Amnesty Tells Ethiopia "Delibrate Killing of Civilians is a war Crime"
|
===================================
SOMALIA: UN humanitarian chief calls for protection of civilians
|
The UN estimates up to 20,000 people are fleeing Mogadishu every month |
NAIROBI, 24 April 2008 (IRIN) - John Holmes, the UN's top humanitarian official, has called on all parties in the Somali conflict to protect civilians amid an increasing trend of indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force against the general population in contravention of international humanitarian law.
“Combatants appear to have little regard for the safety of civilians in Mogadishu, where residents have been traumatised by years of violence,” he said in a statement issued on 24 April.
Holmes was particularly concerned about the fighting in Mogadishu on 19 and 20 April, when more than 100 people were killed and 200 injured.
Heavy artillery and tanks were used in residential areas, reportedly one of the reasons for the high civilian casualties.
The Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator also "strongly condemned the brutal killing" of some 21 people in the al-Hidaya Mosque in Heliwaa district of north Mogadishu on 19 April. Up to 50 children aged between nine and 14 were also abducted.
"We don’t know where our children are and what condition they are in," Abdiqani Mohamed, a parent of a 14-year-old student taken from the mosque, allegedly by Ethiopian troops, told IRIN on 24 April. "We are very worried for their safety and wellbeing," he said.
He said the children had been in school at the mosque when soldiers entered and took the children. "They were not armed and posed no threat to anyone. I don’t know why anyone would want to do this. We are appealing to be told where our children are."
In a statement issued on 23 April, Amnesty International called on the Ethiopian military to release the children: “The safety and welfare of the children, some as young as nine years old, must be paramount for all parties.”
 Photo: Julius Mwelu/IRIN  |
UN humanitarian chief John Holmes |
A spokesman for the Ethiopian government denied the involvement of Ethiopian troops in the killings, it added.
Amnesty called on the UN Security Council to "take steps to end impunity across Somalia by launching an International Commission of Inquiry, or similar mechanism, to investigate human rights violations committed during the armed conflict".
Talks threatened
The latest violence is threatening plans for reconciliation talks between the interim government and the opposition. Ahmed Abdullahi, a spokesman for the Asmara-based Alliance for Re-liberation of Somalia, better known as the Alliance, told IRIN it had suspended any talks with the government through the UN.
"We cannot hold talks while our people are being massacred and the world watches with total indifference," he said.
Alliance representatives met the UN special envoy for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould Abdalla, in neighbouring Djibouti, and made clear there were a number of obstacles to possible dialogue at this point.
According to the UN, some 750,000 of Mogadishu’s residents have already fled the city over the past year, and continue leaving at an average rate of 20,000 each month.
Holmes said the violence had hindered the delivery of assistance to those who remain in the city as well as those who sought safety outside.
The UN estimates that some 2.5 million people in Somalia are in need of humanitarian assistance or livelihood support, due to a combination of insecurity, drought and hyper-inflation.
=====================================
Ethiopia Denies Amnesty Mosque Killings Accusation
Thu 24 Apr 2008,
ADDIS ABABA, April 24 (Reuters) - Ethiopia rejected on Thursday accusations by Amnesty International that its soldiers killed 21 people at a Somali mosque as "lies" and "propaganda".
The rights group said on Wednesday the soldiers, stationed in Somalia to bolster the interim government, had also captured dozens of children in a raid on the Al Hidaaya mosque earlier this week during operations against Islamist insurgents.
It said an imam and several Islamic scholars were among the dead, and that seven victims had their throats slit.
"Amnesty's allegations are unsubstantiated lies and propaganda that they received from Islamic groups in Somalia. Ethiopia has never been involved in such incidents," said Information Ministry spokesman Zemedkun Tekle.
"Ethiopia would have been surprised if Amnesty had said something positive about Ethiopia rather than its usual lies."
Bereket Simon, President Meles Zenawi's special adviser, also criticised the report, noting the human rights group has no presence in Somalia. "It is gathering hearsay and accusing Ethiopia based on false information."
Some moderate Islamist leaders in Somalia have postponed plans to attend U.N.-sponsored peace talks after the mosque incident and an escalation of fighting in Mogadishu.
"BRUTAL KILLINGS"
Residents said four more corpses were found in the coastal capital on Wednesday, bringing the death toll from last weekend's shelling and seizure of small towns by the Islamists to at least 103. The clashes were the worst in recent months.
In a statement, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes urged protection for civilians and criticised the mosque raid.
"He also strongly condemned the brutal killings that occurred on 20 April at Al Hidaaya mosque in Heliwaa district of Mogadishu, where women and children were present," said a statement from his New York office.
Holmes's statement said heavy artillery was used in residential areas during recent clashes. "Combatants appear to have little regard for the safety of civilians in Mogadishu, where residents have been traumatised by years of violence."
The Islamist insurgents -- remnants of a sharia courts movement ousted from their strongholds in Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia at the end of 2006 -- view the presence of traditional foe Ethiopia in their country as an "occupation".
Somali police said on Thursday they had freed 37 young people, mainly Koranic students, taken in the mosque raid, leaving just a handful still in custody.
Civilians have borne the brunt of the Somali conflict, which a local rights group says killed 6,500 people last year. One million Somalis live as internal refugees.
The government is struggling to assert its authority in Somalia, deprived of an effective central government since the 1991 toppling of Mohamed Siad Barre. (Additional reporting by Barry Malone in Addis Ababa, Aweys Yusuf in Mogadishu, and Andrew Cawthorne in Nairobi) (Writing by Katie Nguyen; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Ibon Villelabeitia) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ )
============================
Ethiopia Must Rrelease Mosque Attack Children
24 April 2008
Eleven of the twenty-one dead were killed inside the mosque, including the Iman Sheik Saiid Yahya, Sheik Abdullah Mohamud and a number of Tabliq Islamic scholars. At least ten other individuals were killed in the area around the mosque. Their bodies were later brought to the mosque by local residents.
Seven of the twenty-one were reported to have died after their throats were cut, a form of extra-judicial execution practised by Ethiopian forces in Somalia.
The mosque was raided during extensive conflict in the north eastern area of Mogadishu, in which a number of Ethiopian soldiers were reported to have been killed. According to eye-witnesses, the eleven killed inside the mosque were unarmed civilians taking no active part in hostilities. A spokesperson for the Ethiopian government has denied the involvement of Ethiopian troops in these killings.
Amnesty International is also concerned that approximately 41 children, estimated to range from 9 to 18 years of age, were taken by the Ethiopian military from the Al Hidya mosque where they were attending religious classes. The children are reported to be detained at the Ethiopian military base close to the pasta factory in Mogadishu. Other younger children present were not arrested.
Witnesses have told Amnesty International that Ethiopian forces said these children would be released "once they had been investigated" and "if they were not terrorists".
The Ethiopian military and TFG forces have been fighting against armed groups opposed to them for two days. The Elman Human Rights Organisation has documented 81 deaths and more than one hundred injured in the fighting. It is not known how many of these were civilians.
