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 357
30 December 2006 - 5 January 2007


CONTENTS:

DJIBOUTI: Refugee census to improve camp conditions
KENYA-SOMALIA: Kenya halts Somali asylum seekers
SOMALIA: EU calls for reconciliation to achieve peace
SOMALIA: Protect children from conscription, say aid agencies
SUDAN: Southern Sudan government launches probe into sex crimes
SUDAN: Five killed in bomb attack on civilians in Darfur


DJIBOUTI: Refugee census to improve camp conditions

The United Nations refugee agency is registering refugees living in the 
Horn of Africa state of Djibouti with a view to offering them better 
protection and services.

The exercise, which started on 22 December at Ali Adde camp, the main 
refugee settlement in the country, is the first of its kind in a decade, 
and is being carried out with the collaboration of the government of 
Djibouti, local NGOs and other UN agencies.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56924]


KENYA-SOMALIA: Kenya halts Somali asylum seekers

Several thousand asylum seekers fleeing recent fighting in Somalia have 
been stranded for days near the border with neighbouring Kenya which has 
blocked their entry, aid workers said on Wednesday.

According to local community workers in the Dobley area of Somalia 
(about 30 km from the border), the people trying to enter Kenya were 
mainly women and children.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56903]


SOMALIA: EU calls for reconciliation to achieve peace

Expressing concern over the situation in Somalia, members of the 
European Union's International Contact Group on Somalia have called for 
a reconciliation process that would include the Union of Islamic Courts 
(UIC).

The UIC was last week routed by the Ethiopia-backed Somali Transitional 
Federal Government (TFG) forces from its stronghold in the capital, 
Mogadishu, and the southern part of the country.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56914]


SOMALIA: Protect children from conscription, say aid agencies

An increasing number of children are being conscripted into Somalia's 
fighting factions, exposing them to attacks and separating them from 
their families, humanitarian agencies have warned.

However, a spokesman for Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) 
has denied recruiting underage soldiers. "We have no child soldiers 
among our forces," Abdirahman Dinari, the spokesman, told IRIN on 
Tuesday.

[Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56884]


SUDAN: Southern Sudan government launches probe into sex crimes

The government of Southern Sudan has joined the United Nations in 
launching an investigation into media reports of sexual abuse by 
international peacekeepers.

The investigations come in the wake of media reports on Tuesday which 
claimed that at least 20 children - some as young as 12 - had been 
forced to have sex with UN peacekeepers in the capital Juba.

[Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56915]


SUDAN: Five killed in bomb attack on civilians in Darfur

Five people have been killed in a bombing raid on civilians in the 
western Sudanese Darfur region, according to the African Union mission 
in Sudan.

Saturday's attack on villages near Kutum in North Darfur, was carried 
out by a government Antonov plane, according to the AU force commander, 
Luke Aprezi. The raid came two days after the AU mission and the United 
Nations mission held meetings with rebel commanders in the area. [Full 
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56905]


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