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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN Weekly Round-up 16
16 - 22 December 2000



CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: Government forces clash with faction militia
SOMALIA: Prime Minister in Rome
SOMALIA: General's killers caught
ETHIOPIA: Opposition criticises peace agreement
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Accusations flare
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: POW repatriations start
SUDAN: Two more lawyers arrested
SUDAN: SPLA leader to visit Britain

SOMALIA: Government forces clash with faction militia

Interim government forces have for the first time clashed with opposition
militia. The attempt to confront militia loyal to faction leader Muse Sudi
Yalahow failed, and the government forces returned to Mogadishu. 
Government forces, numbering about 400, initially took the town of Balad,
Yalahow's stronghold 40 km south of Mogadishu, at dawn on Tuesday, but
were pushed back the same day, a BBC report said. At least eight
militiamen were wounded in a battle which was mainly fought around
Isgoyska village, about five kilometres north of Balad. Sources in
Mogadishu told IRIN that the aim of the government had been to intercept a
consignment of weapons bound for faction leader Muse Sudi Yalahow. The
weapons were reported to be coming in trucks from Ethiopia, said local
Mogadishu newspapers. Somali political sources told IRIN that the
government attempt was "disastrous" and might serve to embolden other
faction leaders into attempting to test the government militarily.

Defence Minister Abdullahi Boqor Muse 'King Kong', has blamed other
generals in the government for the fighting. "There was no-one in the
government, including the president and myself, who was aware of this," he
told IRIN. "The two generals involved have been suspended from their
duties until an investigation into the matter is completed," he added. The
two generals blamed are Muhammad Nur Galal, who was appointed by the
interim president to start demobilisation and militia training, and his
deputy, Ahmed Jilow Adow. A government source told IRIN that "there have
always been differences" between 'King Kong' and the two generals. "This
matter has only brought it to the surface," the source said, adding that
the differences mainly concerned the structure of the security forces and
how they were to be organised. Galal had said, in his own defence, that
the defence minister was aware of the plan, a government source told IRIN.
The attack on Yalahow's militia and the political fallout had angered
interim President Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, who was now planning "major
changes to his security team", said the source. 

SOMALIA: Prime Minister in Rome

Somali Prime Minister Ali Khalif Galayr arrived in the Italian capital,
Rome, on Sunday, accompanied by a delegation of ministers and businessmen.
Galayr and his delegation would meet Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato
on Monday, a BBC report said. The prime minister is accompanied by the
ministers of foreign affairs, interior, finance and reconstruction. On
Tuesday the delegation was expected to meet the foreign affairs
sub-committees of both houses of the Italian parliament, the BBC said. 

Meanwhile, two representatives of the Italian government arrived in
Mogadishu on Saturday. The delegation comprised Dr Alessandro Campo, an
expert in legal and judicial matters, and Dr Michel Del Bouno, a senior
economic policy specialist, according to information made available to
IRIN by the Italian government. Campo is expected to discuss with
government officials issues related to law and order and the judiciary.
Del Bouno, formerly of the World Bank, will hold talks on matters relating
to the restoration of institutions, economic management and governance.
The mission is expected to be the first of a series dealing with the
definition of Italy's support for national and regional governance in
Somalia, according to the official source. 
 
SOMALIA: General's killers caught

The men who allegedly assassinated General Yusuf Talan, a prominent
supporter of the new government, have been arrested with the assistance of
the international police force, Interpol. The General was assassinated in
Mogadishu in October. Sources in the president's office confirmed the
arrests to IRIN and said the men were being held in "a friendly foreign
country".  Another government source told IRIN that the men were being
held in Zimbabwe.

ETHIOPIA: Opposition criticises peace agreement

The Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP) has said that the peace agreement
signed between Ethiopia and Eritrea will damage Ethiopia's interests. In a
statement released to the Ethiopian media on 12 December, the EDP
opposition party said if negotiations were going to be based on the 1964
Cairo Declaration and the arguments between Ethiopia and Italy (of 1900,
1902 and 1908), then the chances to "regain our control over a sea outlet
would be gone forever". The party chairman, Dr Admasu Gebeyehu, told
journalists that his party held Prime Minister Meles Zenawi responsible
for the loss of the seaport and the secession of Eritrea. 

Diplomatic sources in Addis Ababa told IRIN that criticism of the
agreement "reflected a certain opinion on the ground", particularly on the
part of the hardline Amhara groups which vehemently opposed Eritrean
secession from 1991. Such groups were vocal in their opposition to Meles
until conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea erupted in 1998, when they
threw their political and financial weight behind the government, the
source said. 

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Accusations flare

Both Ethiopia and Eritrea propaganda reverted to accusations this week,
only a week after the signing of the agreement in Algiers.  Ethiopian
radio said on Tuesday that if the Eritrean government failed to "stop its
atrocities and ill-treatment" of Ethiopians, the Ethiopian government
would consider the Algerian agreement violated. Eritrean radio said on
Monday that Ethiopian "officials" did not want the restoration of
relations between the two sides, and were not committed to peace. 
Propaganda had been a "feature of the conflict, including during peaceful
periods", diplomatic sources told IRIN. 