The attack on the mosque followed increasing attacks by armed groups opposed to the TFG on towns in southern and central Somalia. Local residents of Beledweyne City have reported that members of the Al-Shabab militia killed four teachers in an attack on 13 April. An Al-Shabab leader has claimed that the teachers were shot in crossfire.
The targeting of civilians constitutes a war crime. Amnesty International has called for international action to end impunity for crimes such as these, which are being committed in many areas of Somalia. The organization has said that the Ethiopian Government and TFG must ensure an independent investigation into these killings.
"Any Ethiopian soldiers found to be responsible must be prosecuted in accordance with international fair trial standards without use of the death penalty," said Amnesty International.
The organization is also calling on the United Nations Security Council to take action to end impunity throughout Somalia, through the establishment of an international Commission of Inquiry or similar mechanism to investigate serious human rights abuses and violations being committed in armed conflict in the country.
==================================
Another Ethiopia opposition party pulls out of polls
ADDIS ABABA, April 16 (Reuters) - A second opposition party in Ethiopia pulled out of ongoing council and parliamentary elections on Wednesday, accusing the ruling party of intimidating its agents during the first round of voting.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's party is expected to record a big win in the polls, which are the country's first since deadly post-election demonstrations three years ago. First ballots were cast on Sunday and the second round is due on April 20.
Bulcha Demeksa, chairman of the opposition Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), which has nine seats in parliament, said the first round suffered grave procedural and legal flaws.
The biggest parliamentary opposition party, the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, had already withdrawn its 20,000 candidates before election day, saying many of it members had been prevented from registering by the authorities.
"OFDM election observers were callously mistreated. They were refused entry to polling stations. Our observers were pushed like they were intruders," Bulcha told reporters.
"Under these circumstances, the OFDM has decided to withdraw from the local election of April 20, 2008."
However, one OFDM legislator told the same news conference that three aspirants from Wellega, in western Ethiopia, would not pull out because of the effort they had put in during the first round.
Meles' special adviser, Bereket Simon, said the OFDM claims were merely a tactic "to escape from facing defeat".
Demonstrators took to the streets after polls in May 2005 that the opposition said were rigged. A parliamentary inquiry said 199 civilians and police were killed and 30,000 people arrested. The government denied rigging the ballot. (Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Matthew Jones) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/)
=========================
Eritrea, Ethiopia Spar Over Border Impasse
Sat 12 Apr 2008,
ASMARA, April 12 (Reuters) - Eritrea warned arch-foe Ethiopia on Saturday that Asmara would defeat any attempt to renew hostilities after Addis Ababa urged the United Nations to take strong measures against the Red Sea state.
Eritrea and Ethiopia routinely trade accusations over their border dispute, which led to a 1998-2000 war between the Horn of Africa neighbours in which some 70,000 people were killed.
The two countries have been deadlocked over their 1,000 km (620-mile) frontier since a 2002 border ruling. Analysts fear even a small incident could trigger renewed hostilities.
"If war against Eritrea was difficult yesterday, it is impossible today," Eritrea said in a statement in the English-language Eritrea Profile newspaper.
But Ethiopia said on Friday the United Nations should punish Asmara for cutting off fuel supplies to U.N. peacekeepers stationed on Eritrean territory, forcing the mission to almost completely withdraw.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said last week that a new war could break out if the force abandons the border.
"The minimum expected of the Security Council now must be the strongest condemnation of Eritrea for these violations and insistence on immediate Eritrean reversal of all recent transgressions," Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"Ethiopia now calls on the Security Council and the Secretary General to prevent Eritrea getting away with its defiance yet again and to act against its egregious violations."
Ethiopia has repeatedly called for talks on border demarcation and normalisation of relations before it will pull back from areas assigned to Eritrea by a boundary commission decision of 2002.
Eritrea rejects this, saying Ethiopia must remove all its troops from the Red Sea state's sovereign territory before talks can happen. (Reporting by Jack Kimball in Asmara and Tsegaye Tadesse in Addis Ababa; Editing by Catherine Evans) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ )
=====================================
Horn of Africa War Possible if UN Leaves - Ban
Wed 9 Apr 2008,
UNITED NATIONS, April 9 (Reuters) - If U.N. peacekeepers abandon the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea, a new war could break out between the two Horn of Africa neighbors, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report.
The U.N. border mission, or UNMEE, has already withdrawn nearly 1,700 troops and military observers who for the past seven years had been trying to prevent Eritrea and Ethiopia from resuming a border war they fought from 1998-2000.
The peacekeepers had been stationed in a 15.5-mile (25-km) buffer zone inside Eritrea. But Asmara turned against UNMEE because of U.N. inability to enforce rulings by an independent commission awarding chunks of Ethiopian-held territory, including the town of Badme, to Eritrea.
Most UNMEE troops have been sent home temporarily and only 164 peacekeepers are now in Eritrea, Ban said in the report, obtained by Reuters on Wednesday. But those troops are only there to guard UNMEE equipment until it can be evacuated.
There are also a few peacekeepers on the Ethiopian side of the border, but Ban said Addis Ababa told him: "Ethiopia would find it extremely difficult to accept a long-term deployment of UNMEE limited only to the Ethiopian side of the border."
UNMEE pulled most of its troops out of Eritrea after the government cut off access to fuel and restricted deliveries of food and other essential supplies. Asmara denies this and accuses UNMEE of enabling Ethiopia to occupy its territory.
Ethiopia has offered to hold talks with Eritrea but Asmara says Addis Ababa must first withdraw from Eritrean territory.
With Eritrea refusing to discuss the question of UNMEE's return, Ban said there were several options for the future of U.N. forces on the border, where both sides have amassed troops in recent months. He also said the Security Council must make a swift decision on the fate of UNMEE.
"It is essential that the Security Council makes the necessary decisions as a matter of priority," he said. In the meantime Ban said he could try to mediate between Ethiopia and Eritrea and the council could also consider sending missions to both countries.
TOTAL WITHDRAWAL
One option is to remove all UNMEE personnel from the area, though this would be a very dangerous move to make, he said.
"The total withdrawal of UNMEE ... could result in an escalation of tensions in the border area with the risk of a resumption of open hostilities, despite declarations by the two parties that they have no intention to restart the war."
One of the problems of withdrawing UNMEE from the border zone is that their presence is required under the ceasefire agreement, which could then be dismissed as invalid.
A better option would be to deploy a small observer mission in the border area, which could try to defuse tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea. This mission, Ban said, could "serve as the eyes and ears of the international community and would continue to report to the Security Council on the situation."
If one of the countries were to reject this option, observers could be placed on one side of the border, though that "could be perceived by one party as freezing the status quo and serving the interests of the other," Ban said.
Other options would be for UNMEE to return to its original full deployment -- an unlikely scenario given Eritrea's refusal to discuss the issue -- or to establish "liaison offices with civilian and military personnel" in Addis Ababa and Asmara. (Editing by Eric Walsh)
================================
Eritrea rejects U.S. human rights accusations
22 Mar 2008
Source: Reuters
Human rights defenders routinely label Eritrea one of Africa's worst offenders, accusing it of using torture, killing and illegal imprisonment inside the country.
