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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN Weekly Round-up 19
6 - 12 January 2001


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: Security Council gives go-ahead to mission
SOMALIA: Prime Minister accuses Ethiopia of interference
ETHIOPIA: Government denies interfering in Somalia
ETHIOPIA: Position on Somalia given to Security Council
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: US fails to lift arms embargo
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: UNMEE deploys 3,279 peacekeepers
ERITREA: Ethiopian deployment preventing solution
SUDAN: 'Extreme concern' at potential food crisis
SUDAN: UN complains of abductions in the south
SUDAN: Bishop issues appeal following bombings
SUDAN: Egypt calls for peace conference
SUDAN: Amnesty concern over detainees

SOMALIA: Security Council gives go-ahead to mission

The United Nations Security Council endorsed plans to develop a
peace-building mission for Somalia. A statement issued by the President of
the Security Council said Secretary-General Kofi Annan had been invited to
"prepare a proposal for a peace-building mission for Somalia... with
specific attention to the security situation in the country, outline
possible ways to advance the peace process further." It said the
humanitarian and security situations remained fragile in several parts of
Somalia, including Mogadishu. It also called on the new Transitional
National Government (TNG) to continue "in a spirit of constructive
dialogue the process of engaging all groups in the country, including the
northeastern and northwestern areas, with the view of preparing for the
installation of permanent governance arrangements through the democratic
process".

In recommending the mission, the Security Council said it "strongly
condemns attacks by armed groups on civilians and humanitarian personnel,
and calls upon all Somalis to respect fully the security and safety of
personnel of the United Nations and its specialised agencies, the
International Committee (ICRC) of the Red Cross and of non-governmental
organisations, and to guarantee their complete freedom of movement and
safe access throughout Somalia". 

The Council also called on all States to fully implement and enforce the
arms embargo imposed on Somalia on 23 January 1992. "The Security Council
insists that all states should refrain from any military intervention in
the internal situation in Somalia and that the territory of Somalia should
not be used to undermine the stability in the subregion."

In a press conference in New York, UN Special Representative to Somalia,
David Stephen, told journalists that the task was both to pursue peace and
to reconstruct the country. "Rehabilitation, disarmament, demobilisation
and reintegration are very high on the agenda," he said. He said he
envisaged the proposed UN presence being "modest and practical" and that
UN staff currently based in Nairobi would gradually return to Somalia.

SOMALIA: Prime minister accuses Ethiopia of interference

Somali Prime Minister Ali Khalif Galayr has accused neighbouring Ethiopia
of arming factions opposed to the interim government. Speaking on Djibouti
radio and television, Galayr said Ethiopian arms destined for faction
leaders opposed to his government had recently reached the Somali capital,
Mogadishu.

The TNG had grown weary of keeping a low profile on Ethiopia's activities
in Somalia, Galayr said. "Ethiopia is obstinately and flagrantly
continuing its interference in Somalia and is seeking to revive the civil
war," AFP quoted him as saying. Galayr also alleged that an attempt to
kidnap Somalia's parliamentary Speaker, Abdallah Derow Isak, on 6 January
had been carried out by a team armed and supported by Ethiopia. Galayr
called on neighbouring countries, including Djibouti, to mediate to find a
solution. The prime minister was in Djibouti to meet President Ismail Omar
Guelleh and diplomats. (See separate IRIN story of 9 January headlined
"SOMALIA-ETHIOPIA: PM Ali Khalif Galayr accuses Ethiopia of interference") 

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) told IRIN on
Wednesday that the movement had witnessed Ethiopian troops and weapons
passing into Somalia. Lencho Bati said in a telephone interview from the
US that the OLF had seen "a lot of Ethiopian forces pass to Somalia and
witnessed arms and armoured vehicles going into the country to Gedo
[southern Somalia] through Dolo [on the Ethiopian-Somali border]". Lencho
alleged that arms were carried in trucks to the Rahanweyn Resistance Army
(RRA) in southern Somalia, and that some weapons had also been sent by
ship to the autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia. "We have
elements in Baidoa [southern Somalia] and communications between Baidoa
and us are very efficient," the spokesman said. Somali elements,
particularly Mogadishu-based faction leader Husayn Aydid, have been
accused by the Ethiopian government of assisting the OLF. 

ETHIOPIA: Government denies interfering in Somalia

The Ethiopian government has strenuously denied backing factions in
Somalia. Allegations that Ethiopian troops were in Somalia, and that the
government was arming opposing factions, were "a pack of lies", according
to an official Ethiopian embassy statement received by IRIN on Tuesday. 
"Allegations that the Ethiopian government is arming and hosting
opposition leaders and back-pedalling on gestures of recognition for the
new Somali government are completely unfounded and a pack of lies... 
Ethiopia has never invaded Somalia, nor are its troops in control of any
Somali territory," it said. "Ethiopia's overriding concern has been to
search for durable peace and stability in Somalia, and [it] has only taken
appropriate measures against some terrorist groups which, in the past,
made incursions into Ethiopia, with sinister motives," the statement
added. 

