AP Worldstream March 14, 2001
Somalia president apologizes for Kenyan, Russian hostage-taking
BYLINE: OSMAN HASSAN
President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan has apologized for the kidnapping of 20 Kenyan and up to 10 Russian fishermen who are
being held on two trawlers near the southern port of Kismayo.
''My government will do everything within our capacity to secure the release of these vessels and their crew,'' Hassan said
Tuesday.
Details of the seizure remain sketchy. Witnesses said armed militiamen from the Somali National Front seized the trawlers last
week, and that the fishermen were being held inside the boats.
There are unconfirmed reports the fishermen were involved in a dispute with Kismayo businessmen, who are now demanding a
ransom before they are released.
The kidnappings are an example of the difficulties facing Somalia's first national government in almost a decade as it struggles to
re-establish law and order.
Before the election of Hassan and 245 legislators last August, Somalia had not had a central government since opposition
leaders joined forces to oust dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in January 1991. Factional leaders then fought with each other,
turning the nation of 7 million people into battling fiefdoms supported by heavily armed militias.
The ensuing chaos allowed unregulated fishing along Somalia's coastline, which runs from the Gulf of Aden to the Indian Ocean,
with waters rich in lobster, shrimp, prawns and sharks.
''There are lots of vessels fishing in the territorial waters of Somalia, also some dumping harmful waste,'' Hassan said.
Much of Kismayo is controlled by forces loyal to Gen. Ahmed Warsame, a legislator in the transitional government. But it is
unclear how much influence Hassan has in the area.
In the past, vessels have been allowed to fish in the area on condition they pay Warsame's forces and local businessmen a fee,
Kismayo residents said.
Few details are available about the captured vessels. But on Wednesday, the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass reported they
were both Russian-owned.
The country's Foreign Ministry said it was working with Kenyan officials to secure the unconditional release of the hostages.
TASS March 14, 2001
Two Russia trawlers with crews held captive in Somalia.
BYLINE: By Andrei Polyakov
The two Russian trawlers Gorizont-1 and Gorizont-2 and ten Russian crew members remain hostages in Somalia, Tass learnt
from Andrew Mwangura, a human rights activist living in the Kenyan port of Mombasa.
Five exhausted and ragged Kenyan crew members of the Gorizonts reached Mombasa last week. They escaped from the
Somalian port of Kismayu, walked several hundred kilometers on foot along the coast and the rest of the way negotiated in a
fishing sail-boat.
They were the first to tell the human rights activist about the incident with the Russian trawlers.
According to Mwangura, the Gorizont-1 and Gorizont-2 are still in debt to their Somalian agents. However, they permitted the
Gorizont-1 to sail to Mombasa in Kenya to sell their catch -- 47 tonnes of prawns.
Then, the ship is to return to Kismayu and to give the cash in payment of their "debt" to Somalian agent Abdul Wein.
According to calculations, the Gorizont-1 was to enter the Mombasa port on Wednesday, but it did not appear there.
Various information indicates that the size of "the debt" fluctuates from 20,000 to 200,000 U. S. dollars. Mwangura claimed
that Russian fishermen could not have accrued such a sum: either for payment for a Somalian crew which they were obliged to
hire (if they fished there), or for port charges.
According to the human rights activist, the Gorizont-1 sailed for Somalia on November 29, 2000 and the Gorizont-2 -- on January 12, 2001.
Agence France Presse March 13, 200
Ethiopian Airlines to start flights to Somaliland
Ethiopian Airlines (EAL) has announced it is to start scheduled commercial flights to Hargeisa, the main city in the self-proclaimed independent state of Somaliland in northwestern Somalia.
The announcement on Monday follows an appeal by the head of the region, Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, when he visited Addis Ababa in November, asking Ethiopian authorities to introduce flights to Hargeisa and the port city of Berbera.
Since the beginning of the war with Eritrea, Ethiopia has used the port of Djibouti and -- to a lesser extent -- Berbera for conducting external trade.
Somaliland remains unrecognised by the international community 10 years after it split from the rest of Somalia after the fall of president Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.
