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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 301
12 - 18 November 2005


CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA: More protesters released from jail
ETHIOPIA: Police blame opposition over recent unrest
ETHIOPIA: Donors concerned over political unrest
SOMALIA: MPs resolve to bridge differences
SOMALIA: Heavy sentences for murder of aid workers in Somaliland
SOMALIA: Thirteen die of measles in Awdal region
SUDAN: Darfur rebels urge AU to move January summit from Khartoum
SUDAN: Clashes erupt between communities in Western Equatoria
SUDAN: First APCs to arrive in Darfur on Friday


SEE ALSO:

SUDAN: Focus: Fighting fistula in Khartoum at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50123

SUDAN: Political developments raise concern, analysts say at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50095

ETHIOPIA: Interview with World Bank representative at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50171


ETHIOPIA: More protesters released from jail

Ethiopian authorities have announced the release of another 3,858
detainees who were seized after days of political unrest that claimed
the lives of at least 46 people. The latest release brings the total
number of those freed to 8,200. In a statement broadcast on state
television late on Monday, the authorities said they had released people
from three detention centres around the country.

"The detainees were released as they were not found to be direct actors
in the violence," said the statement from federal police. The
announcement did not specify the date of their release. Police have yet
to announce how many people were rounded up during the November arrests
after security forces clashed with demonstrators who were protesting the
outcome of parliamentary elections or how many will face charges. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50097]


ETHIOPIA: Police blame opposition over recent unrest

The Ethiopian police on Monday presented to parliament a report that
lays the blame for violence that followed legislative elections in May
squarely on the country's two main opposition parties. The 19-page
report of a probe into the political unrest prepared by the Police
Commissioner, Workneh Gebeyehu, said the Coalition for Unity and
Democracy (CUD) and the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) had
been behind the unrest in which dozens were killed.

Opposition legislators dismissed the report as "propaganda" and accused
the ruling party of using state-controlled media to run a smear campaign
against them. Lawmakers loyal to the ruling party sitting in the House
of People's Representatives endorsed the report, voting for the
establishment of a "neutral, independent commission" to investigate the
upheaval.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50086]


ETHIOPIA: Donors concerned over political unrest

Ethiopia's key donors have expressed concern over violent unrest
following the May elections and said they were reviewing development
cooperation modalities to ensure aid is distributed in a "non-partisan
manner". Political turmoil erupted after opposition groups alleged
widespread vote rigging by the ruling bloc in the 15 May polls. Earlier
this month, the opposition parties announced a boycott of the
parliament.

Some 42 people were killed in clashes with the security forces in June.
In early November, another 46 people were killed in fighting that spread
from Addis Ababa, the capital, to other parts of the country and sparked
a massive crackdown by security forces. "The Development Assistance
Group [DAG] is concerned about these political disturbances and the
effects that these can have on sustainable development for the country,"
said 17 key donors in a statement on Friday.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50081]


SOMALIA: MPs resolve to bridge differences

Somali parliamentarians based in Mogadishu have resolved to hold talks
with the rest of the government, which operates from Jowhar, in a bid to
bridge differences that have paralysed the new administration. Omar
Hashi, speaking on behalf of the Mogadishu-based leaders, said they
reached the decision on Tuesday at a meeting of more than 100 MPs
chaired by Sharif Hassan Shaykh Aden, the speaker of the Somali
transitional parliament.

"It was a unanimous decision to engage our colleagues in Jowhar and hold
a face-to-face meeting without preconditions," he said. Hashi added that
the meeting would be held in Somalia - a demand the Jowhar-based group,
headed by President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister Ali
Muhammad Gedi, had insisted on. The Mogadishu group dropped their demand
that the meeting be held outside Somalia under international mediation.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50128]


SOMALIA: Heavy sentences for murder of aid workers in Somaliland

A court in the self-declared republic of Somaliland sentenced eight
people to death on Monday for killing several aid workers between 2003
and 2004. Two humanitarian workers, Richard Eyeington and his wife,
Enid, were shot dead in October 2003 at their home in a school compound
in Sheik town, some 250 km from the Somaliland capital, Hargeysa.

The two had been working for SOS Children's Villages in Somaliland for a
year to reopen a school for 100 children, which had been closed down in
the 1970s during the regime of Muhammad Siyad Barre. The killings
occurred just two weeks after the murder of an Italian hospital
director, Annalena Tonelli, in Borama town, 10 km from Hargeysa. Her
murderers have never been found.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50102]


SOMALIA: Thirteen die of measles in Awdal region

Thirteen people have died of measles over the last three weeks in the
northern Awdal region of the self-declared republic of Somaliland,
medical sources confirmed in the capital, Hargeysa, on Sunday. "Since 23
October, 13 people - of whom eight were below 15 - died from measles in
villages located on terrains and mountains in Zeilla district within
Awdal region," said Abdirahman Jamaa, the regional medical officer.

"Twenty-three others in nearby areas, including Sheikhware, were
diagnosed with measles symptoms," he added. Ali Sheikh Omar, director of
communicable disease control in Somaliland, said a team was being
dispatched to the affected areas.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50074]


SUDAN: Darfur rebels urge AU to move January summit from Khartoum

The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of the two main rebel
groups in the conflict-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur, has asked
the African Union not to go ahead with a plan to hold its January summit
in Khartoum, and to ensure that Sudan does not assume the AU presidency
in 2006. The planned summit, JEM president Khalil Ibrahim Mohamed said,
would compromise the AU's mediation role in Sudanese peace talks.

"We are totally refusing the suggestion that Bashir would become the new
chairman of the AU. The AU troops will lose their impartiality,"
Mohamed, told IRIN on Wednesday. "Bashir can never hold the AU
presidency while conducting peace negotiations in Darfur at the same
time," the rebel leader added.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50150]


SUDAN: Clashes erupt between communities in Western Equatoria

Clashes between communities in the southwestern Sudanese state of
Western Equatoria have left several people dead and forced humanitarian
agencies to evacuate international staff, a senior UN official said on
Wednesday. The fighting erupted on Monday between the Dinka and the
Zande, who form the majority of the population in the Yambio region near
the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, leading to the looting
and burning of the UN health agency's compound.

Although the exact circumstances of the clashes were still unclear,
preliminary reports indicated that the fighting followed the return of
the state governor. Initial scuffles at the airport developed into
rioting, with Zandes beating Dinkas.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50129]


SUDAN: First APCs to arrive in Darfur on Friday

The first armoured personnel carriers (APCs) intended to enhance the
peacekeeping capabilities of the African Union (AU) forces are expected
to arrive in the western Sudanese region of Darfur on Friday, according
to an AU official. Noureddine Mezni, spokesman of the AU in Khartoum,
said on Tuesday that the Sudanese authorities had authorised the
deployment of 105 APCs donated by the government of Canada.

"The first three or four APCs will arrive in El Fasher [the capital of
North Darfur] on 18 November with a direct flight from Dakar [the
capital of Senegal]," Mezni said, adding that it would take a month for
all of the APCs to arrive in Darfur. Following recent attacks on AU
troops that killed four soldiers, the Sudanese government had come under
international pressure to allow the rapid deployment of the vehicles.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50101]


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


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