HORN OF AFRICA: IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 407 for 10-16 November 2007
Source: IRIN
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NAIROBI, 16 November 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTSSOMALIA: IDP influx from Mogadishu overwhelms southern town
SOMALIA: Government shuts down media groups
SOMALIA: UN envoy calls for international
justice to stem violence
SOMALIA: Mounting bloodshed prompts pleas for help from Mogadishu
SUDAN: Ceasefire fails to quell Darfur violence
SUDAN: UN agency sounds alarm over locust infestation SUDAN: Do more to contain Rift Valley Fever - WHO SOMALIA: IDP influx from Mogadishu overwhelms southern town Hungry, exhausted and traumatised, thousands of civilians have been pouring into
Afmadow, a Somalian town near the Kenyan border, having fled the "hell on earth" of their embattled capital, some 630 kilometres to the north. Among them was Hawo Ali, who arrived in Afmadow on 15
November, five days after escaping Mogadishu with 20 of her relatives and neighbours, including a 10-month-old baby. Ali said she saw troops in the city killing 21 people, including women and
children.
Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75324 SOMALIA: Government shuts down media groups Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has shut down Shabelle Media
Network, Banadir Radio and Radio Simba, media officials told IRIN. Mustaf Haji, editor at Radio Simba, said a group of armed men arrived at the station at 11am local time on 13 November and "ordered
us to shut down and cease our operations immediately. We have been off the air ever since, and we don't know if will be back any time soon," he said.
Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75298 SOMALIA: UN envoy calls for international justice to stem violence The UN envoy for Somalia has urged the international community to consider
using international justice to curb the violence in Somalia, saying that civil strife had precipitated the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa. "The international community is trying hard, but it is
not giving the appropriate attention to the population," UN Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, told reporters in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on 13 November.
Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75294 SOMALIA: Mounting bloodshed prompts pleas for help from Mogadishu Local elders and civil society leaders have urged the international community
to help stop the carnage in Mogadishu as heavy fighting in the Somali capital continued, leaving hospitals overwhelmed and many streets littered with bodies. The clashes pit government forces backed
by Ethiopian troops against insurgent remnants of the ousted Union of Islamic Courts and allied clan militias.
Full report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75256 SUDAN: Ceasefire fails
to quell Darfur violence A unilateral ceasefire announced by Khartoum in late October has failed to improve security in Darfur, where armed groups continue to do battle, according to humanitarian
and civil society officials. "Conditions on the ground remain the same; there is a lot of insecurity," an aid worker, who requested anonymity, told IRIN.
Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75277 SUDAN: UN agency sounds alarm over locust infestation The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that a dangerous infestation of
locusts could emerge along the Red Sea in November and December following an outbreak of the insects in northern Sudan. "Recent field reports indicate that locust numbers have increased in the
summer breeding areas in Sudan, primarily north and east of Khartoum where ground surveys could be conducted," FAO said in a statement on 12 November.
Full report
htt://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75317 SUDAN: Do more to contain Rift Valley Fever - WHO The UN World Health Organization has urged Sudan to step up its efforts to halt the spread of
Rift Valley Fever in the east of the country, where the viral disease has claimed almost 100 lives over recent weeks. Sudan's acting health minister Al-Fateh Mohammed Saeed, however, said his
ministry had been on alert for signs of the disease three weeks before an outbreak was declared and that the situation was now "quite stable". According to a 14 November WHO update, 12 people died
over a seven-day period in While Nile, Sinnar and Gezira States, and the number of reported cases of the disease increased to 329 from 228 a week before.
Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75346 © IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org
