Organization: IBM Advanced Workstation Systems Division
Lines: 45
SOMALI PORT THRIVES , RESUMES FOOD EXPORTS
Mogadishu , Somalia - Reuters
Six months after the Us troops landed in Mogadishu to crack down on gangs
of looters and save millions of Somalis from starvation , Somalia is again
busily exporting food to the world.
The port of Mogadishu , where a few months ago starving crowds swarmed the
in search of life-saving handful of grain , is booming with export traffic.
Cargoes of Somali fruit and live-stock are being loaded for shipment to
Europe and the Arab world.
The port was the scene of some of the worst voilence that destroyed Somalia
before the US troops arrived in December to rein in the free lance gangs
looting international aid supplies.
Shooting used to break out every afternoon between rival blundering gangs
high on the drug khatas they fought over bags of grain or rice , or cartons
of medicine to sell.
Today the old containers and railroad cars that housed the gangs of looters
and starving refugees are gone.
Instead, neatly stacked cargo waits to be loaded on cargo ships packing the
docks.
Where once only food and medicine supplies from international aid agencies
passed through the port , most traffic is now commercial.
Fruit and small livestock are being shipped to places such as Italy , The
United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Since US troops reopened the port last year , thousands of tons of relief
supplies have been unloaded.
Today , commercial exports and imports exceed the few humanitarian supplies
waiting to be trucked to the countryside where some people still are in need.
A local company will export more than 50,000 goats to Saudi Arabia for the
Islamic Haj season to help feed the millions of pilgrims flocking to Mecca.
The goats bought from herders in central Somalia will sell for an estimated
$3 million.
Abdi Karem Moalen , owner of Al Karem Brothers , the company exporting the
goats , said that he does not remember the port ever handling this much
bussiness in the 50 years he lived in Mogadishu.
US army Lt. Col. Al Speight, officer in charge of Mogashi port , is glad
see the improvement.
"its been tough on the Somali people , they do not have a lot - no
national bank , no communications systems" he said.
On june 1 , the port will be turned over to a United Nations appointed
port authority. Security will be handled by U.N forces.
From uwvax!uwm.edu!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!cs.utexas.edu!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!portal.austin.ibm.com!awdprime.austin.ibm.com!jama Fri Jun 4 07:52:02 CDT 1993
Organization: IBM Advanced Workstation Systems Division
Lines: 31
PRESIDENT OF BREAKAWAY REPUBLIC REJECTS POSSIBILITY OF UNITED SOMALIA.
Hargeisa , Somalia - AP
The new president of a breakaway republic made a truimphant visit to its
devastated capital thursday and said he has no interest in reuniting with
the rest of the country.
Mohamad Egal visited on the fifth anniversary of the day the government
began bombing the city to quell the unrest in the north. He called the
occasion the start of a new day in rebuilding Somaliland.
People filled Hargeisa's town square, lined the roofs of a nearby
building and climbed trees to hear him speak.
The president was making his first visit as a president to the capital of
250,000 since he was chosen for the post earlier this month by the region's
elders at the end of 4-month long peace talks.
Asked how he felt about rejoining Somalia , Egal swept his hand toward a
crowd of at least 15,000 and said "Isn't it obvious? Look around you.
I hope no effort will be made to force us to unite. The people won't
accept it."
The US.-led military coalition that arrived Dec. 9 to safeguard food
shipments to starving Somalis operated only the southern third of
Somalia, which bore the brunt of famine caused by civil war.
But the united nations has a security council mandate to keep the peace
throughout the country to foster the birth of a new national goverment.
That includes independence minded Somaliland.
And while Somaliland residents want to tap into the foreign aid that is
being pumped into the south, they are adamant about rejecting control by
a government in Mogadishu.
From uwvax!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!newsflash.concordia.ca!mizar.cc.umanitoba.ca!access.usask.ca!edison.usask.ca!f54oguocha Fri Jun 4 07:53:05 CDT 1993
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
The Society of Friends and Helpers of Sudan
(Information Committee)
*******************************************
Interview with Ahmed Abdullah Ahmed
Sudanese Ambassador to the US
5/15/93, Washington DC
*******************************************
Q: Rumor that Hasan Turabi and Al-Basher had made many claims
that one of the first things they would do when they come to
power is implement Sharia - and this was one of the reasons
people supported them. But now that there in power they
haven't done this.
