Ethno-Net Database: Africa

Reports on Ethnic Relations / Rapports sur les relations éthniques

The following section is mainly consisted of part, full or summaries of articles taken from newspapers.
La section suivante est essentiellement constituée d'exraits, de la totalité ou de résumés d'articles issues de journaux .

IRIN

The Article: "TNG says it will not leave Kenya peace conference"

A spokesman for TNG Prime Minister Hassan Abshir Farah said on Monday that Somalia's Transitional National Government was not planning to leave peace talks in Nairobi, Kenya, despite a meeting in Mogadishu at the weekend between the TNG and faction leaders.

Ahmed Isse Awad, head of the prime minister's office, told IRIN the meeting was not an alternative to the Kenya conference. He described it as a consultative meeting to discuss ways of bringing stability to the Somali capital.

The TNG and various faction leaders said on Saturday they had agreed on an administration for Mogadishu and measures to bring peace to the capital. This came after a closed door meeting between TNG President Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, faction leaders Mohamed Qanyare Afrah and Osman Ali Ato, and members of the Juba Valley Alliance and the Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA).

Qanyare reportedly said the meeting had also agreed to convene a national reconciliation conference in Somalia, because the conference in Nairobi - sponsored by the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) - was not achieving anything.

Several groups attending the Nairobi talks on Monday held a joint press conference, at which they denounced the Mogadishu initiative. These groups included the opposition Somali Restoration and Reconciliation Council (SRRC), a TNG splinter group which has been supportive of the Nairobi conference, and representatives of civil society.

SRRC co-chairman Hussein Aideed said the Mogadishu initiative had come from leaders who were now trying to undermine the Nairobi conference. He said the Nairobi peace talks were not collapsing but were soon to enter the crucial, power-sharing stage. Aideed called on those leaders in Mogadishu to come and take an active part in the process. He added that he hoped it would produce a broad-based government for Somalia by June.

TNG splinter group leader Abdirahman Nur Mohammed Dinari told IRIN that he also saw the Mogadishu meeting as an attempt to undermine the Nairobi talks. Dinari said Mogadishu’s problems needed to be settled by all Somalis.

Somali women attending the ongoing peace conference in Nairobi, Kenya, have called for women's rights to be included in all stages of the peace process.

Their call came at a three-day workshop for women delegates, supported by the regional body Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The workshop ends on Friday.

On Thursday, the women met the mediator, Bethwel Kiplagat of Kenya, to urge his support for their cause. Somali women delegates have agreed to advocate for at least 25 percent representation in the new institutions, including parliament.

"We will start our effective lobbying soon after we finish this workshop," Somali women's activist Asha Haji Elmi told IRIN. "We are not lobbying for only the 25 percent, but we are advocating a package for women's inclusion in this process, and women's inclusion in every document of this process."

The women's workshop has been reviewing draft reports from six technical committees on core issues of the conflict. Drafts from the key federalism committee recommend only a 10 percent quota for women's representation in the new Somali institutions.

Kiplagat stressed his support for the Somali women and urged them to play a strong part in the peace process.

"I believe the problem of marginalisation of women is discrimination when it comes to education," he told the workshop. He emphasised the need to educate girls.

"We need now affirmative action for the girl child," he said. "This continent and Somalia will not develop if you freeze such a great asset - women." In this regard, he proposed a charter for the education of girls.

"The issue of women is international," said Atsede Zerfu of Ethiopia, who heads IGAD Women's Desk. "The only thing we can do is to use international conventions, the international community, and also influence our men."

IRIN

The Article: "Peace talks have achieved little, civil society says"

The Somali peace talks currently underway in Kenya have achieved very few tangible results, members of Somali civil society said on Tuesday.

According to a statement, received by IRIN, the group listed a range of objectives it said had not been met. These included "peace and national reconciliation, agreement on a provisional charter and other core issues, as well as the establishment of a national government".

"The organisation of the process is poor and should it continue in this manner, very little can be expected," the statement warned.

The talks - which began last October - are being held under the auspices of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development's (IGAD) technical committee, made up of Somalia's neighbours or so-called frontline states - Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti.

The statement accused the international community - "especially the frontline states, the EU and the US" - of "heavily influencing an inappropriate selection criteria for conference participants", thereby legitimising and empowering faction leaders.