The region's authorities continue to deny the legitimacy of the head of Somalia's national government of transition Abdoulkassim Salat Hassan -- elected in August.
The move also follows an agreement between Ethiopia and Somaliland to open a subsidiary of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia in Hargeisa and an office of the Ethiopian national sea carrier in the self-proclaimed independent state.
The EAL flights will be twice weekly, the company announced.
Africa News March 13, 2001
Somalia; New Police Force Tackle Militia
BYLINE: UN IRIN
Police have started to patrol the streets of Mogadishu as the interim government attempts to establish law and order in the capital.
On Monday, a heavily armed police unit took control of a road block in Shangani, central Mogadishu, and arrested four militia men.
Local sources told IRIN that police had managed to maintain control of the area after battling it out with the militia. Mogadishu Police Commander Colonel Abdi Qeybdid said the operation took more than 100 heavily armed officers, supported by six "technical" jeeps mounted with heavy guns.
Two police officers died during the fight, and local media said the operation had increased tension in northern Mogadishu.
However, the interim government said the deployment of the police force is a success and has public support.
Africa News March 13, 2001
Somalia; Dealing With a Deadly Legacy
BYLINE: UN IRIN
Local camel herders hardly look up as a huge explosion rocks the outskirts of Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared state of Somaliland, northwest Somalia. In a city that was destroyed by civil war in the late 1980s, there is no sign of alarm as a cloud of dust mushrooms from the blast. These explosions are welcome now - they represent another day of demining in a region still littered with Unexploded Ordnance (UXO).
According to a recent Landmine Monitor Report, as many as 100,000 landmines have been placed in and around Hargeisa. The Somali Mine Action Centre (SMAC) works alongside the Danish Demining Group (DDG) near the airport, trying to make safe land that will eventually be built on. Teams are made up of locally trained deminers, who are mostly former soldiers. They earn about three times more than a local policeman, and the demining groups have a waiting list. At present , the demining programme is funded by the Danish government, with a recent pledge from the European Commission.
Work is painstakingly slow for the teams as they prod the rocky, dry soil for mainly Pakistani and American landmines. "Unfortunately we have to use traditional, labour-intensive demining techniques here," DDG's Jens Christian Borsmose told IRIN. "The ground is too hard to use flail machines, and mine-detectors are useless because many mines buried here are made of plastic," he added.
The landmine problem in Somaliland is the result of over two decades of warfare. Between 1977 and 1978, the Somali Democratic Republic - which then had the third largest army in sub-Saharan Africa - went to war with neighbouring Ethiopia over a long-standing territorial dispute in the Ogaden. The war was heavily fought in the frontier area between northern Somalia (now Somaliland) and Ethiopia, and along the corridor between the eastern Ethiopian town of Dire-Dawa and the Somali border.
Both armies heavily mined front-lines, the perimeters of military installations, and important access routes. More mines were used between 1981 and 1991 when the northern-based Somali National Movement (SNM) waged an armed insurrection against the regime of Mohamed Siyad Barre. On 27 May 1988, the conflict intensified and the Somali army embarked on a scorched earth strategy. The legacy has been deadly. Since declaring independence in 1991, many of the casualties treated in Hargeisa hospital have been children who have lost limbs as they walk over minefields or play with explosives left in buildings ruined during the war.
As the deminers move cautiously between lines of white stones that indicate cleared areas, a nearby herder casually walks his goats across the minefield. "This is one of our biggest problems," Rashid Jama Robleh of DDG told IRIN - "many casualties are pastoralists". Demining work around Hargeisa has been hampered by the fact that different types of mines have been planted at various depths, meaning an area cannot be declared safe until it has been excavated to a depth of at least 20 cm.
Demining programmes in Somaliland since the early 1990s have attempted to glean information on mine fields through military records and former fighters - but too often, the alert is raised after people and animals are killed, or gruesomely injured.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians were forced out of northern Somalia into refugee camps in neighbouring Ethiopia and Djibouti in 1988. At the time, international human right groups listed among the abuses perpetrated by the Somali army the indiscriminate use of landmines against the civilian population, planted in homes, farmlands and water points. Hargeisa, in particular, was a target.
