JEDDAH, 22 September 2004 — Emmanuel Nyabera, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is reported to have said that about 500 Somalis fleeing factional fighting in Lower Jubba region have crossed the border into Kenya. Most of the people came from the village of Dhobley and entered Kenya through the border town of Liboi.
Nyabera said that a UNHCR assessment team that visited the area on Sunday found that five families had settled with local families around Liboi, while another 300 to 500 people had been accommodated by the local community in Dadaj Bulla, a nearby village. He said that the refugees told the UNHCR they were willing to go back home once the security situation improved.
The reports said that many dwellings in Dhobley were burned down during last week’s fighting that pitted forces of the Jubba Valley Alliance, the faction that controls Kismayo, against those loyal to warlord Gen. Muhammad Said Hirsi “Morgan.” It was also reported that the fighting had stopped and that some families that fled the violence had started returning to their homes.
Fresh fighting in Somalia cast a shadow over an anti-war rally by the country’s top politicians yesterday and the United Nations warned the violence was worsening a humanitarian emergency in the south.
“It is a pity to see there are some people who don’t believe that the state of fighting is over,” Joseph Nyaga, Kenya’s assistant minister of East African and Regional Cooperation, told the rally to mark the UN’s International Day of Peace. Several small peace marches also took place in Mogadishu.
For 21 months, Somalis and international mediators in Kenya have labored to form a new national government. A clan-based parliament last week elected a speaker and is due to elect a president on Oct. 10 of a country ruled by clan militia. “It will be the first priority of the new Somali parliament to restore peace in the country. The Somali people need peace more than anything else in the world today,” Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan.
Bob Geldof, the internationally acclaimed rock star philanthropist and the brain behind “Band Aid” and “Live Aid” concerts in 1984, visited Hargeisa, the capital of the breakaway northern region of Somaliland, at the start of a five-day tour. The visit is part of an African tour that takes him to Ghana, Benin, Mali, DRCongo, Uganda and Ethiopia.
Geldof led a global humanitarian campaign to help feed hundreds of thousands of starving Ethiopians during the country’s worst famine in 1985. He organized two concerts, raising $73 million, all of which went to the starving Ethiopians. During the seven-country tour Geldof will feature in a BBC documentary, “Geldof in Africa” filmed on the trip.
Geldof met Somaliland President Dahir Rayalle Kahin, who bestowed state honors on him acknowledging his continued efforts to help the people of Somaliland and Africa.
Addressing journalists after the meeting, Geldof said he was expecting to once again raise public awareness about Africa and install it firmly into the political minds. He explained that the documentary would be released to coincide with the 20th anniversary of “Live Aid”.
The Transitional Parliament has postponed presidential elections, that were due on Sept. 22 to Oct. 10, saying the candidates needed more time to prepare. The president will be elected by members of the federal parliament. According to the reports, the election was postponed to allow the Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) ministerial committee, currently in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly, to witness the ceremony.
