A monthly
publication of AFRICANEWS
For the period
covering January 15 – February 14, 2003
Contents:
January 15: Foreign
ministers from nine Arab countries meeting in Khartoum opposed any partition of
Sudan as part of a peace settlement with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA)
and called on the United States to play a neutral role in the process.
15: The Sudan government failed to
send a delegation to the resumption of peace talks with the SPLA in Nairobi,
Kenya, saying it did not wish to discuss three disputed areas in central Sudan:
Abyei; Nuba Mountains; and Southern Blue Nile. Both north and south wish to
include these areas within their borders.
16: SPLA leader John Garang urged the
international community to pressure Khartoum to return quickly to the peace
talks being held in Nairobi. "From our side the talks are on," he
said. "Our delegation is here, we will wait until the government
delegation comes."
16: The Sudan government announced
that it would send a delegation to Kenya for peace talks, set to begin on Jan.
22. Sudan's chief negotiator Ghazi Salah Eddin Attabani said the decision to
send the delegation for the talks came after an invitation from Kenyan
negotiator Lt. Gen. Lazaro Sumbeiywo. Attabani issued the statement after
meeting with U.S. peace envoy John Danforth, who earlier held talks with
President Omar el-Bashir.
16: The United States wants peace
talks between the Sudan government and the SPLA to move forward within three
months, said U.S. special envoy John Danforth. U.S. President George W. Bush is
required under a U.S. law to report in three months to Congress on the progress
of the talks between Khartoum and the SPLA, he said.
17: A Sudan government delegation
arrived in Nairobi for discussions with rebels and European experts on three
disputed areas – Abyei, Southern Blue Nile, and the Nuba Mountains – in central
Sudan, two days after failing to attend the resumption of peace negotiations.
17: In a meeting with Sudanese
Minister of Energy Dr Awad Ahmad al-Jaz, Tunkir Kila, an undersecretary in the Turkish
Ministry of Foreign Trade, said that many Turkish companies are interested in
investing in oil exploration and production in Sudan.
17:
During its January 12-15 tour of United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Sudan,
representatives of the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) held
meetings in the two countries to explore ways to boost business and set up
joint ventures. The FMM also invited West Asian companies to participate in
international trade events in Malaysia.
17: U.S. envoy to Sudan John Danforth
called for increased contact between Sudan President Omar el-Bashir and SPLA
leader John Garang. "The peace process would benefit a lot, as it goes
along, if there were a lot of communication between the two leaders," he
said.
17: The United States may find it a
"challenge" to drop Sudan from the U.S. list of states that sponsor
terrorism despite Khartoum's progress on counterterrorism, a senior U.S.
official said. "The assessment
will be: have they made enough progress ... for us to be able, as the U.S.
government, to give the absolute, comprehensive assurance that this is a
comprehensive and new position," the official added. The U.S. said last
year it believed "international terrorist groups," including al
Qaeda, Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, continued to use Sudan as a safe
haven.
19:
The Sudan government approved the $1.2-billion sale of Talisman Energy’s
25 percent interest in the Greater Nile Oil Project (GNOP) to ONGC Videsh
Limited (OVL), a subsidiary of India's state-owned Oil and Natural Gas
Corporation (ONGC).
19: A team of French and Swiss
archeologists has found Granite statues and stelas of pharaohs who ruled from
northern Sudan some 2,600 years ago, including the last “black pharaohs.” The
artifacts represented kings Taharqa and Tanutamon, the last of the "black
pharaohs," as well as monarchs Senkamanisken and Aspelta, who all lived
about 600 years BC.
19: An Iraqi envoy held talks in
Sudan as part of Baghdad's diplomatic efforts to rally Arab support against
possible U.S. military strikes. The official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) quoted
Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf as saying after his
meetings: "Iraq, Sudan and sisterly Arab countries will do their utmost to
prevent aggression on Iraq."
20: The Sudan government and the SPLA
have agreed to allow Lifeline Sudan to continue its operations in the southern
part of the country. The two sides also stressed the need to allow the delivery
of relief aid to the needy in all parts of the country.
21: Peace talks are due to resume in
Kenya on January 22 after the two sides agreed that the status of the Nuba
Mountains, Southern Blue Nile and Abyei areas would be dealt with separately at
a later stage in the peace process. Both sides claim the areas.
21: The army accused the SPLA of
attacking government-held areas in southern Sudan, on the eve of the resumption
of peace talks between both sides. "An aborted attempt was led by the
rebel forces against our troop positions in the Faradis areas of Western Nuer
(Unity State)," army spokesman General Mohammed Beshir Suleiman said in a
statement.
22: The peace talks have been
rescheduled to begin on January 23, rather than the 22, with the division of
wealth and power remaining the key obstacles to ending Africa's longest-running
civil war.
22: Sudan Vice President Prof Moses
Machar met a delegation from Ethiopia to discuss implementation of the
electricity interconnection project.
23: Peace talks re-started in
Nairobi. The latest round of negotiations is scheduled to focus on the presidency,
the composition of the legislature, relations between the central government
and the government of southern Sudan, where the national capital should be,
elections, and participation of southerners in the central government. The U.S.
welcomed the resumption of talks, but was concerned by recent government
attacks in the Western Upper Nile region. Also, UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan’s Humanitarian Envoy to Sudan, Tom Eric Vraalsen, said he hoped the talks
would continue in a spirit of goodwill.
23: Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir
has requested that the peace talks between his government and the SPLA also
deal with the fight against HIV/AIDS. "We are asking all the negotiators
and intermediaries to give an important place to the question of AIDS, for if
not there will be no one left to share the power and wealth" of Sudan, he
said.
25: Algerian Minister of State for
Justice Mohamed Charfi and his Sudanese counterpart Ali Muhammad Uthman Yasin
signed a framework agreement on legal and judicial cooperation between Algeria
and Sudan. It included cooperation on a number of legal issues, the most
important of which was "exchange of information on individuals' criminal
records and the handing over of criminals.”
26: Sudanese Foreign Minister
Mustafa Osman Ismail said he was encouraged by the latest peace talks to end
the civil war, which he said were going ahead in a “serious spirit.”
27: More than 10,000 Sudanese marched
through Khartoum to protest a threatened US-led invasion of Iraq, shouting
support for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and denouncing "Arabs of the
dollar.”
27: There was heavy fighting between
Sudanese government forces and the SPLA in Western Upper Nile (Wahdah State)
south of the garrison town of Leer. Humanitarian sources said that over the
last four weeks, fighting in Wun (Wahdah State) had been concentrated in Mayom
County and around the oil fields south of Bentiu. In Mayom county there
appeared to be a deliberate attempt to attack relief sites, thereby cutting off
local people from humanitarian assistance, said one source.
27: The SPLA asked Kenyan mediators
to suspend for one day the third round of peace talks with the Khartoum
government, which they accused of violating a ceasefire. The SPLA said that,
since December 31, government forces had conducted large-scale land and air
attacks on SPLA bases and civilian targets in Western Upper Nile, burning down
several villages in the process and retaking five major towns under SPLM/A
control.
27: Sudan and Chad signed a security
protocol under which a joint security force would be set up to maintain
security along the common borderline. They also signed a memorandum of
understanding for bilateral political coordination.
27: The United States said it was
"deeply concerned" by reports that the Sudanese government is
violating a ceasefire with attacks in the southern part of the country. If
true, the reports would bring into doubt Khartoum's commitment to peace talks
with southern rebels now underway in Kenya, the State Department said. It announced
that it was sending a U.S. "civilian protection monitoring team"
(CPMT) to investigate reports of the attack.