The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also rejected Galayr's
allegations. The director of the ministry [no name given] told Ethiopian
radio that the criticism was an attempt to shore up the TNG's dubious
authority. He called it a "calculated attempt to seek scapegoats", said a
report on Ethiopian radio, monitored by the BBC. The TNG was attempting to
mobilise international support as a substitute for domestic support, he
added. According to the official, Galayr's allegations were an attempt to
"get Ethiopia to shut its mouth" on matters affecting its security
interests.The ministry urged the TNG and those opposed to it "to move more
than halfway towards each other so that there could be mutual
accommodation". It warned that Ethiopia would "respond in the appropriate
and stern manner to any attempts... aimed at undermining Ethiopia's
security". 

ETHIOPIA: Position on Somalia given to Security Council

In a letter to the UN Security Council, Ethiopia said stability or
instability in neighbouring Somalia was uniquely important to Ethiopia. 
The situation in Somalia "concerns Ethiopia only second to the people of
the sisterly country itself", said a letter dated 8 January from Dr
Abdulmejid Hussein, permanent representative of Ethiopia to the UN. The
letter restated the position of the Ethiopian government on the recent
peace process, hosted by Djibouti.  It quoted Ethiopia's Foreign Minister
Seyoum Mesfin as saying that there was hope that "what has already been
achieved in Djibouti will be built upon and that the momentum for peace
and national reconciliation will be maintained". 

Such an opportunity would slip away "if all attention is focused on
seeking international legitimacy rather than internal national
reconciliation", warned the minister. He said it would be a "tragedy and a
recipe for further bloodshed" if there was no effort to "build on the
peace and stability that has already been achieved by some regions and
parts of Somalia". Pointing to the self-declared state of Somaliland,
northwestern Somalia, the minister was quoted in the letter as saying it
needed "great sensitivity and a sense of enormous responsibility...
Whatever has been achieved in Djibouti is going to be tested by how well
the peace and stability that some parts of Somalia have achieved, is
preserved."

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: US fails to lift arms embargo

The United States on Wednesday failed to get the Security Council to lift
the arms embargo against Eritrea and Ethiopia. UN spokesman Fred Eckhard
said in his briefing on Wednesday that "the vote has been postponed". 
According to the Associated Press (AP), the vote, scheduled for Wednesday,
did not take place because the US failed to get enough support "in closed
consultations" of the Council. 

The UN spokesman told journalists that the UN Secretary-General had
signalled his concern that "the job is not done as far as the achieving
[of] permanent peace", as envisaged in the Security Council resolution.
The peace agreement signed in Algiers on 12 December "silenced the guns",
but that alone did not mean peace, he said. 

US Deputy Ambassador James Cunningham told journalists that he would try
to bring the draft back to the Council "within a week or so", AP reported,
adding the US was surprised by "the level of opposition" to the proposal. 
Many countries had asked for more time to discuss the US proposal. "We
don't think there is any urgent need to lift the embargo," British
Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock told journalists.

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: UNMEE deploys 3,279 peacekeepers

The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has deployed
more than three quarters of its authorised strength of peacekeepers. An
UNMEE statement released on Thursday said that to date 71 countries had
contributed 3,433 military and 125 civilian personnel to the peacekeeping
mission, which was set up by a Security Council resolution on 15 September
2000. The 3,279 peacekeepers deployed in the mission area comprise of
contingents from Canada, Denmark, Italy, Jordan, the Netherlands and
Slovakia. 

Advance teams from Bangladesh and India are expected to arrive before the
end of the month, whose national contingents will be serving as de-miners,
construction engineers and force reserves. The central sector de-mining
company, from Slovakia, has been fully deployed, and the Dutch
contribution numbers just over 1,100. The battalion's logistics base in
Dek'emhare, Eritrea, "is in its final stage of preparations", said the
statement.  Preparations are also being made for a western sector
headquarters in Barentu, Eritrea, and in the eastern region at Assab,
Eritrea. 
 
ERITREA: Ethiopian deployment preventing solution

President Isayas Afewerki said Ethiopian deployment plans were proving
obstructive to implementing the recently signed peace agreement. Eritrean
radio said on Wednesday that the president had sent a letter to the UN
Secretary-General, protesting that the deployment plans presented by the
Ethiopian government "did not reflect the true positions held by Eritrea
and Ethiopia prior to the [Ethiopian] aggression". 

He accused the government of preventing the military coordination
committee from reaching agreement on the formation of the temporary
security zone, said the report, monitored by the BBC. Aferweki said in the
letter, according to the report, that "the cessation of hostilities
agreement does not allow the weyane [Ethiopian] regime to occupy areas
where it was not present prior to the conflict". He accused the Ethiopian
government of violating the cessation of hostilities agreement by
declaring recently that it would postpone withdrawal of its troops
"indefinitely" from Eritrean territory. The accusations followed a
complaint by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi that Eritrea was making
"preposterous" territorial claims at the military coordination meeting
held in Nairobi on 28 December 2000. 