"It seems that the Somali participants lack vision, common objectives, willingness and drive necessary to achieve peace," it added.

The statement also said the "conflict" among the frontline states was as great an obstacle to the success of the talks, as the conflict among the Somali groups.

It made a number of recommendations, including the formation of "a consensus-building committee to narrow down differences on critical issues and find a common ground for agreements".

It also called on the IGAD frontline states to establish a "coordinated, consistent and transparent policy" on the peace process and to reconcile their differences.

But it stressed that the process was still ongoing "and therefore it remains important not to be completely pessimistic".

The list of 17 signatories included prominent human rights activist Maryan Hussein Awreye and Abdulkadir Aden Abdulle, a former minister and son of Somalia's first president Aden Abdulle Osman.

IRIN

The Article: "Presidential contender urges support for Somaliland poll"

As campaigning kicked off for Somaliland's first multiparty presidential elections, leading opposition contender Ahmed Muhammad Silaanyo said the international community should support the self-declared republic's fledgling democratic process.

"What Somaliland is doing is an experiment which is, yes, nebulous and new, but worthwhile and which I believe the international community should help with," he told IRIN on Thursday.

"The international community is now spending so much money on Eldoret [Somali peace talks, now moved to Nairobi] and what is going on there?," he said. "If the international community could give a fraction of those resources to help the election system in Somaliland, that would be worthwhile, and I am sure the world would be very proud of what we are doing."

Silaanyo is one of two opposition candidates running against incumbent president Dahir Rayale Kahin in polls scheduled for 14 April.

Somaliland, a former British protectorate, declared independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991 after the collapse of the Siad Barre regime, but has not been internationally recognised. In the last decade it has moved away from conflict, while the rest of Somalia has been locked in civil strife. Last December, Somaliland's first multiparty elections at local level passed off peacefully.

If elected president, Silaanyo said his priorities would be maintaining peace, the quest for international recognition and the development of Somaliland.

Seeking international recognition is a top priority for all parties running in the elections. There is also a political consensus on the refusal to join the Somali peace talks, currently taking place in Kenya. Somali delegates at those talks continue to press for Somaliland to come.

"The one thing they are agreed upon is not to allow Somaliland to be independent," Silaanyo said. "That's a very, very negative thing ... I think it would have been much more fruitful, useful, intelligent, positive, if they were to say - congratulations to our brothers in the north, or in Somaliland, we wish them well."

IRIN

The Article: "Ceasefire again violated as fighting resumes in Mogadishu"

Heavy fighting has again broken out in the Medina district of Mogadishu, according to sources in the Somali capital.

The fighting pits militias loyal to faction leader Muse Sudi Yalahow against those led by his former right-hand man, Umar Mahmud Muhammad Finish. The clashes, which began on Tuesday, continued on Wednesday. At least 10 people have been killed and scores wounded, Medina resident Mahmud Abdi told IRIN.

He said the latest round of fighting was a continuation of the battles which erupted in late February.

"The two sides have been confronting each other for the last two weeks," he said. "It was just a matter of time before they started again."

Yalahow and Finish both belong to the Da'ud subclan of the Abgal, and the fighting is said to be a struggle between the two to gain supremacy within the subclan.

This is the latest violation of a ceasefire agreement signed last October by the Somali parties attending peace talks, mediated by the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Nairobi.

Somali sources attending the conference told IRIN it was up to the newly-created ceasefire monitoring committee to "start dealing with those who violate the agreement they signed".

"Condemnations are fine, but the committee should back them with action, otherwise no-one will take its statements seriously," one source said.

The African Union on Tuesday issued a statement expressing concern over the deteriorating security situation in Somalia.

It condemned violations of the cessation of hostilities accord and called for their immediate end, otherwise the AU "will call for imposing sanctions" against the leaders and parties responsible.

The Kenyan chairman of the Somali peace talks, Bethwel Kiplagat, said on Tuesday the conference would soon start work on setting up a provisional, broad-based federal government for Somalia, but appealed for guidance on how this should be done.

"The process is very, very important," he told a special session of the conference. "The process by itself could actually jeopardise what we have achieved up to now, if it is the wrong process. I would like all of us to think much more creatively and very intensively about how best to avoid the mistakes that have been made in the past."

