MOGADISHU, Aug 30 (Reuters) – A Somali reconciliation conference seen by many as the best hope for peace in the Horn of Africa nation ended on Thursday with a raft of resolutions but no visible impact on a raging insurgency.
The Somali government and 2,000 delegates attending the talks at an old police compound in north Mogadishu were upbeat.
“This is a success,” said Muse Kulow, spokesman for Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, before Gedi and President Abdullahi Yusuf headed for the heavily guarded venue, targeted several times by mortar attacks since talks began on July 15.
“We proved that we can meet in our country. The government is ready to implement all the agreements they reached. The talks are a good way to start restoring peace.”
Delegates, including African diplomats and representatives of all Somalia’s main clans, agreed points ranging from terms for a clan truce, to the sharing of natural resources in the nation of 9 million, and elections planned for 2009.
But with Islamists and other opponents boycotting the talks, and no letup in the daily violence, analysts think peace is a tall order in a country awash with guns.
Hours before the closing ceremony, insurgents attacked three police bases in Mogadishu, prompting the government to flood the city with security forces as foreign delegates arrived.
Violence and anarchy have been the norm in Mogadishu since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991.
But clashes have worsened since December, when allied Somali-Ethiopian troops kicked out Islamist fighters who had restored some order to the city, sparking a deadly insurgency.
“FRUITLESS”
The talks triggered an upsurge in attacks by Islamist rebels, who have been joined by some factions of the city’s dominant Hawiye clan.
Exiled opponents of the transitional government, including Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, are to hold a rival “reconciliation conference” on Saturday in Eritrea, whose government has been accused of backing the Islamists.
Mohamed Hassan Had, chairman of an anti-government Hawiye faction, urged Somalis to oppose the government, saying it did not represent the people.
“The Somali peace conference was fruitless. It was not meant to restore peace because government rivals were absent from the talks. We need an all-inclusive national conference mediated by a neutral country,” he said.
Yusuf and Gedi say all factions were invited to the reconciliation talks.
Had’s clansman Abdullahi Sheikh Elmi, who attended the meetings, said some Hawiye wanted to go mainstream.
“We plan to turn the Hawiye into a political party which will be open to other interested Somalis to join,” he said.
“Hawiye clan elders are opposed to the presence of Ethiopian troops in our county, but we still have to be engaged in peace.”
NES COMMENTARY. No.10
Network of Ethiopian Scholars (NES)
August 29, 2007
Unite the people from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean Division and fragmentation has not and will never work!
I. Inspiration“As long as boundaries inherited… drawn arbitrarily with no heed to the ethnic, economic and social realities of Africa (continue), so long shall we be plagued by the political refugee problem… (Thus) the fault is in ours, not in our stars!”K. Nkrumah, October, 1965, Accra“Where there has been racial hatred, it must be ended. Where there has been tribal animosity, it will be finished. Let us not dwell upon the bitterness of the past. I would rather look to the future, to the good new Kenya, not to the bad old days. If we can create this sense of national direction and identity, we shall have gone a long way toward solving our economic problemsJomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s founding President“This is my plea to the new generation of African leaders and African peoples: work for unity with firm conviction that without unity there is no future for Africa…I reject the glorification of the nation-state, which we have inherited from colonialism, and the artificial nations we are trying to forge from that inheritance. We are all Africans trying to be Ghanaians or Tanzanians. Fortunately for Africa we have not been completely successful…Unity will not make us rich, but it can make it difficult for Africa and the African peoples to be disregarded and humiliated. And it will therefore increase the effectiveness of the decisions we make and try to implement for our development. My generation led Africa to political freedom. The current generation of leaders and peoples of Africa must pick up the flickering torch of African freedom, refuel it with their enthusiasm and determination, and carry it forward.” Julius Nyerere, First president of Tanzania“Deal with the enemy of today without ever forgetting that he could become the friend of tomorrow” Habib Bourguiba, First president of TunisiaConstructing a nation from scratch: We know we don’t have the knowledge. We know we do not have the resources. We know we do not have the experience. Our conclusion is: let’s face it.”Isaias Afewerki, current president of Eritrea (quoted from National Geographic, June 1996, p.872. Introduction
The Horn of Africa Conference was held for the sixth time in Lund University, Sweden between 23 August and 26 August, 2007. It is guided by a wonderful concept of generating constructive dialogue amongst civil society groups, scholars, political leaders and business communities from the Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti.
