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 227
13 - 19 September 2008


CONTENTS:

DJIBOUTI: Over half the population needs emergency assistance
ETHIOPIA: Somali region facing food and water crisis
SOMALIA: Families forced into camps by drought
SOMALIA: Violence taking heavy toll as peace talks resume

ALSO SEE:

AFRICA: Humanitarian Air at:
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80475 ]


DJIBOUTI: Over half the population needs emergency assistance

More than half of Djibouti's population is food insecure and needs 
emergency aid due to drought and high food prices, an early warning 
information service has said.

At least 340,000 of the country's 632,000 people are at risk, the Famine 
Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net), which is funded by the US 
Agency for International Development, said in a September 12 report.

[Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80353]


ETHIOPIA: Somali region facing food and water crisis

The Somali region of south-eastern Ethiopia is facing critical food and 
water shortages, with many families eating only one meal a day and 
others migrating to urban areas, the UN and aid agencies said.

As a result, malnutrition levels are increasing, especially in Korahe, 
Warder, Degehabur, Gode, Fiiq and parts of Liben and Afder zones, the UN 
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), reported.

[Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80436]


SOMALIA: Families forced into camps by drought

Thousands of people affected by drought in Galgadud, central Somalia, 
have abandoned their homes and moved into displaced person's camps 
around Guri-Eil town, local sources said.

"We have registered some 2,700 families [16,200 people] who have arrived 
from rural areas after losing their livestock in the last couple of 
months," said Ali Sheikh Mahamud, the Guri-Eil district commissioner.

[Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80461]


SOMALIA: Violence taking heavy toll as peace talks resume

Talks to end the conflict in Somalia have resumed in Djibouti, but human 
rights activists have warned that continuing violence has taken a heavy 
toll on the civilian population, especially in Mogadishu.

The talks between representatives of Somalia's Transitional Federal 
Government (TFG) and a faction of an Eritrea-based opposition alliance, 
the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, led by Sheikh Sharif 
Sheikh Ahmed, resumed on 17 September.

[Full report at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80432]



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