Somalia thread for the week ending January 24

Shabelle Media: Hisbul Islam says will start operating port, airport [in Northeast] Mogadishu

the Islamic organization of Hizbul Islam has said that they were planning to start operating a port and airport in the out of the Somali capital Mogadishu, officials told Shabelle radio on Tuesday.

Sheik Yusuf Aden Abddikarin, the commissioner of the Hisbul Islam organization for El-ma’an village in the north side of Mogadishu told Shabelle radio that they will reopen Esaley airport and the seaport of El’am’an in out the capital for the coming days.

“The following days both the airport and seaport will restart working Esaley airport and Elma’an seaport so we are informing all the people to know that to take advantage their chances,” said the commissioner.

The commissioner also said that they had solved all disagreements between the officials of Hisbul Islam organization about reopening the airport and the port calling for all the business including the travel agencies to use the airport and the seaport soon as possible.

Pana: European Union will not block rebel-held Somali ports

The European Union (EU) will not organize an operation to block rebel-held ports in Somalia, an EU official said in Brussels on Tuesday.

During a meeting of the EU Political and Security Committee (PSC), Spain, which takes over the rotating presidency of the European Council, proposed that warships of the Atalante mission against piracy in the Indian Ocean, blocked ports where pirates docked with ships they had hijacked.

Speaking to the press, a European Union spokesman, however, said such an operation was technically impossible to carry out due to the large number of ports - 70 altogether - likely to be used by pirates.

"Such an operation might require the use of a huge number of ships and sailors for a long time, which is quite difficult," the spokesman said.

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WRT the TFG's announcement of plans to print new currency -

From a press release issued by the Govt of Puntland: The TFG Plan to Mint New Currency Poses Grave Dangers for Somalia

The Government of Puntland State of Somalia strongly expresses its disapproval to the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia’s unilateral plan to issue new currency in an agreement with private contractors in Sudan. Printing new monetary notes with different denominations during this fragile period of political turmoil and economic collapse will have negative implications for Somalia as a whole.

The TFG Parliament, the Somali business community and other economic stakeholders were not consulted in plans to issue the new currency. The Puntland Government, which is the main domestic pillar of the TFG that relies on foreign aid for survival, was also not consulted during this secretive process. This raises a question of hidden motives by unscrupulous elements within the TFG, a government that is dependent on African Union peacekeepers (AMISOM) for its own survival in a few blocks of Mogadishu.

...The plan to mint new currency lacks legal backing and poses grave dangers to the fragile Somali economy when one considers the following: a) the nonexistence of monetary policy by the Central Bank of Somalia; and b) the absence of statistical knowledge of money, finance, banking and financial market indicators. There has been no assessment of the amount of money in circulation in the country and the amount needed to be injected into the economy, for example.

The top priorities for the TFG should have been to improve security and to rebuild public institutions through a reconciliation process, instead of plotting to flood markets with new money in a unilateral project that endangers Somali families and households.

The Puntland Government strongly denounces the minting of new currency and categorically rejects its circulation in Somalia. This dangerous scheme, if not stopped immediately, will give rise to hyperinflation and lead to economic destabilization.

A commentary at Garowe Online adds:

Somaliland which has its own shilling and a central bank will not, like Puntland, allow the new shilling to be used in territories it controls. The whole exercise will undermine the federalism project and put third parties such as Sudan in an awful position for compromising neutrality in Somalia’s complex politics. If the TFG puts money printing plan on hold and uses consultative approach to monetary policy, then more bridges will be built between the TFG and regions keen on a federal Somalia.

From a report based an interview with Shabelle Media,

The information minister of the Puntland called for the Sudanese government not to accept the idea of printing the Somali shillings saying that if Sudan does might be seen committed crimes [against] the Somali people stressing that Somalis would once respond that if does.

And Puntland's Minister of Finance is quoted in a Somaliweyn Media Center story stating

“The concept of making a new currency for Somalia is from particular individuals, and all that they are intending to do is to rob the wealth of the Somali people, if they were sincere they would made consultaion with the authority of Puntland since we are part of the Somali government, they haven’t done so, they have not as well consulted the Somali traders, so any healthy brain can automatically know that this is just a rush” said Farah Ali Jamac the Minister for Finance in Puntland.

