U.N. experts wary of Somaliland plan for armed oil protection

U.N. experts warn that plans by Somalia's breakaway enclave Somaliland to deploy special forces to protect foreign oil companies could worsen conflicts in the long unstable Horn of Africa, APA reports quoting Reuters. A confidential May 27 letter to the U.N. Security Council sanctions committee on Somalia and Eritrea, obtained by Reuters on Friday, recommends the panel consider whether the planned armed unit could be viable or not. "The deployment of an Oil Protection Unit could play into internal and regional conflicts that appear to be brewing within Somaliland and between Somaliland and other regional authorities, if its deployment is not handled carefully or accompanied by mitigating measures," the coordinator of the expert monitoring group, Jarat Chopra, wrote. The experts, who monitor sanctions violations, said in July that Western commercial oil exploration in disputed areas and discrepancies over which authorities can issue licenses to companies could cause more fighting in Somalia. Chopra's letter repeated that "legal and constitutional discrepancies in respect of oil licensing throughout Somalia have opened the door for potential conflicts between the Federal Government of Somalia and regional authorities, and between regional authorities themselves." The overthrow of a dictator in 1991 plunged Somalia into two decades of violence, first at the hands of clan warlords and then Islamist militants, while two semi-autonomous regions - Puntland and Somaliland - have cropped up in northern Somalia. About a dozen companies, including many multinational oil and gas majors, had licenses to explore Somalia before 1991, but since then Somaliland, Puntland and other authorities have granted their own licenses for the same blocks. A petroleum law that has not yet been adopted by Somalia's parliament, but is being invoked by federal officials in the capital Mogadishu, says the central government can distribute natural resources. Chopra said the Somaliland government commissioned a study into the viability of an armed unit and told the experts "of its willingness to abide by U.N. Security Council resolutions governing the import of military equipment and training for any such Oil Protection Unit." The committee would have to be notified of any such imports and could object, Chopra said. The Security Council imposed the embargo on Somalia in 1992 to cut the flow of weapons to feuding warlords. The council last year partially lifted the arms embargo, allowing Mogadishu to buy light weapons to strengthen forces fighting Islamist groups. Chopra wrote that the oil protection unit is unlikely to be formed for months. The Somaliland government's study has proposed an initial force of 420 personnel, drawn from the existing police and army units. "The mandate of the Oil Protection Unit would be to deter threats through a credible armed presence and to defend against attacks with proportionate and regulated force as a last resort. It would ordinarily detect threats and deflect them into the hands of other Somaliland security agencies," Chopra said.

Somalis Return Home

Abdikani Hussein, The Somali ambassador to Kenya Mohamed Ali (Ameericko) confirmed that nearly one hundred Somali nationals who have been on hunger strike for the past several weeks will be flow back to their homeland this week from Kenya. In addition the Somali refugees were living in terrible condition, including women and children and the elderly. These detainees were amongst thousands of Somali nationals who were arrested by the Kenya security forces since the anti-Somali crackdown which began in Kenya nearly two months ago. Ambassador Nur visited the detention center and listened to the Somali nationals being held there who went on a hunger strike in an attempt t turn the world’s attention toward the tough conations they have been experiencing for the past months.

Kenyan Somalis Are Foreign locals!!

