In this issue: * HAWAADLE AND ABGAAL IN ARMED CLASH * HORN OF AFRICA LEADERS TO CONSIDER RECOGNITION OF SOMALILAND * SOMALILAND: INTERPRETING DOCUMENTS FROM CONFERENCES ____________________________________________________________________ S O M A L I A N E W S U P D A T E ____________________________________________________________________ Vol 3, No 4 January 27, 1994. ISSN 1103-1999 ____________________________________________________________________ Somalia News Update is published irregularly via electronic mail and fax. Questions can be directed to Bernhard.Helander@antro.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. ____________________________________________________________________ HAWAADLE AND ABGAAL IN ARMED CLASH (SNU, Uppsala, January 27) - Reuters report that members of the Hawaadle and Abgaal clans fought last night in Jowhaar, some 100 kilometres north of Mogadishu. The UN military spokesperson, Major Chris Budge, told reporters that the battle had left 13 Somalis dead and an unknown number wounded. The report comes a week after leaders of the Abgaal, Habar Gedir and Shekhaal clans signed an important cease-fire agreement. The agreement, however, did not involve other powerful Hawiye clans such as the Hawaadle and Murosadde. HORN OF AFRICA LEADERS TO CONSIDER RECOGNITION OF SOMALILAND (SNU, Hargeysa, January 27) - Following president Egal's return last week to Somaliland after a tour of meetings with the heads of state in Kenya, Uganda, Eritrea and Djibouti, the president has twice addressed large rallies and made a statement to the parliament. Having previously argued that "we must put our own house in order before we deserve international recognition", Egal stated that when the heads of state of Horn of Africa countries meet in Nairobi next month, Somaliland's request for international recognition will be on the agenda. President Egal is reported to be confident of a positive outcome but has stressed that recognition is conditional on an acceptance by the Somaliland people of the full authority of his government. The authority sought refers particularly to the immediate voluntary disarmament, the control of all national installations, the safety of road communications, and the unimpeded access to all national revenue sources. At a rally in the Hargeysa football stadium yesterday, elders and young people alike pledged to return the Hargeysa airport to government control. The airport has so far been controlled by armed clan groups. The rally also pledged to grant the government control over all sources of public revenue, especially the customs revenue at the port of Berbera. All armed persons were also to be disarmed within a period of six days. The increasing difficulties for Somaliland to obtain foreign assistance through UNOSOM has recently underscored the importance of international recognition. SOMALILAND: INTERPRETING DOCUMENTS FROM CONFERENCES (SNU, Uppsala, January 27) - When the heads of state of the Horn of Africa countries assemble next month in Nairobi to discuss the situation in the Southern Sudan they will also consider Somaliland's request for international recognition. Among the documents that various organizations are likely to present to the leaders are the many, and often confusing, resolutions that are the outcome of various meetings held in favour for, or against the independence of Somaliland. Understanding the content of such documents is not an easy task - hundreds of meetings have been held inside and outside of Somaliland since it broke away from the conflict ridden south in May 1991. The report "Peacemaking Endeavours of Contemporary Lineage Leaders: A Survey of Grassroots Peace Conferences in Northwest Somalia/Somaliland" by Dr. Ahmed Yusuf Farah and Professor I. M. Lewis, published by Action Aid in December last year, provides a very thorough guide to some of the more influential conferences that have been held. Importantly, the report goes beyond a mere consideration of the conferences and examines the representativity of the elders and leaders that were involved in the massive cycle of conferences that led up to the establishment of the present Somaliland administration during the Borama meeting last spring. Although Action Aid carefully stresses that the report is not intended to give tacit support to the idea of a sovereign Somaliland Republic, the findings of the report - particularly regarding the democratically anchored nature of the peace process - do lend credibility to the Somaliland endeavours. Since Farah's and Lewis's report came out, a number of other meetings have been held. While some of their resolutions may convey an air of authenticity, it will not be easy for the Horn of Africa's leaders to distinguish genuine expressions of popular