Crisis in the Horn: The Somalia/Saudi Factor?

www.eastafricaforum.net http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5htHw0EMDEy-1LCiECI2QmFx8diLA

AFP June 15, 2008UN-Saudis say Somalia truce a 'breakthrough'

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah regards a Somalia truce deal reached last week as a "breakthough" and will invite rival factions to an official signing ceremony as soon as possible, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said on Sunday.

Ban said after talks with the monarch in the Red Sea city of Jeddah that the June 9 accord aimed at restoring peace and stability in the war-shattered nation was a "very encouraging development."

He said he and King Abdullah viewed the deal reached in Djibouti between the transitional government in Mogadishu and moderate Islamists as "a breakthough."

More than a dozen attempts have failed to end the unrest in Somalia which has been mired in civil war since the 1991 ouster of former president Mohamed Siad Barre.

The Ethiopian-backed transitional government is currently battling a guerrilla war being waged in the Horn of Africa nation by Islamist militants who were ousted in 2006.

"Saudi Arabia has been playing a very important role on this issue," Ban said, adding that the regional powerhouse would "as soon as possible" host a formal signing ceremony.

The oil-rich kingdom, which is home to a large Somali exiled community, is a major benefactor for all Somali factions, providing material, financial and political support.

The Djibouti deal was initialled by Somalia's government and the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), an opposition umbrella group dominated by Islamists and based in Eritrea.

But ARS member Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, accused by the United States of links to Al-Qaeda, has rejected the deal, saying it fails to set a clear deadline for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops.

Under the deal, Ethiopians troops, who deployed at the end of 2006 and knocked out Islamists from south and central Somalia, are to withdraw after the UN deploys peacekeepers within 120 days of the armistice taking effect.

The accord also calls for the establishment of a security committee to ensure implementation of the ceasefire as well as the creation of a panel to promote political cooperation, justice and reconciliation and the holding of an international donors' conference.


http://africa.reuters.com/country/ET/news/usnL1639559.html

Ethiopia plans to develop coal reserve

Mon 16 Jun 2008ADDIS ABABA, June 16 (Reuters) -

Ethiopia plans to develop its vast coal reserves in the west of the country for fertilizer and power generation, at an estimated cost of $730 million, its trade and industry minister said on Monday.

Girma Birru said his ministry had signed an agreement with state-owned China National Complete Plant Import & Export Corporation (COMPLANT) to develop the coal reserve.

No other details were given of the accord. The firm had earlier conducted a feasibility study of the project.

Ethiopia imports up to 400,000 tonnes of fertiliser annually but the escalating international price of urea, used in the manufacture of fertiliser, is becoming prohibitive for the government.

"The study indicated that the reserve has a potential to produce between 300,000 tonnes of urea, 20,000 tonnes of methanol and 90 megawatts of electric power," he told reporters.

An environmental assessment study is also being conducted in the thickly forested Yayu region, some 500 kms (312 miles) west of Addis Ababa, he said.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7456329.stm

BBC

June 16, 2008

Deadly flooding in Somali capital


Floods have left at least six people dead in and around the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Torrential rains over the weekend also affected thousands of displaced people living in camps outside the city.

The floods came after another week of violence in Somalia, in which dozens of civilians, two aid workers and a BBC reporter were killed.

The UN World Food Programme has warned that nearly half Somalia's population will require aid later this year.

Residents of one camp for displaced people near Mogadishu told the BBC's Mohamed Olad Hassan that the floods had forced people from their shelters.

"There is nothing else I could do but to try and stop the flood into my shack with sand, we are still doing the same," one woman said.

Somalia has experienced almost constant civil conflict since the collapse of Mohamed Siad Barre's regime in January 1991.

It is estimated that the conflict has created more than one million refugees.

Violence continued last week despite a ceasefire signed by the government and opposition in neighbouring Djibouti.

The deal was signed by a top Islamist leader, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, and Prime Minister Nur Adde, but another Islamist leader has promised to continue fighting.