The theme of the conference was on post-conflict peace-building with the objective of identifying key characteristics and contentious issues with a view to facilitate a communicative rationality to encourage consensus by enabling networking and possible undertaking of future activities by the stakeholders drawn across the regions. Indeed such a venture to bring the relevant and significant actors from the region to learn to cooperate and not continue to fight and hate is commendable. In this conference attendance was full, the arguments were lively and at times heated and the issues urgent and very compelling. Not only were all the ambassadors from the region represented and participated, (except Eritrea represented by a Counsellor serving as the ambassador), but also scholars from the region as well as from Scandinavia participated. There was a lot of information and opportunities for networking in the conference. The conference was to come up with recommendations to facilitate a post-conflict era in the wider region from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. The question we ask is the following: will such a useful forum be helpful in advancing the cause of building trust and moving into a higher level of unity amongst the relevant forces in the region? Can it be useful to create dialogue and communication by refocusing thought and action to solve the real problems of real people? Can it bring the communities, intellectuals, civil societies, the state and society together? If nothing else this conference concentrates our thoughts to ask many pertinent questions.
OSAKA–Going through the motions. That’s about the best way to describe Olympic champion Meseret Defar’s journey to the 5,000 meters final at the IAAF world championships.
Biding her time in a lead pack of seven runners in a dawdling tactical race, there was never any doubt that the 23-year-old Ethiopian would take one of the five automatic qualifying spots. With 300 meters to go, she decided to kick to the victory anyway, reaching the line in 15 minutes 10.13 seconds in the second of two semifinal heats.
Sounding almost apologetic for a woman who’s added three world records to her resume this year, Defar said, “It’s very hot and humid, and a little bit difficult to run a fast race.” Not that it mattered in the least.
While 10,000-meter champion Tirunesh Dibaba’s decision to not defend her title over the shorter distance robbed Saturday evening’s final of some pre-race hype, in truth, she’d have had little chance against Defar if not 100 percent fit. Defar is simply that good.
Last June in Oslo, Defar clocked 14:16.63 over the distance, demolishing her own one-year-old record by nearly eight seconds, and last winter, set world records indoors for two miles and 5,000 meters. She’s run 14:30.18 or better four times; no one else has ever run that fast twice, and no one, besides Dibaba at her best, has a finishing kick as vicious as Defar’s.
Closest to Defar this year is Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot, who easily advanced from an equally tactical first heat that wasn’t much faster. The tiny Kenyan–weighing in at 47 kilograms, ‘diminutive’ is too long a descriptor for the 23-year-old–shadowed Defar during her world record run in Oslo, and also dipped under the previous world mark here, clocking 14:22.51. Yet another Kenyan prodigy–she reached the 2000 Olympic final as a 17-year-old.
“I’ll try to go for it in the final,” said Cheruiyot, who was second in 15:06.54. “But I’m aware Defar has a strong kick. Maybe we will kick together.”
Winning the first hear was Turkey’s Elvan Abeylegesse, the silver medallist in the 10,000 four days ago. One year Defar’s senior, the Ethiopian-born Abeylegesse has a score to settle with her former compatriot. She was the event’s previous world record until Defar first broke it in 2006, but reporting some leg pains after the race, her form is questionable.
As slow as the second heat was, it must have seemed an eternity to Kayoko Fukushi. The Japanese record holder at 14:53.22, she was seventh (15:19.67) in the first heat, forced to wait on the results of heat two before making her plans for Saturday night. She made it as the second slowest of the 15 qualifiers, to reach her second straight world championships 5000 final.
On Saturday August 27, 2007, there was a secret meeting scheduled to take place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The delegates of the “Oromian Regional Government” were supposed to speak at that meeting. Although the meeting was claimed to be public, there was no publicity or announcement prior to the meeting. In fact it was rumored that the meeting would take place on September 1st, 2007, which was the information released to mislead the public.
However, the cover of that highly secretive meeting was blown up when information leaked to Oromo youth activists on the evening of Friday, August 24. The youth rapidly transmitted the information and were well prepared to face the sellout delegates. The youth marched to the Hilton Hotel in Bloomington and waited for the “delegates” to arrive. After almost an hour, the “delegates” arrived led by Faisal Abrahim, an agent working for the “Diaspora Affairs” at the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington DC. He took the lead and introduced his guests and their ranks within the surrogate OPDO government. In the meantime, tension in the room was raising, any observer could read fear and confusion on the face of the “delegates.” Especially the self-proclaimed vice president of Oromia Muktar Kedir was sweating bullets and staring blankly into the audience.
