Agence France Presse September 18, 2001
Aid agencies step up security measures in Somalia
BYLINE: JULIETTE HOLLIER-LAROUSSE AND ANTHONY MORLAND
NAIROBI -- Aid agencies working in Somalia have stepped up security measures in the mainly Muslim war-torn state in the wake of last week's attacks on New York and Washington, a western source told AFP on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, speculation that chief suspect Osama bin Laden might seek refuge in Somalia has been generally played down, but not entirely ruled out by the humanitarian community in Nairobi.
"Programmes are continuing but staff levels have been brought down to a minimum, United Nations and European Commission flights have been reduced and missions from abroad suspended," said an official who attended a Tuesday meeting of the Somalia Aid Coordination Body.
This body is made up of donors, UN agencies and non-governmental organisations. "The main worry is that there could be reprisals taken against foreigners in case of an American strike against an Islamic country," the source added.
Somalia has in any case been the theatre of factional violence for more than a decade and the unrest has not been halted by the installation last year of a transitional government (TNG), a regime described by its detractors, notably Ethiopia, as closely linked to Islamic fundamentalism.
There are two Islamic fundamentalist groups active in Somalia, Al Ittihad and Al Islah. Both are Sunni organisations, the first is armed, the second is more involved in humanitarianism.
US President George W. Bush has called Saudi dissident and Islamic fundamentalist Osama bin Laden the prime suspect behind the terror attacks which killed more than 5,000 people in New York and Washington on September 11.
Aid workers and Somalia-watchers contacted by AFP in Nairobi said they had not encountered any vocal support among Somalis for the attacks.
"In Somalia, most devout Muslims are not fanatics. Terrorism is anti-Islam," said one western analyst.
"I would think the TNG is bound to come out in favour of the US, because they need recognition from the international community and financial support. They have been accused of being in league with fundamentalism so this is a chance to show that they are not," he said.
He added that although there were pockets of fundamentalism in some parts of the country, the situation was too volatile to be a useful haven for bin Laden.
A source with another humanitarian agency said it was keeping staffing levels to a minimum but that there were no great fears of direct US intervention in Somalia.
"We are not expecting cruise missiles through our front door, but you never know," he said, noting, however, that a Mogadishu newspaper had carried an ad soliciting recruits for those willing to fight alongside the Taliban in the case of a US assault on Afghanistan.
This source also said that all the messages emanating from Somalia's authorities were of condolences and support for the US, rather than for the forces behind the attacks on New York and Washington.
And there appears to be little support for the extremist Islamic cause among Somalia's various warlords.
"What happens between the US and Afghanistan will not effect our fiefdoms," assured Colonel Mohamed Nur Shatigudud, a leading member of a coalition of anti-TNG warlords.
"But anyway, we will be more vigilant that a crazy man can't act alone," he added.
"Somalia is a loose cannon out there ready to go off," a well-informed western diplomatic source told AFP.
"Somalis are of course very fractured. They have many groups all wanting power, who will go with whoever has money," added the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Asked to comment on speculation that bin Laden might take advantage of the chaos in Somali and seek refuge there, the source shed doubt on this scenario, explaining that Somalia's flat terrain offered little protection compared with the mountainous topology of
his supposed current location, Afghanistan.
Tension is now running particularly high in Puntland, a region of northeast Somalia that declared itself autonomous in 1998.
Aid operations in Puntland, where a power struggle has raged in recent months, have been brought down to a strict minimum.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2001/sep/18arrest.htm
Traverse City Record-Eagle, September 18, 2001
Somali jailed in TC on drug charge
- Man stranded here on way to Minneapolis held after police prevent him from boarding plane
TRAVERSE CITY - Traverse City police, along with agents from the FBI, arrested a Somali citizen at the Cherry Capital Airport Friday after police found what is believed to be 150 pounds of an organic drug popular in Africa and the Middle East.
Suleiman Elmi Fareh was attempting to board a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Minneapolis when police questioned him because he appeared suspicious, said FBI Special Agent Richard Licht of the bureau's East Lansing office. Fareh was in Traverse City because he had been on a flight bound for Minneapolis that was diverted Tuesday morning, Licht said. He was questioned Friday, as travel resumed across the country amid heightened security following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. "The Traverse City Police thought that something wasn't right with this guy and they started to interview him and they still felt that something wasn't right," Licht said.
