http://www.undp.org/dpa/choices/2002/december/Pages16-17.pdf. Somalia Staking out Pe ace
http://www.so.undp.org/Remittance/Report%20-%20V.15.10%20FINAL%20REPORT.pdf. Feasibility Study on Financial Services
in Somalia
http://www.so.undp.org/SoconRpt.htm. The Socio-Economic Survey 2002 launched on 14 January 2004
http://www.so.undp.org/Remittance/ssp-hawala.pdf. SUPPORTING SYSTEMS AND PROCEDURES FOR THE EFFECTIVE REGULATION AND MONITORING OF SOMALI REMITTANCE COMPANIES (HAWALA)
http://www.undp.org/oslocentre/docsoslo/conflict%20prevention/OGC%20research%20paper%20on%20Somalia%20and%20Somaliland.pdf.
Somalia and Somaliland: Strategies for dialogue and consensus on governance and democratic transition
http://www.indiana.edu/~workshop/publications/conference_papers/y673_spring_2002_hofmann.pdf. The Divergent Paths of Somalia and Somaliland: The Effects of Centralization on Indigenous Institutionsof Self-Governance and Post-Collapse Reconciliation and State-Building
http://www.somali-civilsociety.org/downloads/WeeklySitrepMbagathi24.pdf. NOVIB SOMALIA: SOMALIA NATIONAL RECONCILIATION CONFERENCE
http://www.ssn.flinders.edu.au/global/afsaap/conferences/2003proceedings/wells.PDF. Cabinda & Somaliland – A Comparative Study for Statehood & Independence
http://www.db.idpproject.org/Sites/idpSurvey.nsf/2596EB77708376A4C1256C1A0044A798/$file/MinoritiesSomaliaUNCU+OCHAJul02draft.pdf. A STUDY ON MINORITIES IN SOMALIA
http://web.idrc.ca/en/ev-47594-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html. Focus on Africa
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html. 'Energy Shops' act as development spark plugs in rural Morocco
Africa News, February 12, 2004
Somalia;It is Now Or Never for Somalia
BYLINE: The East African Standard
The third phase of the long drawn Somali peace talks is set to begin next week at the Kenya College of Communications Technology, Mbagathi, with some of the sticky issues carried forward from the second phase being among those expected to play themselves out prominently.
With the tricky question of power sharing and the formation of an all - inclusive government as the main agenda, Article 30 of the Somali Charter - expected to be adopted by the next government as the Constitution for a federal Somali state - is bound to be the centre of focus as some participants are still dissatisfied with the formula for the formation of the 275 member parliament and the eventual appointment of a transitional president.
While according to the Charter, power is to be shared along the 4.5 clans -where 4 stands for the four major clans Hawiyes, Darods, Digil as well as Mirife and Dir and the 0.5 stands for a conglomeration of the numerous minor clans normally referred to as the fifth clan -other regions like the breakaway Puntland feel that it ought to have been given greater representation. Each of the four major clans are to each have an equal number of MPs while the fifth clan is to have half the share of what has been allocated to the major clans.
But, other than the reservations being expressed by the Puntland, there is also the question of who has the right to choose the MPs.
The Charter seems to bestow that mandate to a section of delegates, who last attended peace talks held at Safari Park last year - who were mainly political leaders - together with a team of those who will be agreed upon as genuine traditional elders, but this seems to leave other participants at the plenary of the on-going talks left out.
Currently there are five different groups taking part in the peace talks, namely, the Transitional National Government, the Somali Restoration and Reconciliation Council, Civil Society Organisations, the National Salvation Council and another one referred to simply as the Group of Eight. This means that, should the approximate 39 political leaders have their way, the remaining 361 delegates could start feeling thoroughly disenfranchised.
But critics say that this is a matter that had actually been long ironed out, only that there is a section of delegates who have specialised on going back and forth on every issue, a factor to which observers are now attributing the fruitlessness of the 14-month long negotiation process. The on-going Somali National Reconciliation Conference, the fourteenth attempt at bringing peace in the war torn Somali Republic that has not had a government since the collapse of the General Mohammed Siad Barre leadership in 1991, started on October 15, 2002 with meetings in Eldoret.
The prime achievement of the 14 month talks is regarded as the signing of the Declaration on Cessation of Hostilities on October 27, 2002, though this has itself been violated several times due to what analysts are billing as a manifestation of lack of trust and proper consultations on the way forward. It is generally agreed, for instance, that a cease-fire cannot hold without the militias being disarmed, a process that requires the goodwill of all factional leaders.
But the factional leaders argue that they cannot disarm without first being guaranteed that an all - inclusive government will be formed - a process that is expected to generate heated debate in the third phase beginning next week - and that they will be properly represented. Independent observers are in agreement that it will be unwise to disarm militias without a government in place to prevent re-acquisition of arms.
The winding nature of these arguments has without doubt put the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) committee, one of the six reconciliation committees formed when the Declaration of Cessation of Hostilities was signed in 2002, in a tight spot. While DDR is now consulting with the African Union's newly formed Peace and Security Council on the way forward, its progress looks beholden to the impending third phase that should determine whether a five year transition government will be formed or not.
An official of the African Union, speaking to the East African Standard on condition of anonymity, said the real challenge to Somali is neither the disarmament nor the formation of the transition government, since all this can eventually be achieved, but the sustainability of peace and stability.
