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Sunday 25 December 2005


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IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 297 for 1-7 October September 2005

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

CONTENTS:

ERITREA: Flight restrictions to affect border monitoring
ERITREA: Gov't urged to reverse flight restrictions on UNMEE
SOMALIA: Annan saddened by killing of UN employee
SOMALIA: US commends Somaliland on polls
SOMALIA: Hijacked ship released
SUDAN: Malnutrition levels in south high - NGO
SUDAN: Rebel disunity threatens Darfur peace effort - ICG

ALSO SEE:

SUDAN:Interview with Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, Ummah party president at:
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SUDAN: South largely unprepared for returnee influx at:
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SUDAN: Khartoum destruction triggers southern returns at:
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ERITREA: Flight restrictions to affect border monitoring

The decision by the Eritrean government to restrict United Nations helicopter flights will significantly reduce the organisation's ability to monitor the situation on the border with neighbouring Ethiopia, the top UN military commander in the region said. "Our surveillance and monitoring of the border - of the Temporary Security Zone - was dependent to a very large degree on aerial surveillance," Maj-Gen Rajender Singh, commander of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) peacekeeping force, said.

"[The restrictions] would seriously affect our monitoring capability by anything up to 40 to 45 and maybe even 50 percent," he added. On Tuesday, Eritrea demanded that all UN helicopters cease using its airspace, prompting fears that the move was an attempt to cover-up military movements and preparations for renewed conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Despite the loss of surveillance capability, Singh said the UN had seen no military build-up by either side.

Full report

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ERITREA: Gov't urged to reverse flight restrictions on UNMEE

The United Nations Security Council has called upon the Eritrean government to reverse a decision to restrict within its airspace helicopter flights used by the UN Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea [UNMEE]. "The Security Council calls upon the government of Eritrea to immediately reverse its decision and provide UNMEE with the access, assistance, support and protection required for the performance of its duties," Mihnea Ioan Motoc, the current president of the Council, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Eritrean decision, which takes effect on Wednesday, "would have serious implications for UNMEE's ability to carry out its mandate and for the safety of its staff", Motoc added. It would also contravene the Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities signed by the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea in 2000 in Algiers, Algeria, following their two-year border war.

Full report

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SOMALIA: Annan saddened by killing of UN employee

The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged authorities in Somalia to bring to justice the people who on Monday killed a UN security officer in the port city of Kismayo, 500 km south of the capital Mogadishu. Mohamuud Muse Gurage, a Somali national, was walking toward his house from the UN offices when unidentified assailants shot him dead. "The Secretary-General is saddened to learn that a UN security officer, Mohamuud Musse Gurage, was killed by gunmen on Monday night in the Lower Juba region of Somalia," said a statement issued by Annan's spokesman.

"The brutal murder of Mr. Gurage underscores the difficult security situation the United Nations faces as it attempts to assist the people of Somalia," the statement said. He called on the authorities in Kismayo "to do their utmost to bring to justice the perpetrators of this terrible crime".

Full report

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SOMALIA: US commends Somaliland on polls

The United States has welcomed the recent legislative elections in the self-declared republic of Somaliland as an example to the rest of Somalia, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Monday. "We congratulate the people of Somaliland on holding peaceful elections with significant voter turnout," McCormack said in a statement. "The United States calls on all political parties to work together peacefully during the post-election period to strengthen the democratic transition in Somaliland and serve as an example for greater Somalia."

"The United States welcomes the September 29 parliamentary elections in Somaliland, which represent a step towards democracy in Somalia," the statement added. Somaliland voters went to the polls on 29 September to elect 82 members of the region's parliament.

Full report

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SOMALIA: Hijacked ship released

The hijackers of a ship transporting food aid for survivors of the December tsunami in northeastern Somalia released the vessel on Sunday, leaving it to proceed to El Maan port, north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, sources said. "The ship has been free since yesterday and it's on its way to Mogadishu to offload its cargo," Inayet Kudrati, director of the Motaku Shipping Agency, which runs the ship, told IRIN on Monday.

The hijackers left the vessel on Sunday afternoon, nearly 100 days after they commandeered it. "The hijackers have disembarked from the ship, and security officials from El Maan Port are now on board," Kudrati said from his headquarters in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. The MV Semlow - with its crew of 10 Kenyan, Tanzanian and Sri-Lankan nationals - was commandeered on 27 June between Haradhere and Hobyo, some 400 km northeast of Mogadishu.

Full report

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SUDAN: Malnutrition levels in south high - NGO

Malnutrition levels in southern Sudan are alarmingly high and have been above the emergency threshold for the past three years, a report released by the NGO, Action Against Hunger (AAH), said. "The nutritional situation in southern Sudan is dire by any standards," Roger Persichino, AAH desk officer, said in a press release on Friday. "Rates show a prevalence of malnutrition comparable to what we have in Niger or in Darfur. But it seems nobody cares or, maybe worse, that everybody has gotten used to it," he added.

The January-July 2005 report said the overall rate of global acute malnutrition was 20.7 percent, above the 15 percent emergency threshold and equalling the rates of malnutrition currently observed in hunger-stricken Niger in West Africa.
In certain areas of Upper Nile and Bahr-el-Ghazal regions, it added, malnutrition rates had reached 39 percent and 64 percent, respectively.

Full report

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SUDAN: Rebel disunity threatens Darfur peace effort - ICG

Efforts by the African Union (AU) to end violence in the war-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur could fail unless rebel leaders there act to unify their groups, an international think tank warned on Thursday.

"Unless reversed, the slow implosion of the rebel movements threatens to extend the tragic situation in Darfur indefinitely," the International Crisis Group (ICG) said in report entitled, "Unifying Darfur's Rebels: A Prerequisite for Peace".

"As long as the rebels, the SL[M/]A [Sudan Liberation Movement/ Army] in particular, remain divided and the fighting in Darfur continues, there is little hope for real success at the African Union (AU)-sponsored peace talks in Abuja, since the government is likely to exploit and exacerbate rebel weakness at the [negotiating] table," the report said.

Meanwhile, an emergency meeting of the Peace and Security Council of the AU to discuss the recent upsurge of violence in Darfur was postponed to give delegates more time for informal consultations.

"The meeting was postponed but no new date has been set yet," El Ghassim Wane, head of AU's conflict management division, said. The emergency session of the council on Darfur was to have taken place on Wednesday at the AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

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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