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Sunday 25 December 2005


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IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 284 for 25 June-1 July 2005

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

CONTENTS:

SUDAN: One million IDPs planning to return south - report
SUDAN: Rebels say civilians bombed in the east
SUDAN: UN warns of $1.3 billion funding shortfall
SUDAN-ERITREA: FAO warns of possible spread of desert locusts
ERITREA: Gov't denies giving military support to Sudanese rebels
ERITREA: Rains improve prospects for 2005 harvest
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Annan asks Security Council to visit region
ETHIOPIA: Donors demand full probe into post-election deaths
ETHIOPIA: Editors held on defamation charges
ETHIOPIA: UNHCR close to phasing out operations in the east
SOMALIA: Ship commandeered with tsunami food aid
SOMALIA: Thousands left homeless in Puntland inferno

ALSO SEE:
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SUDAN: SUDAN: Southern forces still recruiting children
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SUDAN: One million IDPs planning to return south - report

One-third of all internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sudan plan to return to the south within six months, posing considerable humanitarian challenges to aid organisations, an interagency survey found.

Sudan has experienced the worst population displacement in the world, mainly due to prolonged conflict since 1983. Although it is difficult to determine the exact number of IDPs, the figure is commonly rounded to four million, the survey report noted.

"The number of returning IDPs is a little higher than expected, and a lot of places where people are returning to have very few services to sustain them," Tom Hockley, programme coordinator for the Nuba Mountains Programme for Advancing Conflict Transformation, said on Tuesday.

Conducted between March and June 2005 by relief organisations at the request of the Sudanese government, the survey aimed to assess the intentions of IDPs to return home. It was carried out in Khartoum and other IDP locations in north, east and central Sudan, as well as southern Kordofan State.

The survey found that 67 percent of the households originating from south Sudan and 32 percent of those from the Nuba Mountains were living in camps and squatter areas around the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.

Full report

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SUDAN: Rebels say civilians being bombed in the east

Sudanese rebels who recently clashed with government forces in the east have accused Khartoum of using planes to bomb civilians near the Eritrean border.

"Civilians take all the punishment - their houses, their livestock. Today [Friday] they are bombing with aircraft," said Salah Barqueen, a senior official of the Eastern Front, a rebel movement formed in February when the Beja Congress merged with another eastern rebel group, the Rashaida Free Lions.

Taisier Ali, secretary-general of the Sudan Alliance Forces, a Sudanese opposition group based in neighbouring Asmara, Eritrea, said they thought the planes were Russian-made Antonov bombers attacking from a high altitude.

However, the Sudanese minister of information and communication, Abd-al-Basit Sabdarat, dismissed the rebels’ claims that government planes had bombarded civilians in eastern Sudan.

Fighting between government soldiers and rebels from Darfur and eastern Sudan broke out on 19 June near the town of Tokar, 120 km south of Port Sudan.

Full report

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SUDAN: UN warns of $1.3 billion funding shortfall

There is still a US $1.32 billion funding shortfall for humanitarian assistance and recovery programmes in 2005, the UN and its NGO partners warned in their revised 2005 Workplan for the Sudan, presented in Geneva on Wednesday.

The signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Sudanese government and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) on 9 January provided "an unprecedented opportunity to realise the aspirations of millions of Sudanese for peace, security and development, and to build on the CPA to resolve other conflicts in Sudan", the plan noted.

"After decades of war and under-development, the peace is fragile," the report warned. "The remainder of 2005 will be critical."

The revised Workplan estimated the total requirements to provide humanitarian assistance and protection and support the implementation of the CPA through targeted recovery and development programmes at $1.96 billion - up from $1.48 billion in the original Workplan - $643 million of which had been received so far.

Full report

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SUDAN-ERITREA: FAO warns of possible spread of desert locusts

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called for intensified surveys and early action in Sudan and neighbouring Eritrea to avoid a possible outbreak of desert locusts.

"In early June, a few swarms originating from the so-called Southern Circuit, from the Sahel countries, moved across West Africa and reached [Sudan's western states of] West and North Darfur, where they became mature and laid their eggs," Mahmoud Solh, eco-manager for FAO’s emergency centre for locust operations, said.

Some swarms had crossed the Nile River to Gedaref State in eastern Sudan, he added, while others had reached the western lowlands of Eritrea and northwest Ethiopia. FAO expected that swarm formation would start in Darfur by the end of June, and emphasised the importance of locust surveys in Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Full report

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ERITREA: Government denies giving military support to Sudanese rebels

The Eritrean government has denied giving military support to rebels in eastern Sudan, saying that such accusations by the government in Khartoum were an exercise in public relations.

The remarks follow a complaint filed by Sudan to the UN Security Council on Monday accusing Eritrea of providing military assistance to rebel groups, including artillery, reconnaissance and logistics, during recent clashes in the east.

Fighting broke out in northeastern Sudan on 19 June, outside the town of Tokar, between rebels of the Eastern Front - a movement formed in February when the Beja Congress merged with another eastern rebel group, the Rashaida Free Lions - and Sudanese troops.

Full report

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ERITREA: Rains improve prospects for 2005 harvest

Recent rains have improved prospects for the 2005 agricultural season in Eritrea, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in its monthly global report on crops and food shortages for June.

Eritrea, which has suffered from persistent drought in recent years, is currently one of the most food-aid-dependent countries in the world, with two-thirds of its 3.6 million population requiring food assistance.

Food-security experts say the situation is compounded by Eritrea’s tensions with both Sudan and Ethiopia, which have caused the government to divert the available agricultural labour force to the military sector and limited access to nearby markets.

