S/2005/392
I. Introduction
1. The present report is submitted pursuant to the statement of the President of the Security Council of 31 October 2001 (S/PRST/2001/30), in which the Council requested me to submit reports on a quarterly basis on the situation in Somalia. The report covers developments since my report of 18 February 2005 (S/2005/89), and focuses on the issues and challenges confronting the Transitional Federal Government. It also provides an update on developments inside Somalia, the security situation and the humanitarian and development activities of United Nations programmes and agencies in the country.
II. Transitional Federal Government
2. During the period under review, two important issues have proven quite controversial within the Transitional Federal Government. The first is with regard to the Government's plan to relocate to Somalia. There is serious concern among Somalis and the international community that almost eight months after the conclusion of the Somali National Reconciliation Conference, the Somali transitional federal institutions are still in Nairobi rather than in Somalia.
3. The controversy has caused a rift between President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and his Prime Minister, Ali Mohammed Gedi, on the one hand, and the Speaker of Parliament, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, some cabinet members and a large number of members of Parliament on the other. President Yusuf and his group argue that Mogadishu is not secure enough and that the Transitional Federal Government should relocate temporarily to Jawhar or Baidoa until the capital is made safe. The Speaker and those associated with him insist that the Government should relocate to Mogadishu.
4. The second controversial issue is the inclusion of troops from the frontline States (Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya), in a future African Union/Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) peace support mission in Somalia requested by President Yusuf. Once again, a large number of members of Parliament, cabinet ministers and faction and other leaders oppose the deployment of troops from those countries.
5. The result is that the Government's intention to commence the relocation of the transitional federal institutions to Somalia as of mid-February (see S/2005/89, para. 8) has not been implemented. However, a number of fact-finding teams were dispatched by the Transitional Federal Government to several regions of Somalia as a prelude to the visit of President Yusuf and Prime Minister Gedi to the country from 24 February to 4 March. The Transitional Federal Government delegation visited Baidoa, Beletweine, Boosaaso, Garowe and Jawhar. Reports indicate that the delegation was welcomed by ordinary Somalis. However, the delegation did not visit Mogadishu.
6. On 24 March, 11 members of Parliament, mainly from the Hawiye clan, wrote to members of the international community expressing their disapproval of President Yusuf's relocation plan, and a number of members of Parliament left Nairobi for Mogadishu. Their stated intention was to prepare for the smooth relocation of the Transitional Federal Government to the capital. They met in Mogadishu with senior Hawiye politicians, including former President Abdikassim Salad Hassan, to work out the modalities of removing armed militias from Mogadishu. On 6 April, an additional 22 members of Parliament arrived in the capital with the intention of reviewing the preparations that their colleagues had undertaken. On 5 April, Muse Sudi Yalahow, the Transitional Federal Government Minister of Commerce and a prominent Mogadishu faction leader, held a press conference in Nairobi asserting that it was time for the Government to relocate to Mogadishu. An additional 30 members of Parliament, including Mohamed Kanyare Afrah, Muse Sudi Yalahow and Osman Ali Atto, all Ministers in the Transitional Federal Government, left Nairobi for Mogadishu soon thereafter. Mohamed Kanyare spoke to the press in Mogadishu and stated that the objective of those members of Parliament was to oversee the implementation of a "Mogadishu Security and Stabilization Plan" that had been announced earlier as the framework for the pacification of the capital. He asserted, however, that they remained part of the Transitional Federal Government. On 16 April, Deputy Prime Minister Mohamud Jama Sifir led another group of 8 members of Parliament back to Mogadishu from Nairobi. Reports indicate that there are over 100 members of Parliament currently in Mogadishu.
7. On 29 April, Prime Minister Gedi, accompanied by representatives of the African Union (AU), the League of Arab States (LAS), Algeria, Djibouti, Kenya and Yemen, arrived in Mogadishu. The officer-in-charge of the United Nations Political Office in Somalia (UNPOS) joined the mission on 1 May (see para. 26 below). The Prime Minister and his entourage were warmly received by the inhabitants of Mogadishu, who stressed the need for the Transitional Federal Government to return to Mogadishu as the capital of Somalia. At a meeting with members of Parliament in the capital, Prime Minister Gedi stated that reports that the Transitional Federal Government was planning to relocate elsewhere was misinformation. He underlined that the stabilization of Mogadishu was the responsibility of the Executive and expressed his readiness to take over the process to re-establish security there.
8. A bomb exploded on 3 May while Prime Minister Gedi was addressing a large crowd in the Mogadishu Stadium. The Prime Minister was not injured, but many people were reported killed and wounded. Pending the conclusion of investigations, he announced that the blast had most likely been accidental and caused by a hand grenade. Others in Mogadishu claimed that the explosion was deliberate and was meant to disrupt the Prime Minister's campaign for support in Mogadishu. On 7 May, Prime Minister Gedi returned to Nairobi.
