Ethiopia has expressed its support for the Accord signed by the President of the Transitional Government of Somalia, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, and the Speaker of the Transitional Federal Parliament, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, on June 9th in Kampala, and commended the efforts of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Somalia, Ambassador Augustine Mahiga. In a statement issued on Tuesday this week, Ethiopia said the ‘Kampala Accord’ provided a basis on which to move forward on the issue of transition in Somalia and create a framework to consolidate recent gains in security in Mogadishu and elsewhere in the country. It called on both parties and other stakeholders to work towards full implementation of the Accord. The statement added that “Ethiopia strongly supports the holding of the planned meeting of stakeholders in Mogadishu as an immediate follow-up to the Accord. It believes all parties should be prepared to participate constructively. Ethiopia is prepared to make every effort to contribute to its success”.
The statement commended the forces of the TFG and of its allies, and those of AMISOM, for the substantial and encouraging advances made against Al-Shabaab bringing Al-Shabaab to the weakest it has been. “The death of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed who organized the terrorist bombings of the US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam in 1998, as well as numerous other terrorist activities in Somalia and the region, is a testimony to this”, the statement said. It suggested that developments on the ground now allowed international organizations and international bodies accredited to Somalia to increase their assistance and support in Somalia. “There is now a growing opportunity for those responsible for assisting the TFG and the people of Somalia to move to Mogadishu and raise the level of their assistance significantly, to demonstrate their support in a concrete and substantial manner”.
There is a clear need for institutions of the TFG to exert all necessary effort to implement the agreement signed in Kampala which was aimed to end six months of political stalemate and bickering between the TFIs. The Accord requires among other things the postponement of elections to August 2012 and the resignation of Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo within thirty days to allow for the nomination of a new Prime Minister. Unexpectedly, the signing of the Accord was immediately followed by a series of demonstrations in the government controlled districts in Mogadishu. These were organized by the Governor of the Benadir Regional Administration, Mohamud Ahmed Nor Tarzan and a group in the Council of Ministers who support Prime Minister Farmajo. The demonstrators, largely consisting of women and students but including a number of TFG forces, opposed the ‘Kampala Accord’ demand for the prime minister’s resignation. They blocked the main streets of the capital, burning and pillaging hotels in which MPs resided. Similar demonstrations were also staged in the Central Somalia region of Galgadud which is controlled by Ahlu Sunna wal Jama’a, in Gedo region and in a number of cities around the world. The demonstrations were aimed to weaken the support of the international community and of Somalis for the ‘Kampala Accord’.
The organizers of these demonstrations include two former allies of President Sheikh Sharif, Hassan Ma’alim and Yusuf Aynte, both MPs, who appear to feel aggrieved at being sidelined over the ‘Kampala Accord’. The demonstrations also appear to have the support of Al-Islah Al-Islamiya, the Somali wing of the Islamic Brotherhood. This runs the largest network of educational institutions in Somalia, including FPENS, the Formal Private Education Network of Somalia, which has over 120 schools and madrass in Mogadishu areas alone. Al-Islah also controls various local NGO consortia, including the 29 member Peace and Human Rights Network established in 1997; it runs Mogadishu University, the oldest and largest in the country and has established the only network of Legal and Medical Professionals.
On Sunday, the Council of Ministers discussed the ‘Kampala Accord’. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo. The Council of Ministers then issued a press statement saying that the resignation of the Prime Minister must be approved by the Parliament. Following this, President Sheikh Sharif said that the Kampala Accord should be implemented fully and that the Prime Minister had agreed in Kampala to resign and there should be no prevarication. The President said government funding should be used to improve peoples’ lives not to incite chaos. He said the Council of Ministers and the Benadir Regional Administration should not use government money to cause chaos in Mogadishu as they had the previous week. He insisted it was time to end the violence. This would add fuel to the insurgency. Following his statement, the demonstrations have now subsided, and calm has largely returned to the city. Legally, the ‘Kampala Accord’ does not need to be tabled in Parliament. Parliament is required to ratify international agreements and treaties to which the TFG is a party, but it is not required to consider agreements between the TFI leaders.
Meanwhile, it seems Al-Shabaab was unable to take advantage of the demonstrations to try to reclaim any of the territory it has lost in recent weeks in Mogadishu, suggesting its forces there remain significantly disorganized. Elsewhere, the TFG Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Abdihakim Haji Mohamud Faqi, attended the closing ceremony for a 500 strong force of graduating TFG troops at Dolo, in Gedo region. Another three hundred are being trained in El-wak, four hundred more in Dhoblai and six hundred in the Kolbiyo area. The Minister is expected to attend the closing ceremonies in all three places. It is expected that these new troops will have a substantial impact in fighting against Al-Shabaab in the Bakool, Bay and Juba regions.
It seems the death of Fazul Abdullah Mohamed, the top Al-Qaeda operative in East Africa, killed at an Afgoye checkpoint just outside Mogadishu last week along with a Somali Kenyan, Musa Hussein, has created a state of upheaval and confusion within Al-Shabaab, increasing mistrust and suspicions among its top commanders. The impact of Fazul’s death is expected to put further strain on Al-Shabaab’s capacity for short term operations and its overall resilience if the momentum of the current AMISOM and TFG offensive is maintained. The speed and sophistication employed in the assassination of the TFG Interior and Security Minister, Abdishakur Sheikh Hassan, within three days of Fazul’s death, suggested that the killing was the work of Al-Qaeda rather than of Al-Shabaab. Fazul’s death was the third among those wanted for the bombings of the American Embassies in Kenya and in Tanzania in 1998. The first was Abdalla 'Sudani', killed in fighting between Ethiopian National Defense Forces and Al-Shabaab in Bay region in 2008; and the second was Salah Ali Salah Nabhan, killed in a US helicopter attack in September 2009 while he was travelling from Kismayo to Mogadishu.
