AFRICA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

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from the northeast and traveled via boat to Yemen. There were reports that hundreds
of such migrants drowned in accidents at sea during the year.
The U.N. estimated that approximately 305,000 Somalis were living as refugees
in neighboring countries, including approximately 139,000 in Kenya at year’s end,
a decrease from more than 400,000 at the height of the humanitarian crisis in 1992.
There were approximately 60–70,000 Somali refugees in Ethiopia and 23,872 Somali
refugees in Djibouti at year’s end.
As there was no functioning central government, there was no policy of first asylum,
nor were there any laws with provisions for the granting of asylum or refugee
status. A small number of Ethiopian refugees remained in the country, mostly in
the northeast near Bosasso. The authorities in Somaliland have cooperated with the
UNHCR and other humanitarian assistance organizations in assisting refugees.
In October 2001, approximately 106 Tanzanian refugees arrived in Mogadishu
from Kenya. Some of the refugees were living in an open yard at the Hamar School
at year’s end, and some of the refugees returned to Tanzania. Also in October 2001,
a second group of approximately 93 Tanzanian refugees arrived in Mogadishu; the
group moved to another location until the TNG’s National Refugee Agency was able
to renovate abandoned buildings in the city for their use.
There were numerous reports of rapes of Somali women and girls in refugee
camps in Kenya (see Section 1.c.).
There were no reports of the forced return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government
In the absence of a fully functioning national government, citizens cannot exercise
the right to change their government. In most regions, local clan leaders function
as de facto rulers. Although many such groups derived their authority from the traditional
deference given clan elders, most faced opposition of varying strength from
clan groups and political factions.
With the fall of the Barre regime in 1991, fighting among rival faction leaders
resulted in the killing, displacement, and starvation of thousands of persons and led
the U.N. to intervene militarily in 1992. Following the U.N. intervention, periodic
attempts at national reconciliation were made, but they did not succeed.
In 2000 in Arta, Djibouti, more than 900 delegates representing all clans and a
wide spectrum of Somali society were selected for a ‘‘Conference for National Peace
and Reconciliation in Somalia.’’ The Conference adopted a charter for a 3-year Transitional
National Administration and selected a 245-member Transitional Assembly,
which included 24 members of Somali minority groups and 25 women. The assembly
elected Abdiqassim Salad Hassan as Transitional President. Ali Khalif Gallayr was
named Prime Minister, and he appointed the 25-member Cabinet. In October 2001,
the TNA passed a vote of no confidence in the TNG, and Gallayr was dismissed as
Prime Minister. In November 2001, Abdiqassim appointed Hassan Abshir Farah as
the new Prime Minister.
The Transitional Charter, adopted in 2000, but still not implemented by year’s
end, provides for universal suffrage. Both of the Puntland and Somaliland administrations
provided for universal suffrage.
In the Republic of Somaliland, a clan conference led to a peace accord in 1997 that
demobilized militia groups, established a constitution and bicameral parliament
with proportional clan representation, and elected a president and vice president
from a slate of candidates. The Hargeisa authorities have established functioning
administrative institutions in virtually all of the territory they claim, which equaled
the boundaries of the Somaliland state that achieved international recognition in
1960. Nine new political parties were formed in Somaliland during the year. In May
2001, a referendum was held with 97 percent of voters supporting Somaliland independence;
voters also ratified the political party legislation approved in 2000 by Parliament.
Parliamentary and presidential elections were scheduled for January 2003.
President Egal died in May; however, there was a peaceful transition, and Vice-
President Dahir was sworn in as President.
In 1998 Puntland was established as a regional government during a consultative
conference with delegates from six regions, including traditional community elders,
the leadership of political organizations, members of legislative assemblies, regional
administrators, and civil society representatives. Representatives of Puntland-based
subclans chose Abdullahi Yusuf as President. Puntland has a single chamber quasilegislative
branch known as the Council of Elders, which played a largely consultative
role. Political parties were banned in Puntland. Regional elections in Puntland
were held during 2001; however, President Yusuf refused to step down, and Chief
Justice Nur assumed powers as interim president. In November 2001, elders elected
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