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HORN OF AFRICA: IRIN-HOA Weekly 213 for 25 September-1 October 2004 - OCHA IRIN

Monday 21 February 2005


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IRIN-HOA Weekly 213 for 25 September-1 October 2004

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENTS:

DJIBOUTI: Pastoral areas facing food shortages due to poor rainfall
ETHIOPIA: Federal parliamentary elections set for May 2005
SUDAN: Cases of suspected Hepatitis E on rise in Darfur - WHO
SUDAN: Renewed fighting reported in South Darfur
SUDAN: MSF alarmed by inadequate emergency intervention in Darfur
SUDAN: Tight security in Khartoum as gov't claims coup attempt
SOMALIA: Heavy rains leave 300 families homeless in Sanaag region
SOMALIA: AU welcomes progress in peace process

ALSO SEE:

ETHIOPIA: Interview with WHO Assistant Director-General
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DJIBOUTI: Pastoral areas facing food shortages due to poor rainfall

Inadequate rainfall from July to September has brought about food shortages in the southeastern and northwestern pastoral zones, causing an increase in food prices since September and bringing hardship to many households throughout Djibouti, a famine alert agency reported. July rains were below normal throughout the country, but there had been some localised improvements in some areas during August, the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net) said in its latest update on Djibouti published on Friday.

"Future prospects are not promising for the Karan/Karma [rain] dependent areas, which face a long, dry six months before the next rainy season resumes," said the FEWS Net report. "Staple food prices have stabilised at higher-than-average levels following continuous increases since September last year." In the southeastern pastoral zone, failure of the seasonal rains had led to unusual movements of livestock in search of pasture and water, but the situation had improved somewhat where localised rains have occurred.

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ETHIOPIA: Federal parliamentary elections set for May 2005

Ethiopia will hold national elections for its federal parliament on 15 May 2005, officials told IRIN. Ten national and 57 regional parties will run in the polls, with results announced on 8 June 2005, officials from the National Election Board (NEB) said on Saturday. Ethiopia’s Information Minister Bereket Simon said that the elections were likely to be fought on the issues of the economy and democratic reforms, adding that it would allow the electorate to vote on the government’s economic and development record.

"The most important issues in the 2005 elections are going to be economic progress, good governance and development," he said. "The issue of conducting a free and fair election is going to be a priority for the government." International election observers have been invited into the country to monitor the polls, which were previously marred by serious irregularities. Some 38 million people are expected to vote at 35,000 polling stations in Ethiopia's 547 constituencies, costing US $5.2 million.

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SUDAN: Cases of suspected Hepatitis E on rise in Darfur - WHO

The number of reported cases of suspected Hepatitis E in western Sudan's strife-torn region of Darfur has risen to 6,861, including 87 deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest update on the outbreak issued on Tuesday. According to WHO, the total number of reported cases per week had continued to increase, with West Darfur State still the most affected area. The disease was first reported in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur in May.

Health workers from Sudan's Health Ministry, International Committee of the Red Cross, Médecins du Monde-France, Médecins sans Frontières-Holland, Oxfam, UN Children's Fund and UN Joint Logistics Centre have been working with WHO to step up mass hygiene education programmes, increase the availability of soap, dig new wells, and ensure effective chlorination of water bladders and wells. South Darfur State had the poorest water and sanitation indicators, according to WHO. The agency said it was working with the water and environmental sanitation department of the Sudanese government and the state Ministry of Health to develop an emergency environmental health plan for IDP camps in South Darfur.

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SUDAN: Renewed fighting reported in South Darfur

Renewed fighting in South Darfur State has reportedly driven at least 5,000 people from their homes in the last three days, non-governmental organisations operating in the area said on Tuesday. The displaced, they added, were now seeking shelter under trees and waiting without food, water or shelter. It was not however possible to confirm who was fighting who, Martha Clarke, head of public relations for Action by Churches Together (ACT)/Caritas, told IRIN.

"We are very concerned about this highly insecure and dangerous situation. We are seeing more and more civilians being driven from their homes by fighting. The international community must continue to try and negotiate peace in the region," she said. In Khartoum, the Sudanese news agency reported that the Minister of State at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Muhammad Yusuf Abdallah, had accused rebel groups in Darfur of violating a ceasefire agreement reached earlier with the government.

