UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
NNS Monthly Update Feb/Mar 1995

NNS Monthly Update Feb/Mar 1995

InterAfrica Group
Center for Dialogue on Humanitarian, Peace and Development Issues in the Horn of Africa

NGO NETWORKING SERVICE

M o n t h l y U p d a t e February/March 1995

Volume 2 Nos. 4 & 5


  Election Monitoring in Ethiopia: NGO initiatives  1
  Food Security in the Horn: Policy papers  2
  Sudan Peace Campaign Document 2
  Sudan renewing relations with IMF? NGOs lobby for conditions. 2
  Evaluation of US Humanitarian Assistance to Southern Sudan.   2
  Resource Group to IGADD meets 2
  Work goes on after the UNOSOM withdrawal - Somalia    2
  Ethiopian Human Rights Council report 3
  Clashes at Addis Ababa mosque 3
  Eritrea - Reintegrating the disabled into society 3
  ERRA and CERA due to merge    3
  NGOs at work: North-South NGO co-operation on intervention issue  4
  Your letters; Questionnaire on NGOs in the region 5
  Africa Regional Seminars: 1/ Relief, Rehabilitation, Development;     6
  2/ Human Rights & the Security Forces 6
  NGO forum for Beijing Women's Conference - Application    6
  OAU Ministers question role of NGOs   6

Attachments: Frank discussion on the famine: 'Ten Years after' meeting; Sudan
Peace Campaign Document; NGO Forum application (hard copy only)

Election Monitoring initiatives in Ethiopia

The breakdown of talks between government and the Southern Ethiopia People's Democratic Coalition in mid-March, means that now none of the major opposition groups will participate in the forthcoming parliamentary elections. Those non-EPRDF affiliated organisations who are planning to run in the elections have formed a Joint Forum of Political Organisations which aims to ensure that they gain access to the media, that they are protected from government pressure and that election irregularities are reported.

There are three local NGO initiatives organising to play a role in the election process. Elections 95: This consortium of 6 NGOs intends to field around 600 monitors throughout all the regions and will be broadcasting educational radio and TV programmes. Its members are: ABUGIDA, Ad Hoc Committee for

Peace and Development, Action Professionals Association for the People, IAG, Nurture and the Ethiopian Human Rights and Peace Center at Addis Ababa University. Free Election Observers Group: Legally registered since 1992 to observe elections, this group consists of individuals from the churches, the Islamic community and members of district level civic groups. It aims to dispatch 100 observers. Ecumenical Initiative for Democratic Training: With support from European Ecumenical groups and co-ordinated in Ethiopia by Dr. Yacob Haile Mariam (formerly of the Ad Hoc Committee) EIDT is undertaking civic education but will not be monitoring the elections. Trainers are trained in regional centers and then return to teach in their localities. This initiative intends to do as much as possible before the elections but also hopes to continue long term.

A Donor Election Unit has been established to co-ordinate the logistics, registration and reporting of all international observers.

Pursuing Food Security: Policy Perspectives

While food security continues to dominate debate among international NGOs and donors in the region (boosted by the stress placed on it under the U.S. Greater Horn of Africa Initiative) so the debate over uses and abuses of food aid goes on (see meeting on Ten Years after the Famine, below). Two recent papers on the issue are available from NNS; the first looks at policy approaches to food security in the region from a Food Aid provider's perspective: Canadian Food Grains Bank "Food Security in the Horn of Africa" and the other assesses Ethiopian efforts to tackle the food security issue historically and in recent years. It explores experience of linking relief aid to development work through food, and looks at the advantages and drawbacks of such policies. "Addressing Food Security: Disaster Prevention, Preparedness and Mitigation - the Ethiopian Experience" by Julius Holt (presented at WFP's Africa Regional Seminar on Food Aid for Humanitarian Assistance 5-9/2/95.)

Sudan Peace Campaign + Information available

The final version of the International Campaign document on Sudan prepared by the Coalition for Peace in the Horn of Africa, is attached to this Update. The Sudan Focal Point in Europe has also written a 12 page background document on the current Islamic Movement in Sudan, copies of which are available from NNS.

