Africa News, January 8, 2004
Somalia;Concern Over Tension in North
BYLINE: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
The Somalia Aid Coordination Body (SACB) - which brings together donors, UN agencies and international NGOs - has expressed concern over the rising tension in northern Somalia.
The self-declared republic of Somaliland and neighbouring self-declared autonomous region of Puntland both lay claim to the disputed regions of Sool and Sanaag, and there are reports of troops build-ups and preparations for conflict.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the SACB said such reports "in areas that have managed to achieve a measure of peace and stability in recent times are a particular preoccupation for the members of the SACB".
The statement went to say that the timing of these moves was regrettable given the fact that the local people were suffering a "debilitating drought".
"International assistance to the area, including the humanitarian drought-relief operation currently under way, would inevitably be one of the first casualties of an outbreak of armed conflict and hostilities, and the people of the region the first to suffer," the statement warned.
It urged the Somaliland and Puntland authorities to resolve their differences peacefully and called on them "to exercise the greatest restraint, and to do all in their power to defuse the mounting tensions".
BBC Worldwide Monitoring, January 8, 2004
Somaliland foreign minister reportedly on secret visit to Djibouti
SOURCE: Xog-Ogaal, Mogadishu, in Somali 7 Jan 04
According to reliable sources in Djibouti, Somaliland Foreign Minister Edna Adan is on a private visit to Djibouti. Despite the government's silence over her visit, reports say she went to Djibouti early this week to convey message from Somaliland President Dahir Riyale.
The aim of the trip is not yet clear with Djibouti officials not knowing her next destination.
On the contrary, several ministers in Riyale administration including Edna Adan were unhappy with a recent visit made by President Riyale to Djibouti. When asked about his trip to Djibouti, President Riyale said Djibouti is now a friend to Somaliland.
Africa News, January 7, 2004 Wednesday
Somalia;Somaliland Tells Puntland to Pull Out of Disputed Region
BYLINE: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
The authorities in the self-declared republic of Somaliland have warned neighbouring Puntland to withdraw its forces from the disputed region of Sool, a senior Somaliland official told IRIN on Wednesday.
Tension has been rising between the two sides ever since forces of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland took total control of the Sool regional capital, Las Anod, late last month.
Puntland's spokesman Awad Ahmad Ashara told IRIN at the time that it was normal for the Puntland authorities to send police forces to the Sool and Sanaag area "since both regions are part and parcel of Puntland".
However, Fu'ad Adan Ade, the Somaliland housing and rural development minister, who is in charge of his government's operations in Las Anod, told IRIN that Sool and Sanaag were within the internationally recognised boundaries of Somaliland.
"The presence of Majerteenia [Puntland] forces is illegal and illegitimate," he stated. "They should leave before things get out of hand."
"These people [Puntland] are arguing in terms of clan, and we [Somaliland] are talking about a nation," he added. "Clannism is what destroyed Somalia."
Sool and Sanaag fall geographically within the borders of pre-independence British Somaliland, but most of the clans there are associated with Puntland. These are the Warsangeli and the Dhulbahante, which, along with Majerteen - the main clan in Puntland - form the Harti sub-group of the Darood.
Ade, who spoke to IRIN by satellite phone from the town of Hudun, 82 km northeast of Las Anod, said his forces were on their way to Las Anod. "I will urge the Puntland forces to leave peacefully. We have been patient long enough."
He said the tension created by the arrival of the Puntland forces was hampering humanitarian assistance to the people of the area affected by drought. Thousands of nomads in the Sool Plateau, which is within the disputed regions, have been affected by a four-year drought.
"If fighting breaks out, it will not be confined to this area but we will take it to Garowe [the Puntland regional capital]," Ade warned.
