| UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER |
H O R N O F A F R I C A B U L L E T I N
Vol.7 No.2 Mar-Apr 95
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SHARING POWER: A CHALLENGE FOR AFRICA
In a new African magazine, The Option, Desmond Tutu states that "the
ultimate test of a leader is whether what he does benefits the poor and
enhances the quality of their life". He goes on to describe how the dream
of independence after the colonial yoke was transformed into a "nightmare
of military dictatorships, gross violation of human rights and total
disregard for basic freedom".
There seems to be a need to reexamine the whole concept of leadership in
Africa and there are some hopeful signs that this is under way; however, all
too often African leaders are exerting their power in an authoritarian--if
not outright dictatorial--way. They are ruling by fear and terror,
surrounding themselves with yes-sayers, promoting those who constitute the
least threat. As a small elite grows richer the ordinary people become
poorer. They cling to money and power and change is often violent.
Colonial rulers set a bad example, not allowing for an indigenous leadership
to emerge and mature. Foreign cultural patterns were forced upon African
societies, and the traditional, local ways of making decisions, solving
problems, and ruling were corrupted as a result.
There is a vacuum between the leaders and the people, who remain passive and
victimized without any real means of influencing the political process. The
word "democracy" is often used in a cosmetic way to justify the ruling elite
and is seldom used in the true sense of the word.
All too often, a multi-party system and "the vote" are seen as a panacea.
However, what good are voting rights if elections are manipulated, or if
people are not aware of their rights and responsibilities as voters and just
vote as they have been told? A "multi-party system" where the parties
merely reflect the interests of a tribe or a clan, or is ruled by a clique,
in no way guarantees a functioning democracy.
A western style of democracy might not be the solution, but some kind of
participatory form of governance is needed, and not just on the top level.
It has to allow the involvement of people in the decision-making process
from the basic levels of society all they way up to the top. There is a need
for redistribution of powers, so that power is shared, the rights of the
minorities are protected and change can happen in a peaceful way. New
leaders have to be allowed to emerge, grow and mature rather than be
appointed from above, on account of their sworn loyalty to the ruler. This
transformation can only happen over time, and involves a whole new concept
of looking at the people as partners and co-leaders.
Such a transformation entails, among other things, a rejection of
governmental corruption. For Issayas Afeworki's thoughts on corruption and
leadership, see p. 5 [Eritrea: "President Afwerki on CNN"].
In Ethiopia, many big steps have been taken to break earlier centralized
governance. For the upcoming election in May, an important educational
effort is being made by Ethiopian human rights groups to instruct people in
their rights and responsiblities before they cast their vote. "Free and fair
elections" does not only mean that the procedure is correct on the voting
day; the whole process leading up to the election must be equally fair and
should be closely monitored.
In the wake of UNOSOM's withdrawal from Somalia and in the absence of a
national government, the western world is anticipating a renewal of
widespread fighting. It might still happen, but in the meantime, it is
interesting to see how the Somalis are taking charge of their country on a
local level. The traditional leaders, the religious leaders and councils of
elders, the "Guurtis", are emerging as legitimate representatives and
leaders. The countryside outside of Mogadishu is largely peaceful. Today,
in a majority of the 77 districts, councils have been set up through the
elders and religious leaders to function as administrative bodies. As many
as 1,000 councillors have either already received, or are about to receive,
basic training in administration, and the Life and Peace Institute has had
the privilege to be involved in this process.
Schools and hospitals are mostly running on a voluntary basis and local NGOs
are forming to support the work. Women are often the driving force. No
longer content to be bystanders, they take an active part in rebuilding
their society. They are practically and concretely engaged in humanitarian
work, seeing peace as a prerequisite for all development. They are also
driven by a desire to actively take part in decisions concerning their lives
and communities--decisions leading to peace or war. In this work they do not
seek confrontation as much as cooperation with the men. (See p. 19 [Somalia:
Grassroots initiatives].)
In a similar way, women in Sudan are shouldering new responsiblities in
their realization that they have both a right and a responsiblity to work
for peace. On p. 28 [Sudan: Peace talks and meetings] you will find an
account of a workshop on peace that a group of southern Sudanese women
arranged in March in order to unite and empower the local traditional
leaders of the various ethnic groups in the south so that they could
exercise their authority to reach an end to the interfactional fighting
which is traumatizing their society.
Women constitute half the population, and most often they represent the
grass roots. The fact that they are now coming forward against all odds is
one of the signs that positive changes are possible in Africa. It is a slow
process that will take a long time, but whatever support and encouragement
is invested in this process of empowering the people, is a historic step
forward on the path towards true democracy.
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reproducing this message is prohibited without the permission of the
Life & Peace Institute. Send inquiries to Everett Nelson
(enelson@nn.apc.org).
ACRONYMS:
On December 26, 1994, the Government signed an agreement that
recognized the Afar-led Front for the Restoration of Unity and
Democracy (FRUD) as a legitimate political party. The Government is
expected to name a number of FRUD members to key posts during 1995.
The FRUD had been engaged in insurgency actions against the Government
since 1991. Neither of the two officially recognized opposition
parties, the Party for Democratic Renewal (PRD) or the National
Democratic Party (PND), hold parliamentary seats. The PND boycotted
the December 1992 legislative elections, and the FRUD persuaded most
Afars not to participate. As a result, the RPP won all 65
parliamentary seats and, with the managed reelection of President
Gouled in May 1993, now holds all significant government posts as
well. The next legislative elections are scheduled for 1997.
Under the Ministry of Defense, the Djiboutian National Armed Forces
(composed of the army, the national security forces, and the
gendarmerie) are responsible for internal and external security. There
is a small uniformed police force. Since the FRUD insurgency began in
the Afar-dominated north, the armed forces have tripled in size,
placing an enormous burden on the economy. Even though the insurgency
diminished greatly during the year--consisting largely of scattered
FRUD attacks on government troops--the Government moved slowly on
demobilization, in part because adult male unemployment in the capital
was already around 60 percent...
Human rights remained restricted despite the introduction of a new
Constitution in 1992 and a limited multiparty political system. The
judiciary is still not independent of the executive. While reports of
military abuses of civilians in the north ended in March, there were
several new reports of security force brutality against Afar
civilians, including extrajudicial killings, both in the north and in
putting down demonstrations in Djiboutiville. The Government
prosecuted, but subsequently released, four political opponents who
had signed a FRUD declaration calling for continued armed struggle. At
the same time, the Government permitted somewhat increased freedoms of
speech and the press and eased restrictions on freedom of movement in
the north. The Government permitted the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC), U.N. representatives, and diplomatic missions
resident in Djibouti access to prisoners and insurgent areas. The
traditional practice of female genital mutilation continued to be a
problem...
Section 1--Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
There were no known instances of politically motivated extrajudicial
killings. However, there were credible reports that security forces
might have killed civilians in skirmishes with FRUD insurgents and
used excessive force in quelling Afar-led demonstrations. The most
important incidents included, in January, the alleged killing by
government forces of 7 FRUD supporters in retaliation for an earlier
ambush on government forces. In March there were unconfirmed reports
that government forces killed 36 FRUD supporters, including civilians
during fighting. It was impossible to verify the number of casualties
or to determine whether the reported victims were civilians or
antigovernment insurgents...
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment
The Constitution states that no one shall be subjected to torture or
to other inhuman, cruel, degrading, or humiliating punishments. Under
the new Penal Code adopted in October, torture is punishable by 15
years in prison. Senior government officials pressed for and generally
succeeded in bringing about an improvement from the situation in 1993,
particularly after peace discussions began with the FRUD in the
spring. Nevertheless, especially during the first 3 months of 1994,
credible reports indicated that security forces abused detainees,
particularly Afars in the northern region and persons suspected of
links with the FRUD. There were credible reports of the involvement of
government forces in the rape of at least one dozen Afar women and
girls in the Mabla and Oueima regions in March.
Prison conditions are harsh. There were no reports of abuses leading
to the deaths of prisoners or rape of female prisoners. The Government
permitted representatives of the ICRC regular access to all prisoners,
whether civilian or military.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
...As far as known, the Government held no political or security
detainees at the end of the year. The security forces captured about
30 FRUD combatants during the previous 2 years. Most of these persons
gained release during an ICRC-arranged exchange at the end of 1993 or
early in 1994. The agreement signed with the FRUD in December grants
amnesty to all FRUD militants...
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian Law in
Internal Conflicts
The conflict between the armed forces and the Afar-led insurgents
resulted in the excessive use of force and violations of humanitarian
law concerning treatment of civilians. Most of these abuses occurred
early in the year and ended by April after the start of negotiations
between the Government and the FRUD. After denying the ICRC and
foreign embassies access to the north during the second half of 1993,
the Government allowed controlled access to most areas in the spring.
Complete access became available after the signing of the peace accord
in December.
Low-level fighting took place between the security forces and
insurgents during the first months of the year. Following a period of
calm, the Government and the FRUD signed a peace agreement in
December. The French continued to provide humanitarian assistance to
Djibouti. French troops delivered relief supplies or were present in
limited numbers in towns like Tadjourah.
Section 2--Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The Government owns the electronic media, the most important medium
for reaching the public, as well as the principal weekly newspaper.
The official media do not criticize the President or the Government.
However, there are several opposition-run weeklies which circulate
freely with open criticism of the Government. The Government permitted
television coverage of the annual congress of one of the two legal
opposition parties, during which the party leader sharply criticized
the authorities.
In contrast to 1993, when the authorities interrogated, arrested,
detained, or tried persons who publicly criticized the Government or
the President, the Government did not commit such abuses in 1994. The
improvement appears to reflect the ending of the insurgency and
outside pressure.
The Government also did not interfere with foreign broadcasts or
prevent the distribution of foreign publications...
c. Freedom of Religion
Islam is the state religion. Virtually the entire population is Sunni
Muslim. The Government imposes no sanctions on those who choose to
ignore Islamic teachings on such matters as diet, alcoholic
consumption, and religious fasting.
The foreign community supports Roman Catholic, French Protestant,
Greek Orthodox, and Ethiopian Orthodox Churches. Foreign clergy and
missionaries may perform charitable works but proselytizing, while not
illegal, is discouraged.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration,
and Repatriation
On at least two occasion during the year, the Government razed
squatter settlements built on public land by Afars displaced by the
civil conflict and others, including illegal immigrants from Somalia
and Ethiopia. In one "clean up" early in the year, the Government
moved some of the displaced Afar to an alternative site 12 kilometers
from Djibouti and rounded up non-Djiboutians and sent them to refugee
camps. In June the Government, in attempting to raze an Afar
neighborhood, destroyed makeshift homes and a community run school.
Security forces used massive force against the subsequent, spontaneous
protest, killing 7 persons and wounding 15. The authorities claimed
that they responded to attacks on police by residents with stones,
clubs, and knives.
Since 1991 about 9,000 civilians, largely Afar, have fled the civil
conflict, mainly to Ethiopia and Eritrea. Despite the much improved
security situation in 1994, very few Afar returned in 1994...
Section 4--Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
The Government has been hostile to the formation of local human rights
groups. In the case of the Association for the Respect for Human
Rights and Liberties (ADDHL), in 1993 the Government imprisoned its
Association leader, Mohamed Houmed Soulleh, after he criticized
military abuses in the civil conflict, and in 1994 continued to deny
the ADDHL recognition (see Section 1.e.). The ADDHL continued to
function during 1994, however, with Soulleh as its head. No other
known human rights groups exist. No international human rights group
visited the country in 1994.
The Government cooperated with some international human rights
organizations, including the ICRC which in 1993 played a large role in
the exchange of prisoners in the civil conflict.
Section 5--Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Disability,
Language, or Social Status
The Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of language,
race, sex, or religion, but discrimination against women and ethnic
minorities is widespread.
Women
Women legally possess full civil rights, but in practice, due to
traditional societal discrimination in education and other areas, play
a secondary role in public life and do not have the same employment
opportunities as men. With only a few women in the professions, women
are largely confined to wage employment in small trade as well as in
the clerical and secretarial fields. Customary law discriminates
against women in such areas as inheritance, divorce, property
ownership, and travel. The French Legal Code does not, prompting many
educated women to seek to defend their interests through the Western
legal framework...
Children
Although there are a few charitable organizations working with
children, the Government devotes virtually no public resources to the
advancement of children's rights and welfare.
According to an independent expert, as many as 98 percent of
Djiboutian females have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM),
which international health experts widely condemn as physically and
psychologically damaging. In Djibouti FGM is generally performed on
girls between the ages of 7 and 10. In 1988 the Djiboutian National
Women's Union began an educational campaign against FGM, particularly
infibulation, the most extensive and dangerous form of sexual
mutilation. The campaign has had only marginal impact on this
pervasive custom. Judicial reforms enacted in 1991 stipulate that
anyone found guilty of genital mutilation of young girls can face a
heavy fine and 5 years in prison. However, the Government has not
convicted anyone under this statute...
