| UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER |
** CLASHES **
ISSA REBELS CLASH WITH SOMALILAND TROOPS
(SWB 12 Aug 95 [RFI in French, 10 Aug 95])
The Jibuti army has this morning been put on alert along the country' s border with the self- proclaimed Republic of Somaliland. The Jibuti authorities fear a flare- up of clashes between the Somaliland army and the Issa militias of the United Somalia Front [untraced; in French: Front de la Somalie Unifiee]. Yesterday the militias attacked the locality of Barisle, less than five kilometres from the border. According to Radio Hargeisa, two soldiers and nine militiamen were killed. The Issa rebels admit to five deaths from among their ranks and say that 31 soldiers were killed. Our reporter is Abdi Aden:
[Aden] Today the Somaliland soldiers and the Issa rebels are facing each other at Tokhoshi, some 20 km from the Jibuti border, and fighting is likely to flare up anew.
The reason for the fighting is to see who can win control of a nine- square- kilometre area claimed by Issa nomads, who are also demanding regional autonomy based on the Boorama charter. The charter is supposed to regulate intertribal affairs in Somaliland. The government of Muhammad Ibrahim Egal does not see things that way, however. He wants to set up an administration which, he says, will represent the three main tribes that live in this area bordering on Jibuti. The tribes in question are the Issa, the Gadaboursy and the Issaq. The Somaliland Issas have categorically rejected this formula, which they suspect is a ploy to manoeuvre them out of the Somaliland political arena.
Jibuti, for its part, has put its troops along the border with Somaliland on a state of alert in order to prevent any fighting from spilling over the border.
Abdi Aden in Jibuti for RFI.
SOMALILAND TROOPS ATTACK REBELS, GOVERNMENT RADIO
(Reuter 15 Aug 95)
DJIBOUTI - Troops loyal to the president of self- declared Somaliland attacked rebels in a region in the southwest and broke through their lines, government radio said on Tuesday.
Radio Hargeisa said government troops launched a massive attack on rebel positions in southwestern Burao and immediately broke through rebel lines in fighting that lasted for several hours.
It was the latest in a series of confrontations since last month between President Mohamed Ibrahim Egal's forces and the rebels from the Issaq clan, known as the Somali National Movement.
A pro- government newsletter, the Voice of Hargeisa, said on Tuesday rebels used mortars in a weekend battle with Egal's troops at an airport near the Somaliland capital Hargeisa.
The newsletter said rebels were beaten back and suffered heavy losses in Saturday's battle with government troops.
It said up to 10 government soldiers were killed and 20 wounded at the airport, where fighting pitting clan militiamen against the president's forces in Hargeisa and the west began last November.
No comment was available from Egal, who said last November that he expected the insurrection to be put down within days...
SOMALILAND ARRESTS PLANE, SCANDINAVIAN DIPLOMATS
(Reuter 22 Aug 95)
DJIBOUTI - Government troops in self- declared Somaliland have seized a light plane and its passengers, including two Scandinavian diplomats, Radio Hargeisa reported on Tuesday.
It said the seven passengers and crew under arrest included diplomats Mikael Glas of Sweden and Oeyvind Nordgaren of Norway, both based in Nairobi...
Reports reaching Djibouti, quoting official Radio Hargeisa, said the King Air plane was seized by troops for "landing illegally" after it arrived from Nairobi on Monday.
The radio said a rebel militia in Somaliland, called the Somali National Movement Alliance (SNMA), was forced out of positions in the southern part of Hargeisa airport on Monday by troops loyal to President Mohamed Ibrahim Egal.
Without further explanation, the radio said the plane's arrest was linked to a SNMA statement on Sunday night broadcast from Mogadishu, the Somali capital. The radio said the statement claimed the militia controlled 70 percent of Hargeisa...
Radio Hargeisa said in Monday's fighting at the airport, pro- Egal forces captured an SNMA tank and destroyed one of its "technical" battle- wagons. It said three militiamen were captured while the rest fled.
One government soldier was killed and four were wounded, the radio said.
FREED NORWEGIAN SAYS FIVE STILL HELD IN SOMALIA
(Reuter 27 Aug 95)
NAIROBI - A Norwegian diplomat freed in northwestern Somalia said on Sunday five other foreigners were still held after flying in to repatriate three Somalis deported from Sweden.