28: SPLM/A officials met with
mediators of the Sudan peace talks being held in Nairobi to discuss how to
resolve a dispute over Khartoum's alleged violation of a ceasefire by capturing
the town of Leer. The government denied the SPLM/A claim that it had captured
Leer in the Western Upper Nile state, saying the town has been under government
control since 1996.
28: The European Union head office
said it would give 71 million euro (US$77 million) in humanitarian assistance
to Congo, Sudan and the western African nations of Sierra Leone, Guinea, and
Liberia. The second aid package of 20 million euro (US$22 million) will fund
relief aid in Sudan. As a response to disease and war-induced famine the EU
said it would "continue covering the whole (Sudanese) territory according
to needs," providing urgent food and water aid. It would also pay for
transport of aid to war zones.
28: Khartoum warned Washington that
it was jeopardizing its role as a neutral arbiter in the Sudanese peace process
after it expressed concern over reported ceasefire violations by government
troops. "US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher should not have
made this statement which could impair the US neutrality," Foreign
Minister Mustafa Ismail told reporters.
29: Talks between the Sudan government and SPLM/A
resumed after it was decided that allegations of truce violations that
threatened to derail negotiations be addressed separately.
29: American military experts
traveled to southern Sudan to investigate cease-fire violations. Retired
Brigadier General Herbert Lloyd and former senator John Danforth led a team of
American military experts to the Leer area at the request of Kenyan peace
mediator Lt. Gen. Lazaro Sumbeiywo,
30: About 200 Sudanese were rounded
up in a security crackdown in Egypt over the last three weeks, but most were
released after they proved their legal status in Egypt. Most of those rounded
up had either permanent or temporary protection status with the United Nations
Higher Commission for Refugees but did not have the papers with them.
30: Talisman Energy Inc.'s
$758-million sale of its stake in Sudan's major oil project to India's national
oil company was delayed a second time, raising questions over whether the deal
will be completed as planned. Talisman said the project's other partners had
yet to approve the sale to India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp., meaning the
expected closing day of January 31 would not be met.
31: Amnesty International
welcomed growing openness in Sudan, but said it remained worried about alleged
human rights abuses such as arbitrary detention and forced recruitment of child
soldiers. Amnesty officials said this during its first official mission allowed
by Sudan in 13 years.
31: The New Delhi-based Oil and
Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) said it hopes to finalize in February the purchase of a
25-percent stake in Sudan's controversial but lucrative oil project from
Canada's Talisman Energy Inc.
February 1:
International observers in Sudan's central Nuba Mountains called for the
region's ceasefire to be transformed into a full-fledged peace deal between the
government and SPLA. "Instead of continuing as an accord for cessation of
military operations, the ceasefire agreement should be transformed into a peace
agreement," said the chief of the Joint Military Commission (JMC),
Brigadier General Jean Wilhelmsen.
1: SPLA spokesman George Garang said more than 1,000
government troops and allied militia - supported by tanks and helicopter
gunships - attacked Akobo in Eastern Upper Nile on January 31, killing 20
civilians and violating a cease-fire agreement. Government officials could not
immediately be reached for comment.
1: The United Arab Emirates and Sudan
signed a free trade agreement to gradually remove custom barriers between them
to increase bilateral trade.
2: Two Sudan pro-government militias
said they have seized the southern town of Akobo from the SPLA in renewed
fighting as peace talks continued in Kenya. South Sudan Defense Force (SSDF)
commander Gathouth Gathoth said his militia was not bound by the truce between
the government and SPLA, although Paulino Matip, a major general in Sudan’s
army, heads the SSDF. The other militia, South Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM)
is an independent militia group headed by Michael Wal.
3: Sudan's Oil Minister Awad Al-Jaz
said that the Sudanese oil ministry is holding talks with companies from the
Middle East, Europe, Asia and South Africa over Block 8 in the southeast, Block
9 near the capital of Khartoum and Block 15 on the Red Sea coast. Sudan hopes
to seal deals with foreign companies for drilling rights to three exploration
blocks by end-March, helping the war-torn African country boost its oil exports
of between 270,000 and 300,000 barrels a day, he said.
3: Sudanese Minister of Interior
Abdrahim Hussein said authorities in Sudan and Saudi Arabia have agreed to
coordinate efforts to fight terrorism, forgery, illegal arms trade, and drug
dealing.
4: The Sudan government officials
and the SPLM/A formally agreed to a set of measures aimed at preventing further
violations of the ceasefire pact they signed last year. These measures include
an obligation by both parties to inform a "communications committee"
created under the ceasefire agreement of all troop movements in advance. They
also agreed to allow a ceasefire verification and monitoring team access to
their areas of control, for each side to return to the other any territory that
had been captured since the MOU was signed last October, and a promise by the
Sudan government to suspend construction of a road through the oil fields of
southern Sudan until a final and comprehensive peace agreement has been signed.
The U.S. has said it welcomed these and other measure to rescue the ceasefire.
5: Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu
Ragheb left for Sudan to co-chair meetings of a joint Jordanian-Sudanese
committee that will discuss ways of boosting political and economic ties. The
two countries were expected to sign a series of bilateral agreements during the
one-day visit.
5: The Sudan government and the
SPLM/A have committed themselves to "effect the immediate voluntary
return" to their homes of civilian populations displaced within Western
Upper Nile, from WUN to neighbouring Bahr el Ghazal, and all other civilians
who had been displaced since the signing of the October agreement on a
cessation of hostilities.
5: British Foreign Secretary Jack
Straw and International Development Secretary Clare Short issued a statement
saying they “warmly welcome” progress made in the Sudan peace talks and urged
the parties to implement the addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
on Cessation of Hostilities. They also said they would support the work of the new
Verification and Monitoring Team (VMT) and would provide development and
humanitarian assistance to Sudan and help with debt-reduction.
5: An African Union delegation led
by South Africa's Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma held talks with
Sudanese officials in Khartoum following tensions between Khartoum and Asmara.
Relations between Sudan and Eritrea have been strained since Khartoum accused
Asmara of taking part in an October rebel offensive in eastern Sudan, a charge
denied by Eritrea.
6: The Sudan government and the
SPLM/A said that they have made “significant progress” on deciding how they
would share wealth, agreeing to establish a petroleum commission to work out
how to divide the oil wealth that has fueled the conflict. They also agreed on the
main principles of how to share power between the two sides. However, the final
details on wealth and power sharing – such as who will have which cabinet
posts, and what the national assembly will look like – will be worked out when
the two sides resume talks on March 1. Lt. Gen. Lazaro Sumbeiywo, the Kenyan
mediator at the talks, predicted that peace would come to Sudan “before the end
of the year.”
6: Jordan and Sudan signed a free trade zone agreement likely to bolster trade volumes between the two countries and liberalize trade two years ahead of the total liberalization of trade exchange among the entire Arab world under the pan-Arab free trade agreement. The agreements and protocols signed in Khartoum cover the fields of vocational training and labour, health, tourism, cultural exchange, youth and sports, scientific research, housing, construction, agriculture, veterinary medicine, quarries, and pharmaceuticals.
9: During the weeklong Sudanese
Investment and Cultural Forum in Dubai, the Sudanese Consulate General
announced that it would set up its office in Dubai on land donated by the Dubai
government, and Sudatel registered with the UAE stock exchange.
9: A U.S. monitoring team said
recent fighting between the Sudan government and the SPLA has displaced
thousands of southern Sudanese civilians from villages such as Lara, Tam,
Nhialdou, Leel and those south of Mankien and Mayo in the Western Upper Nile
region. It said that the Sudanese army and its allied militias were responsible
for "most" of the suffering inflicted on civilians during fighting
last month with the SPLA.
