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This was the first time that the enemies of Somaliland had carried out such a criminal act, the minister added.

The body of Martin will be flown to Switzerland on 1 January in the company of two of his children...

Reports from Sool Region region disputed between Puntland and Somaliland say Somaliland forces have camped near Laas Caanood, the HQ of Sool Region. The reason why the forces are camped near the disputed town is not yet known. Reports say this is due to reports received by Somaliland officials that Puntland forces are gaining ground in the region day by day and that the internal affairs minister of Puntland is planning to start collecting taxes in some parts of the region.

AWDAL REGION : Awdal region of north west Somalia which shares a border with Ethiopia is already showing signs of being indirectly affected by reports of increasing food insecurity in Ethiopia. A higher than normal number of herders, many from Shinile, (an Ethiopian area close to Somalia's border) are reported to have crossed over into the coastal areas of Awdal increasing pressure on Awdal's rangeland resources. The Awdal economy is also struggling with the effects of the Ethiopian government's attempt to curb illegal cross border trade. This has been reflected in an increase in both livestock and milk prices in Awdal's major town - Borama. The increase in the price of milk is expected to be even greater in Hargeisa as much of the milk consumed in this town comes from Jijiga (An Ethiopian region bordering Somalia) and the border area. The situation in Awdal has been made worse by delayed Hais/Deyr rains. The FSAU nutrition surveillance team is currently undertaking an assessment in the area with representatives from the FSAU technical team and UNICEF also participating. For further information on North West and Awdal.

** FSAU is providing Household Economy Analysis (HEA) training in Hargeisa, Somaliland \emdash aimed to enhance partner's use of vulnerability analysis for programme implementation. It is also hoped that the training will increase the use and application of FSAU information by working alongside FSAU partners based in the field. Training begins on December 14 and continues through to January 11 2003 when the final analysis and report writing will be undertaken. FSAU regrets that no more candidates can be taken for the training as the course was over subscribed, however, another course will be arranged later on in 2003. Over 50 participants from UN, local government, local and international NGOs are participating in the theory, and more than 30 of these will continue through into the field work and final analysis stages.

The training is being generously supported by many of these international organisations who are participating, including CARE, WFP, EU, DRC, USAID, IRC, SADO, ARDA, ICRC.

FOOD AID DISTRIBUTION

1 : Livestock Exports November 2002, Berbera

Camel	3,589	921	1,251	3,627
Cattle	2,092	1,843	4,503	5,519
Shoats	35,233	30,089	42,261	62,549
Total 40,194	32,023	48,015	71,695

Source ** : Berbera Port Authority
SANAG AND TOGDHEER

In the Sool plateau seasonal problems are commonly compounded by high water costs. Poor Deyr rains have resulted in many herders moving out to surrounding areas. Despite the recognised high dependence on key boreholes they continue to fall into disrepair. There appears to be a high expectation for outside interventions to solve this problem. However, without increased community responsibility/ participation for their upkeep and evidence of community management, an expanding livestock and human population will only increase pressures on the rangeland environment beyond its carrying capacity. If this remains un-addressed it is expected that we shall see this problem recurring in the forthcoming Jilaal season. The Haud of Togdheer pastoralists are experiencing a normal season apart from dry pockets in Tunyo and Aroori plains. Herd condition is reported to be good and migrations back and forth into Region V of Ethiopia are unrestricted although recently imposed regulations are affecting trade and have resulted in less employment opportunities and petty trade. Agro-pastoralists are reported to have had a poor crop and so switched to more fodder sales. During Ramadam, urban groups and IDPs were affected by less employment. In Burao, and elsewhere, this was compensated for by increased access to gifts and remittances. Both camel and milk prices increased due to low supply.
SOOL REGION

Deyr rainfall was mixed. In Sool plateau and lower Nugal valley (Taleh/Hudon) rainfall was patchy and insufficient. Despite the fact that berkads were replenished on the plateau, the rainfall didn't regenerate enough pasture for the season. This triggered extensive out migration of camel herds and 20-30% of the core households from rainfall deficit areas to upper Nugal Valley and Hawd plateau where the deyr rains were reported as good. Poor pastoralists on Sool plateau need to be monitored during the coming Jilaal months. In contrast the food security conditions of pastoral FEG's living in Hawd plateau and upper Nugal are reported as normal this month. Livestock prices remain high due to increased demand.
NORTH WEST AND AWDAL

Conditions are deteriorating with delayed Hais/ Deyr rains and normal problems with boreholes. The arrival of herders from Shinile district in Ethiopia will increase the pressure on rangeland resources. Zeila and Borama districts are reported to be in a critical condition with pastoralist purchasing power being weakened by declining terms of trade (mainly for labour/grain and effecting the poor more than others). In Lughaya and Bulhar tensions between pastoralists and settlers are mounting as livestock are moved to the highlands. Cross border trade has been adversely affected by the increasing Ethiopian government controls. The prices of sorghum, maize and wheat (partly because of increased demand during Ramadam) at the border have increased by between 5-20% compared to October and November this year. The availability of some local production helped ease these increases. Livestock movements and trade have not been effected but have increased. Increased construction employment (roads and building) and charcoal production have been expanded to cover increased expenditure and lost income. Where households have split with livestock movements out of the area, the elderly and children remaining are reported to be increasingly vulnerable according to observations from Sallahlay and coastal belt communities.

The Ministry of the Interior confirmed that several people had been arrested in connection with an attempt to loot a UN vehicle in Hargeisa last month with resultant injury to the driver. Investigations into the incident are still continuing. In another development, the police commissioner and his deputy were replaced.

This month, Ethiopia closed its border with 'Somaliland', severely affecting Somali businessmen who used to trade between the Arabian Gulf and Ethiopia via 'Somaliland'. There is no traffic of goods from either side except khat. There has been no official comment from either government.

Abdillahi Askar is the new representative of the 'Somaliland' office in Germany, while Omer Haji Mohamoud, has taken over the Addis Ababa office. Askar and Mohamoud were respectively previously in the Addis-Ababa and Djibouti offices. During the review period, the 'Somaliland' government and Danish Oil Company (Seminal Copenhagen Group) entered into an oil drilling agreement.
PROGRAMME ACTIVITY

HEALTH

Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI) : A two-day review meeting on the third round of EPI was held in Hargeisa. It was attended by 40 participants of the agencies involved in the exercise. Topics reviewed included, social mobilisation, tally books and recording procedures, staff performance, supervisory roles and community understanding of the importance and the benefits of vaccines.

A five-day EPI acceleration campaign was carried out in Berbera town. It was the first round to be held in Berbera, as its hot weather previously prevented the campaign being held. An estimated 3,000 children aged below five years were vaccinated.

UNICEF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, conducted a seven-day training in Hargeisa on how to conduct an EPI-coverage survey. Sixteen interviewers and six supervisors were trained. An actual EPI coverage survey was then conducted in Hargeisa and Borama towns. The data is currently being analysed.
NUTRITION

In collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Labour, UNICEF conducted a five-day training on maternal and child nutrition for 23 community health workers (CHW) from the villages of Galbeed. During the training, the community health workers covered topics such as importance of good nutrition for child development, breastfeeding, complementary feeding, growth and development, feeding the sick child, nutritional requirements for pregnant/lactating mothers and adolescent girls, as well as basic communication skills. The purpose of the training was to upgrade the knowledge and skills of CHWs in maternal and child nutrition. After the training the CHWs will carry out nutrition promotion activities in their respective villages. Also the CHWs will be able to identify and take action to correct the major nutritional problems in their communities.

A five-day breastfeeding counselling training for 20 doctors, nurses and midwives from the health facilities in Hargeisa, Berbera and Borama was conducted in Hargeisa. The purpose of the training was to provide basic breastfeeding counselling techniques and skills to the front line staff working in the Mother and Child Health centres and the paedriatric and maternity wards of the regional hospitals. After the training the participants will be able to provide appropriate counselling on optimal breastfeeding for infants. Currently, many mothers do not practice exclusive breastfeeding due to lack of appropriate advice and counselling from the health staff.

The second round of Sanaag region malnutrition interventions was started. Four health centre-based mobile teams were established to cover thirty villages in Badhan, Erigavo, Dhahar and Eil Afwein districts. As with the first round, the teams were providing immunization services, nutritional screening, distribution of supplementary food, mobile clinics and distribution of micro-nutrient supplementation such as vitamin A and iron/folic acid. Some 3,000 children living in the drought affected Sool Plateau benefited from this activity.
WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION

Construction work has started on three wells in Odweine, two wells in Hamarta village of Awdal Region, as well as the rehabilitation of a rural well in Dararweyne village of Sanaag Region. UNICEF conducted a water management training in Burao and Hargeisa for water managers and engineoperators of rural and urban water systems of all regions in the zone. A workshop on privatisation and management of the Borama water supply was held in Borama.
EDUCATION

In collaboration with local authorities, UNICF selected 30 schools, 10 playgrounds and five resource centres for rehabilitation in 2003. Assessment missions have already been undertaken in these centres ahead of the rehabilitation.

EMERGENCY

Following a severe storm, which hit Lowyacado town and nearby areas last month, UNICEF responded to an appeal from the government for emergency relief assistance to the people of the area. Two hundred family relief kits were provided to the poorest and most affected families in Lowyacado, and nomads in the surrounding areas.

Julia Spry-Leverton, Communication Officer, UNICEF Somalia TEL: 254-623958/623950/623862/623959/350410 FAX: 254-2-520640/623965

LNA: President, your country has to face two major problems, the absence of recognition and the economy hampered by the ban on cattle exports enforced by your traditional buyers like Saudi Arabia... ellipsis as published

Kahin: The recognition, I think, we have received it in 1960. Unluckily we have joined with our brothers in the south. But that unification has failed after 10 years. And it was not signed. There was an agreement to be signed between Somaliland and Somalia in 1960 and to be ratified by the two parliaments. It was called the Act of Union. That Act of Union was never signed for that 30 years. So our union was a mainly illegal marriage, I can say. Now we are rebuilding our nation and we have regained our recognition of 1960. We have built our country without any help from the international community. We have made government, stability and peace. And full administration of the government. The ban of Saudi Arabia : it is not the first time that they make a ban. It is about the fourth time. Every time they say that there are some diseases among our animals. But there is no disease. We eat meat every day. We would have died if there would be any disease among our cattle. But now they have written in their newspapers that they are ready to lift the ban. We have contacts with an international company, SGS, based in Switzerland and we are preparing to get international certification with the help of this company. I hope we shall overcome in the next future the ban imposed by Saudi Arabia.

LNA: Would you say that this ban was not only based on a health problem but that there was an hidden agenda?

Kahin: I don't know, maybe, maybe. I don't know. But they say there is a Rift Valley Fever. RVF happened between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It did not happen here. But they decided a ban on all the Horn of Africa, completely. Not only on Somaliland. Even the OIE (1) in Paris has made tests on our animals and it was certified that there is no disease. But we need an international certification accepted by the Saudis. So the company SGS will fill the gap I think.

LNA: About the refusal to recognize officially your country, the reason often given that borders in Africa should remained untouched for ever sounds like a pretext. Thus, in your opinion, what is the real reason that head of states who have seen what you have achieved, are so shy and do not accept that Somaliland exists and has the right to be recognized?

Kahin: I don't know. Three important countries know that Somaliland was a country that has obtained independence. These are France, Italy and the United Kingdom. We have been granted our independence from the UK. France was in Djibouti and French know that we have taken our independence. Italy was administrating the other part of Somalia. Italians know that we had a government. And we have international boundaries that we inherited from the colonial powers. We have an Anglo-Italian treaty fixing our boundary between us and Somalia, an Anglo-Ethiopian treaty, an Anglo-French agreement. All these treaties have demarcated the boundaries of Somaliland. So our case is a solid one.

LNA: Your case is similar to the one of Eritrea...

Kahin: No, no, we have even a better case. Eritrea did not take its independence in 1960, but we did.

LNA: Do you think that the countries you have quoted and some others are waiting because they don't want to be the first to recognize your country? They just wait that somebody else will take the step.

Kahin: That is what they say every time but it is a lame excuse, I think. I have told some Europeans who visited me : why are you so shy?

LNA: Then, the only solution for you is it just to wait that they become more aware that this situation cannot last?