While it is being recognised that the factional leaders have been a threat to peace in Somali, the main fear currently revolves around the long standing suspicion between Somali and its neighbours - who are said to have greatly fuelled the war that toppled the Siad Barre government.
This is a view that some delegates at the conference seem to share. It could well be true that, when the Somali Republic - home to an approximate 9 million people - finally realises peace, its leaders may again embark on the ambition of establishing the greater Somalia of five clans that are represented by the five stars on the national flag.
This may mean demanding the 3000 Km stretch of land along the Ethiopian border occupied by some 6 million Somalis; asking for some parts of Northern Kenya inhabited by upto 3 million people of Somali origin and also hoping that Eritrea will agree to the hiving off of some parts of its soil. Though currently only postulated in theory, it is a matter that has had serious historical implications in the past, the hallmark of which was the so-called Ogaden War with Ethiopia during Siad Barre's reign.
The Kenyan Somalis voted overwhelmingly in favour of being part of the greater Somalia during a referendum organised by Britain in the early 1960s just before handing over independence to Kenya.
Their view was overlooked and their further attempt at pulling away led to the bloody shifta war later in the 1960s. On the other hand, Libya, Egypt and Djibouti are known to have extraneous interests in the Somali peace process that are understood to have their roots in the potential for oil and its ramifications for the interests of the Arab League.
So, other than the obvious sensitivity that has attended border issues in the Horn of Africa - especially in view of the costly war between Ethiopia and Eritrea in the late 1990s over disputed pieces of land that included Salambesa Aiga - this historical perspective highlights deeply rooted suspicions within Somalia's neighbours that are now being feared to have the potential to undermine the peace process.
The move to include the breakaway Somali states of Puntland and Somaliland in the final government is already being undermined by the border dispute between the two. Initial hopes of holding parallel reconciliation talks within the conference between Somaliland and Puntland over the disputed Las Anod strip have been dashed by Somaliland's failure to send representatives to the talks.
That also means that, should the third phase of the conference eventually come up with a transition government, the breakaway Somaliland may still not be part of it. The conference may also be expected to resolve some minor issues that are still pending such as the place of language and culture.
While the Charter suggests that Somalia be made both the official and national language with Arabic as an alternative, other groups such as those allied to the president of the Transitional National Government, Mr Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, feel that they should both be rated equally as national languages.
Africa News, February 12, 2004 Thursday
Somalia;Peace Process On Course, Says Kenyan Ambassador
BYLINE: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
The peace process under way in Kenya is on course and will move into its final phase soon, according to the Kenyan ambassador to Somalia.
Ambassador Muhammad Abdi Affey told IRIN on Thursday that a plenary of the conference would be convened "within the next few days" to endorse the agreement signed by the Somali leaders on 29 January.
The leaders of the Somali groups meeting in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on that day signed what has been described as "a landmark breakthrough" agreement on a number of contentious issues that had earlier been plaguing the peace talks.
The agreement passed its first hurdle when the Transitional National Assembly of Somalia, gave it its blessing in the capital, Mogadishu, on 8 February.
Affey said that when the document is presented to the plenary session he expected it to be endorsed. "We are encouraged by the commitment of the leaders and we are confident of a positive outcome," he asserted. He said that preparation were under way to bring traditional leaders from Somalia to the venue of the conference.
They would have an important role in that final stage, for they would not only participate in the selection of future parliamentarians but would also "have to endorse the final list and give legitimacy to the final outcome and the process as a whole", a Somali delegate told IRIN.
Preparations for final phase of the peace talks were proceeding smoothly, an IGAD source involved in the talks said. "We are putting all the pieces together, so we don't have any hitches," he told IRIN, adding that this phase "might take two months or more".
This final phase involves the contentious issue of power-sharing, and therefore "we should not rush it, but take as much time as we need to make sure that the outcome is acceptable to both the Somalis and the international community," he stressed.
Meanwhile, thousands of demonstrators had reportedly taken to the streets of Mogadishu on Wednesday, a local journalist said. "They were chanting slogans in support of the recently signed agreement and calling on the Somali leaders for once to keep their word", he told IRIN on Thursday. A much bigger demonstration in support of the peace process is planned for next week, said the journalist.
The Boston Globe, February 12, 2004
DOCTOR JOINS GENITAL MUTILATION DEBATE
BYLINE: By Alexandra Salomon
FLORENCE - In his native Somalia, Dr. Omar Abdulcadir recalls, he saw all seven of his sisters undergo the girlhood ritual of genital cutting. Now, in a public hospital in Florence, he is trying to offer an alternative.
The gynecologist, who runs what he said is Europe's first and only Center for the Treatment and Prevention of Female Genital Mutilation, has found himself in the middle of a heated political and philosophical debate after he requested permission from the local medical board to perform a procedure that he said would maintain the initiation ritual associated with genital cutting but save young girls from mutilation.
Several types of female genital cutting, sometimes called female circumcision, are common in Somalia, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, and Sudan. In the most extreme form, part or all of the external genitalia is cut off and the vaginal opening stitched closed - a practice known as infibulation.
Abdulcadir said his alternative is noninvasive and practically painless while still offering the symbolism of the ritual. It involves applying a topical anesthetic, then pricking the clitoris with a needle and drawing a drop or two of blood.
