SOMALIA: Puntland peace talks underway
NAIROBI, 8 MAY 2003 (IRIN) - Talks are underway to end conflict in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, Puntland's acting information minister told IRIN on Thursday.
Abdishakur Mire Adan said the talks - being held in the commercial capital Bosaso - between his administration and "the armed opposition" led by General Ade Muse Hirsi were "going very well".
Ade Muse, an ally of the rival claimant to the Puntland presidency, Jama Ali Jama, arrived in Bosaso on Monday. This followed a three-month mediation effort by Boqor Usman Aw Mahmud and Sultan Sa'id Sultan Abdisalam, both elders from the disputed region of Sanaag, said Abdishakur. MORE
Thursday, May 08, 2003
Wednesday, May 07, 2003
Huseen Aideed Announces Run for Somalia Presidency
NAIROBI, 6 MAY 2003 (VOA)--Somali warlord Huseen Aideed Tuesday declared his intention to run for the presidency of his war-torn country. His announcement comes as delegates at a reconciliation conference in Kenya are working to select an interim leader for Somalia.
Mr. Aideed, a former U.S. Marine and the son of the famous Somali warlord Mohamed Aideed, says he wants to become the first president of the re-united republic of Somalia.
"My intentions are that I support the federal system but that it should be done through referendum. And that [there should be] a commission of by independent intellectual Somalis, outside and inside, to study very carefully the borders of the federal [state]," he said. "And the Somali population has the responsibility, not the politicians [to decide] what type of federal [state] we should have."
Speaking to reporters in Nairobi Tuesday, he outlined his vision for Somalia.
"Once elected, I promise to lead our beloved country towards reconciliation, reconstruction and to build a Somali society based on the ideals of democracy, economic prosperity and social justice for all Somalis," he said. "I promise to build a society that respects and upholds the reality of the Somali culture and tradition." MORE
NAIROBI, 6 MAY 2003 (VOA)--Somali warlord Huseen Aideed Tuesday declared his intention to run for the presidency of his war-torn country. His announcement comes as delegates at a reconciliation conference in Kenya are working to select an interim leader for Somalia.
Mr. Aideed, a former U.S. Marine and the son of the famous Somali warlord Mohamed Aideed, says he wants to become the first president of the re-united republic of Somalia.
"My intentions are that I support the federal system but that it should be done through referendum. And that [there should be] a commission of by independent intellectual Somalis, outside and inside, to study very carefully the borders of the federal [state]," he said. "And the Somali population has the responsibility, not the politicians [to decide] what type of federal [state] we should have."
Speaking to reporters in Nairobi Tuesday, he outlined his vision for Somalia.
"Once elected, I promise to lead our beloved country towards reconciliation, reconstruction and to build a Somali society based on the ideals of democracy, economic prosperity and social justice for all Somalis," he said. "I promise to build a society that respects and upholds the reality of the Somali culture and tradition." MORE
Horn of Africa now a key target for US ‘war on terror’
BEIRUT, 6 MAY 2003--BEIRUT: Not too long ago a man named Issa al-Hayatt carrying a South African passport was lying in the Kaysaney Hospital in downtown Mogadishu, the lawless capital of Somalia, a constant battleground between clan-based warlords. Around about March 11 or 12, he’d been shot in what appeared to be an attempt by militiamen to kidnap him. On March 18, six armed men, identified as Americans by witnesses, swept into the ward with several local militiamen, including a translator, and dragged away the man known as Issa.
They drove him out to Aisaley Airport near Mogadishu, put him aboard an aircraft which had flown in the Americans the day before, and took off for Nairobi, capital of neighboring Kenya, where he was placed under arrest by the country’s anti-terrorist police unit.
A few days ago, the man known as Issa was formally handed over to US authorities as a suspected member of al-Qaeda. Kenya’s National Security Minister, Chris Murungaru, named the man as Suleiman Abdalla Salim Hemed, believed to be a Yemeni but who also held Somali and Tanzanian passports. The minister said he was believed to be a high-ranking Al-Qaeda operative who was linked to the Nov. 28 suicide bombing of the Paradise Hotel in the Indian Ocean resort of Mombasa, in which 11 Kenyans and three Israelis perished, and the August 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es Salaam which killed 231 people, 12 of them American. THE DAILY STAR.
BEIRUT, 6 MAY 2003--BEIRUT: Not too long ago a man named Issa al-Hayatt carrying a South African passport was lying in the Kaysaney Hospital in downtown Mogadishu, the lawless capital of Somalia, a constant battleground between clan-based warlords. Around about March 11 or 12, he’d been shot in what appeared to be an attempt by militiamen to kidnap him. On March 18, six armed men, identified as Americans by witnesses, swept into the ward with several local militiamen, including a translator, and dragged away the man known as Issa.
