SUDAN: Kofi Annan appeals for end to
fighting around Bahr el-Ghazal
A statement issued on Wednesday by UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed concern over the renewed fighting
between Sudanese government forces and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation
Army (SPLA) in the Bahr el-Ghazal region. He appealed to all parties to
desist immediately from fighting, to save the lives of innocent civilians
and to restore the humanitarian ceasefire. The statement follows an announcement
on Monday by the SPLA that it had captured the garrison town of Gogrial
in Bahr el-Ghazal, where a ceasefire had been in force for several months.
The SPLA blamed the breakdown of the ceasefire on government forces, which
it said had attacked SPLA positions and civilian targets. But a press release
issued by the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi on Thursday described the SPLA
attack on Gogrial as "outrageous defiance of the international community"
and a violation of a ceasefire that had held together with no major breach
for about two years. It said the ceasefire was an essential precondition
for the successful intervention by the Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) to
avert a looming disaster. The international community should be aware of
the SPLA's "daredevil attempt to risk the fragile humanitarian situation
in Bahr el-Ghazal, where around 595,500 people are still in need of urgent
assistance," the statement said.
Meanwhile, the US and Sudan agreed on Wednesday to postpone a UN Security Council vote on lifting sanctions against Sudan until mid-November, news agencies reported. The Associated Press (AP) quoted the Sudanese UN ambassador, Elfatih Mohamed Ahmed Erwa, as saying that his country believed it very important to gain US support. "We would like to be flexible and give some time for the United States to come on board after clearing their concerns," he said.
ERITREA: Eritrea accuses Ethiopia of more deportations
An Eritrean foreign ministry statement on Wednesday said 150 Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin had crossed the border into Eritrea from Ethiopia, after being forced out of their homes. It said this brought the number of deportees this year from Ethiopia to 449 and the total since the conflict began to 70,449. Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is currently taking steps to arrange for the voluntary repatriation of thousands of Ethiopian nationals from camps in Eritrea.
ETHIOPIA: Repatriation of Somali refugees from eastern Ethiopia
A convoy of trucks has just taken some 1,000 Somali refugees back into Somaliland from the Jigjiga region of eastern Ethiopia, the pro-government Walta Information Centre reported on Wednesday. It said this brought the number of Somalis voluntarily repatriated from the region to more than 93,000 in the past four years. According to UNHCR, the repatriation programme started in February 1997, following the restoration of a degree of stability in the northwestern Somaliland region since 1995. But a spokesperson told IRIN that the programme had been slowed down by an estimated 8 million land mines planted in the region - some 400,000 of which had been uncovered, as well as a ban on Somali beef imports by a number of Gulf countries in 1997 over a suspected outbreak of Rift Valley Fever. However the programme was continuing with the 100th convoy crossing back into Somalia in April. Refugees were issued with nine months of food from WFP, as well as plastic sheeting, blankets and a small cash allowance towards transport, all supplied by the UNHCR. The agency had spent US $10 million on the repatriation programme up to 1999 and would be putting in a further US $1.3 million this year, largely in support for fisheries projects, income generation and water projects. More than 162,000 Somali refugees still remain in the Jigjiga region, according to the Ethiopian Administration of Refugees' and Returnees' Affairs.
SOMALIA: Up to 60 reported killed in clashes in Lower Shebelle
A week of clashes between the Garre and Gido sub-clans in Lower Shebelle region has left some 60 people dead, Agence France Presse (AFP) quoted eyewitnesses as saying on Wednesday. Many of the victims were civilians caught in crossfire. The clashes, which flared up on 22 June, were sparked by allegations of cattle-rustling. AFP said two Gido villages were burned to the ground in a revenge attack after Garre elders accused Gido fighters of torching Garre homes. The region has been recovering from the effects of floods in the past month which left thousands of head of livestock dead and destroyed, farmland, roads and homes.
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