A: Sharia is in place.
Q: Please explain why in the Sudan Year book 1992, pub. by the
Ministry of Culture & Information, page 30; it states that
d- Sharia and custom shall be the main sources
of legislation.
e- (c) the state may exempt itself from the
application of any legislative provision of
a purely religious character
A: The only exemption from the Sharia is for the South, there
are three states in the south were the population is
predominantly non-muslim, composed of Muslim, Christian, but
predominantly they are Animists, people without faith they
have there own African traditions, and it was stated because
of this diversity and because of the very special situation
of the Sudan were these people in the South aren't Muslim,
it was not deemed fit to apply on them the Sharia law, and
particularly the Hudud Sharia (criminal law). It was stated
that these states can exempt themselves from the Sharia law
and that they can have there own law derived from there own
traditions [this is what the statement referred to above was
related to]. But the Sharia law in the North is the law of
the land.
Q: Are there any areas in the South were there are a majority
of Muslims?
A: No, the population in the south is composed of about 16%
Muslims, 17% Christians, and the rest are Pagan/Animist, and
therefor it was deemed fit ... to give the people of the
south the option of exempting themselves from the Sharia law
(specifically the criminal law aspects of Sharia). This was
a kind of a compromise, a political understanding of the
diversity of the population of the south.
Q: Did most of them accept that?
A: Yes, but those people who are politically leading the rebels
in the South, they don't accept that, they think the whole
of the Sudan should be secular. The Sharia shouldn't be
applied even in the North. But the people in the North say
that we are Muslims (95-98% Muslims), and we want the
Sharia, and in as much as we can say that you can exempt
yourself from the Sharia, it is equally correct that we make
our own choice and our choice is Sharia.
Q: Rumor that the economic situation in Sudan has never been
worse.
A: Well, there are certain economic difficulties but the
economic situation of the Sudan has been worse, I think at
the time when this government took place, the economic
situation was really in a shambles, and this is one of the
reasons why this military Government has taken power at this
time, because the economic situation in 1989 was in chaos,
then came this Government and there was an economic reform,
leading the economy into a market economy and implementing a
number of economic policies, which we refer to usually as
'structural adjustment programs', was to restructure and
cure all the ills of the economy, and it is the nature of
that structural adjustment program to generate in the
initial stages difficulties because you remove the subsidies
and the dependencies on agricultural exports. There has been
the best agricultural program that has been, it is this
program that has been put into place in the last three
years. But there are difficulties because of these
structural adjustments programs which we hope will be
temporary and then the results of the reform will come in
the long term, but it is true that this program has
generated some difficulties in terms of high prices of
commodities, and yes there are certain economic
difficulties, but the program is correct, and it is
predicted that this program will have good results in its
medium and long term
Q: Are they meeting there objectives as the go along?
A: they are meeting there objectives as the go along
Q: It has been claimed that there is no Freedom of Press, and
all media is controlled by the Government
A: At the time that the Government took power in 1989 all the
parties were banned and the press was put under Government
control in the beginning, and there were two papers that
were controlled primarily by the Government. That was
necessary because at the time when the Government took over,
there was need for some exceptional measures, like an
emergency law, Government control of the economy, so that
everything could be put into place, but now the papers that
are controlled by the Government have been disbanded and now
there has been passed a law that gives private companies
the right to own papers, which was exactly 10 days ago
[4/28/93]. A new law has been passed which gives the
complete freedom for companies but not individuals.
Q: Why was that done?
A: Because, we are afraid that if one individual owns a paper
he can generate a lot of loss and he is subject to
corruption and so on, it was sought that it was better to
have private companies so that the authority is spread, this
is the wisdom behind it, but it is going to be free press,
the government has gone out of it, this is a very important
development that people don't know yet.
Q: It has been stated that if anyone speaks out against the
Government they will be permanently silenced either by jail
or possible death.
A: No,... if the Government discovers anybody who is making
subversive actions or trying to destabilize the Government
he is put to court according to due process of law, and the
laws have been changed, at the beginning...it was sought
that there was a need for certain emergency measures to
guard the revolution, now for anybody who is suspected of
working against the government, he is taken, but he is put
to due process of law in the court.
Q: Rumors about an Iranian funded 'peace road' in Sudan
connecting Sudan with Uganda and Kenya?
