Keesing's Record of World Events (formerly Keesing's Contemporary Archives),
Volume 32, June, 1986 Somalia, Page 34407
© 1931-2006 Keesing's Worldwide, LLC - All Rights Reserved.
Jun 1986 - Government changes-Internal security-Economy-Refugee situation
Constitutional amendments (Dec. 1, 1984).
Elections to People's Assembly (Dec. 31).
Cabinet reshuffle (Feb. 21, 1985).
Hijacking of airliner to Ethiopia (Nov. 24, 1984).
Developments within opposition movements (August 1984-March 1986).
Agreement with South Africa on airline landing rights (December 1984).
Reported agreement with USA on nuclear waste disposal (August 1985).
Meeting of President SiyadBarre and Lt. -Col. Mengistu of Ethiopia (Jan. 17, 1986).
Subsequent talks between Somalian and Ethiopian delegations (May 7–9).
Establishment of diplomatic relations with Seychelles (April 14).
Agreement on IMF standby arrangement (Feb. 25, 1985).
Agreement on debt rescheduling (March 4–6). 1986 budget (Dec. 5).
Refugee situation (late 1984-April 1986).
Amendments to the 1979 Constitution [se 29706 A; 29877 B], providing for the election of the President by universal suffrage for a seven-year term, were passed by the People's Assembly (parliament) on Dec. 1, 1984.
Under Article 80 of the Constitution as it stood, although the president was described as being elected by popular vote [ibid.], a presidential candidate chosen by the central committee of the ruling and sole legal party, the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party (SRSP), was in fact elected by the People's Assembly for a six-year term. Maj. -Gen. Mohammed SiyadBarre, who had held power since 1969 [see 23672 A], had been thus elected in January 1980 [see 30316 A].
Elections were held to the People's Assembly on Dec. 31, 1984.
According to the official results, announced on Jan. 12, 1985, a total of 4,220,000 votes were cast of which 99.86 per cent were in favour of the single list of 171 candidates presented by the SRSP; the candidates were elected for a five-year term. A further six deputies were appointed by the President. At the same time elections were held to the district assemblies. [For 1979 elections to the People's Assembly, ibid].
In a Cabinet reshuffle announced on Feb. 22, 1985, the Ministers of Livestock Development, Planning, and Public Works left the Council of Ministers, and several ministries were restructured.
As a result of the changes, the Council was composed as follows, with any previous different responsibilities shown in parentheses for composition of the Council as of May 1984, see 3318 A.
Maj. -Gen. Mohammed SiyadBarre / ChairmanLt. -Gen. Mohammed Ali Samater / First Vice-President, Defence
Maj. -Gen. Hussein KulmiyeAfrah (Second Vice-President, Presidential Adviser on State Affairs) / Second Vice-President, Planning
Brig-Gen. Ahmed Suleman Abdulla / Interior
Col. Ahmed Mahmoud Farah / Mineral and Water Resources
Dr AbderrahmanJamaBarre / Foreign Affairs
Mr Hassan Abdullahi Farah / Justice and Religious Affairs
Mr Mohammed ShaikhUsman / Finance
Maj. -Gen. Mohammed Abdullah Fahdil (Industry) / Industry and Commerce
Col. Mohammed UmarJes / Information and National Guidance
MrAbdiSalanShaikh Hussein / Culture and Higher Education
MrAbderrahman Abdullah Osman / Education
Mr Abdel-Qasim Salad (Labour and Social Affairs) / Public Works
Brig. -Gen. BilehRaflehGuled / Agriculture
MrMussaRabileGhod (Commerce) / Livestock and Forestry Development
MrAdan Mohammed Ali / Fisheries
Mr Yusuf Hassan Dakhareh / Health
Col. Mire AwaraJama (Youth and Sports) / Labour, Youth and Sports
Mr Ahmed Shire Mahmud / Tourism
Brig-Gen. Mahmud Gele Yusuf / Ports and Sea Transport
Dr AbdullahiOsoblehSiyad / Posts and Telecommunications
Mr Ahmad Habib Ahmad / Juba Valley Development
MrJamaGaasMa”awiye / Transport and Civil Aviation
MrAbdullahi Ahmed Addow (Presidential Affairs) / Minister of State in the President's Office for Economic and Political Affairs
Mr Ahmed Jama Abdullah Jangeli / Minister of State in the President's Office for Labour and Social Affairs
*No change.
**Restructured portfolio.
*†Maj. -Gen. KulmiyeAfrah did not appear in the list given on The name of MrRabileGhod was given on as page Col. Musa RabilehGoud. The military ranks of Maj. -Gen. Fahdil and Brig. -Gen. Yusuf were not previously given.
‡MrAddoww and MrJangeli were in early 1986 appointed ambassadors to the USA and to West Germany respectively, and as of late had not been replaced.
In AugustMrAbdullahiWarsameNur, a former Deputy Finance Minister, was appointed to a new portfolio of Treasury, which was responsible for the implementation of laws affecting taxation and the collection of national income. The creation of the new ministry was seen as part of the government's economic liberalization programme which was to stimulate private-sector growth.
Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Husayn was on Dec. 12 confirmed as chairman of the Supreme Court, having served hitherto as acting chairman.