Debris from conflicts include everything from rifle rounds to mortar bombs, artillery shells and hand grenades. One of the biggest problems for the deminers is the huge quantity of high explosives from Soviet-era missiles that still sit on their launchers near the capital. A legacy of the Cold War, the missiles - that were never fired - were left behind when the Russians were given 24 hours to leave the country in 1977. More than two decades later, the huge khaki rockets, complete with warheads, remain poised on the periphery of the city.
"These things are deadly - many still contain high explosives, volatile rocket fuel and pressurised components," Phil Hammond of DDG told IRIN. He said that a number of Somalilanders had died trying to dismantle the rockets. In a region short of most materials, the scrap potential of the weapons has proved irresistible to some local traders. Despite education campaigns and a round-the-clock guard at the missile site, fatalities still occur.
Not all the unexploded ordnance is a legacy of history. Some mines have been planted since Somaliland declared independence in 1991. Leaders have been challenged and clan militia have fought over the increasingly populated capital and regional towns. According to the deminers, there was a new concentration of landmines between 1994 and 1995 when militia opposed to Somaliland President Mohamed Ibrahim Egal fought in Hargeisa, as well as in areas south and east of the city.
Africa News March 13, 2001
Somalia; Police Force Deployed In Mogadishu
BYLINE: UN IRIN
Police started patrolling the streets of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, this week, but are unable to venture into areas of the city under the control of faction leaders.
The new force is heavily armed, backed-up by "technical" jeeps mounted with anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns. It made its debut on 9 March when police confronted car-jackers in Tribunka, a former parade-ground in south Mogadishu. Seven people were arrested. On Monday, four militiamen were arrested after setting up a makeshift roadblock in Shangani, central Mogadishu, local sources told IRIN. After a battle, those arrested were transferred to the newly opened central prison. The police took over the checkpoint.
Local media said on Tuesday that the capture of the area increased tension in northern Mogadishu, and later led to the withdrawal of the police force - but local sources continued to insist that the operation had been successful. "There is no road block and the police are patrolling the area normally", one resident told IRIN.
Confronting Mogadishu's many militiamen - who are accustomed to exploiting the absence of authority - is a risky business. UN humanitarian agencies say there are at least 10,000 militia needing to be demobilised in the capital alone. Police "technicals" had to be called in to tackle the Shangani road block on Monday, and one officer, Abdullahi Ali Yarrow, was killed during the fight. Another died of his injuries on Tuesday morning. The operation took more than 100 heavily armed officers, supported by six technicals, Mogadishu Police Commander Colonel Abdi Qeybdid told IRIN. It was the first police operation of its kind since the arrival of the Transitional National Government (TNG) in Mogadishu in October last year. "We will rid this city of bandits", Qeybdid insisted.
But the TNG has been criticised for acting too slowly on law and order, both by its critics and its supporters. Sheikh Hasan Muhammad, chairman of the Islamic courts told IRIN that the government had shown too much reluctance in taking a grip on security. "It is a good start, but they need to show consistency in these operations to gain people's confidence" Sheikh Hasan said. He said more needed to be done in areas outside the capital. Militia from the Islamic courts were a critical security force for the business community before the election of the interim government in Djibouti last year.
Factions leaders opposed to the government are unhappy with the action taken by the new police force. They have threatened to take action against police deployment, and have beefed up defences in areas they control, Mogadishu residents said.
Police Commander Qeybdid dismissed criticism that the government was acting slowly. He told IRIN that the government wanted to be "absolutely sure that once we started, we could sustain it."
He also dismissed concern that the attempt by the government to restore law and order may result in renewed fighting in Mogadishu. Police were not provoking confrontation with faction-led militia by avoiding opposition strongholds, said the commander - "we have no instructions to go there". But he said the police action enjoyed public support and had had success in dealing with "freelance militia" - gunmen who do are not allied to any particular leader. The police have so far arrested 150-200 bandits and freelance militia, Qeybdid told IRIN.
