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 364
17 - 23 February 2007


CONTENTS:

DJIBOUTI: Malnutrition a silent emergency - UNICEF
ETHIOPIA: Trial of opposition activists adjourned again
SOMALIA: Gov't welcomes authorisation of peacekeeping force
SOMALIA: Plea to help 2,000 displaced families
SOMALIA: Government bans media reports of displacement, rocket and
   mortar fire
SUDAN: Meningitis spreads in south
SUDAN: Task force to address sexual abuse and exploitation
SUDAN: More displacement amid continuing violence in Darfur

See also:

ETHIOPIA: Fighting malaria in Oromiya
SUDAN: Dinka going home to an uncertain future


DJIBOUTI: Malnutrition a silent emergency - UNICEF

Malnutrition among children younger than five is a silent emergency in 
Djibouti, where a survey conducted in 2006 showed malnutrition rates 
well above the emergency threshold, the United Nations Children's Fund 
(UNICEF) said.

"The situation is alarming," Aloys Kamuragiye, UNICEF representative for 
Djibouti, told IRIN on Wednesday. "It is a silent emergency which calls 
for a humanitarian response. People can become complacent about it 
probably because there is no war in Djibouti."


ETHIOPIA: Trial of opposition activists adjourned again

The Federal High Court in Ethiopia has once again adjourned the trial of 
101 opposition activists and journalists, including more than 70 
defendants who have been held in custody since November 2005 on charges 
of instigating unrest to overthrow the government.

Federal High Court Judge Adil Ahmed on Monday adjourned the trial until 
5 March, saying a speech allegedly made by one of the defendants - the 
leader of the country's main opposition party, the Coalition for Unity 
and Democracy, Hailu Shawl - at the American press club before his 
arrest needed to be translated from English into Amharic, Ethiopia's 
official language.


SOMALIA: Gov't welcomes authorisation of peacekeeping force

Somalia has welcomed a resolution by the United Nations Security Council 
authorising a six-month deployment of African Union peacekeepers to the 
Horn of Africa country, which has had no functioning regime in more than 
15 years.

"The government welcomes the statement from the UN Security Council," 
Information Minister Madobe Nuunow Muhammad, said. "It is long overdue 
but a very positive step in the right direction."


SOMALIA: Plea to help 2,000 displaced families

Civil society organisations in Somalia have appealed to the 
international community to help at least 2,000 families displaced over 
the past two weeks by violence in the capital, Mogadishu.

"We are appealing to the international community, particularly to the 
United Nations, to come to the aid of these people," Muhammad Nur Ga'al, 
the deputy head of the coalition known as Civil Society in Action, said 
on Wednesday from Mogadishu.


SOMALIA: Government bans media reports of displacement, rocket and 
mortar fire

The Somali government has stopped three media groups in the capital, 
Mogadishu, from carrying reports on increasing violence and displacement 
of civilians, saying the media was exaggerating numbers.

"We simply want them not to create panic among the population," Gen Nur 
Muhammad Mahamud, deputy chief of the Somali national security agency, 
said from Mogadishu.


SUDAN: Meningitis spreads in south

A total of 1,477 cases of meningitis, including 117 deaths, have been 
reported in south Sudan since the beginning of 2007, according to the 
United Nations World Health Organization (WHO).

Areas most affected by the outbreak include Warrap state and Yambio, 
Maridi and Mundri counties. So far, the disease has spread to eight of 
south Sudan's 10 states.


SUDAN: Task force to address sexual abuse and exploitation

United Nations agencies and the southern Sudanese government are to 
establish a task force to monitor cases of sexual abuse and exploitation 
involving international staff, officials said.

"To my knowledge it would be the first such task force," David Gressly, 
UN Deputy Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Southern Sudan, said 
at a one-day workshop on the prevention of sexual abuse and exploitation 
on Tuesday in the southern capital of Juba.


SUDAN: More displacement amid continuing violence in Darfur

Several thousand Sudanese civilians who were forced to flee their 
villages after fighting broke out between the Targem and Reziegat 
Maharia communities in South Darfur have moved to Kass town, where 
humanitarian agencies have started assisting them, the United Nations 
Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said.

Unconfirmed reports suggested that between 70 and 100 people were killed 
and 14 injured in the clashes, which were triggered by a dispute over 
pasture. By Tuesday, about 3,352 people had been registered for 
assistance, but others were widely dispersed.


IRIN-CEA
Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
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