DATE=3/29/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=SOMALIA / DJIBOUTI
NUMBER=5-46034
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=HARGEISA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: In the Horn of Africa, the latest effort to
end years of violence in Somalia is collapsing before
it even gets started. As V-O-A's Scott Stearns
reports, Somali faction leaders are lining up against
a peace conference planned for neighboring Djibouti.
TEXT: Most of the international community appears to
support Djibouti's peace initiative. The problem for
Djibouti's President, Ismael Omar Guelleh, is that few
of Somalia's faction leaders agree. They oppose his
efforts to organize a national commission to form a
new government for Somalia - a place where most of the
country has been without local authority for more than
nine years.
Flush from a speech at the U-N General Assembly,
President Guelleh set about to rally support for his
plan among members of the Organization of African
Unity and the Arab League. Inside Somalia, suspicion
grew that parts of the plan were already - a done deal
- that some individuals were guaranteed positions in
the new government.
Regional diplomats say former Prime Minister Mohamed
Ibrahim Egal was even offered the new presidency. He
turned them down because he is already the president
of the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland. The
northwest province was previously a separate British
colony and declared its independence from the rest of
Somalia in May 1991. Since then it has managed to
restore peace and establish commerce.
Mr. Egal says the people of Somaliland want nothing to
do with southern clans until they stop fighting and
come up with some sort of central authority.
/// FIRST EGAL ACT ///
You reconcile them first. Let them produce a
central authority, whether they call it a
government or whatever they call it, some
authority that can speak for them. Then our
role comes.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Egal says Somaliland has no place in a Djibouti
reconciliation process because the people of the
northwest are already reconciled. If southern Somali
does the same, then he says it will be time to talk.
/// SECOND EGAL ACT ///
We are prepared to talk to them. As soon as
they start with some sort of central authority,
we are prepared to talk to them, but we cannot
take part in a reconciliation conference.
Nobody is going to be reconciled with us.
/// END ACT ///
/// OPT /// Somaliland is not the only place with
some government. There is another self-declared state
at the tip of the Horn called Puntland. They, too,
reject Djibouti's initiative, accusing President
Guelleh of - hijacking the Somali peace process from
the people whose fate and destiny is being decided.
Some Somali leaders oppose the conference because they
refuse to sit with longtime enemies. Others mistrust
President Guelleh's alliance with Ethiopia, a powerful
neighbor, which since the start of its war with
Eritrea, now brings nearly all its imports through
Djibouti. Ethiopian troops and their client militia
are active in southern Somalia fighting rebels who
want independence for Ethiopia's ethnic-Somali Ogaden
province.
Somali faction leader, Hussein Aideed, has criticized
President Guelleh for remaining silent on what he says
is - Ethiopia's continuous meddling in Somalia's
internal affairs. Mr. Aideed's militia is a frequent
target for Ethiopian troops because of his support for
Ogadeni rebels. Military observers say Mr. Aideed
suffered heavy losses last June when Ethiopian forces
crossed the border into Upper Juba province and pushed
his militiamen farther east toward the coast.
Mr. Aideed says the Djibouti process can not work as
it is. While his Somali National Alliance is not
opposed to the idea of a reconciliation conference,
Mr. Aideed says, so far, the program in Djibouti is
"not clear." /// END OPT ///
President Guelleh denies he is trying to manipulate
the process. He says the Somali people will be the
principal actors in deciding their new government.
Organizers of the Djibouti meeting said in a statement
that some Somali are being mislead by what they say
are - unfounded rumors and destructive publicity -
spread by those who oppose the peace effort to protect
what the statement calls their narrow-minded, selfish
interests.
In Somaliland, Mr. Egal says leaders in Djibouti fail
to understand that the Somali people will not be
forced into a new government just because the
international community thinks it is the right time.
/// THIRD EGAL ACT ///
The President of Djibouti could not see that.
He thought that we were sabotaging his
conference, that we were refusing to cooperate
with him. That is up to you. If you can not
understand that simple thing, then I am sorry
for you, but you can not force us into this
thing.
/// END ACT ///
Djibouti is planning preparatory talks with what
organizers call highly respected elders and
professionals, and peace activists from inside and
outside Somalia. Their goal is to advise the
government about how to lead this process further.
(SIGNED)
NEB/SS/GE/RAE
29-Mar-2000 08:08 AM EDT (29-Mar-2000 1308 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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