SUDAN: 'Extreme concern' at potential food crisis

Large numbers of displaced people in the Upper Nile region in southern
Sudan were putting pressure on local populations whose food needs were not
secure, and fears were growing of a humanitarian crisis, UNICEF spokesman
Martin Dawes told IRIN on Wednesday. Humanitarian agencies have indicated
that food needs will increase in Sudan, and contingency preparations are
under way to address the approaching crisis. "We are extremely concerned," 
said Dawes.

Food needs will increase by about 20 percent in 2001, compared to the year
2000, according to the the World Food Programme. WFP press officer Lindsey
Davies said there was an urgent need for prompt action to avoid a
repetition of the scenes of 1998, when there was a major famine in the
Bahr al-Ghazal area in southern Sudan. "There is real cause for concern
over a looming crisis that will face more than 3.2 million people in Sudan
due to the combined effects of civil war and worsening drought, both in
the north and south of the country," Davies said.

Diplomatic sources told IRIN that military activity in southern Sudan,
especially in greater Bahr al-Ghazal, had come earlier than usual. Annual
cycles of fighting in Sudan tend to be dictated by seasonal weather
patterns. "It seems to be a strategic process to secure the oil fields," 
said one regional diplomat. There has been a recent increase in the number
of raids in Bahr al-Ghazal involving the pro-government militia, the
Popular Defence Forces (PDF), the source said. 

SUDAN: UN complains of abductions in the south

The PDF operating in southern Sudan have seized 122 women and children in
a mass abduction in the Bahr al-Ghazal area of Marial Bai. UNICEF
spokesman Martin Dawes told IRIN that his organisation had put forward its
concerns about recent abductions, which started last month, to the
government in Khartoum. "We have reports of abductions and raids, and hope
to put people into the field to investigate and record names of those
abducted," he told IRIN. But the present insecurity had prevented the
mobilisation of field staff, said Dawes. 

A Reuters report said the PDF had seized 122 women and children, killed 11
people and wounded two in the targeted area some 950 km southwest of the
capital, Khartoum. The Sudan government had previously vowed to combat the
practice of abductions in the south, said the report. Also involved were
Arab raiders of the Baqqarah tribe, known as the Murahilin. Murahilin
raiders reportedly stole 5,075 head of cattle from the Dinka tribe in the
Bahr al-Ghazal villages of Acuro, Ajok, Wunkir, Nyinameeth and Nyinaccor,
according to the information gleaned by UN officials.

SUDAN: Bishop issues appeal following bombings

A government plane bombed and destroyed the Frazer Cathedral at Lui,
Western Equatoria, southern Sudan, on 29 December 2000. A letter from the
bishop of the diocese of Lui, the Reverend Bullen Dolli, said that Lui had
been repeatedly bombed despite being "a civil population centre best known
for its religious and educational life". In a letter dated 2 January, made
available to IRIN, the bishop appealed to the international community to
"restrain the government of Sudan from committing atrocities". He said it
would be shameful "on humanity in general and the OAU, UN Security Council
in particular, to watch, hands folded" while the atrocities continued. The
letter appealed to the World Council of Churches and the All Africa
Conference of Churches to raise the profile of the situation in Sudan "and
vigorously advocate for a quick, just and peaceful resolution of the
longest war on the African continent". 

SUDAN: Egypt calls for peace conference

Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Musa said during a visit to Khartoum on
Tuesday that the time was right for a peace conference involving all
Sudanese factions. Before leaving Khartoum, he told journalists that Egypt
was "seriously working towards holding a meeting soon of inter-Sudanese
reconciliation, because the time is now more favourable than before", AFP
reported. But opposition representatives said President Umar al-Bashir had
dashed hopes of reconciliation by insisting on Monday that he would
continue to apply the war option in the south and to impose Islamic law
nationwide, the agency said. Egypt and Libya are sponsoring a joint peace
initiative for Sudan. This is in parallel with the mediation efforts of
the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which has
sponsored peace talks between the government and the southern-based Sudan
People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).

SUDAN: Amnesty concern over detainees

The human rights organisation Amnesty International (AI) has expressed
concern over eight opposition political activists and two lawyers
reportedly held without charge in solitary confinement for over a month.
In an urgent alert issued on Tuesday, AI said one of the detainees, Ghazi
Sulayman, a lawyer from the Sudanese Human Rights Group, had been
hospitalised twice since his arrest, and there was concern that he had
been tortured in custody. President Bashir had amended the National
Security Law on 10 December 2000, removing the right to challenge
detentions of less than 93 days through the courts, AI stated. Bashir had
also extended the state of emergency, declared in December 1999, until the
end of 2001, it added.

Nairobi, 12 January 2001


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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2000


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