BBC Monitoring International Reports, January 4, 2004
SOMALIA: ALLIANCE LEADER SAYS MOGADISHU PORTS TO REOPEN
The chairman of the Somali National Salvation Council (SNSC), Muse Sudi Yalahow, has said the alliance he chairs has not been invited to participate in the 9 January meeting in which all Somali leaders were reported to convene. "None can threaten us. The Somali National Salvation Council alliance was not invited to the meeting, to be held on 9 January." Muse Sudi said in a press conference he held in his headquarters in Mogadishu.
The Somalia National Salvation Council alliance outlined its achievements since 1 October 2003 up to 31 December 2003 and Muse Sudi said they are currently involved in search for key leaders of Banaadir region, adding that a new Banaadir region administration would be announced and subsequently the seaport and the airport (Mogadishu) would be reopened.
In a statement distributed to the local media, Muse Sudi said the pre-occupation of the alliance is to arrange a new Banaadir region administration very soon, to reopen the Mogadishu seaport and airport, to ensure security, to set the courts and the police force in motion and the reopening of jails.
The statement also included the formation of an administration of other regions that come under the control of the Somali National Salvation Council alliance, ensuring their security, proceeding the enlightenment of people, solving differences between clans, keeping contact with other key leaders so as to bring them together, to prevent whatever can hurt Somali unity to pave the way for a reconciliation conference inside the country, to abort any conspiracy of Somali enemy, to avoid whatever can spark fighting, to call Somali people for peace and to complete the formation of the Somali National Salvation Council.
Source: Qaran, Mogadishu, in Somali 4 Jan 04
BBC Monitoring International Reports, January 5, 2004
KENYAN, UGANDAN PRESIDENTS TO LAUNCH SOMALI PEACE TALKS IN MOMBASA
President (Mwai) Kibaki and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni will launch the 10-day Somali peace talks in Mombasa on Friday (9 January).
The retreat has been postponed three times since November.
The Ugandan leader is expected to fly into the country on Thursday and hold talks with President Kibaki.
The decision was reached last 22 December when President Museveni, the chairman of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) assembly of heads of states, met Foreign Affairs Minister Kalonzo Musyoka.
Yesterday, Mr Musyoka appealed to the Somali warlords to attend the retreat, saying the government and the international community were uncomfortable with the decade-long civil strife in that Horn of Africa country.
Source: Daily Nation web site, Nairobi, in English 6 Jan 04
Independent on Sunday (London), January 4, 2004, Sunday, SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 14
IOS CHRISTMAS APPEAL: YOUNG REFUGEES FIND THEIR VOICE THROUGH POETRY
BYLINE: SEVERIN CARRELL Zephaniah: These kids do not take school for granted'
Writing poetry allows Alwaiya to speak freely. With a poem, the young refugee can conjure up images of her childhood home in Somalia, or the long, bewildering flight into the dark from Mogadishu.
Alwaiya Mudhir was six when she was bundled by her father on to a flight to London, with her brother, sister and aunt, to escape the violence and poverty of Somalia. She is now a confident 14-year-old, and is torn between becoming a poet and a psychiatrist.
"Becoming a poet is a big step, you know. You can't just write nonsense." Becoming a psychiatrist, she thinks, is probably less trouble.
Alwaiya was introduced to poetry by workers at the Children's Society, the charity to which this year's Independent on Sunday Christmas Appeal is dedicated.
The society works with about 2,000 young refugees and asylum-seekers each year. A lot of time is spent finding homes, schools and clothing for young people, and running youth clubs and holidays.
And at Little Ilford secondary school in east London, the charity helped found a "young poets' society" - a remarkable group of bright and ambitious teenagers from countries such as Somalia, Kosovo and Burma.
"I like expressing myself in writing, not from talking," Alwaiya says. "You know when something pops into your head, and you want to write it down? It doesn't take that long to express myself."
Alwaiya was coached by Benjamin Zephaniah, one of Britain's leading contemporary poets and a supporter of the society's projects.
"She struck me as someone who really knows the value of poetry. She just said, instead of lashing out or shouting or being angry, I just put it in here'. She can control it all and put it into these poems.
"These kids aren't statistics. When you read their poems, even when they're only a couple of lines long, you know there are human beings behind these poems. This is what they're saying to us. They're not going to have that space very often."