"I hope this practice will be eliminated," Abdulcadir said in a recent interview. "But I was asked by them, by these women, to do something.
"It's difficult for those who are outside these communities to understand, but in many African societies a woman is considered ugly, unmarriageable, and unclean if she hasn't undergone the ritual," he said. "If a woman doesn't undergo the ritual, she risks being rejected not only by her family but by the whole community."
Abdulcadir's proposal has raised broader questions about cultural integration and women's rights throughout Europe. As countries struggle to preserve their national identity by enacting new legislation, waves of immigrants from Africa and Asia with different cultural traditions and values continue to arrive.
Several European countries, including Britain, Norway, and Sweden, have criminalized female genital cutting, and a similar bill is being considered in Italy's Parliament.
In Italy, several women's rights groups and politicians representing both liberal and conservative parties say they believe that offering the alternative technique is a means of condoning a practice that can only be considered a barbaric act of violence against women, unacceptable to Italian society, and incompatible with Italian values.
In an appeal to the minister of health recently, lawmaker Patrizia Paoletti Tangheroni wrote: "The path to cultural integration comes from acceptance and tolerance of other cultures, but without placing our fundamental value of human rights in discussion. We must also remember that many women in the countries where infibulation is practiced have been fighting this battle for decades. The rights they have fought for, the inviolability of a woman's body cannot be put up for discussion."
Daniela Colombo, head of the Italian Association for Women in Development, a Rome-based organization that advocates for women's rights in the developing world, said there is no alternative to genital cutting.
"Taking a child in Somalia between 8 and 12 and mutilating her before marriage cannot be accepted," she said. "This is just mutilation and control of women's bodies, and no organization that works on the issue of genital mutilation would justify this."
At Abdulcadir's clinic, in the sprawling public hospital, several young women waited in the corridor outside his tiny office on a recent day. Crying babies echoed from the maternity ward at the end of the dimly lit hall.
One woman, Sofia Abdulahi Abdi, emigrated from Somalia eight years ago. Abdi, 24, who said she initially came to see Abdulcadir because of complications from an infibulation she underwent as a child, said that many Somali women living in Italy would welcome an alternative. "It's so much better, so much better than being sewn up," she said.
Leaders of local immigrant communities have voiced support for Abdulcadir's proposal, but reactions to the proposal have been so charged it seems unlikely it will be approved by the local medical ethics committee when it meets next month.
Even if the committee were to rule in favor of the technique, the Regional Council passed an emergency motion last week that blocks the local medical board from authorizing the procedure in hospitals in Tuscany. Still, the council has promised to extend other services offered by Abdulcadir's center to other hospitals in the region.
Abdulcadir, who began working with women who had suffered genital mutilation more than 30 years ago while a medical student in Florence, said that genital cutting is so deeply embedded in the fabric of society that it is extremely difficult to curb. Many young immigrants revert to the old traditions as a means of preserving their cultural identity.
Still, he said, he will continue his fight. His next battle may take place within his own family because several of his nieces living in the United States are coming of ritual age.
"I am against this practice. I'm a doctor, and I respect the law," he said. "But I hope that those who choose to say no [to his proposal] will recognize that the problem exists and is not going away."
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Dr. Omar Abdulcadir, in his clinic, is at the center of a debate over a procedure that he said would maintain the initiation ritual associated with genital cutting but not involve mutilation. / GLOBE PHOTO / ALEXANDRA SALOMON
BBC Monitoring International Reports, February 11, 2004
SOMALIA: "HUNDREDS" HOLD RALLY IN MOGADISHU IN SUPPORT OF PEACE AGREEMENT
Hundreds of people mainly women and children have taken part in a big peace rally in Mogadishu on Wednesday to support the recent land mark accord signed by Somalia's factions in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
Participants have chanted slogans in support of the agreement, the first of its kind signed almost inclusively by Somalia's factions for the last for 14 years. The agreement calls for the establishment of a transitional government that that would lead the country for the next four years. The agreement, also called Transitional Federal Charter, came after more than a year of talks in Kenya aimed at ending the long-standing civil war in the Horn of Africa country.
According to the charter, the future Somali parliament will be made up of 275 members, with 12 per cent of the seats set aside for women. Each of the four major clans will select 61 members of parliament while a coalition of small clans will select the other 31.
The task of selecting the members of parliament is left to each group, but this could be a lengthy and contentious process.
Selection will now be effected by clan political leaders and must be endorsed by recognized traditional elders.
Source: HornAfrik Online web site, Mogadishu, in English 11 Feb 04
BBC Monitoring International Reports, February 11, 2004
SOMALIA: INTERIM PRIME MINISTER APPOINTS MINISTERS
The prime minister of the transitional national government (TNG) of Somalia, Muhammad Abdi Yusuf, has appointed a new group of his council of ministers on Tuesday (10 February) paving the way for the completion of his council which is the third to be formed since the TNG was established in neighbouring Djibouti three years ago.
In a statement, Mr Yusuf named one minister, his 16 vice ministers and 38 ministers of state. This comes as the ongoing Somali peace conference in Nairobi, Kenya entered its third and final phase to select members of the country's new parliament due to be established there.
Somali traditional leaders remaining in Somalia are expected to be brought to Kenya in the coming days to participate in the power sharing process.
