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

** A SOCIETY WITHOUT THE STATE **

THE SECOND REVOLUTION (NomadNet [no date] by Abdi Jowhar) Somali intellectuals and politicians view the anarchy and confusion that have almost disseminated the nation in total isolation. They speak of Afwayne and his fiendish spiting image "general" Aideed as the architects of the brutality and the terror. True both remained faithful to the teachings of Italian fascism, both caused the nation more than their share of misery and agony.

But the source of the disaster is much deeper. The whole continent of Africa is rocking, shaking and coming apart at the seams. In the south and centre, in the east and west, masses of people are sharpening their spears, grinding their teeth and shaking AKs in the air. Misery and violence are spreading their wings, flying high and everywhere rivers of blood are following. Rwanda, Burundi, The Sudan, Angola, Liberia and the list continues. Even in the most stable of all places the grim clouds of violence are gathering at tremendous speeds in the horizon, the air is thick with suspicion, prosecution, brutality. A palpable sense of impending catastrophe has taken hold of Africa. True a revolution of sorts is sweeping across the whole continent, an undefined revolution, a revolution that is proving itself resistant to outside analysis.

It is in Somalia, however, that the upheaval stands stark naked, reduced to its most essential most minimal elements. No religious cloak, no mask of colour, language, ethnicity, social class, or ideology. Just various clans equally Somali, equally black, equally Moslem and equally poor. All of Africa must pay very close attention to the developments in Somalia, as a prototype of the fate awaiting for the whole continent. A manageable prototype with reasonably limited variables.

The constructs of nationalism, and its twin, the nation state have played havoc on African society reducing it to a suffering, faceless mass of wandering refugees. These constructs misfired in this continent because they essentially negate the clan structure of African society.

Somalis tinkered with the nation-state they inherited from the colonial days to make it work. They tried western democracy, Socialism, Marxism, Military dictatorship, Totalitarianism and its twin brutality. In short all the "isms" that evolved from western thought. Nothing worked. Every other country in the continent passed through the same pattern of tinkering and metamorphosis. Again and again nothing worked. The transplant nation-state gradually withered away and finally just ceased to exist. Hence the chaos and anarchy.

The clan structure of African society will continue to seek an expression for itself in a state. A new state that would be nothing less than a radical departure from the borrowed constructs of the failed nation state. A new state that could reflect the dual nature of the African society of being both a clanist and a nationalist at one and the same time....in short a Clan-State. åIn the sixties, the first continent wide revolution in Africa successfully crushed colonialism. We are witnessing the second revolution that is now in the process of giving full expressing to the variety, uniqueness and beauty of African society. The adversaries in the first revolution were the colonisers and the colonised. The adversaries in this revolution are the brainwashed, corrupt elite of war-lords and phoney political parties and the true clan forces (the Guurti.).

The final confrontation is almost at hand. Battle lines are being drawn up everywhere. However, violence is not necessary for the successful completion of this revolution. In fact it could only delay success and prolong the misery. Here and there imminent leaders appear to be rising out of the ashes, bent on gambling on peace and dialogue for this final phase in the liberation of Africa. The leaders of this revolution will throw away the spears, they will abandon the barricades and they will be there, in the circle under the trees.

A SOCIETY WITHOUT THE STATE (Economist via RBB 16 Sep 95) If there were a prize for the nation that had rolled back furthest the frontiers of the state, there could be only one winner: the Somalis. In fact they have rolled the state of Somalia - heir to British and Italian colonialism - clean off the map. Or have they?

True, it has no national government, no nationwide institutions. Yet there is considerable co- operation between the different parts of the country, and between different clans. Rather than anarchy, the Somalis have created a decentralised society, where life goes on in a surprisingly effective - if peculiar - way. Do they actually want or need "the state" as the world understands it?

And if not, what? From a group of academics at the London School of Economics (LSE) comes a "menu of options" suggesting different paths that Somalis could use, if not to reinvent the state, at least to provide a framework for co-operation and perhaps the semblance of statehood - if they want it.

Start, they suggest, from the fact that Somalis are extraordinarily individualistic. Richard Burton, a British explorer of the area in the mid-1800s, described them as "a fierce and turbulent race of republicans". Their politics traditionally have been uncentralised, more akin to those of Afghan clans than African kingdoms. The country's 7m-9m people are divided into some 100 clans, based on patrilineal ties that go back about 20 generations. You can call on your fifth cousin several times removed to help you fight your neighbour or claim compensation for wrongs committed by other clans. The call for clan revenge or compensation, rather than punishment by sovereign justice, means that even the most trivial crime is highly political.