"The politically motivated report is replete ... with unsubstantiated rumours, innuendos, exaggerations and sheer fabrications," Eritrea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, referring to the annual U.S. report.
"The curious feature ... is that it does not even pretend to apply the same benchmarks ... to examine and pass judgment on the human rights practices of the United States government itself," the statement said.
Relations between Washington and Asmara have soured as Eritrea accuses the United States of siding with Ethiopia in a border dispute. Asmara and Addis Ababa fought a 1998-2000 war over their 1000-km (620-mile) frontier.
The U.S. State Department said in its 2007 world human rights report that Eritrea continued to commit "numerous serious abuses".
It said President Isaias Afwerki's government used the border stalemate with Ethiopia to clamp down on dissent and keep much of the nation's youth in the military. Eritrea denies that. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ ) (Reporting by Jack Kimball; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
=========================
Nearly 9 Million Ethiopians to Need Food Aid in '08
Tue 11 Mar 2008,
ADDIS ABABA, March 11 (Reuters) - Nearly 9 million people in Ethiopia's pastoral regions will need food aid this year despite a projected bumper harvest for 2007/08, a U.S.-funded research group said on Tuesday.
"About eight million chronically food insecure people and an additional 952,503 acutely food insecure people in Ethiopia will require food or cash assistance in 2008," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) in a report.
Ethiopia says it expects an overall harvest of 16.5 million tonnes in the current 2007/08 season on good weather and better planting.
The group -- funded by the aid wing of the U.S. government -- said pastoralists in Ethiopia's Somali, Oromo and Gambella regions were the worst hit.
The United Nations said earlier this month that more than one million people were suffering from drought in Ethiopia's Somali and Borena regions.
The network's report said livestock prices and demand have declined especially for goats and cattle. Livestock exports are a key source of hard currency for the Horn of Africa nation
===============================
ETHIOPIA: “Eight Million Need Assistance, Despite Record Harvest”
|
Production during the meher season is one of the most important determinants of food security in Ethiopia |
NAIROBI, 7 February 2008 (IRIN) - Ethiopia experienced a record harvest during the meher season that runs from June and October but pockets of poor food production across the country have still left millions of people needing food assistance, according to a food security update.
Citing the Somali region in particular, the update issued by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) on 6 February stated that poor rains during the deyr season, from October to November, exacerbated extreme food insecurity in parts of the region.
This was when the dry season was in progress and the peak hunger season had set in. Various other factors, including restrictions on movement and trade, locust infestations and limited humanitarian access had exacerbated matters.
"Despite record meher-season production, about eight million chronically food insecure people and a significant number of acutely food insecure people ... will require food or cash assistance in 2008," the January report stated.
Production during the meher season is one of the most important determinants of food security in Ethiopia, especially in the crop-producing areas that cover most of the country, except the mainly pastoral Afar and Somali regions, and the lowlands of Oromiya region.
An assessment by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Programme estimated the meher crop was about 45 percent higher than the past five-year average.
"This represents the fourth consecutive bumper meher harvest in Ethiopia," the report noted. "Yet, despite good overall production, pockets of poor production have been identified across the country as a result of weather-related hazards."
In the Somali region, the update noted, the deyr rains performed poorly across seven zones that depend on precipitation for regeneration of pasture, replenishment of water sources and crop production.
 Although the movement of commercial food into restricted zones continues especially in the main woreda towns, the supply of food is inadequate especially in rural areas and prices are beyond the purchasing power of most consumers |
"In Gode, Warder, Korahe, Degahabur and Fik the situation is worse because the 2007 main season, which occurs between March and May, performed poorly," it noted, adding that poor water availability and abnormal livestock migrations had already been reported in several areas.
"In all these areas, pasture is scarce, milk production and livestock body conditions have also started to deteriorate," the update said. "Reduced milk production will have a serious impact on child malnutrition."
Citing a report issued by the Somali Region Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Bureau in December indicating that about 745,000 people in the region could meet their minimum food needs and thus faced a survival deficit, the update noted that these people will require immediate food assistance from January to June 2008.
Market access for agro-pastoralists had also been affected by restrictions on trade and movement in parts of Somali region that began in mid-June 2007.
"Although the movement of commercial food into restricted zones continues especially in the main woreda towns, the supply of food is inadequate especially in rural areas and prices are beyond the purchasing power of most consumers," the update noted.
The restrictions on trade and movement had also affected income sources for poor households, including labour and the sale of charcoal and firewood, because demand had fallen.
===================================
SOMALIA: Two Million Face Humanitarian Crisis, Warn Agencies
NAIROBI, 5 February 2008 (IRIN) - An estimated two million people in Somalia are facing a humanitarian crisis and need urgent aid, humanitarian agencies have warned.
In a statement, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU) and FEWS NET Somalia, said the humanitarian situation in southern and central regions of the country had deteriorated in the past six months.
"Between 1.8 million and two million people, including roughly one million IDPs [internally displaced people], are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance and livelihood support for at least the next six months," the agencies stated.
The worst-affected regions are Lower and Middle Shabelle, Hiiraan and Central regions, due largely to "a significant increase in the number of internally displaced persons fleeing Mogadishu [the capital] and a deepening drought in Hiiraan and Central regions".
Moreover, “hyperinflation across the country was creating problems of food access for urban populations, especially the urban poor".
Cindy Holleman, FAO's chief technical adviser to FSAU-Somalia, said: "The Shabelle regions remain the worst affected in the current humanitarian crisis, with more than 325,000 agriculturalists and agro-pastoralists in states of humanitarian emergency or acute food and livelihood crisis."
Holleman said these regions were, at the same time, hosting at least 367,000 new IDPs from Mogadishu.
An 2007-08 Deyr (October-December) assessment found that an estimated 850,000 of those in need live in rural areas "and face conditions of humanitarian emergency or acute food and livelihood crisis", while the rest were IDPs, 700,000 of whom were newly displaced from Mogadishu in the ongoing violence between insurgents and Ethiopian-backed government forces.
 The recent tragic attack on humanitarian aid workers compounds the crisis and has affected the ability of agencies to continue life-saving humanitarian operations |
Most of the displaced were in regions that were already facing "the worst problems in terms of food access, collapsing livelihoods, and emergency nutrition levels (Lower and Middle Shabelle, Hiiraan and Central regions)," the agencies said.
Matthew Olins, deputy head of office for the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Somalia (OCHA-Somalia), told IRIN on 5 February that as long as there was no improvement in the security situation, the humanitarian outlook would continue to be bleak.
"The continued outflow of IDPs from Mogadishu and poor Deyr rains in parts of south and Central regions are contributing to the crisis," Olins said.
"The recent tragic attack on humanitarian aid workers compounds the crisis and has affected the ability of agencies to continue life-saving humanitarian operations," Olins added.
