A Week in the Horn of Africa

(27 July 2007)

• UN urges Eritrea to withdraw from the TSZ
• Eritrea: the major supplier of arms to Shabaab says UN Report
• No food blockade in the Ogaden
• Progress in Somalia’s National Reconciliation Congress

• The latest report of the United Nations Secretary-General to the Security Council on Ethiopia and Eritrea (July 18 2007) has underlined the critical importance of the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities, of June 2000, for the peace process between the two countries. The Secretary-General recalled that under that Agreement the parties renounced the use of force, and provided for the establishment of a demilitarized Temporary Security Zone (TSZ), which allowed for the separation of forces and has contributed to the prevention of hostilities. His latest report, which quotes President Issayas’ comment in May that the TSZ had been rendered “obsolete and meaningless”, notes the assessment of the UN Mission to Eritrea and Ethiopia (UNMEE) that “thousands” of Eritrean military personnel were now in the zone. The Report says that "Eritrea has continued the introduction of forces into the Zone…. Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF) were observed actively constructing new defenses in the Zone...UNMEE also observed that, through rotations, the militias manning the posts in the zone were increasingly being replaced by regular EDF troops in direct violation of the Protocol Agreement and the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities of 18 June 2000." The Report adds that "Eritrea is infiltrating its troops and other armed elements into the Temporary Security Zone in an effort to expand its control."

The Report emphasizes the dangers of the restrictions on UNMEE operations imposed by Eritrea, compromising its ability to monitor the TSZ. During the reporting period, Eritrea enforced numerous permanent restrictions on UNMEE movements, and additional recent problems included the detention of an UNMEE patrol by Eritrean police; UNMEE patrols stopped from carrying out their tasks by warning shots from Eritrean Defense Force personnel, and the denial of a visa to a senior UN official from the Department for Peacekeeping Operations on grounds of his nationality.

The Secretary General urges "... Eritrea to withdraw its troops and heavy military equipment from the Temporary Security Zone, in order to restore the integrity of the Zone, in compliance with the Algiers Agreements, ” as demanded most recently by Security Council resolution 1741 (2007). In a letter to the Secretary-General on June 25th, Prime Minister Meles noted that demarcation was inconceivable until the integrity of the TSZ was restored and that Eritrea was fully compliant with the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities. The Secretary-General’s report went on: “ I also call on Eritrea immediately to lift all the restrictions it has imposed on UNMEE, which was deployed at the request of both countries. These restrictions have seriously impaired the Mission's ability to implement its monitoring mandate. At the same time, I call on Ethiopia to also take steps to de-escalate the situation by reducing the number of the additional military forces that it has recently introduced in the areas adjacent to the Temporary Security Zone.” The Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities does not place any such obligation on Ethiopia. The Secretary-General finally called “… on both parties to follow scrupulously the letter and spirit of the Algiers Agreements and to support any initiative that could contribute to the normalization of relations and the restoration of bilateral engagement.” The Secretary General has recommended the extension of the mandate of UNMEE, and the Security Council is likely to agree to this over the weekend.

[For the full report see: www.un.org/Docs/sc/sgrep07.htm]

• The latest Report of the UN Monitoring Group on Arms to Somalia was released this week, covering the period from November last year to the end of June this year, a period which includes the defeat of the ICU and the continuing activities of Shabaab in Mogadishu. The report makes clear that “huge quantities of arms…[have been] provided to the Shabaab by and through Eritrea.”. The report is detailed in its claims, identifying a number of Eritrean techniques including the creation of an airline front company, as well as the use of existing companies, the filing of false flight plans, and fake registration numbers and call signs. Despite Eritrean government denials, flights have been confirmed by the International Civil Aviation Organization. One such aircraft, a Boeing 707 (9G-OAL) is identified as making at least 13 flights from Massawa or Asmara to and from Mogadishu in less than a month, in November last year. The report also provides the copy of a contract, in Russian, for the sale of an Il-76 cargo plane from a Virgin Islands Company to Eriko Enterprise (Eritrea).

