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Sunday 25 December 2005


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IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 286 for 9-15 July 2005

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

CONTENTS:

SUDAN: New gov't must show peace dividend - mediator
SUDAN: Government withdraws troops from Juba area
SUDAN: Local militias causing havoc in the south - CPMT
SOMALIA: Peace activist shot dead in Mogadishu
SOMALIA: WFP demands release of hijacked ship
SOMALIA: IGAD to seek new ways to safeguard interim gov't
ETHIOPIA: Partial election results promise close race
ETHIOPIA: Government rejects criticism over media
ETHIOPIA: Emergency payments to stave off hunger

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SUDAN: New gov't must show peace dividend - mediator

The new Sudanese government of national unity, sworn into office on Saturday, must reach out to former adversaries and show its people tangible peace dividends, the chief mediator in Sudan's peace process said.

"The main task of the government of national unity is not about words and documents now, it is about the hearts and minds of the Sudanese people," Lt Gen (rtd) Lazaro Sumbeiywo, said on Monday.

"Politically, the new government has to be inclusive and offer the olive branch to former adversaries," Sumbeiywo, who was named mediator by the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), told IRIN in an interview.

IGAD sponsored lengthy talks between the government in Khartoum and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). The two parties signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on 9 January in Nairobi, Kenya, paving the way for the new government of national unity.

The chairman of the SPLM/A, John Garang, was sworn in as First Vice President, while Umar al-Bashir retained the presidency of Africa’s largest country. The outgoing First Vice President, Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha, was appointed Second Vice President of the Republic of Sudan.

Separately, the Darfur programme coordinator for the Justice Africa advocacy organisation, Hafiz Mohamed, said he felt the Sudanese peace process was moving in the right direction. He warned, however, that several key players had not been involved in the negotiations that led to the CPA.

The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, the Arab League chief, Amr Mussa, the Deputy US Secretary of State, Robert Zoellick, and heads of state from the Central African Republic, Djibouti, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda were among the dignitaries who attended the inauguration.

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SUDAN: Government withdraws troops from Juba area

The Sudanese armed forces have redeployed a substantial number of troops from southern Sudan in compliance with their obligations under the peace agreement, an official said on Wednesday.

"The government has withdrawn troops from the Juba area in the south earlier than the date stipulated in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement [CPA]," Mustafa Osman Ismail, Sudan's caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement.

"I can confirm that the SAF [Sudanese Armed Forces] are moving troops north of the line of redeployment; it has been going on for several months now and we are confirming the details at the moment," Col Jeff Sims, chief of staff of the Joint Monitoring and Coordination Office, said.

"Under the CPA, the SAF are required to redeploy 17 percent of their troops north of the 1956 boundary within six months of the signing of the CPA," he added.

The 1956 boundary refers to the dividing line between Egyptian and British forces at the handover of Sudan during decolonisation, and coincides with the northern boundaries of the states of Western Bahr Al Ghazal, Northern Bahr Al Ghazal, Unity and Upper Nile.

Ismail expressed his concern over the continued insecurity in the south as a result of attacks committed by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group from neighbouring northern Uganda.

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SUDAN: Local militias causing havoc in the south - CPMT

Armed Lou Nuer militias left their established routes and water points from January to June to carry out aggressive acts against communities in the Upper Nile region of southeastern Sudan, a report by the US-sponsored Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) said.

"The Lou Nuer conflict with other communities generated an unacceptable scale of displacement and deprivation among the general population," the CPMT said in its June report.

It documented a number of incidents from heavy fighting and rape to cattle rustling, particularly near Duk Padiet in western Jonglei State.

The conflict continued to contravene the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed by the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) on 9 January, which guaranteed the security of south Sudanese civilians, it added.

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SOMALIA: Peace activist shot dead in Mogadishu

Unidentified assailants shot and killed prominent Somali peace activist Abdulkadir Yahya Ali on Monday during an early morning raid on his home in Mogadishu, the UN and a family member said.

"A group of criminals attacked his home at around 2:30 [2330 GMT] in the morning and shot him," Ahmed Nur, Yahya's cousin, said. The assailants, he added, had driven to his home in two "technicals" [pick-up trucks with mounted guns].