Kahin: Yes. But as for every nation, the determination lies in the will of the people. And this people of Somaliland has proved by referendum, 97 per cent of it, that Somaliland wants to be alone and not be united anymore with Somalia. So nobody can change our will. And we shall be standing for ever to get our recognition.

LNA: I understand that. We just have talked about some European countries but what about your African brothers. Are some of them more sympathetic to you?

Kahin: We can mention Ethiopia, South Africa and some others. One day they will recognize us.

LNA: What is the state of your relations with your neighbour countries?

Kahin: Our neighbours are Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia with whom we have united once. Now we have good relations with Ethiopia and Djibouti?

LNA: Good relations?

Kahin: Yes.

LNA: You have no problem of trade?

Kahin: We trade, we make business.

LNA: Ethiopia has taken steps recently along the border to prevent some goods coming from Somaliland to enter. Is that true?

Kahin: Yes, Ethiopian authorities have taken some customs arrangements. I think that we will overcome this problem. I have sent our Minister of Commerce to Ethiopia and I hope it will be settled. It is temporary. A lot of goods have never gone through Ethiopian customs and they want to adjust this problem.

LNA: So this new step of the Ethiopian authorities should not affect too much your trade?

Kahin: It has an effect. But the problem will be settled. Our Minister has been in Ethiopia and our partners promised that they would solve the question.

LNA: Do you receive bilateral help from any country of the world?

Kahin: No, nothing from any country.

LNA: Do you then receive assistance from international organizations?

Kahin: Some of them, like NGOs are present. For instance, they take part in the maintenance of schools or in other minor projects. What they do is better than nothing. And they deal it to local NGOs mainly.

LNA: Does the European Union give a better share to you than to south Somalia?

Kahin: I don't think. They have rebuilt our bridges that were destroyed. That is the best help that we have received from any country. It came from the EU.

LNA: About the situation in the Horn of Africa. You are in peace. But it may happen that external tensions spill over to your country. Do you have the means to defend yourself since your budget is very modest?

Kahin: We shall try our best up to the maximum to defend our security although we do not have a big capacity.

LNA: You have an armed force?

Kahin: Yes, we have an army, police and military.

LNA: Is your country hit by the drought as it is happening in some other parts of the Horn?

Kahin: Yes, we have a lot of drought in the coastal areas. Cattle are dying and the people are starving. And still we did not have any help from the international community. Even from the World Food Program. We have asked the WFP to make a survey in the coastal areas where the drought is lasting for the last three years. Many times we had drought in our country and we did not receive any help from the international community.

LNA: Will you stand for the next presidential election?

Kahin: Yes I will stand.

LNA: Your Constitution being implemented, do you think the newly elected President of Somaliland, yourself or an other candidate, should take an initiative sending an envoy to all African countries to say : look what has happened. How can you refuse to recognize us?

Kahin: Even now, we have communications with many African countries. But we shall have an aggressive policy after the election to gain our recognition from different countries.

LNA: Before being recognized, Yasser Arafat had a representative in the United Nations. Do you have such a kind of representative?

Kahin: Yasser Arafat had "de facto" recognition. We do not even have "de facto" recognition. So we cannot go to the UN.

LNA: But when you have a delegation, like you have in Ethiopia or in some other countries, it is a "de facto" recognition. Is not it?

Kahin: Yes, some countries like Ethiopia have accepted a delegation and we have representatives in some places in Europe. Even in France we have an orary Consul. It is a Frenchman.

LNA: Thank you, President.

She added that ships loaded with food aid arrived on 29 November. EU had arranged 250 trucks for the inland transportation of the food aid from the port to the stores found in eastern part of the country.

From this shipment, 20,000 tonnes would go to DPPC's Disaster prevention and Preparedness Commission stock, since EU had borrowed from DPPC to distribute for the drought victims as part of the pledge it made.

According to sources, the use of Berbera port in Somalia for delivery into eastern and south-eastern Ethiopia is a viable option.

It was also the European Union which first used Berbera port in March 1999 for the shipment of 15,000 tonnes of wheat food aid to Ethiopia.

Using Berbera port involves a 250 km road link to the Ethiopia border at Togowuchale, followed by a 64 km section to Jijiga eastern Ethiopia .

With regular maintenance of the road, up to 30,000 tonnes of food aid per month can be routed through this corridor targeted for distribution within the Somali region of Ethiopia.

The port of Berbera has the capacity of handling an average unloading rate of more than 1,000 tonnes a day.

Another voter in Hargeysa, Amina Haji Hirsi, said she was unhappy because women's participation in Somaliland affairs is low. "It's only more men coming to power as local leaders, but it was a peaceful election and I like that," she said. According to the electoral commission only three political parties are allowed in Somaliland but six parties took part in the local polls. Radio Hargeysa meanwhile described the election as a sign of Somaliland's "political maturity." The rest of Somalia did not recognise the election.

Approximately about 1400 p.m. noon as published as the president and his entourage were resting in their guest houses, an army of terrorists sent by the warlord presiding over the neighbouring Puntland of Somalia, Col Abdullahi Yusuf, attacked the president and his delegation in their guest houses. The militia that attacked the Somaliland president and his delegation were met with fierce resistance from the local police and military stations. The alleged reason for these unprovoked attacks on Somaliland cities and Somaliland president was warlord Abdullahi Yusuf's absurd claim that Sool is part of his Puntland administration when, in fact, Sool is one of the six regions of Somaliland, historically and legally. The Somaliland Forum, which is an independent-international organization that represents the Somaliland diaspora, condemns and deplores these terrorist attacks on Somaliland by Abdullahi Yusuf's administration in the strongest possible terms...

This is not the first time he has played with fire; however, this time he has gone one step further and decided to provoke Somaliland into a war, which will further destabilize the war-stricken Horn of Africa and the entire African continent as a whole.

We would like to inform the international community that of Somaliland is a peace-loving country, which will strive for peaceful ends to any disputes and/or conflicts. Moreover, of Somaliland, as demonstrated by the achievements in the past 11 years, is a democratic country which is preparing for its first-ever local and national elections since it reclaimed its independence from Somalia in 1991. Hence, the last thing it wants or wishes for is a war. Nevertheless, we affirm that as an independent sovereign country with a clearly demarcated borders and, a democratically elected government, we will not and cannot tolerate any acts of external aggression that may undermine Somaliland's territorial integrity. Therefore, of Somaliland will do and take any action necessary to preserve its territorial integrity, including military ones...

At this present moment while his officials are waging war, destabilizing the region and causing mayhem, Abdullahi Yusuf's officials are taking part in the Somali reconciliation conference in Eldoret, Kenya, receiving VIP treatment from regional leaders. We urge the international community, IGAD Inter-Governmental Authority on Development and the African Union leaders to hold this warlord personally responsible for these terrorist attacks. We request from these bodies to send a loud and clear message to the warlords gathered in Eldoret and inform them in the strongest possible terms that Somaliland's territorial integrity must be respected and, that all destabilizing and provocative acts shall cease immediately. Such a message, alone, from these regional and world leaders to Col Abdullahi Yusuf, is the only hope of averting a war in an already war-famine stricken part of the world.

"The people of Somaliland must be ready to defend their nation," Somaliland President Dahir Riyale Kahin said as thousands of people held demonstrations in major towns to condemn what they said was an invasion from Puntland.

Somaliland leaders said the attack was a renewed attempt to frustrate its bid for independence and block forthcoming local government elections. "The local government elections will be held as scheduled," the president said.

Before the attack the Somaliland president had travelled to the town of Las Anod to visit local leaders, marking the first official visit by a Somaliland President to the town since the region declared its independence in 1991.Leaders of Puntland said they were opposed to Kahin's presence on what they consider their territory. Leaders from Puntland, as well as other factions and a shaky transitional government based in the Somali capital Mogadishu, are holding peace talks in Kenya aimed at ending a decade of anarchy in the country.

The president this morning addressed a rally at Ceerigaabo grounds which was attended by scholars, religious leaders, elders, youths and the general public. The president thanked the people of Ceerigaabo for the warm welcome accorded to him. He discussed local and international issues related to Somaliland and measures taken by his government since he assumed office. Kahin commented about the forthcoming general elections and said the elections would bring recognition and benefits if it is conducted peacefully.

He urged the people to maintain peace and to elect leaders of their choice. The president who was commenting about the incident he faced in Laas Caanood together with his entourage, said a national decision will made on the matter and drastic measures will be taken by Somaliland regarding its borders with Somalia. Commenting on the Ceerigaabo-Burco road which has brought problems to motorists, the president said the road will be repaired soon. He said the section close to Ceerigaabo will be the first to be repaired because it is in a worse condition...

The mayor said in his speech that the bunch which attacked the guest house in Laas Caanood, where the president and his entourage were staying, were people opposed to the sovereignty of Somaliland and would be dealt with accordingly. The leader of Kulmiye party, Ahmad Muhammad Silanyo, who addressed the demonstrators at the square, said the people of Somaliland irrespective of their political parties will take part in the demonstrations. He said the attack on the president in Laas Caanood was aimed at disrupting the elections and creating discord. He said the attackers had failed to achieve that.

Silanyo hailed Somaliland forces which decimated the attackers within one hour... A similar demonstration was also held today in Berbera. A similar demonstration was held yesterday in Burco against the naked aggression by the Puntland regional administration. The demonstrators were addressed by officials and scholars from the regions.

The Somaliland president, Dahir Riyale Kahin, had travelled to the town of Las Anod to visit local leaders, marking the first official visit by a Somaliland President to the town since Somaliland declared its independence in 1991.

Leaders of Puntland, which borders Somaliland in the north of Somalia, said they were opposed to Kahin's presence on what they consider their territory. "We could not have fulfilled our operation if it did not have the support of our people," said the deputy interior minister of Puntland, Ahmed Aden, who was among the leaders of the attack. "We are fighting for the unity of Somalia," he told Reuters by telepe.

The identity of the casualties was unclear, although witnesses said one was a former governor of the town. Dahir and his entourage fled during the fighting, witnesses said.

Leaders from Puntland, as well as other factions and a shaky transitional government based in the Somali capital Mogadishu, are holding peace talks in Kenya aimed at ending a decade of anarchy in the country.

The United States fears the lack of strong central authority in Somalia, a lawless Horn of Africa state in the grip of rival warlords, could provide an ideal haven for militants.

Washington has set up sea patrols along with Britain, France and other countries to search for members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network who they fear might try to flee there.

According to reports reaching us from radio calls in Laas Caanood area, gun shots were being heard outside the town. There is no accurate information about the number of casualties, but heavy damage on the town has been reported. Forces from both sides are said to be still confronting each other in the town.

Other reports say more clashes also broke out last night at Buuhoodle where forces of President Dahir Riyale Kahin of Somaliland clashed with Puntland militias loyal to Col Abdullahi Yusuf Puntland president , after ambushing President Dahir Riyale Kahin.

At least 17 people are believed to have been killed in the clashes between the two rival groups and over 30 others wounded. The clashes were provoked by the visit of the Somaliland president, Dahir Riyale Kahin, who visited Laas Caanood town as part of Somaliland presidential campaign trail. Laas Caanood is one of the voting stations for Somaliland presidential elections. The two sides have been disputing over the control of the locality.

Somaliland officials warned that the fighting would spread into Puntland, while Puntland leaders threatened to attack Somaliland, unless President Dahir Riyale Kahin calls off his visit to the region...

Reporter: The vice-president of Puntland regional state, Muhammad Abdi Hashi, stressed that they have today foiled a plan bent on dividing Somalia into two countries. Speaking to me in Eldoret venue of Somali peace talks, Muhammad Abdi Hashi said the fighting that took place in Laas Caanood town claimed by both Somaliland and Puntland was headed by the Somaliland president, Dahir Riyale Kahin, and blamed him for all the problems which occurred there.

The Puntland vice-president confirmed that, on their side, they had lost four people in the fighting and seven others wounded. He said they killed 20 people of those who attacked them and wounded 30 others. He said the military confrontations lasted for two hours, adding that Puntland's Darawish special forces were now in control of whole Sool Region. However, there is no independent confirmation to the report. Hashi said Riyale Kahin has crossed over to the Ethiopian side, through Du'mo village, as he had no other venue to escape, because he said our forces besieged him from all sides...

The first shooting started at about 10:00 am local time (0700 GMT) in Las Anod district, 120 km northwest of Garoweh town, the capital of Puntland when the delegation of President Riyaleh came under fire as his convoy of trucks consisting of 30 vehicles has reached the town.

