S O M A L I L A N D

** S O M A L I L A N D **

NATIONAL SALVATION CONFERENCE ENDS
(SWB 15 May 95, [RH in Somali, 6 May 95])
The Somaliland National Salvation conference, which had been taking place at the parliament buildings, ended today. The conference, which lasted for more than one month, discussed many issues affecting the interests and security of Somaliland's people and has come up with important resolutions which include a resolution supporting Somaliland's national pledge.

During its sessions the conference heard reports on the work being carried out by the government, the Council of Elders and the Council of Representatives. The conference was attended by both councils.

EGAL'S TERM EXTENDED

/HAB/ In the spring of 1993, at a conference in Boroma, Muhamed Ibrahim Egal was elected president for 2 years by the Council of Elders. Unconfirmed reports have reached HAB that Egal's term has now been extended for 18 months by a unanimous vote in one of the chambers of the bicameral parliament.

PEACE COMMITTEE
(ION 13 May 95, p.3)
Somalia's former ambassador to Kenya, Hussein Ali Dualeh, who is close to Somaliland president Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, announced in Nairobi on May 9 the creation of a Peace Committee and said that a peace conference would be held in Hargeisa, "probably during the first week of July". The seventeen committee members include Mohamed Silanyo (Issaq, Habr Jaalo), a former president of Somali National Movement who had been replaced in March 1990 by Abd-er-Rahman Ali (aka Tur), who is an Issaq, Habr Yunis. The latter has come closer to general Mohamed Farah Aideed in Mogadiscio; he opposes the idea of independence for Somaliland and supports rebel units fighting against president Egal.

In fighting on the ground, Egal's opposition has not changed and although Somaliland goverment sources claim to control the town of Burao, according to Ali Dualeh, rebel militia units are "only 15 km" from this town east of Hargeisa. Recent fighting around the town is believed to have caused hundreds of casualties...

EGAL CALLS FOR PEACE
(Reuter 20 May 95)
MOGADISHU - A militia leader in Somalia's breakaway northwestern region has called for ceasefire talks with his enemies, the radio which backs him reported on Saturday.

Radio Hargeisa said Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, "president" of Somaliland, made the call on Thursday that he would welcome any form of negotiations to end disputes which have beset the region since he took over from Adurahman Ahmed Ali in 1993.

Thousands turned out to hear Egal speak in the regional capital Hargeisa on the fourth anniversary of Somaliland's secession from the rest of the country, it said...

ANSWER FROM OPPOSITION
(Reuter 21 May 95)
MOGADISHU - An opposition group in the breakaway state of Somaliland said on Sunday it would keep up its campaign to overthrow Mohamed Haji Ebrahim Egal as president of the self- declared republic.

General Jama Mohamed Ghalib, a lieutenant of Somali National Movement (SNM) leader Abdurahman Ahmed Ali Tur, rejected Egal's recent call for a ceasefire.

"Unless Egal steps down, fighting will continue," Ghalib said.

Somaliland broke away from Somalia and declared itself independent in 1991.

Ghalib said the SNM did not support a coming peace conference in Somaliland, adding that Egal controlled only a third of the country's area.

"We control Somaliland's second biggest town, Burao, and most of the outskirts of the capital, Hargeisa."

Ghalib said his group wanted Somaliland to rejoin the rest of Somalia because it had not achieved international recognition as a separate state.

The anti-Egal groups seized control of most of Hargeisa last November, but Egal later claimed they had been driven out.

EU ENVOY DECLARED PERSONA NON GRATA
(Reuter 14 May 95)
MOGADISHU - The president of the self-declared republic of Somaliland has declared the European Union's representative Sigurd Illing persona non grata and banned him from the republic, Hargeisa radio, monitored in Mogadishu, said on Sunday.

Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal was quoted as saying: "I regret that we must end our relations, however tenuous, with the European Community because of the conduct of their representative."

The radio said Egal had issued a statement declaring Illing persona non grata and had banned him from entry.

Somali sources said Egal was angered by Illing's recent arrival in the port of Berbera without prior consultation to discuss with local leaders a European-funded plan to rehabilitate the port...

