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 397
1 - 7 September 2007


CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA: Government boost for universal primary healthcare
SOMALIA: Crackdown on people smuggling in Puntland
SOMALIA: Displaced families overwhelm Lower Shabelle town
SUDAN: Darfur crisis to linger until political solution - aid official
SUDAN: Ban to push for peace in Darfur


See Also:

ETHIOPIA: Government denies 'blocking' NGO at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74107

KENYA-SOMALIA: Continued border closure hurting livelihoods at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74082

SOMALIA-KENYA: Women bear the brunt of Somali conflict
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74174

ETHIOPIA-SOMALIA-YEMEN: People traffic set to escalate at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74075

SUDAN: Darfur peace talks set for 27 October in Libya at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74172


ETHIOPIA: Government boost for universal primary healthcare

Ethiopia has stepped up recruitment and training of primary healthcare 
providers and is building more health centres in an effort to make such 
care available for all by 2010, health minister Tewodros Adhanom said.

"The target of 2010 is fast approaching," the minister told reporters in 
the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa on 4 September. "But it is possible 
to achieve this [the universal provision of primary healthcare]," he 
added.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74131


SOMALIA: Crackdown on people smuggling in Puntland

Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland has cracked down 
on people smugglers who have been using its ports as a springboard to 
get illegal migrants into the Gulf States, the head of police said.

The crackdown is intended to stop the smuggling of Ethiopian and Somali 
migrants to countries like Yemen and Saudi Arabia, a phenomenon that 
peaks at this time of the year.

Full report 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74158


SOMALIA: Displaced families overwhelm Lower Shabelle town

Local authorities in Merka, Lower Shabelle region, 100km south of the 
Somali capital Mogadishu, have warned that thousands of displaced people 
seeking refuge in the town desperately need assistance.

"We have officially registered about 7,250 families [43,500 people] from 
March to August," said Mahamud Dahir Qooley, an interior ministry 
official in charge of humanitarian issues in the region.

Full report at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74104


SUDAN: Darfur crisis to linger until political solution - aid official

The humanitarian crisis in Darfur is likely to persist for the 
foreseeable future unless a political solution is found to address the 
root causes of the conflict, a senior aid official said.

"You have got millions of people displaced and so many armed factions 
operating in Darfur," said Paul Barker, Sudan country director for CARE, 
who was asked to leave Khartoum by the Sudanese government on 27 August.

Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74130


SUDAN: Ban to push for peace in Darfur

The visit to Sudan by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will focus on 
the search for lasting peace in the Darfur region and encourage progress 
on the north-south peace deal, a senior humanitarian worker said.

Ban arrived in Sudan on 3 September on the first leg of a six-day trip 
that will also take him to several other African countries. "I want to 
create the foundations of a lasting peace and security. My goal is to 
lock in the progress we have made so far; to build on it so that this 
terrible trauma may one day cease," Ban told reporters on the eve of his 
visit.

Full report 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74081


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