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 444
30 August - 5 September 2008


CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA: Desperate farmers eat seeds before planting
KENYA-SOMALIA: Refugee surge stretching camp facilities
SOMALIA: IDPs plead for help in southern town
SOMALIA: Schools close in protest over insecurity
SOMALIA: Southern town tense after clashes


ALSO SEE:

ETHIOPIA: Families hard hit by food crisis
[Full Report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80152]

ETHIOPIA: Battling malnutrition in the south
[Full Report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80104]


ETHIOPIA: Desperate farmers eat seeds before planting

Martne Harja had prepared her three-quarter hectare piece of land at 
Galcha Seke village in Wolayita zone of Ethiopia's Southern Region for 
the planting season, but her seven children found themselves without 
food after the rains failed.

"I did not have any other option but to eat the 25kg of haricot bean 
seed that I had saved from last year," Harja said.

[Full Report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80169]


KENYA-SOMALIA: Refugee surge stretching camp facilities

Maka Abullahi Keinan, 18, is among hundreds of refugees newly arrived 
from Somalia at Dagahaley, one of the three main refugee camps in Dadaab 
town in northeastern Kenya.

"Before, the fighting was just between the militias but now they come to 
the towns looting, burning and raping women. This forced us to flee," 
Keinan told IRIN.

[Full Report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80094]


SOMALIA: IDPs plead for help in southern town

Displaced Somalis living on the outskirts of the southern coastal town 
of Merka, 100km south of Mogadishu, held a demonstration on 3 September 
to call attention to their plight.

"We are appealing to aid agencies and Somalis living outside to come to 
our assistance. Our children are dying and no one seems to care," said 
Amino Sheikh Ali, a camp resident.

[Full Report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80170]


SOMALIA: Schools close in protest over insecurity

A three-day protest against insecurity and attacks targeting educational 
institutions in Mogadishu has shut down most schools and left thousands 
of children out of class, locals said.

"Almost 90 percent of primary and secondary schools in Mogadishu are 
participating in the strike," said Abdulkadir Omar Roble, spokesman for 
the Education Fraternity, an umbrella organisation of education networks 
in the city, which organised the protest.

[Full Report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80151]


SOMALIA: Southern town tense after clashes

Tension is high in the strategic town of Jowhar, 90km north of 
Mogadishu, two days after factions of opposition militia clashed in the 
area, locals told IRIN.

The weekend clashes pitted militias of the Union of Islamic Courts 
(UIC), which support the Djibouti agreement with the Transitional 
Federal Government, against a faction of the opposition Alliance for the 
Reliberation of Somalia.

[Full Report: 
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80120]


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