Alwaiya's optimism unites those involved in the poetry projects. They contradict cliches about teenagers being listless and lazy, and confound stereotypes that ethnic minority children from the inner city are under- achievers. Alwaiya and her schoolmates are hungry for success.
Sanaa Amir wants to design clothes; Shamin Atcha, 15, from Burma, is determined to be an automotive engineer; and Zainab Jama, a Somali 16-year-old who already speaks five languages and is learning a sixth, wants to be a journalist. Another Somali, Fatima Maalow, 14, plans to be an architect, while Ylber Rexhepi, a Kosovan refugee, 14, wants a career in computing.
School is not something these teenagers take for granted, Mr Zephaniah says. "It's because they see where they came from and realise the opportunities in front of them."
Alwaiya says she is lucky to be at school- luckier than girls living in her homeland. "Just because I'm a Somali girl doesn't mean I can't make a success of my life," she says. "A lot of Somali people don't have the chance to do much with their life, but when you get the opportunity, take it."
One Night
One night I left my home
Our whole life changed
Old men coughing
The next thing I could
remember was
That it was a very dark night
We were very bored
travelling place to place
WHEN ARE WE EVER GOING
TO STOP & SIT!!!
By Alwaiya Mudhir, 14
BBC Monitoring International Reports, January 3, 2004
RELIGIOUS GROUP SAYS ONLY ISLAM "CAN BE PROPAGATED" IN SOMALIA
Somali religious scholars, particularly those in the umbrella of Somali Ulema Council, comprising many famous Somali religious scholars have released a statement after a three-day meeting at Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu. The statement read as follows:
Religion other than Islam cannot be propagated among Somali people, who are 100 per cent Muslims. A non-Muslim cannot hold any position among the people. Unity of Somalia in religion, country and culture is sacred.
Lifting self-imposed embargo by reopening seaport and the airport. Every Somali is responsible for the protection of his religion, the country and the good culture. Not to cooperate with foreigners.
The umbrella called for Somalis to fully participate in the reconciliation, ensuring the security and stopping the civil wars. The umbrella sent a sympathetic condolence to the Iranian people for the big tragedy that afflicted them.
The TNG prime minister, Muhammad Abdi Yusuf, who spoke at the meeting said that there was an attempt to draft a secular constitution void of religion, but Somali intellectuals opposed that. Muhammad Abdi Yusuf said every clan wants to have a government of its own. "There could not be a government owned by Isaq clans, or a government owned by Darod clans, or a government owned by Hawiye clans and not other." Abdi Yusuf Said.
Sheykh Mahmud Abdulbari, the chairman of Umbrella of Somali Ulema Council said it is necessary for Ulema Council and the politicians to work together and to avoid holding a particular position. "We all, from Ulema to politicians, have to avoid (the belief that) only mine (opinion) is accurate" Sheykh Mahmud Abdulbari said.
Several constructive viewpoints about protection of the Islamic religion and solving crisis of the people were recommended at the meeting in which several other members also spoke.
Source: Qaran, Mogadishu, in Somali 3 Jan 04
BBC Monitoring International Reports, January 3, 2004
TWO KILLED IN LAND MINE BLAST IN CENTRAL SOMALIA
A Japan-made lorry heading to Gaalkacyo (central Somalia) hit a land mine in a place near that town. Among those killed in the blast was the driver of the lorry. A child who was among the passengers was also injured.
According to HF radios, the wounded child was immediately taken to a hospital in Gaalkacyo. Other passengers on board the lorry were not hurt. The lorry and the goods it was carrying were damaged. (Passage omitted).
Source: Radio Mogadishu, Voice of the Republic of Somalia, in Somali 0500 gmt 3 Jan 04
BBC Monitoring International Reports, January 1, 2004
SOMALI FACTION LEADERS OPPOSED TO EXPANSION OF PEACE TEAM IN NAIROBI TALKS
Somali political leaders in Kenya yesterday released a long statement in which they detailed their stances about the Nairobi peace conference to be held in 9 January and about how to rescue the Somalia's conference in Kenya.
The faction leaders submitted their statement to the international community and IGAD (Inter Governmental Authority on Development) committee.
The faction leaders said they would never accept the increase of the political leaders in the meeting of 9 January to over 25 members.
They also said that Somali peace talks in Kenya could be successful if the advice of most Somalis currently in Nairobi are given consideration.