Africa News, January 7, 2004
Somalia;UN Agencies Set to Start New Phase of Aid for Drought-Stricken Northern Somalia
BYLINE: United Nations
Preparing a new phase in the drive to help 90,000 people suffering from severe drought in northern Somalia, United Nations humanitarian agencies are appealing to rival local administrations to refrain from any violence that could disrupt the operation.
With no rains anticipated before April in parts of the Sool and Sanaag regions, further losses to livestock and other assets are expected, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), which is calling for prompt intervention to stem the problem.
"The situation is fragile," UNICEF Somalia Emergency Officer Robert McCarthy said. "Our planning is based on the assumption that children will be increasingly vulnerable to malnutrition and disease in the coming weeks." He added that nomadic communities which have lost significant numbers of their livestock will require outside food and supplies to survive.
Growing tension between the local administrations in Northwest Somalia ('Somaliland') and Northeast Somalia ('Puntland'), both claiming the affected areas as their territory, is creating some concern among humanitarian agencies. UNICEF said operations could be jeopardized or even halted if the situation escalates into violent conflict.
In the past, efforts to reach the affected communities - often in remote areas - were possible thanks to cooperation between the two administrations. UNICEF Somalia Senior Programme Officer Leila Pakkala urged that this continue. "We appeal to them to maintain a stable environment and ensure the continuity and effectiveness of response activities," she said.
Failed rains over the past four years have caused large-scale food insecurity among pastoral people in parts of northern Somalia. A joint mission in October, led by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), found the population hard hit by loss of livestock and purchasing power.
In two recent missions, the last ending on 2 January, 10 teams supported by UNICEF and the UN World Health Organization (WHO) visited 72 villages, providing vaccination, clinical and antenatal care, and dry supplementary rations to complement UN World Food Programme (WFP) distributions. Later this week, UNICEF and WFP are set to begin the second phase of food, medical and nutritional interventions.
Africa News, January 6, 2004
Somalia;Drought Increasing Risk of Malnutrition in the North -UNICEF
BYLINE: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned that a drought currently affecting the Sool and Sanaag regions of northern Somalia is increasing the risk of malnutrition.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the agency said that in response, UNICEF and other humanitarian agencies would launch "a second phase of emergency interventions this week". Last month, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) delivered 732 mt of "mixed food commodities" to 39 villages in the area.
UNICEF noted that the Sool Plateau - covering parts of Sool and Sanaag regions within the borders of the self-declared republic of Somaliland in northwestern Somalia - had suffered four consecutive years of drought, resulting "in large-scale food insecurity among pastoral populations".
Recently, a combined "UNICEF- and WHO-supported" team visited 72 villages in the area and "provided vaccination services, clinical and antenatal care, together with nutritional screening and dry supplementary rations intended to complement WFP food distributions", said the statement.
"The situation is fragile," it quoted UNICEF Somalia Emergency Officer Robert McCarthy as saying. "Our planning is based on the assumption that children will be increasingly vulnerable to malnutrition and disease in the coming weeks. In particular, nomadic communities who have lost significant numbers of their livestock will require continued food and non-food assistance."
The statement noted that humanitarian agencies were also concerned about the growing tension between the self-declared republic of Somaliland and the neighbouring self-declared autonomous region of Puntland in northeastern Somalia, both of which lay claim to Sool and Sanaag. "Ongoing [humanitarian] interventions could be jeopardised or even halted if the situation escalates into violent conflict," it warned.
Although the Sool Plateau falls geographically within Somaliland, most of its resident clans are associated with Puntland.
"Efforts to reach affected communities, often in remote areas, have been possible because of the cooperation and assistance of the concerned authorities in Somaliland and Puntland. We appeal to them to maintain a stable environment and ensure the continuity and effectiveness of response activities," the statement quoted UNICEF Somalia Senior Programme Officer Leila Pakkala as saying.
