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 349
21 - 27 October 2006


CONTENTS:

SUDAN: Ambassador adamant Pronk stays out
SUDAN-UGANDA: UN refugee agency resumes repatriation of Sudanese
ETHIOPIA: Acute watery diarrhoea claims 279 lives
SOMALIA-KENYA: Camps cannot cope with Somali refugee influx
SOMALIA: War of words over Islamic Courts' role


SUDAN: Ambassador adamant Pronk stays out

The Sudanese ambassador to the UN told reporters on Thursday that the
head of the United Nations Mission in Sudan, Jan Pronk, who was expelled
from the country for remarks in his personal web-blog, had not supported
the Khartoum government.

Responding to questions on Pronk's status, Sudanese Ambassador
Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem said, "He was a failure as far as we are
concerned. He was not supportive, he was abusive, he became part of the
problem rather than the solution."

Pronk was recalled for consultations in New York on 22 October after a
letter from the government of Sudan to the UN Secretary-General, Kofi
Annan, requesting that the former Dutch cabinet minister be withdrawn.
The request came after the Khartoum authorities took offence at
criticism of the Sudanese Armed Forces on Pronk's personal web-blog, and
in particular, a claim that the Sudanese army had lost major battles to
Darfur rebels in Um Sidir in September, and in Karakaya in early
October.

Full report:
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56080&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=SUDAN]


SUDAN-UGANDA: UN refugee agency resumes repatriation of Sudanese

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday it had resumed repatriating
thousands of Sudanese refugees from Uganda, having suspended operations
last week over security concerns.

Roberta Russo, the UNHCR spokeswoman in Kampala, told IRIN that 185
people were repatriated to Kajo Keji after the Ugandan and southern
Sudanese government gave assurances that the dangerous security
situation had been brought under control.

Full report:
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56083&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=SUDAN-UGANDA]


ETHIOPIA: Acute watery diarrhoea claims 279 lives

Acute watery diarrhoea has continued to spread alarmingly in Ethiopia,
with the death toll rising to 279 and 29,880 people infected, despite
efforts by the government and humanitarian agencies to control the
epidemic since April, the United Nations humanitarian agency said on
Wednesday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said
government bureaus, UN agencies and NGOs had collaborated to support the
training of approximately 60 health and water professionals from 12
districts, or 'woredas', in response to the epidemic and its "alarming
spread" in the northern region of Amhara.

An assessment by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the eastern Afar
region showed 84 new cases, with 11 deaths, according to OCHA. The UN
agency said MSF-France would provide training for medical staff to
handle acute watery diarrhoea, including case management, hygiene and
sanitation and isolation procedures as well as surveillance,
coordination and logistics.

Full report:
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56062&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=ETHIOPIA]


SOMALIA-KENYA: Camps cannot cope with Somali refugee influx

The three refugee camps in Dadaab in Kenya's Northeastern Province do
not have the facilities to cater for the influx of refugees from
Somalia, an official of the United Nations refugee agency said on
Thursday.

"Ideally, the Dadaab camps should accommodate 60,000 people but at the
moment there are 160,000," Eddie Gedalof, the UNHCR representative in
Kenya, said in Nairobi. "The camp is crowded, with a family of 10
sharing a single tarpaulin tent," Baarlin Abukar, a UNHCR field
assistant based in Dadaab added. The UN launched a flash appeal on
Thursday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, for Somali refugees in Kenya.

New arrivals have overstretched the camps' capacity, contributing to the
negative environmental impact on neighbouring communities, Gedalof said.

Full report:
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56076&SelectRegion=East_Africa,%20Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=KENYA-SOMALIA]


SOMALIA: War of words over Islamic Courts' role

An international forum trying to reconcile rival political groups in
Somalia has urged the Islamic movement to refrain from further expanding
its authority by military means and instead engage the transitional
government in dialogue.

The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) took control of the Somali capital,
Mogadishu, in early June and has since extended its authority in much of
southern and central Somalia, challenging the authority of the
Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which was set up in 2004 in a bid
to restore law and order after 13 years without a national government.

The International Contact Group on Somalia (ICG), which met in Nairobi
on Thursday, expressed concern over what it called "threats of
militarisation of Somalia" and deplored violations of agreements reached
during reconciliation talks in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, between
the UIC and the TFG.

Despite calls for dialogue, however, Somalia's interim president,
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, launched a scathing criticism of the UIC, saying
its armed forces were led by a "jihadist wing ... under the banner of
the black flag of the Taliban" and claimed that it was attempting to
make Somalia a "safe [haven] for terrorism".  The UIC for its part
dismissed Yusuf's allegations as "beneath contempt".

[Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56018&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=SOMALIA]


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