It is not the first time since the civil war began in 1991 that a police force has been put together in Mogadishu. There was an attempt to create a police force with Egyptian and Libyan funding when Mogadishu faction leaders tried to establish an administration in 1998. Lack of trust between the factions meant they were not willing to turn over their heavy weapons, and the force was never successfully deployed. Before that, the UN mission in Somalia invested in re-training and re-equipping a police force - but it was one of the casualties of the international withdrawal in 1996. Independent administrations established since 1991 in the northwest and the northeast have been successful in re-establishing police forces.
When the interim government was established in Mogadishu, it appealed for international funding to help it rebuild infrastructure and government institutions. Humanitarian agencies have emphasised the importance of restoring security in the city before development programmes and aid can be successfully implemented.
Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said this time police had the fire power to back them up and enjoyed public support. But the reaction of the faction leaders has yet really to be tested - as they have all attending an opposition meeting hosted by Ethiopia since last week.
Ethiopia to provide military training to 500 Somali militiamen - Somali paper
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Mar 13, 2001
A group of RRA [Rahanwein Resistance Army] militiamen totalling about 500 are expected to leave for Ethiopia soon to undergo military training.
Informed sources in Baydhabo [south-central Somalia] told Qaran that preparations were under way to gather the militia and that the RRA deputy chairman, Adan Madobe, had been touring RRA bases in recent days.
Reports say the training was organized urgently and no announcements were issued beforehand. It is expected to last between three to four weeks.
This is not the first time that RRA militiamen are being taken to Ethiopia by the Ethiopian government for training. There had been several such training in the past.
Source: Qaran web site, Mogadishu, in Somali 13 Mar 01
Somalia: Militia takes control of UN agency office; stops anti-polio exercise
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Mar 13, 2001/ Somali HornAfrik Online text web site
A group of armed men belonging to the RRA [Rahanwein Resistance Army] militia loyal to Col [Hasan Muhammad Nur] Shatigadud has staged a protest and blocked an anti-polio vaccination campaign that kicked off in the provincial capital of Bay Region [south-central Somalia], Baydhabo.
The forces took control of a Unicef [United Nations Children's Fund] centre and stopped the distribution of anti-polio vaccines. A Unicef official was at the centre when the RRA forces captured it.
Some reports say the militiamen wanted money and allowed the anti-polio campaign to continue after some negotiations. However, it not yet clear how much the Unicef official paid to proceed with the campaign.
Source: HornAfrik Online text web site, Mogadishu, in Somali 13 Mar 01
Africa News March 13, 2001
Somalia; Demining in Hargeisa
BYLINE: UN IRIN
Deminers from the Somali Mine Action Centre (SMAC) and the Danish Demining Group (DDG) say Soviet missiles remain on the outskirts of Hargeisa, the capital of the self-declared state of Somaliland, northwest Somalia. Local Somalilanders have been killed trying to dismantle the rockets for scrap metal, despite a round-the-clock guard and education campaigns about unexploded ordnance (UXO). As many as 100,000 landmines have been placed in and around Hargeisa over the last two decades. Children are among the many victims of UXO. They have lost limbs and lives as they walk over minefields or play with explosives left in buildings ruined during the civil war.
Somalia: British security firm pulls out of Puntland
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Mar 13, 2001/ Somali HornAfrik Online text web site
Boosaaso [northeastern Somalia]: The head of the Hart Group, [an international security firm] contracted by Puntland to provide coast guard services, a Mr George, has told reporters that his company is pulling out of Puntland because th e Puntland government has violated the contract it had signed with the company.
The move follows the decision by Abdullah Yusuf [Puntland president] to sign new agreements with Taiwanese and Chinese [fishing] companies as well as the man who is holding the old fishing fleet of Somalia, Eng Munye.
Hart Group is a British firm with its headquarters in America and has 600 soldiers fully equipped to guard the Puntland coastal waters.