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
The Government continued to discriminate against citizens on the basis
of ethnicity in terms of employment and advancement. The Issa (the
dominant Somali clan in Djibouti) control the ruling party, the civil
and security services, and the military. The President's subclan, the
Mamassan, is particularly strong and wields disproportionate power in
the affairs of state...
SOME 300 FORMER FRUD FIGHTERS JOIN NATIONAL ARMY
CLOSING TIME
Pressure for closure has come from Gulf States, which have promised to
make up the estimated 300 million Djibouti Francs (US $1.69 mn.) that
the government will lose in duties and taxes. The Saudi Arabian
government is providing another $5 mn. for improvements to the King
Fahd highway to the north.
President Hassan Gouled Aptidon's goverment is seriously short of
cash. In particular, Djibouti port has suffered from high charges and
from problems along the railway to Addis Ababa. Much Ethiopian transit
trade has shifted to Assab in Eritrea and Berbera in Somaliland.
Islamic influence and attendance at mosques have much increased in
Djibouti lately. Djibouti is headquarters of the Muslim World League,
ostensibly a Saudi non-govermental organisation. It is widely seen as
linked to various Al Itahad Islamist movements in Ethiopia and
Somalia, though it strongly denies the charge of spreading Islamic
fundamentalism.
France has disappointed Djibouti's government, which hoped that aid
would be unblocked after last year's Peace Accord with a faction of
the opposition Front pour la Restauration de l'Unite et de la
Democratie. But the only reward from Paris was an assurance of support
in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund...
DIPLOMATS STAY OUT
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reproducing this message is prohibited without the permission of the
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ACRONYMS:
PRESIDENT AFWERKI ON CNN
...CNN: As you talked to people here in Washington and perhaps in
Europe and elsewhere, I am sure you realized that there is a mood for
not spending much money outside the US or other Europian countries. Is
that difficult to counteract?
ISAIAS: ...What makes a difference is what we do in our own countries.
If we keep our own houses in order, use our domestic resources
effectively, use borrowed money effectively, I don't think we need to
talk about aid. I believe we need to have a common perspective and
understanding of the issue of aid. Africa cannot solve its problems by
depending on aid.
CNN: What are the top priorities in Eritrea in the next few years?
ISAIAS: In a country devastated by a very long war, we first of all
need to deal with our infrastructure - roads, telecommunications,
energy and basic infrastructure for development in the country. If we
can overcome that difficulty and can effectively use our domestic
resources, then we will be in a position to say that we are
self-sufficient and can solve our problems on our own.
CNN: How can you do that?
ISAIAS: It is possible by designing correct economic policies.
Encouraging investments internally, combining resources from within
and outside the country and having good governance will definitely
solve the problems and make programs successful.
CNN: Is fixing roads or fixing telephone systems going to be enough to
help solve health and life expectancy problems in your country?
ISAIAS: I don't think it is difficult. The difficult part of it has
been the abuse and misuse of resources in many parts of Africa.
Domestic resources have not been used effectively. Aid coming from
outside has been going to private pockets.That is why we find
ourselves trapped in very difficult circumstances. If we can change
our attitudes in terms of governance, if we know how to use our
resources, human and otherwise, I don't think it's an impossible task.
CNN: Do you have to get together with your counterparts, the leaders
of other African countries?
ISAIAS: I think that is a major thing that we have in mind. Given the
global economic circumstances we have to live with that reality, not
as individual separate states. We have to organize ourselves as
regional and sub-regional components. We can then effectively
implement programs in a collective manner.
CNN: Does that also mean getting together and dealing with the
corruption you just referred to?
ISAIAS: Without dealing with corruption in Africa, without good
governance, I don't think any political agenda will be successful. Not
only one particular agenda in one country but collectively dealing
with such problems, definitely will have its impact on the overall
change that would happen any time in the future.
CNN: The superpowers, the colonial powers have effectively left
Africa. Have you been left, those of you who have to lead Africa, with
enough governance and educational resources?
ISAIAS: I don't think that we have been left alone. We still have
problems linked to the Cold War era. African countries and African
governments are not fully independent to deal with their own affairs.
There is a lot of interference, a lot of pressure, a lot of influence
coming from outside. People need to be free in the first place from
all these linkages. We need to look forward but we don't need to link
our history, which is not a good one, to be an obstacle in formulating
new correct policies in implementing them by using the resources
available in each and every country.
CNN: Some analysts say that all the money that goes to Africa, the
requirements, the details of lending are too much for fledgling
governments like yours to handle. Is that the case, what can you do
with those requirements?
ISAIAS: I think there is a lot of cynicism in that attitude. Many of
these governments and partners from the North, who talk about the
abuse of resources, have themselves deliberately corrupted governments
for their own ends. It has now become a hangover in many parts of
Africa. I think they shoulder responsibility equally with the
governments who have misused those resources. When talking about new
attitudes, we are talking about changing the whole attitude from
within and from without the continent.
CNN: Many people say South Africa is going to be an engine for change
throughout the continent. Do you feel that way?
ISAIAS: If many African countries and governments are allowed to make
it on their own, are supported to stand on their own two feet, I am
quite sure Africa, not only in the South but the whole of the
continent will be able to make it.
CNN: We hear a lot about problems like Rwanda, Somalia. The West
intervenes to try to solve problems and by the time it is over, its
troops are pulled out in shame, insulted in some cases. People then
say why give money, why give aid, why give expertise?
ISAIAS: That is part of the cynicism that people have in mind -
bringing about the ugly side of Africa to justify policies that are
misguided. I believe they do not reflect what Africa is doing to get
rid of the ills of the past and look forward to change reality. People
talk about Rwanda and Somalia to give an image that is distorted. They
basically end up justifying wrong policies formulated by those who
talk about the ugly side of Africa.
CNN: Is that the media's fault to some extent?
ISAIAS: I think the media has nothing to do with this. It is part of
the institutions of the West. We can't single out the media and blame
it for distorting the image of Africa.
CNN: Do non-governmental organizations make enough of a difference?
ISAIAS: I don't think they are going to make any difference. We're
talking about encouraging meaningful investment from outside , from
the business community side to see that opportunities are seriously
utilized in mutually beneficial programs. I don't think governmental
or non-governmental programs in Africa will help solve the chronic
problems we witnessed.
CNN: Imagine that I am a business person, and you are trying to
persuade me to invest in Eritrea. What have you got for me?
ISAIAS: I would need to make the climate very conducive for investment
and those who are interested in investing. With bad governance, with
bad management of the economy you cannot possibly encourage investors
to go anywhere in Africa. What we are doing in Eritrea is make it
possible for investors to seriously consider having a venture in our
country.
CNN: What can they find in Eritrea if they come looking?
ISAIAS: Peace in the first place, a conducive economic climate for
investment. The potential resources for investment are there -
tourism, mining, industry and fisheries among other things.
CNN: There've been complaints that western industries come in, exploit
the people, pay low wages and suck the continent dry of its resources.
ISAIAS: Unequal partnership has been one of the causes of the problems
we see in many African countries. Partnership has not been
well-defined or designed. We need to revise that too, make external
investments or engagements in Africa mutually useful.
ERITREAN NATIONALS EMPLOYED ABROAD TO PAY TAX
/HAB/ The law, in practice since independence, caused a heated debate
in Sweden last summer. Sweden questioned Eritrea's right to tax Swedes
of Eritrean origin. (See HAB 4/94.)
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES HAVE LOST CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS
As may be recalled a presidential statement was issued on 25th October
1994, regarding Jehovah's Witnesses in Eritrea. Some groups have used
the said statement to try to portray the government as an oppressor
and abuser of human rights, and for the past two months they have been
spreading misinformation about the government. However, the
accusations by the Jehovah's Witnesses have no basis whatsoever and
are total lies. The truth is the following:
The Jehovah's Witnesses lost their right to citizenship because they
refuse to accept the government of Eritrea and its laws. The
government has refrained from taking action against them, hoping they
would cease their repeated unlawful actions.
1. The Eritrean people have felt the consequences of 30 years of
bloody war and have lost over 60,000 people, with 20,000 crippled and
over 700,000 forced to flee. [Words indistinct] therefore those who
watched silently while the Eritrean people were killed
indiscriminately, cannot talk about morality now when the only action
taken [against the Jehovah's Witnesses] is sacking them from their
jobs. There is no family that has not lost loved ones in the war.
Those who are not affected are the Jehovah's Witnesses. They refused
to take part in the struggle. As a result, the Eritrean people
developed a strong hatred of them.
3. In 1991, when the people of Eritrea were casting their votes during
the referendum, those people [Jehovah's Witnesses] refused to cast
their votes, saying they did not recognize the so-called government of
Eritrea, but only the heavenly bodies.
4. The Jehovah's Witnesses cannot speak about human rights regarding a
government they do not recognize. They have lost their right of
citizenship as a result of not recognizing the government of Eritrea
and accepting its laws. What everybody should understand is that the
rights of individuals go hand in hand with national obligations.
5. The people of Eritrea were angered when the Jehovah's Witnesses
refused to vote during the referendum and asked the government to take
the necessary action against them, while some people took action of
their own against them. The government, including the president
himself, tried to calm the situation and warned those people who were
taking action against the Jehovah's believers.
6. The Jehovah's Witnesses refused to do national service.
7. Finally, the government stated that they [Jehovah's Witnesses]
would not have rights equal to those of any other citizen since they
had refused to accept the government and its laws. [Passage
indistinct] Patience has its limits. Based on the above points, the
Ministry of Internal Affairs has no option other than to abide by the
statement issued on 25th February 1994 [date as heard].
Ministry of Internal Affairs, Asmara, 1st March 1995.
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION STATEMENT
- All students who obtain less than 2.0 grade point average in the
secondary school leaving certificate examination should do national
service duty for one and a half years. After completing their national
service they will be provided with the opportunity to obtain suitable
vocational skills and those who succeed will have the chance of
pursuing their higher education.
- Students who get above 2.0 grade point average in the secondary
school leaving certificate examination will receive a one-year
preparatory course which qualifies them to join the university. At the
end of the year, however, they will sit for an examination for the
entrance of the university.
- Students who pass the university entrance examination will continue
their university education without interuption provided that they do
their national service duty after finishing their university studies.
- Students who could not pass the university entrance examination will
be provided with the opportunity to obtain a certificate or diploma or
its equivalent through formal vocational training or other courses,
provided that they do their national service duty for one and a half
years after finishing their vocational training.
UPGRADING TEACHERS
EDUCATION BY RADIO
ERRA AND CERA TO MERGE
DISABILITY DOES NOT MEAN INABILITY
On March 9 a conference on disability issues, the first of its kind in
Eritrea, opened in Asmara. It brought together over 400 people from
Eritrea and abroad to discuss practical ways to ensure that families
and communities can support and encourage disabled people to lead
active and productive lives. Among the issues discussed were the
difficulties caused by physical and mental impairment, blindness and
deafness.
In a speech to the conference, the head of the Social Affairs
Authority, Ms. Aster Fesshazion spoke of the need for clearcut
policies on disability issues. "We must use our limited resources,"
she said,"to ensure that disabled people enjoy the same rights as
everyone else."...
It is up to Eritrea, its government and its people, to ensure that
disabled people, now and in the future, take their rightful place in
the society that they, fighter and civilian alike, helped to free. And
it is time that non-disabled people realise and challenge the fact
that all too often their attitude is the biggest problem that disabled
people have to face.
FOOD ASSESSMENT FOR 1995
INTELLIGENT USE OF EMERGENCY FOOD AID
a) free distribution of food...
b) food for work...
c) cash for work has been introduced on a limited scale in very few
areas. The money that has been paid out to the target group comes from
monitization of food aid...
It is against this background that ERRA has decided to initiate a
debate with international donor organizations on issues related to the
rational use of emergency food aid in Eritrea. ERRA, rightly, states
that it is unwise to continue using emergency food aid as was done
during the war years. There should be a fundamental change in approach
in the use of food aid so that it ultimately leads to food security
and improves the capacity and capability of the beneficiaries to cope
with emerging situations.
ERRA is putting its fingers on two sets of problems which have beset
Eritrea's food situation--the immediate and the underlying. Since the
first one contributes to the other, the two have merged, in many
minds. In the eyes of some outsiders, it may be "neater" to counter
visible hunger than to stop its recurrence...
It is to avoid this very pitfall that ERRA wants a "radical revision
of donor policies" on relief food aid. According to ERRA, food aid
should be used to reduce dependency on food aid. ERRA sees food
security as a state when all people at all times have both physical
and economic access to sufficient food to meet their dietary needs for
a productive healthy life.
