BBC Monitoring International Reports, February 16, 2004
A Peace Demonstration Takes Place In Mogadishu.
About hundreds of people mainly women and children have taken part in a big peace rally in Mogadishu on Monday to support the recent landmark 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 percent 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: Radio HornAfrik, Mogadishu, in Somali 0500 gmt 16 Feb 04
Nairobi (PANA) - 16/02/2004
UNHCR to repatriate Sudanese, Somali refugees from Kenya
Nairobi Kenya (PANA) , The UN refugee agency, UNHCR plans to repatriate from Kenya, some 150,000 Somali and 70,000 Sudanese refugees, once the peace deals for the two countries are signed later this year, an official of the UN agency said in Nairobi.
George Okoth-Obbo, UNHCR Representative to Kenya said the Kenyan camps of the refugees had become "extremely vulnerable."
The refugee agency, which is holding a three-day Strategic Planning Workshop, says it requires 51.6 million US dollars for its operation in the region for 2005.
Okoth-Obbo said the most critical requirements were on life saving and protection, safety, nutrition, shelter and healthcare.
Meanwhile, Kenyan Vice-President Moody Awori has ordered the return from Nairobi of thousands of refugees who escaped from various refugee camps in the northern part of the country.
Awori, who is also Home Affairs Minister, said the government would soon crackdown on illegal aliens, warning that refugees who are not in their camps could face problem.
He said government was concerned about the large number of asylum seekers and refugees now the urban centres. Kenya hosts some 235,000 refugees, some 20,000 of whom have applied for asylum, Awori said.
He disclosed that government would soon introduce a bill for better protection and management of refugee affairs.
Government also plans to establish a refugee department, that would seek assistance from donor agencies, he added.
Africa News, February 16, 2004
Somalia;Emergency Assistance Needed in the Nugal Valley
BYLINE: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
About 6,200 people living in the lower Nugal Valley of northeastern Somalia are in need of immediate emergency assistance, the monthly food security assessment report for January, produced by the UN Food Security Assessment Unit (FSAU), said.
It said the lower Nugal valley, which includes the areas of Huddun, Taleh and Garowe, was "of greatest concern, as households had suffered extensive livestock losses due to successive rainfall failures. The [area] is in need of quick and effective emergency assistance to preserve livelihoods for approximately 20-25 percent of the original population."
The assessment found that parts of the lower Nugal valley, the Hawd of Garowe and Eyl, the Hawd of Burtinle, the eastern half of the Hawd of Las Anod and the western part of the Addun in Jerriban, had been hit by current rainfall failure. As a result, there had been extensive livestock movement to other areas like the eastern Sool plateau in Bari Region.
"Food shortages have increased for poorer households, and recent reports from the field indicate water prices are continuing to rise in parts of Addun and Hawd of Burtinle and Jerriban," the report said.
The FSAU, which in December collaborated with the UN Children's Fund and World Health Organisation to conduct a rapid nutritional assessment in Taleh District, said it had found an acute malnutrition rate of 27 percent and a severe acute malnutrition rate of 5.8 percent among randomly screened under-five children.
The report also said the Sool plateau in the north and central region, was in an emergency situation. "While coordinated interventions to distressed households by Somali NGOs, international NGOs and UN agencies are under way, insecurity in the area disrupted some of the deliveries in January," it said.
"In Togdheer, no rain fell in the Hawd pastoral zone during January, although it is estimated that 60-70 percent of pastoralists had already moved out of the drought-stricken area into Ethiopia's Region V [Somali National Regional State]. However, poorer households, which could not leave the area, remain extremely food insecure and require close monitoring," it said.
Crop production during the October-December rains in southern Somalia, it noted, was approximately 50 percent of the estimated quantify for sorghum and 50 percent for maize. "This estimate is 48 percent above the postwar average... Insecurity, moisture stress, outbreak of birds, insects and pests may affect the final harvest production figure," it said.
It said compared to the long-term average, the October-December rains had been below normal in most parts of northern and central Somalia. "In particular, rains were extremely poor in Hawd, Sool Plateau and Nugal valley in the north, and Galgadud in the central regions [resulting] in a deterioration of the food security situation for some pastoral populations in the north and central regions, where livelihoods are primarily dependent on livestock and livestock production."