10: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have
all been scheduled for sharp cuts in U.S. development aid while southern
Sudanese rebels stand to receive a huge increase in such assistance, according
to budget proposals unveiled by U.S. President George W. Bush. Sudan might
receive nearly $50 million in U.S. development aid next year, which would be
five times the amount it got last year. Almost all that money is intended for
projects in rebel-held areas of the country and is seen as a way to encourage
the end of the war, analysts said.
11: Approximately 27,000 Eritreans
have reapplied for refugee status in Sudan more than a month after the 31
December deadline that ended refugee status for hundreds of thousands of
Eritreans, said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The
applications - one per family - represent nearly 100,000 people living mainly
in refugee camps and urban centres in Sudan.
12: Following a report from U.S.
monitors investigating clashes in the Western Upper Nile region, the United
States has condemned "unconscionable attacks and abuses" against
civilians in the Western Upper Nile region by the Sudan government, which it
says has violated the ceasefire signed last year with rebels in the south. But
the government now seems to be adhering to the ceasefire, it said.
12: Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi warned that Eritrea could try to sabotage oil deliveries by truck from
Sudan to his country. "We do not exclude the possibility that Eritrean
President Issaias Afeworki is attempting, directly or indirectly, to undermine
good relations between Sudan and Ethiopia through acts of sabotage," he
told the Cairo publication Al-Hayat.
13: The Malaysian company Kota
Minerals & Chemicals Sdn Bhd (KMC), which provides specialized services to
the oil and gas industry, is optimistic about its maiden venture in Sudan.
Chief executive officer Shah Hakim Zain said KMC's penetration into Sudan was
part of the company's expansion into foreign markets.
14: Mr. Amara Essy, interim chairman
of the African Union (AU), welcomed the joint statement issued on February 4,
2003 by the Sudan government and the SPLM/A at the end of their just concluded
third round of negotiations in Nairobi.
ENDS
The agreements reached in early February between the
Sudan government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) have
been such a breakthrough that Kenyan Special Envoy of Sudan Gen. Lazaro
Sumbeiywo told journalists in Nairobi February 6 that "this was possibly
the end of the war." He and analysts from all stripes hailed the
agreements as revolutionary and predicted that peace would come to Sudan by the
end of the year at the latest. The talks are set to resume March 1 in the posh
Nairobi suburb called Karen, and the details are yet to be worked out. These
are the points that the two parties have generally and specifically agreed upon
so far.
Addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding on
Cessation of Hostilities between the Government of Sudan (GOS) and the Sudan
People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), February 4:
* both sides will inform the Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) Communications Committee in advance of all troop movements,
including rotations, and the supply and re-supply of non-combat items
* both sides will provide the MOU Communications
Committee with the identity and location of their own forces and all allied
forces and affiliated militia
* a Verification and Monitoring Team (VMT) –
consisting of representatives from the two sides, personnel and aircraft from
the Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT), representatives from the
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the African Union, and
observers from the United States, Norway, the United Kingdom, Italy, and other
nations – will monitor the situation and investigate and report on violations.
The VMT will have free access to areas where complaints have been filed, and
will notify the MOU Communications Committee of the results of all its missions
* any locations that any party have taken over in
violation of the original MOU, signed by both sides on October 17, 2002, will
be immediately returned to the party that had control over those areas when the
MOU was signed.
Joint Communiqué Between the Government of Sudan and
the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army Regarding Strengthening the MOU on
the Cessation of Hostilities, February 6:
* both sides agree to take “all necessary steps” to
facilitate the immediate voluntary return of the civilian population of Western
Upper Nile (WUN) to their home areas and villages, as well as those who were
displaced to Bahr-el-Ghazal, and other civilians who were displaced. The
parties ask IGAD’s observer nations and the international community to help
return the displaced to their homes
* both sides appeal to the international community to
provide humanitarian relief to drought-stricken areas of Bahr-el-Ghazal and
other places
* the MOU Communications Committee shall enable the
VMT to investigate allegations of MOU violations. Both sides pledge to abide by
the committee’s decisions.
Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Points of
Agreement on Power Sharing and Wealth Sharing Between the Government of Sudan
(GOS) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), February 6:
* both sides agreed to “many elements” of a text
outlining structures of government called, “Final Draft Protocol on Power
Sharing within the Framework of a Broad-Based Government of National Unity
between the Government of the Republic of the Sudan (GOS) and the Sudan
People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A)”
* both sides agreed completely on the protocol’s:
general principles; the constitutional review process, including the procedure
to draft and adopt an interim constitution; the establishment of international
and national institutions; and population census before elections
* the parties made “significant progress” with
agreeing no the general principles and framework of resource sharing between
the different levels of government as outlined in the document titled “Aspects
of the Wealth Sharing Protocol”
* the parties set up a Petroleum Commission that,
among other things, would oversee revenues coming from the oil fields of
southern Sudan, and have agreed on banking and monetary issues (including a
banking system based on interest)
* both sides agreed not to re-open for debate issues
that had been agreed up in these texts.
ENDS
As the U.S. heats up its campaign to wage war against
Iraq, church observers are watching to see how the rhetoric – and a possible
war – would affect the delicate peace talks being held between the Sudan
government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).
Negotiations between the two sides began in the
Kenyan town of Machakos in the middle of last year. Among their accomplishments
include a protocol that commits the Sudan government to confining Sharia
(Islamic law) to the north, rather than imposing it on the population of the
south, which is largely Christian and followers of traditional African
religions.
The agreement also grants south Sudan a six-year
period of administrative autonomy, after which the population can decide in a
referendum whether to stay in Sudan or secede.
The two sides also agreed, in principle, to stop
fighting during the duration of the talks.
At the latest round of talks, which ended February 6
and are set to resume in March, the two sides agreed on how and when to draft a
constitution, the establishment of a Petroleum Commission, a banking system,
and “significant but not comprehensive agreement” on government structures.
In the next round, they are expected to work out in
greater detail issues of how to share power and wealth, particularly that
arising from the oil-rich south.
However, a military strike against Iraq by the U.S.
might affect Muslim-Christian relations within Sudan and efforts by the U.S. to
put pressure on the Sudan government to negotiate in good faith, according to
requirements of the Sudan Peace Act, say observers.
“Sudan owes its allegiance to the Arab community;
they define Sudan as an ‘Arab’ country,” said a source close to the Sudan
Catholic Bishops’ Regional Conference (SCBRC), who asked not to be named.
Whether or not Muslim-Christian relations will be
affected in the country “depends on how the Arabic world reacts” to the US’s
campaign and whether the media and religious and political leaders depict the
strike against Iraq as a Christian-Muslim war.
He decried the U.S. campaign against Iraq, calling a
pre-emptive strike “immoral. Even the threat of war is a tragedy,” he said.
“On the part of the Arab world, I would not be
surprised if they were supporting Khartoum,” said Bishop Caesar Mazzalari of
Rumbek. He said that, for its part, “the U.S. has been highly disappointed in
its dealings with Sudan,” particularly because of violations of the cease-fire.
Prof. Cirino Hiteng, a lecturer of international
relations and politics at the United States International University – Africa
Campus in Nairobi, had said in a recent briefing to the All Africa Conference
of Churches (AACC) that the war could galvanize the Arab world against all
Christian communities, including those in south Sudan.
However, this could be advantageous to southern
Sudan, he said, by pitting Khartoum directly against the Americans.
Hiteng criticized the peace talks for excluding the
input of churches, non-government groups, and other civil society representatives.
“Real Christian support is lacking in the peace process and we need it to lobby
for peace,” he told the AACC briefing. He said that Islamic organizations “even
supply military hardware to government.”
Certainly, anti-American sentiment in Khartoum is
rising. On January 27, more than 10,000 Sudanese marched through Khartoum
protesting the U.S.’s threatened strike against Iraq.