He stressed the transitional nature of the future government. "It is not the government of Somalia, because that has to be done by all the people of Somalia."

He also said the work of six technical committees should be completed by next Monday. The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which is mediating the talks, would then take five to seven days to harmonise the reports and try to iron out contradictions.

The technical committees have been working since December on core issues of the Somali conflict, including federalism, disarmament, land rights and conflict resolution.

Kiplagat announced the appointment of Kenyan Major General Joseph Musomba to oversee an international monitoring committee for a ceasefire agreement signed by the Somali sides last October.

Musomba told IRIN he hoped his diplomatic and military experience would allow him to "do a good job", and that UN support would be needed to help enforce the ceasefire.

After the special session, Kiplagat went into a closed-door meeting of the leaders' committee, which was expected to discuss "future structures and a road map" for implementing the structures.

However, a number of key faction leaders have been absent from the conference for some time, including prominent Mogadishu-based faction leaders Muse Sudi Yalahow, Muhammad Qanyare Afrah and Usman Hasan Ali Ato. Also missing are representatives of the Kismayo-based Juba Valley Alliance, which controls much of the Juba valley area of southern Somalia, and faction leader Muhammad Habeb, who controls Jowhar in the Middle Shabelle region.

The leader of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, Col Abdullahi Yusuf, left for Somalia on Monday. None of these leaders has indicated whether he will return or not.

"Their absence is likely to take away some of the significance of today's meeting," a regional analyst close to the talks told IRIN on Tuesday. "The significance of the meeting will be proportional to the representation at the table. Without full representation, the value of the process is diminished."

He said IGAD should insist on full representation of the leaders or call for a recess. He stressed that the Sudan peace talks, also underway in Nairobi, could provide a good guide to follow.

"There have been a number of recesses in the Sudan talks, and it has done wonders for the progress of the talks," he noted.

IRIN

The Article: "Somaliland reiterates it will not join peace talks"

The authorities in the self-declared republic of Somaliland have reiterated they will not take part in the ongoing Somali reconciliation talks in Kenya.

According to a statement issued on Sunday by the region's information minister, Abdullahi Duale, Somaliland was not a party to the Somali conflict.

"There are no Somaliland military forces operating on Somali territory," the statement said, adding that Somaliland had "refrained from interfering in Somalia's internal affairs despite numerous provocations".

The minister was reacting to media reports that the Kenyan chairman of the talks, Bethwel Kiplagat, was awaiting an invitation to Somaliland to discuss the peace process. Some Somali leaders attending the peace talks in Kenya have, in the past, proposed that extra delegates be allocated to represent Somaliland and have repeatedly called for the region to be brought into the process.

Duale's statement said that the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which is mediating the talks, was aware of Somaliland's stand on the issue.

"Somaliland will not take part in the IGAD peace process nor send observers unless accorded by IGAD the status due to a sovereign state," the statement stressed.

"When a legitimate, representative government is established in Somalia, the GOS [Government of Somaliland] is prepared to enter into talks with that government concerning the nature of the relationship between the two states," it added.

The minister concluded by saying that Somaliland regretted attempts by some governments to utilise the peace process "as a means of undermining Somaliland’s stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Somaliland, a former British protectorate, declared unilateral independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, but has received no international recognition.

The Kenyan chairman of the Somali peace talks, Bethwel Kiplagat, has said the delegation of Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG) will stay in the peace talks, after threatening to pull out earlier in the week.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday after meeting a TNG delegation led by Prime Minister Hassan Abshir Farah, Kiplagat said the TNG was committed to moving the peace process forward.

On Tuesday, the TNG threatened to leave the talks because of Ethiopia's alleged invasion of "some parts" of Somalia. Ethiopia has denied the allegation, describing it as "totally groundless".

Muhammad Abdi Yusuf, the deputy speaker of the Transitional National Assembly told IRIN at the time the TNG had no confidence in Ethiopia and "sees no point in continuing to be part of a conference managed by Ethiopia". Ethiopia is part of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) technical committee - along with Djibouti and Kenya - which is steering the talks.

Asked about allegations that Ethiopian troops were massing on the border, Kiplagat replied that he had no evidence so far. He admitted, however, that if such allegations proved to be true, this would have a "serious negative impact" on the peace talks.