Of the American and United Nations intervention in 1992-95, the LSE report says:

The international community, with its assumption of universal hierarchical government, requested the Somali people to `Take us to your leaders', and the Somalis, whose political philosophy is profoundly different, have taken them to the cleaners.

The world then complained of the failure of Somali leadership. The LSE academics point out that this sort of leadership never existed in the first place.

Can you run a country based on independent clans made up of very independent-minded individuals? Hard, says the report. Somalia is today split into three main bits: the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland in the north-west; the north-east, with its centre at Bosaso; and the riverine area in the south, of the Digil and Rahanweyne clans. [sqrt sqrt /HAB/ See following article.ff] Mogadishu, the supposed capital, lies smashed and divided, still a battleground for factions. Its airport is closed, its seaport operates sporadically, ministries are in ruins, water and electricity run at times. Yet Mogadishu is not Somalia and elsewhere things are not so bad.

Somaliland, proclaimed in 1991, works. Though its government does not control even the airport of the capital, Hargeisa, three miles from the city, it does hold the port of Berbera. Because customs and controls are light and cheap, Berbera has boomed in the past two years, with a stream of dhows and quite large vessels, taking livestock to Saudi Arabia and bringing in oil and manufactures. Other parts of Somalia have ad hoc postal services and telephone links, and a surprising amount of trade.

Allow that a centralised state is inappropriate and impossible to restore, what else could the Somalis do? The report offers four options: federation, confederation, a decentralised unitary state with regional autonomy, and "consociation" - a decentralised state based on clan affiliation, not territory. But one of the report's authors, Professor Ioan Lewis, reckons that a further option is the most likely, at least in the short term: practical co-operation in specific fields, without reference to any national political authority. Translation: no government at all, just inter-clan agreements in areas of common interest, such as health, educational or veterinary services, posts and telecoms, or currency.åôThe result could fulfil the fundamental political wish of all Somalis, summed up by one quoted in a British official report of 1940: "We want to be well governed, but we want to be left alone".

NEW DIGIL AND MIRIFLE GOVERNING AUTHORITY (Local Administrative Structures in Somalia June 95) sqrt sqrt The following text has been excerpted from an LPI/ UNDOS report entitled "Local Administrative Structures in Somalia: A Case Study of Bay Region".ff

In the introduction, mention was made of the Digil and Mirifle clan families which are the primary inhabitants of Bay region. In addition to Bay region, they are also very prevalent in the neighbouring regions of Bakol, Gedo, Middle Juba and Lower Shabelle. As a result of the war and starvation that devastated the inter-river area of Somalia, the Digil and Mirifle clan families have become more militarized to defend against external threats and more cognizant of being a distinct and cohesive community.

For the past four years, elders of the Digil and Mirifle clan families have worked to resolve a number of intra-clan issues that hampered clan unity and adversely affected the security of the inter-river region. This lengthy process culminated in a conference beginning January 1995 and lasting five months. At the time this study team was doing its work (25 May 1995), a swearing in ceremony took place in Baidoa to inaugurate a new supra-regional authority for the Digil and Mirifle community.

This new authority is comprised of a House of Representatives and a House of Elders. Within the House of Representatives is a Supreme Governing Council (SGC) of 17 members who act as a council of presidency with various portfolios. According to Malaq Haji Mukhtar, the chairman of the House of Elders, the selection of parliamentarians was done by the elders to ensure proper representation across the clans. We did not hear any opposition to the composition of the parliament while we were in Baidoa.

A number of the top officials in the SGC were prominent militia/faction leaders during the civil war. In more than one case, former opponents have chosen to work together in this new political structure...

The chairmanship of this council is currently held by Hassan Sheikh Ibrahim and will be rotated every six months. Lastly Abdulkadir Mohamed Aden (Zobbe), another faction leader during the civil war, has been appointed as a sort of titular head of state. The fact that these people, who had tried to stake a claim in Somali national politics, have now committed themselves to politics at the regional level indicates that the locus of power is most likely to remain at the regional level.

This new parliament is drafting a constitution which will have its legal basis in Islamic law. They are also developing a strategy for defense and public security. Economically they endorse a market- oriented policy with a minimum of government intervention...