They chanted, "down, down USA, we will not be
ruled by the CIA," as well as "shame upon you Arabs of the
dollar," and "we will not be humiliated and will not obey the
Americans," reported AFP.
According to the AFP report, "The enemies have
rallied against Iraq because it has raised the banner of Islam," Iraq's
ambassador to Sudan, Ahmed Tareq Abdallah, told the demonstrators. The U.S. and
other countries "have allied to break the bone of the Arab nation and to
deprive it of its faith and values," the ambassador said, adding:
"The moment of the jihad has now arrived."
ENDS
January 23: Uganda's
defense minister Amama Mbabazi announced that he plans to meet with his
Sudanese counterpart Bakri Hassan Salih. Mbabazi was quoted as saying the war
against terrorism still continues as "they (rebels) tried to reestablish
themselves in southern Sudan."
23: Ugandan forces operating in
southern Sudan this week overran two Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) defense lines
southwest of Lubang-Tek inside Sudan, where the rebel force was constructing
what was suspected to be an airfield, Defense Minister Amama Mbabazi said in
Kampala. One LRA fighter was killed in the struggle.
29: Ugandan Defense Minister Amama
Mbabazi said army commander Maj. Gen. James Kazini is discussing with Sudanese
army officers how the two armies can work together to eradicate Lord’s
Resistance Army (LRA) rebels based in southern Sudan.
31: The Ugandan army has dug up an
arms cache of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) along the Kit River valley
in southern Sudan and recovered an assortment of weapons. Paddy Ankunda, the Uganda
People's Defense Forces (UPDF) spokesman based in northern Uganda, said that
among the weapons were 15 anti-personnel mines, 30 anti-personnel fuses, five
rocket propeller grenades, and six bombs. He also said that January 30, the
UPDF rescued 26 abductees from different LRA rebel groups in northern Kitgum
and Gulu districts.
February 4: Julius
Onen, Acting Permanent Secretary in Uganda’s Foreign Ministry, said that 49
ex-Ugandan rebels are being held in Khartoum under unclear circumstances. The
49 are part of the Uganda National Rescue Front II (UNRF II) and the Uganda
National Freedom Movement rebels who responded to the Ugandan government's
Amnesty Declaration and the peace deal sealed last year.
7: Uganda President Yoweri Museveni
has instructed Chief of Military Intelligence Col. Noble Mayombo to hold talks
with the Sudanese People Liberation Army (SPLA) rebels in order to stop their
combatants from entering Uganda with guns. He said the SPLA are using their
guns to threaten people and loot inside Yumbe district.
2. Religious leaders call for
support for peace process to end LRA war
By Linda Frommer
"The overwhelming cry from the civil society has been and continues to be
'Stop the Wear Now and Save the Life and Future of our Children," said former
Anglican Bishop Ochola Jan. 28, as he called upon the international community
to support efforts to bring an end to the 17-year war in northern Uganda
between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government of Yoweri
Museveni.
The bishop was speaking on behalf of the Acholi
Religious Leaders Peace Initiative, which has been trying to launch a peace
process to end the war that has devastated the three northern Ugandan districts
of Gulu, Kitgum, and Pader.
"The only means to bring about a meaningful and
long-lasting peace in Uganda is through a negotiated settlement between the
various fighting groups in a manner that ensures there are no victors or
vanquished, but also wisely resolves the root causes for potential conflicts,”
he said.
Nearly one year ago, the Ugandan Popular Defense Forces (UPDF), under
Museveni's command, launched Operation Iron Fist against the LRA and sent UPDF
troops into southern Sudan where the LRA had hid out after it lost its support
from the government of Sudan in 1999. Army Commander James Kazini vowed that
the LRA would be finished by the new year.
However, Bishop Ochola charged, Operation Iron Fist has been a "total
failure" and has only led to: "The death of many hundreds of more
innocent people, more abductions of hundreds more innocent children, massive
displacement of the people in the north, more destruction of civilian vehicles
in ambushes on the roads, more cases of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted
diseases, and the closure of the roads in Gulu, Kitgum, and Pader."
In June 2002, nearly half a million Acholi people lived in camps for the
internally displaced, where they have languished since the government herded
people into the camps in late 1996. Today, six months later, 800,000 to one
million people are in the camps, and hundreds of thousands of others have fled
the districts. Famine stalks the region, not because of drought but because the
war raging in the region has brought agricultural production to a total halt in
the last year and no one is left in the countryside.
"This is the worst humanitarian crisis since the fighting began in
northern Uganda," said Ken Noah Davies, World Food Program (WFP) Director
in Uganda, in a WFP report released Feb. 1. "We had expected things to
improve in 2002, but instead the numbers of displaced has continued to
increase, and the displaced people have lost both of the last two harvests due
to insecurity. People are living like animals. They don't have a life. They
simply exist. If we stop providing food, they will die."
Recent reports from the district of Pader give the parameters of the
catastrophe. According to the local government report, the LRA infiltrated
Pader beginning in June, and the security situation drastically changed for the
worse. "Vehicles have been ambushed, looted, and burned. Defenseless
people [were] brutally massacred… A total of 10,462 huts have been
burned." More than 200,000 people – 44,424 households – are displaced in
20 camps and trading centers.
The heaviest blows are delivered to the district's terrorized children. Since
1995, the LRA has abducted children in northern Uganda as a way of recruitment.
During the course of the war, thousands of children have been kidnapped and
terrorized into killing their own family members and members of the Acholi
community or being killed themselves. Throughout its Operation Iron Fist, the
UPDF has made no attempt to differentiate between the LRA commanders and the
LRA's ranks of child soldiers.
As the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative noted
in a Jan. 28 report on events in January, "It is significant that ever
since the beginning of Operation Iron Fist, not a single one of the top LRA
commanders (Kony, Ottii, Nyeko, Rasca, Tabuley, Kolo, Odiambo, Kwoyelo, Banya,
Acellam, Opuk, or Opiro) has been killed. On the 4th of January, a helicopter
gunship bombed a group of rebels in Pella in Kitgum district. The newspapers
reported that 19 rebels had been killed. Eyewitnesses who visited the scene the
day after told us that they saw a lot of corpses of children."
As the UPDF's Operation Iron Fist kills the child ranks of the LRA, the LRA has
dramatically escalated its abductions to replenish its forces. In Pader, this
has resulted in nearly 4,000 abductions since June – more children captured than
during the course of the entire war. Another 3,000 children have been sent out
of the district for safekeeping. All schools are closed.
"The fact is," said Bishop Ochola, "that over 90 percent of the
LRA are the abducted children, torn away from their families by force and
thereby not willing participants in the war. The abducted children, like young
plants, are very vulnerable to having their humanity manipulated or twisted and
eventually destroyed by incredible trauma that they go through. The future of
these children is completely shattered and ruined by their life experience. The
ongoing Operation Iron Fist has already led to the deaths of hundreds of these
children."
For these reasons, Bishop Ochola said that the ARPLI sees no justification in
calling the war against the LRA a war against terrorism. The LRA is on the list
of terrorist organizations issued last year by the U.S. State Department.
"The terrorists targeted by the United States and their allies,
voluntarily chose to become so, whereas the children abducted by the LRA from
northern Uganda are mere victims of this conflict."
Given the failure of Operation Iron Fist and the terrible suffering of the
Acholi people, especially their children, the bishop has called upon the
international community to intervene to bring about a peace process that will
end the war. He said that this was "even more feasible and
foreseeable" because LRA commander Joseph Kony has publicly stated he is
seeking face-to-face negotiations to end the war and the Museveni government
has also appointed a negotiating team. On Feb. 4, Roman Catholic Archbishop
John Baptist Odama reported that the LRA has claimed to have chosen its
negotiating team. Since the possibility for negotiations exists, said Ochola,
"we appeal to the international community for their support and
cooperation to help push the process forward to its peaceful conclusion."
