A circular
signed by the representative of the Islamic courts of Shabelaha
Hoose Region, southern Somalia, has banned the cutting of
trees. Issued by court representative Tahlil Mahmud Ibrahim,
the circular said the order was effective from 19 July.
The order
also banned construction on public land and any "pillage"
of national property, said a report carried by 'Xog-Ogaal'
newspaper, Mogadishu.
The circular
said the Islamic courts could enforce the notice, and that
anyone violating the order would "face measures in line with
Islamic sharia law".
Meanwhile,
statistics released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)
say Somalia's population was estimated at 9.2 million in 1998,
with an annual growth rate of 2.2 percent.
In 1999,
WFP put the number of people internally displaced by the civil
war at 300,000 in Mogadishu alone, and some 500,000 Somalis
living in refugee camps outside the country.
Somalia's
population is highly mobile because of the large number of
nomads, moving mainly in the central and northern areas, and
because of refugee movements in response to food shortages
and clan warfare, it said.
Estimated
1998 figures say 50 percent of the population is nomadic,
22 percent urban, and 28 percent agricultural. The available
population figures were based on UN sources.
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