JEDDAH, 28 September 2004 — The African Union’s representative in the Somalia peace talks in Kenya, Mohammed Ali Faum, has welcomed the return of warlord Muhammad Said Morgan to the talks, press reports said yesterday.
He said that all important players in Somali politics would now be present at the peace talks.
“We have been expecting him since Friday; if he has come it is good news because we don’t want any single leader to be out of this process,” Faum said, adding that he expected the rival warlord Barre Hiirale also to return to the talks from southern town of Kismayo.
Three weeks ago, Morgan began advancing on Kismayo in hopes of retaking it from rival Juba Valley Alliance (JVA) militia coalition led by Hirale. About 500 Somalis have fled to Kenya to escape the fighting.
According to mediators, the absence of Morgan had undermined the process of forming an all-inclusive government by elders and warlords under way for the last 23 months in Kenya.
In an interview, Morgan defended the recent battles which he said were to protect his people in southern Somalia. He dismissed charges that he was a spoiler in the country’s peace process. “I support Somalia’s attempt to create a government. I have stopped the fighting, and have decided to rejoin the talks, “ he said.
Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin has denied that his government is undermining the Somali peace process, Addis Tribune said. Some Somali faction leaders have repeatedly accused Ethiopia of supplying arms and ammunition to warlords, and of obstructing the peace process.
According to the Mogadishu-based Radio Shabeelle, the Ethiopian government has threatened to arrest warlords Muhammad Said Morgan and Barre Hirale, involved in fierce fighting near Kismayo. Ethiopia’s envoy to the Somali peace talks in Kenya, Abdulaziz Ahmed Aden condemned the two warlords, and demanded that they rejoin the peace talks. He said that Ethiopia had recognized that the two warlords were obstacles to the peace process and threatened that they would be arrested if found on Ethiopian territory.
US-funded Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net) said in its latest report on Somalia that drought has left up to 1.2 million people in need of food aid until the next crop expected in April 2005. The report said that the northwestern, northeastern and central regions of the country have been hit by a severe drought and households in those areas were in desperate need of help.
“A total of 222,600 people in four areas of Somalia required immediate emergency interventions. These areas are the Sool Plateau and Nugal Valley in the northeast, northern Galgadud and south Mudug in the central region, and Lower Jubba riverine communities and western parts of Gedo in the south. Another 447,100 people in areas adjacent to these places require urgent livelihood support to prevent them from declining into a state of humanitarian emergency,” it added.
The governor of Sanaag region, Ali Abdi Hurre, said yesterday that about 3,600 animals were believed to have drowned because of heavy rains in northern Somalia. “Shelter has been given to those affected in their own areas and a government delegation will visit the areas affected by the storms to assess the situation,” he said.
Hurre said that the rain had washed away hundreds of huts, with up to 350 nomadic families believed missing after several days of heavy rain on the Siradley mountains in northern Somalia.
He said it was difficult to give an exact death toll since there was little news from the remote areas in the mountains where the storms were heaviest.
According to the reports, most of the roads linking the Siradley mountains to coastal villages and towns were impassable because of flooding and fallen rocks. Sanaag had suffered three continuous years of drought.