Since its launching, the international community has backed Operation Iron
Fist. Funds for military assistance to Uganda have been forthcoming from
Britain and the United States, with Washington channeling $3 million to the
Ugandan military in December 2002.
With the exception of the recent WFP report, the
escalation of the war in northern Uganda has been met with a deafening silence.
The press on the ground is now feeding this. According to the ARPL’s report, on
Oct. 12, 2002, the LRA massacred 90 civilians at their villages in Amyel in
Pader district, and "not a single word was published in the Ugandan
press." Abductions of children are also going unreported. "We
have reliable reports that in areas of Kitgum Matidi and Mucwini sub-counties,
children are abducted almost on a daily basis, 30 or 40 at a time. Usually
these facts are not reported in the press. For instance, on the 30th of
December 2002, 30 children were abducted from Madi-Opei. We sent the report to
the main newspapers, but nothing was published."
ENDS
January 16:
Authorities in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern
Somalia, said they would crack down on people trying to go to Yemen by boat.
Colonel Abdirazaq Afgadud, the Bari region (Bosaso area) police chief, said the
decision comes after a boat carrying 115 people sank off the coastline of
Puntland earlier this month, with most of the people feared dead. "Only 30
survived," he said.
20: The Kenya government appointed retired Ambassador Bethwel Kiplagat
to replace Elijah Mwangale as Special Envoy to Somalia, to head the peace talks
in Eldoret, Kenya. "He was under increasing pressure in recent weeks
following complaints by some of the Somali delegates, who last week met the new
Kenyan foreign minister Kalonzo Musyoka, and accused Mwangale of being
dictatorial," said an analyst.
21: Ever since the outbreak of fighting in the southwestern town of
Baidoa last July, humanitarian agencies have been unable to access the town,
said humanitarian sources. The fighting that engulfed the town - which had
enjoyed relative peace and stability since it was captured by the Rahanweyn
Resistance Army in 1998 - was caused by a split within the senior ranks of the
RRA, which controls much of the Bay and Bakol regions of southwestern Somalia.
22: Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka and the newly appointed
special envoy to Somalia, Ambassador Bethwel Kiplagat, met Somali delegates
gathered in the Kenyan town of Eldoret for peace talks. The appointment of
retired Ambassador Kiplagat to replace Elijah Mwangale was officially announced
last week.
22: Mogadishu-based faction leader Husayn
Aydid has called on the Somali delegates meeting in the Kenyan town of Eldoret
not to set up a presidential system of government. Aydid, who is the current
chairman of the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC) - a
grouping of southern factions opposed to the Transitional National Government
(TNG) - said there was so much mistrust between the various Somali groups that
"it would be next to impossible to settle on one individual" as
president.
23: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan,
citing progress in peace talks on Somalia and Sudan, has extended the
appointment of his special adviser for the Horn of Africa, Muhammad Sahnoun,
until the end of the year.
23: The Ethiopian Free Press Journalists' Association
(EFJA) has condemned as "draconian" draft press regulations newly
released by the government. The organization says the law – which could come
into force later this year – exposes journalists to heavy fines and
imprisonment “under the guise of a code of ethics”. “Members of the Ethiopia free
press have undergone great sufferings under the repressive press law and civil
and criminal laws that have been in force since the last 40 years,” the EFJA
said.
23: Ethiopia’s federal police have
beaten up clergymen and tortured religious demonstrators, said The Ethiopian
Human Rights Council (EHRCO). The assaults occurred after clashes between
police and demonstrators at Addis Ababa's Lideta Mariam Orthodox church on
December 26. The clashes were sparked by a dispute between the Church of Lideta
Mariam and the Addis Ababa Diocese. The community has been resisting attempts
by the office of the Patriarch to appoint a church administrator.
24: Human Rights Watch (HRW) said
that a crucial boundary ruling last year rejected many of Ethiopia’s claims to
territory after its war with Eritrea. Both countries claimed to have been
awarded the symbolic village of Badme where their border war flared up in 1998,
after a ruling issued by an international Boundary Commission in April 2002.
"The report [by the Boundary Commission] generally rejected Ethiopia's
claims including (without mentioning it by name) the claim to the village of
Badme where the war had started," HRW said in its 2003 World Report.
24: The Ethiopian government is
muzzling educators and students with a policy of harsh repression, Human Rights
Watch (HRW) said in its report, "Lessons in Repression: Violations of
Academic Freedom in Ethiopia.” This policy included extra judicial killings,
arbitrary arrests, and widespread denials of freedom of opinion and association,
it said. "Ethiopia's security forces have targeted students and teachers,
because they are among the most politically active elements of Ethiopian
society," Saman Zia-Zarifi, the academic freedom director for HRW, is
quoted as saying. "Ethiopia is on the brink of another famine, and it
needs educated people to lead the country out of this disaster."
24: Dozens of people have been killed amid spiraling ethic clashes
between rival groups in Ethiopia's western Gambella Region, on the border with
Sudan. Although the area has traditionally been witness to tribal violence, the
ferocity and scale of attacks are now causing serious concern. Just two months
ago, at least 40 people were killed in a refugee camp. Now the United Nations
Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia (EUE) is urging action to try and break the
ever-growing cycle of violence. Much of the fighting has been between two ethic
groups – the Nuer who live close to the Ethio-Sudan border and are pastoralists
- and the Anyuaa, or Anuak, tribe.
27: The Ethiopian government has hit back at claims that it is trying to
push through draconian press laws aimed at restricting the country’s fledgling
media. The government said in a strongly worded statement that the private
press often abuses its position and the new draft law will create “strong,
responsible” media. The comments come after widespread criticism among
international journalists' organizations and the Ethiopian Free Press
Journalists' Association, who say that the new law – which could come into force
later this year – would restrict freedom of expression and prevent journalists
from doing their work.
27: Somali leaders attending the peace talks in the Kenyan town of Eldoret have
proposed that extra delegates be allocated to represent the self-declared
republic of Somaliland in northwestern Somalia. Col Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmad, the
president of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern
Somalia, said that the leaders' committee had agreed to propose to the
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development technical committee "to give
Somaliland 50 extra delegates and five members in the leaders' committee.
28: A fistfight erupted at the Somali
peace conference in Eldoret, Kenya, when civil society delegates were barred
from a meeting of the leaders' committee. An argument ensued between Id Badal,
a civil society member, and Mawlid Ma'ane, the leader of the SAMO [Somali
African Muki Organisation] faction, and this "led to a fight between the
two.” Later in the day, a group of men followed a prominent member of the civil
society, Prof Muhammad Abdi Ghandi, to Eldoret town and "beat him up
pretty badly." said the source. Ghandi was taken to the hospital but was
later released. Police arrested Mawlid Ma'ane and four of his supporters.
29: The authorities in the
self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, have lifted
the ban on BBC reporters Ahmad Muhammad Kismayo and Muhammad Khalif Gir,
according to Abdishakur Mire Adan, Puntland’s deputy information minister. The
two were banned from reporting from the region last year after being accused by
the authorities of "not being objective in their reporting of events in
the region.
29: Prof Muhammad Abdi 'Gandhi,’ who
is attending the Eldoret peace talks, said he would withdraw charges against
faction leader Mawlid Ma'ane, whose supporters kicked Abdi and attacked him
with a lead pipe, if certain conditions are met. Firstly, they had to apologize
for the attack; secondly, they had to promise that such an incident would never
happen again; thirdly, "they have to acknowledge that civil society groups
have the independent right to participate in the conference without consent
from the factions,” said Abdi.