Before the delegates said a word, the youth asked permission to comment on the agenda of the meeting. However Faisal refused to allow such comments and instead called the security just as he would do against unarmed Oromo students in Oromia by calling Agazi commandos. This led to confrontation between the audience and the delegates. The police arrived but stayed aside because the youth explained to them the reason for the stand off which was legal action without violence. It was at this time that the so called delegates realized that they were the only members and supporters of OPDO in the room while the rest of the audience was there to confront them. The debate became heated to the level where Faisal was forced to resign from chairing the meeting and the youth activists took over the meeting. One young audience member told the delegates that just as they the delegates, were made to take order from Melles in Oromia, now they should not refuse to take order from the Oromo youth.
Scared by such development, the delegates ran out of the room. The youth followed them denouncing the OPDO and its master the TPLF. An attempt by the nervous dark suited delegates to attack a female member of the audience led to a brief moment of physical confrontation which resulted in the audience overpowering the delegates. The meeting was cancelled and the victorious Oromo youth showed their solidarity to their peers back home who are the subject of gross human rights violations by the wayanes and their surrogates. The latest information indicates that the humiliated delegates have cancelled their remaining tour to other states and have returned back to the country. It was noted that the so called Oromia V/ President Mukhtar was taken to Emergency Room at local hospital and all delegates had visible cuts and burses when they were departing to DC the next day.
One thing very obvious at that meeting was the absence of local OPDO members and sympathizers. The reason for their absence is that they didn’t want to be identified by the community due to fear of isolation. The most amazing of all is that just as they spy for the regime in Finfinne, they were also serving as double agents providing information against the delegates. This is an indicator of the nature of the relationships between the TPLF and its surrogates; a relationship based on mistrust and betrayal. This relationship is a positive development and advantageous to the camp of those who struggle for freedom, justice and democracy.
This heroic action of the Oromo youth in Minnesota should serve as an example for all those who oppose the regime in Ethiopia. It is crucial that we stop the regime’s agents from dividing the Diaspora in the name of investment while in fact the regime is engaged in gross human rights violations and looting of national resources.
________
Baker Ware, Freelance reporter, Minnesota Oromo Index News (OIN)
ADDIS ABABA, Aug 29 (Reuters) – The United Nations plans to send a fact-finding mission to Ethiopia’s Ogaden region.
The mission, due to start on Aug. 30, will assess allegations by the rebels and rights groups of human rights abuses as well as the food, water and health needs of Ogaden’s ethnic Somalis.
The remote region bordering Somalia has come under growing scrutiny since the [Woyanne] government launched a campaign two months ago to flush out Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels after they carried an attack on a Chinese-run oil exploration field in April.
Rights groups accuse soldiers of shooting civilians, burning homes and seizing livestock in its hunt for the ONLF, which wants more autonomy for the area believed to be rich in oil and gas.
“The information coming from the Somali region since the beginning of the [Woyanne] government campaign against the ONLF has been secondhand, and it has been worrying,” Paul Hebert, head of the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Ethiopia, told Reuters on Wednesday.
“This is a humanitarian assessment but we will be looking at protection issues, particularly involving women and children.”
The 14-person team has received the government’s go-ahead to meet whomever they wish.
But, asked if it would meet ONLF representatives, Hebert said: “We will not be seeking out armed groups.”
The ONLF says a trade blockade is choking food supplies and causing starvation in the region inhabited mostly by nomadic herders estimated to number between four to 10 million.
The ONLF welcomed the mission saying it was a first step to addressing the “manmade humanitarian catastrophe” in Ogaden.
“We call on the United Nations not to limit the scope of this mission to a humanitarian assessment but to include a preliminary investigation of war crimes being committed against our people by the current … regime,” it said in a statement.
Local authorities expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross this month, accusing the aid agency, one of the few operating there, of consorting with rebels.
The U.N. mission will include staff from the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and the agencies dealing with child welfare, food and health.
The host of the Washington DC-based Hager Fiker Radio has announced that he is shutting down his weekly radio program due to lack of funds.
Ato Negussie Woldemariam said on his program (aka Hod Fiker Radio) last Sunday that he is running out of money and that it would be a miracle if he comes back next week.
It seems that he is no more useful for his backers, Woyanne and Al Amoudi.