resolve from the avaricious complaints by - sometimes exiled - leaders, perhaps embittered by having been left out from consideration for ministerial seats etc. The outcome of two recent conferences will serve to illustrate the difficulties of understanding - and interpreting the documents from - the Somali decision making mechanisms. The two conferences, the Erigavo meeting in the late autumn 1993 and the Garowe meeting during the last weeks of December, both concerned the independence of Somaliland but came to strikingly different results. While elders and leaders from the clans in and around Erigavo gave their support for the independence in the Erigavo meeting, elders and leaders from the same clans who appeared at the Garowe meeting seemingly contradicted that by arguing that the Sool and Sanag regions of Somaliland should become parts of Somalia. The Erigavo meeting resulted in a wide-ranging peace treaty signed by the appropriate leaders of the Dhulbahante, Warsangeli and Isaaq clans of the Sool and Sanag regions. In a letter to UNOSOM on 30 November, the leaders asked UNOSOM not to allow unauthorized representatives from those regions to attend the Fourth Humanitarian Conference in Addis Ababa. The letter explicitly states that Sool and Sanag share the fate and destiny of the rest of Somaliland. It is signed by eleven leaders from the three clans, including Abdi Qani Garad Jama who is the highest traditional leader (Garad) of the Dhulbahante and Osman Garad Mahamoud who is the head of one the most important subsections of the Dhulbahante and who previously has been against Somaliland's secession. The request, which was ignored by UNOSOM, was clearly aimed at the United Somali Party (USP) that UNOSOM has appointed to be the legitimate representative of the people of the Sool and Sanag regions. The Garowe meeting (also known as the Harti conference) took place outside of Somaliland in the capital of the Nugaal region during late December. A report from the meeting appeared in the Arabic daily newspaper Al-Hayat on 13 January. The conference is said to have been attended by "more than 250 clan leaders, traditional arbitrators of the regions and, ulama (religious leaders)". The clan leaders comprised leaders from 5 regions of Somalia (Sool, Sanag, Bari, Mudug and Nugaal). The leaders in principal agreed to join in a national transitional government with a unified judiciary and government. They also agreed to disarm and to form a security council to oversee security in the 5 areas. Representing Nugaal was Islaan Mahamed Islaan, who is the leader of the Issa Mahamoud branch of the Majertayn clans, notably the branch to which the leader of the SSDF, Mohamed Abshir, belongs. The Bari region's representative was Mahamoud Musse of the Osman Mahamoud branch of the Majertayn. His title, boqor, means king and he is sometimes seen as the king of all the Majertayn clans. Representing the Mudug region was Islaan Abdullah Farah from Abdhullahi Yusuf's Omar Mahamoud branch of the Majertayn. The Sanag region was represented at the meeting by Sultan Abd al-Salaam Mahamoud Shirwa who is the leader of a sub-branch of the Warsangeli clan. The Sool region, finally, was represented by Garad Suleiman Mahamed, the leader of a Dhulbahante sub-branch. Al-Hayat reports that the meeting was arranged and controlled by the SSDF movement and the old USP-leader, Awad Ahmed Ashra. While the meeting certainly seems to have been well attended and did reach important decisions on a number of burning issues such as security and police force, it is easy to dismiss the claims to Sool and Sanag since neither the Warsangeli nor the Dhulbahante were represented by their genuine leaders. However, it is doubtful whether the African heads of state will see things that way if they come to dwell on the importance of this particular meeting; a complicating factor is that the UN chose to be represented at the Garowe meeting but largely ignored the Erigavo meeting and its results. Furthermore, the person representing the UN was no other than James Jonah, i.e. one of the secretary-generals most trusted collaborators and himself an under- secretary-general for political affairs. The Dutch government also had representatives present at the meeting, Al-Hayat reports. Ironically, as other governments of the region stand to consider the recognition of Somaliland's independence the presence of these foreigners at a meeting opposed to that will undoubtedly give the impression that the authority of the Garowe meeting by far exceeds that of the Erigavo conference. ____________________________________________________________________ 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. ____________________________________________________________________