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From a recent Wall Street Journal interview with Sh. Sharif (note the WSJ's use of "Mr. Sharif" rather than 'President')

WSJ: How many districts of Mogadishu does government control?

Mr. Sharif: The most important districts in Mogadishu are controlled by government today.

WSJ: Do you know how many?

Mr. Sharif: No.

WSJ: The prime minister has said that the government expects to have liberated Mogadishu entirely by the end of January. Is this still accurate, and how do you plan to do so?

Mr. Sharif: It is our hope that Mogadishu would be freed in the soonest possible time.

WSJ: By the end of January?

Mr. Sharif: We can't speak to specific timetables.

And that's the edited transcript!

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Amnesty Intl: Controls on military assistance to Somalia must be tightened

Amnesty International has called for arms transfers to the Somali government to be suspended until there are adequate safeguards to prevent weapons from being used to commit war crimes and human rights abuses.

In its latest briefing paper on the country, Amnesty International details US shipments of arms, including mortars, ammunition and cash for the purchase of weapons to the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

These transfers were made despite substantial risks that such types of weapons could be used in indiscriminate attacks by TFG forces, or diverted to armed groups opposed to the TFG, who also commit gross and widespread abuses.

“International concern for the future of the Somali government has not been matched by an equal concern for the human rights of civilians,” said Michelle Kagari, Amnesty International Deputy Director for Africa.

“Mortar attacks continue to claim lives – it is time for international donors to apply tighter controls to their support for the government”

Amnesty International’s briefing also details growing international programmes of military and police training for TFG forces, despite a lack of adequate oversight procedures.

The training is delivered in Somalia itself and in Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and Uganda. The European Union, France, Germany and Italy are involved, or have pledged funding for it.

The link to the full briefing paper (pdf) is Somalia: International Military and Policing Assistance Should Be Reviewed

One excerpt:

Amnesty International has learned of US plans to supply substantial quantities of cash to TFG forces for the purchase of weapons and logistical supplies within Somalia itself. On 14 May 2009 the US government applied for an embargo exemption to supply up to USD$2 million in cash, to be flown from Nairobi to Mogadishu, for the TFG's National Security Force to procure weapons, ammunition and logistical supplies 'locally', and thus presumably in part from the Somali arms markets. Amnesty International understands that the expenditure of this cash may be overseen by an international accounting firm under a contract with the TFG signed in July 2009 for the oversight of international donor funding for humanitarian and security sector assistance. The details of this oversight mechanism are not publicly available. However, even if this cash is not diverted from its stated recipient and end-use, nonetheless the funding of purchases from domestic arms traders will help to support Mogadishu's flourishing, uncontrolled domestic arms markets: the same markets that are reportedly a major source of weaponry for al-Shabaab and other armed groups opposed to the TFG, and themselves accused of committing war crimes and other serious human rights abuses. Providing revenue to these markets thus fuels further the extreme insecurity in which Somalia's civilian population lives. Equipping the TFG security forces through financing local TFG arms also makes it impossible for international donors to determine whether those weapons are marked and recorded in line with international weapons tracing standards, seriously hindering the accountability of those weapons, and making it difficult for either the TFG or donors to detect their diversion to other armed groups and unauthorised end users.

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Addikarim Haji Abdi Buh provides an answer to a question often posed here in his latest analysis/commentary The demise of the TFG and the return of the warlords (AHSW):- Ethiopia's second invasion of Somalia [pdf]

Since February last year the death toll of the civilians in the [Bakara] market and its vicinity stands around 1,850 and the injured stand at least four times more according to Mogadishu hospital workers. The hospitals receive on average 30 fatally injured or dead civilians in a week from the Bakara market and other residential districts, which eclipsed the other war casualties.

No verifiable sources for those numbers is provided in the article, which, given the circumstances in Mogadishu is understandable, nor how wide of an area "vicinity" refers to or how many districts make up the weekly tab.