Press Release by the TNG

Djibouti (HAN)July 31, 2003-

Salad Returns Home After Walking Out of Nairobi Talks

AFP
Djibouti, 31 July 2003 — The Somali conference in Nairobi faced a setback yesterday after the president of the Transitional National Government — the main party in the conference — pulled out of the meeting saying it had become “a plot to divide Somalia”.

President Abdi Qasim Salad Hassan also said that the conference, planned for Tuesday had aimed to “change Somalia’s religion, tradition and language”. Hundreds of people, mainly women, turned out to greet him in traditional colorful clothes chanting songs and dancing outside the gates of the palace. Government ministers and members of Parliament were also lined up at the entrance to his office on his return.

He did not elaborate on what exactly has disturbed him, but indicated he was still upset about the cease-fire agreement some Somali leaders signed in Kenya in July of this year, which he said left no authority for his government. He asked that the agreement, which was signed by the Parliament speaker and the prime minister, be amended.

Salad has declined to talk about what he is going to do next, but he said, “it is up to the Somali people to decide their own destinies and establish a system which satisfies their needs and that’s what is going to work.”

He said that if Parliament was not established by Somalia’s traditional leaders the constitution allowed for the current parliament to remain in office, even after its time elapses. He also expressed concern that what was going on in Kenya might provoke yet another civil war in Somalia,” ... and I advise those still remaining in the conference to abandon it so as not to take part in the division of Somalia,” he said.

The abandonment of Salad from the Somali conference in Kenya accompanied by the absence from the meeting of one of the strongest alliances in the country, the Jubba Valley Alliance, makes the conference difficult.

Furthermore, the Somalis at home are now worried that this will incite a new anarchy in the country since the possibility exists that a government might emerge from Kenya. In addition, there are fears that Salad could renew his own government, and a government on top of the present one would provoke more conflict.

“The president left Kenya for home accompanied by more than 20 members of the council of ministers and parliamentarians,” Information Minister Ibrahim Mohamed Ibi told Agence France Presse earlier in Nairobi. Other members of the TNG delegation will leave Nairobi tomorrow, he added.

“Contrary to the wishes of the Somali people, the technical committee (made up of mediators from Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya) has unilaterally decided to exclude (northern) regions from the conference, which amounts to the dismemberment of the Somali Republic,” Salad said Tuesday.

He was referring to the breakaway Somaliland, which has refused to be associated with the politics of the rest of Somalia. Salad, whose TNG controls only tiny pockets in Mogadishu and several small areas in the south, has also rejected an accord reached on July 5 by groups represented in the peace conference.

Salad also raised the issue of Somalia’s official language. The TNG president is said to favor giving Arabic the same status as Somali, the country’s official language. “The conference is against the unity, aspirations and beliefs of the Somali people,” Salad said. The interim president has accused his Prime Minister Hassan Abshir Farah, who was the TNG’s chief negotiator in the Nairobi talks, of signing the accord without the authority the government formed during another peace conference in Djibouti in 2000.

Source: Arab News, July 31, 03

Prime Minister of Somalia, Hasan Abshir Farah & HE Abdullah derow (STNP)

July 31, 2003 C

The Position of the TNG (Abshir & Derow) Regarding the Somali National Reconciliation Conference in Nairobi, Kenya 30 July 2003

From the beginning the TNG has been participating actively in the Somali National Reconciliation Conference in Kenya to make sure that it achieves its mandated objectives of establishing an all-inclusive national government. We would like to reiterate our position that the TNG will continue to fully participate in the Conference to its successful completion.

The claim that the TNG will pull out of the Conference is belied by the fact that the majority of those who attended the press conference at Grand Regency Hotel yesterday have refused to leave and are here with us today.

Furthermore, we would like to express our satisfaction that the number of contentious issues in the draft charter have been amicably settled namely the Arabic as an official language of Somalia; the question of the national unity; and the relation between Islam and the state. It should be kept in mind that Somalia has gone through a long and difficult period of civil war and political crisis and its resolution would demand great deal of patience, magnanimity, tolerance and compromise.

The TNG delegation has on its part been guided by these principles and we hope that all Somali participants would make their paramount considerations in turning the Conference into a one that attains the desired results. Any responsible leader who attempts to obstruct this noble mission should be put on notice that he or she will be judged by history and by the Somali people.

Finally, we hope that the international community would not only continue to support the Conference as they have generously and patiently been doing for so long but to also actively assist in the implementation of the agreements reached at Mbagathi. Thank you.

