S O M A L I A

** S O M A L I A **

ACRONYMS:

SACB - Somalia Aid Coordination Body
SAMO - Somali African Muki Organisation
SDA - Somali Democratic Alliance
SDM - Somali Democratic Movement
SLA - Somali Liberation Army
SNA - Somali National Alliance
SNDU - Somali National Democratic Union
SNF - Somali National Front
SNM - Somali National Movement
SNU - Somali National Union
SORRA - Somali Relief and Rehabilitation Agency
SPM - Somali Patriotic Movement
SSA - Somali Salvation Alliance
SSDF - Somali Salvation Democratic Front
SSNM - Southern Somali National Movement
USC - United Somali Congress
USF - United Somali Front
USP - United Somali Party

** UN AND SOMALIA **

U.N. COUNCIL SAYS SOMALIA STILL UNDER ARMS EMBARGO
(Reuter 6 Apr 95, by Anthony Goodman)
UNITED NATIONS - The Security Council reminded all governments on Thursday that a 1992 arms embargo still applies to Somalia, despite the ending last month of the U.N. peackeeping operation in that faction-torn country.

This was one of the points in a statement, read at a brief council meeting, summing up some of the lessons of the U.N. Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM), which at one time involved more than 29,000 troops.

They took over in May 1993 from an even larger United States- led task force which arrived in December 1992 to help end starvation and try to halt factional fighting.

"The Security Council reaffirms the obligations of states to implement fully the embargo on all deliveries of weapons and military equipment to Somalia...and calls on states, especially neighbouring states, to refrain from actions capable of exacerbating the conflict in Somalia," the statement said...

UN GOES BACK TO SOMALIA
(Economist via RBB 20 May 95)
Barely three months have passed since the last United Nations peacekeepers left the Somali capital, Mogadishu, at the end of a mission widely seen as inept and ineffective even by UN standards. Yet now UN aid agencies such as the World Food Programme and UNICEF are to go back.

The conditions, though, will be very different: no UN troops, no UN political office. The risks are considerable. Security in Mogadishu is fragile, and without the protection of the UN troops aid workers could easily become caught up in the petty squabbles which so often lead to street fighting in the city. They are also likely to face claims for money from thousands of Somalis formerly employed by the UN. The Somalis are not known for their patience in bargaining; if negotiation fails, they may well resort to intimidation and indeed hostage- taking.

The UN is confident, however, that it can win the support of clan leaders and the ordinary citizens of Mogadishu. Its humanitarian work will be kept distinct from politics. During its earlier intervention, the two were closely linked, an awkward relationship that often led to a conflict of purpose. In 1993, when the UN switched from trying to keep the peace to trying to enforce it, and began pursuing Mogadishu's most powerful warlord, General Muhammad Farrah Aideed, humanitarian projects suffered. Aid workers who had nothing to do with the pursuit of General Aideed became the focus of hostility.

If there is to be a new UN political office for Somalia, it is likely to be based outside the country in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. General Aideed has made it clear that he will not tolerate the presence of UN political officers interfering in what he considers his domain. For the past three months, his radio station has been broadcasting bellicose statements against any new UN political mission in Somalia, but declaring that he would welcome UN aid officials provided they limit their work to that field...

The money available will be limited: the new UN aid operations are likely to cost barely a tenth of what the UN was spending, overall, at the height of its earlier operations. The aid projects will concentrate on enhancing the Somalis' ability to grow enough to feed themselves. The country has come a long way since the darkest days of the 1992 famine, but the UN fears it could soon descend again into famine if fresh fighting erupts...

U.N. HAS ABANDONED SOMALIS TO WARLORDS, GROUP SAYS
(IPS 7 May 95, by Farhan Haq)
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Somalia has left the nation at the mercy of armed faction leaders whom it did little to discourage, a U.S.-based human rights group says.

In a report evaluating the two-year U.N. Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM), Human Rights Watch (HRW)/Africa, faults the world body for focusing too much on clan leaders, at the expense of building real peace in Somalia. UNOSOM ended its mission at the end of March.

"The U.N. dealt with the war leaders as if with national leaders, but without holding these claimants to authority and legitimacy accountable for their actions against any consistent standard," the report charges.

HRW traces a pattern of disastrous ties with faction chiefs from the moment that UNOSOM took over from a U.S.-led force in March 1993 to help rebuild the country after two years of war and famine in which more than 300,000 people died.

