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HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 72
12 - 18 January 2002


CONTENTS:

SOMALIA: Renewed fighting in Garowe
SOMALIA: New bank to be launched
SOMALIA: Somaliland president's term of office extended
DJIBOUTI: President slams region over Somalia
ETHIOPIA: France urges caution over Somalia
ETHIOPIA: Massive animal census to be launched
ERITREA: 25 Ethiopian POWs repatriated
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: UN Security Council to send mission next month
SUDAN: Moi mandated by IGAD to merge peace initiatives
SUDAN: Danforth leaves without deal on government bombings

[See also "ERITREA: Focus on impending national assembly session" at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19172]


SOMALIA: Renewed fighting in Garowe

At least four people were killed and four others wounded when fighting
broke out in Garowe, the capital of the self-declared autonomous region of
Puntland, northeastern Somalia, a local journalist told IRIN on Monday.
The fighting, which broke out on 11 January, appears to have started after
a prominent businessman, Farah Muhammad Sa'id Gom'ad, was reportedly
killed by forces of Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf, the former leader of
Puntland, in what is believed to have been "a deliberate attack" at 1700
hours [local time]", the journalist said. There were four people in the
car in which he was travelling. It was reportedly stopped by Yusuf's
militia "who then shot Gom'ad dead". "He was a well-known man, and they
could not have mistaken him for anyone else. It must have been
preplanned," the journalist added.

Three more people died when local militia, angered by the murder, attacked
positions held by Yusuf's militia in the town, at 1730. Two local militia
and one from Yusuf's militia were killed in that bout of fighting,
according to the journalist.

The violence erupted following the arrival in Garowe, on the morning of 11
January, of Sultan Sa'id Garaase, an influential local elder, along with
17 other clan elders and intellectuals. Sultan Garaase, and his group had,
upon arrival, issued a call to Abdullahi Yusuf to leave Garowe, local
sources told IRIN. Garowe was calm on Monday, even though tension remained
high, the sources said. Businesses, which shut their doors over the
weekend, had now reopened. Traditional elders from the Garowe area were
meeting and were expected to issue a statement on Tuesday. "Everyone is
waiting for the outcome of the elders' meeting," the sources added. [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19042]


SOMALIA: New bank to be launched

A new bank is to be launched in Somalia by a group of Somali businessmen.
The Universal Bank of Somalia (UBSOM) will be the first commercial bank to
emerge since the collapse of the government of Muhammad Siyad Barre in
1990.

Mahad Adan Barkhadle, the bank's acting general manager, told IRIN that it
was "a joint venture between Somalis and foreign investors".  Fifty-one
percent of the bank's shares are owned by Somalis, representing all Somali
clans, and 49 percent by foreign investors, he said. The main foreign
investors were from, Belgium, Norway, Holland and Ireland. The bank's
official headquarters will be in Brussels, with the operational
headquarters in Dubai, while the main Somali branch will be in Mogadishu,
Mahad told IRIN. He said the bank would also have branches in Hargeysa,
the capital of the self-declared independent Republic of Somaliland,
northwestern Somalia, and another in Bosaso, in Puntland.

The bank would start with an operating capital of US $10 million and, when
operational, would have relations with 62 corresponding banks in 72
countries around the world, Mahad said. "We will be able to provide all
commercial banking activities, such as issuing of credit cards and letters
of credit," he added. He said the bank would open its doors for business
"in about a month's time". Once that happened, "Somalis from all walks of
life will be able to buy shares". [Full report at:
Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19182]


SOMALIA: Somaliland president's term of office extended

The Somaliland president's term of office has been extended by one year,
just ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections which should have
been held next month. The information minister of the self-declared
independent republic of Somaliland, Abdullahi Muhammad Du'ale, told IRIN
on Tuesday the request had come from newly-formed political organisations
which had not yet been able to register and therefore needed more time.
"Otherwise, we are ready and prepared for free and fair elections," he
said. The extension was approved by the House of Elders, Somaliland's
highest authority, which met in the capital Hargeysa at the weekend.
President Muhammad Ibrahim Egal, whose term of office expires next month,
obtained the extension by 72 out of 74 votes, radio Hargeysa reported.

