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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 287
16 - 22 July 2005


CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: UNMEE warns of continuing border incidents
ETHIOPIA-DJIBOUTI: UNHCR concerned over pilots who flew to Djibouti
ETHIOPIA: Election fraud investigations a "failure" - opposition
ETHIOPIA: Ogaden rebel group offers to end war
SOMALIA: Baidoa tense amidst fears of possible militia attack
SOMALIA: Houses to be built for tsunami survivors
SUDAN: North Darfur families receive seeds and tools
SUDAN: Pockets of severe malnutrition in Bahr el Ghazal


ALSO SEE:

HORN OF AFRICA: 18 million facing food shortages at:
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48205]

ETHIOPIA: Focus: Rural economy threatened by neglect of donkeys at:
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48204]

SUDAN: Interview with Amb Baba Gana Kingibe, head of AMIS at:
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48189]


ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: UNMEE warns of continuing border incidents

The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has expressed concern
over "continuing incidents of violence" along the disputed 1,000 km
border between the countries. At UN-hosted Military Coordination
Commission talks on Saturday between the armed forces of Eritrea and
Ethiopia in Nairobi, Kenya, the commander of the UN peacekeeping forces
in the region, Maj Gen Rajender Singh, called on both sides to try and
resolve the hostility.

The UN has frequently warned that small-scale events, if left unchecked,
had the potential to spiral out of control and evolve into a larger
crisis. "He appealed to the Eritrean and Ethiopian delegations to
cooperate in addressing these incidents with more vigour in the future,"
a UNMEE statement said. Eritrea's Col Zecarias Ogbagaber told the
meeting that the stability of the 25 km-wide demilitarised zone could be
threatened by localised occurrences.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48222]


ETHIOPIA-DJIBOUTI: UNHCR concerned over pilots who flew to Djibouti

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, appealed on Friday for access to three
Ethiopian air force men who allegedly defected to neighbouring Djibouti.
UNHCR said it was increasingly concerned that the airmen - two pilots
and an engineer - could have been returned to Ethiopia against their
will. "I would like to reiterate UNHCR's deep preoccupation regarding
the situation of the three Ethiopian pilots who may intend to seek
asylum in Djibouti where they recently arrived," Kamel Morjane, UNHCR
assistant high commissioner, said in a letter to Djibouti's Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf.

He added: "I would highly appreciate your assistance in this issue
because it will be essential so that UNHCR, in collaboration with the
government of Djibouti, can find an appropriate solution in conformity
with international refugee law." The three Ethiopians allegedly flew
their Ethiopian military helicopter to neighbouring Djibouti around 10
June, said UNHCR.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48161]


ETHIOPIA: Election fraud investigations a "failure" - opposition

Ethiopia's two main opposition parties on Tuesday branded investigations
into election fraud a "complete failure", and said their observers had
been arrested, beaten and even killed. The vice chairman of the
opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), Berhanu Nega, said
the government and the election board had, from the start, rigged the
probe into alleged malpractices. "The investigation process was a
complete failure," he said.

"Our representatives and witnesses have been harassed, threatened,
barred and killed upon their return from the hearings. "The environment
in which the panels conducted the investigation was too flawed to
ascertain that there was vote rigging," he added. Investigations in 139
of the 524 constituencies contested in the 15 May poll could prove
crucial in deciding who wins a majority of seats in the country's
parliament, as partial results show the government leading by the
narrowest of margins.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48202]


ETHIOPIA: Ogaden rebel group offers to end war

An armed rebel group waging a bloody guerrilla war in lawless eastern
Ethiopia on Tuesday offered a truce to end its decade-old fight against
the government. The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) offered
peace talks in a neutral country to try to bring an end to the fighting
that has plagued this arid region. The decision was announced in a
statement following an exchange of letters between Ethiopian Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi and Ogadeni clan elders in an attempt to secure
peace in one of the poorest and most remote parts of the country.

Key elections are scheduled to take place in the region in just over a
month, which could tip the balance in Ethiopia's 15 May national
elections, where partial results have the government and opposition
parties on level pegging. "The ONLF is ready to engage in negotiations
with the government in order to find a just and lasting solution to the
conflict between the people of the Ogaden and Ethiopian regime if such
talks are conducted in a neutral country," the statement said. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48191]


SOMALIA: Baidoa tense amidst fears of possible militia attack

Tension rose on Wednesday in the southwestern Somali town of Baidoa
amidst reports that a militia group was poised to attack the town, local
leaders said. The governor of Baidoa, Muhammad Ali Qalinle, said forces
loyal to former Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA) chairman Hassan Muhammed
Nur Shatigudud, and former RRA first deputy chairman Shaykh Adan Madobe,
both ministers in the Somali transitional government, had been mobilised
in an area 76 km west of the town.

"Our forces have been put on high alert to deal with any eventuality,"
Qalinle added. The Somali transitional Minister of Information, Muhammad
Abdi Hayir, told IRIN: "Our position is that the two sides should
resolve their differences through dialogue and peaceful means." A local
businessman who requested anonymity told IRIN: "There is tension
building up in the town. Many are preparing to leave if fighting breaks
out again."

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48234]


SOMALIA: Houses to be built for tsunami survivors

Four hundred housing units are to be built for survivors of the December
2004 tsunami in Hafun town, northeastern Somalia in a joint programme
between the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Human Settlements
Programme (UN-HABITAT). The 12-month project that begins in August will
reconstruct houses, public buildings and sanitation facilities at a cost
of US $1.35 million. It is part of a larger integrated development
programme involving various organisations, a statement issued by the two
agencies on Tuesday, said.

The tsunami, which displaced more than 5,000 people, damaged most
buildings on the town's seafront because the largely unplanned
settlements were located "on a flat, low-lying sand plate" that made
most of them vulnerable to the colossal waves. A joint UN agency
assessment mission in February 2005 identified areas for investment in
Hafun, some 1,500 km northeast of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, to
bridge the gap between relief and development.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48193]


SUDAN: North Darfur families receive seeds and tools

Some 70,000 vulnerable rural households in the Sudanese state of North
Darfur have received seeds and agricultural tools from the UN Food and
Agricultural Organization (FAO), the agency said on Wednesday. "Some 550
tonnes of field crop seeds, including millet, sorghum and groundnut, and
around 79,000 tools, including hand and donkey ploughs, were distributed
outside displacement camps to conflict-affected households and to host
communities to encourage them to stay on their land," FAO said.

The assistance is expected to help these families produce enough food to
feed themselves for almost three months. The agency said as a result of
the two-year war in the region, drought and failed harvests, few North
Darfurian farmers had seeds to plant; the available seeds would not be
sufficient to cultivate even a third of the area that was cultivated
before the conflict.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48230]


SUDAN: Pockets of severe malnutrition in Bahr el Ghazal

Several counties in the southwestern Sudanese region of Bahr el Ghazal
are facing food shortages with thousands of people suffering from severe
malnutrition, according to the UN World Food Programme and a famine
early warning system. "Almost 6,000 people were fed in therapeutic and
supplementary feeding centres in four counties in Bahr el Ghazal in
June," Laura Melo, spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme (WFP),
said on Friday.

Pockets of severe malnutrition had been noted in Twic, Gogrial, Aweil
and Raga counties, she added. "We are talking about 6,000 people in four
counties. This is a very high number and a situation of great concern,"
she said, noting that WFP had provided food assistance to 230,000 people
in the whole of Bahr el Ghazal in June.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48165]



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


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