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SOMALIA REVISITED - IRIN SPECIAL REPORT ON MOGADISHU, 27 April 1999

[Guinea-Bissau] Former Guinea-Bissau president Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira at the last rally of his campaign for the June 20 2005 presidential election in the capital Bissau on June 17. IRIN
Président Joao Bernardo Vieira, selon les résultats provisoires du deuxième tour
PART TWO WHAT THE LEADERS SAY - POLITICAL SITUATION AND THE BENADIR ADMINISTRATION In interviews with the two main faction leaders in Mogadishu, Ali Mahdi Mohamed and Hussein Aideed - presently in an alliance -both admitted to the limits of their authority as their joint administration struggles to gain control of the city. The Benadir Administration, set up to govern Mogadishu and its environs in August 1998 as a result of talks in Cairo, has been "recognised" by four governments: Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Yemen, which have a diplomatic presence in Mogadishu. Regional organisations and representatives from international bodies had demonstrated cautious interest in the progress of the Benadir Administration, until fresh fighting erupted in the capital in March-April 1999. According to the Egyptian ambassador in Mogadishu, Mahmoud Mustafa, who has taken a direct role in the Cairo talks and has lived in Mogadishu for more than a year, there has been "real progress" with the Benadir Administration. He told IRIN that "the international community should continue what has already been started by supporting the administration as it will help resolve problems in the other regions. Despite setbacks, security has improved considerably". He said support was needed in terms of representation, mediation and in efforts to encourage flexibility in dealing with Somalia. The recent fighting was initially blamed on a tax dispute, but Musa Sude(former vice chairman to Ali Mahdi Mohamed) and Osman Ato (formerly vice chairman to General Mohamed Aideed, father and predecessor to Hussein Aideed) have presented a challenge to the administration. The Benadir governor's house in north Mogadishu was destroyed, and, in April, Ali Mahdi's house was looted. The challenge led to a serious outbreak of fighting in north Mogadishu, with some 60 people reported killed, and has also created tension in south Mogadishu. The two main faction leaders say talks are still in progress with elders, in the hope the dispute can be peacefully settled. Ali Mahdi Mohamed, interviewed in his offices in north ogadishu, lamented his own lack of authority but claimed Musa Sude and Osman Ato did not have a large enough force or following to destroy the Benadir Administration. He said the 3,000 strong police force, which has received uniforms and medicines from Egypt, had only received two months of salary and rations provided by Libya, but was now without funding. "The administration can't pay the salaries so we can't deploy the force", he said. Libya initially injected US $800,000 into the new administration. Ali Mahdi is adamant that the international community take responsibility for Somalia until there is a breakthrough with reconciliation - "I am not the police, I am not an authority, I can't stop people killing each other, so how can I as a leader take responsibility?". Islamic courts have reduced in influence in Mogadishu, and are now functioning only on a limited, local and ad hoc basis. Local Imams are called upon to settle local disputes. General Secretary of the Benadir administration, Ahmed Abdikarim Noor, agrees that attempts to establish dialogue over the last seven months had so far failed. Both Musa Sude and Osman Ato are technically members of the Supreme Council but refuse to attend meetings. Things had "slowed down" since the recent fighting, he said, and added that the administration was relying on contributions from private businessmen. The joint administration has two co-chairmen (Ali Mahdi and Hussein Aideed), 29 members of a Supreme Council (which incorporates other faction representatives) and a body of governors, including a port manager and an airport manager. One of the main aims of the administration is to open the port and airport. At present Cel'maciin Port, about 40 km north of Mogadishu, is used, and occasionally Merca to the south. Balidogle airport, a former military facility, and Kuid'sanuy airport, also outside the capital, are used in place of the main airport. But these facilities are described as being "for Hawiye residents" - in other words, members of Ali Mahdi and Hussein Aideed's clan. THE POWER OF BUSINESS In the absence of government structures and international support, the most consistent and powerful dynamic in Mogadishu is private business. Although faction leaders receive some funding from regional and international players, their main backers are Mogadishu entrepreneurs. Remittances from abroad continue to be crucial for the economy, but have been complemented over the last few years by locally operating businesses. With no taxation or controls on the airports, the coast or the borders - but with relatively good security over the last two years - businessmen are regularly importing sugar, oil, fuel, pasta, clothes, cars and electronic goods. Livestock is exported to Dubai and Yemen, but livestock exports to Saudia Arabia were halted after a suspected outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in northern Kenya and southern Somalia in 1997. The ban is expected to be lifted soon. Fish and fruit are also exported. An example of new business is the Barakaat Telecommunications Company, which has enjoyed considerable success over the last year. It offers public telephone, fax and postal services as well as private land lines and mobile phones. It has a stake in the international code (+252), and brought in new telephone equipment from Canada, US and Sweden in 1995 with an initial investment of about US $800,000. The rental fee of a mobile phone is US $10 with billing for international calls only, at US $1.50 a minute. The manager of Barakaat, Abdullahi Hussein Kahie, says business is "very good", and that communications services have in turn assisted businessmen in dealing with Dubai, Kenya and the Arab States - as well as providing much sought-after communication with the enormous Somali diaspora abroad. The success of business is directly interlinked with the position of "warlords" in that it provides essential financing for the leaders, but also depends on a relatively secure environment - in other words, protection. Smaller businesses employ exclusively from the clan, so that security and theft is tightly