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Thursday 25 August 2005


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IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 274 for 9-15 April 2005

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

CONTENTS:

ERITREA: Half a million children to be vaccinated against polio
ETHIOPIA: Meningitis kills 40, infects over 400
ETHIOPIA: Funding crisis could leave millions hungry - WFP
SOMALIA: Northeast drought depletes food and livestock
SOMALIA: 13 reported killed in inter-clan fighting in Mudug
SUDAN: Annan urges donors to convert pledges into cash
SUDAN: Attack on Darfur village condemned, donors meet in Oslo

ALSO SEE:

SUDAN: Interview with Caesar Mazzolari, bishop of Rumbek
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SUDAN: Concerns over slow implementation of southern peace accord
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ERITREA: Half a million children to be vaccinated against polio

Eritrea launched a national campaign on Monday to vaccinate 500,000 children across the country against polio, a UN official said. Eritrea has had no confirmed cases of polio since 1997, but cases have been recorded recently in neighbouring Ethiopia and Sudan. "We are trying to make sure that Eritrea maintains the present polio-free status," Christian Balslev-Olesen, a UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) representative in Eritrea, told IRIN on Monday. "This is a preventive action."

The first round of vaccinations was from Monday to Wednesday, while the second round is scheduled for 13-15 May. The campaign is supported by the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF. In December last year, Eritrea’s health ministry organised a polio-immunisation campaign, after the virus was discovered in regions bordering Sudan, immunising more than 85 percent of the targeted 50,000 children.

Full report

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ETHIOPIA: Meningitis kills 40, infects over 400

A meningitis outbreak in Ethiopia has claimed the lives of 40 people and infected more than 433, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told IRIN on Wednesday. Vivian Vansteirteghem, head of health and nutrition at UNICEF-Ethiopia said the country needed US $2.4 million to bridge a funding gap for vaccines and treatment. "For the moment they have vaccines and the treatment, but they just want to be prepared in case there is an increase in the population infected," she said.

Meningitis is one of the top ten child killers in Ethiopia, according to the health ministry. UNICEF said the outbreak had occurred in four of Ethiopia’s nine regions: Tigray, Afar, Benshangul-Gumuz and Oromiya. The highest number of cases was in Benshangul, where about 167 cases have been reported in the past few weeks. Officials at the health ministry said they were vaccinating people between the ages of two and 30 in affected areas.

Full report

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ETHIOPIA: Funding crisis could leave millions hungry - WFP

A drastic funding crisis could affect three million Ethiopians who need food aid, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned in a press release issued on Tuesday. WFP said it urgently needed US $33 million to cover half the country’s emergency food needs for the next two and a half months – this would feed 1.5 million Ethiopians. The government and NGOs have previously contributed towards feeding the other 1.5 million, but they too are facing funding shortages.

"The lack of funds is making it impossible for WFP and its partners to adequately meet the needs of hungry Ethiopians," Georgia Shaver, WFP’s country director in Ethiopia, was quoted as saying. "The situation is particularly worrisome in the northeast and east of the country, as well as in the south, where we are seeing higher levels of malnutrition, and where water and food remain scarce," Shaver added.

Full report

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SOMALIA: Northeast drought depletes food and livestock

Thousands of Somalis are in dire need of aid, following a severe drought in several areas of the self-declared republic of Somaliland and the semi-autonomous state of Puntland in northeastern Somalia, relief workers told IRIN on Sunday. The worst affected areas were Togdheer and Sool regions, Nudal valley and Mudug. Some affected people in these areas had started moving to less affected regions and urban centres such as Las Anod, Bossaso, Garowe and Galkayo, the sources said.

Abdihakim Ahmed, a programme coordinator for Save the Children-US, told IRIN in the Somaliland capital, Hargeysa, that pastoral communities in the most severely affected areas had lost over half of their sheep and goats, 70 percent of their cattle and 35 percent of their camels. Food stocks, he added, were virtually non-existent in some areas of Sool and Togdheer, and most traditional water points had dried up. Abdi Ahmed Iidle, Mayor of Burao, Somaliland's second city, told reporters during a news conference on Sunday that the lack so far of the usual long (Gu) rains meant no recovery was expected soon.

Full report

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SOMALIA: 13 reported killed in inter-clan fighting in Mudug

At least 13 people were reported killed in renewed inter-clan fighting in Hobyo district, Mudug region of central Somalia, sources told IRIN. At least 30 others were reported wounded, the sources added. The fighting pitted militiamen from two sub-clans, the Saad and Seleeban of the main Hawiye clan and was reportedly sparked by misunderstanding over the right to use grasing lands and water points in Hobyo area.

A local journalist in Galkayo, the capital of Mudug told IRIN that the latest fighting broke out on Monday afternoon. It escalated in the evening, leading to the destruction of property and torching of houses in south Galkayo.

Full report

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SUDAN: Annan urges donors to convert pledges into cash

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan applauded donor countries for their generous pledges of US $4.5 billion in aid for Sudan, but warned that promises needed to be converted into cash immediately. "Time is running out for the people of Sudan," Annan wrote in an article published by the New York Times on Wednesday. "We need pledges immediately converted into cash, and more protection forces in Darfur to prevent yet more death and suffering." "The billions pledged this week can help," he added. "But hungry people cannot eat pledges. Through long and bitter experience we've learned that donor pledges often remain unfulfilled."

Representatives of more than 60 countries and international organisations met in Oslo, Norway, on Monday to finance implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) - signed on 9 January by the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).

Full report

See related story:
SUDAN: International donors pledge billions for reconstruction

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SUDAN: Attack on Darfur village condemned

The UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and the African Union (AU) have strongly condemned the recent destruction of a village in the western Sudanese state of South Darfur by armed militias. In a joint statement released on Friday, Baba Gana Kingibe, the AU’s ambassador to Sudan, and Jan Pronk, the UN secretary-general’s special representative for Sudan said: "We learnt with utter shock and disbelief of the relentless day-long attack on [the village of] Khor Abeche by armed militia of the Miseriyya tribe of Niteaga."

According to the statement, over 200 militiamen on horses and camels attacked the town on Thursday, under the command of Nasir Al Tijani Adel Kaadir. A further 150 reinforcements, also from Niteaga, a town north-west of Nyala, South Darfur’s capital, later joined them.

Full report

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[ENDS]

Accessed	1576
Theme(s)	Other

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