ARBIS, Somalia, July 24 (Reuters) – Abdi Mahad says he misses school in Mogadishu, but is much happier sleeping outside a city where peace talks have attracted enough mortar blasts and gunshots to send 10,000 people fleeing in the past week alone.
The United Nations says the violence surrounding a national reconciliation conference, billed by diplomats as the interim government’s last best hope at boosting its legitimacy, has sparked yet another mass exodus from the seaside capital.
Mahad, who fled from Towfiq district in north Mogadishu, is among those living near the conference venue who are caught up in an insurgency by militant Islamists vowing to derail the conference and attack the government until its Ethiopian backers leave.
“We fled from Mogadishu last week,” Mahad told Reuters, surrounded by dozens of malnourished teens in a squalid camp made of sticks and tattered cloths in Arbis, 23 km (14 miles) west of the capital Mogadishu.
“I miss school. We lack food, shelter and drinking water but we are much safer here from the mortars and gun battles. We fled from battles between Ethiopian troops and the Muqawama,” he said referring to the Islamist insurgents by their local name.
The scene is typical around Somalia, where the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR estimates at least 250,000 people are living in makeshift camps or squatting with limited access to food, water and medicine.
The worst battles since Somalia’s 1991 civil war occurred in March and April, and sent an estimated 400,000 out of the city in fear, straining limited resources elsewhere.
As has been the case in Somalia since warlords ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, civilians often bear the brunt of the anarchy and violence that has characterised the Horn of Africa nation since then.
Jawahir Ahmed, a native of Arbis village, says hundreds are arriving daily: “They need food, medicines, shelter and utensils to cook. There is nowhere for them to go. These people will never go back.”
Security in Mogadishu has worsened since peace talks started a week ago and for the first time since early June, more people have left the Somali capital than returned, UNHCR said.
Reconciling clan rivalries is a key aim of the meeting which the government — the 14th attempt at restoring central rule since 1991 — hopes will secure a workable peace.
The reconciliation meeting opened in Mogadishu on July 15 but was marred by mortar bombs attacks near the site.
Flanked by his family, Ali Mohamed Hayo said they are starving.
“We were afraid Ethiopian troops staying close to our house would be attacked and bring problems to us. We have nothing to eat. No one cares for us,” he said, sitting outside his one-room house built of sticks.
Seated in a queue of hundreds of women waiting to receive food from a local aid group, Katro Abdullahi, 24, says she sees no peace in the near future.
“I expect nothing from the peace talks because it has been organised at a time when we were running from fighting. They should stop the battles first and then talk,” the mother of four said.
The young student Mahad has no dream of going to a city that has long been synonymous with violence and death.
“I’m happier here. I now sleep well at night without worries,” he said.
As the country prepares to celebrate its Julian calendar’s second millennium, critics say the government is using the year-long festivities to divert attention from its dismal performance.
WHILE THE REST OF THE world celebrated the turn of the millennium seven years ago, Ethiopia will mark the year 2000 on September 12. Both the UN and the African Union have recognised the Ethiopian millennium as a unique African occasion, dubbing it an “African Millennium.”
Ethiopia — known for its ancient history and rich heritage — is the only country in the world that has preserved the ancient Ethiopian Orthodox faith-based Julian calendar, which is seven years behind the Gregorian calendar that is commonly used by the rest of the world.
The government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, which is faced with many challenges, ranging from rebel movements to tension with its neighbours to widespread poverty, is looking forward to the turn of the millennium with renewed hope as a basis for opening a new chapter in the country’s history.
Ethiopian Ambassador to Kenya Disasa Dirribsa told The EastAfrican that the millennium is not just about celebrating the unique nature of Ethiopia’s calendar system, it is also a time for Ethiopia to reflect on and try to overcome the diverse socio-economic difficulties facing the country.
“I wish to point out that the turn of the new millennium is in itself an inspiration for Ethiopians to search for new ways of enhancing the country’s ability to sustain the rich cultural heritage as well as our unique position on the African continent,” he said.