Hassan Abshir Farah Abdalla Deerow Isaaq & Prime Minister Speaker of the TNA

Press Statement, Hasan Abshir Farah 2002 Prime Minister of Somalia, Hasan Abshir Farah, has said he is not merely interested in leadership rather in search of Somali unity. Farah also said if opposition factions were genuine and patriotic nationalists, then he was willing to step down and hand over leadership to them. Speaking at the closing ceremony of a rehabilitation seminar at Hotel Ramadan [in Mogadishu], the prime minister said the interim government will fully participate in the forthcoming reconciliation talks in Kenya. He said he hoped that Somaliland, Puntland and the RRA [Rahanwein Resistance Army] will also participate in the talks.

Prime Minister Farah noted that the Somali people would not just sit back and watch if the Ethiopian government launched an attack inside Somali territory. He also cautioned the Ethiopian government against supplying arms to the various Somali factions.

[Farah]: The forthcoming talks [in Nairobi] will be a last chance. We want Somaliland to come back and attend the meeting. There is nothing like secession and Somalia shall not be divided. Puntland should also come back. There will be no independent region instead there will be one united Somalia. We also call upon the RRA, Bay and Bakool [both southcentral Somalia], to come back... Source: Radio HornAfrik, Mogadishu,

PRESS STATEMENT ON SOMALIA BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

July 31, 2003

Following is today’s press statement on Somalia by Security Council President Inocencio F. Arias (Spain):
Members of the Security Council heard an update from the Secretariat at informal consultations on 16 July on the developments in Somalia since the publication of the report of the Secretary-General of 10 June (document S/2003/636).
Members of the Council reaffirmed their commitment to a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the conflict in Somalia, and their respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and unity of the country, consistent with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
Members of the Council reiterated their firm support for the ongoing Somali National Reconciliation Conference at Mbagathi under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and hosted by Kenya, took note of the recent progress made, encouraged the parties to pursue sincerely their efforts aimed at achieving lasting peace and reconciliation, and expressed the hope that the Conference would come to a successful conclusion in the near future.
Members of the Council noted with appreciation the efforts made by the Ceasefire Monitoring Committee in the preparation of its monitoring of the implementation of the ‘Eldoret Declaration’ and the work done by the African Union and IGAD fact-finding Mission to Somalia.
Members of the Council called on all States and other actors to comply scrupulously with the arms embargo established by resolution 733 (1992) and cooperate fully with the Panel of Experts established pursuant to resolution 1474 (2003) in the discharge of its mandate.
Members of the Council expressed their concern on the humanitarian situation in Somalia, urged the Somali parties to assure and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and called on Member States to respond urgently and generously to the United Nations Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for 2003.
Members of the Council expressed their strong support for Bethuel Kiplagat, the Kenyan Special Envoy and lead IGAD mediator, and Winston Tubman, the representative of the Secretary-General, for their work in support of the Somali peace process.
Press Release SC/7816 AFR/668

Whi Is Who :WINSTON A. TUBMAN HEAD OF SOMALIA POLITICAL OFFICE

July 31, 2003 C

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has designated Winston A. Tubman as Head of the United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS). Mr. Tubman will assume his duties next month in Nairobi, Kenya, where the Office is currently located.
Mr. Tubman, who is a national of Liberia, has since February 1998 been the Senior Advisor to the Force Commander of the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM). Prior to that he was assigned to the United Nations Peace Office in Zagreb, Croatia, and the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES).
He served as Principal Legal Officer in the Office of Legal Affairs from 1973-1975 and from 1991 to 1996, and with the United Nations Environment Programme from 1975-1977. He was also a member of the various United Nations legal teams. In 1993, he served as Executive Secretary of the Commission of Inquiry that investigated the ambush and killing of Pakistani peacekeepers in Mogadishu.
Earlier, he served in many areas of public life. In 1990, he was Chair of the Legal and Constitutional Committee of the group of Liberian political leaders meeting in Banjul, Gambia, that established an interim government in Liberia and later served as its Foreign Minister and as Minister of State.
He has occupied a number of senior positions in the Government of Liberia, including Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1979 to 1981 with concurrent accreditation as Ambassador to Cuba and Mexico, and before that, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs.
In 1968, he established the Tubman Law Firm in Monrovia, Liberia, and served as its Managing and Senior Partner over the next two decades. He is a member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of Liberia and taught law at the University of Liberia (1968-1972) and at universities in the United States. Mr. Tubman obtained his graduate degrees from the London School of Economics, Cambridge University and Harvard Law School.
Sources: UN Press Release SG/A/788