BBC Monitoring International Reports,December 29, 2003
PUNTLAND LEADER RULES OUT TALKS, DARES SOMALILAND TO ATTACK
The president of Puntland regional administration, Col Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmad, has said that he will not over react to the recent problematic situations in Sool and Sanaag, the two disputed regions between his administration and the (self-declared Republic) of Somaliland. "Let Dahir Riyale (the president of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland) make good of his threat. Did I go to Boorama (in Somaliland)," said Col Abdullahi Yusuf. He was speaking to Somalitalk web site.
Col Abdullahi said that the disputed regions are dominated by the Harti clan, which does not want to secede from Somalia. "I don't want to listen to an individual (presumably Somaliland President Riyale) who wants to divide the country into fiefdoms, and if he wants to launch an attack let him launch it," said Col Abdullahi Yusuf. (Passage omitted).
Source: Qaran, Mogadishu, in Somali 28 Dec 03) BBC Monitoring
BBC Monitoring International Reports, December 29, 2003/Source: Xog-Ogaal, Mogadishu, in Somali 29 Dec 03
INDIAN POLICE IMPOUND "BILLIONS" OF COUNTERFEIT SOMALI CURRENCY
Police in Hyderabad, southwest of India, say they have impounded Somali counterfeit currency totalling billions in an operation they had carried out in a place well-known for making counterfeit goods.
A police spokesman in Hyderabad told an Indian newspaper, The Electric Press, that the police had impounded billions of Somali counterfeit currency printed in India.
The money was stored in two huge stores, adding that they had also arrested some Indian men suspected of printing the money.
The police also impounded counterfeit Brazilian currency, which was also printed in India. Somalia's ambassador to India has said he was unaware of the matter but would soon contact the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for further information. (Passage omitted).
According to other reports, the impounded counterfeit money included Somaliland currency which was reportedly much more than the (southern) Somali counterfeit money.
BBC Monitoring International Reports, December 28, 2003/Source: MENA news agency, Cairo, in English 1521 gmt 28 Dec 03
ARAB LEAGUE CHIEF HEARS FROM SOMALI FACT-FINDING PANEL
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Musa received on Sunday (28 December) a report by the fact-finding panel sent by the Arab League to Somaliland on the situation there.
A statement by the Arab League media department said the committee urged the international community to achieve a comprehensive Somali reconciliation based on justice and equality. The committee's delegation reiterated during their meetings with the various Somali sides the Arab League's readiness to back development efforts in Somaliland.
The delegation delivered a shipment of medicines to Hargeisa hospitals offered by the Arab League.
The Arab League has been exerting tireless efforts with the sides concerned, especially the UN Development Programme (UNDP), to lift the ban on exporting Somali livestock.
Africa News, December 23, 2003/BYLINE: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
Somalia; WFP Delivers Desperately Needed Food in North
The World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered food rations to thousands of drought-affected nomads in the Sool Plateau in northern Somalia.
In a statement issued on Monday, the agency said that over the past three weeks it had delivered 732 mt of "mixed food commodities" to 39 villages in the area. "We have managed to reach nearly 77,000 people affected by the most severe drought in the region for more than 20 years. We targeted those least able to cope - malnourished children, the destitute, the disabled and the aged," said Robert Hauser, the WFP representative for Somalia.
Humanitarian access to the region was guaranteed following extensive discussions on security issues between the WFP and the administrations of the self-declared republic Somaliland and the neighbouring self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, both of which claim the area. The Sool Plateau falls geographically within Somaliland, but most of the clans who live there are associated with neighbouring Puntland.
These negotiations had also opened up access to other humanitarian agencies, the statement added.
WFP said it required 14,912 mt of food, worth about US $11.5 million, for the drought emergency operation and other projects in Somalia until the end of 2004.
