Friday, March 21, 2003

Saudi Arabia Donates Dates to WFP for Somali And Sudanese
ADDIS ABABA, 21 MARCH 2003--The United Nations World Food Programme announced on Monday that a donation from the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of 360 metric tons of dates to WFP for the Somali and Sudanese refugees living in camps in Ethiopia. The dates are valued at more than US$ 460,000 and are being distributed this month, the WFP said in a press release.

"This is a very generous contribution and we are very grateful to the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for providing a food item that compliments and varies the refugees' diet," said Ms. Georgia Shaver, WFP Country Representatives in Ethiopia. "This is the third time that the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia donates dates to refugees in Ethiopia".

"This particular donation illustrates the commitment of the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to be among the first countries providing humanitarian assistance to people in need throughout the world," said Salah Ahmed Sarhan, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Ethiopia. "This contribution reflects also the good relations between the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia".


Essy Express Concern On the Situation in Somalia, Condemns Coup in CAR
ADDIS ABABA, 21 MARCH 2003--The Interim Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union, Amara Essy, expressed his concern over the reported violations of the Declaration of Cessation of Hostilities signed on the 27th October 2002, in Eldoret, Kenya, by all the Somali Leaders attending the Somalia National Reconciliation Conference, the African Union Said in a statement.

The African Union strongly condemned these violations, which are causing unnecessary loss of life and the destruction of property, as well as tremendous suffering to the people of Somalia. Such violations undermined the ongoing Reconciliation Conference aimed at restoring peace and stability in Somalia, the statement said. "It is all the more regrettable that the violations were occurring at a time when all efforts are being made by the Facilitators of the peace process, sponsored by IGAD and supported by the African Union, to put in place a monitoring mechanism."




Thursday, March 20, 2003

Somalia: Government to host southern factions' peace talks in Mogadishu

March 20, 2003 3:39am

HOOVNEWS, 20 MARCH 2003--A grand follow up meeting is expected to take place soon in Mogadishu between several Somali factions.The following southern Somalia [groups] are expected to attend the meeting: The interim Somali government; the Jubba Valley Alliance; the Shaykh Adan Madobe wing of the Rahanwein Resistance Army; the Somali National Alliance led by Uthman Ali Ato; the United Somali Congress headed by Muhammad Qanyare Afrah; the Mogadishu faction leader Umar Finish wing; and the Somali National Front which is a member of G8 [loose alliance of southern dissident groups].

According to reliable sources, the meeting is a continuation of the Eldoret cease-fire agreement which Mogadishu faction leaders and the interim Somali government have signed.

Although the agenda of the meeting has not yet been disclosed, reports say the meeting will elaborate on the Eldoret agreement between the faction leaders and the government.

Authoritative sources further say the Transitional National Government of Somalia will host the meeting. More faction leaders are also expected to arrive in Mogadishu in the coming days...

Source: Qaran, Mogadishu, in Somali 19 Mar 03

/© BBC Monitoring

Publication: BBC Monitoring International Reports

Distributed by Financial Times Information Limited - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire


Copyright © 2003 BBC Monitoring International Reports. All Rights Reserved.
Suspected Al Qaeda Man Arrested Over Nairobi Bomb
NAIROBI, 20 MARCH 2003--A Yemeni national suspected to have been involved in the 1998 Nairobi bomb attack was arrested and flown to Kenya yesterday for interrogation.

Internal Security minister Chris Murungaru said the man, suspected to be an Al-Qaeda operative, was arrested with the help of Somali leaders in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Sources said the suspect, who reports in Nairobi and Mogadishu identified only as Mr Isse, was arrested at a hospital in the Karaan District of Mogadishu.

Mr Murungaru declined to give details of the suspect, claiming in a statement that it would jeopardise investigations.

Officials of the Transitional National Government (TNG) in Somalia and Nairobi confirmed the arrest and detention of the middle-aged man


ETHIOPIA: Conference addresses "critical" state of Africa's refugees
ADDIS ABABA, 20 Mar 2003 (IRIN) - Africa's four million refugees are impeding social and economic development on the continent, a conference in Addis Ababa heard on Thursday.

The continent still "bears the scars" of scores of conflicts in the shape of millions of refugees, the two-day meeting was told.

The conference, held jointly by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR), is aimed at raising awareness of the rights of refugees and families who are forced to flee their homes because of wars and famine on the continent.

Ilunga Ngandu, the Ethiopia-based regional head of UNHCR, said that refugees or displaced people are always victims of massive human rights abuses because they have been forced to flee.

"This creates desperation and outflows of too many Africans to exile or internal displacement," he said. "Even when refugees have reached an asylum country, we have witnessed over the years serious violations."

