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Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 300
22 - 28 October 2005


CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: More restrictions imposed on UN peacekeepers
ETHIOPIA: Nearly half of the children orphaned by HIV/AIDS
ETHIOPIA: Opposition calls for demos to protest killings, arrests
SOMALIA: Gov't appeals for assistance as drought hits the south
SOMALIA: UN envoy in Jowhar to meet President Yusuf
SUDAN: Darfur situation deteriorating - UNHCR
SUDAN: AIDS could spread rapidly in the south, warns UNICEF
SUDAN: Kiir names southern cabinet


SEE ALSO:

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Analysis: No end in sight for border standoff at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49757

SOMALIA: Interview with Maxwell Gaylard, UN Resident and Humanitarian
Coordinator at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49785

SUDAN: Women tea sellers struggle against odds at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49734


ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: More restrictions imposed on UN peacekeepers

United Nations peacekeepers patrolling the tense border separating
Ethiopia and Eritrea are facing more restrictions on their movements, an
official said. Peacekeepers in some areas were ordered to confine
vehicle movements to the main roads in a 25 km-wide demilitarised buffer
zone and surrounding areas, UN spokeswoman Gail Bindley-Taylor Sainte
said on Monday. The latest restrictions further hampered patrols on the
border region where the two armies face each.

Eritrea banned helicopter flights by the peacekeepers on 5 October. It
also banned UN patrol vehicles from operating at night on its side of
the 1,000 km Temporary Security Zone. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
sent a letter last week urging Eritrea to lift the ban, saying it
jeopardised troop safety along the buffer zone that separates the two
armies. He warned the UN could be forced to pull out altogether if the
ban continued.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49742]


ETHIOPIA: Nearly half of the children orphaned by HIV/AIDS

Ethiopia has one of the largest populations of orphans in the world with
nearly half of its children having lost at least one parent. A
government official said on Tuesday that HIV/AIDS, disease, hunger and
poverty threatened to drive the number of orphaned children from 11
percent to 43 percent of the 45 million children in Ethiopia by 2010.

This could mean some 19 million children will have lost one or both of
their parents, said Bulti Gutema, the head of the government's taskforce
on the problem of orphans and vulnerable children. He said the figures
were based on projections by the health ministry.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49747]


ETHIOPIA: Opposition calls for demos to protest killings, arrests

Ethiopia's largest opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and
Democracy (CUD), threatened on Friday to call peaceful strikes and
demonstrations, accusing the government of arresting and killing its
members. The CUD alleged that over the past two months, the government
had killed at least six of its supporters, arrested 837 and ransacked
party offices. Speaking to reporters, party Chairman Hailu Shawel
accused the government of "transgressing the constitution with impunity"
and maintained that the CUD would continue its boycott of parliament.

"We were hoping the situation would improve, but it is getting worse
each day," Hailu said. "The type of action we are talking about are
peaceful measures like demonstrations, strikes and stay-at-homes." [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49716]


SOMALIA: Gov't appeals for assistance as drought hits the south

A serious drought has taken hold in parts of southern Somalia and
thousands of people are facing significant water and food shortages, a
minister of the transitional government told IRIN on Thursday. Muhammad
Abdi Hayir, Minister for Information of the Transitional Federal
Government (TFG), said the drought was most acute in the regions of Gedo
and Middle Juba and parts of Lower Juba. "The poor Gu rains [of March to
June], coupled with the almost total collapse of the rural water system,
are the cause of an impending crisis," he said.

A 200-liter drum of water was selling at around 200,000 shillings (about
US $20), a sum of money the majority of the population cannot afford, he
said. He added that if the Deyr rains [normally due in October/November]
are poor or late, "then we have a serious crisis on our hands". Reports
the government was getting indicated "large numbers of livestock and a
number of people have already died", he said.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49797]


SOMALIA: UN envoy in Jowhar to meet President Yusuf

The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative (SRSG) to Somalia,
Francois Lonseny Fall, left Nairobi, Kenya, on Tuesday for the Somali
town of Jowhar to meet senior members of the transitional government.
"The SRSG is principally going to consult with President Abdullahi Yusuf
in Jowhar," Babafemi Badejo, the deputy SRSG, told IRIN. He added that
the one-day trip was part of the SRSG's ongoing efforts to foster
dialogue and end differences within the transitional government.

Following their relocation in June from Nairobi, Somalia's transitional
government institutions have been divided over where the seat of
government should be in the country. Yusuf and Prime Minister Ali
Muhammad Gedi and their supporters relocated to Jowhar, 90 km north of
the capital, Mogadishu. They maintain that Mogadishu must be secured
before they can transfer the government to the city.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49738]


SUDAN: Darfur situation deteriorating - UNHCR

The situation in the western Sudanese region of Darfur is deteriorating
sharply, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Antonio
Guterres, has warned. A further calamity could take place very soon, he
noted, and could have "a devastating impact" on neighbouring countries
as well as on the situation in other parts of Sudan. "What we are
witnessing on the ground is a very serious degeneration of the
situation," a UNHCR statement issued on Tuesday quoted Guterres as
saying in London. "It is extremely nasty, with ugly events."

Since mid-September, the security situation has markedly deteriorated,
with ambushes, hostage taking and attacks on villages increasing across
Darfur. On 28 September, an attack on Aro Sharow camp for internally
displaced people in West Darfur left 34 displaced people and local
villagers dead.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49753]


SUDAN: AIDS could spread rapidly in the south, warns UNICEF

HIV/AIDS prevalence rates could increase rapidly in southern Sudan
unless immediate action is taken to address the problem, the UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday. The warning followed the
launch of a global campaign focusing on the impact of HIV/AIDS on
children. "Unofficial reports say that, among blood donors, a low
percentage test HIV positive, but that percentage is increasing fast,"
Ben Parker, UNICEF communication officer, told IRIN in Nairobi. "HIV is
getting a grip."

The conditions in southern Sudan were conducive to an explosive spread
of HIV/AIDS, UNICEF noted, and health experts feared a disaster was on
the horizon. The signing of a comprehensive peace agreement in January,
which ended the country's 21-year civil war, had resulted in massive
increases in population movement, social and political change, and
increased mobility, trade and investment within Sudan and with
neighbouring countries.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49745]


SUDAN: Kiir names southern cabinet

The president of the new government of southern Sudan, Salva Kiir
Mayardit, announced on Sunday the formation of the first autonomous
southern cabinet since the 9 January signing of a peace agreement
between the northern government and the southern Sudan People's
Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). The newly appointed ministers were
sworn in before Mayardit in the southern town of Juba, Samson Kwaje, the
new minister for information, radio and television, told IRIN.

The new cabinet consists of 20 ministers and seven advisers while
another two portfolios - army affairs and rural cooperation and
development - are still to be filled pending further consultations,
south Sudan's official Radio Juba reported on Sunday.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49713]


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


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