In the latest incident targeting aid workers, three employees of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF-Holland) were killed in the southern coastal city of Kismayo. As a result, 87 international staff in 14 projects across the country have been withdrawn, according to the agency.
===================================
Ban Must Press Bashir on Darfur justice - rights group
Wed 30 Jan 2008,
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon must publicly urge Sudan's president to comply with arrest warrants for two Sudanese accused of atrocities in Darfur, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
Ban will meet President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Ethiopia this week.
The U.N. chief also hopes to remove Khartoum's obstructions to a 26,000-strong U.N. and African Union peacekeeping force for Darfur, where 2.5 million people have been driven from their homes.
"Downplaying justice to appease Khartoum in the hope of securing progress on the (U.N.-AU mission) deployment has failed to secure progress in deployment," Georgette Gagnon, acting Africa director of the rights group, said in a letter to Ban.
"Instead it has emboldened the government to place persons implicated in war crimes in prominent official positions."
The International Criminal Court has issued two arrest warrants for Sudan's state minister for humanitarian affairs, Ahmed Haroun, and an allied militia leader, Ali Muhammed Ali Abd-al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, for war crimes in Darfur but Khartoum refuses to hand them over.
Instead the government appointed Haroun as head of a rights committee for the region.
Earlier this month the government also gave Arab militia leader Musa Hilal, subject to a travel ban and asset freeze by the United Nations for his role in atrocities which experts say have claimed 200,000 lives, a post in central government.
"Should President Bashir succeed in promoting men such as Musa Hilal and Ahmed Haroun without public comment or condemnation from the United Nations, this can only reinforce his belief that there will be no consequences for other calculated affronts to the international community," Gagnon added.
Ban will also discuss with Bashir problems facing what will eventually be the world's largest U.N.-funded peacekeeping mission in Darfur.
Khartoum has rejected non-African specialist contingents and wants to ban the troops flying at night and be able to disable their communications during its own security operations. The head of U.N. peacekeeping said these were impossible conditions.
===================================
Two Aid Workers Among Four Dead in Somali blast
Mon 28 Jan 2008, 16:16 GMT
By Sahra Abdi Ahmed
KISMAYU, Somalia (Reuters) - Two Somalis and two foreign aid workers working for the Dutch arm of Medecins Sans Frontieres were killed by a roadside bomb on Monday near the southern Somali port of Kismayu, witnesses said.
A Somali driver, a Kenyan doctor and a French logistical officer were killed instantly by the blast while a Somali journalist nearby died from shrapnel wounds, Abdi Adan Duale, a nurse with MSF-Holland in Kismayu, told Reuters. 
A Reuters reporter saw three bodies in the vehicle.
"All foreign workers have left Kismayu," said Mariam Hussein Mohamed, another MSF nurse in the southern port.
She said a second Kenyan MSF official was wounded.
"We washed the bodies and wrapped them with white linen sheets. The plane carrying the dead and the other foreign staff is just about to leave for Nairobi," she told Reuters by telephone.
The government has been fighting a year-long insurgency by Islamist militants in the capital Mogadishu, 500 km (310 miles) to the north, where its troops and Ethiopian allies are frequent targets of roadside bombs and ambushes.
Islamist insurgents attacked Ethiopian soldiers based in an old pasta factory in the city on Monday, killing two of them, according to local radio stations.
"I saw three wounded insurgents being carried by their colleagues who had their AK 47 rifles hanging on their shoulders," witness Muse Omar told Reuters by telephone.
"Mortars and heavy weapons were used by both sides against one another."
In a separate attack in the south-central region of Hiran, the local intelligence chief was shot dead.
"Two men armed with pistols have just shot Hiran intelligence chief Mohamed Ali Gabow. He died on the spot. His body has been taken to the local hospital," local journalist Omar Mohamed said from the provincial capital Beletweyne.
Kismayu -- under the control of the local clan not Somalia's interim government -- has been quiet compared with Mogadishu, but Islamists have threatened attacks there as part of their aim of establishing Islamic rule in the Horn of Africa country.
During a two-week offensive in late 2006 and early 2007, Ethiopian and Somali forces cornered the insurgents near Kismayu and further south, towards the Kenyan border.
Susan Sanders, MSF spokeswoman in Nairobi, confirmed there had been a "serious incident" in Kismayu involving the Dutch arm of the aid organisation but was unable to confirm details.
Kismayu police chief Ibrahim Khalif Shanfool told Reuters two men were arrested after the blast.
"We have two male suspects in our custody who were arrested at the site of the blast. Investigations are under way," he said
==================================
Horn of Africa Communities in the UK held a Mass Dmonstration
Ogaden Online - January 17, 2008 - Thousands of the People of Ogaden, Somalis, Eritrean, Oromo and
 |
The event aimed to explain the views of the people of Horn of Africa towards the atrocities committed by the Ethiopian Prime Minister and his merciless soldiers who massacred thousands of innocent people in Ogaden and Somalia, the destruction of hundreds of villages in Ogaden and Gambella, the imprisonments, torture and killing of Oromo people and the illegal occupation of Somalia and the Eritrean sovereign territory.
Masses of demonstrators travelled from all over the England cities arrived at the rally called The Horn of Africa United for Peace and Stability which started peacefully at 12:00 GMT on Wednesday.
Representatives from the Horn of Africa United for Peace and Stability handed the appeal letter to the Prime Minister and talked to the Foreign Office desk officials. The event was very successful and was organized by the Horn Of African Peace and Stability Forum, a youth organization consisting of Ogaden Students Forum, Somali Youth, Eritrean Youth and Oromo Youth in the UK ...
Click on the photo to watch different Versions
===========================================
Horn of Africa for Peace and Stability Forum
By Sophia Tesfamariam
January 16, 2008 - A large peaceful demonstration will be held at Downing Street in London on the 16th of January 2007 from 13:00 to 18:00 Hrs. The demonstration will be one of its kind and will involve from a wide range of nationalities and ethnic groups including the Somalis, Eritreans, People from Ogaden and Oromo. It is organised by the Horn of Africa for Peace and Stability Forum and is expected to draw thousands of people from all over the UK.
Why a peace demonstration? ,We are people of the Horn of Africa suffering at the hands of the minority regime in Ethiopia. Our people are being killed, our women raped, our villages burnt and our land occupied. The entire region is in turmoil and as a result, the human suffering and destruction have been incalculable. The Ethiopian government is only able to inflict such widespread pain and suffering with the help of the British taxpayers’ money that has been made available to it unconditionally by the UK government. We will call on the British government to stop being complicit in the crimes committed against the people of the Horn of Africa.
About the Horn of Africa - The Horn of Africa is the easternmost part of Africa and is a region containing the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan. It is inhabited by about 110 million people.
Background - The Horn of Africa has suffered from wars and natural calamity for a long period of time. As a result of this, there has been untold human suffering and destruction. The people of the Horn of Africa have not had the chance to engage in development activities continuously. Foreign interference and bias made the problems intractable. The area with all its natural resources remains one of the poorest in the world.
