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

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Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 392
28 July - 3 August 2007


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: Call for agencies to scale up aid operations in capital
ETHIOPIA: Female circumcision declines in southern region
SUDAN: Darfur force 'should boost humanitarian access'
SUDAN: Darfur rebels gather for talks, key figures yet to arrive


SOMALIA: Call for agencies to scale up aid operations in capital

A senior UN official has urged humanitarian agencies to take advantage 
of security provided by African Union troops in Mogadishu to improve the 
delivery of aid to tens of thousands of displaced people camped in 
surrounding areas.

"Response [to the crisis] has not been adequate because of difficulties 
of access and too many security incidents," Eric Laroche, the UN 
Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, said on 2 August, a 
day after a visit to Mogadishu.

Aid agencies should be mobilised to scale up their operations in the 
Somali capital, he said, adding that this would help get relief supplies 
both to the city and the surrounding areas.

Full report 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73562


ETHIOPIA: Female circumcision declines in southern region

The number of girls and women who undergo female genital 
mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) has declined in Ethiopia's Southern Regional 
State, and could be reduced further if stronger penalties were enforced, 
an NGO leader said.

"Previously people did not even mention FGM/C; it was a taboo," said 
Bogaletch Gebre, executive director of Kembatta Women's Self-Help 
Centre, a local NGO engaged in educating the public in Kembatta, Alaba 
and Tembaro zones.

According to official statistics, FGM/C prevalence in the state 
decreased from 80 percent in 2000 to 74 percent in 2005. Bogaletch said 
this could improve with legal reform.

Full report 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73509


SUDAN: Darfur force 'should boost humanitarian access'

The new hybrid UN-African Union force for Darfur, established by the UN 
Security Council and accepted by the Sudan government on 1 August, will 
improve security and humanitarian access, aid officials and analysts 
say.

According to a UN official in Darfur, the number of people recently 
rendered inaccessible by continuing violence had risen.

"In May 2006, the humanitarian community had access to almost everybody; 
now we do not have access to about half a million people," Mike 
McDonagh, north Sudan manager for the UN Office for the Coordinator of 
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said.

Full report 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73532


SUDAN: Darfur rebels gather for talks, key figures yet to arrive

Leaders of rebel groups from western Sudan arrived in the northern 
Tanzanian town of Arusha on 3 August, ahead of talks aimed at securing 
common ground for fresh negotiations on Darfur with the Sudanese 
government, an official said.

However, concerns remained that one of the leaders, Abdel Wahid Mohammed 
Nur, of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), would not attend the 
talks. The group is influential in the crisis.

It was also unclear if Suleiman Jamous, another important leader from 
Darfur, would be at the meeting as he has been in a hospital in Kordofan 
for 13 months, and the government said he would be arrested should he 
try to leave.

Full report 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73565


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