The FSAU report, entitled "Rapid Mission to Investigate the Drought in Parts of North Eastern and Central Somalia" is available at:
http://www.reliefweb.int/library/s/2004/fsau-som-11feb.pdf
BBC Monitoring International Reports, February 15, 2004
Somali Pirates Hijacked An Egyptian Registered Ship.
Armed Somali militias are holding an Egyptian chartered ship and dozens of its crews for more than a week although no comments were yet made about the incident.
The militias have seized the ship, which has been fishing illegally in Somalia coasts following a dispute with other militias based in the ship.
The crews who were mainly Egyptians and Somalis are now being held in mudug region in central Somalia.
The waters off Somalia are some of the most dangerous in the world, full of sharks and pirates. On land, anarchy and confusion reign.
The rise of militias in Somalia follows the collapse of its central government in 1991, when President Siad Barre was overthrown by opposing clans.
Those responsible failed to agree on a replacement and plunged the country of seven million people into lawlessness and clan warfare.
In 1992 US Marines landed near Mogadishu, ahead of a UN peacekeeping force sent to restore order and safeguard relief supplies.
The peacekeepers left in 1995, having failed to achieve their mission.
Warlords now rule many areas and it is thought the resulting battles, famine and disease have led to the deaths of up to one million people.
SOURCE: Radio HornAfrik, Mogadishu, in Somali 0500 gmt 15 Feb 04
Agence France Presse, February 15, 2004
Somaliland refugees return home from Djibouti
Fifty families from Somaliland were on their way home Sunday, after spending 13 years in refugee camps in Djibouti, the national office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced.
They were among the tens of thousands of refugees who fled Somaliland, a self-proclaimed independent republic in northern Somalia, during the a civil war that raged there in the late 1980s.
The 225 refugees were sent home aboard 13 trucks with enough food to last them theoretically for nine months and a reinstallation grant of 40 dollars (31 euros).
The homecoming was part of a repatriation program started jointly by the UNHCR and the governments of Djibouti and Somalia in 2002.
So far 2,500 refugees have been returned, but at least 30,000 remain in refugee camps in Djibouti, according to the authorities in the Horn of Africa country.
A new transit camp at Aour-Aoussa, 85 kilometers (53 miles) south of Djibouti city, was opened up last August when the country launched a major operation to expel foreigners without residence permits. The camp holds about 8,000 people, according to the UNHCR.
BBC Monitoring International Reports, February 15, 2004
EIGHT SOMALI REFUGEES REPORTEDLY DIE IN KENYAN CAMPS
According to report from refugees in Dhagahaley and Ifo (refugee) camps (in Kenya), eight Somalis, amongst them children and adults, have died of measles and malaria which had broken out in the two camps. The report says many refugees were currently suffering from the disease. A German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) relief aid, which actively operates in the area, was distributing some drugs, though not enough to meet the demand.
The Somali refugees who were already facing food shortage, were now under threat from the disease outbreak.
Source: Radio Shabeelle, Mogadishu in Somali 0500 gmt 15 Feb 04
BBC Monitoring International Reports, February 14, 2004
PUNTLAND PARLIAMENT EXTENDS TERM BY TWO YEARS
The Puntland regional administration parliament has today voted to extend its term .In this morning's session, which was attended by about 54 members, the members debated on an agenda under discussion since Thursday (5 February) last week. In a heated debate on the extension of the parliament's term, some MPs questioned why they should extend its term. (passage omitted).
Whatever the case, the Speaker of parliament asked the members to vote following a division due to conflicting opinions over whether to extend the life of the parliament by 18 months or by two years as some members suggested.
Four members voted for the idea to extend the cabinet by 18 months, while 43 voted for the two-year term. (Passage omitted).
Source: Radio Midnimo, Boosaaso, in Somali 1030 gmt 14 Feb 04
BBC Monitoring International Reports, February 14, 2004
SOMALIA: PUNTLAND JUNIOR MINISTER CRITICIZES MINISTERIAL PROBE ORDER ON FM RADIOS
Puntland news agency, Puna, has released statement ordering investigation into local FM radios in Puntland (northeastern Somalia). The statement was signed by Puna director after being ordered by the information minister Abdikarim Suldan Muhammad. Puntland assistant minister (of information) Abdishakur Mire Adan strongly criticized the statement saying it was opposed to both Puntland and international media laws. Abdishakur Mire Adan said in a statement he released in Garoowe (Puntland) that he would not tolerate the new decree because the Information Ministry officials were not consulted. Mr Mire urged media groups in Puntland to oppose the decree adding that the new decree was carelessly drafted and not based on profound experience.