Currently, the source of the problem is the minority regime led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi currently in power in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world and is ranked 170 out of 177 in the UN Human Development Report. 81% of its population lives below the poverty line earning just $2 a day. Yet, the Ethiopian government:
•Managed to raise its military budget to $400 million. Ethiopia has spent about $3 billion just on buying arms (Source: SIPRI). While the government spends this amount, the people of Ethiopia find themselves in a dire situation as a result of disease and famine.
•Invaded a neighbouring country, Somalia, in violation of the AU and UN Charters while shelling civilian areas indiscriminately and causing the death of tens of thousands of people, destruction of properties and the displacement of 1.5 million people from their home. The U.S.A is waging a proxy war in Somalia through Ethiopia.
Source, American Chronicle
====================================
Embassy Employees Were Fired on Political Grounds
Djibouti Mon14 Jan 2008 - The Ethiopian Embassy in Djibouti has fired ten of its employees for allegedly denying their supports for a political agendas presented to all embassy workers at a meeting held in September last year.
According to HRLHA reporter in Djibouti, those fired employees were first forced to take a two-month annual leave immediately after the divisive meeting. On their return to work in December after the two-month forced leave, ten employees were notified that they had been fired. Among those who have lost their jobs were: Muhammad Hasan (Oromo), Idriis muyye (Oromo), Asifayyo (Oromo), Abarra Zawdu (Amara), Mabratu Bekele (Amara), Mariyye Dagne (Amara) and Marid GebreSillasie (Tigre).
The big question has been how the embassy dared to take such an action against its employees in a foreign land without even facilitating ways in which they could move back to their country. As a result of this action, not only the ten former employees of the embassy, but also about 45 (forty-five) members of their families have been subjected to multiple social and economic problems, our reporter in Djibouti confirmed.
According to some insiders, there have been a heated controversy and disagreement going on between Ambassador Shamsaddin Ahmed, whose ambassadorial position is symbolic, and Liul Tesfaye, a Security Officer with the Embassy and agent of the Ethiopian ruling party, EPRDF. The controversy has further heated up especially since the ten former employees of the embassy were fired, the insiders added.
======================
SOMALIA: IDPs Face Eviction From Camp
|
Displaced Somali women wait for food aid. |
NAIROBI, 7 January 2008 (IRIN) - The Somali government is threatening to evict over 1,600 displaced families from the compound of a former technical college in the capital Mogadishu, local sources said.
"A government official brought a letter ordering us to vacate the polytechnic," Adan Nur, a member of a council in charge of the displaced people's camp, told IRIN on 7 January.
He said the college’s compound is home to 1,665 families, including long-term internally displaced persons (IDPs) and those forced to flee recent violence in Mogadishu.
Nur said the government order came from the mayor's office and gave the IDPs 24 hours to leave. "We have nowhere to go and no means to move. I don’t know what we will do," he said.
Officials have not yet allocated or provided alternative accommodation for the IDPs, he added.
"We are appealing to the government to change its stand to allow us to stay where we are until the situation in the country improves."
A civil society source said: "We are in contact with the government at the highest levels to halt the evictions. We have not had any response yet.”
He said some of the displaced people have lived in the college compound for 16 years and “know no other home”.
IRIN's attempts to get comments from the mayor's office were unsuccessful.
In addition to the hundreds of thousands of IDPs fleeing insecurity and violence in Mogadishu, thousands of other residents and long-term IDPs - displaced at the start of the civil war in the early 1990s - are reported to have been evicted from their homes in government and public buildings, according to a civil society source.
Nur appealed to humanitarian agencies to intervene. "They are our last hope," he said.
Meanwhile, violence has continued to displace families in the city.
"Last night [6 January] fighting around parts of Hodan [south Mogadishu] district, and Gubta [northwest] areas forced many families to flee," said a local resident.
He said that many people had fled Huriwa, Towfiq and Yaqshiid districts during the weekend. "The few families left are now looking for safer areas."
The renewed movement of people has been caused by increasing clashes between Ethiopian-backed government forces and insurgents, he said. "We have been witnessing more daring attacks on Ethiopian and government positions by the insurgents in the last couple of weeks."
Violence in Mogadishu drove hundreds of thousands of civilians from the city in 2007, forcing them to live in squalid camps on the outskirts of the capital, where they have limited access to food and water, and lack shelter, medical and sanitation facilities.
==================================
ISRAEL-AFRICA: African asylum-seekers detained in "harsh conditions"
Photo; Tamar Dressler/IRIN |
TEL AVIV,6 January 2008 (IRIN) - Some 1,000 African asylum-seekers, including over 200 women and children, are being detained in Ktsiyot prison in Israel's Negev desert. Some have been held for up to six months.
In late September 2007, all newly arrived African asylum-seekers were moved into tents within the prison grounds. Activists from various Israeli advocacy groups have begun to look into prison conditions: They said they were appalled by "harsh conditions" in the camp.
Attorney Yonatan Berman from the Hotline for Migrant Workers in Tel Aviv described a recent visit to the camp:
"The nights are extremely cold in the desert, yet there is no heating in the tents. The wind simply blows through them. There is no warm water to wash the children, whose ages vary from three weeks to 18 years. At least 16 are under two years old.
"The women and children are still being held separately from their husbands, despite the prison authority's claim that moving the asylum-seekers to the tent camp was intended to allow for family reunification. There are no social workers to supervise or assist the children, many of whom have undergone severe trauma," Berman said.
"We believe [the asylum-seekers] are being held in such harsh conditions to deter others from crossing the Egyptian border into Israel," said a non-governmental organisation (NGO) worker, who requested anonymity.
A Sudanese woman held at the compound recently gave birth. She was taken to the hospital and then returned with her newborn to the tent camp. Similarly, a cancer patient sleeps in the tent at night, exposed to the elements.
"We are currently trying to purchase radiators for heating and supply more blankets and warm clothes," an Israeli Prison Service (IPS) spokesperson told IRIN, adding that "it is indeed very cold" in the camp.
In June 2007 Israel resumed its policy of detaining asylum-seekers illegally crossing the porous border with Egypt. In July, the IPS opened a separate compound inside Ktsiyot prison for asylum-seekers.
Some 4,000 asylum-seekers, mainly from Sudan and Eritrea, have crossed into Israel in the past two years, according to the UN and NGOs.
Education
They see only prison guards and fences. |
A Ministry of Education spokesperson recently told reporters that two classes were opened in the compound, in order to offer the children education. According to Israeli law, every child over five who has resided in Israel for at least three months is entitled to free education.
However, Berman and attorney Oded Feller, from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, say this is not a fair description.
"One teacher arrives for 10 hours each week to teach some 100 children. She gathers together some children and they draw together, and then she leaves. This is hardly a worthwhile education," the lawyers said.
The detained children "never venture outside the prison. They see only prison guards and fences," a volunteer told IRIN.