Fareh was arrested for violation of a controlled substance. The Immigration and Naturalization Service also put a detainer on Fareh because he is a Somali citizen with non-status in the United States and is a deportable alien, according to a press release. Fareh is accused of carrying about 150 pounds of khat, or Catha Edulis, in his luggage.
Khat is popular in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, where its use predates coffee and serves in a social context similar to coffee.
Chewed in moderation, khat alleviates fatigue and reduces appetite. Compulsive use may result in manic behavior with grandiose delusions or in a paranoid type of illness, according to www.streetdrugs.org.
UNICEF appraises women's lot in Somalia, Rwanda
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Observers have warned that unless women's specific needs were addressed, efforts towards their post-war rehabilitation in Somalia and Rwanda are unlikely to make any meaningful impact.
Women in the war-ravaged countries, observers note, require immediate material and institutional support to begin to put their lives together and at the same time take care of families and the community.
In the long run they would have to be empowered through education so that they can defend their rights and put end to the subjugation and violence they face in times of crisis.
Such were the conclusions reached by two officials at the end of a week-long mission to assess the situation of women and girls in Somalia and Rwanda, under auspices of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
Briefing reporters in Nairobi at the weekend, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former UNDP staff and Elizabeth Rehn, Finland's former minister of defence and equality, said it would be hard to achieve rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the two countries without the contribution of women.
"Already women run most shops and life-support business in Somalia and need to be empowered to achieve more," Rehn said.
"Firstly they need to get support to enable them to feed their families but in the long-term women need to be empowered through education to stop the subjugation and constant abuse they suffer especially in crisis situation," added Sirleaf.
UNIFEM, which maintains that 80 percent of people displaced by conflict or human rights violations are women, last April assigned Sirleaf and Rehn to assess the situation of the world's women, especially those involved in crisis situations.
The team is consulting women, leaders and other stake holders in Columbia, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, East Timor, Rwanda, the DR Congo, Sierra Leone and Somalia.
They said the situation of women in Rwanda remains particularly acute in a country where some 10,000 of them are among 120,000 people currently being held in prisons awaiting trial for genocide.
"There was intense victimisation of women and rape was commonly used as a weapon of war, a situation which has compounded the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the country," Sirleaf added.
Given this scenario, there was urgent need for wide-scale sensitisation on the situation of women, girls and children in countries in conflict, they said.
Copyright © 2001 Panafrican News Agency. All Rights Reserved.
AP Worldstream September 12, 2001
Somalis, victims of terror for a decade, shaken by attacks on US targets
BYLINE: OSMAN HASSAN; Associated Press Writer
MOGADISHU -- In the decade since their country was plunged into chaos, Somalis have become familiar with terror and death. But nothing prepared them for the murderous attacks on targets in New York and Washington.
"The world's only superpower is facing such a tragedy?" Sharif Ahmed Maye, a devout Muslim tailor, said Wednesday after hijacked airplanes crashed into and toppled the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and a section of the Pentagon in Washington. "This is incredible. I think the world is nearing an end." As the news of the attacks spread through Somalia's war-torn capital around sunset, people clutched small radios broadcasting the Somali service of the British Broadcasting Corp., then turned to television when the many small electric generators around the city kicked in.
Thousands sat glued to TV sets transmitting CNN International via the two local stations, HornAfrik and STN, and Arabsat. Arabic speakers watched Qatar's private Al-Jazera network.
But others were mourning their own dead after a Soviet-era missle blew up Tuesday in the city's main Bakara market when a man tried to hammer bits of copper out of it to sell as scrap. He, his wife and two children were among the 14 victims of the blast.
As the enormity of the tragedy in the United States sank in, many residents flocked to companies offering international telephone service in desperate attempts to contact relatives and friends in the United States where thousands of Somalis live.
Abdulleh Dualeh was relieved when he finally managed to contact his daughter in New York.
"She sends me the family living every month, so eveything that threatens the security of New York works against the welfare of my family," he explained.
Halima Ahmed Muse said fighting, terrorism, looting and killing have become part of his daily life since civil war broke out in Mogadishu in 1991 after the overthrow of President Mohamed Siad Barre.
But the owner of a small shop in Bakara market said it was still "really painful when the victims are your own family members."