9. In late February, several Somali political figures voiced their opposition to the deployment in Somalia of troops from the frontline States in response to the communiqué issued by IGAD on 31 January 2005 at the AU Summit in Abuja (ibid., para. 19). On 26 February, 41 of the 61 Hawiye members of Parliament and Ministers (including major faction leaders) issued a press statement in Nairobi in which they welcomed AU troops, but categorically opposed the deployment of troops from the frontline States. They also insisted that the Transitional Federal Parliament endorse the composition and mandate of the troops to be deployed. The Speaker subsequently added his voice to the group opposed to the desire of President Yusuf and Prime Minister Gedi to receive troops from the frontline States. He claimed that his position was based on his findings in Mogadishu during his visit there in February (ibid., para. 9). Demonstrations both in support of and in opposition to the deployment of such troops were held in the capital during the first week of March.
10. The issue was debated in Parliament on 17 March in preparation for the meeting of the IGAD Council of Ministers (see para. 18 below) to consider the issue of the deployment of a peace support mission in Somalia. However, the debate in Parliament degenerated into a rowdy session in which several members of Parliament were wounded and a Minister was detained by the Kenyan police. The Speaker issued a statement to the effect that the majority of members of Parliament had voted by a show of hands, after the destruction of the polling box, in favour of the deployment to Somalia of troops from other African countries and States members of the League of Arab States, but not troops from States bordering Somalia. President Yusuf responded by issuing a Presidential decree rejecting the Speaker's statement.
11. In a letter to Prime Minister Gedi and the Speaker dated 18 April, President Yusuf stressed the need for the Cabinet and the Parliament to adopt a comprehensive bill on security and the relocation of the Transitional Federal Government to Somalia. He stated that the bill should include: the IGAD Foreign Ministers' decision of 18 March (see para. 18 below); the Government's relocation to Baidoa and Jawhar with a security and political office in Mogadishu; a stabilization plan for Mogadishu; the disarmament and encampment of all militias throughout the country within three months; a new written commitment by all Transitional Federal Government members, members of Parliament and others to a ceasefire and disarmament; and an international verification and monitoring mechanism led by IGAD, AU, LAS and an "international core group".
12. Following efforts by the international community to reconcile the opposing views within the Transitional Federal Government, the Speaker issued a statement welcoming further talks. The dissident Ministers and members of Parliament in Mogadishu also expressed their readiness to resolve the dispute through the mediation efforts of the international community.
13. Following a Cabinet meeting on 9 May, Prime Minister Gedi submitted two motions to the Speaker for approval by the Parliament. The first was on the deployment of an IGAD peace support mission in Somalia on the basis of the IGAD Foreign Minister's communiqué of 18 March. The second was on the decision of the Cabinet to relocate to Baidoa and Jawhar, with an office in Mogadishu, pending the stabilization of the capital. The intention was to obtain the approval of Parliament prior to the African Union Peace and Security Council meeting on Somalia scheduled for 12 May in Addis Ababa.
14. The Speaker argued that he needed more time so that the members of Parliament in Mogadishu could return to Nairobi to study the two motions. He proposed to hold a session on 17 May. President Yusuf announced that he would call an emergency session of Parliament for 11 May. The Speaker deemed the session illegal and did not preside over its deliberations.
15. The First Deputy Speaker, declaring that there was a quorum (152 members in attendance out of 275), presided over the session to consider the two motions. He announced that he had counted 145 votes in favour of the first motion on the deployment of an IGAD peace support mission. A total of 141 members are reported to have voted in favour of the second motion on the relocation of the Transitional Federal Government to Baidoa and Jawhar with an office in Mogadishu. The Speaker declared the decisions null and void. On 15 May, the Speaker, accompanied by 28 other members of Parliament, left Nairobi for Mogadishu, where he has since been involved in assisting in the efforts to demobilize and disarm militias in the capital.
16. During the period under review, President Yusuf and Prime Minister Gedi held talks with a number of regional leaders and Government officials on the issue of the Transitional Federal Government's relocation plans and related questions. On 8 March, President Yusuf met with the President of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, in Nairobi to discuss the Government's relocation plan. Both leaders reiterated the need for the Transitional Federal Government to relocate back to Somalia without delay. Prime Minister Gedi briefed President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti on 7 March in Djibouti. He then proceeded to Addis Ababa and met with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and the Prime Minister of Djibouti. He stressed the need for financial support from the international community and peace support troops to assist the relocation of the Transitional Federal Government to Somalia.
17. President Yusuf met with President Hosni Mubarak and other Egyptian officials, as well as with the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Amre Moussa, in Cairo in mid-March. He called on LAS to play a major role in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Somalia. He also attended the LAS summit in Algiers and held talks with Libyan officials later in April.
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