BBC Monitoring International Reports, January 6, 2004
SOMALILAND REPORTEDLY CAPTURES FOUR PUNTLAND SOLDIERS IN DISPUTED REGION
According to confirmation by Sanaag Region Governor Ali Abdi Hure and media sources in Somaliland, many Somaliland soldiers equipped with armoured vehicles and heavy weapons have reached Guumeys (in area disputed between Somaliland and Puntland) the day before yesterday. The soldiers made a base at Ceerigaabo, the capital of Sanaag Region.
According to the Sanaag Region governor under (Somaliland President) Riyale's administration, the soldiers arrived there after Col Abdullahi Yusuf (Puntland leader) sent soldiers to Badhan District (also in the disputed area) the day before Somaliland's soldiers arrived in Ceerigaabo.
Hure said soldiers from both sides exchanged fire near the Badhan area. One person was wounded and four others were captured from Abdullahi Yusuf's side, according to Somaliland media sources. They (those captured) were detained in Ceerigaabo prison.
Source: Xog-Ogaal, Mogadishu, in Somali 6 Jan 04) BBC Monitoring
BBC Monitoring International Reports, January 8, 2004
UGANDA'S MUSEVENI DUE IN KENYA 8 JANUARY FOR SOMALI PEACE TALKS
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda is scheduled to arrive this morning for the launch of the Somali leaders' retreat.
President Kibaki will receive him at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at 11 a.m. (0800 gmt)
The two leaders will attend the ceremony at Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, at 9.30 a.m. tomorrow.
The long-awaited 10-day peace retreat has been postponed three times since November.
The latest date was set 22 December, when President Museveni, the chairman of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) assembly of heads of state, met Foreign Affairs Minister Kalonzo Musyoka in Kampala.
On Monday, Mr Musyoka appealed to the Somali warlords to attend the talks, saying the Kenya government and the international community were uncomfortable with the decade-long civil strife in their country.
Source: Daily Nation web site, Nairobi, in English 8 Jan 04) BBC Monitoring
BBC Worldwide Monitoring, January 8, 2004
Somalia: Factions allied to interim government agree to attend peace talks
SOURCE: HornAfrik Online text web site, Mogadishu, in Somali 7 Jan 04
A meeting held by Somali National Salvation Council SNSC members was concluded in Mogadishu last night.
The meeting, held at Mogadishu's Global Hotel, was aimed at having a common stand with the interim government over Somali peace talks which the interim government has decided to attend.
The SNSC has tonight decided to send five council member who will accompany President Abdiqasim's delegation to Nairobi. The members include Ahmed Umar Jess, Eng. Muhammad Husayn Adow, Abdullahi Black, Jama Ali Jama and Muhammad Jama Furuh.
The SNSC members will hold talks with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Nairobi.
BBC Worldwide Monitoring, January 8, 2004
Five killed in clan fighting in southern Somalia
SOURCE: HornAfrik Online text web site, Mogadishu, in English 7 Jan 04
At least five people have been killed and four others wounded after a heavy fighting broke out on Tuesday 6 January afternoon in Dodale Village 86 kilometres south of Buur Hakaba District in southern Somalia.
The fighting erupted between two aimed militias loyal to two rival clans in the area. According to local sources, the wounded were rushed to Buur Hakaba Hospitals for medical treatment.
The reason of the fighting is not yet clear but some sources say it has much to do with a dispute over the control of the village. The village is now calm but very tense, as local residents feel fearful of the outbreak of new hostilities.
However, local elders are making efforts aimed at subsiding the fighting and reconciling between the two clans.
Africa News, January 7, 2004
Somalia;Museveni, Kibaki for Somalia Talks
BYLINE: New Vision
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni and his Kenyan counterpart Mwai Kibaki are on Friday expected to launch peace talks for warring factions in Somalia. The talks, to last 10 days, will be held in Mombasa.
Museveni, who is chairman of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development IGAD), is expected to chair the talks aimed at ending a decade long civil strife in Somali.