Kiplagat added that any change in the composition of the technical committee would be a matter for the IGAD summit, but stressed that the peace process needed the support of the region. He said it could be dangerous to leave parties outside, as they could "put a spanner in the works".

The UN Security Council has condemned the continuing fighting in Somalia, and called for an immediate end to all acts of violence and for safe access to humanitarian personnel.

"It is those that have weapons of war who continue to hold the people of Somalia hostage to the cycle of violence," said a statement by the Council's current president, Guinean Ambassador Mamady Traore. "These people will be held accountable by the Somali people and the international community for their actions if they persist on the path of confrontation and conflict."

The statement said violence had continued even after the signing of a cessation of hostilities agreement by the Somali parties on 27 October. Under the terms of the agreement, the Somali groups agreed to suspend all hostilities for the duration of the peace conference being held in Kenya.

Since then there have been continuing violations, with fighting in the capital, Mogadishu, the towns of Las Anod in the northeast and Baidoa in the southwest, and in the Bari, Bay, Bakol, Gedo and Lower Shabelle, Middle Shabelle and Middle Juba regions.

The statement urged the Somali parties "to end the suffering of their people and to restore peace and stability to their country".

It called on all states and other actors "to comply scrupulously" with the UN arms embargo and prevent the flow of weapons into the country. It stressed that "persons and entities must not be allowed to take advantage of the situation in Somalia to finance, plan, facilitate, support or commit terrorist acts from the country".

The statement also called on the Somali leaders to provide immediate safe access to all humanitarian personnel. Noting the relative stability in some parts of the country, the Council requested the UN Secretary-General "to continue putting in place preparatory activities for a comprehensive post-conflict peace-building mission in Somalia once security conditions permit".

The statement reiterated the Council's ongoing support for the Somali peace talks now being held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

IRIN

The Article: "UN concerned over humanitarian situation in Baidoa"

The United Nations has said it is deeply concerned over the worsening humanitarian situation in the southwestern town of Baidoa, where a power struggle between two rival factions of the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA) has been going on since last July.

In a press release, Maxwell Gaylard, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, said the fighting had disrupted aid activities for more than eight months and humanitarian conditions in the town had deteriorated, "in particular in the area of health".

The fighting that engulfed the town - which had enjoyed relative peace and stability since it was captured by the RRA in 1998 - was caused by a split within the senior ranks of the RRA, which controls much of the Bay and Bakol regions of southwestern Somalia.

The split originated from a power struggle between the RRA chairman, Hasan Muhammad Nur Shatigadud, and his two deputies, Shaykh Adan Madobe and Muhammad Ibrahim Habsade. Baidoa changed hands at least three time between July and December last year.

“I am gravely concerned for the welfare of the people of Baidoa,” Gaylard said.

He noted that since the fighting erupted, access to the area had been extremely limited and civilians had been displaced several times over.

"Aid activities ranging from food distribution to health services have been seriously disrupted," he added. "With the dry season underway, residents of the town are now facing water shortages. The international humanitarian community must urgently be allowed safe and unhindered access to the area so that we may fully assess and respond to the deteriorating situation."

The loss of access to Baidoa has adversely affected the humanitarian community's ability to operate throughout southern and central Somalia, the press statement said.

Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG) has reiterated that it will not take part in the peace talks underway in Kenya as long as Ethiopia is involved in the process.

Muhammad Abdi Yusuf, the deputy speaker of the Transitional National Assembly and acting leader of the TNG delegation to the talks told IRIN that Ethiopian forces had "occupied parts of Somalia over the past few days".

In a separate press statement issued on Tuesday, the TNG accused Ethiopia of sending military forces "with heavy armour, including tanks", into parts of Somalia.

In a recent interview with the BBC, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi admitted his country had occasionally sent troops into Somalia to attack members of the Islamist al-Ittihad group.

"We hope that the international community appreciates our position that mediation by the Ethiopian government between the TNG and the opposition is neither reasonable nor fruitful," the TNG statement said.

"So long as Ethiopia is part of the mediation group, the TNG will not participate," Muhammad added. He said the TNG had no confidence in Ethiopia and "sees no point in continuing to be part of a conference managed by Ethiopia".

