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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 25
17 - 23 February 2001


CONTENTS:

SUDAN: Former Speaker Turabi arrested
SUDAN: President forms new government
SUDAN: Detained lawyers released without charge
SOMALIA: Faction leader joins interim government
SOMALIA: New airline launched
SOMALIA: Parliament session opened
SOMALIA: Women sentenced to death by stoning
ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: ICRC successfully repatriates over 5,000
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Ethiopian redeployment "ahead of schedule" 
ETHIOPIA: Food needs "reduced" 
ETHIOPIA: IOM launches study on trafficking in Ethiopian women

SUDAN: Former Speaker Turabi arrested

Hasan Abdullah al-Turabi, former Sudanese parliamentary Speaker and
erstwhile ally of President Umar al-Bashir, was arrested on Wednesday, a
senior Sudanese official confirmed to IRIN on Thursday. The arrest follows
the signing on 18 February of a "memorandum of understanding" between
Turabi and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), led by John Garang,
which has been fighting Sudan's leaders for the past 17 years.

The official told IRIN that Turabi "has been arrested under the National
Security Act, for endangering the country's national security". He added
that many of Turabi's aides had also been arrested and detentions "are
still going on". Security forces reportedly detained at least 20 members
of Turabi's Popular National Congress (PNC) party in different parts of
the country, the Associated Press (AP) quoted a retired army general,
Muhammed al-Amin Khalifah, as saying. Khalifah, who said he was in hiding,
told AP that Turabi had been transferred to the maximum security Kober
prison, east of Khartoum. Quoting the London-based 'Al-Hayat' newspaper,
AP on Friday reported that Turabi had subsequently been moved from Kober
to an "unknown destination". AP also said, quoting the Qatar-based
satellite television Al-Jazeera, that as many as 150 of Turabi's
supporters had been detained. No formal charges against Turabi and his
aides have been announced, but the men are expected to be brought to court
soon, Khalifah told IRIN.

Armed police were deployed around the headquarters of the PNC, as well as
the offices of the pro-Turabi 'Ra'y al-Sha'b' newspaper, which did not
publish on Thursday, AP reported.

Turabi, the former head of the militant National Islamic Front (NIF), was
a close ally of President Bashir and is credited with being the mastermind
of the 1989 military coup that brought Bashir to power. The two men had a
falling out in December 1999 when Bashir dismissed Turabi as parliamentary
Speaker. Eight months later Turabi set up the PNC and has since become one
of the government's harshest critics.

Meanwhile, Sudanese radio, monitored by the BBC, reported that Sudanese
Information Minister Ghazi Salah al-Din al-Atabani had described the
agreement between the SPLA and Turabi "as a declaration of a political
alliance to fight the government, an alliance which does not use legalized
methods". The report quoted the minister as saying said that any group
dealing with the SPLA "to set up a strategic alliance" would be treated in
the same manner as Turabi's movement. (For further details see IRIN focus
on Turabi's arrest - "A relationship gone sour" of 22 February) 

SUDAN: President forms new government

President Umar al-Bashir has formed a new government. Sudanese state
television on Thursday reported that 16 members of the of the preceding
25-strong administration would stay on to join the new 31-member new
government. Eight members of the outgoing administration retain their
posts, including the key portfolios of defence, foreign affairs and
justice, according to an AFP report on Friday. Former Presidential Affairs
Minister Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Husayn is now interior minister. The new
cabinet also includes six ministers from southern Sudan.

Later on Friday, AP gave the total number of ministers as 29, and said
that, of these, 23 were members of the ruling National Congress party. The
ministries of industry, health and international cooperation were allotted
to members of a breakaway faction of the Democratic Unionist Party, while
a member of the Muslim Brotherhood was given the religious affairs
portfolio. Members of the southern United Democratic Salvation Front
retained the portfolios of animal resources and aviation, which it held
under the previous government. Earlier this week the Ummah Party, led by
al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, declined to participate in the new government,
according to the report. 

SUDAN: Detained lawyers released without charge

The authorities have released without charge two human rights lawyers who
were arrested in December for speaking out against the arrest of seven
opposition politicians. Ghazi Sulayman and Ali Mahmud Hasanayn were
released on 17 February, under a presidential decree, local newspapers
said. The two human rights lawyers protested against the arrest of
opposition politicians detained during a meeting attended by a US
political officer. The US official was expelled, while the seven
opposition politicians are expected to stand trial on charges of spying
and undermining the constitution.

The detention of the two lawyers and the opposition politicians provoked
protest letters to the government from international human rights
organisations like the US-based Human Rights Watch, which demanded they be
fairly tried or set free. 

SOMALIA: Faction leader joins interim government

One of the main Mogadishu-based faction leaders, Muhammad Qanyare Afrah,
of the United Somali Congress (USC), has pledged to join the interim
government.  Qanyare, who controls parts of south Mogadishu, signed an
agreement with the Transitional National Government (TNG) on 16 February,
Abdirahman Dinari, the TNG director of information, told IRIN.

