Ethiopian Troops Cast Shadow on Djibouti Talks, But Who Could or Would Replace Them?

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City

Press in Africa: News Analysis

DJIBOUTI, June 2/06/08

The Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia delegation meeting the UN Security Council laid down a condition for moving forward: there must be a timeline for Ethiopian troops to leave Somalia. Some saw this as a softening of the A.R.S. position, in which actual departure was the threshold for discussion. But who would replace the Ethiopians? 

   When A.R.S. vice-chairman Abdulrahman Abdishakur Warsame emerged from meeting with the Council to take questions, Inner City Press asked if the Alliance would support a UN Peacekeeping force in Somalia. Yes, he said, we would support that. But earlier in the day, the Council was told that there are no countries waiting to send troops. So what if the Ethiopians were “re-hatted” as UN Peacekeepers?

   Inner City Press asked Abdulrahman Abdishakur Warsame about reports that the town of Baidoa, defended until now by Ethiopian troop and those of the Transitional Federal Government, is surrounded and about to fall. I am not in Baidoa, he answered. “You should ask the TFG.” Inner City Press did ask, the TFG’s minister of information. He did not deny the town might change hands. Instead he said that the TFG has taken the decision to “stop all operations,” including apparently operations to defend Baidoa, and Jowar before it. What these talks can or do have to do with events on the ground in Somalia is not clear.

 UK Ambassador John Sawers afterwards told the press that perhaps the A.R.S. representatives here in Djibouti are having to take into account the less flexible views of their compatriots still in Eritrea. Inner City Press’ sources say that “the A.R.S. members in Eritrea are demanding that the breakaway group that is now in Djibouti return to Asmara for consultation. The ARS members in Eritrea are actually accusing the SRSG and these ‘UN mediated talks’ as a U.S. inspired program to divide the resistance.” Al-Shabaab’s representative was even more focused on Monday, saying that the UN is the U.S.. Djibouti is crawling with U.S. military presence; there’s talk of beer in the Sheraton Hotel and even a red light district.

Footnote: U.S. Ambassador Wolff, meanwhile, took a surprisingly (but perhaps understandably) low profile in Monday’s talks in Djibouti. France took an even lower-key approach: their Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert is skipping Djibouti and will fly directly to Sudan. Now the Council delegation will be heading straight to Juba on Tuesday, then to Khartoum, where the chief of staff of UNAMI, a UK citizen, has just been expelled, according to a UN spokesman. Never a dull moment…

* * *

UN Security Council in Djibouti for Somalia

By EDITH M. LEDERER

(Published June 02, 2008

DJIBOUTI — The U.N. Security Council sought Monday to push Somalia’s fragile government toward direct peace talks with the opposition, holding separate meetings with both sides in neighboring Djibouti.

The fact that the talks could not take place in Somalia because of the lack of security reflected the enormous challenge in trying to reconcile the government and its Islamic opponents.

In a visible sign of the wide gulf between the warring parties, Islamic insurgents fired mortars at Mogadishu airport as the plane carrying Somalia’s transitional president, Abdullahi Yusuf, and his delegation was about to take off Sunday for Djibouti.

Presidential spokesman Hussein Mohamed Mohamud said the attack was not an assassination attempt, but an attempt to disrupt the president’s departure. He said no one on the plane was hurt and it took off safely shortly afterward, but there were unconfirmed reports of two minor injuries at the airport.

“I think the rocket attack that happened last night when the president was leaving is in fact an indication that we need to move fast in trying to create conditions in Somalia for getting out of this security dilemma that they are in,” said South African U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo.

During their nine days on the continent, council diplomats will meet many of the key players in African hotspots, with stops also in Kenya, Sudan, Chad, Congo and Ivory Coast.

Kumalo, who is co-leader of the Djibouti visit, wanted representatives from the U.N.’s most powerful body to visit Somalia. But U.N. security experts vetoed a stop in the conflict-wracked country, which has been in a state of anarchy since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other.