By: Abdikani Hussein, A part of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city there has been under effective police occupation for the past couple of weeks in a crackdown. Some 30 Somali refugees held at Nairobi airport awaiting deportation have gone on hunger strike. The Somali ambassador to Kenya Mohamed Ali Nur (Ameeriko) said that nearly one hundred Somali nationals who have been on hunger strike for the past several days will be flown back to their homeland this week from Kenya The Eastleigh suburb of the city is predominantly populated by members of the Somali community and their business. It’s also a police and other security tool favorite in terms of crackdowns of terrorist activity. A grenade attack on a hotel about 2 weeks ago in the area resulted in one of the biggest operations on illegal aliens in recent history. Over 2000 people were netted and detained at the Kasarani Stadium which was gazetted as a police station for this purpose. The public has been divided on the issue especially with the Westgate Mall terrorist attack still being fresh on their minds. There is a general desire for the government to get on top of the security issue in the country but opinion differs on how exactly this should be done. A little background of the context of it all is important at this juncture. The North Eastern Province of Kenya is almost exclusively inhabited by Somalis. This region has in the past had armed conflict with the Shiftas where there was a claim on the Northern Frontier District. The arbitrary borders drawn by the British did not help matters with clan territories often straddling the border. The region is sparsely populated and extremely dry. Low population = low govt revenue from taxes = poor representation = poor investment by the govt = poor policing. These factors added up to making the Kenya -Somalia border almost nonexistent. The fact that Somalia has not had a functional govt for over two decades meant that the only authority interested in securing the border was Kenya. Add to this the population of the Daadab refugee camp that is still operational and we are looking at a region inhabited by communities that feel they do not belong to the country and thus resistant to whichever incumbent government is in power. The alleged Wagalla massacre is a good example of the kind of repressive action that was taken against ethnic Somalis. The Kenyan Somalis are thus only Kenyan by matter of geography but their heart and soul is back in Somalia. Eastleigh is thus a mirror image of the Norh eastern province in terms of its relation with the rest of the country. Most Somalis work, live and play here and thus the area is the first port of call for the authorities when the ugly head of terrorism raises its head. To be fair, they rarely come up empty with regular finds of ammunition, IEDs, and radicalized youth all in tow. The latest arrest seemingly targeted those without Kenyan identification papers with those found deficient getting deported. We are yet to see the result of this latest swoop and whether it will actually reduce the crime/terrorism rate or it’s more show little acting as is a government norm nowadays. Another curious affair is the behavior of the elected leaders with the government in power at the time. For the most part, most Somali politicians allign themselves with the powers that be and one would thus assume that this would protect the community from attack or discrimination. This is hardly ever the case and one is left wondering exactly why they do this. Could be self-preservation or having little choice. Flag bearers from the region have held key portfolios in the Cabinet, Parliament and Judiciary. None of these seem to assuage the conflict though. It could be that this association keeps the government under control and vice versa. The Ongoing crackdown can be viewed by some as some form of Xenophobia but I do not believe so. The Somalis are among the most integrated ‘Foreigners’ around and aside from their religion, share alot of cultural values with the rest of the dominant tribes of the Inland. Their business acumen is appreciated by all as is their humility and patience in their dealings with others. In short they are pleasant guys to be around and the only reason there is acrimony towards them is due to the terrorist attacks and claims that they host the perpetrators. Whether there is truth to that remains to be seen but the message is clear from the authorities, Expose the radicals or else.

Western oil exploration in Somalia may spark conflict -UN report

UNITED NATIONS, July 17 (Reuters) – Western commercial oil exploration in disputed areas of Somalia and discrepancies over which authorities can issue licenses to companies could spark further conflict in the African nation, U.N. monitors warned in a confidential report. In the U.N. Monitoring Group’s latest annual report to the Security Council’s sanctions committee on Somalia and Eritrea, the experts said the Somali constitution gives considerable autonomy to regional governments to enter commercial oil deals. But a petroleum law that has not yet been adopted by the country’s parliament but is being invoked by federal officials in the capital Mogadishu says that the central government can distribute natural resources. “These inconsistencies, unless resolved, may lead to increased political conflict between federal and regional governments that risk exacerbating clan divisions and therefore threaten peace and security,” the experts group said in an annex to its annual report, which was seen by Reuters. The overthrow of a dictator in 1991 plunged Somalia into two decades of violent turmoil, first at the hands of clan warlords and then Islamist militants, while two semi-autonomous regions – Puntland and Somaliland – have cropped up in northern Somalia. Around a dozen companies, including many multinational oil and gas majors, had licenses to explore Somalia before 1991, but since then Somaliland and Puntland and other regional authorities have granted their own licences for the same blocks. In some cases Somaliland and Puntland have awarded licenses for blocks that overlap. The experts said one such case involves Norwegian oil firm DNO and Canadian-listed Africa Oil Corp. “Potentially, it means that exploration operations in these blocks, conducted by both DNO and Africa Oil under the protection of regional security forces, its allied militia or private forces, could generate new conflict between Somaliland and Puntland,” the report said. “It is alarming that regional security forces and armed groups may clash to protect and further Western-based oil companies interests,” it said. “In this case, the involvement of a Norwegian company on one side and of a Swedish-owned/Canada-based company on the other, is even more disturbing, considering the long-standing implication of Norway and Sweden in promoting peace and dialogue in Somalia,” the experts said. Bjorn Dale, DNO’s acting president/managing director and general counsel, said he was not familiar with the U.N. experts’ recent report but said that the company would never engage in activities that threatened peace in Somaliland. Africa Oil was not immediately available for comment. CONFLICT OF INTEREST? Somalia is struggling to rebuild after decades of conflict and a U.N.-backed African Union peacekeeping force is trying to drive out al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebel group al Shabaab. Piracy off the Somali coast is also a problem. The U.N. experts also expressed concern about a clash between a longstanding bid by Norway to urge Somalia to implement an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off its coast with commercial interests by a Norwegian oil company. Under the U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea, an EEZ would allow Somalia 12 nautical miles of territorial control with claim to sovereign rights to explore, exploit, conserve and manage natural resources that exist within 200 nautical miles. The U.N. convention then requires Somalia to negotiate a maritime boundary with Kenya, which the U.N. experts said could lead to several disputed oil exploration blocks being deemed to be in Kenyan waters. The U.N. report said late last year that Kenya had suspended Statoil’s license for block L26 because the Norwegian company did not want to spend money on exploration while there was the legal uncertainty over the maritime border with Somalia. A Kenyan government official told the U.N. experts that Statoil had expressed an interest to develop the area should a boundary be agreed with Somalia and the L26 block was deemed to be in Kenyan waters. “Efforts by Norway to lobby Somali officials to adopt the EEZ now coincide with current Norwegian interest in the fate of L26 as well as with Norwegian involvement in the application of a Special Financing Facility donor fund of $30 million which has been allocated under the management of (Somali government) officials with a track record of corruption,” the report said. The experts suggested that Norway’s development assistance to Somalia could be used “as a cover for its commercial interests there,” a claim it said Norwegian International Development Minister Heikki Eidsvoll Holmas has denie.