The Report, which also itemizes Shabaab operations, including suicide attacks, the use of surface to air missiles, guerrilla style attacks and assassinations and arms caches, identifies Eritrea as the “principal clandestine source and conduit for arms supplies to the Shabaab”. It notes that Shabaab lost a significant element of its arsenal in its defeats in Mogadishu in March and April, but it suggests that so much material from Eritrea was sent to Shabaab that it still has a substantial amount of hidden arms, including a number of surface-to-air missiles, suicide belts and explosives as well as timers and detonators.

[For the full report see: www.un.org/sc/committee/751/mongroup.shtml]

After January, the Report identifies the Bakhara market as a prime supply route for arms into Mogadishu, noting that the ICU never made any attempt to close the market down, and that it continued to provide arms to any buyers. Since January, these have included clans and warlords, and even Shabaab. This was why the Somali government finally started to take action against Bakhara market traders last week.  

In a response to the report, the Ethiopian Government, which welcomes the renewal of the Monitoring Group’s mandate, noted that Ethiopia's involvement in Somalia was at the request of the legitimate government of Somalia, and that the defensive measures taken by the Governments of Somalia and Ethiopia had been fully endorsed by the AU and IGAD. It pointed out that these measures had no relevance to the arms embargo imposed on Somalia, and operations against terrorist targets cannot be considered as a delivery of weapons and military equipment to Somalia.

• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has categorically rejected allegations that there has been any blockade or restrictions on the distribution of emergency food aid, controls of trade or diversion of resources in the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia. Following seasonal floods, and last year’s drought, food aid relief is necessary in some areas of the Somali Regional State, though, according to officials of the Somali Regional State, there is no major crisis. The World Food Programme is distributing food aid in three zones, and assessments are being made in three other zones. The Federal Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Agency (DPPA) is also distributing food shipments; the DPPA says it is not aware of any impediments to food deliveries in the region.  

The World Food Programme has made it clear it does not accept allegations, made by the New York Times, that there has been any blockade on food distribution in the Somali region. There was a brief delay over the dispatch of emergency food aid in some areas because of the security operations in May, following the terrorist massacre of 74 Ethiopian and Chinese workers in April at the Adole oil exploration camp. Now, the WFP says, “food is moving and being distributed. We have monitors on the ground to check it is distributed to the people in need”. Similarly, WHO rejects claims that polio funds had been diverted (there is no polio campaign currently operating in the region), and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said it is hard to imagine any diversion of UN assistance has been taking place.        

The Ministry is dismayed that reporters repeat these claims without making any attempt to check the origins of the allegations, and that otherwise well respected media outlets similarly fail to check their sources. This is not the first time that the New York Times, in particular, has been responsible for false allegations. It appears the reporter responsible for these claims, Jeffery Gettleman, has effectively become the mouthpiece of a terrorist organization, the ONLF, which tries to support its inventions by fallacious accounts from former officials now seeking asylum abroad, or anonymous reports posted on ONLF websites. The Ogaden National Liberation Front" (ONLF) has carried out numerous brutal terrorist activities in the Somali Regional State, carrying out assassinations of opponents, burning villages and bombing buses, bringing untold suffering to the people of the region.

The Federal Government has been conducting security operations to bring these activities to an end. The Ethiopian Defense Forces have operated within the rules of law, following international human rights standards and with due regard to the humanitarian situation of the population. Despite pockets of disturbances created by the ONLF, the people of the Somali regional state are leading a normal and productive life.