The new decree is expected to spark new crisis in the information ministry whose officials were not in good terms due to an early rift. (Passage omitted)
Source: Radio HornAfrik, Mogadishu, in Somali 0500 gmt 14 Feb 04
BBC Worldwide Monitoring, February 14, 2004
Somalia: Puntland junior minister criticizes ministerial probe order on FM radios
SOURCE: Radio HornAfrik, Mogadishu, in Somali 0500 gmt 14 Feb 04
Puntland news agency, Puna, has released statement ordering investigation into local FM radios in Puntland northeastern Somalia . The statement was signed by Puna director after being ordered by the information minister Abdikarim Suldan Muhammad.
Puntland assistant minister of information Abdishakur Mire Adan strongly criticized the statement saying it was opposed to both Puntland and international media laws. Abdishakur Mire Adan said in a statement he released in Garoowe Puntland that he would not tolerate the new decree because the Information Ministry officials were not consulted. Mr Mire urged media groups in Puntland to oppose the decree adding that the new decree was carelessly drafted and not based on profound experience.
The new decree is expected to spark new crisis in the information ministry whose officials were not in good terms due to an early rift. Passage omitted
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON) February 14, 2004
What a bargain! A war-ravaged African country for just pounds 2.6m Worldwide
BYLINE: By Adrian Blomfield in Nairobi
FOR sale: one African country, war-damaged, extremely lawless and very poor. Former owners include an Italian fascist dictator and a host of unbalanced brigand leaders. Requires serious renovation and considerable maintenance but a snip at just pounds 2.6 million ONO.
Would suit: Arms dealers, international criminals and, apparently, The Daily Telegraph.
This week I received an e-mail from a delegate - let's call him Abdi - attending peace talks trying to end Somalia's 14-year civil war.
Last month there was a breakthrough in the talks as rival warlords agreed to form a 275-member parliament, which would choose a president to head the country's first proper government since 1990.
Abdi, who says he is an exile forced out of Somalia by al-Qa'eda terrorists, quite fancies the job. The only snag is he doesn't have any money, which is where I came in.
"What I need is about $5 million to buy the votes of the MPs," he wrote in the e-mail. Should the Telegraph choose to dabble in Somali politics by funding his campaign, Abdi is prepared to be very generous.
"I promise to make Somalia under the rule of Queen Elizabeth of the British just like Australia, Canada and New Zealand," he wrote, adding that he would give British companies a monopoly on all reconstruction projects. And the Royal Navy could have a Red Sea base, too.
There were also sweeteners for me: a seat in the cabinet and senior government posts for my friends.
In the back of Abdi's mind there appears to have been a niggling doubt that the Telegraph might just decline his offer. "If this is not possible, could you help me to get political asylum in Britain instead?" he asked.
I have known Abdi for three years and he does not have a hope of winning the presidency. He will be up against 51 other candidates.
Were he to pull off a miracle and win, the odds against him assuming office do not look good either. There have been at least a dozen attempts to end the war, all of them unsuccessful.
The closest any administration has come to taking charge of the world's most chaotic country was a transitional government created by a peace accord in Djibouti in August 2000. It ruled from heavily guarded hotel rooms, controlled barely a fifth of the capital, Mogadishu, and no territory at all outside the city. Somalia today is a patchwork of rival fiefdoms controlled by Mafia-style capos.
But analysts say there is greater cause for hope in the latest peace talks in Kenya - primarily because of American pressure on the delegates. Washington had washed its hands of Somalia after a disastrous intervention in the early 1990s when 18 US rangers died as militiamen shot down their helicopters.
The September 11 attacks prompted a shift in policy as the White House realised that Somalia had become a haven for Islamic terrorists. But in the business centre of the Nairobi hotel where many delegates are staying I discovered that peace was not necessarily the main priority of some.
Two s were open on the desktop of the computer I sat down to use. One appeared to be a plot to oust Bethuel Kiplagat, the Kenyan mediator of the talks. The other was a shopping list for an array of weaponry.
"We are interested in purchasing the following," the unsigned order read, detailing various kinds of anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades that some capo was presumably running short of.