It details the tight cooperation which developed between UNOSOM officials and the major warring factions, particularly those based in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

By early 1994, for example, UNOSOM employed some 17,000 Somalis, including about 11,000 in Mogadishu. Many of these workers - including guards and local police - were recruited by rival Mogadishu warlords, notably Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid and Ali Mahdi Mohammed.

The report cites one Somali official's claim that Aidid - the target of a failed five-month U.N. manhunt in 1993 - "received a 30 percent cut of the rents paid for houses by the U.N. and the salaries paid to armed guards and escorts."

Such collusion between UNOSOM and the faction leaders they ostensibly sought to keep in check weakened the entire U.N. mission, the report says.

By focussing its peacemaking efforts on the faction leaders and failing to hold them accountable for abuses against their fellow-Somalis, the report argues, UNOSOM undermined peaceful alternatives to those leaders' power struggles.

"In some ways, UNOSOM actually boosted the power of the Mogadishu war leaders - by providing a source of political legitimacy, huge amounts of cash, and even arms," the report argues.

U.N. officials have stressed in the past that they did not knowingly collaborate with leaders like Aidid, but rather chose to work with Somali elders and clan heads to rebuild the nation's shattered civil society.

But some officials have admitted they made serious mistakes. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said last year that deals with faction-linked guards or drivers of armed vehicles called "technicals" were "known, but unavoidable" in Mogadishu.

Independent experts on Somali relief agree that the militia focus badly skewed U.N. priorities in rebuilding the country.

"I think the United Nations relied too much, for reasons which need to be investigated and audited, on some militia leaders who had little to do with the reality of ordinary Somalis," says Hussein Bolhan, a founder of the U.S.-based Centre for Health and Development.

"It catered to warlords whom it pampered, or alternately alienated," Bolhan adds. "That completely derailed a mission which had been declared to help people."

HRW also accuses the world body of abandoning its former Somali employees, many of whom have been threatened since peacekeeping forces left Somalia at the end of March...

LETTER FROM BOUTROS-GHALI TO PRESIDENT OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL
(UNIC 6 Jun 95 [UN document S/1995/451, 2 Jun 95)
I have the honour to refer to my letter of 18 April 1995 concerning the situation in Somalia (S/1995/322), in which I told you of my intention to inform the members of the Security Council of any new developments concerning the small United Nations political office for Somalia, which is presently operating out of Nairobi, and of the conclusions of the security assessment mission that had just been dispatched to Mogadishu.

With regard to security, a new set of guidelines for Mogadishu has been adopted on the basis of the mission's conclusions. These guidelines include the provision that international United Nations staff members are authorized to travel to Mogadishu and stay there no longer than three days a week. I should point out, however, that the instability and unpredictability of security conditions in the Somali capital since the mission took place have severely curtailed visits by international staff.

I have twice taken the necessary steps, in late April and in early May, to dispatch special envoys to Mogadishu to request the views of Somali leaders concerning a possible United Nations political presence in their country. This effort has yielded no results, because of the opposition of the two principal leaders. Indeed, Mr. Ali Mahdi refused to meet with my first envoy because the envoy had been associated with the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM); as for my second envoy, his visit failed to take place, since at the last minute General Aidid went back on his decision to see him.

It is worth pointing out, however, that a wide range of leaders representing the main Somali factions, including a wing of the United Somali Congress/Somali National Alliance (USC/SNA), favourably welcomed my intention to set up a United Nations political office in their country.

Under these circumstances, I have decided that the political office for Somalia currently operating out of Nairobi will be kept there until an improvement in the situation allows it to be transferred to Mogadishu. I have also decided to reduce the staff of this office to one director at the D-2 level, and one General Service staff member...

(Signed) Boutros BOUTROS-GHALI

SOMALI CLANS ARE THE KEY
(NA June 95, p.20, by Faisal Ahmed Hassan)
...The Americans and the UN have come and gone without producing any political solution and there is little chance that they will return. Their plans to restore hope, peace and stability were a total failure. The UN failed to find any solution to the Somali crisis because it did not understand the psychological and political structure of the Somalis. It did not understand or did not take into account the all important clan system...

It is time to look for new and creative solutions to solve the existing problems. The basis must lie in the Somali clan loyalties which dominate our social, political and economic life. We need to rethink a new political structure based on decentralization, with power in the provinces regions, where clan loyalties actually unite rather than dividing our people.

The provinces must be able to decide their own futures rather than waiting for the warlords in Mogadishu to conclude their struggle and impose their solutions on the rest of us.

