The report “Louder than words: An agenda for action to end state use of child soldiers” is published to mark the tenth anniversary year of the entry into force of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. It examines the record of states in protecting children from use in hostilities by their own forces and by state-allied armed groups. It finds that, while governments’ commitment to ending child soldier use is high, the gap between commitment and practice remains wide.

SANA'A, Yemen, June 1 (UNHCR) – Military service is mandatory in many countries around the world, but in Eritrea it is often indefinite in duration and conducted under harsh conditions, prompting thousands of young men and women to desert and flee the country every year. Often, it might seem like jumping from the frying pan into the fire, with many ending up in prison in neighbouring countries.

Jamila El Abdellaoui, Senior Researcher, African Conflict Prevention Programme, ISS Addis Ababa Office

Yemen recently received a spot in the limelight thanks to the 'underwear bomber,' a Nigerian national who attempted to blow up a plane bound for the US on Christmas Day and who allegedly received training from Al-Qaeda elements in Yemen. Despite the fact that Yemen has been facing a myriad of challenges for some time now, the country rarely received media attention prior to the failed terrorist attack on the US airliner. People soon caught up though, and the recent confrontations

In Ethiopia, no new swarms have arrived from northern Somalia since 10 June but there are about a dozen swarms reported in the country. Many of the swarms split into smaller swarmlets and groups that have moved into the Somali region (Shinile and Jijiga zones), Dire Dawa, Oromiya (E. and W. Haraghe zones), Harari, and the central Rift Valley in Afar (zones 3 and 5). A small swarm moved into the northern highlands (North Wello) on 9 June and reached southern Tigray on the 12th. Small groups of adults also arrived in southern Gondar zone in Amhara region

S/2002/1218
Letter dated 31 October 2002 from the Permanent Representative of Eritrea to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council

I have the honour to transmit a press release issued today, 31 October 2002, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Eritrea on some disturbing developments that would directly affect the peace and stability in my country and the entire Horn of Africa region.

I should be grateful if you would kindly circulate the present letter and its annex as a document of the Security Council.

(Signed) Ahmed Tahir Baduri

UNITED NATIONS
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network
for Central and Eastern Africa
Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org

SUDAN: UN calls for safe access for polio investigators

UNICEF and the WHO on 27 July called for the safe passage of several teams of health workers due to travel late last week and early this week to investigate the recently confirmed case of wild poliovirus in southern Sudan. The instance was confirmed on 20

UNITED NATIONS
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network
for Central and Eastern Africa
Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org

ERITREA: President says 19,000 killed in border war

President Isayas Afewerki has announced that 19,000 Eritrean soldiers were killed during the 1998-2000 border conflict with Ethiopia, before it ended last May. The announcement was made at a ceremony to mark Eritrea's Martyrs' Day, which commemorates soldiers lost

UNITED NATIONS
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network
for Central and Eastern Africa
Tel: +254 2 622147
Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org

SOMALIA: Editor released over women's death sentence

An editor jailed for reporting that two women had been sentenced to death has been released in Bosaso, the commercial capital of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland in northeastern Somalia. Abdishakur Yusuf Ali was released on Sunday, 1 April, after spending

SUDAN: Relief agencies to leave Kassala
The Sudanese government has asked non-governmental relief organisations to temporarily suspend activities in the eastern border town of Kassala. The state minister of relief, Chol Deng, was reported by the state media as saying the move was necessary for security reasons. A large number of local, non-governmental and international aid agencies work in Kassala, near the Eritrean border, providing assistance for thousands of refugees at a number of camps.

A UNHCR spokesman said in Geneva on Friday