At least four people were wounded including one of the bodyguards of President Riyaleh as the bodyguards themselves have returned fire. The fighting seemed to have subsided for a while and relative calmness returned, but at about 14:00 hours local time (1100 GMT), serious fighting has resumed between the forces of the two regional governments of Somaliland and Puntland as forces loyal to Colonel Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed, the president of Puntland have attacked where the delegation of his opponent, Riyaleh, has been received. According to eyewitnesses, the two sides have exchanged heavy gunfire right in the middle of the town where at least four people were killed and more than a dozen others were wounded from both sides.

Among the dead is Robleh Abdullahi Sanweyne, the governor of Sol region for Puntland.

In the middle of the fighting at about 15:00 hours local time ( 1200 GMT), President Riyaleh and his delegation have fled Las Anod town, but the exchange of the gunfire continued between the two sides until late in the afternoon.

The latest reports from the town indicate that the town is now calm as the sun set, but very tense with some of the warring militias of Puntland and Somaliland in some places firing some sporadic gunfire. According to eyewitnesses in the town, the shelling from the two sides has destroyed several buildings. As a result, dozens of families have started fleeing the town. Among the seriously damaged buildings are the administration buildings, but the building where the delegation of Riyaleh briefly stayed remains intact.

The reason for the fighting is not clearly stated, however it is known that the breakaway republic of Somaliland is later this month going out for the presidential and the parliamentary elections.

The region of Sol mainly inhabited by the Dhulbahanteh clan of Darod tribe is disputed as each of the Puntland and Somaliland claim its ownership and Somaliland was trying to win some support for their coming elections, but Puntland has always warned Somalia and to keep away from their region of Sol.

President of Puntland, Colonel Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed, whose headquarters, Garoweh town, is only 120 km away has never visited the Las Anod town in fear of violence between the two sides and now the sudden visit of Riyaleh, the president of Somaliland, is seen as a provocative step deliberately carried out by Somaliland.

Interior minister of Puntland Ahmed Abdi Habsadeh said their administration did not send any of their troops to the town, but those in the town supporting Puntland have reacted to what he called the "blain trespassing" made by the administration of Somaliland.

Riyaleh and his delegation are reported to be in Aynabah village, about 120 km north of Las Anod town, but it is not known what measures Somaliland would be taking next as the visit of their president has provoked violence in the town.

Somaliland and Puntland have been having strained relation especially when the regions of Sol and Sanag come into question as each side claims their ownership. Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the president of Puntland, is now in the port town of Bossaso in Puntland after he took a break from the ongoing peace talks for the Somalis in neighboring Kenya, where he was settling down local dispute within his administration.

There is virtually no visible, armed security presence. Supported by an unusually talented and active diaspora, the capital of Hargeisa is experiencing a modest economic boom in spite of a continuing Saudi ban on Somaliland livestock exports, which traditionally account for most of its foreign exchange income. As recently as 1996, the atmosphere in Hargeisa was tense, and the city still reflected the extensive bombing by Said Barre's airforce and shelling by his artillery. Today, nearly all of the damaged and destroyed buildings have been repaired or replaced. Hargeisa's population has grown from less than 10,000 in 1991 to more than a half million. Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, and most Somalilanders are now preoccupied with the question of international recognition. To date, no country has recognized of Somaliland. The UN and African Union have instead given Somalia's seat to the Transitional National Government (TNG) based in North Mogadishu. The TNG claims to represent Somaliland but has no influence there. It is not surprising that Somaliland seeks international recognition, as this would open many foreign assistance possibilities that are now largely closed. In the meantime, there are other steps Somaliland could take that would enhance its chances for recognition. This analysis looks at the background to Somaliland's declaration of independence, notes the obstacles to recognition, and discusses the current situation in Somaliland based on a recent visit there.

Somaliland Independence and then Merger

Known as British Somaliland until it achieved independence on June 26, 1960, the new government of Somaliland, after five days of independence, agreed to join with former Italian Somalia. The two territories united on July 1, 1960, to form the Somali Republic. The idea of unity had been discussed during the year leading up to independence on the basis that Somalis are the same people, speak the same language and have a common religion. Often called northwest Somalia after unification, Somaliland's merger with Somalia was not easy, and problems developed almost immediately. There was a national referendum in June 1961 to approve a provisional constitution for the Somali Republic in the absence of an act of union. The leading political party in the northwest, the Somali National League, boycotted the referendum. Of the 100,000 votes cast in the northwest, about 60 percent opposed the constitution. An attempted military coup occurred in Somaliland late in 1961. Although it failed, one of its goals was to secede from the Somali Republic and establish an independent government. Northwest Somalia subsequently worked out a modus vivendi with Mogadishu. An Ishaq clan member from Somaliland, Mohammed Ibrahim Egal, even became prime minister of the Somali Republic in 1967. He did not last long in the position. In 1969, a bodyguard assassinated the president of the Somali Republic, and several days later a group of army officers seized power and installed Major General Mohammed Siad Barre in his stead. The new military government arrested Egal, who remained in jail until 1982 except for a six-month period in 1975 when he was assigned as Ambassador to India. Barre's rule rekindled discontent in the northwest, and by 1981 Somalilanders formed the Somali National Movement (SNM), which had the goal of toppling the Barre government. By 1988 an all-out civil war developed and northwest Somalia experienced considerable devastation at the hands of government-sponsored forces. The brutal repression resulted in more than 20,000 killed and left a deep bitterness among Somalilanders. The war ended in January 1991 with the fall of the Barre government.

Somaliland Declares Independence Again

The Central Committee of the SNM assembled in Burao in May 1991 and declared unilaterally that northwest Somalia would henceforth become the independent Republic of Somaliland. The SNM named Abdirahman Ahmed Ali "Tur" as interim president for two years. Near the end of his term, the 150-member Council of Elders began meeting in Borama to determine the political future of Somaliland. They expanded the representation at Borama to some 500 persons representing elders, religious leaders, politicians, retired civil servants, intellectuals, businessmen, and others. They agreed to establish an executive president and a bicameral legislature. These traditional leaders of Somaliland then elected Mohammed Ibrahim Egal, the onetime prime minister of the Somali Republic, as president of Somaliland in 1993. They reelected Egal in 1997. The Conference of Somaliland Communities, formed by various Somaliland leaders, adopted a constitution at Hargeisa in 1997. It was to remain in effect for three years and would come into full force only after a referendum, which finally took place in May 2001.

Somaliland Rejects the Arta Process

Somaliland chose not to participate in the process aimed at unifying Somali factions that was initiated by the government of Djibouti in 2000 in the Djiboutian town of Arta. The conference was organized along clan lines but included a cross-clan delegation of 100 women. A number of key factions and groups were not represented. The government of Somaliland not only refused to participate in the conference, but its Parliament passed a law that prohibited representatives of the government or private citizens to attend, declaring attendance a treasonable offense.

The Arta conference resulted in creation of the Transitional National Government (TNG) that took up residence in North Mogadishu and claimed to represent all of Somalia, including Somaliland. The TNG occupied Somalia's seats at the United Nations, the Organization of African Unity, and the Arab League. Somaliland continues to reject both the Arta process and the government it created, arguing that the independence of Somaliland is nonnegotiable. The TNG has so far been unable to establish control outside of North Mogadishu, although it does have loose alliances with several other groups. Only five countries (Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan, Libya and Egypt) have extended diplomatic recognition to the TNG.

2001 Referendum on Constitution and Independence

Somaliland conducted a referendum on May 31, 2001, which endorsed a new constitution and reaffirmed its status as an independent state. The referendum offers some useful insights on the thinking of Somalilanders on the issue of independence. The Initiative and Referendum Institute, an international non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., sent a 10-member team to observe the referendum process from May 28 until June 7. Eight of the delegates were from the United States, one from the United Kingdom, and one from Switzerland. The Institute acknowledged that its ability to observe the referendum was imperfect. On the day of the referendum, it was only able to visit 57 of the 600 polling stations in five of Somaliland's six regions. The Institute chose, for security reasons, not to send any observers to Sool Region and had only one observer in Sanaag Region. The Institute concluded, however, that overall the referendum was conducted "openly, fairly, estly, and largely in accordance with internationally recognized election procedures." Irregularities and procedural deviations were de minimus, and occurrences of fraud were insignificant and very rare. The referendum was peaceful and without violence.

Ninety-seven percent of the voters approved the constitution. The Institute believes that the referendum was primarily a vote to show support for independence rather than an endorsement of the numerous provisions of the constitution. It concluded that approximately two-thirds of eligible voters participated. The Institute suggested that some of those who chose not to vote were probably exercising their opposition to the referendum. In Las Anod District of Sool Region, for example, where there was the greatest opposition to the referendum, voter turnout was only 31 percent, well below the national average. The opposition was not unified around one issue. Some opposed Somaliland's independence while others supported independence but were opposed to the administration of President Egal. But even assuming that all eligible voters that did not vote were opposed to the constitution, independence, and/or the Egal administration, 97 percent of two-thirds of the voters still supported the constitution and independence.

Preparing for Elections

Political parties only returned to Somaliland following the passage of enabling legislation in 2000. Late in 2001 Somaliland postponed for one year the previously scheduled 2001 municipal elections and the 2002 presidential and legislative elections to allow more time for preparation. President Egal died of natural causes in May 2002. In accordance with the Somaliland constitution, his vice president, Dahir Riyale Kahin, who was also elected by traditional leaders, succeeded him. President Kahin's mandate ends in February 2003.

Municipal elections are now scheduled for December 15, 2002. National presidential elections must occur by January 23, 2003, unless the House of Elders authorizes an extension. Parliamentary elections are slated for May 2003. These will be the first multiparty elections since 1969 and the first occasion that Somaliland women will be able to vote. Somaliland's political parties and its Electoral Commission are inexperienced, and technical expertise is in short supply. Somaliland's budget for the elections is exceedingly limited, and few outside groups have expressed a willingness to assist due in part to the fact that no government recognizes Somaliland. Not surprisingly, the seven-member Electoral Commission is concerned about organizing a successful result. To its credit, the International Republican Institute has allocated $200,000 in support of political party training workshops and voter education programs. The European Union may provide direct assistance to the Electoral Commission. There is some pressure from Somalilanders to go forward with elections even if they are flawed.

Voter registration is the most urgent and contentious issue facing the Electoral Commission. Some Somalilanders believed voter registration should precede the municipal elections. Others argue that this is impossible in a society with such a high percentage of nomads, and instead contend that registration and voting should take place at the same time. The latest information suggests that Somaliland will try to have a separate voter registration process. Local Somalilanders will screen persons who register to vote in order to verify eligibility. The issue of Somaliland citizenship is not, however, entirely clear. The voter registration system does not ensure that ethnic Somalis from neighboring Somalia, Ethiopia, and Djibouti will not participate in the election.

Somaliland has borrowed an electoral model that uses municipal elections to determine which parties may participate in the national elections. According to the constitution, only the three political organizations that receive the most votes and at least 20 percent of the vote in the municipal elections will be able to register as political parties and participate in the presidential elections. At last count, there were nine largely clan-based political organizations. Somaliland wants to limit the number of parties in order to encourage nationalism rather than clan-based factionalism. There is a concern, however, that the municipal elections will not result in three political organizations meeting the criteria for participating in the national elections. In fact, it is possible that only one organization would qualify. This would pose a real dilemma and damage Somaliland's hopes for international recognition.

A technically well-managed, free, and fair election at both the municipal and national level will strengthen Somaliland's argument for recognition. Most observers will be willing to overlook relatively minor glitches. Seriously flawed elections, on the other hand, will be a setback to Somaliland's efforts to win international recognition.

The Problem of Puntland

An issue that has a direct bearing on Somaliland's ability to attract international recognition is neighboring Puntland's claim to most of Sool and Sanaag Regions, a claim that Somaliland rejects. In 1998, the Harti leaders of northern Somalia and eastern Somaliland declared Puntland an autonomous republic within a federal Somalia. Unlike the leaders in Somaliland, they decided not to opt for independence and oppose the independence of Somaliland. Puntland's boundaries correspond to those areas where the Harti, a subgroup of the larger Darod clan, reside. The Majerteen, a subset of the Harti, predominate in that part of Puntland known as northern Somalia, which borders Somaliland. Two additional Harti subsets, the Warsangeli and the Dulbahante, reside inside that part of Somaliland claimed by Puntland. The Warsangeli predominate in the eastern part of Sanaag Region while the Dulbahante predominate in Sool Region. Two Harti leaders that come from different subgroups-Abdullahi Yusuf and Jama Ali Jama-have been competing for power in Puntland. Abdullahi Yusuf achieved a military victory over Jama Ali Jama earlier this year and established a new regional government. Clan reconciliation has not yet occurred, however, in Puntland.

