That Freedom Shall not Perish
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Source: http://www.uhubso.com/RTE-File-Uploads/587_RTEPage-Healthrepor.doc. 2004
ERIGAVO GENERAL HOSPITAL REPORT
Sanaag is a remote eastern region of Somaliland, which bordered by approximately 380 kilometres of Red Sea coastline to the north and locates the border between Somaliland and eastern regions of Somalia. The region is divided into three districts: Erigavo, Badhan and Ceel AF weyne (El Afweyne), with the towns of Erigavo as the regional capital and Badhan and El Afweyne as the district capitals.
In terms of development, both the former central governments of Somalia and current Somaliland government and by International agencies and other NGOs, the region of Sanaag has been almost totally neglected. There are no surfaced roads in the region and services of almost any type are non-existent in the towns and the villages. Sanaag region lacks an adequate transport, communication and infrastructures, leading to a chronic lack of public services, particularly the important areas such as: health services education, agriculture and water supply.
Health Situation
- In health sector, health facilities are almost totally absent from villages to district capitals and there is a skeleton health service in the region capital.
- No basic medical facilities exists in the district hospitals and even the three district hospitals are virtually non-functional due to shortages of staff, supplies equipment, drugs, fuel and vehicles, and almost total lack of ongoing training, supervision, evaluation and maintenance equipment.
- There is acute shortage of surgical, orthopaedic, ophthalmic and gynaecology/obstetric equipment in all hospitals.
- Many health problems are evident in the region, the maternal mortality rate and incidence of TB are extremely high, and the infant mortality rate and incidence of vaccine preventable diseases, childhood communicable diseases, anaemia, malnutrition, respiratory tract infections, diarrhoeas and problems associated with pregnancy and childbirth are serious health problems.
Erigavo General Hospital
Erigavo General Hospital is one of the most neglected hospitals in Somaliland and it lacks all basic health service facilities and equipments. The Erigavo hospital is the main regional hospital/ referral centre and only hospital for the three districts of Sanaag region and surrounding areas. The hospital has the following wards:
1. Maternity ward
2. Children's ward
3. Female ward
4. Male ward
5. Tuberculosis (TB) ward
Maternity ward
The Maternity ward is not functioning at all, due to lack of equipment,
Children's ward
The children's ward is also not functioning at all
Female and Male wards
The female and male wards are barely functioning with very limited equipment, they were both recently built but lack of equipment has rendered it useless.
Tuberculosis Ward
The Tuberculosis ward is fully functioning and it is the only department in the whole hospital that has a patient in it.
The most in need now are.
1. Ultra sound machine for mother and child safety and other applications.
2. Portable ECG machine and portable cardiac monitor
3. Doppler fetal heart monitors
4. Obstetric forceps sensor
5. Vacuum extractor
6. Sterilizer Drums.
7. Operation theatre tables
8. Operating light or operating theatre lamps
9. Instrument for general surgery such as minor surgery sets, amputations sets, chest drainage instruments, scales, various size of forceps etc.
10. Gynecology/obstetric sets and delivery sets such as D & C sets, episeotomy sets etc.
11. Resustation sets such as oxygen machine and other A&E equipments and sets.
12. ENT sets
13. Eye examination sets.
14. X-ray machine films and safety equipments.
15. Laboratory equipments such as Binoculars microscopes, test tubes, sample collection containers, test reagents, laboratory safety equipments, blood bank equipments, Serology equipments, chemical pathology equipments, hematology equipments such as HB sets, ESR sets etc.
16. Centrifuges and incubators, fredges, distilled water making machine, infusion sets etc.
17. OPD equipments such as patient examination tables, blood pressure apparatus, wheel chairs etc.
18. Patients screens/curtain.
19. And many more.
Source: Direct Relief International, Date: 31 Mar 2005 (http://www.reliefweb.int/)
Somalia: Direct Relief's programme activities update Mar 2005
Shipment Number: 4232
Shipment Date: 3/17/2005
Value: $336,637
The tsunami that struck much of Southeast Asia on December 26, 2005 also impacted the northeastern region of Somalia. The region had already endured four years of drought that decimated the core of its economy - livestock. Many residents had turned to fishing as their main livelihood. In the areas affected by the waves of water, fishermen have lost all of their boats and equipment. According to governmental and international aid agency estimates, up to 300 Somalis might have died and up to 54,000 people might have lost their livelihoods and been made homeless by the tsunami. Somalis have also been without an internationally recognized and effective government since 1991, when President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown. This absence of a central authority complicates efforts to assess the damage caused by the tsunami and to provide appropriate help to the affected population.
This emergency air shipment was distributed by Hargeisa Hospital Group, located in Hargeisa, the capital of the self-declared independent Republic of Somaliland. The Hargeisa Hospital Group is one of the primary healthcare facilities serving the estimated 1.5 million people living in or near the city. The hospital provides a wide range of services such as pre- and postnatal care, deliveries, emergency medical treatment, surgical procedures and x-rays. Dr. Yassin Abdi, hospital administrator, is working with the Somaliland Ministry of Health to respond to the needs of the tsunami victims in Puntland, the worst hit area. They are setting up a small hospital near the affected area to attend to a growing number of patients being transferred from Puntland for treatment. Currently, no other aid has been received. This Direct Relief emergency air shipment included such urgently requested medical goods as I.V solutions, hospital beds, sterilized gloves, antibiotics, and wound dressings. We thank Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hospira, and Pfizer for their assistance with this shipment.
Source: http://www.uhubso.com
Erigavo Secondary School Project
Introduction
UHUBSO is aiming to enhance the well being of Somaliland people and hence , empower and encourage participation in reconstruction and development of Somaliland as well as providing possible opportunity in education, environment and health of Somaliland children.Project Overview
This project named (Erigavo Secondary School Rehabilitation and Maintenance) is sponsored by UHUBSO to assist the Sanaag community to rebuild the damaged school and help them it's functioning in order to meet local demand.
The Sanaag region is the largest in landmass in Somaliland. The region capital is Erigavo other major towns are Ceel Afweyn, Badhan, Las Qoray Garadag, Hiis and Maydh, however, Sanaag Region is most neglected region in the new republic in all aspects of public services such as education, health transport infrastructure etc. It has the highest rate of unemployed in Somaliland. The region population is increasing dramatically and public service to meet their need is either not exist or diminishing.
Recent drought in the region increased the number of nomads flogging from the country side after loosing their herds and settling main towns.
UHUBSO is urging Somaliland's diasporas to take this project seriously and Sanaag diasporas to take the lead. Erigavo Secondary School need immediate attention and support and UHUBSO is committed to facilitate your support and to deliver the said project on schedule. (God Willing)
Background
The School was build in 1975 by the Former government and the Erigavo community, to provide the need for secondary education required by Sanaag Region. After it's completion it was a success story, producing up 200 high school graduate each year since 1975 to 1987.
Due to the result of civil war out break in 1988 the school was used as a military base by the Former dictator Siad Barre's army to launch attacks on Sanaag region civilians, thus the school was damaged by shelling, burning and vandalism.
The School sustained to be out of service and without repairs since 1999 which also worsen, it's condition. Spring 1999 UNHCR commence a small project to reconditioned four classes, two offices, and two toilets which enable for the first class of 32 students (in 1999) to join the higher school in Erigavo in 12 years. 2001 Three more classes have been rehabilitated by Somali forums. By the end of 2002 another plot laboratory rooms have maintained by UNHCR.
The support provided by the above two organisation helped the school to function and provide basic education for small number of students. Since then year in year out the number of students increased by up 200%. The school is expecting for the academic year of 2004/2005 to enrol new 200 students, which will take the total number of this academic year up to 500 students.
Erigavo Education Committee has put forward an appeal to UHUBSO to assist the school to meet this ever growing demand. UHUBSO realises if action not be taken very urgently either the school will be shut down or 80% of students will be turn away hence this project became UHUBSO's priority.
Please view the report from the school committee (Erigavo School Report)
OBJECTIVES & SCOPE OF THE PROJECT:
The objective of this project is to make Erigavo Secondary School to survive from closure, to be fully functional and meet the demand of Erigavo and surrounding villages' community for Secondary education. The scope of the project will be accomplished in three phases.
The phases are priorities on the basis of their importance and impact on the school.
Project time scale
The project first two faces will be completed within as soon as posible. The third face of the project will be on going one, until further notice.
Phase 1
Immediate purchase of operational equipment and stationery such as;
o Tables and Chairs
o Chalks and black board markers
o Photo copy machine
o To build a fencing wall to identify the school compound and to reduce the disputes of the school area.
o Toilets
o Printing Paper
o Office Stationary.
o Transport of the supplies
Phase2
Implementing school library;
o Assigning a room and assessing repair requirements
o Purchasing all necessary equipments and transported to location.
o Completing external and internal structure of the library.
o Book collection
o collating, storing and convey of books
o Establishing library management team
o Handover and opining ceremony.
Phase 3
Teacher incentives
o Laising with funding groups
o Implementing subscription system
o Promoting subscription system signing up subscribers.
Project Budget and Time Scale
Phase 1
This phase of the project is the most urgent one and we are planning to accomplished before the start of the academic year 2004-2005
| Required Object | Quantity | CPU | Total Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Tables and Chairs |
80 |
70 |
5600 |
|
Chalk |
5 |
30 |
150 |
|
Photo copy machine |
1 |
300 |
300 |
|
Printing Paper |
5 boxes |
50 |
250 |
|
Office Stationary |
- |
- |
150 |
|
Toilets |
10 |
300 |
3000 |
|
Fencing wall |
- |
- |
4000 |
|
More Classes |
5 |
2400 |
12000 |
|
Transport of the supplies |
- |
- |
1000 |
|
Total cost for phase 1 |
- |
- |
26450 |
Phase 2
Those who are lucky enough to live the developed countries and had the chance to access their education system will have a greatest sympathy For Erigavo Secondary School students. These students have never seen a library let alone it's benefits. Setting up a Library for the School will not only give them an access to the academic books they require, but will help them to use their time at the school to the full. UHUBSO will be collecting books all over the world.
UHUBSO is expecting to finalize the cost of establishing a library building, delivering books and the cost of managing the library per year. As soon as this become available we will published it on our website and start raising the funds.. www.uhubso.com.
Phase 3
This face of the project is to attract teachers and minimize staff turnover. The lack of teachers' incentives become stigma to Erigavo Secondary School and hence the school fail to keep current teachers and it also become hard to find new recruits.
It become apparent to UHUBSO this problem should be tackle and consequently UHUBSO is appealing funds for teacher incentive scheme which certainty will solve this problem.
UHUBSO is expecting to raise this fund March 2005 and same time each year after.
EVALUATING PROGRESS AND RESULTS:
After the project is implemented the project task force would assess the results and the progress report would determine if we have achieved our outlined goals, objectives and vision. It is important to note that we will submit a progress report after all donations are collected and the implementation phase begins, so we can assess whether we need to modify our goals or not. Also we will show all the donation collected and the shortfalls to meet as the collection progress.
Source: http://www.awdalnews.com/ April 21, 2005
Thinking is allowed on the Information Super High Way
There are two hypothetical question that recur to my mind whenever I see effloresce of Somali websites. How could the former Somali dictatorship regime cope with the Internet where control of information is impossible? Would the late dictator lay off his censors and devise other methods-such as not introducing Internet Service Providers-to avoid seeing politically aware people?
These two questions are relevant today given the reaction to Awdalnews editorial on past SNM misdeeds. The editorial "SNM in balance: The need for a Truth and Reconciliation Committee in Somaliland" has generated a heated debate on The Somali National Movement, one of the armed outfits that fought the former dictatorial regime.
The timing of editorial was good despite the outpouring from certain Farah Ali Jama (Taking Awdalnews to Task ) who is eager to see Awdalnews answering a list of questions he formulated-"Why it [ Awdalnews ) thinks that "it is time that Somaliland establishes a Truth and Reconciliation Committee in the style of the famous South African one and bring those who committed crimes in the name of the SNM and those of other clans who committed crimes in the name of defending tribal pride to face rule of law[?]" This is a legitimate question if one has not digested the virtual substance of the editorial, but there is no reason to assume that the writer who posed the above-quoted question has not perused the Awdalnews s editorial on SNM as he deems the editorial to be "a deliberate act of treachery and disloyalty to the cause of Somaliland then."
What is striking about the piece (Taking Awdalnews to Task) is the author's use of words (treachery and disloyalty) that remind one of the dreaded former Somali National Security Court that legitimated summary executions and mid-night knock on the doors of citizens by government agents. Why does the same horrible dictatorship language continue to overhang our heads like sword of Damocles?
Rather that posing questions on a set of suggestions that Awdalnews editorial put forward could not Farah Ali Jama try to look for inadequacies ( if there are any ) in the editorial writer's reasoning? His reasoning plays second fiddle to his mastery of the English that is full display in any of his writings.
The failure to develop a language suited to a discourse that can bring up human rights violations or lead to slaughtering of sacred tribal cows constitutes a major stumbling block to the endeavours of many Somali commentators. But that same failure does not have to make us blind to the fact that the Internet is a medium through which people can express views. The fact that editorial is attributable to Awdalnews makes a mature discussion of issues a more palatable one.
Very few Somalis have a vivid memory of a time when people expressed political views without fearing consequences. The Internet has afforded yet another opportunity in which we can revive our candid dissuasions without being admonished for broaching a topic. It is said the rigidity in most Muslim countries is due to a theology that has La Tas'al (Don't question) as a starting point. It is not good idea to use that same methodology when discussing past or present issues.
Source: http://www.awdalnews.com/ April 21, 2005
Taking Awdalnews to Task
It is one thing to merely raise this non-existent issue in the name of freedom of speech or the freedom of the press with the intention of trying to confine the debate that may ensue locally, but to peddle the same issue to some other lengths particularly to circulate it to some hostile Somalia websites as well as to some international quarters such as in the West, Middle East, and Africa is totally another thing.
According to my simple google.com search, I was surprised to find the number of websites in which Awdalnews peddled its mediocre editorial. I also heavily suspect that this website and its editor have shipped this misplaced, ill-advised, misleading, and unwarranted editorial piece to some other unknown organizations that may be hostile to the cause of Somaliland. If this is not a deliberate act of treachery and disloyalty to the cause of Somaliland then, what is it?
As you are aware, others and I earlier suggested to Awdalnews to retract their inciting editorial. Nevertheless, Awdalnews chose to ignore our legitimate concerns and seem to rejoice and wallow on their provocative work and continue to indulge themselves with several supportive articles from some specific group of writers that were pouring in their defence particularly from those who would like to be known locally and internationally as "Awdalians" or "Awdalites" or "Intellectuals," a shadowy anti-Somaliland group that is bent on dividing our citizenry and trying to peddle their community as a distinct society and Awdal province as an autonomous region!
One of these unscrupulous writers who also peddles the claim that Awdalnews is the best Somali website and continues to belittle the rest of the Somali websites and further claims that Awdalnews adheres to high journalistic standards and alleges that it has become the home of the intellectuals who also likes to be known as an intellectual and who shamelessly disparages the articles of others for lacking substance, facts and figures, a standard in which he never lives up; given his recent articles in defence of this website had even the audacity to claim:
- "To my opinion only a loose confederation of autonomous states may work."
- "Somaliland communities signed separate treaties with the British in 1884. The `Gadaboursi' signed a treaty with the British in `December 12, 1884 in Zayla,' and other Somaliland communities also signed separate treaties with the British. We now know for the last 40 years, some groups used that fictitious device as the stepping stone to the highest echelons of power, when they succeeded to sell their false numerical superiority over other Somali communities. That false mathematics was nothing but a ploy to grape power."
This reminds me of the other community to the East of Somaliland who also seem to have discarded the original name of their community and have been peddling themselves for quite sometime as the "Dervish Community" or "Beelaha Daraawiishta" or "Beelaha SSH" or "Beelaha SSCH" in the both oral and written forms! Do you now get the big picture?
Whatever the case, their absurd claims is a futile exercise that will not dent one bit of the unity of our people, cause, and existence of Somaliland. The intrepid people of Somaliland are well versed of their hidden motives and agenda and will get back to them when that time comes.
For these reasons and many more, it is time that we take Awdalnews to task. Awdalnews has some explanation to do in regards to its inciting editorial in which it adamantly continues to stand by it. It is therefore incumbent that Awdalnews to provide the people of Somaliland facts and figures in relation to their loaded and unsubstantiated allegations as shown below:
- "The SNM was born out of bent-up anger, frustration, humiliation and disrespect for human dignity and human life."
- "The formation of the movement, therefore, came into being in the heat of the moment and was mostly driven by emotion rather than by a well-laid political vision and national agenda."
- "Like any liberation movement with thousands of fearless, trigger-happy and adrenaline-thrilled youth in its ranks.it was futile to expect it to respect the rules of war and refrain from committing excess."
- "It is time to re-examine, analyze, and re-evaluate the rights and wrongs of the SNM."
- "It is high time that the former SNM commanders and supporters have to acknowledge the ugly crimes committed in the name of the movement in the same way they celebrate its good deeds."
- "It is time to admit that SNM had.its crimes and its share of responsibility for the plight of hundreds of thousands of Somalilanders, destructions and annihilation of whole towns and villages and killing of hundreds of innocent farmers, businessmen, poets, intellectuals, elders, religious men, and women and children for the crime of belonging to ant-SNM clans."
- ".the former SNM commanders and fighters should also be courageous enough to remember the victims of the movement and should reach out to the women who were widowed, the mothers who lost their beloved sons and daughters and the children who were orphaned or maimed in the name of the SNM."
- "One wonders whether it ever occurred to the former SNM commanders and fighters that as much as its music for their ears to be called Mujahids, hearing such description may be loathsome to the victims of the SNM."
- ".can anyone deny the fighters of other clans who fought against the SNM militias in defense of their honor, their property and their existence to be decorated heroes and Mujahids of their concerned clans."!!
- "The former SNM commanders and fighters love to claim sainthood by repeatedly reminding their former adversaries that they have extended to them an amnesty blanket and have forgiven them for taking the gun against the freedom fighters. The question that former SNM fighters forget to ask themselves is `who has forgiven who?'"
Awdalnews is also incumbent on answering the following questions:
- Why it thinks that "it is time that Somaliland establishes a Truth and Reconciliation Committee in the style of the famous South African one and bring those who committed crimes in the name of the SNM and those of other clans who committed crimes in the name of defending tribal pride to face rule of law. It is also high time to give the victims of both sides the chance to have their stories heard before a neutral court. Only in this way would all Somalilanders embrace the legacy of the SNM beyond its present tribal confines."
- Whether it regards the National Reconciliation Conference in Burao city in 1991 as valid and binding. And whether it is satisfied with, respects, and abides by the outcome of this important and historic reconciliation conference.
- Which specific crimes were committed to who and which specific community it is referring to and where are these victims and why this community had not come forward for the last 15 years?
- Which specific SNM commanders it is referring to - dead or alive and which commanders committed which crimes to which victims and communities and how many of these victims are dead or alive and why the government has not done anything for them.
- Why this claim seem to be confined to Awdal community and why they omitted the other communities.
Finally, it is essential that Awdalnews take these issues seriously and answer all of the above mentioned thoroughly. It is time that Awdalnews to come clean with the people of Somaliland and the only way it can do so or exonerate itself from the brouhaha it created in the first place is to substantiate all of the above stated issues and to provide the people with tangible evidence to support the issue as well as its wild claims.
Farah Ali Jama, Ottawa, Canada.fjama022@UOTTAWA.CA
Source: http://www.qarannews.com/ 18 Apr 2005
What do you know about the developments of amoud university?
Amoud university has turned to the development projects both road building that are intended to establish a traffic link between borama and the campus with the aim to decrease trasport cost of the university and primarily the stress associated with the consumption of that would have been used otherwise during the back of the university by the student and the teachers alike this road may also open another opportunity for the students to use hostels in the campus the distance to amoud university is eigh KM and the students buses endured the awful tarrain since the university was established the outcome of the new road is will be shorter distance between the two destinations due to the improved alignments removal curves and then this will increase the road user saving stemming from the university budget earlier the university incurred additional expenses to repair the vehicles and also paid unforesees expenditures hopefully this road is going to improve access to the campus by reducing half of the distance after to the completion of the project one should not forgot that all roads required constant maintenance though the ammount will very heaviness of crown to be kept free of vegetation drainage system to be kept fully operational erosive damage to be made good where cut and fill methods were employed, carriage way to be repaired the objective of such programmes are strengethed future development of infrastructure and social services and in addition to strengethen local markets nevertheless we can also learn from this project with a lesson and and economic anlysis is a decision making tool to be applied for all projects programmes or operations and it should always be carried out and taken into consideration the economic anlysis should be undertaken for all types of projects for all different forms of finance which are available or which are being sought amout university is branded as the home of education in addition to that it is also known to be agricultural area in which nearly all the fruits and vegetables consumed in borama are produced and it is hoped that the production of these farmers will increase the economic of the farmers of the area which accessibilty to market gets improved the project is partially financed by somaliland road authority and amoud university and the community of Borama the role of community to contribute to the project will be vital there fore ammoud university full packing of this partner to contribute to this development in order to fullfil it is objectives
By Mohamed Omar (Siraj) Email siraaje77@yahoo.com
From http://somalilandcenter.com/ Apr-20-2005.
When two different worlds talk in Hargeisa dry river!
I was listening the news from Radio Horyaal, the voice of the people of Somaliland. There was "A" [undesired] conversation or question and answer to be precise, between the repudiated and forgotten Muj. Of SNM and an uninvited, nervously curious police commissioner at the bed of the Hargeisa Dry River after the Mujahedeen were denied to have their meeting in Hotel Ming-Sing of Hargeisa by a remnant entity!
The head of the police, invited him self, to meat the forgotten, deceived, dishonored, disregarded, disfranchised and discontent Muj Of SNM. The founders and the saviors of the people and the country of Somaliland! He asked them some questions! The Muj. Tried to answer the un-answerable, to their best ability while controlling their anger.
The questions had no relationship to the respective answers and the answers likewise had no relationship to the questions either! The questioner and the questioned were from too different worlds regarding to their experiences in the struggle to find the lost Republic! The Mujahedeen were there for this nation. The head of the police was not there for this Republic! The families and friends of the Muj sacrificed their lives and livelihood for the liberation of this (contested) Country. The guest there and his friends were never there! Where were they then? We know where they were! We know where they are now!
One thing both of them were right, each one in his, or their own right!
The Muj knew what they were talking about.The police commissioner also knew what he was talking about! Each talked about a different world while they were in the world of Hargeisa Dry River! However both of the parties were pretending otherwise! Moreover the meeting was unbalanced, unproductive, because one party imposed himself on the other with out a prior consent from the concerned party!
Two things were frankly clear although they were not spoken! Some times unspoken words are more powerful than spoken ones. That is when silence express more and staring speaks volumes!
a) The chief was saying it all with out actually uttering a word. In just gazing at the Muj, it seemed he was saying: "Scary. Don't you blame us guys; you threw away your baby and departed from it! Whether you went out in seclusion for thanking your lord for your victory over Siyad Barre, whether you sought guidance emulating prophet Muses or what ever! We found the baby left alone! We then grab it, own it with out any effort and embrace it! Forget about it now, you won't see it any more. You bunch of losers!" So, "why don't you go away and look after your camels or become cools or whatever! Go and blame your [SNM] leaders at the time, or your self or who knows whom else you should blame, but not us. I hope they understand my point concluded the chief!"
b) The Mujahedeen were also saying it all with out actually saying a word. In just staring at the man! It seemed they were saying: "Where was this guy when hill loose all over and only the brave was there? Where was he when blood and tear filled this riverbed? Where was he and his bodies when we chased the Siyad Barre army, their tail between their legs? Who these cowards play our "technika" to scare off? Where was he when we liberated the people and the land of Somaliland? Where were they when we were struggling for the liberation of humanity when the Siyad Barre regime de-humanized all of us including the commissioner and his bodies? Where was he when we secured their human dignity from the beasts of Mr. Barre!"
"How unconscionable, how immoral and ungrateful my people [these people] are, the Muj concluded? Let alone they reward us for our sacrifice but how dare they deny our basic human rights. The right to exercise the freedom of expression, and the right of association in the very soil we liberated which they did not? And many more questions". "This Republic is our baby, in the collective sense", they wondered! The unequal two parts depart in two different directions with two different thinking, until another time!
Source: http://wsp.dataweb.ch/load.cfm?edit_id=220/
WSP Somali Dialogue for Peace project
The overall aim of the project is to create conditions conducive to community-based reconciliation in Somalia through organized in-country dialogues on issues essential to peacebuilding, thereby contributing to the overall peace and recovery process. More specifically, the Dialogue for Peace is intended to facilitate the implementation in southern Somalia and Puntland of any peace agreement arising from the Somali National Reconciliation Conference, by drawing attention to key concerns - including challenges to peace - likely to emerge from the state-building process. In Somaliland, the Dialogue is aimed at consolidating peace and stability, while facilitating the complex process of democratization through elections, the implementation of constitutional democracy and decentralization.
The Dialogue for Peace consists of four phases. The first, a preparatory phase, entailed the setting up of research teams and support staff for the affiliates and apprising them of all aspects of the Dialogue. The second step was the preliminary research phase or conflict- and actor-mapping conducted by affiliate separately. This exercise brought forth "entry points" or focus areas and culminated in meetings in Hargeysa and Nairobi towards the end of 2004. These Project Group meetings brought together representatives of a broad cross-section of society, who took ownership of the Dialogue exercise and will henceforth lend direction to it.
In the main, or consultative, phase of research, which is now under way, working groups with relevant and technical experience will identify the key needs for each entry point and develop action plans to address and resolve those needs. To this purpose, consultations will be held with community representatives, civil society organizations, members of the business community and political leaders.
Source: http://wsp.dataweb.ch/wspapplets/data/Documents/WSP_Somali_Dialogue.pdf/
WSP International Somali Programme Dialogue for Peace "Wadatashiga Nabadda" 2004 - 2006
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. Project Title: Dialogue for Peace in Somalia / Somaliland
2. Organization: WSP International
3. Location(s): Country-wide, including South / Central Somalia (based from Mogadishu), Puntland / Northeast Somalia (based from Garowe), and Somaliland / Northwest Somalia (based from Hargeysa)
4. Duration: 24 months, from January 2004 - December 2005
5. Sector(s): Governance / Peace building / Civil Society
6. Project Summary: Through the `Dialogue for Peace' programme, WSP will conduct an extensive process of public consultation on issues essential to peace building and state reconstruction. This will involve meetings to be held across Somalia (including Somaliland) that will bring local communities, civil society representatives and Somali political leaders together to identify and agree on key issues and methods of addressing them in order to build a sustainable, peaceful society. The process will maintain regular linkage with members of the international community, and will engage Somali Diasporas in the dialogue as well. Where local consultations result in the willingness of local communities and political actors to directly work towards reconciliation, WSP will adjust its role to facilitate such efforts that will help underpin the efforts to achieve a sustainable peace.
Project Description 1.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Somalia represents the most durable case of state collapse in the modern era. Thirteen years after the demise of Siad Barre's dictatorship, the number of militia-factions continues to grow, while hopes for regional administrations to form sustainable governing institutions have dwindled. At the same time, armed violence continues, fueled by clan-based tensions, public mistrust and factional manipulation. In October 2002, IGAD member-states and international sponsors established the Somalia National Reconciliation Conference (SNRC). Despite initial hopes, the process has encountered serious difficulties and a successful outcome is far from certain. While the international community is focused on re-establishing inclusive negotiations with Somalia's political leaders, concrete efforts within Somalia to address the longer-term issues of sustainable peace building and legitimacy have yet to begin. As a result, there is a danger that the outputs of this peace effort may not have roots inside Somalia and may end up lacking the broad-based support necessary for sustainability.
In this context, WSP International proposes conducting a `Dialogue for Peace' - an extensive process of public consultation on issues pertaining to peace building and state reconstruction. WSP International's experience in Somalia over the past eight years indicates that the understanding and trust that is developed through the WSP methodology can help resolve conflicts directly, while at the same time building consensual approaches to address the social, economic and political issues necessary for a durable peace. This will be a complementary initiative to the on-going peace process - one that builds on its previous and ongoing work - to ensure that core issues are addressed inside Somalia. In order for the Dialogue to be successful, WSP International recognizes the need for sustained relationship with the Somalia National Reconciliation Conference (SNRC) on-going in Mbagathi, Kenya, as well as those structures and agreements that may emerge from its conclusion should there be any. WSP International and its affiliates continue to meet regularly with members of the IPF, the IGAD Facilitation Committee including the Special Envoy, Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat as well as concerned diplomats to share the results of the organizations' ongoing work and to prepare for future cooperation. WSP International will thus be well prepared to work with the outcomes of the peace conference, whether these are structures such as a "reconciliation commission" or dynamic efforts to encourage further grassroots and political reconciliation, and move them forward inside Somalia. At the same time, especially in light of the unclear state of the SNRC, the Dialogue needs to be prepared now and to begin its work inside.
2. OBJECTIVES The overall objective of the Dialogue for Peace is to enhance conditions conducive for community-based reconciliation in Somalia through organized in-country dialogues on issues essential to peace building, and to thereby significantly contribute to the overall peace recovery process. The specific objectives of the Dialogue for Peace are the following:
- Participatory Research - To identify areas of consensus and disagreement in peace building through engaging a broad cross-section of the Somali people in public discussion, and to thus contribute to reconciliation efforts by local and international actors.
- Empowerment - To empower the Somali public to speak out regarding key issues and develop platforms for action on issues of reconciliation and reconstruction. To enhance the capacity of WSP affiliates in Somalia.
- Mobilization - To increase the relative weight of the interests of the Somali people and engage them more seriously in efforts to find a negotiated solution to the continuing crisis in Somalia.
- Reconciliation - To catalyze local, regional and national conflict resolution efforts by creating neutral space and mobilizing international support for political dialogue.
- Strengthening Civil Society - To engage civil society actors in peace efforts through direct cooperation in the process.
3. TARGET GROUPS / BENEFICIARIES WSP
International methodology is broadly participatory and inclusive, promoting the interaction of diverse social and political groups. Through debate and the effort to reach consensual conclusions in a relatively neutral forum, the WSP International Somali Programme has directly involved over a thousand members of civil society, parliaments, private businesses, women's groups, administrations, local and international NGOs, UN agencies and others in policy oriented research and dialogue. In addition, thousands of Somalis within the country and the Diaspora benefit indirectly from the interaction, as well as exposure to the research findings and recommendations through dissemination of research papers, through the media, the internet, and by word of mouth. Research findings and recommendations also reach policy and decision makers in the Somali and international communities. WSP research products have been used as reference documents by officials in local administrations, in parliamentary debates, by local media organizations (print, television and radio), by local NGO's, international aid agencies and donors.
4. CONTEXT / JUSTIFICATION
A number of factors have conspired to perpetuate state collapse in Somalia and to prevent a solution to the crisis: the legacy of corrupt and abusive political leadership, the emergence of entrenched political and commercial "conflict constituencies", the interference of regional powers and the neglect of the broader international community. Despite the widespread desire of the Somali people for a return to normalcy, the restoration of central government is a prospect that continues to divide them more than it unites them. The reasons for this ambivalence are several: a profound public mistrust of political institutions and leadership borne of past experience; the political manipulation of clan identity; and the dependence of most Somali political and faction leaders on external rather than internal legitimacy. Together, these elements add up to a view of government that serves the interests of a select few while being at best indifferent to the welfare of its public. At worst, such a government has proven abusive and predatory.
It has become conventional wisdom to blame the failure of the peace process on Somalia's recalcitrant faction leaders. This is only a partial explanation and its widespread acceptance by the international community has meant that there has been little effort to address the broader social and political dynamics of the crisis. Indeed, by skirting issues like legitimacy and accountability, past peace initiatives have threatened to restore to Somalia the kind of political leadership that precipitated the crisis in the first place, awakening deep seated suspicions and anxieties among the Somali population. Over the years, Somali faction leaders have successfully played upon their people's fears in order to perpetuate the crisis and sustain their own leadership role. Given such circumstances, international peacemakers have set themselves an impossible task: parallel and simultaneous peace building and state formation. Peace building requires reconciliation, the mending of relations and the restoration of trust. In Somalia this is an essentially consensual process, with any major actor having a de facto veto over decisions of the majority. State formation, on the other hand, is fraught with competition, anxiety and tension and will inevitably create the impression of `winners" and "losers."
It is no coincidence that every significant attempt since 1991 to restore central government to Somalia - including the present conference in Mbagathi - has been associated with an escalation in violence. The challenge for peacemakers in Somalia - both national and international - is to identify and harness the potential synergies between these apparently contradictory processes: to situate reconciliation firmly within the context of state building, while employing state building as a platform for trust-building and enduring reconciliation. Neither will be possible without the broad engagement of the Somali public. Peace building in the context of state formation While international efforts to restore central government to Somalia have generally been high level, extraterritorial affairs, `peace building' on the ground has generally been left to Somali civic and traditional leaders and a handful of international agencies engaged in civic action, training, education and a variety of related activities with limited or no linkage to the high-level efforts. All too often the `grassroots' level achievements have lacked sustainable depth, or been scuttled by battles between political leaders over actual or anticipated power-sharing arrangements. In practice, local peace-building efforts cannot be divorced from the broader political context.
It may even be counterproductive to do so. The impact of a settlement reached at the national political level can often be expected to override local level agreements. For example, given the importance of decentralization to the Somali peace process, the nature of the Somali state (unitary, federal, or confederal) and the number of administrative regions/ provinces are questions of extreme sensitivity.
A decision as to whether Gaalka'yo lies in a united Mudug region, is wholly part of Puntland regional state, or is permanently divided into northern and southern spheres of control, would threaten to upset whatever modus vivendi has prevailed to date between the inhabitants of the town. Likewise, the ultimate decision as to whether to retain Bay and Bakool as separate administrative regions, to unite them as a "Riverineland", or to amalgamate them with the Juba Valley to form the "State of Southwest Somalia" could create new and dangerous tensions throughout southwest Somalia. Decisions about control of economic infrastructure such as ports and airports, and the sharing of their revenues between central and local governments are potentially explosive. Other issues such as demobilization and reintegration of militia and ex-combatants may be less politically charged, but will require a significant degree of local leadership. For example, centrally planned and implemented demobilization exercises are not only expensive; they are also potentially dangerous since they concentrate large numbers of soldiers in specific locations and create competition among commanders and communities for access to resources. In other words, decisions reached at the national level may prove destabilizing on the ground (especially where signatories have contradicted the expectations or demands of their constituents), no matter how much energy has previously been invested in peace building. Even more problematic, ad hoc peace-building initiatives at the local level may produce agreements that are eventually nullified or overturned by national peace accords, leading directly to confrontation between local and national level leaders. State formation as a platform for peace building Peace conferences for Somalia have historically been state building exercises, aimed at the formation of a national government (usually as quickly as possible). Since most Somalis expect a future government to reproduce past patterns of political behavior, they are understandably ambivalent about the prospect. The fact that most of the leaders involved in state building exercises are known quantities, having either held senior posts in the past regime or taken part in the political and military factionalism of the post-war period, only reinforces the anticipation that history will repeat itself. No wonder that many Somalis have greeted past settlements with little real enthusiasm and a number have often resigned themselves to take up arms again instead. A constitutional and technical dialogue, such as the kind initiated by the Eldoret / Mbagathi process, can do much to mitigate people's fears by helping them to envision alternatives to the kind of leadership they have known in the past. The current schism between federalists and unitarians is just one facet of the debate.
Revenue sharing, the legal system, security forces and transitional justice issues - to name a few - all call for equally thorough discussion. In short, Somalis need the opportunity to rethink and reinvent their state in a way that represents the best possible compromise between the greatest possible numbers. Since Somalis generally have little faith in their current leaders, it is not sufficient to leave deliberations of this nature to the handful of self-appointed or hand-picked delegates who routinely attend internationally sponsored peace conferences. Indeed, to do so only reinforces the public sense of powerlessness, alienation from, and mistrust of political leadership. By engaging a broader cross-section of the Somali public in the debate about their nation's future, true Somali ownership of the peace process can be established, the mending of relations between the people and their institutions (and leaders) can begin and the foundation for a lasting peace be laid. WSP has long argued that the Somali peace process must involve extensive public consultation inside the country with a broad range of stakeholders.
Only then can the anxieties and tensions associated with state formation be fully exposed and dealt with in a transparent and open manner. At the same time, deliberation of national issues and choices in communities across the country can contribute in a direct and practical way to the processes of reconciliation and peace building. To date, political constraints and insufficient resources have precluded the full-scale application such an approach. However, the lessons learned from over a decade of peace making in Somalia have underlined the necessity of public dialogue and its potential as an alternative to third party mediation. WSP International's experience of more than 6 years of political facilitation and public debate throughout much of Somalia provides both the justification for such an approach and the platform upon which it could be organized.
5. MANAGEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION
The `Dialogue for Peace' will be a field-driven exercise, guided and supported by the WSP International office in Nairobi, Kenya. This office will be the duty station for the Somali Programme Coordinator and the Senior Somali Programme Officer, the Operations Manager and the Reports and Information Officer as well as the necessary administrative, logistical and financial management staff. From the outset, a donor support group will be formed to accompany the process. Inside the country, the `Dialogue for Peace' will be led and managed by three WSP International affiliate teams, including:
- Center for Research and Dialogue (CRD) in Mogadishu.
- Puntland Development and Research Centre (PDRC) in Garowe.
- Academy for Peace and Development (APD) in Hargeysa.
In early 2004, the CRD and PDRC teams agreed to combine their efforts in a jointly managed programme, while retaining their separate institutional identities. The APD team will manage its component of the dialogue independently of the other affiliates, but will continue to coordinate with them on substantive, technical and methodological issues.
The affiliate teams and WSP International Somalia Project Coordination office will meet regularly throughout the process to plan and coordinate activities. The major inputs required for the Dialogue for Peace are human resources, travel (e.g. by air and land), rental of infrastructure for meetings, computers and other IT equipment, audio / video recording equipment, and other general office equipment. Project Group To ensure local ownership of the Dialogue process, a Project Group (PG) will be formed during the course of the preliminary research phase. This will be made up of eminent persons carefully selected from a broad cross-section of prominent political leaders, traditional and religious leaders, civil society members, professional associations, business community and the diaspora through a joint selection process by the affiliates. Since the PG's representative nature necessitates that it be a fairly large body with dispersed membership, the WSP team may invite a smaller sub group of the PG to accompany the Dialogue more closely as a group of advisors. By identifying the Entry Points for the Dialogue, the PG effectively takes ownership of the process and "commissions" the WSP teams to assist the PG in the implementation. The Project Group (or its advisory sub-group) will subsequently meet regularly throughout the process to provide feedback, offer advice, and - when necessary - mobilize support for the process from political and civic leaders. Additional roles of the PG include helping to guide the programme's operational agenda to fit local circumstances, as well as to coordinate interventions on a countrywide basis. During the final phase of the Dialogue process (Restitution and Reflection), the PG will receive and adopt the results and findings of the main phase, confirming PG's responsibility for the process and its outcomes. Because of its key role in the Dialogue, the composition of the PG is of paramount concern. In the WSP context, a number of key principles govern the PG's composition and conduct. Among these are that it should include broad-based and inclusive representation of local actors; that it serve as a politically neutral space for dialogue; and that its decisions (including selection of Entry Points) be consensus-based.
Membership of the PG should be of a sufficiently high level that its deliberations and decisions are of relevance to broader political and social dynamics across the country. Working Groups Each Entry Point will be accompanied by a Working Group (WG), to be established following the first meeting of the PG. The Working Group is composed of key stakeholders (i.e. decision makers, professionals, experts and civic leaders) in issues covered by the Entry Point. Although more technical in nature than the PG, the WG functions according to the same principles with respect to inclusivity, representation, and political neutrality. Just as the PG exercises ownership of the overall exercise, the WG exercises ownership of its respective Entry Point. In a conventional WSP process, the WG initially identifies the objectives of the research process and guides the team in developing a research outline.
In the Dialogue programme, each WG will set itself achievable goals (within the context of the respective Entry Point) and guide the team in developing an action plan. The WG will accompany the team throughout the process, meeting more frequently than the PG (typically at least once a month). Members of the WG will be closely engaged in the management of the main consultative phase, often participating directly in consultations and leading or animating project activities. All formal findings, products or outcomes of the main consultative phase must be approved by the WG before they can be passed to the PG for adoption.
6. PROJECT ACTIVITIES AND METHODOLOGY
The Dialogue for Peace is an extensive process of public consultation on issues pertaining to peace building and state reconstruction. This will involve meetings with local communities, including civil society representatives, Somali political leaders and members of the international community. They will examine key requirements for a sustainable peace in Somalia and methods of addressing them. Where local consultations result in the willingness of local communities and political actors to directly work towards reconciliation, WSP will adjust its role to facilitate such efforts, which would help underpin the efforts of international actors to achieve an enduring peace settlement. The Dialogue's consultative process would apply a variation of the WSP participatory action research methodology, providing for an inclusive, consensus-oriented dialogue led by local actors and facilitated by national researchers. Discussions would be documented both in written and video form, and the local media would be used extensively to stimulate further discussion. In keeping with WSP's standard research methodology, the process will go through four stages:
I. Preparation
II. Preliminary Research
III. Consultation (Main Phase)
IV. Restitution and Reflection (Final Phase) Reconciliation and political facilitation are integral components of WSP's participatory methodology, ensuring that both type of activity will take place contemporaneously with the second, third and fourth stages of the dialogue process, and may at times take precedence. Throughout, dissemination of findings will be fed back to local communities through innovative use of the thriving Somali media sector, and at the international community through occasional papers, videos and other briefing sessions. Phase 1: Preparation A five-month period has been required, between January and May 2004, to prepare the WSP affiliate offices in Somalia to implement the Dialogue for Peace and the WSP office in Nairobi to support those efforts. This was extended from the three months originally envisioned mainly because of the need to assure the resource commitment of the international community before engaging in the programme. During this period the CRD team concluded research activities under its ongoing WSP programme (i.e. completion of a "zonal note" examining various aspects of the Somali crisis and reconstruction efforts), merging with preparatory activities for the Dialogue. At the same time, APD completed a complex institutional transition, establishing a General Assembly, Board of Directors, and putting in place a new management team. Outputs of the preparatory stage will include the following:
- WSP International and affiliate offices with the requisite staffing, financial and logistical capacity to implement the Dialogue for Peace on a nation-wide basis.
- Sufficient methodological training and preparation for affiliate teams to be able to conduct the preliminary phase.
- Formation of a donor support group for feedback on the progress of the Dialogue, revision of the project document and budget as required, and consultation on linkages between the Dialogue and the international community via the IGAD Facilitation Committee, IPF, SNRC or other international bodies/actors. Phase 2: Preliminary Research The preliminary phase of the Dialogue process will consist of a relatively rapid (approximately five months) `actor and conflict mapping exercise' upon which priorities for more comprehensive dialogue will be based. The purpose of the mapping exercise will be to: i) provide a contemporary assessment of conflict dynamics in Somalia; ii) review the strengths and weakness of previous local and international reconciliation initiatives, and iii) suggest areas of focus (entry points) for the main phase of the Dialogue.
This will involve three main components:
- Literature collection and review
- Interviews with relevant local and international actors
- Field work, group discussions etc.
The literature review will include a review of relevant and contemporary literature, notably with respect to conflict, reconciliation and state building issues throughout Somalia. The purpose of the review will be to ensure that the Dialogue is informed by past experience, including previous peace conferences, the ongoing IGAD-sponsored talks in Kenya, and the World Bank's Conflict Analysis Framework (CAF). WSP affiliate teams will travel extensively through their respective areas of responsibility inside Somalia, conducting interviews and consultations throughout their respective areas of responsibility, soliciting feedback that captures discussions in both written and audiovisual form. In particular, they will be seeking to identify priority concerns with respect to reconciliation and governance (state building); at the same time, the teams will identify local and regional leaders to participate in the PG, in order to ensure continuity between the local, regional and national levels of the Dialogue. The preliminary phase will also provide the WSP affiliate teams with the opportunity familiarize themselves with the current situation, explain the purpose of the process, stimulate local interest and identify potential local partners for the continuing consultative process. Upon conclusion of the mapping exercise, the WSP teams will come together to prepare a brief report and video documentary (a `Note' in WSP parlance) on their collective findings. The main purpose of the written and video "Notes" is to capture the principal issues emerging from their research relating to reconciliation, peace building and state building, the various perspectives and positions encountered vis-.-vis those issues, and to suggest areas requiring collective attention and action within the context of the Dialogue. The draft Notes would then be presented to the PG, which will be invited to endorse (with any necessary modifications) the situation analysis and to identify proposed Entry Points for the consultative process. The process of debating and negotiating the entry points can itself be an important political exercise, requiring delegates to reach consensus on a common position, while collectively identifying issues upon which they differ. Once revised and approved by the PG, elements of the Note will be disseminated throughout Somalia through various media, as well as being distributed to the wider international community. The adoption of the written and video Notes and the identification by the PG of Entry Points marks the conclusion of the preliminary research phase and the advent of the main consultative phase of the Dialogue.