In practical terms, this translates into giving Eritreans the
necessary elbow room to allow them to use food aid in the way that
they consider most appropriate for their own reality but always with
the proviso that all actions taken enhance concretely food security
for the general population. Flexible use of food aid, including its
monitization, is essential if Eritrea is ever to devise homegrown
solutions to combat food dependency...
The negative side-effects of free distribution of relief food (with
the exception of life-saving situations) in the recipient country are
well-known: Many young people in rural and urban areas in Eritrea and
elsewhere in Africa are waiting for their quota of food handouts while
idling away their time and their energy... Furthermore, imported food
aid packages (cereals, pulses, edible oils, etc.) have literally
swamped many African rural markets. Certainly, relief food aid is not
intended to drive local producers out of the market. When farmers in
Europe are being subsidized to stay in business, is it right that
farmers living on the edge of survival in poor countries be forced to
compete with imported food donations distributed freely?
Today, relief food plays a central role in supplementing the diet of
chronically drought affected people in Eritrea. In many instances, the
food is handed out to the deserving target groups under so-called
`food for work' schemes. Food for work, even though it has some
merits, is not the real solution. `Cash for work', on the other hand,
is a more realistic option when the long-term interest of the
recipient is taken into account. Why? For the simple, yet fundamental,
reason that money (as opposed to quotas of grain and vegetable oil)
empowers. Money presents choices and, at the same, nurtures the
nascent market forces. Nobody with earned cash in his/her hands and
with food to be purchased will go hungry.
In the coming months, the Eritrean government is expected to announce
a moratorium on free distribution of food aid except for those who are
absolutely needy. The criteria for the entitlement to free
distribution of food aid would be on account of poor health, old age,
physical disability and for female headed households with children
under five years of age. The new focus will be on food for work and
cash for work, and where situations allow a combination of the two...
PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE: DISASTER WORKSHOP CONCLUDES
The five-day event was jointly organized by the Eritrean Relief and
Rehabilitation Agency (ERRA) and the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP), within the framework of the UN Disaster Management
Training Program for Africa. It brought together 60 representatives of
governmental and non-governmental organizations, donor agencies and
the UN to discuss effective ways of lessening the impact of natural
and man-made disasters...
The workshop called for practical steps to establish an integrated
mechanism for disaster management. Such a strategy, participants
stressed, should include ways to lessen the long-term impact of
disasters. The workshop adopted four key recommendations: the
establishment of a disaster prevention and management co-ordinating
agency with clearcut powers; appropriate legislation covering the
activities of such a body; the inclusion of an action program on
drought-management in the country's macro-policy; and increased
popular participation in the prevention and management of disasters. A
department dealing with disaster prevention and management has already
been set up under the office of the Director of ERRA.
MARINE RESOURCES STILL TO BE TAPPED, SAYS MINISTER
In an interview on Monday on Eritrean Television, Dr. Saleh said that
Eritreans had so far failed to invest in fisheries, despite the
potential for rich returns. He added that people with appropriate
skills were reluctant to work in the lowland coastal regions.
Dr. Saleh noted that a wide variety of fish live in the Red Sea; many
of them are unique to the area and many are highly nutritious and
valuable sources of food...
SOUTH KOREAN COMPANY BUILDS SEMBEL HOUSING PROJECT
US TO TRAIN ERITREAN MILITARY
ITALY SIGNS COOPERATION ACCORD WITH ERITREA
It said the agreement was signed by foreign ministers Susanna Agnelli
and Petros Solomon in Rome.
A ministry statement said Italy, which ruled Eritrea from 1890 until
1940, would help the newly independent state develop through
appropriate financing and had agreed to help fund a national energy
project in the country...
RWANDA'S KAGAME HOLDS TALKS WITH AFEWERKI
For his part, President Isayas noted that the government of Eritrea
would do everything possible to help the Rwandan government in its bid
to bring about peace in the country.
MUBARAK, AFEWERKI DISCUSS REGIONAL, INTERNATIONAL ISSUES
AFEWERKI HOME AFTER VISITS TO KENYA AND UGANDA
WAR OF WORDS
KIDNAPPED ITALIANS REPORTED TO BE WELL
The kidnappers themselves confirmed that the Italians were well and
said they had been kidnapped because they had strayed into the tribe's
area without authorization. The kidnappers' demands for the release of
the hostages are still not known but Ambassador Melani said that there
had been no attempt to ask for ransom.
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ACRONYMS:
GOVERNMENT TALKS WITH CAFPD
According to one CAFPD delegate, the negotiations have begun and "the
objective of the discussion is to be able to remove some of the
hindrances on the democratization process". He said that it is only
after these barriers have been lifted that "the question of the
forthcoming elections can be discussed". However, this approach to the
discussions has not yet been approved by CAFPD member organizations
which are in exile or abroad. The All Amhara People's Organization
(AAPO) opposition movement which was also invited to the negotiations
has not yet sent a delegate.
Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) chairman Shimber Abdel Kadir
and his vice chairman Mohamed Hussein have disclaimed the value of an
announcement made on March 16 by an alleged member of the movement's
central committee, Mohamed Sarahaye Hidding, that ONLF would
participate in the May elections; they said that Hidding was not
qualified to represent their movement. ONLF leader Shimber Abdel Kadir
said that negotiations were going on "both within and outside
Ethiopia" between ONLF and the Transitional Government of Ethiopia,
but added that "If the TGE lets this illegitimate group participate in
the coming election in ONLF's name it will threaten the peace and
reconciliation negotiations".
[ION editorial comment:] Yet another Ethiopian opposition movement
made its appearance in Washington last month: the Tigrean Alliance for
National Democracy (TAND). It is reported to be grouping together
several Tigrean organizations such as Multi National Congress Party of
Ethiopia (MNCPE), Tigray People's Democratic Movement (TPDM), and
Ethiopian Democratic Coalition (EDC), as well as individuals who were
formerly members of Tigrean People's Liberation Front (a coalition
member of he ruling EPRDF government in Addis Ababa). TAND is
denouncing the "anti-democratic" character of the Ethiopian government
whilst at the same time calling for the use of "peaceful methods of
protest."
THREE PARTIES IN AFAR REGION SEEK NEUTRAL ELECTORAL SUPERVISORY BODY
They said the electoral board, heads and section executives deployed
at all levels have been mischievous, and biased in favour of and
against some parties throughout their registration process and
collection of endorsement signatures. The three parties said the
election executives have been engaged in hindering the registration
process by hiding and changing addresses. They said it was paradoxical
to see at work individuals who had been caught red-handed while
committing acts of treachery during the election of the Constituent
Assembly...
INDEPENDENT ELECTION CANDIDATES ACCUSE OFFICIAL TV STATION OF BIAS
MORE THAN 280 OLF MEMBERS ON TRIAL
The state-run Ethiopian News Agency said on Monday the OLF members had
been on trial in the central high court at Zeway town, 200 km (120
miles) south of Addis Ababa, since January 17.
The OLF withdrew from the transitional government set up after the
overthrow of dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991 and tried to
revive a guerrilla war in Oromo region in southern Ethiopia.
The Oromo are the largest single ethnic group in Ethiopia with about
one third of the country's 50 million people...
CONFLICTS BETWEEN OLF AND IFLO
VOICE OF OROMO LIBERATION HEARD AGAIN
VOL's previous series of broadcasts, which were last heard on 29th
June 1992, were believed to emanate from a transmitter in Sudan and
the cessation of these broadcasts was linked at the time to an
improvement in relations between the Sudanese and Ethiopian
governments...
ZIMBABWE DENIES MENGISTU RECEIVED CITIZENSHIP
"He (Mengistu) has not been given Zimbabwean citizenship and a
passport, neither has his wife and family," Home Affairs Minister
Dumiso Dabengwa told Reuters.
Zimbabwe's independent Sunday Gazette had reported the exiled
Mengistus had been granted citizenship although they had not stayed in
the country for a required minimum five years...
The Zimbabwean government has repeatedly refused Ethiopian requests to
extradite Mengistu, arguing he was a refugee entitled to asylum...
Thousands of black guerrillas fighting white rule in Rhodesia, which
became independent Zimbabwe in 1980, were trained in Ethiopia during
the 1970s.
ETHIOPIAN LAWYER SAYS EMPEROR'S MURDER NOT PROVED
The lawyer spoke at the resumed trial of former members of the
"dergue" military junta under dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam charged
with genocide and crimes against humanity during 17 years in power.
"Unless it was aimed at creating public resentment against members of
the dergue, the prosecution has not proved that the emperor was
strangled to death by a person," the lawyer said.
Speaking for defendants Major Nadew Zekaria and Sergeant Getahun
Aboyi, he also told Addis Ababa central high court that they rejected
the charges of murder brought against them and called for their cases
to be dismissed as unsubstantiated.
The 269 pages of charges against the former dergue members say
Selassie was held at a palace for a year after being deposed by the
military and was strangled to death on August 26, 1975, in his bed...
Defence lawyers argued on Tuesday that the cases against the
defendants should be referred to an international tribunal.
"The U.N. Security Council has resolved that those accused of genocide
in Rwanda and former Yugoslavia should be tried by an international
tribunal," a defence lawyer told the court...
The trial is one of the largest of its kind since leaders of Nazi
Germnay faced justice at Nuremberg after World War Two.
/HAB/ On March 16, the trial was adjourned for 2 months to give time
to the prosecution to prepare its arguments.
FIGHTS AROUND MOSQUE
Ethiopian police arrested about fifty leaders and members of the two
rival groups, including Mohamed Awel Raja and Fuad Mohamed Mussa for
the old Islamic council, and Grazmatch Hadis Nur Hussein, Mohamed
Amadi and Abd al-Rahman Sharif for the rival group...
ARAB SOURCE ON FUNDING
ETHIOPIA SEEKS SUPPORT FOR FAMINE PREVENTION
In a nationwide address to mark the 10th anniversary of the famine,
President Meles Zenawi said peace and development were vital to
prevent any similar drought and famine and called for the people's
support for a government disaster prevention plan.
"Peace and development are matters of life and death and the
instruments for the prevention of a...similar drought," said Meles...
Speaking on Thursday night, he said a programme of disaster
prevention, preparedness and mitigation implemented since last year
had good results fighting the effects of recurrent drought.
Among the programme measures are a plan to lessen the country's
dependence on rainwater by utilising rivers, which an official report
has said could be harnessed to develop 2.4 million hectares (5.9
million acres) of land through irrigation...
FAMINE LOOMING IN SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA, SAYS GOAL
On his return from Ethiopia, GOAL's director, Mr John O'Shea, said
that acute food shortages, caused by drought and a failed harvest,
have put at risk some 80,000 people in the Sodo region.
"Hopefully nothing on the scale of the 1984 famine will occur here
again, but the signs are ominous," said Mr O'Shea. He added that the
bulk of the population was subsistence farmers and when the crop fails
as it had, it suffered. "Substantial quantities of food will have to
be provided quickly."...
ETHIOPIAN REFUGEES TO COME HOME IN 1995
Marawn Pierre Khoury, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) office in Addis Ababa said that $8.2 million had been
earmarked for the repatriation of refugees currently in Sudan,
Djibouti and Kenya.
UNHCR will spend $6.6 million of that to repatriate and reintegrate
the 60,000 Ethiopian refugees in Sudan who will be brought to their
original homes in the north of the country in an operation beginning
next month, he said...
Khoury said the repatriation of 30,000 Ethiopian refugees in Djibouti
was in progress with 17,165 of them already back home. The remaining
refugees are also expected to be repatriated within the next 15 weeks.
Khoury said repatriation of some 3,000 Ethiopians sheltered at Dabaab
Camp in north-eastern Kenya is expected to start next month. UNHCR has
no plan to repatriate the 360,000 refugees from Somalia, Sudan,
Djibouti and Kenya who are living in Ethiopia.
Khoury said Sudanese refugees were mostly young men and women who fled
their country to escape forced recruitments into the military both by
the government and rebels.
US STATE DEPARTMENT HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT
ANTI-US TREND
HIJACK OF ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES AIRCRAFT ENDS IN SUDAN
SUDAN REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO EXTRADITION TREATY WITH ETHIOPIA
ONCE-MARXIST ETHIOPIA TO START PRIVATISATION
Privatisation Agency Board chairman Assefa Abraha said state-owned
enterprises and factories with assets not exceeding $8 million each
would be sold at auction to local investors.
They would include the Ras, Ethiopia and Harambee hotels in Addis
Ababa, the main mineral water producer, five soft drinks factories, 11
cooking oil and food processing plants, 20 restaurants, scores of
retail centres and supermarkets and several agricultural businesses
and dairy farms, Assefa added.
Speaking on state-run television on Wednesday night, he said employees
of government-owned businesses would have the choice of organising
themselves to buy up their firms or working for the new owner...