Sool and Sanaag were part of British Somaliland when it became independent in 1960. Puntland's claim to most of the two regions, based on clan ties, complicates the issue even though there are differences of opinion among the Harti themselves. The fact that voters in Sanaag, and especially Sool, were decidedly less supportive of Somaliland's 2001 referendum on the constitution and independence is explained by this clan situation. It is generally agreed that about half of the residents of Sanaag and a higher proportion in Sool have sympathies with Puntland. Both Puntland and Somaliland authorities are trying to increase their support in the two regions. One country that might be in a position to help resolve differences between Somaliland and Puntland is Ethiopia. It has good relations with Somaliland and Abdullahi Yusuf (but not Jama Ali Jama) in Puntland. In fact, Ethiopia has given military support to Abdullahi Yusuf. Ethiopian Dulbahante live across the border from Sool Region and are part of the same clan structure. So far, Ethiopia has chosen not to help resolve differences between Puntland and Somaliland. A resolution of the dispute with Puntland would enhance Somaliland's case for international recognition.

Somaliland and the Rest of the World

Three countries-Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Saudi Arabia-loom especially large in Somaliland's ability to survive politically and economically. Somalia also plays a critical role in spite of the fact that it does not recognize Somaliland or have a widely accepted government of its own. Egypt and Yemen have traditionally had a special interest in Somaliland. The African Union, Arab League, and United Nations are also important actors if only because they have accepted the credentials of the TNG as the legal representative of the Somali entity. Specialized agencies of the United Nations, the European Union, and to a lesser extent the United States provide important, albeit limited humanitarian and development assistance.

Somaliland's longest border is with Ethiopia, and ethnic Somali nomads on both sides of the border regularly cross it seeking seasonal pasturage. Landlocked Ethiopia has so far made minimal use of Somaliland's port of Berbera, even after ports in Eritrea became off limits. This could well change. In fact, an Ethiopian delegation visited Berbera in September 2002 to discuss with Somaliland the expansion of the port and improvement of roads between Berbera and southeast Ethiopia. For the first time ever, Ethiopian Airlines has established regular service between Addis Ababa and Hargeisa. Ethiopia and Somaliland have also opened liaison offices in their respective capitals. Somaliland sees Ethiopia as an ally in its quest for support and recognition. Although probably sympathetically inclined, Ethiopia is unwilling to be the first to recognize Somaliland. Somalia would immediately attribute nefarious motives to Ethiopian recognition of Somaliland, arguing that it wishes to balkanize Somalia and weaken Somali unity.

Djibouti borders Somaliland to the north. There are important clan ties between Somalilanders and the some 60 percent of the Djiboutian population that is Somali. Relations between Somaliland and Djibouti are correct but not warm. Somaliland resents Djibouti's initiative in helping to create the TNG in Somalia and is not comfortable with the current Djiboutian leadership. Djibouti continues to have a complex set of financial and commercial links with the TNG. Its commitment to the preservation of Somali unity suggests that it wants to prevent the emergence of a viable and independent Somaliland. Even with the current tension in the relationship, there is considerable informal trade between the two countries and, because taxes are lower in Somaliland, many Djiboutians buy goods there. Somaliland officials argue that Djibouti needs Somaliland more than Somaliland needs Djibouti. They also suspect that Djibouti fears competition from the port of Berbera once it is fully rehabilitated. But with so few ships now using the port, there is little incentive to rehabilitate it.

Saudi Arabia poses a huge dilemma for Somaliland. A major financial backer of the TNG and supporter within the Arab League, Saudi Arabia was traditionally the major importer of Somaliland livestock. For the better part of the last five years, Saudi Arabia has banned livestock from Somaliland on the grounds that it might be infected with Rift Valley Fever. Somaliland denies the charges and there does not appear to be any current scientific evidence to support the claim. Recent investigations by the Food and Agricultural Organization and World Health Organization found no evidence of Rift Valley Fever in Somaliland. Several Gulf States that import small quantities of Somaliland livestock have lifted the ban. Some observers suspect that the ban is linked to Saudi business interests involved in the importation of livestock from other countries. In the meantime, the Saudi ban is doing grievous harm to the Somaliland economy. The ban has hit nearly every kind of employment in the country-pastoralists, truck drivers, livestock traders, animal health staff, brokers, port employees and private business people. The impact is especially great in the port of Berbera. The town is not prosperous, and the large international airport, built during the Soviet interlude in Somalia, is effectively shut down. Berbera is lucky to have one or two ships in the harbor on any given day. The problem is aggravated because the government of Somaliland does not have any access to the Saudi royal family and has been unable to make its case directly to the Saudi government. Governments with close ties to Saudi Arabia, including the United States, appear to have little interest in making Somaliland's case.

Yemen, located across the Gulf of Aden from Somaliland, has a long history of links to Somaliland and has served periodically as a refuge for Somalis fleeing unrest. Somaliland was improving relations with Yemen until the Arta process in Djibouti stopped the initiative. Yemen subsequently accepted the Arab League position on the recognition of the TNG in Mogadishu, and relations with Somaliland soured.

Egypt has maintained an interest in the Somali coast dating back several centuries. In more recent years, Egypt has been a supporter of Somali unity and a strong Somali state that can serve as a counterweight to Ethiopia. Eighty-six percent of the water reaching the Aswan Dam in Egypt emanates from Ethiopia. The Nile River is, of course, Egypt's lifeline, and the leadership in Cairo wants to maintain maximum leverage over Ethiopia. A unified Somalia that might one day reassert its claims to Somali-inhabited areas of Ethiopia and that has close links to Egypt would add to this leverage. Consequently, Egypt supports the Arta process, opposes an independent Somaliland, and is one of the five countries to extend recognition to the TNG. An Egyptian envoy visited Hargeisa in October 2002, congratulated Somaliland for the success it has achieved, and then urged it to participate in talks in Kenya on Somali unity with groups from Somalia. The Somaliland president rejected any thought of participating in the Kenyan-sponsored talks and reminded the Egyptian envoy that Egypt was one of the countries that recognized Somaliland's first independence on June 26, 1960.

Somaliland officials have a low opinion of the African Union, which was quick to recognize the TNG and has shown no interest in Somaliland's declaration of independence. One opposition political party leader in Somaliland commented recently that the African Union has been pressing Somaliland to participate in the unity talks in Kenya, while refusing to even send a delegation to Hargeisa. Somaliland's attitude is equally dismissive toward the Arab League, another organization that recognizes the TNG. It welcomes the assistance it receives from specialized agencies of the United Nations such as UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the World Food Program. On the other hand, Somaliland has a bad memory of the UN Mission to Somalia (UNOSOM) in the mid-1990s. UNOSOM spent hundreds of millions of dollars in Somalia to end a famine and engage in nation building, but took virtually no interest in Somaliland. Authorities in Hargeisa are also deeply disappointed that the UN political structure supported the Arta process and that the UN General Assembly voted to allow the TNG to occupy Somalia's seat in the UN.

Bilateral donors have not been very forthcoming in providing assistance to Somaliland. Some probably shy away for fear that provision of assistance connotes diplomatic recognition. The European Union has been the most helpful over the past decade. U.S. development assistance to all of Somalia totals only about $2.5 million annually, although most of that now goes to Somaliland because it is the only safe and stable part of the country. Somaliland would be an excellent choice for increased U.S. development assistance.

Some Matters Needing Attention

It is not surprising that Somaliland faces many obstacles. No country recognizes it, and as a result, foreign assistance is modest. The annual budget of the country is only about $20 million. Somaliland entered its second independence in 1991 with a militia of some 40,000 men that it began to reduce to less than 10,000. An estimated 50 to 70 percent of the Somaliland budget goes to the military, primarily to pay salaries. Some payments go to soldiers who do not exist or are no longer in uniform. Corruption is pervasive, although the amounts involved appear to be modest and its record may well be better than is the case in most developing countries.

Although Somaliland declared HIV an epidemic in 1998, it is not paying sufficient attention to the problem. UNICEF conducted a useful HIV/AIDS behavioral survey in 1999, but there is still no UNAIDS presence in either Somalia or Somaliland. Somaliland's National HIV/AIDS Coordination Body held its first meeting in 2002. The civil war destroyed the health service delivery system, which is only slowly reviving with assistance from international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), agencies of the United Nations, and private clinics. There is a severe shortage of skilled health workers, and except for efforts to raise awareness, little is being done. Testing is almost nonexistent. Blood donors found to be HIV positive are not informed of their status because there is no counseling service. The stigma of HIV/AIDS is huge. Neighboring Djibouti has an adult prevalence rate of at least 12 percent and neighboring Ethiopia a rate of somewhere between 7 and 18 percent, although the rate is lower in the Ogaden, the rural Somali Region that borders Somaliland.

It is generally believed that the prevalence rate in Somaliland is relatively low. The 1999 UNICEF study, drawing on anecdotal information, concluded that the prevalence rate for the general population is about one percent. At the same time, the study noted that young people are sexually very active, and condom use generally is very low. Knowledge about the way that HIV/AIDS is transmitted is also low. UNICEF believed that infection rates were increasing. Those who follow the subject suggest that the prevalence rate today is about four percent. If Somaliland, aided by international organizations, bilateral donors, and NGOs, were to wage a major campaign now against HIV/AIDS, it might actually be possible to prevent the catastrophic situations that confront its neighbors. This is an area where Somaliland should seize the initiative and request international assistance and a UNAIDS presence.

Another serious and growing problem in Somaliland is the habitual use of khat. The green leaves of khat, which are chewed during lengthy sessions, contain cathinone, an active brain stimulant that acts much like amphetamine. Khat ingestion results in decreased appetite, euphoria and hyper alertness. Chronic use of khat often produces sleeplessness, nervousness, impotence, loss of appetite, constipation and nightmares. When you ask Somalilanders what percent of the population regularly used khat at the time of independence in 1960, the responses vary between one and five percent. A Somalilander who recently researched this issue estimated that five percent of women and 75 percent of men now use it on an almost daily basis.

The average daily cost of a khat session is $5, a huge amount for most Somalilanders. It is having a severely negative impact on family life as the men ignore or even abuse their families. Prolonged lack of food, associated with khat use, causes malnutrition and increased susceptibility to infectious diseases such as TB, hepatitis and HIV/AIDS. It impacts significantly economic productivity of the workforce and removes from the economy scarce capital that could be used for productive purposes. There is no organized effort in Somaliland to combat this scourge. Interestingly, a Web site for the Somaliland diaspora, www.somalilandforum.com, recently had a lead item that rails against the use of khat. There are also stirrings in Hargeisa that suggest there is real concern about the use of khat. In late September 2002, President Kahin issued a directive that limits the number of daily khat flights from Kenya and Ethiopia to no more than 50, which is down from about 150. He also ordered that khat no longer be imported by surface across land borders. It remains to be seen if this order can or will be enforced.

Traditionally a pastoral society where camels were the prestigious form of wealth, Somaliland is facing growing urbanization, especially in Hargeisa, and perhaps a new way of life for most of its inhabitants. Although this may be unavoidable, it will certainly be disruptive. Frequent drought and civil war have changed the situation. Somalilanders in rural areas are fencing off traditional pasturage for agricultural crops so that herders find it more difficult to raise their animals. Deforestation is a growing problem as Somalilanders cut down what few trees and shrubs remain in order to make charcoal, the main cooking fuel. It won't take long for Somaliland to be denuded of trees. The combination of these developments raises serious questions about the ability of Somalilanders to continue their pastoral existence, especially as famine now threatens following this year's drought.

A Preoccupation with Recognition

Somalilanders remain almost obsessed with the question of recognition or, more correctly, non-recognition. It is hard to blame them when one considers that the United Nations, Organization of African Unity (now African Union) and Arab League were quick to accept the TNG, which claims to represent Somaliland but controls little more than North Mogadishu. Lack of recognition makes it exceedingly difficult to attract foreign assistance and prohibits membership in such important organizations as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Somaliland officials have mastered all the arguments and precedents for recognition. They cite East Timor, Western Sahara, the breakup of Yugoslavia, etc. Interestingly, they do not mention the case of Eritrea. This may be due to the fact that Eritrea has recognized the TNG. The government published in 2001 a booklet, entitled Somaliland: Demand for International Recognition to make its case.