Phase 3: Consultation At the outset of the main consultative phase, a WG of primary stakeholders will be formed to manage the work on each Entry Point. In consultation with the WSP affiliate teams, each WG will set its own goals, define its own agenda and develop its own programme of work. Entry Points are likely to be diverse in subject matter. Previous WSP research already suggests a number of highly controversial topics that might be proposed as Entry Points for the Dialogue:
- Constitutional issues: key aspects of a transitional charter for Somalia
- Administrative sub-division of Somalia (number of regions/provinces and their boundaries)
- Demobilisation and disarmament
- Land ownership and disputes
- Resource management and sharing (i.e. between different regions or different levels of government)
- Control and administration of contested towns such as Gaalka'yo, Kismaayo and Mogadishu)
To the extent that Entry Points may coincide with issues under discussion in the national peace process or fall within the mandate of a National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), WSP would adjust its efforts to ensure complementarity. Proposed Entry Points may also involve issues at different levels: national, inter-regional, regional or local. Although WSP's methodology emphasizes the "macro" level of engagement, circumstances may require flexibility where sensitive issues of reconciliation and peace building are concerned. It is therefore conceivable that some entry points would be sub-national in scope, relating to inter-regional socio-political systems such as Puntland, Bay/Bakool, the Juba Valley or Banadir. WSP also recognizes that certain critical local disputes may require resolution (or at least a response) before broader issues can be addressed. A researcher dedicated to conflict resolution at the local level will therefore be located in the CRD office with specific responsibility for responding to local demands and recommending courses of action to the CRD and WSP management. Each WG would begin the main consultative phase by setting achievable goals related to its Entry Point: in a variation from the conventional WSP approach, these goals are no longer limited to research products and may take a variety of forms. The WSP affiliate teams will guide then guide each WG in developing a plan of action, taking into account available time and resources. The plan of action typically includes an extension of the initial `Mapping Exercise', involving most of the same basic elements, more specifically applied to each Entry Point:
- Information gathering and analysis: the WSP affiliates are responsible for collecting available literature and documents and, where required, summarizing and/or analyzing the material for presentation to the WG.
- Identification of Stakeholders: together with the WG, the WSP affiliates engage in mapping of local, regional and national actors whose views or engagement are required for a successful outcome
- Consultations: on the basis of its `mapping exercise', each WG will develop a schedule for consultations at various levels (local, inter-regional or national) and design the format for these consultations.
- Resource Persons: On complex issues, additional expertise may be required to assist the WGs and to inform consultations. In such cases, WSP will engage local or international resource persons to accompany the process on a part-time or full-time basis. Alternatively, WSP may request its partners, via the donor support group, to arrange secondment of national or international experts to assist with the Dialogue process. It has been the practice of the WSP Somali Programme to begin each consultation with a presentation by the WSP affiliate team, together with WG and/or PG members, of a brief discussion paper and film intended to stimulate dialogue and debate around the Entry Point. Over a 3-5-day period, participants are typically encouraged to move towards discussion of possible solutions. However, the nature of the Dialogue and the approach of the WG's may require flexibility in the format of the consultations (which could conceivably vary between Entry Points). As far as possible, consultations will be designed to bring participants together from across Somalia for face-to-face sessions. Where this is not possible, audio-visual (AV), information communication technology (ICT) and the news media may be employed to assist in communication between groups. In some cases, it may also be necessary for stakeholders from different groups or regional to hold initial consultations independently of one another in order to clarify their own positions and ensure that they have local legitimacy before engaging in consultations at the inter-regional or national level. In order to ensure sustained public interest and raise key issues to the level of political decision makers, this main phase of the consultative process will take a minimum of 12 months. Throughout the main consultative phase, the WSP affiliate teams will provide organizational, logistical and secretarial support to the WGs.
In consultation with the WGs, the WSP affiliate staff will plan, organize and convene consultations; arrange travel, accommodation and meeting venues; record deliberations and decisions, and ensure follow-up actions as directed by the WGs. Where appropriate, WSP affiliate teams may also facilitate discussions. At the conclusion of the main phase, each WG will present the outcome of its activities to the PG for adoption and further action. Phase 4: Restitution and Reflection The convening of the final PG meeting signals the conclusion of the main consultative phase and the advent of the final phase. The PG will reconvene to consider and ultimately adopt the results of the process and make recommendations for further action. Depending on the situation at that time, these results might be fed back into an existing peace process, or be presented to an emerging government or transitional entity. Following the final PG meeting, and building upon its conclusions, there will be a period of restitution and reflection. This will involve:
1) Analysis and consolidation of the results of the research and dialogue process: this will include final documentation of each Entry Point in written and video form for the purposes of historical reference and sharing of `lessons learned'.
2) Identification of consensual recommendations and solutions as well as key areas where they may be further disagreement on key issues. This could perhaps result in proposals for further action.
3) Sharing of results with the Somalis who participated in the process, as well as with the broader national and international communities. The PG will also be invited to propose what steps should then be taken to integrate the findings of the countrywide consultations into whatever formal peace process may exist at that time.
Consistent with WSP activities worldwide, the final phase of the process will include both internal and external evaluations, further described below. Reconciliation and Political Facilitation It is anticipated that the process of consultation on key issues of peace building will lead some Somali communities to try to address these issues in practical political terms. In order to promote a the establishment of a durable peace, the Dialogue will, when possible and appropriate, link its outcomes to efforts to mediate disputes between various actors at the local level in support of emerging local and national governing arrangements. While WSP International does not have the technical capacity or mandate to negotiate formal peace agreements between conflicting parties, it is conceivable that one or more WG's leading the Dialogue process would include such agreements among their goals. In addition, WSP will offer the following support to promote reconciliation when and where it appears possible and appropriate:
- Identification of priority conflicts where the involved communities and leaders perceive an opportunity for constructive mediation efforts.
- Create opportunities through the process of local consultations on key peace building issues for mediation efforts between conflicting parties.
- Encourage and help mobilize local conflict resolution mechanisms to ensure Somali ownership.
- Establish appropriate links with other interested mediators, to be identified, mandated and employed by the responsible actors in new Somali institutions should they be established, and/or the international community.
- Provide substantive input and support to both local participants and mediators regarding the key issues under discussion. Through the Dialogue for Peace, WSP International will flexibly adjust its planned consultation schedule to allow time and resources to facilitate reconciliation initiatives when there is interest and agreement from Somali communities and leaders to do so, and when there is support from the international community. If such a political and social context does not exist, then the process of consultations envisioned in the main consultative phase will continue as planned. As has been the case through the WSP Somalia programme, the teams involved will at times facilitate quiet dialogue between various parties to reduce tension and encourage understanding. While this activity is difficult to quantify and often goes unannounced and unrecognized, it is a critically important part of the process. Ongoing Dissemination Throughout the entire Dialogue Process, dissemination of findings from WSP's research and consultations will take place, aiming at both local communities through innovative use of the thriving Somali media outlets, and at the international community through regular papers, videos and briefing sessions. Effective use of the media is critical to the success of the exercise. WSP International and the affiliates will develop a media strategy including print media, local and international radio, television and the Internet to ensure the engagement of as wide a segment as possible of the Somali Diaspora. One of the specific objectives of the Dialogue process is to create a sense of `national conversation', in which deliberations of one group of Somalis in one part of the country would be made available to participants in subsequent meetings elsewhere, as well as to the general public.
Practically speaking, WSP research teams would record the proceedings of each consultation in both written and audio-visual formats. During the course of the Dialogue, WSP will continue to explore the use of AV and ICT technologies in support of its methodology. An editorial/production team, led by a Reports and Information Officer, would be responsible for processing all material for dissemination throughout the process and upon its conclusion. The materials gathered in this way may also serve as a valuable resource for longer-term civic education initiatives. To ensure effective implementation of this media engagement, WSP will pursue cooperation with other, ongoing peace building and capacity building projects, including work by the BBC Somali Service and IRIN. WSP International will prepare regular summaries of key points and issues raised during Dialogue for Peace research and consultations to share with the international community.
These will be presented to the donor support group and circulated to key donors and international observers. WSP International and the PG will also maintain regular consultation with key international stakeholders in the SNRC process to brief them on the findings and lessons emerging through the process. The Somali Diaspora The work in the Somali Programme to date, as well as the work in WSP International Programmes elsewhere, has underscored the important role the diaspora often plays in peace building in a country. Somalis abroad, both near and far, are an important source of resources. They also have access to information and often access to those with hands on the levers of power in the international community. At the same time, they may or may not have a realistic view as to the realities in the country today. The influence on the situation inside the country can be considerable:
economic, political and social. Increasingly, the WSP methodology is working towards bringing the diaspora into the dialogue process. Building on work that has already been done, particular emphasis will be given to engaging the Somali expatriate business community (particularly in Dubai) in the process. The work with the diaspora will include dynamic use of information communications technology, including the Internet, but also face-to-face dialogue with Somali groups in the Middle East, Europe and North America. If resources permit, select figures from the diaspora may be invited to take part in the PG. In addition, further consideration is being given as to how best to engage the refugee community in the region in the process. The extent to which engagement with the diaspora can be developed will have an impact on the budget.
7. EXPECTED OUTCOMES/OUTPUTS
The expected outcomes of the WSP Dialogue for Peace are the following:
- A Somali public more aware of and engaged with issues concerning national reconciliation and state formation. An increased level of contact and dialogue between different social groups, including across clan lines. An increased sense of voice and ownership of the policy setting process on the part of participants, and an increased capacity to make that voice heard.
- Somali leaders and international actors with more exposure to and understanding of Somali public opinion on key issues relating to reconciliation and peace building.
- A `national conversation' initiated and experienced by Somalis inside and outside of the country that can continue under its own momentum beyond the Dialogue project, contributing to the development of a culture of peace.
- An overall reduction in the level of conflicts; an increase in local capacity to address potential conflict through non-violent means. Specific outputs that will be achieved are the following
- An overall `Note' that maps the key issues in the Somali conflict as seen from a broadly inclusive "from the ground" perspective.
- Regular reports (written and video) on the issues emerging from the dialogue process.
- A series of concrete actions, agreements and/or proposals (to be defined by the WGs) intended to advance the processes of reconciliation and state building.
- A final report and film summarizing the outcomes of local consultations and providing a "lessons learned" reference.
- Conferences and dissemination of results to national and international partners engaged in the peace process.
8. RISKS, ASSUMPTIONS AND FLEXIBILITY
Given the complexities and sensitivities involved in implementing the Dialogue for Peace in Somalia, WSP International and its Somali affiliates will be required to manage a number of risks inherent in local peace building efforts.
International Support
1. Sufficient financial resources, received in advance of initiating activities, are essential to success of the programme. The risks of encountering cash flow difficulties in a programme of this nature could be a matter of `life and death' and not just programme delay.
2. In addition to the financial support required to implement the Dialogue programme, it will require solid political support from the international community. The substance of the Dialogue programme will remain highly sensitive, as peace building initiatives cannot be separated from the wider Somali political context. Lack of such international support may seriously hamper the ability to implement the programme despite conducive political and social conditions at the local level. Harmonization with the SNRC Process There is a risk that the Dialogue for Peace, which focuses on promoting bottom-up, community-based dialogue, can be perceived as competing with the current, national-level and internationally-led peace conference. To avoid this situation, a number of coordination mechanisms have been proposed above.
First, the participation of members of the IGAD Facilitation Committee and international observers on a Support Group for the Dialogue process. Second, WSP anticipates that Entry Points for substantial consultation inside Somalia will be complementary to issues under consideration in the SNRC process. WSP therefore envisions that agreements and other documents produced by the SNRC would be made available to the PG and WGs, both to raise awareness about the national peace process and to inform the Dialogue. Complementarity between the SNRC and the Dialogue could be further strengthened by the participation of selected delegates from the peace conference in the National Project Group (PG), providing guidance and support to the WSP process and feeding back input from the WSP dialogue to the peace conference. Future Somali Governing Structures The Dialogue process will need the consent and the participation of any new Somali governing institutions that may emerge the ongoing SNRC in order for the Dialogue to be an inclusive programme.
This should not pose any particular difficulty: most WSP programmes take place in post-war countries where governments and transitional institutions (such as NRCs or Truth and Reconciliation Commissions) exist, and the methodology has been successfully tried and tested under such circumstances. The formation of transitional national institutions in Somalia would allow WSP to function in a more conventional, familiar context. As in other post-war situations in which WSP-International operates, the organisation would seek the support and involvement of the new administration, particularly any sort of `reconciliation commission' should there be one. The government would be invited to nominate representatives to the PG and WGs (described above). WSP International's relationship with any transitional institutions or `reconciliation commission' would be one of substantive collaboration, rather than material support. This might include the following:
- Support to the development of the agenda and work plan of the `reconciliation commission'.
- Facilitation of the commission's participation in the Dialogue process through participation in the National Project Group (PG) and the full range of WSP's local consultations.
- Training of the commission's professional staff in participatory, community consultation and conflict resolution skills. Engagement in Somaliland The Somaliland administration has clearly articulated its position on participation in the ongoing Somalia National Reconciliation Conference, and a dialogue process in Somaliland would need to be dealt with separately with the WSP International affiliate in Hargeysa. A parallel dialogue in Somaliland, with a focus on such issues as constitutional democracy, decentralized governance, the transition from clan-based political structures to a multi-party electoral system, and efforts to improve security and promote economic recovery would seem both possible and potentially beneficial. The dialogue could be an important step toward forging a common vocabulary and ideas for functional cooperation on shared problems necessary for an eventual dialogue between the Somaliland Administration and the rest of Somalia regarding their future. From a programmatic perspective, regular meetings of the WSP Somali affiliates with WSP International Somali Programme staff are intended to ensure methodological coherence and a mutual beneficial exchange of experience on technical and substantive issues. Such exchanges are further enhanced through WSP's Methodological Review (MR) process, which brings together researchers from various WSP country projects (Guatemala, Macedonia, Rwanda, etc.) several times each year. The first international MR meeting took place in Djibouti in May 2004. Security and Safe Access So far, the careful, patient and inclusive approach of the WSP Somali Programme has enabled the organization's Somali teams to access most of the insecure areas of the country and facilitate dialogue with a broad spectrum of social and political actors. Over the past year, in anticipation of the Dialogue for Peace programme, WSP has invested further effort in maintaining open channels of communication with all Somali political actors, both inside the country and at the peace talks in Kenya. Nevertheless it remains likely there will be some areas where undertaking the Dialogue process will not be possible. Moreover should the security situation in parts of the country deteriorate, the Dialogue process would need to be reconsidered to ensure the safety of both WSP staff and Dialogue participants. Perceived Neutrality of the Dialogue One of the essential characteristics of a WSP process is that WSP International be perceived as an impartial actor, maintaining a neutral space where dialogue and trust building can take place unencumbered. To be a successful partner in facilitating dialogue between opposed political groups, WSP International must remain an acceptable interlocutor for all sides. For this reason, WSP International believes that it is not advisable in the short-term to be too closely associated with or provide material support to any particular Somali political group that would risk alienating other important political or social groups. This must include new Somali governing institutions created through the SNRC until such time that they are perceived by key political actors to be inclusive and legitimate. 9. COOPERATION In addition to project donors, members of the IGAD Facilitation Committee and international observers of the Somali peace process, WSP International will cooperate, as appropriate without placing in jeopardy the perceived neutrality mentioned above, a variety of actors in the sectors of governance, civil society and peace building:
- UN Habitat : WSP affiliates are already involved in Habitat's good governance programme and training of local councillors. Habitat and WSP have agreed to optimise their cooperate in this regard through closely coordinated activities.
- Saferworld
- Non-State Actors Forum: WSP and Saferworld are in the process of finalizing arrangements for their co-operation in the Non-State Actors Forum. The anticipated partnership included shared premises in Nairobi, management of field activities by the WSP affiliates, and a complementary participatory methodology.
- World Bank: WSP affiliates undertook both the first and second phases of the World Bank's Conflict Assessment Framework (CAF).1 The CAF experience will be invaluable to the `mapping exercise' envisioned under the Dialogue.
- UN-IRIN: WSP and IRIN have held preliminary discussions about the possibility of collaborating in audio-visual dimensions of the Dialogue, and other forms of collaboration. In conjunction with the EC Somalia Unit, WSP has already established and participated regularly in a forum with NOVIB, LPI and Saferworld since mid-2003. This group focuses on both strategic and operational harmonization of peace building efforts in Somalia, in order to promote effective and efficient use of limited aid resources. Within the context of the newly established Peace Building Forum, WSP also envisions continued collaboration with (among others):
- NOVIB (WSP and NOVIB have also discussed NOVIB's possible support with respect to the capacity-building needs of the Somali affiliates)
- UNPOS
- Life and Peace Institute (LPI)
- UNDP 1 APD's management transition meant that the organization was unable to take part in Phase 2 of the CAF; WSP and the World Bank have discussed several times the prospects of re-engaging the Academy for Phase 3.
WSP continues to seek opportunities for co-operation with other potential partners. Through the WSP-International Nairobi office, WSP also envisions more robust engagement in the SACB and possibly the UN country team. 10. OTHER FACTORS Local Capacity Building The WSP participatory approach, which embraces a set of values (democratic, consensus-seeking, commitment to peaceful change), a methodology (participatory, research-based, flexible) and has practical goals (policy-oriented, macro, consensus-built results), has engendered amongst its national participants the desire to carry on the work beyond the life of the project. There is also a strong sense of obligation on the part of WSP International to support the continuation of the WSP approach in countries after the official project has come to a close, where the desire to do so has been clearly expressed. Hence, WSP International has been committed to establishing local affiliate organizations in Somalia. Already, the Puntland Development and Research Centre (PDRC) in Garowe, and the Academy for Peace and Development (APD) in Hargeysa, are well on their way to being established independent local NGOs. The Center for Research and Dialogue (CRD) in Mogadishu has been in the process of establishing itself as an independent entity since its initiation. During the life span of a regular WSP International programme, preparations for affiliates' futures include training, human resources development, and identification of diverse, non-WSP sources of funding, in addition to helping develop institutional processes and procedures. Additional strengthening of their ability to effectively manage both institutionally and programmatically will be an area of ongoing attention. Examples of opportunities for training and capacity building include:
- Initiation of comprehensive institutional audits and subsequently capacity building based on identified needs
- Regular training sessions in project and financial management by WSP-International staff from Nairobi and Geneva
- Participation of selected researchers in the WSP Peace Building Forum, Geneva, May 2004
- Participation of select researchers in the WSP Cross-Country Methodological Review, Djibouti, May 2004
- Workshop on Conflict Resolution and Mediation Techniques, facilitated
- Training in information and media relations, led by WSP-International Geneva staff, mid-2004 Regular opportunities for training and professional development of WSP affiliate teams will be offered throughout the course of the programme. This intensive investment in capacity building is reflected in the Dialogue budget. Gender Issues WSP takes particular care to promote gender sensitivity and empowerment through all stages of the research and dissemination phases of a project. All WSP affiliate teams include women researchers, and the changing role of women in Somali society (in political, economic and social terms) is often a subject of detailed investigation. WSP's past gender-related activities have included a focus on the "Role of Women in Post-war Reconstruction" in Puntland, and the "Impact of the War on the Family" in Somaliland. However, past experience has encouraged WSP to mainstream its approach to gender rather than to address it as a separate issue, meaning that gender considerations are reflected throughout WSP's work and will be fully integrated in the Dialogue through women's representation in the PG, WGs, consultations and research teams.
11. MONITORING AND EVALUATION
In keeping with established WSP International procedure, the completion of the Restitution and Reflection Phase will be followed by an Internal Evaluation and an External Evaluation. The Internal Evaluation is carried out by WSP International personnel and involves a questionnaire administered in both oral and written form. The evaluation focuses on the observations/reactions of participants in the conflict mapping exercise and the Dialogue itself (Project Group & Working Group members, local participants). The External Evaluation is conducted by an externally engaged consultant and includes a broader range of actors, including international organizations, donors, and the WSP team itself. Separate "lessons" reports and recommendations will be produced by the affiliate research teams for use by WSP International in future country programmes, as well as for other interested actors. WSP International is in the process of developing peace-keeping indicators to measure the qualitative impact of its programming. Monitoring progress and impact assessment is an integral part of WSP International's preliminary programme planning. Progress indicators, developed in consultation with local partners and communities are made available to the affiliate teams in a universal "toolbox" of indicators. A copy of the "toolbox" is available upon request.
Affiliate management and research teams will directly observe activities throughout the course of the programme, utilizing both documented interviews and public consultations which will remain the most important tool for external monitoring of project progress. Public consultations will also be documented in video form, which will provide qualitative feedback on local capacity to convene discuss and operate whilst also monitoring the quality of socio-political dialogue. Monitoring and impact assessment will also be the focus of regular discussions among project staff throughout the duration of the project. Regular support from WSP International Senior Advisors both in Nairobi and Geneva is also planned as part of the monitoring exercise. The observations of impact by local participants and observers will remain central source of knowledge about the project's progress, and will also be documented as part of the reporting exercise.
INSTITUTIONAL INFORMATION 1. PREVIOUS INTERVENTIONS
WSP International was established as a pilot project of the United Nations in 1994, in order to assist countries recovering from the devastating effects of violent conflict. The project was designed to complement major international assistance programmes, such as those implemented by the UN, EC, bilateral donors, and NGOs, and to prepare the ground for a more effective partnership between external actors and internal actors in the common pursuit of peace, political stabilization, rehabilitation, and development. WSP International was intended to help societies emerging from conflict to better define their problems and priorities, to set achievable goals in reconstruction, to clarify possible strategies for the future development of their countries, and to indicate where and how focused assistance can be most effective. On the basis of policy-oriented research, the project provided a forum for neutral and democratic discussion, and created mechanisms to facilitate consensus building around key rehabilitation goals and policy alternatives. At the same time, the project aimed to develop local analytical and research capacity that may be pragmatically applied to the problems of post-war recovery. WSP International programmes in Eritrea, Mozambique and Guatemala were successfully concluded during the project's pilot phase, which came to an end in December 1998. A project in Somalia was initiated in late 1996 and is still in progress. On January 1st 1999, the WSP Transition Programme was established in order to pave the way for a more permanent, expanded WSP International activity. WSP International, with its experience of over six years of field work in selected countries, is an attempt to respond to sustainable conflict resolution. It contributes to the recovery and strengthening of societies emerging from conflict by bringing together indigenous actors (including former adversaries and victims) to set priorities, build consensus and formulate responses, aided by participatory action research, and maintaining regular consultation with external aid providers. WSP International's carefully defined methodology embodies principles of local capacity and responsibility; wide-ranging participation; the better understanding of differing interests and objectives; use of relevant data and analysis in integrative decision-making; practical policy impact; and a catalytic rather than dominating role by international actors. The WSP Somali Programme began its work in the North-eastern part of Somalia in 1997, subsequently established a project in Somaliland in 1999 and set up a new activity in the Benadir region of the South in 2000. With a small liaison and coordination office located in Nairobi, the Programme is supporting field projects at various stages in the development of a typical WSP International project. WSP-Puntland has turned into a "second generation" project after the pilot activity was continued by a newly established, local organization, the Puntland Development and Research Centre (PDRC). The Somaliland project executed by the Academy for Peace and Development (APD) completed its most active phase in 2002 and WSP activities in the South/Central area through the Centre for Research & Dialogue (CRD) were the result of the conviction that a project could indeed be set up there. The WSP Somali Programme had always intended to eventually work throughout Somalia, taking its experience and lessons learned from one stable region to the next thereby contributing to democratic peace- and consensus- building.
Through direct experience and observation, the WSP International Somali programme has become increasingly conversant with the underlying issues of the Somali conflict from a variety of local, national and international perspectives. A key element in WSP International's approach is the building of local capacity. This participatory approach, which embraces a set of values (democratic, consensus-seeking, commitment to peaceful change), a methodology (participatory, research-based, flexible) and has practical goals (policy-oriented, macro, consensus-built results), has engendered amongst its national participants the strong desire to carry on the work beyond the life of the project. There is also a strong sense of obligation on the part of WSP International in Geneva to support the continuation of the WSP International approach in countries after the official project has come to a close, where the desire to do so has been clearly expressed.
2. IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS
WSP International partners in Somalia are:
- The Puntland Development Research Centre (PDRC), based in Garowe.
- The Academy for Peace and Development (APD), based in Hargeysa.
- The Centre for Research and Dialogue (CRD), based in Mogadishu.
Puntland Development Research Centre (Garowe) Following the conclusion of the WSP Pilot Project in Puntland under UN auspices, the Puntland Development Research Centre (PDRC) was established as in independent Somali NGO in early 2000 in order to build on WSP's foundation. In addition to continued support from WSP International, the Puntland government allocated land for construction of the Centre and contributions towards development of the PDRC arrived from members of the Puntland Diaspora. Since that time, PDRC's principal activities focused on conducting PAR research into the harmonization of legal codes (secular, traditional and shari'a in Somalia. This was conducted as part of a broader "civil protection" programme under the auspices of Diakonia and UNDP. The PDRC team has continued to closely follow the WSP methodology in its research, while introducing some pragmatic adaptations of its own to local circumstances and funding shortfalls. Recent PDRC activities supported by WSP include the following:
1) Workshop on ''Pastoralism, frankincense and fisheries in the Puntland economy". The proceedings of this workshop are to be published in late 2003 / early 2004.
2) Workshop on "Traditional legal system in Puntland". The proceedings of this workshop are to be published in late 2003 / early 2004.
3) Developing partnerships with other community groups, local NGOs and elders that have greater potential for promoting peace building and conflict resolution. Groups such as WAWA Women's Umbrella Group, GECPD, SWA, Nasteexo Women's Centre and KAALO have all been engaged. PDRC trained them the WSP methodology as a tool for initiating a useful dialogue among the sides in political or clan conflict in Puntland.
4) Workshop on peace building with the following objectives:
- Promote the search for peace.
- Contribute to the reconstruction and development efforts in peaceful regions.
- Enhance the PAR (participatory action research) methodology as a model of research and dialogue instrument for peace building and conflict resolution.
5) PDRC headed the Puntland Peace Mission which was instrumental in mediating between conflicting actors in conflict thereby promoting peace in local communities.
6) PDRC attended different workshops and training seminars in 2002/2003, collaborating with international agencies and NGOs.
7) PDRC staff met different international actors in the field and had useful consultations with them on issues around peace building, program etc. The WSP project in Puntland is acknowledged to have had considerable local impact. An external evaluation of WSP International's work in Northeast Somalia concluded: "There is a broad consensus that WSP had a very positive catalytic effect on civil society in NE. Locally, this impact is viewed as the single greatest success of the project, and for most observers in the region, this development alone made the project a success and a worthwhile investment of time and money"2. WSP's internal assessment of its work through PDRC in Puntland affirms that the organizations have achieved the following impact:
1. Create a lasting network of civil society leaders in the region, and introduce leaders from different regions and different sectors to one another;
2. Raise local awareness and understanding of the development process and community expectations of local authorities and external actors;
3. Help local communities to mobilize to meet their needs;
4. Highlight gender issues;
5. Empower intellectuals and other elements of civil society;
6. Expand local dialogue beyond the elite level; 2 Evaluation of the War Torn Societies Project in Puntland, Kenneth Menkhaus, Associate Professor Political Science, Davidson University, 2000
7. Provide an extended timeframe and a forum conducive for deliberate, critical thinking about the state of affairs in their community and strategies for improving it. Academy for Peace and Development (Hargeysa) Somaliland witnessed a change of leadership in May 2002 with the death of its president Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal. Fears that Egal's death would trigger violent instability in the country were allayed by a peaceful transition of power to the then vice-president, Dahir Rayaale Kahin. However, economic hardships and rising insecurity remain paramount concerns, as well as the ability of the Somaliland administration to deal effectively with such problems.
In this context, recent APD activities supported by WSP include the following:
1) Four entry point papers and four documentary films were completed and presented for approval at the final Somaliland Project Group meeting on 30-31 July 2002. During the remainder of 2002 the final research products were disseminated widely and presented to national and international actors in Somaliland/Somalia, Nairobi and Addis Ababa. The four comprehensive draft documents are on
1) Consolidating and Decentralizing Government Institutions,
2) Regulating the Livestock Economy of Somaliland,
3) The Impact of Wars on the Family and Society,
4) The Role of the Media in Political Reconstruction.
The papers themselves are being complied into a volume which will be published in the first quarter of 2004.
2) APD has, as one of its goals, the mission of serving as "an intellectual shelter". To achieve that goal, the Academy took vigorous measures to attract, organize, and engage Somalis who want to apply their profession and talent. Whenever possible, the Academy recruited these persons to join the core team in its participatory action research or to contribute to the task of promoting peace and democracy in Somaliland. Activities in this area included the following:
1. Organization of journalists, who eventually formed their association
2. Provision of training-of-trainers to police human rights
3. Organization of adult poets and competitions for young poets
4. Hosting of fellows from Britain, USA, Denmark, Belgium, and Switzerland as part of its fellowship programmme3.
5. Production of a series of documentaries that not only disseminated APD's work but also informed others about the problems and prospects for Somaliland.
6. Work with lawyers and doctors toward the development of their own associations
7. Country-wide studies on trauma, women and Islam, small arms, and other topics of interest to local and international audience. 3) In addition to WSP research, the Academy has extended its work in areas related to peace building and governance. On March 15, 2001, APD invited both the government and opposition to publicly debate issues in what became known as the Forum for Civic Dialogue. Through the debate, leaders of the opposing camps cleared their misunderstanding and differences on the referendum and on the day of voting, they affirmed endorsement of the constitution and, surprisingly, voted together in the same polling station. Over 97% of the country endorsed the constitution. Since then, the Forum for Civic Dialogue has become a regular event - indeed the only venue in which the most difficult issues could be debated with reason and civility.
* Footnote 3: A Japanese doctoral student is expected to become an Academy Fellow in two or three months
4) In the context of the 2002 Somaliland elections, the Academy played a critical advisory role to the Electoral Commission and hosted weekly meetings of Somaliland's political parties - the only all-party consultation of its kind. In July 2002, the Academy's efforts led to the signing of a 12-point accord by all but one of the parties, setting out the requirements for free and fair elections. Further, to make sure that the accords were fully implemented, the Academy proposed the establishment of an Integrity Watch Committee. All participants endorsed not only the idea, but also the members of the Committee that the Academy had proposed.
5) At the request of the House of Representative the Academy presented recommendations on how the controversial questions of district boundaries and constituencies could best be handled. APD also carried a comprehensive study of the court system, leading to detailed report and recommendations to the court.
6) The Academy played a significant role in monitoring elections and working with international as well as local monitors. The South African delegation that came for the presidential election was hosted by the Academy. Working in collaboration with South African delegation, the Academy carried out three day training-of-trainers workshop in the major cities and towns for 150 party representatives who in turn trained over 3,000 party observers at 3,000 polling stations. The Academy also worked with members of civil society organizations in voter education and election monitoring. In April 2004, an observer from the Academy took part in the monitoring of the South African Presidential election.
7) Another example of the Academy's work is the integration of audio-visual resources which the Academy's Culture and Communication Unit had pioneered and institutionalized as part of the Academy' modus operandi. In fact, use of audio-visual resources is more than an ancillary feature contributing to effective dissemination and public relations.
The Academy uses this feature as an integral component of its methodology. To date, the Academy has trained staff of the Center for Research and Dialogue in Mogadishu and the Institute for Research and Dialogue for Peace in Kigali. 3. Centre for Research and Dialogue (Mogadishu) Building on previous experience in Puntland and Somaliland, WSP International initiated the project in south central Somalia with the co-founding of a local affiliate based in Mogadishu, which became known as the Center for Research and Dialogue (CRD)4. Recent activities supported by WSP include the following:
*Footnote: 4 Originally known as the Somali Institute for Management and Research (SIMAR)
1) CRD researchers met with over 10,000 people in the areas visited including faction and political leaders, international actors, local NGOs and civil society members, business groups and traditional elders in their respective regions. CRD has established working relations with all major political groups in Mogadishu and has facilitated numerous international missions to Mogadishu.
2) CRD research staff traveled to various parts of Somalia as part of their research on issues pertaining to the rebuilding of Somalia. The research has concentrated on socio-economic, gender and political reconstruction issues. The results of this research are currently being drafted in the CRD Research Note on South / Central Somalia. It will be presented to Somali communities and their political, business, clan and religious leaders at a Somali Project Group Meeting to be held in late 2003 or early 2004. From this meeting discussion, a series of Entry Points will be jointly identified between CRD, WSP and meeting participants that will guide the future research and dialogue efforts of CRD.
3) In July 2002, a CRD audio-visual team took advantage of a training visit to Hargeisa to prepare a film (in collaboration with the Academy's audio visual team) on the restoration of peace and government in Somaliland, contrasting the situation there with developments in the south. The film included messages of goodwill from members of the Somaliland House of Elders (Guurti) to the people of southern Somalia. Screenings of the film in Mogadishu were well attended and received favorable media coverage. On a subsequent visit to Hargeysa, a member of the CRD management team was invited to meet with the Somaliland president, who expressed appreciation for CRD's work and encouragement for continued success.
4) CRD presented preliminary research findings based on the efforts described above to the Somali Diaspora in Canada, USA, Australia and parts of Europe, as well to members of the Somali Business Council in Dubai, UAE, whose involvement is vital for the rebuilding of Somali. CRD offered a set of issues / themes for continued discussion during these for and participants also viewed documentary films which had hitherto never been shown to the Diaspora.
5) CRD was also instrumental in linking the Eldoret / Mbagathi Somali National Reconciliation Conference and local communities in southern and central Somalia on discussions about demobilization, conflict resolution, land disputes and leadership issues. CRD aired a series of these video films the SNRC plenary at Eldoret and Mbagathi and again during the Somali Business community meeting in Nairobi (June 23-25, 2003).
6) CRD is gradually developing complementary activities and partnerships in parallel with the WSP exercise. The Centre has established working relations with all major political groups in Mogadishu and has facilitated numerous international missions to Mogadishu. CRD has also assisted with the production of the UNDP Human Development Report, and played a key supporting/monitoring role in a demobilization/reintegration programme managed by the Elman Peace Centre. CRD has reached an agreement in principle with the Organization of Social Studies Research in East Africa (OSSREA) to represent the organization in Somalia and is planning new activities with CONCERN, UNDP and UNICEF. 7) CRD also provided training to local Somali NGOs in inter-personal communication skills, conflict de-escalation and conflict management. CRD provides people with the skills they need to work through their own conflicts. CRD also seeks to identify methods through which local communities can assist in promoting communication and conflict management. This is accomplished through the provision of trainers whose skills affect change in individuals, institutions and communities through dispute resolution and collaborative problem solving.
Source: http://www.qarannews.com/ 18 Apr 2005
Somaliland Born Political Activist, Asma Elmi meets Cherie Blair, Wife of Tony Blair
Asma who was actively campaigning against Oona King's stand on a number of issues, including the war in Iraq, immigrants, foundation hospitals, top-up fees, not saving a fire station etc., went to the party to give Oona King a chance to convince her.
Luckily, she met Cherie Blair who is one of her heroes. She told Cherie, how she arrived in the UK from Somaliland about 9 years ago and did not obtain any handout from the government. She explained how she paid her way through University, works, paid taxes, has a mortgage, private dental cover, and volunteers her time for good causes. She wondered why some people in England kept attacking the immigrant community, and why they are supposed to be "scroungers who come here for handouts and give nothing back to the communities we live in."
Cherie Blair explained some of the issues from her perspective and allowed her picture taken with Asma.
Meanwhile, the Labor candidate Oona King, who didn't win her over yet, scheduled another meeting next Tuesday.
For further details, see inside pages "Voices From Diaspora" which will be an ongoing weekly forum by Asma Elmi. Somaliland Times is delighted to be the conduit through which our communities, both at home and in the diaspora can communicate, learn and exchange ideas. These will bring our communities closer and can eventually lead to Somaliland recognition.
The following is Asma's explanation of her first encounter with Cherie Blair. She writes:
"Until this evening I believed I had the best laid out plan for my fellow Somalis in Bethnal Green & Bow constituency to follow. I had it all figured out. My plan would be executed with military precision. I have already spent several weekends in putting everyone's name and telephone number into a database on my laptop, telling them their word wasn't enough. To make sure they'd vote for my man I was going to phone each and every person on the election day, 5th May, and make sure they got to the polling station. They agreed I could phone them.
But that was before I met Cherie Blair. Now am so torn. So confused. I do not know what am doing anymore. In addition to my day job as an IT consultant, I volunteer my time for several projects in Tower Hamlets. I am involved with AIDS/HIV and Social Housing projects but the voluntary work that I enjoy the most is teaching children mathematics. I love it. I tell children about Marie Curie, am obsessed with Madame Curie. Early this evening I was at a youth centre to meet children, who needed help with maths when I found out the defending Labor MP for Bethnal Green & Bow, Oona King was at a fundraising party in a nearby restaurant and a friend I was with was invited. He invited me along. I have spent a week and half campaigning vigorously against Oona King but I go to the party anyway. I have been campaigning for George Galloway not because I think he is the savior this constituency has been waiting for. Far from it. But I wanted Somali voters to protest against the war in Iraq and also help reduce the huge Labor majority. And I thought it would be fun. I wanted us to keep Labor out of Bethnal Green & Bow for 5 years. To teach them a lesson; for Foundation Hospitals, for top-up fees, for not saving our fire station. I long ago convinced myself that Labor will win the election. If I thought they were in danger of losing I would be campaigning for Oona King.
At the function, I met Oona King and straight away told her I was campaigning against her but was willing to change my mind if she could convince me. As a person, she is very nice and I feel very bad at the way some sections of the community have been treating her lately. It's despicable behavior and there is no excuse for it. Fortunately Somalilanders have had no part in this ugly behavior. She is wearing what I think is a traditional Bangladeshi dress. There is a band playing Bangladeshi music. The sad thing is, there are hardly any Bangladeshis in the room.
Oona took me to meet Cherie Blair who until that moment I didn't know was in the room. I said to Cherie: Hi, am Somali. She said she thought so. That made me very happy. People often guess wrongly that am Ethiopian or Sudanese. I couldn't believe I was chatting with her. It is not everyday someone meets one of their heroes. I rate Cherie very highly. For me, she is right up there with Marie Curie. I told Cherie that I arrived in the U.K from the republic of Somaliland about 9 years ago. That I have never obtained social security benefits of any description. I even paid my way through university. I like my work. Pay my taxes. Have a mortgage. Have private Health and Dental cover provided by my employer. I volunteer my time for good causes. I said I couldn't understand why some people in this country kept attacking the immigrant community and why we are supposed to be scroungers who come here for handouts and give nothing back to the communities we live in. I don't know what I expected her to say but I couldn't stop talking. Cherie explained to me how top-up fees are meant to work, explained it in a way that I had not heard before which made me think perhaps I did not know enough about it and should find out more. The highlight of the evening for me was having my picture taken with Cherie.
My friend later told me that all the while I was talking with Cherie Blair about 20 special branch guys were hovering all over me, whispering in each other's ear and pointing to my lap. I was holding my laptop bag on my lap and was too excited to notice I was fiddling with it non-stop.
Oona hasn't won me over yet but am meeting her again next Tuesday. There is a good chance she will. Part of me hopes she doesn't succeed as that would leave me with one massive headache. How am I ever going to explain it to the Somali community? I wish I hadn't got myself into this trouble in the first place."
Starvation claims 10 in Somaliland - officials
BORAMA (Awdal Region)--At least 10 Somalilanders have died of starvation in Seylah District, Borama region in the past week owing to severe drought that has hit most parts of declared Republic of Somaliland confirmed Tuesday.
Hundreds of thousands are also suffering the effects of the drought, with many moving to less affected areas along the Ethiopia-Somali border as well as urban towns such as Las Anod, Bosaso, Garowe and Galkaayo.
According to a joint press statement issued by Borama governor Osman Dinbill, the Somaliland Red Crescent, traditional and religious leaders, the dead include four women and two children, some of whom collapsed and died en route to Borama town to seek food and water.
The leaders indicated that the death toll would rise if the affected communities do not receive emergency assistance in the coming days.
They noted that sufficient humanitarian assistance has not reached the affected areas since the drought was first reported in January 2004.
According to relief group Save the Children-US, the pastoral communities in the most affected areas have lost over 50 per cent of their sheep and goats, 70 per cent of their cattle and 35% of the camels due to the drought.
The latest inter-agency nutritional assessment in Sool, Borama and Todgheer shows that malnutrition rates among children was at its highest in recent years.
"Failure of the long rains means no quick recovery is expected and the affected areas urgently need relief and rehabilitation assistance," said an official of the National Emergency Response and Disaster Research Agency (NERAD) based in Borama.
World Food Programme, Save the Children, Oxfam GB, UNICEF and HAVOYOCO, a local youth organization, are already in some affected parts providing support ranging from water and food distribution to immunization and water sources rehabilitation.
Somalilan has for the last four years experienced partial or total rain failure and the prolonged dry spell has led to what is believed to be the worst drought to hit the country in many years, eroding the asset base of the predominantly pastoral population and traditional coping mechanisms.
Source: Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET)http://www.fews.net. Date: 30 Mar 2005. FEWS Greater Horn of Africa Food Security Bulletin 30 Mar 2005:
Severe food insecurity in pastoral areas
The March to May period constitutes an important rainfall season for several agricultural, agro-pastoral and pastoral areas, especially in the equatorial sector of the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA), and the impact of these rains has far reaching food security implications, well beyond the rainy season. At present, there is already a severe food insecurity crisis in many pastoral areas, one which requires several years of good rainfall for the recovery of both livestock herds and viable livelihoods. The recent IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Center (ICPAC) consensus climate outlook forecast for March, April and May (MAM) 2005 for the GHA indicates that the key crop producing areas in the equatorial sector have a 75% likelihood of receiving normal to above normal rainfall, which could result in favorable harvest prospects. However, the ICPAC probability forecast for most pastoral areas indicates a 75% tendency towards normal to below normal rainfall, which does not augur well for pastoralists. If realized, the most likely outcome of the forecast would mean the extension of drought conditions to yet another season in some pastoral zones and halting of the ongoing recovery in other zones. Potentially poor rainfall, together with other underlying causes of food insecurity such as poverty and conflict would likely worsen the already heightened food insecurity of many pastoral populations. This issue of GHA Food Security Bulletin attempts to put the March to May rainfall forecast in context to support contingency planning, preparedness and mitigation in the region. The report recommends that governments and partners use the various scenarios developed under the current climate outlook, especially in countries already experiencing acute food insecurity, as inputs into serious contingency planning processes, which result in active efforts to both prepare for potential renewed crises as well as efforts to mitigate the potential impact of poor rains especially in pastoral and marginal agricultural areas.
CLIMATE RELATED HAZARD
The March to May period is a major rainfall season for many pastoral and agricultural areas of the equatorial sector of GHA (see Fig 1.a). Figure 1.d illustrates the different rainfall periods in the GHA. Figure 1a highlights the pastoral areas of the GHA, which in general are currently the most food insecure areas. Figurer 1.b shows the long-term (1920-1980) rainfall pattern for the season. Figure 1c shows the anticipated divergence of rainfall amounts with respect to normal rains shown in Figure 1.b for different areas of the GHA region, and which represents the most likely precipitation scenario for the March -- May period.
The consensus seasonal forecast for the March-May 2005 provided by the IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Center (ICPAC) on March 4 is based on an ensemble of statistical and ocean-atmospheric models. These models take into account the recent and current sea surface temperatures over the Pacific Ocean and off the Indian Ocean. The consensus forecast indicates enhanced probabilities of normal to above normal rainfall conditions in areas shaded in green in Figure 2.a (these areas are also marked II); above normal to normal rainfall in blue shaded areas (marked IV) and normal to below-normal rainfall conditions in yellow shaded areas (marked I, III and V). These probabilistic forecasts suggest the likely tendency of the rainfall amounts during the March to May period. As the forecast is relevant only to the aggregate three month period and over relatively large areas, significant and localized variability in the amount and distribution of rainfall could occur within this 120-day period. FEWS NET translated the ICPAC forecast probabilities into relevant rainfall quantity scenarios using its Agro-climatological Tool/Forecast Interpretation Tool (FACT/FIT). Figure 2.b, an output of the FACT/FIT, depicts locations that have enhanced probabilities for favorable maize growing conditions, shaded in grey and blue, during the forecast period. The assumption used here is that a minimum of 300 mm of rainfall is required during the season for most short-cycle, drought-tolerant varieties. As a result, if that amount of rainfall is actually received and well distributed, areas with favorable production prospects for short-cycle maize would include most of Burundi and Rwanda, western Ethiopia, the central and south Rift, coastal and southern Kenya, central and northern Tanzania and most of Uganda. Drought-tolerant sorghum varieties would likely do well in all those areas as well as in southern Somalia.
Similarly, a threshold of 150 mm rainfall was used for pastoralist areas to develop a scenario for identifying areas that were unlikely to receive at least this threshold during the March-May 2005 period (Figure 2.c). This threshold represents the minimum amount of rainfall during the March to May season required for viable pastures. According to this analysis, parts of central and northern Somalia, the eastern part of the Somali Region of Ethiopia, parts of northeastern and northwestern Kenya and parts of southern Sudan have a high probability of not receiving adequate rains for viable pastures. If this happens, the ongoing recovery of pastoral populations in these areas would be halted, resulting in significant deteriorations in an already fragile food security situation and commensurate increasing emergency assistance requirements during the dry season (June to September).
It is important to note that these scenarios assume timely onset of the season and good rainfall distribution during the season, which is not captured in the ICPAC Climate Outlook Forecast. An attempt was made to forecast the expected rainfall distribution based on previous years of similar rainfall distribution (1964 and 1995). During these years, rainfall occurred mainly in March, tapering off in April and May. Although no single year will be exactly the same, there is increased likelihood that this season's rainfall could also be poorly distributed in time and space as it has been in the past. It is worth noting that significant parts of the northern and northeastern parts of Somalia (including the Sool and Sanaag Plateaus), Eritrea and Djibouti, normally receive scant rains between March and May, and therefore are not likely to be seriously affected by rainfall during this period. Given the specific GHACOF rainfall forecast for the MAM period, the risk of flooding also exists. But this risk is low, with the exception of the Western Lake Region of Kenya in the most likely scenario. Because the chances for very heavy rainfall in eastern Ethiopia's highlands are weak, the risks of severe flooding in the Shabelle River in Somalia are also low based on the current seasonal forecast. The assumption being made for the low risk of floods is that the ICPAC forecast would be realized and rainfall would be evenly distributed during the season.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This bulletin provides an early warning based on the seasonal rainfall forecast recently issued by ICPAC. The analysis presented above focuses on the most likely scenario, but the ramifications of the worst case scenario, in other words more serious drought and flooding should also be considered. The impacts of the March-May rains are important for crop production as well as pasture conditions. More importantly they will have a significant food security impact later in the year. The following conclusions and recommendations have been developed based on the analysis presented above:
1. Given that there is a high risk that the 2005 March -- May season will not ameliorate the current food security conditions in many current hot spots of the GHA, national governments and their partners should initiate contingency planning processes to prepare for potential food security crises over the coming year. The information provided here can be used as an input into developing more comprehensive scenarios outlining the potential magnitude of food insecurity, the estimated population affected, their geographical location, etc. To be effective, contingency planning must go further and result in concrete actions to prepare for and mitigate the impacts of potential droughts or floods. FEWS NET can assist interested contingency planners, including developing with them food security scenarios based on various rainfall scenarios.
