International lawlessness (Salim Lone)

"The US-backed invasion of Somalia to topple its Islamists is a dangerous, illegal act of aggression", writes Salim Lone, Dec 30, 2006 in The Guardian. See many comments at end of the piece.

Somali Prime Minister: War in Horn Of Africa inevitable

AP report via SudanTribune - excerpt:

Dec 5, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) -- Somalia's prime minister told The AP war in the Horn of Africa is unavoidable because radicals control the Islamic movement that in recent months has taken over much of his country.

Somali Prime Minister Ali Gedi indicated war was imminent, but said his government will continue to take part in all peace efforts. In the interview late Monday, he added his government was preparing to defend itself against attacks by the Council of Islamic Courts, as the movement that has taken over most of southern Somalia is known.

Darfur rebel group denies holding conference in Ethiopia

Darfur rebel group Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) denied organising its second general conference in the Ethiopian capital from 20 to 25 November. It accused the Sudanese security service of organizing this alleged conference.

Full story 12 Nov 2006 via ST.

Ethiopia/Eritrea/Somalia: Thousands of foreign troops in Somalia - UN

Oct 27 2006 Associated Press report via ST Thousands of foreign troops in Somalia - UN:

Oct 27, 2006 (NAIROBI) -- Thousands of foreign troops in Somalia could lead to "an all out war" between Somalia’s transitional government and an Islamic group that controls much of the country, according to a confidential U.N. report obtained by The Associated Press.

The confidential report, dated Oct. 26 and obtained by The Associated Press, cites diplomatic sources in estimating that "between 6,000-8,000 Ethiopians and 2,000 fully equipped Eritrean troops are now inside Somalia supporting" the internationally recognized government or the Islamic movement.

"Both sides in the Somali conflict are reported to have major outside backers," the report said, saying Ethiopia, Uganda and Yemen supported the government and Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Gulf states supported the Islamic movement.

The briefing paper was written to help senior U.N. officials map out a strategy on how to provide aid to one of the most impoverished countries in the world, which has not had an effective central government since 1991.

"In order for us to do this, a clear policy of engagement with the (Islamic movement) must be put in place," the report said. "The fact is that there is new found stability in Mogadishu, extending to areas that they have begun to control, which has not been seen for many years."

One problem facing the United Nations is the listing of the Islamic movement’s leader, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, on a list of people with ties to terrorism. U.N. policy severely restricts how much contact U.N. officials can have with people with alleged ties to terror organizations.

The report was written as both the transitional government and the Islamic movement appeared to be girding for battle, even though they were scheduled to sit down at Arab League-mediated peace talks in Khartoum, Sudan on Monday. Government forces, supported by Ethiopian military advisers, have been digging trenches near Baidoa, the only town the U.N.-backed government controls.

The Islamic movement has deployed forces at a strategic town between Baidoa, and Mogadishu, 250 kilometers (150 miles) to the southeast.

Ethiopian officials have insisted they have only a few hundred military advisers assisting the government, but international and local officials have put the number into the thousands.

In towns and villages across southern Somalia Friday, thousands took to the streets after calls from Islamic leaders to protest Ethiopia’s backing of the virtually powerless government. Some 15,000 turned out in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. The demonstrations, which featured the burning of Ethiopian flags, were also being used to recruit fighters for a holy war against Ethiopia, Somalia’s traditional rival, enrollments that will continue over the next three days.

"From this time on, we will wage a war against Ethiopians inside Somalia," top Islamic leader, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, told thousands of Somalis in their capital. "We need anyone who can give us weapons, even a dagger."

Islamic leaders have repeated called for holy war on Ethiopia, but no clashes between their fighters and Ethiopian troops have been reported.

Somalia and Ethiopia share a 1,600-kilometer (1,000-mile) border and fought a war in 1977.

The Somali transitional government has repeatedly accused Eritrea of arming and supporting their rivals in the Islamic movement, something that both Eritrean and Islamic officials have repeatedly denied.

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a two-year border war that remains unresolved and the top U.S. diplomat to Africa, Jendayi Frazer, last week accused Eritrea of using Somalia to open a second front against Ethiopia.

In Washington on Thursday, U.S. State Dept. spokesman Sean McCormack called on Ethiopia and Eritrea not to further aggravate the tense situation in Somalia.

"This is a country that has been ravaged by violence and civil conflict for decades and it’s a sad story, so we would hope that countries in the region would try to play a positive role ... to not take any steps that would aggravate what is already a very tough, sad situation." he said.

The U.N. refugee agency said Friday that the flow of Somali refugees into neighboring Kenya had slowed down, but expressed concerns over reports Islamic leaders were preventing people from leaving Somalia.