The extension is, however, being challenged by established opposition
figures and presidential candidates, who accuse the administration of
"manipulating" the vote. The extension was "unconstitutional and totally
unacceptable", Abdirahman Aw Ali Farah, a former Somaliland
vice-president, now vice-chairman of the opposition ASAD alliance, told
IRIN on Tuesday. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19133]


DJIBOUTI: President slams region over Somalia

Djibouti President Ismael Omar Guelleh has condemned the "inability" of
regional countries to adopt a common approach in order to bring peace to
Somalia. In a strongly-worded address to the summit of the
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), held in the Sudanese
capital, Khartoum, last week, he said responsibility for achieving peace
in Somalia lay first and foremost with countries of the region. He also
lambasted the international community for its "wait-and-see tactics",
according to a text of his speech carried by the Djibouti news agency
(ADI). "Somalis are tired of trying to understand the reasons behind the
wait-and-see tactics and passivity of the international community," he
said. "This attitude is for us, in many respects, incomprehensible... The
pretext given to justify this inactivity is the inability of IGAD member
countries to adopt a common approach."

"But, if the international community has failed to live up to its
responsibility, are we not supposed to react with the urgency that
situation requires of us by formulating - unequivocally and unambiguously
- a common position so as to prove to the world that we are politically
determined?", he asked. Guelleh said IGAD "must express its commitment to
Somalia through concrete political and diplomatic actions". These included
stopping all types of assistance to the warlords, imposing a travel ban on
"these perpetrators of genocide", who should be tried by an international
criminal tribunal, and halting the "culture of impunity" in Somalia. [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19064]


ETHIOPIA: France urges caution over Somalia

France urged caution on Wednesday against military action in Somalia as
part of the war against terrorism. French Minister of State for
Cooperation Charles Josselin said "incontrovertible evidence" was needed
that the country was harbouring terrorist organisations before strikes
were launched. Josselin, who ended a three-day visit to Ethiopia on
Wednesday, said his government was particularly worried about the crisis
in Somalia. Somalia has been accused of being a haven for terrorists and a
possible hideout for members of Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.

Addressing a press conference in Addis Ababa, Josselin warned that
American B52 bombers were not the answer to Somalia's problems. "We told
our American allies that a proper account must be taken of the specific
situation in Somalia," he said. "We also told them that we have to help
Somalia rebuild itself because we do believe that the lack of a proper and
strong state in Somalia is one of the reasons why terrorism could thrive
there." [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19297]


ETHIOPIA: Massive animal census to be launched

One of the world's largest animal surveys will be launched in Ethiopia
next month. For the first time ever, all the animals in the country are to
be counted as part of a massive census by the Ethiopian Central Statistics
Authority (CSA). More than 15,000 people are to take part in the survey,
which is expected to last 10 days. Within that period, statisticians
experts are to travel to all parts of the country - using aircraft to
reach even the remotest parts - to record animal numbers. Livestock is a
vital component of the Ethiopian economy - with hides and skins second
only to coffee in terms of exports - contributing tens of millions of
dollars to the country.

Girma Tadese, the head of Natural Resource and Agricultural Statistics
Department at the CSA said the census was vital for the future development
of the country. "It will be the first time we have a true picture of
animal numbers in Ethiopia," he told IRIN. "Previously we have had
estimates, but we do not know how accurate they are. This is a huge
project, and the results will be very interesting. Once we get them they
will have important consequences for planners and the Ministry of
Finance."

The census is part of a huge livestock and agricultural survey to be
undertaken across the country over the next 10 months, starting on 9
February. The Ethiopian government has earmarked 200 million birr - around
US $23 million - for the entire project, while the European Union and the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have also
provided assistance. He said the census would rely on 13,515 people
counting, 2,400 supervising the census and 300 statistical experts who
will be compiling the information. [Full report at:
Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19262]


ERITREA: 25 Ethiopian POWs repatriated

Twenty-five Ethiopian prisoners-of-war (POWs) were repatriated from
Eritrea on Tuesday, according to a press release from the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It said the operation had taken, under
ICRC auspices, at a crossing point on the Mereb river between the towns of
Rama in northern Ethiopia and Adi Kwala in southern Eritrea. "The
repatriated POWs had been registered and visited regularly by ICRC
delegates during the period of their captivity at Nakfa internment camp,"
the statement said. "They all expressed their wish to return to Ethiopia."