Last year’s harvest was estimated at just 85,000 tonnes, less than half the average of the past twelve years. This season may have better yields.

Full report

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ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Annan asks Security Council to visit region

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday asked the UN Security Council to visit Ethiopia and Eritrea to help the Horn of Africa neighbours overcome their simmering border dispute.

"The on-going stalemate in the peace process is not sustainable in the long term," Annan said in a report on the tension between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

"I would like therefore to renew my recommendation to the Security Council to undertake a mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea in order to reassure the two countries of the Council's unflinching commitment to the peace process," he added.

Eritrea became independent from Ethiopia in 1993 after a referendum, but a war over their 1,000-km-long frontier broke out in 1998. The conflict ended after the two nations signed a peace deal in Algiers, Algeria, in December 2000, but tension has remained.

Full report

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ETHIOPIA: Donors demand full probe into post-election deaths

Western donors have pressured the Ethiopian government to fully investigate the deaths of at least 36 people reportedly shot dead by police during post-election violence in mid-June.

In a statement on Wednesday, they also called for the release of prisoners who were rounded up during and after the protests over the 15 May polls, 3,000 of whom have been released so far.

The donors urged rival political parties to abide by a truce they signed after the violence flared up: "For these agreements to succeed, all sides must maintain a commitment to non-violence and full participation in the investigation process."

They also expressed their interest in the results of the government’s investigation into the clashes on 8 June and said it must bear the major burden of maintaining order.

Full report

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ETHIOPIA: Editors held on defamation charges

Four editors of private newspapers in Ethiopia were on Tuesday held by police for hours on charges of defaming the air force, a global media watchdog reported.

The arrests occurred following reports that eight pilots had sought political asylum in Belarus after recent election violence.

Befekadu Moreda, editor-in-chief of Tomar; Zelalem Gebre, editor-in-chief of Menilik; Dawit Fassil, editor-in-chief of Asqual; and Tamrat Serbesa, editor-in-chief of Satenaw, all Amharic weekly newspapers, were detained for seven hours and later released on bail of 2,000 birr each (about US $228), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said.

The reports that the pilots had sought asylum were published after 36 people were reportedly shot dead by security forces during civil unrest in the country following disputed results in the 15 May general elections.

The violence erupted in the country on 6 June as students took to the streets and taxi drivers went on strike to protest alleged ballot rigging during the polls.

The CPJ also joined five local and international press freedom and human rights groups on Tuesday in writing to Somali leaders to demand the immediate release of Abdi Farah Nur, editor of the leading independent newspaper, Shacab (Voice of the People), in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

Full report

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ETHIOPIA: UNHCR close to phasing out operations in the east

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, shut down a camp in eastern Ethiopia on Wednesday after repatriating the last of its residents to Somaliland.

Aisha camp, which opened in 1989, was the seventh camp to close in the region since UNHCR began repatriations to the self-declared republic of Somaliland in 1997. In the early 1990s, there were 628,000 refugees in eight camps after hundreds of thousands of people fled civil war in Somalia following the overthrow of former President Siad Barre.

"This milestone brings us one step closer to phasing out our operations in eastern Ethiopia, an area which, 15 years ago, was the largest refugee-hosting area in the world," said Fernando Protti Alvarado, the UNHCR’s deputy regional, representative.

The last group of Somaliland refugees left Aisha on 28 May. On Monday, UNHCR handed over the camp and its assets to the government of Ethiopia.

Full report

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SOMALIA: Ship commandeered with tsunami food aid

Armed men on Tuesday commandeered a commercial vessel chartered to transport food aid to thousands of people affected by the 26 December tsunami in northeastern Somalia, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said.

"The ship was going from Mombasa [port in Kenya] to Bossaso [northeastern Somalia]," Robert Hauser, the WFP Somalia country director, said. "It was carrying 830 tonnes of mixed food that had been donated by Germany and Japan."

By Thursday afternoon, he added, the MV Semlow, its Sri-Lankan captain, two Tanzanian and seven Kenyan crew members were still being held at sea.

"Our office in Mogadishu is involved in negotiations with members of the TFG [Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government] to ensure that the crewmembers and food are safely returned," Hauser told IRIN.

"We are talking with them at several different levels and are hopeful that the situation will be resolved sooner rather than later," he added.

Hauser said this was the first time WFP emergency food had been diverted at sea en route to Somalia, and added that in future, the agency would try to negotiate an arrangement with Somali clans to ensure the agency had free passage on the high seas.

Full report

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SOMALIA: Thousands left homeless in Puntland inferno

At least 2,000 people were left homeless when a fire swept through the Buul Eelaay camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland on Sunday, sources said.

"We have reports that about 350 households were affected by the fire. At least 10 people injured in the fire were hospitalised," Amanda Dilorenzo, information officer for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Somalia office, said.

"It [the fire] was likely made worse by the highly flammable material with which the camp’s houses were built, as well as poor planning of the camp and strong winds," she added.

Full report

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[ENDS]

Theme(s)	Other

Other recent HORN OF AFRICA reports:

IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 306 for 17-23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 305 for 10-16 December 2005, 17/Dec/05

UNMEE monitoring tense border despite setbacks, 16/Dec/05

UN relocates expelled staff from Eritrea to Ethiopia, 15/Dec/05

IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 304 for 3-9 December 2005, 12/Dec/05

Other recent reports:

RWANDA: Body found in Brussels canal confirmed that of ex-minister's, 23/Dec/05

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 23/Dec/05

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 309 covering 17 - 23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

CENTRAL ASIA: IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 51 covering the period 17 - 23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 262 for 17-23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

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