Renewed relations between the IMF and Sudan.

In January the IMF Executive Board decided not to expel Sudan and will in May discuss possible future co-operation following Sudan's last minute undertaking to begin repayment of its debts. The British Refugee Council is leading an NGO lobby for conditions of good governance including respect for human rights to be placed on any future relations between IMF and Sudan. The European Working Group on the Horn is requesting NGOs in the North to raise media awareness of these developments in their countries and to contact political decision makers on the subject before late May's meeting. A letter from the BRC and further details from EWOHA are available from NNS.

A recent evaluation of US Humanitarian Assistance to South Sudan is available from NNS. Published in March, this report looks at the impact of a newly implemented strategy for the area, which has placed greater emphasis on implementing rehabilitation projects and building local capacity, while providing emergency assistance to populations at risk. The report looks at the strategy's effect in the agriculture, road rehabilitation and health service delivery sectors, and provides concrete recommendations for future directions.

Resource Group to IGADD meets

While the IGADD negotiation process remains stalled, the informal resource group met in Addis Ababa to discuss possible paths forward. A background paper to that meeting, by Francis Deng is available from NNS.

Somalia and Somaliland - work goes on after the UNOSOM withdrawal.

Despite the UNOSOM withdrawal from Somalia in early March, work by NGOs and UN organisations is continuing 'as normal' in most parts of the country, where, says Johann Svensson of Life and Peace Institute (LPI), the situation is "quiet and calm". LPI was involved in capacity building initiatives for district councils under UNOSOM and currently has a team in Jowhar training 3 councils this week. Training for a further 7 is planned for mid-April. They also restarted a series of workshops for women's groups in Galcayo in early March, the second this year is underway in Bossasso.

There are no international NGO or UN staff in Mogadishu (although both are present outside). The ICRC is flying in and out of the North of the city on a daily basis for food distributions. Meanwhile, the main airport remains closed - NGO reports say that it is currently divided into around five sections, held by different sub-sub clans. (A three page WFP update on the food situation in Somalia (from February 21) is available from NNS.)

Clashes at Addis Ababa Mosque

February 21 clashes between two Muslim groups at the Grand Anwar mosque in the capital led to nine deaths and around 130 wounded (including 63 policemen). Independent news sources cite the root of the problem as tensions between the vice President of the Supreme Council of Muslim Affairs and various groups including the Muslim Council of scholars who have requested his expulsion since last summer (the latter also say that the government has been indifferent to their complaints and allege government support for the vice President). Individuals associated with both sides were charged on March 29 and court hearings will begin April 7.

Ethiopian Human Rights Council produces new report

A report entitled "Democracy, Rule of Law and Human Rights in Ethiopia - Rhetoric and Practice", has been produced by the Ethiopian Human Rights Council. The report aims to outline the state of human rights in Ethiopia since Imperial times.

In a strongly worded letter, the Swiss Ambassador who had funded the project distances the Government of Switzerland from the findings and criticises the report because it fails to "let the facts speak for themselves without portraying them as sinister machinations of an entire political structure." He also states "the EHRCO may not question a government's good or bad faith but only judge it factually by its legislation ... and by its mode of implementation of any such law. Any attempt to generally disqualify a government whose activities you are determined to monitor, will only disqualify your organisation as what you want it to be: a non-partisan, factual and constructively critical watch-post".

The EHRCo held a press conference subsequent to the letter's publication where it announced that it would respond to the criticism in writing.

Dealing with the Disabled in Eritrea

An estimated 58,500 people are disabled in Eritrea, both civilians and fighters. Addressing their needs through reintegration into society was the main thrust of a 400 strong meeting on March 9-10, the first on the topic in Eritrea. So far the few services available for rehabilitation are in the capital Asmara and can only provide assistance to 2.3% of the disabled population.

