Horn of Africa News

"A Sudanese man convicted of murder has been beheaded in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf kingdom's interior ministry has said." - BBC News

Drought In The Horn Of Africa Threatening Food Security (KFF)

"A drought in the Horn of Africa, triggered by the same La Nina episode that caused massive flooding in Australia last year, is plunging millions of pastoralists closer to food insecurity," Greenwire/New York Times reports in a story looking at how the drought is affecting several areas in the region. "Parts of Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and eastern Uganda are most affected. ... The severity this year will depend on the rainy season between March and May," the news service writes. A total of 8.4 million people in the region currently need food aid, according to David Orr of the World Food Program (Vaidyanathan, 4/25).
"The current drought has the potential to be as devastating as that of 2009 if appropriate action is not taken immediately," according to a statement from the Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies (CBHA), which has 15 members, including CARE and Oxfam and is hosted by Save the Children, AlertNet reports. "We know the lessons from previous disasters and we have a moral responsibility to act, but we are limited by this lack of funding at a critical time," said CBHA Director Sean Lowrie.
Poor rains in the Horn of Africa have resulted in failed harvests, severe water shortages and animal deaths. CBHA said thousands of people have already left their homes to search for water and grass for their livestock. The need for funding for emergencies in the region is competing for attention with the demands of the situations in Libya and Cote d'Ivoire, aid workers point out (Migiro, 4/27).
Food Security Research In Syria
In related news, Cosmos examines research taking place in Aleppo, Syria. "[B]uried within the hundreds of thousands of plants that our ancestors didn’t pick (for one reason or another) are genes that have helped these wild plants survive in one of the harshest regions on the planet, enduring droughts, salinity and temperatures ranging from –12˚C to 50˚C. These genes now hold the hopes of scientists around the world and may offer a way to boost the output of regular crops. But thanks to the increasing focus on fewer and fewer higher-yield plants in modern agriculture, these genes – which could well be our saviours in the decades ahead – are fading into the background" (MacDonald, March 2011).
Source: Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report

Egypt moves to mend ties with Ethiopia (Saturday Nation)

A 47-member Egyptian delegation has arrived in Addis Ababa to improve ties with Ethiopia after months of quarrelling over sharing of the Nile River water.

The delegation includes three presidential hopefuls and representatives of young people who helped topple president Hosni Mubarak.

Presidential hopefuls Hamdian Sabhy, Hisham Basetawsi and Bosayna Kamel, other key politicians and authors seek to convince Ethiopia to consider Egyptian interest in the Nile River.

Food crisis looms in Horn of Africa (UPI)

NAIROBI, Kenya, April 4 (UPI) -- The number of people who may need emergency food assistance in the Horn of Africa could grow if spring rains are low, the World Food Program warned.
"More and more people need help in the Horn (of Africa) and we're now on high alert over the impact of the March to May long rains," WFP Director Josette Sheeran said in a statement...Read more

Ethiopia minister says ready to send troops into Somalia if Asked

By: Abdalle Ahmed
Mogadishu (RBC) Ethiopia's State minister for foreign affairs Berhan Jipkirist
dismissed claims about Ethiopian forces fighting inside Somalia alongside with
the transitional federal government forces of Somalia. The minister interviewed
by Almasri Al-Yom newspaper has denied that any of Ethiopian forces entered into
the Somali border and took fighting against Al Shabab rebel group...Read More

China, Russia Lead UN Bid to Stabilize Somalia, Combat Piracy

According to Bloomberg, China and Russia are leading a new effort at the UN to
curb the threat of piracy off the coast of Somalia and defeat al-Qaeda-linked
terrorists fighting to seize control of the Horn of Africa nation...

I think this is a good move and hopefully will succeed. Good luck to them.

Ethiopian pop star to leave jail shortly (AngolaPress)

Ethiopia's famous pop star, Teddy Afro, is set to leave jail within five months following an Ethiopian Supreme Court judge decision to reduce his six-year long sentence to two years on appeal, reports said.

Ethiopian Supreme Court Judge Daniel Melaku ruled on Wednesday that the popular pop star, jailed in December 2008 for dangerous driving and killing a homeless man on the streets of Addis Ababa and fleeing from the scene of the accident, would be freed within five months, in effect dismissing the manslaughter charges against him and re-sentencing him for a driving offence.

The judge ruled that the only crime committed by the pop star, whose anti-government lyrics made him a symbol of the opposition, was that he fled from the alleged scene of the accident and failed to help the victim.

The victim of the accident, identified as Degu Yibelte, was drunk and lay on the road before the accident occurred and the other witnesses also failed to assist the victim, the judge ruled.

Afro, whose real name is Tewodros Kassahun, remains one of the most famous Ethiopian pop stars.

The High Court Judge, who sentenced him to six years, said he avoided giving him the maximum sentence to allow him to reform while in prison.

Ethiopian troops again cross into Somalia (Xinhua)

www.chinaview.cn 2009-02-19 00:12:35

BIADOA, Somalia, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Heavily armed Ethiopian troops have entered a district in south Somalia nearly a month after the troops left the war-torn country, witnesses said Wednesday.

Villagers in the southern Bakool region say the troops have crossed the border and set up bases in the village of Yeet, in Rabdhure district, 28 km south of the regional capital of Hudur.

Ethiopia withdrew its forces from Somalia after two years of presence in the country following the defeat of the Islamists that run much of southern and central Somalia in the later half of 2006.

It is not clear why the Ethiopian troops entered the region but there have lately been reports of troop movement by Somali government forces in Hudur in the Bakool regional backing officials who fled the southern town of Baidoa when it fell into the hands of the Al-Shabaab insurgent fighters last month.

Baidoa has been the seat of Somali parliament before its capture by the hardline Islamist group of Al-Shabaab which opposes the new Somali government leadership.

Residents in the villages around the border district of Rabdhuure say that the troops arrested a number of locals soon after entering the area.

In January, local officials charged that Ethiopian troops crossed over into the other Somali border region of Hiran in central Somalia, two weeks after their withdrawal from the country but the Ethiopian government denied the allegations.