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 342
2 - 8 September 2006


CONTENTS:

SUDAN: Stop bombing North Darfur villages - former rebels
SUDAN: Khartoum issues deadline to AU force
SOMALIA: Unified armed forces seen as key to peace
ETHIOPIA: Thousands homeless in volatile Gambella
ETHIOPIA: Watery diarrhoea spreads, death toll up to 125
ERITREA: UN protests at staff expulsions

See Also:
SUDAN: Heightened tension and frustration in Darfur at
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55399]

ETHIOPIA: Finding shelter away from flooding
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55426]


SUDAN: Stop bombing North Darfur villages - former rebels

Former rebels who signed a peace agreement with the government in May 
have denounced the new Sudanese military offensive to flush out rebel 
groups in North Darfur State.

"The government's own security plan for the north is motivated by hidden 
agendas," Col. Ali Muktar, representative of Minni Minnawi's faction of 
the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) on the African Union 
(AU) ceasefire commission, told IRIN on Thursday. "We do not support 
this plan and we do not participate in this plan. "We urge the AU and 
the United Nations to urge the government to stop these military 
operations," he added.

The international advocacy organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) on 
Wednesday said the Sudanese government was indiscriminately bombing 
civilian-occupied villages in rebel-held areas.

Full report:
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55447]


SUDAN: Khartoum issues deadline to AU force

The Sudanese government has asked the African Union (AU) to decide 
within a week, whether it will keep its troops in Sudan's Darfur region, 
or leave the country.

The mandate of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) is due to 
expire on 30 September. The Sudanese government has refused to accept an 
extension of the mandate if the AU force then becomes part of a United 
Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur.

In a meeting in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on Monday, the AU 
Peace and Security Council decided not to extend its mission in Darfur 
beyond 30 September, unless consultations between the UN and the 
government of Sudan resulted in a new agreement about a transfer from 
the AU to a UN force.

Full report:
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55404]


SOMALIA: Unified armed forces seen as key to peace

Somalia's transitional government on Tuesday hailed an agreement to 
unify armed groups allied to it with forces loyal to the country's 
increasingly influential Islamic courts as an important first step 
towards restoring peace.

Representatives from the Transitional Federal Government and the Union 
of Islamic Courts (UIC) agreed on Monday during talks mediated by the 
League of Arab States in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, to 
"reconstitute the Somali national army and the national police force and 
work towards reintegration of the forces of the Islamic Courts, the TFG 
and other armed militias in the country".

The TFG and the UIC have been in confrontation since June, when forces 
belonging to the Islamic group seized control of Somalia's capital, 
Mogadishu, after defeating the warlords who took control of the city 
following the toppling in 1991 of the regime headed by the late Muhammad 
Siyad Barre.

Full report:
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55401]


ETHIOPIA: Thousands homeless in volatile Gambella

More than 44,600 displaced people in the western Ethiopian region of 
Gambella, where conflict between local ethnic groups has been rife, are 
in dire need of help, according to an NGO that operates in the area. 
Recent flooding has also affected thousands of the displaced living in 
settlements near the Baro river.

"The IDP [internally displaced person] problem is related to continuing 
conflicts in the area," Solomon Hussein, Gambella programme manager for 
Zoa Refugee Care, said on Thursday. "We saw 17 new villages established 
recently by the Nuer who were pushed out of their homes by other 
groups."

Full report:
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55438]


ETHIOPIA: Watery diarrhoea spreads, death toll up to 125

The death toll from an outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea in Ethiopia 
has risen to 125, the country's health ministry reported. The spread of 
the disease had been exacerbated by massive flooding last month, it 
added.

An estimated 15,000 cases of acute watery diarrhoea had been reported in 
Ethiopia since April, the ministry of health said in an update on 
Friday. The worst affected regions were Oromia and the Southern Nation 
and Nationalities Peoples' Regional states (SNNPR) in the south of the 
country, where most of the flooding occurred and where contaminated 
river water was putting more people at risk of disease.

Full report:
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55384]


ERITREA: UN protests at staff expulsions

The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has protested 
to the Eritrean authorities over the expulsion of five UN staff on 
allegations of spying, a spokesperson said on Thursday.

"We are not particularly happy and have instituted our own investigation 
into this unsubstantiated but serious allegations," Musi Khumalo, UNMEE 
deputy chief public information officer, said. "The mission has complied 
with the order and the officers left yesterday, but we continue to 
engage the authorities to find an amicable way out of this impasse," she 
added. "The affected staff have been sent to Addis Ababa for the time 
being."

On Wednesday, the Eritrean authorities gave the five staff members - 
from Britain, New Zealand, South Africa, Liberia and Trinidad and Tobago 
- one day to leave the country.

Full report:
[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55436]


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