With the limited resources available in the country, there is a strong push to ensure that disabled people are treated as far as possible in their localities with primary health care and, for example, by ensuring that disabled children can go to normal schools. This finding is in line with the concerns expressed in a 1994 survey by the Eritrean War Disabled Fighters association (of whom there are some 14,845) that many ex-fighters preferred to stay in the towns, "I came from a rural area, now I'm not ready to go back there", said Teklai Kidane, EWDFA Chair, in an interview with NNS "it's not due to hating the area, it's due to a shortage of facilities there."

ERRA/CERA to merge

The Eritrean Relief and Rehabilitation Association and the Commission for Eritrean Refugee Affairs are slated to merge according to a report in 'Eritrea Profile' quoting Dr. Nerayo Tekle Mikael head of ERRA. The new authority is likely to have the status of a commission and will be responsible for the reintegration of ex-fighters and refugees.

NGOs at work - North/South partnership in the Horn

"As the troops withdraw, the inquest should begin; it may just help avoid other gross errors which discredit the already vulnerable cause of peacekeeping." So ended a recent Guardian editorial on the Somalia intervention. This alongside the failure to stop genocide in Rwanda and escalating tensions in Burundi have led to many international meetings and much debate on intervention in the last year. Donor enthusiasm for intervention is waning on the basis of cost (economic and political) and lack of effectiveness; donor meetings on the subject seek clear indicators of when to go in, how much to commit, and guarantees of an escape route.

Until recently no one had sought the view from the ground. But last month a regional meeting on Humanitarian Intervention took place, with practitioners, activists and policy makers from the Horn of Africa. Organised by IAG, the Canadian Steelworkers, and the Center of Concern (Washington) with support from the International Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development (ICHRDD), individuals discussed their practical experience of intervention and raised issues which are often left out of policy debates in the North. (see the attached declaration from the meeting for conclusions.)

The ICHRDD held a meeting for legal experts and policy makers in Canada in early March, where the declaration and viewpoint from the Horn was presented; IAG will also promote continuing debate on a national basis in the Horn, within and between NGOs. The next NNS Issues Note will focus on Humanitarian Intervention and Crisis Response. We encourage everyone to disseminate the declaration, or use it in any publications, sending a copy to NNS. If you would like to be included in follow-up meetings, please contact IAG/NNS.

Addis Ababa Declaration on Crisis response and Intervention

The participation of NGO and agency practitioners from within the Horn of Africa region at this meeting arises from their current or historical experience of providing humanitarian assistance across borders or in the context of conflict. These practitioners wish to bring their experience to bear on a series of questions which are relevant to ongoing discussion around the themes of humanitarian emergencies, crisis, intervention and response. We underline the absence of such an informed voice in the debate to date.

The Horn of Africa, more than any other region, has endured the debilitating effects of complex humanitarian emergencies for the last three decades. As a result, it has been the location for a range of humanitarian response and intervention approaches.

For example, ICRC's mandate of neutrality and impartiality demands that it negotiates access to all victims of conflict, which it has done in a variety of ways in the Horn. In addition, Operation Lifeline Sudan (1989) and the Joint Relief Partnership (1990) represent other recent, groundbreaking experiences in negotiated access agreements. In these cases, warring parties agreed to allow and facilitate humanitarian supplies to cross lines of battle, providing a channel for UN and NGO (indigenous and international) assistance to war- affected populations.

Where negotiated access has failed or not been attempted, there are forms of crisis response which have disregarded considerations of sovereignty, such as the cross-border operations undertaken by Eritrean Relief Association, the Relief Society of Tigray and Oromo Relief Association and supported by a handful of NGOs and donors, and the cross-border operation into southern Sudan which preceded OLS in 1988.

In Somalia a military-led intervention was undertaken in December 1992, in a context in which some humanitarian actors perceived an absence of opportunities for negotiation.

Recommendations

Humanitarian response ought to be triggered by the clear needs of populations in potentially life threatening crises arising from a range of circumstances which include:

From: Ben.Parker@tt.sasa.unep.no (Ben Parker)
Date: 12 Apr 95 09:45:18 +0300
Subject: NNS Monthly Update Feb/Mar 1995
Message-Id: ]b67_9504121032@sasa.unep.no]