London BBC World Service “Focus on Africa” program (in English) — 1615 GMT

Relations between Somalia and Ethiopia are apparently not as good as they might be. In 1988, they signed a peace agreement under which they agreed not to support rebels in each other’s countries. But the Somali authorities seem to think that Ethiopia is not keeping its part of the bargain, particularly Somali officials in the north of Somalia, where the SNM (Somali National Movement) has been waging war against government forces. Our correspondent, Said Bakar, has just been to the north with a ministerial delegation and visited Hargeysa and other towns. He telexed this report:

[Begin recording]

During our stay in Hargeisa, we heard allegations that Ethiopia was not honoring the 1988 peace agreement and was still helping the rebel SNM. The commander of the 26th Army Sector, Colonel Abdullahi Ahmed Jamab, presented a reported to the visiting ministerial delegation which said, and I quote:

“…that Ethiopia was directly involved in the current Somalia conflict by supplying the opposition groups with weapons and other military hardware.”

In a public speech, the governor of Hargeisa said that the current difficulties in northern Somalia had been artificially created by the Ethiopians. The Ethiopians, he said, were continuing to add fuel to the fire. He said that when Ethiopia and Somalia signed the peace accord, he thought that Somalia could put all its efforts in the nation building. But, he said, the Ethiopians had succeeded in setting brother against brother and the Ethiopians were pleased with what they were doing. He said that during a recent meeting with his Ethiopian counterparts, some of them actually boasted that they had achieved their goal, which was [to] disunite the Somali people.

The leader of the visiting ministerial delegation, Interior Minister Colonel Abdulkadir Haji Mohamed, said that Somalia, for its part, was still honoring the peace agreement, and would continue to do so. We hope, he said, that the other side will fulfill their part of the bargain.

Meanwhile, as we traveled around northern Somalia, at all times with a military escort, we saw ample evidence of continued fighting. We passed through sparsely populated villages. I was told by local people that only last week, the settlement at Arabsiyo was shelled by SNM rebels. Some people were killed and 29 were injured.

[End recording]

^{FBIS-AFR-90-061, 29 Mar. 1990, p. 6}