The agreement will give the USC some, as yet unspecified, posts in the
government, a source involved in the talks between the TNG and the USC
told IRIN. "Qanyare himself will most likely be given a cabinet post," the
source added. Under the agreement, Qanyare is required to give his full
support to the TNG. Talks to bring Qanyare into the new government had
been going on for some time, the source said. The TNG denied that tens of
thousands of dollars had been paid to persuade the faction leader to
defect from the opposition, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said. "No money has
been given or promised," Dinari told IRIN.

A lunch was held on 25 February at the Shamo Hotel, south Mogadishu, to
welcome Muhammad Qanyare. It was attended by interim President Abdiqassim
Salad Hassan, Prime Minister Ali Khalif Galayr, and the Speaker of
parliament, Abdullah Derow Isaq. Former faction leaders Ali Mahdi Muhammad
and Husayn Haji Bod also attended. Ali Mahdi joined peace talks hosted by
Djibouti in August, and Bod threw his support behind the TNG early in
December last year. Faction leaders Husayn Muhammad Aydid, Usman Ali Ato
and Muse Sudi Yalahow - all of whom control parts of south and southwest
Mogadishu -remain opposed to the TNG.

SOMALIA: New airline launched

A group of Somali businessmen has launched a new airline. The airline,
known as Air Somalia, is the first private airline owned entirely by
Somalis. Mukhtar Hamid Hasan, the Mogadishu station manager of the
airline, told IRIN that the group of businessmen who owned the airline
represented various clans. "It is a true Somali venture," Mukhtar said. 
Although charter flights have operated from Balidogle airport, 90 km south
of Mogadishu, since the collapse of the government in 1991, Air Somalia is
the first airline to be headquartered there.

To become full partners in the venture, 15 businessmen paid US $50,000
each, giving the start-up US $750,000 to purchase its aircraft, company
chairman Ali Farah Abdullah told AP. The airline has a 165-seat Russian
built Tupolev-154 jet - to be used for international flights - and two
Antonovs, each capable of carrying about 40 passengers, for domestic
flights.

The airline started international flights on 14 February, flying the
Mogadishu-Djibouti-United Arab Emirates route on a twice weekly basis,
Mukhtar told IRIN. Local flights were due to start on Wednesday, and will
involve 10 towns throughout Somalia. These will be Hargeysa, Burao and
Borama in the self-declared state of Somaliland, northwestern Somalia;
Bosaso, Garowe and Galkayo in the self-declared autonomous region of
Puntland, northeastern Somalia; and Kismaayo, Baidoa, Beletwein and
Bardhere in southern and central Somalia.

Mukhatar said the airline was "in business, not in politics... This will
further the reconciliation process". He appealed to international
organizations, particularly the UN, to make use of the airline, promising
cheaper rates and more efficiency with destinations. "We will be able to
take them [international organisations] from Ras Kamboni in the south to
Ras Asser in the north," he said. All International Civil Aviation
Organisation rules and regulations would be complied with, Mukhtar said.

SOMALIA: Parliament session opened

Interim President Abdiqassim Salad Hassan officially opened the second
session of the Transitional National Assembly (TNA) on 17 February, in
Mogadishu, Director of Information Abdirahman Dinari told IRIN. The
session was also attended by the cabinet, led by Prime Minister Ali Khalif
Galayr. 

Hassan told the parliamentarians that his government would accelerate the
reconciliation process. He also told parliament that a new national force
would be formed. He promised his government would fight to halt the
printing of fake currency, and said there had already been contact with
"friendly" countries to stop this, Dinari quoted him as saying.

Members of the press in Mogadishu have been told by the TNG's
parliamentary secretary that they will not be allowed to attend
parliamentary proceedings. Muhammad Shil, news editor for a local radio
station, confirmed to IRIN that new rules had been established by the TNG.
According to a statement handed out to journalists, members of the press
will be allowed to take pictures at the opening and closing only. They
will then be officially briefed on the proceedings by a parliamentary
spokesperson.

SOMALIA: Women sentenced to death by stoning

Two women have been sentenced to death by an Islamic court in Bosaso, the
commercial capital of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland,
local sources told IRIN.  They were taken to Bosaso Islamic court on
Monday, where they said they were living together as "man and wife". The
court subsequently sentenced them to death by stoning for "unnatural
behaviour". The court session was a closed one, and reporters and the
public were not allowed in. The sentencing has been reported in the local
and international press. 

Local sources said the arrangement between the two women became an issue
when one of them went to the Puntland authorities to complain that her
partner had "mistreated" her by refusing to pay for medical treatment. The
women, Ismahan Awil, 21, and Farhia (no last name available), 19, are
being held in detention to await their fate in Bosaso, humanitarian
sources told IRIN on Thursday. One of the two returned from north America
two months ago and started living with the other one month ago, in the
Rahid district of Bosaso. 