The new provinces should represent clan interests and provide safe-havens for their own people. The provincial leaders should be elected by their clan members and be fully accountable to them. They should have the power to follow the interests of their own people.

Somalis all believe in clan politics and clan affiliation whether educated or not. They instinctively understand the complex inter clan relationships that influence every facet of their lives. Indeed their strong belief in tribalism is the basis of their identity.

Mogadishu is primarily the base of the Hawiye clan which is fighting for recontrol of the city. Gunmen control everyday life because the struggle inside the Hawiye clan is still not decided. Yet the Hawiye leaders think that they will be able to control the destiny of the whole nation. Other clans and provinces have to wait while the wasteful warfare continues.

But there is an alternative to this struggle to death. I propose that we should decentralize, base power on the provinces and recognise that clan loyalty is the determining factor in our identity.

In addition:

- Provinces based on clans should be separate but equal.

- We should redraw the boundaries of provinces and regions to take account of the true distribution of clan populations.

- Power should be decentralized from the central government and transferred to the provinces.

- Each province should draft its own constitution and produce its own identity cards.

- Each province should have its own legislature and pass its own laws.

- Each province should have elected leaders accountable to their clan members.

- The Federal Government should only be symbolic and its budget should be approved by the provinces voting separately.

- Provinces should have equal numbers of representatives in the Federal Government.

- Provinces should have the power to make treaties with other provinces and nations.

Under this system each province would be able to control its own resources and make decisions affecting its future.

This would allow General Aideed to concentrate on the development of his own province rather than fighting for national control in Mogadishu. Aideed's Habir Gedir sub-clan of the Hawiye comes from the Mudug region. It is poor, short of water, exposed to drought with little agriculture except for cattle raising. Aideed would concentrate on the welfare of his own clan and on trade with others rather than trying to seize total power at the centre.

** FIGHTING CONTINUES WITH ARMS AND WORDS **

BELET HUEN RETAKEN
(Reuter 11 April 95)
A Somali faction said on Tuesday it had seized control of the central town of Belet Huen from forces loyal to warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed in fighting that killed nearly 50 people.

Ahmed Weheliye, leader of the United Somali Congress-Peace Movement from the Hawadle clan, said his fighters captured Belet Huen during a day-long battle on Monday in which 46 people were killed and nearly 100 others were wounded.

U.N. officials said they had no independent confirmation of the report. The so-called Peace Movement is allied to warlord Ali Mahdi Mohamed's United Somali Congress.

Aideed's Somali National Alliance dominated by the Habr Gedir sub-clan captured Belet Huen, whose population is mainly Hawadleh and which lies 300 km (190 miles) north of Mogadishu, last year...

ALI MAHDI RADIO ACCUSES AYDID FACTION OF TRYING TO BUY ARMS (SWB 19 Apr 95 [RMO in Somali, 17 Apr 95]) Excerpts from report by Somali pro-Ali Mahdi Muhammad radio...

An important reliable report received from sources close to the SNA [Somali National Alliance] says that SNA officials are roaming some districts in Zone Five of Ethiopia, which is inhabited by members of the Somali community, with the the aim of buying arms from the Ethiopian government. The report adds that the officials operating in the SNA's name are now in Shilabu District in Zone Five of Ethiopia.

The plan to smuggle arms from Ethiopia into Somalia is being closely monitored. These secret arms deals by the SNA grossly contravene the recent peace agreement [between the SNA and the Somali Salvation Alliance, SSA] and the UN's arms embargo on Somalia...

The spokesman added that other reliable reports say that a delegation of SNA officials had been sent to Nigeria to procure arms from Nigeria. The delegation is said to be in Lagos at the moment trying to convince the military leadership of that country to consent to their wishes...

MENA REPORTS CHALLENGE TO AYDID'S LEADERSHIP FROM HIS FORMER
FINANCIAL BACKER
(SWB 23 May 95 [MENA news agency, Cairo, in Arabic 21 May 95]) Nairobi: Somali diplomatic quarters and foreign diplomats are awaiting the results of the coup [Arabic: inqilab] led by Somali businessman Osman Husayn Ali Atto against Maj-Gen Muhammad Farah Aydid, leader of the United Somali Congress [USC].

Observers note that Atto, Aydid's right-hand man and the main financier of the USC militias since the outbreak of the Somali civil war, poses a real challenge to Aydid in south Mogadishu, the first since the downfall of late President Muhammad Siyad Barreh.