Regional countries mediated agreement on a transitional government in 2004, but it remains very weak and needed to call in troops from neighboring Ethiopia in December 2006 to oust Islamic militants who controlled the capital and most of southern Somalia.

The Islamic insurgents, nonetheless, remain a potent and disruptive force in the country and a continuing threat to Yussuf’s government, which is backed by both the European Union and United States.

At least 14 previous attempts to get all the rival Somali parties to form a stable government have failed.

But at least in some quarters there was greater optimism about the new round of talks in Djibouti under the auspices of the U.N. envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, and with Security Council members there for support.

The council delegation was met at the airport by senior Djibouti and U.N. officials. Their first stop was to meet with Djibouti’s prime minister.

“Our hope is that the mere fact that the council is here sends a message also to the people of Somalia that at least the international community cares about them. I think that’s very important,” Kumalo said.

Representatives from Somalia’s armed insurgent group al-Shabab, who are battling Somalia government forces and their Ethiopian allies, were not participating in the meetings in Djibouti.

Kumalo said, however, that the talks were a good starting point.

“You’re never going to have all the parties involved from the word go,” he said. “But those that are involved have to create the conditions that will attract more people to come into it. … You have to start somewhere and this is a great start.”

However, a top official in the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, based in Eritrea, was pessimistic before the meetings began.

The official, Zakariye Haji Mohamoud, called the Djibouti talks “part of a clear, ongoing conspiracy against Somalia pushed by the U.N. special representative for Somalia.”

“It’s aim is only to derail or break the backbone of the insurgency against the Ethiopian occupiers and their stooges,” he said.

The transitional government has been lobbying for U.N. peacekeepers to replace a 2,600-strong African Union force now in Somalia. In early May, the Security Council unanimously approved a resolution saying it will consider deploying U.N. peacekeepers “at an appropriate time,” subject to progress in improving political reconciliation and security conditions on the ground.

Trapped Between Ethiopia and Eritrea

Refugees International

02/06/08

Refugees International has released a new policy recommendation calling attention to the plight of Eritrean refugees, as well as Ethiopians of Eritrean origin, who have not been fully integrated into Ethiopian society and are often targeted as undesirable “foreigners.” This problem underscores the tension of the countries’ border dispute and the festering antagonism between the two governments that precipitated the recent withdrawal of UN peacekeepers from the region. As RI’s briefing makes clear, the ones suffering are those caught in the middle:

Nearly everyone RI interviewed told a story of ongoing separation from loved ones, exacting a considerable personal and psychological toll. Travel between Eritrea and Ethiopia is prohibited, there is no interstate phone system, and Ethiopians have reportedly been jailed for communicating with persons in Eritrea via the internet. “Family separation is the problem,” one man said. “I am a nation-less person. Eritrea does not consider me as Eritrean. Ethiopia does not consider me as Ethiopian. My brother tried to go to Sudan but was caught and jailed. My sister is in Kenya. I’ve had no news from her in 5 years.”

The full policy recommendation is worth reading. Neither Ethiopia nor Eritrea is innocent here, and both need to take steps to secure the rights and dignity of those driven to a condition of essential statelessness.

Somalia: Ethiopian Troops Pore Over in Mogadishu Village, Leaflets Dropped in Afgoi

Shabelle media

Mogadishu)

2 June 2008

Heavily armed Ethiopian troops have entered in Jalasiyad area in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Sunday night eyewitnesses said.

The soldiers were reported to have been examining in the houses of the quarter as the resident were in forty winks time.

“they came into some houses of the locale, that has greatly deterred us” Fatima Siad Nor a resident in Jala Siad told Shabelle English service” they were chary”

Moreover the soldiers have expanded into the parish where some reports say that they’ve seized from several people.

At this Monday morning no business and vehicle’s activities in the area are running.

Some where else so called “Muslim brothers” Islamic group has dropped warning leaflets against tax collectors in Afgoi town of lower Shabelle region.

The leaflets were attached on the walls of the district’s shops and business sites.

