HORN OF AFRICA: IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 369 for 24-30 March 2007
30 Mar 2007 14:42:59 GMT Source: IRIN
NAIROBI, 30 March 2007 (IRIN) - NAIROBI, 30 March 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS: DJIBOUTI: Urgent funding required to feed
thousands - WFP
ETHIOPIA: Flood warning for Somali region
SOMALIA: Rising food prices compound hardship
SOMALIA: Ensure safe movement for aid workers, gov't urged
SUDAN: UN official calls for
freedom of movement
SUDAN: Winning the battle against polio
HORN OF AFRICA: Warning on potential locust swarms DJIBOUTI: Urgent funding required to feed thousands - WFP An estimated 53,000
people in Djibouti could go without food rations unless the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) secures funding to continue providing aid, the agency warned on Tuesday. The situation could be
aggravated by high malnutrition rates. "Malnutrition among children younger than five is in fact a silent emergency in Djibouti, but we just don't have the funds to continue providing food
to the most vulnerable," Benoit Thiry, WFP Djibouti country director, said. A total of US$6 million is needed for operations in Djibouti until December 2007. About $1 million is required
immediately to avoid interrupting distributions in May, just before the start of the dry season when many families face the most severe food shortages. A survey carried out in 2006 attributed the
poor nutritional status of Djibouti infants and children mainly to frequent droughts, high unemployment and food prices that were beyond the means of most poor people.
Full report:
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70965] ETHIOPIA: Flood warning for Somali region Eleven flood-prone areas in eastern Ethiopia's Somali region could be inundated as rains
intensify in April and May, the national disaster management bureau has warned. Aden Sheik Mohamed, head of the early warning department at the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Bureau (DPPB) in
Somali regional state, said it was possible the Wabe-Shebelle and Weyib rivers could flood their banks. "Our department is trying to create awareness among the communities located near the
Wabe-Shebelle and Weyib rivers," Aden said. "We do not yet have numbers, but if there is a flood a lot of people will be affected." A weekly humanitarian report issued by the United
Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Monday said the Gu rains had begun in Jijiga town and areas within its vicinity. Records show that in the pastoral areas, the main
rains were normal in the beginning in most zones of the state, but some areas instead experienced erratic distribution and low rain intensity in April and May.
Full report:
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70967] SOMALIA: Rising food prices compound hardship Residents of the violence-torn Somali capital of Mogadishu are facing increasing hardships, with
prices of basic commodities rising sharply, sources said on Thursday. "Prices of basic foods, such as rice, sugar, cooking oil have increased, sometimes by 50 percent," a local resident
said. "The price increases are due to shortages [because] no ships have docked in the port in the past week due to the insecurity, and hoarding by some business people." The United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) earlier in the week said Mogadishu residents who had fled the city to seek refuge in nearby towns were hungry, faced harassment from thugs and could not find
schools for their children.
Full report: [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71067] SOMALIA: Ensure safe movement for aid workers, gov't urged Somali civil society organisations have
urged the government to help aid workers reach thousands of desperate civilians displaced by recent violence in the capital, Mogadishu. "We met the Minister of Interior [Mohamed Mohamud Guleed]
and requested the government to allow the unconditional movement of aid agencies and their workers to assist the needy people," said Abdinasir Ahmed Usman, head of a civil society taskforce
assisting internally displaced persons. "The taskforce estimates that at least 30,000 people are living rough outside the city, without food, water and shelter, after fleeing ongoing exchanges
of gunfire between Ethiopian-backed government troops and unidentified gunmen - a daily occurrence in the city.
Full report: [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71026]SUDAN: UN official
calls for freedom of movement Aid workers in the troubled western Sudanese region of Darfur are frequently prevented from doing their jobs by being denied access to certain areas, United Nations
Under-Secretary-General John Holmes said on Saturday. "The United Nations and its NGO [non-governmental organisation] partners are keeping these people alive - and we are not allowed in. We
should be allowed to move freely," Holmes said after being denied permission to visit Kassab camp for internally displaced persons in North Darfur state. Holmes, who is on a two-week mission to
Sudan, Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR), was travelling to Kassab when his convoy was stopped in Kutum town, and told he could not visit the camp - home to 22,700 displaced people. The
government-controlled town is about 120km north of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. Half a dozen international NGOs and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) work in Kutum, some of whom have only
recently returned after temporarily or partially suspending their programmes due to the deteriorating security situation in the area.
Full report: [
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70921] SUDAN: Winning the battle against polio The child took his turn calmly, opening his mouth to receive two drops of liquid from the vaccinator,
who was carrying a cold box over his shoulders. He was one of hundreds of children who had been brought to the southern Sudanese capital of Juba on Monday for the first day of a national campaign
against polio. The campaign aims to reach 2.7 million children in southern Sudan, out of 8.7 million targeted across Sudan and is spearheaded by government health departments, supported with
vaccines, technical support and funding from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners. "High levels of coverage during these
campaigns, complemented by improved routine vaccination of children as part of their ongoing healthcare, are critical to Sudan remaining polio-free," Mohamed Abdurrah, WHO country representative
in Sudan, said. The last case of polio in southern Sudan was recorded in February 2005, and the two-year gap makes health officials optimistic about the progress of eradication. Before that, the
country had been polio-free since April 2001.
Full report: [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70963] HORN OF AFRICA: Warning on potential locust swarms The locust infestation
developing in the Horn of Africa has the potential to cause a serious humanitarian problem in Eritrea, northern Somalia and Sudan, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has
warned. Urging the three countries to carefully monitor the situation, FAO said a second-generation locust infestation from a December outbreak in Eritrea was now concentrating in an area on the Red
Sea coast straddling the Sudanese-Eritrean border. "There have been several new developments in the past few days in three key areas," FAO said in an update on the crop-devouring insects
issued on Friday. They were present in pearl millet crops in wadis and in natural vegetation on the coastal plains, the agency said. The locust is a species of short-horned grasshopper that can
either form part of a swarm of adults or become a wingless nymph (hopper). The swarms - which travel up to 130km a day - can measure from one to several hundred kilometres in length, posing a serious
threat to agriculture. According to the FAO, locusts regularly cross the Red Sea (a distance of 300km). A swarm can hold up to 80 million locust adults in each square kilometre, and is capable of
destroying a crop field in seconds. A small swarm can eat as much food in a day as 2,500 people.
Full report: [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70922] lo/jn