South Sudan rebels 'committed' to ceasefire

South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar has told the BBC he is still committed to a peace deal, despite accusing the government of violating a ceasefire.He said he wanted further "dialogue" with the government, also alleging that President Salva Kiir was not in control of some of the forces fighting for him.The government earlier accused the rebels of flagrant violations of the truce, but said it would not break it.The peace deal to end the five-month conflict was signed on Friday.Thousands of people have been killed and at least 1.5 million have been displaced, according to UN estimates. Some five million citizens of the world's newest country are currently believed to be in need of emergency aid, facing mass hunger. 'Agenda for dialogue' Mr Machar was speaking to Stephen Sackur on the BBC's HARDtalk programme and the BBC Arabic Service in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where the deal was signed.South Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers in Bentiu. Both the government and the rebels accuse each other of launching attacks in Bentiu,Displaced South Sudanese children in the Malakal camp, Upper Nile State. At least 1.5 million across South Sudan are now displaced, according to the UN Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, right, looks on as South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar, centre and South Sudan's President Salva Kiir exchange signed peace agreement documents in Addis Ababa, 9 May 2014. President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar signed the deal in Ethiopia on Friday "We will negotiate with him [President Kiir]... for the sake of the people of South Sudan, we will negotiate and reach a political settlement", Mr Machar said. "Finally, the government accepted the agenda for dialogue which they were refusing before signing the deal. We also accepted this agenda."The rebel leader also accused government troops of launching attacks in five locations, including in the town of Bentiu in oil-rich Unity State. Mr Machar alleged that President Kiir was not in full control of the forces fighting for him, like Ugandan troops and fighters from Darfur, and accused him of inciting ethnic hatred. Earlier, Sudanese Information Minister Michael Makuei accused the rebels of violating the ceasefire. But speaking to BBC Africa, Mr Makuei stressed the government "will continue to abide by and respect the agreement". "And we call upon the international community to mount pressure on the rebels so that they respect and abide by their commitment." There has been no independent verification of either side's claims of launching attacks. In Addis Ababa, President Kiir Mr Machar met face-to-face for the first time since hostilities broke out and agreed to halt fighting within 24 hours. A previous deal, made in January, collapsed in days, with each side accusing the other of breaching terms. Earlier, the UN called on both sides to facilitate deliveries of emergency aid to a population in danger of mass hunger. 'Crimes against humanity' The UN has accused both the South Sudanese government and the rebels of crimes against humanity, including mass killings and gang-rape. The violence began when President Kiir accused his sacked deputy Mr Machar of plotting a coup. Mr Machar denied the allegation, but then marshalled a rebel army to fight the government. The battle assumed ethnic overtones, with Mr Machar relying heavily on fighters from his Nuer ethnic group and Mr Kiir from his Dinka community. The UN has about 8,500 peacekeepers in South Sudan. However, they have struggled to contain the conflict. South Sudan gained independence in 2011, breaking away from Sudan after decades of conflict between rebels and the Khartoum government. Map of South Sudan states affected by conflict Fighting erupted in the South Sudan capital, Juba, in mid-December. It followed a political power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his ex-deputy Riek Machar. The squabble has taken on an ethnic dimension as politicians' political bases are often ethnic.

