Somali Islamist website threatens AU peacekeepers

NAIROBI, Jan 30 (Reuters) - A Somali Islamist Web site posted a message on Tuesday purporting to be from a new insurgency movement that vowed to fight a possible African Union peacekeeping force.

"Somalia is not a place where you can come to earn a salary -- it is a place where you can die," said the self-styled Popular Resistance Movement in a message to the would-be peacekeepers on the qaadisiya.com site.

"The salary you are coming to look for here would be used to transport your coffin back home."

SA will not send troops to Somalia

SA will not send troops to Somalia - SouthAfrica.info

By David Masango, 30 January 2007

South Africa will not be sending troops to Somalia, but is continuing to assess what type of assistance it can offer the conflict-ridden north African country.

Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad told reporters in Pretoria on Monday that South Africa would not be sending any soldiers to Somalia as its peacekeeping force was stretched in other missions on the continent.

These include deployments in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Burundi and Sudan's Darfur region.

Pahad said Nigeria was preparing up to 1 000 troops in case they were asked to participate in an African peace-keeping force.

In addition, Mozambique was reconsidering whether it would contribute troops to peacekeeping forces deployed in Sudan and Somalia.

"Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota is still consulting with relevant departments to determine what other assistance we can provide to the African Union peace-keeping force in Somalia," Pahad said. "He will then make a recommendation to President Thabo Mbeki."

Somalia, which has not had a stable government in over 15 years, came into existence as a state in 1960 but collapsed after the overthrow of Siad Barre in 1991.

It has since seen intermittent periods of fighting among those in power in the now fragmented area.

After 1991, it became divided into various sections, with north-west Somalia proclaiming itself the independent Republic of Somaliland, the Puntland region declaring its autonomy, and parts in the south falling under different clan leaders.

It currently has an interim government, founded in 2004 and recognised by the African Union (AU) and the rest of the world, following negotiations in Kenya among the warring Somali factions.

Source: BuaNews

Somalia focus for African summit

See today's BBC report on Somalia focus for African summit:

On Monday, AU commission chief Alpha Oumar Konare said peacekeepers were needed to prevent chaos in the country [Somalia].

"If African troops are not in place quickly, then there will be chaos," he said in his opening remarks to the summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. "We need 8,000 soldiers, today we have hardly 4,000. We cannot simply wait for others to do the work in our place."

In December, thousands of Ethiopian soldiers were sent to help the weak Somali interim government oust Islamist forces who had controlled much of southern and central Somalia for six months.

But Ethiopia says it is seeking an early withdrawal from the country and has already begun pulling some of its troops out.

The fear, says the BBC's Adam Mynott, is that unless insecurity is contained quickly, then Somalia will slip back to the anarchic misrule which has prevailed in the country for the past 15 years.

So far three countries - Uganda, Nigeria and Malawi - have offered to contribute troops, while a number of other countries are reported to be considering it.

Said Djinnit, the AU's peace and security commissioner, told the BBC that troops from more countries were needed.

"I think we have made some progress because we are at the point where we are putting together conditions for an early deployment of at least the first three battalions," he said.

"And we are also in the process of creating logistical and financial conditions but we do hope that during the debate at the summit there'll be more pledges or more commitment to participate in the African Union mission in Somalia."

Eritrea: BBC And Its Tiny Circle Of Sources

Not yet had time to read this.

BBC And Its Tiny Circle Of Sources

African Union backs Somalia plan

The African Union has approved a plan to send nine battalions of African peacekeeping troops to Somalia to help stabilise the country.

A senior AU official said the troops would be deployed for six months, and eventually be taken over by the UN.

They are to take over from Ethiopian forces, who were sent to Somalia last month to drive out Islamist militias.

Full story BBC 20 Jan 2007.

Somali warlords will disarm militia - official

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said in a statement on a government Web site Friday that U.S. involvement in Somalia is creating turmoil in the Horn of African region and would 'incur dangerous consequences.' Eritrea and Ethiopia are bitter rivals." Full story by AP 12 Jan 07 via ST.

Note, Global Voices - Bloggers warn of insurgency after Ethio-Somali war.

African peace mission to Somalia urged

JAN 11 2007 Swissinfo African peace mission to Somalia urged by Andrew Cawthorne, Nairobi (Reuters):

The United States appealed on Friday for a speedy deployment of African peacekeepers in Somalia to prevent a "security vacuum" that could spawn fresh anarchy after a war to oust militant Islamists.

U.S. ally Ethiopia, which is the Horn of Africa's major power, wants to withdraw its military in weeks after helping the interim Somali government rout the Islamists over the New Year.

But diplomats fear that would leave President Abdullahi Yusuf's government vulnerable against the multiple threats of remnant Islamists vowing a guerrilla war, warlords who are seeking to re-create their fiefdoms, and competing clans.

