U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
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Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 343
9 - 15 September 2006


CONTENTS:

ERITREA: UN staff protest harassment of colleagues
ETHIOPIA: More support needed for flood victims
ETHIOPIA: Hundreds of prisoners granted amnesty
SOMALIA: African Union endorses regional peace plan
SOMALIA: Crackdown on trafficking in Puntland
SUDAN: Gov't renews ultimatum for African force in Darfur
SUDAN: More bombs dropped on North Darfur villages


See Also:

SUDAN: Newly displaced yearn for peace at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55517

SUDAN: Rebel fragmentation hampers Darfur peace at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55502


ERITREA: UN staff protest harassment of colleagues

Staff of the United Nations have accused Eritrea of harassing their 
colleagues working in the Horn of Africa country, saying Asmara's 
actions against the world body's employees were illegal under 
international law.

Eritrean authorities on 5 September expelled five employees of the 
United Nations Mission in Ethiopian and Eritrea (UNMEE), giving them 24 
hours to leave the country after accusing them of "spying activities".

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55500]


ETHIOPIA: More support needed for flood victims

Ethiopian authorities have announced fundraising activities all over the 
country to help thousands of people affected by devastating flash floods 
last month, the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency, said.

Despite a recent appeal for US $27 million to meet emergency and 
rehabilitation needs in affected areas, not enough had been provided, 
the commission said on Thursday.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55563]


ETHIOPIA: Hundreds of prisoners granted amnesty

For the first time in 50 years, Ethiopian authorities have granted 
amnesty to hundreds of convicted prisoners and commuted the sentences of 
several others.

A total of 237 prisoners were freed and 26, including 11 death-row 
convicts, had their sentences reduced, the official news agency reported 
on Tuesday.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55541]


SOMALIA: African Union endorses regional peace plan

The African Union has adopted a plan to deploy a regional peace-support 
mission in Somalia, despite strong opposition from the Union of Islamic 
Courts (UIC), which controls the capital, Mogadishu, and much of south 
and central Somalia.

The endorsement follows a closed-door meeting of the AU Peace and 
Security Council on Wednesday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55554]


SOMALIA: Crackdown on trafficking in Puntland

Authorities in Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland are 
cracking down on migrants waiting to be smuggled into Yemen and the Gulf 
states, Puntland's deputy police chief said on Wednesday.

"We have set up a special unit of 45 men to deal with this problem and 
hunt down the traffickers," said Col. Abdiaziz Sa'id Ga'amey, who is 
leading the operation. "We want to go after the ones who arrange the 
deals, collect the money and direct the traffic."

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55540]


SUDAN: Gov't renews ultimatum for African force in Darfur

Sudan is refusing to back down from its position that the African Union 
(AU) would have to withdraw its peace mission from Darfur on 30 
September if it transfers its force to a United Nations-led operation.

"The government of Sudan has not accepted and will not accept UN 
peacekeepers ... what we need is a partnership between all of us [AU, 
Sudan and international community] and not [enforced] resolutions," the 
Sudanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Al-Samani Al-Wasila, told 
reporters in Addis Ababa after a closed-door meeting of the AU Peace and 
Security Council on Somalia and Darfur on Wednesday.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55556]


SUDAN: More bombs dropped on North Darfur villages

In an apparent widening of its military offensive against rebels in 
North Darfur State, the Sudanese military have used Antonov planes to 
bomb another seven villages in the volatile region, sources in the 
region say.

"On Saturday, Antonov planes were bombing seven villages south of 
Tawilla town, focusing on Tabarat and Tina," a local source, who 
declined to be named, said. "On Sunday, about 45 vehicles carrying 
government troops moved through Tina."

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur have gone without 
food aid for three consecutive months because fighting and banditry have 
prevented the UN World Food Programme (WFP) from reaching them, Kenro 
Oshidari, WFP's representative in Sudan, warned on Monday.

Oshidari said that insecurity had cut off 355,000 people from food aid 
in August - all of them in North Darfur. "Most of these people have now 
gone three entire months without our help. Their situation is even more 
desperate because we're in the middle of the 'hunger season' - the 
period right before the harvest - so they have very little chance of 
finding food elsewhere," Oshidari said.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55504]


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