Weekly Round-Up - IRINHA-288: 05-Aug-05
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 288
30 July - 5 August 2005
CONTENTS:
SOMALIA: Media watchdog demands release of detained journalist
SOMALIA: Interim government promises to end divisions
SUDAN: Leaders call for calm as death toll rises to 130
SUDAN: Khartoum tense for third day after Garang death
SUDAN: Violence in Darfur still prevalent - MSF
ALSO SEE:
SUDAN: Interview with UN Special Representative Jan Pronk at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48451
SUDAN: SLA rebels sceptical about peace in Darfur at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48397
SOMALIA: Interview with Minister of Land and Settlement at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48403
SOMALIA: Media watchdog demands release of detained journalist
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded the
unconditional release of a radio journalist arrested on Wednesday in the
Somali town of Jowhar, the temporary seat of Somalia's transitional
federal government. "It's outrageous that Abdullahi Kulmiye Adow has
been detained for doing his job," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said
in a statement. "We call on the Jowhar and transitional federal
authorities to ensure that he is released immediately and
unconditionally."
Adow, who works for the Mogadishu-based independent HornAfrik radio
station, was reportedly arrested in Jowhar, 90 km north of Mogadishu,
"at 1:00 am [2200 GMT] on Wednesday" by militiamen, Hassan Ade of
HornAfrik told IRIN on Thursday. The authorities in Jowhar have not
disclosed reasons for the arrest and Adow has not been charged "as of
now" said Ade.
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48445]
SOMALIA: Interim government promises to end divisions
Senior officials of the Somali interim government on Monday promised to
end disagreements that have paralysed their administration, following a
visit by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG)
to Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall. Fall, who left Jowhar on Tuesday
after a two-day visit, met President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime
Minister Ali Muhammad Gedi. They discussed the current impasse in the
Transitional Federal Institutions over the location of the government
within Somalia following its relocation from Nairobi, Kenya.
Following the meeting on Monday, Gedi expressed the government's
willingness to work with the UN to resolve the ongoing difficulties, the
UN News Service reported. An estimated 100-plus legislators and members
of the government - led by Speaker Sharif Hassan Shaykh Aden - have
chosen to operate from the capital, Mogadishu, while Yusuf, Gedi and
their supporters have temporarily based themselves in Jowhar, 90 km
north of the capital, on the grounds that security in Mogadishu remained
tenuous.
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48423]
SUDAN: Leaders call for calm as death toll rises to 130
At least 130 people have been killed in three days of violence in
Khartoum and other Sudanese towns following the death of First Vice
President John Garang in a helicopter crash, the Sudanese Red Crescent
reported on Thursday. Leaders were calling on the Sudanese people to
stay calm in an effort to contain violence that started on Monday. "In
Khartoum, 111 people are confirmed dead by the Sudanese Red Crescent,
while 345 people were injured and evacuated from the scenes of
violence," Paul Conneally, communication coordinator for the
International Committee of the Red Cross, said on Thursday.
The death toll, he added, was expected to rise given the high number of
those injured. In a national address on Wednesday, President Umar
al-Bashir called on the Sudanese people to exercise vigilance and
self-restraint, the Sudanese news agency reported.
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48444]
SUDAN: Khartoum tense for third day after Garang death
Gunshots could be heard in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Wednesday
as heavily armed police patrolled the streets for a third day in an
attempt to ease tensions that continued to run high following the death
of First Vice President John Garang. There were reports of civilian
deaths overnight in clashes between southern and northern Sudanese in
the suburbs. Preparations were underway to bury Garang, who died on
Saturday in a helicopter crash near the Ugandan border.
Sudanese television said some people had burnt business premises in
Khartoum's northeastern Haji Yusuf suburb, but police had been deployed
there to contain the situation. The death toll from the violence - which
erupted on Monday after news of Garang's death - had reached 46 by
Tuesday, the Deputy Commissioner-General of Police, Lt Gen Husayn
Uthman, said in a statement.
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48420]
SUDAN: Violence in Darfur still prevalent - MSF
Violence against civilians in the strife-torn western Sudanese region of
Darfur remains a serious problem, the international humanitarian aid
organisation, Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), said on Wednesday. "Our
teams are still witnessing repeated violence against the population,"
Rowan Gillies, president of MSF-international, said in a statement. "We
are deeply concerned about this and its consequences for our patients
and their families," he added.
Without saying who was responsible for the violence, MSF said in the
last three weeks alone, it had treated 52 people for violence-related
injuries. From January to May 2005, MSF teams treated more than 500
people for violence-related injuries and 278 women for rape. On 24 July,
in Shangil Tobaya, North Darfur State, MSF said it had witnessed an
attack on an internally displaced persons' (IDPs) camp next to the
organisation's clinic.
[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48418]
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