2. Despite the improvement currently observed in some areas such as the Sool and Sanaag Plateaus in Somalia, pasture and water conditions, as well as livestock productivity in pastoral and agro-pastoral areas remain precarious. Below normal rainfall would induce distress migrations towards limited areas with relatively more abundant pasture and water in the Karamojong and the Somali Clusters. Large concentrations of livestock on small areas would degrade the environment and result in conflict over natural resources. Already, livestock from parts of Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia are congregating in the costal areas of Djibouti, which apart from having some pasture have very low carrying capacity. Monitoring of livestock productivity (body conditions, calving rates and milk supply) in pastoral areas including in areas where short-term recovery is expected, will be essential to determine needed interventions. Contingency planning in the countries is especially important to prepare for potential resurgence of severe emergency conditions in these areas. In addition activities to mitigate the potential impact of continued drought, such as pre-positioning of veterinary drugs and rehabilitation of water sources such as boreholes, should be implemented.
3. Access to markets and affordable food prices remain key determinants of food security for a significant population in GHA. Considering that food prices are influenced by domestic production, most of which depends on rain-fed agriculture, there is need for national governments to encourage domestic and cross-border trade of food commodities from surplus to deficit areas. Governments could use market information to intervene with relief aid where and when access to food is compromised by rising prices (or worsening terms of trade between livestock and cereals) beyond affordable levels, particularly for the poor households. Government, donors and relief organizations should also use market information for domestic and triangular purchases within the region, thus enhancing local economies and improving regional food security.
CONTACTS
Vedasto Rutachokozibwa / Epitace Nobera Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) E-mail: ruta@fews.net / enobera@fews.net
Gideon Galu / Hussein Gadain United States Geological Survey (FEWS NET/USGS) E-mail: ggalu@fews.net / hgadain@fews.net Dr Wilbur Ottichilo
Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) E-mail: rcmrd@rcmrd.org, ottichilo@rcmrd.org
Mehari Tesfayohannes; Desert Locust Control Organization, Nairobi Email: delco@insightkenya.com
Prof. Laban Ogallo / Zachary Atheru; Drought Monitoring Centre -- Nairobi (DMC-N) E-mail: dmcnrb@lion.meteo.go.ke
World Food Programme (WFP) -- East and Central Africa Bureau, Kampala E-mail: Daphine.Hunter@wfp.org; Evaline.DiangA@wfp.org
Prof. Jerry Stuth / Robert Kaitho Livestock Early Warning Systems (LEWS/GLCRSP) E-mail: jwstuth@cnrit.tamu.edu, rkaitho@cnrit.tamu.edu
For feedback contact: Email: ghabulletin@fews.net
http://www.equip123.net/docs/004.pdf.
Crisis Education Project Profile-Somaliland
- Organization implementing: CARE International in Somaliland
- Scope/geographical coverage: Hargeisa, Somaliland (19 schools)
- Type of programming: Enhancing the quality of formal primary school education
- Target group/beneficiaries: Direct beneficiaries include primary students with a special focus on girls, teachers, school administrators and communities.
- Stage: Crisis (long-term instability and IDPs)
-Environmental context matrix of Somaliland (Hargeisa)
Environmental context of program
Social
Over the past two years, the population of Northwest Somalia has increased dramatically due to the large number of returnees arriving in Somaliland from the camps in Ethiopia.
Most, if not all, of the returnee families were able to send their children to school in the camps and there is the expectation that educational facilities will also be available in Somaliland. This has been demonstrated by the widespread community support for Koranic schools. A 2002 assessment of available facilities in Hargeisa, carried out by CARE and the MoE, revealed that 70% of the students learn while sitting on the floor, while many schools teach classes in shifts, due to the limited numb er of usable classrooms. Approximately one-third (36%) of school-aged children are not attending school, either do to lack of facilities or lack of family resources. In the 21 government- managed primary schools in Hargeisa town, there are an estimated 327 teachers, with an approximate student population of 21,307 students. This represents a student/teacher ratio of 66:1.
Cultural/Religion
Somalis are a rather homogeneous ethnic group from a cultural-linguistic point of view, stretching across at least four countries in the Horn of Africa: Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. Their main internal social differentiation is on the basis of clans and sub- clans, but even within the clan system, most clans and sub-clans are transnational. In this system, lacking a hierarchical chain of authority or anything resembling the state or a judiciary, social relationships are defined in terms of kinship based on descent from a common ancestor. In Somali society, as in most pastoral societies, kinship is traced through patrilineal descent. The genealogies, which traditionally both Somali boys and girls have to learn by heart as part of their initiation to adulthood, define an individual's place in society as well as political relations.
Economic
In terms of average income, Somaliland is, economically, one of the world's least developed countries and its economic performance is heavily dependent on the regional prices of livestock. Poverty is the dominant theme in this largely subsistence economy, which hinged on the vagaries of the rainfall, trapped by extreme social conservatism and threatened by uncertainty of peaceful existence as a result of centuries-old clan-based discord and rivalry.
The cash economy of the country is dominated by the exports of livestock by the trade from Ethiopia in the stimulant leafy shrub, Khat, fruits, vegetables, and coffee, and the import of manufactured goods.
Political Relationships
Somaliland, a self-declared republic that was formerly the northwest section of Somalia, has in recent years found a measure of stability after the years of faction-based civil war that has killed thousands of Somalis. The President of Somaliland is Dahir Riyale Kahin.
Program description: Support to Primary School Education (Phase 1) Target Group The target groups include communities and school administrators to provide structurally sound, sanitary facilities and classroom environments that promote learning to students in the targeted schools in Hargeisa.
Material/Physical Resources
Schools are rehabilitated to provide sound, sanitary facilities and classroom environments that promote learning. Additionally fences have been put around to school to restrict access to school grounds. Without a proper fence, schools and even classrooms have been invaded by returnees or unemployed youths who do not attend schools, greatly disrupting learning, as well as discouraging parents from sending their girl children to school. Fencing and gates help to create a secure, peaceful environment for learning, particularly for girls. Desks and chairs for teachers as well as desks and benches for students were also provided as well as textbooks and teaching kits, which included items such as world maps and globes, mathematical charts, blackboard rulers and chalk, and stationary items, were also distributed.
Financial and Human Resources
Funding provided by donor agencies with communities providing in-kind support. Communities contributed an average of 11% of the rehabilitation costs of schools. CARE worked with communities and other stakeholders during the rehabilitation process, with Community Education Committees playing a key role in the selection and supervision of contractors undertaking rehabilitation work.
Community Mobilization
Capacity building for CECs focused on providing training on community mobilization, DELTA (development, empowerment and leadership teams in action), strategic planning and financial management. To enhance the long-term sustainability of schools, the project work with CECs, school administrators and the (defacto) Ministry of Education to identify viable income generating activities. Potential income generating activities include literacy, numeracy and business skills training for adults, and schools will be encouraged to offer services targeted at women heads of households. Training is also provided to CECs on how to develop effective fundraising strategies, and how to identify and target potential sponsors, such as businesses who might be interested in providing either cash or in kind support Training In-service teachers participated in workshops that sought to improve the teaching content and methodologies.
The project worked with teachers in both a workshop and on-the- job setting, and the content of workshops were based on an in-class assessment of teachers.
Education officials were also included in capacity building activities that sought to improve their ability to provide supervisory support to teachers in the target school and the education sector as a whole. Specific training topics included computer applications, management, supervisory skills, finance and administration, strategic planning and policy development. The application of skills and knowledge gained during these workshops resulted in the development of strategic plans and policy guidelines for the education sector, as well an increased level of monitoring by the education authorities of teachers' performance and school enrolment.
Programming interventions (impact and effectiveness) matrix Category
Effectiveness of programming interventions
Access
CARE established and strengthened the capacity of 18 community education committees (CECs) and (de facto) Ministry of Education officials as well as rehabilitated 18 schools. The increased sense of community ownership and the physical rehabilitation of schools resulted in an increase in enrolment of both boys and girls, with a total of 21,307 students benefiting from improved educational facilities by the end of the project. This represented an increase in the number of targeted students of 7,307 or 52% over the original target.
Management
The project worked with communities and the (de facto) Ministry of Education to establish CECs that would have responsibility for overseeing activities in the targeted schools. Capacity building training was provided to CECs on their roles and responsibilities, health and nutrition, and school management. The CECs played a key role in the preparation of the schools' development plans, as well as the mobilization of communities' contribution either in cash or in kind. In addition, CECs participated in the selection and supervision of contractors undertaking rehabilitation activities, and they made inspection visits to ensure that the children maintain basic personal hygiene. Of the 18 CECs that CARE worked with during the project, approximately 61% were actively involved in project activities, while the remaining 39% played only a limited role. This was in part due to the rather high turnover rate of CEC members in many of the committees.
Overall Program Effectiveness
Teacher training components requiring additional training include the effective use of available teaching tools, increased understanding of how children learn, effective disciplinary methods, and handling a large number of students. Furthermore, raising teachers' awareness on issues such as gender, as well as how to identify and work with students suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome linked to civil war, would enhance their effectiveness in the classroom.
To facilitate the long-term sustainability of teacher training activities, CARE is coordinating with education officials to identify training priorities. It is anticipated that the training will focus on material development, teaching methodologies and child development. Below is a list of potential training topics:
- Development of teaching aids and materials
- Child psychology and development
- Teacher effectiveness training
- Gender sensitivity
- Children with special needs
Phase II of the Support to Primary School Education is also advocating with education official to raise awareness on the special needs of slow learners. The project seeks to promote an increase in the number of female teachers as a way of promoting girl-child education. Similarly, positive experiences with girl education, such as separate classrooms for girl-students, will be explored and tested where possible. These advocacy efforts will not form a separate component, but rather will be integrated into project activities where appropriate.
Source: Food Security Assessment Unit (FSAU)Date: 13 Apr 2005
Monthly Food Security Report for Somalia 13 Apr 2005
Political Developments: The Somali Federal Transitional Government's plan to relocate to Baidoa and Jowhar sparked civil insecurity and political tensions within Bay and Bakool region during the third week of March. This civil insecurity created internal displacement and problems of water, pasture and market accessibility. Moreover, it disrupted humanitarian access to the region and crucial land preparation activities for the Gu 2005 season.
Climate: Normally, March is the last and harshest part of the long dry Jillaal season. This year, however, light rains fell over many parts of the country during this month, thus ensuring a fairly mild Jilaal season in many areas. These early rains, locally known as Todob or Jar, indicate that the Gu 2005 rains may start early and will likely be normal.
Markets: Both the Somali and Somaliland Shilling exchange rates remained stable against the dollar through March, i.e. approximately 15,400 SOSH/US$ and 6,200 SLSH/$US. Imported commodity prices also remained fairly stable, as they are closely linked to exchange rate fluctuations. Imported commodity prices may increase in inland markets, however, if the coming Gu rains result in impassable roads and increased transportation costs.
Nutrition: The sentinel sites surveillance in Lower Nugal indicate an overall decline in levels of malnutrition while the rates in Sool plateau stabilized at critical levels. The malnutrition rate in northeastern Somalia is within the usual range despite the multiple shocks encountered by the population. High numbers of severely malnourished children continue to be admitted to the TFC in Belet-Hawa, Gedo.
Agriculture: In the northwest, maize crop planting is almost complete and land preparations for long cycle sorghum varieities has started. In Shabelle Valley, off-season maize production is at different stages of growth and harvesting is expected to continue through mid-April. In Juba Valley, off-season crop conditions are extremely poor due to dry weather and high infestation of insects and disease. Land preparations for Gu season have begun in most agricutlural areas in the south in response to light rains received in March. If the Gu rains start on time, some remaining off-season crops in Juba and Shabelle maybe spoiled.
Livestock: Water and pasture conditions improved in many parts of the country following the onset of the early Todob and Jar rains. Livestock migration from dry areas to wetter areas is reported throughout the country, as well as calving and kidding of livestock and increased milk availability. The total number of sheeps/goats exported fell and their price declined in March, as expected due to the end of the peak Hajj season.
Emerging Regional Issues:
- Light rains fell in the northeastern pastoral Humanitarian Emergency areas, improving water and pasture conditions. However, despite the rains destitution and pastoral vulnerability remains high in the region.
- Renewed clan fighting in parts of the Central Regions exacerbated the critical food security situation and resulted in a further loss of lives and assets and disrupted trade in Hobyo and Harardere districts. Most of the affected region did not receive rain in March and reports indicate that water shortages persist due to dry water catchments and poorly functioning boreholes.
- Shabelle river level rose gradually during the last dekad of March following rains in Ethiopia, thus easing irrigation operations. The water level of the Juba river, however, remained low making gravity and pump irrigation difficult.
Source: http://somalilandcenter.com/ Apr-17-2005.
In Defense of Awdalnews.com
It was at that time that Awdalnews rose to prominence because it offered a different tone in its news reporting, it always kept the eyes on the price, it always looked at the big picture such as our International recognition struggle and the development of Somaliland etc, Awdalnews stayed away from the divisions along party lines that was increasing on many Somaliland websites day by day. Many are the brilliant Awdalnews articles speaking in defense of the nation against terrorist and others wishing our country harm.
All this I have in mind when I now turn to the subject of SNM and the Awdalnews Editorial. In my opinion Awdalnews choose a bad time (1) and a bad venue (the internet-2) to launch what it called "a search for the truth.
(1) The timing is wrong because Somaliland is not an internationally recognized state at this time hence the last thing we need to do is to divide our people along clan lines or any other lines, unity should be of paramount importance at all times but especially this time. For us to divert our energy to past struggles between us when we are facing a common struggle today seems rather odd to me and it makes me wonder what Awdalnews is up to here? (2) The venue is wrong because a topic of this seriousness and this magnitude should be discussed face to face between people who have first hand knowledge of these issues (historians, university professors, human rights activists, SNM commanders, clan leaders of different clans who were around in those days etc) and not on the internet where any idiot who wishes to inflame this issue and create animosity can do so by sending insulting articles to different websites claiming to be somebody he or she is not.
The bottom-line is this, I don't think the Awdalnews management is anti-SNM nor do I think any Somalilander is Anti-Awdalnews what I sense however from Awdalnews management and other Somalilanders is the quest to write a Somaliland history that is comprehensive and which does not only focus on the SNM struggle and legacy but also talks about other struggles (Gobanimodoonki of the 1960's for instance), I think Awdalnews was wrong for choosing to belittle the SNM struggle or smear it, that is not the way to win your brothers support for what you are trying to do. I was part of SNM and I have read SNM related history thoroughly and I say with confidence that SNM had an outstanding record when it comes to not perpetrating revenge acts, this is well documented and I can provide those sources to Awdalnews or anyother one who is interested in the history of SNM and the wars of the 1980's-1990's.
On the other hand it must be said to many who have SNM nostalgia that we currently have Somaliland soldiers in eastern Somaliland, these soldiers who belong to all Somaliland's clans are defending Somalilanders from an external enemy, hence they are the current mujahids, they are the current heroes and these current heroes need our full attention. The last thing they need from us is to hear our comfortable bickering from our nice chairs and computers in the Diaspora. Furthermore I think Awdalnews and the people who responded to the editorial are not aware of the fact that the vast majority of Somalilanders in the Diaspora are completely uninterested in this whole issue, what we, the vast majority of Somalilanders care about is Somaliland's international recognition struggle and the well being and prosperity of our country and people.
Conclusion:
Let's support our troops in Sool region, let's support our people who are currently suffering from a drought and hunger in the coastal parts of Awdal region, the southern parts of Hargeysa region and the Dhahar district of Sanaag. Let us not loose focus of what matters. History is being written as we speak, let's focus on today and deal with our past when we have succeeded in the present!
Maxamed Cabdillahi -- horumar2004@yahoo.com
http://www.asylumlaw.org/docs/somalia/usdos01_fgm_Somalia.pdf.
http://www.state.gov/g/wi/rls/rep/crfgm/10109pf.htm
Somalia: Report on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) or Female Genital Cutting (FGC)
Practice:
The most common form of female genital mutilation (FGM) or female genital cutting (FGC) practiced in
Somalia is Type III (commonly referred to as infibulation and in Somalia, the "Pharaonic circumcision").
Eighty percent of all genital procedures for women and girls consist of this form which is the most harmful form. The less radical or Type I (commonly referred to as clitoridectomy and in Somalia sometimes called "sunna") is practiced mainly in the coastal towns of Mogadishu, Brava, Merca and Kismayu. The procedures leave a lifetime of physical suffering for the women.
Incidence:
Virtually all Somali women are subjected to one of these procedures. A recent estimate by the United
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) places the percentage of the women in Somalia who have undergone
this procedure at 90 percent. Earlier estimates had placed the percentage at 96-98 percent. A 1983
national survey by the Ministry of Health found a prevalence of 96 percent. In October 1999, CARE
International carried out a safe motherhood survey in Somaliland (northwest Somalia) to determine, among
other things, the prevalence of FGM/FGC. It found the practice to be universal in this area of Somalia
among the women sampled, with 91 percent undergoing Type III and nine percent Type I. These suggest
that it is well established in all areas of the country and in most, if not all, the ethnic groups. It is commonly
performed on girls as young as six or seven years of age.
Attitudes and Beliefs:
Many Somalis mistakenly view this procedure as a religious obligation. The concept of family honor is also
involved. It is carried out to ensure virginity. Because virginity of daughters and family honor are related, it
is believed that the family's honor will also remain intact if the daughters are subjected to this procedure.
Women who have not undergone this procedure may be thought of as having loose morals. A girl who has
not undergone it will result in less bridewealth for her father and brothers.
There are several other rationales expressed for the practice in Somalia. Some men claim the artificial tightness heightens sexual enjoyment. Some say the smoothness of the scar is esthetically beautiful.
The CARE study showed a difference in attitude toward this practice between rural and urban women. A higher number of urban women than rural women felt there was nothing good about the practice. Forty percent of all women interviewed felt there was nothing bad about the practice. Eleven percent of those interviewed did not want their daughters to undergo this procedure.
Type I:
Type I is the excision (removal) of the clitoral hood with or without removal of all or part of the clitoris. This
is the mildest form.
Type III:
Type III is the excision (removal) of part or all of the external genitalia (clitoris, labia minora and labia
majora) and stitching or narrowing of the vaginal opening, leaving a very small opening, about the size of a
matchstick, to allow for the flow of urine and menstrual blood. The girl or woman's legs are generally bound
together from the hip to the ankle so she remains immobile for approximately 40 days to allow for the
formation of scar tissue.
In the cities, these procedures generally take place in a medical facility under anesthesia. If the operation is performed in a rural village, an old woman excisor performs the procedure without anesthesia. The excisors in Somalia, unlike in some other African countries, are not highly respected. They do not wield influence or have much status within the traditional power structure.
Outreach Activities:
Despite the fact that the practice is so entrenched in Somali culture and custom, women began working to
eradicate the practice as early as 1977. In that year, the Somali Women's Democratic Organization
(SWDO) was formed. It became the implementing agency appointed by the now collapsed government of
Siad Barre for the abolition of this practice.
To eradicate the dangers and damage caused by this procedure as performed by traditional excisors, the procedure was encouraged to be carried out in a hospital. The government supported an alternative method, which was to prick the clitoris to obtain a drop of blood. It was hoped that this method would eventually replace the more dangerous Type III. However, this strategy did not work as had been hoped and the practice was eventually banned in all government hospitals. In 1988, the government launched a campaign to eradicate the practice completely on health and religious grounds. The campaign maintained the operation was dangerous to women's health and not called for in the Quran. It was even pointed out that it would not guarantee virginity.
A center was set up in the Somalia Academy of Arts and Sciences in the early 1980s to conduct studies on this practice. A Swedish Agency, SAREC, funded this. The center carried out research into the physical, psychological and sociological aspects of the practice. The Institute of Women's Education (IWE) was set up in 1984 by the Department of Non-Formal Education of the Ministry of Education. The Institute focused on improving women's living conditions by improving their income, health and nutrition. It focused on improving female literacy and organizing women's groups among female community leaders. The latter were to encourage activities for rural development that included participation of women.
The IWE commenced activities in the mid-1980s against the practice of FGM/FGC. This was included entirely in a general health program called the Family Planning Project. These activities were not very successful, however, because they did not receive money from the government and the government had not passed any legislation outlawing this practice. In 1987, SWDO and the Italian Association for Women and Development (AIDOS) founded an eradication project in Somalia. AIDOS provided technical and methodological support and SWDO was responsible for the content and direction of the project. SWDO approached the practice as a health issue. It feared an approach based on female rights (such as that of sexual freedom) would surely fail.
SWDO organized a campaign that produced information packets including audio-visuals for women, young people, religious leaders and medical personnel in the local language. It also provided workshops for trainers and held seminars for women and even organized a poetry contest on why the practice was dangerous to women and girls. An international conference was held in Mogadishu in 1989 on "Female Circumcision: Strategies to Bring about Change." The Somali Revolutionary Party, which was in power at that time, gave moral support to the project.
However, once Siad Barre's Somali Revolutionary Party was overthrown and the country thrown into turmoil in 1991, the technical basis for the campaign was destroyed. Some international agencies have recently begun anti-FGM/FGC educational campaigns. These campaigns have attempted to enlist women and religious leaders in the fight against the practice. Religious leaders have, in some instances, been persuaded to tell their adherents this practice is a cultural, not a religious practice.
Since 1996, UNICEF in Somalia has supported a series of awareness raising seminars attended by women's grassroots organizations, religious leaders, politicians, health professionals and other representatives of the population. In 1997, the Government of Somaliland, in collaboration with UNICEF and other agencies, organized a National Seminar on FGM/FGC. The outcome was to establish an intersectoral committee at a national level and a regional task force to develop policies on eradication of this practice.
UNICEF sponsored workshops in Mogadishu, Galgaddud and Mudug regions in 1999-2000. At a workshop held in Hargeisa on April 18-19, 2000, the participants developed a Somaliland Declaration calling on the Government and the people of Somaliland to eradicate this practice in the country. In collaboration with Al Azhar University, Cairo, UNICEF organized an FGM/FGC study tour for seven sheiks and two national officers from September 20-October, 2000. UNICEF was then to begin a "training the trainers: anti-FGM/FGC program."
In 2000, the U.S. Embassy provided funds through its Democracy and Human Rights Fund (DHRF) to the Voice of Midwives Association for a campaign to raise public awareness of the harmful effects of this practice. A grant of US$10,173 was provided for meetings and discussions throughout Somaliland, incorporating the use of drama and other traditional techniques. In 1998, the Embassy provided US$20,000 from DHRF to UNICEF to assist its project of building consensus against FGM/FGC in four communities in Somaliland.
Legal Status: Although the former government's policy on this practice was for its complete eradication, this policy was never translated into law. There is no national law specifically prohibiting FGM in Somalia. There are provisions of the Penal Code of the former government covering "hurt", "grievous hurt" and "very grievous hurt" however, which might apply.
In November 1999, the Parliament of the Puntland administration unanimously approved legislation making the practice illegal. There is no evidence, however, that this law is being enforced.
Protection:
Prior to the country's relatively recent upheaval, there appeared to be a good beginning at creating some
type of relief from this practice with a number of outreach organizations in existence. The work of these
organizations, however, was disrupted during the fighting.
There is also no national judicial system or central authority. Some regions have established local courts rendering judgments based on traditional and customary law, Islamic Shari'a law, the Penal Code of the defunct Siad Barre government or some combination of the three. It is unlikely such a system would uphold any anti-FGM/FGC relief given the strong foundation it enjoys in traditional society.
Prepared by the Office of the Senior Coordinator for International Women's Issues, Office of the Under Secretary for Global Affairs, U.S. Department of State, June 2001 Released on June 1, 2001
Source: http://wsp.dataweb.ch/wspfiles/somalia/TheRoleofthePrivateSectorinZonesofConflict.doc
The Role of the Private Sector in Zones of Conflict
The Somaliland Academy for Peace and Development (SAPD), a partner organisation of WSP International, has been carrying out a peace building project in Somaliland since 1999. Using a methodology of participatory research and dialogue SAPD has brought together many representatives of different sectors of Somaliland society to identify priorities in the process of rebuilding their country. In any society, the private sector can be both a force for conflict and for peace such that successful peace building processes require the support and involvement of the private sector. With a foundation of interdependence and co-existence, the private sector has a natural basis for exchange on which peace building processes can build. In Somaliland, the interdependence of the private sector is accentuated by the fact that local private sector actors are multistakeholders themselves, involved in various activities that cross-cut the different sectors of society.
The work of SAPD provides a concrete example of a process through which these local private sector actors have been involved in a particular multistakeholder initiative in Somaliland, and of how the creation of partnerships between and within the different sectors of the community through this project has been integral to peace building processes there.
Introduction:
Reborn in the midst of the collapse of the Somali Democratic Republic and the ensuing bloodshed and chaos of brutal civil war and famine in 1991, Somaliland's road to recovery was never going to be easy. The long civil war had left the country physically devastated and socially scarred. Tens of thousands of people had been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced, their homes reduced to rubble, their property looted or destroyed, and their land sown with mines. The economy had virtually ground to a halt. The army, police and civil service had disintegrated; most government offices, banks, hospitals and schools stood derelict, their contents ransacked, and even their windows, doors and roofs pillaged and sold for scrap.
Seven years down the road much progress had been made in rehabilitating the society, but there was still much to be done to rebuild Somaliland. It was into this situation that Somaliland's second President, Mr. Maxamed Xaaji Ibrahim Cigal, invited the War-torn Societies Project (WSP) to initiate a participatory action research (PAR) programme addressing the problems of post-war reconstruction.
After a preparatory phase through-out 1998, during which WSP carried out regular consultations with various national and local authorities to ensure that a WSP programme was relevant and would have added value in Somaliland, an autonomous Somali non-governmental organisation, the Somaliland Centre for Peace and Development (SCPD - now Somaliland Academy for Peace and Development, SAPD), was established in 1999 to carry out the programme.
The Programme:
Established in 1994 with a mandate to promote and facilitate participatory peace-building approaches with war-torn societies and those wishing to help them, WSP had developed a unique variant of participatory action-research that SAPD implemented.
Fundamental to the various stages of the methodology outlined below are the interdependent beliefs that the rebuilding of trust and relationships between people is the most important element in rebuilding a country, and that local ownership of the rebuilding process is the only way to ensure its success. Therefore a multistakeholder approach, designed to create partnership between people, fostered through participatory exercises, is integral to the work of SAPD and can be seen throughout the various stages the project has undergone.
The first phase of SAPD's programme was a preliminary action-research phase between March to August 1999. During this period SAPD researchers travelled the length and breadth of Somaliland conducting extensive consultations with a broad range of internal and external actors, compiling this information together with basic documentary research to produce a paper reflecting the main themes pertaining to the political, social, and economic rebuilding of Somaliland. This `Self-Portrait of Somaliland' was intended as a `snapshot' of Somaliland, an overview of the people's issues and priorities, nine years into the rebuilding process, upon which more detailed, policy-oriented research could be conducted.
In November 1991 the `Self-Portrait' was submitted to a gathering of eighty internal and external actors, a broad range of representatives of the government, the business community, the civil society, and religious groups who were known as the National Project Group. This Group identified four strategic areas (Entry Points) in Somaliland society that should be prioritised in the rebuilding process and deserved more in-depth research and collective action to enable progress. These were:
Regulation of the pastoral economy
Consolidation of government institutions at the central and local levels, including decentralization
The role of the media and oral culture in rebuilding
The legacy of war on the family, culture and values
Having identified these Entry Points, the main action-research phase then began. Working Groups were formed around each Entry Point, composed of thirty people who were most directly engaged in the respective Entry Points, (mostly members of the National Project Group) with a SAPD researcher to facilitate exploring the Entry Point in greater depth. Each Entry Point was broken down into three sub themes and precise research questions and workshops were organised on these sub themes so as to open the debate to a wider audience and draw in other principle stakeholders in the issue under discussion, including members of the Working Group, central, regional and district government agencies, parliament, elders, NGOs and members of the private sector. Each Workshop was intended to provide greater focus on specific issues and problems, and to provide concrete recommendations for policy makers.
During the conducting of workshops, the SAPD team has been observing and recording the process, both in writing and in an audio-visual component. The information, analysis and recommendations produced by each Working Group are currently being compiled and edited, with a view to being published by WSP as a formal research product in October 2001. The audio-visual component is also being used to produce research-based films, capturing the main issues and outcomes of the various Entry Points.
The Involvement of the Private Sector
The multistakeholder approach of the above process meant that local Somaliland private sector actors were involved from the beginning. With an economy dominated by the livestock trade, it is not surprising that the majority of the local private sector actors who were a part of the National Project Group were livestock traders themselves. They were primarily involved in the workshops concerned with the Entry Point on the regulation of the pastoral economy in Somaliland and their expertise and knowledge in this area contributed greatly to the conducting of further research into this issue and the current exercise that is taking place of writing up policy papers. The fact that the pastoral economy, the private sector, was identified as a priority to be addressed in the rebuilding of Somaliland is evidence of the interdependence of the private sector and the other sectors of Somaliland society in this post-conflict zone.
As is the case in many societies, the actors termed here representatives of the Somaliland `private sector' were also actors in many other sectors of Somaliland society at the same time. Thus the livestock traders not only brought their specialised business knowledge to the process, but also their perspectives as members of academic institutions, of civil society organisations, of the government, of religious groups and of non-governmental organisations.
Focusing on these actors in their capacity as representatives of the private sector in Somaliland, the primary incentive for these actors to be involved in the project was that the multisectoral participatory nature of this project presented them with the opportunity to meet and interact with fellow members of the business community in a non-competitive environment. In the context of the project the private sector actors were able to discuss issues of mutual concern free of the restrictions imposed by typical working relationships. Some private sector actors did however choose not to participate in the project for reasons attributable to the inherent polarization of Somaliland's society.
The private sector actors also benefited from the opportunity the project gave them to present and discuss their views on societal rebuilding, in particular with regard to the private sector, with representatives from a broad cross section of Somaliland society. The livestock traders in particular were keen to discuss the 1989-1999 Saudi ban on exporting livestock that had been imposed on Somaliland with the government representatives that were also part of the project.
To date, the private sector actors seem to be pleased with the progress of the project and their participation within it. Whether this concrete experience of a multistakeholder approach will impact on the way the private sector actors conduct affairs amongst themselves and with other sectors of Somaliland society outside of SAPD's project remains to be seen. One way in which to encourage the private sector to incorporate lessons learned from participating in this project into a sustainable, continuable process could be to incorporate these methods within the framework of existing bodies. For example, to introduce forums for participatory discussion into the Somaliland Chamber of Commerce would be one way in which to ensure that the lessons learned and benefits gained through participation in the SAPD project could be continued. Private sector actors are more likely to take up and sustain participatory practices on their own if they are assisted in the initial stages of transforming such practices from the methodology of a project into formalized working procedures. If private sector actors can see the benefits of such participatory practices they will not be slow to take up and implement the processes themselves.
Conclusion
The experience of SAPD presents a concrete example of the significant role of local private sector actors in participatory peace building. Their expertise and knowledge of that key element of any society, the local economy, is integral to any discussion of societal rebuilding, and their ownership of peace building processes, enabled through participatory processes, is critical for success. As mentioned at the beginning, in any country the private sector is essentially interdependent and as such has a natural basis for exchange, a vital element in any peace building process. Peace building processes should make use of this naturally occurring characteristic of the private sector, and also of the multistakeholder nature of many private sector actors. There is often discrepancy between the perception and reality of who private sector actors are. Although other countries may have more clearly defined private sectors, Somaliland illustrates the need for looking at the reality of the situation on the ground before neatly identifying people as representatives of separate sectors of a society.
The creation of partnerships between people from such diverse sectors of society as were represented in the National Project Group for SAPD's project does not necessitate consensus on all issues. All that is required to create cohesion and bring people together is the identification of an issue that is of mutual concern, where people can see that they have something to gain from their participation and involvement, and the consensus amongst the actors to work together to find a solution and way forward on that issue. Trying to bring people together to peace build by directly addressing politically devisive issues often contributes to those divisions. Instead, promoting understanding and cooperation between disparate groups on more minor technical issues can contribute to creating an atmosphere and attitudes more suited to addressing the more divisive issues.
Source: http://somalilandcenter.com/ Apr-18-2005.
Dr. Doolittle And A Laptop Named Radio Horyaal
The beauty of this story is the fine detective work done by Dr. Doolittle and his two drummers on finding the location of Radio Horyaal. It was during the second World War in Nazi Germany occupied Europe that the German intelligence used Direction Finders. What they were after was the radio transmitters of the resistance. However, in Dr. Doolittle's case he summoned his two drummers and gave them the geographic coordinates of the strongest signal of what he thought was radio Horyaal. Radio Horyaal is believed to be the voice of the opposition and it is illegal. Why is it illegal? That is any body's guess, but the truth of the matter is the people of Somaliland have not yet realized that their very existence is again in dire need of rescuing yet from another Authoritarian regime. This time it is not from the South, it is not Siad Barre's henchmen but home grown autocratic tugs.
But then one asks, how come? Didn't we say never again! To revisit the past, in the 80's, midnight arrests, false anti government accusations and summary executions were very common in most of the major cities of Somaliland. How today's Somaliland is different from that of the 80's? Not much, and if nothing changes soon we will be back there soon and there will be no return.
Somaliland's president was a career NSS man, a KGB and Stasi trained Gestapo like secret police whose sole job was to intimidate, arrest, torture, Coerce and solicit false convictions from innocent civilians. Therefore, one should not be surprised if a pattern of similar tactics to silence any dissenting opinion is observed. The tactics, methods and mechanism might be different but the end result is the same or might even be more efficient.
The news from home is not good at all and it is scary. The respect for human rights, from the Islamic and democratic points of view, is not observed at all. We have seen the endless arrests of journalists, clan chiefs, opposition and regular folks. All these are done in the name of clinching to the seat of power and siphoning the revenue from the Berbera port. This drama has been continuing for a long time, one episode after the other. We have witnessed the arrest of Samsam, a teenage girl accused of assassination plot. They should have at least carefully listened to John Ashcroft to classify Samsam as enemy combatant.
We, the folks living in the Diaspora often mistakenly assume that technologically nothing is happening back home, but the latest news from Hargeisa tells otherwise. It is about the success of Dr. Doolittle's Red berets (I thought that was a dreaded name during Siyad Barre's regime, "Kofiyad Cas", a name which stood for death, genocide and massacre) or security forces. They finally found the radio Horyal transmitter which has polluted the country air waves with opposition propaganda or TRUTH as the case is here. So far the government has not released the methods, technology or the expertise they used to pinpoint the location of Radio Horyal. In fact a well informed source suggested that the finding might be related to the arrest of two of radio horyals employees!
A short wave radio transmitter and a Studio? that sounds a lot of equipment. However, Dr. Doolittle and the two drummers want us to believe that these were all in one, and worse, they want us to further believe that in fact both were bundled in the hard drive of a laptop named RADIO HORYAL! Eh, Dell Computers would love to hear that story. They want us to believe that the GPS (Global Positioning System) found coordinates are exactly the real Geographic coordinates of the KULMIYE PARTY head quarters. How could that be? When in fact the streets of Hargeisa do not have names, addresses . etc let along N-S co-ordinates.
Folks, is Somaliland run from Djibouti these days? if not now then wait tomorrow. Folks, if you are wondering why this is happening in your home land, and if you are disappointed by voting for Dr. Doolittle and can't comprehend his dictatorial actions lately, then let me tell you this: Dr. Doolittle did what he knew best to the best of his knowledge, that is, accuse, arrest, torture and silence any dissenting voice, and you know what? all that happens in the wee hours of the morning while most of you are asleep thinking tomorrow will be the same as yesterday. That is the only career he had before this midlife career crisis of vice presidency and presidency which suffocates tyrants with an unimaginable lust for power and abuse of it.
If you thought by voting for Dr. Doolittle he will be building schools, roads, hospitals, ports, then folks you were dead wrong. At least you should have done BACKGROUND Check on his past; it would have taken few months of talking to past victims of the NSS. Now my fellow country men and women the choice is yours. If you want to linger in this hopeless cliff of despair and destitute and witness Djibouti annexing Awdal then go ahead and be Dr. Doolittle's guess. If not then get rid of your hereditary apathy and join the peoples of Ukraine, Georgia, Lebanon and Kyrgyzstan (by the way the Kyrgyz people are nomads like us). The first place to start is to challenge the cancellation of the parliamentary elections. This should be held soon. There should be no excuse for the delay since we had the local and the presidential elections in the past. Let the MPs pack their pack bags and go home. History will judge us unfavorably if we repeat the same mistakes again and again.
Dibedyaal, Dibedyaal@yahoo.com
Source: http://www.qarannews.com/ Apr 17 2005
10 "Why Somaliland Will Not Join Somalia in another Union" Quotes
2. "Somaliland will not join Somalia in another union because Somaliland will rather join the United States of America as the Fifty Second State in the American Union Before it joins the country of Somalia in another disastrous Union, Hawaii benefited by joining USA as the 51st state of the American Union and I am sure Somaliland will benefit as well!" - Pro-American Somalilander
3. "Somalia? What is that? ---Somalilander born after 1991
4."Somaliland will not join Somalia in another union because there are more than fifty three (53) Muslim countries in the world and Somalia is just one among those many countries. Therefore the Republic of Somaliland will enter into a union with Somalia on religious grounds the day all the worlds Muslim countries unite as one country. Until that day comes the people of the sovereign Republic of Somaliland and the people who inhabit that territory will elect their own government, have their own flag and exercise full control over their territory as any other sovereign Muslim or non-Muslim nation of the world. Somaliland Wadaad (Imam/Sheikh)
5. "Somaliland will not join Somalia in another union because The Republic of Somaliland is an independent country because of the choice its people made. The only thing we Somaliland business people will ever join in Somalia is the Somalia Stock Exchange if they ever establish one."-----Somaliland Businessman.
6. "Union with Somalia? What Union? How dare you mention such thing to me? Young man do you know anything about the Walaweyn and their horrible customs? Let me tell you something young man, I know what union means in AF-WALAWEYN because I lived through it, it means that the taxes paid in Borame and Burco will go to the people of Bosasso and Benadir, that is what union means in their language, they want to unite Somalilanders hard earned money with their Walaweyn bank accounts. Tell the Walaweyn to take their bad culture and union and offer it to the Kenyans, they seem particularly interested in Somalia's affairs these days"---Hot tempered Somaliland elder
7."Somaliland will not join Somalia in another union because Somaliland's people believe in compromises, peace, hard work and sharing. Somalia's people believe in clan tyranny, war, stealing things other people worked hard for and not sharing. If anything it is the different mindset and outlook on life that hinders a union between Somaliland and Somalia. Since attitudes and cultures take generations to change, a possible union between Somaliland and Somalia can be discussed in about 50 to 60 years from now when Somaliland has been able to spread its culture to all of Somalia"----Somaliland Anthropologist (someone who studies cultures and customs)
8."Somaliland will not join Somalia in another union because that would be like a rape victim asking to be raped again. Somaliland entered into a union with Somalia in 1960 and we left the union in 1991 that means we were in a union with Somalia for 31 long years, what do we in Somaliland have to show for that union? Nothing! Somaliland's little sunshine started to shine after its witdhrawal from the union. I rather stay with my sunshine and avoid the darkness.
9. "Somaliland will not join Somalia in another union because Mr. I-Want-A-Union-With-Somalia received 3% in the national referendum whereas Mr. I-want-Somaliland-To-Remain-Independent received 97% in the national referendum. In Somaliland there is no one that can go against the will of the people. Somaliland is a democracy not a warlordocracy like Somalia ----Somaliland Realist
10." To hell with the union! We have chosen independence if that choice can't be respected in some quarters and they choose to pick a fight with us then that is their choice but they should remember one thing: Somaliland is like a rubber ball, the harder you slam it into the ground the more force it will return with. Somaliland is always victorious in the end, we might loose a battle or two but we always win the war, always!-Somaliland Warrior
LONG LIVE THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF SOMALILAND!
LONG LIVE THE TERRITORRIAL INTEGRITY OF SOMALILAND!
LONG LIVE THE INDEPENDENCE OF SOMALILAND!
LONG LIVE THE UNITY OF SOMALILANDS PEOPLE!
LONG LIVE THE DEVELOPMENT AND PROSPERITY OF SOMALILAND!
GUUL IYO GOBANIMO!
ALLAH WEYN NINKI AAMINA AWOOD LEH!
Source: http://www.awdalnews.com/wmview.php?ArtID=5231/ April 17, 2005
Crime and Punishment
An example of this strange phenomenon is the attack on Awdalnews after it genuinely raised the long awaited question regarding crimes and punishment in connection with SNM and her supporters. This is an example of a society that is either in total denial or has accepted lawlessness and chaos as permanent replacement for the law and order that govern the rest of the world.
This reflects a character of a society that has been brain washed into accepting violence and crimes, with no consequences, as the norm of man's life. This attitude is a systematic mindset geared towards creating a public policy, where powerful criminals, such as the warlords in the south and the SNM in the north, go free and uncontested. What Awdalnews has attempted to do was to send across a message challenging this moral poverty public policy. Granted this is contrary to the norm--- and it is a different approach to this sad policy of suppressing the facts, but the facts are on the side of Awdalnews in this matter. They are taking a risk in challenging this culture of crime harboring; an enormous responsibility that others failed to shoulder.
Ironically, some of those who are attacking the Awdalnews are the same people who were supportive of Rayaale's government when the young girl from Puntland (Zamzam) was unlawfully put in jail in Hargeisa, where she went through inhumane ordeal in the hands of Hargeisa policemen. From the perspective of SNM supporters, Zamzam committed a crime against Somaliland that warranted the maltreatment she had received, however, the mention of SNM and the crimes that some of them have committed or at least contributed to, is, in their view, unacceptable and cannot be discussed. Increased repression and forceful rejection of the idea of creating truth finding peace and reconciliation commission are clear indications that these powerful elements and their blind loyalists intend to continue their dominance in order to avoid punishment for the crimes they have contributed to. The idea of creating human rights commission is not, in any way, to focus on how to put innocent people, SNM or otherwise, in jail. Enough reasonable evidence and credible witnesses have been gathered and an indictment must have been handed down by a grand jury before a person could be tried for a crime. However, this process has to start from somewhere in an attempt to help the society to heal its wounds, tend to the concerns of those who have reasonable grievances against these powerful elements, and in positive way, help to improve human rights in the region. This in turn would solve the problem of rather simmering anger, occasionally flaming civil discourse that gives rise to revenge-seeking-cycle of wars and steady violation of human rights in the region.
Why someone is against this approach of creating a civil society that appreciates peaceful coexistence is mind boggling; but then again, one may have skeletons hidden in their closets. It is a double standard in its worst form for the Somalilanders to present their cases when accusing both the past regime of Siyaad Barre and their brothers in the South for crimes allegedly committed against them, however, on the same breath, argue that no crimes could be brought against SNM supporters, who were responsible for the organized raids, killings and rape of innocent rural villages; or for the systematic attack on innocent, unarmed people fleeing to safety in and around Hargeisa. It is a dark history that no one is willing to take credit for it, however that won't make it go away unless the society deals with it.
The existing legal systems in our country today, function only when the victim is not strong enough and, in that in the absence of fair legal systems, victims have no other avenue to seek justices. To add insult to the injury, these victims face constant intimidation and threat from their perpetrators, who are not willing to pay any price for their criminal actions against humanity. Unresolved injustices and crimes against humanity, and the lack of acknowledgement or the unwillingness of this whole society to adopt justice systems, where no one is above the law, has created a situation where a curious holdover, a curse, if you may, and a deep social malaise from these injustices have sneaked in and taken a deep root in this unhappy community, that harbors criminals and treats them as heroes instead. The mention of crime and punishments makes one vulnerable for attacks and intimidation.
To the contrary, bringing a criminal to justice may, perhaps, shame that criminal and his supporters, but I believe, it does no harm to the society in the long run; so long people trust the law and make sure that there is a legal system that treats everyone accordingly. The question of reconciliation and the need for a truth finding commission proposed by the Awdalnews seems to have touched a nerve of some of SNM supporters, who, without blinking an eye, denied that SNM and their supporter have ever committed crimes against innocent people. Nonetheless, it is a question appealing to conscience, beyond emotions, of the public, politicians, the UN human rights office in the region, as well as to the SNM leadership to establish legal systems that could deal with these atrocities.
No one knows whether the process would produce satisfactory results, however, at the minimum, it will be the beginning of healing process. We all know that crime is heinous because the loss is so great, and that no remedy is possible; that one cannot restore the victim's life. Nor can one repay enough to satisfy those who lost their love one. It is, however, the beginning of a process to heal the society. It has been too long wait for the relatives of these victims, who are still wondering about when and how long before they hear from someone to help them bring their loss to closure. There is a sense of urgency now than ever, because witnesses may die or disappear, memory may lapse, records could be lost, and it is time this society, especially those in the leadership position, starts the process of reconciliation.
DO THE RIGHT THING. The Mighty God may even forgive you.
Ali Bahar, aib_1@yahoo.com
Source: http://somalilandcenter.com/ Apr-14-2005.
Somali National Movement.
Additionally, the SNM advocated a mixed economy and a neutral foreign policy, rejecting alignment with the Soviet Union or the United States and calling for the dismantling of all foreign military bases in the region. In the late 1980s, the SNM adopted a pro-Western foreign policy and favored United States involvement in a post-Siad Barre Somalia. Other SNM objectives included establishment of a representative democracy that would guarantee human rights and freedom of speech.
Eventually, the SNM moved its headquarters from London to Addis Ababa to obtain Ethiopian military assistance, which initially was limited to old Soviet small arms.