Source: Xog-Ogaal, Mogadishu, in Somali 1 Jan 04
BBC Monitoring International Reports, January 1, 2004
SOMALIA: MILITIA GROUP DENIES RECEIVING WEAPONS FROM ETHIOPIA
Hiiraan administration strongly denies any weapon smuggling into the region, earlier reports suggest that a consignment of weapons from Ethiopia had crossed the region on its way to Jowhar.
The deputy chairman of the regional administration in Hiiraan, Abdullahi Ali Abdi has denied that ay consignment of weapons flowed in to the region from neighbouring Ethiopia.
Early reports suggest that a consignment of weapons from Ethiopia had crossed the region last night on its way to Jowhar, a town 80 kilometres north of Mogadishu.
The town is in the control of Muhammad Umar Dheere, a faction leader who has close links to Ethiopia.
Ethiopia was repeatedly accused of violating United Nations arms embargo on Somali by sending weapons to Somali warlords who had close ties with its administration.
However, Mr Abdi said that his administration has no links with Ethiopia. He added that his administration closely watching on cross border activities and would not allow the flow of weapons into the region.
The UN arms embargo was imposed on Somalia in 1992, following the collapse of the former regime led by Siyad Bare.
Source: HornAfrik Online text web site, Mogadishu, in English 31 Dec 03
BBC Worldwide Monitoring, December 30, 2003
Somalia: Interim president appeals for stronger ties with Russia
SOURCE: Xog-Ogaal, Mogadishu, in Somali 30 Dec 03
President Abdiqasim Salad Hasan of Somalia yesterday sent a written message to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on strengthening bilateral relations.
Abdiqasim said in his message that the political relationship and cooperation in many spheres between Somalia and Russia was set to grow stronger.
Abdiqasim said Somalia had suffered for a whole decade, and pointed out that since the formation of the interim government, Somalia had made tangible progress, especially in the field of reconciliation, referring to the accord between the interim government and the 12-member alliance.
In conclusion, President Abdiqasim Salad Hasan said the strengthening of bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries would be mutually beneficial and fruitful. Passage omitted .
Asia Africa Intelligence Wire, Dec 31, 2003 pNA
Somalia: Premier announces his new cabinet.
(From BBC Monitoring International Reports)
The new prime minister of the Transitional National Government [TNG], Muhammad Abdi Yusuf, announced today names of his cabinet. The new cabinet comprises 37 ministers. The announcement came following parliament's refusal to approve seven ministers he had early announced.
The 37 ministers that the new [TNG] premier appointed today are as follows:
1. First Deputy Prime Minister: Huseyn Salah Muse.
2. Second Deputy Prime minister: Huseyn Haji Bood.
3. Third Deputy Prime Minister Dr Yusuf Ma'alin Amin.
4. Minister of Justice: Ali Mudey Mahi.
5. Minister of Religious Affairs and Endowment (Awqaf): Mahmud Ahmed Nur.
6. Minister of Foreign Affairs: Yusuf Hasan Ibrahim, alias Yusuf Dheeg.
7. Minister of Internal Affairs: Ahmed Gacal Ali Arabow.
8. Minister of Defence: Adan Ahmed Abdi.
9. Minister of Agriculture: Dr Abdiwahid Ilmi.
10. Minister of Fishery: Abdirahman Adan Ibrahim Ibbi.
11. Minister of Trade: Abdikarim Ahmed Ali.
12. Minister of Health: Ahmed Shaykh Mahmud, alias Amore.
13. Minister of Mineral and Water: Farah Huseyn Muhammad.
14. Minister of Air and Land Transport: Abdi Guled Muhammad.
15. Minister of Monetary Affairs: Col Umar Hashi Adan.
16. Minister of Sea and Port Transport: Muhammad Jama Kulmiye.
17. Minister of Post and Telecommunication: Dr Mahmud Bule Muhammad.
18. Minister of Energy and Electricity: Muhammad Abdullahi Kamil.
19. Minister of Public Works :Isma'il Diriye Awad.
20. Minister of Industries: Muhammad Hashi Hasan.
21. Minister of Reconstruction and Housing: Abdiqadir Aw-Yusuf.
22. Minister of Local Governments and Rural Developments: Adan Muhammad Shaykh Abdulle.
23. Minister of Culture and Higher Education: Zakariye Mahmud Haji Abdi.
24. Minister of Diaspora and Refugees Affairs: Ahmed Abdullahi Jama.
25. Minister of Education and Training: Dr Muhammad Farah Jum'ale.
26. Minister of Veterinary and Wildlife: Dr Muhammad Huseyn Abdi.
27. Minister of Labour and Social Affairs: Abdiqadir Haji Mahmud.
28. Minister of Youth and Sports: Ahmed Diriye Muhammad.
29. Minister of Science and Technology: Ahmed Nur Shegow.
30. Minister of Reconciliation and Conflict Solution : Said Islan Muse.
31. Minister of Information: Eng. Abdiqadir Abdulle Madahey.
32. Minister of Planning and International Cooperation: Idiris Hadi Qaline.
33. Minister of Constitution Affairs: Ibrahim Usman Mursal.
34. Minister of Environment and Soil Conservation: Ahmed Farah Ali.
35. Minister of Women and Family Affairs: Fadumo Adan Ali.
36. Minister of Relations with Parliament: Hasan Ali Nur.
37. Minister of Rehabilitation, Disarmament and Welfare of the Disabled: Dr Adan Haji Ibrahim.
Source: Holy Koran Radio, Mogadishu, in Somali 1530 gmt 30 Dec 03 [c] BBC Monitoring
Asia Africa Intelligence Wire, Dec 30, 2003 pNA .(From BBC Monitoring International Reports)
Somalia: Foreign delegation arrives in southern city of Kismaayo.
A delegation comprising Italian and Belgian citizens has arrived in Kismaayo [southern Somalia]. The seven-man delegation includes four Italians and three Belgians.
The delegation arrived in Kismaayo to re-open the [main] hospital in the city and will also start funding repair work at the seaport and airport in Kismaayo.
Yesterday, the delegation held a meeting with the Jubba Valley Alliance [JVA, pro-government southern alliance] Chairman Col Bare Adan Shire, alias Bare Hirale.
The alliance spokesman, Abdirahman Haji Ahmed, said they discussed possible work on the airport and seaport.
On his part, Col Bare Hirale told the delegations that they would cooperate with them.
Source: Qaran, Mogadishu, in Somali 30 Dec 03 [c] BBC Monitoring
Asia Africa Intelligence Wire, Dec 24, 2003 pNA (From BBC Monitoring International Reports)
Somalia: New political party launched in central town.
A new [political] party named the National Democratic League was yesterday launched in Beled Weyne town, the capital of Hiiraan Region [central Somalia].
Dr Abdirahman Abdulle Ali was elected chairman of the new party while Eng Abdiwahid Abdulle Abdi was elected vice-chairman. Abdikarim Husayn Idow was elected secretary-general of the party.
The party will have an executive committee, made up of 13 members and a central committee made up of 41 members.
Many local officials and other esteemed guests from the neighbouring areas attended the inauguration ceremony and welcomed the launch of the party.
Source: Xog-Ogaal, Mogadishu, in Somali 24 Dec 03 [c] BBC Monitoring
Africa News Service, Dec 22, 2003 pNA
Which is Somalia's True Face: Arab or African?
Nairobi, Dec 22, 2003 (The East African/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX)
The Somali Reconciliation Conference taking place in Nairobi, Kenya, is in limbo. Success is what most Somalis and other rightminded people wish it when it restarts this Tuesday. But in the event it ends in a stalemate, over 800 delegates will be sent home, back to Somalia or wherever they came from when they were invited to participate the Igad-sponsored talks.
It would be a sad end to a praiseworthy regional effort that began when the heads of states approved a Somali peace process at their ninth summit in Sudan in June 2001.
The fieldwork began on October 15, 2002 when former Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi officiated the talks at the Sirikwa hotel in Eldoret town in Kenya's Rift valley province. Several heads of states and governments graced a gathering that united several Somali political groupings, including Somalia's transitional national government (TNG), the SRRC (Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council) and members of civil society.
The first sigh of relief was breathed by the Somali people when on October 27, a document was signed compelling the opposing sides to observe a cessation of hostilities in Somalia. Unfortunately, the killing machines continued their work...
The Somali people, with extreme patience, continued hoping that the peace process would eventually produce a national government.
The first of the conference's three phases involved the preparation of six documents that would form the pillars supporting any government instituted at the end. Committees of knowledgeable individuals and appointees of the different Somali groupings tackled such issues as demobilisation, national security, rehabilitation, property in land and the transitional charter.