Source: HornAfrik Online text web site, Mogadishu, in Somali 13 Mar 01
Somalia: Security in Mogadishu district returns to normal after day of fighting
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Mar 13, 2001
Mogadishu: The security situation of Shangani district in Mogadishu has returned to normal following yesterday's clashes between the police force and militiamen that left at least one policeman dead.
The commander of the Banaadir regional police force told HornAfrik that the operation carried out by the police was only targeting the elimination of banditry in Mogadishu and to safeguard the security and well being of the community.
The interior minister, Dahir Shaykh Muhammad, spoke last night to the intellectuals and elders of the district to calm the situation.
Source: HornAfrik Online text web site, Mogadishu, in English 13 Mar 01
Libya/Somalia: Information agreement signed
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Mar 13, 2001/Libyan news agency Jana
Tripoli, 12 March: The Great Jamahiriyah and the Republic of Somalia this afternoon signed a cooperation agreement in the field of information.
The agreement was signed by the brother secretary of the general office of broadcasting in the Great Jamahiriyah and Minister of Information in the Republic of Somalia brother Zakariya Mahmud Haji Abdi, who is visiting the Great Jamahiriyah within the framework of consolidating relations between the two fraternal countries.
The agreement concerned cooperation in radio and technical fields, particularly by benefiting from Libya's expertise in broadcast training and exchange of visits between the two countries' information delegations, in addition to coordination of stances at the international level.
During the signing ceremony, the minister of information in the Republic of Somalia praised the brother leader of the revolution's [Al-Qadhafi] efforts in order to realize African union, which was announced at the second [OAU] Sirte summit. He also praised the brother leader's role in bringing about peace and stability in Somalia.
The signing ceremony was attended by the director general of the Libyan news agency, Jana, the assistant secretary of the general office of broadcasting in the Great Jamahiriyah, the director of broadcast engineering and the office's director of international cooperation.
Source: Jana news agency, Tripoli, in Arabic 1620 gmt 12 Mar 01
XINHUA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE March 13, 2000
Ethiopian Airlines to Begin Flights to Somalia
DATELINE: ADDIS ABABA, March 13
Ethiopian Airlines announced Tuesday to start a twice-weekly flights on March 27 from Addis Ababa to Hargeisa in
northwestern Somalia.
The airline said in a statement here that the service will be the 44th international destination for the Ethiopian national carrier.
"The new service provides easy access from Hargeisa to different parts of the world through the Addis Ababa hub," the airliner
said, adding that opening the route will facilitate a smooth flight for the Somali Diaspora all over the world to their destination.
The Boston Globe March 12, 2001
DISORDER REIGNS, BUT SOMALIA RULERS SEE CALM, PROGRESS
BYLINE: By Kurt Shillinger
MOGADISHU, Somalia - From the logbook at the Oriental Police Station in central Mogadishu:
Jan. 9, 2001: Kiosk owner killed in marketplace. Gunman identified by reliable source.
Jan. 27, 2001: Man arrested for inflicting knife wounds. Victim, a woman, assessed for injuries and sent to nearby hospital.
Feb. 1, 2001: Fifty officers left station for patrol. No problems reported. An exceptionally peaceful day.
Pedestrian as they might seem, these entries record one of the most significant - some say foolhardy - efforts on the African
continent: the cautious return of governance to Somalia's shell-battered capital after a decade of anarchy.
Six months ago, a provisional government set up shop in a city buried under its own rubble. It faces a formidable challenge.
Faction leaders (they used to be called warlords) still block the main port and airport. Goats graze on weeds and litter in the
once-marbled foyer of Commercial Bank, which closed long ago. Farther afield, secessionists control the north, disgruntled
clans stir in the south, and troops from neighboring Ethiopia stream across the border to the west. None of them recognize the
new rulers.
But the hunger for stability is strong among ordinary Somalis in Mogadishu. And despite the obstacles, the first modest signs of
renewal are starting to emerge. Every day, young militiamen turn in their guns to join the police force, the first institution created
by the new government. And people move freely across old front lines, daring to hope that peaceful days soon might not be so
exceptional.