In October 1981, the SNM rebels elected Ahmad Mahammad Culaid and Ahmad Ismaaiil Abdi as chairman and secretary general, respectively, of the movement. Culaid had participated in northern Somali politics until 1975, when he went into exile in Djibouti and then in Saudi Arabia. Abdi had been politically ctive in the city of Burao in the 1950s, and, from 1965 to 1967, had served as the Somali government's minister of planning. After the authorities jailed him in 1971 for antigovernment activities, Abdi left Somalia and lived in East Africa and Saudi Arabia.
The rebels also elected an eight-man executive committee to oversee the SNM's military and political activities.
On January 2, 1982, the SNM launched its first military operation against the Somali government. Operating from Ethiopian bases, commando units attacked Mandera Prison near Berbera and freed a group of northern dissidents.
According to the SNM, the assault liberated more than 700 political prisoners; subsequent independent estimates indicated that only about a dozen government opponents escaped. At the same time, other commando units raided the Cadaadle armory near Berbera and escaped with an undetermined amount of arms and ammunition. Mogadishu responded to the SNM attacks by declaring a state of emergency, imposing a curfew, closing gasoline stations to civilian vehicles, banning movement in or out of northern Somalia, and launching a search for the Mandera prisoners (most of whom were never found).
On January 8, 1982, the Somali government also closed its border with Djibouti to prevent the rebels from fleeing Somalia. These actions failed to stop SNM military activities. In October 1982, the SNM tried to increase pressure against the Siad Barre regime by forming a jointmilitary committee with the SSDF. Apart from issuing antigovernment statements, the two insurgent groups started broadcasting from the former Radio Kulmis station, now known as Radio Halgan (struggle).
Despite this political cooperation, the SNM and SSDF failed to agree on a common strategy against Mogadishu. As a result, the alliance languished. In February 1983, Siad Barre visited northern Somalia in a campaign to discredit the SNM. Among other things, he ordered the release of numerous civil servants and businessmen who had been arrested for antigovernment activities, lifted the state of emergency, and announced an amnesty for Somali exiles who wanted to return home.
These tactics put the rebels on the political defensive for several months. In November 1983, the SNM Central Committee sought to regain the initiative by holding an emergency meeting to formulate a more aggressive strategy. One outcome was that the military wing--headed by Abdulqaadir Kosar Abdi, formerly of the SNA--assumed control of the Central Committee by ousting the civilian membership from all positions of power.
However, in July 1984, at the Fourth SNM Congress, held in Ethiopia, the civilians regained control of the leadership. The delegates also elected Ahmad Mahammad Mahamuud "Silanyo" SNM chairman and reasserted their intention to revive the alliance with the SSDF.After the Fourth SNM Congress adjourned, military activity in northern Somalia increased. SNM commandos attacked about a dozen government military posts in the vicinity of Hargeysa, Burao, and Berbera. According to the SNM, the SNA responded by shooting 300 people at a demonstration in Burao, sentencing seven youths to death for sedition, and arresting an unknown number of rebel sympathizers. In January 1985, the government executed twenty-eight people in retaliation for antigovernment activity.
Between June 1985 and February 1986, the SNM claimed to have carried out thirty operations against government forces in northern Somalia. In addition, the SNM reported that it had killed 476 government soldiers and wounded 263, and had captured eleven vehicles and had destroyed another twenty-two, while losing only 38 men and two vehicles. Although many independent observers said these figures were exaggerated, SNM operations during the 1985-86 campaign forced Siad Barre to mount an international effort to cut off foreign aid to the rebels.
This initiative included reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Libya in exchange for Tripoli's promise to stop supporting the SNM.Despite efforts to isolate the rebels, the SNM continued military operations in northern Somalia. Between July and September 1987, the SNM initiated approximately thirty attacks, including one on the northern capital, Hargeysa; none of these, however, weakened the government's control of northern Somalia. A more dramatic event occurred when a SNM unit kidnapped a Medecins Sans Frontieres medical aid team of ten Frenchmen and one Djiboutian to draw the world's attention to Mogadishu's policy of impressing men from refugee camps into the SNA. After ten days, the SNM released the hostages unconditionally. Siad Barre responded to these activities by instituting harsh security measures throughout northern Somalia. The government also evicted suspected pro-SNM nomad communities from the Somali-thiopian border region. These measures failed to contain the SNM. By February 1988, the rebels had captured three villages around Togwachale, a refugee camp near the northwestern Somali- Ethiopian border. Following the rebel successes of 1987-88, Somali-Ethiopian relations began to improve. On March 19, 1988, Siad Barre and Ethiopian president Mengistu Haile Mariam met in Djibouti to discuss ways of reducing tension between the two countries. Although little was accomplished, the two agreed to hold further talks. At the end of March 1988, the Ethiopian minister of foreign affairs, Berhanu Bayih, arrived in Mogadishu for discussions with a group of Somali officials, headed by General Ahmad Mahamuud Faarah.
On April 4, 1988, the two presidents signed a joint communique in which they agreed to restore diplomatic relations, exchange prisoners of war, start a mutual withdrawal of troops from the border area, and end subversive activities and hostile propaganda against each other. Faced with a cutoff of Ethiopian military assistance, the SNM had to prove its ability to operate as an independent organization.
Therefore, in late May 1988 SNM units moved out of their Ethiopian base camps and launched a major offensive in northern Somalia. The rebels temporarily occupied the provincial capitals of Burao and Hargeysa. These early successes bolstered the SNM's popular support, as thousands of disaffected Isaaq clan members and SNA deserters joined the rebel ranks. Over the next few years, the SNM took control of almost all of northwestern Somalia and extended its area of operations about fifty kilometers east of Erigavo. However, the SNM did not gain control of the region's major cities (i.e., Berbera, Hargeysa, Burao, and Boorama), but succeeded only in laying siege to them. With Ethiopian military assistance no longer a factor, the SNM's success depended on its ability to capture weapons from the SNA. The rebels seized numerous vehicles such as Toyota Land Cruisers from government forces and subsequently equipped them with light and medium weapons such as 12.7mm and 14.5mm machine guns, 106mm recoilless rifles, and BM-21 rocket launchers.
The SNM possessed antitank weapons such as Soviet B-10 tubes and RPG-7s. For air defense the rebels operated Soviet 30mm and 23mm guns, several dozen Soviet ZU23 2s, and Czech-made twin-mounted 30mm ZU30 2s. The SNM also maintained a small fleet of armed speed boats that operated from Maydh, fifty kilometers northwest of Erigavo, and Xiis, a little west of Maydh. Small arms included 120mm mortars and various assault rifles, such as AK-47s, M-16s, and G-3s. Despite these armaments, rebel operations, especially against the region's major cities, suffered because of an inadequate logistics system and a lack of artillery, mine-clearing equipment, ammunition, and communications gear.
To weaken Siad Barre's regime further, the SNM encouraged the formation of other clan-based insurgent movements and provided them with political and military support. In particular, the SNM maintained close relations with the United Somali Congress (USC), which was active in central Somalia, and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), which operated in southern Somalia. Both these groups sought to overthrow Siad Barre's regime and establish a democratic form of government. The USC, a Hawiye organization founded in 1989, had suffered from factionalism based on subclan rivalries since its creation. General Mahammad Faarah Aidid commanded the Habar Gidir clan, and Ali Mahdi Mahammad headed the Abgaal clan.
The SPM emerged in March 1989, after a group of Ogaden officers, led by Umar Jess, deserted the SNA and took up arms against Siad Barre. Like theUSC, the SPM experienced a division among its ranks. The moderates, under Jess, favored an alliance with the SNM and USC and believed that Somalia should abandon its claims to the Ogaden. SPM hardliners wanted to recapture the Ogaden and favored a stronger military presence along the Somali-Ethiopian border.
On November 19, 1989, the SNM and SPM issued a joint communique announcing the adoption of a "unified stance on internal and external political policy." On September 12, 1990, the SNM concluded a similar agreement with the USC. Then, on November 24, 1990, the SNM announced that it had united with the SPM and the USC to pursue a common military strategy against the SNA. Actually, the SNM had concluded the unification agreement with Aidid, which widened the rift between the two USC factions. By the beginning of 1991, all three of the major rebel organizations had made significant military progress. The SNM had all but taken control of northern Somalia by capturing the towns of Hargeysa, Berbera, Burao, and Erigavo. On January 26, 1991, the USC stormed the presidential palace in Mogadishu, thereby establishing its control over the capital.
The SPM succeeded in overrunning several government outposts in southern Somalia. The SNM-USC-SPM unification agreement failed to last after Siad Barre fled Mogadishu. On January 26, 1991, the USC formed an interim government, which the SNM refused to recognize.
On May 18, 1991, the Burao Congress, elders and representatives of the Clans of former Somaliland Protectorate met under the shades of Acacia trees. They agreed to separate from the Somali Democratic Republic, and on the 18/5/1991, the Independent and Sovereign State of the Republic of Somaliland was born once again declared the independence of the Republic of Somaliland. The USC interim government opposed this declaration, arguing instead for a unified Somalia. Apart from these political disagreements, fighting broke out Somalia.
SOMALIA: Northeast drought depletes food and livestock
The worst affected areas were Togdheer and Sool regions, Nudal valley and Mudug.
Some affected people in these areas had started moving to less affected regions and urban centres such as Las Anod, Bossaso, Garowe and Galkayo, the sources said.
Abdihakim Ahmed, a programme coordinator for Save the Children-US, told IRIN in the Somaliland capital, Hargeysa, that pastoral communities in the most severely affected areas had lost over half of their sheep and goats, 70 percent of their cattle and 35 percent of their camels.
Food stocks, he added, were virtually non-existent in some areas of Sool and Togdheer, and most traditional water points had dried up.
Abdi Ahmed Iidle, Mayor of Burao, Somaliland's second city, told reporters during a news conference on Sunday that the lack so far of the usual long (Gu) rains meant no recovery was expected soon.
He urged international relief agencies to send more aid, adding that several organisations were already trying to provide food, water and immunisation services.
The first signs of severe drought were reported in January 2004 in the Sool Plateau, which includes Sool and Sanag regions. An inter-agency assessment conducted in May 2004 found that the eastern Togdheer region was equally affected.
According to Somaliland officials, the Deyr (short) rains expected earlier this year had largely failed to materialise, except in areas along the border with Ethiopia, which had received some rain.
Somalia has, over the last four years, experienced partial or total rain failure, prolonging a dry spell that has eroded the traditional coping mechanisms of its predominantly pastoral population.
Relief workers said inter-clan conflicts, environmental degradation and the lack of a strong central government had also exacerbated long-term food insecurity in the country.
In March, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation warned that food shortages meant some areas of Somalia had reported malnutrition levels of more than 20 percent.
Source: http://www.apd1996.org/default.asp/ April 14, 2005
Academy For Peace And Development
Hargeysa, Somaliland. Phone: 00252-2-527759, 527755, 213-4882, 828-5610, E-mail: APD@APD1996.ORG
Background
The Academy for Peace and Development (APD) was established in 1999 as a research institute in collaboration with WSP International. Since inception, APD has been carrying out a peace building project by using a methodology of Participatory Action Research (PAR). APD has brought together many representatives of different sectors of Somaliland society to identify priorities in the process of rebuilding Somaliland. APD has been instrumental in facilitating dialogue in the issues of human rights, democracy and good governance.
APD's participatory methods encourage consensus building among key actors with respect to strategic political, social and economic issue, leading to practical, policy-oriented recommendations and guidelines.
Mission
The Academy is a center for excellence and leadership dedicated to the achievement of a more peaceful, just and prosperous society through: Research, Training, Dialogue and sharing of knowledge.
Objectives
APD is committed to promoting democracy and consensus decision making at the policy level by encouraging and supporting participation of citizens in the affairs of their lives. In this regard, the goal of APD is to empower Somaliland communities to peaceful change by providing with neutral venue to identify their issues and set priorities for response.
Research and Policy Formulation
- To provide a neutral forum for dialogue and to create the opportunities to discuss and address development and reconstruction issues of common concern to Somaliland society.
- To facilitate the process to collectively identify, set priorities and formulate policy options for the challenges of development and rehabilitation of the country.
- To assist key stakeholders including :Somaliland Government, International community, donor agencies and local actors to better respond to the challenges of re-building the nation by providing them with relevant information on critical issues, seeking consensus on their interventions and facilitating their responses and effects.
Management Team
The Academy consists of a core programme staff or researchers, management team and advisory board. The management team is responsible for setting the vision and strategic direction of the center and forms the basis for the decision making of the organization.
The advisory board of APD ensures the Academy to represent the interest of the community and that their diverse voice is reflected at the centre's programmes and activities. The advisory board compromises of Somaliland professionals living in the country.
Partnerships
The Academy for Peace and Development is an affiliate of the WSP International and enjoys linkages with other members of then WSP family in Eritrea, Guatemala, Mozambique and Somalia (Southern Somalia and NE Somalia)
The Academy is also a partner with Center for Community-Based Development at Clark University, a member of the George Perkins Institute (Clarks Research Center)
The Academy enjoys close relations with the Universities of Amoud and Hargeisa, and envisions for partnerships with both in the future.
Source: http://www.wsp-international.org/ Aprl 14 2005
WSP Somali Dialogue for Peace project
The overall aim of the project is to create conditions conducive to community-based reconciliation in Somalia through organized in-country dialogues on issues essential to peacebuilding, thereby contributing to the overall peace and recovery process. More specifically, the Dialogue for Peace is intended to facilitate the implementation in southern Somalia and Puntland of any peace agreement arising from the Somali National Reconciliation Conference, by drawing attention to key concerns - including challenges to peace - likely to emerge from the state-building process. In Somaliland, the Dialogue is aimed at consolidating peace and stability, while facilitating the complex process of democratization through elections, the implementation of constitutional democracy and decentralization.
The Dialogue for Peace consists of four phases. The first, a preparatory phase, entailed the setting up of research teams and support staff for the affiliates and apprising them of all aspects of the Dialogue. The second step was the preliminary research phase or conflict- and actor-mapping conducted by affiliate separately. This exercise brought forth "entry points" or focus areas and culminated in meetings in Hargeysa and Nairobi towards the end of 2004. These Project Group meetings brought together representatives of a broad cross-section of society, who took ownership of the Dialogue exercise and will henceforth lend direction to it.
In the main, or consultative, phase of research, which is now under way, working groups with relevant and technical experience will identify the key needs for each entry point and develop action plans to address and resolve those needs. To this purpose, consultations will be held with community representatives, civil society organizations, members of the business community and political leaders.
http://www.awdalnews.com/wmview.php?ArtID=5209April 14, 2005
Part II: ANN Editorial: An Out of Bounds and Obsolete Call for Undesired Mambo Dance
Flashback:
You may recall that Somalilanders nipped the problem in the bud early on after the victorious Somali National Movement (SNM) and its intrepid freedom fighters defeated the tyrannical military regime of Somalia and went out of their way to conduct themselves responsibly and in a civilized and humane manner when they immediately:
Offered safe passage to the defeated soldiers of the tyrannical Somalia regime who heeded their call to lay down their arms and to surrender peacefully. Vigorously defended the helpless Somalia civilians particularly women and children and the elderly, safeguarded their properties, and offered them safe passage to relocate to their country of origin peacefully.
Guaranteed all Somalilanders peace and security, protection of personal properties, and safeguarding of human rights to all regardless of their tribal affiliation.
Maintained law and order at all costs without threatening or violating the rights of the country's minority clans /former adversaries as long as they were not armed or hostile or pose danger to the rest of the citizenry, national cause, and existence of the country.
Immediately embarked on the protection and integration of the minority clans, conducted genuine confidence building measures, put in place effective societal harmonization processes, facilitated various peace negotiations with each minority clan, and when the time was ripe it quickly seized on the opportunity to convene the historic National Reconciliation Conference in Burao City in 1991, where all ethnic groups of Somaliland and their Political leaders, Traditional leaders and Elders, Religious leaders, Intellectuals, and Youth and Women, and Others were represented. Integrated the minority clans at all levels of political, economic, and social fields.
In fact, the National Reconciliation Conference in Burao City was a complete success, a great achievement, and a source of pride for all Somalilanders, wherever they may be. This conference had on the outset desensitized the problem, tackled the core issues skillfully, and resolved them thoroughly in an honest, amicable, and unique manner. In addition, it is at this conference, where the now famous statement was declared as well as where the lost independence of Somaliland was restored, and where all the ethnic groups presented there were the signatories. Although this important and historic conference achieved its purpose, it is important to state here that it was followed by several other National Reconciliation Conferences such as The Borame Conference in 1993, which tackled demobilization and disarmament of the SNM freedom fighters that saw the successful end of the guerilla rule and return to civilian rule and implementation of the key nation building issues; the Hargeysa Conference in 1997, which further sealed earlier reconciliation processes and tackled significant nation building issues.
Unfortunately, it is these same SNM in which the author of this distasteful, misleading, and provocative editorial is trying to denigrate their heroism and sweep their achievements under the rugs and shamelessly trying to portray them in bad faith. This author has unashamedly chosen to attack them, malign their achieves, and to disparage their cause, their long and bitter freedom and independence struggle, their heroism, and their martyrdom.
Worse of all, it is these SNM heroes in which the author of the disgusting editorial is arrogantly trying to depict them as being a bunch of fighters without sound cause, criminals and attempts to further belittle them with unfounded allegations as quoted below:
- "The SNM was born out of bent-up anger, frustration, humiliation and disrespect for human dignity and human life."
- "The formation of the movement, therefore, came into being in the heat of the moment and was mostly driven by emotion rather than by a well-laid political vision and national agenda."
- "Like any liberation movement with thousands of fearless, trigger-happy and adrenaline-thrilled youth in its ranks.it was futile to expect it to respect the rules of war and refrain from committing excess."
- "It is time to re-examine, analyze, and re-evaluate the rights and wrongs of the SNM."
- "It is high time that the former SNM commanders and supporters have to acknowledge the ugly crimes committed in the name of the movement in the same way they celebrate its good deeds."
- "It is time to admit that SNM had.its crimes and its share of responsibility for the plight of hundreds of thousands of Somalilanders, destructions and annihilation of whole towns and villages and killing of hundreds of innocent farmers, businessmen, poets, intellectuals, elders, religious men, and women and children for the crime of belonging to ant-SNM clans."
- ".the former SNM commanders and fighters should also be courageous enough to remember the victims of the movement and should reach out to the women who were widowed, the mothers who lost their beloved sons and daughters and the children who were orphaned or maimed in the name of the SNM."
- "One wonders whether it ever occurred to the former SNM commanders and fighters that as much as its music for their ears to be called Mujahids, hearing such description may be loathsome to the victims of the SNM."
- ".can anyone deny the fighters of other clans who fought against the SNM militias in defense of their honor, their property and their existence to be decorated heroes and Mujahids of their concerned clans."!!
- "The former SNM commanders and fighters love to claim sainthood by repeatedly reminding their former adversaries that they have extended to them an amnesty blanket and have forgiven them for taking the gun against the freedom fighters. The question that former SNM fighters forget to ask themselves is `who has forgiven who?'"
Finally, the author of the inciting editorial concluded his unfounded allegations by stating: "It is time that Somaliland establishes a Truth and Reconciliation Committee in the style of the famous South African one and bring those who committed crimes in the name of the SNM and those of other clans who committed crimes in the name of defending tribal pride to face rule of law. It is also high time to give the victims of both sides the chance to have their stories heard before a neutral court. Only in this way would all Somalilanders embrace the legacy of the SNM beyond its present tribal confines."!!
The above statements say it all. It is clear that we are dealing here with a wretched, self-righteous, arrogant, pro-Administration, pro-Riyaale, anti-SNM, anti-Isaaq, and anti-Somaliland media outlet and individuals who do not have the decency not to rub salt on the still raw and painful wounds of the millions of Somalilanders. As a result, we are hereby strongly condemning the inciting editorial and urge the Awdal News Network and its editors to retract it without any delay and to refrain from such allegations in the future, which are clearly a disservice to our people and cause of Somaliland.
We do not know what has compelled the Awdal News Network to raise this inciting issue or to misrepresent the facts or to mislead its readers at this juncture of Somaliland state of affairs or what is in it for them to try and open a can of worms by calling for an absurd, irrelevant, and superficial "reconciliation" process, knowing very well that we had our own successful, effective, and genuine reconciliation processes in the 1990's and knowing that if what they are trying to advocate happens they and their ethnic group will be the sore losers since they will not be able to handle the scale or magnitude of the horrible crimes against humanity they committed against the people of Gabiley District, let alone other areas of the country. Whatever their motives and agenda, these are serious issues that are subject to further and analysis.
Farah Ali Jama Ottawa, Canada, fjama022@uottawa.ca
Source: Hadhwanaagnews Editorial.April/12/05
SNM Under Attack.
One SNM fighter cried out loud in early 1991 when he was stopped to pursue the remnants of the Faqash regime hiding out in Borame. His deep emotional wounds and scars were fresh. He lamented how his vengeance has been compromised. Until he has forgiven them recently, he believed that all his looted possessions were used to build the city of Borame and wanted to get them back by force.
What he didn't recognize at the time was the notion of swallowing hard the pain and the suffering for the sake of a new era of coexistence. The vision of our leadership at the time, including SNM commanders, was clear: To take the path of peace however difficult it may have been. That was the foundation of today's Somaliland. Was their decision wise or was it a premature? History is beginning to unfold the fruits of that eleventh hour action.
SNM was defending defenseless civilians against the national army with the support of all Somalis including Awdalites. It is time to pay tribute to the falling heroes and stop haunting them in their graves.
As a Somalilander, today is the era of writing the history of your people and the pen is the weapon of choice. Get on the wagon and defend the integrity of your saviors.
Barbarkay ka Baxdaa waa Bakayle Qaleen.
Source: Somaliland Net, Apr 12 2005
Total Red Sea to demolish Berbera Sea Oil Bridge Platform
This is clearly a financial move for Total red sea to decommissioned the oil bridge platform, to avoid the cost of repair and maintenance of the bridge, The bridge Platform which was due to be repaired and upgraded now will be demolish, Total red sea will start constructing two Underwater Pipelines.
Total Red Sea who took over all fuel storage depots at Berbera port. Apart from the management, Total Red Sea is also allowed to import oil and store it in the depots. National oil firms that used to meet the country's oil importation needs will require to rent the depots from Total at prices higher than the applicable rates.
Total spent $3.5m refurbishing the territory's oil storage facility at Berbera in exchange for a monopoly on oil supply and distribution for 50 years. But Total officials complain they have to put up with the obstacles of non-recognition: they find it impossible to obtain insurance for their personnel and equipment and shipments into Berbera are covered by the high war insurance rates applicable to the rest of Somalia.
Total red sea is said to be expecting the large machinery to carry out the operation of demolishing the Sea Oil Bridge platform in the middle of this month.
The source also confirmed that private jet carrying officials from Total Red Sea, landed in Berbera Airport yesterday, the official then were escorted to Total fuel storage depots facility.
Approximately about 5:30 local Berbera time, Total official were departed to waiting private jet.
Source: www.qarannews.com/ Apr 11 2005
Gabiley is deserted by her children
Gabiley is number two just behind Berbera in revenues. Its problem is all its revenues are channelled to Hargeisa by vision-less, corruptive and lackey locals(Guulwadayaal) so-called politicians.
Gabiley is a sleepy giant, if it wakes up only God knows what a tremendous striking development it will achieve in a short period of time.
Mr. Adam, Gabiley has one long standing chronic problem, her young, educated, vibrant and energetic offspring frequently moves out either to Hargeisa or elsewhere, leaving Gabiley behind with its old uneducated population. To develop our home town every Somalilander, hailing from Gabiley should go back to Gabiley ( as Awdalites do in Borama) and contribute a thing or two.
One more point, Gabiley should be recognized as a region (GOBOL) by her people. We, the people of Gabiley should announce Gabiley as "GOBOLKA GABILEY". From now on wards I recognize Gabiley as a region, Tog Wajaale, Allaybadey, Arabsiyo and [ X.....] are districts. I NOT only wish but I demand all like minded, serious Gabileans to to do the same thing. For Gabiley has the population, local resources to nourish and maintain this status. In Somaliland's first presidential vote, Gabiley beat Sahil, Sanaag and Sool in one-man one vote voting procedure. Waiting somebody else to recognize Gabiley as a region is a weakness and an insult in my opinion. Somaliland recognized by herself no other international entity recognized her as an independent sovereign country yet in the last fourteen years. Gabileans should do the same thing.
When we Gabileans recognize Gabiley as a region then sixty-five percent or more of her revenues should be allotted to development and administration purposes. NO MORE HAND OUTS, WHO WISHES TO BE A LOSER?
Mohamoud H. Nugidoon, Ottawa, CANADA, mgabiley@yahoo.ca, April 9, 2005.
http://www.awdalnews.com/wmview.php?ArtID=5209April 12, 2005
The 24th Anniversary of the SNM
First, I was introduced to the initiation and founding of the SNM in 1980 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia by Dr. Abdisalaan Mohamoud Yasin, Mahamed Yusuf Artan, and Ahmed Zaki Gulaid (Seylaci). According to one of the founders, Mohamoud Yusuf Artan is the real founder who came up with the idea of initiating an opposition party that challenges the Siyad regime. Mohamed Artan sold his idea to his roommates, Ahmed Zaki Gulaid, Abdillahi Ahmed Abdi, Mohamoud Zaidi, and Abdi Dirir. After having few meetings with them Mohamed Hashi Handuleh and Abdi Ali Hussien were persuaded to join. The third group that joined was Dr. Abdisalaan Mohamoud Yasin and Dr. Sacad Sh. Osman Nur from Riyadh too. The fourth group that joined was Musa Adan Wadaadiid, Ahmed Egeh of Dahran, Mohamed Hashi Elmi, Omer Meygag Samater and Hassan Musa Sh. Harun of Jidda.
Hassan Adan Waadiid, Mohamed Isamail Abdi and Ahmed Jimacaale were members who joined later than those others.
Each person was assigned to call his relatives and friends and spread the word. Meetings were held. Fund raisings started in different parts of Saudi Arabia.
I happen to be in Riyadh and I participated some of these meetings. At the end of 1980 a big meeting was held in Jeddah. The decision to publicly announce and open office in London was reached. That decision came to reality on April 6, 1981.
Mohamed Yusuf Artan's vision was to raise the awareness of the oppression and miscarriage of justice that was going in the Northern regions of Somalia. If diplomacy does not work to go armed struggle till we free our people from the grip of the Siyad's ruthless regime. Secondly, it is sad ,that, I, rarely, see these names anywhere that the founders of the SNM are mentioned. As we all know, many people who claim to be well informed throw names in many websites. If one pays attention to a writer name and the persons one is trying to make a name for one may find some tribal linkage between the two. We all remember the story that Siyad's name was added to the names of the SYL founders. Can any believe? I am not making this up. I read somewhere that one eluded or even argued that he knows for fact that Mohamed Ibrahim Egal contributed and had in put in the creation of SNM.
Lastly, I am requesting everyone who is posting articles on Awdalnews.com or on any other websites about any segment of the history of Somalia ,in general, or the history of Somaliland, in particular, please. to be as objective as humanly possible. Sulieman Egeh and I had our exchanges in the ISRAACA forum. Sulieman, all I could say about your late line of arguments is," Here you go again." That phrase was coined by President Ronald Reagan 1980 debate.
In conclusion, I for one, I am on record and I am going to be on record again saying, "Anyone who committed atrocities against any Somali in the name of solely one's tribe, the least, I could do is to disassociate and disown that person even if that persons happens to be my dad or sibling. That may not be possible if one is in Somaliland, but being in America, I have the luxury to do so." It is fair and I am for holding every person accountable to his/her deeds. Guilt by association is not acceptable. For Isaaqs to blame every Darod or any other Somali tribe for whatever grievance one had against the Siyad regime and others to blame every Isaaq for whatever grievance one had against some SMN members.
Abdi Goud Musa Connecticut, USA, fadhiid@cox.net
http://www.awdalnews.com/wmview.php?ArtID=5209April 12, 2005
Part I: ANN Editorial: An Out of Bounds and Obsolete Call for Undesired Mambo Dance
In response to this editorial, it is important to clarify on the outset some of the issues contained therein. For one, this is Somaliland and not South Africa. Second, what happened in South Africa is neither similar nor comparable to what happened in Somaliland. For example, in South Africa there existed a centuries old foreign European colonialism as well as a state sanctioned Apartheid System that sought to systematically segregate, oppress, dehumanize, and annihilate all non-white peoples in all ways and means particularly the Black African peoples who greatly suffered and perished by the millions under this evil and barbarian power; while in Somaliland, there existed a homebred Somali tyrannical military regime supported by all the other Somali Clans such as Darood, Hawiye, Digil and Mirifle, Samaroon, etc., who mainly oppressed, killed en masse, and attempted to ethnically cleanse a segment of their brethren Somalis particularly the Isaaq Clan, the majority clan in Somaliland. Third, your call for "A Truth and Reconciliation Committee in Somaliland," an emulation of the South African reconciliation model is an out of bounds and obsolete call for un desired Mambo dance, an old rhumbalike ballroom dance, for the following reasons:
a) The South African reconciliation model is not superior to the Somaliland reconciliation model. In addition, the so-called Truth and Reconciliation Committee, which was chaired by Bishop Desmond Tutu, did not heal the South Africans problem at all.
b) Neither did the Truth and Reconciliation Committee hear and resolve all the cases of evil crimes perpetuated in the country by the White regime and their cohorts against the other ethnic groups nor did it hear and resolve cases related to the retaliatory measures by the ANC freedom fighters and their supporters against both the White Settlers as well as the indigenous peoples who sought to side with the enemy, at the time, considered an outright betrayal of the cause and sufferings of their peoples.
c) Rather than conducting a full and meaningful reconciliation process, the Truth and Reconciliation Committee sadly resorted to an emotionally filled half measure "reconciliation" process that seemed to be intended only for the records, propaganda, and some sort perceived "healings" since it chose to hear or preside over a few cases that were apparently paraded before the cameras for the world to witness. However, what the world saw and heard during the short tenure of this committee were a few cases of some White crime perpetrators and their few tearful and down trodden Black victims or vise visa.
d) The Committee mainly confined itself to hearing some individual cases or crimes that occurred during the Apartheid era and not the crimes committed during the centuries old colonial barbarism and crimes against humanity, which were committed by the same Whites against the Black populace such as the uncountable massacres of the Bushmen in the country side who were hunted and gunned down in a so-called hunting sport since they were considered to be similar to game or wildlife! Will the White man's acknowledgement and acceptance of Bushmen as now being humans and not part of the animal kingdom or wildlife ever heal their wounds? What will then, heal them?
The above stated issues are, but a tip of the iceberg and these denotes that the Truth and Reconciliation Committee itself with its dramatic and emotional hearings was superficial process that had some serious shortcomings, which probably did not do anything to alleviate the pain and sufferings of the victims, let alone healing and reconciling them. It is common knowledge that these hearings did not entirely resolve the problem at hand or heal the still raw wounds or erase the sufferings encountered by the people of South Africa over the centuries. But in the nick of time when they became victorious and achieved the liberation of their people and country, rather than to exercise their God given rights to get even with those who caused them the untold pains and sufferings or to seek revenge, they chose not to do, restrained themselves, and had the wisdom to seek reconciliation and to conduct their affairs in a cool headed and peaceful manner. And in the end they were successful even though they had to swallow pride and expectations and embarked to nurse their psychological and physical wounds on their own, and moved on in the interest of the country's independence, peace, and unity.
For these reasons and many more, it is evident that the Truth and Reconciliation Committee was a flawed and ineffective cosmetic process that lacked depth and significance. There is no doubt that the country lacked the capacity, resources, and time to fully tackle and justly resolve all the evil crimes that took place during the Apartheid era, let alone what took place during the British and Boer colonial eras. That is why they had no choice other than to "reconcile" in the way they did, if peace and unity is to be attained.
Whatever the case, the South Africans did it their own way and "reconciled" on their own, an achievement they and the international community are certainly proud of since peace, unity, and stability has prevailed in the country ever since over all other challenges. But is the so-called Truth and Reconciliation Committee worth to be emulated by other nations or societies? Aren't there other superior and more successful indigenous reconciliation methods such as the one in Somaliland?
On the other hand, as stated earlier, what happened in Somaliland is not similar or comparable to what happened in South Africa. In addition, what happened in Somaliland particularly to the Isaaq Clan can be equated to what happened to the Jews, Armenians, Bosnians, etc., and can be categorized in this manner:
1) Crimes Committed against the Somaliland people by the tyrannical military regime of Somalia, which was led by Fascist Siad Bare and their cohorts such as their tribal militias and other supporters, and 2) Crimes committed against the people of Somaliland by their own brethrens particularly the Harti, Samaroon, Issa, and Gabooye of Somaliland who were, at the time, staunch supporters of the tyrannical Somalia military regime and its cohorts and other supporters who were known to be anti-SNM, anti-Isaaq Clan, and on the wrong side of history during the long and bitter liberation struggle of Somaliland.
For the first point, rest assured that Somalilanders are still to this day in pursuance of the foreign Somalia culprits. God willing, these evil war criminals will be brought to justice before an international War Crimes Tribunal for their fascism and for their barbarism and for the evil crimes against humanity, which they committed against the innocent people of Somaliland such as the untold permanent state of repression, injustices, day light robberies, lootings, arbitrary arrests, imprisonments, unjust capital punishments by way of firing squads, disappearances of the innocents, tortures, rapes, massacres, ethnic cleansing, bombardment of the countries major population centres such as the larger cities, villages, and the nomadic herdsmen settlements -- a scorch earth policy intended to exterminate the entire Isaaq Clan by all ways and means.
As for the second point, after achieving the sweet victory and liberating people and the country, we too did not embark on revenging on those who caused havoc and sufferings in the land. We knew on the outset that we did not have the capacity, resources, and time to tackle all the individual evil crimes and horrors that were perpetuated by the local tribal militias and their supporters against their own people particularly during 1981 to 1990.
As a result, we too had the wit and wisdom to realize the need for maintaining peace, starting a reconciliation process, and to restore the independence and statehood of Somaliland. Therefore, rather than presiding over a few cases or parading a few crime perpetrators and their badly hurt victims, we chose to tackled and resolve the problem on the basis of our culture, traditions and customs, and religion. Unlike in South Africa, it is commendable that we in Somaliland, resolved the problem by simply stating that "Let all that had happened on that side be swept away by floods, and Let all that had happened on this side be swept away by the winds, " and offered a blanket amnesty to the perpetrators of these evil crimes and their entire tribes who were, at the time, on the wrong side of history during the long and bitter armed struggle against the tyrannical military regime of Siad Bare and his tribal militias and other supporters. So what is better than that? Isn't the Somaliland reconciliation model more honest, effective, and superior to the South African reconciliation model? If so, why then disregard, denigrade, and call for a foreign reconciliation model as if we had never reconciled at all? Who has not reconciled with others and still harbours tribal animosity?
Farah Jama, fjama022@uottawa.ca
http://www.awdalnews.com/wmview.php?ArtID=5209April 12, 2005
MR. President : Sack the Interior Minister
The raid itself was allegedly carried out on the orders of one Mr. Ismail Adan Osman, Minister of Internal Affairs. The shenanigans of this particularly dim-witted character epitomises just how serious the brain drain has affected the fibre of the nation. The focus of the massive unannounced invasion of the opposition party's offices was to seize a radio station that dares to criticise the UDUB government. The only problem is that the irksome Radio station is based in Helsinki Finland not Hargeisa Somaliland! After searching the premises and finding nothing, the heavily armed police systematically removed everything from paper files to the opposition leader's reading glasses just in case a miniaturised version of the offending radio is hidden in them! They then turned their attention to a laptop being used by one of the party's officers claiming that the broadcasts were indeed being beamed from this gadget. They only left after radio started broadcasting from, well, Helsinki.
The whole affair was so amateurish it is enough to make one believe that perhaps this is the government's idea of providing entertainment for a bored populace starved of all leisure activities except for the suicidal evening munch on debilitating Qat leaves. Had Mr. Osman and his men bothered to consult with the government controlled Radio Hargeisa technicians on the basics of broadcasting technology before launching their massive onslaught, they might have discovered that it is mightily difficult to broadcast from reading glasses! World technology has reached dizzying heights but it did not manage that feat yet.
But one has to stop the guffawing for a second and look at the serious issues involved here. This is a government minister ordering a raid on a legal political party without seeking a warrant or getting any court orders. He used men from the elite Special Protection Unit, a force formed to fight terrorism in the country not to seek radio stations hidden in laptops. There were at least a dozen government vehicles using fuel paid for by the state. There were civil servants from the Prison Services, only God and Mr. Osman knows why. In other words public funds and resources were being wasted to quench the madcap personal vendettas of this incompetent man who spends most of his ministerial time on needlessly attacking an admittedly snobbish but revered opposition leader because of deep-seated inferiority complex the hapless minister harbours vis-.-vis the political giant that Silanyo undoubtedly is.
President Riyale has so far demonstrated he is a fairly capable politician confounding those who so underestimated his skills when he came to power 4 odd years ago. He might lack the charm and the intellectual depth of the urbane opposition leader Mr. Silanyo, but his street fighting skills has been amply on show during the recent crisis over the parliamantry elections. For sure his failures are many and his dictatorial bent abhorrent but he held the nation together despite bullying from Kulmiye heavyweights and clannist demands for more seats from all regions including howls of betrayal from his own clan in Awdal. One weak point he must now address is his inability to sack ministers who over-step the mark. Mr. Osman has been doing this for years without ever being chastised or questioned over his misuse of meagre national resources. It is high time to show some mettle and sack this embarrassment of a minister.
Guled Ismail, halyey@btopenworld.com
http://www.jamhuuriya.info/ Apr 11 2005/ Apr 12 2005
A glimpse at snm struggle and triumph
SNM struggle was a story of a people rejected the (thulum) wrong and fought for the (alxaq) right, for justice and equality, and for the dignity of all citizens and their rights and freedoms.
It was a story of resistance and perseverance, of patience and persistence.
I was a story of great sacrifice in blood and property
It was a story of great reconciliation, cooperation and reconstruction
It was a great story of liberation and rebirth of a nation, the second Republic.
The occupied power, the regime of Siyad Barri and its boundless neo-fascistic and clanistic behavior and conduct targeted against an ethnic group-Somalilanders, who has done nothing but sought their God given rights, freedoms and respect. However, that angered the targeted Somalilanders. The arrogant clan driven entity of Barre, inversely helped the pressure cooker to explode at last, thus SNM (Somali national movement) popularly known as the "S" was born. It was so born as a result of that popular revolt.
The movement was officially announced in April 6,1981 in London, England. Although a less publicized Military wing group called "Afraad" was in operation and militarily engaged with then Somali government driven and backed "Daaroud of the Absami sub-clans" militia in the said area. The [original] Afraad group was formed and was operating in the western portions of Somaliland a year or so before the announcement of SNM in London. The group immediately became the cell of the military wing of SNM then.
The movement soon organized itself in a people's fighting force through out the border with Ethiopia in the Houd and the Reserved Area. The main thrust and center of the movements motivation and conviction of a victory in their favour against the mightiest army in the block was that they were wronged to the extend that the government put a plan of extermination, and or expulsion and then replacement with the favoured Darood clans in their home land-Somaliland! That was a policy of `Displacement and Replacement
The Barre regime expelled the Somaliland issaks from their homes in defiance of right! The people's movement believed that Allah was on their side, on the side of the oppressed, therefore clinched to what Allah said, "To those whom war is made, permission is given to fight back because they are wronged and verily Allah is most powerful for their aid they are those who have been expelled from their homes in defiance of right"- (Al haj.30-40)
SNM was independent and free from any foreign influence including the host country, Ethiopia. Strange as it seems to many, but that was the truth!
The authoritarian deeds had more human devastation and socio-economic consequences than authoritarian thought. It is obviously likely that the later breaded the former. In any case, destruction and human misery was the end result.
In the cities and towns a plan of mass murder and terror to kick out the Isaqs was executed and engaged by the army in an indiscriminate manner. This operation was solely run and executed by the notorious terrorist military unit known as the "Dabargoonta Isaqa" - annihilation of the Isaq clan! Others of non-Darood clans jumped on the wagon. The regime encouraged the collaborators by different means and methods e.g.: paying their elders cash and kind. New regions were rewarded for that reason and slices of Isaq lands were included in the newly formed regions to entice the collaborator's wishes further. "Buki and Sool" respectively were a down payment in their collaboration with the "Afwaini" regime in its war against Isaqs. Some smaller sub-clans with no down payments amounted to land acquisition also jumped on the wagon of the devil too! In this sadistic endeavor of destroying people, it was everyone against one [Isaqas]!
Afwaine's main objective was to wipe out the Isaqs, win the war, and then turn Hargeisa and other places like Tugwajali plateau and Arabsyo into an Ogadin and Absami settlements! However, that satanic project had failed, because of SNM!
SNM defeated the Siyad Barre Military power
"If Allah helps you, none can overcome you: If he forsakes you, who is there, after that, that can help you? In Allah, then let believers put their trust" (Al Omran #160).
No question, Allah helped the SNM in their determination and resistance for their existence. They put their trust in him. Allah full of knowledge and wisdom had forsaken the injustice, the Afwainists. It was the wish of the Lord that the strongest and well-equipped army of "AF" was destroyed and defeated by little SNM! It was a symbol, an example of determination of a people not to give up their God given rights to exist and prosper in their homeland with dignity. `Nor can goodness and evil be equal".
In another front, what to do with the surrendered, defeated army and the communities who collaborated with the defeated army was in heated discussion in both the SNM - circles and the "Guurte"-community and religious leaders. It was a decisive moment for the victorious Isaqs to choose the right over the wrong, wisdom and passion over anger and revenge.
People were reminded how and why they defeated the strongest army in the region. Because, they were right and the occupied power was wrong. That they were wronged and "verily Allah is most powerful for their aid." Because they were expelled from their homes in defiance of the right, therefore they asked themselves this: "Are we to do to (defeated army and communities collaborated) them, what they have done to us?" If so (we do) we would be devils and criminals, such as they were! Therefore, we the people and the (SNM) organization decided and hereby forgive to those who may have killed, raped, robbed and brought mischievous to the land. Those, who were against us, in collective community level, (Individuals may be dealt individually) because we are stronger now, we must be humble, SNM confessed her self this notion. Arrogance is the devils vice. Arrogance and vengeances were put to break. We must fulfill the covenant of Allah, which we have entered into it, and break not our oaths, after we have confirmed them. Indeed, in this way, we have made Allah our surety. He knows all that we do. Arrogance and vengeance must be overcome. We were victims; we must not create victims no matter of the past atrocities! We must remind ourselves the wisdom and courage of forgiveness, especially when one is in a favourable situation". SNM wisely made the decision and communities were called in to one fold again as brothers and sisters.
The ultimate reconciliation both in self and with the adverse communities
Allah said, "Those who approach you with hearts restraining them from fighting you or fighting their own people. If he is pleased he could have given them power over you, and they would have fought you. Therefore if they withdraw from you, but fight you not and instead send you guarantees of peace, then Allah hath opened no way for you to war against them. (Alnisa #90) And that SNM followed
The defeated army minus a lot of weapons and equipment were given an exit route southwards, where they came from after all. Some food and water were given.
The reconciled communities who live in Somaliland took part in all the activities of national significance. So difficult, it may seem to some of the communities in question, they received a brotherly hand, not a bullet, forgiveness and cooperation, not a quagmire of blood and blunder. The Book of Allah was followed here.
Allah said "Nor can goodness and evil be equal. Repel evil with what is better, then will he between whom and thee was hated become as it were thy friends and intimate. And no one will be granted such goodness except those who exercise patience and self-restraint - none but persons of the greatest good fortune." (Fossilat #34 and 35)
The enemies of yesterday became the partners of the day and of to day, so soon a time that no one ever expected! People moved to the main target, the establishment of a government that invites Justice, Equality, and Human Dignity. One, which dispels what all the "Afwainists", stood for. Injustice.
Co-existence and cooperation, among all communities in Somaliland took effect. A government of all communities for them and of them was established. Somaliland Republic was proclaimed in May 18, 1991 in the city of Burao.
Are we on the right track, helping our selves and moving a head as supposed to be after all that sacrifice and endeavor? Well, that is a different question, a different ball game, for a different page of history to put it in perspective, however peace.
http://www.awdalnews.com/wmview.php?ArtID=5209April 12, 2005
The ANN's Article on SNM: A Fallacy!
And in fact the ANN's article does not elucidate who should be reconciled with who in the form of South African's reconciliation if such committee it suggests was set up in Somaliland other than merely depicting SNM fighters as potential war criminals. And, however well the author tries to portray himself as a good gesture for raising the issue of reconciliation among Somaliland citizens, particularly former SNM fighters and its adversaries or presumably the author's tribe, his article lacks substance of evidence of SNM committed crimes against unarmed none-supporters and that makes his article a fallacious accusation that will not bring comfort to those he claims they had being victimized during the conflict, nearly two decades ago. It is tempting to say that the ANN's article is a timing with SNM's anniversary, but it is so grotesque to suggest that SNM has questions to answer and those who were in the ranks of former Barre's regime and some of them are now in power in Somaliland have nothing to admit. But that article not only it misleads those who applaud ANN's editorial articles, but also it deludes those who might think it is a good idea to spearhead the notion of criminalizing former SNM fighters or the suggestive of the time the SNM to `admit' what the author of the article described as `SNM crimes' by doggedly drawing a picture of former SNM fighters lurking to be brought to justice for taking arms against the brutal regime, in which the majority of Awdals were defending then.
Alas, the ANN's article doesn't seek our comprehension, but instead it is full of fallacies, as its statements imply. However; the author of the article could explain in detail what he means by ".... For a Truth and Reconciliation committee." and/or who needs a such committee? And whom does he mean the former SNM commanders or fighters to reconcile with; does he mean the members and the defenders of Barre's atrocious regime that came to an abrupt end with the SNM assault? Who else the SNM fought against? Does he include finding the truth about the Awdals admitting that they looted the cities like Hargiesa when its residents deserted in fear and if they still have on their untouched houses in Borama town the roofs and the households they looted? But one should bear in mind that simply calling SNM to come forward and admit crimes probably never being carried out under the orders of the SNM commanders is an invitation of re-visiting the chapter that we put behind us and no doubt that Daahir Riyaale, the Somaliland's president will not dare to advocate to re-open that chapter.