IMF ON IMPLEMENTATION OF ETHIOPIAN REFORM PROGRAM
ETHIOPIA GETS $32.7 MILLION JAPANESE GRANT
The agency said part of the grant would be used for buying machinery
for road maintenance.
Japan has taken an active interest in Ethiopia since dictator Mengistu
Haile Mariam was overthrown in 1991...
Japanese assistance to the Horn of Africa nation was $66 million in
1994, the agency added.
SAUDI ARABIA SEES SCOPE FOR INVESTMENTS IN ETHIOPIA
Ezra Worku, general manager, Investment Office of Ethiopia, said that
his country offers tremendous investment opportunities due to the
environment created by the transitional government. It encourages and
facilitates the participation of foreign investors in the development
effort of Ethiopia's national economy...
He said the delegation which arrived here Saturday held talks with the
Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry's members and other
industrialists and potential investors. They have shown their
interests in agriculture, textile, hide and skin industry, tourism and
mining sector. Ethiopia is rich in mineral wealth. Hence this sector
offers splendid opportunities for closer cooperation between the
Kingdom and Ethiopia, he noted.
Gold exploration is a field of common interest because both Saudi
Arabia and Ethiopia have rich deposits of gold and their experiences
could be exchanged for their mutual benefit, Worku added...
DISCOVERY OF LARGE NATURAL GAS FIELD
Mr Jihad Aba Koya [last element of name phonetic], the general manager
of the company, said yesterday [8th February] that a deposit of 68bn
cu.m. of natural gas was discovered at the Kalu locality of Region
Five [eastern Ethiopia]. He said that the quantity was comparable with
the deposit of countries of great potential like the USA...
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ACRONYMS:
THE UN GETS OUT OF SOMALIA
For a time, it looked as if General Aideed's power was indeed waning.
He stayed out of circulation, adopting the security measures that kept
him safe when the best of America's high-tech and intelligence
services were hunting him for his alleged part in killing American and
Pakistani peacekeepers in 1993...
Things don't look all that good for anyone living in southern
Mogadishu. In some ways it is better in the north - so long as you do
not fall out with the authorities. Northern Mogadishu, though still
under the nominal control of Ali Mahdi Muhammad, has fallen into the
hands of Islamic fundamentalists who have imposed sharia law at its
most intolerant. Street crime, given the punishments, is almost
unknown. But, provided it is done in the privacy of the home, a blind
eye is turned to boozing and other non-Islamic pastimes.
Cross to the south of the city, through the shell-shattered centre,
and tension mounts immediately. Gunmen lurk at street corners, urchins
snatch through car windows at the faces of drivers wearing dark
glasses, and after sunset only the criminal or the insane venture
abroad.
General Aideed, having reasserted his power by grabbing the airport,
is now set for a confrontation with the Islamists in the north; from
the areas they control they can stop ships from docking and aircraft
from landing. "We must try to achieve reconciliation. There is no
point and no future in endless lawlessness," says Borhan Dhalmas, a
businessman who was once an Aideed loyalist. But the general is back
on top, and the militias, with the UN gone, have no source of income
but crime. People may be needing that razor wire.
BOUTROS-GHALI: "THE UN WILL NOT ABANDON SOMALIA"
Since the UN assumed command of the mission from the USA on 4 May
1993, 135 peacekeepers, including 26 US personnel, have been killed.
UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said efforts to bring peace
and humanitarian aid to Somalia will continue. "The UN will not
abandon Somalia," he said, but warned that distribution of aid would
depend on the co-operation of Somali leaders.
Erling Dessau, the UN co-ordinator of humanitarian assistance to
Somalia, said that nine UN agencies and 38 private aid groups are
planning to provide health care, education and agricultural
assistance. Relief groups have withdrawn their international staff
until they can assess the security situation following the withdrawal
of the peacekeeping force.
CLASHES ERUPT AT SOMALI AIRPORT, AT LEAST FOUR DIE
Clan elders intervened to broker a truce and on Saturday Mogadishu
residents said the airport area was calm.
The clash underlined the fragility of the agreement between rival
clans, reached after the U.N.'s departure, to share control of the
airport and sea port.
Both facilities are effectively under the control of the Habre Gedir
militia of Mohamed Farah Aideed. Under the accord, members of the
Abgal and militias from other clans are supposed to join them.
But even within the Habre Gedir ranks, militia gangs from different
sub-clans have already carved up the airfield, which comprises a
tarmac runway and a few terminal buildings, into a mosaic of family
"turfs".
Members of the U.N.-trained Somali police, the only symbol of national
security in a nation without a government, have stood by helplessly
because they are unarmed.
In a country devastated by war and without much employment, control of
a chunk of the airport, or anything from a stretch of road to a water
well, means the largely youthful militiamen can live by extorting
money from anyone needing to pass...
Looting has gone on unchecked, often with the militias leading the
frenzy to strip the airport of everything the U.N. left, witnesses
say.
The world body took away vital equipment such as fire engines and
control tower communications. It says these items, plus tug boats from
the port, will be returned when the Somalis make peace.
The sea port has functioned well since the U.N. departed. At the
weekend, a fuel tanker, two cargo ships and three of the traditional
timber dhow cargo vessels that ply between the Gulf and Africa were
unloading.
Market prices of food and fuel which rose in anticipation of fighting
ahead of the U.N.'s departure have now dropped sharply, a sign of
confidence in security at the port, Somalis said...
AYDID AND ALI MAHDI AGREE ON COMMITTEE TO ADMINISTER PORTS AND
AIRPORTS
Mr Muhammad Farah Aydid and Mr Ali Muhammad have jointly released a
12-point programme on how to administer the port and airports of
Banaadir region [in and around Mogadishu].
In the light of the joint agreement of 20th February 1995 on how to
administer the port and airports in Banaadir region, and of the joint
agreement on forming an administrative and operational committee for
the port and airports of Banaadir region on 5th March 1995, and of the
opening of the port [of Mogadishu] on 5th March [as heard] 1995 and
also of the dire need for the smooth administration of the ports and
airports, the leaders [Aydid and Ali Mahdi] resolved:
1. To form a technical peace committee to mediate between port and
airport officials.
2. This committee will be answerable to the joint ports and airports
committee.
3. The technical peace committee is solely responsible for ensuring
the safety of all workers at the ports and airports, whether Somalis
or foreigners, and the smooth business administration and
international communications of the ports and airports.
4. The technical peace committee is responsible for checking all
matters and factors that may pose a threat to safety, stability and
cooperation in all the branches of the security organs entrusted with
the security of the ports and airports, with the full authority to use
any powers at their disposal to tackle anything that may threaten the
safety of the ports and airports.
5. The technical peace committee is required to unite all security
organs and put distinctive marks on all the technicals [battle wagons]
to be used for the purpose of ensuring the safety and the security of
all the ports and airports.
6. Ports and airports are out of bounds to all forces and technicals
other than those clearly marked and being used by the technical peace
committee.
7. The technical peace committee will decide on the number of security
personnel to be deployed at the ports and airports, and the logistics
of the security personnel will be the responsibility of the joint
ports and airports committee.
8. The police force will be deployed inside the ports and airports
while the other security organs will be responsible for the safety and
security of the outer perimeter of the ports and airports and all
roads where merchandise to and from the ports and airports pass.
9. The technical peace committee will have to take full responsibility
for the safety of all goods, food and medicine brought into the
country by the international humanitarian organizations. The committee
must facilitate the easy access of humanitarian personnel to the ports
and airports in order for them to serve the general public of Somalia,
so long as they [the aid officials] do not run counter to the
interests and laws of the country.
10. All foreigners entering or leaving the country must be cleared by
the immigration authorities.
11. Anyone who commits crimes against the security of the state and is
apprehended will be handed over to the judicial authorities of the
country and justice will be administered by the joint judicial
authorities.
12. The joint ports and airports committee will specify to all
concerned, by way of circulars and publications, any offence which may
not currently be very clear to all users of ports and the airports of
Banaadir region.
BETTER OFF WITHOUT U.N. TROOPS
"It was the best thing that UNOSOM (the U.N. Operation in Somalia) did
in the last year - get out," special envoy Sigurd Illing told Reuters
in Nairobi.
"There's been more progress in the last three weeks than in the last
four years. There's no doubt about that," he said.
Thousands of foreign troops patrolled Somalia for the last two years
while the U.N.'s diplomatic officials tried to broker peace between
the warlords at a series of conferences...
"They (the Somalis) had resources lavished on them by UNOSOM which
kept the strife going and as you know much of it went into their
pockets. UNOSOM became part of the problem," Illing said.
Illing visited the Somali capital this week and met a wide range of
Somalis, from faction leaders Mohamed Farah Aideed and his rival Ali
Mahdi Mohamed to clan elders and businessmen.
The envoy, who is chairman of the Somalia Aid Coordination Body (SACB)
- an umbrella for relief agencies - said he was impressed that the
Somalis had agreed to share control of the air and sea port...
The Somalis have appealed for UNOSOM to return equipment that it took
away but which is vital for the running of the facilities, such as tug
boats, control tower communications and fire engines.
The U.N. said it would hand the material over when the Somalis agreed
to establish their first government since the state collapsed into
anarchy four years ago - but at the end of this month, UNOSOM's
mandate expires and it will be disbanded.
Illing said he would recommend a return of the equipment once a
regional administration was set up in the Benadir region, which
includes Mogadishu and the hinterland.
The Somalis also told him they wanted aid to pay for public services
such as the police force, a U.N.-trained body that was left without
wages when the U.N. left.
The police have helped militias take control of the port and airport
and keep looters out.
Illing added that relief agencies needed to have a Somali authority to
deal with rather than rely on contacts with militia leaders or tribal
elders...
KEY FIGURES ARGUE SOMALIA'S LESSONS
In two of the most important, a pair of Americans disagree about what
went wrong but agree that the United Nations must not abandon
peacekeeping.
The Americans are Ambassador Robert B. Oakley, who served as the
special envoy of Presidents George Bush and Clinton on two separate
assignments to Somalia, and retired Rear Adm. Jonathan Howe, who
served as the chief U.N. official in Somalia during some of its most
controversial moments.
Oakley believes that the political inexperience of Howe and his staff
led to the futile manhunt for warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid that ended
in October, 1993, with the death of 18 American troops.
This is denied by Howe, who insists that the United Nations had to
make Aidid accountable for his misdeeds. The deaths of the U.S. troops
prompted Clinton to announce the eventual withdrawal of U.S.
peacekeepers, a decision that crippled the mission and led to its
demise earlier this month.
Oakley's views are set down in a book, "Somalia and Restore Hope,"
written with his deputy, John L. Hirsch, and scheduled for publication
later this month. The publisher, the U.S. Institute of Peace, has made
advance copies available.
The Washington Quarterly will publish Howe's assessment of the Somalia
mission in its May issue. Howe discussed his views in a telephone
interview with The Times.
To illustrate what they regard as the United Nations' lack of
understanding of Somali politics and culture, Oakley and Hirsch say
that soon after the United Nations took over from the American-led
operation in May, 1993, Aidid and his followers concluded that the
United Nations was biased against them. Aidid, according to Oakley and
Hirsch, "believed that Howe had deliberately attempted to embarrass
him and harm his political prospects by renouncing (U.N.) support for
a Mogadishu peace conference that Aidid had convened in mid-May."
But Howe, defending his role in the U.N. withdrawal of support for
Aidid's conference, said he did so only because Aidid "kept reneging
on the agreements and changing the rules of the game."
Howe said the United Nations was trying to help Aidid and his
opponents find some "common ground" in preparation for the conference.
Howe said the United Nations had started out trying not to play
favorites in Somalia.
But, when Aidid's followers ambushed and killed 25 Pakistani
peacekeepers, Howe said, "something had changed - Aidid had changed
sides against us." The United Nations then mounted the manhunt for
Aidid because "there needed to be accountability," Howe said.
Oakley and Hirsch criticize the Clinton Administration for failing to
explain to Congress and the public that the peacekeepers in Somalia,
unlike most peacekeepers, had the authority to use military power to
enforce the peace.
"Thus it is unsurprising that the Oct. 3 events (when the U.S. troops
were killed) generated an immediate political explosion, obliging
Clinton to change Somalia policy rapidly and precipitating a general
loss of support for peacekeeping," they say.
Oakley and Hirsch make a plea for backing up peacekeeping with heavy
force...
Oakley and Hirsch urge the U.S. government not to abandon an active
role in peacekeeping...
U.N. FUNDS HELPED MILITIAS' WAR MACHINE
Victor Gbeho, the last of five special envoys in the U.N. Operation in
Somalia (UNOSOM) which is about to evacuate the anarchic Horn of
Africa country, said militias had been taxing salaries of 2,500
Somalis employed by the mission for months.
"You can be sure that did not go towards building schools or
hospitals," he told reporters in Mogadishu.
