One week after international donors pledged more than $200 million, primarily toward security needs of a new government in Somalia, UN officials are expected to address the humanitarian response to Somalia’s refugee crisis. In London Friday, they will discuss what is needed inside the country and in surrounding areas to promote stability and improve conditions for more than 260-thousand residents who have fled to overcrowded camps in northeastern Kenya. Colin Thomas-Jensen, the Africa advocacy and research manager for the Washington-based Enough Project, points out that much of the international donor support pledged last week at the donor conference in Brussels, Belgium will go toward strengthening African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Somalia, but that the rest of the donated funds should be disbursed very carefully.
“Nearly $150 million is going to support AMISOM (African Union peacekeepers in Somalia), particularly the immense cost of maintaining a peacekeeping mission in perhaps the most difficult operating environment in the world, but also ramping up efforts by the African Union to train the Somali government security forces. And I think that’s a good thing. There’s also about $30 million that’s going straight to the TFG (Transitional Federal Government), and I think this is the money that we have to be very careful about. In particular, this money should not be used to pay salaries of security forces. The TFG is earning money now at the port. And the last thing we need, which was the case the last time, is international funding supporting a security force that more likely than not is going to commit terrible atrocities,” he advised.
Thomas-Jensen says he believes that after 17 years of failed leadership, the non-security-designated donor funds for Somalia should be conditioned on helping the Mogadishu government of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed become a credible and inclusive body that can achieve legitimacy with its Islamist rivals and among the general public.
“The issue of simply providing money to the greatest strongman in Somalia in the hopes that he will exert control militarily over the country has failed miserably time and time again. And so direct support to this government ought to be conditioned very heavily on the behavior of security forces and the political moves that Sheikh Sharif makes to make his government a more inclusive body,” he notes.
The election of President Sheikh Sharif in January has failed to slow the exodus of Somalis seeking refuge in neighboring Kenya. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that so far in 2009, more than 23,000 new asylum seekers have crossed the border into northeastern Kenya’s Dadaab refigee camp, making it the world’s largest. Thomas-Jensen does not see many refugees ready to return to Somalia under current conditions. He says it will take time for Sheikh Sharif’s government to upgrade its handling of the security situation, particularly against attacks by immoderate, extremist Islamist factions to convince the departees to return to their homes.
“At this point, I doubt we’re going to see any sort of mass movement of refugees and IDP’s (internally displaced persons) from camps both in Kenya and inside Somalia back to their areas of origin until there’s a proven track record by the TFG and Sheikh Sharif that he can provide some basic security in Mogadishu and its surrounds. That is the core issue in Somalia right now: how to build the political coalition under the umbrella of the TFG, and how to establish a professional, credible security force that is responsible to the political actors in the TFG that can provide security for civilians,” he said.
The recent return to Mogadishu of Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who headed Somalia’s Islamic Courts Union regime three years ago, poses an additional challenge to the current government. Thomas-Jensen says the radical cleric, who controlled the Somali capital between June and December, 2006, will most likely try to regain influence in Somalia by using the presence of AMISOM and the international funding it receives to portray his rival Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as a puppet and tool of western and international interests.
“I think Sheikh Aweys’ presence in the Somali capital is an indication, one, that he wants to be a player. He sees an opportunity here to try to carve out some political space for himself to make a run at a greater role. And whether it’s in the TFG or of the armed opposition. But I think it’s really too early to tell at this point exactly how his presence in Mogadishu is going to play out and whether or not he stays there for an extended period of time or if he returns to Eritrea,” notes Thomas-Jensen.
As humanitarian agencies work to help the current government build a capacity to deliver health services, clean water, education, and food assistance to make refugees feel safe and confident enough to return home, UN authorities and aid agencies also are being forced to tackle other humanitarian challenges in Somalia. Friday’s meeting in London is expected to address factors such as danger on the high seas from piracy, Somalis who put themselves in peril attempting to cross the Gulf of Aden to Yemen in unsafe vessels, and unfortunate asylum seekers who are forcibly rejected by Kenyan border authorities and returned to destitute circumstances on the Somali side of the border.