"He is going to participate and as chairman of IGAD he has been very active in the peace process,"
Museveni's press secretary, Mary Karooro Okurut said yesterday. She, however, said Museveni's participation was yet to be confirmed.
Museveni is expected in Kenya on Thursday and will meet leading Somali politicians ahead of the "retreat" in Mombasa, Kenyan Foreign affairs minister Kalonzo Musyoka said yesterday.
Musyoka warned that Somali faction leaders who failed to attend would face unspecified sanctions.
"We can say that any leader who refuses to attend the retreat would be regarded an obstacle to peace in Somalia and would be treated accordingly by the regional governments," said Musyoka.
Somali warlords, clan leaders, interim government officials and representatives from civil society have since October 2002 been attending talks aimed at restoring the first semblance of a national administration in Somalia.
BBC Monitoring International Reports, January 7, 2004
SOMALI PRESIDENT POSTPONES TRIP TO KENYA FOLLOWING RIFT WITH ALLIED FACTION
A delegation led by interim President Abdiqasim Salad Hasan has postponed today's trip to Kenya. This follows a one-hour meeting between interim government and Somali National Salvation Council (SNSC) officials last night. At the meeting, the two sides discussed recent agreement signed between the two. Sharing a common view on the peace talks was among the issues in the agreement (reached in Libya recently).
An (unidentified) SNSC official was quoted saying that he is not aware of any invitation the interim government has received. He said if the interim government decides to go to the talks alone without consulting the SNSC, then the interim government will violate agreement signed.
Last night, SNSC members held a closed-door meeting at Global Hotel (Mogadishu) and are expected to brief reporter today at Yalahow's HQs on outcome of their meeting on whether to attend scheduled meeting in Kenya on 9 January.
Tomorrow, the interim government delegation is expected to leave for Nairobi. It is not yet clear whether SNSC delegation will accompany them.
Source: Radio Shabeelle, Mogadishu in Somali 0500 gmt 7 Jan 04) BBC Monitoring
BBC Monitoring International Reports, January 7, 2004
SOMALIA: SERIOUS MALARIA EPIDEMIC REPORTED NEAR MOGADISHU
There has been a serious malaria epidemic in Mareeray (near Mogadishu) and the surrounding villages with children under six particularly hardest hit by the disease. The disease has so far claimed the lives of four people, three of them children. Ten more people are seriously ill with the disease.
The Holy Koran radio reporter in Afgooye said during a visit to the villages of Beled Amiin, Moor Diinle Sabiidi and Caanoole, he saw many children diagnosed with malaria. There are no medical centres in Mareeray and the nearby villages, with the exception of a few private pharmacies, which are unable to meet local needs. (Passage omitted).
Source: Holy Koran Radio, Mogadishu, in Somali 1530 gmt 4 Jan 04) BBC Monitoring
New Vision (Uganda) January 7, 2004
MUSEVENI, KIBAKI FOR SOMALIA TALKS
BYLINE: Grace Matsiko
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni and his Kenyan counterpart Mwai Kibaki are on Friday expected to launch peace talks for warring factions in Somalia. The talks, to last 10 days, will be held in Mombasa.
Museveni, who is chairman of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development IGAD), is expected to chair the talks aimed at ending a decade long civil strife in Somali.
"He is going to participate and as chairman of IGAD he has been very active in the peace process,"
Museveni's press secretary, Mary Karooro Okurut said yesterday. She, however, said Museveni's participation was yet to be confirmed.
Museveni is expected in Kenya on Thursday and will meet leading Somali politicians ahead of the "retreat" in Mombasa, Kenyan Foreign affairs minister Kalonzo Musyoka said yesterday.
Musyoka warned that Somali faction leaders who failed to attend would face unspecified sanctions.
"We can say that any leader who refuses to attend the retreat would be regarded an obstacle to peace in Somalia and would be treated accordingly by the regional governments," said Musyoka.