A former Somali ambassador in an African country says Aydid never expected a rebellion against him from a member of his own clan of Habar Gedir, which he led for five years in ferocious battles against other clans and tribes until Habar Gedir imposed control over south Mogadishu.

In an interview with a MENA correspondent in Nairobi, the ambassador said the Habar Gedir clan, like other factions of the Somali people, is tired of the civil war and has opted for peace with other factions rather than have Aydid as president of Somalia. The ambassador noted that Atto, who led the rebellion to remove Aydid from the USC leadership, has rallied the majority of the Habar Gedir clan behind him by raising the slogan of peace and dialogue with other tribes, believing that five years of war and destruction are enough to convince the Somalis of the futility of war, which has led to the deaths of thousands and the displacement of millions of Somalis.

The Somali diplomat noted that although Atto has won the majority of the USC Central Committee over to his side, including Muhammad Hasan Awali and Husayn Tumbul, it is difficult for him to exclude Aydid from the Somali political equation for good. The diplomat noted that Aydid still enjoys the support of fanatical youths and has the ability to manoeuvre in view of his former political and military experience...

Reports from Mogadishu indicate that Ali Mahdi, the leader of the Somali Salvation Alliance and a bitter foe of Aydid, has advised his allies not to hold contacts with the two disputing sides until things become clear.

Atto has declared that he has split from Aydid and that he supports dialogue with the other Somali factions for the formation of a national unity government and the achievement of a comprehensive reconciliation. Aydid retorted by accusing Atto of being an agent of foreign forces, declaring that any Somali or foreigner who contacts Atto will become his enemy. He also threatened to seize Atto's property.

OSMAN ATTO WARNS AGAINST FRESH FIGHTING IN KISMAYO
(Reuter 7 Jun 95, by Aden Ali)
MOGADISHU - Mogadishu militia chief Osman Hassan Ali Atto on Wednesday warned rival leaders against restarting the bloody clan feuds which devastated the Horn of Africa nation over the past four years...

Osman Atto was referring to threats by Ahmed Omar Jess, a militia leader of the Ogaden clan and an ally of Mogadishu faction leader Mohamed Farah Aideed of the Habre Gedir clan, who recently declared plans to attack the southern port of Kismayu.

The port city itself is held by militia leader Mohamed Siad Hersi, also known as General Morgan, while Jess's followers are in the hinterland.

Division of the southern Lower Jubba region along those lines was agreed at a United Nations-sponsored conference last year and Osman Atto, who played a role in the negotiations, wants it to be maintained.

"Any party or individual detrimental to the Lower Jubba peace agreement will face a joint opposition from our side and General Morgan," Osman Atto told Reuters.

He said he was aware Jess was being supported by figures in Mogadishu, a clear reference to Aideed.

"If Jess insists on sabotaging the peace agreement, he will face the consequences," Osman Atto warned...

SOMALI FACTION VOTES TO REMOVE AIDEED AS CHAIRMAN
(Reuter 12 Jun 95)
MOGADISHU - Powerful Somali warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed, who defied U.N. forces in Mogadishu, has been ousted as chairman of his faction and replaced by his former right-hand man, members of the faction said on Monday.

A vote against Aideed was taken on Sunday at a special congress in Mogadishu of the United Somali Congress-Somali National Alliance (USC-SNA), called by Aideed's opponents within the group.

Aideed was replaced by former ally and financier Osman Hassan Ali Atto.

Osman Atto attacked Aideed for frustrating efforts to rebuild Somalia and urged the United Nations and aid agencies to return and help the broken Horn of Africa nation.

"We will give them a guarantee of security," Osman Atto told the 2,000-strong congress...

Sunday's congress follows a three-week central committee meeting by the USC-SNA, sponsored by businessman Osman Atto who broke with Aideed before a U.N. troop withdrawal in March.

The heavily-guarded congress, expected to last a week, is being attended by intellectuals, businessmen, politicans and women delegates. Aideed has refused to recognise the meeting, calling it "foreign-manipulated".

Somalia has been generally quieter since U.N. forces left in early March, although there is sporadic factional fighting and fears Osman Atto and Aideed's dispute would provoke a widespread conflict.

** HUMANITARIAN ISSUES **

CALL FOR AID
(Moneyclips via RBB 23 May 95 [Saudi Gazette, by Alawi Al Jifri]) Jeddah, May 18: Seventeen out of Somalia's eighteen regions are currently stable and governed by its own people.