"You may say that indirectly, we contributed to the fighting."
UNOSOM has poured enormous sums into Somalia's economy since it first
arrived in 1992. Estimates of the mission's cost run well over $3
billion dollars - and Gbeho said one of the reasons why it was being
closed was financial.
In the view of most Somalis, the south Mogadishu clan militia of
Mohamed Farah Aideed profited from the presence of the United Nations
more than most, despite being at war with it at one stage.
"Nobody can deny that Aideed controlled this area (of south Mogadishu)
for the last two years with the funds of UNOSOM," said one Somali
critic of Aideed...
Most relief agencies based themselves in his territory in the south of
the city...
When a larger UNOSOM "II" mission backed by 30,000 troops from 28
nations took over from U.S. command in May 1993, it made the old U.S.
embassy in south Mogadishu its headquarters.
Somalis from the city's south won lucrative contracts running
everything from the U.N.'s sewage to building the UNOSOM $160 million
headquarters...
And despite several conferences of clan factions which UNOSOM paid
millions of dollars directly to the Somalis to persuade them to
attend, the mission is leaving without having brokered any kind of
peace...
HEAVY CLASHES IN SOMALI CAPITAL DESPITE PEACE EFFORTS
Witnesses said militias from the Abgal and Murusade clans pounded each
other's positions in the city centre with mortars and heavy
machine-guns for several hours during the day, but that the fighting
subsided towards dusk.
Casualties from the fighting, in the district of Bermuda - named after
the Bermuda Triangle because militias boast that those who enter are
lost forever - were not known.
Witnesses described the fighting as the worst in Bermuda for months.
The two clans have been fighting on and off, quarrelling over anything
from political alliances to whether Islamic sharia law should be
imposed.
The clashes have not so far spread to other parts of the city, or
drawn in other clans which would crank up hostilities to a more
lethal, city-wide level.
Mogadishu has been relatively peaceful since the last foreign troops
pulled out on March 2...
WARLORDS CONTINUE POSTURING
Addressing a news conference at his residence in north Mogadishu, Ali
Mahdi said: "I'm not going to meet with General Aideed until he
accepts and endorses a widely represented national reconciliation
conference."
Ali Mahdi said a conference called in south Mogadishu by Aideed was
"not serious".
Aideed's supporters, however, say their conference will soon open the
way for the establishment of a national government following the
departure earlier this month of an ill-fated U.N. peace mission.
The SNA-sponsored negotiations, which have been going on for weeks,
are at present adjourned to allow participants to consult their
respective factions - which do not include Ali Mahdi's SSA.
On Sunday, Ali Mahdi called on all Somalis, including Aideed, to
attend a national reconciliation conference, but gave no indication of
when it would take place.
BANANA BATTLE OPENS NEW SOMALI FRONT
Already nine people have been killed, including an Italian journalist
hired by one European buyer to monitor the activities of local rivals
here. Plantations at Shalambot, 60 miles south of Mogadishu, are now
patrolled by militiamen wielding AK-47s and rocket-propelled
grenade-launchers.
At stake is the traditional banana trade with Italy. The current EU
restrictions on imports from South America have obliged buyers such as
Dole and De Nadal to continue importing from Somalia in order to
maintain supplies and protect their shares of the Italian market.
Commercial banana plantations were first developed by the Italians
during the colonial era. In the Juba valley in southern Somalia. With
the nationalisation of all foreign assets after independence, monopoly
control of the trade was taken over by Somalfruit, a joint venture
between Italian interests, the Somali state and local growers. Until
recently this group had the exclusive right to handle ex-ports to
Italy, where its fruit was marketed under the Somalita brand by the
family business headed by Bianca de Nadai, who has been careful to
maintain contacts with the various clan leaders here.
But in recent years, the dominance of Somalfruit and De Nadai has been
challenged by a newcomer, Sombana, which was chosen as a supplier by
Dole Fresh Fruit, one of the EU's major importers.
Sombana is supported by clans that are loyal to the warlord General
Mohamed Farah Aidid, who controls the roads on the southern side of
Mogadishu that give access to the city's port.
The situation has now been further complicated by the withdrawal of
the United Nations troops who were controlling the docks at Mogadishu,
through which most shipments were exported. This will further
strengthen the hand of Aidid in any negotiations with banana traders.
Dole and De Nadai could try to get shipments out through the southern
port of Kismayu--but neither firm seems willing to strike a new deal
with the southern clan leaders who control the surrounding
countryside...
RIVAL MILITIA BATTLES FLARE IN SOUTH
The clash erupted between Habre Gedir militias of warlord Mohamed
Farah Aideed and clansmen of the local, weaker Sheekhaal people.
Gilib, some 250 km (155 miles) south of Mogadishu, was deserted by its
civilian residents while the two militia groups battled on until dusk,
travellers said.
Clan elders then intervened to settle the argument, which started when
unidentified gunmen murdered a local relief worker...
ITALY SAYS IT WON'T MEDIATE PEACE
"Italy has made many attempts at reconciliation between the Somali
factions...The situation is now at a loss," Giorgio Vecchi told
reporters on the Italian aircraft carrier Garibaldi off Mogadishu's
Indian Ocean coast.
"The Somalis must make peace themselves."...
SAUDI ARABIA CALLS ON SOMALIS TO END THE BLOODSHED
(SWB 3 Mar 95 [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Radio, Riyad, in Arabic 1 Mar
95])
An official source made the following statement to the Saudi news
agency SPA:
On this happy day, in which the Muslim nation is rejoicing over the Id
[al-Fitr; feast marking the end] of the blessed month of Ramadan and
in which Muslims are aspiring to serve the interest of Islam and the
Muslims, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia calls on the brothers in Somalia
to remember the significance of this special day and urges them to end
the bloodshed and start rebuilding the country in the interest of the
Somali people. This can be achieved through solidarity and
brotherliness and by avoiding the mistakes of the past and putting
public interest above personal interest.
ETHIOPIAN DELEGATION TO SOMALIA ON PEACE MISSION
Sultan Mohamed Hassan Gabbab, head of the 15-man delegation, told
reporters at Addis Ababa airport they would try to meet all clan
leaders in Somalia to build reconciliation and peace.
"The republic of Somalia and Ethiopia are close neighbours with shared
cultural and ethnic ties...It was only right that we as Ethiopian
Somalis try to attempt to bring peace," he added...
Gabbab said his party was carrying a message from Ethiopian President
Meles Zenawi to be delivered to all clan leaders.
Ethiopia abandoned an initiative last December to arrange peace talks
in the Ethiopian capital between rival warlords self-styled Somali
president Ali Mahdi Mohamed and Mohamed Farah Aideed.
Gabbab said the peace mission would first visit Hargeisa, Bossaso
[sic] and Borama in self-declared Somaliland in northwest Somalia
before going on to the capital, Mogadishu.
An Ethiopian ministry of foreign affairs official with the delegation
said the trip was the first phase of a new initiative to end conflict
in Somalia and an enlarged delegation including leaders of Somali
clans from Djibouti and Kenya might follow...
RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY CONCERNED AT "BLEAK" PROSPECTS FOR PEACE
[Chernukha - recording] ...Meanwhile the Russian Foreign Ministry has
called on the warring factions in Somalia to realize that they are
wholly responsible for their country's future. It is time they started
looking for constructive ways for reconciliation, with an eye to a
longer-term political solution. Russia, the ministry spokesman said,
was a long-standing friend of the Somali people, and would do all
within its power to help it in restoring peace in the country. [End of
recording]
That was a commentary by Vladislav Chernukha.
SOMALIS SEE GRASSROOTS INITIATIVES AS KEY TO PEACE
"The problem with trying to reach a political settlement in Mogadishu
(the capital) is that not every interested group is present. Some
groups find it difficult to stick to agreements they are not directly
party to," Maalim Omar Ali told Reuters at the weekend.
"We should start from the bottom...from villages, sub-clans, regions
to clans and then to the country. Otherwise I see no immediate
solution to our problems," he said.
Ali is heading exploratory talks in the desolate Marere settlement of
Jubba Valley to "create access for everyone in this area to move
freely, make possible co-existence among clans, in order to achieve
lasting peace and stability".
Marere, until a few years ago a thriving sugar estate built with
European and World Bank aid, is now a desolate ruin. Only 70 km (43
miles) from the Indian Ocean port of Kismayu, civilians from any
faction can move freely here, but armed militias are barred.
On the banks of the mango tree-lined Jubba river, youths stand guard
to ensure that no armed men cross the river.
The residents of Marere are wary of travelling to Kismayu, which is
controlled by warlord Mohamed Said Hersi, known as Morgan. Marere is
controlled by Colonel Ahmed Omar Jess, once an ally but now a rival of
Morgan.
"We are trying to solve that. Talks with Morgan's people are high on
the agenda," said Mah'ud Hire, another elder.
The communities of Marere, like those of neighbouring areas, are
settling in after trekking back from refugee settlements in Kenya to
reclaim the homesteads they abandoned in 1991.
Anarchy that followed the 1991 ouster of former Somali dictator
Mohamed Siad Barre completely emptied the fertile Jubba Valley -
except for a few Somalis who had no clan allegiance, elders in the
area said...
[ICRC's Boris] Michel said he had received unprecedented cooperation
in the Marere region, where Somalis readily repaired and cleaned the
airstrip and gave accurate information on politics and security.
"These people have been nice and reasonable. They do not complain,
they just seek a peaceful ordered life," he said.
SOMALI WOMEN DEMONSTRATE FOR PEACE IN MOGADISHU
In marches to mark U.N. International Women's Day, women in separate
rallies in northern and southern Mogadishu hailed peace between rival
warlords Mohamed Farah Aideed and Ali Mahdi Mohamed and spoke out
against inter-clan conflict in Somalia.
"Somali women want peace, not war," shouted one march leader at a
south Mogadishu parade ground while other women staged a rally in
front of the gates of the airport, held by police and militiamen...
WOMEN'S WORKSHOP FOR PEACE IN GALCAYO
The purpose of the workshop was to provide opportunities for women who
are already active in humanitarian work in their home communities, to
come together over clan barriers and exchange ideas on how to work
together for peace and reconciliation. They all expressed a
willingness to reach out across clan divisions in order to form
networks for cooperation and support of each other. The workshop
discussed issues such as how to organize local NGOs, what constitutes
genuine NGOs as compared to private income generating projects,
democratic styles of leadership, and how can women take part in the
decision-making processes.
The participants were convinced that peace and security must come from
the Somalis themselves, and they said they were willing to work
towards this end within their own immediate neighbourhood. They also
expressed a strong sense of self-reliance as many of them had seen
that--against all odds--they had been able to contribute to the
rebuilding of their societies, even without the help of the
international community.
The workshop was part of the Life & Peace Institute's ongoing work to
support local Somali inititatives for peace.
MORGAN WARNS OF FRESH SOMALIA STRIFE
Morgan, surrounded by gun-toting aides, condemned the persistent
differences between south Mogadishu warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed and
his arch rival, north Mogadishu warlord and self-styled president Ali
Mahdi Mohamed...
Morgan said both men now had little or no control over their
militiamen, who might want to loot whatever the U.N. would leave
behind.
"Even if they had the will to abide by a peace accord, I doubt the
control they have over their men," Morgan said, describing Aideed as
the bigger problem of the two.
Morgan, who reigns supreme over the fertile southern farmlands
surrounding Kismayu, described the U.N. Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM)
as a "hopeless failure".
"We will be glad to see the back of the U.N. For them Somalia was all
about Mogadishu. The peaceful countryside was neglected and never
encouraged at all in its efforts to restore stability," Morgan said.
Kismayu is Somalia's second largest port and capital of the country's
richest farmlands. A large sugar estate, now in ruins, was built up
with international aid, and at one time the European Community planned
to finance a massive irrigation and hydro-electric scheme nearby.
Unlike in Mogadishu, where tension and lawlessness rise as the world
body steps up its pullout, residents of Kismayu are back cultivating
their fields.
Morgan, a former defence minister in Barre's government, is credited
with orchestrating the killing some 20,000 people in northern Somalia
in a two-year bombing and execution campaign against anti-Barre
rebels.
But he now appealed to the international community to support the
peaceful areas away from Mogadishu...
Morgan took control of Kismayu after a two-year war against his rival
and Aideed ally, Colonel Ahmed Omar Jess.
He has imposed authority through an intricate clan alliance and the
city is now calm, with few guns and "technical" battlewagons visible
on its streets.
CLAN CHIEFS IN MOGADISHU REAP A HARVEST OF SCORN
Today, the main street is crowded and vendors sit at stalls laden with
food and the narcotic khat leaf. Boys steer donkey carts carrying
water, and labourers haul sand and rocks to a building site.
But amid the bustle, the fear is that clan warfare will again spread
from Mogadishu at a time of failed efforts at national reconciliation
and when United Nations peacekeepers prepare to pull out.