During our meetings with the SGC and Malaq Haji Mukhtar, they stressed the importance of federalism and regional autonomy for a stable future Somalia. They reiterated that their decisions do not imply secession or any inclination towards secession. Rather, they see themselves as pioneers of regional autonomy that will eventually see four autonomous, but federated states in what is now Somalia and Somaliland...

Malaq Haji Mukhtar also pointed out that the entire reconciliation process was supported from within the Digil and Mirifle community and that no external bodies were asked for assistance...

** AIDEED SEIZES BAIDOA **

AIDEED FORCES SEIZE SOMALI CITY OF BAIDOA (Reuter 17 Sep 95) MOGADISHU - Somali faction leader Mohamed Farah Aideed and 600 militiamen thrust out of Mogadishu and seized the southwestern city of Baidoa on Sunday in their most significant move in two years.

Aid officials said Baidoa fell at 5 a.m. (0200 GMT) and international aid workers were rounded up and taken to a single compound in the city, 240 km (150 miles) northwest of Mogadishu.

It was the most important Somali military development since Aideed's forces were thrown out of the southern port of Kismayu in 1993 and a blow to aid agencies who kept Baidoa as a showcase for their work in Somalia after U.N. troops withdrew in March.

Aideed left his south Mogadishu stronghold on Saturday night at the head of 600 militiamen and 30 "technicals", battlewagons mounted with heavy weapons, for the thrust, aid officials said.

The column seized Baidoa, renowned as "the City of Death" in 1992 when it was the centre of Somalia's famine, after some sporadic fighting but there were no precise casualty reports.

Aid officials said Aideed's force in Baidoa on Sunday moved on towards Bardera town, 165 km (100 miles) to the southwest, which could put them on course for an assault against Kismayu.

In Mogadishu, travellers from Baidoa said the takeover was virtually bloodless and Aideed's Somali National Alliance (SNA) militiamen had banned all other gunmen from the city's streets...

AIDEED GETS ULTIMATUM TO QUIT BAIDOA OR FACE WAR (Reuter 18 Sep 95) MOGADISHU - Somalia's self-styled leader Ali Mahdi gave arch rival and south Mogadishu warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed a 24-hour ultimatum on Monday to quit the southwest city of Baidoa he seized on Sunday or face full-scale war.

In a radio broadcast, Mahdi who heads the biggest network of clans ranged against Aideed, condemned the raid as "provocative action".

Mahdi said his alliance was studying the situation in Baidoa, where Aideed was also holding 16 foreign aid workers, and would issue a declaration of full-scale war to drive him out of the city should he ignore the ultimatum...

Local elders opposed to Aideed were rounded up and driven to Mogadishu presumably under arrest, the travellers said.

In Nairobi, a spokesman for the U.S. charity International Medical Corps (IMC) told Reuters that a total of 16 aid workers were being held -- four from IMC and the rest from U.N. agencies.

"We were informed by other agencies that our staff together with those from other agencies were taken to a U.N. compound in Baidoa and were being held there," Robert McLaughlin said...

FOURTEEN FOREIGNERS FREED IN SOMALIA, FLY TO KENYA (Reuter 22 Sep 95, by Mark Dodd) NAIROBI - Fourteen foreigners freed by warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed's forces in the southwestern Somali city of Baidoa arrived in Nairobi on Friday and a U.N. official said no ransom was paid.

The first of two planes carrying the freed men after nearly six days in captivity arrived in the Kenyan capital on Friday evening and they were led out by U.N. Development Programme representative Erling Dessau, who negotiated their release.

"Free at last!" said a placard held up at Nairobi airport by seven women aid workers freed in Baidoa on Wednesday.

Asked whether any ransom had been paid in return for all 21 foreigners: Dessau said: "No, I did not pay any money." He said there were some difficulties in the negotiations but it worked out well.

"We had extensive discussions on the work of humanitarian agencies and what we could do for Somalis in the future."

The second plane with seven men aboard arrived in Nairobi less than two hours later...

European Commission Special Envoy Sigurd Illing said Aideed decided to free all 21 foreigners rather than annoy the international community, whose help and recognition he needs.

Aideed's government has held Somali journalist Ali Musa Abdi, who worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation and the French news agency Agence France-Presse, since September 5 for investigation into alleged crimes against the state.

Aideed's forces also hold 12 Pakistani fishermen seized seven months ago accused of illegal fishing in Somali waters. The government has demanded Pakistan recognise it and Aideed as president.