Abdillahi Ali -- abdillahima@hotmail.com
Source: somaliland.org/ Apr 11 2005
IMPEACH RAYALE NOW
TO: CHAIRMAN, HOUSE OF ELDERS, HARGEISA, SOMALILAND.
TO: CHAIRMAN, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, HARGEISA, SOMALILAND.
RE: IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT RAYALE
We the undersigned Somalilanders in the Diaspora do hereby call for the impeachment of the President of the Republic of Somaliland, Dahir Rayale Kahin, because of his utter ineptitude and his dishonesty regarding the recognition of Somaliland as a sovereign and independent state. In particular we sight the following impeachable offences, which he so unashamedly and deliberately committed against the state:
1. That he so callously and treasonably involved the country in an endless argument regarding the electoral law, the allocation of deputies to the regions and the date of the elections as a result of which the country is now teetering on the brink of a constitutional crisis.
2. That by his own action or inaction he has ceded part of the country to Majertenia and another part to Djibouti
3. That he is doing nothing to welcome back the people of Sool into the Somaliland fold despite their numerous appeals to the government to send them a delegation that will help to re-integrate them into the country
4. That he and his government have made it their routine business to trample on the human rights of the citizens of Somaliland and visitors to the country including the imprisonment and beating up of journalists, traditional elders and young people who dare to speak out or demonstrate in the streets of Hargeisa
5. That he has made it impossible even for the legal political parties of the country to express their views by banning all political rallies, demonstrations or speech-making in public places despite the constitutional guarantees concerning these matters
6. That he has done nothing to promote peace and stability in the country and that instead the government foments most of the trouble as, for example, is evidenced by the police shooting of unarmed civilians quarrelling about a peace of land and the constant granting of the same piece of municipal land to numerous applicants in order to create clan conflict or general lawlessness.
7. That the government has done little to promote economic development in the country or even to carry out a minor rehabilitation of roads, schools or hospitals
8. That the port of Berbera which from time immemorial was the conduit of our trade with the rest of the world is now defunct and unusable because of the high tariff rates set by his government and the corrupt officials running the customs service there to the extent that it is now visited by only one ship or two a month
9. That his administration is full of corrupt and dishonest people who were former informers of the Siad Barre'segime and spies of foreign governments to the extent that their allegiance to Somaliland is suspect while the remainder of his Ministers and Assistant Ministers (totalling around fifty) is a bunch of ignorant or incompetent good-for-nothings.
10. That he has done everything in his power to dissuade other states from recognising Somaliland by refusing to abide by the advice of the British Minister, Chris Mullin, to the effect that the government should respect freedom of speech, the rule of law and holding parliamentary elections so that adherence to these principles would enhance the country's reputation in the international community and hasten the prospects of recognition.
11. That he indulged in unlimited corrupt activities to the extent that he and his family have donated the exceedingly large amount (by Somali standards) of $80 000 which he originally misappropriated from public funds.
12. That he ordered his Minister of Interior and the police to unlawfully ransack and search without warrant the headquarters of a legally-constituted political party i.e. KULMIYE in defiance of the constitution and laws of the land.
13. That he is solely responsible for all the problems prevailing in the country today from "beginning to end" to use the words of the Chairman of the House of Elders.
These and many other treasonable offences, which it is difficult to innumerate here have made it impossible for us to keep quiet while our country is being sold down the drain.
SIGNATORIES
1) Ahmed Mohmed Irrobeh
2) Jamal Madar
3) Ali Gelleh Hiddig
4) Kaise Gelleh
5) Mustafa Saleh Haji Hassan
6) Suleiman Dirir Abdi
7) Mustafa Omar Yare
8) Ahmed Jama Dualeh
9) Ahmed Haji Dualeh Farah
10) Mohamed Hussein Jama
11) Mohamed Ahmed Jama
12) Adan Ibrahim Ismail
13) Jirdeh Colaad
14) Khadar Diyar Ismail
15) Osman Aw-Hussein Aw-Yusuf (Colombo)
16) Ali Mohamad Ahmed (Sandheere)
17) Abdi Diyar Ismail
18) Khadar Abdi Aw-Hussein
19) Mohamed Ibrahim Ismail
20) Ahmed Hussein Robleh
21) Yusuf Hussein Yusuf
22) Yusuf Adan Ibrahim
23) Jama Ahmed Jama
24) Robleh Hussein Jama
25) Mohamed Hussein Jama Dhlaax
26) Mohamed Yusuf Warsame
27) Ahmed Abdi Hussein
28) Mohamoud Ahmed Dirir
29) Hamse Yusuf Ali
30) Ali Abdi Raabi
31) Jama Ali Muhumad
32) Nuh Cagaweyne
33) Abdi Yusuf Kahin
34) Adan Abdi Adan
35) Abdirahman Dahir Galow
36) Mohamed Dahir Diriye
37) Ahmed Ali Jama
38) Osman Muse Abdillahi
39) Ibrahim Omar
40) Mohamed Abdi Warsame
41) Nuur Mohamoud Ali
42) Mohamed Abdi Ahmed
43) Mohamed Ayanle Warsame
44) Abdirahman Haibe Ahmed
45) Mustafa Omar
46) Mohammed Musa Ali
47) Ali Abdi Hassan
48) Rashid Hassan Hersi
49) Mohamed Abdi Yusuf
50) Ahmed Sheikh Abdi Weli
51) Hussein Ali Dualeh
52) Ahmed Abdi Lord
53) Abdishakur Mawlid Sufi
54) Abdi Osman Duale
55) Mustafa Haji Ibrahim
56) Faisal Aw-Abdi Amblash
57) Abdirisaq Ali Madobe
58) Hassan Jama Ahmed
59) Khadar Mohamoud Hussein
60) Hassan Muhumad Abokor
61) Abdirisaq Muhumad Abokar
62) Abdi Saeed Asayr
63) Jimale Reigal
64) Abdihakim Ali Burale
65) Mohamed Nuh Essa
66) Mohamoud Abdillahi Haji Ali
67) Ilyas Adan Yare
68) Mohamed Dahir Deria
69) Addeysay Abdi Dhalah
70) Mohammed Reigal
71) Caddeysay Abdi Jama
72) Jama Essa Jama
73) John Abdi Ahmed
74) Rashid Abdillahi Jama
75) Mohammed Mohamoud Ahmed
Source:http://www.insidesomaliland.blogtales.com/ April 12, 2005
Muna's Dream
She's timid and shy and the youngest of the brood of six. Her father died during the war, when Muna was 6 months old. Her older sisters and brothers are married, and she and her mother rely on her brother who works as a car wash attendant in town.
Her family cannot afford the public school fees which costs $1.25 a month. Like many young and adult women, a 4-month course under the tutelage of teachers hired by local non-government organizations Seven Stars Women Association is the most viable alternative.
She firmly clasped her notebook wrapped in a plastic bag willingly waiting for her turn to learn how to read and write Somali, English and Arithmetic. "After 4 months I will be able to read and write" she said. Asked what she'll do after the class is finished, she replied "I will enrol again and again and again so I could learn more."
Muna's dream is to work in an office of a local non-government organization like her school. She beams as she narrates how she could imagine herself typing on a computer. Asked why work in a LNGO office, she mentioned that she wants more young girls like her to learn how to read and write.
She laments that one day, her brother would decide to marry and will have a difficult time supporting her and her mother. This is the reason why she's in a hurry to get as much education as possible.
Tomorrow when the clock hits four in the afternoon, you will surely find Muna carrying her notebook and pen wrapped in a small plastic bag sitting and waiting with her friends on the same ledge. She would again wait for her turn armed with her timid smile and her simple dream that someday might just come true.
-----------
Seven Stars Women Association is one of the recipients of ICD and Christian Aid's Small Grants Project. It provides kick off support to new organizations involved in community projects. With Somaliland's 12% literacy rate of women, girls and women education is implemented by women associations that have barely enough funds to maintain incentives for teachers, buy instructional learning supplies, rent a space for class/office and pay for its utilities. In this country, public education is not free and remains unaffordable to many.
Posted by Yvette Lopez
Source:http://www.insidesomaliland.blogtales.com/April 11, 2005
Sarah's Hope
Sarah traversed this rough and dusty roads for two reasons: to attend a meeting of women in preparation for the parliamentary elections, and to participate in the meeting of the Somaliland Human Rights Network to which her organization Sanaag Civil Rights Center is a member.
It is remarkable to see that whenever women organizations meet nowadays, the topic of elections always comes up. This is because the coming electoral exercise brings hope to women, Sarah included. Women in Erigavo in Sanaag region are all set to run as parliamentary aspirants. There are 5 women candidates who will battle it out with men for the 12 seats allocated for their region. The women candidates will run under Somaliland's three political parties: UCID, UDUB and KULMIYE.
The first step however is to get their names in the party line up. Sarah and her fellow women would have to convince the political party leaders who are mostly men to approve the list of candidates without removing their names.
Political parties are a new organizational expression in a post-conflict country in transition to democracy. And just like in many other situations, the Somali traditional clan lines prevail. On asking Sarah if her clan and her husband's clan will vote for a woman she answered, "My family has been encouraging me to run. This is already a sign that they have trust in my capacity as a woman leader.
Will the clan leaders the lobby political parties to give a chance to women candidates? "We have already had a series of discussions with clan leaders and they are quite supportive. The elders had previously given a chance to the men to hold positions of power with very little to show for it. It is about time to hand it over to women!" Sarah replied confidently.
Women like Sarah have high hopes of becoming part of this country's leadership that would steer this unrecognized nation to progress. Somaliland already has 2 women cabinet members whose performance motivated other women to follow their footsteps. Women now have one unified cry, their time has come to be recognized. After all, they've struggled to take part alongside the men in the discussions to determine the road to Somaliland's peaceful and fragile stability.
Posted by Yvette Lopez
Source:http://www.insidesomaliland.blogtales.com/April 11, 2005
Pet Food
"How do you keep them fit then?" I asked. She gave me her proud smile and said "you'll see I'll show you." Later that day, she dragged me outside and presented this. She is saddened that these huge creatures are getting weaker, because they were used to their lives in the bush and that she couldn't provide their usual diet. They would need to travel one day and be returned to their original homes.
However, these youngsters have been grown used to city life that they do not only eat on chicken and rice but they also use plates!
If you are to get a pet in Somaliland you could choose dogs, cats or tortoise. There are no petshops in the country so you would have to go on your own to look for one.
Posted by Yvette Lopez
http://www.jamhuuriya.info/ Apr 11 2005
The Tales of Two Towns, The Destinies of Two People
The following is a meagre attempt of a comparison of the current human thinking patterns of the local authorities of two towns located in two contrasting countries: (Landskrona in Sweden and Gabiley in Somaliland) and the ways these respective local authorities base their rationale in solving developmental problems of these towns. Sweden belongs to the developed world where its people enjoy a highly secured welfare system, while Somaliland belongs to one of the most disadvantaged countries on earth. However, the comparison is interesting since both these two towns suffer developmental problems, albeit in different contextual environment. What is so important in this context is the way respective local authorities deal with these problems.
Similarities
What these two towns have in common, among many other things, are the following:
1) In both of them, there are human beings and natural resources on which their livelihood depends. Citizens in these two towns try to sustain their lives at their best by using their minds and relatively acquired knowledge system in improving their livelihood conditions. They work, study, travel and try to improve their lives and ward off daily difficulties. In both towns, there are local authorities that determine the course of the future of the people whom they lead.
2) Both towns lie between two (according to their relative standards) economically and knowledgably powerful cities. Landskrona lies between Lund, the seat of the largest university of the Scandinavia and Helsingborg, a bigger town with a highly developed close link to Denmark, the gateway to southern Europe. Gabiley lies between Hargeisa, the capital city of Somaliland and Borama, the seat of the first university in Somaliland and one of the first places where one of the first educational institutes (Amoud Intermediate School) was established during the colonial time. Therefore, both these towns (Landskrona and Gabiley) are subjected to pull factors by their respective neighbouring towns. Conceptually, in the geographical discipline, a pull factor of a certain place is what makes people and economic activities from other surrounding places move to it. In the case of Landskrona, people and companies have been moving from it to Lund and Helsingborg and other towns where better economic opportunities exist. In Gabiley, people have been immigrating to the capital city Hargeisa that lies not more than 45 km to the east in pursuit of better lives and to Borama that has strengthened its position by providing better education and job opportunities. If things go unchanged, Gabiley will remain a poor satellite for many decades to come (may be centuries) depending on subsistence economic activities with its inhabitants doomed to pervasive poverty, while Hargeisa and Borama will emerge as the leading regional nodes of knowledge and economic powers. Only those who cannot afford to move from it will remain there making it a place of destitutes and uneducated pastoralists while Borama and Hargiesa will enjoy modernisation and being the melting points of ideas, international links, highly educated work force and economic dynamism. Landskrona would have met the same relative plight as Gabiley if its local authorities do not ponder over pioneering methods in bringing the city to its past glorious position.
Dissimilarities
The differences of the two towns are strikingly big. Landskrona lies in Sweden, one of the most developed countries in the world, where Gabiley lies in Somaliland, one of the poorest countries. Landskrona is one of the places where industrialization in Sweden started but, due to the structural changes of the world economy over the last decades, it lost its position as being one of the dynamics of the Swedish economy. The town used its comparative advantages in being a coastal town with deep and wide harbour as well as in being the centre of the most agriculturally rich areas of Sweden. In Gabiley, although being relatively agriculturally rich and enjoying every precondition for prosperity, the town has never experienced economic growth and development. The lives of the people of the town and its surroundings have never changed to the better since the creation of the town. In fact, the situation has become more difficult in Gabiley due to the population growth of the rural surrounding areas with the carrying capacity of the agricultural landscape being on the brink of a total collapse. In both of these cities, politicians who have the means of change approach different strategies to improve or, ironically, further exacerbate the gloomy situation. In Landskrona, local politicians save no energy in investing local resources in the best way in order to improve the living conditions of the people, while their counterparts in Gabiley transfer its economic resources to Hargeisa, the capital City of Somaliland, with the aim of placating their corrupted, depraved, egoistically motivated clan appointed mentors in the government apparatus. The result is pervasive poverty, widespread diseases, illiteracy and environmental degradation for the inhabitants of Gabiley.
Strategies for development/underdevelopment
During my study at Lund University, Sweden, our class made a field trip to Landskrona, the old industrial town that lies 30 km away from Lund. Landskrona contributed a great deal to the Swedish economic base. The aim of the field trip was to see with our own eyes a town in a constant transformation and at the same time try to find reasons behind these transformations. We could see a town trying to cope with high unemployment rates as a result of the closure of vibrant economic activities; buildings and offices of the bigger companies in early times of the Swedish economic build-up becoming now the meeting points of flocks of birds; old railway lines that once transported bulk goods that were in great demand to the harbour being covered by sand and grass and the giant warehouses looking like ghosts ready for action. We could also meet the human minds that are trying their best in creating economic innovations and other pioneering attempts to enhance the quality of lives of the local people who lost their jobs when the companies in which they were employed closed down or moved to other places.
Due to its strategic position at the centre of the Sound region and its huge agricultural resources, Landskrona became one of the rapidly industrialized cities of Sweden during the 19th century, with industries like textile, foodstuff, metal and shipbuilding being the corner stone of the industrial base. The shipyard alone (being the biggest shipyard in the world) engaged 2.300 employees of a town that had 30.000 inhabitants. With the elapse of time, Landskrona started to loose slowly but steadily its leading position as one of the economic engines of Sweden. Many companies and industries (among them the shipyard) were shut down, with the result being an economic setback for the town. People started to move from the town. Now the town is characterized by high unemployment rates, criminality and deterioration of the once beautiful buildings. Although many reasons can be mentioned as why Landskrona has lost its leading position as an economic force, there are two major factors that economic analysts usually refer to.
The first factor is the stiff competition that the town has been facing over the last decades from its two neighbouring but equally powerful towns: Lund and Helsingborg. With the improvement of transportation, technology and other economically essential infrastructure, firms that were located in Landskrona moved to bigger neighbouring towns to seek better comparative advantages, or they simply became bought out by, or merged with, other companies in these towns or other places. Other services, industrial companies and suppliers who depended on these firms were also forced to close down or move to other cities. People who were happily employed in companies in Landskrona lost their jobs, their dependents became without economic sources.
The other factor is that the world economy is now characterized by internationalisation, concentration and specialization of the economic activities with the result being stiff international competition and globalisation of the economy. This entails that companies not only change ownership but also lose market with closure as a final result. For Landskrona, the result became catastrophic mass unemployment, criminality and other social problems.
The political power holders of the city do not spare any effort at their disposal to alter the gloomy development of the town. With the era of the old heavy industries being part of the history, the city counsel of Landskrona has been looking for alternative ways to bring back both capital and people to the city. New ideas of business innovations, development of tourism, educational institutes and investment strategies are being introduced. The results of these noble efforts have already started to show. Politicians who control Landskrona are knowledgeable people with clear objectives, firm and resolute decisions and who are determined to improve the plight of the city and its people. Through these wisely planed economic strategies, Landskrona is on its way back again to regain its leading place as a dynamic economic centre that will contribute to the welfare of Sweden in this world of regionalization and economic competition.
In Gabiley, there have never been any development strategies undertaken by any political authority. As I hail from Gabiley, I have been following its development situation at close range over the years. It is saddening to see the people of Gabiley suffer unnecessarily due to lack of qualified political leaders who could tackle the massive underdevelopment that has plagued this town and its surroundings through the years. Lying between Hargiesa that is the Capital City of Somaliland and Borama with its bright, far-seeing and unified academicians and competition-aware local authorities, Gabiley will finally succumb to the begging situations for handouts of the "First Ladies" and co. (as Huda Barkhad did recently) and baits of economic powers from other regions, while its resources will end up in big pockets of undeserving gangsters in Hargeisa.
Whereas politicians in Landskrona are elected by virtue of their political programmes, proper education, sound and sincere qualities, the politicians who control Gabiley have been tribally elected, some of them even lacking formal education! The town counsel members have been handpicked by uneducated and selfish figures with tribal power base. Although local elections have been processed in the country, the old counsel members dominate the political structure of Gabiley just because of their being well connected to the corrupted clan-minded ruling officials in the government. They were originally elected to secure certain tribal interests and with this, others who could have been more qualified have been eliminated from the power. Their vested personal interest and misuse of power are the guiding lines of their political agendas. Their political survival always depends on the dictations of the higher echelons in Hargeisa. That is why it has become the norm for them to get direct orders from people in power in Hargeisa in transferring the taxes and customs revenues to Hargeisa where only God knows its final end use.
Over the last 10 years, I visited Gabiley several times. I could not see a single development project initiated by these politically corrupted local government officials. Instead, what I experienced was a sad situation where the people of the town suffered from lack of proper administration and development strategies. The only place in Gabiley where the victims of unemployment and lack of economic freedom could solicit job opportunities was (and still is) the local government office. People used to gather there in flocks every working day from the early morning to try to get the luckiest moment to speak to the Mayor of the town or one of his associates in securing a handout for the day. The citizens of Gabiley who fall outside of the tribally gained control of power try individually to make ends meet, but without positive state intervention, their livelihood and the future possibilities for their children are at risk. In this highly needy and chaotic clan-oriented situation, it is the tribal relations, interest opportunism and access to the state apparatus that gains the crucial influence on the decision process. Corruption and nepotism are the means of operation here. That is why the time in Gabiley seems to stand still with no minute economic development at sight. Disease and poverty are the reality of the daily life of the citizens of Gabiley. Although the town is located in the most agriculturally potential area with every pre-condition for economic development, it is lagging far behind its neighbouring towns ( Hargeisa and Borama) that have succeeded in outdoing it with relatively bright future for their children.
What has happened to the minds of the people of Gabiley? Why cannot they change their sad situation through collective efforts and organized management? Why do they accept and be satisfied with the meagre baits from the wife of the president of Somaliland while their enormous natural resources are being swapped for cheap positions and sinister loyalties by uneducated and selfish local authorities? Why do they act fatalistic instead of wresting their economic resources from the corrupted local authorities, investing it in roads, irrigation canals, schools, health centres, higher education institutions, companies and other essential economic infrastructure?
These questions remind me an intellectual discourse that took place between me and a Swedish man who happened to be a liberally oriented academic. I was in a train to Stockholm when this man started to sit on the chair next to me, saying hello in a respecting manner. After a while, we started to exchange our viewpoints about the world political developments where the discussion on USA occupation of Iraq led us to the wider contemporary question: Why Arabs cannot organize themselves and build the biggest world power since they possess the vital engine of the world economy (oil)? That could have changed the course of the world history at a time when they occupy the biggest natural resource of the world that is the engine of all economic lives of the people. He stood firmly on his euro-centric notion that there is something wrong with the thinking capacity of the Arab people. Although I could not agree with him, his standpoint reminded me the parallel of the Gabiley context. I do not think that there is something wrong with the minds of the citizens of Gabiley. Because of their relative sedentary live style, the citizens of Gabiley enjoy the highest educated per capita in Somaliland and they only need to think and understand what is going around them. They have to wake up and do something in changing their plight in the world of globalisation. If the educated sector of Gabiley, both in Diaspora and back home, do not make a unified effort in changing the gloomy situation of Gabiley, its future generations will end up as marginalized victims while their counterparts in Hargeisa and Borama will become their leaders.
In the modern world, there is a devastatingly stiff competition between people, companies, societies, regions and countries and in any competition; there are always losers and winners. Winners live happily and enjoy the fruits of their hard work while losers lick their wounds and live in an unending misery. And who does want to be a loser? Certainly not the citizens of Gabiley.
Eng. Adam Sheikh Ibrahim Suldan, Chairman
SODA (Somaliland development Association)
Lund, SWEDEN
http://www.awdalnews.com/wmview.php?ArtID=5209, April 10, 2005
SNM in Balance
Of course, Ignorance and unbridled greed had to have determined the outcome of the war in some instances, in that the leadership of SNM might not have known all the terrors and crimes cried out in their name against innocent Somali people, but after 20 years of their involvement of the politics in the region and even taking some leadership roles in the day to day operation, they have a huge moral responsibility to face the people and admit that they were responsible for these crimes. Many, both young and old, have still many unanswered questions and are waiting to hear the public addressing their unforgettable ordeal; the killings of their love ones by the SNM loyalists in front of their eyes. There are witnesses, records, stories that all exist and waiting to be reopened.
If the Rayal's government is genuinely sincere about its attempts in becoming the SOUTH AFRICA of the horn of Africa, it should strive to bring forth an atmosphere of tolerance, democratic pluralism, and respect for human rights, which will safeguard the collective interest of our people. It should advocate for the creation of a truth-seeking reconciliation commission that could open the doors for the possibility of public hearings for the first time, where the agonizing stories from silent voices could be heard in courts. It owes to the sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, as well as friends and colleagues of those who died in vain. Their voices and faces are still with us, crying for justices. The commission should be able to exercise power to express regret and sorrow, and even retribution, on behalf of all of us, for the atrocities and human violations inflicted on these innocent people in the region by SNM and its supporters. It is a moral obligation on all of us, including the SNM leadership.
Ali Bahar -- E-mail:aib_1@yahoo.com Source: http://www.somalicenter.com/2005/Apr/op/SNM_Blance.htm
Rights: On a Mission Against Tradition
New York--Hawa Aden Mohamed was only eight when she experienced the brutal pain of circumcision. Performed in a small Somali village, the operation was carried out without anesthesia, using only basic cutting tools and thorns.
The practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) cost her sister's life and nearly took Hawa's own as her wounds did not heal properly. Today, she is at the front line of a decade-long and bitter fight for women's rights in Somalia.
Her sister's death along with her own experience triggered Hawa's involvement in the women's rights movement. The frustration over circumcision turned into anger at the patriarchic Somali society, which considers the voice of women worthless.
"The Somali woman has no say in political decisions. She has no say in family decisions. Recently, for the first time, we elected one female minister to the Somali Puntland State, and one in the federal government," she said.
"But this is just tokenism. It is not enough," concluded the 56-year-old Hawa, who sat down for an interview on her way to Texas, where she is receiving the Amnesty International Ginetta Sagan Award on Friday for her outstanding work for women's rights in Somalia.
The award recognises the outstanding achievement of women who -- often at great personal risk -- are working to protect the liberty and lives of women and children in areas where human rights violations are widespread.
Hawa Mohamed is the founder and executive director of the Galkayo Education Centre for Peace and Development (GECPD), an organisation committed to eradicating FGM and strengthening women's political influence through human rights and literacy campaigns that have reached more than 7,600 women since 1999.
The GECPD aims at improving women's capacity to defend and advocate their rights in society, starting with the family.
An estimated 135 million girls and women have undergone genital mutilation, and two million girls a year are at risk for it. FGM is practised extensively in Africa and is common in some countries in the Middle East.
FGM can lead to death from the pain, shock, haemorrhage and damage to the organs surrounding the clitoris and labia. Afterwards, urine may be retained and serious infection can develop. Use of the same instrument on several girls without sterilisation can cause the spread of HIV.
Despite the horrors of the ritual, Hawa believes the subject is still too much of a taboo to be debated openly in the country.
"I don't see FGM stopping in my lifetime," she says. "We have to change the mentality of people, and the change has to come from the family. There are educated parents who discuss FGM. If they decide not to have their daughters circumcised, we advise them not to tell other people, who might not respect the decision."
The Somali women's rights movement started in the late 1970s, but was impeded by the civil war in 1991.
"It was set back 40 years in time," maintains Hawa, who fled the war to Canada, where she continued lobbying for women in Somalia before returning and founding the GECPD in 1996. By then there were no longer signs of public debate and awareness of women's rights in a country troubled by killings and the power politics of local warlords.
Civil war still plagues parts of Somalia, making it very hard to travel around. Although the women's rights movement has spread beyond Puntland, it is difficult to coordinate the struggle on a national scale.
Religious justification of female circumcision is common in Somalia, but Hawa argues that the practice of circumcision is not found in the Koran, but in the nation's culture and tradition. She continues to educate religious teachers about the dangers of FGM and has managed to establish dialogue with a few.
"In the beginning, the work at GECPD was very difficult. FGM was taboo. People did not want to talk and threw rocks at us and the buildings we worked in. Today, at least, we are able to create some debate about Somali traditions."
Last year, the GECPD launched a more visible and confrontational women's rights movement in Somalia. With Hawa Mohammed as one of the key figures, the GECPD managed to organise and coordinate the unprecedented "Zero Tolerance For FGM" demonstration on International Women's Day, Mar. 8.
"We were scared. But we had no choice. We'd discussed women's rights for years. Activists were asking, what next? We'd exhausted the talking," says Hawa about the demonstration, which drew more than 20,000 people -- including the Puntland vice president and five cabinet ministers.
The demonstration passed peacefully and raised awareness about the dangers of FGM among the people of Puntland.
"The demonstration created debate, a debate which is still going on today. And dialogue at least brings new questions," says Hawa.
More than 98 percent of Somali women have suffered genital mutilation, according to Equality Now, the New York-based women's rights group that nominated Mohamed for the Ginetta Sagan Award. By educating young people, the GECPD hopes to promote a more open debate about FGM and women's rights in Somalia.
"We must use education as the vehicle, to bring young people on board to take over, and we must promote the good traditions as well. Somali culture has very good values, such as respect, sharing and support. But it is unacceptable to continue female genital mutilation. And to say no, that needs courage, commitment, and principally belief," she emphasised.
Hawa Aden Mohamed collects the 11th Ginetta Sagan Award Friday at Amnesty International's annual general meeting in Austin, Texas. Sagan was a founder of Amnesty International USA. As a member of the Italian Resistance, she was imprisoned and tortured during World War II.
Source: somalilandnet.com/ Apr 08 2005 08:34
Biography of Yusuf Haji Adan
Our father, the late Yusuf H. Adan, was a national icon who cut his image as an educator, artist and a visionary freedom fighter, truly a beacon of the Somali Nation. Survived by ten sons, six daughters, forty grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, his was a life crammed with fascinating achievements although this had not gone into his head. On the contrary, humility and simplicity always remained his forte.
During our childhood in Hargeisa, it was not possible for us to contemplate the intricacies of the day-to-day life of that man who, together with mom, was the centre of our little, simple world. But, as we grew up, we became steadily intrigued in his endeavours.
As an educator, he was a disciplinarian and adapt organizer. At the same time, the artist in him was often pushed to the surface by his soft side that oozed out while he played with us - his children. Add this to the fact that although he had taken numerous risks in his political and professional activities, the wellbeing of the family always remained uppermost.
The man, whose devotion to his inclinations and responsibilities knew no bounds, was born in 1914 in the Hargeisa neighbourhood of Jamo-weyn. Hargeisa was known then as Herer from which he drew his alias "Yusuf-Herer." By age 10, he completed his Quranic studies in 1924. Subsequently, he proceeded to the countryside in a bid to be steeped in nomadic culture and get good command of both the Somali language and literature - a fact that gave him the tools for turning out an accomplished poet.
In 1928, he was off to Sudan for formal education which was unavailable in British Somaliland Protectorate at the time. But, it took a decade before he emerged the only one among a bunch of compatriot students in Sudan to readily throw his weight behind the late Mohamoud Ahmed Ali's drive to extend formal education to the protectorate. Thus, he attended a teacher's training college after graduating from high school, coming back to Hargeisa in 1939, fully prepared for his role as a future educator-cum-co-founder of a system that would prove the spring-well of a nation thirsty for formal education. And in 1940, our father kick-started his teaching career, joining Mr. Ali as the only other teacher at the just established Berbera elementary school.
A year later, however, their ambitious plan to entrench the system they strove for had a setback. Dislodging briefly Britain out of the protectorate, Italy destroyed the Berbera school, the only institution of its kind in the protectorate. With the return of the British rule, Our father was transferred to the District Commissioner's office in Hargeisa. But, no sooner had the new situation materialized than the duo opened Sheikh Bashir Elementary School in Hargeisa, the first center for formal learning planned and established by Somali educators. Civil servants at the time, both of them devoted their spare time to running the school, which they financed with their meagre salaries. The first lot of their students includes:
Dr. Ali Sh. Ibrahim, the first medically-trained doctor from Somaliland the first enrolled student of the new school. The late Ambassador Mohamed Hashi Abdi, the late Abdirahman Ahmed Ali, the First President of Somaliland, the late Mohamed H. Ibrahim Egal, the Second President of Somaliland, the late Suudi H. Adan, a teacher prior to his premature death in the 1958, and father's younger sibling.
Our father's political life took shape in the 40s. As he was still a student in Sudan in the 1930s, he had exposure to the anti-colonial revolutionary spirit of Almahdi whose long-drawn-out struggle took the British to task in Sudan before being defeated. So, with the germ of nationalism already in his blood by the time he came back to Somaliland in late1939, his determination to establish a political movement to rid Somaliland of colonialism was strong.
In 1943 he founded the first political organization, Somali National Society (SNS), in Somaliland. His pivotal supporters in this endeavour were: the late Yusuf Meygag Samater, the late Mohamoud Jama Urdoh, the late Mohamed Osman Fod and the late Abdulqadir Suldan Abdullahi, (who eventually replaced his elder brother, Suldan Rashiid) The SNS, however, was banned in 1945, being re-established on January 1st , 1946 in Burao before morphing into a political party called Somali National League (SNL) in 1952, which, eight years later, together with other political groups like the United Somali Party and the National United Front, enable Somaliland to wave bye to more than seven decades of colonial rule.
Thanks to his indefatigable political activism during that crucial period, the colonial government forcibly exiled our father to England in the same year as the SNL was born. Much to the chagrin of his tormentors, the move proved to be a blessing in disguise since it gave him to chance to further his education at Exeter University in the U.K.
With the advent of independence and unity between the protectorate and the former Italian Somalia, in July 1960, he opened the first Somali Embassy in the Arab World in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, as the Charger De Affaires. During his four-year sojourn in Cairo as a senior Somali diplomat, he continued his ceaseless struggle for educating more Somalis. Hence, he managed to create thousands of scholarships for Somali students from every corner in the Horn of Africa.
Other positions he held in the post-independence era include:
- 1964- 1970 the political councillor in the Somali Embassy in Khartoum
- 1972 the founder of the first Somali National Folklore Dancers to retain the cultural values
- 1972- 1977 Director of Heritage & Culture of the Ministry of Information & National Guidance in Mogadisho, Somalia
- 1978-1980 Advisor in the Academy of Arts in Mogadisho
- 1980-1984 Regional Director of the Ministry of Culture and Higher Education in Hargeisa
- 1988-1990 an SNM Warrior.
- Finally, June 2004, after a long stay in London, our father returned to his birth place, Hargeisa, where he peacefully passed away on February 15th, 2005.
Conclusively, it is not easy for a child, any child, to write about his/her parents. The task is more daunting when that parent is a national figure. Thus, I would like to wind up this piece with a very brief word to my father: "dad, you were one of a kind!"
Bio By the children of the Late Haji Yusuf Adan
Of legend and martyrdom: a letter to the Late Yusuf Haji Adan.
Dear Great One,
There are grim moments when the soul desperately needs to shed tears but the tears refuse to drop out of the eyes and roll down the cheeks because they know one's grieve is too deep to be alleviated. Such dreadful experience is my lot this chilly, dreary winter evening when the air is empty of soothing, sweet bird songs and the thrilling rustle of tree leaves dancing to the tune of a gentle summer breeze.
Now, as I forcibly drag a reluctant, miserable body along a poorly lit Toronto back street, pulling a mournful, long face reflecting the intense pain gnawing the heart, a gripping flash back of a day in my childhood life forces itself into the forebrain:
It is a bright sunny Hargeisa day. A couple of evenings back, the city was blessed by "miraale" a heavy night rain storm. A large number of happy livestock in festive mood: bleating sheep and goats, mooing cows and roaring camels, with their little ones frolicking around them, throng the "Dooxa", the dry water way at which Hargeisa valley bottoms.
Today's scenario could well be as inviting: An overcast sky, together with the humid monsoon winds blowing across the Indian Ocean this time of year, promises more rain to further eliminate the traces of the past harsh "jiilaal", the dry season. Thus, it is the kind of morning a spoilt brat like me would hate seeing his parents near his bed, especially if it is a school day.
Therefore, after a futile attempt in feigning sickness, my father, a no nonsense man and this morning's target of my wrath, forces me to go to school. A few decades later, after realizing that I had the good fortune of seeing in the flesh a national icon, who happened to be you, at my school, I would be very grateful to him for having foiled my childish design.
Predictably, I clearly remember how things unfolded in that morning. I was taking the morning break when an Education Department lorry suddenly darted into the yard of my school as I played with some classmates. When the vehicle, which carried students from, Amood came to a halt, an energetic man jumped out of the front seat. From the excitement his appearance had stirred among the teachers and students, it was evident that he was a highly esteemed personality. And that personality was none other than you.
In fact, some vivid mental pictures of the occasion are still glued to the memory. More precisely, your pleasant face, strong and portly body, brisk steps, animated smile and friendly demeanour were a breath of fresh air. That is why, perhaps, a perennially quoted verse in your inexhaustible repertoire sprang into the head the moment I learned about your departure:
Just like a rain which graced a verdant land, swept by the rays of a rising sun afterwards - that is what you, indeed, are.
Yes! Vanity was never your ally. Even so, one can't help getting the feeling that the foregoing lines aptly depict everything that you were during your sojourn in this dimension. That is particularly true if one, only for a moment, forgets the romantic twist too often given to them and reflects more upon the legacy of a giant who gave everything he had to people he selflessly adored.
As a founding father of modern education in the ex-British Somaliland Protectorate, one of the first freedom fighters the whole Somali nation ever knew, an accomplished artist, and a great visionary, you, indeed, were the "rain," and "the rays" and "the rising sun" which, together, "graced" and "swept" the "verdant land", the generations of human beings illuminated by the education system you had co-founded with another super hero, the late Mr. Mohamoud Ahmed Ali. Of course, your unflagging determination and strong passion to educate your people are reflected not only by your deeds, but also by the literature you bequeathed to us to educate the average person about the virtue of education versus the devastating effect of ignorance. In this respect the following lines a make a deep impression on the mind
Right at the seat of ignorance one get dehumanized. (Ignorance) is the neighbour of all the diseases unleashed by God It has alliance with poverty, the killer of humans Oh! Before our people become learned, The heart bars me from the pursuit of wealth
***
One day, The love of education will dominate our kin
One day, The upcoming children will be helping hands for you
One day, this lot in Sheikh ,
Their influence , will envelope the land
One day, that ailing stomach will heal.
Today, as a bereaved nation whose heart is heavy with sorrow mourns the loss of yet another hero's hero - you - several decades after the death of the late Mr. Ali, small wonder that the fruits of your ventures are scattered all over the globe and active in every sphere of human endeavour: they are parents, grandparents, academics, architects, businessmen, doctors, economists, engineers, politicians, scientists, soldiers teachers - one can continue ad nauseam.
If your profuse and undying imprints on the matrix constituting Somaliland is without comparison, your contribution to the wider Somali nation remains equally fascinating, to say the least. When the nationalist movement was just beginning to pick up in the former Italian Somalia, you made indefatigable efforts to alert the whole nation not only to the larking dangers of the day, but also the indispensable need for cooperation:
Oh, Somalis wake up!
Wake up! And lean upon each other
And at any given moment
do prop up the weak amongst you.
****
Britain occupied Hargeisa and its environs
Snoozing France is in Djibouti from where it (hiifaaye ) us
And further to the Haud
America pushed its scouting mission.
O, Somalis, do arm yourselves
You are encircled.
These are only an example of your revolutionary war cries at a time you were vulnerable as a colonial government employee, the only source of gainful work in Somaliland, then. Even in the post-colonial days, your unyielding commitment to concretizing the aspirations of the masses struck terror in the hearts of successive civilian governments, while the military dictatorship denied your right, to retire in Hargeisa, to keep an eye on you at closer quarters. Thus, you were always under the microscope of corrupt, immoral and ruthless regimes- a fact which drastically jeopardized your personal progress.
The many odds you faced in this world notwithstanding, thanks to your unshakable faith and tenacity, the ruthless ploys of the enemies of freedom and progress utterly failed to deter you from consistently pursuing your principles and harnessing your artistic and intellectual talents for the benefit of the nation.
That is why, o, great one, your departure have brought to a close a golden era in the historical annals of our people - an era in which urbanization widely spread, secular education flourished, and Somali nationalism peaked. It was also a period during which Somali art - theatre, music and singing - entered a new phase and blossomed not only to reflect what is beautiful in us but also emerged a deadly weapon in the hands of relentless nationalist like you.
Unfortunately, while your short-lived joy over the independence of Somaliland and Somalia which, eventually, proved hollow, and their subsequent ill-advised unity was tremendous, the sorry state to which things deteriorated no sooner than the aliens had left our soil was the last straw. Instead of inheriting a country basking in peace with citizens bound together by the warm spirit of universal brotherhood, the whole nation became rent by hatred, wrecked by oppression and unravelled by corruption - trends that spewed massive violence that eviscerated your grand dream of seeing the birth of Great Somalia one day!
All said, however, the gloomy situation which developed immediately after "independence", is not without its silver lining: just like the sphinx, Somaliland rouse from its ashes and we regained our sovereignty. Thus, "Naaso Hablood," are, once again, free to resume nurturing us as they did for all their children since time immemorial. Against this backdrop, O, the great one, although we have committed your body to dust, your spirit will never fade away since it is woven into the fabric of the nation!
So long great one.
By Mohamed Y. Urdoh
P.S: O, great one, before calling quits, I've got a question for you: remember that little stone you took from Somaliland when you were exiled to England in 1952, for your part in unleashing the Somali National League (SNL) By the by, where have you left it? Please tell me. I need it so badly. Well, I'm waiting to hear from you. Until such time, I will console myself with these lines of yours:
O, you, this stone,
Of consciousness and brain
You display none.
God who created you
Formed you in this way
Oh! My country and land,
Their intoxicating aroma (which you exude )
Indeed, I get it coming from you.
When Mr. Adan was exiled to UK in 1952, he took a stone from Somaliland to symbolize his country. One day, a British student at Exeter University, where the former was attending at the time, attempted to confiscate the stone, assuming Mr. Adan was worshipping it. This touched off a physical fighting between them. Mr. Adan wrote the poem from which the above-mentioned lines were extracted after recovering the stone.. The words in the brackets are implied.
http://www.awdalnews.com/wmview.php?ArtID=5209/ April 8, 2005 - 01:47
Editorial - SNM in balance: The need for a Truth and Reconciliation Committee in Somaliland
Like any liberation movement with thousands of fearless, trigger-happy and adrenaline-thrilled youth in its ranks and fighting a ruthless and inhumane regime, it was futile to expect it to respect the rules of war and refrain from committing excesses. The one and only goal of the movement during its long years of struggle was to free the people and country from the tyranny of a military regime. The rule of thump was all is fair in love and war.
Now, after almost a quarter of a century, it is high time that sober and wise people answer the hard questions. It is time to re-examine, analyze and re-evaluate the rights and wrongs of the SNM. It is high time that conscientious souls and responsible citizens look into their depths and come up with answers that go beyond the hackneyed self-righteous and self-congratulatory attitudes of the battle days. It is unhealthy of a society yearning to build a nation based on lasting peace, democratic norms, prosperity and human dignity to gloss over the truth and see men who portray themselves as the leaders of the whole nation acting as if they are just now emerging from the dust of the battle, adorned with all their armaments and battle cries.
It is high time that the former SNM commanders and supporters have to acknowledge the ugly crimes committed in the name of the movement in the same way they celebrate its good deeds. It is time to admit that the SNM had its victories and it defeats, its success and its blunders, its crimes and its share of responsibility for the plight of hundreds of thousands of Somalilanders, destruction and annihilation of whole towns and villages and the killing of hundreds of innocent farmers, businessmen, poets, intellectuals, elders, religious men and women and children for the crime of belonging to anti-SNM clans.
In celebrating the 24th anniversary of the SNM and remembering those who lost their precious lives for the cause of liberating their people from oppression and dictatorship, the former SNM commanders and fighters should also be courageous enough to remember the victims of the movement and should reach out to the women who were widowed, the mothers who lost their beloved sons and daughters and the children who were orphaned or maimed in the name of the SNM.
It is always easy, particularly in the clan-worshipping culture of our people, to sing the heroism of your own men and women and forget the heroism of others. One wonders whether it ever occurred to the former SNM commanders and fighters that as much as its music for their ears to be called Mujahidis, hearing such description may be loathsome to the victims of the SNM who are today law abiding and patriotic Somaliland citizens. What are the criteria for earning the honor of Mujahid or Martyr in a tribal society like ours, one may ask. In Islam it is known that anyone who dies defending the honor of his family or his property and his soul is a martyr. No one doubts those SNM fighters who fought with the good intention of defending the honor of their people, their property and their country as a whole against a tyrant regime deserve the honor of being Mujahid in the strict sense of the word but can any one deny the fighters of other clans who fought against the SNM militias in defense of their honor, their property and their existence to be decorated heroes and Mujahids of their concerned clans.
The former SNM commanders and fighters love to claim sainthood by repeatedly reminding their former adversaries that they have extended to them an amnesty blanket and have forgiven them for taking the gun against the freedom fighters. The question that the former SNM fighters forget to ask themselves is "who has forgiven whom? It is understandable that due to unflinching tribal loyalties and strong emotions attached to the struggle of the SNM, it might have been difficult to even contemplate answering this question at earlier times but after a quarter of a century it is not only reasonable but a moral obligation for both former SNM fighters and the militia commanders of the anti-SNM clans at the time to answer such question and other more difficult ones. It is time that Somaliland establishes a Truth and Reconciliation Committee in the style of the famous South African one and bring those who committed crimes in the name of the SNM and those of other clans who committed crimes in the name of defending tribal pride to face the rule of law. It is also high time to give the victims of both sides the chance to have their stories heard before a neutral court. Only in this way would all Somalilanders embrace the legacy of the SNM beyond its present tribal confines.
c 2005 Awdalnews Network
Source: somaliland.org/ 08 Aprl 2005
CURBING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN SOMALILAND
A failed attempt by the Somaliland police to close down a new radio station, Radio Horyaal, might sound like a comedy of errors, but it is another indication of an increasingly worrying human rights situation. The independent station has only been operational for about two weeks, but its very existence appears to have unnerved the government. Until recently, the government enjoyed a monopoly on the airwaves, and it has used Radio Hargeisa as a partisan vehicle to promote its own political interests, marginalising alternative voices and unwelcome facts and views.
When Radio Horyaal first broadcast, Ali Ahmed Ghelle, the deputy Minister of Information, immediately fired two journalists working for Radio Hargeisa, Hoda Ahmed Qarboshe and Ahmed Sheikh Elmi, who had taken part in its programmes. Other journalists from Radio Hargeisa were dismissed in subsequent days. Two other people associated with the radio were required to report to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) every evening to answer questions, principally about the physical location of the radio. In the meantime, unwilling to believe that the radio is beamed into Somaliland from abroad, the government has sent people all over the country to scout for the radio which it has linked to one of the two opposition parties, KULMIYE.
On Monday, 4 April, about 30 heavily-armed policemen forced their way into the headquarters of KULMIYE in the capital, Hargeisa, at about 5:00 p.m., conducting a thorough search of the offices for the elusive radio. Other armed policemen stayed outside and surrounded the premises. The secretary-general of the party, Daud Mohamed Ghelle, arrived as the police began their hunt. He later told journalists that he asked the policemen the purpose of their visit, which they did not reveal, and whether they had a search warrant, which they did not.
A huge crowd soon gathered at the party's offices, including journalists, when its leaders and supporters turned up in full force to confront the police, who had in the meantime received huge reinforcements. The commanders leading the police, Abdillahi Fadal Iman, in charge of police operations for Somaliland; the police commander for Hargeisa; and the head of the CID, argued that the radio was located on the laptop of Daud Mohamed Ghelle and said they wanted to take Ghelle himself, as well as the laptop, into custody. There was a heated exchange between the police, who admitted they did not have legal authorization, but said they had been given "orders", and the leadership of KULMIYE who refused to surrender the laptop or to allow Ghelle to be taken by the police. The showdown attracted more and more people who became vocal in denouncing the police action.