In October 1993, Mogadishu was plunged into chaos after an abortive attempt by members of the elite U.S. Army Rangers to capture close aides of Gen. Mohamed Farah Aidid after his forces killed two dozen U.N. peacekeepers from Pakistan. Eighteen Rangers were killed in the battle and two Blackhawk helicopters were shot down. Enraged Somalis dragged the body of one dead Ranger through the streets.
Tailor Sharif Ahmed Maye said he thought Tuesday's attacks in the United States signalled the beginning of a time "when all weapons and technology won't work since the Koran says there will be a day when all man-made technology will cease to function."
Agence France Presse September 12, 2001
Somalis battle xenophobia in S Africa after fleeing war
BYLINE: EMSIE FERREIRA
CAPE TOWN -- Above a fish-and-chips shop near Bellville station, north of Cape Town, a group of Somali men are reading the Mogadishu newspapers on the Internet for an update on the fighting and a sense of when it will be safe to return.
They miss their homeland and want to get away from the hatred and harassment hounding them in South Africa.
On one of the old computers in the makeshift Net-cafe, economics honours student Ahmed Idriss Mohamed has typed an appeal for the 700 Somalian refugees who dot Bellville's rundown streets, the women butterfly-winged in their wide gowns, to be "resettled in a third country".
Mohamed wrote that in March a Somali was thrown from a train to his death, in April policemen set their dogs on three Somali teenagers and in July a Somali trader was shot in the head and lost an eye. "I never venture beyond Bellville and the university campus any more. These things scare you," he said.
Hamud Osman, a 34-year-old taxi driver from Mogadishu, witnessed the dog attack and recalls trying to intervene.
"They were making the dog take their arms, their legs. The dogs were eating the people and I asked 'Why do you do this to a man? It is not humane.'
"They said to me, 'You fucking Somalian.'"
Osman, 34, insisted that it was not safe to talk in the market place opposite the station.
"The people from the South African community here said if I complain about them they will take me down to the taxi rank and have me shot," he said after ducking behind a wall.
He fled Mogadishu in 1997 with his wife and baby and made his way to Mozambique by boat, then went to Johannesburg but soon fled again, this time from crime because "people steal every day" in Johannesburg.
In Cape Town he used 400 rand (50 dollars) from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to set up one of the first stalls on the Bellville market.
But in June his livelihood dried up when the municipality shut down most of the foreigners who ran 90 percent of the stalls and issued locals with permits to trade in their places.
"I sold shoes and tracksuits for three years on (stand) number 89, I told the council, but they want proof. The South Africans were there next to me, but when I ask them to tell the council they say they don't have time. They hate me," Osman said.
The locals pay 50 rand a month for a permit and have offered to sell Osman one for an extortionate 2,000 rand, but he is too broke to pay his rent and too proud to pay a bribe anyway. Instead, he writes unanswered letters to the council in polite broken English.
"They are hard-working, but being foreign trips them up," a council official told AFP.
Ismail Mohamed taught primary school in Mogadishu but now mans the counter at Mura Wholesalers and dreams of finding the wife he left behind and moving to Namibia.
"I came because I heard South Africa no longer had apartheid, but we are treated like animals. I would leave, but we can't because they won't accept our papers," he said.
In the meanwhile the Somalis struggle to have their temporary permits renewed and to obtain permanent asylum status after five years, said Omar Hussein.
The computer technician arrived in 1996, but has repeatedly been turned away at the home affairs office.
He sold two computers last month to cover the 250-dollar rent for the Net-cafe which the refugees have decorated in left-over yellow paint and use at night for computer literacy and English lessons.
"It is one thing to have a law and another for officials to implement it," Ismail Mohamed said, adding that the UNHCR is "toothless" and the city's human rights lawyers unable to help all its 25,000 refugees, about 3,000 of whom are from Somalia.
This week Somalis in the south coast city of Port Elizabeth fell victim to what the South African Human Rights Commission in August described as "rabid xonophobia" in the country as race-hate thugs looted at least 25 of their shops.
The UNHCR's Bart Leerschool told AFP that different races among South Africa's 65,000 refugees and indeed all refugees in Africa are falling victim to race hatred.
"South Africans perhaps perceive the refugees as a threat they have to compete against. It is not just the Somalis, all refugee communities are vulnerable to this trend."
Somalia Bans Illegal Fishing in Seawaters
MOGADISHU, September 8 (Xinhua) -- The transitional national government of Somalia on Friday issued a strong warning against the illegal fishing in Somalia's seawaters.
