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 369
24 - 30 March 2007


CONTENTS:

DJIBOUTI: Urgent funding required to feed thousands - WFP
ETHIOPIA: Flood warning for Somali region
SOMALIA: Rising food prices compound hardship
SOMALIA: Ensure safe movement for aid workers, gov't urged
SUDAN: UN official calls for freedom of movement
SUDAN: Winning the battle against polio
HORN OF AFRICA: Warning on potential locust swarms


DJIBOUTI: Urgent funding required to feed thousands - WFP

An estimated 53,000 people in Djibouti could go without food rations 
unless the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) secures funding to 
continue providing aid, the agency warned on Tuesday.

The situation could be aggravated by high malnutrition rates. 
"Malnutrition among children younger than five is in fact a silent 
emergency in Djibouti, but we just don't have the funds to continue 
providing food to the most vulnerable," Benoit Thiry, WFP Djibouti 
country director, said.

A total of US$6 million is needed for operations in Djibouti until 
December 2007. About $1 million is required immediately to avoid 
interrupting distributions in May, just before the start of the dry 
season when many families face the most severe food shortages.

A survey carried out in 2006 attributed the poor nutritional status of 
Djibouti infants and children mainly to frequent droughts, high 
unemployment and food prices that were beyond the means of most poor 
people.

Full report: 
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70965]


ETHIOPIA: Flood warning for Somali region

Eleven flood-prone areas in eastern Ethiopia's Somali region could be 
inundated as rains intensify in April and May, the national disaster 
management bureau has warned.

Aden Sheik Mohamed, head of the early warning department at the Disaster 
Prevention and Preparedness Bureau (DPPB) in Somali regional state, said 
it was possible the Wabe-Shebelle and Weyib rivers could flood their 
banks.

"Our department is trying to create awareness among the communities 
located near the Wabe-Shebelle and Weyib rivers," Aden said. "We do not 
yet have numbers, but if there is a flood a lot of people will be 
affected."

A weekly humanitarian report issued by the United Nations Office for the 
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Monday said the Gu rains had 
begun in Jijiga town and areas within its vicinity.

Records show that in the pastoral areas, the main rains were normal in 
the beginning in most zones of the state, but some areas instead 
experienced erratic distribution and low rain intensity in April and 
May.

Full report:
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70967]


SOMALIA: Rising food prices compound hardship

Residents of the violence-torn Somali capital of Mogadishu are facing 
increasing hardships, with prices of basic commodities rising sharply, 
sources said on Thursday.

"Prices of basic foods, such as rice, sugar, cooking oil have increased, 
sometimes by 50 percent," a local resident said. "The price increases 
are due to shortages [because] no ships have docked in the port in the 
past week due to the insecurity, and hoarding by some business people."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) earlier in the 
week said Mogadishu residents who had fled the city to seek refuge in 
nearby towns were hungry, faced harassment from thugs and could not find 
schools for their children.

Full report: 
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71067]


SOMALIA: Ensure safe movement for aid workers, gov't urged

Somali civil society organisations have urged the government to help aid 
workers reach thousands of desperate civilians displaced by recent 
violence in the capital, Mogadishu.

"We met the Minister of Interior [Mohamed Mohamud Guleed] and requested 
the government to allow the unconditional movement of aid agencies and 
their workers to assist the needy people," said Abdinasir Ahmed Usman, 
head of a civil society taskforce assisting internally displaced 
persons.

"The taskforce estimates that at least 30,000 people are living rough 
outside the city, without food, water and shelter, after fleeing ongoing 
exchanges of gunfire between Ethiopian-backed government troops and 
unidentified gunmen - a daily occurrence in the city.

Full report: 
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71026]


SUDAN: UN official calls for freedom of movement

Aid workers in the troubled western Sudanese region of Darfur are 
frequently prevented from doing their jobs by being denied access to 
certain areas, United Nations Under-Secretary-General John Holmes said 
on Saturday.

"The United Nations and its NGO [non-governmental organisation] partners 
are keeping these people alive - and we are not allowed in. We should be 
allowed to move freely," Holmes said after being denied permission to 
visit Kassab camp for internally displaced persons in North Darfur 
state.

Holmes, who is on a two-week mission to Sudan, Chad and the Central 
African Republic (CAR), was travelling to Kassab when his convoy was 
stopped in Kutum town, and told he could not visit the camp - home to 
22,700 displaced people. The government-controlled town is about 120km 
north of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

Half a dozen international NGOs and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) 
work in Kutum, some of whom have only recently returned after 
temporarily or partially suspending their programmes due to the 
deteriorating security situation in the area.

Full report:
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70921]


SUDAN: Winning the battle against polio

The child took his turn calmly, opening his mouth to receive two drops 
of liquid from the vaccinator, who was carrying a cold box over his 
shoulders. He was one of hundreds of children who had been brought to 
the southern Sudanese capital of Juba on Monday for the first day of a 
national campaign against polio.

The campaign aims to reach 2.7 million children in southern Sudan, out 
of 8.7 million targeted across Sudan and is spearheaded by government 
health departments, supported with vaccines, technical support and 
funding from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN World 
Health Organization (WHO) and other partners.

"High levels of coverage during these campaigns, complemented by 
improved routine vaccination of children as part of their ongoing 
healthcare, are critical to Sudan remaining polio-free," Mohamed 
Abdurrah, WHO country representative in Sudan, said.

The last case of polio in southern Sudan was recorded in February 2005, 
and the two-year gap makes health officials optimistic about the 
progress of eradication. Before that, the country had been polio-free 
since April 2001.

Full report: 
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70963]


HORN OF AFRICA: Warning on potential locust swarms

The locust infestation developing in the Horn of Africa has the 
potential to cause a serious humanitarian problem in Eritrea, northern 
Somalia and Sudan, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization 
(FAO) has warned.

Urging the three countries to carefully monitor the situation, FAO said 
a second-generation locust infestation from a December outbreak in 
Eritrea was now concentrating in an area on the Red Sea coast straddling 
the Sudanese-Eritrean border.

"There have been several new developments in the past few days in three 
key areas," FAO said in an update on the crop-devouring insects issued 
on Friday. They were present in pearl millet crops in wadis and in 
natural vegetation on the coastal plains, the agency said.

The locust is a species of short-horned grasshopper that can either form 
part of a swarm of adults or become a wingless nymph (hopper). The 
swarms - which travel up to 130km a day - can measure from one to 
several hundred kilometres in length, posing a serious threat to 
agriculture.

According to the FAO, locusts regularly cross the Red Sea (a distance of 
300km). A swarm can hold up to 80 million locust adults in each square 
kilometre, and is capable of destroying a crop field in seconds. A small 
swarm can eat as much food in a day as 2,500 people.

Full report: 
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70922]


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