The head of the Electoral Commission, Ahmed Haji Ali, came, along with some members of the Commission, the deputy speaker of Parliament and a number of elders, to try and defuse a potentially explosive situation. KULMIYE rejected the suggestion that they should hand the laptop over to the Commission, insisting on the right to know why their offices had been forcibly entered and ransacked in a manner that was evidently illegal and unconstitutional.
The police eventually withdrew at about 8:45 p.m. after they heard the nightly programme from Radio Horyaal and realized that it was not being broadcast from the building they themselves had surrounded. Ironically, the Landcruisers carrying the well-armed policemen were part of the Special Protection Unit set up to fight terrorism and to protect foreigners after several foreigners were assassinated.
In an interview with the Somali Service of the BBC, the Minister of the Interior, Ismail Adan Osman, insisted that a search warrant was not necessary because the radio is "illegal." And yet Article 32 of the Constitution of Somaliland guarantees freedom of association, freedom of expression and freedom of the press in unequivocal terms. It states specifically that "the press and all other media are part of the rights citizens enjoy for expressing their opinions" and adds that "the press and media are entitled to their independence" and forbids any step to undermine this independence. Furthermore, Law No.27 gives the citizens of Somaliland the right to establish private radios, newspapers and TV stations. This law has been passed by both houses of parliament and signed by the President. Somaliland already has both private newspapers and a private TV station.
The government's argument that the radio in question is "illegal" because it is not registered in Somaliland is irrelevant because the radio, as the government has been informed on many occasions, is based in a European country where it is registered. And there is no law that requires the citizens of Somaliland to acquire a license from the government for the right to listen to a foreign-registered radio.
It is not clear exactly who gave the police this assignment. The police force is answerable to the Minister of the Interior, but it is possible that the orders came from more senior quarters. What is clear, however, is that the Government of Somaliland is intolerant of dissent and is increasingly engaged in an open assault on the rights guaranteed in the Constitution of Somaliland, in this instance freedom of expression. The refusal of the government to allow the establishment of competitive radio stations is counterproductive and backward looking in an age where information persistently flows across borders. It is particularly difficult to square with talk about progress towards "democratisation" and the desire for international recognition for Somaliland.
Independent radio can make analysis and debate on difficult issues accessible to ordinary people. This is a necessary part of ensuring that Somalilanders are well informed and able to generate the new ideas essential to build a better future for all the people of Somaliland. Unfortunately the experiences of Radio Horyaal would seem to suggest that the safest place to encourage debate in Somaliland is from outside the country. It is important that the government take immediate steps to correct this troubling impression and safeguard the rights enshrined in the Constitution.
http://www.jamhuuriya.info/ Apr 08 2005
A Statement Of Apology.
Those of us who support the UDUB party in power in Somaliland usually try to own all the good actions of the government. We gloated over the masterful way that the President and his government handled the parliamentary election crisis. We slapped each other on the shoulders and said"well done". Whenever there is a cross-fire of discussion between friends on the politics of Somaliland, we count the many victories of this administration; from holding municipal and parliamentary elections to a successful fight against terrorism, to a non-belligerent and cool headed handling of the Sool crises, to good neighborly relations with both Ethiopia and the more unpredictable hostile regime at Djibouti. Despite the tremendous and gargantuan problems facing our young, war-ravished and unrecognized country, to me and to most of the people in Somaliland, the present administration was tackling the national problems, day come day go, in a manner way better than what we would normally expect from them. For that reason, those of us who had no Agenda other than a better Somaliland did never hesitate to show their support to them.
Now for the first time I have to concede to my friends in the opposition, that in this episode, it is the government that has got the egg in its face. It was a big mistake. They actually shot themselves on the foot. In a democratic state the law does not even politely knock the doors of the opposition leadership, attacking them with riot squads is totally unthinkable. Whoever thought about this scheme must be sent to a course of ABC in democracy for dummies. Naturally in our teething democracy there will be painful moments, however we must neither exaggerate a minor problem, nor be silent from a situation that we honestly think could bode danger to the fabric of our nation.
Therefore, in the light of what happened yesterday at the Kulmie headquarters of Hargeisa, I decided to send my deep felt apologies to the KULMIYE rank and file, and to the larger populace of Somaliland about the harassment actions of this government of the UDUB party that I support. I hope we will all learn the necessary lessons from this incident.
Mohamud Tani
Source: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) 31 Mar 2005
UNICEF Somalia Monthly Review - March 2005
The Northwest Somalia ('Somaliland') constitutional court gave a ruling that paved the way for the setting of a date for parliamentary elections. The date had been a source of conflict between the ruling party and the opposition. Somaliland's National Electoral Commission is to set a new date which will be announced by the President.
The Middle Shabelle administration in Central Somalia celebrated its fourth anniversary in the regional capital, Jowhar located some 90 km north of Mogadishu. The leader of the administration Mohamed Dhere expressed support for the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and said Jowhar was ready to host the new government. He urged residents of Jowhar to support the TFG.
Visiting missions: Somaliland President Dahir Riyale Kahin on 10 March met senior staff of UN agencies working in Somaliland and Somalia led by the UNDP Resident Representative and Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr. Maxwell Gaylard. The team's mission was to evaluate project implementation in Somaliland. President Kahin also met an Ethiopian government delegation which is working on modalities for improving trade relations between landlocked Ethiopia and Somaliland. As part of the effort to boost trade, Somaliland's Berbera Port Authority and the Ethiopian Maritime and Transit Service Enterprises signed an agreement to enhance Ethiopia's transit trade.
Security developments
Incidents of insecurity continued in Central and Southern Somalia leading to loss of lives. The Imam of Muse Boqor mosque in Waberi district of Mogadishu was killed by unknown gunmen on 13 March 2005. A Russian medical doctor was shot and wounded reportedly over a pay dispute.
Fighting in parts of Galgaduud region led to at least 36 people killed. Three children were also killed and six others wounded while playing with an object on 13 March in Saliide settlement situated between Galinsoor and Dhabad, Galgaduud region.
Emergency
Relief supplies: UNICEF distributed relief supplies donated by Coca Cola to victims of the tsunami that hit the Northeast Somalia ('Puntland') coastline on December 26 2004. The supplies were distributed during a visit by UNICEF staff to Hafun, the worst-hit area.
UNICEF completed the construction of a new water well to serve families affected by the tsunami in Hafun. The well is situated seven kilometres from the settlement.
Drought: The Second Deputy Speaker of the Somaliland Parliament, Elmi Hirsi Ali, sounded an alert on severe drought in Seylac and Loya-addo districts. He appealed for help from the local administration and international humanitarian organizations.
Special Days.
Days marked: UNICEF supported the marking of International Women's Day on 8 March in various regions of Somaliland. Activities to mark the occasion included drama performances, lectures, songs and poems. The Day celebrated annually is a chance to review the progress women have made in the struggle for equality, peace and development.
World Water Day was marked on 22 March. In Somaliland, the main event was held in Gebiley where UNICEF has completed a major water project and where a sanitation project for schools is underway. The Day was also marked in Hargeisa, Somaliland's capital. The Somaliland Ministry of Water organized the celebrations with support from UNICEF and other agencies in Somaliland.
In Puntland, the main celebrations were held in Puntland's administrative capital, Garowe, where the President of Puntland State Mohamud Muse Hirsi "Adde" officially launched the Garowe water system.
Health update.
UNICEF held a coordination meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, with international and local NGOs implementing health and nutrition programmes in Central/Southern Somalia. Due to insecurity it could not be held in Jowhar the location of the main UNICEF office in Central/Southern Somalia.
Maternal care: UNICEF in collaboration with Candle Light for Health and Education (CLHE) started the production in Somaliland of the first of 12,000 Clean Delivery Kits (CDK). The kits contain medical accessories to ensure safe delivery of children. They will be distributed to Maternal and Child Health (MCH) centres.
MSF-Sweden has conducted a feasibility study on the re-opening of Belet-Weyne Hospital. The hospital has been closed since 1998 when the Coordinating Committee of the Organization for Voluntary Services (COSV) pulled out due to financial constraints.
Diarrhoea control: Following reports of an outbreak of diarrhoea and shortage of water in Adenyabal district of Middle Shabelle in Central Somalia, UNICEF staff visited the district to assess the situation. The situation has now stabilised with the local maternal and child health clinic providing treatment to patients. UNICEF and its partners have launched an aggressive water chlorination campaign this year and it has borne fruit given that there has not been any cholera outbreak throughout Somalia unlike in previous years.
Nutrition update.
Advocacy: UNICEF organized a workshop to sensitize policy-makers from the Somaliland administration on infant feeding and also printed Operational Guidelines for Supplementary Feeding Programmes to help staff in responding to emergency nutrition needs of vulnerable populations.
Drought assessment: UNICEF staff participated in an interagency drought assessment mission to Awdal region, Somaliland. The mission found high rates of livestock deaths and increase of measles.
Water and environmental sanitation Environ
Database: In Puntland the local administration has formed a coordinating committee which is working closely with the UN and other agencies to establish a database of key actors in the water sector.
Projects launched: The Garowe Water Supply System was inaugurated on World Water Day. While the Puntland State Agency for Water and the Environment and borewell operators are running the supply in the interim, plans are underway to ensure a private management company is put in place to run the system as soon as is logistically possible. The Day was also marked in Jowhar, Central Somalia, a town which is served by the Jowhar Water System, the first major public-private sector partnership water project since the fall of the government.
The Jowhar Water System was initially constructed by the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) between 1982 and 1983. Unfortunately it was vandalized after the collapse of the Somali state in 1991. However, the European Union financed the rehabilitation of the system and on 16 August, 1997, Farjano Company made up of representatives of key clans in Jowhar took over the management of the supply system that supplies water to most of the between 30,000 and 35,000 residents of Jowhar.
Training: UNICEF trained some 60 people from Hiran region, Central Somalia, in management and hygiene for water sources.
Communication for development
In Puntland, UNICEF engaged in advocacy and social mobilization for hygiene promotion in Hafun, the worst hit location by the tsunami which struck in December 2004. Other areas covered by the initiative include breastfeeding, HIV/AIDS education, immunization and eradication of female genital mutilation.
UNICEF supported women's groups in Jowhar, Central Somalia for cholera control and prevention. UNICEF staff met those of three youth broadcasting groups in Merka - Shabelle Peace Development, Shabelle Youth Development Organization and Ayub Orphanage Centre to explore how the youth could help in collaborating with video centres to broadcast material of relevance to the youth.
UNICEF missions
During the period under review UNICEF Somalia Representative Jesper Morch met Somaliland administration officials and discussed issues related to UNICEF's work in Somalia. Mr Morch and his deputy, Siddharth Chatterjee also visited Jowhar in Central Somalia where they met representatives of the Local administration and reviewed UNICEF programmes.
Education update.
Girl education: UNICEF Somalia staff participated in an Eastern and Southern African education network meeting in Kampala, Uganda that ended on 4 March. The meeting had participants from 24 countries from the region and discussed strategies for boosting girls' education.
School feeding: UNICEF's Somaliland office held discussions with the World Food Programme on the possibility of enhancing collaboration in the school feeding programme. The aim of the intervention is to increase school enrollment and learning with a special focus on girls. The two UN organizations agreed to identify 20 more schools for the programme. UNICEF will construct school canteens in ten schools in the current year. The canteen facility in each school will include a kitchen, a dining hall and a store. WFP will provide the food.
Advocacy: In Puntland, preparations for launching of the Back to School campaign continued. Consultations were held with representatives of the local administration, radio stations, school children, NGOs and teachers. Similar consultations were held in schools in Luq and Belet Hawo in Gedo region. The Back to School initiative will be launched this year in order to boost school enrolment in Somalia. UNICEF staff and the Minister of Education for Puntland visited at least 40 schools in Nugal and Mudug regions. During the visit, they met teachers, mentors for teachers, members of community education committees and community mobilizers with whom they discussed issues related to enrolment, teachers, school buildings and financing. Lack of adequate teaching space was found to be a problem in major towns. Meetings were held with the Norwegian Refugee Council in Somaliland to discuss and agree on cooperation in Basic Education. UNICEF Somaliland staff held discussions with the Adventist and Development Relief Agency (ADRA) to explore the possibilities of collaboration in basic Education. ADRA supports 15 primary schools in Nugal, Puntland, through support of the European Commission. In Central/Southern Somalia, UNICEF staff met those of partner organizations including the Human Rights Committee for Somali Refugees and the Indian Ocean University who have initiated education programmes in 32 internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Mogadishu.
In Jowhar, Central Somalia, UNICEF and Jowhar Women's Organization held neighbourhood meetings in four locations to advocate for girls' education.
As a result of mobilization, three new non-formal education centres have been opened in Jowhar. UNICEF-supported non-formal education initiatives in Somalia focus on helping young people who missed out on opportunities to attend formal education have a second chance to acquire basic skills of reading, writing and numeracy. The curriculum also has a component that teaches such skills as relating to one another, reproductive health, peace, conflict management and protection of the environment. Supplies: UNICEF donated nonformal education learning materials to the learning centre in Mandere village of Jowhar district. The centre has attracted many youth learners. Another donation was for furniture to Shanta Primary School of Baidoa which has 159 students. The school's construction was financed by the Shanta village community in collaboration with the Diaspora.
HIV/AIDS prevention and control update.
Danish mission: A Danish government mission visited HIV/AIDS prevention and control projects in Somaliland. The delegation that was in Somalia to evaluate projects that have been funded by Danish assistance also linked up with key partners who had benefited from the projects.
Advocacy: UNICEF staff held discussions with women, and youth groups and hospitals in Mogadishu on raising awareness on HIV/AIDS issues and women's empowerment. Women's organizations in Mogadishu run training courses for women and adolescent girls in non-formal education, home economics, handcraft-making, tailoring, child care, nursing, computer use, secretarial work and English language.
A Somali doctor from the Diaspora held a HIV/AIDS awareness session at Hayat Hospital in Mogadishu. The participants were civil society representatives, hospital staff, school students and university lecturers in Mogadishu.
Testing: UNICEF met staff of SOS Maternity Hospital, MSF-Spain Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre and Hayat Hospital in Mogadishu to discuss establishment of voluntary counselling and testing services. Another meeting was held with members of the Somali Public Health Professionals Association who had carried out an assessment of 100 IDP camps in Mogadishu. The assessment indicated that awareness of HIV/AIDS was very low.
Child Protection update.
Mine risk education: UNICEF staff held discussions with the Somaliland Mine Action Center to review Mine Risk Education initiatives that the organization has undertaken in collaboration with UNICEF.
Training: In Puntland, UNICEF organized training in psychosocial care and counselling for 22 participants from different locations in Somalia. The objective of the training was to enhance the participants counselling knowledge and skills. booklets on the eradication of female genital mutilation. Twenty child protection advocates refreshed their skills in raising community awareness on protection and how to prevent abuse, neglect, exploitation and discrimination against children.
Child soldiers rehabilitation: The Elman Child Soldiers Rehabilitation and Reintegration project in Merka and Kismayo towns of Central and Southern Somalia continues. Some 120 former child soldiers are being rehabilitated in the current phase. The former child soldiers are benefiting from literacy, numeracy and vocational education.
If you have questions about the UNICEF Somalia Monthly Review please contact: Denise Shepherd-Johnson, Communication Officer. E-mail: dshepherdjohnson@unicef.org OR Robert Kihara, Assistant Communication Officer. E-mail: rkihara@unicef.org Tel: 254-2-623958/ 623950/ 623862/ 623959/ 350410 Fax: 254-2-520640/ 623965
SOMALIA: Saudi beheading of Somalis "grossly unfair" - Amnesty says
"Six Somalis were suddenly executed in public on 4 April without being informed in advance that their five-year prison sentences, which they had served - and also been lashed - by May 2004, had apparently been changed later to death sentences by a secret procedure," Martin Hill, Horn of Africa researcher for AI, said on Thursday.
Ali Sheikh Yusuf, Abdel-Fatar Ali Hassan, Abdullah Adam Abdullah, Hussein Haroon Mohamed, Abdul-Nur Mohamed Wali and Abdullah Hassan Abdu had been detained in a prison in Jeddah, one of Saudi Arabia's main cities, since their conviction for theft in May 1999.
AI said that the trial of the men, said to be migrant workers from Somali capital Mogadishu, had been inconsistent with international standards on fairness.
The six Somalis were unaware that they were at risk of death, according to AI, which said it had written to the Saudi minister of interior regarding the men's status, but had received no response.
Decrying the secrecy surrounding the Saudi Arabian criminal justice system, the human-rights watchdog said that most defendants and their families were not informed of the charges against them, nor of the progress of legal proceedings.
It further stated that defendants could be convicted solely on the basis of confessions obtained under duress, torture or deception.
Trial proceedings took place behind closed doors, AI said, and those accused had no right to legal representation - while in the case of foreign nationals, inadequate or no access to consular assistance was allowed.
AI put the total number of people executed in Saudi Arabia in the last four months at 51, almost two-thirds of which were foreign nationals.
It called on Saudi Arabia's King Fahd to commute all outstanding death sentences, and to bring Saudi trial proceedings into line with international standards.
According to the Somali press, human-rights groups in Mogadishu have also condemned the executions as illegal and contrary to both Islamic Shariah law and international law.
Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Date: 07 Apr 2005
Somalia: Humanitarian Update March 2005
The Somalia Transition Federal Government selected Baidoa and Jowhar as temporary relocation sites. In the last week of March fighting ensued in Baidoa. The situation remains tense.
Food Security
Despite sufficient Deyr rains that helped to end a four years drought and is expected to result in good harvests, many parts of Somalia continue to experience food insecurity especially Awdal region in Somaliland where malnutrition of children under five years is 20.3%.
Security
Hargeisa and the route to Mandera and Gebiley were last month downgraded from UN Security Phase 4 to 3 while the rest of Somaliland remained on Phase 4.
Tsunami Update
Emergency needs in tsunami affected areas have largely been met. About 5% of the population is in a state of humanitarian emergency while 40% are experiencing livelihood crisis, requiring assistance until the next fishing season.
CAP 2005: Funding for projects within the Somalia CAP 2005 remain low with only 3% of the appealed funds covered as of 7th April, 2005.
New Government identifies relocation sites in Somalia
This month saw a series of developments unfold around the Transition Federal Government's (TFG) relocation and the deployment of a peace support mission. The TFG delegation which travelled into Somalia, between 24th February and 4th March, was generally well received, yet incidents of fighting and demonstrations occurred over issues of relocation and deployment of IGAD frontline states troops.
Conflicting interests by faction leaders remained at a deadlock during Parliament's session on 17th March, 2005. IGAD's communiqu, on 18 March reached a compromise by approving the deployment, of Sudanese and Ugandan troops to the peace support mission in a first phase. Other IGAD countries are expected to deploy in a subsequent phase.
On 21st March 2005, the Somali Council of Ministers voted to temporarily base the TFG in Baidoa and Jowhar until sufficient security is restored in Mogadishu. However, the vote took place in the absence of about 10 out of 74 ministers, who left the meeting.
Fighting erupted in Baidoa on 26th March, 2005, when faction militias attacked demonstrators in favour of the temporary relocation of the TFG to Baidoa. It is unclear how many people died or were injured as result of the fighting. International staff was relocated to Nairobi and National staff Wajjid Fighting was short lived but tensions remain high.
Any continued tensions in Baidoa will likely have an impact on the humanitarian situation, particularly on the livelihoods of the largely farming community. Many farmers have started preparing their land preparation of the Gu (long rains season) planting season. If the conflict continues, will interfere with the farming activities in the Bay region, thus affecting food availability and access.
Good Deyr rains ends drought but food security concerns remain
The Mayor of Berbera appealed for urgent UN assistance to combat locusts which were reported to have reached the eastern parts of Berbera in Somaliland. After an assessment by the Food Agriculture Organisation and Emergency Prevention System FAO/ EMPRES, together with the Ministry of Agriculture, it was established that infestation was not significant . Also, present conditions were not favourable for breeding. The FAO/EMPRES carried out a control operation on March 4-12 and Placed the area under observation.
A preliminary rapid interagency situation assessment of the Awdal region calls for immediate humanitarian interventions in water, food, health and livelihood support to mitigate against continuing drought conditions in the area. The assessment was carried out following an interagency meeting on 12 March 2005 to discuss reports of worsening food security in the region. According to UNICEF, 20.3% of children under five years of age were moderately malnourished, while 2% are severely malnourished. Anaemia was also observed among women and children. The assessment team says the security situation of the areas visited was stable and calm and could facilitate humanitarian interventions. The area is hosting pastoralist migrants from Shinille zone of Ethiopia who have increased by 30% compared to previous years thus exerting more pressure on limited natural resource. Livestock have poor body conditions due to scarcity of pasture, lack of water, diseases and long travel distance in search of water and pasture. This has in turn reduced food availability at household level (particularly milk production) as the communities rely mainly on livestock and livestock products. Veterinary services are almost nonexistent in the visited areas. OCHA will share the finalized report once available.
Meanwhile, exceptionally good deyr rains have ended the 4 years drought and led to above average cereal production in most cropping areas. Still, around 500,000 people remain in a state of Humanitarian Emergency or Livelihood Crisis.
In north eastern Somalia, the good rains improved overall condition of pastures and livestock yet the time it will take pastoralist communities to recover will depend on the outcome of the next gu and deyr seasons. In central Somalia, ongoing and recurrent civil tensions limit access to grazing, markets and other resources.
Malnutrition rates remain critically high in Gedo District
Food and civil insecurity have persistently affected the people of Northern Gedo district. According to FSAU food security categorization, the main livelihood groups of Bulet Xawa, Dolow and Luuq are experiencing chronic food insecurity with about 29% of the population classified as being in a state of either emergency or livelihood crisis and in need of continuing humanitarian assistance.
High malnutrition continue to be recorded in Northern Gedo in January and February. 30% of the average 100 children screened in Bulet Xawa MCH were acutely malnourished, and 40% of the average 200 children screened in Luuq MCH malnourished. A critical nutrition situation was recorded in Luuq District in October 2004. Despite the need, insecurity hinders relief operations and disrupts trade operations. Many roadblocks exist on the main trade routes and heavy tax extortion by the militias continues. Data from Belet Xawa TFC recorded high numbers of severely malnourished children of about 50 per month between November 2004 and January 2005. Most of the Belet Xawa TFC beneficiaries come from Belet Xawa town, as well as Malkariyey, Arracasse, Belet Amin IDP village and nearby villages of Dolow. A few cases come from villages across the Kenyan and Ethiopian borders.
Food insecurity, diseases, limited diet variety, poor sanitation, poor water quality and limited humanitarian access are some of the factors associated with the critical nutrition situation in Northern Gedo and the consistently high admission rate into the TFC. FSAU plans to establish a sentinel sites surveillance system in Northern Gedo in the coming months to monitor trends in the nutrition situation in the area. FSAU and partners also aim to undertake a nutrition assessment in Luuq or Bulet Xawa Districts in the course of 2005. (Source March FSAU Monthly Nutrition Update).
Somalia tsunami affected in livelihood crisis
According to the Interagency Assessment Report released this month, existing emergency responses in the form of health, shelter, non food items and food have met immediate humanitarian needs.
About 5% of the total population 2,200 people) are in a state of humanitarian emergency and 40% of the total population (17,600 people) face livelihood This is based on the Food and Livelihood Security Classification developed for the Tsunami context. At least 50% of the assessed population (22,000 people) require sustained resource transfer in the form of food and/or assistance until the next fishing season in 2005.
Access
This is necessary in order for households access basic food needs and alleviate financial pressures due to reduced fishing incomes. It is also contigent on the fishermen having access to fishing equipment in the next fishing season.
Local communities were affected by different shocks over the past year drought, floods, freezing temperatures, continued livestock ban, civil tension, and the tsunami), straining social support mechanisms and dampening the regional economy.
The team observed that the estimates of the overall impact of the Tsunami in of infrastructure damage, number of affected, and overall severity were generally less than previously reported in earlier rapid assessments.
Affected
The areas most affected by the Tsunami are Hafun, Bender Beyla, Dharin Raqas Kulub, where substantial damage to and infrastructure occurred. In view fact that the affected communities tied to the fishing industry, of which of the gear and equipment was destroyed or damaged, the current priority is the rehabilitation of the fishing sector.
Another need is the provision of shelter. Hafun, Bender Beyla, Darin Ragas, and were badly affected in terms of damage permanent structures and the need for immediate reconstruction is highest and critical in Hafun due to its location and to high winds. OCHA's Mid Term Review the Indian Ocean Earthquake that caused tsunami in December 2004 notes that the of Hafun require urgent support for outright reconstruction of destroyed permanent Some operational agencies, such as UNICEF, UNHCR and UN-HABITAT, have already recovery activities with existing funds. remaining tsunami recovery needs that funding will be addressed through the the Somalia CAP.
In view of the changes in the humanitarian context and in light of progress there is now a need to focus on the humanitarian needs of other vulnerable communities throughout Somalia. With attention diverted toward tsunami, other life-saving projects in aimed at other equally, if not more vulnerable groups, risk being jeopardised.
In reference to the Somalia CAP the MTR notes that livelihood insecurity overall vulnerability persist in numerous of Somalia, in addition to the tsunami- areas. Other vulnerable groups, including and destitute pastoralists, live in very difficult conditions with minimum access services and income generating opportunities.
Malnutrition
The impact of sustained drought some areas of the north has increased child malnutrition. An estimated 900,000 face humanitarian and livelihood crises require urgent assistance, especially in the Failure to address the needs of these communities could increase security risks and create potential challenges for the overall stability country.
Meanwhile, a new agency in the Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Agency (HADMA) was formed by presidential decree to coordinate all emergency livelihood recovery efforts. Its aim strengthen the coordination between government and humanitarian actors. As a HADMA will develop an overall Puntland Humanitarian response plan.
http://www.jamhuuriya.info/ Apr 08 2005
Renewed possibilities and hope in long walk to peace, Somaliland case gives hope to Southern Sudan
Currently, the first draft of Sudan's new history of political transition is in the making. This is the time of newly re-energised possibilities. A changing climate is unfolding: from military politics of war embraced by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM/A), to the embrace of the politics of dialogue, negotiation and peace.
In Sudan's capital, Khartoum, SPLM leader, James Wani, is leading a delegation to begin the long and painful reconciliatory journey with the government of Sudan towards implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Africans and the world recently witnessed this peace agreement in the city of Nairobi, Kenya. The current peace implementation process starts with the interim constitution of Sudan, which needs to be approved by Sudan's national parliament and the SPLM's National Liberation Council.
In South Africa's capital, Tshwane, the SPLM leadership and its cadres, led by the Movement's First Vice-Chairman and SPLA chief of staff, this week met with South African ministers; representatives of various government departments and the University of South Africa; local government mayors and the ANC leadership. This wide range of meetings were part of a programme to exchange ideas on political transition, constitution making, governance and delivery of basic needs to the people.
President Thabo Mbeki, speaking on 31 December last year at the signing ceremony in Nairobi, said the people of Sudan expect the SPLM/A and the government of Sudan to build schools, clinics, roads, and work for real dialogue among Sudanese.
This cardinal challenge of delivery of the basic needs to all the people of Sudan - in the South, West (including Darfur), Central and East of Sudan -was uppermost in the minds of the cadres of the South Sudanese leadership who visited South Africa. Equally on their minds and in their hearts was the challenge of reconciliation, peace and stability.
The SPLM/A leadership is acutely aware of the difficult political environment for implementation of the peace agreement. They explored, therefore, all possible options during their meetings in Tshwane, Nelspruit, Johannesburg and Cape Town, to avoid potential sources of failure to Sudan's emerging peace and stability. These include the range of militias, factions or leaders, who oppose peace and use violence to undermine peace; difficult neighbours who assist spoilers and oppose peace (Sudan has nine neighbouring countries); and poverty, which make all Sudanese vulnerable to war merchants who peddle commodities like timber and gems.
With Sudan bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Africa's peace initiatives with the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) in the Great Lakes area are inter-connected in the consolidated effort to promote the delicate peace in the Horn of Africa and Great Lakes regions.
In this respect, correctly, a number of important international institutions have noted that the AU "has been the most proactive international institution in seeking an end to the conflict". Indeed, this is in large part due to the vision and determination of the AU's Professor Alpha Konare to consolidate the African-led agenda. Konare, during his visit to South Africa, made time on Sunday to meet with the SPLM/A leadership and its cadres, in order to frankly discuss issues of concern and engage the issues for implementing the peace agreement.
African countries have responded well to Professor Alpha Konare's call for African troops for the Sudan. South Africa has mobilised police and army officers to join the AU's Mission in Sudan (AMIS). The European Union and the USA have provided important logistical and financial support to assist AMIS to effectively carry out the bulk of its field tasks in Sudan.
In the context of the progress being made towards peace, the timing of the UN Security Council resolution on Darfur is counter productive. Last week, the UN Security Council passed a resolution referring the human rights situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The list of 51 suspected persons, which was passed on to the ICC, includes senior Sudanese government and army officials, some of whom were instrumental in reaching the peace agreement. The ICC list, included militia and rebel leaders. This is the first time a case has been referred to the court in The Hague by the UN Security Council.
Currently, the atmosphere in Khartoum is tense and the heat is on the government of Sudan and the army. Sudanese President al-Bashir is quoted as saying he swore "thrice in the name of Almighty Allah that I shall never hand any Sudanese national to a foreign court".
The central question is: in what way, at this critical and delicate juncture of Sudan's political transition, have the UN Security Council members contributed to the making of peace and stability in Sudan?
Clearly, SPLM/A leaders are equally under pressure in dealing with this fragile situation as it begins the implementation of this regionally and internationally brokered peace agreement.
On a related front, South Africa currently chairs the AU's Ministerial Committee on Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Sudan. This Committee includes foreign ministers of Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan.
Recently, South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma led the delegation of African foreign ministers on a tour of Sudan to assess first hand Sudan's physical, psychological, political and social reconstruction needs.
In the coming days, on 11-12 April, this AU committee will brief its international partners on Sudan's practical requirements on the occasion, when Norway will be hosting a Sudan Donor Conference in Oslo. Delegates at the Oslo conference will surely be grappling with the challenges of delivery of a better basic life for all Sudanese, seeking to embrace the principle of unity in diversity throughout Sudan.
The South Sudanese leadership may also be considering the question of national unity or the secession of South Sudan. Will peaceful co-existence between South Sudan and North Sudan be possible after the interim 6 years, when a referendum will be held on self determination? Initial economic indicators suggest that if the current economic development commitments to South Sudan are made over the next six years, the South Sudanese will enjoy a yearly income which will be the highest in East Africa. This debate among African leaders and the masses has begun.
In this respect, the AU's refreshing initiative to send a fact-finding mission to look into the issue of Somaliland's case for self-determination in the Horn of Africa, has given hope to many South Sudanese and peace activists who are doubtful of the AU's credentials in upholding the principle of self-determination. Many SPLM/A leaders believe the international community is unable to uphold the international principle of self-determination and justice, and have given rhetorical preference to the international principle of territorial integrity at the expense of the principle of self-determination and justice.
Mercifully, this debate on African continental coherence, unity, secession, the interests of justice, self-determination and the principle of territorial integrity has been examined with reasonable depth by African international law experts and analysts. The interests of world peace and stability require that, where politically possible, the division of existing states should be managed peacefully and by negotiation, like the case of Eritrea.
Reaching back to the threads of our earlier discussion, where we have stood for a new political transition in Sudan, seeking equity for all humanity, good political governance and collective international action and solidarity, we cohere, hope, pray and mobilise for an equalising Sudan, where all parts of Sudan experience peace, stability and prosperity.
Peace activists will be watching closely as all the players in Sudan and the international community, remain committed to the task of implementing the security arrangements; monitoring the peace agreements details and; delivering promptly the promised aid to meet the basic needs of Sudan's people, such as food, houses, schools, clinics and roads.
Recently, the government of Sudan relinquished the opportunity to host the next AU Summit, in July 2005. Libya will now host the AU's next Summit.
When Sudan does host the AU Summit it will be another appropriate occasion for us to write, evaluate, and continue to mobilise, support and learn more about peace in Sudan within the Horn of Renewed Possibilities and Hope.
** Iqbal Jhazbhay teaches at the University of South Africa and recently edited a special edition of the journal, African Security Review, on the Horn of Africa.
Source: http://somalilandcenter.com/ Apr-07-2005.
In defense of decency
From: Ibrahim Mead, Ottawa, Canada
I am here defending decency and not any thing else. The statement attributed to Gabileyans collectively, is wrong. One cannot accuse 50,000 people of some thing one person allegedly said! That is said, I did not like what I have read regarding the indecent words unwisely employed by the chairman of Gabiley against a leader of a party (Hon. Faisal) who has the standing of a president, protocol wise. I don't understand neither do I agree how such languages tic vulgarity uncharacteristic of "Gabilians was played out especially in the collective sense!
Allah said, "And the parable of an evil word is that of an evil tree. It is torn up by the root from the surface of the earth. It has no stability" And as such we have to understand that indecency has no stability.
I, Ibrahim M Mead, in my capacity as a "Gabilian" wish to apologize the leadership of OCID of what ever the words unwisely employed by, or attributed to another Gabilian may cause to Mr. Faisal Ali, the chairman of OCID party, and the party in general. And therefore peace.
Gabileh is the burial home of thousand and one "ouliyaa" good servants of Allah. It was the center of religious teachings in our Somaliland. Gabilay was the vanguard and the first to take up arms against the fascist regime of late Siyad Barre until Somaliland was liberated and yet despite all that lost its rights of one man- one vote thereafter! Disfranchised in other words! Moreover, it is the most wronged place by the very people she sacrificed her sons and daughters for them, thus far!
What has been attributed to the mayor of Gabilay was indecent, out of bound and below the belt! That seems an act of "Guulwadeen."And again that is not Gabiley's culture and it is unfortunate for the mayor to look like he played a role of a "Guulwaday" I know the mayor is a young out standing person who respect others, I am sure he did not mean that, however some misunderstanding might happen.
There were roamers that the same amount that (reportedly) went to Gabilay also went to Burao and Borama except that Gabilay's amount happened to be publicized more than others. One may assume that the mayor may wonder why the OCID chairman attached what Gabilay has received and not what others has received already! But that is not the point. The question is the money! And Faisal has every right as an opposition party leader to question the money. It is not the First lady, it is all about the money again!
However Mr. Faisal would have addressed the matter differently semantically while he was still seeking some answers about the money. I am not here to say for Faisal but I am sure that what happened was a matter of semantics when not said well. In conclusion the mayor of Gabilay was wrong to employ such obscene language against a leader and I here advise him to retreat what he has allegedly said.
The First lady doesn't need a Gabileyan to defend her; there are so many Ministers and others who would readily jump on her side wrong or right! There is no short of "Guulwadayaal" in the city and else where. In this drama the name of Gabilay has been trashed and tarnished and not only that of Mr. Faisal Ali.
My Allah, the owner of the heavens and the earth and what is between them for give us all and lead us on the right path.
SOMALIA: Malnutrition over 20 percent, says UN agency
In its March update on food security and nutrition in Somalia, the FAO's Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU) noted that in the southern region of Juba Valley, more than a quarter of children screened were at risk of malnutrition.
In the central region of Galgadud, levels of malnutrition were almost as high, at 24 percent.
"Limited services available for malnourished children in Somalia have forced families to travel long distances to Galkayo [central Somalia] in search of therapeutic care," the report stated.
It also quoted an interagency tsunami assessment, which said that 22,000 people along the northeastern tsunami-affected coastline would need "sustained resource transfer over the next eight months".
Elsewhere, "civil insecurity continues to disrupt pastoral and agro-pastoral livelihoods" in part of the western region of Bakool, according to the analysis unit.
Meanwhile, in the self-declared republic of Somaliland, in the region of Karin, solitary locusts had been sighted in isolated incidents. The FAO's Emergency Prevention System for Transboundary Animals and Plant Pests in Hargeysa, the region's capital, was planning a mission to assess the incidence and infestation levels.
Somalia's climate remained dry, as is the norm for the time of year, but climate experts were predicting below normal Gu rains between April and June. The Gu rains usually contribute towards 70 percent to 75 percent of annual food and fodder production, and are therefore of significant importance to overall food security.
FSAU noted that sorghum (a staple crop) produced during the extended Deyr rains - usually only from November to January - remained in the market at significantly reduced prices. The harvests in the southeastern region of Shabelle, and Juba, had been affected by moisture stress, insect damage and hot winds.
Heavy rains in Somalia over the past year have ended a cycle of drought that had lasted for more than three years.
Source: somaliland.org, 06 Aprl 2005
Somaliland Societies In Europe (SSE)Conference Launch
6th April, The day Somali National Movement (SNM) was established in London 24 years ago.
SSE launches: The first Somaliland Societies in Europe International Conference United In Making A Difference - Somaliland Communities in Europe (Diaspora) and Somaliland:
- HISTORY: SURVIVAL, RECONCILIATION AND PEACE
- PRESENT: RE-CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOCRACY
- TOMORROW: DEVELOPMENT AND PROSPERITY
1ST - 2ND SEPTEMBER 2005, London, United Kingdom
PRESENTING Internationally Renowned and Distinguished Experts (including Somalilanders) addressing Migration & Refugee Issues, Human Rights and Democracy, Governance, Re-settlement, Integration, Community Cohesion and Media.
Also Staging Grand Exhibition History, Culture, Folklore, Art, Photos, Presentations.
Make sure you are part of it! and for further details please contact: Eid Ali Ahmed, Chair Abdulkadir Maacalesh, Secretary, Email: eid_consultancy@yahoo.co.uk Email: maacalesh@yahoo.co.uk, Tel: + 44 (0) 29 2038 3317 Tel: + 44 (0) 12 0453 5093, Mobile: 07868736151 Mobile: 07984142942
Source:hadhwanaag.com/ Aprl 05 2005
Reckless articles Must Stop: They are Abridge to a Genuine National Civil Discourse:
Constructive criticism is very healthy and both well-established democracies and fledgling ones need it. To aspiring democracies free press and freedom of expression, is what taking in balanced nutrients is to living organisms. Criticism in general of your government, community, organization or any other entity should be based on ideology, policy, an issue, or principle, but if it is merely based on clannism, unsubstantiated innuendos or clan hatred, it is nothing but an exercise on futility. It won't serve any useful purpose, it only arouses past sentiments, events, animosities, suspicions and grievances now relegated under the rug for the sake of the general good, big picture and the common good of the community.
Again Newton's third law of motion (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction) will be at play. These kinds of disparaging tirades, will just trigger the same amount of equally tasteless responses, which our communities don't need at this day and age. Our society already put a huge mileage into the dream of building a peaceful, and unified society with a common purpose and interest. Surely there will always be little mistakes and problems here and there. Remember the process of nation building in Somaliland is in an advanced stage. At this level we are well ahead of many other struggling nation states in Africa, the middle East, Asia and Latin America. We can call what these breed of opinionated writers are doing here,is an attempt to turn the clock back.
These writers instead should have been furious with the dysfunctional, teethless and debating organizations such as IGAD, the so-called AU and even the United Nations, for their intransigence, recalcitrance and denial to acknowledge the measurable progress, and the fledging civil society Somaliland has built. If they were real organizations, they would have encouraged, commended and recognized the hard work, political maturity and the relative good governance Somaliland has already realized. They would have to pressure and ask these country clubs, how come they have bestowed unconditional recognition to dysfunctional and failing states such as Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Sierraleone, Liberia, Togo, Burkino Faso, Nepal, Tajikistan, Armenia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Georgia and many others. While in the meantime, they never took the opportunity to even have a look as to what is happening in Somaliland. It is crystal clear, that these meani! ngless organizations always reward and prefer disorder and dysfunction to good governance and order.
Apparently many of these organizations as a matter of fact outlived their usefulness. They are nothing but vestiges of the past. Tell me one conflict the Au and IGAD resolved during their tenure. In their watch dozens of devastating sectarians wars were raging in the Horn of Africa for the last thirty years. In their watch Rwandan genocide has taken place. In their watch the Northern Arab-dominated Sudanese government has waged genocidal wars against the Christian south for twenty years, and at the present they are waging another racist and genocidal war against the African Muslims of Darfur region. The Somali clan supremacists wars were raging over 15 years now, following two years of conferences, they came up with a so-called hotchpotch of a government in exile for the warlords, by the warlords and to the warlords. Adding more fuel to the fire, they dare to say that Ethiopian forces will keep the peace in Southern Somali! a. Sending Ethiopian troops to Southern Somalia, is like sending Indian forces to keep the peace in Pakistan or sending Israeli forces to keep the peace in Egypt, Syria or Lebanon. This is a vivid demonstration of their ineptness, incompetence, ignorance of history and above all their lack of vision.
Unsubstantiated allegations:
Recently the Internet in general and Somaliland sites in particular are bustling with outlandish innuendos, false allegations, half truths, fabrications and wishful thinking articles. Many of these articles has one thing in common, they embarked on an open season of baseless attacks on president Rayaale. They are in most cases giving a heavy dose of emphasis on his mistakes, while completely ignoring the good things his government is doing. some of the articles are so crude and below all standards of journalism ethics, so even mentioning their authors' names is a waste of time. I wonder where some of those authors got their information. They may be getting their information from another Somaliland I don't know. I usually don't name names but, the most rambunctious of them was recently posted on Awdalnew. The writing of those articles coincide with a time, Somaliland needs the unity of all its citizens more than any other time in the past.
This rumbling article was replete with unsubstantiated and unconfirmed stories, the writer didn't mention the source of his information. He mentioned a wide corruption in Rayaale's government, but again he failed to disclose the source of his false assertions. The abrasive article in fact was short on specifics and examples: He said Somaliland is compromising its territorial integrity, that is completely false. The article has a heavy dose of lies, fabrications, and blatant accusation without any backing. It was a combination of threats, warmongering and blatant exaggerations. This kind of virulent invective at this time serves no purpose. Everything we do in this world has an objective, I wonder what was the purpose of this spiteful harangue.
The article was full of information which in no way was news worthy, and short on suggestions and recommendations. This rudderless manifesto or manifestos serves no purpose other than unnecessarily hurting many people.
Analysis: This kind of invective and unproven allegations, reckless assertions amount to nothing but street hassling, kill the messenger syndrome and childish wishful thinking. you can always criticize you government in a civil society, but your criticism should be based on facts and figures. The source of your information should be verifiable and corroborated. It must in the meantime, be followed by suggestions and recommendations. That is what civilized people who care about their countries and people often do. They do not resort to below the belt blows, bizarre and outlandish allegations. Awdalnews is mostly read by civil society intellectuals, and reasonable people. They do not tolerate unsubstantiated attacks and innuendos against a popularly elected leader. In a civil society, there are traditional ways of changing governments and leaders. It is called voting and happens in the ballot box.
Those who disagree with the government must wait the time when ballots are brought to their neighborhoods, where they can deliver their votes. This aforesaid article was spiteful. it was polarizing and Clannish hatred is written all over it.I have spilled out the modern clan structure of the Somali-speaking ethnic groups in one of my earlier articles. The clan is not a hierarchical structures on the lines of corporations, NGOes, Governments and other private or public agencies. The clan is a horizontal or egalitarian entity where all members are on the same level, regarding running the affairs of the clan.
There is no difference between an intellectual with 25 or 30 years of education, and somebody with a very limited education or no education.There is no difference between a 15 year old teenager and 70 year old person. Clan decisions are usually non binding degrees, and members are not obligated to up hold them. This article and others constantly keep on invoking and parading the SNM card. We all know the SNM waged an armed struggle against Siyad Bare's despotic regime. So far that is a good and a noble idea. But you must remember the SNM on the other hand has made many mistakes also, while conducting their armed struggle against the former dictator. They were also based on one clan out of a number of Somaliland clans. What they did and didn't is not important at this juncture. But, I wonder what is the purpose of repeatedly citing the SNM name by some individuals recently. Does it mean, the SNM alone has a birth right to rule the country? Does it mean! ; Mr. Silanyo was an SNM leader therefore, he deserves to rule the country more than Rayaale? Are they using it as a tool of exclusion against other non SNM communities? I really don't know the answer at this point, because I can't get inside the minds of those writers. The educated class, business leaders, religious community leaders, traditional leaders and others are supposed to educate the average community members and advise them, as to how to do the right thing. When nations and communities are led by bad leaders, communities pay a high price.
The list of bad leaders who led their people into cataclysmic disasters is very long. A few examples of the long list of unscrupulous leaders is as follows: Hitler, Mussolini, Mengistu, Zinewi, Guelle, Afwargis, Siyad Barre, Mobutu, Slobadan Melosvich, Stalin, Anastesia Samosa, Pinocette, Somali warlords and others. We must be vigilant at all times, to make sure that our leaders will not cross the line prescribed by the constitution and the rule of law. If people stood up and speak out early on, the sesimic tremors; bad leaders inflicted on whole nations should been avoided. Some of the aforementioned are still doing and practicing, what doomed their predecessors and their nations for the matter in the past. Zinewi is still practicing and aggressively pursuing what Menelik was doing in the 19th century, Afwargis is destroying a 30 year long Eriterian struggle for independence.
Again your criticism should be objective and based on concrete facts. All of us should strive very hard to criticize, and correct our leaders, but your criticism should be objective and based on concrete facts. The article totally ignored the good things happening in Somaliland. it deliberately overlooked the addition of new faculties to Amoud University. It showed a huge oversight, regarding the massive grassroots efforts; all Somaliland communities are engaged; for launching Burao University. It didn't mention the community effort exhibited by the people of Bakke, when they started building a road linking their town to Borama city and eventually to Hargeisa. It also ignored to mention the grassroots efforts Amoud University students and other community members conducted recently, when they were building a road between Amoud University campus and the city of Borama. He didn't mention the first hospital for the mentally ill, recently opened in Borama. The article overlooked the government banning of the notorious plastic bags in Somaliland. There are also numerous other success stories I can't cover here. These kinds of articles should be condemned, chastised and admonished by the people of good will, who want to see the hard won Somaliland Independence succeed and prosper. This kind of shooting from the hip articles are to be rejected. This irresponsible articles are not even allowed to be published. They are a breach to all laws of decency and an affront to responsible and ethical journalism.