Having suffered before, and being mindful of the continuing lack of
central authority, the people of Baidoa have decided they will not let
militias return to plunder their full granaries. Malak Mukhtar, the
elder, said: "Baidoa is not sleeping like before. If it comes to war
we will defend ourselves."
The new strategy has passed its first test. When the last Indian
peacekeepers left in November, militiamen loyal to Gen Mohamad Farah
Aidid, the Mogadishu warlord, tried to take the airport but were
repulsed.
The local Rahanwein, like every other clan, has its share of disputes,
and had been divided in its support for Gen Aidid and Ali Mahdi
Mohamed, his arch rival.
But leaders such as Malak Mukhtar, whose role was underestimated by
the UN's political mediators, have taken on a renewed strength. He
convinced community leaders that Baidoa's fate should not be tied to
events in Mogadishu. Mohamed Moalim Hassan had just returned from
Mogadishu, disillusioned with his erstwhile affiliation to Gen Aidid.
"Every day there's fighting," he said. "They rule by the gun. The
issue now is the community, not the factions."
Mohamed Ali Hamud, who was nominated to Ali Mahdi's transitional
government announced in 1991 in Djibouti, said it was time for Baidoa
to look inwards.
"These Mogadishu leaders committed crimes against us," he said. "But
we have wise people here. We must solve our own problems."...
Malak Mukhtar said: "The UN wasted its time trying to force a national
government. The money went to wrongdoers. We pushed for regional
autonomy all along. If they had listened to us, by now everyone would
be safe in areas they can defend."...
TWO ITALIANS FREED
Salvatore Grungo, 39, and Guiseppe Barbero, 49, landed in high spirits
in the Kenyan capital aboard a plane chartered by the International
Federation of the Red Cross, from the Somali town of Garoowe.
"After a few days (in captivity) we had a long discussion with the
family who decided on the kidnapping," Grungo said.
"The problem is only internal... The target of the kidnappers was not
Italian cooperation. That is for sure. It was a problem of
distribution of power among the Garoowe families."
The two worked for the Italian branch of Lay Volunteers International
Association (LVIA) on a project to install and repair windmills in
Garoowe in north-central Nugaal region...
The Italian foreign ministry in Rome had said the incident highlighted
the risk to Italians in Somalia, a former Italian colony, and urged
volunteer groups to recall workers from the anarchic Horn of Africa
country...
EUROPEAN COMMISSION WARNS KIDNAPPINGS COULD AFFECT AID
[Illing - recording] Even in such an area, an act of banditry of this
kind can happen. The outcome is a good one because they were released.
That was unconditional release and more. There were apologies
presented in the most sincere way by the authorities. If, in the
future, we cannot avoid all acts of criminal nature, which you can't
in any country of the world, to just admit that, at least it seems to
be sure that the authorities are aware of the necessity that they have
to act rapidly and they have to act in the right way otherwise they
would lose all support from the international donor community...
PETER HANSEN: UN WILL NOT SWITCH OFF SOMALIA'S LIFE SUPPORT
Mr. Hansen said the international staff would work in those areas
where security had been established. Members of the United Nations
Coordination Team were combining their resources and making
arrangements to ensure that they would have the transportation,
communications and evacuation facilities necessary to maximize their
security and mobility. He stressed that Somali cooperation and donor
support were necessary. However, less than 10 per cent of the $70
million requested for the January-June 1995 consolidated inter-agency
appeal had been received.
AID GROUPS PLAN FOR LIFE AFTER U.N. IN SOMALIA
But a leading official told a news conference he would meet clan
leaders in the Horn of Africa country next week to present demands for
security and freedom of movement for aid groups...
Sigurd Illing, European Commission special envoy for Somalia and a
member of the standing committee of Somalia Aid Coordination Body
(SACB) said in Nairobi a new code drawn up by aid agencies asked
Somalis to punish anyone who attacked aid workers or harmed their
operations.
"We are not willing to take the risk of life anymore in Somalia," he
said.
"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," Illing
added.
The SACB also wants Somali clan elders to provide offices and
accommodation, allow agencies to decide how to meet their own
transport and staffing needs and make sure personnel and aid-related
cargo are exempt from extortion by militias...
Many Somalis have said the presence of aid agencies actually fuelled
fighting, because they injected huge supplies and sums of cash into
the local economy which eventually found their way into the pockets of
militia leaders.
Warlord Mohammed Farah Aideed on Sunday urged donors and relief
workers to return, saying he was "ready to forget" past clashes with
U.N. forces now that they had left...
EU: COMMISSION GRANTS 615,000 ECUS AID TO HOSPITAL
A total of 615,000 European Currency Units (Ecu) will enable two
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to run these programmes in
Somalia over the next six months.
Action Internationale Contre La Faim (AICF), a Paris-based
organisation, will implement the feeding programme it started last
year. It aims to reach some 50,000 beneficiaries, children under the
age of five, as well as pregnant women and those breast-feeding their
infants. AICF is also implementing health education programmes for
displaced people in Mogadishu.
The Coordinating Committee of the Organisation for Voluntary Service
(COSV), an Italian NGO, will look after the hospital project it
started, along with primary health care for the region. It aims to
train local staff to take over as soon as it is practical.
FOOD AID SITUATION
Since March 1993, when the emergency response to the famine began to
subside, WFP's main efforts have been concentrated on using food aid
in creative and useful ways which are more development-oriented.
Generally, this has meant providing food in exchange for work
("food-for-work"), and selling high-value commodities not produced in
Somalia to generate cash for rehabilitation/ reconstruction projects
("monetization") which pay for salaries or project material costs. As
food is one of the few resources available in Somalia, these
programmes help generate thousands of new jobs each month while also
paying a component of the salaries of thousands of Somalis, including
professionals such as teachers and health workers.
By late 1994, 'relief' food - food which is provided to vulnerable
people who are displaced, or temporarily without food, or have little
or no purchasing power - comprised a maximum of 10% of WFP's overall
programme in Somalia. Instead, at least 90% of our programme, which
benefits an average of 250,000 people each month, focuses on
rehabilitation (ie the repair of canals, feeder roads, community
infrastructures). More than 80% of these projects are implemented by
local NGOs, administrations and communities.
WFP's 1995 budget for Somalia totals US$ 45 million. In financial
terms, WFP programmes are the largest of any of the specialized UN
agencies operating in Somalia...
The "Gu" harvest (the most important harvest) of Sept/Oct 1994 in the
Bay and Bakool regions of Somalia, which are considered the main grain
baskets of the country since they make up 70% of the rain-fed
agricultural area in Somalia - reached up to 80% of pre-civil war
levels. In surplus areas, WFP has been procuring cereals from local
farmers to support the markets and to avoid bringing in relief food
which could further depress post-harvest prices. This food is
subsequently distributed to targeted programmes and food deficit
areas.
The "Deyr" season harvest is presently being brought in. The main
crops of this season traditionally constitute sesame, water melon and
various vegetables. However, this season about fifty percent of the
cultivated land in the Middle and Lower Shabelle areas was planted
with maize...
Overall production from the Deyr harvest is expected to be some 50% to
60% of pre-civil war levels, and immensely better than 1994...
REFUGEES ARE RETURNING TO SOMALIA
Since December, it has recorded more than 9,000 returns with a further
6,000 in Kenya signed up to go home. Last year 60,000 were
repatriated.
REFUGEES RETURN HOME TO NOTHING
Four people, including a 12-year-old boy, have died from cholera in
the small settlement of Hargeisa Jerey in southern Somalia over the
last week and dozens mo PUBLISHER INFORMATION
The Horn of Africa Bulletin is published bimonthly by the
LIFE & PEACE INSTITUTE, S-751 70 Uppsala, Sweden
Tel: (+46) 18-16 95 00; Fax: (+46) 18-69 30 59
Email: enelson@nn.apc.org
Publisher: Sture Normark
Editor: Susanne Thurfjell Lunden
Assistant Editor: Everett Nelson
ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO HAB
Editorial
E D I T O R I A L
Djibouti
D J I B O U T I
ADDHL - Djibouti Association for the Defense of Human Rights and Liberties
DRA - Djibouti Relief Association
FDF - Front of Democratic Forces
FRUD - Front for the Restauration of Unity and Democracy
FNS - Force Nationale de Securite
MND - Mouvement National Djiboutien
MSR - Mouvement pour le Salut et la Reconstruction
MUD - Movement pour l'Unite de la Democratie
PCRD - Parti Centriste et des Reformes Democratiques
PND - Parti National Democratique
PRD - Parti du Renouveau Democratique
RPP - Rassemblement Populaire pour le Progres
UDD - Union des Democrates Djiboutiens
UDSJ - Union for Democracy and Social Justice
UMD - Union des Movements Democratiques
US STATE DEPARTMENT HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT
(NN/hrnet.africa 26 Mar 95 [Feb 95])
Despite 1992 constitutional changes that permitted the creation of
four political parties, President Hassan Gouled Aptidon and the
People's Rally for Progress (RPP), in power since independence in
1977, continued to rule the country. Djibouti's two main ethnic groups
are the politically predominant Issa (the tribe of the President,
which is of Somali origin) and the Afar (who are also numerous in
Ethiopia and Eritrea). The Afar comprise the largest single tribe in
Djibouti but are outnumbered by the Issa and other Somali clans (Issak
and Gadabursi) taken together.
(SWB 4 Mar 95 [RFI in French, 2 Mar 95])
In Jibuti 300 former FRUD [Front for the Restoration of Unity and
Democracy, rebel movement] fighters have been incorporated into the
ranks of the national army. This is one of the results of the peace
agreement signed by the government and one faction of the FRUD. The
other group, led by Ahmed Diny, considers this result to be pathetic
and says it is continuing the struggle on both the military and the
political fronts.
(AC 17 Mar 95, p.8)
The decision to close more than 80 bars will please many Djiboutians.
Most belong to Ethiopian refugees and many are patronised by the 4,000
French troops in the country. Criticism of their social consequences
has been widespread, if orchestrated. However, some owners have
already got round the ban by having their bars reclassified as
restaurants, which are allowed to serve alcohol.
(ION 18 Mar 95, p.2)
The forty-five day deadline for Djibouti's diplomats who have been
recalled to actually return home is getting very close now. According
to information obtained by The Indian Ocean Newsletter, several of the
officials hit by the government's budgetary economic measure have not
responded to the call. But quite a number of Djibouti's overseas
diplomats have not been paid their salaries for several months and
some embassies have acumulated arrears on their rent, electricity and
water bills, and so on. Some diplomats have either lacked the
wherewithal to finance their removal and their family's transportation
or simply concealed their refusal to return home by reporting sick and
submitting a medical certificate. In both cases, they seem to hope
that by lying low for a little while, the government may revise its
orders.
Eritrea
E R I T R E A
ARDU - Afar Revolutionary Democratic Union
ARDUF - Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front
CERA - Commission for Eritrean Refugee Affairs
CRS - Catholic Relief Secretariat
ECE - Evangelical Church of Eritrea
EDLM - Eritrean Democratic Liberation Movement
EDM - Eritrean Democratic Movement
ELF - Eritrean Liberation Front
ELF-RC - ELF-Revolutionary Council
ELF-UO - ELF-Unity Organisation
EPLF Eritrean People's Liberation Front
ERRA - Eritrean Relief and Rehabilitation Association
ERD - Emergency Relief Desk
PFDJ - Popular Front for Democracy and Justice
PGE - Provisional Government of Eritrea
PROFERI - Programme for Refugee Reintegration and Rehabilitation of Resettlement Areas in Eritrea
(EP 11 Feb 95)
Towards the end of his three-week visit to America, President Isaias
Afwerki was interviewed by CNN. What follows is the full text of the
interview, broadcast on February 4.
(SWB 21 Feb 95 [VBME in Tigrigna, 16 Feb 95])
The government of Eritrea has issued Decree No 67 of 1995 on taxation.
The decree particularly targets Eritreans gainfully employed abroad.
The main objective of this decree, which was issued on 10th February
1995, is to provide Eritrean expatriates with a legal channel through
which they can contribute towards their country's development.
According to the decree, every paid expatriate employee must hand over
2% of his net income. The Foreign Ministry has been charged with
collecting the tax through its embassies or consulates and
transferring the proceeds to the state Treasury.
DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
(SWB 4 Mar 95 [VBME in Tigrigna, 2 Mar 95])
Text, as broadcast by Eritrean radio, of a Ministry of Interior
statement regarding Jehovah's Witnesses
(EP 25 Mar 95)
The Ministry of Education issued on March 20,1995 the following
statement
(DM Feb-Mar 95, p.11)
Foundations for a new educational system are the subject of a
four-week workshop being held at the Teacher Training Institute in the
capital, Asmara, which opened in the middle of January. The 21
participants from the Ministry of Education will discuss upgrading the
skills of at least 2000 elementary school teachers over a two-year
period. The proposed requalification exercise, which would be carried
out in cooperation with UNICEF and the Italian government, will start
with 500 teachers during the next summer holidays.