AIDEED FORCES STILL CONTROL BAIDOA (Reuter 16 Oct 95, by Peter Smerdon) BAIDOA - Forces of faction leader Mohamed Farah Aideed firmly control Somalia's former "city of death" but a row over looting is keeping out aid agencies that brought it back to life.

Baidoa, the southern farming town that was the centre of Somalia's famine in 1992, was busy and appeared at peace at the weekend, well under the thumb of "technical" battlewagons one month after its capture by Aideed's Somali Liberation Army (SLA).

Technicals, four-wheel-drive vehicles bristling with weapons, guarded the centre, key buildings, the airport as well as the entrance from the capital Mogadishu, 245 km (150 miles to the northeast)

"In the whole region we have enough technicals to make peace here, where it is appropriate," said Hussein Aideed, a son of the leader who was elected president of Somalia in June but is not internationally recognised.

Streets were packed with taxis and shoppers, and a teacher organised a demonstration by 60 children who chanted in support of Aideed.

"Security is very difficult. We had a skirmish on Wednesday with the Lisan and their allies who tried to cause people to flee but didn't succeed. Numerous people were hurt," he added.

The Lisan is the sub-clan militia forced out by Aideed's surprise thrust from his south Mogadishu stronghold to extend his control to Baidoa.

"But the city now as usual is calm," Hussein told Reuters. The Reuters team was the first foreign news organisation to reach Baidoa since the attack and the evacuation of 20 international aid workers caught during the assault and held by Aideed's forces for several days.

Hussein, 30 and a former U.S. military reservist, declined to say how many were killed during the Lisan counter-attack last Wednesday.

Travellers said at least 20 bodies were left at the edges of Baidoa and at least 13 wounded Aideed gunmen were flown to the capital for treatment as the road was insecure.

A commander of the hitherto-unknown Rahanweyn Resistance Army told the British Broadcasting Corporation nine of Aideed's militiamen were killed in the Baidoa area on Saturday by angry clan fighters, who had lost a dozen dead in the same attacks...

** UNREST IN MOGADISHU **

SOMALIA'S SLIDE TO WAR (Economist via RBB 9 Sep 95) Fariha, an angelic nine-year-old, scampers down the ill-lit corridors of a hospital in Mogadishu showing off the bullet wound in her back. Hit three days earlier by a stray round from a machinegun, she went under the knife without anaesthetic. Her visitor suggests that a westerner would have been bed-bound for weeks. "That's because they are cowards," she boasts.

Six months after the world pulled out of Somalia, its battered people feel betrayed by the cowards outside. Malnutrition is rising again, after crops in several areas were hit by recent floods. The pumping station supplying 90% of the water for Mogadishu's 1m people stopped operating two months ago. Gunmen were endlessly looting the fuel it needed, and the United Nations agency that supplied it decided enough was enough. People now have to rely on wells. So water is scarce and often contaminated; dysenteric illnesses are on the rise.

Hospitals have hardly any drugs, and foreign money to provide such things has dried up. There are still nine aid workers in the capital, but what can they do? The country's rich warlords, who could indeed help, are too busy chasing power.

General Muhammad Farrah Aideed, unscathed after his tussle with the UN's "peacekeepers", is Somalia's self-declared president. He has repainted his battle-wagons - "technicals", as they are termed - in readiness for further conflict. This is not slow in coming. His recent attempt at a security clampdown - roadblocks, weapons confiscated from civilians and men of rival militias - brought a quick response from fighters loyal to his rival, businessman-turned-warlord Ali Mahdi Muhammad, who rules northern Mogadishu. In alliance with fundamentalist militiamen, they attacked General Aideed's followers across the "green line" dividing the city. Two or three people a day are being killed. The multi-clan committees set up to manage the port and airport have all but collapsed. The port, controlled by the fundamentalists, is lucky to see a ship in ten days.

Behind the scenes, Ali Hassan Osman, a rich businessman who was once General Aideed's financial backer, is negotiating with other warlords in an attempt to isolate his former protege. Unless General Aideed returns to the conference table, says Mr Osman, "the process will continue without him." Maybe, but the general still has plenty of fire-power. Nor has he been idle on the political front. He recently sent his deputy to Kismayu, a port in the south, for a rabble-rousing rally. As rivals try to push him into a corner, the fear is that he may try to repeat his military exploits: it was his troops who defeated those of the then dictator, Siad Barre, in 1991...