BBC Monitoring International Reports, December 23, 2003/Source: Holy Koran Radio, Mogadishu, in Somali 1530 gmt 23 Dec 03
SOMALIA'S PUNTLAND FORCES TAKE CONTROL OF SOMALILAND POLICE HQ IN DISPUTED AREA
Heavily-armed (Puntland) soldiers headed by the commander of the Puntland police force, Col Abdirizaq Mahmud Yusuf, aka Afguduud, this morning entered the town of Laas Caanood. There, they began the most extensive operation that the Puntland administration had ever carried out since they drove away the president of Somaliland, Dahir Riyale Kahin. The commander of the police accompanied by his soldiers backed by armoured vehicles seized control of the Somaliland police headquarters and the state house of the region in which Somaliland officials resided. The
policemen emptied the town's central prison, forcing out civilians living there.
The police never met any resistance during their operation and they arrested five people who were opposed to their operation.
Most of the local people welcomed the operation by the police inside the town, but many people are asking themselves how long they would stay, remembering earlier operations during which they (Puntland police) carried out similar operations in the region and then pulled out. (Passage omitted: background)
Africa News,December 22, 2003/BYLINE: World Food Programme
Somalia; WFP Food Aid Reaches Thousands of Drought-Affected Somalis in Sool Plateau
Thousands of vulnerable people in the Sool and Sanaag districts of Northern Somalia have received life-saving food rations over the past three weeks, the UN World Food Programme has confirmed.
"We have managed to reach nearly 77,000 people affected by the most severe drought in the region for more than twenty years," said Robert Hauser, the WFP Country Director for Somalia. "We targeted those least able to cope ? malnourished children, the destitute, the disabled and the aged." In this first round of emergency food distributions WFP has delivered 732 tonnes of mixed food commodities to 39 villages in Somaliland, 15 of them through the Puntland port of Bossaso. It is enough to last the people about a month.
Humanitarian access to the region has been guaranteed following extensive discussions between WFP and the administrations of Somaliland and Puntland. These negotiations have also opened up access for other humanitarian agencies.
"We appreciate the security promises made by the two administrations," said Hauser, "They were essential for the peaceful and efficient completion of the distribution process."
Ironically, WFP's operation was hampered by very unusual rains that fell on Somalia at the beginning of December. Small delays were experienced as the trucks delivering the food were stuck in the mud.
"Thirty-two of the 39 villages we assisted were hit by the rain, but it was too late to relieve the food situation," said Hauser. "The downpour brought temporary relief to the water shortages, but 80
per-cent of the livestock the people here depend on have already died."
Capitalizing on this opportunity of safe access, a team from the United Nations Children's Fund is now carrying out a nutritional screening exercise. There are indications that the population's nutritional status is deteriorating. WFP is monitoring the situation very closely.
The operation in the Sool region could last up to six months and will cost an estimated US $ 7.8 million. Due to the urgency of the relief intervention on the Sool plateau, WFP Somalia has to use resources from other programmes.
"WFP is appealing to the international community for additional resources to compensate for spending on drought relief," said Hauser. "These other programmes - to support tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS patients as well as work in the fields of education and water -- cannot be left unresourced without human cost."
Overall, WFP requires 14,912 tonnes of food, worth about US $ 11.5 million, for the drought emergency and other projects in Somalia until the end of 2004. It has already received about US $ 2.7 million from the US government.
BBC Monitoring International Reports, December 22, 2003/Source: Radio Shabeelle, Marka, in Somali 0500 gmt 22 Dec 03
SOMALIA: PUNTLAND DEPLOYS TROOPS IN DISPUTED REGION TO FOIL SOMALILAND OFFENSIVE
Puntland soldiers armed with four armoured vehicles have left Garoowe (central Somalia, Puntland administrative HQ) and have reportedly arrived in Laas Caanood District, Sool region, to ward off Somaliland's military actions against Puntland administration in the region.
The move by the (Puntland) soldiers was said to be in response to a decision reached last night by the Somaliland administration to take new measures in regards to Sool and Sanaag (regions). Forty-two members Somaliland's House of Representatives reportedly voted for that decision which immediately sparked off the military activity of the Puntland soldiers. Puntland administration aims to repel Somaliland soldiers if Somaliland government fulfils its decision against the regions of Sool and Sanaag regions.
