U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 347
7 - 13 October 2006


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: UNHCR urges halt to deportations from Puntland
KENYA-SOMALIA: Refugee camps expanded as more Somalis arrive
SOMALIA: Islamic Courts warn of possible renewal of war
SUDAN: Sanctions would force govt to allow UN troops in Darfur - ICG
SUDAN: Obasanjo warns of 'near-genocide' in Darfur
SUDAN: UN urges probe into attacks on Darfur civilians


See Also:

SUDAN: Challenges of returning home at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55921

ETHIOPIA: Confidential hotline getting people talking at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55935


SOMALIA: UNHCR urges halt to deportations from Puntland

The United Nations refugee agency expressed concern on Tuesday over the 
deportation of migrants by authorities in Puntland, northeastern 
Somalia. UN agencies had requested the expulsions be halted to allow 
time to ascertain whether there were genuine asylum-seekers among those 
being deported, mainly to Ethiopia.

The exercise to deport the would-be migrants began last week, with 
Puntland's police saying people were being repatriated to Ethiopia and 
southern Somalia.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55886]


KENYA-SOMALIA: Refugee camps expanded as more Somalis arrive

The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, is expanding camps for Somali 
refugees in eastern Kenya to accommodate an increasing number of people 
fleeing the troubled Horn of Africa country.

"We are really concerned about the large number of refugees who continue 
to arrive every day," said Emmanuel Nyabera, spokesman for the Office of 
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nairobi.


[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55884]


SOMALIA: Islamic Courts warn of possible renewal of war

The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which controls much of southern and 
central Somalia, has warned of imminent war between it and Somalia's 
Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which reportedly took a town 
close to its headquarters in Baidoa on Monday, a senior UIC official 
told IRIN.

"A combined Ethiopian and TFG force has taken Buur Hakaba town [60km 
north of Baidoa on the road to Mogadishu, the Somali capital] this 
morning [Monday] at around 8:00 am local time," said the UIC's 
vice-chairman Sheikh Abdulkadir Ali.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55869]


SUDAN: Sanctions would force govt to allow UN troops in Darfur - ICG

An international think-tank has recommended targeted sanctions against 
key figures in the Sudanese government and designating the western 
region of Darfur as a no-fly zone to pressure Khartoum into allowing a 
United Nations peacekeeping force into the troubled area.

A UN Security Council resolution passed on 31 August called for a 
20,000-strong UN peacekeeping force in Darfur, which would be expanded 
from the existing African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS).

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55927]


SUDAN: Obasanjo warns of 'near-genocide' in Darfur

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned of the possibility of 
genocide in Sudan's Darfur region, and called on Sudan's government and 
the international community to act, as African peacekeepers struggle to 
curb the violence there.

In an address to African and western diplomats at the headquarters of 
the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, on 
Tuesday, Obasanjo - president of the largest contributing country to the 
AU's protection force in Darfur - set out the need for the AU to hand 
over to the United Nations there, while retaining its African 
composition.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55904]


SUDAN: UN urges probe into attacks on Darfur civilians

The United Nations human rights agency urged the Sudanese government on 
Monday to launch an independent probe into alleged militia attacks in 
South Darfur, saying the raids may have left hundreds of civilians dead.

An estimated 300 to 1,000 armed militia from the Habbania Arab group 
attacked 45 villages in the Buram locality of South Darfur in late 
August, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) 
said in a report.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55866]


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Fax: +254 2 622129
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