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A week in the Horn April 10, 2009 |
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On Tuesday, the Security Council had a briefing on the situation on the Eritrea-Djibouti border and discussed the issue. The current Council President, Ambassador Claude Heller of Mexico, said members were concerned over Eritrea's refusal to comply with Resolution 1862, but all he was authorized to do was to speak to the Eritrean Representative to the UN and insist Eritrea withdraw its troops. The Council also urged the Secretary-General to continue to pursue mediation efforts. Not surprisingly, the Permanent Representative of Djibouti to the UN handed a letter to the Council noting that with ten weeks having passed, and in the absence of any response by Eritrea, the Djibouti Government was now very skeptical about the Council's request to give the Secretary-General more time to resolve the dispute. Indeed, the results of Council's discussion can only be described as extremely disappointing, touching the core of the Council's credibility. It sends the message that Eritrea can with impunity commit aggression without fear of repercussion - as indeed it has done in the past. The international community is apparently prepared to tolerate a regime that has aimed to create havoc by supporting and calling for attacks against an internationally recognized Government in Somalia. This is precisely what Eritrea did when it put out a Foreign Ministry statement on February 23. Eritrea has even gone so far as to publicly encourage attacks against AMISOM, a UN mandated and African Union deployed force in Somalia. Earlier, of course, Eritrea had illegally enforced the removal of the UN Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea from Eritrea. Unless the international community is prepared to hold Eritrea accountable for such open and reckless defiance of international norms and decisions of the Security Council, there is the real danger Eritrea will be encouraged to continue its regional destabilization in violation of the principles underlined by Security Council Resolution 1862. It sends a message that the international community and the Security Council are not prepared to act when faced with difficult or intransigent violators, scarcely a promising scenario for the future. ************
Few of these bodies are united either ideologically or in clan terms. Al-Shabaab's recruitment of foreign fighters to fight especially in Kismayo and in Bay and Bakool regions has caused concern among some of its units. As a result some Al-Shabaab commanders in Mogadishu have been talking to the Government. Similarly, following divisions among Hizbul Islam some of its leaders have opened discussions with the Government. Conversely, elements that appeared to support the Government, including the Islamic Clerics Council have been asking the Government for the speedy implementation of Shari'a law in Somalia. In fact, there is no real question in this regard. The President has expressed his readiness to implement Shari'a, pointing out that the Transitional Federal Charter lays down that "Islam shall be the religion of the Somali Republic" (Article 8.1), and that "the Islamic Shari'a shall be the basic source of national legislation" (Article 8.2). However, some 40 or so MPs, and some ministers, want a stricter interpretation of Shari'a law that would appeal to Al-Shabaab; the majority of both the ministers and MPs (of which there are now 550) do not. The Clerics Council has also been extending its demands to include the removal of peace-keeping forces, AMISOM, from Somalia. President Sheikh Sharif himself has emphasized that AMISOM will stay until Somalia's institutions have been sufficiently strengthened. Senior Government ministers have made it clear they are very aware how dependent they are on the presence of AMISOM in Mogadishu. Nevertheless, when Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed was in New York last month asking for additional peacekeepers in Mogadishu, other ministers in Mogadishu felt it necessary to deny this was the Foreign Minister's mission. Indeed, overall it seems that it is the extremists who have been setting the tone for the debate. The Government has failed to clarify its own strategic objectives or indeed its own aims. The only body currently resisting Al-Shabaab to any effect is Ahlu Sunna which is now fighting Al-Shabaab on several fronts, in Gedo, near Kismayo, near Mogadishu and in Galgadud and other central regions. Ahlu Sunna, a moderate organization, is opposed to Al-Shabaab, not least because of Al-Shabaab's repeated desecration of the graves of Sufi sheikhs and saints. Although the Government and Ahlu Sunna have a common enemy, Ahlu Sunna complains that the Government isn't helping it in its operations and it is being left to stand alone. Some Government officials indicate that a direct Government/Al-Shabaab conflict is now inevitable. This is highlighted by what took place last night when Al-Shabaab launched a series of mortar attacks on Villa Somalia and on AMISOM positions. Inevitably this has raised the Government's security concerns. Meanwhile, the international community still remarkably reluctant to respond actively to the appeals of the Somali government for aid and for more peace-keepers appears even more reluctant to question the dangerous activities of certain regional powers. Last week, Sheikh Hassan Dahir 'Aweys', a leading opponent of President Sheikh Sharif, on the US and UN lists of terrorism suspects and residing in Asmara for nearly two years, was surprisingly invited to Khartoum. President Sheikh Sharif himself has recently visited Sudan. Sheikh 'Aweys' would not of course been able to go without the permission of the Eritrean government which keeps its "visitors" closely circumscribed. This has led to a sudden flurry of reports that Sheikh 'Aweys' might want to return to Mogadishu to create problems for the new government. Ironically, unconfirmed reports suggest that at the recent Arab League Summit, President Sheikh Sharif was strongly encouraged to open talks with Sheikh 'Aweys' despite the latter's terrorist links, and his negative actions towards the government, and offered funding conditional on this. In this situation it is disappointing that