Ethiopia "technically" at war with Somalia -Meles

Reuters ADDIS ABABA, Oct 24, 2006:

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Tuesday Ethiopia was "technically" at war with Somalia's Islamists since they had declared jihad on his nation.

"The jihadist elements within the Islamic Courts movement are spoiling for a fight. They've been declaring jihad against Ethiopia almost every other week," Meles told Reuters in an interview.

"Technically we are at war."

AU ready for Somalia mission - Arab League pledge of $50-million to boost the Darfur mission has not yet materialised

Reuters report via Africast Global Africa Network MOGADISHU, October 24, 2006:

The African Union is ready for a controversial peacekeeping mission in Somalia but nowhere near implementing an intended 4 000 troop expansion of its stretched Darfur force, a top official said on Tuesday.

"African countries are willing to give any amount of troops for peacekeeping ... (but) I'm telling you, that might be impossible," peace and security director Geofrey Mugumya said of the proposed increase to the 7 000-strong AU force in Darfur.

Such an expansion is seen by diplomats as a stop-gap before a possible mission transfer to U.N. troops in the vast Sudanese region. Conflict there has killed an estimated 200 000 people and displaced another 2,5 million since early 2003.

Khartoum, however, opposes UN entry, the AU mission's mandate ends on December 31, and the pan-African body is struggling even to rotate current battalions, let alone add the intended six more at a cost of roughly $80-million (about R620-million).

"Sometimes you get promises (of funds), but they are not translated into reality," he said at AU headquarters in Ethiopia, saying an Arab League pledge of $50-million to boost the Darfur mission had not yet materialised.

"Here we spend most of our time smiling at donors rather than on real issues."

The AU official was more upbeat, however, about the likelihood of a Ugandan-led African peacekeeping mission in Somalia. It would be tasked with bolstering an interim government challenged by the rise of powerful Islamists.

"Ugandan forces are ready and will go if the arms embargo is lifted or modified," he said, adding that the UN Security Council was meeting in November to mull such a change, a pre-requisite for an African intervention.

The Mogadishu-based Islamists have threatened to fight any foreign troops, and al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has said such an intervention would justify jihad.

But Mugumya insisted an African force would calm the situation, rather than inflame it. "What we want is to protect the Transitional Federal Government, so it does not go back to being stateless, we want to put water on the fire," he said.

"It's always consensus minus one. ... And can you get consensus from Osama bin Laden?"

Though backed by the West and the Horn of Africa's most powerful nation Ethiopia, the Somali government has little control beyond the outlying town of Baidoa which is its base.

Some diplomats say if a proposed Ugandan troop vanguard goes in, it might call the Islamists' bluff, and enable the government to rally forces from disparate militia currently lying dormant around Somalia.

Uganda has emerged as the only nation probably able to send troops to Somalia in the short-term, because most others in the east African regional body IGAD, which would head the mission in coordination with the AU, border Somalia and fear being drawn into a conflict that could spill across their own territory.

Uganda has said it could fund itself in Somalia for six months, and other funds could be found from the European Union and elsewhere to gradually increase the force to 10 000 or more, Mugumya said.

It is all theoretical, however, if the United Nations fails to alter its arms embargo on Somalia, which is, despite the embargo, awash with weapons. The country has been in chaos since the 1991 ouster of a dictator.

"You obviously can't send troops unarmed," Mugumya said.

Aspiring to provide local solutions to Africa's crises, the AU is hoping to set up a five-brigade standby force for rapid intervention by 2010.

Darfur, however, came too early, Mugumya said, so the AU would welcome a UN takeover even though it may realistically have to extend its mandate into next year.

"The AU finds itself between a rock and a hard place. If it leaves, what would happen? If we stay, do we have resources?" he said.

Often criticised for failing to stop suffering in Darfur, the AU should be credited for rapid deployments and some stabilisation against all odds, he argued.

"AU troops move fast under harsh conditions. Would UN soldiers sleep under trees like the locals?"

U.S. urges Eritrea pullback from Ethiopia buffer zone

Oct 20 2006 Reuters report:

The United States urged Eritrea on Thursday to withdraw its forces from a U.N. buffer zone along the Ethiopian border amid concerns the troops' presence there could heighten tensions in the Horn of Africa.

A State Department spokesman said Eritrea's movement of troops inside the buffer earlier this week violated a 6-year-old peace agreement and further undermined regional stability.

"The United States calls on Eritrea to respond to the October 17 statement issued by the United Nations Security Council by immediately withdrawing the tanks, troops, and accompanying artillery that breached the Temporary Security Zone on October 16, 2006," spokesman Tom Casey said in a statement.