UN sources told IRIN that the sentence and punishment had not been
officially confirmed, but that the appropriate departments were taking
action. The source said that the UN was opposed to the death sentence "as
a matter of principle", and that stoning to death was "inhuman treatment".

ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: ICRC successfully repatriates over 5,000

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said it has
assisted in the repatriation of some 570 people of Ethiopian origin from
Eritrea.  Under ICRC auspices, the operation took place on 9 February
between the Ethiopian-Eritrean border towns of Adi Kwala and Rama at a
crossing point on the Mereb river. Most of the returnees were families
from the Eritrean capital, Asmara, said an ICRC bulletin on 15 February.
According to the ICRC, the families were transferred to the border after
expressing their wish to return to Ethiopia. They were transferred under
the supervision of ICRC delegates based in Eritrea and with the help of
the Eritrean Red Cross. A team of ICRC delegates based in Ethiopia met the
families on the other side, and, with the aid of the Ethiopian Red Cross,
provided them with assistance before handing them over to the authorities.

The ICRC said a similar operation for 873 persons had taken place on 3
February 2001. Since early December last year, four other operations had
been carried out, in which more than 5,110 Ethiopian civilians, mainly
former internees, were successfully repatriated under ICRC auspices, the
bulletin said.

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Ethiopian redeployment "ahead of schedule" 

Redeployment of Ethiopian troops in the disputed border region is moving
ahead of schedule, an official from the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia
and Eritrea (UNMEE) said on Wednesday. UNMEE spokesperson Angela Walker,
based in Addis Ababa, told IRIN that Ethiopian troops were moving "ahead
of schedule" from the Western and Central Zone, but that troops in the
Eastern Zone were "sticking to the time line". Ethiopian troops began
redeployment on 12 February and are due to complete the move by 26
February. Eritrean troops began moving on 17 February, and were expected
to finish redeployment on 3 March, Walker said. "There is so much movement
of men and equipment that some gridlock on the roads has been reported,"
Walker said. She said that UNMEE cooperation with the Ethiopian military
was "very good". 

After redeployment, UNMEE monitors would have to verify that conditions
had been properly met. After verification, the Eritrean government would
begin to restore its civil administration in preparation for the return of
internally displaced people (IDPs), Walker told IRIN. 

ETHIOPIA: Food needs "reduced" 

In its monthly Greater Horn of Africa Food Security Summaries
January-February, the USAID-supported Famine Early Warning System Network
(FEWS NET) indicated that the food situation in Ethiopia had generally
improved compared to the enormous amount of emergency aid needed last
year. In previous years, the provision of food-aid assistance had been a
primary concern of Ethiopia and donors, but the government had this year
put emphasis on recovery and rehabilitation, the report said. On 23
January, the government appealed for 639,246 mt of food aid to feed 6.2
million people affected by drought, crop and livestock loss and asset
depletion.

The report said the pastoral areas of southern Ethiopia and the
'belg-dependent' (seasonal rains) areas of the Amhara region, southern and
northern Welo, stretching northward through eastern Tigray, remained the
most acutely food insecure. Early 'belg' rains had already begun in the
southwest, including South Omo and north to Konso, Derasge and Sidamo. 
Cloudiness and rainfall had begun to increase over all of central
Ethiopia, FEWS said.

The monthly report said market prices had dropped "significantly" 
following a better than expected seasonal harvest ('mehr'). "According to
traders interviewed by FEWS NET, grain supplies to the main terminal
harvests are much higher than demand, as evidenced by the low prices," the
report said. 

ETHIOPIA: IOM launches study on trafficking in Ethiopian women

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) on Thursday launched a
study in Addis Ababa on trafficking in women, Meera Sethi, the IOM
representative in Ethiopia, told IRIN. The Ethiopian minister of labour
and social affairs, Hasan Abdullah, and the minister of women's affairs in
the prime minister's office, Tadelech Hailemikael, presided over the
launching of the study. Conducted with the assistance of the women's
affairs office, the study was based on interviews with 36 women, and
mainly focused on their experiences in Lebanon, said Sethi. The women
complained about physical abuse, long working hours and withheld salaries,
Sethi said. The women also said those who tested positive for HIV were
subject to deportation.

There are an estimated 15,000-17,000 Ethiopian women currently working in
Lebanon, mainly as servants, Sethi said. But the problems related to
trafficking in women were not unique to Lebanon. Abuse of African women
working as servants had been reported in Europe and other parts of the
world.  The complaints of the women from Ethiopia in the study were only
"the tip of the iceberg", Sethi said. "We need a regional study, because
the problem is not confined to Ethiopia," said Sethi. "We have information
that Kenyan and Eritrean women also suffer the same fate. Any solutions we
come up with from Ethiopia can also apply to Kenya and Eritrea." 

Nairobi, 23 February 2001


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