Oeyvind Nordgaren, 42, a police officer with diplomatic status attached to Norway's embassy in Kenya, told reporters in Nairobi he was released on Saturday and flown to the Kenyan capital.
He said he was freed after a telephone conversation between Norway's deputy foreign minister and Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, the president of the self- proclaimed break- away state of Somaliland, and felt sure that the talks had helped secure his release.
The foreign minister of Somaliland, which has received no international recognition since it was set up in 1991, personally drove Nordgaren to an airport on the coast at Berbera from where he flew to Nairobi.
Nordgaren said he was held at a police compound in the Somaliland capital Hargeisa with Swedish diplomat Mikael Glas, two Kenyans and the French pilot and Italian co- pilot who flew them there last Monday.
He said they were arrested after landing in Somaliland without proper permission to repatriate three Somalis deported from Sweden. Nordgaren went on the trip because there was a spare seat.
He said the other five were still held and he found it hard to leave them but Sweden was conducting negotiations with representatives of Somaliland for the release of its diplomat.
Egal announced on Friday Nordgaren had been released. Asked by a Norwegian television station by telephone about the other detainees, he only said: "That is a different story altogether."...
"We were treated well and the food was okay," said Nordgaren, adding however they received no information and the uncertainty about what was going to happen to them was worrying...
/HAB/ As HAB goes to press, we have not received any further information on the status of the detainees from our local representative in Hargeisa, Mr. Jama M. Omar, who has been facilitating communication between the Somaliland authorities and the detainees.
** PEACE TALKS IN HARSHIN **
SENATORS IN ETHIOPIAN TOWN FOR PEACE CONFERENCE WITH OPPOSITION CLAN ELDERS
(SWB 21 Jul 95 [RH in Somali, 7 Jul 95])
Preparations for the peace conference in Harshin [in Ethiopia's Region Five] is proceeding well and without complications for the Somaliland senate delegation led by Mr Shaykh Yusuf Shaykh Madar, the Senate chairman. This was reported today by our conference correspondent, journalist Abdullahi Isma'il Fir. The Harshin peace conference is being attended by the Somaliland senators and elders of the Salahley community. About 150 elders from Salahley and 25 Republic of Somaliland senators were warmly welcomed by Ali Aw Abdullahi, the chairman of Harshin town, the town council, Sultan Isma'il Muse, religious scholars, elders and the people of Harshin...
The agenda of the peace conference and the manner of opening it will be discussed. The mood of the Harshin people and of the delegates is positive and full of optimism and hope for durable results and understanding as the keys to peace.
** NEW CONSTITUTION **
EGAL SAYS NEW CONSTITUTION SHOULD BE COMPLETED WITHIN 12 MONTHS
(SWB 13 Jul 95 [RH in Somali, 1 Jul 95])
Mr Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal, the president of the Republic of Somaliland, said at the presidency today that the process of drafting the constitution should be completed within 12 months. He said this after a session of the Somaliland parliament and a meeting held by the national constitution drafting committee. The meeting was chaired by the president and discussed the country's constitution. Mr Egal said that he hoped the constitution would be a wise and lasting one. He said everyone was required to express his views when asked. Foreign experts would also take part so that a clear and understandable constitution would result. He said that once the constitution had been drafted, the public would be informed on the mass media and asked to comment. Thereafter a referendum would be held. The 10- man constitution drafting committee has reported on how it is carrying out its duties and what has been achieved so far.
** INTERNATIONAL/ REGIONAL RELATIONS **
EGAL MAKES HONOURABLE AMENDS
(ION 24 Jun 95, p.3)
Somaliland's president Mohamed Ibrahim Egal went to Nairobi last week to meet with the Kenyan- based European Union special envoy for Somalia, Sigurd Illing of Germany, who had been declared persona non grata in Somaliland one month earlier (ION No. 672). The outcome of the June 15 meeting was a brief communique from Egal saying that after "lengthy and constructive discussions" between the president and the envoy, "all outstanding differences were ironed out and mutually acceptable working relations were firmly established". It was understood that the EU "intends to continue funding projects in Somaliland as long as circumstances allow" and the communique added that "President Egal noted with satisfaction the assurances given by Ambassador Illing that he will keep him informed about all project activities to undertaken by the EU in Somaliland".