the International Contact Group, which has been enlarged to incorporate all possible Somali stakeholders and interested parties, at its last meeting in Brussels at the end of February was only prepared to repeat empty promises and provide none of the concrete actions, over security and in terms of active diplomatic and humanitarian support, actually required for the implementation of the Djibouti Accords, and to provide for the effective National Unity Government that all profess to want, and which are certainly necessary if moderate Islamic forces in Somalia are to succeed in establishing their authority. This is becoming imperative in light of the still-growing menace of piracy as has been highlighted in the last few days by the seizure of an American vessel. Yes, everybody agrees piracy is a symptom of what is happening on land in Somalia, but at the risk of being repetitive what is needed now is no longer talk but concrete action to stabilize Somalia. ************
The Prime Minister extended thanks to the IPU for choosing Ethiopia to host the 120th Assembly and stressed the Assembly could not have convened at a more appropriate time to discuss "building peace, democracy and development in times of crisis". He emphasized that it had become clear that the world was in the midst of an economic crisis creating many complex economic and security problems. This was threatening recent developments in Africa, especially since the turn of the new century; the fragile peace achieved in a number of conflict situations was beginning to show cracks. The Prime Minister said he believed the IPU could play a vital role in the struggle to achieve an inclusive and fair system of globalization. Dr. Theo-ben Gurirab, the President of the IPU, noted that the crisis that was being witnessed at present was something more profound than an economic downturn that was triggered by the failure of a system which many foresaw and none managed to correct. Multilateral solutions were necessary and the forces of isolation and protectionism must be resisted. Dr. Gurirab also noted the suitability of meeting in Ethiopia, the cradle of humanity, a country with numerous ethnic groups and multiple cultural traditions and with a capital city, Addis Ababa, where the political future of Africa had been determined on many occasions. Following the inaugural ceremony, the IPU Assembly convened on Monday at the UN Convention Center, electing Ambassador Teshome Toga, Speaker of the House of Peoples' Representatives of Ethiopia, as President of the 120th Assembly, together with the Assembly's vice-presidents. In an introductory statement, Ethiopian President Girma Woldegiorgis, said that many changes had given hope to the people of Africa in recent years. The current global crisis should not be allowed to jeopardize those gains. Stability was critical for Africa and its people. President Girma noted that while there were still major problems in Somalia and tensions among its immediate neighbors in the Horn, there was now a new Ethiopia, an Ethiopia which offered durable peace and sustainable development and provided a pillar of stability in the region. On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin made a key-note address to the plenary session. He emphasized his belief that the IPU could play an important role in a world currently passing through a dramatic phase in history. He said the Horn of Africa, a region bedeviled by conflicts, was more vulnerable to the negative effects of the current financial crisis. The crisis and its accompanying economic downturn should not be allowed to affect the encouraging progress registered by Africa in recent years. Any reversal of the recent gains achieved in Africa could have incalculable repercussions for the peace and stability of the continent. The Foreign Minister noted that the declarations of the Assembly would have great importance and meaning for Africa, because of the influence of the parliamentary delegations in their respective countries. The general debate on the political, economic and social situation in the world with the overall theme of 'Parliaments: Building Peace, Democracy and Development in times of crisis' has been going on all this week in plenary sessions and in committees. Other thematic issues that have been debated include climate change, sustainable development models and renewable energies, freedom of expression and the right to information, advancing nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament and how to enforce the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. The three Standing Committees have focused on Peace and Security; Sustainable Development, Finance and Trade; and Democracy and Human Rights. Of all the issues and themes raised, what has attracted the most attention has been the recent financial crisis that started in the West and its effect on the global political, economic and social arena, and in particular the implication for developing countries. Most speakers expressed their concern over this urging the IPU and all delegates to play an active role in mitigating it. Many of the delegations have also been holding bilateral discussions with Prime Minister Meles, Foreign Minister Seyoum and other officials. The Government Communications Affairs Minister, Bereket Simon, has said these bilateral discussions will have a positive impact in strengthening the country's diplomatic relations, help to correct erroneous images of the country and also promote trade and investment. Many of the delegates have noted the progress Ethiopia is making in strengthening the process of democratization, and its achievements in economic development. The Inter-Parliamentary Union's 120th Assembly ended this afternoon with the closing session hearing the reports of the Committees and adopting resolutions and decisions. We will report on these next week. ************
