HORN OF AFRICA: IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 399 for 15 - 21 September 2007
NAIROBI, 21 September 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS:
SOMALIA: Hundreds of thousands need urgent aid, says government
SOMALIA: Villages cut off as floods inundate Middle Shabelle
SOMALIA: Families flee violence in Sool region
SUDAN: Darfur settlement elusive as world marks Peace Day
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SOMALIA-YEMEN: Yemenis take big risks fishing in Somali waters at:
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SOMALIA: Hundreds of thousands need urgent aid, says government
Somalia's transitional federal government has appealed for urgent humanitarian assistance for hundreds of thousands of people affected by drought, floods and displacement.
"We need urgent assistance if we are to avert an impending humanitarian crisis," Information Minister Madobe Nuunow said on 20 September. "The government will take any step necessary to support those who come to help our people."
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SOMALIA: Villages cut off as floods inundate Middle Shabelle
Rain-induced floods in Somalia's Middle Shabelle region have displaced hundreds of people and destroyed hectares of farmland near the town of Balad, 30 km north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, officials said. The flooding occurred when the Shabelle River burst its banks.
"Eleven villages are completely inundated along with their farmland," Mohamed Hussein Gudbaye, the Balad district commissioner, told IRIN on 19 September. "Some of the villagers were about to harvest [their crops] when the river broke its banks – [this is] the third season this is happening to them. They have lost everything."
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SOMALIA: Families flee violence in Sool region
Scores of families have fled their homes following a clash between forces from the self-declared republic of Somaliland and the autonomous region of Puntland in Somalia.
"A heavy exchange of artillery took place around the village of Abeseoley [22 km north of the regional capital, Las Anod]," said Faisal Jama, a resident of Las Anod in the Sool region, to which both sides lay claim.
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SUDAN: Darfur settlement elusive as world marks Peace Day
A settlement to the conflict in the western Sudanese region of Darfur that has claimed thousands of lives and displaced at least two million people remained elusive as the world marked the International Day of Peace on 21 September.
Peace Day coincides with a meeting in New York on Darfur (co-chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and African Union Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konaré) aimed at assessing plans to deploy a joint UN-AU force of 26,000 in Darfur and putting the final touches to preparations for peace talks next month between Darfur rebels and Khartoum.
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