HORN OF AFRICA: IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 364 for 17-23 February, 2007
Source: IRIN
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NAIROBI, 23
February (IRIN) - CONTENTS: DJIBOUTI: Malnutrition a silent emergency - UNICEF
ETHIOPIA: Trial of opposition activists adjourned again
SOMALIA: Gov't welcomes authorisation of peacekeeping force SOMALIA: Plea to help 2,000 displaced families
SOMALIA: Government bans media reports of displacement, rocket and mortar fire
SUDAN: Meningitis spreads in south
SUDAN: Task force to address sexual
abuse and exploitation
SUDAN: More displacement amid continuing violence in Darfur See also: ETHIOPIA: Fighting malaria in Oromiya SUDAN: Dinka going home to an uncertain future DJIBOUTI: Malnutrition a silent emergency - UNICEF Malnutrition among children younger than five is a silent emergency in Djibouti, where a survey conducted in 2006 showed malnutrition rates well
above the emergency threshold, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said. "The situation is alarming," Aloys Kamuragiye, UNICEF representative for Djibouti, told IRIN on Wednesday. "It is a
silent emergency which calls for a humanitarian response. People can become complacent about it probably because there is no war in Djibouti." [Full story] ETHIOPIA: Trial of opposition activists
adjourned again The Federal High Court in Ethiopia has once again adjourned the trial of 101 opposition activists and journalists, including more than 70 defendants who have been held in custody
since November 2005 on charges of instigating unrest to overthrow the government. Federal High Court Judge Adil Ahmed on Monday adjourned the trial until 5 March, saying a speech allegedly made by
one of the defendants - the leader of the country's main opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, Hailu Shawl - at the American press club before his arrest needed to be translated
from English into Amharic, Ethiopia's official language. [Full story] SOMALIA: Gov't welcomes authorisation of peacekeeping force Somalia has welcomed a resolution by the United Nations Security
Council authorising a six-month deployment of African Union peacekeepers to the Horn of Africa country, which has had no functioning regime in more than 15 years. "The government welcomes the
statement from the UN Security Council," Information Minister Madobe Nuunow Muhammad, said. "It is long overdue but a very positive step in the right direction." [Full story] SOMALIA: Plea to help
2,000 displaced families Civil society organisations in Somalia have appealed to the international community to help at least 2,000 families displaced over the past two weeks by violence in the
capital, Mogadishu. "We are appealing to the international community, particularly to the United Nations, to come to the aid of these people," Muhammad Nur Ga'al, the deputy head of the coalition
known as Civil Society in Action, said on Wednesday from Mogadishu.
[Full story] SOMALIA: Government bans media reports of displacement, rocket and mortar fire The Somali government has stopped
three media groups in the capital, Mogadishu, from carrying reports on increasing violence and displacement of civilians, saying the media was exaggerating numbers. "We simply want them not to
create panic among the population," Gen Nur Muhammad Mahamud, deputy chief of the Somali national security agency, said from Mogadishu. [Full story] SUDAN: Meningitis spreads in south A total of
1,477 cases of meningitis, including 117 deaths, have been reported in south Sudan since the beginning of 2007, according to the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO). Areas most affected
by the outbreak include Warrap state and Yambio, Maridi and Mundri counties. So far, the disease has spread to eight of south Sudan's 10 states.
[Full story] SUDAN: Task force to address
sexual abuse and exploitation United Nations agencies and the southern Sudanese government are to establish a task force to monitor cases of sexual abuse and exploitation involving international
staff, officials said. "To my knowledge it would be the first such task force," David Gressly, UN Deputy Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Southern Sudan, said at a one-day workshop on the
prevention of sexual abuse and exploitation on Tuesday in the southern capital of Juba. [Full story] SUDAN: More displacement amid continuing violence in Darfur Several thousand Sudanese civilians
who were forced to flee their villages after fighting broke out between the Targem and Reziegat Maharia communities in South Darfur have moved to Kass town, where humanitarian agencies have started
assisting them, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said. Unconfirmed reports suggested that between 70 and 100 people were killed and 14 injured in the clashes, which were triggered by a
dispute over pasture. By Tuesday, about 3,352 people had been registered for assistance, but others were widely dispersed. [Full story] ah/