controlled. INTERNATIONAL ABUSES While big business enjoys the "no-holds-barred" economy, lements of the international business community have also taken economic and political advantage of the lack of border controls and the absence of government structures, particularly along Somalia's long coastline. Fishing fleets from Taiwan, Korea, Japan and European countries obtain illegal licences to fish for lobster, grouper, snapper and tuna, using illegal methods such as explosives and gill nets, causing damage to the coastline and mass fish mortality. All fishing and mining should take place outside the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Somalia, which is 200 (nautical) miles from the shore, but the pirate fleets reportedly fish so close to the shore line that they have direct - and often hostile - contact with local fishermen in small boats. Somali businessmen - especially former employees from the Ministry of Fishing under Siad Barre's former regime - have profitably exploited the lack of government by setting up companies abroad issuing illegal licences. There is also concern that licences and deals are being offered to some European companies to dump industrial waste, which has been investigated by FAO and some European governments. In the area of northern Somalia now known as Puntland, local leaders from the Bossaso port area have actively pursued foreign ships. Using small boats with mounted anti-aircraft guns, militia have attacked large factory ships and held crews hostage for hundreds of thousands of dollars - one ship was released for US $700,000. Somali businessmen are used as go-betweens, and receive a percentage of the "fine" when the ship's company has been tracked down and persuaded to pay up. Other concerns about the way in which Somalia's predicament has been internationally exploited centres on political influence by extremist fundamentalist groups, which enjoy freedom of movement in the absence of any border controls. Since the failure of the military intervention in 1992-93, the US has been particularly concerned with what it sees as the growing influence of Islamic fundamentalism, and is anxious about the potential of Somalia as a base for terrorism. ISOLATION OF MOGADISHU The vulnerability of Somalia is exacerbated by the pull-out of most international humanitarian organisations, leaving Mogadishu very isolated. The threat to aid workers in Mogadishu was such that aid moved out of the capital and almost exclusively into the regions - particularly Somaliland, Puntland, and areas of southern Somalia - with expatriate presence in Mogadishu on a visiting basis only. In Mogadishu, since the pull-out of the humanitarian and military operation, expatriate staff are, in many ways, seen as a "commodity" or a "resource". Hostage-taking has sometimes resulted in huge pay-outs by local businessmen. Likewise, aid programmes are seen far more as an economic opportunity than a humanitarian effort - in terms of employment, finances and equipment. Not only an economic asset, the expatriate aid worker is also a political target, with resentment over the international military and humanitarian effort still a factor. International organisations have therefore headquartered themselves in Nairobi and operate "in absentia" through a skeleton local staff, which results in large proportions of available funding being used for logistics and salaries - and has increased feelings of resentment. One consequence of this is that Mogadishu has become one of the most isolated capitals in the world. Apart from the strictly controlled aid flights, no commercial flights as such operate from the capital - chartered small aircraft from Nairobi, carrying the stimulant plant qat, take only one or two passengers at a time. Information is therefore very scarce, and dependent on the security perspective of humanitarian agencies based in Nairobi - which try to act in concert over threats, kidnappings and killings in order to protect staff and programmes. This extreme isolation of Mogadishu and lack of information in itself inhibits development. LOOKING TO THE FUTURE While there was some hope that Somalia - particularly southern Somalia - had recently been more conducive to successful, community-based programmes, there is now real concern that tension between factions and clans is on the increase again. This has been attributed to increased interference by regional countries, particularly related to the Ethiopia/Eritrea war. Regional countries may not want to "take on" Somalia, but do nonetheless want significant influence with any administration or leader who looks set to hold power. "There are many more weapons around than before; they may be less visible, but there are more heavy weapons", said an international representative. In particular, diplomats and aid workers are concerned that the proxy war in Somalia is opening new doors for the fundamentalist movement, al-Ittihad, who indirectly benefits from renewed instability, gaining more arms and more room to manoeuvre. There is also entrenched pessimism over the numerous peace and reconciliation attempts between the different factions, even though the violent push into the fertile south by the Habr Gedir has stabilised. "In the early days of the civil war there seemed to be more desire by the different factions to try and sort it out, but now it seems to have gone on for too long" said one observer from the various talks. UNICEF Somalia representative Gianfranco Rotigliamo said there was both good news and bad news for Somalia at present: "We have had a successful experience in southern Somalia, with a major influx of commodities and food, yet few problems - but we have to keep an eye on Gedo region and hope that inter-clan conflict doesn't increase". An expatriate aid worker from Terra Nuova was kidnapped in Gedo region in April, and negotiations for his release continue; this follows the killing of an expatriate vet in January from the same organisation, also in Gedo. Fighting has also flared in the south following the killing in February of a US aid worker by Islamic fundamentalists in the coastal town of Ras Kamboni. The local clan carried out reprisals against al-Ittihad, resulting in some armed fundamentalists fleeing across the Kenyan border. Mogadishu, according to Rotigliamo, is "a special case" because insecurity makes it is difficult to involve the community in humanitarian programmes. But, he says, any progress by the newly established administration is seen as "promising" for the future.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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