Source: HornAfrik Online web site, Mogadishu, in English 11 Feb 04
BBC Monitoring International Reports, February 11, 2004
SOMALI FACTION LEADER BLAMES UK FOR SUPPORTING SOMALILAND'S SECESSION
Faction leader Col Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed (president of the regional administration of Puntland, northeastern Somalia) has blamed the British government for supporting Somaliland's secession. Col Abdullahi Yusuf requested the international community to pressure the British government to urge Somaliland to be part of Somalia, just as in the past.
Mr Yusuf also requested the US government to impose sanctions on Somaliland following the recent tensions with Puntland. (Passage omitted on Puntland police chief commenting on tension with Somaliland)
Source: HornAfrik Online web site, Mogadishu, in Somali 10 Feb 04
Africa News, February 10, 2004 Tuesday
Somalia;I Was Not Ill-treated, Says Released UN Official
BYLINE: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
A United Nations staff member just freed from captivity has said that although the conditions of his captivity were harsh he was not ill-treated.
Rolf Helmrich, a 60-year-old German national, who is a member of the UN field security team serving in the country, was abducted on 29 January, at a point about 45 km north of the Lower Juba regional capital, Kismayo, by unknown gunmen. He was released on Saturday night and flown to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, the following day.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday at the UNDP Somalia offices, Helmrich said the worst part of his abduction had been "the actual hostage taking", during which weapons were brandished and shots fired. However, "I was not mistreated by the hostage takers, in fact towards the end they wanted me as their commander," he said, tongue in cheek.
Helmrich said he had been held in the bush near the town of Jilib, some 180 km north of Kismayo, by between 11 and 14 militiamen. He was given a can of tuna in vegetable oil for meals every day for the 10 days in captivity. "You'll have to make a new recipe to make me eat tuna ever again," he said.
He noted that he did not know why he had been abducted. "I have a feeling that money was demanded, but I don't know for sure," he said.
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Somalia, Maxwell Gaylard, said UN policy was not to pay ransoms. He also noted that all UN international staff - less than a dozen - in southern Somalia had been withdrawn. "Danger is always there, we need to check our procedures and decide on the changing of procedures."
Helmrich is the latest of several aid workers to have been abducted by freelance militias allied to one faction or another over the past few years. The militias have usually demanded a ransom before releasing their captives.
Associated Press, February 10, 2004
German held hostage by Somali gunmen says he wants to return to help rebuild the Horn of Africa nation
BYLINE: PATRICK MAJUTE
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)- A German kidnapped by gunmen in Somalia said Tuesday he would like to return to help rebuild the war-torn Horn of Africa nation.
"Right now, I'm glad to be home," Rolf Helmrich, 60, a field security officer for the U.N. Development Program, told reporters. "I'm taking some time off to be with my family and would like to return to Somalia at a later stage and help the Somalis rebuild their institutions and their country so that this should never happen again."
Speaking in Nairobi three days after his release, Helmrich said his 10-day captivity illustrates what can happen in a volatile country with no central government where clan leaders have their own personal armies.
Helmrich was abducted near the southern port of Kismayo on Jan. 29 by unidentified gunmen and released Feb. 7.
He said although he was not mistreated, there were problems in communication.
"The hostage-takers never mistreated me a such," he said. "In a very a strange way, they wanted to keep me as their commander ... Communiction was difficult. One man spoke some English, and English is not my mother tongue."
His captors fed him a tin of tuna fish, bread, cookies and 6 bananas a day.
Asked whether he had been frightened, Helmrich replied that he tried to limit his thoughts to the present and not think about the future.
"Because if you think about what could happen, you can go crazy since you're on a tight line,"
The most frightening moment came when one of the gunmen fired three shots in the air the day he was meant to be released.
"There were three mediators and a guide who was with me; at that time three shots were fired, and the firing indicated to me that they were ready to shoot anyone," he said.
He said his release was arranged by the Juba Valley Alliance of clan-based faction leaders and Somali businessmen.
It was not clear whether the gunmen demanded a ransom, and if so, how much.
"I have the feeling money was demanded, but I'm not sure," he said. "Twelve gunmen marched me out of the hideout. We walked until we reached two gunmen and two civilians who turned out to be representatives of the Juba Valley Alliance. Greetings took place, and that was it," he said.
But Maxwell Gaylord, the U.N. resident humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, said the United Nations does not pay ransom.
"The U.N. sticks by its position," Gaylord said. "It does not pay ransom, and we did not pay any ransom in this case."
"There is a culture of kidnapping in Somalia, and I'm taking this opportunity encourage the Somalis to stop this. It is a criminal action, and it is contrary to basic human rights," he said.
The kidnapping of foreign aid workers as well as Somalis by numerous armed factions has been fairly commonplace in Somalia since the Horn of Africa nation descended into chaos after the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre.
The country has not had an effective national government since Siad Barre's ouster and is ruled by armed, clan-based factions.
Somali faction leaders and traditional elders were supposed to begin the third and final phase of peace talks in Nairobi this week to pick a 275-member national parliament that will, in turn, elect a president.
Helmrich had worked for three years as a field security officer responsible for the safety of U.N. staff working in Somalia.