Conclusion:
Apparently, articles of this kind are taking us back to square one. They are reminding us the dark days of blatant clannism, conflict, suspicion and conflagration. They will off course hinder the process of transition from a clan based tribal society to a constitution based civil and democratic society. We are all aspiring to lead our communities to greener pastures, but such clan hatred tinged articles represent a huge obstacle to the noble steps our society, is taking towards the building of a non tribal civil society.
Meanwhile, I am not sure, but some of these writers may be Mr. Silanyo supporters, who didn't get over their presidential election loss, of 3 years ago. Gentlemen if that is the case, please get ready for the next presidential elections, and come up with who ever you want to become your candidate and move on. When two people compete for something, one of them will lose. If your candidate was the one who lost this time around, you would have to congratulate the winner and get ready for the next round of elections. That is how civil societies work. The writers of such articles seem to be people; bent on turning the clock back and taking us back to the infamous times of tribal segregation, oppression and lack of freedom of expression. These people should be stopped on their tracks. These doom sayers should change their clumsy and outdated tactics and come up with a better way of criticizing their government
Reported By: Suleiman Egeh. Email: soleimoneg@yahoo.com
New Law Brings Elections Closer In Somaliland
NAIROBI, 5 April (IRIN) - The parliament of the self-declared independent republic of Somaliland, in northwest Somalia, passed a bill into law on Saturday that would pave the way for national elections.
"All three political parties are in agreement over the bill," Ali Ilmi Gelle, Somaliland's deputy information minister, told IRIN on Tuesday.
Saturday's bill was passed - by the lower house of parliament - despite serious disagreements between Somaliland President Dahir Riyale Kahin and parliament, with several legislators demanding a national census and the clear demarcation of regional borders before they would approve it.
The bill's endorsement, according to IRIN sources, is likely to quell discord over the date of the parliamentary election, originally slated for 29 March, but since postponed.
"We have not yet set an official date for the election, but we expect it to be held sometime this year," Ilmi said.
Observers have criticised the fact that polling booths will only be stationed in regional capitals, a move they say would deprive thousands of people living in the countryside of the right to vote. However, Ilmi told IRIN: "About 70 to 80 percent of the country will get the chance to vote in the elections."
Another cause of dissent over the election could be the allocation of parliamentary seats on a clan basis, rather than a one-person-one-vote basis. This is a remnant of the parliamentary system of 1960, when Somaliland briefly got international recognition as an independent state before joining Somalia.
In 2001, Somaliland held a referendum, in which a majority of the population backed its self-declared independence. Two years later, the country had its first multi-party presidential election, which was won by Riyale of the ruling Unity of Democrats party.
Somaliland, having broken away from the rest of Somalia in 1991, has managed to avoid much of the anarchy that has dogged Somalia over the past 15 years. The territory is, however, embroiled in a border dispute with the northeastern semi-autonomous state of Puntland, over the regions of Sanaag and Sool.
Source: somaliland.org, 06 Aprl 2005
Information Highway
Telesom internet subscribers like me have been seeing more and more of WebSENSE lately. WebSENSE is a blocking software program used by one of internet providers in the country.
This is how it works: Surfing song lyrics when you're with friends playing the guitar to while away time on Fridays (our only non-working day) for example has proven to be frustrating. Why? Because anything about entertainment is blocked. (There's no place where you'd find live entertainment to listen to, so if you or your friends have the talent, you have to do it yourself).
Let's try work related information. Our colleagues working in our HIV/AIDS program couldn't get articles or reference materials, because most of the information are categorized as Adult Content , therefore are banned from access to the public.
Just a few minutes ago, I was about to check a google generated (subscribers are emailed links about their chosen subject) news from Aljazeerah's online site about federalism and Somaliland, I couldn't because it falls under Advocacy Groups, again it is a no-entry zone. This is interesting because I was able to link other news articles to Aljazeerah previously, is it because it concerns federalism? Maybe.
Why limit the search online? Well because there are no bookshops in Hargeisa. Business Technology Center, the only place that sells good variety of books from abroad closed down months ago. Libraries are limited, 2 University Libraries one in Hargeisa and 1 in Amoud University in Borama 2 hours travel from the capital.
Gandi Public Library, is the only one in the country. It was established by a Somalilander from the diaspora and now have young energetic staff that runs the institution. Their list of library patrons are growing, therefore the need to scale up their collection.
Another one is the ILO established resource center in the city center. It is where the ICD initiated Somaliland collection of literature is housed. Again, the choices are still very limited.
Access to information remains to be a problem. The 4 internet providers in the country could've helped but then obviously access to the type of information is regulated.
SOURCE: insidesomaliland.blogtales.com/ April 04, 2005
Perserverance Pays
It was last year when they organized themselves as a group. It's was a cry for recognition, "We exist and this is our situation, look at us." Anab the chairperson said. HAN started their collective effort by providing support to handicap women students. They encouraged girls and adult women to continue their education. They engaged government officials to be involved in HAN activities and local non-government organizations that have long forgotten their plight as citizens of this country. They made themselves heard and continued to mobilize.
Like any other new organization, HAN experienced difficulties in standing on its own. They rented a small office and started a kindergarten for children of 4-7 years and initiated an adult literacy class for women in the afternoon. Like any person with disability mobility poses a problem. HAN thought that if they could only own a bus to bring them back and forth then there will be no excuse for their students not to attend school.
Since last year, they have been collecting contributions from individuals, local organizations, international non-government organizations and businessmen. In a place where almost everyone is in need of money, this is not an easy task. But they persisted and persevered.
Last week, as we busied ourselves discussing their constitution and ways of improving their financial policies, Anab dragged me outside their office to show me this:
These children with disability don't have to worry about transportation because HAN's women leaders worked hard to ensure that nothing will stop them from getting their first taste of education. I could still see Anab's proud smile as I write this entry. Indeed perseverance pays.
Source: somaliland.org, 06 Aprl 2005
Awadal Residents Should Not Participate In Somaliland's Upcoming Parliament Elections
Only a few weeks ago the opposition parties and a large section of the Somaliland communities were promising doom and gloom following the debacle of the country's upcoming parliament elections, which was initially nominated by the president to take place on the 29th of March, but postponed by his government indefinitely until a further date is appointed. This has created a lot of confusions among most Somalilanders and many were asking themselves if the current government led by Mr Rayaale is honest about the whole issue of parliamentary elections. Some politicians from the opposition parties, mainly from KULMIYE and to some extent UCID, were even threatening with a "Ukrainian style of protests and disobedience" in order to oust the current parliament and the government led by Mr Rayaale. The president and his government were continuously blamed for this fiasco and rightly so, since they had an ample time to sort out this mess.
So, what is the change of heart by the opposition now? Why a president who was unpopular among the opposition and many sections of the community has now become so popular overnight that the same opposition groups who were slating him not so long ago are now singing his songs? The answer is simple. He caved in to the demands of certain groups who wanted the continuation of the status quo without giving the slightest thoughts to his decisions and the effects they will have on other communities, including those from his constituency. The president was wrong when he rejected the motion overwhelmingly taken by both houses, the House of Elders and the House of Representatives that the country should have an election based on one man, one vote. This would have meant that the country should conduct a national census and a demarcation of Somaliland regions, towns and villages. It would have also meant a postponement of parliament elections to, may be, a year or so. However, when the time of election comes, it would have meant that the country had sowed the seeds of real democracy for the future generations. It would have meant an establishment of a less complicated system of democracy in which our MP's are elected and a less hassle for future generations.
The president is also dead wrong when he opted for this arbitrary, unfair, illegitimate and divisive system in which our parliamentarians will be elected, even if it is for this term only. Somaliland people don't want half measures. They need full measures no matter how long it takes to achieve them. In full measures, and only in full measures alone hat we will be able have a fair system based on one man one vote. The half measures devised and designed with the help of the president, accepted by the opposition groups who were hell bent to destroy the current administration not so long ago and now endorsed by the House of Representative are nothing short of injustice. It is a complete cock up intended to appease the opposition and those who prefer status quo to a real democracy. It is a system that the president and his government chose simply to prolong their reign. It is unfair to the people of Somaliland, particularly to the people of Awadal who were given a mere laughable 13 seats despite their region being one of the populous in the whole Somaliland regions. Worst of all, this system gives more seats to people whose constituencies an election is unlikely to take place and whose loyalties towards Somaliland has a big question mark. It is beggars believe to even contemplate adapting such a system, let alone making it the way forward for the people of Somaliland.
The people of Awadal and those who are in a similar disadvantageous position as far as parliamentary seats allocation is concerned should reject this unfair system, which could spell disaster for our people if not reversed. The people of Awdal are demanding nothing short of their fare share of seats and on the basis of one man, one vote. Anything short of that will be rejected with resounding NO by the residents of Awdal region and hopefully any other community that feels the same way. Let it be known for everyone in Somaliland that the 1960 parliament allocation system is non starter for the people of Awdal.
Transplanting Tukuls In The Somali Desert
HARRIRAD, North-west Somalia, March 29 (UNHCR) - The former exiles of Harrirad don't waste any time. Just minutes after climbing down from the UNHCR trucks that brought them home from 15 years in a refugee camp, they're already putting up houses.
Using beams and even cardboard sheets frugally carted from the camp on the Ethiopian side of the border, they're energetically reassembling the tukuls - traditional dome-shaped structures - they took down just a day earlier.
From a tiny, sleepy town of just 67 structures, Harrirad has mushroomed into the Somali desert's version of a boom town, thanks to entrepreneurial former refugees who have taken a one-hour drive home from Aisha refugee camp in eastern Ethiopia back to their homeland.
"Two years ago you couldn't even buy a bottle of water or a cold drink here," said Amal Yasin Ibrahim, a UNHCR employee who travels to the border several times a month - over rutted goat tracks that pass for roads - to help the returning refugees. "Now every shop has a fridge. This town is really progressing fast. Nearly every day there's something new available" in the shops the former refugees have opened to serve the burgeoning population.
All over Somaliland - particularly in the capital, Hargeisa, and the large town of Borama - former refugees have come home to help rebuild their country. The self-declared independent state of Somaliland is not recognized internationally, but it's an enclave of relative peace and stability in North-west Somalia, a country long tortured by violence.
It's not surprising that returnees - assisted by investments by the UN refugee agency - are the engine of redevelopment, since nearly everyone in the country fled their homes at some point during the civil war between 1988 and 1991, when Siad Barre's regime was toppled and Somaliland declared independence.
"Somalilanders as a whole were all refugees at one point," says Abdulrahman Hassan, a consultant on returnee issues with the Somaliland Ministry of Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Repatriation (MRRR).
"In 1988 there was indiscriminate killing and people had to flee," he adds. "The only difference between the people here is when they came back. Some came back in 1991 and some are coming back now."
And so has he, after 26 years abroad. During that time he managed to learn flawless English, pick up two university degrees in the United States and acquire Canadian citizenship.
"There's been a real brain-drain and some of us have to come back and help," he says. "The economy is growing. While the international community is ignoring the country, the Somali diaspora is coming from all over the world, some of them speaking Dutch, some speaking Finnish. They are coming back and building the country."
Even if they are not so educated and prosperous, refugees are coming home in high spirits. Take the woman, well into her 70s, who came home last month to discover that her son is now deputy governor of Awdal region, which encompasses the growing town of Borama.
"You can never imagine how excited and happy she was to come back home and then to see me as the deputy governor of this region. She couldn't believe it, " the man in question, Mohamed Hassan Ahmed, recalled the day after his mother's return from Aisha camp in eastern Ethiopia.
Despite her advanced age, his mother is a bundle of energy. "She was bragging to me that she is going to feed me. She was saying, 'You don't have to worry about having a job. I am going to start a small business and I will support you and your whole family.'"
Such success is not in store for everyone. Some 90 percent of returnees still don't have a steady source of income even years after their return, and many live on remittances from more successful relatives abroad.
Even so, after decades of convulsions, Somalilanders are simply happy the war is over. "As long as one has got a peaceful mind and a peaceful country, there are many opportunities," says the deputy governor. "As long as we have peace, that's good enough."
And how much has the country changed in the last 14 years? Just ask consultant Abdulrahman. MRRR's offices occupy what were once the torture cells of Siad Barre's police. Even his own sister was imprisoned there because her husband was fighting against the former ruler.
Now Abdulrahman feels quiet satisfaction every day when he goes to work: "I am proud to work in a place where my fellow Somalilanders used to be tortured but now is a place where we are happily bringing them home."
By Kitty McKinsey, In Harrirad and Hargeisa
Source: somaliland.org, 31 Mar 2005
SOPRI Invites Submission Of Papers For Somaliland Convention
The Somaliland Policy and Reconstruction Institute ( SOPRI) invites the submission of papers for the Somaliland Convention, which will be held in Los Angeles on the 24th - 26th of June 2005. Writers are advised to submit a synopsis of one page to one of the email addresses below to be considered for an opportunity to be presented at the Convention. The papers should be based on the following session topics:
- Somaliland Politics and governance
- Economic development and Natural Resources
- Community & Social Development: Education, Health & Civil Society
- Somaliland in the Diaspora: Problems & Prospects
SOPRI, and the Somaliland community in California, anticipate the participation of, and speeches from, representatives of Somaliland's three main political parties and government as well as academicians, businessmen, experts in foreign policy, and other disciplines at the two-day convention.
We encourage submissions from those interested in attending the convention. Writers of selected papers will have an opportunity to address this distinguished audience.
Views expressed in the papers will be those of their writers and will not represent those of SOPRI and other sponsors of the Convention.
Dr. Amina Adan, Golmarso@aol.com
Said M. Samater, ssamater@aol.com
Adan H Iman, ahiman2@aol.com
Source: somaliland.org, 30 Mar 2005
Radio Horyaal And The New Debate On Airwaves
Radio Horyaal is the latest talk of the town. It's the newly opened radio station in the country, Somalilanders' first taste of independent radio broadcasting. For more than a decade, Radio Hargeisa ruled the airwaves of this oral society. It is the only radio station and is fully controlled by the government. In Somaliland, the people's thirst for information is quenched by listening to radio, day in and day out.
BBC Somali is aired by Radio Hargeisa. At 5:30pm when BBC broadcast starts, the city seems to stop, in teashops men intently listen to the latest news, their heads are turned to one direction (speakers). By the time the program ends at six pm, heated discussions begin.
"If you only understand the debates about the news, it seemed like they listened to 10 different stations. Everyone has something to say, the debate is always intense" Mohamed said, a Somalilander from Canada who decided to stay in the country.
The recent arrest or 2 radio reporters suspected of being KULMIYE (opposition party) supporters working for Radio Horyaal stunned the public. Their ecstatic welcome to the new broadcast station was momentarily put on hold. Questions are raised and remained unanswered. "The government promised long before that there will be another radio station, it has been more than 10 years! I agree with what people said, the government should close down radio stations in the eastern part of the country that are not supportive of Somaliland. Radio Horyaal is for Somaliland! " Abdirahman, a KULMIYE supporter said.
Some people however are warry about the new radio facility, "They should've gone through the proper channels and applied to the Ministry of Information and National Guidance for license. The cabinet will approve it and then the parliament. It is only then that they will become legal. They have the right to do that, why didn't they establish the facility here inside the country instead? I am sure that they are not in UK but in Mogadishu!" Abdi an academician said.
Whatever the reasons both of the government (in firing and arresting the reporters) and the owners of Radio Horyaal are, one thing is for sure, this will be another hot topic of debate among the radio listening population.
http://www.awdalnews.com/wmview.php?ArtID=5209, February 27, 2005
Editorial: How much longer can Somaliland survive on armchair politics and empty stomach?
With its homegrown peace and stability, its sure-footed strides in building democratic institutions and strengthening the rule of law, its thriving press freedom and its fledgling civil societies, Somaliland was viewed and described as "Africa's Best Kept Secret." The Somaliland people, known for their entrepreneurial skills, have devoted their energy and time in rehabilitating their lives, re-healing the wounds caused by years of brutal dictatorship and civil strife, rebuilding their homes and reasserting their national identity and national pride as a sovereign state. They proved skeptics wrong by successfully holding two elections, a municipality and presidential elections, and preparing for the parliamentary one in March 2005, the last cycle of the country's democratic process.
Alongside the democratization and peace building efforts also went social development projects such as rehabilitating schools, hospitals and civil society organizations. Today, Somaliland boasts of having several universities, few colleges and a number of vocational schools.
Making all these accomplishments with little help from the international community and with its sisterly Somalia sinking deeper into a state of chaos and unabated bloodshed has made the world take notice of Somaliland's wisdom and resilience in coasting all these years through grinding economic situation and frustrating political limbo.
Today when the fruits of their long labor were due to be reaped, Somalilanders have found themselves between a rock and a hard place. On the one side Somalilanders have every right to be proud of their accomplishments. Hargeisa can match any other African capital with its luxurious hotels, gorgeous villas and bungalows and state-of-the art architecture. On the other side, however, Hargeisa and all other Somaliland towns for that matter have no town planning, no roads, no services, no sewage system, no water supply, no reliable electricity, no health services and no source of income with 90% or more of the community relying on assistance from relatives in the diaspora and the whole able-bodied population unemployed with no hope of economic or political salvation in sight.
This situation has encouraged regional political burglars and highwaymen to act not only on Somaliland's behalf but also to sneak under the darkness and steal its territory, its economic potential and its fundamental existence as a sovereign state.
The first blow came from Djibouti, which has signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia to be the gateway for the exports of livestock coming from Somaliland. It also handed over its customs and ports to the Emirate of Dubai to develop and manage them in an attempt to acquire ultra-modern equipment and implement advanced IT infrastructure solutions, thus eclipsing Berbera's role as a potential rival the same way that Djibouti had eclipsed the flourishing port of Zeila in the early 20th century.
The second blow came from Puntland whose Machiavellian warlord had first played the tribal card to dismember Somaliland and throw its territorial integrity into a perpetual doubt. With Abdillahi Yusuf Ahmed now buoyant with his newfound power and international recognition as the leader of Somalia, there is no doubt that he will make his priority to stymie Somaliland's ambition for nationhood. The establishment of the Horn of African Free Zone (HAFZA) in Puntland is a step to tighten the noose on Somaliland's dying economy and force it to fall into Ahmed's lap like a ripen fruit.
All this wheeling and dealing is taking place while Somalilanders are engaged in a mudslinging and cutthroat political squabble on the leadership of a hungry nation. It is no wonder that many of the Somaliland people who in the very recent past couldn't stomach to hear the name Somalia or Mogadishu have to follow with unprecedented enthusiasm the developments of the Somali government formed in Nairobi.
After living almost a decade and a half in the political twilight, Somalilanders are not only demoralized and beaten by the travails of finding their daily bread, but some of them have started to question about the viability of issues that they felt were so sacrosanct to even think about questioning them. If the conversation of Somalilanders in the coffee shops and their rush to meeting delegations of the newly formed Somali government could be taken as any measure, one can notice a change of tone and a softening of the position of the most die-hard Somalilanders towards any reference of association of their country with Somalia.
It may be appropriate to remind Somalilanders here that yes they have established peace and stability, yes they have turned Somaliland into an exemplary state in terms of building democratic institutions, holding multi-party democratic elections, enjoying free press and civil societies and trashing each other in the local and online media, but they have utterly failed in rising above the trivial political and tribal squabbles and thinking GRAND to bring about an economic change in their country. They failed to establish shareholding companies and attracting international business to their homeland. They have all become armchair politicians and excelled in outsmarting each other in shouting debates. They opted for resting on their laurels and got intoxicated with such labels as "Africa's Best Kept Secret" but they forgot that a hungry person could hardly keep any secret if he/she can sell it for bread. They have to know that the test is now. Either they have to trust each other, add penny to penny and create employment-generating businesses or they should know that people cannot live on empty stomachs and empty rhetoric for long and so they may not find any alternative but to try another 30 years of hell with bread than heaven without.
Source: http://somalilandcenter.com/ 26 Marc 2005
Enforce The Ban On The Bag
Somaliland has gone through and still going through a very difficult period with our enemies, perhaps now joined by Ethiopia making strategic moves to encircle and suffocate us and our home-grown traditional quarrelling and squabbling reaching its own inevitable and perhaps destructive crescendo. So it is encouraging, indeed heart-warming to see something positive come out of the place no matter how insignificant.
The ban on the ubiquitous plastic bag is long overdue as the spread of the obnoxious little packaging item should have been stopped long time ago. For starters it is ugly, an "eyesore" as the Somaliland govt spokesman correctly described it. It is also partially responsible for the demise of the age-old weaving industry in which Somaliland women (it was exclusively women) used to produce a dizzying array of stunningly beautiful containers made from natural fibres. There were bags and baskets of all sizes, textures and colours, some of them like the `han' and the `hedo' veritable pieces of living functional sculptures. The former was used for goat and sheep milk while the latter was used to store Muqmad, a biltong-like sweet and salty boneless lamb cutlets beloved of Somalilanders.
And then there were plainer items like `sellad' used by every mother in Somaliland each morning to go to the market to buy the days' groceries for the family and the `dambil' used to store household goods.
The materials used were simple and locally available and the containers not only reusable and cheap but decorative durable too.
More importantly the weaving industry employed hundreds, if not thousands of skilled women who made a living from selling these local products. And then came the nasty little bag and the weavers simply could not compete with its one time use simplicity. The main culprit was the Qat trade, another evil newcomer to Somaliland which will surely destroy the nation if not confronted and controlled at some point. But the Qat story is for another day. Today we are celebrating a great victory against an insidious by-product of the affluent and lazy society.
This is an opportunity for the plethora of Somaliland women's groups and NGOs to make a concerted effort to revive the weaving industry. Adverts should be published on all newspapers and carried on the radio (sadly there is only one radio) inviting skilled women to come forward for training and seed money. Collectives should be re-established and new members trained. If need be weavers from Ethiopia and India who use similar techniques should be employed as trainers. All this will cost less than Somalilanders spend on the evil drug of Khat in a day. As for `Qat wrappers which was the main function of the horrible plastic bag; I have an alternative and dare I say far more attractive idea. Why not have two personalised cloth wrappers for each customer, that way one could be left with the Qat seller and one taken with the poison leaves in it for chewing? The more discerning or snobbish Qat chewer can have silk wrappers with their names printed in goldleaf if they so wish while the rifraff can stick with their cotton wrappers. Again this will create employment for tailors in the country.
But let us not get carried away yet. The government has to enforce the ban first and unfortunately the precedence on this is far from encouraging. FGM has been illegal for almost ten years now but it continues apace right under the noses of law enforcement authorities. So if the government does not have the courage, conviction or the competence to prevent the barbaric mutilation of our children how can we trust it to face down the menace of the plastic bag? We will wait and see. But it is a step in the direction. Well done Somaliland government now enforce the ban.
http://www.keralanext.com/news/indexread.asp?id=162442
Africa ; Somaliland faces flak for scribes detention:
RSF said authorities in the northern breakaway enclave of Somalia had abused their authority by firing the pair for reporting for a new London-based radio network while also working for a state-owned station in the nominal Somaliland capital of Hargeisa and detaining them on suspicion of espionage.
"The two Radio Hargeisa employees must be cleared of all suspicion and unconditionally reinstated in their posts," the Paris-based group said in a statement received here.
"Their present situation, in which they are threatened with being thrown in prison if they go back to working as journalists, is intolerable," it said.
Authorities in Somaliland could not immediately be reached for comment but RSF, citing local journalist groups, said presenter Hodo Ahmed Qarboshe and reporter Ahmed Suleyman Dhuhul were fired on Tuesday by deputy information minister Ali Elmi Geele.
Geele reportedly said the pair had committed an "act of misconduct" by working both for Radio Hargeisa and for London-based Radio Horyaal, which recently began broadcasting to the Horn of Africa, it said.
The Somali Journalist Network, a local press freedom organization, said Dhuhul and Qarboshe had then been detained for questioning on espionage charges before being released on Wednesday.
Somaliland's government, which is not internationally recognized, has accused Radio Horyaal of belonging to the enclave's leading opposition party.
The network has denied the charge although many in Somaliland believe there are links between the station and the opposition. (Agencies)
Two Somaliland Journalists Fired, Arrested For Working For London-based Station
Reporters Without Borders today accused the breakaway state of Somaliland's government of abusing its authority by ordering the dismissal and arrest of two part-time employees of state-owned Radio Hargeisa on the grounds that they also worked for a new privately-owned radio station broadcasting from London.
"The two Radio Hargeisa employees must be cleared of all suspicion and unconditionally reinstated in their posts," the press freedom organizations said, stressing that, "their present situation, in which they are threatened with being thrown in prison if they go back to working as journalists, is intolerable."
Reporters Without Borders added : "The situation of press freedom in Hargeisa may not be as catastrophic as in Mogadishu, but the authorities are extremely sensitive about criticism. In the case of these two journalists, it is clear that they wanted to make an example and put Somaliland's journalists on their guard, while trying to stifle a radio station they dislike by depriving it of local correspondents."
Radio Hargeisa presenter Hodo Ahmed Qarboshe and reporter Ahmed Suleyman Dhuhul were fired on the orders of deputy information minister Ali Elmi Geele on 22 March. The breakaway state's government said it was an act of misconduct for the two part-time employees to also work for Radio Horyaal, a new London-based station that broadcasts to the Horn of Africa.
The Somali Journalist Network (SOJON), a local press freedom organization, said several agents detained Dhuhul at midday on 22 March on the orders of interior minister Ismaaciil Aadan Cismaanla and took him to the headquarters of Criminal investigation department. Qarboshe was arrested the next morning.
They were interrogated about their links with Radio Horyaal and its management, and were accused of "spying." They were finally released yesterday afternoon after the president of the Somaliland Journalists' Association (SOLJA) paid bail for them.
The Somaliland government (which is dominated by the Udub party) claims that Radio Horyaal belongs to the leading opposition party, KULMIYE. The station denies this, although local sources quoted by SOJON maintain that KULMIYE does indeed have links with the station.
Located in northern Somalia, Somaliland unilaterally declared its independence in May 1991 but has never been officially recognised by the international community. The government, located in the city of Hargeisa, has never allowed privately-owned radio stations.
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Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and press freedom throughout the world, as well as the right to inform the public and to be informed, in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Reporters Without borders has nine national sections (in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), representatives in Abidjan, Bangkok, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Montreal, Moscow, New York, Tokyo and Washington and more than a hundred correspondents worldwide.
Source: RSF.Org Somalia: Somaliland Still Blighted By Plastic Bags, Despite Ban UN Integrated Regional Information Networks/March 24, 2005
Hargeysa -- Three weeks after the self-declared republic of Somaliland banned plastic bags, the landscape of its capital city, Hargeysa, continues to be dominated by the brightly coloured bags.
Somaliland officials have insisted the 1 March ban has taken effect, but ordinary Somalilanders say the use of the bags, known locally as "Hargeysa flowers" because they are often found on trees, has continued unabated not only in the capital, but in towns such as Berbera, Borama and Burao as well.
"If the government wants us to stop using the bags, then it should provide us with a good and lasting alternative[s] for free," Asha Mohamed, a trader selling used clothes in the main market, told IRIN on Wednesday.
Information Minister Abdillahi Duale told IRIN in March that people should be using reusable, environmentally friendly baskets and containers, such as sacks made of straws, reeds and sisal. "These are the kind of containers that our people traditionally used," he said.
However, Mohamed said that "the majority of us cannot afford baskets and containers, [and] we find the plastic bags friendly and easily foldable."
At the grocery section of the market, hundreds of women were carrying the bags. "[They] can carry a considerable weight of goods without tearing like paper bags," Faisa Mohamed, a mother of two, explained.
Somaliland's government gave the public 120 days' grace at the end of 2004 to dispose of their stocks, but despite this, the bags still litter the streets.
When Duale announced the ban at the beginning of March, he told IRIN: "The bags have not only become an environmental problem, but also an eyesore."
He explained that they were harmful to livestock, as animals that fed on shrubs often ingested the bags accidentally.
The khat trade's role
Many of the plastic bags clogging Somaliland's drains have been used by khat traders. Bundles of khat, a plant stimulant chewed by many Somalis, are usually sold wrapped in the bags.
Ibrahim Omar, a khat seller, told IRIN in Hargeysa on Tuesday that the stimulant was sold in plastic bags to "keep the khat under optimum temperature", since the plant was highly perishable. Given the dry, hot temperatures in Somaliland, he added, it would lose moisture quickly if left exposed.
"The plastic bag acts like a fridge for the buyers," Omar explained. "Without putting khat inside the plastic bag the plant would get destroyed within minutes, hence the buyer would not get the stimulation he was seeking."
After Nuur Omar Sheikh Muse, the minister of trade and industries, issued March's decree, entitled: "Banning importation, production and use of plastic bags in the country", Duale said it would be followed by an awareness campaign to inform the public about the dangers of the bags.
However, local environmental activists have said the government has not yet embarked on the promised campaign to discourage people from using them.
Mohamed Ali Mataan, one of the activists, told IRIN he was worried that ink used to brand the plastic bags could also eventually contaminate the water system.
Nonetheless, Duale has promised: "We are determined as a government to enforce this ban, no matter what," adding that all the country's harbours, airports and other border points have been instructed to enforce the ban.
Yet sources in Hargeysa told IRIN that not only were bags still being imported, but a local plastics factory in the town was also continuing to manufacture them.
Asked about the factory, Trade Minister Sheikh Muse told IRIN on Wednesday that "the government has ordered the factory to continue to manufacture a certain amount of bags for a certain period until the majority obtain an environmental-friendly substitute - and we will definitely [be] going to regulate its production."
He made these comments despite describing the situation as "a disaster in the making, and had we hesitated, the long-term and negative effects could have endangered the lives of both human beings and livestock."
Importers who defied the ban, he promised, would face severe penalties.
Plastic-bag importers in Hargeysa, who wished to remain anonymous, told IRIN they were opposed to the ban because it was "harsh and ill-timed", and they believed it would lead to loss of revenue for the government.
Urging that the ban be lifted until a cheaper, reliable alternative was found, one of the importers claimed that the ban was a ploy to allow the local factory to gain a monopoly in bag production.
Kenyan research
In a report released during the 21-25 February meeting of the Governing Council of the UN Environment Programme in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, researchers in neighbouring Kenya recommended that thin plastic bags, used widely across the country for carrying shopping, be banned because they polluted the environment and were a potential health hazard.
They said the bags - which were so flimsy they could only be used once - littered both rural and urban environments, blocked gutters and drains, choked farm animals and marine wildlife, and polluted the soil as they gradually broke down.
Prof Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner and the Kenyan assistant minister for environment, has linked plastic-bag litter with malaria. She has said that discarded bags that have filled with rainwater offer ideal breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
BBC - Hargeisa, Somaliland - 23 March, 2005
Somaliland's Murder Trial Starts
Police were deployed around the court and journalists were refused entry.
The Somaliland authorities say those behind the killings are terrorists intent on destabilising the country.
The four victims - two Britons, one Italian and one Kenyan - were killed in separate attacks over a six-month period from October 2003.
The two Britons, Richard Eyeington, 62, and his wife Enid, 61, were shot through the window of their flat at a secondary school in Sheikh, 140km (87 miles) north-east of Hargeisa, the region's capital.
Their deaths followed the murder of an award-winning Italian aid worker, Annalena Tonelli, 60, in another part of Somaliland.
The former British colony of Somaliland declared independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, when former leader Siad Barre was overthrown and the country descended into anarchy.
Somaliland's independence has not been internationally recognised.
Two Somali reporters detained for UK broadcast
Deputy information minister Ali Elmi Gheleh said he ordered the dismissal of Hodo Ahmed Qarboshe and Ahmed Suleyman Dhuhul from their jobs at state-owned Radio Hargeisa after they were discovered working for the station.
"We became aware of its existence when we heard its transmission, but as they are Radio Hargeisa workers I sacked them, but I am not responsible for their arrest," he told Reuters.
Dhuhul was detained on Wednesday and Qarboshe on Thursday. It was unclear who ordered their arrest.
Local press freedom group, the Somali Journalist Network, said both were accused of spying before being released.
Global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders condemned the action, saying the Somaliland government which has outlawed private radio stations had "abused its authority".
London-based Radio Horyaal is believed by the Somaliland government to belong to the leading opposition party, Kulmiye, Reporters Without Borders said.
"The two Radio Hargeisa employees must be cleared of all suspicion and unconditionally reinstated in their posts," the group said in a statement.
"Their present situation, in which they are threatened with being thrown in prison if they go back to working as journalists, is intolerable."
Somaliland on the Gulf of Aden declared independence from anarchic Somalia in 1991, but is not recognised internationally.
Source: insidesomaliland.blogtales.com/25 March
Paper slams Somaliland government over terror trial, arrest of two journalists
Two recent events point to systemic problems in the decision-making of Somaliland's government. The first one is the detention and dismissal of two journalists for working without permits for overseas-based Radio Horyaal while at the same time being employees of the government-owned Radio Hargeysa. Even if one grants the government the right to fire the two reporters, one is baffled by why it chose to detain them. If the government's aim was to scare the two reporters and discourage Somaliland citizens from listening to the new radio station, the government's action resulted in just the opposite and gave Radio Horyaal some free publicity, while at the same time it damaged its own and the country's reputation.
One would have hoped that since many of the people in this government have been in office for some time, they would have learned by now that such heavy-handed tactics backfire. This incident is just another case of the government making decisions solely based on internal political calculations.. Since the government is responsible for Somaliland, it is only right that they should pay attention to internal matters, but it is also important that they be aware of the international ramifications of their decisions.
Which brings us to the second event, the trial of the ten alleged terrorists. Somaliland's government could have made more vigorous efforts to publicize the trial proceedings and drawn the attention of the international community. Since the victims were foreigners, it is only logical that their countries of origin, and the press in particular, would be interested in the trials and their outcome, and the occasion would have served as an opportunity to focus foreign media and international attention on Somaliland.
In a recent interview, Somaliland President Dahir Riyale Kahin said with evident pride: "Somaliland is the only country in east Africa that has managed to capture 10 terrorists." President Kahin and Somaliland's security services have every right to take pride in such a feat. But they must let the world know about it, and not treat it as a local event.
Source: The Somaliland Times web site, Hargeysa, in English 25 Mar 05
Two Journalists Fired, Arrested for Working for London-Based Radio Station
RSF has accused the breakaway state of Somaliland's government of abusing its authority by ordering the dismissal and arrest of two part-time employees of the state-owned Radio Hargeisa station, on the grounds that they also worked for a new privately-owned radio station broadcasting from London.
"The two Radio Hargeisa employees must be cleared of all suspicion and unconditionally reinstated in their posts. Their present situation, in which they are threatened with imprisonment if they go back to working as journalists, is intolerable," RSF said.
"The situation of press freedom in Hargeisa may not be as catastrophic as in Mogadishu, but the authorities are extremely sensitive about criticism. In the case of these two journalists, it is clear that they wanted to make an example and put Somaliland's journalists on their guard, while trying to stifle a radio station they dislike by depriving it of local correspondents," the organisation added.
On 22 March 2005, Radio Hargeisa presenter Hodo Ahmed Qarboshe and reporter Ahmed Suleyman Dhuhul were fired on the orders of Deputy Information Minister Ali Elmi Geele. The breakaway state's government said it was an act of misconduct for the two part-time employees to also work for Radio Horyaal, a new London-based station that broadcasts to the Horn of Africa.
The Somali Journalist Network (SOJON), a local press freedom organisation, said several agents detained Dhuhul at midday on 22 March on the orders of Interior Minister Ismaaciil Aadan Cismaanla and took him to the headquarters of the criminal investigation department. Qarboshe was arrested the following morning.
The journalists were interrogated about their links with Radio Horyaal and its management, and were accused of "spying". They were finally released on the afternoon of 23 March, after the Somaliland Journalists' Association's (SOLJA) president posted bail for them.
Somaliland's government, which is dominated by the Udub party, claims that Radio Horyaal belongs to the leading opposition party, Kulmiye. The station denies this, although local sources quoted by SOJON maintain that Kulmiye does indeed have links with the station.
Located in northern Somalia, Somaliland unilaterally declared its independence in May 1991 but has never been officially recognised by the international community. The government, located in the city of Hargeisa, has never allowed privately-owned radio stations to operate.
http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=60&par=2165/Marc 22 2005
Somaliland: Peacekeepers Will Not Deploy in Somaliland
Somalia has been without any functioning central authority for the past 14 years but the region of Somaliland has established its own governmental structures and claims independence from the rest of the war-shattered nation.
The officer said the first phase of the proposed deployment, which has been recommended to begin on April 30, would see three-and-half battalions of troops sent to lawless Somalia to assist the country's transitional government relocate there from exile in Kenya.
The first peacekeepers to go would include a battalion each from Uganda, Sudan and Ethiopia and a half battalion from Djibouti, he said on condition of anonymity.
He stressed that the proposal, presented by defence chiefs from the seven-nation Inter-Governmental Authority on Development on Monday, still had to be approved by IGAD foreign ministers.
The officer added that the proposal did not take into account strong opposition from some Somali warlords and Islamic clerics to the participation in the force of troops from Ethiopia and Djibouti.
Those two countries, as well as Kenya, are seen by opponents as having ulterior motives in Somalia.
"The foreign ministers will handle those policy matters," the officer said. "We wrote down the concept and it is them to decide the implementation policy."
However, on Monday, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, the current chair of IGAD, said the force, to be known as the IGAD Peace Support Mission for Somalia, would deploy with or without the support of the warlords.
"We are going to deploy with or without the support of the warlords," Museveni told defence ministers from IGAD, which comprises Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and nominally Somalia.
Source: http://somaliland.org/opinions.asp?ID=05032407/- 24 March, 2005
Somaliland Predicament From Which There Is No Obvious Escape
The late president's untimely death and unexpected departure from the political scene created a political vacuum in Somaliland politics. Thus far, the people of Somaliland have shown the world their maturity in many ways, including the manner in which they mutually and resolutely decided to carry out the presidential election and subsequently resolved the then disputed presidential election. What really became a tense situation and many people is asking now is how on earth did we arrived at the current political and constitutional crises? And how it reached the alarming stage before anyone uttered a word about it? It is therefore, necessary that the three political parties have to recognize their current role, the mammoth task and huge responsibilities they assumed, rather than indicating a position of ineffectiveness, ineptness, and indifferent. The current disengagement and inability to take on the system, shape political discourse, and claim their historic place in shaping the future destiny of Somaliland by duly exercising their rights to safeguard the country's national security, economic interests, and territorial integrity from undesirable political ramifications which, in the final analysis, weaken our ability to defend it, is simply unacceptable. The fallout could be disastrous one, and will lead to a brake down of rule of law and unquestionably will destroy the emerging democratic institutions and self-governance. Therefore, if they choose to be in the sidelines and continue their current reticence, in due course, they will be faced with the ultimate wrath of Somaliland electorate.
The current unpredictability in the political discourse in Somaliland is quite disturbing, and similar to the post SNM era of sluggishness, bad governance and resurrected old nemesis, and demons with such destructive forces coupled with skillful political maneuvering of Machiavellian tendencies. Yet, those hold positions of power whether elected, appointed or bestowed by their clans. i.e. the executive branch, legislators of both houses, election commission members and, justices of the high court is in breach of their contract with the people and the solemn oath they took to defend its territorial integrity, and uphold the reputation and the honor of their respective offices.
The opposition parties are not out of the loop either, because they were mute from the beginning and never forced the hand of the government and the parliament to take action and make it achievable in holding elections on schedule. When discussing the issue of the upcoming parliamentary elections, the parties were mute, missing in action (MIAs), and reluctant to fully engage the political discourse, rather than coming up with pragmatic solutions to offer a modus operandi that is fair and equitable to all concerned, and propose new alternatives to break the gridlock, but instead of being resolute in their quest for moving the country ahead, were marginalized and eventually they opted to played save, hoping for a divine intervention to resolve the impasse, and that led to a situation were it get worsen day by day and get out of hands.
What is more alarming is the emergence in recent months a small clique of turncoat saboteurs who are committed to destabilize and undermine the sovereignty of the country, and eager to lead the people into irreversible treacherous course; it is up to Somaliland people to bring them to account to resolve this deadlock. Lets be serious, what is at stake here is not who occupies what office or which group is more shrewd then the other, but rather our entire existence, and at this juncture it is incumbent upon every Somaliland citizen to defend the hard fought freedom by any means necessary, and save the country from complete self destruction.
Those engaging treacherous politics of divide and rule forfeited much of the credibility they earned from the Somaliland electorates, thus will put at risk the gradual democratization progresses made by the populace in establishing viable and promising public institutions and recently legalized multiparty system of governance... Such small incremental steps taken in the right direction for a decade and half to transition from clan-based government to an all inclusive government; based on power sharing and multiparty democratic system that espouses the principle of one man one vote and people's desire to pursue the dream of joining the international community could be particularly stalled, thus adversely affecting the path to international recognition. The risk of dissension and discord among the people of Somaliland at this crucial time is a threat to all of us, in particular to our national political stability, economic liberalization, political maturity and growth. If however, the state of affairs we are in is not resolved swiftly, amicably and prudently, the likely hood of the government embarking on an aggressive agenda of seeking early recognition from the international community will be delayed.
Justice system should promote the principle of due process, and it is violations must be addressed, such as torture, arbitrary arrests, detention, and lack of adequate legal representation. To be effective, justice system must be independent, impartial, and strive for objectivity and neutrality when deciding matters of national interests. It must recognize rights of individuals and uphold the constitution of the country by not abridging their freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble; due process should be free of intimidation and the right to appeal the government for a redress of grievances. The government must assure everyone to take part in the governance of the country directly or through chosen representatives accountable to the people.
This cycle of perpetual accusation and counter accusation of pathetic name calling and using the people's struggle as a lunching pad to attack each other is un called for, its a low point in this administration's term in office and rather uncivilized. If this does not stop without delay, it will give solace to our archenemy and those who rather see Somaliland disintegrate.
Let's not fall short, and not allow our differences get into the way, we need to come together as a nation of one people, in this momentous juncture we need to be united, and work for the common good and the betterment of our people. Otherwise, the consequences will be costly both in terms of human lives, political opportunities lost and property destroyed. The chaos that will ensue from such irresponsible actions is detrimental to the unity and existence of Somaliland. Lets not fail those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, and the hundreds of thousands of men, women and children who paid with their precious lives and many others who made their political capital, money and wealth readily available the struggle in order to reclaim our, honor, dignity, liberty and independences.
Somaliland sovereignty and independence is supreme, and those who paid with their blood in our struggle should not have died in vein.
Help us quench the thirst for home, say Somaliland refugees
There's even a 180-km stretch known as The Plain of Death ("Gegriyaad" in Somali) because of the number of drivers who perish of thirst there every year when their trucks or cars break down on the way to Djibouti.
So after Zeila's only sources of water - five boreholes - were destroyed during the civil war, there was no way Somali refugees would return to the region, where the mercury climbs to over 50 degrees Celsius between June and September.
The local nomadic people "spend most of their time fetching water; it's their main task," says Abdirashid Deria Farah, a water engineer with UNHCR in Hargeisa, the capital of the self-declared independent (but unrecognized) state of Somaliland, known also as North-west Somalia.
But now refugees are finally returning to Zeila because in recent years, UNHCR has re-drilled and re-equipped four boreholes in the region, in cooperation with UN and non-governmental organisation partners.
Even with the four boreholes, nomadic herders spend three or four days travelling in each direction to fetch water for their families and their animals, transporting the water to their homes on donkey- and camel-back.
In areas where it is technically feasible, UNHCR has also dug shallow wells for villages and farmers. "It's an extraordinarily harsh environment," says Abdirashid. "We are doing what we can to make it more liveable."
Somaliland is populated almost entirely by people who once had to flee their homes during conflict, many crossing international borders to become refugees. After 1991, when the regime of Siad Barre collapsed and Somaliland declared its independence, Somalilanders began coming home on their own. Since 1997, UNHCR has been helping refugees return from camps in Djibouti and Ethiopia, as well as further afield.
An estimated 700,000 refugees have returned to Somaliland, a place where nearly half the population lives on less than US$1 a day. Returnees are in an even worse situation; one year after their return, 90 percent do not have a regular source of income.
While Somaliland welcomes the return of refugees - who, in many cases, are helping rebuild the region - it has no money to provide necessary services to assure that their return is permanent.
"Somaliland is caught in a bind," says Simone Wolken, UNHCR's Representative in Somalia. "Because it is not recognized by any country in the world, it does not get any bilateral aid. The only money available for reconstruction and development has to come from the UN and NGOs."
Between 1993 and November 2004, UNHCR carried out 677 projects - ranging from building latrines so girls could attend school to teaching men and women how to keep bees and sell honey to support themselves - that benefit an estimated two to three million people in Somaliland. The projects represent an investment of more than $23 million by UNHCR.
"These community-based reintegration programs, including 58 in Somaliland in 2004 alone, have helped to improve the access of vulnerable populations to the basic services of water, health, education and sanitation and to improve their livelihoods through local economic development," said Wolken.
"While the number of project may appear high, they only met a small fraction of the needs," she added. The UN and NGOs working in Somalia have appealed for $164 million for this year's projects, of which $6.6 million would go to UNHCR; in recent years, the requests have not been fully funded, which limits the ability of the UN adequately to help Somalis.
In an area where peace is still fragile, "we have to strengthen it through development," Wolken adds, "and make sure that these people never have to become refugees again."
In Aisha refugee camp in eastern Ethiopia, one of the last camps in what was once the world's largest refugee-hosting area, the last Somalilanders are going home.
What they value above all else is the peace that now reigns at home, but they are worried about the harsh life they will face.
Roble Hadi Kahin, the 50-year-old chairman of the refugee committee, and father of eight children, is worried that his younger ones will not be able to continue their education once they go back home in a few weeks.
So he has a challenge for world leaders: "The area I am returning to is an area without water, without health facilities, without education, but we are ready to return. Has the world any idea of helping us?" By Kitty McKinsey, In Somaliland and Aisha camp
Source: somalilandcenter.com/March-22-2005.
