     Anonymous | Tuesday, February 06, 2001 - 10:17 am
Mogadishu - Thousands of demonstrators opposing an oil exploration contract signed in Mogadishu at the weekend between Somalia and a French oil group took to the streets of Baidoa in south-central Somalia on Monday, witnesses said.
The protesters shouted slogans condemning the oil exploration deal signed on Saturday between the Somali transitional government's minerals and water resources minister, Hassan Abshir Farah, and France's TotalFinaElf representative, Jean Francisco.
Addressing the demonstrators in Baidoa, 250km west of the capital Mogadishu, the Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA) faction's deputy commander Ibrahim Habsade accused TotalFinaElf of signing an agreement with a government that does not represent Somalis.
"Such contracts are indirect finance of civil war in Somalia," Habsade told the demonstrators.
'Such contracts are indirect finance of civil war'
Under the weekend's agreement, the French oil group will carry out oil explorations for 12 months off the coast of the southern Lower Shabelle and the Juba Valley regions. |