Mogadishu remains vulnerable to another civil strife as its conflicting military factions seem reluctant, as always, to reach a compromising agreement over each faction's share in power, hence, minimising the hopes of the whole Somali nation of a new, stable order, Mowlid Ma'an Mohamoud, Chairman of Somali African Muki Organisation (Samo) told the Gazette yesterday.

"We call on the members of the international community to assist stable regions in Somalia", says Mohamoud. Samo is a political movement, with supporters in nine of Somalia's richest regions. Its supporters constitute 35 percent of the 9.7m Somali population. Born out of sedentary societies Samo has never been engaged in military activities.

Samo is one of the signatories of the Addis Ababa conference for the national reconciliation of Somalia. Seven new organisations have surfaced in Somalia afterwards. "Although they haven't been recognised by the United Nations, their Somali brothers can neither ignore their existence nor underestimate their contributions," says Mohamoud.

With other allies Samo will embark on an international campaign to look for potential countries which may be willing to host another Somali reconciliation conference. "We can't be ruled by gun point, leaders of Somali military groups know this. We have to come together and discuss our differences openly. We must try to solve our disputes once and for all. Our dialogue must be that of facts and reason and not that of guns and bullets," he notes.

Mohamoud calls on the UN and members of the international community to resume their aid programmes to the Somali nation. He emphasises that donating countries must make sure that their assistance are being distributed equally and fairly. It must reach the hands of the needy and not to the hands of the greedy, he says...

CODE OF CONDUCT FOR AID TO SOMALIA
(AKGED 28 Apr 95 [Code of Conduct for International Rehabilitation and Development Assistance to Somalia. SACB, 8 Feb 95]) International assistance to Somalia is founded on the basic principle that responsibility for its effective execution shall remain with the Somali people. It is expected, therefore, that responsible Somali authorities will assume their proper role to ensure that conditions exist for the effective implementation of aid activities.

Donors and other international partners are prepared to consider rehabilitation and development assistance in areas where a number of conditions are fulfilled. The following principles, drawn up by the Somalia Aid Coordination Body (SACB) define the circumstances required for the sucessful and sustainable implementation of rehabilitation and development assistance. The same principles are also applicable for humanitarian assistance with due regard to its particular nature.

1. Agencies working with the Somali people will:
1.1 pay due regard to local social customs, cultural an dreligious values;
1.2 maintain impartiality in the conduct of their activities;
1.3 develop a coordinated approach to programme implementation.

2. For their part, the responsible Somali authorities must guarantee: 2.1 that secure conditions prevail for aid agencies and their staff (as evidenced by the absence of acts such as banditry, kidnapping, extortion and other forms of violence); 2.2 that they pursue and bring to justice the perpetrators of criminal acts.

3. The responsible Somali authorities must also provide the necessary conditions for the implementation of rehabilitation and development activities by: 3.1 providing office and residential premises to agencies (where available); 3.2 allowing agencies to decide how to meet their own transport needs; 3.3 allowing agencies to decide their local staffing needs, and to employ staff on technical merits in accordance with project requirements; 3.4 exempting all aid personnel and aid- related cargo (including fuel) from duties, taxes and any other form of levy; 3.5 publishing a scale of reasonable tariffs for the payment of services rendered at the demand of an agency for the clearance of aid cargo at ports and airports.

4. The SACB will monitor closely the implementation of this Code and advise Donors and other international partners to take appropriate action whenever deemed necessary, including suspension of activities.

WORK GOES ON AFTER THE UNOSOM WITHDRAWAL
(NNS Feb-Mar 95)
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 Johan 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...

MARKET FORCES STILL WORK IN ANARCHIC SOMALIA
(Reuter 27 Apr 95, by Aden Ali)
MOGADISHU - Somalia's central bank was blown to bits and looted years ago but market forces still have a way of working amid the anarchy of this Horn of Africa nation.

This week, U.S. dollars have flooded the capital as exporters cash in on the pilgrimage season to the Holy city of Mecca by dispatching shiploads of goats for pilgrims to eat.

As a result, the Somali shilling strengthened on Thursday to 5,450 shillings to the dollar from 6,300.

In early March, the shilling fell to about 6,500 shillings to the dollar from around 4,500, when U.N. peacekeeping forces evacuated after a failed two-year mission to restore peace that cost in excess of $3 billion.

The U.N. operation was Somalia's largest single employer.

Exchange rates are set by traders who sit in Mogadishu's teeming Bakaaraha market and keep up to date on international markets by listening to the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Many feared a return to all-out civil war between rival clan militias with the pullout of U.N. forces but that has not yet happened and trade has boomed at Mogadishu port.