Ethiopia, along with Djibouti and the conference's host Kenya, is part of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) technical committee which is steering the talks.

Also threatening to pull out of the talks is the so-called G8 group of factions, which has also accused Ethiopia of "invading" Somalia.

Mogadishu-based faction leader and G-8 spokesman Mawlid Ma'ane told the press on Monday that his group was considering withdrawing because of Ethiopia's "aggression".

A regional analyst involved in the talks told IRIN that if the two groups were to go ahead with their walkout threat, "the talks would probably collapse". He acknowledged that the talks were "in serious trouble and will need a great deal of effort to salvage".

IRIN

The Article: "Opposition accuses TNG of trying to sabotage peace talks"

The Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC) has accused the Transitional National Government (TNG) of trying to scuttle the ongoing peace talks. The SRRC is a grouping of the southern-based factions opposed to the TNG.

In a statement, the SRRC said the TNG was behind the current confusion bedevilling the peace process by presenting itself as the legitimate government of Somalia. This was "inconsistent with the understanding of the principle of no-preconditionality agreed [to] prior to this conference".

The SRRC said the TNG was "starting to play with the ownership concept of the conference... for the purpose of weakening and undermining the pillars of the conference itself, using the argument as an instrument of destabilisation and political intrigue".

It said the various participating groups had not accepted the TNG as a broad-based government, and "there is no legitimate government or centrally accepted authority in Somalia". The SRRC denounced what it termed as "this practice [of claiming to be the only legitimate government] on the part of the TNG group, and requests an instant discontinuation of this attitude".

The SRRC called on international and regional organisations "to cease all sorts of dealings with the TNG". It also called on Arab countries to stop their donations to the TNG and instead give them to the ongoing peace talks.

The peace talks, organised by the regional Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, are aimed at establishing a broad-based government in Somalia. The talks, which opened on 15 October last year, have been dogged by controversy over the number of participants and the allocation of seats to the various groups.

The SRRC statement accused the TNG of having its own agenda "incompatible with declared aims" of the peace process, and called on the international donor community and the IGAD technical committee not to allow the TNG any "special treatment and privileges to the detriment of the common good of all the participants".

The European Union has condemned violations of the cessation of hostilities agreement signed by the parties at the ongoing Somali peace talks in Kenya.

A declaration issued by the EU's current Greek presidency said the organisation "deplores the serious violations of the commitments undertaken, which are still occurring, and calls for an immediate cessation of all acts of violence in Somalia".

Under the terms of the agreement signed by the parties on 27 October, the Somali groups agreed to suspend all hostilities for the duration of the conference.

However, since then, there have been continued violations, with fighting in the capital, Mogadishu, the towns of Las Anod in the northeast and Baidoa in the southwest, and in the Bari, Bay, Bakol, Gedo and Lower Shabelle, Middle Shabelle, and Middle Juba regions.

The declaration said the EU "continues to follow developments on the ground in Somalia with great concern, and notes with disquiet that occasional conflicts have erupted in areas of the country".

It called for the establishment of an effective monitoring mechanism "in order to ascertain responsibilities". "In this regard the European Union will support well-planned efforts that the African Union will deploy to this purpose," it said.

In its statement, the EU reaffirmed its support for the IGAD-sponsored peace talks, as well as its commitment to moving the process forward and assisting in the implementation of a possible peace agreement.

It called on signatories to the ceasefire agreement "to continue to fully participate in the negotiations with a view to achieve further concrete results at an early stage".

The Somali peace talks currently underway in Kenya are in danger of collapsing unless strong leadership is provided by the mediators, the Somalis and the international community, the Brussels-based think tank, International Crisis Group (ICG), warned this week.

"There is a serious need to revive the flagging support and interest of the Somali public for the peace process," it said in a report.

The report said that participants in the talks should have the ability to implement on the ground the agreements they sign. It said faction leaders and civil society representatives at the talks were "self-appointed", with a real risk that the meeting would produce another "government in exile".

"Ultimately, what matters most is not who 'deserves' to sit at the table, but rather who possesses authority and legitimacy in sufficient measure to implement an agreement and deliver a lasting peace," the report said.

It made a number of recommendations including sending an international fact-finding mission to assess the Somaliland issue. It also called on donor nations to "enhance diplomatic support for the process, in order to demonstrate commitment to its success and to assist the Chairman in managing regional differences".

