| UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER |
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SOMALILAND RADIO REPORTS CLASHES WITH MILITIA ON 15TH AUGUST (SWB 28 Aug 95 [RH in Somali, 15 Aug 95]) Reports from Burco, regional capital of Togdheer Region, say that this morning the armed forces of the Republic of Somaliland with the help of civilian defence forces launched merciless attacks on hideouts of anti-Somaliland militia, southwest of Burco. The reports add that in the fighting, which lasted several hours, the national armed forces overran positions held by the militia, inflicting death and injuries on the anti-Somaliland militia group.
FOREIGNERS HELD IN SOMALILAND FREED, FLY TO KENYA (Reuter 30 Aug 95) NAIROBI - A Swedish diplomat, two Kenyan guards, an Italian pilot and French co-pilot held in breakaway Somaliland for a week have been released and flown to the Kenyan capital, witnesses said.
The five landed in Nairobi on Tuesday night on a chartered plane from Hargeisa via the nearby Red Sea state of Djibouti.
Swedish diplomat Mikael Glas told reporters it felt great to be back after their embassies contacted Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, the president of Somaliland, and cleared up misunderstandings that caused them to be detained on landing at Hargeisa airport.
Glas said the five appeared in court in Hargeisa and dates were set for another appearance before they were released. But they were very well treated during detention at a police station since August 21, he said.
Norwegian diplomat Oeyvind Nordgaren, a police officer attached to his embassy in Kenya, was released last Saturday.
Italian pilot Guido Sgaravatto said the six were detained on landing at Hargeisa airport while it was closed three hours after clashes there so police suspected they were involved in the violence.
Swedish Ambassador to Kenya Lars-Goran Engfeldt thanked everyone involved and said he was pleased all were back after the misunderstandings were cleared up with Egal.
Sgaravatto said they had flown to Hargeisa to repatriate two Somalis expelled by Sweden. The Somalis remained in Hargeisa...
EGAL RECEIVES VISITING US DELEGATION (SWB 11 Sep 95 [RH in Somali, 29 Aug 95]) Mr Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal, the president of the Republic of Somaliland, today received in his office an American delegation which arrived in the country this morning.
The delegation includes officials from the State Department, the US ambassador to Jibuti, the head of USAID, the new American representative to Somaliland and the UNDP representative to Somaliland. The purpose of the delegation's visit is to see for itself the real situation in the country, particularly regarding security, and for the new American representative to familiarize himself with Somaliland.
President Egal briefed the delegation on the situation in the country. He said the government of the Republic of Somaliland always strove to resolve things peacefully. The president, however, told the delegation that Somaliland's independence could not be negotiated. He said Somaliland was a living country. The president also spoke about Somaliland's stance towards Somalia. He said recognition of Somaliland's sovereignty would help ease the problems afflicting the Horn of Africa.
The president told the delegation, in particular the head of USAID, that the main problem currently facing the country was inflation, hence the need for food aid. For his part, the head of USAID pledged that he would contact such agencies as Care International to bring in cheap food. Mr Abd al-Rahman Aw Ali Farah, the vice-president, also made a brief speech. Present at the occasion was Mr Abdullahi Muhammad Du'aleh, minister of national planning...
åLIMITED POWERS (AC 22 Sep 95, p.8) President Mohamed Ibrahim Egal of the still unrecognised Republic of Somaliland has run into trouble with his latest ministerial reshuffle, a prolonged operation that began in early September. Involving about a dozen ministers, it at first seemed to mark a new peace initiative, with hardliners among those sacked, including Interior Minister Musa Bihi (from Egal's Issaq/ Habr Awal clan) and Defence Minister Abdurahman Aw Ali (Gadabursi), who remained Vice-President. But within a week, Bihi was back at clan elders' request. Egal's failure to get his own clan's support fuelled doubts about his ability to reconcile with his opponents from the Issa/ Garhajis sub-clans, the Habr Younis and Eidegalla.
The reshuffle followed a visit to Hargeisa by United States' State Department and senior aid officials, including the Ambassador to Djibouti, Martin Chesches, who handles Somaliland (Washington handles the rest of Somalia from Nairobi). Egal was clearly told peace and security were needed for US assistance or international recognition.
The government has been in conflict with the Garhajis since October, when it pushed the Garhajis militia out of Hargeisa airport. The clan blames Egal for ousting President Abdurahman Tour in 1993 and his Habr Awal for their defeat at Berbera in 1992. Despite heavy recruitment and arms-buying, plus negotiations, Egal has failed to get a military or political solution.
