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 376
12 - 18 May 2007


CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA: Seed banks to boost food security
SOMALIA: Plea to help 12,000 displaced in Bardera
SOMALIA: EU calls for reconciliation
SOMALIA: One-third of conflict victims were children - UN
SOMALIA: Mogadishu mayor regrets disruption of UN mission by bombs
SUDAN: Security forces involved in attacks, says report

Also see:
SUDAN: Daunting task of assisting returnees to south


ETHIOPIA: Seed banks to boost food security

Seed banks are to be used to boost food security in drought-prone Oromia 
regional state of eastern Ethiopia, officials said. "Wherever there is 
food insecurity, there is also seed insecurity," Kedir Mummedie, head of 
the agriculture and rural development department in East Hararghe, 
Oromia regional state, said.

"Due to recurrent droughts, the area became food insecure, which led the 
farmers to give priority to consumption instead of reserving some for 
seed," he added.


SOMALIA: Plea to help 12,000 displaced in Bardera

Local authorities in Somalia's southwestern town of Bardera, Gedo 
region, have appealed to international aid agencies to help up to 12,000 
displaced people who have sought refuge in the town. "They [the 
displaced] continue to arrive every day and we cannot cope," Muhammad 
Sheikh Hassan, the Bardera District Commissioner, told IRIN on 17 May.

He said the displaced urgently needed shelter, food and medicine. He 
said every lorry arriving in Bardera was bringing more people who have 
fled fighting in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, between government troops 
and insurgents.


SOMALIA: EU calls for reconciliation

The European Union's General Affairs and External Relations Council has 
called for a reconciliation process and dialogue to include all sectors 
of Somali society. It appealed to the Transitional Federal Institutions 
"to engage in an inclusive, meaningful and consensual dialogue involving 
all sections of Somali society".

Further, "the Council expects the Transitional Federal Institutions to 
convene the National Reconciliation Congress as soon as possible," it 
said.


SOMALIA: One-third of conflict victims were children - UN

A report by the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, on 
children in Somalia, estimates that more than one-third of the people 
who were killed and injured in fighting in 2006 were children, with 
violence in southern and central Somalia characterised by grave child 
rights violations.

In addition, he says, continued fighting in and around Mogadishu, the 
capital, between the Transitional Federal Government and remnants of the 
Union of Islamic Courts forces had resulted in more casualties and 
violations against children in 2007.


SOMALIA: Mogadishu mayor regrets disruption of UN mission by bombs

Explosions in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, which forced the United 
Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes to cut short his 
weekend visit, were politically motivated and meant to paint the city in 
a bad light, the city's mayor told IRIN.

The mayor, Muhammad Umar Habeb, also known as 'Muhammad Dhere', 
regretted the explosions. "I am very disappointed that the trip was cut 
short," he said. "It was exactly what those who were behind the 
explosions hoped for."


SUDAN: Security forces involved in attacks, says report

NAIROBI, 18 May 2007 (IRIN) - Sudanese security forces should be 
investigated for their involvement in attacks on villages in South 
Darfur, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human 
Rights said.

More than 100 people have been killed in such attacks on villages near 
Nyala since January, the High Commissioner said in a report produced 
together with the UN Mission in Sudan. It documents violations of 
international human rights law during an ongoing dispute between members 
of the Tarjum and Rizeigat Abbala communities in Bulbul area, noting 
that thousands of people were also displaced and property destroyed.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
     Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
                                    guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Horn of Africa                   www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/hafrica