On the issue of forcible return, the Enough Project’s Colin Thomas-Jensen suggests that international authorities need to send a clear message to the Nairobi government “from the highest level, both from the United Nations and from countries that have influence,” particularly the United States, that it is unacceptable to be relocating refugees by forcible return and in fact, is a violation of international law.
Source: VOA
Friday, May 1, 2009
Somalis flee to Hungary to escape violence
Refugees who fled their homes and finally found themselves safe in host countries still can’t be sure of their future, leaving in constant fear of deportation. RT met with a group of Somali asylum seekers in Hungary.
Elmi Sharif Muhmed has been in the country for a month and already has lots of friends.
“Life in the camp is very good. They give us shelter and everything we need for everyday life,” he said.
Football is a traditional pastime from home: for which there's plenty of time for while they wait hoping Hungary will allow them to stay. In the mean time they are looked after in their new temporary surroundings.
According to Hungary’s Immigration Office Tihanics Joisef:
“Refugees here are fed three times a day. Single women have separate accommodation. Children go to Hungarian schools. Adult refugees can come and go as they please as long as we know where they are and when to expect them back.”
Source: Russia Today (RT)
Elmi Sharif Muhmed has been in the country for a month and already has lots of friends.
“Life in the camp is very good. They give us shelter and everything we need for everyday life,” he said.
Football is a traditional pastime from home: for which there's plenty of time for while they wait hoping Hungary will allow them to stay. In the mean time they are looked after in their new temporary surroundings.
According to Hungary’s Immigration Office Tihanics Joisef:
“Refugees here are fed three times a day. Single women have separate accommodation. Children go to Hungarian schools. Adult refugees can come and go as they please as long as we know where they are and when to expect them back.”
Source: Russia Today (RT)
Somalia: government sees peace role for opposition's Aweys
Somalia's hardline opposition leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys has an important role to play in restoring security to the country after 18 years of ruinous civil war, a government minister said.
Aweys, who is on the U.S. terrorism list for alleged links to al Qaeda, returned to the Horn of Africa nation last week in his first known trip home in more than two years.
He is an influential figure for many of the Islamist rebels fighting the new government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed -- who was Aweys' former partner in the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) that ruled the capital and much of the south in 2006.
Despite Aweys' calls for African Union (AU) forces to leave, some analysts say exile may have mellowed him, and that he could still prove to be an important mediator with insurgents.
Aweys moved to Eritrea after Ethiopian forces chased his sharia courts group out of Mogadishu at the start of 2007. In a Reuters interview late on Thursday, Somali Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Omaar said a lot had changed since then.
"He has been away some time and major developments have taken place in the country. He left because of an issue that has been resolved. Ethiopian troops have withdrawn," Omaar said.
"Aweys is an elder and a historical figure in Somalia. I believe he has a responsibility for the wellbeing and progress of the Somali people, especially the women and children who are most affected by the war."
After leading the ICU until Addis Ababa's offensive, Aweys and Ahmed later split, with Aweys taking over the Asmara-based Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia from Ahmed, who was elected president early this year at U.N.-led talks in Djibouti.
Last week, donors agreed to give at least $213 million to help Somalia strengthen its security forces and also fund the small AU mission AMISOM over the next year.
Omaar said the amount pledged was a clear sign of broad global support, and that all of it would be spent transparently. Ahmed's administration is the 15th attempt since 1991 to set up a functioning central government for Somalia
"This time, the international community sees that we're serious and reliable ... I believe we have crossed that bridge," the foreign minister said during a visit to neighbouring Kenya.
"We will establish joint committees of donors and the government to deliver, supervise and manage the money. Systems that satisfy everybody will be established."
Source: Reuters
Aweys, who is on the U.S. terrorism list for alleged links to al Qaeda, returned to the Horn of Africa nation last week in his first known trip home in more than two years.
He is an influential figure for many of the Islamist rebels fighting the new government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed -- who was Aweys' former partner in the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) that ruled the capital and much of the south in 2006.
Despite Aweys' calls for African Union (AU) forces to leave, some analysts say exile may have mellowed him, and that he could still prove to be an important mediator with insurgents.