"The task of rebuilding is unprecedented, not just in Somalia, but in Africa and the world," President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan
said recently as he sat in a presidential meeting room brightened by shocking-pink curtains and plastic flowers. "All of the
national institutions ceased to operate. There has been massive destruction. But now, after 10 years of that, people are longing
for peace, security, and development."
Somalia collapsed in 1991 when guerrilla groups ousted the longtime dictator, Mohamed Siad Barre, leaving a clear field for
clan rivalries.
The factions drew a line down the center of the city and battled one another for control with heavy artillery. For 10 years, all
attempts to restore order failed, including 12 peace conferences and a fortified US mission, which President Bush sent in to
ease a famine, and which President Clinton withdrew in defeat.
Lacking a central government for a decade, the country splintered and the capital collapsed. Centuries-old Omani and Italian
architecture was left in ruins. Everything of use or value - door frames, windows, sewer pipes, even massive underground fuel
tanks - was looted. Streets are buried in sand dunes and trash heaps. Somalia now ranks last in the United Nations survey of
human development.
But in the chaos, people in Mogadishu reorganized. Business owners formed groups to pay for protection and open ports
beyond the faction leaders' control. Women gathered in advocacy groups. Religious elders formed courts based on Islamic law.
A civil society began to emerge, and with it, some say, a new basis for social cohesion.
"Women, especially, shouldered most of the burden of the war," said Aini Abukar Ga'al, a board member of the Coalition for
Grassroots Women's Organizations. "We realized that the best thing to do, to survive, was to help your neighbor rather than
build alliances based on clan."
After a dozen failed attempts to broker peace among rival factions, neighboring Djibouti stepped in, offering in September
1999 to mediate with a home-grown approach: Somalis were invited to sit under the proverbial African tree in a small Djibouti
village in Arta and talk out their differences for as long as it took. It took five months, from April to last August.
Driven by businessmen wanting a more peaceful environment for trade, the women's groups, and others, representatives from a
wide range of Somali backgrounds negotiated an interim national charter, and then elected a prime minister and a president.
The delegates also chose members of the new Parliament, which includes, for the first time, 25 women. Under the peace
agreement, elections must be held in three years.
Since arriving in Mogadishu at the end of last August, senior members of the new government have pushed for outside
legitimacy and financial support. So far, the UN, European Union, South Africa, and several Arab states have promised to aid
the nation's recovery.
The Djibouti process, Prime Minister Ali Kalif Galayr said, "gave this government a vote of confidence." Others aren't so sure.
The three main factional leaders in Mogadishu were barred from Djibouti, and now they oppose the new government. They,
and others, criticize the new leaders for their ties to the fallen Siad Barre regime. Both Salad and Kalif were long-serving
ministers under the former dictator.
Two regions in the north have claimed independence and refuse to recognize the new government. One, based in Hargeisa,
plans to hold a referendum for an independent Somaliland in May.
To the south, in the country's agricultural heartland, people say the government has reneged on provisions of the Djibouti
conference requiring land restitution. In the lost decade, according to experts on Somalia, the strongest of the factions, run by
Mohamed Farah Aidid, stole vast tracks of rural land and prime urban real estate. That clan, the Habr Gedir, remains the
dominant force in the new government.
In a troubling development, leaders from the Mogadishu factions have gathered in Ethiopia with other disgruntled Somali
movements to forge a campaign against the new government.
Some of those groups are backed by Ethiopia, which accuses the new government of failing to represent all of Somalia's clans
and has moved its troops into southern Somalia.
These cracks, said John Drysdale, a Somalia scholar, reflect the weaknesses of the Djibouti process. "I have a jaundiced view
of the new government," he said. "Civil society is a great buzzword, but it makes no sense in Somalia. If you ignore traditional
culture, it's a grave mistake."
Still, Abdi Hassan Awale is confident. A close ally of Aidid, the former warlord, he is now Mogadishu's chief of police and has
already overseen the demobilization of more than 7,000 militia soldiers. Streets that were blocked for years by armed factions
are now open. People are setting up stalls without fear.
It's a start, he said. "Despite the difficulties, we have no choice but to summon the courage to succeed."
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