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Sunday 25 December 2005


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IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 289 for 6-12 August 2005

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

CONTENTS:

ETHIOPIA: Opposition rejects final election results
ETHIOPIA: AU urges political parties to work for unity
ETHIOPIA: More malaria cases reported in several regions
SOMALIA: Journalist expelled from Jowhar
SOMALIA: TFG denies split within its ranks
SOMALIA: Hijacked ship to be released - WFP
SUDAN: Salva Kiir sworn in as new vice president
SUDAN: Rains, insecurity hampering aid delivery to Darfur

ALSO SEE:

SUDAN: Darfur youth idle, neglected
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SUDAN: Potential for chronic instability in Darfur
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SUDAN: Anxiety over peace in the south
Full report

ETHIOPIA: Opposition rejects final election results

Ethiopia's largest opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), has rejected official results that effectively declared Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s ruling party the winner of the country’s disputed 15 May legislative poll. "These are flawed results, consistent with what we have come to expect of results provided by the NEBE," Berhanu Nega, vice chairman of the CUD, told IRIN on Wednesday.

Berhanu said his party, which according to Tuesday’s results won 109 seats, was in consultations to decide whether they would challenge the results in court. Ethiopia's information minister, Bereket Simon, however, told IRIN the results were released after investigations had been completed. "The opposition has been proved wrong," the minister said. "The honourable thing for them to do is to accept the election results."

Full report

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ETHIOPIA: AU urges political parties to work for unity

The African Union (AU) has urged political parties in Ethiopia to work together in the national interest following the conclusion of the disputed 15 May legislative elections. "The AU commends the people of Ethiopia and all political parties for demonstrating maturity and responsibility by participating in the multi-party democratic elections," an AU statement issued on Wednesday added. However, it urged the parties to "pursue any outstanding issues through due processes of the law and agreed mechanisms including dialogue".

The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia announced on Tuesday official results from 492 constituencies, which showed that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front had won 296 of 524 seats contested - about 56 percent - enabling it to form a government. However, Ethiopia's largest opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), on Wednesday rejected the results.

Full report

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ETHIOPIA: More malaria cases reported in several regions

The number of reported malaria cases in Ethiopia has risen sharply amid fears it could get worse during the "malaria transmission season" which runs from June to October, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. "A total of 77 kebeles [administrative zones] were affected by malaria epidemics in May and June, with 18,911 cases and 42 reported deaths," OCHA said in a humanitarian update on Monday.

It warned that the current amount of drugs and insecticide treated nets being imported into the country would be inadequate if there was an epidemic. The highest number of cases, OCHA said, had been reported to the Ethiopian federal ministry of health from several regions including Tigray in the north, Amhara and Afar in northcentral, Oromiya, Somali in the east and Benshangul-Gumuz in the west.

Full report

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SOMALIA: Journalist expelled from Jowhar

A radio journalist who was detained for six days in the Somali town of Jowhar, the temporary seat of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government, has been released without charge and banished from the town, his employer said on Wednesday. Abdullahi Adow, an employee of the independent HornAfrik radio station, was arrested in Jowhar on 2 August by militiamen, local sources said.

"He was released and was immediately escorted out of town and told not to return," Ali Iman, managing partner of HornAfrik, told IRIN. Adow, he added, was not physically tortured or mistreated during his incarceration. The authorities in Jowhar, located 90 km north of the capital, Mogadishu, have not disclosed the reasons for his arrest or subsequent expulsion, he added.

Full report

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SOMALIA: TFG denies split within its ranks

There is no split within Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) over the deployment of foreign peacekeeping troops and relocation to the Somali capital, Mogadishu, a senior member of the TFG said on Tuesday. "There may be misunderstandings and differences of opinion, but I am not aware of any split or two camps within the TFG," Abdirahman Dinari, spokesman for the TFG, told IRIN. Dinari said the TFG welcomed efforts by the UN and others to facilitate dialogue, "but that should not become some sort of a reconciliation conference".

Last week the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Somalia, François Lonsény Fall, presented an "agenda for dialogue" to Somali leaders, aimed at helping them overcome their current differences. Fall presented the agenda to Somalia’s President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Gedi, the Speaker of the Transitional Federal Parliament, Sharif Hassan Shaykh Aden, and other MPs, in trips he made to Mogadishu and nearby Jowhar on Monday and Wednesday.

Full report

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SOMALIA: Hijacked ship to be released - WFP

The Kenyan-registered ship that was hijacked off the northeastern coast of Somalia in June en-route to deliver food aid is to be released with its cargo and crew, the UN World Food Programme (WFP), said. "An agreement with community leaders and Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government [TFG] to allow the release of the hijacked ship, its 10-member crew and its cargo of WFP food within days has been reached," WFP said in a statement on Saturday.

The MV Semlow was hijacked on 27 June between Haradhere and Hobyo, some 400 km northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, on its way to Bossaso, in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland. The vessel had been chartered by WFP to deliver 850 tonnes of rice to survivors of the 26 December Indian Ocean tsunami, which devastated much of Somalia's northeastern coastline. WFP said the agreement was reached at a meeting in Jowhar - the interim seat of the TFG - between diplomats from Kenya, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, local leaders and WFP country director Robert Hauser.

Full report

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SUDAN: Salva Kiir sworn in as new vice president

The new chairman of the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), Salva Kiir Mayardit, was on Thursday sworn into office as Sudan's First Vice President in a sombre ceremony in the capital, Khartoum. Kiir replaced John Garang, who died in a helicopter crash on 30 July near the Uganda-Sudan border.

"Despite the fact that we have lost our hero, the man who brought peace, Dr John Garang, we will continue with the same vision and objectives, and will implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement [CPA]," Kiir said at the ceremony. "The agreement provides the last chance for Sudan's unity." Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir congratulated Kiir and hailed the SPLM/A for making a "courageous, historic" decision to name him their new chairman.

Full report

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SUDAN: Rains, insecurity hampering aid delivery to Darfur

Heavy rainfall and ongoing insecurity are slowing down the delivery of humanitarian assistance to many parts of the strife-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur, aid workers warned on Wednesday. "It is a nightmare to move food; the rains are much worse than last year," Diego Fernandez, head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) field office in Kabkabiya, in the west of North Darfur State, told IRIN.

WFP emergency coordinator for Darfur, Carlos Veloso, confirmed that the amount of rain that had fallen in Darfur was above average. "In terms of the quantity of rain, this is very good news for the expected harvest next year, but right now it does delay the turnaround of our trucks to El Fasher and Nyala [the capitals of North and South Darfur respectively] by a couple of days," Veloso said on Wednesday.

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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