A senior member of Somaliland's Parliament explained that Somalilanders were never enthusiastic about Greater Somalia or the goal of the original Somali Republic to unify Somalis living in British Somaliland, Italian Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia's Ogaden and Haud Reserved Area and Kenya's Northeastern Frontier District. He said this was a concept that had far more resonance to the south. He argued that Somaliland had and still has stronger ties to Somalis living in neighboring Ethiopia and Djibouti than to those in former Italian Somalia. The official insisted that Somaliland's experience with the Siad Barre government convinced Somalilanders that they do not want to join with Somalia. He concluded that Somaliland sees no benefits deriving from union with Somalia and asked rhetorically, "Can you give one reason why it is in the interest of Somaliland to join Somalia?"

The problem Somaliland faces is convincing the rest of the world, and especially the members of the African Union, that its case is special and deserves support. The Organization of African Unity and its successor, the African Union, strongly support the concept of respecting national borders that prevailed at independence. Article 4 of the Constitutive Act of the African Union signed on June 12, 2000, in Lome, Togo states that the Union shall function in accordance with the following principle: "respect of borders existing on achievement of independence." But a strict interpretation of this provision actually provides Somaliland with the legal sanction that it seeks. Presumably, the African Union is reluctant to recognize Somaliland for fear that it would increase pressure by other groups in Africa to support changes in borders inherited at independence. The fact that Somaliland does not fit in the same category seems to be of little importance.

The former British Somaliland became independent on June 26, 1960, within the borders that it now claims as an independent state. Thirty-five states recognized Somaliland. U.S. Secretary of State, Christian Herter, sent a congratulatory message, and the United Kingdom signed several bilateral agreements with Somaliland in Hargeisa on June 26, 1960. Five days later Somaliland opted for the sake of Somali unity to join with the former Italian Somalia, which became independent on July 1, 1960, to form the Somali Republic. Technically, therefore, Somaliland complies with Article 4 of the Constitutive Act of the African Union.

It is up to the Assembly of the African Union, however, to consider requests for membership, and it is here that Somaliland has had no success. Somaliland would be well advised to focus its efforts on convincing several key African countries to support it within the African Union. Important countries like South Africa, Algeria and Senegal, if convinced of the merits of Somaliland's case, could make an enormous difference. There is always the option that an independent Somaliland could propose unification at a later date with a Somalia that finally achieves its own peace and unity. At the same time, Somaliland needs to continue to work to improve or solve the problems discussed above, especially the issue of competing claims by Puntland for Sool and Sanaag Regions.

The government of Somaliland needs to take a more assertive position, especially before the African Union and its individual members, on the question of international recognition. Currently, the rest of Somalia remains a failed state. There is no indication that peace and stability will return anytime soon. It is unreasonable to expect peaceful Somaliland to join willingly with Somalia, which is not at peace. For their part, international organizations and donor countries should provide more assistance to Somaliland. Disputing factions in Somalia might even learn from the Somaliland example that they, too, could benefit by achieving peace and stability. Finally, the United States needs to take Somaliland more seriously. Let the Africans be the first to offer diplomatic recognition. But the United States could open a small liaison office for the purpose of monitoring a larger development program and political progress in this strategically important part of the Horn of Africa. This would not constitute diplomatic recognition, but would signal support for a little Islamic country in Africa that has shown it "could".

Note on Author: David Shinn was desk officer for Somalia at the U.S. Department of State from 1969-71; deputy director of the Somalia Task Force in the State Department in 1992-1993; State Department coordinator for Somalia in 1993; director of East African Affairs (including Somalia) from 1993-96 and U.S. Ambassador to neighboring Ethiopia from 1996-99. He is now an adjunct professor of the practice of international affairs in the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Somalia shares a very long border with Ethiopia. Over the years, especially since the regimes in Ethiopia and Somalia changed in the early 1990s, there has been an active flow of people, animals and goods between the two countries, much of it unregistered and unofficial. Moreover, the establishment of the Somali refugee camps just inside Ethiopia's Zone V (Somali Region), like Harta Sheik, Daroor, Dulad, Bali Yarey, Dharwanaaje, and Awbarre, created more demand for products from north west Somalia and enhanced cross-border trade between the two countries. Somali traders import food and non-food commodities from the Persian Gulf States and have built warehouses at border crossing points, such as Awbarre, Togwajaale, Buhodle. Ethiopian traders, on the other hand, supply mainly food items, including coarse grains (maize, wheat, sorghum), potatoes, assorted vegetables, and milk as well as khat and charcoal. This cross border trade created livelihood sources through trade and employment for the population of the two countries, especially those along the border. Pastoralist, agropastoralist and urbanites are the main food economy groups that have benefited most from this trade, directly and indirectly. Food availability and accessibility has been good for many years, thanks to this Somalia/Ethiopia border trade.
What is happening

In early October, Ethiopian authorities closed its border with Somalia, reportedly to reduce smuggling of untaxed foods and improve revenue collection. The Ethiopian government has imposed heavy taxes on goods coming in and going out of the country. Traders and business people involved in the cross border trade are required to have an import/export license and register their trade, often a tedious process. Accordingly, Ethiopia has established several checkpoints along the border and prevented the movement of goods and services entering and leaving Ethiopia without formal documentation and taxation. Both food and non-food commodities have been affected.
Implications

Generally, the restriction of trade has greatly reduced the availability inside Ethiopia of a wide range of food and non-food items, including staple foods. Consequently, the effect of the restriction is felt inside Ethiopia more than in north west Somalia in the short run. Within north west Somalia, however, availability and accessibility of certain commodities has fallen significantly. For instance, milk availability decreased in urban areas of Hargeisa, Gabiley and Borama due to export restrictions on the Ethiopian side. Milk prices therefore increased about 35% between September and October. Coarse grain prices of sorghum, maize and wheat also increased about 30% during the similar period. In addition, prices of pulses increased about 14%. Ironically, most of the cowpeas, mung beans, sorghum and some maize comes from Southern Somalia across Ethiopia. Somali traders are now forced to use the longer route via Galkayo to Burao to Hargeisa. Prices of all these staple commodities are expected to increase further as higher transportation costs are transferred to consumers. Prices of different commodities imported from the Persian Gulf states, such as rice, sugar, spaghetti, edible oil and non-food items, however, remain same throughout Somaliland. Trade of khat, a growing economic sector, was not affected by the restriction of trade flows.
Conclusion

The current restriction of trade flow between the two countries will undermine employment and income-earning options along the border. In turn, this will weaken the purchasing power of large number of people in north west Somalia. The most affected population categories are those from urban and agropastoral food economy groups, which used to benefit from the informal cross border trade, directly and indirectly. Poor and middle wealth groups among those food economy groups will be the worst affected in the short-term. This unexpected restriction of trade flow will be another blow to the already fragile economy of north west Somalia, which has been affected by the livestock trade ban. Close monitoring of price changes and changes to livelihoods and food access will therefore be needed.

Tension has been rising in the area since Somaliland elders came to the Sool regional capital, Laas Caanood, he said. The elders were in Laas Caanood to reconcile two feuding clans in the area. The two regions fall geographically within the borders of pre-independence British Somaliland, but most of the main clans inhabiting them are associated with Puntland. These are the Warsangeli and the Dhulbahante, which, along with Majerteen - the main clan in Puntland - form the Harti clan of the Darood.

At extraordinary cabinet meeting on 23 November, called by Puntland leader Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf, it was decided to send a high level delegation to the two regions, Abdishakur Mire Adan, the Puntland deputy information minister and main owner of Boosaaso-based Radio Midnimo , told IRIN, on Monday. Yusuf, who was attending the Somali reconciliation conference currently under way in Eldoret, Kenya, left for Puntland on 21 November.

Abdishakur said it was normal for a Puntland government delegation to visit the area "since both regions are part and parcel of Puntland. I don't see any reason why Puntland officials visiting Sool and Sanaag should cause any tension with anybody. The people in these regions consider themselves as part of Puntland."

Other sources in Puntland, however, told IRIN that the authorities in Puntland were sending the delegation "in order to counter a perceived shift by some area elders to the Somaliland side". "There are fears that some prominent elders, particularly in Sool, are trying to shift the balance in favour of Somaliland," they said.

Abdishakur denied any mobilization of troops by the Puntland authorities in the area. "There is no reason for any mobilization on our part," he said.

Abdishakur also told IRIN that the Puntland cabinet, which is currently based in Boosaaso, the region's commercial capital, would relocate to Garoowe, the administrative capital. The Puntland administration of Col Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmad has been operating from Boosaaso ever since he captured the town from his rival, Jama Ali Jama, in May.

Tension has been rising in the area since Somaliland elders came to the Sool regional capital, Las Anood, he said. The elders were in Las Anood to reconcile two feuding clans in the area. The two regions fall geographically within the borders of pre-independence British Somaliland, but most of the main clans inhabiting them are associated with Puntland. These are the Warsangeli and the Dhulbahante, which, along with Majerteen - the main clan in Puntland - form the Harti clan of the Darood.

At extraordinary cabinet meeting on 23 November, called by Puntland leader Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf, it was decided to send a high level delegation to the two regions, Abdishakuur Mire Adan, the Puntland deputy information minister, told IRIN, on Monday. Yusuf, who was attending the Somali reconciliation conference currently underway in Eldoret, Kenya, left for Puntland on 21 November.

Abdishakuur said it was normal for a Puntland government delegation to visit the area "since both regions are part and parcel of Puntland. I don't see any reason why Puntland officials visiting Sool and Sanag should cause any tension with anybody. The people in these regions consider themselves as part of Puntland."

Othe sources in Puntland, however, told IRIN that the authorities in Puntland were sending the delegation "in order to counter a perceived shift by some area elders to the Somaliland side". "There are fears that some prominent elders, particularly in Sool, are trying to shift the balance in favour of Somaliland," they said.

Abdishakur denied any mobilisation of troops by the Puntland authorities in the area. "There is no reason for any mobilisation on our part," he said.

Abdishakur also told IRIN that the Puntland cabinet, which is currently based in the Bosaso, the region's commercial capital, would relocate to Garowe, the administrative capital. The Puntland administration of Col Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmad has been operating from Bosaso ever since he captured the town from his rival, Jama Ali Jama, in May.

While speaking to our reporter in Boosaaso main commercial city in Puntland , Muhammad Sa'id Kashawito, Col Abdullahi Yusuf said his visit to the two regions would not cause insecurity. He denied that during his visit he would lead armed militiamen to the regions. He said Sool and Sanaag are under Puntland and there is no need for any dispute over these two regions.

When asked whether the two regions are under Somaliland or Puntland, Col Abdullahi Yusuf said that the area residents can answer that.

Col Abdullahi Yusuf stressed that his administration was ready to discuss with the self-declared republic of Somaliland the fate of the two disputed regions. However, he said, he believed that if the residents of the two regions were asked to give their views they would obviously go for Puntland

When asked whether he would go back to Eldoret venue of the Somali peace talks in Kenya which he left recently, he said: I will go back to back to the Somali reconciliation talks in Eldoret, Kenya, if I finish doing what I came to do in Puntland. I am optimistic that the talks will have a positive outcome.

He appealed to the Somali people to support the reconciliation talks, adding that the Somali people are now realizing that they need a broad-based government.

This is the first statement Col Abdullahi Yusuf has given to members of the media since he left Eldoret on 21 November. He called for compromise and understanding between the different Somali factions.

Col Abdullahi Yusuf is a staunch supporter of the view that conference delegates be apportioned on clan lines. This is what the regional body, IGAD Inter-Governmental Authority on Development , which is overseeing the talks, has also proposed.

Sool regional administration officials handed over more than 10 technicals and 400 troops to Somaliland. These were previously among the forces of the regional administration of Puntland.

Clan elders in Sool Region, led by Garad Muhammad Garad Abdiqani and Garad Farah Garad Shirwa, said the region is now under Somaliland and not Puntland.

Other districts in Sool Region with police stations, prisons and administrative offices have also been handed over to Somaliland. This has happened at a time when there are conflicts between Somaliland and Puntland.