Somalia was plunged into anarchy when clan guerrillas ousted former president Mohamed Siad Barre in January 1991.

The doors of the central bank were blown apart, safes were blasted and much of the cash was looted. Bank notes littered the streets outside.

In defiance of the principles of economics, the Somali shilling maintained value and is still used locally today.

Mogadishu's two main rival warlords, Mohamed Farah Aideed and Ali Mahdi Mohamed, tore the city apart in bitter feuding that in part was caused by a quarrel over money.

Aideed was angry that Ali Mahdi had privately imported "New Somali Shilling" bank notes to pay his militias.

The new Somali shillings are now only accepted in Ali Mahdi's enclave in northern Mogadishu, while most of the rest of the country uses old Somali shillings.

In northwestern Somalia, the former British protectorate that declared independence from the rest of the country in May 1991, clan leaders want to introduce their own currency too.

With no more bank notes being printed - Somalia has not had a government for four years - the currency is literally disintegrating in people's hands.

People welcomed the appearance of counterfeit bank notes on the market early this year - and used them as tender - because they were clean and looked good, a Mogadishu resident said.

FIRST U.N. SHIP SINCE EVACUATION IN SOMALI CAPITAL
(Reuter 2 May 95)
MOGADISHU - The first United Nations relief ship since thousands of peacekeepers abandoned Somalia in March docked in Mogadishu on Tuesday, aid officials said.

The ship, chartered by the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), offloaded 323 tonnes of food and medical supplies, plus 100 special education kits for use in schools that began functioning again after foreign troops arrived in 1993.

Dozens of ships have made it into Mogadishu port since the last U.S. Marines evacuated the port on March 2, though many had predicted that all-out clan fighting would erupt after the foreigners left.

Rival clan militia leaders Mohamed Farah Aideed and Ali Mahdi Mohamed agreed to place the sea port under joint management, with civilian police to guard the docks themselves.

Somalis say it was an agreement reached under pressure from powerful local merchants who wanted trade to work.

A similar accord was reached for control of the airport but the runway has not functioned since March because many rival clan gangs have laid claim to different parts of it, dumping sand on the tarmac so that planes cannot land...

NEW PORT ACCORD (ION 3 Jun 95, p.3) After having consulted the leaders of the two principal rival factions in the Somali capital, (Somalia Salvation Alliance of Ali Mahdi Mohamed and Somali National Alliance of general Mohamed Farah Aideed), a negotiating committee which met in Mogadiscio on May 28 reached an agreement on a five-point document calling for a halt to the shelling and bellicose declarations which have been blocking port activities for some time. Committee members condemned the repeated theft of vehicles and expressed the hope that they would be returned to their owners. Implementing this decision will be left to transporter and trader associations and to traditional clan leaders. It was also decided that the committee set up following the previous (February 20) inter- faction agreements in an effort to establish joint management of port and airport activities (ION No. 661) would resume its efforts for the withdrawal of "technicals" (FWD's fitted with heavy machine- guns) which close off roads, and to get main roads and Mogadiscio's markets reopened. District leaders and the whole population have been asked to participate in getting the new agreements working after their contents were revealed simultaneously on the radio transmitters of the two factions in the capital...

** WORK FOR PEACE **

SOUTHERN TRIBAL GROUP OPTS FOR AUTONOMY
(SWB 6 Apr 95 [RMO in Somali, 4 Apr 95])
Excerpt from report by Somali pro-Ali Mahdi Muhammad radio...

During the congress for the communities of Digil and Mirifleh, which has been proceeding well in Baydhabo, the capital of Bay region [southern Somalia], the following significant resolutions were adopted:

1. The Digil and Mirifleh peoples have opted for separate regional autonomy pending the formation of a representative Somali government. 2. A parliamentary council is to be established. 3. The Islamic shari'ah is to be observed. 4. The number of Islamic shari'ah courts now operating in Baydhabo, Bay region, are to be in increased...

CULTURE AND PEACE IN SOMALIA - MEETING IN YEMEN
(NNS April 95)
A Conference on Culture and Peace in Somalia was held in Yemen, April 17-20, organised by UNESCO. Discussion was on the themes of rebuilding society; rehabilitating the state and reintegrating Somalia into the international environment. Three experts facilitated the meeting including Algerian Mohammed Sahnoun, ex-Secretary General Special Representative to Somalia.

