In this issue:
* THE HIRAAB TREATY
* OAKLEY ON AIDEED'S LINKS TO TEHERAN, KHARTOUM AND BAGHDAD
* EGYPT AND SOMALILAND
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              S O M A L I A  N E W S  U P D A T E

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Vol 3, No 3             January 19, 1994.             ISSN 1103-1999

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Somalia News Update is published irregularly via electronic mail and
fax. Questions can be directed to [email protected] or
to fax number +46-18-151160. All SNU marked material is free to
quote as long as the source is clearly stated.
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THE HIRAAB TREATY

(SNU, Uppsala, January 19) - 310 delegates from five Hawiye clans on
Sunday reached an eight-point peace agreement. The conference had
been convened by the Imam of Hiraab, Imam Mohamed Imam Omar and was
held a the Kaah Hotel in northern Mogadishu January 13-16. The
delegates were primarily traditional leaders but some prominent
politicians were also seen attending the conference.
    The agreement calls upon the clans to resolve differences by
peaceful means and prohibits further fighting among them. It says
that damages and already caused by the war should be forgiven and
forgotten. Forcefully appropriated property should be returned to its
owners in keeping with the Muslim Shar'iya. The treaty also orders
that all roads should be opened and their security be guaranteed.
Significantly the text calls upon the signatories to jointly prevent
acts of violence by armed bandits and gangs and that gangs should be
punished according to the Shar'iya. The Hiraab conference appeals to
all Hawiye clans and all Somalis to live in brotherhood and peace.
The meeting also set up a committee consisting of 19 members from the
different Hiraab clans who are also made responsible for the
implementation of the treaty as a whole.
    The Hiraab subsection of the Gurgate division of the Hawiye
comprises four major branches: the Martile to which the Sheekhaal
clan belongs; the Mahamud which is composed of the Duduble clan; the
Madar Ki'is to which the Habar Gedir clan belongs; and the Mudulod
branch of the Abgaal and Darandole clans. The Imam of Hiraab is a
hereditary position that traditionally is held by a person of the
first-born branch, the Mudulod. The current Imam is also the Imam of
Abgaal.
    After the meeting elders from various clans marched from the
Kaah hotel to the Towfiiq hotel in southern Mogadishu to demonstrate
their support for the agreement. Although neither the SNA faction to
which many Habar Gedir belong, nor the USC of the Abgaal clan have
endorsed the agreement, observers at the meeting believed that this
direct treaty between the respective clans rather than their
politicians and militaries could be of great significance in the
endeavours to establish peace. If the treaty is implemented it would
also serve to demonstrate the peace-making significance of the Somali
indigenous social system.
   However, some Hawiye clans are conspicuously left out of the
agreement. The Murosadde clan are not among the known signatories
although they have affinal links with the Hiraab. Similarly, the
Hawaadle who have had recent clashes with the Habar Gedir over the
control of the Baraawe port, did not take part in the conference.
There is also a notable absence of leaders from Aideed's own Sa'ad
branch of the Habar Gedir clan.


OAKLEY ON AIDEED'S LINKS TO TEHERAN, KHARTOUM AND BAGHDAD

(SNU, Uppsala, January 16) - In an interview in the Lebanese magazine
Al-Watan Al-Arabi, January 7, Ambassador Robert Oakley told the
magazine's Washington reporter Muffid Abdirahim that he suspects the
Iranians may have forwarded support for Aideed.
    Questioned on whether he thought the American attempts to seek a
dialogue with Aideed's Somali National Alliance could help improve
the situation in the region, Oakley pointed to the heroization of
Aideed; "our mistakes have made him a Robin Hood".
    Oakley said the American strategy after March 31 when the
majority of American soldiers are to be with-drawn from Somalia will
be along the lines indicated at the humanitarian conference held in
Addis in December last year. "We will seek to provide economic
support for the reconstruction of the country", Oakley said but went
on to point out the problem posed by the demonstrated support for
Aideed provided by Sudan, Libya and Iran. "According to the CIA",
Oakley told Al-Watan's reporter, "Aideed has sent thousands of
Somalis for military training in camps in the Sudan and Iran".
    Asked on whether there were any reports indicating Iraqi
involvement Oakley repeated that there were firm evidence for the
Iranian and Sudanese support but that he personally suspected that
Iraqi officers had visited Somalia during the civil war. Oakley
reminded of the massive Iraqi training extended to the Eritreans and
Siyad Barre's army up to 1990 and that many Somalis have retained
close links with the Iraqis.
    The Al-Watan article mentions that "a very close relative of
Aideed" recently visited Teheran and "was given modern arms". SNU has
been informed that at least one SNA visit to Teheran took place after
the humanitarian conference in Addis. It may also turn out to be of
some significance that the Ethiopian Ambassador to Teheran is a
Somali of the Ogadeen-clan, a sub-section of which is allied with
Aideed in the SNA.


EGYPT AND SOMALILAND

(SNU, Uppsala, January 19) - The director for the department for
Somalia and Djibouti at the Egyptian ministry for foreign affairs,
Mr. Ibrahim Sahaaban, on Tuesday gave a speech at a conference about
Somalia hosted by the Scandinavian Institute of African Studies in
Uppsala. Mr. Sahaaban spoke broadly on the Egyptian policy towards
Somalia as one of general support and "brotherly and Muslim
concerns".
    Mr. Sahaaban - who made it clear that while he spoke as a
private person his views did not differ from those of his government
- said that he could not see any benefit coming to the Somali people
from the secession of the north. He was referring to the foundation
of the independent Somaliland Republic who broke away from the
conflict-ridden south on May 18, 1991, and who has since been able to
establish a relative stability and engaged in a broadly supported
reconciliation process unaided by the UN.
    Somaliland's minister of interior, Muse Bihi Abdi, who was also
attending the meeting replied by giving a detailed account for
Egypt's support to the former dictator Mohamed Siyad Barre. He
explained that nearly half of the mines that the Barre regime dug
down in the north and that still constitutes a major threat for
normal life, are of Egyptian origin.
    Mr. Sahaaban denied that this was true and also pointed out that
if mines had been supplied by Egypt it was because of the "close
relations between the two countries" but that all arms supplies had
been stopped before the SNM had been founded.
    SNM was founded in London in 1981. Egypt maintained a military
presence in Somalia until two weeks before Siyad Barre was toppled in
January 1991.

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SNU is an entirely independent newsletter devoted to critical
analysis of the political and humanitarian developments in Somalia
and Somaliland. SNU is edited and published by Dr. Bernhard Helander,
Uppsala University, Sweden. SNU is produced with support from the
Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala, Sweden.
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