The transitional charter was the one that posed the most formidable challenge and a harmonisation committee repeatedly matched at least two separate drafts.
After eight months of gruelling work, the documents were tabled at the plenary. All the documents except the charter were accepted without too much controversy. The second phase proved to be tougher than the first, however, and most of the delegates, the group leaders in particular, began to switch loyalties. Old habits, it became apparent, die hard, as every grouping or alliance tried to secure its political survival, demanding ever more concessions, especially during the debate on the content of the transitional charter, arguably the most sensitive of all the six documents.
This is what has humiliated the people: the lack of political will by our so-called political leaders to settle their differences by consensus and give the Somali nation what it deserves - a government.
The next obstacle was how to hold on to those who were busy inventing excuses to abandon the conference. Personal interest was the hidden agenda, but on the surface the defiant elements portrayed themselves as heroes who, because of "patriotic" sentiments, could not abide a conference saturated with "foreign notions".
A wing of the TNG led by its president spearheaded the exodus, followed by other faction leaders who swore to arrange an alternative conference free from the influence of Ethiopia and Kenya, two frontline states who were mandated together with Djibouti to hold the conference. Even the Djibouti representative withdrew from the organising committee.
The talks have now degenerated into two antagonistic blocs: The Somali delegates and the organising committee members who want continuation of the process.
The "frontline" states of Ethiopia and Kenya seem happy with what has been achieved: a set of documents that will guide the main activities of the upcoming government plus a charter that covers all the basic inputs needed to govern the state for a transitional period of four years.
Djibouti, another frontline state, however supports those who left the venue in protest and their move to initiate an alternative conference inside Somalia. That is hardly practical, especially after 13 years of bitter civil war and no serious international player likely to support a substitute process.
For the general public in Somalia, the two schools of thoughts are clear. One is supported by Kenya and Ethiopia and appears to contain a formula by which a Somali government can work closely with these two neighbouring countries. The second holds that Somalia is an "Arab" and Islamic state that should follow an independent line and closer ties with Arab states in the region and even with Italy, a former colonial master. That approach alienates Ethiopia and Kenya, who share a combined land border with Somalia exceeding 3,000 kilometres.
The struggle is maintained at the political level and no chance is offered for the Somali people to decide. A war-torn nation is unprepared for political decisions, even if they affect the people's everyday lives...
It is clear that Somalia has vested interests in the Arab and Islamic world, but it is equally clear that Somalia must maintain at least good neighbourly relations with Ethiopia and Kenya.
Major warlords like the late Abdurahman Ahmed Ali of Somaliland, the late General Mohamed Farah Aideed of the United Somali Congress (USC) in Mogadishu and Colonel Ahmed Omar Jess of the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM) in Kismayo rejected the outcome of the first Somali peace conference held in Djibouti in June 1991. Seven years later, when the peace process was hosted by Egypt in 1997, the talks were pulverised by pro-Ethiopian firebrands like Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf and the late General Adan Nur Gabyow.
Of course, loyalty to one camp or the other is not a permanent business. You find a warlord in Mogadishu who used to spend weeks or months in Addis Ababa or Gedey in Ethiopia sharing aromatic coffee with top army officers, who nowadays runs around with preaching that Ethiopia is Somalia's enemy number one.
So where do the interests of the Somali people lie?
They certainly need to maintain their historic ties with Arab and Muslim communities and even with former colonial masters like Italy and Britain, but it is equally vital, if not more important, to establish good neighbourliness with Kenya and Ethiopia. The difficulty is, however, that Somali politicians, faction leaders and warlords cannot reconcile their differences and let the Somali people have the best of both approaches.
It seems the international community is as confused as the Somalis, not knowing whom to support in this often deadly cat-and-mouse game. The best solution lies somewhere in midfield. A Somali diplomat in Cairo, a businessman in Dubai or a scholar in Rome should be a natural thing, but Somali transporters sending their fleets from Mogadishu's Bakara market to Addis Ababa or an Ethiopian trader from Mukalla city clearing a consignment from the Somali ports of Bosasso or Kismayo should not be strange occurrences either.
Abdulkadir Khalif writes from Mogadishu.
Copyright The East African. Distributed by All Africa Global Media(AllAfrica.com)