JEDDAH, 16 May — An Arab League official has strongly denounced statements by Somali warlord Hussein Aidid in which he claimed that Somalia did not belong to the Arab nation.
“Trying to detach Somalia from the Arab world is a frustrated blackmail attempt on his part to obtain Arab financial aid. No one can deprive Somalia of its natural affiliation to the Arab nation,” an official league source told the Egyptian news agency on Sunday. The source added, “This warlord, who holds American nationality and who tries to obtain money from anywhere regardless of the source, has no right to speak of where Somalia belongs.”
Aidid, a main opponent of Somalia’s Transitional National government, recently said at a press conference in Addis Ababa that the Somali people were African, not Arab. He pointed out that Somalia would have no peace for as long as it has a government backed by Arab states. “We are members of the Arab League, but as a Somali nation, not an Arab nation.” he said.
According to reports, German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping arrived in Djibouti Friday to meet German forces deployed in the US-led war on terrorism. Around 1,000 German troops are either stationed in Djibouti or on ships carrying out intelligence-gathering missions off the coast of neighboring Somalia.
The ships are monitoring traffic in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Since the Sept. 11 attacks on United States, American officials have repeatedly said that Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network has cells in Somalia. Somalia is also considered a possible destination for fleeing terrorists as the country as a whole is controlled by rival warlords.
A radio satellite broadcast which targeted Somalis living abroad has been launched by the Mogadishu-based Somali Television Network (STN) radio and television broadcasting station.
Abdiqadir Abdi Ali, STN operations manager, told a UN humanitarian publication, “After a two-month trial period, we are on 24 hours a day.” The channel targets Somalis living abroad who have difficulty getting news from home. They will get up-to-date information about Somalia.”
He said the channel would initially reach Somalis in Europe, Asia and Africa. “We plan to add North America before the end of the year,” he added.
A non-governmental organization (NGO) facing closure for “threatening national security” in Ethiopia has won the first round of the battle to remain open. The NGO was given 30 days in which to appeal, according to humanitarian sources.
The Ogaden Welfare Society (OWS) successfully challenged a ruling by the Ministry of Justice in court.
The ruling held that it should be banned from operating in the country. The OWS has now been told that it can continue working in the drought-affected Somali Region until a new hearing which will rule whether it should be allowed or not.
The OWS employs more than 300 people who feed up to 1,000 children a week. It also looks after 12,000 internally displaced people in Gunagadao, southeastern Ethiopia.
It was reported that a petition was handed to the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, signed by 200 elders and chiefs in the region asking him to reverse the decision.