“While the heritage is a source of pride and joy to all Ethiopians, it is also our responsibility to use it to eradicate poverty and create favourable conditions for the country’s overall development,” added Mr Dirribsa.
But government critics, especially Ethiopians in the diaspora, are running a campaign to persuade their compatriots to boycott the celebrations on the grounds that the government wants to use the year-long festivities to divert attention from the widespread human-rights abuses and repression that have become routine in Ethiopia since the May 2005 elections.
The celebrations could also be marred by the current tension between Ethiopia and its neighbours and the internal rebel movement.
Apart from intervening in neighbouring Somalia, Ethiopia is facing the likelihood of renewed war with Eritrea over the disputed border town of Badme, as well as rebellions by the Oromo Liberation Front in the south and the Ogaden National Liberation Front in the east, where ethnic Somalis are pushing for self-determination.
The anti-celebration groups argue that the government should confront these challenges first, while the funds being spent on the celebrations should be used to fight poverty and disease.
But Ajabe Ligabe Wolde, a counsellor at the Ethiopian embassy in Nairobi, says the celebration is an opportunity for Ethiopians all over the world to reflect on their future, put their political differences aside and see how they can improve the people’s livelihood.
Still, the millennium is unique to Ethiopia, the only African county that did not experience colonialism. With its unique cultural traditions dating back to ancient times, the Ethiopian millennium is one of the traditions that have passed down from generation to generation without interruption.
The organisers of the celebration believe that it will be a chance to change the image of Ethiopia and show that the country has more to offer the world than the images of misery that were splashed across the world following the 1984 famine.
IT WILL BE AN OPPORTUNITY TO show the world its rich cultural heritage and tourist attractions — such as the 17th century Fasilidas Castle in Gondar, the famous Obelix of Axum, which was recently returned from Italy, and the rock churches of Lasta Lalibela.
Government officials say Ethiopia has survived many phases — from its ancient civilisation to the present economic and social challenges — with its pride intact.
Ethiopia has culture and traditions that date back more than 3,000 years, and any traveller is transported through breathtaking monuments and ruins that were built centuries ago.
The ancient northern city of Axum remains the country’s oldest urban and religious centre.
The Axumite kingdom was once the most powerful Red Sea state between the eastern Roman empire and Persia. Axum hosts the famous monolithic Obelisk, and has been declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco.
Gondar, founded in 1636, is known for its castle-like palaces and was Ethiopia’s capital until the reign of emperor Tewodros II.
Thus, the concluding millennium has seen Ethiopia prosper and decline both politically and economically.
The new millennium, on the other hand, gives Ethiopia a chance to reflect on the past and an incentive to move forward with fresh vigour.
In Kenya, several activities to celebrate the millennium are under way. They include a procession and parade through the streets of Nairobi, sporting activities, an exhibition of Ethiopian and African traditional artefacts, a gala night to showcase traditional foods, songs and dances of Africa, presentations by scholars on Ethiopia-Kenya relations, Ethiopian history and other related topics.
Ethiopia inspired the world as one of the pioneers of civilisation, not to mention its reputation as the cradle of mankind.
Under former Emperor Haile Selassie, Ethiopia was one of the founder members of the defunct Organisation of African Unity.
But there were times, too, when its eminence hit rock bottom; times when Ethiopia unwillingly developed notoriety for being a land of despondency, especially during the widespread famine of 1984.
But Ethiopians love their unique heritage, including the way they have subdivided the solar cycle into 13 months — a feature used to market Ethiopia as a country with 13 months of sunshine.
This time, it will be an Enkutatash (new year) with a difference, since the millennium comes only once in a thousand years.
The beginning of the new millennium gives Ethiopians an unparalleled opportunity for renewal of their faith in themselves. Ethiopians from all walks of life will be asking tough questions on why their country has declined to the current state.
A recent World Economic Forum report indicates that Ethiopia has slid to the rank of 120th out of 125 countries in 2006 in the Global Competitive Index, down from the 116th place it occupied in 2005.