A delegation from Col Abdullahi Yusuf's administration of Puntland was denied a visit to Laas Caanood HQ of Sool Region recently when Somaliland deployed its forces on the borders of Sanaag and Sool regions. Puntland is reportedly also planning to deploy its troops.

Because of this undemocratic process, the electorate will be faced with a list of candidates the majority of whom are grossly under-qualified to become members of local councils. Political parties also seem to have shunned democratic practices for the selection of their candidates for the national elections scheduled for next January. Most of the presidential candidates at this level, have actually been elected unopposed.

It exposes once again the weakness of our organizations as democratic institutions, and the strong personality-cult still preventing democracy from taking root within them. In fact the lack of intra-party democracy is likely to wreak havoc within political organizations as evidenced by the current bitter in-fighting within UDUB.

Certainly, Somaliland's political organizations deserve praise for accepting to meet the gigantic challenge of preparing themselves for the forthcoming elections within a very short period of time. Given that this is the nation's first free election since 1969, the parties are just doing fine.

But it is necessary that political organizations bear in mind that they have still lots of organizational shortcomings to address in the times ahead.

The South African Consulate-General in Los Angeles, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) African Studies, West Los Angeles College Pace program, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Congresswoman Diane Watson and Constituency for Africa have presented a series of discussion panels on NEPAD. The South African Government has lunched these panels to promote NEPAD program in pursuit of the successful implementation of the program and increase awareness among the African American communities and businesses.

First such panel was held on Thursday, October 24, 2002 at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM. Saeed Maygag Samater and I attended this panel discussion as individual Somalilanders. The discussion and program were very informative. Moderated by Dr. James Barth of the Milken Institute, the participants and their topics were as follows:

1. Dr. Glaudine Mtshali, the South African Consul-General in Los Angeles, who introduced s. Sisulu, The South Africa's Ambassador to the United States of America. Ambassador Sheila Violet Makate Sisulu, with brief words of welcome and introduction

2. Prof. Jim Barth, a Senior Financial Fellow at the Milken Institute, Moderator of this panel gave brief comments on Africa and its strategic perception to the USA.

3. Lindiwe Hendricks, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry of the Republic of South Africa, spoke on the issues related to the topics of NEPAD, the reason and role of this new program for Africa, by Africans. She outlined the problems Africans are facing now and why NEPAD must work should its guidelines are adopted.

4. Dr. Cherif Salif Sy (Senegalese Deputy Minister), CEO of the NEPAD Steering Committee. He spoke in French language in regard to the topics related to a new partnership to unlock business opportunities in Africa's emerging economies.

5. Dynamic, Congresswoman, Rep. Maxine Waters who spoke about topics related to politics about the African Growth and Opportunity Act and the New Partnership For Africa's Development - NEPAD.

6. Jeffrey Katz, Senior Economist and Manager; Partnerships and External Affairs Group for the Africa Region of the World Bank. He spoke about topics related to infrastructure development as of a cornerstone of economic development and the role of the World bank

7.Dr. Konju Sebati, A South African sister, a medical director for International Philanthropy of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Inc. She spoke about mainly successes, challenges and opportunities for corporate America in Africa.

8. Richard McCormick, Executive Director of International Operations of SBC Communications in San Antonio, Texas. He spoke about SBC's success in South Africa and how they achieved. He discussed what is needed from African countries to attract International Corporations. He outlined in detail all investment criteria.

9. Dr. Glaudine Mtshali, the Consul-General of the Republic of South Africa in Los Angeles, who spoke about the Dynamics of HIV/AIDS, Health and Economic Development.

Once the discussion was over we intermingled with the participants and tried our best to meet all the panel discussers. Among the audiences were the Swaziland Ambassador to the USA and the Ethiopian Consul-General of Los Angeles. Both I and Saeed met most of the panelist and discussed with them Somaliland's current issues. Since most of the panelists were from South Africa they had enough information. We got the opportunity to meet Ambassador Sisulu whom I have wrote number of e-mails before, and I chatted with her and the Swaziland Ambassador, Her Excellency, Ambassador Mary Kanya. Both Ambassadors were extremely polite, brilliant and highly intelligent.

On Saturday, October 26, 2002, a two-phased discussion panel was conducted, sponsored by the South African Consulate-General, Congresswoman Diane Watson, UCLA, WLAC Pace Program, and Constituency for Africa Presented in West Los Angeles College.

First phase was by invitation for business in a round table format. Saeed Maygag was among the speakers. The discussion started 9:00 AM and ended around noon. Again both I and Saeed Maygag did our best to network and increase the awareness of the participants of Somaliland issues. I got the opportunity to talk to the Minister from Senegal, Dr. Cherif Salif Sy. He was very receptive to my discussion and he promised me that he will contact me as soon as he gets back to Senegal. He was fully aware and understanding our reason of reclaiming our independence.

The Second phase was open to the public in a Townhall meeting format, and it was packed. The panel discussion started around 1:00 PM and ended 5:00 PM. Abiib Jama of San Diego Somaliland Community joined us in the Townhall Meeting Panel Discussion and Abdirahman A. Mohamed, the grandson of Abusite, a graduate student at UCLA was part of the organizers from UCLA. .Again, we put priority on meeting and networking with people and I believe we had succeeded beyond our expectation. We met many people who didn't know Somaliland ever existed, we met new groups that we need to keep in touch with, and we meet people from the media, in particular the morning panel moderator was from NBC local channel, and he gave us a chance to talk to him alone for a while. He asked for more information in regard to the Somaliland issue.

I can say our participation in this NEPAD discussion was very eye-opening and we understood that we, the Somalilanders, need to do more work in educating others about our situation. The Somaliland Government also needs to do better job in searching for recognition. We have been sitting on the sideline too long. It is time that all Somalilanders as one entity (The Somalilanders) join hands and demand our right to exist in this world. Anywhere on the globe, wherever we are, it is time to stand and demand our right. No more waiting while the world is entertaining Somalis.

Researchers at the University of Sussex in Britain say there is little evidence to show that school-based HIV/AIDS education has had major impact on sexual behavior. The report of the study on the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on education sector in sub-Saharan Africa has criticized curriculum design and delivery of HIV/AIDS education.

"The issue is that lack of time, resources and training meant that curriculum based education as well as counseling and peer education were inadequate," says Nicola Swain son of the Center for International Education of the University of Sussex.

The study that was carried in Uganda, Malawi and Botswana argues that the poorly trained teachers were shy to teach sex education and others lacked commitment to teach topics in an already over-crowded and examination-driven curriculum.

Schools were found to offer little support for children affected by HIV/AIDS and there was insufficient guidance from education ministries and a lack of resources to carry out any support programmes. However, this is the case in most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa where most governments have been slow to respond to the teenage -AIDS crisis.

The study found that AIDS epidemic was on the increase among school children in Sub-Saharan Africa and will impact negatively on education in the region. "Economic and socio-cultural pressures that fuel unsafe sex among adolescents in Sub-Saharan Africa remain as high as ever," says Paul Bennell, the team leader of the study. Consequently, the report noted there is growing concern about the risk of female pupils contracting HIV from teachers and other older men. The study concurred with earlier findings by UNAIDS that showed dramatic HIV/AIDS increase among girls aged 15-19 in most cities across Sub-Saharan Africa.

But the main worry is that despite the mounting concern about the vulnerability of pupils in contracting HIV/AIDS, there is limited information on how to make an assessment of the extent to which teenagers would change their sexual behavior in response to the AIDS threat, says the report. The situation is bleak as AIDS cases among students in Sub-Saharan Africa are expected to rise in the next decade. "Without appropriate levels of support school enrolment will drop considerably in the region," says Swain son, who was the co-coordinator of the internationally funded study. The researchers projected that if the current trend continued, by 2010 between 30-40 per cent pupils in Sub-Saharan Africa will be AIDS-orphans and drop out rate will be enormous.

And in an effort to combat the epidemic, the report recommended that schools should be made to become the focus of prevention of HIV/AIDS. Ministries of education were urged to develop a professional cadre of full-time sex and family life education teachers in both primary and secondary schools and that there should be regular time-tabled lessons for this subject for all children right from the start of the primary education cycle.

The report noted the emphasis should be combined with integration of sex education in the curriculum. "While HIV/AIDS education in schools should focus on sexual abstinence, the role of condoms in preventing infection cannot be ignored," said Bennell.

Hargeisa: Dr. Abdi Aw Dahir, the controversial Secretary General of President Dahir Rayale's party UDUB- has vowed not to step down from his party post. Aw Dahir who was responding on Thursday to an UDUB executive committee decision removing him from his post as Secretary General of the organization, described the move as illegal and undemocratic.

" I was elected at a convention and hence can only be relieved of my position by a resolution taken by a general party meeting," Aw Dahir said. The dismissal of Aw Dahir was first disclosed in a statement released by the UDUB executive committee on Tuesday. The executive committee, through its member, Ismail Mire, attributed the cause of removal to what it called "his habitual violations of organizational ethics and procedural norms of behavior."

However, Abdi Aw Dahir responded to this accusation by describing the move as an attempt to punish him in connection with his announcement last Saturday that he will run on an UDUB ticket for president, in the presidential election to be held by next January. There is no doubt that the announcement has caught most people by surprise, especially as it came following a declaration by Abdi Aw Dahir himself, at an UDUB meeting held earlier this year, that President Dahir Rayale and Vice-president Ahmed Yassin were the party's only nominees to run for next presidential election.

Rayale, who also holds UDUB Chairmanship, has not reacted so far to the unexpected challenge raised by the Secretary General of his own party who until last week was seen by observers as one of the most loyal elements within the organization's upper hierarchy.

The Secretary General's estrangement from president Rayale has actually begun not so long ago. It stems from widespread allegations of nepotism charged by UDUB members against Abdi Aw Dahir with regard to the way the Party's candidates for the upcoming district municipal elections have been selected and president Rayale's decision in response to there of, to make, as one of his supporters put it, "a corrective intervention".

A reliable Source:has revealed to the Somaliland Times that when the president tried to replace some of the candidates with new ones, Abdi Aw Dahir not only strongly disapproved the action but also indicated that there was no way in which he would accept any changes to the nominees already listed by him. And it is not yet known whether the Chairman and Secretary General have submitted to the National Electoral Commission their own separate versions of the list of candidates purported to run on UDUB platform in the coming municipal elections.

According to the NEC, all the official organizations in the country, with the exception of ILAYS, have met the Oct 31 deadline (set for submission of candidates to contest the municipal elections). Despite UDUB executive committee's announcement on Monday that current UDUB vice-chairman Osman Garad, was to assume the additional task of acting Secretary General, the measure has however failed to impress the disillusioned supporters who have since this latest infighting been turning away from the party in droves.

In fact, neither the incumbent president nor the rebellious Secretary General has formally sought being nominated as his party's presidential candidate. The party has yet to hold its first pre-election convention to select a candidate. To a large extent, this democratic process was subverted in the past by no other person than Abdi Aw Dahir.

The first and most important function of a central bank is to accept responsibility for advising the government on the making of the country's financial policy, and thus to see that it is carried out. The government must decide how much money there shall be in the country at a given time, and the central bank must take steps to increase or decrease the supply accordingly.

This was by no means clear when the bank of Somaliland was founded. The specific reason then for its formation was to provide money for the government during the time when public expenditure had become too expensive to be financed out of current taxation. Its business at first was the receiving of money on deposit and lending of money against satisfactory security. At first this lending was nearly all to the government, and gradually the bank of Somaliland came to perform other services on behalf of the government, and so to become regarded as "banker to the government".

Thus it undertook on the government's behalf the circulation of payment vouchers, which were simply promissory notes of the government.

Accordingly, the bank of Somaliland was empowered to open regional branches for the purpose of restoring confidence by issuing its notes in the country. As the central bank of the country, the bank of Somaliland must.

(1) Stand ready to take prompt and decisive action to prevent any spreading loss of confidence, (2) Implement the monetary policy of the government, (3) Act as banker to the government, (a)Manage the exchange equalization account, (b) Is the note issuing authority; (c) Acts as registrar of government and nationalized industry.
(4) Act as banker to the deposit banks, (5) Have about hundred (100) accounts for overseas, central banks and for such bodies as the International Monetary Fund and The International Bank For Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank), (6) Replace worn-out and distorted bank-notes.

The Bank of Somaliland needs foreign experts to properly function and become a real central bank.

