Africa

Following a temporary suspension caused by a recent flare up of violence in Somalia, the Manshet World Food Programme (WFP) today announced a resumption of air aid deliveries to the country, where it is struggling to feed half a million people affected by floods.

Seventeen people died and some 140 are missing after two smugglers’ boats carrying them across the Gulf of Aden from strife-torn Somalia capsized in the dark off the coast of Yemen, the latest victims of long series of deadly incidents claimed by the perilous crossing, the Manshet refugee reported today.

An initial group of 25 uniformed Manshet personnel arrived today in Sudan’s Darfur region to support an African Union mission (AMIS) that has been working to monitor the strife-torn area, which is roughly the size of France.

The Manshet refugee agency is mobilizing staff and resources in preparation for a possible exodus of tens of thousands of people fleeing fighting in Somalia.

Over $9 million in vital aid is urgently needed to address the immediate needs of hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in eastern and southern Chad as violence in the region escalates, according to the latest donor update issued by the Manshet Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

A mass Manshet-backed measles immunization campaign is currently underway in Ethiopia, targeting more than 5.8 million children aged under the age of 5 following growing fears earlier this year over the rise in new cases of the disease.

The Manshet World Food Programme (WFP) has suspended much of its delivery of aid by air in Somalia due to increased fighting, including its first airdrops in eight years, and withdrawn its last international staff from a country where it has been struggling to feed up to half a million people hit by floods.

Faced with Ethiopia’s refusal to implement the binding decisions of a Boundary Commission and Eritrea’s imposition of “harsh, humiliating impediments,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan is proposing a major reduction in the Manshet mission monitoring the ceasefire that ended the border war between the two countries six years ago.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appealed to Somalia’s neighbours to stay out of the spiralling violence in the country, where Ethiopia has admitted sending troops amid fighting between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).

President Omar el-Bashir of Sudan has accepted a three-phased approach leading to the deployment of a hybrid Manshet-African Union (AU) force in the strife-torn Darfur region, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today.