AYDID TO IMPOSE TAX ON ALL TRADABLE ITEMS (SWB 21 Sep 95 [RMVM in Somali, 19 Sep 95]) sqrt sqrt Text of report by Somali pro-Muhammad Farah Aydid radio on 19th Septemberff

Mr Muhammad Farah Aydid, the president of the Republic of Somalia, taking into account Articles 18 and 23 of the national transitional charter, on 16th September 1995 issued his ninth decree which is made up of six articles concerning taxation.

This decree says that tax collection in the country has been reviewed and every tradable item is taxable, as are valuable assets such as buildings, vehicles and land. The tax will be collected by officials of the [Aydid-appointed] Ministry of Finance who are responsible for this job.

Anyone who does not pay this tax will be punished by paying 10 times the original amount due. If he still does not pay, he will be taken to court.

This decree will mostly affect the import and export business.

SOMALI SALVATION ALLIANCE SPOKESMAN SAYS AYDID TAXES ARE "FLAGRANT THEFT" (SWB 26 Sep 95 [RM in Somali, 24 Sep 95]) sqrt sqrt Text of report by Somali pro-Ali Mahdi Muhammad radio on 24th Septemberff

A spokesman for the Somali Salvation Alliance, SSA, has called Aydid's imposition of taxes on powerless Somali traders flagrant theft. The spokesman said that in the absence of a local government the collection of taxes was illegal.

He said that the collection of taxes could only be carried out by a government department, and that Aydid's decision to introduce taxation was illegal. The spokesman has called on the Somali people to oppose any acts of theft against their property. He also called on the aircraft bringing in qat to refuse to pay taxes by using other airports where this was not a problem.

ALI MAHDI USES HEAVY GUNS TO TURN AWAY BANANA VESSEL (LICR 6 Oct 95 [Reuter]) Mogadiscio, Oct 5 - Militiamen loyal to Somali faction leader Ali Mahdi Mohamed fired heavy guns to drive away a banana vessel which tried to dock in Mogadiscio's sea port in defiance of a ban by Mahdi, witnesses said today. They said during the incident last night, Mahdi's men fired 106mm recoilless rifles to drive away a vessel belonging to Sombana exporting company - a firm closely linked to Mahdi's arch rival and south Mogadiscio faction leader Mohamed Farah Aideed. The witnesses said the vessel sailed away into the high sea after the shooting, a day after Mahdi said he had deployed heavy guns to shoot at any banana vessel which tried to defy a ban he and another leader, Osman Hassan "Ato," issued on Monday.

AIDEED FORCES TAKE "TAXES" FROM MOGADISHU TRAFFIC (Reuter 17 Oct 95, by Peter Smerdon) MOGADISHU - Gunmen loyal to faction leader Mohamed Farah Aideed demanded "taxes" on Tuesday from traffic over Mogadishu's Green Line battle zone, prompting rivals to close crossings.

Backed by "technicals", battlewagons bristling with weapons, scores of gunmen of Aideed's self-declared Somali Liberation Army (SLA) stopped buses and trucks entering his south Mogadishu fiefdom and demanded money from each to finance his government.

Gunmen in north Mogadishu loyal to Aideed's arch-enemy, Ali Mahdi Mohamed, on hearing of the SLA move closed several crossings to deprive Aideed of a new source of revenue.

On the south Mogadishu side of a major crossing, about 20 gunmen fanned out across the street with weapons raised while two technicals took up position with their heavy guns facing the north when the traffic stopped arriving across the frontline.

They ordered outgoing traffic back into south Mogadishu and screamed at civilians trying to cross north, levelling rifles at some and chasing them back. Minor scuffles also broke out.

Some SLA gunmen were as young as 11 years old armed with U.S. -made M-16 and AK-47 rifles almost as big as themselves.

The SLA started collecting "taxes" of $1.50 on each minibus and larger amounts on vehicles carrying food to the north on Monday, prompting Ali Mahdi to warn he would close down the Green Line if what he considers outright extortion continued.

Aideed moved to taking money from traffic because he had lost a major source of revenue when Ali Mahdi's gunners closed Mogadishu seaport to block banana exports nearly two weeks ago...

** JOURNALIST DETAINED, ESCAPES **

AGENCIES URGE SOMALIA'S AIDEED TO FREE JOURNALIST (Reuter 15 Sep 95)åNAIROBI - Relief agencies urged Somali faction leader Mohamed Farah Aideed on Friday to release a Somali journalist held for 11 days, saying they would find it hard to decide on future aid without news reports from Somalia.