(DM Feb-Mar 95, p.9)
A new adult education program went on the air at the beginning of
1995. Announcing the new broadcast, the Ministry of Education said
that 50 villages will be given 50 radio units each in an effort to
boost the national literacy campaign in rural areas. The radio
program, which includes features on agriculture, health, and civic
education, will be broadcast three times a week.
(EP 1 Apr 95)
ERRA and CERA are set to merge in a move aimed at reducing duplication
of work and streamlining administration. According to Dr. Nerayo
Teklemichael, the head of the Eritrean Relief and Rehabilitation
Agency, the new body will probably have the status of a Commission. It
will be responsible for the reintegration of ex-fighters and
returnees, who are currently dealt with by the two separate bodies. A
timetable for the merger has not yet been set but it is likely to
happen shortly...
(EP 11 Mar 95, by Jacky Sutton)
...Eritrea lost 65,000 fighters in the war, 90,000 children were
orphaned and thousands fled their homes and their country. But the
burden of peace weighs most heavily on those 58,500 people, fighters
and civilians, who suffered disability or trauma as a direct or
indirect result of the war. How many employers go out of their way to
hire someone who is blind, in a wheelchair or still suffering from the
effects of brutality? Not many. Most offices cannot cater to the needs
of disabled people - they lack wheelchair access, lifts, special
toilets etc. Another problem is transport. But another is fear and the
baseless and irrational belief that disability makes a person
unproductive...
FOOD SECURITY
(DM Feb-Mar 95, p.19)
The rains in 1994 have generally been normal, providing a more
favorable environment for crop production. The spell of normal rain in
1994 (as was the case in 1986, 1988 and 1992) played a major role in
boosting agricultural production and in helping to restock herds of
livestock which were badly depleted due to the severe droughts of
1982-1984. Despite the favorable rains in 1994, in some areas crops
have been affected by worms and hailstorms. Floods in some districts
and shortage of rains in others has also influenced overall food
production. According to ERRA, the total estimated gross production
during the 1994/95 crops season will be approximately 270,000 metric
tons, representing a three-fold increase over the previous season.
Nevertheless, despite best efforts to reduce the need for food aid.
Eritrea will be requiring 200,000 metric tons of food aid from
external sources in 1995.
(DM Feb-Mar 95, p.16)
...Three out of four Eritreans have been receiving food aid until
recently. In 1993, the country imported, through commercial and aid
channels, almost 300,000 MT which covered approximately 60 percent of
the annual requirements. At present there are various modalities put
in place for dispensing emergency food aid, including:
(EP 25 Feb 95)
Preventing disasters and coping with emergencies were the focus of
discussion at a national workshop held in Asmara this week.
(EP 1 Apr 95)
Eritrea has yet to adequately exploit its abundant marine resources,
according to Dr. Saleh Meky, the Minister of Marine Resources.
FOREIGN COOPERATION
(ION 25 Feb 95, p.7)
South Korean company Keangnam Enterprises Limited, a member of the
Daewoo Group, has begun work on Eritrea's biggest housing building
programme, at a ceremony in Asmara on February 15. The Sembel Housing
Project will cost US $70 million and will comprise fifty five-story
apartment blocks with accommodation for more than 1,300 families. The
complex being built on the outskirts of Asmara will include a shopping
centre, sporting facilities and a stadium. Work is scheduled for
completion in 1997...
(ION 4 Mar 95, p.5)
Speaking at a recent news conference, Eritrean head of state Issayas
Afeworki announced that he had signed agreements with the United
States during his trip to Washington in order to obtain US support in
transforming the Eritrean armed forces into a regular army. The
agreement includes Eritrean military being trained in US military
training bases. President Afeworki also discussed with his American
hosts a possible extension of the Intergovernmental Authority on
Drought and Development (IGADD) to countries such as Burundi, Rwanda
and Tanzania. The subject might also be taken up with Rwanda's
strongman, general Paul Kagame, when he makes an official visit to
Asmara this week.
(Reuter 14 Mar 95)
ROME - Italy signed an economic cooperation agreement with its former
colony Eritrea on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said.
FOREIGN RELATIONS
(SWB 1 Mar 95 [VBME in Tigrigna, 27 Feb 95])
A senior Rwandan delegation this morning held talks with President
Isayas Afewerki. During the talks the Rwandan vice-president, Mr Paul
Kagame, briefed the president on the situation in Rwanda and exchanged
views on bilateral issues.
(SWB 22 Mar 95 [MENA news agency, Cairo, in Arabic 20 Mar 95])
Cairo, 20th March: President Husni Mubarak and Eritrean President
Isayas Afewerki held talks at the Presidential Office in Heliopolis
this evening. They discussed African issues in general and the problem
of the Horn of Africa in particular as part of Red Sea security. In
addition they discussed the problem of refugees and its impact on
security and stability in a number of African states...
(SWB 1 Apr 95 [VBME in Tigrigna, 30 Mar 95])
President Isayas Afewerki returned to Asmara at 1800 [local time]
today after ending his working visits to Kenya and Uganda. President
Isayas met President Daniel arap Moi in Kenya and President Museveni
in Uganda and held talks on bilateral relations and regional issues.
On his way home, President Isayas stopped briefly at Addis Ababa's
Bole international airport, where he met President Meles Zenawi...
(ION 8 Apr 95, p.4)
The day that Khartoum saw the opening of the Arab and Islamic
conference (held from March 30 to April 2) which brought in the
representatives of some three hundred Islamic organizations under the
chairmanship of National Islamic Front leader Hassan al-Tourabi, the
Eritrean government produced a fresh list of accusations against
Sudan. The Eritrean embassy in Addis Ababa issued a communique on
March 30 claiming that Sudanese security forces were telling young
Eritrean refugees in camps inside Sudan either to volunteer for the
Sudanese army or to leave the country. The pressure has seen many of
the young men returning hurriedly to Eritrea: out of about 300,000
Eritrean refugees at present in Sudan, 15,000 returned home since the
start of the Eritrean repatriation program in November. The Islamic
conference delegates in Khartoum did not sit back: they adopted a
joint communique at the end of the meeting stating their support for
"oppressed Islamic communities" throughout the world and in particular
those in Azerbaijan, Burma, Eritrea, Tadzhikistan and
Tunisia.[emphasis added]...
(SWB 4 Apr 95 [RAI Due TV, Rome, in Italian 3 Apr 95])
We have received some good news from Eritrea on the Italians kidnapped
in the desert between Eritrea and Ethiopia. The news that they are
well has come from Maurizio Melani, the Italian ambassador in Addis
Ababa, who has been in contact with the kidnappers, who are all
members of the Temboid [phonetic] tribe, a strong ethnic group in the
Danakil desert. Some members of the area's Council of Elders allowed
this contact between our diplomats and the kidnappers.
Ethiopia
E T H I O P I A
AAPO - All Amhamra People's Organisation
ALF - Afar Liberation Front
ARDU - Afar Revolutionary Democratic Union
BPLM - Benishangul People's Liberation Movement
CAFPDE - Council of the Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy inEthiopia
COEDF - Coalition of Ethiopian Democratic Forces
CRDA - Christian Relief and Development Association
ECS - Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat
EDC - Ethiopian Democratic Organization Coalition
EDUP - Ethiopian Democratic Unionist Party
EECMY - Eth. Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus
ENDP - Ethiopian National Democratic Party
EPDA - Ethiopian Peoples' Democratic Alliance
EPDM - Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement
EPRDF - Ethiopian People's Rev. Democratic Front
ESDL - Ethiopian Somali Democratic League
ESDM - Ethiopian Somali Democratic Movement
GDU - Gamo Democratic Union
GPDF - Gurage People's Democratic Front
HPDO - Hadia People's Democratic Organisation
IFLO - Islamic Front for the Liberation of Oromia
IGLF - Issa Gurgura Liberation Front
KPC - Kembata People's Congress
OLF - Oromo Liberation Front
ONLF - Ogaden National Liberation Front
OPDO - Oromo People's Democratic Organisation
ORA - Oromo Relief Association
SEPDC - Southern Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Coalition
SPDO - Sidama People's Democratic Organisation
TPLF - Tigray People's Liberation Front
WSLF - Western Somali Liberation Front
ELECTION NEWS
(ION 25 Mar 95, p.4)
Ethiopia's Council of Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy
(CAFPD, opposition) nominated five members on March 15 to negotiate
with the Transitional Government of Ethiopia, following discussions in
Washington at the beginning of February between members of opposition
movements and a government delegation led by Dawit Yohannes (ION No
658 and 659). Each of the nominees (Teshome Gebremariam, Nigussie
Gizaw, Kifle Abate, Anteneh Merid an Teha Hussein) represents one of
the organizations which belong to CAFPD.
(SWB 23 Mar 95 [REE in English, 21 Mar 95])
Three political organizations have demanded for the setting up of a
neutral body that will oversee the election process in Afar region,
eastern Ethiopia. The demand was made by the Afar People's Democratic
Organization, the Afar National Liberation Front and the Afar National
Democratic Movement at a joint meeting in Asayita.
(SWB 3 Apr 95 [RE in English, 31 Mar 95])
Independent candidates here in the capital [Addis Ababa] have sharply
criticized the Ethiopian Television Enterprise [ETE] which, they said,
had allocated less airtime to them than to party candidates. They said
the fact that the ETE has allocated 15 minutes to party and only five
[minutes] to private candidate is a clear testimony to ETE' s
partnership to candidates fielded by political parties. The
independent contestants added [that] what they described as the biased
airtime allocations by the ETE was a direct violation of government's
decision on equal use of the state media.
OLF
(Reuter 28 Feb 95)
ADDIS ABABA - More than 280 members of the outlawed Oromo Liberation
Front (OLF) are on trial in central Ethiopia, accused of waging war
against its interim government.
(ION 25 Mar 95, p.5)
Armed conflict between elements of the Oromo Liberation Front and
Islamic Front for the Liberation of Oromo (IFLO) resulted in many dead
and wounded between February 7 to 9 at Julcha, in Garamuleta Province
east of Hararghe and about 40 km from Grawa, where local farmers are
reported to be led by IFLO.
(SWB 1 Mar 95)
Voice of Oromo Liberation (VOL), which broadcasts on behalf of the
Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and in opposition to the Ethiopian
government, has been heard again for the first time in over two and a
half years. It now appears to be broadcasting via a private shortwave
station in the USA.
DERG TRIAL
(Reuter 7 Mar 95, by Emelia Sithole)
HARARE - Zimbabwe denied on Tuesday press reports that former
Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam and his family had been
granted Zimbabwean citizenship and passports.
(Reuter 14 Mar 95, by Tsegaye Tadesse)
ADDIS ABABA - A defense lawyer for two soldiers accused of strangling
Emperor Haile Selassie to death nearly 20 years ago said on Tuesday
his murder was not proved.
DOMESTIC NEWS
(ION 4 Mar 95, p.4)
Nine persons were reported killed and 130 others injured when violence
flared up in Addis Ababa on February 21 around the Anwar mosque, the
capital's largest mosque situated in the teeming Mercato district,
which also has the capital's largest open market. Several sources
claimed that an unidentified person opened up with automatic fire over
the mosque's minaret, during prayers. Muslims at prayer tried to
capture the gunman whilst police tried to calm the furious crowd by
claiming that several persons suspected of being the attackers had
been arrested. The crowds retaliated by calling on the police to hand
over the suspects and violence broke out which lasted another four
hours. Two different Islamic factions dispute control of Ethiopia's
Muslim community: the old Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs whose
vice chairman is a Tigrean, Mohamed Awel Raja, and the Provisional
Organizing Committee of Ethiopian Islamic Affairs headed by Grazmatch
Hadis Nur Hussein. The latter has accused his rivals of corrupt
practices and reproaches the Ethiopian authorities and in particular
the mayor of Addis Ababa, Tefera Walwa, of backing them. The
provisional committee laid on a large Islamic demonstration in Addis
on November 28 (ION No 650) to call for the dismissal of Mohamed Awel
Raja.
(SWB 24 Feb 95 [MENA news agency, Cairo, in Arabic 22 Feb 95])
Addis Ababa, 22nd February: An Arab diplomatic source in Addis Ababa
today stated that the two disputing Islamic groups in the Supreme
Council of Islamic Affairs in Ethiopia, which yesterday exchanged fire
inside the Anwar Mosque - the largest mosque in Addis Ababa - receive
financial aid and support from two foreign Islamic organizations. In
an exclusive statement to MENA on the implications of yesterday's
massacre in which dozens in the congregation were killed or injured
inside the mosque, the source, who refused to reveal his name, added
that one of the groups, represented by the old dissolved Supreme
Council for Islamic Affairs, enjoys the support of the more
intransigent Sudanese Islamic Aid Organization. The other, newly
formed, provisional council, which represents the other group,
receives the support and backing of the pro-Saudi Arabia Islamic World
League...