===========================================
U.S. Aid Team Starts Work in Ethiopia's Ogaden
Fri 4 Jan 2008,
ADDIS ABABA, Jan 4 (Reuters) - A U.S. team has started an assessment of the aid situation in Ethiopia's troubled Ogaden region, the U.S. embassy said, after conflict there fuelled fears of a humanitarian crisis.
The Ethiopian army launched a major offensive earlier this year against separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels in the remote eastern region, which borders Somalia.
The U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa said on Friday the team, made up of experts from the U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, would give an impartial assessment of the situation.
Citing poor rains and restrictions on transport due to the conflict, the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said on Friday it was "increasingly concerned" about food security in the region.
Last month, Ethiopia expelled an Australian and a Briton working for the charity Save the Children UK after accusing them of diverting food aid to the ONLF.
Several aid organisations were ordered out of Ogaden in July. But the government has relaxed restrictions since then and licensed the United Nations and 19 agencies to work there. (Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
The Ethiopian army launched a major offensive earlier this year against separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels in the remote eastern region, which borders Somalia.
The U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa said on Friday the team, made up of experts from the U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, would give an impartial assessment of the situation.
Citing poor rains and restrictions on transport due to the conflict, the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said on Friday it was "increasingly concerned" about food security in the region.
Last month, Ethiopia expelled an Australian and a Briton working for the charity Save the Children UK after accusing them of diverting food aid to the ONLF.
Several aid organisations were ordered out of Ogaden in July. But the government has relaxed restrictions since then and licensed the United Nations and 19 agencies to work there. (Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
======================================
KIBAKI’S THE MILITARY HAS BEEN DEPLOYED TO VARIOUS PARTS OF THE COUNTRY AFFECTED BY VIOLENCE FOLLOWING PRESIDENT RE-ELECTION
Nairobi 2 Jan 2008 - The military has been deployed to various parts of the country affected by violence following President Kibaki’s re-election.
Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said the military has been deployed to assist in averting a humanitarian crisis. He said the soldiers will help in the distribution of food, blankets and medical supplies in those areas
"This is not the first time we are undertaking this venture," said Dr Mutua. "The military has always assisted in undertaking these assignments and this time is no exception," he added.
Dr Mutua also said the government is ruling out mediation as a means to resolve the skirmishes rocking parts of the country following the impasse over the controversial presidential election results.
The spokesman said the country was not at war to warrant the deployment of mediators to bridge peace in the country.
"We have not yet reached a Somali like situation to allow mediators to come to our country," he told a news conference.
"Dialogue is the way to go. The President is willing to engage the various aggrieved parties in dialogue in a bid to resolve all the problems facing this country," he added.
supporters," he said
Dr Mutua’s pronouncements appear to pour cold water in the various initiatives by the international community to find a lasting solution to the stalemate in the country.
has appealed to President Mwai Kibaki to initiate dialogue with other parties to solve the political crisis.
COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli said the crisis facing the country now is politically instigated and thus it can only be solved by political means.
He said Kenya has been known for long as a peace brokering nation amongst other African countries and regretted that the country is now going through the stalemate.
He appealed for calm and tolerance amongst Kenyans citing the previous co-existence as a reason to indicate the unity we share as a nation. He added that Kenyans cannot afford to sit back and watch what they have built in years destroyed.
"Ordinary Kenyans who are dying never participated in the irregularities being cited in the electoral process. They only exercised their democratic right to vote," said Mr Atwoli.
In Nairobi, the South African High Commissioner has confirmed that Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu is on his way to Kenya, to mediate the election crisis.
The African Union has also sent a statement to the Nation, confirming that the AU Chairman and Ghana’s president John Kufour is on his way to Nairobi.
=========================================
Mogadishu violence kills 6,500 in '07- rights group
Mon 31 Dec 2007,
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Conflict in Somalia killed 6,501 civilians in the capital Mogadishu in 2007 and wounded 8,516 more, a local human rights group said on Monday.
The Elman Peace and Human Rights Organisation said it had recorded 1.5 million people uprooted from homes in the city during a year that began with the toppling of an Islamist movement that was followed by an insurgency.
The group's chairman, Sudan Ali Ahmed, blamed Ethiopian forces supporting the interim Somali government for many of the civilian deaths. Residents are often caught in the crossfire as Ethiopian soldiers battle Islamist-led guerrillas.
"The international community must intervene in Somali affairs to force the Ethiopians to get out. At the same time they must bring a joint international peacekeeping force to secure the country," Ahmed told a news conference.
He said he believed the United States was funding Ethiopia to keep its troops in Somalia, and must take some of the blame.
The Horn of Africa nation has been mired in lawlessness since warlords ousted dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991. The transitional government is the country's 14th attempt at restoring central government since then.
========================
UN mission calls on Ethiopia, Eritrea to show restraint after shooting incident
27 December 2007,
The United Nations peacekeeping mission monitoring the ceasefire between Ethiopia and Eritrea today called on both sides to show maximum restraint after a shooting incident in the border area where the two countries fought a two-year war that ended in 2000.
Just last month Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned in a report to the Security Council that continuing tensions between the two, the failure to resolve their longstanding boundary dispute and the military build-up along their common border were causes for serious concern.
The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) reported that its Indian Battalion Post and Military Observer Team Site at Tsorena inside the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) on the Eritrea side heard firing sounds in the general direction of Gergera, southeast of Tsorena yesterday.
The Team Site and post patrol could not go to the scene due to permanent restriction on access to the area, but UNMEE has been in contact with both parties, who recognised that the incident had occurred, and is investigating it.
The Mission recalled an earlier statement by Mr. Ban in October urging both parties to “exercise utmost restraint, maintain their commitment to the Algiers Agreements,” which ended the border war.
In his report last month, Mr. Ban called on the two parties to find common ground to allow the Boundary Commission set up under the ceasefire to proceed with the demarcation of the border.
The Commission handed down a final and binding decision in 2002 but he noted that although Ethiopia says it has accepted the decision without preconditions, it continues to assert that security conditions for demarcation of the border do not exist.
He added that the situation remained tense, noting that Eritrea has moved in more than 2,500 troops and heavy military equipment into the TSZ, while both countries conducted military exercises along the border. In addition, Eritrean restrictions on UN peacekeepers and helicopter flights continue. He called on Eritrea to withdraw its forces and military equipment from the TSZ and to lift its restrictions on UNMEE.
UNMEE currently fields 1,676 military personnel, including 1,464 troops and 212 military observers, out of a total 4,200 mandated by the Security Council resolution that set up the mission in 2000. The Council cut back the troop strength in January, citing frustration with the lack of progress made by either country.
============================================
Eritrea accuses Ethiopia of border attack
Thu 27 Dec 2007,
NAIROBI, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Eritrea has accused Ethiopia of launching an attack on its security forces on Tuesday this week, describing it as part of ongoing provocation along their disputed border.
In a statement posted on its Web site shabait.com late on Wednesday, Asmara said the relatively small-scale raid targeted its troops and allied militias in the South Tsorona region, inside a former buffer zone, and ended in failure.
