In this issue:
* EPRDF CLAIMS SUCCESS FOR OFFENSIVE AGAINST AL-ITIHAD
* BUY GAS SHARES
* EX-PRESIDENT OF SOMALILAND RENOUNCES SECESSION
* SNU CORRECTION
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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 13               May 1, 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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EPRDF CLAIMS SUCCESS FOR OFFENSIVE AGAINST AL-ITIHAD

(SNU, Addis Ababa, April 30, 1994) - The Ethiopian government has
claimed a successful offensive against Al-Itihad, the Islamic Unity
force in the Ogaden. Local sources report the movement of land and
air forces of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front
(EPRDF) forces in the area. At a rare news conference, Ethiopia's
Minister of Defence, Siye Abraha, said on Thursday that the EPRDF's
campaign against the fundamentalist group had been successful, but
reported few casualties on either side. The Minister, regarded as a
hard-liner in the EPRDF, also revealed that non-lethal US military
aid is on the way to Ethiopia in the form of trucks. SNU has learnt
that the aid is valued at about $1.5 million.
    Recent statements by Dr Abdul-Mejid Hussein of the new Ethiopian
Somali Democratic League have tried to lump the Ogadeni National
Liberation Front (ONLF) and the extreme Al-Itihad together, although
they have significant differences in policy. Among Itihad's more
radical proposals is the prohibition of smoking and chewing chat.
Their demands for the removal of non-ethnic Somalis from the region
have interrupted relief and development operations; Medecins sans
Frontieres Belgium is losing hope for their non-Somali Ethiopian
assistant truck driver kidnapped by the Itihad and last seen on March
6.
    In Jijiga, the head of the South East Rangelands Project (SERP),
Ahmed Abdulli, is held in prison under suspicion of assisting
political groups such as the ONLF. Radios and vehicles belonging to
the organization have been confiscated or commandeered, after the
EPRDF accused the local authorities in Warder of using SERP's radios
to report the killings there in March. (The EPRDF failed to capture
the ONLF leader Sheikh Ibrahim Abdallah at a public rally, and
according to the ONLF, 53 people were killed in the ensuing gun-
battle.) SERP - a $40 million African Development Bank-funded project
- is grinding to a halt as finances are frozen.
    It is now clear that the 21 "new faces" that beefed up support
for new regional President Ugaz Abdulrahman Abdukenu (known as
"Buthelezi" by the ONLF) at the Jijiga meeting are new members of the
regional Council.  The new appointees represent seven districts
bordering Oromiya (such as Gursum) whose status was previously under
dispute. Ugaz Abdulrahman met with Ethiopian President Meles Zenawi
earlier this week in Addis Ababa.
    It is not yet clear whether Ugaz Abdulrahman has joined the new
pro-government coalition party, the ESDL. The organization's flag is
perhaps the most improbable design in transitional Ethiopia: it is
divided diagonally in half between the five pointed star of the
Republic on the top, and the Ethiopian red, gold and green tricolour
on the bottom.
    Deliveries to Gode airport last week included several Antonov-
loads of men and materiel for the EPRDF, and large quantities of
election material, posters and ballot papers for the June 5
elections.


BUY GAS SHARES

(SNU, Addis Ababa, April 30, 1994) - With impeccable timing, an
announcement appeared in The Ethiopian Herald on Wednesday 27 April,
headed "BUY CALUB GAS SHARES". The Calub Natural Gas Development
project agreement for the Ogaden, long under discussion between the
World Bank and the Transitional Government "has been completed",
according to the advertisement from "Commercial Nominees Private
Limited Company". Reserves at Calub are estimated to be 68 billion
cubic metres. About one third of the Calub project company - a total
of 35,700 shares worth about 6 million dollars - is offered to the
public for sale at all branches of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia.


EX-PRESIDENT OF SOMALILAND RENOUNCES SECESSION

(SNU, Addis Ababa/Uppsala, April 30, 1994) - The seven-man executive
committee of the Somali National Movement has formally renounced its
support for the independence of Somaliland. In a statement made
yesterday at the Ghion hotel in Addis Ababa, the movement's chairman
Abdirahman Ahmed Ali "Tur" ("the hunchback"), said that the SNM
favoured a federal structure in a future Somalia, and did not want to
see the creation of more "mini-states" emerging from the Somali
conflict. General Aideed on behalf of the SNA and the Addis Ababa
representative of the SSDF also supported the statement, and welcomed
the expected participation of the SNM in future reconciliation
meetings.
    When pressed on the ability of his executive committee, even to
speak for the Isaaq clan, quite apart from the rest of the population
of Somaliland, Abdirahman (who declared Somaliland's independence in
1991) admitted that the full Central Committee of the SNM had not met
for two years, and he had been abroad for some time. A critic present
at the conference, pointed out that all three representatives ("Tur",
Osman Jama Ali, and Ismail Hurre "Bubaa") are all from the Garhajis
sub-clan of the Isaaq.
    Aideed has been touring the region for some time, and has met
President Meles Zenawi while in Addis Ababa. The SNA's statement said
that the week-long talks between the SNM and the SNA represented a
"political breakthrough".
    There has been no comment from the Hargeisa government of
Mohammed Ibrahim Egal.
    A biographical footnote: Abdirahman "Tur" admitted that he was
born in Gashamo, inside Ethiopian territory. Since he lost the
elections for the presidency in Boroma in May last year, he has been
living in London.


SNU CORRECTION

In No. 12 of SNU it was wrongly claimed that Dr Ahmad Mumin Warfa of
UNOSOM's Political Office had been shot and wounded by members of his
own clan. This has turned out to be incorrect. SNU regrets the error
and would like to extend its apologies both to those wrongly accused
and to others that may have been affected by it.


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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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