Meanwhile, President Isayas Afewerki has said the Ethiopian government
should normalise relations with Eritrea for the sake of its people. In an
interview broadcast on Eritrean radio, Isayas said it was "improper and
irresponsible for the weyane [Tigrayan-led] government to say that it was
impossible to have permanent relations with Eritrea". He said a government
could not erect a permanent barrier between two peoples and urged
Ethiopians and Eritreans to "ignore what the weyane is saying and see
beyond it". Although a comprehensive peace agreement had been signed, its
guarantees depended mainly on the experience of people during the dispute,
said Isayas. He remarked that the "experience the international community
had gained from the dispute was also not small", said the official
broadcast, monitored by the BBC on Wednesday. Isayas also said if peace
prevailed, the main programme of the Eritrean government would be
demobilisation of the army. 

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: POW repatriations start

The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry said 110 Eritrean prisoners of war (POW)
would be sent home on Friday. In a reciprocal exchange, 80 POWs would
arrive in Addis Ababa from Eritrea on the same day, said the official
Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) on 21 December. The repatriation of POWs would
be carried out on a voluntary basis under the terms of the 12 December
peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea, said ENA. 

A press release issued by the Eritrean foreign ministry on 20 December
said Eritrea would begin repatriating Ethiopian POWs on Friday under the
auspices of the ICRC. It said the peace agreement provided for the two
parties to "release and repatriate, without delay, all prisoners of war".
It said Eritrea had unilaterally released and repatriated 71 Ethiopian
POWs during the early phase of the conflict. The voluntary nature of
repatriation was vital, humanitarian sources told IRIN. Both countries
used POWs to publicly broadcast personal stories of defeat, desertion, and
forced conscription, said the source. 

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: World Bank loan under scrutiny

The World Bank has approved two loans for Ethiopia, totalling US $400
million - not $800 million as widely reported. Richard Uku, the World
Bank's head of external affairs for Africa, told Voice of America that
only $400 million had been approved, but two more loans had been proposed.
The proposed projects are a $50 million addition to an existing fertiliser
project, and a $250 million balance of payments support project. These had
yet to go before the World Bank board, Uku said. He clarified that the
$400 million loan granted consisted of a $230 million credit to be used
for emergency recovery from the war - which included rehabilitation
projects, HIV/AIDS programmes, support for demining and rebuilding of
destroyed infrastructure - and $170 million for demobilisation and
reintegration of soldiers. The World Bank also approved a credit of $90
million for Eritrea for postwar reconstruction and recovery. 

SUDAN: Two more lawyers arrested

Two more Sudanese lawyers have been detained in connection with the arrest
of seven leading opposition politicians in a meeting with a US diplomat
earlier this month. The opposition National Alliance for the Restoration
of Democracy (NARD) said Sa'ati Muhammad al-Hajj and Hadi Ahmad Uthman,
both members of NARD, had been arrested last week, AFP said. Hajj was
reportedly arrested from his office Sunday morning, while Uthman had been
arrested three days earlier, sources told AFP. No official reason has been
given for their arrest. The arrests bring to four the number of opposition
lawyers detained since 6 December when security forces broke up the
meeting with the diplomat, who was later expelled. 

SUDAN: SPLA leader to visit Britain

The leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), John
Garang, has been invited to visit Britain by the British government. The
official Sudanese News Agency, SUNA, said the British government had
notified the Sudan government that the visit was part of gathering
viewpoints on achieving peace in Sudan. The visit, which was originally
set for December, had been postponed and was expected to be made next
month, said SUNA on 19 December. 

SUDAN-UGANDA: Sudan accuses Uganda of arming rebels

Sudan on Tuesday accused Uganda of sending arms to the rebel Sudan
People`s SPLA and of furthering US policy by helping to thwart Sudan's bid
for a seat on the UN Security Council in October. AFP on Tuesday quoted
Sudanese External Affairs Minister Mustafa Uthman Isma'il as saying during
a news conference that Uganda had allowed NGOs "unregistered with Sudan or
with the UN to move arms and ammunition" from Uganda to the SPLA in
southern Sudan. He also accused the Ugandan government of "helping the
SPLA to recruit children from Sudanese refugee camps in Uganda", according
to AFP. 

Isma'il went on to say that "Uganda implements US strategy in the region",
which, he said, was "one of the reasons for the deterioration of
relations" between Sudan and Uganda. He said he would neverthless attend a
meeting in Libya next January with his Libyan and Ugandan counterparts to
discuss the prospects for normalising Sudanese-Ugandan ties under an
initiative sponsored by the Carter Centre in the US. However, he pointed
out that the Ugandan government had "failed to heed a call by the Ugandan
parliament to stop assisting the SPLA". "The bilateral relations will
improve only if the Ugandan government positively responds to this call," 
the agency quoted Isma'il as saying. 

Nairobi, 22 December 2000

 
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