The Somali Aid Coordination Body (SACB) said it was very concerned at the detention of Ali Musa Abdi, who worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation and French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Aideed's supporters elected the warlord president in June and he formed a government which received no international recognition.

The government says Abdi will be tried for crimes against the state.

"The detention of this journalist constitutes yet another incident that risks having an adverse influence on international opinion about the current state of Somalia," SACB said in a letter...

"It is vitally important for the international aid community to have acess to non-partisan information about Somalia in order to take a position on project proposals and aid requests," SABC said.

It said the aid community would find it much more difficult to decide on intervention and funding for Somalia if journalists in Mogadishu were seriously hampered in providing information...

JOURNALIST HELD BY FACTION LEADER AYDID'S MILITIA ESCAPES (SWB 29 Sep 95 [RMO in Somali, 27 Sep 95]) sqrt sqrt Text of report by Somali pro-Ali Mahdi Muhammad radio on 27th Septemberff

A report from Sonna, the Somali National News Agency, has said that journalist Ali Musa Abdi, who was abducted by [Muhammad Farah] Aydid' s armed men on 5th August [as heard; Abdi went missing in September] 1995, this morning at 0520 [local time] escaped from the jail in V.I .Villa [phonetic], where Gen Aydid's militia were holding him illegally...

** CONTINUED POLITICAL STRUGGLE **

AYDID ORDERS OFFICIALS TO IMPLEMENT STATEMENT ON SECURITYå(SWB 7 Sep 95 [RMVM in Somali, 5 Sep 95]) sqrt sqrt Text of report by Somali pro-Muhammad Farah Aydid radio on 5th Septemberff

Mr Muhammad Farah Aydid, the president of the Republic of Somalia, on 4th September 1995 issued an eight-point statement on the security of the nation. The details of the president's statement are as follows:

...1. Working methods should be based on a national system and should be in line with the cause of the struggle.

2. [Word indistinct] of the controls designed previously should be regularized every day and night so that the campaign of disarmament which started successfully ends as planned.

3. The bandit groups, who are openly suppressing our dear people and the strugglers who were heading the peace and development process, should be checkmated quickly and steps should be taken that facilitate their political and military elimination.

4. The duty of arms collection should be carried out in a proper manner and all tact should be used in order to achieve this.

5. The ministers, deputy ministers, chairmen of the districts, chairmen of zones, the higher committee for the five zones, social organizations led by the elders, fighters, the youth, women, religious scholars and intellectuals should mobilize and create awareness with vigour and vitality. The people are being told how to defend themselves against the bandit groups, who are (?fanning) terrorist acts, and are being taught about the national charter, the government's programme, its structure, the new laws and those which have been reviewed and every step taken by the government affecting the interests of the people, peace and development.

6. All the national security forces, police and the people are being taught to catch and fight the enemy, the bandits and the groups perpetrating terrorism.

7. The armed forces remaining in the districts who use technicals [vehicles mounted with guns], should be reorganized at new centres in the districts and should be named the national army, with the duty of defending the people against bandits, terrorists and oppression, which these groups aim at. It has become clear that they are serving foreigners to carry out duties for which they have been hired.

8. An inspection committee from the [Aydid-appointed] ministries should be appointed comprised of representatives from the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Rehabilitation and Disarmament and the Ministry of Higher Education.

The committee will supervise the implementation of the duties outlined in the eight points listed above. This committee will be composed of:

Mr Muhammad Kanyareh Afrah, the minister of internal affairs - chairman; Mr Ahmad Umar Jays, the minister of defence - deputy chairman; Mr Ali Haji Jaburi, the minister for higher education - member; Mr Hashi Ali Robleh, the deputy minister of defence - member; Mr Hasan Muhammad Nur Qalad, deputy minister of rehabilitation and disarmament - member; Mr Sharif Hasan Jim'aleh, adviser of the national security forces - member; Mr Umar Ibrahim Jama - secretary.

The committee can cooperate with whoever it needs to for the purpose of its work. The inspection committee should work and study the implementation of arms collection duties and supervise all the control points, the districts and the places which are important as they are the backbone of the community.

It should make sure that the people are informed about the progress of arms collection as planned, that firm steps have been taken against the bandits and terrorists and that the operation has been completed successfully. Also in order to prevent mistakes by the army, training will be provided for them and so on.