HUMANITARIAN ISSUES
(Reuter 24 Feb 95)
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia's president has urged his people to back a
campaign to avoid a repeat of the famine and drought that killed an
estimated one million people a decade ago.
(Irish Times via RBB 27 Feb 95)
A warning that famine might again be imminent in a southern Ethiopian
province has come from the Irish relief agency GOAL.
(Reuter 24 Mar 95)
ADDIS ABABA - More than 93,000 Ethiopian refugees living in three
neighbouring countries since 1991 will be repatriated this year, a
United Nations official said on Friday.
(NN/hrnet.africa 28 Mar 95 [Feb 95])
...The Government was consistent and forceful in its verbal commitment
to respect human rights, but serious problems remain. The judicial
system remains weak, understaffed, and at times subject to political
influence. There were credible reports that members of the security
forces committed a number of extrajudicial killings and beat or
otherwise physically abused criminal suspects and detainees, although
these practices do not appear to be widespread. The Government seldom
tried, convicted, and appropriately punished security force members
and police who committed such abuses. The Government harassed and
detained without charge numerous journalists and a number of
opposition party members, holding some for as long as several months.
In September the authorities arrested approximately 500 members of the
All-Amhara People's Organization (AAPO) on charges of unlawful
assembly. Numerous reports alleged that EPRDF forces, opposition
separatists, and Islamic militias all committed humanitarian
violations, including the summary execution of civilians, in continued
clashes in the eastern parts of the country. The TGE's sometimes
heavyhanded tactics and an opposition boycott ensured an EPRDF victory
in the June Constituent Assembly elections. Discrimination and
violence against women and abuse of children continued to be serious
problems... FOREIGN RELATIONS
(ION 11 Mar 95, p.3)
Two grenades were thrown at the downtown premises of the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) in Addis Ababa on
February 26, on the eve of resuming the trial of dozens of high
officials of the previous Ethiopian regime... The grenade attack
caused no victims but some damage to property, the US embassy said. It
came the same week that the Ethiopian defence ministry announced that
a joint Ethiopian-US peace-keeping exercise code-named "Nectar Band"
would start soon. The exercise will include the use of combat
engineers to remove mines, of ordinance experts to make safe and
dispose of ammunition, and of medical units for orthopaedic
reconstructive surgery. The objective of the peace-keeping operation
is to reinforce the capability of the Ethiopian armed forces when
working under a United Nations peace-keeping umbrella.
(SWB 20 Mar 95 [RE in Amharic, 18 Mar 95])
The five hijackers who had hijacked and forced the Ethiopian Airlines'
aircraft to land in western Sudan with its 92 passengers on board have
surrendered today to Sudanese officials, Ethiopian Airlines stated
this evening... The identity of the hijackers is not yet known but
their plan was to go to Sweden. The plane is expected to arrive here
in Addis Ababa with all its passengers soon, the airline stated.
(SWB 24 Mar 95 [RNU in Arabic, 22 Mar 95])
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Ghazi Salah al-Din reaffirmed
Sudan's commitment to the bilateral agreement concluded with Ethiopia
in 1966 on extradition of criminals as well as its commitment to the
national law on extradition of criminals issued in (?1967)...
ECONOMIC NEWS
(Reuter 16 Feb 95)
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia says it will soon start to sell off state-owned
businesses including three hotels in the capital, drinks factories,
restaurants and supermarkets.
(ION 25 Feb 95, p.7)
The International Monetary Fund, in a recent issue of its publication,
encourages the Ethiopian government to remain "firmly attached to the
implementation of its reform programme" in order to hit the targets
fixed for 1994/1995. For that, says IMF, the government must "broaden
the field already open to private investors and simplify the rules of
the game" whilst at the same time cutting back on the total number of
public enterprises and stepping up the efficiency of the remainder...
(Reuter 20 Mar 95)
ADDIS ABABA - Japan has given Ethiopia up to $32.7 million for
development projects, the state news agency reported on Monday.
(Moneyclips via RBB 4 Apr 95 [Riyadh Daily, by Furqan Ahmed])
RIYADH-The Leader of a 40-member Ethiopian trade mission currently in
the Kingdom has said that the Saudi private sector is evincing keen
interest in investing in Ethiopia's agro-industrial projects.
(SWB 14 Feb 95 [REE in English, 9 Feb 95])
The Kalu gas share company says it would begin actual production after
30 months [from now] with an annual output of 65,000 tonnes of
benzine, butane, kerosene and naphtha.
Somalia
S O M A L I A
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 LEAVES SOMALIA
(Economist via RBB 4 Mar 95)
Skittering through the dust from retreating United Nations tanks came
the looters, grabbing any rubbish they could lay their hands on,
abandoned army cots, mattresses, planks of wood and - an item likely
to prove valuable in the months to come - razor wire. They had waited
all night to ransack what remained of the UN's base at Mogadishu
airport, but the spoils were meagre and their spree brief. Almost at
once they were driven out by General Muhammad Farrah Aideed's
militiamen in their heavily armed battle-wagons. A deal with the
militia ensured that the evacuation of the last 1,500 Pakistani troops
was a text-book affair. The peacekeepers, the rearguard of a force
that once numbered 30,000, were themselves guarded by 2,000 American
and Italian marines who held a strip of ground about three kilometres
(two miles) long and 100 metres wide. By arrangement with Somalia's
warlords, the marines would not fire on the militia unless they posed
a threat. To secure this deal, say non-military sources, the Americans
paid large sums to various faction leaders...
(Jane's Defence Weekly via RBB 11 Mar 95, Volume 023/010, by Ian Kemp)
The seven-nation Operation `United Shield' task force has dispersed
following the successful evacuation of the last UN peacekeepers from
Somalia...
(Reuter 11 Mar 95, by Aden Ali)
MOGADISHU - Clashes erupted between Somali militiamen inside Mogadishu
airport, witnesses said on Saturday, and local newspapers said at
least four people were killed...
(SWB 14 Mar 95 [RMV in Somali, 12 Mar 95])
Text of report by pro-Muhammad Farah Aydid radio...
AFTER UNOSOM--LESSONS LEARNED
(Reuter 24 Mar 95, by Aidan Hartley)
NAIROBI - The European Union's special envoy to Somalia said on Friday
the situation in Mogadishu had improved dramatically since United
Nations forces evacuated at the end of their failed mission early this
month.
(Los Angeles Times via RBB 17 Mar 95, by Stanley Meisler)
Now that the United Nations has dismantled its troubled and lamented
mission to Somalia, the key players are producing the first
post-mortems.
(Reuter 24 Feb 95, by Aidan Hartley)
MOGADISHU - The United Nations special envoy in Somalia said on Friday
that money paid out by the world body had ultimately helped fund the
war machines of rival clan militias.
ANOTHER AGREEMENT FAILS
(Reuter 20 Mar 95, by Aden Ali)
MOGADISHU - Rival Somali militias battled fiercely in Mogadishu on
Monday despite efforts to avert a descent into all-out clan war
following the departure of foreign troops.
(Reuter 26 Mar 95)
MOGADISHU - Hopes of reconciling the main Somali warlords fell on
Sunday when Ali Mahdi Mohamed, head of the Somali Salvation Alliance
(SSA), accused rival Mohamed Farah Aideed of the Somali National
Alliance (SNA) of sabotaging the peace process.
(AA 10 Mar 95, p.10)
MOGADISHU--Somalia's banana exporters have added a new dimension to
the country's already complex civil war: supported by their own
private armies, rival fruit companies Somalifruit and Sombana are
wrestling for control of the 200,000 boxes of bananas shipped monthly
to Europe.
(Reuter 5 Apr 95, by Aden Ali)
MOGADISHU - ...At least seven people were killed and dozens were
wounded in a battle between militias in the southern town of Gilib on
Wednesday, travellers reaching the capital Mogadishu said on Thursday.
INTERNATIONAL REACTIONS
(Reuter 21 Feb 95, by Aidan Hartley)
MOGADISHU - Italy's special envoy to Somalia said on Tuesday the
former colonial power would no longer attempt to broker peace in the
anarchic country as the last United Nations troops prepared to
evacuate.
(Reuter 5 Mar 95)
ADDIS ABABA - Leaders of major Somali ethnic clans in Ethiopia left
for Somalia on Sunday in a new initiative to bring peace to the
war-ravaged Horn of Africa country.
(SWB 14 Mar 95 [Voice of Russia, Moscow, in English 12 Mar 95])
A spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Grigoriy Karasin, has
expressed concern that prospects for restoring peace, law and
statehood in Somalia remain bleak. The statement follows the
withdrawal of the last remaining UN peacekeeping troops from that
African country. With the details, here is Vladislav Chernukha.
GRASSROOTS INITIATIVES
(Reuter 26 Mar 95, by Manoah Esipisu)
MARERE, Somalia - Elders in southern Somalia say only a grassroots
peace campaign will avert a new threat of clan fighting and give the
stability needed to start development in the war-torn Horn of Africa
country.
(Reuter 8 Mar 95, by Aden Ali)
MOGADISHU - Hundreds of Somali women demonstrated in the war-ravaged
Somali capital on Wednesday, calling for peace in a nation abandoned
by U.N. troops last week.
(Life & Peace Institute Mar 95)
At the beginning of March a workshop was held in Galcayo for Somali
women in Mudug and Nugal regions. Galcayo is an interesting example of
how local clan war has been solved through the efforts of community
leaders and elders, as the three former enemy clans are now living
together peacefully, cooperating on all major issues.
VOICES FROM THE SOUTH
(Reuter 19 Feb 95, by Buchizya Mseteka)
KISMAYU, Somalia - ..."Personal ambitions between the two men will
ignite fresh fighting in Mogadishu after the U.N. pullout," General
Mohamed Said Hersi - better known by his nickname "Morgan" - told
Reuters on Saturday night.
(DT 21 Feb 95, by Louise Tunbridge)
...Baidoa suffered more than any other region in Somalia in the famine
that peaked towards the end of 1992, when 600 people died a day.
KIDNAPPINGS
(Reuter 5 Mar 95)
NAIROBI - Two Italian aid workers kidnapped in Somalia for five days
arrived in Kenya on Sunday, saying they were seized by gunmen in a
local power dispute.
(SWB 8 Mar 95 [KTN TV, Nairobi, in English 6 Mar 95])
...European Commission Special Envoy to Somalia Sigurd Illing said
today [6th March] in Nairobi that banditry and other criminal
activities like kidnapping are likely to jeopardize rehabilitation and
development assistance to the war-torn nation. Illing was speaking in
his office after he received two Italian workers, Salvatore Grungo and
Giuseppe Barbero who were kidnapped in Somalia last month but were
released over the weekend.
HUMANITARIAN AID
(UNIC 6 Mar 95 [UN document DH/1843, 3 Mar 95])
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Peter Hansen,
said Friday that the United Nations was not switching off Somalia's
life support. Mr. Hansen told correspondents that United Nations
agencies and international non-governmental organizations were staying
in the country. International agency staff had been temporarily
withdrawn from Mogadishu and redeployed to other parts of Somalia and
to Nairobi. About 50 international staff members from various United
Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations were still
managing operations in 14 regions of the country.
(Reuter 6 Mar 95, by Manoah Esipisu)
NAIROBI - Aid groups on Monday laid down terms for returning to
anarchic Somalia now their United Nations protectors have left, saying
they would not risk their lives.
(European Commission press release IP/95/157, 21 Feb 95)
A feeding programme for children in Somalia will get continuing
support from the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) this
year. Funding has also been earmarked for the running of Merka
regional hospital, the only one currently meeting the needs of 50,000
people in southern Somalia.
(WFP 21 Feb 95)
People are no longer dying of hunger in Somalia. This is not to say
that people in this drought-prone country are no longer vulnerable to
famine. Even in a stable country such as Ethiopia, it takes years to
fully recover from a famine of the magnitude which hit Somalia in
1991/92. With no central Government, little commercial activity, high
unemployment, and scarce donor assistance for recovery and
development, the majority of Somalis remain poor and food insecure.
REFUGEES
(IND 4 Mar 95 [AFP])
Geneva - Refugees are still returning home voluntarily under a UN
programme, after more than 900,000 fled in 1991 and 1992, a UNHCR
spokesman said yesterday.
(Reuter 24 Mar 95, by Manoah Esipisu)
HARGEISA JEREY, Somalia - Somali refugees have been forced to hit the
road for home as camps are closed down in neighbouring Kenya - but
they are returning to a wasteland of disease and death.