Aweys moved to Eritrea after Ethiopian forces chased his sharia courts group out of Mogadishu at the start of 2007. In a Reuters interview late on Thursday, Somali Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Omaar said a lot had changed since then.
"He has been away some time and major developments have taken place in the country. He left because of an issue that has been resolved. Ethiopian troops have withdrawn," Omaar said.
"Aweys is an elder and a historical figure in Somalia. I believe he has a responsibility for the wellbeing and progress of the Somali people, especially the women and children who are most affected by the war."
After leading the ICU until Addis Ababa's offensive, Aweys and Ahmed later split, with Aweys taking over the Asmara-based Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia from Ahmed, who was elected president early this year at U.N.-led talks in Djibouti.
Last week, donors agreed to give at least $213 million to help Somalia strengthen its security forces and also fund the small AU mission AMISOM over the next year.
Omaar said the amount pledged was a clear sign of broad global support, and that all of it would be spent transparently. Ahmed's administration is the 15th attempt since 1991 to set up a functioning central government for Somalia
"This time, the international community sees that we're serious and reliable ... I believe we have crossed that bridge," the foreign minister said during a visit to neighbouring Kenya.
"We will establish joint committees of donors and the government to deliver, supervise and manage the money. Systems that satisfy everybody will be established."
Source: Reuters
Why did France resort to violence off the coast of Somalia?
The use of force April 10 to recover five French hostages held off the Somali coast, on the yacht, the Tanit, demonstrates the contempt of the Nicolas Sarkozy government for the lives of the French hostages and the Somali pirates, as well as for French and Somali public opinion.
The French government used the episode to bring its policy into line with that of the Obama administration, which used deadly force in response to the seizing of the Maersk Alabama, an American ship, and the taking hostage by Somali pirates of its captain, Richard Phillips. On April 7, US Navy snipers shot to death three of the pirates holding Phillips.
Source: World Socialist Web Site - wsws.org
The French government used the episode to bring its policy into line with that of the Obama administration, which used deadly force in response to the seizing of the Maersk Alabama, an American ship, and the taking hostage by Somali pirates of its captain, Richard Phillips. On April 7, US Navy snipers shot to death three of the pirates holding Phillips.
Source: World Socialist Web Site - wsws.org
Somalia: U.S. captain says arming crews could help fight pirates
Richard Phillips, the U.S. ship captain held hostage by Somali pirates, told Congress on Thursday he thought arming some members of commercial ship crews could help beat back pirate attacks.
But shipping executive John Clancey opposed crews getting into an arms race with pirates on the high seas. Clancey is chairman of Maersk Inc., parent company of Maersk Line Ltd, whose ship -- Phillips' Maersk Alabama -- was attacked on April 8.
U.S. lawmakers tried not to play up the differences between Phillips and Clancey during a Senate hearing called to probe the growing number of attacks off the coast of Somalia. But some made it clear they preferred Phillips' view.
"The idea that there wouldn't be protection on board ... just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense," said Democratic Senator Jim Webb, a former secretary of the U.S. Navy and advocate of gun ownership.
Commandos shot and killed three gunmen on April 12 to end the hostage ordeal for Phillips, who was being held on a lifeboat in the Indian Ocean. A fourth suspected pirate was arrested and brought to the United States for trial.
Attacks on ships in the region have increased despite the presence of foreign warships.
Phillips told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that ideally, the U.S. government would provide protection to U.S.-flag vessels, but he knew it might not have the resources to do so.
Arming some members of the crew was not the best or whole solution but could be part of a "comprehensive approach" to combating piracy, he said.
"It would be my personal preference that only the four most senior-ranking officers aboard the vessel have access to effective weaponry and that these individuals receive training on a regular basis," he said.
Clancey stressed an international solution was needed to the problem of piracy. He said the International Maritime Organization strongly recommended against arming crews.
"Arming merchant sailors may result in the acquisition of ever more lethal weapons and tactics by the pirates, a race that merchant sailors cannot win," Clancey said.
Clancey added that most ports of call would not permit the introduction of firearms into their national waters.
Clancey said his company was in discussions with the U.S. Defense Department about the safety of U.S.-flagged ships and that those talks would conclude in the next 10 days or so.