Sheikh: 15 years after it was first completely looted and then reduced to frameless structures standing in an open yard, the old Sheikh Secondary School is now poised to resume functioning as a place for learning by early next year.

The School has been rehabilitated and equipped by SOS, an international organization that funds and manages children villages (Kinder-dorf) in over 80 countries world-wide.

According to Dick Eyeington, the School's new expatriate Principal, 50 pupils will be recruited initially to start 2 classes of Form I. But the ultimate aim is to have an all-year round capacity of 200 students. Education at the School will be for 4 years and based on an international syllabus (IGCSE) syndicated by Cambridge University.

The former boarding facility has been rehabilitated with additional dorms established outside the perimeters of the school for girls, who unlike in the past will now be eligible to join.

Before coming to Sheikh, Somaliland, Eyeington lived in Swaziland for 32 years where he worked for a long time as a teacher and principal of an international School by the name of "United World College". Until recently however Eyeington was the Director of SOS in Swaziland.

When SOS contacted Eyeington earlier this year to help with identifying an experienced and qualified person to become principal of the Sheikh Secondary School, he began getting interested in the job himself. However Eyeington remained hesitant to take the job until he met Abdillahi Hussein (Asha'ari), a Somali member of the SOS Board of Directors, during a trip to Nairobi this year. Asha'ari not only told him a great deal about Somaliland he also met Eyeington again in mid this year in London, advising him this time to see Dallington, a former principal of the school and a man held in the highest esteem by generations of Sheikh Secondary graduates.

"Dallington was so overjoyed when he learned that the school was going to provide education again giving me a lot of information that we can use now to bring the school to its former form or even better, " Eyeington told a group of Haatuf Media Network journalists who visited the school last Sunday.

Eyeington and his wonderful wife, Enid, have already made their temporary home in a house at the school quarters. The couple is expected to live here for the 4 years that Eyeingtons'contract will last. "4 years should give the school a very good start for what I think is going to be a great future," Eyeington said.

Initially, the teaching will be carried out by highly qualified staff to be recruited by SOS. They will be considered as reSource:teachers who would in 4 years time prepare Somaliland staff to take over. "This will be done through constant co-operation and co-ordination with the Ministry of Education," Eyeington added.

Besides its international aspects, the school curriculum will contain some essential local elements such as Islamic studies, Somali language and Arabic. And in addition to the usual subjects learned at Secondary Schools, there will be courses on information technology. By next January, a computer room would be equipped with 25 computers and Email/Internet services established.

"Computer-based learning will be utilized for certain subjects and the pupils will have also a 24 hour access to Internet connections with other schools in Africa and the rest of the world," Eyeington explained.

SOS has not only done superb job in rehabilitating and refurbishing the School, but it has also introduced an ideal environment for learning at the school. For instance, student chairs and tables are arranged in the class in such way as to allow optimum space for students as well as the teachers. This can be rearranged to enable students' work in groups on small projects.

Subject rooms will be oriented to particular subjects e.g. geography, Physics etc.

Other facilities at the school include 3 laboratories (Physics, Biology and Chemistry), one library, Art room, Music Room, Recreation Room, Dinning Hall, Mosque, Canteen and 4 dormitories. Electricity and water supply is secured through a large and elevated water tanker connected to the town's water system and a heavy-duty generator owned by the School. SOS took pains to make sure that the School is architecturally reinstated in such a way as to look original as possible. However one cannot miss to notice the difference between now and then for the school has much more resources and facilities now than in the past.

Expressing hope that the school will have a positive impact on the over-all education standard in the country, Eyeington said, "It is an incentive for saying to students in Somaliland that if you do well enough you can have the opportunity to join Sheikh."

SOS is going to provide a long-term assistance to the School. The organization is expected to meet teachers' salaries and running costs for the foreseeable future. There are also plans for SOS to expand its operations to other areas in Somaliland. According to Abdillahi Asha'ari, the government has recently granted land at the former Ganat yard to SOS. The large plot will be utilized for building an elementary/intermediate school, kindergarten, sports hall and a clinic. No specific date has been yet set for when work at ex-Ganat will begin.

The Eyeingtons say that they are gratified by the warm welcome they have been receiving from the people of Sheikh ever since coming here.

Almost every body in Sheikh is trying to look after the couple, and it is not unusual to see people in cars waving to them.

Each teacher attended a class during lecturing with the view of forming an idea about the education system followed by the school. The Gothenborg School delegation is led by Ms Marianne Skoog. Other accompanying members are Ali-kader Shidane, a Swedish national of Somali origin, Ms Safia Berndtsson, Lena Bjorkgrist, Anette Ottosson and Emma Carlsson. Both the teachers and students at A. Ibrahim primary school have enthusiastically welcomed the idea of setting up a twinning relationship with Gothenborg International School where 700 students, mostly the childrem of immigrants to Sweden, are enrolled. About 40 Somali children study in the school.

Gothenborg is the second largest city in Sweden. It is also home for about 5500 Somali immigrants.

The Swedish teachers explained that as a result of their visit they will be better informed about Somali society when they leave. They also indicated willingness to consolidate and further develop the newly established ties between their school and Ali Ibrahim School. The visiting teachers expressed hope that the educational link with Somaliland will be maintained. The Swedish team returned to Hargeisa on Thursday night from visits to Berbera, Sheikh and Buroa.

Camaboker camp, located 195kms south east of Jijiga, was established in August1988. It is the fifth camp the UNHCR has closed since November 1997, when the refugee agency started its organised repatriation from eastern Ethiopian camps to north-west Somalia.

"The Regional Liaison Office for Africa (UNHCR-RLO) is pleased to announce the formal completion of the voluntary repatriation of Somali refugees from Camaboker camp to Northwest Somalia", said the RLO Representative, Ilunga Ngandu.

Ilunga Ngandu said the closure of Camaboker camp shows the importance of peace and stability in the region. "The end of one of the most protracted refugee problems in the Horn is now in sight," he said. "Hope is emerging in the Horn of Africa."

Camaboker's closure follows similar closure of Rabasso in July this year, Daror, Darwanaji and Teferiber in the course of 2001, and Camp Hartisheik 'B', in 1999. So far this year, 29,625 Somali refugees have left Ethiopia, which is 85 percent of the planned figure of 35,000 Somali refugees to be repatriated in 2002.

At its peak in 1995, Camaboker housed almost 32,000 Somalis, who fled persecution due to clan conflict in Somalia. At the height of the crisis in Somalia in the beginning of 1990s, the number of Somali refugees in eastern Ethiopia peaked at half million. (UNHCR)

Bodari The return of the refugees follows the decision by the Ethiopian government to start closing down refugee camps from early this month. UNHCR is assisting in the repatriation and resettlement process. These people fled to camps in Ethiopia at the height of the fighting between the SNM Somali National Movement and the forces of the Siyad Barre government.

Camaboker camp, located 195 km southeast of Jijiga eastern Ethiopia , was established in August 1988. It is the fifth camp the UNHCR has closed since November 1997 when the refugee agency started its organized repatriation from eastern Ethiopian camps to northwest Somalia...

Camaboker's closure follows similar closure of Rabaso in July this year, Daror, Darwanaji and Teferi Ber in the course of 2001, and Camp Hartishek 'B' in 1999. So far this year, 29,625 Somali refugees have left Ethiopia, which is 85 per cent of the planned figure of 35,000 Somali refugees to be repatriated in 2002...

Between 23 and 30 October, three convoys of 207 trucks and 37 buses left Camaboker camp, taking the last 4,425 individuals to Salahley and Duruksi at the Ethiopia-NWS Somaliland border.

All returnees were provided with assistance to ease reintegration in their home communities. The UNHCR provided plastic sheeting for roofing, jerry cans and blankets, as well as transport to border transit centres and cash to enable them to reach their own villages. The UN World Food Programme provided a nine-month food ration as part of the overall reintegration package...

Their departure leaves 37,363 Somali refugees in three camps at Aisha, Hartishek "A" and Kebri Beyah. The UNHCR hopes to be able to help the 13,979 refugees in Arsha camp return home early in 2003.

69 of the arriving passengers disembarked at Hargeisa, while the rest were shuttled to other destinations in Somaliland and Somalia. The London Hargeisa flight is scheduled for Mondays and Thursdays.

We believe that this is an exaggeration. We also do not think that even half of that figure is actually spent on the security forces or on other security related matters. So, where does the money go? The truth is: it is simply lost to corruption.

The whole Somaliland government budget never goes beyond the 30$ million mark per annum, so nobody is suggesting that our officials have diverted public funds to Swiss banks.

However, it must be kept in mind that every Somaliland shilling embezzled is going to make a difference as to the quality of education that our children get at public schools.

Despite its modest resources, the government could have established a new school every year similar to the one now built by SOS at Sheikh. It could have paid at least $100 salary to every public school teacher in Somaliland. Strangely enough, none of the present contenders to the forthcoming elections have yet pledged that if elected, they would raise the budget for education, say, to at least 30%.

Let us hope that the new Sheikh Secondary will stimulate us all to work together towards improving our poor standards of education.

In this respect, the Somaliland government and politicians should take the lead in the task of overhauling our education system. It will be a shame should we feel less concerned about our students'needs than the Swedish teachers who came all the way from their country to here in order to establish an educational relationship with one of our public schools.

My article on the Somali Reconciliation Conferences (SL Times Issue 39, HOL Oct 21/2002) sparked passionate dialogue and extensive discourse. Varying groups in the Somali political arena received it differently, each group reading the paper through the prism of its political beliefs. Of those who responded directly to me very few were critical and hard hitting, the overwhelming majority responded with support, understanding and praise (at a ratio of 10:1). I make no conclusions about this ratio. There are too many confounding factors for it to be meaningful. All of the responses I received were pregnant with sincere, deeply felt emotions. I appreciated them all and I was left with the distinct feeling that I have touched a raw nerve in the national psyche. Here I share with you few selected excerpts from these responses, followed by my own reaction.

Abdishakur,

Your article is well written but riddled with your pure clanism. In fact your views in the article are Far from the truth and the reality in North Western regions of Somalia. But remember if Somalia is divisible so is the so-called Somaliland.

Wouldn't it be very useful if you check your biases before you publicly try to mislead people? You presented your views of course, but do not try to make them the facts. The fact of the matter is no one has stopped your separatist friends, had they had the skill and commitment to set up a separate viable state. For 12 years you have been blaming your fellow Somalis for nothing and you haven't achieved your false dreams, wonderful eh!!!! keep dreaming my friend!!!!.

Note Riyale is another warlord in the eyes of the Somali people.

Thanks

W. F.

Dear dr.

We the Northern Somalis, do not believe in what you are preaching. Your statements make happy only the narrow minded.

As an educated and supposedly sophisticated person, you must give proper guidelines to the layman. If people like yourself think in this way, the future of the poor and often cheated people of Somalia is bleak. The idea of the so-called lands is benefit to men you failed to mention or blindly showered with praise.

M A H

Friends:

Your comments are driven by est concern for the Somali people. They emanate from the inner turmoil of a soul wounded, living in haunted times and places. I know of your dread, your innermost fears. I know the shame, the bitter shame of belonging to a society that exists at the bottom of the human totem pole. Friends you and me are living the foul consequences of a nation that defeated itself.

But we must refuse to be frozen in horror like a deer caught in the hypnotizing lights of oncoming traffic. We must strive to make sense out of the senseless. We must tirelessly seek answers. Every assumption, every tenant, every belief of Somali political ideology should be subjected to the cold impersonal light of logic. And each one of them must be discarded like so much dirt if it does not justify its existence in the harsh court of reason. There can be no sacred cows.

And so I examine the concept of Somali Nationalism with an eye freshly rendered skeptical by the horror it witnessed. I question its validity. I find it wanting. This you should not dislike lest you reject the key to safety. Instead my inquiries should make you alert, awake, eager for answers. You must not stand in the way. You must not stand on the sidelines. You, young men, must join me in the search.

Ahoy. I see structural faults and cracks with in the concept of Somali Nationalism that could lead to Southern Somalia evolving to a permanent disintegrated tribal and warlord fiefdoms that are gradually absorbed by more organized societies in the vicinity. And I see the same nationalism leading to a similar fate in Somaliland if it hesitates even for a second from its total, unequivocal, and nonnegotiable reassertion of its independence.