Egal said he would like to have another meeting with Illing, this time in Hargeisa, to "enhance cooperation between the EU and the Hargeisa Adminstration", the term the European Union prefers to "Somaliland" since it does not recognize Somaliland's sovereignty as an independent state. Flights of the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) to three points in Somaliland which had been suspended were expected to resume this week. Moreover, the EU technical representation office in Berbera would shortly be reopened and would then also cover the whole of northern Somalia, including the Mejertein region in the northeast. A similar EU office would be opened in Baidoa to cover the southern part of Somalia...
TALKS HELD IN HARGEISA BETWEEN PRESIDENT AND BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO ETHIOPIA
(SWB 29 Jun 95 [RH in Somali, 13 Jun 95])
Mr Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal, the president of the Republic of Somaliland, has today received at the Presidency in Hargeisa Mr [Robin] Christopher, the British ambassador to Ethiopia in Addis Ababa.
The ambassador arrived in the country yesterday [12th June] and the objective of his visit is to find out what they have done [unspecified] in Somaliland and to find out about the true situation in Somaliland and also to find out how we see the problem of Somalia and about our organizational relations. Mr Egal told the ambassador about efforts being made by the government and the people of Somaliland towards tackling the problems left by the dictatorship era of Afweyne [former president in Somalia, Siyad Barreh]. Mr Egal also talked about the work being done to ensure security and efforts being made to settle differences peacefully...
EGAL LEAVES FOR CONFERENCE IN ZIMBABWE
(SWB 29 Jun 95 [RH in Somali, 14 Jun 95])
Mr Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal, the president of the Republic of Somaliland, has taken off from Hargeisa airport, the capital, for a working visit to Zimbabwe.
He was accompanied by Mr Ail Garad Mahmud Ali, the deputy minister for livestock, forestry and ranches, and they are due to attend a conference to discuss ways in which governments in Africa can overcome future problems and their remedies. The conference is being attended by African heads of state and former officials. The president said he was attending the conference in an official capacity and was invited by Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, and that he was required to report on the affairs of Somaliland and Somalia and their problems and ways of resolving them given that the Organization of African Unity is to hold a meeting in Addis Ababa at the end of this month...
SOMALILAND VICE- PRESIDENT REJECTS AYDID'S ASSUMPTION OF PRESIDENCY
(SWB 29 Jun 95 [RH in Somali, 17 Jun 95])
Mr Abd al- Rahman Aw Ali Farah, the vice- president of the Republic of Somaliland, said today that the self- styled president and the five vice- presidents who have just been named in south Mogadishu by the man called Aydid are of no concern to the Republic of Somaliland.
The vice- president was briefing government press and independent journalists and clarified that this country had been independent, with its own government and assemblies, since May 1991, when our independence of 1960 was regained and declared. He said he [Aydid] was dreaming and said that it was up to the people of Somaliland to discuss their future and what action to take. He went on to say that those using the name of Somaliland there [in Mogadishu] were criminals who had committed crimes against the people and the country. He described them as mercenary personalities who had been used...
** ECONOMIC NEWS **
CABINET APPROVES CENTRAL BANK AND GOVERNMENT BUDGET
(SWB 20 Jun 95 [RH in Somali, 29 May 95])
Today's Council of Ministers' meeting approved the budget of Somaliland's central bank for the period between 1st April and 31st December 1995 totalling 107m [Somaliland shillings] for the five operative branches and other planned branches which have not yet opened, these latter being the branches of Burco, Laascaanood, Ceerigaabo, Badhan, Saylac and Dumbuluq of Hargeisa.
The Council of Ministers in their meeting also accepted the general government budget for 1995 which totals 1,879,943,580 Somaliland shillings...
The meeting also resolved that official working hours in government offices would be [all times local] from 0700 to 1200 and 1400 to 1700 every day except Thursday, when the hours would be from 0700 to 1200. The working hours will be effective from 1st June 1995. The Council of Ministers called on officials and government workers to observe the official working hours.
DOLLAR EXCHANGE RATE FIXED
(AA 11 Aug 95, p.16)
The self- declared Republic of Somaliland has fixed exchange rates at US$1 to 80 Somaliland shillings. The authorities have threatened `swift action' against businessment and currency dealers who refuse to deal in Somaliland currency but continue to trade in US dollars.