Danish shipping and oil company A.P. Moller-Maersk, the parent shipping and oil company, said on Wednesday it was stepping up security precautions off the coast of Somalia by having ships spend as little time in the area as possible, and to travel at maximum speed.
Source: Reuters
But shipping executive John Clancey opposed crews getting into an arms race with pirates on the high seas. Clancey is chairman of Maersk Inc., parent company of Maersk Line Ltd, whose ship -- Phillips' Maersk Alabama -- was attacked on April 8.
U.S. lawmakers tried not to play up the differences between Phillips and Clancey during a Senate hearing called to probe the growing number of attacks off the coast of Somalia. But some made it clear they preferred Phillips' view.
"The idea that there wouldn't be protection on board ... just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense," said Democratic Senator Jim Webb, a former secretary of the U.S. Navy and advocate of gun ownership.
Commandos shot and killed three gunmen on April 12 to end the hostage ordeal for Phillips, who was being held on a lifeboat in the Indian Ocean. A fourth suspected pirate was arrested and brought to the United States for trial.
Attacks on ships in the region have increased despite the presence of foreign warships.
Phillips told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that ideally, the U.S. government would provide protection to U.S.-flag vessels, but he knew it might not have the resources to do so.
Arming some members of the crew was not the best or whole solution but could be part of a "comprehensive approach" to combating piracy, he said.
"It would be my personal preference that only the four most senior-ranking officers aboard the vessel have access to effective weaponry and that these individuals receive training on a regular basis," he said.
Clancey stressed an international solution was needed to the problem of piracy. He said the International Maritime Organization strongly recommended against arming crews.
"Arming merchant sailors may result in the acquisition of ever more lethal weapons and tactics by the pirates, a race that merchant sailors cannot win," Clancey said.
Clancey added that most ports of call would not permit the introduction of firearms into their national waters.
Clancey said his company was in discussions with the U.S. Defense Department about the safety of U.S.-flagged ships and that those talks would conclude in the next 10 days or so.
Danish shipping and oil company A.P. Moller-Maersk, the parent shipping and oil company, said on Wednesday it was stepping up security precautions off the coast of Somalia by having ships spend as little time in the area as possible, and to travel at maximum speed.
Source: Reuters
Somalia: Ethiopian troops arrest clan elders
Ethiopian troops have arrested at least 12 Somali traditional elders in Godey town in the Somali region of eastern Ethiopia, witnesses on Thursday.
Reports from Qalafo town in the region say that the Ethiopian troops detained at least 12 traditional elders from Hiran region in central Somalia after the Ethiopian troops accused the elders that their children were fighting against the Ethiopian troops in the region.
Sources say that some of the traditional elders were captured as they were in their houses in the region while the others were captured as they were continuing peace efforts in the region and the real aim of the traditional elders’ arrest is yet unclear.
Locals said that the Ethiopian troops detained the elders in unknown military prisons in Ethiopia.
The detention of the Somali traditional elders comes as more Somali clan elders who went there for mediating rival clan were recently released from a jail near Musthail town in the Somali region in eastern Ethiopia.
amsomalia@mareeg.com
Reports from Qalafo town in the region say that the Ethiopian troops detained at least 12 traditional elders from Hiran region in central Somalia after the Ethiopian troops accused the elders that their children were fighting against the Ethiopian troops in the region.
Sources say that some of the traditional elders were captured as they were in their houses in the region while the others were captured as they were continuing peace efforts in the region and the real aim of the traditional elders’ arrest is yet unclear.
Locals said that the Ethiopian troops detained the elders in unknown military prisons in Ethiopia.
The detention of the Somali traditional elders comes as more Somali clan elders who went there for mediating rival clan were recently released from a jail near Musthail town in the Somali region in eastern Ethiopia.
amsomalia@mareeg.com
US Says Al-Qaida Still Greatest Threat to America
The United States says the al-Qaida terrorist group remains the greatest threat to America and its allies and is currently using Pakistan to rebuild its capabilities and plan attacks on Western nations. The State Department released its annual report on global terrorism Thursday.