They drove him out to Aisaley Airport near Mogadishu, put him aboard an aircraft which had flown in the Americans the day before, and took off for Nairobi, capital of neighboring Kenya, where he was placed under arrest by the country’s anti-terrorist police unit.
A few days ago, the man known as Issa was formally handed over to US authorities as a suspected member of al-Qaeda. Kenya’s National Security Minister, Chris Murungaru, named the man as Suleiman Abdalla Salim Hemed, believed to be a Yemeni but who also held Somali and Tanzanian passports. The minister said he was believed to be a high-ranking Al-Qaeda operative who was linked to the Nov. 28 suicide bombing of the Paradise Hotel in the Indian Ocean resort of Mombasa, in which 11 Kenyans and three Israelis perished, and the August 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es Salaam which killed 231 people, 12 of them American. THE DAILY STAR.
Unstable African Areas Could Become Future Focus of NATO, US
NAIROBI, 7 MAY 2003--(CNSNews.com) - The United States and NATO could become engaged militarily in "ungoverned areas" in Africa believed to be used for narcotics trafficking and terror training, a senior U.S. military commander has said.
Gen. James Jones, commander of U.S. European Command and NATO's new senior military commander, told reporters in Washington recently that the U.S. and NATO allies would begin focusing greater attention on instability in Africa.
In a phone interview, European Command public affairs officer, Lt.-Col. Patrick Barnes, could not confirm specific African countries where the European Command will become militarily involved. MORE
NAIROBI, 7 MAY 2003--(CNSNews.com) - The United States and NATO could become engaged militarily in "ungoverned areas" in Africa believed to be used for narcotics trafficking and terror training, a senior U.S. military commander has said.
Gen. James Jones, commander of U.S. European Command and NATO's new senior military commander, told reporters in Washington recently that the U.S. and NATO allies would begin focusing greater attention on instability in Africa.
In a phone interview, European Command public affairs officer, Lt.-Col. Patrick Barnes, could not confirm specific African countries where the European Command will become militarily involved. MORE
Tuesday, May 06, 2003
SOMALIA: UN team appointed to probe arms ban breaches
NAIROBI, 5 MAY 2003 (IRIN) - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed a four-man panel of experts to investigate violations of the arms embargo against Somalia.
In a letter to the President of the Security Council, he named Edward Howard Johns of the United States, Mohamed Abdoulaye M'Backe of Senegal, Johan Peleman of Belgium (also the group's chairman) and Pavanjeet Singh Sandhu of India.
Last month, the 15-nation body adopted a resolution to re-establish the panel of experts to look into breaches of the weapons ban covering access to Somalia by land, air and sea.
The UN says the decision to re-establish the team, which will be based in Kenya, comes after the Council considered the panel's latest report.
The report stated that even after signing the Eldoret ceasefire declaration last October, most Somali factions - currently holding peace talks in Kenya - had continued to import or receive weapons in breach of the arms embargo.
[ENDS]
NAIROBI, 5 MAY 2003 (IRIN) - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed a four-man panel of experts to investigate violations of the arms embargo against Somalia.
In a letter to the President of the Security Council, he named Edward Howard Johns of the United States, Mohamed Abdoulaye M'Backe of Senegal, Johan Peleman of Belgium (also the group's chairman) and Pavanjeet Singh Sandhu of India.
Last month, the 15-nation body adopted a resolution to re-establish the panel of experts to look into breaches of the weapons ban covering access to Somalia by land, air and sea.
The UN says the decision to re-establish the team, which will be based in Kenya, comes after the Council considered the panel's latest report.
The report stated that even after signing the Eldoret ceasefire declaration last October, most Somali factions - currently holding peace talks in Kenya - had continued to import or receive weapons in breach of the arms embargo.
[ENDS]
Sunday, May 04, 2003
Who are the Somali Bantu? The descendants of six African tribes in...
SOUTH CAROLINA, 4 MAY 2003 (The State)--Who are the Somali Bantu?
The descendants of six African tribes in East Africa, the Somali Bantu are not native Somalis. Their ancestors were taken from their native lands by Arab slave traders in the 18th and 19th centuries and sold through the Zanzibar slave market.
How were they persecuted?
The Bantu endured several centuries of toil and deprivation as slaves in Somalia. Even after slavery ended there in 1930, they continued to exist on the lowest rungs of the social ladder. During the Somali civil war in the 1990s, their situation worsened. Their farms were raided and rival Somali clans routinely raped Bantu women and killed the men. That led to an exodus to neighboring Kenya.
Are they refugees?
The Somali Bantu fit the definition of refugee as outlined by the U.N. High Commission on Refugees. It says a refugee is a person who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country." MORE
SOUTH CAROLINA, 4 MAY 2003 (The State)--Who are the Somali Bantu?