Of around 70 participants, there were only three women, although the meeting called for "women to be empowered to take roles of responsibility in every level of the peace and democratic process." It also recognised that there is a "process of reconciliation currently taking place at the local level" which needs to be reinforced and extended. The draft report also called for "strong regional autonomy, which could "(pave) the way for an eventual federal state."

Importantly, a clause addressing the need for demobilisation was the first of ten recommendations put forward. Other needs were for strengthening local and regional administration, the development of democratic culture, peace and basic education, media broadcasts promoting peace, support to women's organisations, NGOs, professional organisations and intellectuals...

EU TO SPONSOR "PEACE TOUR" IN SOMALIA
(ION 27 May 95, p.8)
The European Union representative in Somalia Sigurd Illing (ION No. 672) was reported to be impressed by the success of popular Somali singer Ahmed Nagi with compatriots attending a recent UNESCO conference in Sanaa (ION No. 669) that he has offered him a "peace tour" in several regions of his native country. Nagi was director of the Mogadiscio theater before the civil conflict; his patriotic songs and poems recall the fight for national independence and condemn war and violence. The EU decision to finance a tour for Nagi, who is a militant member of the Somali National Union, a non- armed faction which groups town and village communities along the southern Somali coastline, is one way to encourage the pacifist leaning of the four factions in the south which represent semi-nomad and sedentary populations who oppose the war lords' pastoral aristocracy. The three other factions are the unified Somali Democratic Movement (which includes the Dighil Mirifle), Somali African Muki Organisation (which includes groups of Bantu origin) and Southern Somali National Movement (Dir Bimal from Merka). Although officially the four are in the camp of Ali Mahdi Mohamed's Somali Salvation Alliance, a rival to general Mohamed Farah Aideed's Somali National Alliance, they are striving to set up an autonomous pacifist lobby.

NEW MOVE FROM OAU
(SWB 22 Apr 95 [Republic of Tunisia Radio, Tunis, in Arabic 21 Apr 95])
Text of report by Tunisian radio on 21st April; subheadings added editorially.

The second meeting of the central body of the OAU [Organization of African Unity] mechanism for the prevention, management and settlement of conflicts was concluded yesterday afternoon with the endorsement of a statement which reviewed the moves made by the Organization of African Unity and the initiatives it had adopted to maintain peace. It [the statement] also included a number of resolutions to that effect.

Tripartite delegation to be sent to Somalia

Regarding Somalia, the central body expressed concern over the continuation of fighting in the northwestern region and urged Somali leaders to reach national agreements that would serve as a basis for establishing a broad-based provisional national authority.

It recommended that the [OAU] secretary-general should make efforts, in coordination with the chairman of the OAU and the Ethiopian president, to send a tripartite delegation to Somalia at the earliest opportunity to discuss the ways and means that would enable the OAU to assist the Somali people in their effort to establish the institutions of national rule and consolidate the process of national reconciliation. It also called for the necessary international aid to be provided to facilitate effectively the resumption of work at Somali ports, particularly in the capital [Mogadishu].

It urged Somali leaders to facilitate the inflow of humanitarian aid for needy refugees and the homeless, stressing the need for regional organizations - the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference [OIC] - to coordinate their efforts with the OAU in helping the Somali people to establish peace, stability and national reconciliation...

** ISLAM **

ISLAMIC GROUP ELECTS NEW LEADER (SWB 10 Apr 95 [RMV in Somali, 7 Apr 95]) Excerpt from report by Somali pro-Muhammad Farah Aydid radio...

A report just in from the Somali National News Agency, Sonna, says that a special seven-hour meeting of the People of the Prophet's Traditions and the Islamic Community [Somali: Ahl al-Sunnah wa al- Jama'ah] held today at the Shaykh Adan Umar, alias Shaykh Adan Dheere, Centre in Mogadishu, which was attended by over 500 Somali religious leaders, ended with the election of Shaykh Abd al-Razzaq Yusuf Adan as the new imam of the People of the Prophet's Traditions and the Islamic Community...

NEW ISLAMIC GROUP IN SOMALIA THREATENS TO TAKE UP ARMS AGAINST
WARRING FACTIONS
(SWB 15 May 95 [RFI in French, 14 May 95]) In Mogadishu nine civilians - eight children and a woman - have been killed and 23 people injured...