The proliferation of weapons has fuelled the former Italian colony's volatility, but even the peace talks in Kenya are not a safe place if you are Somali.
Abdi says his life is in constant danger. Little wonder that he feels his only options are either to run the country himself or flee to Britain.
Agence France Presse, February 13, 2004
Kenya urges Ethiopia to support Somali peace process
Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka on Friday urged Ethiopian government to support the Somali peace process and the outcome of ongoing consultations in Kenya.
"Since all the Somali factions have accepted the Charter, it is a window of opportunity to push the peace deal through," Musyoka said at meeting in Nairobi with US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Charles Snyder.
Ethiopia has been under fire for backing a group of Somali warlords notorious for breaking more than a dozen agreements reached to halt 13 years of civil war that was sparked by the toppling of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.
Musyoka, himself a forefront negotiator in the talks, was referring to last month's signing of a keystone deal on the Transitional Federal Charter (TFC), that outlined the creation of future parliament that would elect a national president and draft a constitution.
"Although remarkable progress had been made in both the Somali and Sudan peace processes being held in Kenya, it was important that both processes received the necessary push for peace and security to be realised in the region," Musyoka said.
Khartoum and the rebel Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA), who have been at war for the last 21 years, only remain with two out of five outstanding issues, before they conclude a final peace deal. The two foes are will resume the peace talks in Kenya next week.
Musyoka urged the Somalis and Sudanese "to take advantage" of the US unwavering support of the processes, because "international goodwill could not be everlasting."
Snyder said US would remain committed to the peace process, and announced that his Washington was mulling giving a million dollars (785,000 euros) to help Kenya in its pursuit of regional peace.
THE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, February 13, 2004
BROKEN HEARTS IN THE 'PROMISED LAND'
BYLINE: ROBERT L. JAMIESON JR. P-I columnist
DATELINE: ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia
He leaves behind a wife. Three small kids. And much more.Hassan Farah, the East African immigrant slain on Seattle's streets while trying to eke out a living as a Yellow Cab driver, also leaves behind sweet hopes unfulfilled.
It's the kind of hope that flowers each day, far away from the Emerald City, in the dusty, ramshackle villages outside Addis Ababa.
In the crowded refugee camps of Kenya. In the war-scarred streets of Mogadishu.
It's the undying hope for something, anything, better.
To see East Africa up close is to see millions of Hassan Farahs - honest, hard-working people who truly believe they can, if given the chance to come to America, improve life for themselves and their loved ones.
It's the dream on which our country was built.
None of the dreamers envision their aspirations ending with a bullet that steals their life.
Just listen.
"America is heaven," Mohammed Naser, an Ethiopian tells me soon after I learned of Farah's Jan. 31 slaying.
We are sitting at a roadside cafe off a dirt road south of Ethiopia's capital. Mohammed, a truck mechanic, gushes about the United States - a place where nothing ever really goes so wrong.
"I want go America," he says in fragmented English. "I read your history. I watch American movie."
Why Mohammed wants to leave his homeland is too obvious. The educational opportunities for young men and women in his country - like most of the region - are few. Those who do get solid university degrees face rampant unemployment upon graduation.
And it is hard to make a living on 100 birr a month - less than 15 American dollars.
If Uncle Sam gave Mohammed a chance, he'd work his tail off like hundreds of thousands of cab drivers, housekeepers and day laborers of foreign birth who breathe life into the U.S. work force.
He'd sign up for night classes to broaden his mind.
He'd try to make America proud - just like Farah, 39 ((age)), who drove taxis to earn extra income in addition to his job tutoring English to Seattle school kids.
I don't have the heart to tell Mohammed that he probably will never get a visa to enter the United States. And even if he did, there are no guarantees America will live up to its end of the bargain.
But the stink of misery is so strong in this corner of the world - fanned by famine, warfare and less-than-perfect governments - that people are vessels of hope mixed with desperation.
You hear it in the stories a friend who works at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa tells me about the lengths people will go to dupe U.S. immigration.
"It can make you jaded sometimes," she says.
You see it when female barmaids ask you if you are married. When you say you are single and from the United States, they want to cook you a "special meal" and they beg for you to write them.
For those lucky enough to escape - like Farah, who fled a ravaged Somalia and legally came to the United States as a refugee - fortune shines down with the force of the sub-Saharan sun.