(The Somaliland House of Representatives voted on 21 December in favour of taking military action against Puntland militia recently deployed in Sool and Sanaag regions. The two regions in northeastern Somalia were part of former Somaliland British Protectorate but have been claimed by Puntland leader Col Abdullahi Yusuf on the basis of clan affiliations between the inhabitants of the regions and those in Puntland. The Somaliland president Dahir Riyale Kahin has been accused in the past of being soft on Puntland).
BBC Monitoring International Reports, December 16, 2003/ Source: The Somaliland Times web site, Hargeysa, in English 14 Dec 03
SOMALILAND POLICE INTERCEPT ETHIOPIAN REBELS REPORTEDLY TRAINED IN ERITREA
The Somaliland security forces have foiled an operation for smuggling a group of combatants with suspected ONLF (Ogaden National Liberation Front, Ethiopian rebel group) ties into eastern Ethiopia. All the group's 34 members were arrested by the police. The arrests were believed to have taken place between 29 November and 1 December 2003. The 34 suspects were remanded in custody on Thursday (4 December) by a Hargeysa court. According to Somaliland Police Commissioner Muhammad Ige, state prosecutors will deal with the case in front of a Somaliland court. The arrested men were expected to be, at least, charged with endangering the country's national security and violating the country's immigration laws.
According to police sources, a number of suspects have already confessed that all members of their group belonged to the Ogaden National Liberation Movement, an armed militia group fighting the Ethiopian government in areas inhabited by the Ogaden clan in the Somali (Regional) State of Ethiopia known as Zone 5. Though police investigations are still under way, all those who had been interrogated, so far, confessed that they underwent military training in Eritrea and came to Somaliland via Djibouti.
According to sources close to the police, the suspects were among the first batch of ONLF combatants to graduate from Kalena and Addis Maskal (names as published) training camps in Eritrea. Between 700 and 1,200 ONLF recruits were receiving training at the two camps. The batch consisting of 100 men divided into three sub-groups had planned to infiltrate into Ethiopia through Djibouti and then Somaliland. At least one of the remaining two sub-groups, made up of 33 men each, was confirmed to have left Hargeysa for the Ethiopian border by end of last month.
However, shortly after crossing into Ethiopia on the night of 27 November, this sub-group was intercepted within the vicinity of Bali-Gubadle village, about 80 km south of Hargeysa. In the ensuing fighting, two ONLF insurgents were reportedly killed while another two were taken prisoner. A group of nomads from the area were believed to have joined the fighting along side the Ethiopian security forces. One of the nomads was confirmed dead while another was wounded.
It was not yet known whether the Ethiopian regular security forces had taken any casualties as a result of the clash. The remaining ONLF fighters (30) managed to escape by going south into Zone Five's hinterland. They were again intercepted at Dusmo, about 200 km south of Hargeysa, located between Aware and Dega Bur. The Ethiopians were reported to have lost six men in this clash. Dusmo is located in an area inhabited by members of the Ogaden clan.
Ordinary Somalilanders were shocked by the news that the ONLF was using Somaliland territories for staging infiltration operations. They were also angered by the ONLF chairman's statement on Tuesday (9 December) that his group will respond to the Hargeysa arrests by taking reprisals against Somaliland nomads in Zone 5. Though the Ogaden co-inhabit Zone 5 with other Somali
groups, the ONLF chairman claimed that the whole territory belonged only to members of his clan.
Already a number of Isaq men were reported to have been killed by Ogadeni insurgents in various parts of Zone 5. The ONLF chairman (Mr Muhammad Umar Uthman) who lives in London, was interviewed by the BBC Somali Service on Tuesday. He served under the regime of Somalia's former dictator, Siyad Barre, in the position of admiral of the Somali navy.
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