China to build new East Africa railway line

Formal agreements for plans to build a new railway line in East Africa with Chinese help have been signed in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. It is to run from Mombasa to Nairobi and will extend eventually to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. In Kenya, the line is to replace a narrow-gauge track built more than 100 years ago during British colonial rule. China is to finance 90% of the first stage, put at $3.8bn (£2.3bn), with work carried out by a Chinese firm. Uhuru Kenyatta Kenyan President High speeds Construction work on the standard gauge line is expected to start in October this year, and the 610km (380-mile) stretch from the coast to Nairobi is due to be finished in early 2018. "The costs of moving our people and our goods... across our borders will fall sharply," Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta told a news conference after the signing also attended by the leaders of China, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan and representatives from Tanzania, Burundi and the African Development Bank. In November last year, Mr Kenyatta laid the foundation stone in Mombasa for the first phase of the project. He had said the new link should cut the cost of sending a tonne of freight one kilometre from 20 US cents to eight, Reuters news agency reported. Passenger trains will travel at a top speed of 120km/h (75 mph), while freight trains will have a maximum speed of 80km/h. "This project demonstrates that there is equal co-operation and mutual benefit between China and the East African countries, and the railway is a very important part of transport infrastructure development," said Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang. A subsidiary of China Communications Construction Co has been named as the main contractor. According to the terms of the agreement, China's Eximbank is to provide 90% of the cost of the first phase of the line, with Kenya putting up the remaining 10%. After that stage is complete, it is planned that work on the links to other countries in the region will start. Construction of the original line began in Mombasa 1895 and the railway reached Nairobi in 1899. It reached the shore of Lake Victoria in December 1901. During the difficult and often dangerous work, at least 2,000 workers lost their lives - many of them Indian labourers imported to East Africa to build the railway. Malaria, dysentery and other diseases took their toll as well as accidents and wild animals.

Why is the U.S hunting for Joseph Kony?