Currently there are some 12 million refugees in the world - four million of them in Africa costing UNHCR around US $1 billion.

Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world, is home to some 37,000 refugees from Somalia and more than 90,000 from Sudan.

SOMALIA: EC advises partners to evacuate staff
NAIROBI, 20 MARCH 2003 (IRIN) - The European Commission (EC) has advised international NGOs whose operations it funds in Somalia to evacuate their international staff.

The recommendation "to consider evacuation of their international staff from Somalia with immediate effect" was given to the NGOs on Thursday "as a precautionary measure until such time as the situation can be assessed as normal".

According to an EC advisory note, received by IRIN, it said that in view of the military action against Iraq, the EC delegation was urging its partners "at the very least to reduce their international staff inside Somalia to the absolute minimum".

International NGO sources told IRIN there was concern that the US government's military action in Iraq "may create adverse conditions in Somalia", a mainly Muslim country.

Presidential contender urges support for Somaliland poll
HARGEYSA, 20 Mar 2003 (IRIN) - As campaigning kicked off for Somaliland's first multiparty presidential elections, leading opposition contender Ahmed Muhammad Silaanyo said the international community should support the self-declared republic's fledgling democratic process.

"What Somaliland is doing is an experiment which is, yes, nebulous and new, but worthwhile and which I believe the international community should help with," he told IRIN on Thursday.

"The international community is now spending so much money on Eldoret [Somali peace talks, now moved to Nairobi] and what is going on there?," he said. "If the international community could
give a fraction of those resources to help the election system in Somaliland, that would be worthwhile, and I am sure the world would be very proud of what we are doing."

Silaanyo is one of two opposition candidates running against incumbent president Dahir Rayale Kahin in polls scheduled for 14 April.


Wednesday, March 19, 2003

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Military leaders to meet in Djibouti
ADDIS ABABA, 19 Mar 2003 (IRIN) - Military leaders from Ethiopia and Eritrea were due to meet in Djibouti on Wednesday as the war of words over border demarcation intensifies.

The talks, part of the regular Military Coordination Commission (MCC) meetings held under UN auspices, come amid growing tension between the two sides with border demarcation just over three months away.

Senior sources close to the peace process said the MCC meetings are vital in ensuring the momentum of the process. But, they added, they expected little headway to be made at the day-long talks in Djibouti given the current frosty relations.

SOMALIA: Ceasefire again violated as fighting resumes in Mogadishu
NAIROBI, 19 Mar 2003 (IRIN) - Heavy fighting has again broken out in the Medina district of Mogadishu, according to sources in the Somali capital.

The fighting pits militias loyal to faction leader Muse Sudi Yalahow against those led by his former right-hand man, Umar Mahmud Muhammad Finish. The clashes, which began on Tuesday, continued on Wednesday. At least 10 people have been killed and scores wounded, Medina resident Mahmud Abdi told IRIN.
Deadline passes; U.S. raids Baghdad (BREAKING NEWS)
Anti-aircraft fire in south of capital; Bush addresses nation
BAGHDAD, 20 MARCH 2003-- President Bush told the nation Wednesday night that the “opening stages” of Operation Iraqi Freedom to disarm Saddam Hussein were under way.
War on Iraq begins
BAGHDAD, 20 MARCH 2003--US President George W Bush has said he has launched a war on Baghdad, vowing to "disarm Iraq and to free its people". Mr Bush delivered a live television address shortly after explosions rocked the Iraqi capital, signalling the start of the US-led campaign to topple Saddam Hussein.

Tuesday, March 18, 2003

Factional fighting leaves 6 dead in Somalia
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AFP) - At least six people were killed and 11 wounded when two rival Somali groups clashed in the Medina suburb of southwest Mogadishu on Tuesday, witnesses and hospital sources said.
Three of the dead were civilians struck by stray bullets during the fighting, which was still going on Tuesday afternoon. Eleven of the wounded were taken to Medina hospital, according to a nurse in the facility.

The fighting pitted militiamen loyal to warlord Musa Sudi Yalahow against those supporting his rival Omar Mohamed Mohamud "Finish".

The two men have battled over the control of Medina for a year.
ETHIOPIA: Afar food crisis improving but "far from over"
ADDIS ABABA, 18 MARCH 2003 (IRIN) - The food crisis in Afar - one of Ethiopia’s hardest hit regions - is improving, according to the UN’s Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia (EUE). But it warned that the crisis was not over yet.

Afar region – where aid organisations first warned of the current drought emergency which has now affected 11 million people – is gradually emerging from the crisis.
SOMALIA: Talks to start on provisional government
NAIROBI, 18 MARCJ 2003 (IRIN) - The Kenyan chairman of the Somali peace talks, Bethwel Kiplagat, said on Tuesday the conference would soon start work on setting up a provisional, broad-based federal government for Somalia, but appealed for guidance on how this should be done.

