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 380
9 - 15 June 2007


CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA-SUDAN: Bid to defuse tensions between Nuer border communities
SOMALIA: Conference delay will affect reconciliation efforts - analyst
SUDAN: Call for urgent deployment of hybrid Darfur force
SUDAN: Large tracts of Darfur inaccessible - Oxfam

Also see:

SUDAN-UGANDA: Equatoria - reluctant host for the LRA
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72711

SUDAN: Boomtown Nimule under strain
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72653


ETHIOPIA-SUDAN: Bid to defuse tensions between Nuer border communities

Authorities in Akobo, Southern Sudan, and Tiergol in the Gambella region 
of Ethiopia are planning talks to defuse tensions between communities 
living in the border region, the UN Office for the Coordination of 
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Ethiopia reported.

The tension around Akobo is between two subgroups of the Nuer ethnic 
group - who predominantly live in Sudan but also have significant 
numbers in Gambella - the Lou Nuer and the Jikany Nuer.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72684


SOMALIA: Conference delay will affect reconciliation efforts - analyst

The postponement - for the second time - of Somalia's national 
reconciliation conference that was due to start on 14 June is a setback 
for reconciliation efforts in the war-torn country, a regional analyst 
said.

"Somalia cannot afford to wait; besides, the clock is ticking on the 
Transitional Federal Government [TFG, whose five-year mandate expires in 
2009]," the analyst, who requested anonymity, said on 13 June.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72704


SUDAN: Call for urgent deployment of hybrid Darfur force

The UN Security Council should ensure that the Sudanese government's 
acceptance of a hybrid force consisting of UN and African Union (AU) 
troops for Darfur is matched by immediate action to protect civilians 
and end abuses, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

In a departure from its earlier position, Sudan on 12 June accepted that 
such a force could be deployed in its troubled western region of Darfur. 
HRW, in a statement ahead of a planned trip by Security Council members 
to Africa, including Sudan, from 14 June, called for greater pressure on 
the Sudanese government.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72699


SUDAN: Large tracts of Darfur inaccessible - Oxfam

Increasing violence in the western Sudanese region of Darfur has cut aid 
workers' access to affected civilians to its lowest level since the 
early days of conflict, the British charity Oxfam said.

As a result, large parts of rural Darfur were now completely 
inaccessible for aid agencies. Humanitarian workers and operations, it 
added, were increasingly being targeted. "Vehicles are being hijacked 
and robbed, staff assaulted and intimidated while carrying out their 
work, and offices broken into and looted," Oxfam noted in a statement on 
8 June.

Full sreport:: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72655


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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