A: Nothing like that, absolutely nothing like that. There is a
road being built, but Iran has nothing to do with it.
Q: Are there any roads being built to link Sudan with Uganda
and Kenya?
A: There are Plans, but there is nothing in place.
Q: There are allegations that Iran has some offices in Sudan,
and the purposes of these offices is to give Dawah.
A: Iran has got a very normal Embassy in the Sudan just like in
any country, The United States has a very big embassy in The
Sudan also, Iran has got an Embassy in the Sudan, they used
to have a cultural office and that's all they have. All this
talk about Iran being involved in training terrorists, this
is all just talk, we asked them to give us proof, then the
people who are fighting in the south said we have captured 2
Iranians fighting with the army, so then we said just bring
them on TV, and they came and said oh they were killed, so
we said bring there bodies, and they said will bring the
bodies at the right time when we choose to.
Q: So what kind of relationships do they have between Sudan and
Iran
A: Normal Relationships, very normal relationships, trade, we
buy some petroleum from them... but even now we are no
longer buying from Iran now, but not for a political
purpose, but it a normal trade-cultural relationship between
a Muslim country and another Muslim country. But it has
nothing to do with terrorism or exporting of terrorist
actions, and they have to observe that the current Sudan
Government has been in place for more then 4 years now and
it has never been accused of taking part in any single
terrorist act in the world. And not even a Sudanese was
suspected, or taken to be part of an active international
terrorist action. We asked the State Dept. when they were
talking about including the Sudan in their list of
Terrorists nations. This Government has been in place for 4
years, do you have a single accusation for the Sudan
Government being engaged in a terrorist act, give us one
example, not only of the state, but give us an example of a
Sudanese individual who has been caught engaged in a single
international terrorist act, I asked them this question,
there was no answer, and when they did not put us on the
list, and they did not, they said we considered putting
Sudan on the list but there was no concrete evidence.
Q: some of the Muslim activists, have tried to imply that
perhaps there is some kind of ideological commonalty which
is the bases of the relationship between the Sudan and Iran,
meaning that perhaps the Sudanese are inclining towards the
doctrine of Shiaism.
A: No, First Sudan Muslims are all Sunna and Iran Muslims are
all Shia. This is the primary difference, again we in the
Sudan are trying, we don't have an Islamic state yet, in
Iran they have it. We are building, we are trying to build a
model of an Islamic State based on our own experiences and
transitions and understanding of Islam. So we are now
engaged in a project of building a state that will generate
its policies and actions from in the Islamic faith and the
Islamic Sharia and Islamic economics and all of this, we are
doing this, we don't yet have what is called the Government
of the Mullahs, or the Theocratic Government, we don't have
that theocratic part of the state, we are building a model
of Islam that is not based upon the Mullahs and the
Theocratic state, we don't have a church in Islam as you
know, so this is the big difference, but we share with them
there revolution values, basically there is nothing like, we
are followers of Iran or we are trying to export there
philosophy or to act on there behalf. That's all propaganda.
Q: What happened to the Egyptians Professors, why were they
barred from the Universities some time back, what really
happened?
A: You see there was a university in Sudan, called University
of Cairo, Khartoum Branch. This has been there for a long
time, the students are Sudanese it is in Khartoum, but the
teachers are mostly Egyptians, because it is a branch of
Cairo University, it gives the curriculum of the Cairo
University basically, and grants a degree that comes from
Cairo University, Khartoum Branch, and you know about these
problems that have been between Egypt and Sudan. There has
been an education revolution in Sudan, and new universities
were built, new curricula was introduced, arabization of
teaching was emphasized, and we call it Ba'seel, 'getting
back to the roots' getting back to our original culture,
because all of our higher education was built upon the
English model, because we were a colony and also our
universities, our main universities like University of
Khartoum was structured and based basically on Oxford and
Cambridge, and so we were just another English university in
Sudan soil, and we have long time ago started to bring the
curricula more to our own values our own traditions our own
thinking,
Q: When you say that, are you emphasizing purely Sudanese or
Islamic?
A: All of it, Arabic, Islamic but we continue to teach
sciences, everything, but the language for example for
teaching is now Arabic instead of English, because we
couldn't see the wisdom why should we continue keep our
language in Arabic why should we teach in English. We were
doing this because we were an English colony, but now we are
not an English colony, and there are certain universities in
the Arab world, in Egypt they are teaching in Arabic as well
so the Government decided that this university should become
a Sudanese University rather then an Egyptian University,
but of course the kind of relationships, strained
relationships that have been between Sudan and Egypt could
have influenced it in a way, the decision, but it has been
done basically as part of the restructuring of the higher
education in the Sudan and the new vision for higher
education in the Sudan.