THERE IS ALSO CONCERN whether Ethiopia will meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Economic analysts point out that the number of Ethiopians living on less than a dollar a day, has nearly tripled since Zenawi took power in 1991.
Still, the Ethiopian Julian calendar remains unique. The calendars of the entire world are based on the work of the old Egyptian astronomers who, 3,000-4,000 years BC, calculated that the solar or sidereal year lasted slightly less than 365 ¼ days.
However, it was left to the astronomers of the Alexandrian school to incorporate this knowledge into some sort of a calendar; it was these astronomers who also came up with the idea of leap years.
Subsequently, the Romans under Julius Caesar borrowed their reformed calendar from Alexandrian science and adopted it for the Western world.
The Coptics later inherited this science as a right and built upon it themselves. In due course, the Coptics handed this calendar, together with their method of computing the date for Easter, on to the Church in Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian calendar retains the old Egyptian system, whereby the year was divided into 12 months of thirty days each plus one additional month of five days (six days in leap years).
Ethiopian dates, therefore, fall 7-8 years behind Western dates and have done so since early Christian times. This discrepancy results from differences between the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
Each Ethiopian year is dedicated to one of the four evangelists — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The year of St Luke is a leap year and, therefore, always has six days in the 13th month of the Ethiopian calendar.
MOGADISHU, Somalia, July 20 (UNHCR) – The return of people to the Somalian capital has reversed, with almost 10,000 people leaving in the last week alone, according to figures compiled by the UN refugee agency and a network of partners.
In months of June and July, 20,000 people have returned to Mogadishu. But nearly 21,000 people have fled the daily violence during that period and the pace is rising. There are now more people fleeing the capital daily than people arriving — 10,000 have left in the last week.
Only 125,000 of the estimated 400,000 civilians who fled the heavy fighting that raged in Mogadishu between February and May have returned to the capital, according to figures compiled by UNHCR and its partners.
The opening of the National Reconciliation Congress on July 14 has been followed by a series of deadly attacks targeting locations where the conference, which was suspended for several days, is taking place. The attacks have wounded and killed innocent bystanders, including children, and prompted scores of others to flee.
“People are leaving the parts of the city where violence intensified in recent days, such as Suqa Hoolaha, Mogadishu Stadium and Ali Kamin, as well as around the industrial street,” a UNHCR staff member reported from Mogadishu.
“There is no single day when someone is not killed in that city,” a resident of Mogadishu told one of UNHCR’s local partners. “Because of the insecurity, we had to stop businesses as many of us work in the markets, which have become extremely dangerous since bombs are being detonated there almost daily.”
People suffer high levels of stress, as reported by a local aid worker whose organization works with the UN refugee agency: “At any moment, a tragedy might happen to you,” he explained. “Even at night there is no respite as despite the curfew, you can hear automatic gun fire as well as explosions.”
While some families have come back to Mogadishu over the past weeks, hoping the violence would diminish, many are considering leaving once more. Attacks launched by anti-government elements wound and kill civilians daily, while the counter-attacks made by forces of the Ethiopian-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) often result in civilian deaths.
The prospect of still another round of heavy fighting has set many civilians on the road once more. Many families leave the city and head toward the neighbouring provinces of the Shabelles, while some continue their journey until they reach cities such as Baidoa, Merca or as far away as Galkayo in the distant northern area of Puntland.
Communities living in the provinces around Mogadishu worry at the prospect of having to cope with even more people displaced from the capital.
“Our area has already become overpopulated with families who had fled in March and April and have not gone back,” an elder living in a village in Middle Shabelle told a UNHCR local partner.
He explained that some children and old people had died of hunger or illnesses, the worst disaster being the water-borne diseases spread from the use of unclean water. “We are poor people and these displaced families add another burden on us as we do not have the capacity to accommodate them,” he added.
Some families cannot even afford to flee Mogadishu as they are too poor to pay for transportation. Such is the case for many of the 3,000 internally displaced persons who have been evicted by the authorities from public buildings where they used to live, sometimes for as long as 16 years.