One slogan of one the warning letter says “stop the taking of the illegal money from the civilians, if you do accept we will kill you”

Somewhere else armed groups have shot dead civilian man in Afgoi district.

The killing of the man was attributed to clan based tenets between two clans in the region.

In recent weeks, Somali insurgents have stepped up attacks on the Ethiopian army and the Somali transitional government it is backing.

In the past few weeks the islamists have taken over a series of towns, killing government soldiers, stealing weapons, and then withdrawing.

But it has become clear there are deep divisions within the islamists over which direction it should take, with many of the recent attacks attributed to one group – Islamist organisation called al-Shabab, meaning “The Youth.”

“There are al-Shabab fighters in all parts of the country,” he says” Alshabab commander Sheikh Moqtar Robow told Shabelle

“I don’t want to talk of numbers. But when the Ethiopian troops first arrived we were already strong.

“Now we have even more power because now we have the support of the people everywhere.”

Like many islamists, he headed to Mogadishu to fight the Ethiopians as soon as they entered the capital in December 2006, ousting the Union of Islamic Courts which had taken control of much of southern Somalia.

“With God’s grace we defeated them in that first battle. At that time I was happy because I was hoping to become a martyr.” One fighters said.

Al-Shabab began as the militia wing of the Union of Islamic Courts

He adds he has two aims – to become a martyr and to ensure that the country is governed by Sharia law.

“As al-Shabab, we don’t care about people who don’t want Sharia law,” he says.

“Our goal is to have Sharia as the permanent law of our country, and to get the infidels out of our country, whether they are Ethiopians or Americans.”

“First of all, we will call them to return to Islam and pray – because what differentiates a Muslim and a non-Muslim is praying five times,” he says.

“If they refuse we will call them again and again to pray. If they entirely refuse, we will jail them and we will keep them without food until they return to praying.”

He denies that al-Shabab has any links with al-Qaeda, although he says that “they are Muslims so they are our brothers”.

“Our common objective is to have Sharia law as the law of our country. Al-Qaeda wants that and we want that,” he adds.

There is no history of widespread support for radical religious movements, and this is why al-Shabab’s ideology is at odds with that held by many Somalis.

But al-Shabab does not tolerate dissent.

One 25-year-old woman, who did not want her name revealed, says that in late 2006 – when the Union of Islamic Courts were still in control of Mogadishu – al-Shabab ordered a cinema near her house to close.

Somali peace talks resume in Djibouti

afrol News, 2 June ( 2008 )

The much awaited peace talks between Somali transitional government and the country’s opposition resumed in Djibouti on Saturday in a bid to agree on common targets.

Somalia, which has been marred by conflicts and is without central government since former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991, has now bowed to efforts that will lead towards conflict resolution.First round of talks, that ended on 16 May, has seen both government and opposition not having direct talks that might lead to conflict resolution in the country which has claimed more than 6000 civilians lives in the past year.

“I have been extremely encouraged by the progress made so far and the huge support we have received from Somalis inside and outside the country,” top UN envoy to Somalia Mr Ahmedou Ould Abdallah said in a statement.

He said talks would be an opportunity for the Somali leaders to demonstrate to the international community their strong commitment and determination to restore peace and stability to Somalia.

Despite commitment from other opposition party leaders, Eritrea supported Islamist insurgents and other opposition leaders are likely to drag the country back, having refrained from the talks which began over the weekend.

An alliance of opposition groups based in Eritrea that includes the Islamists, has refused to have face-to-face talks with the government until there is an agreed timetable for Ethiopian troops to leave Somalia.

Meanwhile, Djibouti negotiations are to receive a boost today as the visiting UN Security Council delegation resume their tour of Africa at the venue of the Somali talks.

The peace negotiations are just one in an endless row of attempts to unite the many Somali fractions, with observers showing little optimism. On the positive side, almost all parties are present in Djibouti, with the exception of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, which has maintained its independence and internal peace since 1991.

By staff writer

© afrol News