They leave behind loved ones who are sorry to see them go but happy to get the vital U.S. money they send. They leave behind mothers and brothers and cousins who view them as successes for landing in "the promised land."
They leave behind so many broken hearts when a bullet fired by an unknown assailant shatters their American Dream into too many sad pieces to count.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Robert Jamieson is in Africa as part of a monthlong tour with a group from the Seattle Rotary.
P-I columnist Robert L. Jamieson Jr. can be reached at 206-448-8125 or robertjamieson§seattlepi.com
BBC Monitoring Africa. London: Feb 12, 2004. pg. 1
Somali peace process on course, says Kenyan ambassador
Nairobi, 12 February: 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 [12 February] 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 preparations 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.
Credit: UN Integrated Regional Information Network, Nairobi, in English 12 Feb 04
Boston Globe. Boston, Mass.: Feb 12, 2004. pg. A.29
DOCTOR JOINS GENITAL MUTILATION DEBATE:[THIRD Edition]
Alexandra Salomon, Globe Correspondent.
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."
[Illustration]
Caption: 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
Somalia: Interim prime minister appoints ministers
BBC Monitoring Africa. London: Feb 11, 2004. pg. 1
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.
Credit: HornAfrik Online text web site, Mogadishu, in English 11 Feb 04
Source: Food Security Assessment Unit
Date: 11 Feb 2004
Monthly Food Security Report for Somalia Jan 2004 - Food crisis in lower Nugal Valley
HIGHLIGHTS
PASTORAL LIVELIHOOD STRESS IN NORTHERN AND CENTRAL REGIONS
1. Consolidated Statement by FSAU on Pastoral Areas in the Northern and Central Regions : The FSAU will be producing a two page FSAU Consolidated Statement on the food security situation in Pastoral Areas in the north and central regions following a workshop to be held at the FSAU on 13 February 2004. In particular the workshop will rank the levels of food security for the concerned areas with an effort towards comparability and categorizations that will be useful for planning. The statement will be issued as a 'Flash' on February 18 2004 and circulated via e-mail to all FSAU's regular users.
2. January Pastoral Assessment in North and Central Regions : The FSAU carried out a rapid assessment in January, covering the south of the Sool Plateau and into central Somalia as far as Galkayo and the northern part of Hobyo district in Mudug Region. For a summary of the report please see page 2 and for a copy of the full report contact: alex.williams@fsau.or.ke
3. Lower Nugal Valley in Urgent Need of Assistance : During the above mentioned assessment, the FSAU found that immediate emergency assistance is required for an estimated 6,200 people in Lower Nugal Valley to preserve livelihoods. This finding has been supported by recent nutrition information. In December 2003, the FSAU, in collaboration with UNICEF and WHO mobile teams, conducted a rapid nutritional assessment in Taleh District. Results of the assessment showed a global acute malnutrition rate of 27% (MUAC <12.5cm) and a severe acute malnutrition of 5.8% (MUAC <11cm) of 175 randomly screened under-five children. Though not directly comparable, UNICEF/MOHL reported similar levels of malnutrition during their screening exercise in Taleh (Nov/Dec 2003). Malnutrition rates among 201 adult women (15-49 years) were 24%.
4. Sool Plateau : Sool Plateau remains in an emergency situation. While coordinated interventions to distressed households by Somali NGO's, international NGO's and UN agencies are underway, insecurity in the area disrupted some of the deliveries in January.
5. Togdheer and the Hawd Pastoral Zone : In Togdheer, no rain fell in the Hawd Pastoral Zone during January, although it is estimated that (60-70%) of pastoralists had already moved out of the drought stricken area into Ethiopia's Region V. However, poorer households, which could not leave the area, remain extremely food insecure and require close monitoring. For a copy of the FSAU-led inter-agency rapid assessment report on Todgheer (January 2004) please contact : alex.williams@fsau.or.ke
In Ethiopia's Region V, SC-UK have reported unseasonable rains in parts of Dagahbur, Korahe, Fik, Liban and Jijiga zones during the second dekad of January. However, no significant rains were received in the zones bordering Somalia (Warder, Gode, Afder, Korahe and eastern Dagahbur). It is therefore unlikely that Somali pastoralists in the drought affected regions will benefit from these rains as they would have to migrate deep into Region V to do so.