• Ali Mahdi, the Chairman of the National Reconciliation Congress in Mogadishu, says that the progress of the congress has so far been smooth. He is hopeful that participants will be able to come up with viable solutions to inter- and intra-clan differences and the challenges besetting the nation. He was addressing a public rally on Tuesday when thousands converged to urge citizens to stand for peace. The rally was also addressed by the Governor of Benadir Region who called on Somalis from other regions to demonstrate their backing to the conference of clan leaders and community leaders. The Congress is considering eleven agenda items, of which four have been approved, with the resolution of conflict between clans as a priority. Clan elders have been submitting details of conflicts going back over many years. Other issues discussed have included consultations with the TFG leaders on the current situation. On Wednesday, the Congress vice-chair, Abdirahman Abdi Hussein, promised to open up the Congress to Islamic Courts’ leaders: “We ask Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed and Abdullahi Adow to attend the talks. We promise them security and transport. We are ready to even meet them anywhere.” He said the Islamic Courts, the renegade legislators in Asmara and those behind the explosions in Mogadishu can attend the Congress. Abdirahman Abdi Hussein emphasized that “politics were on the agenda” as well. First reactions by Sheikh Sharif, now resident in Asmara, were not promising, and he was reported as saying that the Islamic Courts did not recognize the legitimacy of the Congress. On Tuesday, the Ambassador of the Arab league to Somalia, Samir Husni, said the League was satisfied with the way the Congress and Somalia’s reconciliation process was moving.

• The Ethiopian government has been widely congratulated for bringing an end the trial and conviction of opposition leaders, detained in the aftermath of violent protests in connection with the May elections in 2005; the releases will open up a new chapter in advancing democracy in Ethiopia. Jailed opposition leaders were released after the President signed a pardon in response to their letters of apology.  A Pardon Board looked into the apology before referring it to the Office of the President.  In a press statement, Prime Minister Meles said the winner was the rule of law.  The legal process had been carried out, the court had its final say and the process of pardoning was done according to "the letter and spirit of the law."  The message to the Ethiopian people, the Prime Minister said, was that "this saga of the 'Orange revolution' is now fully behind us and is dead and buried."  A council of prominent Ethiopian elders led by Harvard scholar, Ephraim Isaac, was at the centre of the mediation process, an Ethiopian tradition carried out in good faith. The UN High Commission for Human Rights described the releases as commendable, and said “they were significant for what they represent in terms of the expansion of the democratic space in Ethiopia and prospects for national reconciliation”. 

• There has been a flurry of diplomatic activity in Addis Ababa this week. On Tuesday, July 24, Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Jiri Cunek arrived in Addis Ababa for a three-day official visit to confer with his Ethiopian counterpart, Deputy Prime Minister Addisu Legesse. The discussion focused on bilateral cooperation particularly in further strengthening ties in textile and leather industries as well as tourism. Expansion of technical cooperation in water supply and sanitation was also high in the agenda. Deputy Prime Minister Addisu emphasized Ethiopia's interest in expanding investment and trade ties with the Czech Republic. Deputy Prime Minister Cunek commended Ethiopia's role towards establishing peace in Somalia and the region.

The Deputy Prime Minister also met President Girma WoldGiorgis, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, and House Speaker Ambassador Teshome Toga. Prime Minister Meles expressed Ethiopia's interest to further consolidate the long-standing bilateral ties with the Czech Republic; and Deputy Prime Minister Cunek described his talks with the Prime Minister as fruitful.

On Thursday, it was the turn of French Foreign and European Affairs Minister, Bernand Kouchner to arrive to hold talks with  AU Commissioner Alpha Omar Konare.  He presented to the Commissioner a report on the efforts of France and the European Union to resolve the crisis in Darfur.  Mr. Kouchner also held talks with Prime Minister Meles and Foreign Minister Seyoum. He said France was keen to bolster bilateral ties notably in the spheres of trade and investment, and that France wanted to set-up an Ethio-French Joint Commission to annually review progress in boosting existing ties between the two nations. Both parties emphasized the need for enhancement of cooperation in the economic sector.

Other visitors this week have included Mr. Kim Yong Nam, the President of the Presidium of the People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Prime Minister of Somalia, Mohamed Ali Gedi. The Portuguese Foreign Minister, Mr. Luis Filipo Marques Amado, also arrives this weekend.