ERITREA: Humanitarian appeals launched
The Eritrean Refugee and Relief Commission
(ERREC) and the UN have launched appeals to the international donor community
to support humanitarian activities in 2001. According to an OCHA press
release, the ERREC appeal is for more than US $223 million. The UN Consolidated
Inter-Agency Appeal, which includes project proposals from nine UN agencies,
totals over US $157 million.
The appeals have been made in the light of ongoing humanitarian needs in Eritrea, related to the cumulative effects of conflict with neighbouring Ethiopia and drought. Over 200,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are still accommodated in camps and require assistance, while up to 150,000 additional IDPs are living outside the camps, the release said. Agriculture was severely disrupted last year, and the conflict has left large tracts of land inaccessible due to landmines.
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Ethiopian troop re-deployment complete
The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) public information office said on Friday that it had been informed by the Ethiopian government that redeployment of Ethiopian troops was completed on 22 February. UNMEE began verifying this information on Monday. According to the agreement reached by both parties in Nairobi on 6 February, Eritrean troops will withdraw from their positions by 3 March. UNMEE will monitor a 25 km-wide Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) established when both sides have withdrawn completely.
UNMEE added that the establishment of the TSZ was a critical first step in allowing both governments to arrange for the return of internally displaced persons (IDPs), reestablishing local economies and facilitating aid agencies in reaching the needy.
SUDAN: New cabinet list
Sudanese President, Lt. General Omar al-Bashir announced a new cabinet on Friday, Sudanese radio, monitored by the BBC reported on 23 February.
The new 31-member Cabinet is as follows: Lt. Gen. Omar el-Bashir: president; Ali Osman Mohammed Taha: first vice-president; Moses Machar: vice-president; Maj. Gen. Salah Ahmad Mohammed Salih: minister of presidential affairs; Gen. Al-Hadi Abdalla Mohammed al-Awad; minister of cabinet affairs; Mustafa Osman Ismail: minister of external relations; Maj. Gen. Bakri Hassan Salih: minister of defence; Maj. Gen. Abdel-Rahim Hussein: minister of interior; Abdel Rahim Hamdi: minister of finance and national economy; Awad Ahmed Al-Jaz: minister of energy and mining; Ali Mohammed Osman Yassin: minister of justice; Ghazi Salah Eddin Atabani: minister of information and communications; Nafie Ali Nafie: minister of federal government; Joseph Malwal: minister of aviation; Majzoub al-Khalifa Ahmad: minister of agriculture and forests; Samia Ahmed Mohammed: minister of welfare and social development; Jalal Yusuf Mohammed Digair: minister of national industry and investment; Riek Gaye: minister of animal resources; Abdel-Hameed Mousa Kasha: minister of external trade; Zubair Bashir Taha: minister of science and technological research.
Ali Tamim Fartak was appointed minister of general education and instruction; Mohammed Tahir Ailla: minister of roads and telecommunications; Kamal Ali Mohammed: minister of irrigation and water resources; Gen. (retired)Alison Manani Magaya: minister of labour and administrative reform; Ahmad Bilal Osman: minister of health; Abdel Basit Abdel Magid: minister of culture and tourism; Lam Akol: minister of transport; Sideek Al-Sharif Ibrahim Yusuf Al-Hindi: minister of international cooperation; Gen. (retired) Tigani Adam Tahir: minster of environment and urban planning; Mubarak Mohammed Al Majzoub: minister of higher education; Issam Ahmed Al-Bashir: minister of religious guidance and endowments; Abdel-Basit Sabdarat: minister of parliamentary relations; Hassan Osman Rizzig: minister of youth and sports; Col. Martin Malwal Arop: minister at the council of ministers without portfolio.
SUDAN: WFP confirms displacement in oil drilling areas
Responding to a recent report by Reuters entitled "Sudan says oil drilling causes no mass displacement", WFP in Sudan on Thursday denied that it was unaware of forced displacements, as stated in the article. In a letter to Reuters, WFP Deputy Country Director Nicholas Siwingwa said that no comment had ever been made to that effect.
Siwingwa added that WFP had witnessed an increasing number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) requiring food assistance in oil fields in the southern Unity state. Siwingwa put the current number of IDPs in the region at over 36,000 and added that oil interests in the area had exacerbated the uprooting of people from their homes.
Roger Winter of the U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR) a non-governmental organisation, said in a press release that ethnic cleansing linked to oil development in southern Sudan was causing massive civilian displacement. " Tens of thousands of Sudanese civilians have fled from the region during the past year as the government seeks to expand its oil operations," he said.
SOMALIA: Puntland police say court case was fictitious
Authorities in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, north east Somalia, have denied news reports that two women were sentenced to death by stoning.
A Puntland police statement described the news reports as "baseless and factious". The statement, signed by Puntland police chief, Colonel Hirsi Said Farah, said, that "the police ,the courts, and all concerned are surprised and astonished by these reports."
The police statement attributes what it calls "false assertions and published statements" to Abdishakur Yusuf Ali, editor of the weekly "War-Gal" paper, in Bosaso.
SOMALIA: Mogadishu faction leaders in Nairobi
Mogadishu faction leaders opposed to the Transitional National Government (TNG), arrived in Nairobi on Friday afternoon. Hussein Mohamed Aidid, Osman Hassan Ali Atto and Muse Sudi Yalahow, who together control parts of south and southwest Mogadishu, are in the Kenyan capital to meet government officials, group spokesman Mowlid Maane Mohamud told journalists on Saturday.
"We are here as guests of Kenya and are seeking an appointment with President Moi, who is the regional leader," he said. The faction leaders are reported to be going to Ethiopia for similar talks after their stop in Nairobi, a member of the delegation told IRIN. According to the source, the aim of their trip is to solicit support for a new reconciliation conference.
SOMALIA: Faction leader appointed to the cabinet
Former faction leader Mohamed Qanyare Afrah, who has recently lent his support to the Transitional National Government (TNG), was appointed to the cabinet on Sunday.
In a minor reshuffle of his government, Prime Minister Ali Khalif Galayr has named Qanyare as fisheries and marine resources minister, Abdirahman Dinari, director of information of the TNG told IRIN on Sunday.
Qanyare, who was the chairman of the USC (United Somali Congress) before he joined the government, was one of the most powerful faction leaders in Mogadishu. Meanwhile, the government has announced the appointment of the attorney-general and military chiefs, according to Dinari. The appointment of the service chiefs is an indication that the interim government wants to reconstitute the national army as soon as possible, Dinari told IRIN.
Nairobi, 26 February, 2001
[ENDS]
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