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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 298
8 - 14 October 2005


CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Asmara imposes more restrictions on peacekeepers
ETHIOPIA: Fresh cabinet faces as Meles starts new term
ETHIOPIA: Opposition MPs stripped of parliamentary immunity
ERITREA: Demining activities halted following helicopter flight ban
SOMALIA: TFG seeks help to police coastline as pirates strike again
SOMALIA: Pirates commandeer another ship off Somali coast
SOMALIA: Arms embargo violations on the rise, UN team says
SUDAN: Aid delivery hampered by road closures in West Darfur
SUDAN: AU to refer Darfur situation to UN Security Council


See ALSO:

SOMALIA: Interview with Mark Bradbury, Somaliland poll observer at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49450]

SUDAN: Violence forces many to flee North Darfur at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49462


ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Asmara imposes more restrictions on peacekeepers

The Eritrean government has imposed more restrictions on the movement of
United Nations peacekeepers in the country, days after grounding UN
helicopter flights, a spokesperson said. The spokesperson for the UN
Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), Gail Bindley Taylor-Sainte,
said the new restrictions limited night vehicle patrols. Given the new
restrictions, the UN could not rule out the possibility of a renewed
military build-up along the tense Ethiopia-Eritrea border, she added.

"Because there are areas we cannot see, we cannot categorically rule out
the fact that there might be a military build up," she told reporters
from the Eritrean capital, Asmara. Since the restrictions of flights, UN
peacekeepers have had their "operational efficiency" and reconnaissance
cut by more than half in the 1,000 km-long border region.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49527]


ETHIOPIA: Fresh cabinet faces as Meles starts new term

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced a sweeping cabinet
reshuffle this week, pledging to overcome weaknesses in government and
implement policies to end poverty. The new team is expected to cement
Meles's 14-year legacy of power by pushing through reforms and improving
governance. Critics, however, say many of the new ministers will not be
accountable to parliament because they were not elected by the people
and do not reflect the ethnic diversity of the country.

In the changes, some of Meles's closest supporters and senior ministers
lost their jobs. In all, 11 ministers were replaced and one incumbent
moved to a new post. The team was unanimously approved by parliament on
Tuesday. Those who were dropped included Education Minister Genet
Zewdie, Health Minister Kebede Tadesse and Information Minister Bereket
Simon.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49525]


ETHIOPIA: Opposition MPs stripped of parliamentary immunity

Opposition members of parliament in Ethiopia could face prosecution
after their immunity was lifted following a boycott of the opening
session of the legislature, MPs loyal to the government decided on
Tuesday. The decision sparked a mass walkout by around 40 opposition law
makers who had taken up their seats despite an increasingly hostile
stand-off between the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic
Front and the largest opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and
Democracy (CUD).

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told parliament the CUD had committed
"serious crimes" by threatening to take power through street
demonstrations and insurrection during bitterly contested May elections
dogged by allegations of fraud and vote rigging. "If they take illegal
actions then this government has to see to it the constitution is
protected," Meles told parliament on its second day.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49476]


ERITREA: Demining activities halted following helicopter flight ban

The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) said on Friday that it
had suspended its mine clearance activities in Eritrea after the
government imposed a ban on the mission's helicopter flights. "According
to the agreement that we have signed [with Eritrea] we cannot carry out
demining activities without a helicopter on standby because if there is
an accident we would have no way of taking that person out," Gail
Bindley-Taylor-Sainte, UNMEE spokeswoman, told the UN News Service.

Eritrea demanded that with effect from 5 October, all UN helicopters
cease using its airspace. Bindley-Taylor-Sainte said helicopter access
was a mandatory safety requirement during mine clearance. "One of the
things that we're concerned about is the need for a medical evacuation
in case a deminer steps on a mine," she added.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49445]


SOMALIA: TFG seeks help to police coastline as pirates strike again

Amid escalating incidents of sea piracy, Somalia's Transitional Federal
Government (TFG) has urged its neighbours and the international
community to help police the Somali coastline. The appeal followed the
hijacking on Wednesday of a ship chartered by the UN World Food
Programme (WFP) to deliver food aid to the Lower Juba Valley in southern
Somalia.

It was the second WFP-chartered vessel to be commandeered within four
months. On 27 June pirates commandeered the MV Semlow, which was loaded
with 850 tonnes of rice for tsunami survivors. It was released on 4
October after being held for almost 100 days. Wednesday's hijacking
occurred as the ship off-loaded its cargo in the beach port of Merka,
100 km south of the capital, Mogadishu.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49530]


SOMALIA: Pirates commandeer another ship off Somali coast

One week after a vessel carrying food aid to tsunami survivors in
Somalia was released by pirates, another ship has been commandeered off
the coast of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, a local source said on
Wednesday. "I can confirm that the MV Torgelow was hijacked by pirates
off the Mogadishu coast," Ali Beerey Adow, spokesman for the El-Maan
Port authority in northern Mogadishu, said.

The Mombasa-based, St Vincent and The Grenadines-registered ship had
been expected to dock at El-Maan on Sunday, Adow said. It was not yet
clear where the hijackers seized the ship and where they had taken it.
"All I can tell you is it was headed north," added Adow. Inayat Kudrati,
of the Motaku Shipping Agency, which runs both vessels, said the vessel,
with a crew of nine Kenyans and a Sri Lankan captain, was chartered by
Somali traders and was carrying a cargo of 1,000 tonnes of "different
merchandise".

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49508]


SOMALIA: Arms embargo violations on the rise, UN team says

Violations of a UN arms embargo by the Somali Transitional Federal
Government (TFG), its opponents in the capital, Mogadishu, and certain
parties in the region have recently taken a "sustained and dramatic
upswing", a monitoring team said. In its most recent report released on
4 October, the team said the increased arms inflow was a manifestation
of "highly aggravated political tensions between the TFG and the
opposition".

This, it added, had given rise to increased militarisation of both
sides, resulting in a severely elevated threat of widespread violence in
Somalia. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed a four-member panel
of experts to investigate violations of the embargo against Somalia in
September 2002.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49444]


SUDAN: Aid delivery hampered by road closures in West Darfur

Rampant insecurity has led to the closure of roads out of El Geneina,
the capital of the strife-torn Sudanese state of West Darfur, hindering
the work of humanitarian agencies, aid workers said. "With each passing
day we are in a race against time to get assistance to over half a
million people to whom we have lost regular access," Andy Pendleton,
area coordinator for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs in West Darfur, said in El Geneina on Sunday.

"The situation is desperate, more desperate than ever before," he
warned. With the roads closed since mid-September, a single helicopter
was the only means left to humanitarian agencies to deliver assistance
to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in camps.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49491]


SUDAN: AU to refer Darfur situation to UN Security Council

The African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council has decided that the
issue of the "deteriorating security situation" in the western Sudanese
region of Darfur be refered to the UN Security Council. The decision,
taken at the end of an emergency meeting on Monday in the Ethiopian
capital, Addis Ababa, came after the killing and kidnapping of AU
peacekeepers in the region.

Togolese ambassador Esaw Koffi told journalists the AU unreservedly
condemned the weekend violence against its personnel. The AU also asked
the Sudanese government to process the paperwork for the delivery of 105
armoured personnel carriers (APCs) "necessary for the protection of our
personnel" in Darfur, which were currently in Dakar, Senegal, Koffi
said.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49471]


IRIN-CEA
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2005

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