The descendants of six African tribes in East Africa, the Somali Bantu are not native Somalis. Their ancestors were taken from their native lands by Arab slave traders in the 18th and 19th centuries and sold through the Zanzibar slave market.
How were they persecuted?
The Bantu endured several centuries of toil and deprivation as slaves in Somalia. Even after slavery ended there in 1930, they continued to exist on the lowest rungs of the social ladder. During the Somali civil war in the 1990s, their situation worsened. Their farms were raided and rival Somali clans routinely raped Bantu women and killed the men. That led to an exodus to neighboring Kenya.
Are they refugees?
The Somali Bantu fit the definition of refugee as outlined by the U.N. High Commission on Refugees. It says a refugee is a person who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country." MORE
Columbia reaches out to 'lost tribe'
More than 100 Somali Bantu to relocate from Africa to city
SOUTH CAROLINA, 4 MAY 2003 (The State)--About 120 members of an African tribe enslaved and persecuted for more than two centuries soon will make their home in Columbia, part of one of the largest U.S. refugee resettlements in recent history.
The first wave of Somali Bantu likely will arrive sometime this summer, said the Rev. Richard Robinson, coordinator of the Lutheran Family Services Refugee Resettlement Program.
The resettlement of the Bantu is the agency's most ambitious -- and perhaps most risky -- undertaking. But Robinson said he believes when Midlands residents learn the story of the Somali Bantu, they will be moved to help the new transplants.
"When we heard about the plight of the Somali Bantu, we felt very passionate about bringing them here," said Robinson, an ordained Baptist minister.
"The fact that they had no place to go ... the intense suffering they have gone through. Those things really resonated with my minister's heart, my human heart."
The Somali Bantu are unique in that their suffering has extended back centuries, first at the hands of slave traders, then at the hands of masters. A rural, agricultural people used to hard labor and little reward, they have been denied education.
A JOURNEY OF TWO CENTURIES
The resettlement of this "lost tribe" of Africa will end a pilgrimage that began in the 1800s when the Bantu's ancestors were taken by Arab slave traders from the East Africa region that is now home to the nations of Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi.
They were sold on the Zanzibar slave market and dispersed throughout the Middle East and Africa. Those who ended up in Somalia became known as the Somali Bantu, where they were persecuted as slaves and as free men and women.
Although they practiced traditional African animist religion, most converted to Islam while in Somalia because the Quran forbids Muslims from holding fellow Muslims in captivity. "It was a ticket out of slavery," Robinson said.
Even after slavery was outlawed in 1930, their situation barely improved. They occupied the lowest rungs of society, received little formal education and performed the most menial jobs.
"Someone has said, and rightly so, that the treatment of Somali Bantu in Somalia was almost identical to that of African-Americans prior to the civil rights movement here," Robinson said. MORE
More than 100 Somali Bantu to relocate from Africa to city
SOUTH CAROLINA, 4 MAY 2003 (The State)--About 120 members of an African tribe enslaved and persecuted for more than two centuries soon will make their home in Columbia, part of one of the largest U.S. refugee resettlements in recent history.
The first wave of Somali Bantu likely will arrive sometime this summer, said the Rev. Richard Robinson, coordinator of the Lutheran Family Services Refugee Resettlement Program.
The resettlement of the Bantu is the agency's most ambitious -- and perhaps most risky -- undertaking. But Robinson said he believes when Midlands residents learn the story of the Somali Bantu, they will be moved to help the new transplants.
"When we heard about the plight of the Somali Bantu, we felt very passionate about bringing them here," said Robinson, an ordained Baptist minister.
"The fact that they had no place to go ... the intense suffering they have gone through. Those things really resonated with my minister's heart, my human heart."
The Somali Bantu are unique in that their suffering has extended back centuries, first at the hands of slave traders, then at the hands of masters. A rural, agricultural people used to hard labor and little reward, they have been denied education.
A JOURNEY OF TWO CENTURIES
The resettlement of this "lost tribe" of Africa will end a pilgrimage that began in the 1800s when the Bantu's ancestors were taken by Arab slave traders from the East Africa region that is now home to the nations of Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi.
They were sold on the Zanzibar slave market and dispersed throughout the Middle East and Africa. Those who ended up in Somalia became known as the Somali Bantu, where they were persecuted as slaves and as free men and women.
Although they practiced traditional African animist religion, most converted to Islam while in Somalia because the Quran forbids Muslims from holding fellow Muslims in captivity. "It was a ticket out of slavery," Robinson said.
Even after slavery was outlawed in 1930, their situation barely improved. They occupied the lowest rungs of society, received little formal education and performed the most menial jobs.
"Someone has said, and rightly so, that the treatment of Somali Bantu in Somalia was almost identical to that of African-Americans prior to the civil rights movement here," Robinson said. MORE
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