Q: So what happened to those Egyptian professors?
A: The professors were given an option, you can stay ah-nal-i-
sallah, or you can go to Egypt.
Q: If they stay they will continue with there job?
A: They will continue to teach in their job with their salary
if they want to and they were given this option by the
minister of higher education, and if you want to go, theres
the airport.
Q: What did most of them do?
A: Most of them went, you know because the situation is
politically a little strained, so these things influenced
each other... All of the students are Sudanese and now all
of the professors are now Sudanese.
Q: What about a BBC report that 3 million people may starve in
the South?
A: Of course I have grave doubts about the numbers, but the
problem, yes there is a war, there was a war, now we have a
cease fire which is held by the army but there are the
factions which are still fighting amongst each other. But
the fact of the situation is there is a war, war creates
problems, there are certain people in certain areas caught
in these fighting and it is not very easy for anybody to
reach them and this is the situation which created this
kind of starvation, so yes there are problems for certain
people who are caught in the fire in the war and because
the terrain in the south is very difficult, no roads, bush,
it is very difficult to get to the people, particularly
difficult if you have people carrying guns moving around,
militias, and different SPLA people, this is the basic
reason for the south's starvation. The numbers are extremely
exaggerated, because the whole of the population in the
south is 5 million and already 1.5 million of them are in
Khartoum, because of the war, they migrated north, and they
are living around Khartoum, and in Juba itself there are
400,000 people living there, because people seeking refuge
from the war go to the big towns, because the army is there,
so yes the war creates problems of food, yes there are
certain people who have been suffering particularly because
of interfactional fighting lately, but the numbers are
extremely exaggerated
Q: What about the reports that UN flights or Red Cross flights
were prevented from coming into Sudan
A: That's ICRC, International Commission for the Red Cross,
they have got flights, and then they were caught a year
ago, they were caught red handed, at least let us say they
have been accused by the Government as helping the rebels,
carrying some arms in these flights which they do, and then
the Government stopped them, but now they have been given
freedom to fly and they are flying food from Khartoum to
Juba, and you can quote me that they have been given
permission and they are now actually operating and actually
taking food from Khartoum to Juba, ICRC.
Q: Is it food they provide or Government food?
A: Government food and the food they provide, but the
Government has donated 153,000 tons of Sorghum, for all
people in the South who need it, irrespective of whether
they are in Government held areas or rebel held areas, and
this was given to the world food program of the UN.
Q: Why did the Pope come to Sudan?
A: The Pope was invited, and he wanted to come, and I think his
visit was very welcome, and it was a very successful visit,
and I think he made statements that show that he has been
impressed by the visit and I think it should reflect the
governments religious tolerance because no other Government
I know would have allowed the Pope to come but the
Government was very willing to see the Pope come and see for
yourself, meet the people , he was given the opportunity to
meet all the leaders of the Christian religion there, freely
by himself, and then with the President also, I think it was
a good thing down by the Government that the Pope was
impressed by the visit, and we think that it has been
successful, we hope it will help in building confidence
between the different religions.
--------------------------------------------(end of interview)
This was the complete transcript (at least 95%) of the
interview, and transcribed verbatum to the best of our
ability.
The interview was then continued with Muhammed Majid who is
currently the Director of the Islamic Center of DC and a
Sudanese Muslim.
Q: Rumor that Turabi allowed Muslim Women to marry Non-Muslim
Men
A: False, This was one particular incident that was taken out
of context. What had happened was that a women who had been
a Christian and married to Christian man for 25 years
converted to Islam, she learned that now that she is a
Muslim she can't be married to a non-Muslim, she told Turabi
that this was too difficult for her (after being married to
this man for 25 years and having children and so forth she
really loved the man). So Turabi said that she should not
sleep with him anymore, and that she should continue to make
an effort to leave him as soon as she can, as soon as her
faith is strong enough.
Q: talk about human right violations in the south - ethnic
cleansing - persecution at the hands of the Northerners?