Somali warlords, clan leaders, interim government officials and representatives from civil society have since October 2002 been attending talks aimed at restoring the first semblance of a national administration in Somalia.
Associated Press Worldstream, January 6, 2004
Key Somali leader agrees to rejoin peace talks
MOGADISHU, Somalia
The leaders of Somalia's former transitional government announced Tuesday they would rejoin peace talks in neighboring Kenya, citing an official invitation from Uganda's president as the reason for changing their opposition to the peace process.
President Abdiqasim Hassan Salad - who led an experimental transitional government that expired in August, but who still claims the presidency - will travel to Nairobi, Kenya in the next few days at the request of Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, Abdiqasim's prime minister, Mohamed Abdi Yusuf said.
Talks to bring together Somalia's warring factions and to form a truly national government began in October 2002, with a Kenyan mediator acting on behalf of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, a regional body chaired by Museveni.
Abdiqasim's delegation walked out in November, complaining that Ethiopia was interfering in the talks. He formed a coalition with other faction leaders who had boycotted the talks from their inception.
Abdiqasim's decision to return to the talks threatens to shatter his coalition. The other faction leaders did not immediately comment on the development. Museveni is expected to open the next 10-day round of peace talks on Jan. 9, with only 42 faction leaders present out of the hundreds who began the talks to simplify the negotiations.
BBC Monitoring International Reports, January 6, 2004
SOMALIA: PREMIER APPOINTS THREE ADDITIONAL CABINET MINISTERS
Three more ministers, who will be among the new cabinet of Somalia's Prime Minister, Muhammad Abdi Yusuf, were announced yesterday. They are as follows:
Minister of Finance: Huseyn Mahmud Sheykh.
Presidential Minister: Ali Bashi Haji Muhammad ,who was previously minister and special envoy of the TNG (Transitional National Government).
Education Minister: Ali Hashi Mahmud Sahal was appointed following resignation of Muhammad Farah Jimale who was previously given the education docket.
Source: Xog-Ogaal, Mogadishu, in Somali 5 Jan 04) BBC Monitoring
BBC Monitoring International Reports, January 6, 2004
SOMALI PRESIDENT ABDIQASIM SAID TO ATTEND 9 JANUARY TALKS IN KENYA
According to sources close to the presidential palace of the Transitional National Government (TNG), a delegation is expected to leave for Nairobi, Kenya, today. The delegation is to be led by foreign affairs minister, Yusuf Dheeg.
The delegation is said to be a preliminary of another delegation that is expected to arrive in Nairobi shortly, led by interim president Abdiqasim Salad Hasan.
The interim government delegation led by the foreign minister is expected to hold talks with the Kenyan foreign minister and other officials.
The departure to Nairobi by the interim government officials will coincide with invitations that were sent to faction leaders to attend the meeting scheduled to be held on 9 January in Nairobi (presumably in Mombasa), Kenya.
The meeting was in doubt after some faction leaders insisted not to attend if the Somali faction leaders attending the talks will increase 25 members.
Source: Xog-Ogaal, Mogadishu, in Somali 5 Jan 03) BBC Monitoring
BBC World Service, 23 December, 2003, 10:04 GMT
Moving stories: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
BBC World Service's The World Today programme is asking migrants who have been successful in their adopted countries how they got to the top of their field.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an MP for the Liberal Party in the Netherlands, with a brief on immigration. Originally from Somalia, she fled to Holland after her father attempted to arrange a marriage for her.
I left Somalia when I six-years-old. I lived in Saudi Arabia for one year, in Ethiopia for one and a half years, in Kenya for 11 years, and I live in the Netherlands now.
If I were to say the things that I say now in the Dutch Parliament in Somalia, I would be killed
I left Kenya because my father had chosen someone for me to marry.
He wanted me to go to Canada, where this man lived.
On my way to Canada I made a stop in Germany. I didn't agree with this marriage, so I didn't take the plane - I took the train to Holland.
You can say I ran away.
