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 403
20 - 26 October 2007


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: Puntland warns of looming humanitarian crisis
SOMALIA: Government harassing the media, warns HRW
SOMALIA: WFP officer released from six-day detention
SOMALIA: Urgent assistance plea for 10,000 displaced Mogadishu families
SUDAN: Joint Darfur mission short of air transport units
SUDAN: New polio case sparks vaccination programme

See Also:

IOM to create database for African migrants at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74982

Africa: Farmers need a financial umbrella says World Bank at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74967

AFRICA: Private security firms seek greater peacekeeping role at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74957

GLOBAL: Agencies "waste money on poor fleet management" at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74953

AFRICA: Slum Survivors - new IRIN film released at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74946


SOMALIA: Puntland warns of looming humanitarian crisis

Somalia's northeastern self-declared autonomous region of Puntland has 
appealed for assistance for hundreds of displaced families from Sool 
region, which was overrun by forces loyal to the self-declared republic 
of Somaliland on 15 October.

"We are issuing this appeal to assist the displaced from Sool who are 
scattered around Puntland," said Abdullahi Abdirahman, the head of 
Puntland Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Agency (HADMA).

[Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74976]


SOMALIA: Government harassing the media, warns HRW

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Somali transitional government 
of systematically harassing journalists and failing to protect the 
fledgling independent media in the war-ravaged Horn of Africa country.

"The violent attacks on Somalia's journalists threaten their courageous 
reporting on the crisis in Mogadishu," Peter Takirambudde, HRW Africa 
director said on 22 October. "The Somali government must condemn and 
investigate these attacks as well as cease its own harassment of the 
media."

[Full report at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74949]


SOMALIA: WFP officer released from six-day detention

Somali government officials on 23 October released a senior UN World 
Food Programme (WFP) staff member who was arrested during a raid on the 
UN compound in the capital Mogadishu the week before.

"We welcome the release of Idris Osman and are pleased that he will be 
reunited with his family," WFP executive director Josette Sheeran said 
in a statement issued from the agency's headquarters in Rome. [Full 
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74924]


SOMALIA: Urgent assistance plea for 10,000 displaced Mogadishu families

Civil society and local officials have appealed to charitable 
organisations to provide aid for at least 60,000 people who fled recent 
violence in the Somali capital Mogadishu and have been living in 
difficult conditions on the northwestern outskirts of the city.

"An estimated 10,000 families [60,000 people] are camped around the 
district, with little or no help coming in," Asha Sha'ur Ugas, a senior 
member of Mogadishu's civil society groups told IRIN on 23 October.

[Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74930]


SUDAN: Joint Darfur mission short of air transport units

The African Union/UN hybrid mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has received 
commitments for most of its infantry requirements but has yet to secure 
pledges for air transport, a senior official said.

"We are talking about attack and utility helicopters, heavy lift 
transport units," Henry Anyidoho, the AU-UN Deputy Joint Special 
Representative Designate in Sudan, said in Ethiopia's capital Addis 
Ababa. "These are still outstanding. We have not received any pledges."

[Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74977]


SUDAN: New polio case sparks vaccination programme

UN agencies and Sudanese health officials began a two-day countrywide 
polio immunisation campaign on 23 October, following reports of a new 
case of the disease in Darfur.

No polio cases had been reported in Sudan since August 2005, granting 
the country WHO certification as polio-free. The new case, which was 
confirmed in a boy from South Darfur, may have spread from neighbouring 
Chad, the health agency said.

[Full report at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74932]


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