Casey said the United States also urged both countries to comply with a 2000 peace accord that ended a two-year border war that killed more than 70,000 people.

"The United States urges both Eritrea and Ethiopia to show maximum restraint, to refrain from the threat or use of force against each other, and to avoid any action that may escalate tensions between the two countries," Casey said.

The United Nations accused Eritrea on Monday of moving some 1,500 soldiers and 14 tanks closer to Ethiopia in a "major breach" of the peace agreement.

U.N. peacekeepers monitor the 15-mile (25-km) buffer zone along the 600-mile (1,000-km) border as part of the peace agreement.

The Eritrean government defended its movement in the zone, saying it had a sovereign right over the area and the troops were there to work on development projects.

Ethiopia said it would not respond militarily to what it called a "minor provocation."

Eritrea/Ethiopia: Zenawi says defected officers fear purge from the Ethiopian army

Many high-ranking officers from the Ethiopian army defected since August. They mostly joined the opposition Oromo Liberation Front bases in the neighbouring Eritrea. The most important was the defection of Brig. Gen. Kemal Geltu to Eritrea with 150 Ethiopian soldiers on 10 August.

Full story Sudan Tribune 1 Oct 2006.

Somali Islamists expand control near Ethiopian border

Oct 1 2006 Xinhua report via ST:

Fighters of Somali Islamic Courts have seized control of a strategic village in the agriculturally rich area of Lower Shabelle near the Ethiopian border, reports said on Sunday.

Fighters loyal to the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) group routed pro-government militia from the village of Jawill, some 15km from the Ethiopian border on Saturday. The only roads between Ethiopia and central Somalia pass through the village.

SCIC senior leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has vowed to seize more territories.

The Saturday's takeover is the SCIC’s second major territorial gain in nearly a week, following last Sunday’s takeover of the southern port city of Kismayo.

The SCIC have gradually expanded their influence over Somalia since defeating warlords in a battle for the capital, Mogadishu, in June.

Somalia's interim government, the 14th attempt at restoring the central rule, viewed the Kismayo takeover as breaching a ceasefire agreed at talks in Khartoum, Sudan, early this month.

The African Union recently approved a plan to send thousands of peacekeepers to the war-torn Horn of Africa country. SCIC leaders have vowed to fight the peacekeeping force if it arrives.

Kidnapped Red Cross aid workers 'in contact'

From BBC via Garowe Online - Africa 22 Sep 2006:

A Red Cross spokeswoman said Donal had spoken with colleagues overnight and confirmed they were being treated well.

Red Cross general secretary Carmel Lynch said: "Donal has made contact by phone with the Red Cross in the area and he has reassured them they are both well and are being treated well. But he wasn't able to give any more information."

She told Today FM: "Of course we have concerns but as a person Donal is a very strong capable person, and he is very calm, so I am sure he would be well able to deal with any situation he may find himself in."

The Department of Foreign Affairs has sent an experienced kidnap negotiator to Ethiopia to assist the Red Cross.

"Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern has ordered a senior officer from London who is experienced in negotiating in kidnap situations to travel to Addis Ababa," a government spokesman said.

Note, Mr O'Suilleabhain is a water and sanitation engineer who has worked overseas for the International Red Cross for several years. He has spend periods in Darfur and Liberia and worked for the aid agency building new wells to provide clean water supplies for hundreds of thousands of people for last two years.

UPDATE 23 Sep 2006: BBC NEWS - Kidnapped aid worker is released

Eritrea: "Deploying AU Peacekeepers in Somalia", to What End?

Shabait.com (Asmara) opinion piece Eritrea: "Deploying AU Peacekeepers in Somalia", to What End? (allAfrica.com Sep 20, 2006)

Red Cross workers kidnapped in eastern Ethiopia

Sep 20 2006 Reuters/AP/ST:

Unidentified assailants kidnapped two aid workers form the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Ethiopia, the humanitarian agency and Ireland said on Wednesday.

The Irish government earlier named one of the kidnapped aid workers as Donal O'Suilleabhain and said he and his Ethiopian colleague were abducted on Sep 18. The ICRC confirmed the other aid worker was Ethiopian but has not provided a name.

The two ICRC staff were kidnapped on Monday while working about 50 kms (31 miles) outside Gode town in Ethiopia's southeastern Ogaden region, Krug Eglin, deputy ICRC head in Ethiopia told Reuters.

"We have suspended all activities in the Somali region for the moment after 11 years of operating in the region," ICRC spokesman Patrick Megevand told the Associated Press.

