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 396
18 - 24 August 2007


CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA: Millennium celebrations to target malaria control
SOMALIA: Displaced people branded "terrorists" by Mogadishu mayor
SOMALIA: Imprisoned political leaders to be released as elections
   approach
SOMALIA: Thousands flee central region after clash violence
SOMALIA: Mogadishu violence hurting health care delivery, says charity
SUDAN: IDPs lead protest over police raid on fragile camp
SUDAN: High hopes for new Darfur mission


ETHIOPIA: Millennium celebrations to target malaria control

Ethiopia will distribute 20 million free treated mosquito bed nets as part of
campaign that will culminate with the country's Millennium celebrations in
September. The country, which follows the Julian calendar, will celebrate its
year 2000 from September 12, with activities that include a nationwide campaign
on the use of the anti-malaria drug, Coartem.

To boost the campaign, the Japanese government donated US $1 million on 20
August to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) for malaria prevention. Kinichi
Komano, Japanese Ambassador to Ethiopia, said: "Young children and pregnant
women are most at risk from the severe effect of malaria, including death. Thus
we believe that the fight against infectious diseases is the main agenda of the
time."

[Full reporter: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73837]


SOMALIA: Displaced people branded "terrorists" by Mogadishu mayor

Allegations that humanitarian operations fuel insurgency in the Somali capital
Mogadishu by the city's mayor have been slammed as "irresponsible" by a
minister in the fragile transitional government as analysts expressed concern.
Mayor Mohamed Umar Habeb (better known as Mohamed Dheere) told the local media
on 20 August that the international community was feeding what he termed as
"terrorists" and warned that they would have to deal with the consequences.

Minister of Justice Hassan Dhimbil Warsame told IRIN: "To say not to give food
to the [displaced] people, most of them women and children, in these camps and
call them terrorists is irresponsible. He is not fit to be the mayor of
Mogadishu." Warsame also said that he had raised the issue in parliament in the
town of Baidoa, to be discussed "as a matter of serious concern".

[Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73862]


SOMALIA: Imprisoned political leaders to be released as elections approach

President Dahir Rayale Kahin of the self-declared republic of Somaliland has
agreed to release three leaders of the Qaran organisation who were jailed for
setting up a political party unsanctioned by the authorities, officials said.

Ahmed Mohammed Silanyo, chairman of Somaliland's main authorised opposition
group, told IRIN the decision was made after an all-day meeting with a
mediation team of religious leaders, human rights activists and local
politicians.

[Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73853]


SOMALIA: Thousands flee central region after clash violence

Hundreds of families have fled the Hiiraan and Galgadud regions of central
Somalia after clashes between two communities claimed more than 30 lives,
sources said. Moalim Mahmamud Hassan, the Eil Buur district commissioner who
returned from the area on 20 August, said another 50 people had been wounded
during the interclan fighting.

The clashes began on 18 August between the Murusade and Hawaadle subclans of
the main Hawiye clan, and were concentrated in and around the town of Goob, 310
km north of the Somali capital Mogadishu, and Wabho and the surrounding
villages, 30 km to the north, he said. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73836]


SOMALIA: Mogadishu violence hurting health care delivery, says charity

Access to medical care for civilians and displaced persons in and around the
Somali capital of Mogadishu has decreased alarmingly in the past months,
according to the international medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

"With bombings and shootings nearly daily, people in need of medical care are
terrified to leave their homes, medical personnel are fleeing the city, and
hospitals are closed or barely functioning," said Christophe Fournier, MSF
International Council President, at a press conference on 20 August in the
Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

[Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73809]


SUDAN: IDPs lead protest over police raid on fragile camp

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) staged a demonstration on 22 August after
Sudanese forces raided one of Darfur's largest camps to arrest suspects
believed to be behind a series of attacks on police stations. "We will continue
the demonstrations until United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon comes,"
IDP spokesman Abu Sharad told IRIN from Kalma camp in South Darfur.

He said 2,800 police, army and border intelligence officers surrounded the
camp, which hosts an estimated 90,000 people. "They arrested 30 IDPs, burnt
down 12 shelters and looted 175 others," he added.

[Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73856]


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