"Deploying an African stabilisation force into Somalia quickly is vitally important to support efforts to achieve stability," Michael Ranneberger, U.S. ambassador for Kenya and Somalia, said in a newspaper opinion piece.

"We welcome the Ugandan commitment to send forces and we are urging other African countries to do so as well...(It) will enable the rapid withdrawal of Ethiopian forces without creating a security vacuum."

The African Union and east African body IGAD have expressed willingness in principle to send more than 8,000 troops into Somalia. Uganda has said it is ready to provide the first battalion, but Khartoum is nervous of the risks for its soldiers in a nation in chaos since the 1991 ouster of a dictator.

It is still unclear who would fund the mission, which nations would contribute, and how quickly it could be mustered.

Further, with the precedent of African peacekeepers' failure to stop bloodshed in Sudan's Darfur region, many doubt they would be able to tame the violence and rivalry in Somalia.

Wary of its post-war nightmare in Iraq, Washington is eager to prevent Somalia descending back into chaos after its first policy goal -- ousting the Islamists -- was achieved.

U.S. officials believe Somalia, under the six-month Islamist rule across most of the south, became a haven for foreign radicals including some of its most wanted al Qaeda suspects.

GOVERNMENT URGED TO REACH OUT

Washington launched an air strike in Somalia on Monday -- its first overt military involvement since a disastrous peacekeeping mission ended in 1994 -- aimed at an al Qaeda cell.

That attack took out up to 10 al Qaeda allies, but missed its main target of three top suspects, the U.S. government says.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that a small team of U.S. military personnel entered south Somalia after the strike to try and determine who was killed.

If true, that would mark the first known case of U.S. military boots on the ground in Somalia since the 1990s mission which ended soon after local militia downed two Black Hawk helicopters and killed 18 U.S. soldiers in Mogadishu.

Washington believes three suspects in 1998 and 2002 bomb attacks in east Africa -- Comorian Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Sudanese Abu Talha al-Sudani and Kenyan Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan -- have been hiding among fleeing Somali Islamists.

Kenyan authorities have arrested the wives and three children of two of those suspects, a Kenyan counter-terrorism source told Reuters on Thursday.

Mohammed and Nabhan's wives and children were caught trying to cross into Kenya from Ras Kamboni, on Somalia's southern tip, long thought by Western and east African intelligence agencies to be the site of a militant training camp.

The U.S. attack on Monday has drawn criticism from the United Nations, many European countries and the Arab League. Analysts say it risks a backlash from Muslims in the region.

But U.S. envoy Ranneberger said: "Somalia will not be stable as long as foreign terrorists are active there."

He also urged the Yusuf government, set up in 2004 in a 14th attempt to restore central rule to Somalia since 1991, to become more inclusive to guarantee stability.

"We are urging the leadership...to reach out to all segments of Somali society -- the business community, all clans and sub-clans, traditional religious leaders, non-governmental groups and others," he said in the article in Kenya's Nation.

Washington has pledged $40 million (21 million pounds) in aid and development assistance, plus to support a peacekeeping mission, he said.

Somalia Govt: US Embassy bombings suspect killed

A senior al-Qaida suspect wanted for the U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa has been killed in a U.S. airstrike in Somalia, a government official said Wednesday, quoting the Americans.

Full report by AP 10 Jan 2007 via Sudan Tribune 10 Jan 2007.

US launches air strike in Somalia

Somalia's interim Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Aideed said the US 'have our full support for the attacks', the Associated Press news agency reported. - Full story by BBC 9 Jan 2007: US launches air strike in Somalia.

Sudanese president vows to continue Somali mediation

Via Sudan Tribune 6 Jan 2007:

President Omar al-Bashir, who is also the chairman of the Arab League, today said "We shall continue our efforts, and strive because we are not interested in who rules Somalia, what we are interested in is who establishes stability, security, and peace among the people of Somalia."

"We said it from the first day since the first government was formed after Siad Barre, and we even told Abdelqasim Salad Hassan - former president of Transitional National Government - that we will support anyone who comes and achieves security, peace, and stability in Somalia."

Ethiopian forces to pull out of Somalia in 2 weeks - PM

Ethiopia's prime minister said his country will pull its troops out of neighbouring Somalia within two weeks after helping the Somali interim government rout Islamists in a two-week war.

Full story by Reuters via ST 5 Jan 2007.

Al-Qaida urges Somalian Islamists to fight

Al-Qaida's deputy leader urged Somalia's Islamist guerrillas to ambush and raid Ethiopian forces with land mines and suicide attacks until they can reclaim their country from "crusaders," according to an Internet audiotape posted Friday. - Full story by AP via ST 5 Jan 2007.

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.