Africa, for the first time, was able to participate in a meaningful fashion, from the preparatory process up to and including the main G20 summit. The UK government, prior to the main meeting, invited Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia along with the leaders of Kenya, Liberia, Tanzania and Botswana and the Finance Minister of South Africa, to consult with it on the African perspective on the global economic crisis and the measures needed to be taken to protect the continent from the vagaries of the current global economic downturn. Subsequently, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in his capacity as Chairperson of NEPAD and as the agreed representative of Africa to the G20 summit, held consultations with the other African leaders on the salient features of the African position. Following these consultations, he articulated the agreed issues, especially the need to mobilize additional resources for Africa so that it could overcome the impact of the global recession. Well aware of the budgetary constraints currently facing development partners, he outlined new mechanisms to mobilize resources, some previously adopted by Africa's Finance Ministers. These mechanisms can raise additional resources without causing budgetary pressure on development partner countries. They include inter alia the sale of part of the IMF gold reserve, the issuance of new Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and up-front re-capitalization of the African Development Bank. In addition, Prime Minister Meles emphasized the need to relax the debt criteria to give an opportunity for African countries to secure funding from financial facilities of the World Bank. He also called on development partners and the IMF to cut the conditionalities and put in place fast-track disbursement mechanisms for aid. The issue of African voices in international financial institutions, currently insignificant, was also raised, and the Prime Minister urged that African voices be taken more seriously. Africa's representation, he made clear, must be given necessary weight during the restructuring process of the international financial institutions. Following the G20 consultation meeting, the Prime Minister engaged in bringing the African position to the attention of the Ambassadors of the G8 and G20 countries in Addis Ababa, and raising these issues with various visitors to Ethiopia. He continued this after arriving for the Summit in London. Together with Dr Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission and Donald Kaberuka, President of the ADB, he mapped out a strategy on continuing consultations, contacting various G20 leaders, including President Barack Obama; the Managing Director of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn; the President of the World Bank, Robert B. Zoellick,; and South Africa President, Kgalema Motlanthe, to make sure that Africa's point of view was well captured in the final communiqué of the G20 summit. This strategy worked well, and in the main conference the Prime Minister successfully explained why Africa should be included in the global action to address the impact of the current recession. He highlighted the main and immediate challenges Africa faces in this critical time of economic downturn, and made clear that the remarkable results registered by African countries in the implementation of Millennium Developments Goals would be lost if timely support was not provided. Fragile peace agreements existing in various African countries could be undermined by the effects of the global crisis. The international community must not let Africa lose the momentum of growth and slide into conflict. In his capacity as representative for Africa and chairperson of NEPAD, Prime Minister Meles also carried out a number of interviews with both print and electronic media to underline Africa's concerns. He attended a press conference at Lancaster House during the pre-summit visit and coverage included an article by David Loyn on the BBC website. He had interviews with the Financial Times, for a 2nd April four-page special G20 report on "Africa and the World" and for a short film that appeared on the FT website. The FT quoted the Prime Minister in a range of articles leading up to the summit itself. The Prime Minister was interviewed by David Frost for his Al Jazeera program "Frost over the World", (broadcast 10th April), and by Zeinab Bedawi for the BBC HardTalk series (broadcast 9th April). Both also did short interviews on the G20 that went out on 2nd and 3rd April. The Prime Minister told Channel 4 News that there was general agreement that global action was now required to address this systemic crisis; and after the Summit, he told the Financial Times, "I think we made a very significant level of progress". He was also interviewed by First magazine for a future issue. Overall, the Prime Minister has expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the London G20 Summit, but he has stressed strongly that there must a complete departure from past procedures of the conditionalities applied by the IMF and World Bank in the implementation of the recommendations pertaining to Africa. If Africa is to be insulated against the financial crisis, funds should begin to flow before the third quarter of this year. Africa was able to secure $50bn from the Summit, out of which $30bn is additional resources. The challenge now is to make sure that what has been committed in London will be implemented in time to prevent Africa from sliding into economic and social crisis. Ethiopia now hopes that the G8 meeting in Italy will ensure that the priorities that Africa has set and which have been accepted by the G20 will be fully implemented. It is important to underline that these measures need to be monitored within a very dynamic framework, to ensure that Africa comes out unaffected and stronger from a global financial downturn which has not been of its own making. ************