The document has warned all individuals and companies operating illegally in Somalia's seawaters that the time is now over of illegal fishing and violations against the Somalia's seawaters.
The document has been also addressed to the Marine Department of the United Nations, the Ministry of Fishery and Marine Resources of Somalia
Mohamed Qanyareh Afrah, the minister of fisheries and marine resources, said his government has carried out a thorough study in which they have come to know so many foreign fishing vessels are now active in the illegal business in Somalia's exclusive economic zones.
Qanyareh told a press conference in Mogadishu on Friday that his government is now strong enough in safeguarding the coasts of the country and every illegal-fishing vessel will be apprehended.
"We even have the information about the weapons these illegal fishing vessels use," he said. "And we can beat them, but we're not fighting governments, but sea pirates and we're much stronger than these sea hooligans."
Meanwhile, Qanyareh has also offered that his ministry is ready with licenses for all of those who are interested in conducting legal fishing in Somalia's seawaters.
He said the licenses are cheaper or expensive according to the ability of fishing of the respective applicant for the license.
"Of course, an exporter and a small retailer in Mogadishu's markets are not the same," he said.
The Ministry of Fisheries has also pledged peace and security for all of those who want to fish in Somalia's seawaters legally.
"But for the locals, not only peace but other facilities and advice will be given free of charge," Qanyareh said, adding "that' s the policy of our government," and "to encourage the local production and the fishing industry of Somalia."
In general over 60 percent of the Somalis are nomads who don't eat the fish or any of the seafood kinds. The late government has put tremendous efforts in advertising the eating of the fish as something good for the health.
Despite the fact that there are local administrations in Puntland and Somaliland who have been issuing such licenses, the government says it does not recognize any of these alleged licenses.
"There's only one government throughout Somalia," said Qanyareh, noting they "won't recognize any other document issued elsewhere".
This is the first such ban issued since Somalia's central government collapsed 11 years ago.
The Ministry of Livestock and Preservation has also two days ago issued similar warning for those burning the charcoal. The decree by the ministry of livestock will be effective on Monday.
The ministry said they have bought speedboats to apprehend all vessels or boats transporting the charcoal.
The charcoal burners have already made thousands of hectare lands barren after they chopped off all trees.
© Xinhua News Agency
XINHUA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE September 6, 2001
Somali Leaders Support Investigation of Past Atrocities: U.N. Expert
NAIROBI -- The majority of Somalia's political leaders have expressed support to investigate human rights violations and atrocities committed in the war-torn African country, a U.N. appointed human rights expert said here Thursday afternoon.
Ghanim Alnajjar, an independent expert appointed by the U.N. Secretary General on the situation of human rights in Somalia, told a press conference that during his 10-day mission in Somalia that ended on Thursday, he held discussions with all political leaders in the country on a series of issues.
"One major issue is that of addressing the past atrocities," he said, "and this is the first time that anybody discussed the particular sensitive issue with all political leaders in one mission." He said that almost all political leaders have agreed to conduct investigation of the past atrocities, although some of them differ in their approach.
Alnajjar told journalists that he will write to the U.N. Secretary General and the Security Council, urging them to appoint an independent committee of experts to investigate allegations and make recommendations to the Security Council.
Somalia descended into chaos after an alliance of opposition leaders ousted President Mohammed Siad Barre in January 1991. Although a transitional government was established in August last year, clan-based factional fighting has continuously ravaged the country with 7 million people.
From late 1992 to early 1995, a U.S.-led United Nations troops were deployed in Somalia to protect convoys of relief food for victims of a famine, but descended into a disaster when 18 American soldiers were killed by Somalian militiamen.
"The investigation should include all atrocities committed in Somalia, including the alleged practices of the U.N. during their presence in Somalia. I don't discount that," he said.
Alnajjar said that there is no preconceived model on how this concern should be approached, but he said that the establishment of a war-crime tribunal is possible.
However, he went on to say that the committee of experts will decide themselves which direction they will go.
The independent expert expressed his conviction that this effort would contribute to the process of peace and reconciliation in Somalia.
Alnajjar said that there are some positive signs in the demobilization of soldiers in Somalia, especially in Mogadishu, but he noted that much work needs to be done in this regard.
He called on the international community to pay attention to the process and provide support to demobilized soldiers in areas such as vocational training so that they can be integrated into the civil society.