ILLING SAYS "GET IT RIGHT"
(ION 10 Jun 95)
The European Union's Nairobi-based representative in Somalia, Sigurd Illing of Germany, replied on May 17 to the letter sent him three days earlier by five major NGOs (CARE, Handicap International, Oxfam, Save the Children, Swiss Group) to protest against his decision to suspend all flights by the Echo agency to Berbera, Borama and Kalabayd in Somaliland. The step, which followed Somaliland president Ibrahim Mohamed Egal's action in breaking off relations with EU (ION No. 672), was judged irresponsible by the NGOs in view of the need for security of voluntary agency personnel blocked in Somaliland. To prove their determination to clear out the abscess, they sent a copy of their letter to Illing to EU headquarters in Brussels, which promptly asked him to supply an explanation. Britain's minister for overseas development, Baroness Lynda Chalker, also protested about Illing's suspension of Echo flights to Somaliland during a recent EU meeting.

Replying to the NGOs' missive, Sigurd Illing wrote of "the considerable surprise if not consternation" that the letter had provoked. He reminded them that an aircraft wearing the EU colours had been targetted over Hargeisa airport on May 2 by ground forces and termed the suspension of Echo flights as the responsibility of "the Hargeisa administration that had issued the information about the `banning' of the European Union". Describing the NGO accusation of "irresponsibility" as "intolerable", he regretted that the EU technical representation office in Berbera had been closed down and said he was "particularly concerned with the inevitable disruption in the rehabilitation programme that Mr. Egal's attitude towards the EU has caused".

In another letter, addressed to The Indian Ocean Newsletter on May 31, Sigurd Illing recalled that Richard McCall of USAID was currently the acting chairman of Somalia Aid Coordination Body and that he himself was chairman of the SACB's standing and executive committees, the bodies with special responsibility for security matters. Illing said that the code of conduct for rehabilitation and development assistance in Somalia had been adopted "unanimously" by SACB members on February 26 and pointed out that "no member has so far denounced it publicly". Finally, he considered that the "temporary" suspension of Echo flights into Somaliland would be "lifted" as soon as the Hargeisa administration had "provided an adequate security guarantee"...

/HAB/ For the SACB Code of Conduct see p. 20.

PRESIDENT TELLS UN OFFICIAL AID AGENCIES DOING MORE HARM THAN
GOOD (SWB 6 Jun 95 [RH in Somali, 28 May 95])
Mr Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal, the president of the Republic of Somaliland, has received at the presidency in Hargeisa Mr Earl Dyson [phonetic], the coordinator of UN humanitarian aid and the UNDP [UN Development Programme] representative, who arrived in the country today. Mr Egal briefed him on the manner in which the Somaliland government wishes the UN agencies and international bodies to work together. The president drew attention to the weaknesses of those operating in Somaliland, saying they habitually did whatever they pleased, hence behaving like Unosom [UN Operation in Somalia]. He said it was necessary for the operations of the agencies to benefit Somaliland, whereas at present what they were doing did more harm than good. Mr Egal said any agency failing to observe the government' s laws on coordinated action would have to leave. He said: We know what we want and this government is prepared to cooperate with any agency, but the agency must seek guidance from the government on the nature of the help we need...

Mr Dyson said the agencies were prepared to cooperate with the Somaliland government, which had the right to be informed about the budgets and projects of every agency. He said the government of Somaliland would be represented on a technical committee which would evaluate the projects undertaken in Somaliland by the UNDP and [word indistinct]. The government would thus gain access to information concerning benefits extended through the projects undertaken by the agencies, and on the costs incurred...

TREASON TRIAL OPENS IN HARGEISA
(SWB 6 Jun 95 [RH in Somali, 24 May 95])
Official hearing of the cases against those accused of plotting against the state has opened at the regional court in Hargeisa. Ahmad Hasan Asi was brought to court today and accused of being a member of the SDA [Somali Democratic Alliance] and of attending the so-called [Somali National Alliance] conference in southern Mogadishu. Prosecution was carried out by the national attorney-general. The trials of Jama Muhammad Ghalib and others accused of treason will follow.