HORN OF AFRICA: IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 403 for 20 - 26 October 2007
NAIROBI, 26 October 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS:
SOMALIA: Puntland warns of looming humanitarian crisis
SOMALIA: Government harassing the media, warns HRW
SOMALIA: WFP officer released from six-day detention
SOMALIA: Urgent assistance plea for 10,000 displaced Mogadishu families
SUDAN: Joint Darfur mission short of air transport units
SUDAN: New polio case sparks vaccination programme
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SOMALIA: Puntland warns of looming humanitarian crisis
Somalia's northeastern self-declared autonomous region of Puntland has appealed for assistance for hundreds of displaced families from Sool region, which was overrun by forces loyal to the self-declared republic of Somaliland on 15 October. "We are issuing this appeal to assist the displaced from Sool who are scattered around Puntland," said Abdullahi Abdirahman, the head of Puntland Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Agency (HADMA).
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SOMALIA: Government harassing the media, warns HRW
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Somali transitional government of systematically harassing journalists and failing to protect the fledgling independent media in the war-ravaged Horn of Africa country.
"The violent attacks on Somalia's journalists threaten their courageous reporting on the crisis in Mogadishu," Peter Takirambudde, HRW Africa director said on 22 October. "The Somali government must condemn and investigate these attacks as well as cease its own harassment of the media."
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SOMALIA: WFP officer released from six-day detention
Somali government officials on 23 October released a senior UN World Food Programme (WFP) staff member who was arrested during a raid on the UN compound in the capital Mogadishu the week before.
"We welcome the release of Idris Osman and are pleased that he will be reunited with his family," WFP executive director Josette Sheeran said in a statement issued from the agency’s headquarters in Rome.
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SOMALIA: Urgent assistance plea for 10,000 displaced Mogadishu families
Civil society and local officials have appealed to charitable organisations to provide aid for at least 60,000 people who fled recent violence in the Somali capital Mogadishu and have been living in difficult conditions on the northwestern outskirts of the city.
"An estimated 10,000 families [60,000 people] are camped around the district, with little or no help coming in," Asha Sha'ur Ugas, a senior member of Mogadishu's civil society groups told IRIN on 23 October.
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SUDAN: Joint Darfur mission short of air transport units
The African Union/UN hybrid mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has received commitments for most of its infantry requirements but has yet to secure pledges for air transport, a senior official said.
"We are talking about attack and utility helicopters, heavy lift transport units," Henry Anyidoho, the AU-UN Deputy Joint Special Representative Designate in Sudan, said in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa. "These are still outstanding. We have not received any pledges."
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SUDAN: New polio case sparks vaccination programme
UN agencies and Sudanese health officials began a two-day countrywide polio immunisation campaign on 23 October, following reports of a new case of the disease in Darfur.
No polio cases had been reported in Sudan since August 2005, granting the country WHO certification as polio-free. The new case, which was confirmed in a boy from South Darfur, may have spread from neighbouring Chad, the health agency said.
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Theme(s): (IRIN) Children, (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Early Warning, (IRIN) Human Rights, (IRIN) Refugees/IDPs
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[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] |
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