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Sunday 25 December 2005


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IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 288 for 30 July-5 August 2005

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

CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: Media watchdog demands release of detained journalist
SOMALIA: Interim government promises to end divisions
SUDAN: Leaders call for calm as death toll rises to 130
SUDAN: Khartoum tense for third day after Garang death
SUDAN: Violence in Darfur still prevalent – MSF

ALSO SEE:

SUDAN: Interview with UN Special Representative Jan Pronk
Full report

SUDAN: SLA rebels sceptical about peace in Darfur
Full report

SOMALIA: Interview with Minister of Land and Settlement
Full report

SOMALIA: Media watchdog demands release of detained journalist

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded the unconditional release of a radio journalist arrested on Wednesday in the Somali town of Jowhar, the temporary seat of Somalia's transitional federal government. "It's outrageous that Abdullahi Kulmiye Adow has been detained for doing his job," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said in a statement. "We call on the Jowhar and transitional federal authorities to ensure that he is released immediately and unconditionally."

Adow, who works for the Mogadishu-based independent HornAfrik radio station, was reportedly arrested in Jowhar, 90 km north of Mogadishu, "at 1:00 am [2200 GMT] on Wednesday" by militiamen, Hassan Ade of HornAfrik told IRIN on Thursday. The authorities in Jowhar have not disclosed reasons for the arrest and Adow has not been charged "as of now" said Ade.

Full report

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SOMALIA: Interim government promises to end divisions

Senior officials of the Somali interim government on Monday promised to end disagreements that have paralysed their administration, following a visit by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) to Somalia, François Lonseny Fall. Fall, who left Jowhar on Tuesday after a two-day visit, met President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Gedi. They discussed the current impasse in the Transitional Federal Institutions over the location of the government within Somalia following its relocation from Nairobi, Kenya.

Following the meeting on Monday, Gedi expressed the government’s willingness to work with the UN to resolve the ongoing difficulties, the UN News Service reported. An estimated 100-plus legislators and members of the government - led by Speaker Sharif Hassan Shaykh Aden - have chosen to operate from the capital, Mogadishu, while Yusuf, Gedi and their supporters have temporarily based themselves in Jowhar, 90 km north of the capital, on the grounds that security in Mogadishu remained tenuous.

Full report

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SUDAN: Leaders call for calm as death toll rises to 130

At least 130 people have been killed in three days of violence in Khartoum and other Sudanese towns following the death of First Vice President John Garang in a helicopter crash, the Sudanese Red Crescent reported on Thursday. Leaders were calling on the Sudanese people to stay calm in an effort to contain violence that started on Monday. "In Khartoum, 111 people are confirmed dead by the Sudanese Red Crescent, while 345 people were injured and evacuated from the scenes of violence," Paul Conneally, communication coordinator for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said on Thursday.

The death toll, he added, was expected to rise given the high number of those injured. In a national address on Wednesday, President Umar al-Bashir called on the Sudanese people to exercise vigilance and self-restraint, the Sudanese news agency reported.

Full report

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SUDAN: Khartoum tense for third day after Garang death

Gunshots could be heard in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Wednesday as heavily armed police patrolled the streets for a third day in an attempt to ease tensions that continued to run high following the death of First Vice President John Garang. There were reports of civilian deaths overnight in clashes between southern and northern Sudanese in the suburbs. Preparations were underway to bury Garang, who died on Saturday in a helicopter crash near the Ugandan border.

Sudanese television said some people had burnt business premises in Khartoum’s northeastern Haji Yusuf suburb, but police had been deployed there to contain the situation. The death toll from the violence - which erupted on Monday after news of Garang’s death - had reached 46 by Tuesday, the Deputy Commissioner-General of Police, Lt Gen Husayn Uthman, said in a statement.

Full report

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SUDAN: Violence in Darfur still prevalent – MSF

Violence against civilians in the strife-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur remains a serious problem, the international humanitarian aid organisation, Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), said on Wednesday. "Our teams are still witnessing repeated violence against the population," Rowan Gillies, president of MSF-international, said in a statement.
"We are deeply concerned about this and its consequences for our patients and their families," he added.

Without saying who was responsible for the violence, MSF said in the last three weeks alone, it had treated 52 people for violence-related injuries. From January to May 2005, MSF teams treated more than 500 people for violence-related injuries and 278 women for rape. On 24 July, in Shangil Tobaya, North Darfur State, MSF said it had witnessed an attack on an internally displaced persons' (IDPs) camp next to the organisation's clinic.

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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