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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN Weekly Round-up 18
30 December 2000 - 5 January 2001


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: Somaliland president urged to resign
SOMALIA: Baidoa cut off 
SUDAN: Bashir wins presidential election
SUDAN: OAU observers praise conduct of elections
SUDAN: Algerian president on official visit
SUDAN: State of emergency extended
ETHIOPIA: 13 people killed in train derailment
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Eritrea accused of rejecting troop redeployment plan
ERITREA: Military officials and UN mission members meet 

SOMALIA: Somaliland president urged to resign

A petition signed by 200 prominent personalities in Somaliland has urged
Muhammad Ibrahim Egal, the president of the self-declared republic of
Somaliland (northwestern Somalia), to resign. The petitioners accused Egal
of giving the impression that he intended to unite Somaliland with
Somalia, the BBC reported on Thursday. The petition was orchestrated by
"hardline" members of the former liberation movement, the Somali National
Movement (SNM), better known in Somaliland as "Calan Cas" or "red flag"
for their opposition to reunification with Somalia, political sources in
Somaliland told IRIN.

The signatories included the former vice-president and a founding member
of the SNM, Abdirahman Aw-Ali, and former Interior Minister Muse Bihi.
"These are former members of the administration, with very little
credibility," said the source. "Many people blame them for the fighting in
Hargeysa and Burao," he added. This is in reference to the clan fighting
which took place in Hargeysa, the capital of Somaliland, between 1994 and
1996 and in Burao, Somaliland's second city, between 1995 and 1996,
resulting in the deaths of 4,000 people and the destruction of the towns.
According to the BBC report, the petitioners also accused the Egal
government of "misadministration, corruption, and interference with
independence of the judiciary". 

This petition may actually help Egal get his term of office extended.
Egal's five-year term ends in 2001, and there is speculation in Somaliland
that Egal may ask for a three-year extension, a humanitarian source told
IRIN. According to the source, the government has already sent delegations
to the regions to solicit support for this initiative. "The public
identifies the SNM with war, and are unlikely to support its call," the
source said, adding that it "can only help Egal, who is seen as a man of
peace, get his extension". 

SOMALIA: Baidoa cut off

The town of Baidoa, 240 km southwest of Mogadishu, has been cut off from
the rest of Somalia since Monday. The BBC on Wednesday reported that the
Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA), which controls the town, had shut down
all telephone offices and impounded all radios. The RRA did not explain
its move, and it was believed it did not want information to get out
because of a reported split within its ranks, the BBC report said. Buses
and other vehicles had been unable to get into Baidoa, and no vehicles
were leaving, the report said.

Somali business sources told IRIN there had indeed been a split within the
RRA, having occurred after the RRA chairman, Colonel Hasan Muhammad Nur
Shatigadud, removed some militiamen from checkpoints and trade entry
points - where they had been collecting taxes - and replaced them with
others. The disgruntled militia and their commanders reportedly left for
their home areas. These RRA forces are said to have regrouped in two
locations - Qansahdheer in Bay Region, 90 km west of Baidoa, and Tayeglow,
in Bakool Region, 270 km north of Baidoa. The sources added that they
numbered between 500 to 900. So far there have been no reports of
fighting, but Baidoa town is said to be extremely tense.

SUDAN: Bashir wins presidential election

At a news conference broadcast live by Sudan state television and Omdurman
radio on 29 December, the chairman of the General Electoral Commission
(GEC), Abd al-Mun'im al-Zayn al-Nahhas, declared the incumbent president
and candidate of the National Congress party, Lt-Gen Umar Hasan Ahmad
al-Bashir, the winner of the presidential election.  Nahhas said Bashir
had received 86.5 percent of the vote, with his nearest rival, former
President Ja'far Muhammad Numayri, taking 9.6 percent of the vote. The GEC
chairman said about 8,153,372 people had participated in the polls through
50,000 voting centres. 

SUDAN: OAU observers praise conduct of elections

Meanwhile, the nine-member observer team from the Organisation of African
Unity (OAU), led by Ambassador Pascal Gayama, has praised the manner in
which the elections were conducted. In a statement released in the
Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on 29 December, and carried by the
Sudanese News Agency (SUNA), the team said that, "having observed the
elections in various parts of the country", it wished "to commend the GEC
for the arrangements that allowed the Sudanese people, including those
outside the country, to freely exercise their democratic rights". 

The team noted, however, that in a country of about 30 million people, "it
was inevitable that there would be some logistical challenges", which it
hoped "will be overcome in future elections". Noting that "some major
political parties had boycotted the elections", it said that nonetheless
"it was encouraging that the leaders from all sides expressed their
readiness and commitment to embark, after the elections, on a dialogue",
which would "hopefully bring about national reconciliation". To sum up,
the OAU team expressed the view "that the overall exercise was an
important step towards democratisation and that it was conducted in a
conducive atmosphere and in a satisfactory manner".