BBC Worldwide Monitoring, February 10, 2004
Ethiopian team said to mediate rift between Somaliland, Puntland
SOURCE: Radio Midnimo, Boosaaso, in Somali 0500 gmt 10 Feb 04
According to reports based on reliable sources, a high-level Ethiopian delegation is due to arrive in Puntland northeastern Somalia . The aim of the delegation is to mediate between Puntland and Somaliland who are almost at war over disputed regions of Sool and Sanaag .
Reports received by Radio Midnimo from reliable sources say the delegation will first visit Hargeysa, capital of Somaliland , where they will hold talks with officials from the Somaliland authority. The delegation will later arrive in Garoowe Puntland . The people comprising the delegation is not yet known but it is expected to include military officials.
The main aim of the delegation is said is to mediate between Puntland and Somaliland so as to avoid looming war between the two administrations and to move to specified locations troops that are facing each other.
It cannot be predicted whether this will yield to any fruits. The sides have already started reinforcing their troops on the ground so as to claim more territory. The reinforcements have created fears of war breaking out.
Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)February 10, 2004
SOMALI MAN DETAINED IN GOVERNMENT PROBE
BYLINE: Kevin Mayhood
Early in the morning of Nov. 28, federal agents swept into a North Side neighborhood and arrested a Somali immigrant.
They searched the home of Nuradin Abdi, his family said, and then took him to his business where agents confiscated his cell phone and computers.
Leaving business cards identifying themselves as agents for the FBI and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they then drove Abdi to Cincinnati. The government charged him with lying on his application to enter the United States six years ago, but also accused him of connections with a terrorist plot, members of the Somali community say.
After two months behind bars, without communication with his wife and children or his mother and brothers in Columbus, Abdi, 31, appeared in Detroit's federal immigration court Jan. 28 for a hearing closed to the public.
In a rare move, federal authorities are trying to deport him to Somalia, an African country now controlled by warlords, his attorney said. Although Abdi is jailed, the case is a civil, not a criminal action.
Government officials here, in Detroit and in Washington refuse to talk about Abdi's case. One official confirmed, on condition of anonymity, that the hearing in Detroit was sealed because authorities are in the midst of a sensitive investigation linked to Abdi. Officials refused to say whether the investigation is a terrorist threat.
"We came here because human rights are respected," Nadifa Hassan, Abdi's mother, said with the help of an interpreter yesterday. "My son was taken and there was no criminal charge and he has had no access to his family."
Hassan, a U.S. citizen, wants him released.
The case has instilled fear in Columbus' Somali community of nearly 20,000 that government agents could arrest people for no reason, said Maryan Warsame, head of the Somali Women and Children's Alliance.
"People are profiling this community because of our religion," Warsame said. "We are Muslims, but we are not terrorists."
Some Somalis here speculate the government is interested in someone Abdi knows or knew. His family says Abdi may be a target because he regularly attends prayer services at a Columbus mosque and he speaks Arabic. When he was younger, he was among a number of Somalis who fled to the Middle East to escape the civil war.
"It's a witch hunt," said Abucar Yusuf, an architect who moved to Columbus 20 years ago. Yusuf has been told, "They are arresting him for knowing someone he went to school with 20 years ago."
Abdi is married with two children and another on the way. He is the family's sole breadwinner. His family got only a brief glimpse of him in Detroit.
Asked why the government is taking such measures, Abdi's attorney, Douglas Weigle of Cincinnati, said only, "There's a certain aura around this case."
Abdi probably didn't mind the hearing was closed, Weigle said. "He didn't want anyone to hear any wild accusations about him."
So far, this is simply an immigration case.
"There are no allegations of terrorism in his immigration charge," Weigle said. "He has not been criminally charged with anything."
He said the country's treatment of immigration cases has changed drastically since the Sept. 11 attack. "If you have any kind of Islamic background -- I don't care what John Ashcroft and Tom Ridge say -- you'll be subject to a different kind of scrutiny."
Hassan Omar, leader of the Somali Community Association of Ohio, said the Somali community is not blindly protecting one of its own. "If someone commits a crime, we don't mind if they go to jail," Omar said. He called for state and local, civic and community leaders to speak up on Abdi's behalf.
In Abdi's case, scheduled to resume March 9, the community of war refugees sees no substance to the charge.
"People who lie on their applications do so because they want to stay in the United States and make a future for their children," Warsame said, "because they have no home to go back to."
Panafrican News Agency (PANA) February 10, 2004
RELEASED UN WORKER NARRATES ORDEAL WITH SOMALI KIDNAPPERS
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - An abducted UN relief worker recently released by his Somali abductees, said Tuesday that in spite of the ordeal, he was willing to return to Somalia after spending some time with his family here in Nairobi.
Rolf Helmrich, a German citizen who worked in Somalia as head of a unit responsible for the security of UN relief staff, said he spent his days in captivity in the bush in a village about 50 km from the Somali town of Kismayo.
"It was an opportunistic event. It was like a snap decision. I was the first 'mzungu' (white man) to come to that check point," said Helmrich, who is a retired Lt-Colonel in the German Air Force. Helmrich said his kidnappers wanted to make him commander of their militia group and constantly sought his assistance in the handling of deadly weapons, most of which he said were manufactured in the Soviet Union.
He said seven gun-men led by a 32-year old commander commandeered his car at gun-point before forcing him to walk 50 km to their hide-out where was forced to sleep between three grenades.