29: A radical re-shaping of the civil
service within Ethiopia will ensure transparency and speed up democracy, said a
statement released by the Ministry of Information. It urged the continuation of
the much-welcomed civil service reform programme and said that some government
departments were failing to meet the required standards of the scheme, launched
last September by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
29: The U.S. has written off
almost US $30 million in debt for drought-stricken Ethiopia, which is strapped
with a massive US $6 billion debt burden. U.S. ambassador Aurelia Brazeal signed
the deal, which wipes out all the debt owed to the U.S. up to March 2004,
including arrears and servicing.
30: The UN’s Force Commander in
Ethiopia and Eritrea Major General Robert Gordon has called for “building
mutual confidence” between the two sides. He said that by forging a close
partnership, both sides could overcome what he described as “local problems.”
Military leaders from both Ethiopia and Eritrea met under the auspices of the
Military Coordination Commission (MCC). Under the terms of the peace deal
signed by both countries in December 2000, the MCC provides a forum for
military leaders to thrash out details surrounding the peace process.
30: Human Rights Watch (HRW) has
called for nearly 100,000 citizens expelled by both Eritrea and Ethiopia during
their 1998-2000 border war to be allowed to return home and have their
citizenship restored.
30: Fighting resumed in the southern Somali town of Baidoa on Wednesday
when forces loyal to the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA) chairman, Hasan
Muhammad Nur Shatigadud, attacked troops loyal to the RRA faction of Shaykh
Aden Madobe and Muhammad Ibrahim Habsade, his former deputies. At least six
people were killed and many others were wounded in the fighting.
31: Ethiopia has said it will welcome Eritrean President Isayas Afeworki
if he comes to the capital, Addis Ababa, for the African Union (AU) summit,
which will convene on February 1. Haile Kiros, who in charge of the
preparations for the summit for Ethiopia, which is hosting the four-day
meeting, said differences had to be put aside for the sake of Africa.
February 3: The
Somali peace conference underway in the Kenyan town of Eldoret is said to have
stalled for lack of a quorum by the regional technical committee that is
piloting the proceedings. Some prominent faction leaders are also absent from
Eldoret.
3: At the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, South African President
Thabo Mbeki urged African leaders to use their influence to resolve the crisis
in Iraq. He called on heads of state to wield pressure through the UN’s
Security Council to ensure a peaceful resolution to the crisis.
4: Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka said that Somali factions
attending peace talks underway in Eldoret, Kenya, face expulsion or other
sanctions if they continue to violate the October 27 ceasefire agreement. There
have been continued violations, with fighting in the capital, Mogadishu, the
towns of Las Anod in the northeast and Baidoa in the southwest, and in the
Bari, Bay, Bakol, Gedo and Lower Shabelle regions.
5: A local businessman said a severe
fuel shortage has hit the Somali capital, Mogadishu, over the past two weeks
due to the fact that no cargo of petroleum had reached Mogadishu for "at
least a month.” Fuel prices have sky-rocketed, with the price of petrol
doubling within a week. The shortage was reportedly affecting not only the
transport sector but also many of the light industries which had proliferated
in the city over the last couple of years.
5: A high-level United Nations team began a five-day visit to the
self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, to see how
the U.N. can do more work in Puntland and strengthen working relations with the
Puntland authorities. A team from the UN Development Programme was also
visiting Puntland with a view to re-establishing specific programmes.
6: In an interview with the U.N.’s news agency IRIN, Somalia’s
Transitional National Government (TNG) Foreign Minister Yusuf Hassan Ibrahim
said “tremendous difficulties” face Somalia, but there is widespread
recognition that if the conference doesn’t succeed and there is no other
alternative, then Somalia will be “doomed.” He said that if the international
community recognized Somaliland “you usher in disintegration, because there
will be others seeking secession and the international community will face a
very difficult situation if they open that door.” He denied that Somalia is a
base for Al Qaeda organizations.
6: The first group of Somali Bantu
refugees will probably reach the United States this spring after the U.S.
agreed to take them in. The 12,000 or so refugees under consideration for
admission to the U.S. have been in refugee camps in Kenya for over 10 years.
7: Eritrean President Isayas
Afewerki described Ethiopia as the "spoilt child of the world's
superpowers.” He said some countries were afraid of Ethiopia's
"disintegration" and therefore believed "it is better to take
care of the present regime.” He accused Ethiopia of hindering border
demarcation, because of its "desire to incorporate Badme into Ethiopian
territory.” Both countries claim to have been awarded Badme.
10: The Somali peace talks currently under way
in the western Kenyan town of Eldoret are to be moved to the capital, Nairobi,
by February 15, said an organizer.
10: A foreign ship and its crew, held
for six months by Somali militiamen, escaped on Saturday from the self-declared
autonomous region of Puntland. More than a dozen gunmen in speedboats
originally seized the North Korean-registered, Greek-owned cargo ship last
August off the coast of Puntland.
11: Ethiopia dismissed claims by Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki that
it is massing troops on the common border. Information Minister Bereket Simon
said that if Ethiopia had been massing troops, the UN peacekeeping force which
patrols a 25-km wide buffer zone would be aware. “We would like to avoid any
conflict. That is the last thing we need.”
11: A controversial new Ethiopian draft press law violates African goals of
freedom of expression and good governance set by the New Partnership for Africa
(NEPAD), said the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists' Association (EFJA).
Elements of the new law include sections whereby newspapers will have to pay
tax on press releases and government officials have 30 days to respond to a
question.
12: Large foreign ships are harassing and intimidating Somali fishermen
around the southern coastal towns of Marka and Barawe, according to local
fishermen. Marka fisherman Mahmud Kulow Aweys said that many of the ships were
fishing in Somali waters illegally, cut the nets of local fishermen at night,
and had arms and occasionally opened fire on Somali fishing boats.
13: Major General Robert Gordon, the UN’s Force Commander in Ethiopia
and Eritrea, reaffirmed the two countries' commitment to the peace process. He
said the armed forces of both countries had shown great discipline in abiding
by the terms of a peace deal signed in December 2000.
13: A food security watchdog for Somalia has predicted a good secondary
harvest during January-February in southern Somalia, following a satisfactory
Deyr, or short rainy season, in the country.
14: A man has been killed by a mine in the 25 km buffer zone that
separates Ethiopia and Eritrea, Phil Lewis, who heads the UN Mine Action
Coordination Centre (MACC), told a weekly news briefing linking Addis Ababa and
Asmara. He said it was possible that mines were being planted within minutes of
an explosion. The UN’s Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) says it has no
idea who is planting the new mines, which Lewis said was “terrorizing” the
local population.
ENDS
Author: Maxamed Daahir Afrax
Language: Somali.
Date of publication: December 2002
Review by Ahmed Isse Awad
I believe it was the German philosopher, Jurgen
Habermas, who came up with the perceptive remark that the difference between
the developed world and the less developed one is that the former has an “open
space for discourse” that does not exist in the latter. There can be no doubt
of the role that open discourse and unbridled debate can play in the constant
rejuvenation, vitality, and progress of nations. It is, after all, the free
exchange of information and ideas that enhance people’s capacity to separate
white noise from relevant things that really matter in peoples’ lives.
It is, therefore, a good omen for the future of
Somalia that a book that ushers in open discourse and serious intellectual
debate is launched at this moment in Somali history when the country is at a
crossroads and much is at stake for the future of the Somalis as a nation.
