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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 289
6 - 12 August 2005


CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA: Opposition rejects final election results
ETHIOPIA: AU urges political parties to work for unity
ETHIOPIA: More malaria cases reported in several regions
SOMALIA: Journalist expelled from Jowhar
SOMALIA: TFG denies split within its ranks
SOMALIA: Hijacked ship to be released - WFP
SUDAN: Salva Kiir sworn in as new vice president
SUDAN: Rains, insecurity hampering aid delivery to Darfur


ALSO SEE:

SUDAN: Darfur youth idle, neglected; at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48562

SUDAN: Potential for chronic instability in Darfur; at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48511

SUDAN: Anxiety over peace in the south; at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48530


ETHIOPIA: Opposition rejects final election results

Ethiopia's largest opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and
Democracy (CUD), has rejected official results that effectively declared
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's ruling party the winner of the country's
disputed 15 May legislative poll. "These are flawed results, consistent
with what we have come to expect of results provided by the NEBE,"
Berhanu Nega, vice chairman of the CUD, told IRIN on Wednesday.

Berhanu said his party, which according to Tuesday's results won 109
seats, was in consultations to decide whether they would challenge the
results in court. Ethiopia's information minister, Bereket Simon,
however, told IRIN the results were released after investigations had
been completed. "The opposition has been proved wrong," the minister
said. "The honourable thing for them to do is to accept the election
results."

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48533]


ETHIOPIA: AU urges political parties to work for unity

The African Union (AU) has urged political parties in Ethiopia to work
together in the national interest following the conclusion of the
disputed 15 May legislative elections. "The AU commends the people of
Ethiopia and all political parties for demonstrating maturity and
responsibility by participating in the multi-party democratic
elections," an AU statement issued on Wednesday added. However, it urged
the parties to "pursue any outstanding issues through due processes of
the law and agreed mechanisms including dialogue".

The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia announced on Tuesday official
results from 492 constituencies, which showed that Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi's Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front had won 296
of 524 seats contested - about 56 percent - enabling it to form a
government. However, Ethiopia's largest opposition party, the Coalition
for Unity and Democracy (CUD), on Wednesday rejected the results. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48543]


ETHIOPIA: More malaria cases reported in several regions

The number of reported malaria cases in Ethiopia has risen sharply amid
fears it could get worse during the "malaria transmission season" which
runs from June to October, the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. "A total of 77 kebeles [administrative
zones] were affected by malaria epidemics in May and June, with 18,911
cases and 42 reported deaths," OCHA said in a humanitarian update on
Monday.

It warned that the current amount of drugs and insecticide treated nets
being imported into the country would be inadequate if there was an
epidemic. The highest number of cases, OCHA said, had been reported to
the Ethiopian federal ministry of health from several regions including
Tigray in the north, Amhara and Afar in northcentral, Oromiya, Somali in
the east and Benshangul-Gumuz in the west.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48488]


SOMALIA: Journalist expelled from Jowhar

A radio journalist who was detained for six days in the Somali town of
Jowhar, the temporary seat of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government,
has been released without charge and banished from the town, his
employer said on Wednesday. Abdullahi Adow, an employee of the
independent HornAfrik radio station, was arrested in Jowhar on 2 August
by militiamen, local sources said.

"He was released and was immediately escorted out of town and told not
to return," Ali Iman, managing partner of HornAfrik, told IRIN. Adow, he
added, was not physically tortured or mistreated during his
incarceration. The authorities in Jowhar, located 90 km north of the
capital, Mogadishu, have not disclosed the reasons for his arrest or
subsequent expulsion, he added.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48532]


SOMALIA: TFG denies split within its ranks

There is no split within Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG)
over the deployment of foreign peacekeeping troops and relocation to the
Somali capital, Mogadishu, a senior member of the TFG said on Tuesday.
"There may be misunderstandings and differences of opinion, but I am not
aware of any split or two camps within the TFG," Abdirahman Dinari,
spokesman for the TFG, told IRIN. Dinari said the TFG welcomed efforts
by the UN and others to facilitate dialogue, "but that should not become
some sort of a reconciliation conference".

Last week the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to
Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, presented an "agenda for dialogue" to
Somali leaders, aimed at helping them overcome their current
differences. Fall presented the agenda to Somalia's President Abdullahi
Yusuf Ahmed, Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Gedi, the Speaker of the
Transitional Federal Parliament, Sharif Hassan Shaykh Aden, and other
MPs, in trips he made to Mogadishu and nearby Jowhar on Monday and
Wednesday.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48509]


SOMALIA: Hijacked ship to be released - WFP

The Kenyan-registered ship that was hijacked off the northeastern coast
of Somalia in June en-route to deliver food aid is to be released with
its cargo and crew, the UN World Food Programme (WFP), said. "An
agreement with community leaders and Somalia's Transitional Federal
Government [TFG] to allow the release of the hijacked ship, its
10-member crew and its cargo of WFP food within days has been reached,"
WFP said in a statement on Saturday.

The MV Semlow was hijacked on 27 June between Haradhere and Hobyo, some
400 km northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, on its way to Bossaso, in
the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland. The vessel had been
chartered by WFP to deliver 850 tonnes of rice to survivors of the 26
December Indian Ocean tsunami, which devastated much of Somalia's
northeastern coastline. WFP said the agreement was reached at a meeting
in Jowhar - the interim seat of the TFG - between diplomats from Kenya,
Sri Lanka, Tanzania, local leaders and WFP country director Robert
Hauser.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48486]


SUDAN: Salva Kiir sworn in as new vice president

The new chairman of the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army
(SPLM/A), Salva Kiir Mayardit, was on Thursday sworn into office as
Sudan's First Vice President in a sombre ceremony in the capital,
Khartoum. Kiir replaced John Garang, who died in a helicopter crash on
30 July near the Uganda-Sudan border.

"Despite the fact that we have lost our hero, the man who brought peace,
Dr John Garang, we will continue with the same vision and objectives,
and will implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement [CPA]," Kiir said
at the ceremony. "The agreement provides the last chance for Sudan's
unity." Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir congratulated Kiir and hailed
the SPLM/A for making a "courageous, historic" decision to name him
their new chairman.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48547]


SUDAN: Rains, insecurity hampering aid delivery to Darfur

Heavy rainfall and ongoing insecurity are slowing down the delivery of
humanitarian assistance to many parts of the strife-torn western
Sudanese region of Darfur, aid workers warned on Wednesday. "It is a
nightmare to move food; the rains are much worse than last year," Diego
Fernandez, head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) field office in
Kabkabiya, in the west of North Darfur State, told IRIN.

WFP emergency coordinator for Darfur, Carlos Veloso, confirmed that the
amount of rain that had fallen in Darfur was above average. "In terms of
the quantity of rain, this is very good news for the expected harvest
next year, but right now it does delay the turnaround of our trucks to
El Fasher and Nyala [the capitals of North and South Darfur
respectively] by a couple of days," Veloso said on Wednesday. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48534] [ENDS]

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


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