The State Department's Acting Coordinator of Counterterrorism, Ronald Schlicher, says since the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States al-Qaida and its allies have moved from Afghanistan into remote areas of the Pakistani frontier.
"And they are using, of course, that mountainous terrain as a safe haven where they can hide, where they can train, where they can communicate with their followers, where they can plot attacks and where they can make plans to send fighters to support the insurgency in Afghanistan," said Ronald Schlicher.
The global terrorism report says the Taliban and other insurgent groups and criminal gangs control parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan and are a threat to regional stability.
Ambassador Schlicher says, although still very dangerous, al-Qaida in Iraq is diminishing and has experienced significant defections.
"It has lost key mobilization areas," he said. "It has suffered disruption of support, infrastructure and funding and it has been forced to change its targeting priorities in some instances. The number of suicide bombings in Iraq, which we find to be a key indicator of the operational capability of the group, those numbers fell significantly in 2008."
The report credits local populations in places like Baghdad and Anbar province for turning against militants and cooperating with the Iraqi government and coalition forces.
Schlicher says an emerging hot spot for terrorism is Somalia, which he describes as a significant challenge for the United States and its allies.
"The international community is increasingly focused on the many dangers that develop in the absence of a place without any effective government control, such as Somalia, where of course we see such problems as terrorism, piracy, narcotics trafficking, human rights abuses and the development of ideological extremism," said Schlicher.
The report accuses Iran of being the most significant state sponsor of terrorism.
Schlicher says the Quds Force (a special unit of Iran's Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution) is supporting terrorist and Islamic militant groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
"The Quds Force is kind of an elite unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and they are deeply involved in the really objectionable, terrorist activities in those places where Iran chooses to be active," he said. "The great area of concern, of course, is the Middle East itself."
The report says Iranian weapons transfers to the Taliban in Afghanistan are continuing to threaten Afghan and NATO troops and undermine stabilization efforts.
The terrorism report does note what it describes as significant achievements in the fight against extremists, including the capturing or killing of key terrorists in Pakistan, Iraq and Columbia.
Source: VOA
The State Department's Acting Coordinator of Counterterrorism, Ronald Schlicher, says since the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States al-Qaida and its allies have moved from Afghanistan into remote areas of the Pakistani frontier.
"And they are using, of course, that mountainous terrain as a safe haven where they can hide, where they can train, where they can communicate with their followers, where they can plot attacks and where they can make plans to send fighters to support the insurgency in Afghanistan," said Ronald Schlicher.
The global terrorism report says the Taliban and other insurgent groups and criminal gangs control parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan and are a threat to regional stability.
Ambassador Schlicher says, although still very dangerous, al-Qaida in Iraq is diminishing and has experienced significant defections.
"It has lost key mobilization areas," he said. "It has suffered disruption of support, infrastructure and funding and it has been forced to change its targeting priorities in some instances. The number of suicide bombings in Iraq, which we find to be a key indicator of the operational capability of the group, those numbers fell significantly in 2008."
The report credits local populations in places like Baghdad and Anbar province for turning against militants and cooperating with the Iraqi government and coalition forces.
Schlicher says an emerging hot spot for terrorism is Somalia, which he describes as a significant challenge for the United States and its allies.
"The international community is increasingly focused on the many dangers that develop in the absence of a place without any effective government control, such as Somalia, where of course we see such problems as terrorism, piracy, narcotics trafficking, human rights abuses and the development of ideological extremism," said Schlicher.
The report accuses Iran of being the most significant state sponsor of terrorism.
Schlicher says the Quds Force (a special unit of Iran's Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution) is supporting terrorist and Islamic militant groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
"The Quds Force is kind of an elite unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and they are deeply involved in the really objectionable, terrorist activities in those places where Iran chooses to be active," he said. "The great area of concern, of course, is the Middle East itself."
The report says Iranian weapons transfers to the Taliban in Afghanistan are continuing to threaten Afghan and NATO troops and undermine stabilization efforts.
The terrorism report does note what it describes as significant achievements in the fight against extremists, including the capturing or killing of key terrorists in Pakistan, Iraq and Columbia.
Source: VOA
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