The continuation of fighting is not to the taste of the Somali Islamists, who are threatening to take up arms in their turn against the faction chiefs if they do not find within two months a solution to the political impasse that the country is in. Monique Mas:

[Mas] In his first public statement Shaykh Abbas Bin Omar advovates a holy war. This is suggested by the very name of his fundamentalist organization, the Jihad al-Islam. Shaykh Abbas is promising to wage this holy war against those whom he describes as heads of factions founded on tribalism and ignorance, in other words, the two great rivals, Farah Aydid and Ali Mahdi. Shaykh Abbas gives them two months to bring the country out of the political impasse. Meanwhile, he is calling on the country's numerous Islamic organizations to hold a congress.

He says that fighters have already been enlisted and armed. He does not say how many, or with what money. But he admits to having offices in Sudan, Pakistan, Kenya and Yemen. The leader of the main Islamic organization in the country, Itihad, says it can count on support from the Taleban of Afghanistan...

** INTERNATIONAL ISSUES **

CANADA ARRESTS SOMALIA REFUGEES FOR WAR CRIMES
(Reuter 12 May 95)
OTTAWA, Canada - Canada has arrested seven former Somali officials, some associated with a Somali warlord, and charged them with terrorism, human rights violations or war crimes, a government official said on Friday.

The seven held positions in the government or army of a former Somali warlord and entered Canada as refugees or were sponsored by their wives, who were refugees.

The men were arrested from late March to early May in Toronto and released after they posted bonds. The charges are based on alleged crimes in Somalia.

"When they go to an immigration inquiry, if they are found by the adjudicator to be as alleged, then they can be deported," said Canadian Immigration Department spokeswoman Pam Cullum.

The men were arrested after the immigration department issued a memo alleging the men "engaged in terrorism, systematic or gross human rights violations or war crimes or crimes against humanity."

The Canadian government is also looking at about 100 other former Somali government officials.

SOMALIS, TURNED BACK BY LIBYA, CAMP IN KHARTOUM
(Reuter 22 Apr 95)
KHARTOUM - About 150 Somalis, turned back by Tripoli at the Libyan-Sudanese border, have returned to Khartoum and camped outside a United Nations office.

The Somalis told Reuters on Saturday that they had gone to Libya to seek jobs, crossing to Ayunat in Libya from Dongola in northern Sudan on April 7.

But Libyan authorities there turned back the Somalis and 33 Iraqis and three Algerians travelling with them, saying that only Sudanese nationals were allowed to enter Libya, they said...

Margaret O'Keefe, the UNHCR representative in Sudan, said on Thursday that several hundred Somalis turned back by Libya were stranded in Sudan.

The Sudanese government had settled 400 of them at a temporary residence in eastern Sudan, O'Keefe said.

She said waves of Somalis began arriving after the word spread that some had managed to get jobs in oil-rich Libya.

PIRATES TURN NASTY
(ION 27 May 95, p.4)
After remaining inactive for several months, apparently because vessels no longer venture into Somalia's north-eastern waters, Mejertein pirates from Bosaso (ION No. 638) made a bloody reappearance on May 14 when they boarded a Yemeni vessel sailing from Berbera to Aden with 114 Issaq refugees fleeing the civil conflict in Somaliland. A sudden fusillade, which occurred as the pirates were returning to their own vessel after having robbed passengers, killed half a dozen refugees, provoked widespread panic and caused a shipwreck. The casualty list was a heavy one of thirty dead including several children, with 84 survivors. According to eyewitness accounts from the Somali community (mostly Issaq) in Yemen, the boarding party was a commando of fifteen belonging to a so-called Mejertein "coastguard unit" of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front led by Mohamed Osman Negale, a Somali who holds a Canadian passport. He served as an army captain under the late head of state Siad Barre, and left Somalia in March 1978 after an abortive coup d'etat. Some SSDF officials deny that he is still a member of the Front, which today rules north-eastern Somalia...

MURDER OF BUSINESSMAN CONFIRMED
(AGE via RBB 1 May 95, by Karen Middleton)
A New Zealand businessman, Mr David Morris, whose Queensland- based catering company fed United Nations troops during their operation in Somalia, has been confirmed dead after being kidnapped in the troubled African country.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Affairs Department said yesterday that the Australian high commission in Nairobi had confirmed through Unicef and the United Nations secretariat that Mr Morris had been murdered.

Mr Morris stayed in Somalia and continued to do business after the UN forces left the country. He had threatened legal action against the UN for what he said was non-payment of bills.

The department spokeswoman, who was unable to say how Mr Morris died, said he was believed to have been on his way to a fish-processing plant in the city of Burgabo when he was kidnapped several days ago and later killed...