Asked to comment on the election results, the spokesman for the Sudan
People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in Nairobi, Samson Kwaje, told
IRIN: "We don't accept the results of the election." He said this was
because no elections had taken place "in the 42 percent of the country
under the control of the SPLM/A", and that throughout the rest of the
country "only 20 percent of the voters participated in the elections,
because supporters of the main opposition parties [such as the Ummah Party
and the Democratic Unionist Party] were told by their party leaders to
boycott them". Kwaje also said it was clear to the SPLM/A that the results
had been "heavily rigged in favour of Bashir". 

SUDAN: Algerian president on official visit

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika arrived in Khartoum for a
three-day official visit on Sunday, Sudan television reported. His visit
was scheduled to coincide with Sudan's independence day anniversary, on
Monday. He was met at the airport by President Umar al-Bashir, ministers
and other senior government officials.  The television showed Bouteflika
subsequently addressing journalists, whom he told: "Through you I thank
the fraternal Sudanese people and the confidence they have in my brother
Umar al-Bashir as his presidential tenure was renewed." He recalled
Bashir's visit to Algeria and meeting him elsewhere "on many occasions",
during which "we analysed our issues from a new perspective and reached
the point of recognising the need to strengthen ties in all fields". "I
think our bilateral positions are in agreement on Arab and African
issues," he said.

During the celebrations marking Sudan's 45th independence anniversary on
Monday, which he attended together with Bashir, Bouteflika said in a
speech delivered to mark the occasion that he was willing to help Sudan
bring about national reconciliation. He said he would "join hands with
President Bashir for solving all issues that need contribution and
coordination with efforts exerted by other parties for achieving national
reconciliation in Sudan", AFP reported on Monday. He called on all the
Sudanese opposition groupings and the government "to sit down for
negotiations, putting aside their differences for the sake of the
interests of the country and the people", according to the report.

SUDAN: State of emergency extended

President Bashir has extended the state of emergency. SUNA reported on
Wednesday that he had issued "a republican decree" renewing the state of
emergency for another year. The state of emergency was declared in
December 1999 after Bashir fell out with his erstwhile ally, the former
speaker of parliament, Hasan al-Turabi. 

Meanwhile, the government of Oman has lifted the ban on Sudanese
livestock. SUNA reported that the Sudanese minister of animal resources,
Abdallah Sid Ahmad, had received a message from his Omani counterpart,
Ahmad bin Khalfan al-Rawahi, informing him of the lifting of the ban. Oman
imposed the ban after an outbreak of Rift Valley fever in Saudi Arabia and
Yemen late last year. 

ETHIOPIA: 13 people killed in train derailment

Thirteen people died and 10 others were injured when the train they were
travelling on was derailed on 28 December. Ethiopian radio, monitored by
the BBC, reported that the goods train, which was proceeding from Dire
Dawa to Addis Ababa, was derailed and overturned near Mieso town in
eastern Ethiopia. The victims were reported to be people travelling on the
train illegally.

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Eritrea accused of rejecting troop redeployment plan

Eritrea has refused to accept the redeployment plan proposed at the recent
meeting in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, of the Military Coordination
Commission (MCC)of the United Nations Mission Ethiopia and Eritrea
(UNMEE). The pro-Ethiopian government Walta Information Centre reported
that Maj-Gen Alemshet Degife, who represented Ethiopia at the meeting, had
accused Eritrea of refusing to sign the redeployment plan, "which was
based on the provisions of the cessation of hostilities agreement" signed
in Algiers on 18 June 2000. According to the report, Eritrea's refusal was
"a manifestation of its government's usual tactic to frustrate initiatives
for peace". Eritrea justified its objection by claiming that Badme
(western front), Zela Ambesa (central front), and Badda (eastern front)
had never been administered by Ethiopia prior to May 1998, said the
report.

In the second meeting of the MCC of UNMEE, which was held in Nairobi on 28
December, the two parties failed to reach agreement on the repositioning
of troops. The matter was referred to the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General of UNMEE, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, a UNMEE statement
said. 

ERITREA: Military officials and UN mission members meet

A meeting opened in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, on Thursday between
members of the UNMEE and Eritrean military officials. According to a UN
statement issued on Thursday, there was "an initial exchange of views
regarding the nature of the national militia and police in the 25-km-wide
temporary security zone, which will be created between repositioned
Ethiopian forces and monitored by the UN". The participants discussed the
"functions, structure and sphere of duties of the militia", as well as
"the weapons militia members would be allowed to bear and what form of
identification they would be required to carry", the statement said. It
noted that under the 18 June agreement on the cessation of hostilities
between Ethiopia and Eritrea, "once Ethiopian redeployment has been
verified the peacekeeping mission, Eritrean civilian administration,
'including police and local militia', was to be restored 'to prepare for
he return of the population'". 

Nairobi, 5 January 2001


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