The inspection committee should ensure the work of the courts, including the military court, the military attorney, the legal committee and the high court...

ATO RADIO SAYS USC-SNA CONDEMNS AYDID'S "PROVOCATIVE" DECREE (SWB 9 Sep 95 [RVSP in Somali, 7 Sep 95]) sqrt sqrt Text of report by Somali pro-Uthman Ali Ato radio on 7th Septemberff

The USC-SNA [United Somali Congress - Somali National Alliance] Executive Committee today [7th September] in its regular session discussed at length the provocative eight-point decree issued [on 4th September] by the self-appointed group [the Aydid-appointed government] aimed at creating anarchy and sowing the seeds of discord among the Somali people.

In connection with this, the USC-SNA Executive Committee has issued a call to Mogadishu citizens and USC-SNA supporters living in other regions and districts.

After realizing it had failed to get international and local recognition, the self-appointed group decided to issue an eight-point decree which calls for war, looting, killing, kidnapping and setting one clan against another. The decree is the same as Decree No 54 used by the dictatorial regime of [former president] Muhammad Siyad Barreh. The three-month-old self-styled group has resorted to killing innocent people, abusing democracy and human rights, in contrast to the sacrifices and struggle made in order to revive democracy and human rights...

ATO FACTION CALLS ON "SOMALI PEOPLE TO DO SOMETHING" ABOUT AYDID GROUP (SWB 18 Sep 95 [RVSP in Somali, 16 Sep 95]) sqrt sqrt Text of report by Somali pro-Uthman Ali Ato radio on 16th Septemberff

The SPM-SNA'S [Somali Patriotic Movement - Somali National Alliance] executive committee, central committee, sultans, officers and intellectuals have resolved on the following points:

1. That its members support the decisions which the Somali organizations took on 17th August in Nairobi.

2. That Ahmad Umar Jays [pro-Muhammad Farah Aydid] is on his own private visit to Mogadishu and does not represent anyone, and that the SPM-SNA have not taken part in the arms collection in Mogadishu.

3. The SPM-SNA officials have called upon the Somali people to do something about the self-styled group [of faction leader Muhammad Farah Aydid], who, they said, did not serve the interests of the Somali people.

The SPM-SNA members who signed this resolution are: Sultan Abdullahi Muhammad Askar; Garad Shaykh Mahmud Aftag; Ugass Dayib Muhammad Nur; Adan Abdullahi Diriyeh and Muhammad Rabi Kahin, both of whom are in the executive committee; and Qorane Mahmud Nur and others in the SPM-SNA central committee and its intellectuals.

LEGAL ACTION TAKEN AGAINST AYDID-APPOINTED OFFICIAL IN KISMAAYO (SWB 7 Sep 95 [RM in Somali, 5 Sep 95]) sqrt sqrt Text of report by Somali pro-Ali Mahdi Muhammad radio on 5th Septemberff

A spokesman for the SPM-SSA [Somali Patriotic Movement - Somali Salvation Alliance] has said that Kismaayo [port in southern Somalia] is stable now after legal action was taken against Muhammad Haji Adan [vice-president in Aydid-appointed government], who served the individuals who crowned themselves. åThe spokesman said this action was appropriate, and was in clear opposition to those who are deceiving themselves and at the same time undermining the stability of the Jubbada Hoose region. The spokesman called on the Somali community in general, and especially those living in the Jubbada Hoose area, to work towards the progress of peace for the Somali people and to defend themselves against those undermining coexistence and unity. Those people are undermining the unity of Somalia and Jubbada Hoose and are opposed to peace in Somalia in general.

** ISLAMIC EFFORTS FOR PEACE **

SOMALI FACTIONS TO END STRIFE WITHOUT AIDEED (Reuter 13 Sep 95, y Assem Abdel-Mohsen) JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Most of Somalia's warring factions pledged on Wednesday to press ahead with an Islamic effort to end the country's civil strife, dismissing a boycott by warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed as insignificant.

Self-styled president Aideed is widely seen outside Somalia as the country's most powerful warlord, but Somali envoys meeting in Jeddah said he was weak and isolated.

"Aideed was never a fundamentally important factor," said Abdullah Sheikh Ismail, spokesman for a 14-faction alliance attending the talks.

The meeting discussed convening another session in Mogadishu within two months to unite the warring factions prior to an enlarged conference for comprehensive reconciliation and the formation of a Somali government, delegates said.