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SUDAN: MSF alarmed by inadequate emergency intervention in Darfur

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has expressed concern over the plight of tens of thousands of displaced people in Sudan's South Darfur region, whom it said, continued to suffer because the emergency operation was inadequate, which had led to high child mortality rates. "It is a disgrace that just minutes from Nyala international airport, up to 66,000 displaced people continue to live without adequate food or sanitation," said Vince Hoedt, coordinator of MSF's programmes in South Darfur, in a press release issued by the agency on Monday.

"The people in Kalma camp are completely dependent on food distributions that are irregular and insufficient," said Hoedt. "People fleeing ongoing violence in the region continue to arrive."
Hoedt said that MSF was providing healthcare and nutritional support in Kalma camp, but more help was urgently required to prevent the situation from getting worse. Newly completed epidemiological surveys carried out by MSF in South Darfur showed that the overall level and quality of aid remained insufficient.

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SUDAN: Tight security in Khartoum as gov't claims coup attempt

Sudanese security forces set up roadblocks, searched vehicles and houses and intensified surveillance around the capital, Khartoum, after the government on Friday accused the Islamist opposition Popular National Congress Party of former speaker Hasan Abdullah al-Turabi of plotting to overthrow President Umar Hasan al-Bashir's administration. Bashir, in a meeting with supporters from eastern Sudan, said a plot had been uncovered to capture power "regardless of what might happen to the people" of Sudan. He said the foiled coup attempt was "plotted under the leadership and direction" of Turabi.

"We shall fulfill all our duties towards our homeland and defend the rights of the Sudanese people," Bashir said. "There is true conspiracy against Sudan through the use of sedition, alleged racial cleansing and genocide." An opposition leader dismissed the alleged plot. "It is all made up to divert international attention and pressure over the Darfur conflict and other related issues," Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) spokesman Samson Kwaje told reporters in Nairobi.

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SOMALIA: Heavy rains leave 300 families homeless in Sanaag region

Heavy rainfall has lashed the Sanaag region of the self-declared republic of Somaliland destroying the homes of some 300 families who have been receiving help from the local authorities, an official said on Tuesday. A mission from the Somaliland administration had been to the affected area to assess the extent of the problem caused by three days of torrential rains that also made many roads impassable, Somaliland's Information Minister Abdillahi Duale told IRIN by telephone from the capital, Hargeisa.

Sanaag is one of the northern Somalia regions that had been ravaged by a prolonged drought, which caused the deaths of large numbers of livestock and left hundreds of thousands of people in desperate need for food aid.

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SOMALIA: AU welcomes progress in peace process

The African Union (AU) on Thursday welcomed recent progress made towards the reestablishment of a functioning government in Somalia and urged the international community to assist the country's national institutions once they are fully installed.

Delegates attending the Somali reconciliation conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, formed a transitional federal parliament in August. The 275 members of the assembly are due to elect the country's president on 10 October. The president will in turn appoint a prime minister, who will be required to form a government.

The AU’s Peace and Security Council (PSC), which met at the Pan-African body's headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on 17 September urged members of the transitional federal parliament "to remain focused and to work for the early election of the president and the formation of the Transitional Federal Government", the AU said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) has said that at least 1.3 million people in southern, central and northern Somalia will require emergency food assistance until early next year. Of this total, about 700,000 are struggling to recover from years of successive drought coupled with the effects of frequent outbreaks in factional fighting.

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[ENDS]

Other recent HORN OF AFRICA reports:

IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 231 for 12-18 February 2005, 18/Feb/05

IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 230 for 5-11 February 2005, 11/Feb/05

IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 229 for 29 January- 4 February 2005, 4/Feb/05

IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 228 for 22-28 January 2005, 28/Jan/05

IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 227 for 15-21 January 2005, 21/Jan/05

Other recent reports:

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly 264 covering 12 – 18 February 2005, 20/Feb/05

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 18/Feb/05

ZIMBABWE: IMF gives authorities one more chance, 18/Feb/05

ZIMBABWE: Media, opposition complain of harassment, 18/Feb/05

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 218 for 12-18 February 2005, 18/Feb/05

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