"(The) attack comes in continuation to (Ethiopia's) ongoing provocation and aggression in the Gash-Barka and Southern regions, whereby it planted mines, carried out incursions, abducted nationals and burned crop fields to the ground," the Eritrean statement said.
Ethiopian officials were not immediately available to comment on the allegation, but they routinely reject Eritrea's version of border incidents.
Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Ethiopia to avoid raising tensions with Eritrea.
About 70,000 people were killed in a 1998-2000 border war between the two neighbours. In November, an international commission charged with setting the 1,000-km (620-mile) frontier dissolved itself, leaving the two states to work it out alone.
========================================
Ogaden: on the brink?
Is Ogaden on its way to becoming the new Darfur?
On the ground with the ONLF
18 Dec 2007 (Open Democracy- london UK), Aid workers, activists and refugees in the barren southeastern Ethiopian region of Ogaden claim that government forces are pressing white-collar and blue-collar civilians into combat against rebels.Addis Ababa denies any wrong-doing in the region, dismissing claims from the likes of Human Rights Watch that Ethiopian troops are responsible for widespread abuses in Ogaden. A predominantly ethnic Somali area, Ogaden is home to a growing insurgent campaign demanding greater autonomy for the region. See images of the Ogaden National Liberation Front on the ground in this slideshow.
toD's view: As the recipient of $500 million of American aid, Ethiopia is Washington's closest ally in the Horn of Africa and the regional leader in tackling Islamist militancy. Its invasion of Somalia one year ago - to topple the Islamists Courts Union - received full US support. But like its American ally in Iraq and Afghanistan, Ethiopia is still bogged down in Somalia, where it faces an intensifying Islamist and tribal insurgency, as well as the growing hostility of a disillusioned populace. Keep up to date with the latest developments and sharpest perspectives in a world of strife and struggle.
Sign up to receive toD's daily security briefings via email by clicking here
As it grapples with overstretch in Somalia and the threat of war with its eternal foe Eritrea, Ethiopia also has problems at home. Ogaden is but one of the insurgency-hit regions in the country. Matters aren't helped by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's blunt crackdown on political dissent in the country, nor by the excesses of an ill-equipped and poorly-trained military in remote areas like Ogaden.
The policy of pressing citizen militias - called "security committees" - into action seems to echo the controversial strategy of empowering local militias in Anbar province in Iraq to take on al-Qaida. In truth, it more closely resembles the disastrous establishment of such militias in parts of central India in order to fight Maoist rebels. These "Salwa Judum" civilian cadres have fast become a part of the problem, not the solution, in the restive Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Motivated in part by callous indifference and in part by lack of resources, the policy of forming such militias will also struggle to contain insurgency in Ogaden.
As a champion in the "war on terror", Ethiopia has been afforded the smokescreen of American funds and support. But should the humanitarian crisis in Ogaden degenerate to "Darfur-like" proportions - as some observers suggest it may - Ethiopia will have to correct its doddering path in the region.
=========================================
ETHIOPIA: Healing the Scars of Conflict
|
Community members attending the meeting in Kangaten village, South Omo, Ethiopia, in December to resolve the conflict |
KANGATEN, 13 December 2007 (IRIN) - Just a month ago, Bela, 35, a mother of two from the Karo ethnic group, saw her neighbour shot dead. "She was planting grain with her husband. She then went to a stream to fetch water. After a while members of the Bume tribe came with cattle and when they saw her they opened fire," Bela told IRIN.
In response to his wife's murder, her husband killed two members of the Nyangatom, also known as Bume. After a few days, the Nyangatoms killed another of Bela's neighbours. The revenge and counter-revenge creates a vicious cycle. Bela blamed the Nyangatom for all the conflicts in the area.
"We are small in number and have fertile land," she claimed. "But we plough the land together with our neighbouring tribes and share the product accordingly."
Bela told IRIN that in previous times such practices worked perfectly but now things have changed. She alleged that theft by the Nyangatoms ruined the relationship. Pastoralists from Dassanech and Hamer, who share a border with Nyangatoms, told IRIN that they have similar problems.
Among the Nyangatom, one of a dozen communities in South Omo, in the southern region of Ethiopia, cattle rustling between neighbouring groups is common. The Nyangatom reason that being surrounded by so many other ethnic groups makes it easy to get into conflict situations.
Killing someone from a rival group is also seen as a badge of courage. Such attitudes fuel a deadly cycle among ethnic groups that share a common culture, speak related languages, have similar lifestyles - and above all, are pastoralists. The official reasons for their conflicts are simple: to control resources.
Gethaun Tolla, Cross Border Project officer from the Ethiopian Pastoralist Research and Development Association (EPaRDA), said: "They are fighting for control over pasture land, water and fishing areas."
 Photo: Jane Some/IRIN |
Cattle rustling is a source of the dispute between South Omo communities |
The Nyangatom have a population of 18,000, and also share borders with the Kenyan Turkana and the Sudanese Toposas. They have many things in common, including language - but such similarities do not stop the conflict.
Daniel Kine, a field coordinator for the Raim Riam Turkana Peace network, has first-hand knowledge of the conflicts in the North Turkana district of Kenya. He agreed that the biggest reason is resources; however, he also pointed to customs.
"There is a traditional belief that any person outside your community is your enemy," he said. "When you kill a person from the other tribe, it shows you are a man."
Ilemi Triangle
But for some, there is yet another reason for the cross-border conflict - claims over a piece of land along the borders between Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya, known as the Ilemi Triangle, measuring about 11,000 sqkm.
The land is administered by the Kenyan government, but is in dispute because of ambiguous colonial-era treaties. Apart from its significance as pasture in the dry season, analysts describe the triangle as "a gateway to an area of Sudan rich in unexplored oil reserves".
Aid workers in the border area told IRIN an unofficial demand by the Toposa for the land fuels the conflict. They allegedly blame the Toposa for using the members of the Niata Nyangatom, a sub-clan of the Nyangatom, as an instrument for displacing Turkana from the area.
"If the Turkana leave the area, the Toposa will control it indirectly through Niata Nyangatom," an aid worker, who requested anonymity, told IRIN. "The Niata Nyangatom also displaced the Mursi residents within 60km of the border. The Mursi pushed their neighbouring tribes and the chain reaction goes on."
Small arms trade
Whatever the reason behind the conflict, it is clear that the illegal small arms trade in the area fuels it. Many analysts also agree that arms are more readily accessible because of the decades-long civil war in Southern Sudan.
Lobko Lale, 35, an Ethiopian Karo pastoralist, takes his Kalashnikov everywhere; for him, it is the sole means for ensuring his safety. "I bought it from the Bena [Dassanech] men and it cost me five cows."
He was lucky. The average cost of a Kalashnikov or AK47 can reach 35 cattle although the flood of guns into the area has reduced the price of late. According to Alemyaehu Lochelia, a policeman in Kangaten, there is also a wide variety among the stock from the border area of Sudan - one can find anything from the German 7.62mm G3 automatic rifle to an M1 American submachine gun.