"The process is very, very important," he told a special session of the conference. "The process by itself could actually jeopardise what we have achieved up to now, if it is the wrong process. I would like all of us to think much more creatively and very intensively about how best to avoid the mistakes that have been made in the past."
UDUB Reception in Washington DC
WASHINGTON, 18 MARCH 2003--The Somaliland community in the metropolitan Washington DC had a reception on March 15, 2003 to support UDUB. The reception was very well attended by the Washington DC communities, delegates from Baltimore, and Northern Virginia communities.

Monday, March 17, 2003

SOMALIA: Best cereal production for years in south
NAIROBI, 17 MARCH 2003 (IRIN) - A food security watchdog says southern Somalia has recorded the best cereal production in years, due to good seasonal rains.

In its latest report, the Food Security Assessment Unit (FSAU) - a joint project of the EC and FAO - said "very good rainfall with high intensity and frequency" in the region had led to the "best ever recorded" cereal production in the post-war era.

It noted that cereal production following the deyr rains (October-December) had registered almost an 80 percent increase on the 1995-2001 period.
Kuwait, Somalia for boosting bilateral relations
KUWAIT, 17 MARCH 2003--Kuwait's Amir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah yesterday in Kuwait discussed with President Abdul Qasem Salat Hassan bilateral relations between the two states and means of strengthening them and enhancing areas of cooperation between the peoples of Kuwait and Somalia.

Somaliland reiterates it will not join peace talks
NAIROBI,17 MARCH 2003 (IRIN)-- The authorities in the self-declared republic of Somaliland have reiterated they will not take part in the ongoing Somali reconciliation talks in Kenya.

According to a statement issued on Sunday by the region's information minister, Abdullahi Duale, Somaliland was not a party to the Somali conflict.

"There are no Somaliland military forces operating on Somali territory," the statement said, adding that Somaliland had "refrained from interfering in Somalia's internal affairs despite numerous provocations".

The minister was reacting to media reports that the Kenyan chairman of the talks, Bethwel Kiplagat, was awaiting an invitation to Somaliland to discuss the peace process. Some Somali leaders attending the peace talks in Kenya have, in the past, proposed that extra delegates be allocated to represent Somaliland and have repeatedly called for the region to be brought into the process.

Duale's statement said that the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which is mediating the talks, was aware of Somaliland's stand on the issue
Somaliland reiterates it will not join peace talks
NAIROBI,17 MARCH 2003 (IRIN)-- The authorities in the self-declared republic of Somaliland have reiterated they will not take part in the ongoing Somali reconciliation talks in Kenya.

According to a statement issued on Sunday by the region's information minister, Abdullahi Duale, Somaliland was not a party to the Somali conflict.

"There are no Somaliland military forces operating on Somali territory," the statement said, adding that Somaliland had "refrained from interfering in Somalia's internal affairs despite numerous provocations".

The minister was reacting to media reports that the Kenyan chairman of the talks, Bethwel Kiplagat, was awaiting an invitation to Somaliland to discuss the peace process. Some Somali leaders attending the peace talks in Kenya have, in the past, proposed that extra delegates be allocated to represent Somaliland and have repeatedly called for the region to be brought into the process.

Duale's statement said that the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which is mediating the talks, was aware of Somaliland's stand on the issue
IRAQI WAR COUNTDOWN: Bush orders Saddam to quit
LONDON, 16 MARCH 2003(BBC)--US President George W Bush has given Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave Iraq or face war.
In a televised address to the nation, Mr Bush said it was time for "decades of deceit and cruelty" to end in Iraq.

"Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours," Mr Bush said shortly after 0100 GMT.



Sunday, March 16, 2003

Weathermen Warn of Looming Drought
NAIROBI, 17 MARCH 2003--The Greater Horn of Africa sub-region has been warned to brace for drought during the March to May long rains season.

Findings by the Eleventh Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum painted a grim picture of the region as the drought is coming at a time when rain stress is still being felt in most parts of the sub-region.

In East Africa, March to May is an important agricultural production period.

The Greater Horn of Africa sub-region comprises Kenya, Ethiopia, the Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda.

Drought Monitoring Centre-Nairobi (DMCN) Project Co-ordinator, Prof Laban Ogallo, challenged governments in the sub-region to take measures to safeguard their populations against adverse effects of the drought.

Ogallo, a climate scientist, made the announcement at the conclusion of a four-day Greater Horn of African Climate Outlook Forum held in Entebbe, Uganda, which was called to formulate consensus guidance for the March to May rainfall season.