According to an official of the Somali Embassy in Ottawa, Faduma Issaq Bihi, the Somalia Ambassador to Switzerland, is the only official Somali representative in Switzerland. Similarly, a representative from the Embassy of Switzerland in Ottawa reports that the Somali representation in Switzerland is limited to the Somali Mission to the United Nation. With no representation in Bern, the Somali Embassy in Paris handles Somali affairs in Switzerland. The following address of the Somali UN Mission was supplied by the Embassy of Switzerland:
Rue Valaise 9211
Geneva 1202
Switzerland
Tel. 7315450

Corroborating information regarding the above topic from published sources is currently unavailable to the IRBDC.

The Manager of COSTI, Centre for Italian Scholastic and Technical Organizations located in Toronto, an Immigrant Aid Service, states that the Somali Ambassador to Geneva is Faduma Issaq Bihi, a Marehan. Regarding General Bihi, the above source informs the IRBDC that the General was a high ranking official within the Ministry of Defence, although the exact position he occupied within the Ministry is unknown.

Omar Arteh Ghalib, a former Foreign Minister, was arrested in June 1982 along with seven other Members of Parliament. They were publicly accused of "undermining the state", and according to Amnesty International, the arrests were likely linked to the political opposition to the President within high-ranking government and party circles. [
ENDNOTES:
Amnesty International, Urgent Action, London: 15 June 1982.] On 7 February 1988, the government commuted the death sentences imposed on them by the National Security Court. It was later announced that two of them, including Omar Arteh Ghalib, were placed under house arrest for an unspecified term. [Amnesty International Weekly Update Service, London: 19 February 1988.]

The COSTI Manager states that Omar Arteh was the Ambassador to Ethiopia from 1965 to 1969, when he was elected a Member of Parliament. It was after the coup in 1969 that he accepted the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs in Siad Barre's regime. He corroborates the information given by Amnesty International regarding the arrest of Omar Arteh.

There is no information regarding Abdullahi Dir Jama and Mohammed Diri Jama currently available to the IRBDC. Amnesty International reports that the regional Commander of the NSS in Hargeisa was reportedly killed by the SNM in December 1987. [ Somalia; A Long-Term Human Rights Crisis, London: Amnesty International Publications, September 1988, p.39.]

Attached please find excerpts from the following documents:
"Somalia: Voting With Their Feet", Africa Confidential, London: Miramoor Publications Ltd., 22 September 1989, p.7.
"Somalia Slides Into Chaos", New African London; IC Publication, November 1989, pp.10-12.