GLOBAL: Freedom From Hunger is "Not an Optional Human Right"
NEW YORK, 12 December 2007 (IRIN) - The world has the technical ability but lacks the political will to eliminate global hunger, a scourge afflicting one in eight people that is as much a violation of human rights as torture, according to a report by the NGO, Action Against Hunger.
A main tenet of the study, the Justice of Eating – the Struggle for Food and Dignity in Recent Humanitarian Crises, is that the right to food is an inextricable part of the basic set of freedoms embodying human rights that are collectively the minimum conditions necessary for the realisation of human dignity.
Photo IRIN
“They [human rights] are not like pick-and-choose menus where we can say ‘Oh, let’s just address torture or let’s just work for the ending of slavery’,” co-editor Samuel Hauenstein Swan said.
“If the right to food is to be considered as important as the other human rights … then we must take the steps necessary to enforce it, much as we have begun to prosecute the crime of genocide,” the report states.
The study addresses the destruction of livelihoods in Darfur, Sudan; unstable markets in Niger; HIV/AIDS in Malawi and Zambia; and the daily struggle of families fighting for food in the coffee lands of Ethiopia.
In each case, it finds that acute malnutrition is entirely avoidable with the correct strategies, including a combination of increased foreign assistance, financial investment, trade policies preferential to developing countries, and a tempering of economic liberalisation and the deregulation of food markets that have seen the reduction of subsidies to farmers and herders. “The freedom to eat must take precedence over excessively ‘free’ markets,” it states.
“This book presents a powerful indictment of the local institutions, national governments, international agencies and policies that allow hunger to persist in the contemporary world,” Stephen Devereux, a research fellow at the Institute of Development at the University of Sussex, writes in the foreword.
Call to arms
Hauenstein Swan termed the report a call to arms to ordinary citizens to demand that their leaders act. “Despite winning some battles in the fight for human rights and universal dignity, rates of both chronic and acute malnutrition among children under age five remain extremely high. We hope that this report will help create increased commitment from the international community towards preventing and addressing malnutrition,” he said.
“Such increased commitment can only come about if the citizens of the world demand that their leaders make the fight against child malnutrition a political priority. History is filled with examples of ‘ordinary people’– rather we should call them ‘everyday heroes’ – successfully pressuring policymakers to more genuinely and courageously confront human tragedies. We can, and must, summon the same kind of deep empathy and resolve to demand our leaders fight tirelessly the winnable war against child malnutrition.”
The report cites the lack of “emotional comprehension” as perhaps the primary problem in mustering an all-out effort to defeat global hunger, which is estimated to afflict 852 million people, many of them in Africa.
While death from war, or from famine, as in Ethiopia in 1984, grabs the media’s attention, mobilising international relief efforts, the daily grind of longer-term but just as lethal malnutrition, passes under the international radar. “Perhaps the brutality of living with hunger, day in and day out, is harder to grasp, to visualise, to feel,” it says.
Political will
Stressing that a moral commitment by political leaders and private citizens to eliminate hunger must be underpinned by considerable financial assistance, the report dismisses the argument that the funds are lacking, noting that in the United States both the Iraq war and reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina demanded hundreds of billions of dollars in funding that had not been budgeted. “Yet when they became political priorities, the government found the money,” it adds.
================================
Discrimination against Oromo Graduates And Workers
Fri 8 Dec. 2007 Addis Ababa/ Finfinne (HRLHA Reporter)
Hundreds of fresh Oromo graduates of various colleges and universities are being denied employment opportunities on alleged grounds of not being or not willing to be a member of the ruling EPRDF/OPDO party.
Upon approaching various prospective employer public offices and institutions and applying for jobs, the graduates are told to contact the administration office, which is the headquarter of the ruling party; and bring a letter of approval. When the graduates ask for explanations as to why the letter is required, the prospective employers openly disclose to the graduates that the letter is a proof of membership of the ruling party, without which employment opportunities have become impossible. According to HRLHA reporter in Adama/Oromia State, those graduates who are not willing to become members of the ruling party are not even allowed to compete for vacancies.
Fresh Oromo graduates are literally being left with almost no job opportunities; as even what are known as private companies are directly or indirectly owned by the ruling party and its affiliate agencies, HRLHA reporter added.
In a related development, some private companies are firing their employees who are ethnically Oromos. According to HRLHA reporter in Addis Ababa/Finfinne, the Bank of Abyssinia, one of the private banks currently operating in the country, has recently fired a lot of its employees with Oromo ethnic background. Although letters disclosing the end of contracts or terms of employment are issued by the Bank, the reason for the ending of the employment contract is not explicitly explained.
=====================================
U.N. Aid Chief Says Need Growing in Sudan and Somalia
Thu 6 Dec 2007, UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The top U.N. aid official called on Thursday for big increases in assistance for refugees in Somalia and Sudan next year as security deteriorated for millions of people displaced by conflict.
Under-Secretary-General John Holmes said aid for Somalia would need to rise by a third to $400 million (197 million pounds) next year while funding for Sudan's Darfur region should increase to $825 million from around $700 million this year.
"Increasingly terrible things are now happening in Mogadishu, as it descends into the nightmare of urban guerrilla warfare and reciprocal atrocities," Holmes told the Security Council, reporting on a visit to Africa.
"The international community has the responsibility not to abandon the Somali people to their fate," he said, noting that even though security kept most international aid workers out of the country, more should be done to help those in need.
Holmes said half the population of Mogadishu, or 600,000 people, had fled persistent fighting since Somalia's transitional government came to power after ousting militant Islamists early this year.
The Somalia Consolidated Appeal, which coordinates U.N. agencies and aid groups, would need at least $400 million in 2008, up from $300 million this year for an estimated 1.5 million needy people, he said.
The Somali government has long urged the United Nations to send peacekeepers but Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said last month security was too bad even to send a technical assessment team.
Security Council members said last month it was vital to keep planning for a U.N. peacekeeping force in Somalia despite Ban's view that such a force was unrealistic at this time.
Holmes said that while peacekeeping forces need a peace to keep, "lack of high-level attention is not an option for Somalia, any more than it is for Darfur."
A hybrid U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force is due to deploy in Darfur from the start of January. Holmes called it an important step for improving the humanitarian situation.
U.N. officials have said Khartoum had delayed deployment with bureaucratic obstacles and by refusing to approve the inclusion of some non-African units in the force. The United Nations is also still seeking helicopters for the force.
Holmes warned that a decline in security and bureaucratic obstacles were hindering aid operations in Darfur, where U.N. experts estimate that 200,000 people have been killed in four years of fighting, and 2.4 million displaced from their homes.
He said morale among aid workers was low and the humanitarian operation in Darfur was increasingly fragile.
Holmes was also concerned about the prospect of a "humanitarian catastrophe" in Ethiopia, where he urged the government to act to avert famine for many of the 4.5 million people in the vulnerable Ogaden region.
=====================================
Read More News