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| Africa: Horn |
| UN urges calm as tensions rise in Somalia |
| 2005-09-11 |
| The UN Secretary-General's special envoy for Somalia urged members of the split transitional government to exercise restraint on Thursday amid reports of militia movement in the town of Jowhar, where the president and the prime minister are based. "I am concerned at the escalation of tensions in Jowhar and Mogadishu, and appeal for restraint from all parties whatever their differences," Francois Lonseny Fall, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Somalia, said in a statement. President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Gedi and their supporters decided to set up Transitional Federal Institutions (TFI) in the town of Jowhar, 90 km north of the capital, Mogadishu, in June. They said Mogadishu was not secure enough to be the seat of government. About 100 members of the 275-strong Transitional Federal Parliament, led by Speaker Sharif Hassan Shaykh Aden, opted to stay in Mogadishu, however, saying they would try to restore security in the war-scarred capital. "I urge all sides to make a serious effort to begin an inclusive dialogue," said Fall. "It's high time that the Transitional Federal Institutions begin to function as intended. Their inability to resolve their differences is undermining the very essence of the agreements they reached after the national reconciliation conference last October." Thirteen international UN personnel were relocated from Jowhar on Thursday amid a military build-up in the town. Six staff members were flown to Wajid in southwestern Somalia, and seven were relocated temporarily to Nairobi, the capital of neighbouring Kenya. Muhammad Ali, a senior official in the prime minister's office, explained that the armed forces in Jowhar, which had been "recruited from all regions of Somalia", posed no threat to any party. He also confirmed that there were no foreign forces among them. The troops had been brought in to re-establish a Somali security force capable of "bringing back law and order," he added. "Their aim is not to attack anyone." Fall asserted that there could be no military solution to the divisions in Somalia. "The suffering of the population has continued at unacceptable cost to all Somalis for more than 14 years," he said. He said that both parties in the transitional government were obligated to ensure the safety and security of UN international and national staff and respect the sanctity of UN premises. Matt Bryden, director of the Horn of Africa division of the International Crisis Group (ICG), warned that the tensions within the TFIs could destroy the country's peace process. "The current crisis is the product of tensions that have paralysed the Transitional Federal Institutions practically since their inception," he said. "The peace process has been in reverse gear since the president prorogued the parliament earlier this year, exceeding his constitutional powers and closing the main venue for dialogue and negotiation within the TFIs. "Since then, the Jowhar faction of the TFG has embarked on a programme of military mobilisation and unilateral political action in defiance of calls from the UN Security Council for dialogue and a moratorium on military action," he said. Bryden emphasised that without a functioning legislature the president and prime minister lacked the legal authority to form a national army, appoint regional and local officials and issue other decrees. Their current actions only served to entrench existing divisions, he said. "There is an urgent need for military preparations on both sides to cease and for the revival of political dialogue within the TFIs - namely by reconvening the full parliament at the earliest possible date. The diplomatic initiative of Ambassador Fall needs to be strengthened and accelerated with the full and unambiguous backing of the international community," Bryden added. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 One would chuckle if it weren't that My tax money is going to this. It comes out of My pay, of My working ours. Little pieces of My life go there to be squandered. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-09-11 19:57 |
| #1 One chuckles at the ineptitude of the UN. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-09-11 02:47 |