In this issue:
* REBUILDING A COUNTRY
* VICIOUS TONGUES...
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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 2, No 19             August 19, 1993              ISSN 1103-1999  

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Somalia News Update is published irregularly via electronic mail and
fax. Questions can be directed to antbh@strix.udac.uu.se 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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REBUILDING A COUNTRY

(SNU, Uppsala, 19 August) The intensity of the efforts to reconstruct 
what nearly three years' of civil war has left in pebbles are gaining 
momentum. During the last month there has been an increasing stream 
of reports about new development programmes starting and of 
development organizations expanding their activities into yet new 
areas.
     In the El Dere district of Galgaduud region the Italian 
organization Comitato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo dei Popoli 
(CISP) have initiated a UNICEF-funded health and water-supply 
programme. In Mogadishu, where CISP have been active throughout the 
war, a new health and nutrition programme has just been launched. In 
the Middle Shabeele region a Somali NGO will run a water and 
sanitation programme in the Balad and Jowhar districts. In Kismayo, 
where UNICEF has maintained a high profile for a long time, the 
organization's efforts in the education sector are beginning to yield 
results. One of the most successful new schools in Kismayo is the 
Bilaal school, which was opened two months ago by members of the 
local community with support from UNICEF.
     There are, however, a conspicuous absence of some types of 
projects. Despite lengthy internal preparatory work, United Nation's 
volunteer organization and UNDP recently cancelled a Community Based 
Rehabilitation programme. The war has left tens of thousands of 
people severely crippled and throughout the fighting in Mogadishu the 
Somali Red Crescent Society has maintained a production of crotches. 
However, a large-scale programme for the disabled in the rural areas 
has yet to be launched. 
     A prerequisite for the successful implementation of development 
projects is the existence of some kind of community organization. 
UNOSOM has begun the task of restructuring District and Regional 
Councils all over Somalia. These councils are urgently needed not 
least in order to coordinate aid-efforts and to assess the needs and 
priorities in various areas. From a political point of view the 
ambition is also to provide people with a local forum through which 
they are able to voice their concerns. If the councils can be 
established in such a way that all local groups are represented, they 
will also reduce people's dependency of the various militias.
     Not surprisingly, the establishment of district councils has met 
strong opposition from some of the militias. The spokesperson for the 
four movements in the Somali National Alliance, Abdulatif Mohamed 
Afdub, in July told reporters that the district councils will deprive 
the Somali people of their "genuine political organisations". With 
developments such as the Kismayo peace accord (see SNU, No 18) it is 
clear that SNA are loosing supporters. It is more startling, 
therefore, to find SNA's criticism of the district councils repeated 
by those aid organizations who last week wrote a letter of protest to 
Secretary-General Boutros Gali. While the bulk of their criticism of 
UNOSOM concerned the, in their view, unproportionately large military 
efforts as opposed to humanitarian tasks, the letter also casts doubt 
on the validity of the district councils the United Nations has been 
trying to set up in Somalia, saying they could become the source of 
further conflict.


VICIOUS TONGUES...

(Private Eye, 13 August 1993) VIEWERS may have found it touching to 
see Mark Wood, the editor-in-chief of Reuters, appear on television 
to say that it was the saddest day in the organisation's history when
three of its employees were killed by an angry mob in Mogadishu.
     But if Wood were to visit Nairobi, where the funerals of the 
Reuters staff took place, he would himself risk being torn apart by 
an angry mob.
     Press colleagues of the deceased men are outraged that neither 
Wood, nor Peter Job, the Reuters MD, nor one single member of senior
management saw fit to attend the funerals which took place over four 
days in Nairobi.
     Somehow, however, Wood was able to find the time to drink 
champagne at the opening of Reuters' new office in Moscow a few days 
later. Members of the Nairobi-based press corps have written a joint 
letter to him expressing their profound disgust.

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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 published by Dr. Bernhard Helander in Uppsala, 
Sweden.
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