It also urged the UN Political Office for Somalia to "provide greater leadership by calling attention to individuals, groups and governments who obstruct the peace process or violate the arms embargo, and develop and recommend to the Security Council a pragmatic regime of targeted sanctions to be applied against offenders".

IRIN

The Article: "Monitoring committee condemns Mogadishu fighting"

A newly-formed committee, set up to monitor a shaky ceasefire accord between the warring sides in Somalia, has condemned the escalation of hostilities Somalia particularly the fighting which has been raging in Mogadishu's Medina district over the last five days.

The latest round of fighting pits militias loyal to faction leader Muse Sudi Yalahow, and those of his erstwhile former right-hand man, Umar Mahmud Muhammad Finish. The fighting which has been going on for almost a week has claimed the lives of over 50 people, and 100 people have been wounded.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Committee on Monitoring the Cessation of Hostilities - made up of the US, EU, AU, Arab League and the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) - demanded that "the parties cease hostilities immediately."

"They must abide by the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed by all the Somali leaders on 27 October 2002," it said.

Over the past week, there have been continued violations, with fighting in the capital, Mogadishu, the towns of Las Anod in the northeast and Baidoa in the southwest, and in the Bari, Bay, Bakol, Gedo and Lower Shabelle regions.

Somali sources told IRIN on Wednesday that serious fighting, in which over 20 people were killed, took place in the village of Raghe-El in Middle Shabelle region on Tuesday between forces loyal to faction leader Muhammad Habeb, and forces of the Muhammad Muse sub-clan of the Abgal.

Habeb, who defected from the Transitional National Government last year, controls the region's capital Jowhar, 90 km north of Mogadishu. According to local media reports on Wednesday, fresh clashes erupted in Baidoa between rival factions of the Rahanwayn Resistance Army, which controls much of the Bay and Bakol region in southwestern Somalia.

"The Committee reiterates its determination to ensure that appropriate measures are taken against individuals and leaders responsible for such destructive activities," the statement said.

The authorities in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland have ordered the closure of the offices of several local human rights groups, according to a senior official in the region's commercial capital, Bosaso.

Abdishakur Mire Adan, the Puntland deputy information minister, told IRIN that the region's internal affairs minister, Ahmad Abdi Habsade, had made the announcement in a decree publicised on Wednesday.

The groups affected by the decree are INXA, an umbrella organisation of the Peace and Human Rights Network; the Dulmidid Centre for Human Rights; and We Are Women Activists (WAWA), he said. INXA is a Somalia-wide organisation, while the others are Puntland-based.

According to Abdishakur, the groups "have violated their mandates and engaged in political activities and actions inimical to the interests of the people of Puntland".

Mahmud Jama Ali, the chairman of Dulmidid, told IRIN that the groups had received no official communication from the authorities. But, he added, "we have heard about it [the decree] and seen it on the local media".

He also denied the accusations. "We have not violated any laws and are operating under the Puntland constitution," he said. "The only reason we are being targeted is because of our activities as a human rights organisation."

Other sources in Bosaso told IRIN that the groups had been targeted because they had attended a symposium of human rights defenders throughout Somalia held recently in Hargeysa, the capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland. The groups may also have been targeted since they had previously reported human rights violations in Puntland, said one source.

Mahmud denied engaging in politics or "any other activity outside our mandate". "If they have evidence, then they should produce it," he asserted.

IRIN

The Article: "Militias on looting spree as Mogadishu death toll tops 50"

Hundreds of families are fleeing their homes in Mogadishu's southwestern Medina district after fierce clashes broke out in the Somali capital last week.

Ibrahim Abikar, a local businessman, told IRIN on Tuesday that the area "is almost empty today". Some families have remained to safeguard their homes from looters, but Medina - normally one of the most densely populated areas of Mogadishu - was described as a "ghost town".

Many families had lost relatives "to indiscriminate shelling by both sides", a local journalist told IRIN. Residents began fleeing Medina after fighting between rival factions broke out on 26 February. "They are basically leaving so as to keep what is left of their families alive," he said.