Dr. Maxamed Daahir Afrax, the author of A country
without people in a world without conscience: Will Somalia be born again?
is a novelist, playwright, critic, journalist and literary scholar who writes
in Somali, Arabic, and English. His major published works include three novels
in Somalia: ‘Guur-ku-sheeg’ (1975), ‘Maana-faay’ (1979) and ‘Galti-macruuf’
(1980), and a historical novel in Arabic, ‘Nida Al-Horiyah’ (1976), in
addition to several short stories, in Arabic and Somali, published in different
magazines in Somalia and the Arab world. He wrote two plays, one of which ‘Durbaan
Been ah’ (A Deceptive Dram) was staged in 1979 by then famous Danan Artists
several times at the Somali National Theatre in Mogadishu before going on tour.
In the field of criticism and literary studies, Dr.
Afrax’s major contribution was a unique book of theatre criticism and
historical analysis entitled ‘Somali Drama: Historical and Critical Study,’
which first came out in 1987. He is also the co-author of a
multi-disciplinary book in English, The Somali Challenge, published in
the United States in 1994. Dr. Afrax left Somalia in 1981 because of his
criticisms of the elite, moved to Yemen for a while, and now lives in exile in
London. While in exile, Dr. Afrax headed the Ministry of Information and
Culture’s Theatre Research Section in the Yemen government. He is also a
founding member of the African Writers Abroad Centre of the International
P.E.N. in London, and received his PhD in literature from the University of
London.
Dr. Afrax’s latest work can be roughly translated
into English as A country without people in a world without conscience: Will
Somalia be born again? The book expands on an earlier article that Dr.
Afrax wrote that was published in many Somali newspapers and websites. He was
also motivated to write the book after observing the proceedings of the Somali
National Reconciliation Conference that was, until February 15, being held in
the western Kenyan town of Eldoret.
Dr. Afrax’s basic premise is that there is now a
pressing need as well as a unique opportunity for the Somali people – who have
remained stateless and has been living under difficult conditions in the last
12 years – to engage in an all-inclusive national dialogue and enlightened
debate about the future of their country, instead of relying on quick fix
approaches to the Somali crisis and rushing into superficial power-sharing
deals without trying to identify and address the root causes of Somalia’s
present predicament.
The book is divided into five chapters containing
several sections and sub-sections, all of which are organized in an amazingly
coherent structure centering on an original thesis or central argument. In
Chapter 1, “A country failed by its people,” Dr. Afrax raises the provocative
question of whether a whole nation can go crazy, and whether Somalis have all
gone into a temporary psychiatric asylum! He then answers in the positive by
using the authority of sociologists such as Eric Fromm, author of ‘The Sane
Society.’ Dr. Afrax points out that the suicidal behaviour of the Somali
people and the madness that possessed them have been brought about by the
short-sightedness of its leadership elite, the apathy of its people, and by the
intrigues and negative interferences of foreign powers including certain
neighbouring countries. Dr. Afrax explains how the political leadership, the
educated class, and the business class have betrayed the country by succumbing
to and contracting the three deadly diseases that the author believes are
responsible for the sad state of affairs in Somalia: clan chauvinism;
war-mongering; and excessive love of political power.
In Chapter 2, “Negative foreign interference,” the
author explains how Somalia has been let down by both its own people and
external actors. The combination of these two negative factors has laid the
seeds of Somalia’s self-annihilation. The author laments how the international
community, particularly Western powers, contributed to the present predicament
of Somalia and then left it alone to its own destructive devices as the voices
of the Somali people and their many appeals to be rescued fell on the deaf ears
of a world community that seems to have lost its sense of moral obligation.
Nonetheless, the author lays much of the blame on the Somali leadership elite,
whose greedy ambitions coupled with the complacency of both the masses and
outside actors have made the country and its people easy prey to the
destructive exercise of internal and external evildoers.
On the other hand, however, Dr. Afrax highlights
several shining examples of the positive role that the international community
has played in supporting the Somali people. He lauds the generosity and
hospitality that the Kenya government has shown by welcoming hundreds of
thousands of Somalis fleeing from the inferno of the civil war into Kenya,
while praising the neutrality and continuous efforts of the Kenyan government in
finding a solution to the Somali problem, including the hosting of the National
Reconciliation Conference now underway. Another bright example that the author
cites is the continued humanitarian assistance provided by the United Nations,
the EU, and other international organizations that continued to help the Somali
people. The author has praised Ethiopia for the goodwill and generosity
initially demonstrated in hosting Somali peace conferences and welcoming
thousands of Somali refugees into the country. Yet, there have been deeply
concerning recent and negative changes in Ethiopia’s policy towards Somalia, he
notes.
In Chapter 3, “Djibouti’s role in the Somalia peace
process,” Dr. Afrax praises the government and people of Djibouti – especially
at the grassroots level – in their tireless efforts to help find a solution to
the Somali conundrum. The study sheds light on many useful lessons learned from
the Djibouti initiative, including “missed opportunities.” For example, he
points out that had the international community supported the outcome of the
peace process in Arta, the situation in Somalia could have been different from
what it is today. It is to the credit of Djibouti that Somalia is once again
represented in various international forums.
In Chapter 4, “Critical Assessment of the TNG
experience,” the author assesses the achievements and failures of the
Transitional National Government (TNG). For example, the TNG should have
undertaken serious dialogue with the opposition, particularly in the early
stages of its inception. The TNG should have also shown better judgment in how
it managed the financial support it received from some friendly countries. The
TNG leadership was expected to respect the rule of law and act according to the letter and the spirit of the
Transitional National Charter, but failed in this and other endeavours.
On the other hand, the author points out that the TNG
has demonstrated commitment to the promotion of the national interest and the
introduction of forgotten democratic political practice. The TNG has succeeded,
in spite of the challenges posed internally and externally, to lay some
foundations for the state institutions that have been missing for more than a
decade. The leadership of the TNG, despite its failures in other leadership
aspects, has shown a sense of democratic tolerance and willingness to
relinquish power by constitutional means. The examples cited in the book
include the responsible response of the former TNG Prime Minister Dr. Ali
Khalif Galaydh, who was voted out of office when Parliament withdrew its
confidence. The author also pointed out the TNG’s readiness to compromise and
give concessions, while in Eldoret and before, by both current Prime Minister
Hassan Abshir Farah, and the Speaker of Parliament, Abdulla Deerow Isaaq, as
well as statements by TNG President Abdiqassim Salad Hassan to relinquish power
if the Somali people so choose.
In Chapter 5, “Conclusion: can Somalia re-emerge from
the abyss?” the author raises the question of whether Somalia can emerge from
the abyss it has fallen into. Dr. Afrax is very much worried about the
country’s future if current attitudes and practices continue. On the other
hand, however, he is optimistic that the real roots of the problem can be recognized
and properly addressed. He suggests that it takes hard work and a change of
attitude on the part of the Somali people to get the country out of its
miserable present situation. This requires replacing: clan chauvinism with a
sense of nation-building guided by a clear vision of a new Somalia; the
war-mongering culture by a culture of peace-mindedness and tolerance; and the
thirst for political power – a despised greediness – with a democratic culture
where dialogue, political tolerance, and the rule of law are valued most.
The author implores the Somali people to change their
current way of thinking and to transform the destructive political culture that
has eaten into the soul of Somali society and has corrupted the collective
psyche of the nation. Another important objective of the book is to jump-start
an earnest debate among the Somali people in general and between the categories
of the Somali leadership elite that have been identified by the author as being
responsible for the disaster that has engulfed this country.
This is, indeed, a book worth reading and
contemplating upon. If the book helps pave the way for a new space of open
discourse where the Somali people would start to exchange ideas and debate the
future direction of their society in a civilized manner, then all the angst and
anxieties that the author has endured in writing this fabulous book will be
worthwhile.
ENDS
Major General John F. Sattler, the United States’
Commander of the Combined Joint Task Force in the Horn of Africa region, held
talks with the Kenya government during January on a wide range of issues,
particularly on how the Kenya government could help the U.S. fight terrorism.