The dry and hot Jilaal season is likely to place additional stress on pastoralists in the northern and central regions, where food security has already been declining in recent months, as reported by the FSAU. For many of the poorer pastoralists living in districts where below normal or failed Deyr 2003/2004 rains fell (and with previous insufficient seasons of rainfall) livelihoods have already been compromised by a depletion of assets, reduced incomes and increased expenditure on water. Insufficient Deyr 2003/2004 rainfall has also greatly reduced migratory options. The situation has been exasperated by poor Deyr rainfall in Ethiopia's Region V where up to 50,000 Somalia's pastoralists are thought to have moved in search of pasture and water during the Deyr season. (Note: SC-UK in Region V has reported unusual rainfall in January in Region V, but not in the zones bordering Somalia).
Pastoral livelihoods in north eastern and central Regions need to be closely monitored because failure of the Gu rains would have disastrous effects.
In June 2003, a rapid assessment highlighted that food insecurity had increased in both the Sool Plateau and in the Lower Nugal valley in Taleh, parts of Hudun, and parts of Garowe. This was confirmed by a subsequent inter-agency assessment in November 2003 which took place in Sool Plateau and Gebi Valley, Sool and Sanaag Regions.
In January 2004, the FSAU led an investigation into the current areas affected by drought alongside OCHA, UNA, PACE, UNICEF and the Puntland Authorities. This assessment was intended to cover the pastoral areas in north eastern Somalia, south of the Sool Plateau in Sanag and Sool Regions. The original intention was not to include the Sool Plateau in Bari, but since the area had recently absorbed many in-migrating people and animals from other dry districts, it was included as well. The area under consideration stretches down into central Somalia as far as Galkayo and the northern part of Hobyo district in Mudug Region.
The assessment found that Area 'A' (See Fig 4), which comprises the lower Nugal valley (Huddun, Taleh and parts of Garowe) is of greatest concern, as households have experienced extensive livestock losses due to successive rainfall failures. The area does, however, have water available, so expenditure on water has not been nearly as high as in Sool Plateau. Nevertheless, pasture is said to be worse than in Sool Plateau and households are subsequently facing difficulties accessing food and income. As a result, they have reduced their food intake and adopted environmentally damaging coping strategies to survive.
The Lower Nugal Valley is in need of quick and effective emergency assistance to preserve livelihoods for approximately 20-25% of the original population. This takes into account the fact that many households have moved out of the area and that the poorest should receive the assistance. It is therefore estimated that 6,200 people need urgent assistance in this area.
The assessment found that Areas 'B and C' (See Fig 4) (which comprises parts of lower Nugal valley, the Hawd of Garowe and Eyl, much of the Hawd of Burtinle, the eastern half of Hawd of Las Anod and the western part of the Addun in Jeri-ban) were hit by the current Deyr rainfall failure, with extensive livestock out-migrations to other host areas (like areas D and G shown). Food shortages have increased for poorer households and recent reports from the field indicate water prices are continuing to rise in parts of Addun and Hawd of Burtinle and Jeriban.
Areas ' F, G, H ' , (comprising the Upper Nugal valley, the Hawd of Buhodle and west of Las Anod, the Hawd of Galka-cyo and Galdogob and south of Burtinle, the Hawd of Region V and the Golol in Hobyo) represent another hosting area for many livestock affected by drought. Some of the host areas (like area H) are conflict/disputed areas and need close monitoring.
Source: World Food Programme (WFP)
Date: 13 Feb 2004
WFP Emergency Report No. 7 of 2004
Somalia
(a) The security situation remains unpredictable throughout Somalia. In Lower Juba, a UN Security Officer was abducted by Somali militia on 29 January for 10 days and was subsequently released on 7 February. The tension remains high between Somaliland and Puntland ever since Puntland forces took control of Las Anod district of Sool region in December 2003.
(b) This deteriorating security situation has frustrated WFP's humanitarian relief assistance to the drought-affected populations in the Sool Plateau. It has delayed WFP's planned relief distributions and is now expected to resume in the course of this month. A total of 732 tons of food commodities is expected to be distributed to approximately 13,000 households.
(c) During the month of January, WFP distributed a total of approximately 800 MT of food commodities reaching some 43,000 beneficiaries. There are newly arrived IDPs in Bay and Bakool regions, and WFP has provided a total of 132 tons of food to an estimated 6,000 displaced persons due to armed conflicts in Bay region.