"There were scary moments. One of the gunmen pulled out a pistol and fired three shots. I thought so many people would be killed in the kidnapping. It was one of those moments where you did not know what was going to happen. The firing of those shots meant they were ready to kill," Helmrich narrated.
Speaking to journalists in Nairobi, he said he would go back to Somalia to help the country build up institutions so that such abductions do not happen again.
Helmrich was abducted on 29 January by an armed militia group along the road from Jamaame held by the self-declared rulers the Juba Valley Alliance
(JVA), as he assessed the security situation there to facilitate the movement of relief workers in the region.
"This incident is just a demonstration of what can happen in a country where there is no central government and those who represent the authority hire many young people as their personal armies or militia," he pointed out.
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) February 10, 2004
Warsame, Al-Qaida link detailed;Documents say the college student found bin Laden 'inspirational.'
BYLINE: Pam Louwagie
After joining the front lines for the Taliban, terrorism suspect Mohammed A. Warsame was ready to live in Afghanistan with his wife and daughter, court documents released Monday say. When Al-Qaida sent him home to North America, he sent money abroad to people he met at Al-Qaida training camps, authorities say he has admitted.
The documents reveal significant details of the government's case against the Canadian citizen who was secretly arrested as a material witness in early December in Minneapolis.
Warsame, who was a student at Minneapolis Community and Technical College when he was arrested, told FBI agents that he was lured by the "utopian" Muslim society in Afghanistan and then trained at two Al-Qaida camps.
At the second camp, he met Osama bin Laden, whom he found "inspirational," authorities say he told them.
When he returned to North America, he wired money to a bank account in Pakistan for Al-Qaida associates, authorities say. Warsame, 30, who was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, was charged last month with conspiracy to provide material support to Al-Qaida. He pleaded not guilty Monday morning in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis before Magistrate Judge Franklin Noel, who ordered him held without bail.
Warsame's wife, Fartun Farah, who didn't speak after Monday's hearing, has said before that her husband is a responsible man. "He is not a terrorist," she said.
According to an FBI agent's affidavit:
'Utopian' society
Warsame said that he "became interested in the 'utopian' Muslim society that had been created in Afghanistan" and decided to quit his job in Canada to go there in March 2000. He traveled to Pakistan and illegally crossed the border into Afghanistan with other young Muslim men on their way to training camps.
Once inside Afghanistan, he ended up at two camps, where he trained on weapons and martial arts. He also taught others English. He spent several months at the first camp and about two months at the second.
At the second camp, where training was more demanding, he saw Osama bin Laden several times, attended his lectures and sat next to him at a meal. He knew bin Laden was sought in connection with terrorist attacks but found the Al-Qaida leader "very inspirational."
He allegedly "experienced combat" twice with the Taliban on the front lines. After the training, Warsame stayed at a guest house near Kandahar and continued teaching English to Al-Qaida members and served as a guard.
When Warsame decided in 2001 that he wanted to stay in Afghanistan and have his wife and child join him there, he went to a senior Al-Qaida official in Kandahar for money. Instead of bringing his family to Afghanistan, he was told, Al-Qaida would pay for Warsame to go back home. He got a plane ticket and $1,700 and went back to Toronto in April 2001.
He became a legal resident of the United States and moved to Minneapolis to be with his wife and daughter in April 2002.
Once back in North America, Warsame kept in covert contact with people he had met at the camps and wired money to Pakistan for them, the documents say. It isn't clear from the documents when the money was wired.
Warsame said he didn't go to Afghanistan to go to the training camps, according to the documents.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Ward argued that Warsame knew what he was getting into because he decided to go after the 1998 truck bombing attacks on U.S. embassies in East Africa.
Ward argued that Warsame was willing to flee his family for Afghanistan several years ago, so he shouldn't be trusted to stay in the country now and should remain in custody.
Federal Public Defender Dan Scott argued that Warsame should be released to home detention because he has no criminal history, was cooperating with the government and has ties to the community.
Warsame has not shown himself to be an active member of Al-Qaida, Scott argued.
Solitary confinement
Scott told the judge that he worries about Warsame's mental health while he's incarcerated during what he expects to be a lengthy case. Warsame has been in solitary confinement and forbidden from making phone calls or observing media, Scott said.
"A regular human being kept in solitary confinement . . . will go slowly crazy," Scott said. "Month after month after month of that will be a problem."
Warsame is being held under special administrative measures imposed by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft that limit his contact with the outside world.
Ward said that Warsame will be allowed to meet with his wife if she agrees to certain terms and that he can receive books and religious materials.
"All the [special administrative measures document] does is prevent persons in contact with the inmate from relaying messages to third parties," Ward said.
Africa News, February 9, 2004
Somalia;Transitional National Assembly Endorses Agreement
BYLINE: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
After three days of debate, the Transitional National Assembly (TNA) of Somalia, has given its blessing to an agreement signed by the Transitional National Government (TNG) and Somalia's various political factions.
The leaders of the Somali groups meeting in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, had on 29 January signed "a landmark breakthrough" agreement on a number of contentious issues that had plagued the peace talks.
The debate on a motion seeking endorsement for the agreement began after the TNG cabinet had given its approval on 3 February, Abdikarim Ahmad Ali, the TNG parliamentary affairs minister, told IRIN.