Yahya was the co-founder and director of the Centre for Research and Dialogue. The centre is affiliated to the War Torn Societies Project International, which focuses on activities to overcome conflict, peace-building and reconciliation.

The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Maxwell Gaylard, strongly condemned the murder. "We are shocked and dismayed by this assassination and send our sincere condolences to his family and friends," Gaylard said in a statement, describing Yahya as "a committed advocate for peace and reconciliation".

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SOMALIA: WFP demands release of hijacked ship

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) demanded on Tuesday that the pirates who commandeered a commercial vessel chartered to transport food aid to 28,000 tsunami survivors in Somalia release the ship, its cargo and crew within 48 hours.

Should they fail to release the vessel within this period, WFP would cease all its operations around southern Mudug, where 34,000 people depend on food aid, Robert Hauser, WFP's country director for Somalia, said.

"If they release the ship now - unconditionally and immediately - then we will continue food supplies into their area as normal," Hauser told IRIN. "If the ship, cargo and crew are not released within the next 48 hours, WFP will blacklist the area."

The MV Semlow was hijacked on 27 June between Haradheere and Hobyo, some 300 km northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, on its way to the Gulf of Aden port of Bossaso. It was carrying 850 tonnes of rice for distribution to the survivors of last December's Indian Ocean tsunami.

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SOMALIA: IGAD to seek new ways to safeguard interim gov't

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is to find other ways to safeguard Somalia's transitional government after the UN Security Council on Thursday upheld a 1992 arms embargo despite a request for an exemption that would allow peacekeepers into the country, a source said.

The Kenyan special envoy to the Somali peace process, Bethuel Kiplagat, said the Council's decision not to lift the embargo meant IGAD would have to "go back to the drawing board" and find other ways of ensuring the country was safe for the government and the citizens of Somalia.

The IGAD council of ministers, Kiplagat said, would meet in the near future to decide on the next course of action. The organisation would continue "to stand by" the TFG, he added.

The Security Council upheld the arms embargo despite a request by the African Union (AU) to lift it. However, the Council said it stood "ready to consider this matter on the basis of information on the mission plan".

It called on "all leaders in Somalia to exercise maximum restraint and take immediate effective steps to reduce tension".

Full report

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ETHIOPIA: Partial election results promise close race

Ethiopia's ruling party and opposition groups were virtually neck and neck after the first partial official election results were released on Friday.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) party won 139 seats and other groups allied to it held 20, bringing the total number of seats for the government to 159 with just over half the results released.

The combined opposition on the other hand garnered a total of 148 seats, including 93 for the main opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy, 43 for the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces and 12 for other opposition groups. More results were expected in the next 10 days.

Claims of vote-rigging in Ethiopia's third ever elections sparked violence, in which at least 36 people were reportedly shot dead by police in the capital, Addis Ababa, in June.

Full report

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ETHIOPIA: Government rejects criticism over media

Ethiopia has rejected accusations of cracking down on independent media after the disputed elections, insisting that it is upholding the law of the land.

Authorities also criticized international media watchdogs, saying they were ill-informed about what was actually taking place in Ethiopia.

"There is no crackdown," government spokesman, Zemedkun Teckle, said on Tuesday. "We are ensuring that the media abide by the rules and regulations of the land. The [international] media organisations are not considering what is going on practically on the ground, and don't care what these newspapers are doing."

The comments were made in response to criticism by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which accused the government of trying to stifle the press.

Full report

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ETHIOPIA: Emergency payments to stave off hunger

Ethiopia has ordered an emergency cash payment to vulnerable families to offset delays in the flagship safety nets scheme, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday.

The safety nets programme, launched in January, is the cornerstone of the famine prevention strategy in Ethiopia, a country where even during good harvests, some five million people face serious hunger.

"The Federal Food Security Coordination Bureau has directed the woredas [districts] to make a lump sum immediate payment to safety net beneficiaries, equivalent to at least three months' entitlement, regardless of whether work for this period has been undertaken or not," OCHA said in its weekly report.

"This emergency measure is in response to the delays in the transfers of cash to beneficiaries, mostly due to the limited experience and capacity of local authorities with cash handling in relief-cum-recovery activities," it noted.

Full report

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[ENDS]

Theme(s)	Other

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