When I had finished learning the Dutch language, I thought I would like to go and study.
I came from a continent which is torn apart by civil war, and I wanted to understand that.
I took political science in college, and that's how I got involved with learning about power, about governments, about institutions, about citizenship - what makes Europe Europe, and what makes developing countries what they are now.
I wanted to understand - I came from a country in civil war, and I really wanted to understand why we had civil war and why it was peaceful and prosperous here.
I am now a member of parliament for the Liberal Party. My subjects - my portfolio - include the migration of non-Western migrants to the Netherlands, the emancipation of women, and development aid to developing countries.
Unfortunately I cannot do this line of work in my country of birth.
Somalia is made up of a population which is 100% Muslim. The radical leanings of a huge number of the population is unfortunately growing, and the position of the Somali woman has never been worse than it is now.
If I were to say the things that I say now in the Dutch Parliament in Somalia, I would be killed.
I wish I could go back, and I would love to go back, even if it's just to see my parents and brother.
But I can't go back, because the situation is that I have said things about the Islamic religion, I have said things about my past, I have said things about the Prophet Mohammed and his message about women.
By saying these things, I think I would be seeking danger if I went back to Somalia.
I'm not intimidated by the threats and the attempts to make me shut my mouth, because living in a rich western European country like this one, I have protection that I otherwise would not have in Somalia or in Africa or in any other Islamic country.
So I am going to make use of this huge opportunity - that I am protected and I can say what I want, that it gets published and spread, and that I am a voice in parliament for these women.
That's something that people forget, because that means you change the rights of women here. They have these rights, but you make sure they are implemented.
I would not change that. I think I wouldn't be able to do that in another country, and I'm not going to allow people to intimidate me.
I have memories - my parents lived there, and I have good memories of the weather, of food, of how as a child I played.
In a way I identify my childhood with my place of birth. I think that's just about it.
BBC World Service
Mining Annual Review, December, 2003/SECTION: COUNTRIES; Pg. 1
SOMALIA
BYLINE: By Geoff Blackburn, Consulting Geologist
Somalia is one of Africa's poorest countries. Located in the 'Horn of Africa', it separates Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya from the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Since the 1991 collapse of the central Somali Government based in Mogadishu, the country's development has been derailed by the lack of any cohesive government. On May 18, 1991, the former British Protectorate of Somaliland in the north declared itself an autonomous nation, with its capital at Hargeisa, completely independent of the former Italian colony of Somalia in the south, with its capital at Mogadishu. Since that time the self-proclaimed Somaliland Republic has instituted a semblance of democratic order with a central government whereas the southern part has remained the provenance of competing factional (Clan-based) interests.
Somaliland presidential elections (originally scheduled for late 2002) were delayed owing to the untimely death of the then President Egal on the operating table in Cape Town. These elections were eventually held in April 2003 with the acting President, Dahir Riyale Kahin being elected to the Presidency. The smooth transition to power following President Egal's death and the calm state of the nation during the subsequent presidential elections is extremely encouraging for future stability, economic growth and mineral exploration.
In contrast, the situation in the former Italian colony of Somalia, centred on Mogadishu, is still without any sign of coherent government and weapons are visually abundant. This situation makes it hard to envisage any serious economic growth with concomitant mineral and oil exploration taking place.
Despite the practical collapse of the Arta initiative, the Somali Peace process, driven by the Arab States, continues. The current round of meetings, being held in Kenya, are perpetually on the verge of collapse, due to internal squabbling and it is difficult to see what chance of real success they could have in any event when the popularly elected government of Somaliland is excluded.
The Somaliland Republic has implemented a ministerial style of government in the northern part of Somalia and this includes a Ministry for Mineral and Water Resources. A new mining code for the Somaliland Republic was promulgated in 1996. This mining code provides for the grant of Exclusive Prospecting Licences (EPL) and includes provision to convert the EPL into a Mining Lease.
