SHASNA MediaWatch
Environmental Protection Team

Nairobi, Kenya
[August 25, 2002]

Jubba Valley Regions: Deforestation, Environmental Degradation & the Exportation of Charcoal to Gulf States
Through Cash for Forest, How the Arta Faction and sub-clan Members Finance their War Efforts in Southern Somalia

This week, world leaders, Presidents and Prime Ministers are convening at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. They will reassess the condition of Planet Earth ten years after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Since then, a lot has improved, and lots have deteriorated. In many respects, ten years later, many parts of Planet Earth don't fare too well; they are on their last legs; are bed ridden and need serious attention! We hope this summit will make the difference and heal these ailing regions. It is indeed needed more than ever.

As we report from the Horn nation, Somalia stands on both columns of that environmental equation. Some regions, particularly the northern Somalia regions, have improved and have contributed to sustainable developments in their spheres of control. Through collaborations with domestic and foreign NGOs, the authorities in these regions have contributed to economic-development and family-planning programs. They have presided over the lowest AIDS rates in the whole of Africa, if not the world. They have outlawed exportation of charcoal and wild animals. Together they have protected the environment. The regional authorities and NGOs are working together and are making a huge difference in improving our environment and contributing to sustainable development. A lot has been done, and more is needed.

Some others, notably southern Somalia and in particular Jubba Valley Regions, Don't fare so well. According to the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), "the change of control of Kismayo in June 1999, considerably altered the regional strategic map." Kismayo, the regional capital of the "occupied territories," as classified by the UN's OCHA, boast the "largest IDP population in the regions, which majority are women and children." These Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are products of war, ethnic cleansing, environmental degradation and deforestation. They didn't choose to be IDPs; they were forced to be IDPs. Their lands, farms and livestock have been confiscated by invading clans from other regions. These IDPs, assuming they survived, were left with nothing, but to be IDPs.

However, matters are much worse than that. Wealth and  livestock could be created again; buildings could be erected again; sons and daughters might be born again; but environmental degradation, deforestation and desertification will have a lasting impact on all of humanity and on the fragile ecosystem. In the Jubba Valley Regions, in addition to the tragedies of IDPs, huge chunks of lands, of forests, of farms, of centuries old acacia trees, and of other priceless and hundreds of years old wild and farm trees are being cut from the root, razed, burned and turned into charcoal, shipped onto boats, and exported to final destination: the Gulf States. According to Horn NGOs and to indigenous populations in Jubba Valley Regions, each month, approximately over 30,000 tons of charcoal are shipped to the Gulf States by the Jubba Valley Alliance. In the Kismayo area alone, what were once huge, acre after acre of forests, have been razed, and are now barren, torched and desolate lands!

Who is responsible for this environmental devastation and degradation; and what could be done to protect Somalia's fragile ecosystems?

Since the arrival of Mogadishu's Arab financed and UN-sponsored Arta Faction, Somalia and southern Somalia in particular has politically, environmentally, economically, ecologically and environmentally experienced the worst of nightmares. Nightmares that need no comparison and no sudden surprises - it crept in slowly and occurred suddenly. It is no surprise that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states support the Arta Group. It is no surprise that the bulk of Somalia's chopped, razed and burned trees (charcoal) are sold to the Saudis and other friends. It is of course no surprise that most of this destructive and immoral trade is controlled by Abdiqassim Salad Hassan's sub-clan, in the name of Jubba Valley Alliance. It is also no surprise that the routes of this trade are controlled by Mohamed Daylaaf's sub-clan militia, who is a financier and a close cousin of Arta's Abdiqassim Salad Hassan. It should finally be no surprise that this route runs from Mogadishu, Afgooye, Marka into Kismayo and surroundings, and b
In conclusion, it is never too late for us and other summiteers in Johannesburg to "save the earth," the southern Somali earth. It is never too late to request, encourage and demand from the Gulf States to stop importation of Somali charcoal. It is never too late to demand from them and from the Djibouti government to stop financing Arta's war efforts. It is never too late to kindly request from these same countries to lift their illegal ban of Somali livestock, which accounts for over 70% of Somalia's GDP and export earnings. It is finally never too late to know that this is for the benefit of all, for this generation, for coming ones, and for God and country. Let us not regret ten years from now, what we can dutifully do today! Save the earth and save southern Somalia!

SHASNA* Environmental Protection Team
cc: SHASNA Members
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*SHASNA is a worldwide advocacy group. It stands for the unity and peaceful coexistence of Somali people. It supports the creation of a federal system of governance to safeguard the emerging free markets of the Recovery Zones and all other safe zones. It supports the promotion of good governance and democracy. SHASNA encourages corporate and individual investments in the Recovery Zones in areas of health, education, information technology and media. It has presences in both Puntland (Boosaaso, Garoowe, Buurtinle, Ba'aadweyn and Galkayo) and Somaliland (Hargeysa, Berbera and Burco).