In February US President Barack Obama publicly condemned a bill criminalising homosexuality in Uganda, cautioning Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni that "enacting this legislation will complicate our valued relationship". Yet five weeks later Obama notified Congress that the US was sending 150 Air Force Special Operations forces and other personnel, plus several CV-22 Ospreys and refuelling aircraft, to aid Uganda's 25-year pursuit of Joseph Kony, leader of the notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Shortly after, the US military abruptly announced that it was pulling the aircraft out of the mission. What is going on? These twists and turns are puzzling - and troubling - and not just because they undercut well-deserved US denunciation of Uganda's new anti-homosexuality law. Moreover, the recent dispatch of US military support to Uganda to hunt Kony comes at a time when the threat posed by the LRA is vastly overshadowed by far more troubling armed violence in the three Central African countries where LRA fighters are located. In the Central African Republic (CAR), opposing armed groups have for months committed massive atrocities and pushed an already weak and troubled state to the brink of collapse. Immediately east of CAR, the world's newest nation - South Sudan - is embroiled in an armed conflict that began in December as a power struggle within the country's ruling political party, but has escalated into widespread fighting that threatens an extended civil war, with dangerous ethnic overtones. And just to CAR's south, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the long-suffering population continues to be preyed upon by many armed groups besides the LRA, not least the country's army. While the US has voiced alarm about these emergencies, until recently it has provided limited practical assistance. US Secretary of State John Kerry's recent visits to South Sudan and DRC could change this, although it is as yet unclear what the effect of these visits will be. In this context, the high priority of the LRA in US policy is surprising. The dissolution of the LRA Originally an insurgency based in northern Uganda, the LRA became notorious between 1988-2006 for atrocities against civilians (including killings, mutilations and abductions), although Ugandan government army abuses and structural violence was even more deadly, especially the government policy of forced internal displacement of 1.2 million people at the epicentre of the war. Listening Post - Feature: Kony 2012: The new kids on the media block Following failed peace talks in late 2008, the LRA scattered across wide swaths of heavily forested and lightly administered territory in adjacent parts of the DRC, South Sudan and CAR. There, an initial phase of large-scale LRA killings, abductions and civilian displacements in the region has been succeeded by dwindling rebel strength. Operating far from their original northern Uganda base - and hunted, if sporadically, by Ugandan and other national armies since (recently operating under an African Union mandate) - the LRA managed their last large-scale attacks in the totalling in early 2010. Since then they have splintered into ever smaller, increasingly uncoordinated bands totaling probably less than 200 fighters. When the last sizable group of 19 LRA fighters abandoned the movement and came out of the bush in December 2013, for example, our interviews with this group showed how they had no contact with the rebel high command for for up to two-and-a-half years. While some LRA attacks and (mostly short-term) abductions continue, the frequency and severity of such incidents has fallen to a level where the rebel group has become a relatively minor threat. Indeed, violent killings attributed to the LRA in rebel-affected areas of northeastern DRC last year occurred at a rate far less than in the US: 2.9 per 100,000 population (our estimate) vs 4.8 per 100,000 in the US. And although no similar statistics are available for the CAR or South Sudan, the armed conflicts currently under way in both these countries have undoubtedly resulted in casualties and displacements far surpassing - and unrelated to - those caused by the LRA . Why is Kony still important? Yet the US has just committed more military personnel and equipment to hunt Kony. In October 2011 when the first 100 US troops were deployed, the LRA was already much weakened. This was even more the case by early 2014 when the latest US military commitment was announced. So, again, what is going on? The only reasonable explanation is that the LRA has become an almost exclusively internal US issue, driven by domestic US politics rather than realities on the ground in Central Africa. Inside Story - 'Kony 2012': The future of activism First, there is the influence of the advocacy groups. The most visible of these is Invisible Children (IC). Launched by a short film of the same name in 2004, IC became a US popular culture phenomenon, lucrative fund raiser, and powerful voice focusing on the LRA. Indeed, IC - along with the Enough Project and Resolve - was crucial in convincing the Obama administration to send the first advisers and supporting equipment to help Uganda "capture or kill" Kony. Second, for the administration (with rare bipartisan support in Congress), the LRA issue seemed an easy political win: With relatively little effort - a handful of troops - the US could help catch one of the world's most wanted men while satisfying an important domestic political constituency. One former US government source told us that Obama never directly informed Museveni about this initial dispatch of US troops, announcing it instead in a Washington press conference - an unmistakable signal of the policy's centre of gravity, and to which audience the policy needed most to be communicated. Third, shifting US power relations with respect to the LRA policy proved highly influential. The centre of gravity over the last year has swung towards the Department of Defense, with a more pro-active AFRICOM command promoting greater engagement in the hunt for Kony. This could explain the delivery of the Osprey aircraft. The fact that they were abruptly recalled only a month later reinforces our argument that US decisions, even by the US military, are being taken independently of the situation on the ground. By framing the LRA issue as a personal and technical military problem, rather than a political one, a single goal - with a short timeline - has been set: to catch Kony. In this scenario, both Invisible Children and the Obama administration are caught in a trap of their own making (even if the trap was bated by the Ugandan government, which has long promoted the same view of the LRA "problem"). In this situation, US withdrawal from the hunt would be perceived as a failure, both for the government and advocacy groups such as Invisible Children. Pressure to succeed is heightened by the fact that momentum surrounding the LRA issue is diminishing, or has already passed. Support for IC has recently plummeted: donations are sharply down resulting in a one-third reduction in staff and many programmes cut or eliminated. In recent interviews, remaining IC staffers indicate they would not mind moving on, but feel stuck in trying to raise attention for a dying cause. A similar logic holds for the Obama administration: If it is to gain further political capital out of the LRA issue it needs to act - and succeed - fast. In sum, the projection of US internal politics and the influence of US advocacy groups into the violent Central African region has led to an extremely cynical situation: An important US intervention in what constitutes a minor problem is occurring in the midst of truly large-scale violence and instability which has failed to prompt commensurate US political or material support. This myopic and distorted vision has exaggerated the significance of the LRA and obscured the major drivers of insecurity and armed violence in Central Africa, to the detriment not only of those caught up in that violence but genuine strategic and humanitarian interests.