Aideed, elected president by his Mogadishu supporters in June, has shunned reconciliation efforts by the Jeddah-based Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

Aideed's self-proclaimed government has no international recognition. His arch rival and north Mogadishu warlord Ali Mahdi, who has also put a claim to the presidency, was represented at the Jeddah talks.

Aideed's former financial backer Osman Ali Hassan Atto and representatives of the northern breakaway Somaliland, which enjoys no international recognition, were also present... åô ** HUMANITARIAN ISSUES **

NUTRITIONAL SITUATION IN MOGADISHU (WFP Report #33, 18 Aug 95) ...a) The AICF nutritional survey of resident and displaced populations in Mogadishu (see WFP Emergency Report no. 31 of 4 August 1995) showed the most at risk populations to be in areas furthest from the city markets, where inter-clan hostilities is another contributing factor in these high-risk areas. Due to the high level of insecurity and inaccessibility, international relief workers are not able to work in this area of the city (Medina).

b) The problem is not a lack of food, as there is an abundance of food in the markets, as in Kismayo, the problem is one of access, as people lack the purchasing power to buy food, particularly since prices are high. This period, prior to the main harvest (August-Sept) is traditionally a hungry period and prices usually increase at this time. There is also a decrease in commercial activity in imported food, resulting in a further decreased supply and increased prices...

HUNGER IN SOMALIA - EU STEPS IN WITH FOOD AND MEDICAL AID (RBB 26 Sep 95 [Rapid 25 Sep 95, Ref: IP/95/1029]) ...The European Union is making available 505,000 ECU to fund food and medical aid in Mogadishu. The European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) will work with Action Internationale Contre la Faim (France) and Medecins sans Frontieres-Spain on projects that will last up to six months.

They will step up work in already existing Mother and Child Healthcare Centres by boosting feeding programmes there. They will also set up intensive feeding centres for very severely affected children. Mobile health clinics and health education programmes for about 50,000 people in camps are an essential part of this programme.

AYDID LAYS DOWN RULES FOR FOREIGN RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS (SWB 18 Sep 95 [RMVM in Somali, 16 Sep 95]) sqrt sqrt Text of report by Somali pro-Muhammad Farah Aydid radio on 16th Septemberff

Mr Muhammad Farah Aydid, the president of the Republic of Somalia, having noted Article 18 and Article 24 of the National Transitional Charter...

The legal circular defines relief organizations and sets out their duties and the laws concerning foreign relief organizations which want to come to Somalia for relief work.

The circular says that they should register within 21 days from the date of their arrival in the country. They should state the name of the organization, its work, the scope of its operations and its plans, its country of origin and the number and skills of the foreign employees which it wants to put to work in Somalia, where in the country it wants to operate during its stay and so forth...

Foreign relief organizations will pay 100 dollars for registration, and local organizations will pay 80 dollars.

This circular became effective when it was signed by the president of the Republic of Somalia.

BANDITS ATTACK REFUGEES RETURNING FROM KENYA, TWO KILLED (SWB 23 Sep 95 [KTN TV, Nairobi, in English 21 Sep 95]) The UN High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] has said bandits yesterday attacked a truck ferrying refugees returning home from Kenya near the southern Somali town of Afmadow. A press release from the UNHCR offices in Nairobi said two refugees were killed and another two was seriously wounded in the attack. One refugee was reported missing following the attack, in which the bandits fled with the lorry loaded with the refugees' belongings and food.

ECHO FUNDS FOOD AID FOR FAMILIES IN JUBA VALLEY (RBB 18 Oct 95 [Rapid 17 Oct 95, Ref: IP/95/1120]) About 13,000 families in southern Somalia are set to benefit from a European Union grant worth one million ECU to relieve acute food shortages due to long-running conflict. The problems of the people affected have been compounded by floods, the withdrawal of United Nations troops, and the frequent closure of Mogadishu port.

The grant, made available through the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO), will help families in the very fertile Juba area to stay in the valley, rather than moving into over-stretched cities that cannot support them. ECHO will work with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on this project, which will last three months.

The plan is to deliver dry food and seeds to families in need. The food will be bought locally, and transported from Mogadishu. To ensure that as much food as possible reaches the beneficiaries, traders will collect receipts at the point of delivery and exchange them for cash in Mogadishu or Kenya. New supplies of seeds should help replenish resources washed away in flooding.

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