Generalized and clan-based violence has been reported in Somalia recently (AP 5 Jan. 2000; Globe & Mail 3 Jan. 2001b; AFP 8 Jan. 2001, ibid., 5 Jan. 2001, ibid., 3 Jan. 2001, ibid., 17 Sept. 2000; DPA 17 Nov. 2000;)

The Globe & Mail reports that despite the installation of a new government in Mogadishu, violence still occurs. "Mogadishu is by no means the war zone it once was...faction leaders, armed with artillery and anti-aircraft guns, still control large areas in Mogadishu and still pose a threat" (ibid.).

Most clan militias are fiercely opposed to the new government (AFP 8 Jan. 2001b; AP 5 Jan. 2001, IRIN 16 Jan. 2001). Sources further report that one MP has already been assassinated and two others barely escaped attacks in which 12 body-guards and bystanders died (ibid.). DPA had earlier reported the killing of seven gunmen when unidentified gun men ambushed a convoy of another MP, Dualeh Ghelleh Haf (17 Nov. 2000). DPA elaborates that this incident was the second against MPs elected in neighbouring Djibouti in August 2000 (ibid.).

The first execution since the new government came to power was reported in early January 2001(AFP 5 Jan. 2001). According to AFP, a man, who did not have a right to legal defense, was charged by the Islamic court for the murder of another man and was executed on the same day. Apparently, the government "did not want to comment on this execution" (ibid.).

In Baidoa, the Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA) reportedly refuses to recognize the new Mogadishu government (AFP 8 Jan. 2001b; AP 5 Jan. 2001). The RRA carried out an attack on Abdalla Deerow Isak, the speaker of the new parliament near the town of Tiyaglow in Bakool region (AFP 8 Jan. 2001a, IRIN 8 Jan. 2001).

AP states that

the RRA militiamen tried to block roads in and out of Baidoa, forcing Issak to make a detour through the adjacent Hiran region to re-enter Bay...the new government...is facing stiff resistance from Somali faction leaders, who have ruled the Horn of Africa nation since it disintegrated among clan fiefdoms in 1991...meanwhile, the main open-air Bakara market in Mogadishu caught fire Friday, apparently after a firefight between rival militiamen who could not agree who owned a building in the market (5 Jan. 2000).

According to IRIN, "the RRA has been divided since "Shatigaduud" [Colonel Hassan Mohamed Nur] withdrew his support from the interim government of Somalia, where the faction's secretary-general, Abdalla Deerow Isak, is now the speaker" (10 Jan. 2001).

Somali sources in Magadishu said some nine people were killed and many others wounded in the ensuing firefight...RRA attackers lost four men in the attack while the Deerow group lost five men, two of them traditional elders...the RRA also captured five transport vehicles and ten 200 litre drums of fuel from the speaker's group...the speaker and other members of the delegation escaped unhurt (ibid.)

Clan rivalry including the Saad subclan of the Habr Gidir and Omar Mohamud, a subclan of the Majerteen, was reported in Mudug region in the town of Balebusle, 450 north east of Mogadishu (AFP 3 Jan. 2001). Seven people were reportedly killed and at least 20 others wounded (ibid.). The conflict reportedly revolved around control of grazing lands and camel rustling (ibid.). In another incident AFP reported that "at least eight people have been killed and four wounded in two days of inter-clan fighting in Sakow district southern Somalia's Middle Juba Region...the fighting involved gunmen from the Ogadeni and Ajuran sub-clans" and was triggered by cattle rustling (17 Sept. 2000).

The prime minister of Somalia accuses the government of Ethiopia of supporting "the civil war" (AFP 8 Jan. 2000). Ethiopian troops have reportedly been in control of "safety zones" in certain parts of south and central Somali since 1996 in order to counteract incursions by Ethiopian rebels of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Islamic fundamentalists of the Al-Itihad Al-Islam (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Agence France Presse (AFP). 8 January 2001a. "Le premier ministre somalien accuse l'Ethiopie d'entretenir la guerre civile." (NEXIS)

_____. 8 January 2001b. "Cinq morts dans l'explosion d'une mine dans le sud de la Somalie." (NEXIS)

_____. 5 January. "Execution d'un homme condamné pour meutre par un tribunal islamique." (NEXIS)

_____. 3 January 2001. "Conflit sur des zones de pâturages : sept morts et 20 blessés." (NEXIS)

_____. 17 September 2000. "Eight Killed [in] Inter-clan Fighting in Southern Somalia." (NEXIS)

Associated Presse (AP). 5 January 2001. "Osman Hassan. "Somali Town Emerges From Brief Isolation as Factional Fighting Spreads." (NEXIS)

Deutsche-Presse Agentur (DPA). 17 December 2000. "Seven Killed in Armed Ambush of MP in Mogadishu." (NEXIS)

The Globe & Mail [Toronto]. "Government Gives Somalis Reason to Hope." (NEXIS).

IRIN. 8 January 2001. "Somalia: TNA Speaker Attacked." http://www.reliefweb...ntrystories/somalia/20010108.phtml [Accessed: 18 Jan. 2001]

_____. 3 January 2001. "Somalia: Baidoa Cut Off." http://www.reliefweb...ntrystories/somalia/20010103.phtml [Accessed: 18 Jan. 2001]