Following discussions, the Council issued a press statement. This noted the progress made in the deployment of the military, police and civilian components of UNAMID and called on all countries having the necessary capabilities to provide UNAMID with the required key military needs including medium transport units, an aerial reconnaissance unit and medium utility and tactical helicopters, to enhance the capacity of the mission. In this connection the Council commended the Government of Ethiopia for agreeing to provide five tactical helicopters. It welcomed the existing cooperation between UNAMID and the Government of Sudan. It stressed the need to take all necessary steps to safeguard the progress made in the peace process and called on all the parties to engage in dialogue without pre-conditions. The Council specifically encouraged the Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation as a means of ensuring the involvement of all Darfur stakeholders in the search for peace and reconciliation. The Council expressed concern at the risk of deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Darfur. In this respect, the Council stressed the importance of continued and adequate delivery of humanitarian assistance in Darfur. It underlined the need for all concerned to take the necessary steps to meet the needs of affected populations and find appropriate solutions to the relevant problems. The Council expressed concern at the continuing precarious security situation in Darfur, including armed clashes, acts of banditry, and the kidnapping of humanitarian workers. These posed additional challenges to the development and deployment of UNAMID, the delivery of humanitarian assistance and the overall efforts to promote peace, security and stability in Darfur. The Peace and Security Council urged the UN Security Council to respond positively to its repeated calls to activate article 16 of the Rome Statute establishing the ICC in order to facilitate and promote sustained progress for peace, national reconciliation and justice in Sudan by delaying the ICC decision for a year. It is to be recalled that Prime Minister Meles said in his Hard Talk interview that a deferment of the ICC decision would provide the opportunity for a peaceful solution of the political crisis, thus removing the need for implementation of the ICC decision. ************
In other meetings, a consensus was reached that existing historic and traditional relations between Ethiopia and the Czech Republic should serve as a launching ground for economic co-operation in all areas. An understanding was reached that Ethiopia will be given the status of a program country within the Czech development cooperation program. In this connection, Ato Seyoum had a successful meeting with members of the Czech business community, explaining the investment opportunities Ethiopia could offer and urging them to make Ethiopia a major investment destination. ************
Ethiopia was one of the first countries to deploy a peace-keeping mission to Rwanda under the UN in the immediate aftermath of the genocide. The UN mission was too late to save the lives of innocent Rwandans, but it played an important role in stabilizing the situation. Nevertheless, the world is bound to continue to live with the collective guilt of knowing that had it acted earlier it could have prevented, or at least minimized, the carnage that took place during that horrendous period. Africa has learnt its lesson from this harrowing experience. It adopted the Constitutive Act of the African Union which allows for external intervention in sovereign member states to prevent genocide. The AU Peace and Security Council and the African Stand-by Force are the elements through which such intervention, if necessary, can be carried out. These structures are still very much work in progress, but they highlight the collective resolve and determination of Africa never to allow such horror to take place again. In February 1998, at the suggestion of Prime Minister Meles, the then Organization of African Unity (OAU) established an International Panel of Eminent Personalities to investigate the genocide in Rwanda. The Prime Minister emphasized the necessity of drawing lessons from a genocide which has had no parallel anywhere in the world since the 2nd World War. The panel subsequently presented its report to the OAU Council of Ministers as well as to the Heads of State and Government. Today, Africa has the requisite organizational and legal instruments to fight genocide. At the same time it is still necessary to watch for the symptoms of bigotry, intolerance, dictatorship and the like which can all go to make up a recipe for genocide. Africa must forge ahead in its continued efforts to institutionalize democracy and good governance as well as liberate our continent from the scourge of abject poverty. These processes are the surest way to bring about positive transformation in our continent and ensure that nothing like the genocide in Rwanda can ever happen again. ************
The ousted but legal president of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana has been in Addis Ababa seeking the support of Ethiopia and of the African Union in the effort to restore constitutional order in his country. During his stay he met Prime Minister Meles and the African Union Commissioner Jean Ping. Both the Prime Minister and the AU Commissioner affirmed the commitment of the African Union to the return of constitutional order in Madagascar. However, despite the commitment of the African Union and its members to refuse to recognize un-constitutional changes of government in Africa, the measures seem to have had little effect so far in influencing would-be perpetrators of coup attempts. This, in turn, is forcing member states to consider additional measures that could help to reverse such a dangerous trend. In this connection, the Twelfth Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union requested the Chairperson of the Commission to submit concrete recommendations relating to the implementation of appropriate preventive measures against un-constitutional changes of government, as well as enhancing the efficiency and capacity building to provide early warning, good offices and mediation, where necessary, and in addition, the mediation by a panel of the wise. Given the seriousness of the matter and the danger it poses to the democratization process in Africa, it is time to revisit the Lome Declaration of July 2000 on un-constitutional changes of government, and rewrite it to ensure that its inexact provisions and convolutions are rethought and conceptual clarity provided. Then the AU would be in a position to take a consistent and firm approach to illegal and unlawful changes of government. It is time for member states to stand firmly and in agreement against any and all unconstitutional changes of government. ************ |
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Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
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