He said the agency had established contact with the kidnappers and demanded that they free the aid workers.

"We do not know who they are and have not received any demand for ransom, but we have established contact with the kidnappers and we have demanded their unconditional release," he said, without giving details.

"The two staff members were in the area doing their routine work related to improved access to clean water for the people of the region."

Eglin said the agency was also in touch with the Ethiopian authorities.

Government spokesman Zemedkun Teckle said Ethiopian police and security are investigating and trying to track down the kidnappers.

"No one is sure at this time who the perpetrators are," he told The Associated Press. "We do not know if it is ONLF or not."

The rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a movement of ethnic Somalis fighting for independence, is known to be active in the region.

AU backs 8,000 troops for Somalia

The following report tells us many in Mogadishu oppose foreign intervention.

Sep 13 2006 BBC

The African Union has approved plans to send 8,000 peacekeepers to Somalia to support the interim government.

An alliance of Islamic courts which controls the capital and much of central and southern Somalia says it will oppose any deployment by force.

A meeting at AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, agreed that the first soldiers should be in place by the end of the month.

But obstacles remain as the AU does not have the funds to pay for the troops.

The approval for the force by the African Union Peace and Security Council also appears to fly in the face of a shaky agreement between Somalia's interim government and the Islamic courts not to allow any foreign intervention.

Further talks are expected to resume on 30 October. The two sides have already agreed on a united army.

Somalia has been without any effective government for the past 15 years divided into fiefdoms controlled by rival warlords.

The interim government has the support of the UN, but it controls only a small area of the country around its base in Baidoa, about 250km from the capital and a powerful local warlord has ordered them to leave.

The Islamists accuse the government of bolstering its defences with troops from Ethiopia, while they in turn have been accused of using military backing from Eritrea.

Neighbours agree on Somalia force

Sep 5 2006 BBC - Neighbours agree on Somalia force:

Somalia's transitional government has agreed with neighbours Ethiopia and Kenya on plans for an international peace force for Somalia.

In Mogadishu people demonstrated against foreign intervention

ERITREA: UN protests at staff expulsions

IRIN report 7 Sep 2006. Excerpt:

The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has protested to the Eritrean authorities over the expulsion of five UN staff on allegations of spying, a spokesperson said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Eritrean authorities gave the five staff members - from Britain, New Zealand, South Africa, Liberia and Trinidad and Tobago - one day to leave the country.

"These individuals were ordered to leave Eritrea within 24 hours after they were apprehended while engaged, out of their mission, in deploying spy networks, recruiting mercenary agents and providing radio communication facilities," a government statement said.

AU appeals for help for flood-stricken Ethiopia

IRIN report via Reuters 21 Aug 2006:

The African Union (AU) on Monday appealed to its member states and the rest of the international community to provide humanitarian assistance to thousands of Ethiopians affected by flash floods that followed heavy rainfall.

The AU announced it was donating US $100,000 to the government to help it respond to the floods, which have displaced an estimated 10,000 people and left hundreds dead. Flooding first hit Dire Dawa city in southern Ethiopia earlier this month, killing hundreds. Then the Omo River burst its banks at the same time as rivers in Tigray, Amhara and Oromia regions.

Police Inspector Daniel Gezahegne, the public relations officer in the Southern Nations Police Commission, told IRIN that efforts were continuing to rescue thousands of marooned villagers along the Omo River. Rescuers had saved about 1,300 using boats and helicopters, he added.

"In the past five days rescuers were able to save about 1,300 people. There are still thousands stranded by the flood. The weather is good today [Monday] and we hope to save more people," said Gezahegne. Some people were, however, reluctant to leave because they did not want to abandon their livestock. "They are telling the rescuers that they can't survive without their cattle. But we are trying to convince them to be relocated to safe places," he added.

Sisay Tadesse, the public relations officer with the Federal Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency (DPPA), said the government continued using helicopters and boats to deliver humanitarian aid to those affected. "Various United Nations agencies and NGOs are participating in delivering humanitarian assistance to the affected people there," he added.

Floods are common during the June-September rainy season in Ethiopia

The country's National Meteorological Agency has forecast more heavy rains, indicating that more rivers could soon overflow.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the immediate needs included search and rescue support, including boats, helicopters and life jackets. Helicopters could not fly most of the time due to bad weather, but they were essential to guiding boats to stranded people and dry land, the agency said in its latest update on the situation. The DPPA had also requested food and non-food items to fill the immediate humanitarian gap, according to OCHA. The DPPA was responding to both the food and non-food needs, with support from the UN World Food Programme and UN Children's Fund, it added.