Now he seems to be seeking not so much reconciliation as support from previously neutral clans. Fighting has been mainly between Garhajis and Habr Awal and Arab (both Issaq). New Fisheries Minister Mohamed Mahamoud Farah is Dolbahunta, as is Chief of Staff Colonel Abdi Ali Shire, a cousin of a clan sqrt sqrt garadff (sultan). Deputy Defence Minister Mohamed Ali Yussef is Warsengeli. Gadabursi appointments include Mohamed Abdi Dimbil `Galbeyti' (Foreign Affairs) and Yussef Sheikh Ibrahim `Gurab' (Posts, Telecommunicaitons and Public Works). Habr Jallo include Abdullahi Mohamed Dualeh (Presidency) and Solomon Adam Gaal (Finance), a key Egal-advisor widely seen as anti-Garhajis. Signs of growing Arab unease with Egal may explain why Abdullahi Hussein Iman `Darawal' is Defence Minister and Jama Kheire Weis, Education.
There are Garhajis/ Habr Younis appointments, too: Ali Mohamed Waran-Adde (Health) and Mahamoud Mohamed Ismail (Livestock) but this will do little for reconciliation if Egal is powerless to remove figures such as Musa Bihi.
BERBERA WATER PROJECTå(ION 23 Sep 95, p.6) The Italian NGO Cooperazione Internazionale is to rehabilitate the drinking water distribution network for the port of Berbera, in eastern Somaliland, thanks to a financing package from the European Commission. The project aims to improve supplies to a city of more than 35,000 inhabitants which represents the country's most important port activities, with some 1.7 million heads of livestock exported annually. According to the European Union's Nairobi- based representative, work under Coopi's responsibility includes cleaning and fencing the city's water sources, building a 9-km aqueduct to Berbera and two reservoirs to replace existing outdated installations. The project also covers completing wells drilled at Fara Dheero in1988 which are still not operational.
sqrt sqrt [ION editorial comment:]ff Coopi is a non-religious NGO headed by a priest, Rev. Vincenzo Barbieri, and directed by Michele Romano. It has been working in Somaliland since 1990 and has more than twenty volunteer workers. It runs the 200-bed Berbera hospital and opened a surgical division there in 1992, and has plans for about a dozen other projects (including one for the fishing industry) in the Berbera region. Coopi also runs the Erigavo hospital east of Berbera and a health centre at Borama west of Hargeisa. Its founder, Paola Giorgi, set up an NGO consortium called UNA in the Lombardy region which comprises Coopi, Africa 70 (which is working at Bosaso, in north-eastern Somalia), GRT, CESVI and CAST.
PRESIDENT EGAL ANNOUNCES ACTION OVER CURRENCY IN BID TO CONTROL INFLATION (SWB 10 Oct 95 [RH in Somali, 23 Sep 95]) At an extraordinary meeting under the chairmanship of Mr Muhammad Ibrahim Egal, the president of the Republic of Somaliland, the Council of Ministers heard a report from a cabinet- appointed commission on the problems created by inflation. After much discussion, the Council of Ministers, taking into account the need to do something about commodity prices which have been rocketing due to inflation, decided that:
1. The government will import rations [last word in English, meaning basic foodstuffs] and fuel immediately. The Ministry of Trade is charged with the task of distributing these commodities.
2. The Somaliland shilling is the only legal tender. No trader will be allowed to do business in the country without using the Somali shilling for buying and selling.
3. (a) Every importer is required to have a minimum of 10m Somali shillings in their bank accounts; and (b) every wholesaler should have a minimum of 5m Somali shillings in their bank accounts.
4. The illegal import of commodities has been banned. Import licences will be issued by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
5. With the exception of essential commodities, the import of (?luxury goods) has been banned and the ministry of trade has been charged with the clarification and [rest of sentence indistinct].
6. Foreign organizations, non-governmental organizations and UN agencies in Somaliland are required to exchange their currencies only at the Central Bank of Somaliland. The Foreign Ministry and the National Planning Ministry and the Central Bank will make sure that this regulation is adhered to.
7. Somaliland traders will have three members on the Central Bank board of directors.
8. In order to encourage the export of livestock, the council has resolved to establish ten companies which will be based in all regions of the Republic of Somaliland and which will be present at all livestock markets to ensure that the hard currency from livestock sales is brought back to the country. The companies will exchange their hard currency at the market rates.
9. The three councils [the Council of Ministers, the Council of Representatives and the Council of Elders] should make a joint appeal, as recommended by the Council of Representatives, to the world for emergency food aid:
10: All these resolutions will be implemented at the presidential level.