From [email protected] May 29 14:14:38 1995
Date: Thu, 1 Dec 1994 22:12:30 +0100
From: Bernhard Helander <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Somalia News Update, No 27

In this issue:
* HARGEYSA: "REBEL FORCES DEFEATED"
* UN TROOPS TO BE HOME BY CHRISTMAS
* Michael Maren: MOGADISHU POSTCARD
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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 27            December 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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HARGEYSA: "REBEL FORCES DEFEATED"

Somalia News Update (Uppsala, December 1) - An armed assault on
Hargeysa, capital of the break-away Somaliland Republic, was repulsed
yesterday afternoon, November 31. The attack was carried out by
forces described as "the rebels occupying the international airport"
in a press release issued today by the secretariat of the president,
Mohammed Ibrahim Egal.
    The statement accuses the rebels for having conducted a two-week
artillery bombardment of densely populated parts of Hargeysa using
one 120 mm and two 85 mm artillery pieces. The shelling is said to have
intensified during the last two days. Under the cover of the
artillery bombardment, the rebels advanced with their "technicals"
(Pickups mounted with large calibre guns) from their stronghold at
the mined airport to the periphery of the city where they were
engaged by recently rearmed irregular forces loyal to president Egal.
Fierce fighting lasted for three hours and left, the statement
claims, an estimated 60 of them killed and 100 wounded. The
government forces are said to have suffered six killed and 28
wounded.
    The attack is described as having been incited by promises made
by the ex-president of Somaliland, Abdirahman Ahmed Ali "Tuur," from
his current base in Mogadishu. "Tuur," who failed to receive one vote
at the presidential elections in Somaliland in May 1993, has enjoyed
generous financial support from UNOSOM (see SNU 3:15, May 18; SNU
3:23, Sep 14).
    The press release, which came after that telecommunications with
Hargeysa were restored earlier today, mentions that the leader of the
rebel forces, General Jama Qalib, had his membership of the
Somaliland parliament withdrawn by his clan elders.  Qalib's forces,
the majority of which come from his own Idagalle clan, have mounted a
series of attacks on Hargeysa in retaliation of the government's
earlier occupation of the rebel-held airport last month.
    In an interview over telephone from Djibouti with the Somali
section of the BBC today, Thursday, Qalib accused the government of
having attacked first.


UN TROOPS TO BE HOME BY CHRISTMAS

UPI (New York, November 30) - A UN spokesman said Wednesday the UN
Operation in Somalia should be out of the region by Christmas.
    The United Nations decided last month to withdraw its 15,000-
strong operation in Somalia because of lack of progress to reach a
comprehensive settlement between Somali factions.
    US Spokesman Fred Eckhard said, "All UNOSOM military elements
are expected to be out of the region by Christmas."
    He said the Indian contingent, which is about 4,600 strong, will
be the first to leave Somalia.
    A contingent of 60 Australians left Somalia beginning in
November, so the bulk of the remaining troops is mainly composed of
Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Egyptians.
    The UN Security Council decided last October to put an end to
the operation with a March 1995 deadline. But the United States has
been pushing for a quick withdrawal of the military contingents.
    Eckhard said most of the UNOSOM troops were progressively
pulling back from various locations in the countryside to the
capital, Mogadishu.
    "Except for Mogadishu, there is a UNOSOM presence only in
Afgoye, where the Bangladeshis are operating, and in Kismayu, where
there is an Indian battalion," Eckhard said.
    He said two Indian frigates are offshore covering those forces'
withdrawal.


MOGADISHU POSTCARD
By Michael Maren

(This article has also appeared in The New Republic)