Somali Islamists vow holy war on Ethiopian troops

Somalia's Islamists threatened on Thursday to wage holy war on Ethiopian troops they said had crossed into the Horn of Africa nation, Reuters reported July 20, 2006:

"God willing, we will remove the Ethiopians in our country and wage a jihadi war against them," Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, a senior Islamist in charge of defence, told reporters.

Robow said around 20 Ethiopian military vehicles had crossed into Somalia at Dollow on Wednesday, adding to previous Islamist accusations that its giant neighbour was sending in soldiers.

Independent analysts believe Addis Ababa has sent several thousand troops into Somalia, and is massing many more on the border, as a deterrent to any more advances by the Islamists, who took Mogadishu from U.S.-backed warlords last month.

Ethiopia backs the interim Somali government of President Abdullahi Yusuf, based in the provincial town of Baidoa.

Ethiopia, which is the main power in the Horn of Africa region, earlier said it would "crush" any move by the Islamists to take Baidoa.

Terrorist suspects running Somali capital - Ethiopia PM

AP report via ST July 4, 2006:

Members of a group listed by the U.S. as a terrorist band are now running the capital of neighboring Somalia, days after Islamic fighters wrested control of the city from warlords, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Tuesday.

"The renowned extremist and terrorist organization, al-Ittihad, is at the helm of the current leadership in Mogadishu," Meles told lawmakers during a review of the situation in Ethiopia relations with neighboring countries. "We do not believe that all the forces that have taken control of Mogadishu and its surroundings are extremists."

Al-Ittihad is listed by the U.S. as a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida. Washington has accused the group of harboring al-Qaida leaders responsible for deadly 1998 bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

U.N. officials say Al-Ittihad operates openly as a religious organization and is a powerful economic force in southern Somalia, where it captured key towns from warlords in June.

U.N. experts monitoring an arms embargo on lawless Somalia described Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys - heads of the powerful consultative council of the group that controls Mogadishu - as the al-Ittihad leader responsible for overseeing military training.

The military trainers for what constitutes "Al-Ittihad’s de facto army" reportedly include several Afghans and Yemenis, the U.N. experts said in a report released early last year.

Aweys, however, has denied being al-Ittihad’s leader and said the group has disbanded.

Despite the dramatic rise to power of the extremists, most residents and members of the group running Mogadishu are only interested in ending 15 years of anarchy and restoring peace and stability in the country, Meles said.

Still, Ethiopia is closely watching developments in Somalia and has deployed troops and military hardware on the border separating the two countries.

Ethiopian officials have previously accused al-Ittihad combatants of training, arming and helping Ethiopia’s ethnic Somali and Oromo separatist fighter.

90,000 displaced by clan violence in Ethiopia

Via Sudan Tribune 30 June 2006:

Deadly inter-clan violence has forced nearly 90,000 people in southern Ethiopia to flee their homes in the past three weeks, government officials and aid workers said on Friday.

Land clashes between the rival Guji and Borena clans have left about 100 people dead in and around the towns of Shakiso, Arero and Yabello, all within about 100 kilometers (60 miles) of each other south of Addis Ababa, they said.

In Arero, about 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of the capital, between 27,000 and 29,000 people have been displaced since early June, regional administrator Jaatanni Taadhii said.

In Yabello, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of the capital, the figure is between 37,000 and 39,000 people, according to an aid worker in the area, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The British charity Oxfam, meanwhile, said that more than 20,000 people had been displaced in Shakiso, about 380 kilometers (235 miles) south of Addis Ababa, since June 16.

"With the Ethiopian Red Cross, we have started distributing blankets, jerrycans and teapots to help the displaced," said Oxfam spokeswoman Liz Lucas.

Inter-clan violence in Ethiopia's semi-arid and drought-prone southern Borena region runs high and there are frequent clashes over water, land and cattle.

Ethiopia says Somalia 'a threat'

The new leader of the Islamist group that controls much of southern Somalia is a threat to Ethiopia, says Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys was head of al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, a group accused of having links to al-Qaeda.

Ethiopia helped Somalia's now interim president, Abdullahi Yusuf, defeat al-Itihaad in the 1990s.

The United States has said it will not deal with Mr Aweys, because of "links to terrorism", a charge he denies.

Mr Meles says security along its border has been increased in case of "the resurgence of Jihadists in Mogadishu".

Last week, Mr Awey's Somali Supreme Islamic Courts Council and the interim government, which is largely toothless and based north of the capital in Baidoa, agreed not to fight each other.

The recent advances of the Islamists have renewed fears of major conflict in Somalia, which has not had an effective national government for 15 years.

Full report BBC 28 June 2006.