The latest round of fighting began when militias loyal to faction leader Muse Sudi Yalahow, attacked positions occupied by fighters loyal to his former right-hand man, Umar Mahmud Muhammad Finish, the journalist said. Both men belong to the Da'ud subclan of the Abgal and the fighting is said to be an attempt by the two leaders to gain supremacy within the subclan.

Ibrahim told IRIN that over 50 people had been killed, most of them civilians caught in the crossfire. His 12-year-old daughter, Hodan, was one of the victims.

"My own daughter was killed on her way home from school by a stray anti-aircraft shell," he said.

In another incident, a mortar bomb landed on a Koranic school, killing eight schoolchildren and their teacher "They [militias] are not killing each other. They are just killing us. I don't know what we have done to deserve this," Ibrahim said.

Hospital sources in Mogadishu confirmed that most of the dead and wounded were civilians, many of them women and children. One source told IRIN an estimated 50 to 60 had been killed, and over 100 wounded.

"There is intense looting going on, even today," Ibrahim told IRIN. "They finished looting household goods yesterday [Monday]. Today they are removing iron sheets from the roofs of the houses." He warned that if the looting continued, "there won't be many houses left in Medina".

IRIN

The Article: "New committee to arbitrate on representation at peace conference"

An arbitration committee to comprise representatives of Somali clans is being set up to resolve ongoing disputes over seats for delegates to the Somali peace conference, the Kenyan mediator, Bethwel Kiplagat, told a press conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Monday. Kiplagat also said that an international monitoring commission on the shaky Somali ceasefire may start sending fact-finding missions to Somalia shortly.

The peace conference opened last October in Eldoret, western Kenya, under the auspices of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). It was recently moved to Mbagathi, near Nairobi, for financial reasons. The IGAD technical committee organisers had also hoped to resolve the issue of excess delegates there, but now say there are still many disputes, particularly over the representation of subclans.

"I have been sitting from morning to evening listening to all these cases, and trying to arbitrate," Kiplagat told the press conference. "Some I have managed to resolve, but there are many I have not been able to. We therefore made a decision that we will use the traditional Somali way of arbitration, and we have asked each of the clans to choose three delegates, elders, leaders, who will form a committee of 15 to deal with the problem of representation."

Kiplagat said any complaints about representation should now be referred to that committee, which is due to hold its first meeting Monday. "A clan which has got a difficulty internally will present their case, they will leave the room, and the other four clans will arbitrate," he said.

Kiplagat said an international commission to monitor Somalia's shaky ceasefire had now held several meetings and was due to meet again Tuesday to discuss its work plan. "The committee is thinking of getting a team together which will be able to fly into Somalia as a fact-finding team," Kiplagat told the press conference. "And we may dispatch a team next week to [the Somali capital,] Mogadishu, where there is a bit of a problem."

"You cannot take action unless you know where is violation [of the ceasefire] taking place, who are the people that are violating, who took up the offensive and so forth," Kiplagat noted.

Faction leaders attending the conference signed a ceasefire declaration on 27 October, but this has not been respected.

The international sanctions and monitoring commission comprises delegates from the UN, the US, the African Union, the EU, the Arab League and IGAD. Kiplagat said the conference organisers were recommending the recruitment of a "major-general" to be secretary of the committee.

Last Saturday, the peace conference technical committee on conflict resolution (comprising members from Somali clans and civil society) expressed "deep concern" about renewed violence in parts of Somalia, especially Mogadishu and Buaale (Middle Juba). The committee members called on IGAD and the international community to take "very stern action, including the imposition of appropriate sanctions".

Asked about factions that have left the conference, Kiplagat said, "We'll send delegations, we'll send a message: please come back; and if we have to send even a team to go and talk to them, we will do it, because the peace will not come if anybody is [left] out. We want an inclusive process."

Notably absent from the conference are leaders of the Juba Valley Alliance (JVA) and faction leader Muse Sudi Yalahow.

The Mogadishu-based Transitional National Government (TNG) has also been refusing to come to the new conference site in Mbagathi, describing it as "unsuitable". The TNG delegates are currently staying in a central Nairobi hotel. They have also put forward a number of other complaints, including accusations that Ethiopia is interfering in the peace process.

Kiplagat said he had held meetings with the TNG delegates over the weekend. "They have not told me that they are leaving," he said. "They have got some complaints. They have got things that we need to put right, and I am addressing their concerns.

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