The main opposition movements, the Somali National Movement (SNM) and the Democratic Front for the Salvation of Somalia (SDSF or DFSS), maintained guerrilla activities against the regime of President SiyadBarre between late 1984 and early 1986, with offensives being reported in November 1984 and March 1985. A crisis within the DFSS, however, severely hampered its activities [see below], while both groups were considered to be militarily weak. The government responded to guerrilla attacks by mass arrests of civilians in the troubled areas (mainly the north and north-west), and there were reports of executions of people accused of being members of the opposition movements.
Radio Halgan, which broadcast from Ethiopia for both the DFSS and the SNM, reported the launching of an offensive on the part of the SNM on Nov. 13, 1984, during which the rebel movement claimed to have taken control of areas in the north-west, and to have surrounded the town of Hargeisa, “destroying its defences”, while in the south of the country the DFSS was carrying out attacks on Army bases. There were subsequent reports of government-imposed curfews in certain northern towns.
An SNM spokesman alleged in London in late December that the government had executed 28 people in retaliation for a successful attack by the SNM on an Army barracks in Burao (south-west of the port of Berbera) earlier in the month.
There were reports in October 1984 of mass compulsory conscription of students into the regular armed forces; these were interpreted as signs of low morale and consequent desertions from the forces.
The Somali Ministry of Defence in December declared that hostile forces of “Abyssinia and its allies”–the Somali terms for Ethiopia and the rebel movements–had launched an air and land attack in the north-west along the border, and that they had been defeated by government troops; responsibility for the attacks was claimed, however, by the DFSS, which alleged that the Somali government broadcast reports of invasions by foreign troops in order to deceive international opinion.
Violent clashes were reported in June 1985 between Ogadeni people (who were pro-government) and other tribal groups in the central and northern areas.
An attack on government buildings in Hargeisa took place on March 3, 1986, involving clashes between SNM guerrillas and government troops, as the movement announced that it was stepping up its campaign in the north.
In May 1986 there were reports of serious unrest in the southern areas among the Hawiye people. A purge of Hawiye officers in the armed forces had occurred in April.
Three dissident members of the Somali Armed Forces on Nov. 24, 1984, hijacked a Somali Airways Boeing 707 airliner on a flight from Mogadishu (the capital) to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and, after wounding one of the crew members, forced the pilot to fly to Bole airport, which served the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. The hijackers, led by Capt. AwilAdanBourhan, threatened to blow up the aircraft with the passengers and crew if certain demands were not met. A total of 19 passengers and three crew members were released on Nov. 24, leaving 108 people held hostage on the aircraft. On Nov. 27, however, after protracted negotiations between the Ethiopian and Somali authorities and the hijackers, the passengers and crew were released and the hijackers gave themselves up, having obtained a promise of political asylum in Ethiopia.
The hijackers (who were later joined by two passengers who sympathized with their demands) had sought the release and safe passage to Djibouti of 21 political prisoners in Somalia. These included former Cabinet ministers, and seven youths who on Oct. 3, 1984, had been sentenced to death by the National Security Court in Mogadishu after having been found guilty of forming an illegal underground organization and of being involved in a series of minor bomb explosions in Hargeisa in June and July 1984. Responsibility for the bombings had been claimed by the DFSS.
The Somali government had initially refused to establish any contact with the hijackers, but negotiations were subsequently carried out with a representative of the Italian embassy in Addis Ababa acting as intermediary (there being no diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and Somalia). The Somali government finally agreed to waive the death sentences, while declaring that there had been no intention to carry them out.
The hijackers, at a press conference given on Nov. 27, denied that they were terrorists, stating that they were “struggling for justice and true independence for the Somali people by opposing the inhumane actions of the SiyadBarre regime in Somalia”.
The SNM held its fourth congress on Aug. 3–9, 1984, at which it was decided that congresses should henceforth be biennial rather than annual [for third congress and leadership changes, see page 33139]. A 41-member central committee was elected. The new chairman and vice-chairman were named as MrAhmad MuhammedSilanyo and MrAli Muhammad OsoblehWardigley respectively.
A split in the DFSS was reported in early July 1985, caused by the formation of a splinter group, the Somali Patriotic Liberation Front (SPLF), by moderates dissatisfied with the leadership of the movement.
The SPLF was led by the DFSS vice-chairman and leader of the former (Soviet-backed) Somali Workers” Party (SWP), MrHussein Said Jama; the SWP had in 1981 merged with other opposition parties to form the DFSS [see 31688 A]. The new group was based in Aden (South Yemen), where the SWP had originally been based.
The leader of the DFSS, Col. Ahmed Abdullahi Yusuf, was arrested in Dire Dawa (Ethiopia) on Oct. 1, along with several of his supporters, and was detained in Addis Ababa. He was replaced as interim leader of the DFSS by MrMohammed Abshir; the movement's foreign secretary, Dr Hassan Haji Ali Mireh was elected chairman at the second congress of the DFSS, held in March 1986, which was also attended by the SNM leader, MrSilanyo.
The arrest of Col. Yusuf followed an incident in which four people, including two of his bodyguards, were shot dead. Observers noted that there had been efforts within the DFSS to oust Col. Yusuf from the leadership of the movement for various reasons, including his apparent unwillingness to facilitate the merger of the Somali opposition movements, and his attempts to lessen Ethiopian influence over the DFSS.
President SiyadBarre on Jan. 25, 1986, during a visit to Hargeisa and the troubled north-western area, declared a general amnesty for Somalis who had been in exile since the outbreak of the Ogaden war in 1977.