http://www.afriquenligne.fr/news/africa-news/ethiopia-wants-nigerian-troops-at-border-with-eritrea-200806247528.html Ethiopia wants Nigerian troops at border with Eritrea
June 24, 2008 Ethiopia Tuesday asked Nigeria to deploy a contingent of its troops for peace-keeping mission in its disputed areas with Eritrea .
Making the request when he paid a courtesy call on Nigeria's Minister of State for Defence, Mrs. Fidelia Akuabata Njeze, Ethiopian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Suleiman Dedefo Woshe, said the deployment of troops to the border of the two countries would prevent the situation in the disputed area "from degenerating into a full scale war".
Woshe also solicited for Nigeria's assistance for peace sustenance between Ethiopia and the Eritrea.
He told Njeze that Eritrea, which shares a common border with Ethiopia, had violated the peace accord signed by the two countries.
Ethiopia, Dedefo said, had restrained itself from retaliation to avoid full-scale war between the two countries, adding that war was never a solution to such situations.
Responding, Njeze described Dedefo's visit as meaningful, saying Nigeria and Ethiopia had a good history of long-standing relationship in their peace-keeping efforts in Africa and beyond.
According to her, Nigeria has peace as its primary mission and will work to ensure the two countries live in peace.
She said peace in the African Region was of primary importance to the present Nigerian administration.
Nigeria, she added, would work towards signing a Memorandum of Understanding bet ween Ethiopia and Nigeria, to cement the existing relationship between the two countries. __________________ http://www.innercitypress.com/unsc2djibouti062408.html At UN, Djibouti Admits French Copter Flights, Blames Eritrea for Shoot-outs, Distributes Photos
June 24, 2008
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 24 -- The standoff between Djibouti and Eritrea was explained, at least by Djibouti, on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf said Eritrea's motive is to gain control of a military position and associated waterway at Doumeira.
While advancing on the position, according to Youssouf, scores of Eritrean soldiers deserted. That, he said, was when the shooting started on June 10, implying that Eritrea fired at its own defecting troops. Djibouti responded, and soon there were deaths and captured soldiers on both sides.
Inner City Press asked Minister Youssouf about Eritrea's claim that French helicopters landed on or near its territory, and that an Eritrean speedboat was recently sunk, allegedly by non-Djiboutian forces. To his credit, Youssouf did not dodge these questions. Video here.
He acknowledged that a French helicopter had carried him, his President and Prime Minister Dileita Mohamed Dileita to the disputed area, so they could see for themselves. He agreed that an Eritrean speedboat was recently sunk, but said that Djibouti itself has been responsible. He said that a Velo-bound, hundred-some page pamphlet prepared for submission to the Security Council on Tuesday afternoon contained proof and even photos of all this.
Inner City Press obtained a copy of the pamphlet, which strangely is dated February 2008, before the conflict at issue. The timeline inside, however, contains Djibouti's version of events, sometimes by the hour. On June 10 at 12:30, "the Eritrean troops opened fire to stop ("empecher") their soldiers from deserting," the Djiboutian presentation says. At 6:40 p.m., "the hour of prayer," the Eritreans again opened fire, the pamphlet continues.
What is Eritrea's side of the story? It appears that Eritrea will not make a presentation to the Council on Tuesday afternoon. To the President of Yemen, Ali Abdallah Salih, Eritrea has called the conflict a "fabrication," and has blamed it on the United States. There are reports that the U.S. plans a second base in Djibouti, closer to Eritrean territory.
Inner City Press asked Minister Youssouf how much of the conflict may spring from Djibouti having hosted Somali talks between the Transitional Federal Government and portions of the Alliance to Re-liberate Somalia which have since left Asmara. Youssouf acknowledged some connection or effect, speculating that Eritrea is against peace in Somalia because it wants Ethiopian troops to have to remain there.
Since Eritrea has not held a UN press conference, we must look elsewhere their views. According to reports, they have said there'd be peace if Djibouti "takes its hands off the affairs of the Somali opposition, and if the U.S. pressures Ethiopia to vacate Eritrean territories based on the ruling of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission."
Djibouti is putting the matter before the Security Council, supported by France and the U.S.. Who speaks for Eritrea in this process is not clear.
Watch this site.
_____________________ http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78912 IRIN, UN June 24, 2008ETHIOPIA: Malnutrition increasing in southern regions
Photo: Greg Beals/OCHA
The number of children requiring therapeutic feeding has increased.
ADDIS ABABA - The humanitarian situation in southern Ethiopia is becoming more critical, with increasing malnutrition being reported among young children in the past few weeks, a senior UN official said.
"The situation has actually [become] worse over the last few weeks," the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) representative to Ethiopia, Bjorn Ljungqvist, said. "We saw the number of children requiring therapeutic feeding, including stabilisation, increase tremendously."
Wolyata, Hadyia, Kembata, Alaba, Guarage, Sidama areas in Southern and West Arsi of the Oromiya region were the worst affected, he added.
After visiting Guarage and Kembata, UNICEF deputy executive director Hilde Johnson told reporters in Addis Ababa: "Together with our nutrition and emergency experts we have analysed the situation on the ground. It is our assessment that [it] is extremely serious according to the most recent data."
More than 15,000 children are receiving treatment at therapeutic feeding centres in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's (SNNPR) and Oromiya regions, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
"The nutrition crisis continues to escalate despite the concerted efforts of government and humanitarian partners to respond to the treatment needs of children," OCHA said on 20 June.
Risk of death
"Children are now at risk of dying in numbers in the hardest-hit areas if help is not provided urgently," Johnson said. "The government and partners are doing their utmost to help but needs are not met, at present, with adequate speed. More resources need to be provided."
NGO reports from East Badawocho in Oromiya, OCHA said, had found Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates of 15.9 percent and Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) at 3.5 percent (with 2.2 percent oedema).
In Damot Pulaso, nutrition surveys found GAM rates of 16.7 percent and SAM at 2.9 percent. A GAM rate exceeding 15 percent reflects an emergency situation.
Photo: Tesfalem Waldyes/IRIN
Mothers and children wait for food at Ropi stabilization center, West Arsi zone, Oromiya region
"We are worried that WFP [UN World Food Programme] only has funding to cater for about half the needs required for June and July," Johnson said. "Lack of an adequate response in the short term can further exacerbate the situation of children, who are also dependent on the availability of adequate food in their households."
UNICEF plans to scale up therapeutic and supplementary feeding in all affected areas, and address health hazards, emergency provisions of safe drinking water along with sanitation and hygiene education.
Food price factors
An estimated 4.5 million people need assistance because of drought and rising prices that have caused massive food shortages. Since September, the cost of some cereals has increased by between 50-90 percent, stretching the ability of some households to meet their food needs.
"Malnutrition rates in Ethiopia, already alarmingly high in some areas, are on the rise," Charles MacCormack, head of Save the Children, said. "The poorest households are now resorting to drastic actions to meet their food needs.
Families are pulling their children from school because they cannot afford both food and school fees, putting their children to work, reducing spending on child healthcare and selling key productive assets including farm animals, equipment and tools."
However, the government has accused aid agencies of exaggerating the situation. "These humanitarian organisations are showing pictures of emaciated babies on television, telling the world six million children are malnourished and that there will be a calamity unless they receive funds," Deputy Prime Minister Adisu Legesse said on 20 June.
"While we appreciate assistance whenever it is needed, we reject being used as publicity to raise funds under false pretences."
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