“The remaining settlements are full and there seems to be no other safe public land available, so they have no option other than roaming the streets homeless,” a UNHCR local partner reported.
The United Nations has asked the TFG to halt the evictions and to help provide basic services and find alternative solutions for these displaced people.
Last month, UNHCR airlifted relief items from its stockpile in Dubai to Mogadishu. This assistance, which includes blankets, plastic sheets, jerry cans, and kitchen sets, will be delivered to the most vulnerable people in the city.
NAIROBI, Kenya (Reuters) — Ogaden rebels warned of a looming “man-made famine” in Ethiopia’s remote area bordering Somalia and called on Monday for a U.N. investigation into accusations the government was blocking food aid to the region.
On Sunday, a New York Times report quoted Western diplomats and relief officials as saying Ethiopia’s government was blockading emergency food aid and choking off trade to Ogaden.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front, which is seeking more autonomy for its homeland but which Addis Ababa says it is a terrorist group bankrolled by Eritrea, called for a U.N. fact-finding mission.
“The ONLF wishes to affirm to the international community that if there is no immediate intervention in the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Ogaden, there will be a man-made famine created by the current regime of Meles Zenawi,” the ONLF said in a statement.
Ethiopian government officials were not immediately available to comment.
On Monday, the ONLF said Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s administration was engaged in a systematic and deliberate campaign of violence against its people.
“These war crimes include diverting humanitarian assistance for use by the regime’s armed forces … deliberate burning of villages, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, torture, a blockade on food aid as well as other commercial goods and other forms of collective punishment,” the ONLF said in a statement.
“The United Nations bears a particular responsibility to investigate war crimes in Ogaden given recent reports that its humanitarian assistance is deliberately being diverted to armed forces and militias responsible for these war crimes,” it said.
The ONLF itself has been accused of carrying out atrocities, including an April raid on a Chinese-run oil field in which 74 people were killed and seven Chinese workers taken hostage.
They were later freed but in the wake of the attack, Meles announced a crackdown on the rebels.
It is difficult to get independent information out of the desolate region, which is ethnically Somali.
ATLANTA — A man shot to death three relatives from his Ethiopian immigrant family and wounded two others before killing himself this morning, Atlanta police said.
Police spokesman Eric Schwartz said it’s believed all the victims were related.
The gunman, described by a neighbor as a retired immigrant worker who delighted in helping children, was identified as Abdulaziz Ibrahim, 52. Neighbors told media the family was from Ethiopia.
The shootings began about 7 a.m. in a house near Interstate 75 in southwest Atlanta, a residential area with neatly tended homes near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Some neighbors who gathered outside the home sobbed as investigators brought victims’ bodies outside the house to be transported to the coroner.
The bodies of Hana Yusuf, 26, and Luna, no last name given, were found inside the house, Schwartz said.
A fourth victim, Mohmmed Ibrahim, 28, died at Grady Memorial Hospital.
Two others are hospitalized. Police said 3-year-old Amir Abdulhakim was in critical condition at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston and Yusuf Ibrahim, 27, was in stable condition at Grady.
A neighbor, Charlene Weiters, said the family moved into the home about 12 years ago from overseas and still spoke broken English.
She said she was at home when the shooting happened but did not hear gunfire.
Weiters said Abdulaziz Ibrahim was a retired manufacturing worker who often played in the yard with his grandson, and helped neighborhood children by giving them school supplies and small toys.
“We think he was sick, he must have been,” she said between sobs. “He was so sweet, he was so sweet he wouldn’t hurt anybody.”
She said Ibrahim’s wife was not at the home at the time. She believed Ibrahim lived in the home with his wife, three children, two nieces and two grandchildren.
MOGADISHU, Somalia, July 20 (UNHCR) – The return of people to the Somalian capital has reversed, with almost 10,000 people leaving in the last week alone, according to figures compiled by the UN refugee agency and a network of partners.