JEDDAH, 24 August 2004 — The ministerial committee of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has called on Somali sub-clans that have not chosen their MPs to submit their list within seven days, press reports said yesterday. Somalia’s new Parliament was inaugurated on Sunday in Kenya in a major step toward ending 13 years of anarchy. The clans were supposed to choose 275 deputies for the assembly but several dozen stayed away. “IGAD ministerial committee congratulated the selected 216 MPs of whom 194 were sworn-in. It asked them to sink their differences and focus on fulfilling their robust mandate,” IGAD said in a statement.
The committee called upon the arbitration committee to sort out disputes arising from the selection process and reaffirmed its commitment to work for the appointment of women to the transitional federal Parliament. The committee welcomed the African Union’s efforts to deploy military observers to support the national reconciliation process.
The UN Security Council has condemned continuing violations of an arms embargo on Somalia, a statement said. The council has also extended the mandate of a group tasked with monitoring the 12-year-old ban on the export of weapons and military equipment to the country. The council said that weapons and ammunition supplies continued to flow to and through Somalia, and requested the UN secretary-general “to re-establish, within 30 days and for a period of six months, the Monitoring Group focusing on the ongoing arms embargo violations, including transfers of ammunition, single use weapons and small arms.” The council has expressed its determination to have violators of the embargo imposed in 1992. In its report to the council, the monitoring group, which is based in Kenya had said that while in the past Somali warlords were known to have been the main importers of arms and weapons, arms traders and other businessmen were increasingly involved in the illicit trade.
“Imported arms continue to be sold openly in various local markets, and the Bakaaraha arms markets in Mogadishu are still the main source for arms in Somalia,” said the group. It said that arms and weapons now came from external sources to the north and south of Somalia, often delivered by dhows and sometimes by large vessels at several places along the Somali coastline.
“Information from confidential sources indicates that some Somali warlords are not keen on seeing a government in place, because it would undermine their business operations,” the monitoring group said. “In the absence of a central government that collects taxes and customs duties and enacts laws, the financial capacity of some businessmen and warlords and, consequently, their military capability have increased tremendously. There is evidence that arms are transported to a neighboring state from Somalia and sold in a very insecure region of the neighboring state.” The report urged neighboring states to implement anti-money-laundering and anti-terrorist measures to strengthen the capacity of their financial institutions to trace client funds that might be linked to trafficking and smuggling. “Dhow traffic in the region should be regulated, while the International Maritime Organization, in consultation with neighboring countries and related organizations, should develop a practical monitoring program for Somalia’s 3,200-kilometer coastline, the second longest in Africa,” it added.
The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) has distributed essential supplies to some 11,000 displaced families in southern and southwestern Somalia, a statement said. “The supplies take the form of relief kits, consisting of jerry cans, blankets, kitchen sets, tarpaulins and clothing, as well as building materials such as nails, wire and a hammer so that people can repair their homes when they eventually return. Since the end of 2003, the civilian population of both regions has been under continuous threat from fighting between militias,” ICRC said.
