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 393
4 - 10 August 2007


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: Five police stations attacked overnight in Mogadishu
SOMALIA: Food distribution underway west of Mogadishu
SUDAN: Darfur rebels pledge to allow aid delivery
SUDAN: Darfur's people need more protection - Special Rapporteur
SUDAN: More flooding predicted as death toll exceeds 70
SUDAN-CHAD: Give Chadian arrivals refugee status, Sudan urged
SUDAN: Campaign to immunise millions of children against polio


SOMALIA: Five police stations attacked overnight in Mogadishu

Armed opponents of Somalia's transitional government attacked the police
in the capital, Mogadishu, on 9 August, carrying out raids on five
stations overnight before being repulsed, police said.

Two police officers were wounded in the fighting during which five
suspected insurgents were killed, according to a senior police officer
who asked not to be named.

"They [insurgents] carried out one of their most deadly attacks last
night. They attacked five locations, including Howlwadag police station,
a former military base where police officers are stationed, and three
other compounds where the police are camped," the officer told IRIN.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73672


SOMALIA: Food distribution underway west of Mogadishu

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has started distributing food to
civilians, who fled violence in Mogadishu and are living in the area
around Afgoye town, about 30km west of the Somali capital, a
spokesperson said.

The food distribution, which began on 6 August, follows a health
assessment by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) among the internally
displaced people (IDPs), which indicated a global malnutrition rate of
21.5 percent among children under the age of five and a severe acute
malnutrition rate of 3 percent - a nutritional emergency, according to
the World Health Organization (WHO).

Monica Rull, the doctor who carried out the health survey, said 6
percent of families in the 393 households assessed reported having had
nothing to eat the day before. More than 60 percent of families had no
source of income while 93 percent of IDPs interviewed had either already
run out of food or had just a little left.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73619


SUDAN: Darfur rebels pledge to allow aid delivery

Rebel leaders from Darfur have ended a meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, with
a commitment to allow free access by humanitarian agencies to people
affected by the western Sudanese conflict.

They also pledged to stop hostilities against aid organisations and
African Union (AU) peacekeepers deployed in the volatile region,
according to a communique issued at the end of the four days of talks on
6 August.

The meeting, which aimed to forge unity among the fragmented groups,
brought together leading personalities from the rebel movements who took
a common position on power and wealth sharing, security arrangements,
land and humanitarian issues.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73599


SUDAN: Darfur's people need more protection - Special Rapporteur

More action is needed to protect civilians in the western Sudanese
region of Darfur, who continue to suffer serious human rights violations
in the ongoing conflict, a UN Special Rapporteur said.

In a preliminary report, Sima Samar, Special Rapporteur of the UN Human
Rights Council, said Darfur remained a region where gross violations of
human rights have been perpetrated by all parties to the conflict.

"I have recently received allegations of serious violations of human
rights in areas under SLA/M [Sudan Liberation Army/Movement] control,"
she said on 6 August. "In particular, harassment, extortion, torture and
sexual violence in Tawila and Shangil Tobayi, north Darfur.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73609


SUDAN: More flooding predicted as death toll exceeds 70

Sudanese authorities have said forecasts show the level of the Blue Nile
River will continue to rise and the situation remains critical in many
of the country's states after weeks of torrential rains and flooding
that have left more than 70 people dead.

The level of the river, which runs through eastern and southeastern
Sudan, has been rising steadily over the past weeks, forcing hundreds of
families living along its path to abandon their homes.

Blue Nile State has ordered the closure of all schools as a
precautionary measure and the International Organization for Migration
and Sudanese officials have announced the suspension of returning
internally displaced persons (IDPs) by barge to southern Sudan. Full
report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73633


SUDAN-CHAD: Give Chadian arrivals refugee status, Sudan urged

Thousands of Chadians who have fled violence in their country and
crossed into the western Sudanese region of Darfur should be granted
refugee status, two agencies said.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Sudanese Commission of Refugees
(COR) recommended giving this status to the whole group rather than to
individuals, with the exception of active or former combatants.

An estimated 30,000 people have left Chad for Darfur in a steady flow
since early this year, they said. Most of the new arrivals were Arab
nomadic or semi-nomadic communities, although there were also some
non-Arabs.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73656


SUDAN: Campaign to immunise millions of children against polio

Sudan has launched a three-day campaign in the north of the country to
immunise an estimated five million children against polio after reports
of cases in neighbouring Chad.

The campaign, led by the federal health ministry, supported by the UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO),
entered its second day on 7 August as health officials carried out
door-to-door innoculations.

The immunisation drive was expected to cover all 15 states in the north
of Sudan and organisers hoped to reach at least 82 percent of children
under the age of five during the three-day effort.

Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73616


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