Acetylene torches tint the night sky on a sandy back street in
Mogadishu, less than 200 yards from the fortified United Nations
compound. Technicians working for faction leader Mohammed Farah Aidid
are mounting heavy caliber machine guns and rocket launchers to the
rear ends of Land Cruisers and pickup trucks to use in the next phase
of Somalia's civil war. The UN barracks, once a base in the hunt for
Aidid, now serve to deter any force that might attempt to shut down
Aidid's weapons workshop.
    Tomorrow, a delegation from the UN Security Council will visit.
The UN, it is widely known, will announce its intention to end the
Somalia operation by March 31, 1995. Neither Aidid nor his rival, Ali
Mahdi Mohammed, seems concerned over the impending departure; both
have shrugged off warnings from UN Special Representative Victor
Gbeho that this is the last chance for negotiations before the United
Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM) mission pulls out. Neither
seems any more willing to compromise than he was the past five times
UNOSOM threatened to withdraw.
    Over the past year it has become clear that the Somalis do not
view UNOSOM as a credible mediator, but rather as a big, dumb cow to
be milked. UNOSOM has supplied thousands of jobs in Mogadishu and
other towns (every two weeks the UN buys up about 20 percent of all
the Somali currency in existence). Now, with the departure imminent,
the faction leaders are positioning themselves to grab whatever
spoils the UN leaves behind.
    Aidid's side seems to be winning. Last August his soldiers
attacked a Zimbabwean contingent in the town of Beled Weyn. One
Zimbabwean was killed. The rest were stripped to their underwear.
Automatic weapons, mortars and armored personnel carriers valued at
more than $2 million were confiscated. (Since the Americans left, the
UN has lacked the transport capability to reinforce any of its troops
in the field.) Aidid apologized for killing the soldier, kept the
goods and continued to meet cordially with Gbeho--who continued to
express optimism that the UN could broker a peace agreement.
Meanwhile, Aidid has been complaining about the UN's failure to pay
hotel bills that his delegation ran up during months of stalled
negotiations in Nairobi and Addis Ababa.
    Ever since the American forces left Mogadishu last March,
Somalis on the streets predicted that the Egyptians and other Third
World troops in Somalia were there only to do business. It appears
they were right. Security has collapsed. A few dollars passed to
sentries will buy anyone entrance inside the gates of the port and
airport to do business. As of last week, fifty-seven brand-new four-
wheel-drive vehicles had been sold to Somalis by the security forces
for between $3,000 and $5,000 apiece. Some have turned up on the
streets of Nairobi--their UN markings faintly visible beneath fresh
paint--where they fetch $50,000 to $60,000. Recently four tankers
filled with gasoline were simply driven out of the port, never to be
seen again. Cash and goods alike feed the arms build-up.
    When the UN finally withdraws, the big prizes will be the port,
airport and the UN compound itself. Previously, Aidid financed his
war against Ali Mahdi by selling off what he had looted in Mogadishu-
-plumbing, roofing, wires, monuments, office equipment. The war ran
down when they ran out of things to steal. Now the UN has spent $160
million renovating the former US Embassy compound (which was
completed at a cost of almost $40 million by the US government just
before Mogadishu descended into chaos). Even after it became clear
last summer that the UN operation would be ending, the bureaucracy
continued to sink money into construction. A new airport terminal
building was recently completed. The latest make-work project inside
the eighty-acre compound has been to install speed bumps; apparently,
driving the same two miles of road day after day had made people
reckless. (You can walk across the compound in ten minutes.)
    Aidid has insisted to the UN that it leave behind vehicles and
other valuable equipment, arguing that any "aid" that comes into
Somalia should belong to Somalis. Though the request has struck many
at the UN as impertinent, from the Somali perspective the UN
operation is inherently corrupt, and UN bureaucrats are in Somalia
only to enrich themselves. They have seen little evidence to dissuade
them.
    In the past eight months Somalis have seen the UN bureaucracy
double to nearly 800 civilian personnel, even as humanitarian
activity halted. One UN worker in the humanitarian office said she
was "disgusted" with how little was going on. Most UN employees, she
complained, were just doing time there to help them climb the UN
career ladder. "A Somalia combat ribbon looks good on the resume,"
she said.
    A Somali employee in the same office was more bitter. Having
worked under five different foreigners at the humanitarian unit, he
said he finally had figured out that the expatriates were interested
only in collecting their daily subsistence allowance of $100 or more
per day, beyond their salary and perks. Somali employees are lucky to
get $300 per month.
    The bill for the operation is now $4 million per day--one-third
of it supplied by the United States. Most of that pays for foreign
troops. Another large chunk has gone to foreign contractors such as
the Texas-based Brown & Root or Australia's Morris Catering. Somali
businessmen who have tried to deal with the UN have complained that
procurement officers demand kickbacks. Then there is the $3.9 million
in cash that disappeared from the UN compound last April. None of the
money has shown up, and it is generally considered to have been an
inside job.
    The price tag might have been worth it if the UN were brokering
peace, but it's not. The two main factions are further apart than
ever, agreeing on almost nothing except that the UN special
representative is a joke. As negotiations have become more intricate,
the UN personnel in the country have less experience. No one who was
in Somalia last March remains, nor any trace of institutional memory.
And although Somali politics can't be mastered in a few weeks, Gbeho
seems to be missing even the simple points, further thwarting
reconciliation. One of the largest and most powerful factions, the
Somali Salvation Democratic Front, held a congress in August and
elected General Mohammed Abshir Musa as chairman. No one from the UN
was present, but Gbeho somehow reported back to New York that
Abshir's rival, Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf, was chosen. The Security
Council then published a report acknowledging the chairmanship of
Yusuf. The confusion turned out to be catastrophic, since Yusuf
belongs to Aidid's camp and Abshir to Ali Mahdi's. Both factions now
claim to include the Democratic Front, and neither man can attend a
conference where the other is chairman. Now that Yusuf has been
anointed by the UN, he is unlikely to compromise. (Several people
from Aidid's side produced copies of the Security Council report from
their pockets to show me when I raised the issue.)
    Gbeho, who is from Ghana, has another problem not of his making:
Somalis in general show little respect for Africans. When speaking
English, people around Aidid and Ali Mahdi refer to Gbeho as "that
Ghanaian." When speaking Somali they use the word adon, which means
slave, a term in common use to describe Africans with darker skin and
coarser hair. That Gbeho's assistant is also Ghanaian just proves to
the conspiracy-minded Somalis that the UN is up to no good. The logic
runs like this: first the Westerners came in and took their piece of
the UN loot. Then the Egyptians, Malaysians and other Third World
countries got their shot. Now lowly African countries are picking up
the crumbs as the operation winds down. The Somali share so far has
been small.
    For two years foreign optimists have been proclaiming peace at
hand in Somalia because the factions were tired of fighting. In
truth, they had run out of resources. Now, $4 billion later and with
the UN's help, they are rested, rearmed and ready to fight again.

[Michael Maren's book on Somalia will be published by The Free Press
next year.]
___________________________________________________________________
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's editorial assistant is Mr. Abdul
Abdi, College Park, Md, USA.
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