 
plan, drawn up in consultation with local pastoralists and farming 
communities, as well as regional authorities, would be incorporated in 
forthcoming land-tenure legislation. The new programme was designed to 
support the comprehensive peace agreement signed on 9 January by the 
Sudanese government and the Southern People's Liberation Army/Movement, 
particularly concerning provisions for wealth- and power-sharing with 
regard to land tenure reform and decentralisation.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45587]


SUDAN: More than 750 prisoners of war to be released soon

A memorandum of agreement between the International Committee of the Red 
Cross (ICRC) and the Sudanese government could soon see more than 750 
prisoners held by the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army 
(SPLM/A), freed. "The ICRC has maintained an active dialogue on these 
issues with both parties over the past weeks," Lorena Brander, ICRC 
media relations delegate in Sudan told IRIN on Tuesday. "It is a hopeful 
sign that the government has decided to sign the memorandum, which sets 
out the rules and principles governing the release and transfer of 
persons detained in the course of the armed conflict in southern Sudan," 
she said.

"The ICRC has visited and registered more than 750 prisoners who are 
held by the SPLM/A," Brander said. "The government has stated they are 
not holding any prisoners in relation to the conflict. If it would be 
the case that the government was holding prisoners too, the ICRC might 
be asked to facilitate their release as well," she added. The parties 
requested the ICRC to facilitate the release of detainees after a 
permanent ceasefire between the government and the SPLM/A was signed on 
9 January in Nairobi, Kenya.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45581]


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


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