Abdikarim said that after three days of debate, 155 members present of the 245-seat TNA voted on the motion, of whom 136 supported the government's endorsement, with only one MP voting against it. Eighteen MPs abstained. The motion supporting the agreement was passed on 8 February.
After the vote, the president of the TNG, Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, had signed "a decree making the agreement legal and binding on the government", said Abdikarim.
Meanwhile, senior traditional elders from the Hawiye, one of country's four major clans, had also expressed support for the agreement, one of them told IRIN on Monday. Mu'allim Harun Mu'allim Yusuf, the chairman of the elders' committee, said the Mogadishu meeting, attended by over 60 elders from all Hawiye sub-clans, had endorsed it and called on all the Somali leaders and people to follow suit.
"There is no turning back. We must support this compromise agreement and move forward towards the establishment of an all-inclusive government", he said, adding that if there were leaders who had some problems with the agreement, then "those minor issues should be addressed, but they should not be an excuse to scuttle the whole process".
The support of the elders had been seen as crucial since they would have to give legitimacy to any final deal reached by the various groups, a regional analyst told IRIN on Monday. "Their support is massively important. It demonstrates the unequivocal endorsement by all the Hawiye clans of the agreement," he stressed.
BBC Monitoring International Reports, February 9, 2004
UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO DISCUSS SOMALIA ON 15 FEBRUARY
According to the Somali ambassador to the UN, Mr Ahmed Abdi Hashi, alias Hasharo, the UN Security Council is set to hold a meeting on 15 February to discuss Somalia. Members of the UN Security Council are expected to reach a decision on the Somali faction leaders, and particularly those opposed to the recently signed agreement in Kenya. Mr Hasharo said he will first of all hold consultation meetings with the countries known as the friends of Somalia, and the seven Islamic countries, which have been assigned to deal with the Somali problem. He added that he would meet representatives of countries such as China, USA, Britain, Norway, Italy and others on Wednesday (11 February).
He said the meeting of the UN Security Council will discuss how to take tough measures against those opposing the agreements reached at the Somali peace conference in Kenya.
Source: Xog-Ogaal, Mogadishu, in Somali 8 Feb 04
BBC Monitoring International Reports, February 9, 2004
SOMALI PRESIDENT BRIEFS LIBYAN LEADER ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN HIS COUNTRY
President of the Republic of Somalia Abdiqasim Salad Hasan held today a telephone contact with the brother leader of the revolution (Al-Qadhafi), the chairman of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) and briefed the brother leader on the recent developments in Somalia after the holding of the Somali factions' conference in Kenya.
The Somali president praised highly the efforts exerted by the brother leader of the revolution to establish peace in this part of the African continent and his continued interest to ensure peace and stability in Somalia.
During this telephone contact, they also reviewed African issues and the African Union's extraordinary summit, due to be held in the Great Jamahiriyah this month.
Source: Libyan TV, Tripoli, in Arabic 1930 gmt 9 Feb 04
BBC Worldwide Monitoring, February 8, 2004, Sunday
Egypt asked to "convince" USA Somalia's interim government not "terrorist"
SOURCE: Xog-Ogaal, Mogadishu, in Somali 8 Feb 04
The first deputy premier of the Somali Transitional National Government TNG , Husayn Salah Muse, who recently returned from a trip to Egypt, has said he held talks with the Egyptian president, Husni Mubarak, about how Egypt could convince the USA that the TNG is not a terrorist group.
Husayn Salah Muse, who was briefing Qaran last night, said he also held talks with the secretary-general of the Arab League, Amr Musa, about the same issue and how the Arab League could strengthen its supports for the Somali peace talks currently under way in Kenya.
"I held talks with Husni Mubarak and Amr Musa and impressed upon them to convince the USA that the TNG is not a terrorist group, as Washington believes," Husayn Salah said.
The TNG deputy premier said he also discussed with Husni Mubarak about how the Egyptian government could boost its support for the Somali reconciliation conference in Kenya , adding that he handed to Husni Mubarak a letter from the TNG president, Abdiqasim Salad Hasan. He said he also conveyed a letter from Husni Mubarak to the TNG president Abdiqasim Salad Hasan .
Husayn Salah said he also discussed with the Egyptian government ways of further promoting the Egyptian scholarships' programme to Somalia, adding that Egypt was already hosting many Somalis attending universities there.
Commenting on the current Somali reconciliation conference in Kenya, Husayn said the faction leaders claiming now to have been cheated were groups with vested interests, who had been given the green light to do so by some foreign countries.
Agence France Presse, February 7, 2004
Powell gives cautious welcome on Somalia progress
US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday gave a cautious welcome to a new agreement between warlords and politicians in Somalia to try to establish a working government.
"It's been ungovernable for a long time," Powell told AFP at the UN's headquarters in New York. "We would be willing to play a role in moving this forward."
But the top US diplomat said the final decision would be down to the people of Somalia, which has been without any functional central government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
That sparked clan and factional bloodshed, especially remembered in the United States after 18 US troops were killed in October 1993 while fighting militiamen of the late warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid in the capital, Mogadishu.
"The Somalis are going to have to figure out whether or not they're going to rally behind this new political arrangement, or continue to allow conflict to take place based on clan and sub-clan loyalties," Powell said.
In an effort to end the anarchy that has plagued the country, warlords and political leaders inked a deal on January 29 to elect a parliament and president, and draw up a draft constitution.
