In this issue:
* THE HAWAADLE CLAN FORMS NEW PARTY
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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 19 July 5, 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
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THE HAWAADLE CLAN FORMS NEW PARTY
(SNU, Uppsala, July 5) - At a press conference in Nairobi on Monday
the first news about the outcome of the Hawaadle clan's meeting were
presented by Osman Mohamed Jelle. Jelle -- a former SRC member who
spent most of the 80's in detention -- attended the congress in Beled
Weyn but did not run as a candidate for any of the positions in the
newly formed political party called the United Somali Congress-Peace
Movement (USC-PM).
The two-week long meeting which convened in Beled Weyn on June
10 elected Abdullahi Osoble Siyad -- a lawyer and a former minister
of Post & Telecommunications -- as the chairman of the USC-PM. The
military wing of the newly founded party has already been involved in
the past week's heavy fighting with Aideed's SNA militia in
Mogadishu.
The congress also elected Ahmed Mohamed Weheliye (Ahmed Hiji),
an economist formerly with the Ministry of Education, as its
secretary-general. Various working committees on health, education,
reconstruction and security were established. Following the closure
of the congress, a new short-wave radio station called CODKA HIRAAN
(The Voice Of Hiraan) was inaugurated at a site south of Beled Weyn.
After the congress Beled Weyn was visited by both Ali Mahdi and
the chairman of the SNF militia Omar Haji Masaleh. The latter was
born and raised in Beled Weyn.
COMMENTARY:
This latest addition to the plethora of Somali political parties
signals a consolidation of the Hawaadle clan and the very choice of
name indicates a support for Ali Mahdi and his "group of twelve".
However, the Hawaadle, unimpressed by -- and excluded from -- the
recent rise of "Hiraabism" (i.e. the attempts by clan and subclan
leaders to orchestrate a cease-fire between the clans descended from
Hiraab) are also looking after their own interests. As a clan often
associated with the Hawiye clans, yet having their own independent
line of descent they know that when it one day comes to distribution
of ministerial seats, only the big clans with their own parties will
count in the eyes of the UN. For the moment, both the Hawaadle and
the other Ali Mahdi allied clans share the common goal of getting rid
of Aideed's SNA. Last week's extremely heavy fighting also featured
an alleged assassination attempt on Aideed. The fighting appears to
have halted following an appeal by elders and youth organizations on
Sunday, but the Murosadde-Hawaadle-Abgaal axis is stronger than ever
before. With the increasing support from some branches of the Ayr
subclan of the Habar Gedir, and with the 19,000 peace keepers hiding
in their barracks and the US marine ready to evacuate all US citizens
at the first sign of renewed fighting, the Ali Mahdi loyals are bound
to attempt to use their might.
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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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