The ICRC said that since the Algiers peace agreement was signed on 12
December 2000, it had organised the repatriation of 879 Eritrean and 678
Ethiopian POWs. At the time of the agreement, the ICRC had registered and
was visiting some 2,600 Eritrean POWs in Ethiopia and some 1,000 Ethiopian
POWs in Eritrea. Paul Conneally of the ICRC in Asmara told IRIN on
Wednesday that the Red Cross was satisfied the releases were happening,
but, he said, "we urge the authorities of both countries to release all
remaining prisoners of war as soon as possible". [Full report at:
Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19214]


ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: UN Security Council to send mission next month

The UN Security Council is to send a mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea next
month when a crucial border ruling will be announced by an international
commission at The Hague. A statement read out on Wednesday after the
Council met to discuss the situation in the two countries, reminded them
that they had committed themselves to fully accepting the decisions of the
Boundary Commission.

"The Security Council looks forward to the border delimitation
determination by the Boundary Commission, which is final and binding," the
statement said. "The Security Council, inviting the parties to make
further contributions to fulfil their financial responsibilities regarding
the Boundary Commission, expresses its determination to support the
practical demarcation of the border," it added. [Full report at:
Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19336]


SUDAN: Moi mandated by IGAD to merge peace initiatives

A new effort to merge two parallel but different peace efforts on Sudan
under the chairmanship of Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi has emerged
from last week's IGAD summit. Moi has been charged with merging IGAD's own
peace initiative with the Libyan-Egyptian initiative, the essence of which
was distilled in a joint memorandum in July 2001, according to the US
peace envoy, John Danforth, as quoted by the Kenyan Television Network
(KTN) on Saturday, after a briefing with Moi in the Kenyan capital,
Nairobi.

Danforth is hoping to build broad international support for the process of
combining peace efforts on Sudan under Moi, as mandated by IGAD. "Our hope
is [that] a core of support for peace, led by Egypt and Kenya and joined
in by the Europeans, Canadians and ourselves, is going to have an effect,"
United Press International on Monday quoted the American peace envoy as
saying.

Moi said on 12 January that the mandate given him by IGAD (comprising
Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda) would
enable him to encourage the warring parties to reach an agreement,
according to KTN. He said he would invite all parties interested in the
Sudan peace process to a meeting in Nairobi within the next six months,
the Kenyan official Sunday Times newspaper reported on Sunday. That
meeting would (potentially) involve face-to-face talks between Sudanese
President Umar Hasan al-Bashir and the leader of the SPLM/A, John Garang,
which, Moi said, would lay the foundation for a cease-fire to be monitored
under the auspices of the United Nations, the report stated. [Full report
at: Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19073]


SUDAN: Danforth leaves without deal on government bombings

John Danforth, said on Wednesday that he had failed to persuade the
Sudanese government to agree to stop bombing civilian targets in southern
Sudan. "I am sorry to say that we have no real progress there, as the
government has not been supportive of a monitoring concept yet, although
they agreed to a period of four weeks to halt unilateral military
attacks," AFP quoted Danforth as saying at a press conference in the
Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Danforth said that providing for civilian
safety and allowing relief supplies to reach vulnerable people were
central to the proposals he had made in November, the German Press Agency
(dpa) reported on Wednesday.

Khartoum has resisted calls for international monitoring. The Sudanese
presidential peace adviser, Ghazi Salah al-Din al-Atabani, had described
the proposal as "embarrassing", and publicly rejected the idea at a press
conference on Monday, UPI reported. President Umar Hasan al-Bashir had on
Monday offered a temporary, four-week halt to aerial bombardments in the
south. He had told Danforth that Khartoum was willing to declare "a
voluntary, unilateral cessation of aerial bombing for four weeks as a
test", UPI quoted Atabani as saying. However, US officials in Danforth's
delegation said Bashir had added the caveat of an unconditional cease-fire
by the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), it added.

The SPLM/A leader, John Garang, dismissed Bashir's offer to suspend the
bombings. "In the first place, nobody should bomb civilian targets; it's
an insult to human rights," UPI quoted him as saying. "For a member of the
United Nations and Organisation of African Unity to present this as a
concession from the bottom of their hearts is laughable," Garang added.
[Full report at: Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=19339]


IRIN-CEA
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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2002


[This item is delivered in the "africa-english" service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this
item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001


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