US officials have expressed hope that stabilising the Horn of Africa nation could reduce the terrorist threat in the region.
Africa News, February 6, 2004
Somalia;Somali Warlords Are Hopeless Criminals
BYLINE: Somali Peace Rally
The crux of the Somali problem is few individuals with megalomaniac aspirations. Their goal is to become the leaders of a non-existent state.
Unfortunately, their approach is medieval one. "Elect the people who will elect you later". Somali warlords' dilemma is fear of facing the verdict of their people. Their utmost goal is to elect the future parliamentarians of Somalia, by eroding the traditional leaders and creating pliant elders.
The recent rejection of the agreed accord had been predicted by Somali Peace Rally - refer to our press release no. SPR/INFltlk/M1/187/2004 dated January 5th 2004. The obsession of winning the national leadership is the ultimate obstacle to forming a workable national government. The most intransigent warlords have committed a broad-day light human rights abuses. They have broken the so-called cessation of hostilities signed late last year.
Somali Peace Rally is urging the international community not to waste time in rehabilitating criminals but go ahead with their indictment.
Somali Peace Rally urges that spades should be called spades. Enemies of Somalia should be told to get out of Somali affairs. The surrogate mother of Somali warlords should be spelled out in the international forums. Most of the Somalis know it, apart from the few who believe that the road to the leadership comes from the west of Somalia. By the same token, the arms of the few men who are obstacle to the national reconciliation should be twisted, if not handcuffed.
BBC Monitoring International Reports, February 6, 2004
US OFFICIAL SUPPORTS RECENT ACCORD SIGNED BY SOMALIA LEADERS IN KENYA
The spokesman of the foreign office (presumably at the US embassy in Nairobi) Richard (as published) has said that he supports the peace accord signed by Somali leaders on 29 January. The EU has already said it supports the accord. A statement released by the foreign office spokesman in support of the accord signed by Somali leaders said the accord would pave the way for the creation of a new parliament in Somalia that will begin (its work) by appointing a president. The spokesman said the signing of the accord had proved the ability of the Somalis to resolve their internal differences.
He said the challenges of the Somalis included the many problems they had faced since 1991. "The American government welcomes efforts made by Somali leaders to form a central government", he said (Passage omitted).
Source: HornAfrik Online web site, Mogadishu, in Somali 5 Feb 04
BBC Worldwide Monitoring, February 6, 2004, Friday
Somali premier accuses rival faction of insulting Kenyan foreign minister
SOURCE: Qaran, Mogadishu, in Somali 5 Feb 04
The prime minister of the interim government of Somalia, Muhammad Abdi Yusuf, has said that the SRRC Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council, a southern-Somalia-based anti-government faction insulted and chased away the Kenyan foreign minister, Kalonzo Musyoka, when he visited them recently.
"The Kenyan foreign minister visited the SRRC and they chased him away and even insulted him," said Mr Yusuf. He added that the SRRC wants the interim government to split into two wings and the civil society groups become one unified wing.
Mr Yusuf further said that although the interim government had made efforts to see the Somali peace talks in Kenya succeed, it has been deceived.
M2 PRESSWIRE, February 6, 2004
UK Government: UK Statement on Somali Transitional Charter
The United Kingdom welcomes The Nairobi Safari Park Declaration signed by Somali delegates to the consultative meetings held between 9 and 29 January. The agreement on a Transitional Federal Charter for Somalia contained in the Declaration is a significant step forward in the reconciliation process.
We congratulate those Somali leaders who have been prepared to put aside their differences in order to make this historic agreement possible; and welcome their public commitment to make it work in the interests of the people of Somalia. We also congratulate Their Excellencies President Museveni of Uganda and President Kibaki of Kenya; and Kenyan Minister for Foreign Affairs Kalonzo Musyoka and his team, for their tireless efforts in bringing the Somali leaders together.
The United Kingdom now looks forward to the reconciliation process continuing in Mbagathi and culminating in agreement - as soon as possible - on a Transitional Federal Parliament and new President of a Transitional Federal Government. We hope that it will then prove possible for the new government to return to Somalia to continue reconciliation and start an incremental process toward disarmament, democratic elections and the establishment of peace and security inside the country.
The United Kingdom stands ready to provide assistance to a transitional, inclusive and broad-based government in Somalia.
http://www.presswire.net
United Press, February 6, 2004
Kenya to Somalia factions: don't quit now
Kenya warned Somalian warlords that their peace negotiations had reached a critical point and there was no turning back by any of the factions.
Last week Somalian participants agreed to a mode of electing members of a 275-member Transitional Federal Somali Parliament as well as ways of adopting a new constitution.
Punitive measures -- including sanctions -- would be used against Somali leaders or faction that derails the ongoing peace process, Kenya's Foreign Affairs Minister Kalonzo Musyoka said Thursday.
Peace negotiations among various Somalian warlords have been going on in Kenya for the last 14 months, the East African Standard reported Friday.
Musyoka said the time was now ripe to enforce the collective will of the Somali people.
"No turning back," Musyoka said.
"We would also wish to remind the leaders that the international community would not hesitate to take decisive punitive measure(s) including the application of a targeted sanctions regime to enforce the will of the Somali people to regain their rightful place within the community of nations," Musyoka stated.