Journalist Arrested In Somaliland
On Monday 21st March 05, the first independent Radio station, Radio Horyaal, was launched in Somaliland. Unlike the government owned Radio Hargeysa, which can only be heard in the capital city, Hargeisa and its surroundings, Radio Horyaal can be heard in the whole of Somaliland, Somalia, Horn of Africa and the Gulf states.
Mr Ahmed H Nur, spokesperson for Radio Horyaal, reacting to the news of the arrest of the journalist stated: " Radio Horyaal uses an officially registered frequency and a company that is fully licensed to operate under the International Telecommunications Union. It operates in Europe and has a right to broadcast from there and conforms to international standards of broadcasting" He added that since the station does not operate on Somaliland soil, it did not need a licence from Somaliland authorities. "They were not working for a clandestine organization, but a legal organization broadcasting under international regulations", concluded Mr Nur.
In Somaliland, the government has banned independent Radio and the only Radio station operating in the whole of the country is the government owned Radio Hargeysa.
Human rights organisations and Media organisations have condemned the imprisonment of Mr Dhuhul. SOLJA,an umbrella organization that represents Somaliland Journalists called the arrest and imprisonment of Mr Dhuhul illegal and requested his immediate release.
Somaliland: Stability amid economic woe
Ahmed Hassan is sitting behind a large stack of Somaliland shillings on one of the dusty streets of the market place in the capital Hargeisa.
He and other money changers are doing a brisk trade, converting between shillings, dollars and euros.
"We watch TV every morning to check the strength of the dollar," he says, as a wheelbarrow arrives, piled high with Somaliland shillings.
Somaliland has its own currency, along with its own national anthem and flag. It even issues its own passports.
But Somaliland is a country in limbo, a state in waiting which no other country recognises.
'Unhappy marriage'
Former British Somaliland became independent in 1960 and joined Italian Somalia to the south a few days later to form the Somali Republic.
But it was an unhappy marriage and in the 1980s, a rebel movement formed in the north to fight against the increasingly oppressive rule of Siad Barre.
After Barre's fall in 1991, clan elders in the former British protectorate met and agreed to unilaterally declare independence from the rest of Somalia.
Traditional clan-based negotiations have brought a remarkable degree of stability - a sharp contrast to the continuing violence in some other parts of Somalia.
Peace has allowed refugees to return and businesses to re-establish. In Hargeisa's market, Ahmed Hassan and other money-changers keep only a casual eye on the mounds of Somaliland currency.
"You see a lot of money here, but do you see any police, any guns? We have peace here," he said.
Fragile economy
Elsewhere in the capital, multi-storey buildings are springing up and newly-opened car dealerships compete to give the best prices for imported second-hand jeeps and pick-ups.
"We Somalilanders have built this country from the ruins, no-one has helped us," Somaliland's President, Dahir Riyale Kahin, told the BBC.
But the economy is still extremely fragile and poverty among Somaliland's population of 3.5 million is high.
Outside Hargeisa, at one of the many water points that dot the arid plain along the border with Ethiopia, Abdi Abdullahi waters his cattle.
"We are getting poorer, every year there is less grass for our livestock, and they produce less milk," he said.
Budgetary woes
More than half of Somaliland's population are nomadic pastoralists. The livestock sector, though, traditionally the backbone of the economy, can no longer support the growing population.
Increasing numbers of destitute herders have arrived on the edge of cities like Hargeisa, swelling the numbers of urban unemployed which the government acknowledges are now worryingly high.
A ban on importing livestock by Saudi Arabia, imposed in 1998 after claims Somali livestock was infected with disease, has had a crippling effect on both the rural and urban economies.
"Sixty per cent of our foreign currency was earned from the export of livestock to Saudi Arabia. Since the ban, the government has found it very difficult to make both ends of the budget meet," said Hussein Ali Duale, Somaliland's Minister of Finance.
Relying on remittances
Many families now survive on remittances from relatives who fled to Europe and North America during the civil war. The government estimates that the diaspora send back US $300m to Somaliland every year.
But remittances can provide only a short-term safety net.
"In the coming 15 to 20 years, most remittances will stop," said Mr Duale.
He believes that the next generation among the diaspora will have looser ties to their homeland.
"A young boy of 18 will ask 'Why should I send money to Somaliland?"
This means the economy urgently needs to diversify. And that requires massive investment in sectors like infrastructure and education.
But Somaliland's unresolved international status means it cannot access funds, from either private or public sources, on the scale required.
"The obstacle is that some companies say they cannot take their assets to a country with no international recognition, even if the country is peaceful," said Mr Duale.
And although Somaliland does currently receive a modest amount of external aid, it has no access to World Bank or IMF funds, or to bilateral budget support.
Poison pill
But some Somalilanders believe additional aid, if it is channelled through the state, may be a doubled-edged sword.
"It will kill the patient, it's a poison pill," said Hussein Bulhan of Somaliland's Institute for Development Solutions.
"It will aggravate problems, there will be more struggles within the ruling elite. To a large extent what pushed tyranny in Somalia, and finally brought the collapse of the Siad Barre regime, was internal struggle over who will have what."
Hussein Bulhan believes restrictions up to now on the level of external assistance have forced local solutions to problems.
"That is part of why we had to create and to think and to improvise. These experts that come tend to make people uncreative. In Somaliland, people had to do it on their own," he says.
"Help should be received from the outside world, but the initiative has been taken and that should not be destroyed."
The challenge now for Somaliland is not just attracting large inflows of external resources - but attracting them under the right terms.
BBC, 23 March 2005-
Somaliland's murder trial starts
The Somaliland authorities say those behind the killings are terrorists intent on destabilising the country.
The four victims - two Britons, one Italian and one Kenyan - were killed in separate attacks over a six-month period from October 2003.
The two Britons, Richard Eyeington, 62, and his wife Enid, 61, were shot through the window of their flat at a secondary school in Sheikh, 140km (87 miles) north-east of Hargeisa, the region's capital.
Their deaths followed the murder of an award-winning Italian aid worker, Annalena Tonelli, 60, in another part of Somaliland.
The former British colony of Somaliland declared independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, when former leader Siad Barre was overthrown and the country descended into anarchy.
Somaliland's independence has not been internationally recognised.
Source: http://www.awdalnews.com/wmview.php?ArtID=5011/ March 19, 2005
Historical Events in Somaliland Democracy
This time the rejection of the decision made by the traditional leaders brought about the opportunity to give the Somaliland people the right to choose their leaders through popular elections: after the death of former President, H.E. President Egal. The traditional leaders have asked his successor; H.E. President Rayale to postpone the presidential election due to the uncertainty and the risk to the Republic from a hasty election. They pledged their strong support for extending his term for another two years and the President Rayale flatly rejected their recommendation and informed them his commitment to democracy and obligation under the constitution to put the decision to choose their leader in the hands of the people. He also promised to step down and congratulate the winner should he lose the presidential elections.
As it turned out he won a narrow victory with very small margin after a controversial decision by the Supreme Court. This was the first time he ran for a public office and this victory has further strengthened his commitment to democracy and strong believes in the ability, will and the desire of Somaliland people to choose their leaders. Also, at the same time the Somaliland people and nation have become indebted and grateful for the courage shown by the Chairman of Kulmiye party, Mr. Ahmed Silanyo who after nasty court fight conceded the elections and accepted defeat. These two events that happened within few months of each other have set very strong precedent. These two leaders will go down the history as the fathers of democracy in Somaliland.
Rayale will get the recognition and credit for making gutsy decision to put his faith in the hands of the people and Chairman Ahmed will get credit for saving the country by accepting defeat and the decision of the Supreme Court under a very difficult circumstances.
Once again the President has promised to the people and the international community his commitment to hold parliamentary election in early of 2005 and Chairman Ahmed supported him strongly despite the political rhetoric. The president's party UDUB currently controls more than 60% of the seats in the Parliament and by some estimates UDUB will be fortunate to get 40% seats in the new parliament, yet the president is determined to give the people the right under the constitution to elect their own representatives. According to the experts of Somaliland politics Kulmiye is expected to win majority of the seats and its leaders cannot contain themselves.
The Congress (Wakiilo and Guurti) have passed a new legislation with more than two thirds majority approval early in the year - the two thirds majority prevented the President from using his constitutional power to reject legislation - if passed by less than two thirds majority. The purpose of this legislation was to postpone the parliamentary elections indefinitely by requiring the government to do voter registration and exercise 100% control over the Somaliland borders before elections can be held. The President went to the court and challenged the authority of the Congress to deny the people the right to elect their own representatives under false pretense. The Supreme Court gave him a sweet victory by declaring the new legislation unconstitutional. The architect of the legislation was the Chairman of the Guurti Mr. Saleeban who said "parliamentary elections are not suitable for Somaliland at the present time due to the current conflict with Puntland". The Chairman has been advocating selecting new parliament through national conference attended by traditional and political leaders. This is not the first time the Chairman has advocated his national conference dream. He also called for similar conference during the referendum on Somaliland constitution and during the local government elections two years later. The Chairman campaigned for an elected office once during the local government elections in 2003 and he suffered very ugly defeat in the hands of the voters. Chairman Saleebaan, unlike Rayale and Ahmed Silanyo, does not believe in his heart the notion that the people alone have the right to choose their leaders.
Despite Chairman Saleebaan's reluctance to trust the people to elect their leaders to public office: The President and Chairman Ahmed have established very strong precedent, which will be very difficult for future leaders not to follow, these two leaders are literally carving the history of Somaliland democracy on stone every year they remain in the public live. The people have appreciated greatly and are grateful for their commitment to public service.
On this day, I ask you to join me to salute both President Dahir Rayale and Chairman Ahmed for making history and breaking new grounds that will ensure our children and their children will live peacefully and enjoy the right to choose their leaders for centuries to come. I'll like to remind Somaliland people to see the unfortunate situation in Somalia, which demonstrates the damage to the nation and to the people when the leaders neglect the national interest at the expense of their own personal interest.
I congratulate the Somaliland people and political establishment for beginning another campaign season for parliamentary elections. It is important to remember our democracy is only few years old while striving to improve its shortcomings. The President has again reiterated his commitment to fulfill his promise to the people, so the country will very likely have elections by April/May timeframe.
Rashid Garuf, rashidnur@hotmail.com
Source: http://somalilandcenter.com/ March-18-2005.
President Dahir Riyaale's South African Connection
The South African media, not known for giving adequate coverage to both Somalia and Somaliland in the past, began reporting about developments in Somaliland by 2000. In addition to the media coverage, the South African politicians, through the well connected Mvelaphanda founder, Tokyo Saxwell, availed the necessary political platforms for Somaliland politicians and citizens to promote their cause. The South African government also supported and financed South African election monitors to oversee both the Council elections and the presidential elections held in Somaliland in 2002 and 2003 respectively. South African delegations also delivered limited aid to Somaliland.
Apart from this new relationship spurred by business interests, Somaliland had a past with South Africa. Somaliland played a big role in the struggle against apartheid in the seventies and eighties. The honorable Abby Farah, originally from Somaliland, led a UN fact-finding team to South Africa in 1989, which met with leaders such as the late ANC stalwart Walter Sisulu. South Africa also provided medical assistance for the late President Mohamad Ibrahim Egal (Rahmatullah Alayh) who died on May 3, 2002.
South Africa's recent announcement in November 2004 recognizing the right for self determination for the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic gave additional hope to Somaliland which already enjoyed a favorable stand with the South African government. President Dahir Riyaale, emboldened by this favorable environment, declared his visit to South Africa to promote the country's cause. In a pub;ic just before his departure, President Dahir Riyaale announced that his the purpose of his visit to South Africa was primarily to get acquainted with South Africa's democratization process. But reliable sources inside Somaliland claim that his visit was intended to further his business investments and gain political kudos that could give his party the upper hand in the upcoming parliamentary elections. These sources claim that the composition of the presidential delegation reflects the president's real agenda. Excluding the Foreign Minister, who had a previously scheduled speech at a South African university, the Information Minister and the Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Development were the only senior members in the presidential delegation.
Many political observers are of the opinion that the president's visit was motivated by a business agenda rather than a political one, considering the suddenness of the trip and its 11 day span, an uncommon diplomatic privilege for the head of an unrecognized state. These views were further strengthened by the president's only speech after his return. President Riyaale, in a short speech to the nation upon his return to the country on February 12th, 2005 summarized his trip to South Africa in a single statement: " Three South African companies will soon invest in Somaliland and create more jobs". In his speech the president promised that the Minister of Information will issue a detailed statement, but Somalilanders are still waiting to be briefed.
In an exclusive interview with Benedicta Dube on 28 February 2005 and posted on Business in Africa Online on March 5th, 2005, President Dahir seemed to be emphasizing the business aspects of his trip. President Dahir Riyaale dandled the carrot of potential oil, gas, coal, gypsum and marine resources to interest Malaveland; a strategy which could adversely affect Somaliland due to the lack of governmental transparency policies, a non-inclusive approach towards national issues the lack of an effective and independent auditing.
Though President Riyaale met with local South African politicians and religious and civil society leaders, he spent most of his visit in meetings with the business elite of Mvelphanda and other subsidiaries. He met with Tokyo Saxwell, the controversial founder of Mvelphanda, Jonathan Oppenheimer of the Ppenheimer family who owns the giant De Beers diamond company, Mr. Vusi Mavimbela, Director of Business Strategy in charge of driving the continental expansion strategy of the company and other business executives. Mavelphanda, one of South Africa's investment powerhouses and a leader in and mineral exploration in South Africa, announced in January Oppenheimer of the De Beers Diamond Giant 2005 that it is planning to spearhead South Africa's ambitious oil explorations into African countries including Mozambique, Angola and Somaliland "The South African Business DayJanuary24, 2005".
Tokyo Saxwel, the founder of Maveland and a veteran ANC leader, is mired in controversies since the consolidation of the company in 1998. In January 2004 the US and the UN declared that his company had been among 270 individuals, organizations and companies that had received oil allocations and vouchers from Saddam Hussein, in violation of the UN imposed embargoon Iraq. Many South African businessmen also accuse him of benefitting from his close friendship with the South African Prime Minister, Thomas Mbeki.
President Dahir Riyale had also a brief meeting with Mr. Vusi Mavimbela, the company's Director of Business Strategy. Mr. Mavimbela was South Africa's Director General of the National Intelligence Agency from 1999 till late 2004. He joined Mvelaphanda in January 2005 to spearhead the company's expansion strategy into Africa. Mr. Mvimbela is one of the closest political, security and intelligence advisors to the South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, since 1994. Immediatelt upon his appointment as the Director of the National Intelligence Agency, the South African government was accused of spying against the German Embassy and the opposition Democratic party. Many in South Africa saw this as the blueprint of operandi for the new intelligence director. During his directorship of the South African spy agency, NIA, Mr. Mavimbela did not hide his belief the any country's intelligence resources must be used to promote its government policies and the objectives of the business corporations.
This cozy relationship between the government, the corporations and the intelligence services worried democracy advocates in South Africa. Similarly, political observers and democracy activists inside Somaliland rightly worry about the close relationship between Mr. Vusi Mavimbela and President Dahir Riyaale; both career intelligence officers before becoming business and political leaders respectively.
The first phase of the push into Somaliland by Mvelphanda is already underway with the blessing of President Dahir Riyaale. In his speech at a dinner hosted by the Muslim Judicial Council in Cape Town, President Dahir Riyaale said " We appreciate how South African companies such as Mvelephanda Holdings have attained our oil concessions, how your well placed mineral companies such as Plat Min are beginning gem stone mining and how South Africa's telecommunications sector have installed satellite technology, which gives us broadband, 24-hour internet access at times faster than some homes in Cape Town or Pretoria". "Somaliland Government Press Release, February 1st, 2005".
What the president failed to mention is that he already owns considerable shares in Anglo Platinum of South Africa, the world's leading Platinum producer. Anglo Platinum is closely connected to the De Beers diamond (owns 45% of De Beers shares) company run by Jonathan Oppenheimer who met President Dahir Riyaale while in South Africa.
Business sources inside Somaliland also claim that president Dahir Riyaale secretly met with a business executive from Mvelaphanda to diversify his investment portfolio in South Africa. The president's investments in South Africa were initiated by President Omar Gelle of Djibouti who convinced him to diversify into the lucrative South African business markets instead of concentrating on real estate in the Gulf, Europe and North America.
Ismail Omar Guelleh initiated the first South African business investment on behalf of President Dahir Riyaale in the summer of 2002 in Durban, South Africa. This coincided with President Guelleh's meeting with UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan during the later's visit to South Africa on July 6th, 2002 to attend the OAU/AU general meeting. Throughout 2003 President Guelleh was the defacto business consultant of President Dahir Riyaale in all South African business transactions.
This mutual partnership continued despite President Guelleh's declared anti-Somaliland stand. In an interview with IRIN in Djibouti on 29th October 2003, when asked about his relations with Somaliland, he responded: "It is going the same way as the south - there are now fundamentalists who want to destabilize the situation. Unless the south is stable, Somaliland cannot be stable, contrary to what they think. And of course we support a united Somalia. We cannot allow ourselves to advocate secession." To contain President Guelleh stand against Somaliland, President Dahir Riyaale paid him a visit on November 14th 2003 but to no avail. The anti-Somaliland stand of President Guelleh did not affect his business partnership with Somalilan's president. On the contrary, it flourished and extended into the South African markets.
President Guelleh's investments and business dealings in South Africa increased significantly by 2003. In mid 2005 he became infuriated over being implicitly tied to enquiries in France in the mysterious death of the French magistrate Bernard Borrel in October 1995. As a result of the Frenchs stand on the case, President Guelleh further increased his business involvement and indirectly mounted an assault on French interests ib Djibouti and South Africa. He started his assault with the French company; TotalFinaElf by buying into a rival South African company who competed for mineral prospecting in South Africa.
The French company lost the bid as a result of President Guelleh's aggressive investment in the competing South African mineral resource company with aid of additional funds from President Dahir Riyaale's allocated investment funds. With President Dahir Riyaale' recent visit to South Africa, his meeting with Mavelaphanda and Dee Beers tycoons, many observers expect that both Ismail Omar Guelleh and Dahir Riyaale will expand their investment portfolio beyond the South African resource company to include other investments in France and Abu Dhabi.
Many Somaliland observers and concerned citizens also worry about the implications of this Mavelphanda-Riyaale connection. In his speech to the Muslim Judicial Council in Cape Town, President Riyaale mentioned that South African oil companies including Mvelphanda, already have oil exploration concessions. The president also mentioned that other South African companies are already into the satellite telecommunication sector in Somalilnd, while other South African companies are already investing in mineral exploration including platinum, gem stones and other rare metals in Somaliland "Somaliland Government Press Release, February 1st, 2005".
Neither the details of these investments and oil and mineral resource explorations, nor the involvement of Mvelphanda with the blessing of the president, were ever mentioned, discused or debated inside Somaliland's House of Representatives or the Senate.
Therefore, many Somalilanders believe that President Dahir Riyaale MUST clarify the scope of his involvement with Mvelaphanda, the details of the oil and mineral resource exploration agreements and the whether he have investments or vested interests in South African companies who were granted concession rights in Somaliland?
Why Jonathan Oppenheimer, considered to be the richest man in Africa " The Economist July 15th, 2004" and the scion of the De Beers diamond dynasty that controls 60% of the world's $US8.3 billion market share in rough diamonds, would easily entertain an audience with President Riyaale of Somaliland?
Many in the trade and several countries including the US consider De Beers's system of doing business highly secretive "The Cartel isn't Forever, The Economist July 15th, 2004". Would President Riyaale succumb to this conditional secrecy of doing business with De Beers and leave Somaliland's democratic institutions and the public in the dark? And at what cost to his political future?
Regarding the oil exploration concessions, oil industry investors are aware of the exploration licenses granted to Conoco, along with Amoco, Chevron, Phillips and Shell in 1986. All sought and obtained exploration licenses for northern Somalia from Siad Barre's government. Somalia was soon carved up into concession blocs, with Conoco, Amoco and Chevron winning the right to explore and exploit the most promising ones.
What are the implications of granting the same rights to Mvelaphanda of South Africa? What are the details of these new concessions and what adverse implications they might have on Somaliland's integrity in the international markets in future oil explorations negotiations?
The public and the country's institutions deserve to have answers for these questions from President Dahir Riyaale.
Mohamad Doaleh (Cubayda) Ottawa, Canada, mdoaleh@yahoo.com, Democracy Action Watch/ Somaliland
Source: http://somalilandcenter.com/ March-16-2005.
WHEN DEMOCRACY MEANS A DICTATORSHIP IN DISGUISE
Many of us recall that before 21 October 1969 the former Somali Republic was a democracy that, despite its faults and shortcomings, was the envy of Africa and most of the Third World. We also recall how this thriving democracy was gradually transformed in a few years to the most oppressive dictatorship ruled by a ruthless tyrant, Mohamed Siyad Barre, until the litany of crimes against humanity that he had committed against his own people ultimately brought the final curtain down on his despotic rule.
When Barre came to power in 1969, one of the first acts of his government was to change the country's name from the Somali Republic to the Somali Democratic Republic in an attempt to hoodwink the Somali people and the international community at large following the example of communist countries around the world. But in former communist states that adopted the name "democratic" the use of the epithet was based on the claim that they provided the basic necessities of life for everyone. Barre knew perfectly well that, unlike the communist countries, he could not provide bread and butter for every citizen of his impoverished country. But, he wanted to use the name as a gimmick intended to soothe the people about the horrors that were to come.
Apart from this seemingly benign but portentous name change, the Barre regime's road to despotism had a number of landmarks, which identified each turning point. The first of these was the suspension of the constitution and the freedoms it guaranteed such as the freedom of the press and the freedom of speech. This was followed shortly afterwards by the enactment of a law establishing the National Security Court (NSC) and eliminating the few remaining civil liberties while also reserving the death penalty for any political action regarded as sabotage, subversion or "anti-revolutionary".
The next step was to remove from the Supreme Revolutionary Council those elements that were seen as an obstacle to Barre's future dictatorial rule. These included the older officers who could see through Barre's machinations and the more ambitious types. Thus, Generals Ainanshe and Gabayre and Colonel Del were tried by the NSC on trumped up charges and summarily executed. Not only was this intended as a warning to potential trouble makers but also as a means of gauging the extent of public tolerance to such executions.
Because the public was docile or indifferent, more executions followed as time went on and the slightest murmur of discontent led to imprisonment, torture and other forms of abuse. All this was intended to pave the way for the concentration of political power in the hands of Siyad Barre and this is what eventually happened particularly after assuming other roles and responsiblities besides the presidency. Nothing was done without his knowledge and nobody could tell him that a particular policy or action was wrong. We all know what finally became of his regime and the country at all large.
The descent of the Barre regime into a state of absolute tyranny despite the democratic nature of Somali society is quite instructive for predicting the future trend of the Rayale government and its probable end. This is because it has already emabarked on a course similar to that of the Barre Regime in its early days.
Nearly two decades ago, the people of Somaliland had taken up arms to overthrow Siyad Barre because of his repression against the people of Somaliland. Fourteen years after Somaliland restored its independence following the collapse of the Barre regime, the ugly face of repression is raising its head again. That regime's ghost is haunting us again because the dark forces that used to work for it and prop it up in power are lurking in the corners of every street in Hargeisa. The system and its informers, hirelings, quislings and stooges (which was called Faqash) are in power today in Somaliland or working to prop up the system. There are informers in every household. They are menacingly staring at us from every nook and cranny of the country. Somaliland is no longer the country we have cherished and yearned for, the country that so many heroes had sacrificed their precious blood for to free us from the clutches of Afweyne's repression. Unfortunately our dreams seem to be in tatters today as the country has fallen into the hands of conscienceless and unashamed clique of usurpers. They are the remnants of Faqash - a deadly breed who have learned and improved all their former master's tricks.
There are many former Faqash civil servants in Rayale's government. They are pests in our midst, who are there in that government for an illusory power and glory, for crumbs from Rayale's table, for satisfaction of their ambition and avarice. They allow themselves to be used as expendable instruments of oppression of their brethren by this despicable regime. Thus, those who are in power in Somaliland today are no different in many respects from the evil regime that we replaced one and a half decades ago.
We were asked to believe that the western style democracy that Somaliland had adopted would protect our rights: the right to express ourselves freely without fear, the right to protest peacefully as enshrined in the constitution, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty and so on. But these rights are simply written on a piece of paper called the constitution, which the President uses when it suits him and throws into the dustbin when it doesn't.
Rayale may not have sentenced anyone to death but his regime, unlike his predecessor's, has gone to an extraordinary length to suppress the truth. His regime has sanctioned the use of death threats, beatings, torture, rape and detention of innocent people without trial. People can no longer express themselves freely anymore for they are likely to be detained under the law titled "Endangering the Peace and Stability of the Country'. It is an all-encompassing law similar to those enacted by Siyad Barre's military junta and is calculated to silence the critics of the government. Anyone who expresses views critical of the government is sentenced in a Kangaroo court- a mobile National Security Tribunal chaired by the discredited Internal Minister, Ismail Adan Osman, the notorious former small-time petty Faqash informer who was responsible for the deaths of so many of his own kith and kin during Afweyne's regime. He was the first man whose house was destroyed by the SNM forces when they captured Hargeisa.
Lately, it has become customary for Rayale's regime to employ hirelings to intimidate journalists who try, in all their efforts, to report to us the truth about what is going on in the country and to illuminate from time to time the ambiguities surrounding the government's policies, priorities and programmes.
On 31st August, the Editor-in-Chief of Jamhuriya, Africa's most arrested journalist, was raided in his office around midnight and taken into custody in a local police station under the direct orders of President Rayale himself after writing in his newspaper a report from Nairobi indicating the government's leanings towards Somali unity while the opposition was firmly attached to the independence of Somaliland. Hassan was harangued and threatened by the police that he "would be slaughtered in the dry riverbed of Hargeisa". In a similar manner, the free-lance journalist, Mohammed Arrale, who sent the report to Jamhuriya from Nairobi, and who happens to be of the same clan as Hussein Ali Dualeh (Awil), the Finance Minister, was so savagely beaten up by a Kenyan gang believed to be hired by Awil and paid for from the public funds with the tacit understanding of President Rayale. Awil who was a former Ambassador to Kenya possesses property in that country and maintains extensive contacts with the local people there that enable him to hire local gangs to roughen up or eliminate anyone who exposes the government's hidden agendas.
The Minister of Interior, Ismail Faqash, as he is famously known, introduced his own measures to impose restrictions on the liberties and personal freedoms of the Somaliland citizens particularly those who live within his reach - i.e. Hargeisa and its environs. Authorised mobile courts try government critics, on the President's directive, with none of the normal judicial rules and procedures. The tribunals would not have to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt or follow established rules of evidence thus violating the basic principles of judicial procedure. One such individual, who was recently detained without trial, under this sweeping law, is Boqor Raabi Yusuf of Salahley who publicly expressed views, which were seemingly inclined towards Somali unity. He was immediately arrested under the trumped up charges of `endangering the peace and stability of the country'. However, when the Chairman of the Somaliland parliament, Ahmed Mohamed Aden (Qaybe), expressed explicit views regarding his long-standing support of Somali unity on Somaliland TV, it was not seen by the Somaliland government as a treasonable offence despite his high position in a state claiming to have reinstated its former independence and sovereignty. This was a clear indication of the government's political leanings favouring Somali unity rather than the independence of Somaliland.
Earlier, Boqor Osman Aw Mohamoud (Buur Madow) of Erigavo was arrested for expressing his views by saying that Rayale was plotting a strategy to derail Somaliland by rendering the strategic port of Berbera defunct in collaboration with Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti. Boqor Buur Madow who exposed the degree and scale of this conspiracy was branded a `liar' by Rayale's vengeful regime. The Boqor was held incommunicado in Hargeisa Central Prison for many months without being charged because he apparently had crucial evidence that could have implicated Rayale. The Boqor precisely identified and pinpointed Guelleh's machinations and conspiracies against Somaliland and he was alerting the public to this danger. Today, Boqor Buur Madow has been vindicated. Guelleh has not only shown his intention to render Berbera port defunct but also to destroy Somaliland itself with the collusion and collaboration of Rayale. In a recent statement, Guelleh said to his people that Djibouti would be the only port in East Africa from where all the livestock of the area would be exported. He added that he had always looked forwarded to the day when Djibouti would monopolise exporting Somali livestock.
On another count, Boqor Buur Madow was justified when he said that the people of Sool were ready to engage in a dialogue with the government of Somaliland but that government officials were repeatedly stalling these efforts. In any event, the public chose to be bystanders and to watch al these criminal acts on the sidelines.
On 18th May 2004, the National Security Committee modelled on Siad Barre's system sentenced 150 youths to prison terms ranging from 6 months to one year after they were accused of having participated in a demonstration held in Hargeisa. The youths, who were chanting `We don't want Rayale, we don't want the dollar taker', demonstrated against the President at Khayriya on the auspicious occasion of 18th May.
The police clubbed, trampled upon and chased the remnants of the angry demonstrators all the way to Xero Jaad (Central Hargeisa Khat Market). Many of these young men were sent to Mandera Central Prison simply because they were chanting `we don't want Rayale, we don't want the dollar taker'. The public did not react to these brutalities and gross violations of human rights.
In December 2004, Mr. Kayse Yusuf Ali, a former digital engineer, who is now a councillor in Hargeisa accused the Mayor of Hargeisa, Engineer Hussein Mohamed Jiciir and the Interior Minister, Ismail Adan of plundering public resources. In a press conference held at Hadhwanaag Hotel, Councillor Kayse stated that `Land is a common resource and should be held in public ownership'. He was arrested by police the next morning while driving his car out of a Garage under the direct order of the Interior Minister, Ismail Adan, whose only qualification is how to arrest, beat and torture innocent people - an art which he had learned from his Faqash mentors and in which he excelled under Rayale's administration since then. Councillor Kayse was deprived of his liberty for telling the truth. But for the Rayale regime the truth is unpalatable and should not be told. It is now the rule rather than the exception for the Rayale regime to act in a highhanded manner towards traditional leaders. A traditional leader is an institution `unto himself' and should be protected. Even Siyad Barre used to shy away from deataining Sultans. It is now common practice in Somaliland and more so under Rayale's regime. It is we, the public, who legalised these abuses by being indifferent and complacent about what is going on in our country.
No one has protested, against these flagrant violations of our freedoms and civil liberties. There was not even a whimper. We are simply bystanders. Some of us are not even aware of these invasive and criminal policies already in effect. Only a few local human rights organisations especially African Rights headed by Raqiya Omaar have expressed their detestations of these criminal acts. Raqiya has gone out of her way, time and again, to bring these human rights abuses to the international attention. She, too, was a victim. The verbally incontinent Interior Minister, Ismail Adan, had repeatedly threatened, insulted and accused her of being pro-Kulmiye for simply doing her job. But far from backing-off from any of these abuses, Rayale and Co. greedily grabbed more power to the extent that police powers far exceed the limits of tolerance.
According to African Rights, `Somalilanders who endured years of repression under Siyad Barre find it deeply troubling to see the return of some of the most intrusive and offensive practices of that era". In May 2003, night curfews were common in Hargeisa and police routinely stopped vehicles after 10.00 p.m. when passengers and motorists were forced to leave their cars and ordered to `go to bed'- a reminder of the "Maseexanwaa"- the time when Siyad Barre's military junta subjected the people of the then North West to a hellish nightmare. This infamous curfew was evident in an article, which appeared in The Somaliland Times on 24 May 2003, titled "Hargeisa Under Undeclared Night Curfew".
On 20th April 2003, a group of Kulmiye supporters, mainly women and children, who tried to protest against the results of the presidential election were brutalised by the police. Among the women who were brutally beaten up with the butt of a gun by the police included Nura Hussein Jama and Fathiya Jama Haid, both Londoners who are related by marriage to the Internal Minister, Ismail Adan Osman. Fathiya came back to London with heavy bruises visible on her body. Kinsi Adleef who was four months pregnant at the time was also beaten up with the butt of a gun. Kinsi had become very ill in the Jail and `was foaming at the mouth, her tongue was sticking out and her teeth were stuck together and her eyes had a fixed look' according Africa Rights. The police wouldn't even allow her to see a doctor simply because she belonged to Kulmiye.
On 15 August 2004, a 16-year-old girl from Majertinia, Zamzam Ahmed Dualeh, was charged with espionage and conspiracy to assassinate the Vice-President, Ahmed Yusuf Yasin. Zamzam suffered beatings, rape and torture. A man who accompanied her, Omar Jama Warsame, was also beaten up and tortured. At an initial court hearing on 4th October, the pair was brought to trial without legal representation. Amnesty International said that `their trial has already fallen foul of international standards of fairness'. At the latest court hearing on 24 November 2004, the judge sentenced the pair's four defence lawyers to a prison term of three years each for `allegedly laughing at the public prosecutor'- a charge which was established later to be unfounded and baseless according to those who attended the court.
A disdain for human rights was what the Rayale regime had shown from the start. This administration tore up, rejected or repeatedly undermined the constitution from day one. This hastened the evaporation of the public good will and the sympathy the Rayale administration enjoyed briefly in the first year of its term. Within a year resentment and hostility, even among some UDUB supporters, reached its highest pitch. The administration's systematic abuse of the constitution has reached new heights of absurdity and new depths of betrayal of public trust.
On 5th March 2005, Kulmiye supporters gathered at the party's headquarters in Hargeisa. The headquarters of the party was surrounded by police equipped with automatic machine guns and high calibre guns mounted on four-wheel drive vehicles in an effort to intimidate the people. The Chairman complained about this and wrote to the president and the leaders of the two houses. The written complaint was submitted to the Interior Minister to comment on it.
In his reply to the Chairman of Kulmiye, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud (Silanyo), the Minister said in his proverb-ridden letter containing personal attacks and character assassinations that he `.would take cue from no one and anyone who is endangering the peace and stability of the country would be severely dealt with'. The Minister showed an unbridled passion for suppressing the Somaliland people by denying them the right to stage `peaceful demonstrations' - something that is enshrined in the constitution. Ismail's letter is a clear testimony that this regime is in no mood to obey the constitution and the laws of the land, which is tantamount to tearing them up and throwing them into the dustbin.
The executive shouldn't have the power to take away the rights and liberties of Somaliland's citizens. The response of the government to the above instances is that national security must come before the civil liberties of the individual. This is absolutely absurd as liberty is indivisible.
A measure that curtails the liberty of one citizen necessarily curtails the liberty of other citizens. A citizen should only be deprived of liberty only after proper judicial process but not as a result of a political decision as is the common practice of the Rayale regime.
Thus, how people are arrested or deprived of their rights and liberties in Somaliland is no different from how Siyad Barre treated his critics. Nowadays, everyone who is a critic of the government is labelled as a `traitor' in the eyes of Rayale's regime.
It is true that Somaliland has adopted a pluralistic system of government- a western style democracy. It is equally true that Rayale was democratically-elected, no matter how controversial. But it is also an indisputable fact that today's Somaliland is not a democracy but a dictatorship in disguise.
The vision laid out by Rayale and his unscrupulous clique is the same vision laid out by Barre for what was then known as `Somali Democratic Republic'. There is a name for this kind of regime in which cops rule, answering only to themselves. It's called a Police State. Nothing more need be said, nothing more need be understood. It is a profoundly pessimistic view. It is a dismal dream and a spectacular self-ruin.
If people had not succumbed to the evils of Siad Barre's regime, the Somali people wouldn't have been in the state of affairs in which they find themselves today. We should remember Edmund Burke's famous words, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing". It is high time we took head on this tyrannical regime of Rayale.
JAMAL MADAR, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, 16 MARCH 2005
www.aljazeerah.info/March 16, 2005
Somaliland Women: Oppressed breadwinners and silent peacemakers
As Somaliland joined world countries in celebrating the International Women's Day on March 8, it may be incumbent on each and every one of our people and particularly our government to take stock of the social, economic, political and educational status of Somaliland women.
It is remarkable to see how the day is traditionally marked by holding meetings, making speeches, singing praises for the valiance and heroism of our mothers, wives, sisters, daughters and co-workers and wrapping it up with ringing words of promises and ambitious plans that everyone knows would dissipate into thin air the minute after the euphoria of the day is over. Women are then left facing the same torturous journey of suffering in ignorance, lacking their rights, shackled by social taboos and body mutilation and all their efforts rendered useless due to lack of power and gender discrimination both at the workplace and at home.
The undeniable fact in Somaliland is the conspicuous role of women as breadwinners in almost every household in the country. The traditional open markets are overpopulated by women vendors selling every conceivable product such as Qat*, foodstuff, household items, clothes, jewelry, money exchange, wood, water and other merchandise. On top of this they still remain loyal homemakers, loving mothers, dutiful wives, lovely sisters and daughters and silent victims. Our women also continue to carry out their traditional role of being the glue of peace and harmony by marrying across tribal lines, repairing ruptured relationships among clans and holding society together; thus strengthening and consolidating peace from the grassroots and without any pomposity and bravado.
Our women have a long tradition of not relying on government as a source of income. They have known for a long time that government jobs belong to men; hence they have made it a habit to rely on their business acumen and their feminine instinct to feed the children and keep the family home intact amid backbreaking economic burdens. One may ask where are the men and what do they do? The answer is they do what they are good at doing and always do; loitering around streets, Qat outlets and government offices trying to secure money for their daily dosage of Qat or splurging the meager income of their women folks on their personal luxuries, thus squandering family resources and depriving children of having good food, clothing, medical care and education. As if robbing them of their hard-earned money and neglecting parental duties towards their children is not enough, many men also insult their wives and break their pride by holding the sword of polygamy over their necks to coercion them for more allowance and more silence to their abuse.
Celebrating the International Women's Day should make us ponder how we can stop abusing our women both physically and emotionally, providing them their rights and empowering them in social, economic and political spheres.
Although the present Somaliland government is the first to appoint women in the cabinet, a commendable step indeed, it is important to remember that holding a political post is only a small step of the long march waiting for us to undo the enormous injustices suffered by women. We may suggest to our government to commemorate the International Women's Day by reliving our women of the following burdens:
1- Female Genital Mutilation (FGM):
This physical torture and mutilation of women's God-given sexual organs also causes enormous and life-long psychological scar to our women. It is a cruel and abusive practice aimed at putting women in their proper place from a very early age; teaching them that they are property and like any other property they have to be kept in lock and latches. It tells them that they are not trust worthy even with their own bodies and deprives them of having a healthy and comfortable sex life. They learn that they are only worth the scar and the stitches they carry, making them to recoil with shame and embarrassment in every encounter with a gynecologist. This Pharonic practice should be banned and Somaliland should join other pioneer African countries including neighboring Djibouti in ratifying the Maputo Protocol that seeks to outlaw female genital mutilation (FGM). If Somaliland can ban plastic bags for being an environmental disaster in a Ministerial decree, it is indeed capable also of outlawing FGM for being human rights disaster in a Ministerial or Presidential decree as well.
2- Polygamy
Another equally abusive practice is the misuse of the Islamic tradition of polygamy. It is not uncommon in Somaliland to see an unemployed man without any source of income; who relies on his wife to feed him and his children and also to give him daily expenses for his personal luxury to marry another woman. A man like this often justifies his action by marshalling hackneyed reasons and always putting the blame on the poor woman for pushing him to this end. However, the real reason is an economic one as a second or third marriage would enable him to diversify his income and allow him to increase his daily Qat portion. Lately, it is has become a trend among Somalilanders in the Diaspora to leave their wives and children in their host countries, return home and marry young women as second or third wives. The government doesn't have to look far as some of the cabinet members have done this and are proud of their action. It means little to these men whether their wives burn out their entire lives caring for their children in the freezing weathers of Europe and North America as long as t hey sleep in the warm bosoms of dutiful young wives who are at the age of their daughters or grand daughters.
The government of Somaliland has to follow suit of other Muslim countries such as Morocco, Malaysia, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan and Bangladesh to include `No-Polygamy' clause in the marriage contract. It should also take the lead in demanding its cabinet Ministers and government officials to shun polygamy and stay monogamous as long as they remain in their government posts.
3- Education:
Despite being the breadwinners of every household, women in Somaliland have the highest rate of illiteracy and only a few girls are enrolled in school. It is also quite disheartening to see these few lucky girls who got the chance to go to school shrouded in gloomy black Talibani garments and exiled to the end row of the class as if they were lepers. Their pathetic status in schools reminds them again and again that they are inferior beings whose appearance in schools or playing with boys is a social taboo. There is nothing that provokes sympathy for the sorry condition of our women more than watching small girls at the very tender age of three to five wearing this flowing, tip-to-toe covering tents; shuffling towards schools or Quranic madrasas amid the simmering heat of the African weather. These young girls should have been running, jumping around, hip hopping towards school, playing hide-and-seek on the way and enjoying their free spirit and joyful childhood like other children of the world. It is at this very impressionable age that irreparable damages are inflicted on their ego, their pride, their ambitions and their character. Seeing these kids' healthy cultural growth stunted by these layers of clothing one may wonder whether we live in a society of pedophiles or lascivious maniacs that Queen Arrawelo might have been right after all in her castration drive of Somali men.
The real tragedy, however, is when the fledgling universities of Somaliland, institutions expected to cultivate a culture of freethinking and enlightenment, condone this oppression of women. All over the world, a university is considered to be a place where every imaginable topic under the sun could be debated, a place where no topic or subject is considered to be a taboo or above academic research. It is imperative for a healthy academic institution of higher learning to encourage free expression in every sphere of the student's college life. But Somaliland universities seem to have chosen the to play the conformity card and move with the herd; skirting the challenging task of leading the way in questioning, assessing and looking at all issues through times tested method of academic skepticism.
It is the responsibility of the Somaliland government, particularly the Ministry of Education, and the academic community to constantly assess the education situation and adopt curricula that encourage personal freedoms and safeguards young girls against being victims of ancient and retrogressive social traditions. Somaliland government and people should know that without educating women and unfettering their minds, we could not dream of building an enlightened and progressive society.
4- Political empowerment
Although Somaliland's present government has set the tone for women's participation in politics by giving them several Ministerial posts, the reality is that our women are still underrepresented in every realm of the political spectrum. It is not healthy to see only two or three faces of women in a cabinet of almost 50 Ministers and no women representation at all in the two houses of parliament. As women in our tribal and male dominated society are seen as neutral elements who cannot extend full allegiance to a single tribe, it may not be a great feat to demand the allocation of a reasonable number of seats for them in both houses.
Celebrating the International Women's Day with the intention of improving the social, economic, educational and political status of women and keeping these issues and many others in mind will surely give a real meaning to the Day and the commemoration a more rewarding enterprise.
Bashir Goth, a Somali journalist living in the UAE.
E-mail: bsogoth@yahoo.com
*Qat: narcotic leaves chewed by the Somalis
Somaliland's House of Representatives finally passed the long-awaited electoral law on January 18th but in doing so made the date set for parliamentary elections-March 29th-implausible, because the adopted legislation makes the elections contingent on a national census. This was the conclusion of the National Electoral Commission in a statement to the media on January 22nd.
The statement, signed by the six members of the commission, announced that it was impossible to conduct a population census or register all eligible voters within the 70 days remaining before the election date. The new law also requires demarcation of all parliamentary districts to be completed 60 days before voting day, another impossibility given that nearly half of the 43 districts are new.
The commission stated that it would consult Somaliland's three political parties-all of whom have called for the parliamentary elections to be held as scheduled-on the matter.
Some observers in the administrative capital, Hargeisa, have accused the House of Representatives of self-interest, suggesting that many of its members will face unemployment if they are not re-elected.
Constitutionally, the president, Dahir Riyale Kahin, has the authority to dissolve parliament and hold elections within three months, but this would be a bold move given the international interest in the elections, which will mark the final stage of Somaliland's democratisation process.
SOURCE: Country Report
Following are his comments to the BBC on the UK-led Commission for Africa's final report:
"I believe this new and bold attempt to mobilise and lobby for Africa's diverse and spectacular people will be remembered warmly.
"Despite many limitations, some understandable and some unsustainable, the Commission for Africa report should be welcomed and applauded by Africans and the world.
"A serious engagement with the report is suggested for all those who really care and for their own good want to share with Africa.
"I am particularly saddened that the Commission did not see the urgency for action in promoting peace and security - specifically in Western Sahara and Somaliland.
"Recommendations from the commissions on the last two unsettled questions of African self-determination would have gone a long way to give hope and trust to Western Saharans and Somalilanders all over the world.
"Clearly the commissioners chose not to highlight specific political issues, such as Somaliland, in an attempt to unite the continent.
"Instead, they focused on the larger picture - strategic issues such as peace, education, health, trade, accountability, aid and debt.
"The prime challenge, for the Commission and all caring African activists, is to ensure that the report's proposed independent monitoring system is established to give teeth to all these proposals.
"I am happy the Commission for Africa's recommendations underline an approach of African and world responsibility for the African continent and its people.
"Today world peace and security is too closely interwoven for us to neglect any continent in the world.
"The world's positive response to the Asian tsunami disaster is concrete evidence that the world does and can care, when it has the will to do so.
"South African President Mbeki's recent idea that African pension funds be pooled together to source the funding for Africa's development initiatives, such as Africa's New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), need authoritative attention.
"I hope the Commission will consider this idea.
"Are Africans and world leaders listening?
"Are they willing to primarily invest hard-earned African pension funds in African economies?
"Time will tell. " -
Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4329361.stm#iqbal
With Parliamentary Elections due in less than few weeks: the political fever is getting warmer. Already there appears to be a record division and dissolution among the leadership. For the time being, we are heading to a disastrous territory unless the political gap is mended and compromise solution put forward.
At the center of the dispute is the issue of power sharing, fair election that represents entire Somaliland population and interpretation of the basic articles of the constitution that concerns the election laws. Both sides claimed vigorously
Somaliland Elections
http://www.awdalnews.com/wmview.php?ArtID=4964/ March 11, 2005
Iqbal Jhazbhay chastises African Commission for ignoring Somaliland and Western-Saharan issues
Source: http://www.hadhwanaagnews.com/pages/17/index.htm/March/11/2005
WILL OUR POLITICIANS COMPROMISE FOR THE SAKE OF THE REPUBLIC?