The Somali economy is very poorly developed, by world standards. The cash/export economy is dominated by the export of livestock (60% sheep, 34% goats with camels and cattle making up the remainder) to neighbouring countries. The country has a high ratio of foreign trade to gross domestic product, a low level of monetisation and a dominant informal trade sector. More than 70% of the population live a nomadic existence that depends on pastoral pursuits for their subsistence.
Prior to the break-up of the country in 1991, there was a small mining industry that exploited limestone, gypsum, sepiolite and sea salt for local markets.
Basement rocks are exposed in two areas. The largest exposure is located almost wholly in the northern Somaliland Republic extending across into Puntland, while another small inlier, the Bur Complex, is located west of Mogadishu in southern Somalia.
Interest in mineral production within these basement rocks currently resides with the discovery and artisanal production of gemstones such as emerald, aquamarine, sapphire, zircons and amethyst. Also attracting interest is the small-scale production of columbite-tantalite ('coltan') from the Henweina Valley and the Bur Mado districts in the Somaliland Republic. Columbite had been discovered previously by the British Geological Survey and exploited in a small way in 1955-58. A Prospecting Licence for the exploration and possible development of the Henweina Valley tantalite occurrences was issued to a Djibouti-based company in February 2003.
Tin-tantalum deposits located at Dalan and Manja-Yihan in Puntland, which were exploited previously by Technoexport Bulgaria during the 1970s, have been stated to contain resources of 1.4 Mt at 0.13% Sn, 150 g/t Ta, with significant rubidium and cesium.
Progressive Interventions, a Dublin-based non-governmental organisation, continues to work with the Somali people and with the Somaliland Mines Department providing advice, seminars and training on various aspects of mineral exploration, and is working towards the establishment of a local gemstone mining industry.
The presence of simpsonite (a high-grade calcic aluminium tantalate) in heavy mineral sands deposits developed along the beaches east of Berbera implies the presence of undiscovered tantalum resources in the adjacent basement.
These areas of basement have significant potential for the discovery of economically important base and precious metal deposits. The northern basement complex consists of a series of high-grade metamorphic rocks which enclose at least two greenstone belts that are known to contain evidence of volcanogenic gold-rich base metal deposits. A number of layered and zoned mafic/ultramafic intrusive complexes are known, and stream sampling has delineated platinum group metal anomalies associated with these igneous complexes. This exploration potential is mirrored by the exploration interest in similar Pre-Cambrian Pan African terranes located across the Gulf of Aden in Yemen, where greenstone belts and younger volcanic-arc sequences are being explored for structurally-controlled gold deposits (Medden) and gold-rich volcanogenic base metal sulphide deposits. In the southern Somalian or Bur Basement complex, located west of Mogadishu, previous exploration has outlined some low-grade iron-ore resources at Bur Galan (indicated resource to 200 m depth of 394 Mt at 38.7% Fe) and Dahimir (indicated resource of about 30 Mt at a similar grade). There is also a small uranium (carnotite) deposit, with a reported indicated resource varying between 10-25 Mt at 0.07-0.08% U[3]O[8]. Phosphate (apatite) occurrences are relatively widespread in the calc-silicate rocks of the region. At Modu-Mode grades averaging 24% P[2]O[5] have been located.
Despite the very prospective nature of the basement geology, serious mineral exploration will probably have to wait until the political future of the country has been resolved. Despite the semblance of government achieved in the breakaway northern province as the self- declared Somaliland Republic, mineral explorers will probably be reluctant to spend serious funds there until that government achieves more widespread international recognition.
Geoff Blackburn
FAusIMM, CPGeo, FSEG, MASA
Consulting Geologist
Contact
Post Office Box 6
Glen Forrest
Western Australia 6071
Ph: +61 8 92988990
Fax + 61 8 92989629
Mobile: 0419 834 461
Email: geoffb@q-net.net.au