The 400-staff joint task force – located aboard the USS Mount Whitney operating
in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean areas – was formed to oversee U.S. Central
Command operations in the Horn of Africa region in support of the Global War on
Terrorism. Here, Africanews-Sudan editor Cathy Majtenyi asks Major
Sattler about his talks with the Kenya government, terrorism in Kenya, and the
operations of his task force.
Q: Major General, you’ve been holding talks now with
the new Kenyan government this week. How do you think you could help Kenya in
its own fight against terrorism, with just having a terrorist attack in
Mombasa?
A: We’ve been meeting with the Kenyan
officials at the highest levels, both on the military side and the civilian
side. What we’ve discussed are an array of options, how we feel we can strengthen
our coalition partnership through our sharing of information, to the sharing of
intelligence and probably just as importantly, through the sharing of tactics,
techniques, and procedures on how to combat terrorism, ideas that we have that
will work, we think, very closely with the capabilities that the Kenyan
military and civilian forces already have. We have not come with all the
solutions and the answers, but we have come open-minded with some ideas and
thoughts that we fell will work very closely with the Kenyan government to make
us both stronger as partners.
Q: Could you, for example, envisage taking a squad
into Somalia where one of the people allegedly behind the Mombasa attack was
reported as possibly being seen?
A: All of the discussions we’ve had
to this point have been just taking a look at inside the borders as far as any
activity goes: military-to-military type training; technology sharing. All
those discussions both with the military and the civilian leadership have
[focused on] inside the sovereign borders of Kenya. I’ll be the first to admit
that we do collect intelligence across the entire Horn of Africa. We share
intelligence with, not only our coalition partners, but other agencies within
the U.S. government and other agencies within our coalition partner
governments. I think it’s our responsibility and our duty to take that
intelligence and share it. Any activity that would take place involving Kenyan
forces either inside Kenya or Kenyan forces anywhere in the world, those decisions
would obviously be made by the Kenyan leadership.
Q: Have you envisaged bringing in a section of the
personnel now based in and off Djibouti down here for any length of time for
training purposes or for purposes of closer military liaison?
A: We’ve discussed the possibility
of us bringing a training team in here to work closely with the already
professional Kenyan forces to hone in on some areas like border interdiction,
possibly counter-terrorism operations. The Kenyan government and military have some
very strong forces, but we feel that we may have some ideas and thoughts that
might once again be shared, that may be beneficial and helpful. There is not
decision now, no intent now, no offer now, to bring any forces and actually
locate them, to base them, inside of Kenya. These were merely the mobile
training teams, experts to come in and work with Kenyan forces to train them
and enhance and strengthen our capabilities as partners.
Q: Your overall command of the forces based in and
around the Horn of Africa has a naval component. Is that component searching
ships in this area, in the shipping lanes off Somalia, off Yemen, or are you
just monitoring?
A: The Combined Joint Task Force –
Horn of Africa, which I have the privilege to command, includes the land mass –
not the water – for Yemen, Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan.
But [we’ve already met numerous times with] the navy component commander, the
three-star navy admiral who commands the waters in that same area. There is no
seam there; it is a smooth transition from land to water, the passing of
intelligence and information.
Q: Are your forces on any heightened state of alert
because of the possible war with Iraq?
A: When General Franks assigned us
to come over and focus on the Horn of Africa, it was to make sure that we kept
the pressure on the trans-national terrorists. We already have a combined joint
task force in Afghanistan. Once we came through the Suez Canal into the Red
Sea, and we assumed the authority for the Horn of Africa countries for General
Franks, we were on a high state of alert at that point. We are still under that
same high state of alert today. Our forces are prepared, on very short notice,
to do what needs to be done to ensure that we and our coalition partners are
safe from any transnational or international terrorists regardless [if they
are] individuals or cells or large groups. Most importantly, we need to be
prepared on very short notice if actionable intelligence does come in and we do
have the opportunity to bring terrorist groups or individual terrorists to
justice, that we will be prepared on very short notice, and we are.
Q: Is one of the reasons you are here to look for
support from Kenya and the region for a possible action against Iraq, and if
so, what kind of support are you looking for?
A: The very simple answer is no.
Iraq did not even come up in any of the discussions that we’ve had, either with
the civilian or the military leadership. Our area of operations and
responsibility is restricted to those seven countries that I mentioned and we
in no way, shape, or form play into anything else that goes on…
Q: The U.S. recently issued a terrorist alert against
Zanzibar. Can you tell me more about that: what kind of information did you
base that on, and what’s being done in Zanzibar to increase security?
A: We receive a number of threat
warnings; some are corroborated and some are not, and we take every one
seriously, obviously. I would have to tell you that that one does not ring a
bell with me right now.
Q: What specific measures are you going to take to
help Kenya avoid terrorist attacks in the future and investigate the ones that
happened, especially the attacks in Mombasa?
A: Without speaking for the Kenyan
government or the Kenyan military, I think we both have a shared goal and that
we want to prevent – we don’t want to respond to – the next terrorist attack.
The goal is to pre-empt the next terrorist attack. We are hoping to get a
Kenyan officer on our staff to be a member of our team hopefully sometime over
the next month, to come out live with us, to work with us side by side to make
sure that we maintain a focus on the needs and the desires of the Kenyan
government and the Kenyan people. We would also like to push two of our
officers ashore to go and work with the embassy and the Kenyan government.
We’re looking at a few things: number one is the sharing of information and
intelligence. We have a tremendous ability to collect and do analysis and we
want to make sure that we are sharing that with all our coalition partners,
including Kenya, so that they will know and have a better idea of what may be
approaching either the porous borders that they have or their coastline. So
we’ll work very closely in intelligence sharing.
The second point is we will send a survey team to sit
down with the Kenyan government and leadership and decide what we could provide
in the way of training: tactics; skills; techniques that we have found and
worked with over time that will enhance the Kenyan armed forces to go ahead and
also interdict so that we can in fact prevent any additional attacks coming
across the border. We also have talked about humanitarian assistance,
civil-military operations, projects that could be done in the community with
the U.S. military working side-by-side with Kenyan military to increase
stabilization across the Horn of Africa. I want to make it very clear that we
did not slot the table on any timelines or any forces moving to train, etc…
This isn’t something new. This is to take the tremendous partnership that has
existed way before… We’ve had a tremendous relationship with the Kenyan people
and the Kenyan government, especially in the military-to-military training
together, and trading ideas and concepts. This would just be maybe focusing on
a different area, ie. border interdiction, and to enhance an already great
relationship.
Q: There have been lots of anti-war
protests from Muslims and non-Muslims. I’m wondering if the rhetoric of the
U.S. throughout all these operations may be actually making U.S. presence in
Kenya and other places more vulnerable to attack because of the rhetoric?
A: Regardless if it’s the United
States or any country, if the leadership of that country feels very strong
about a certain issue, whether it’s against armed conflict somewhere or to
force somebody to acquiesce and give up weapons of mass destruction. etc., I
think it’s imperative for that country to speak its mind and speak openly. What
the terrorists would like us to do is to change our lifestyle, to change our
way by virtue of inculcating fear through the terrorist acts that have already
occurred and the threat of additional terrorist acts. If we change our
lifestyle, if we change our openness, if we change the freedom of our press, if
any country locks down their borders and takes the civil liberties away from
their people or thinks twice before they do what they believe is right in their
heart, then we have acquiesced to the terrorists and they win. There may be
additional dangers, there may be additional threats, but we have to prepare
ourselves with vigilance and remain strong to be prepared to defeat that
terrorism… The last thing we really want to do is not do something out of fear,
because then they win.
ENDS