A: This doesn't make any sense when one considers that over a
Million of the Southern People (most non-Muslim) have fled
to the north to get away from the war. If the North was
really responsible for ethic cleansing and persecution of
the Southerners, why would the seek protection in the North.
Would it make sense for the Bosnian Muslims to run to the
Serbs for protection? Besides, as Muslims we are trying to
save these people from the Hell fire and get them into
Paradise.
Q: The war is between the Arabs of the North and the Black
Africans of the south
A: The war was initiated and started by a Man who claimed he
was a communist called John Garenge, he first started by
saying he was a socialist raising his voice against the
capitalists of the north and when this failed he turned his
face to the West and said he was a Christian being abused by
the Muslims, when this slogan didn't work in areas like
Nigeria, he turned his face to the Africans and said he was
an African being abused by the Arabs, when they asked why
does he have an Arab as a member of his movement, (Mansor
Khalid) he says no this is not an Arab problem but a problem
of distribution of wealth and power, then you ask him why
does he fight the other factions, and kill the children, he
says those factions are being payed by the Government. But
these factions claim they attack some of the government
forces, he says, the government is playing games, so you can
see this man has no face. He claimed that he was fighting
against the implementation of the Sharia (which was done in
'83), but he had actually started his war before the
application of Sharia.
Q: Rumor that Sudan has contracted a German company to come and
build a western style tourist resort in the Sudan?
A: Nothing but propaganda
From uwvax!uwm.edu!wupost!howland.reston.ans.net!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!sdd.hp.com!col.hp.com!news.dtc.hp.com!hpscit.sc.hp.com!hplextra!hpfcso!zld Fri Jun 4 08:01:14 CDT 1993
Article: 15853 of soc.culture.african
From: zld@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Zemen Lebne-Dengel)
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1993 00:26:09 GMT
Subject: Ethiopia: 1 Million march in Addis for peace and democracy
Message-ID: <8660042@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
From uwvax!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!cyber1.cyberstore.ca!van-bc!vanbc.wimsey.com!cs.ubc.ca!unixg.ubc.ca!unixg.ubc.ca!pharaoh Fri Jun 4 08:03:23 CDT 1993
this is a very important issue. south africans are lucky in that they can
learn from the zimbabwean situation just to the north of them where land re-
distribution is presently underway. the white rhodesian farmers were just as
pampered as the south african farmers and they drained the economy with all the
subsidies they received. in the process they managed to feed the nation quite
adequately.
what emerged from the zimbabwean re-distribution exercise was that there are
large tracts of farmland that are under-utilized and unutilized. no productive
farmland was used for land re-distribution. it was of course very unfair that
5,000 white farmers owned half of zimbabwe and the rest of the population;
nearly 10 million; were cramped inthe other half. people were not necessarilly
given land because their forefathers once lived there and they were evicted
from there by the ian smith regime; there is a difference between a sentimental
attachment to the land and a real need for the land; and there are many people
in zimbabwe who are in real need of land. the land re-distributed was (a)
purchased by the government from the farmer and not just seized by the governme
nt and (b) the farms had to be examined and a determination made if it was more
profitable to use it for re-settlement or leave it as it was since it was bein
g fully utillized by the present occupant.
ironically, the zimbabwe sunday mail of May 23 reports that ian smith's farm
was also examined and it was determined that it would NOT be used for
resettlement while many of the black cabinet ministers in the present mugabe
government had their farms purchased by the government for re-distribution.
when the bill for land re-distribution was tabled in parliament a couple years
ago; there was only token resistance from the white farmers because most of the
m realized that this exercise had to be done irrespective what legal claims the
y had to the land they presently occupied. the fascist regimes led by the
british during the colonial era left this mess; and the present citizens have t
o undo this mess, and they are doing it in zimbabwe.
the whole fight in south africa is because of human rights and the land. i am
certain that all south africans realize that land re-distribution has to be don
e. commercial viability, to me is a secondary issue. if there is no land
re-distribution in south africa, then there can never be real peace because
the blacks are fighting for land. they may enjoy the fact that one of their
own, mandela, is president, but in a few months they will become restless if th
ey still have to go back to the same shanty house at the end of a political ral
ly; they will question themselves as to whatever they fought and died for...
reuben
From uwvax!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!sun-barr!male.EBay.Sun.COM!jethro.Corp.Sun.COM!mtliban!cedars Fri Jun 4 08:06:05 CDT 1993