The statement commended the forces of the TFG and of its allies, and those of AMISOM, for the substantial and encouraging advances made against Al-Shabaab bringing Al-Shabaab to the weakest it has been. “The death of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed who organized the terrorist bombings of the US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam in 1998, as well as numerous other terrorist activities in Somalia and the region, is a testimony to this”, the statement said. It suggested that developments on the ground now allowed international organizations and international bodies accredited to Somalia to increase their assistance and support in Somalia. “There is now a growing opportunity for those responsible for assisting the TFG and the people of Somalia to move to Mogadishu and raise the level of their assistance significantly, to demonstrate their support in a concrete and substantial manner”.
There is a clear need for institutions of the TFG to exert all necessary effort to implement the agreement signed in Kampala which was aimed to end six months of political stalemate and bickering between the TFIs. The Accord requires among other things the postponement of elections to August 2012 and the resignation of Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo within thirty days to allow for the nomination of a new Prime Minister. Unexpectedly, the signing of the Accord was immediately followed by a series of demonstrations in the government controlled districts in Mogadishu. These were organized by the Governor of the Benadir Regional Administration, Mohamud Ahmed Nor Tarzan and a group in the Council of Ministers who support Prime Minister Farmajo. The demonstrators, largely consisting of women and students but including a number of TFG forces, opposed the ‘Kampala Accord’ demand for the prime minister’s resignation. They blocked the main streets of the capital, burning and pillaging hotels in which MPs resided. Similar demonstrations were also staged in the Central Somalia region of Galgadud which is controlled by Ahlu Sunna wal Jama’a, in Gedo region and in a number of cities around the world. The demonstrations were aimed to weaken the support of the international community and of Somalis for the ‘Kampala Accord’.
The organizers of these demonstrations include two former allies of President Sheikh Sharif, Hassan Ma’alim and Yusuf Aynte, both MPs, who appear to feel aggrieved at being sidelined over the ‘Kampala Accord’. The demonstrations also appear to have the support of Al-Islah Al-Islamiya, the Somali wing of the Islamic Brotherhood. This runs the largest network of educational institutions in Somalia, including FPENS, the Formal Private Education Network of Somalia, which has over 120 schools and madrass in Mogadishu areas alone. Al-Islah also controls various local NGO consortia, including the 29 member Peace and Human Rights Network established in 1997; it runs Mogadishu University, the oldest and largest in the country and has established the only network of Legal and Medical Professionals.
On Sunday, the Council of Ministers discussed the ‘Kampala Accord’. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo. The Council of Ministers then issued a press statement saying that the resignation of the Prime Minister must be approved by the Parliament. Following this, President Sheikh Sharif said that the Kampala Accord should be implemented fully and that the Prime Minister had agreed in Kampala to resign and there should be no prevarication. The President said government funding should be used to improve peoples’ lives not to incite chaos. He said the Council of Ministers and the Benadir Regional Administration should not use government money to cause chaos in Mogadishu as they had the previous week. He insisted it was time to end the violence. This would add fuel to the insurgency. Following his statement, the demonstrations have now subsided, and calm has largely returned to the city. Legally, the ‘Kampala Accord’ does not need to be tabled in Parliament. Parliament is required to ratify international agreements and treaties to which the TFG is a party, but it is not required to consider agreements between the TFI leaders.
Meanwhile, it seems Al-Shabaab was unable to take advantage of the demonstrations to try to reclaim any of the territory it has lost in recent weeks in Mogadishu, suggesting its forces there remain significantly disorganized. Elsewhere, the TFG Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Abdihakim Haji Mohamud Faqi, attended the closing ceremony for a 500 strong force of graduating TFG troops at Dolo, in Gedo region. Another three hundred are being trained in El-wak, four hundred more in Dhoblai and six hundred in the Kolbiyo area. The Minister is expected to attend the closing ceremonies in all three places. It is expected that these new troops will have a substantial impact in fighting against Al-Shabaab in the Bakool, Bay and Juba regions.
It seems the death of Fazul Abdullah Mohamed, the top Al-Qaeda operative in East Africa, killed at an Afgoye checkpoint just outside Mogadishu last week along with a Somali Kenyan, Musa Hussein, has created a state of upheaval and confusion within Al-Shabaab, increasing mistrust and suspicions among its top commanders. The impact of Fazul’s death is expected to put further strain on Al-Shabaab’s capacity for short term operations and its overall resilience if the momentum of the current AMISOM and TFG offensive is maintained. The speed and sophistication employed in the assassination of the TFG Interior and Security Minister, Abdishakur Sheikh Hassan, within three days of Fazul’s death, suggested that the killing was the work of Al-Qaeda rather than of Al-Shabaab. Fazul’s death was the third among those wanted for the bombings of the American Embassies in Kenya and in Tanzania in 1998. The first was Abdalla 'Sudani', killed in fighting between Ethiopian National Defense Forces and Al-Shabaab in Bay region in 2008; and the second was Salah Ali Salah Nabhan, killed in a US helicopter attack in September 2009 while he was travelling from Kismayo to Mogadishu.
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