If you believe the concept could be salvaged (a proposition that I personally don't buy) then it is your duty to learn about these faults and cracks, to repair them, to find ways around them. You cannot close your eyes and ears. You cannot bury your head in the sand of peace conferences and still claim that you care. You have no right to do that, no right at all.

And remember the experience of Europe. Less then 50 years after most murderous and destructive war that humanity has seen as yet the whole of Europe is today one big nation united in prosperity and through the free will of its citizens organized in peaceful nation-states with secure mutually recognized boundaries.

Build on the success of Somaliland. Duplicate it in the south. What is it with Somalis and destruction anyway? Why should every structure that stands beckon them to destroy it? Who erased the words construct, build, modify, moderate and erect from our dictionary?

A two state solution for remnants of the 1960 union is not an option in my mind but a necessity. It does not represent in my opinion an eternal solution. We may indeed witness the whole of Africa united before the century is out. The creation of stable nation states with secure borders as defined by the OAU in 1964 is a necessary precondition.

Dr.,

you've hammered well that article in HOL about the ongoing "Somali Conflict Promotional Conference", to borrow your phrase. May I add that we've seen this movie before most recently in Arta. You're right, peace can't be imported and until Somalis recognize this, they're wasting their valuable time on this garbage conferences sponsored by Arabs and Europeans and what have you! I myself from the Kismayo area, and quiet frankly, I've not been in the country for 18yrs. However, from what I've seen so far, I think we're witnessing history in the making, and that's there won't be something called Somalia soon. Somalis need to realize this move on. You can't turn the clock to counterclockwise direction. And yes, Congratulations to Somalilanders. They've mastered skills and tolerance that has not been seen in the rest of Somalia for long time. Hard work and persistence pays off. There's no reason for you to join back to Somalia, or at least not in the foreseeable future. Let me conclude by saying; you don't have to under the "Bulug-calanka-xidigta" to be proud and Somali. Somali is not a country or region, rather it's a language, ethnicity and heritage. I myself am Somali American, nonetheless, Somali.

Thanks a lot, and have a wonderful day.

M J

Greetings,

It is with great respect and enthusiasm that I read your articles. Not only are they not based on emotional barrage. But they are facts and figures that are substantiated. Moreover many of your articles are very educational and I find them to be not only politically enlightening but also historically informative.

Your take on the countless "reconciliation" conferences, their sponsors and the concerned parties is factual. One doesn't have to be a rocket scientist to know that peace will only dawn on Somalia when it is conferred in its homeland by those concerned (sans the butchers currently in Eldoret)..

I salute your consistent stand on the sovereignty of Somaliland and your relentless rejection of dragging Somalilanders into the circuses sweetly coated as "reconciliation" conferences. I salute your style of writing and your professionalism in not personally attacking any individual yet telling it as it is (as in Abdiqasim's forged Doctorate). I also commend your sincere empathy with our tortured brothers in Somalia and your desire for them to find a lasting solution to their never ending self inflicted nightmare..

Sincerely,

A. M. M.

I hope my brief note to your article will find you and find you soon. I hope also each member of so-called Warlords will read this article in order to understand the reality of today. Your paper reminds me what Chairperson of this meeting said to the Somalis there, he said and I quote "one of the best tools of this century was the Mirror, because when the person looks at the mirror he realizes how he looks. So you Somalis if you look your selves at the mirror you must realize that you are all from a failed state."

Ironically they didn't get the point. At the same time they don't have a sense of nationalism. They want to forge every thing like they forging their titles (Dr., Professore , abucato etc.)..

W.A.

Dr.

I congratulate you on your daring yet flawless argument on the philosophy of ethnic-based Greater Somalia. This is the first time I ever encountered new thinking and justification that sends Somaliweyn to the Jurasic park. The number of people who are staunchly against this age old notion are not less in number. However, I have never before met someone or read an article, which can mobilize historical facts to correctly justify this line of thinking. I hope that "Dr" Abdi Qasim and other belligerent warlords will heed your valuable analysis and stop perpetuating the mayhem of killing in Somalia.

Yet, You have forgotten to mention in your paper the set back and destruction brought about by Arta faction on the burgeoning Puntland region. Somaliland withstood against the destructive Arta plan, nevertheless it was the nascent Puntland system, which was modeled on Somaliland's system that bore the brunt of Arta treachery.

M. F.

Friends:

I thank you deeply for the warm words. Allow me to add a couple of points as food for further thought in this area.

Somali nationalism is only vaguely and peripherally about a national state with a defined national territory and citizenship. It lacks internal cohesion and purpose. It could only be defined in contrast to some other entity and in relation to it. The Somali defines himself as such through a process of exclusion. He is not Kenyan, or Ethiopian or an Arab. He is neither a black infidel nor a white one. He is neither that clan nor the other but this great most numerous, most generous, most powerful and most dangerous one. Therefore he must be a Somali. The power and uniting force of Somali Nationalism comes into existence only in the presence of an external enemy. It is an ephemeral entity. It shares all these qualities with the Somali Clan. I therefore call it an ethnocentric Superclan Concept.

As soon as the external defining agent is removed (i.e. there is no war with a neighboring state or with a colonizing power) Somali Nationalism simply ceases to exist and is instantaneously replaced by the Somali clan. The very person who was ready to give his life for the nation just a minute ago will now be eager to destroy it altogether in the name of his clan. The unique clan nature of Somali Nationalism elegantly explains a number of phenomena that hitherto escaped analysis. I will give two brief examples and I am confident that readers will come with many more.

Note the Republic of Somalia itself the child of Somali Nationalism has been engaged in a constant war with its neighbors either overtly or covertly from its inception to its death. This romantic great struggle was waged for the realization of Great Somalia, the one and only objective of Somali Nationalism. Thousands of Somalis, may be hundreds of thousands, have willing given their life for this great cause.

In stark contrast the people of the Republic of Somalia has not given birth to a single political party with bona fide nationalist qualifications, since the day of the union in July 1st, 1960. In the two-decade armed and political struggles against the tyrant Siyad Barre every single party that came into existence belonged to a single clan. There was not one nationalist party, not one! And it was not for want of trying. The leftist Somali Workers Party tried hard but its membership never exceeded the number of its central committee. It quickly withered away and died with all its members joining political parties that were based on their respective clans. The Islamist parties of the eighties and nineties tried and had the same fate. Why would Somalis be so ready to die in droves for Somali Nationalism and Great Somalia yet refuse to support any national party, limiting their support exclusively to clan based parties? The most elegant explanation for this glaring discrepancy is that Somali Nationalism is not about nationalism as it is commonly understood but a Super-Clan Concept expressed in modern terms.

Note also the most shameful and cruel aspect of Somali culture is that whole sections of the population are classified as being unequal and inferior to the ordinary Somalis. I am speaking about the Gabooye who, as we all know, are indistinguishable in any way (language, looks, complexion, religion etc) from any other Somali and who are forced to endure unimaginable injustice and inequality imposed by a primitive, prehistoric ruthless culture of clan hierarchy.

Somali Nationalism incorporated this unjustifiable oppression, so that the Gabooye became "Somali - six", in its folklore. The Gabooye once again found themselves outside the national tent, invisible, uncounted and banished even from the symbolism of the flag whose central star has only five points, while they get a virtual sixth. I don't know who coined the absurd euphemism but it sure gives a clear picture of the nature of the beast.

Observed from this dimension it becomes self evident that no nationalist political force could conceivably develop on the basis of this Super-Clanism that is erroneously translated to the language of the twentieth century as "Nationalism". And indeed no force that could remotely be labeled as national has appeared any where in the Somali political arena in this last decade of chaos when it was needed so much by so many.

It also becomes self evident that although Somali Nationalism is the name invoked in all these counterproductive conferences, they remain essentially a meeting place of clans horse trading, while each clan plans to outsmart all others and monopolize the national water-well for its own use. Only Warlords and Clan fiefdoms could thrive in such an environment and they do. The only real alternative is to refuse to go down the path of failed ideas again and again and again. It is high time for a paradigm shift.

The FSAU seasonal crop harvest assessment was carried out in Somaliland between 16 October -- 4 November 2002. FSAU, FEWS NET, Danish Refugee Council (DRC), International Rescue Committee (IRC), and the Ministry of Agriculture participated in the exercise which covered the entire agro-pastoral districts of Hargiesa, Gabiley, Borama, Burao and Odweine. During the assessment, staff of NGOs, farmers and key informants, were interviewed and field visits were made to assess the crop and livestock situation. Moreover FSAU met representatives of aid agencies working on agricultural recovery programmes in Somaliland and discussed the season's performance, as well as looking at assistance provided to farmers and examining other major farming constraints. These included IFAD, German Agro Action (GAA) and, Agricultural Development Organization (ADO).
The Crop Cycle

The normal cropping pattern in Somaliland commences with a sorghum crop (which takes 6 months to mature) and maize which is on a shorter cycle of 3 months - both are planted as a mono-crop at the beginning of the Gu season (April-June). After harvest of the early maturing Gu-maize, another early maturing Karan-maize is planted on the eve of the Karan season (end July-September). The purpose of the Gu-maize is to get relief from hunger before the sorghum cycle comes into being again.
Rainfall

Rainfall during the Gu season was extremely poor for both sorghum and the early maturing maize. It affected normal sorghum establishment. Moreover, the Gu-maize failed because of extreme moisture stress.
Karan rains restore hope in Somaliland

However, the exceptional Karan rains restored hope to the agropastoralists in Somaliland, particularly in Hargeisa, Gibiley and Borama districts. The Karan rains restored growth of the sorghum and encouraged the Karan-maize planting. A common feature found in the districts of Hargeisa, Gibiley and Borama in the 2002 Gu and Karan seasons has been the achievement of two harvests (Gusorghum and Karan-maize) instead of three (as the Gu-maize failed). The Karan rains significantly restored the moisture deficit suffered by the Gu-sorghum hence sorghum re-gained better growth after mid-June.
Yield Achieved

An estimated area of 24,523 Ha (78% sorghum and 22% maize) has been harvested. Yield/ unit area has been estimated in the range of 0.3-0.4Mt/Ha for the Gu-sorghum and 0.1-0.2Mt/Ha the Karan-maize. The total cereal harvest is estimated at 8,874 Mt (88% sorghum and 12% maize). However the total cereal harvest of the 2002 Gu and Karan is lower by 42% of the cereal production average of (1998-2001) Gu and Karan. The Karan rains have improved tender leaves and grasses for cattle and shoats. The sale of livestock and livestock products will also help as a means of providing income to buy food. In mid Gu season many livestock emigrated to Zone V of Ethiopia to avoid the poor conditions. Abundant sorghum fodder, grasses and harvest residues of livestock feed are now available and are expected to last up to November and December 2002. Moreover, the total cereal harvest of the Gu and Karan is expected to be sufficient for a household of seven up to January 2003. For more information on the 2002 Gu and Karan Cereal Harvest in Somaliland -- please contact FSAU Field
EMERGING FOOD INSECURITY IN THE TOGDHEER REGION AGRO PASTORAL FOOD ECONOMY ZONE. A VULNERABILITY UPDATE : SEPTEMBER 2002

With a population of about 350,000, Togdheer is one of the largest regions in Somaliland. The 1998 FSAU baseline study outlines that about 60% of the population are pastoralists, 10% agro-pastoralists and the remaining 30% are settled groups in the urban areas. This vulnerability report focuses on the agro pastoral Food Economy Zone (FEZ) which lies at the foothills of the Golis Mountains which pass through the region. Pastoralists take advantage of the area's good grazing for livestock - and farmers practice rainfed cultivation and some irrigation using water run-off from the mountains. The agro pastoral food economy group is found in two districts of Togdheer region, Odweyne and Burao (spelled as Burco in Somali). The majority of the agro pastoralists in the region (70-80%) are found in Odweyne and the rest in Burao.

The livestock living in the area are sheep and goats with some cattle and camels. Farming activities involve growing cereals (mainly maize and sorghum), pulses and assorted cash crops (mainly vegetables). These agro pastoralists produce fodder from flood-plain enclosures and sell it in the livestock market in nearby Burao town where demand is high. Burao has the largest and perhaps most active livestock market in East Africa.

Over the past 7-8 years, peace and stability in Somaliland have encouraged and eased the reintegration of a large number of returnees (mainly women-headed households) from refugee camps in eastern Ethiopia. Many returnees have adapted to agro pastoral activities because of newly acquired agricultural knowledge and skills - and readily available land.

Apart from livestock and crop production (including hay), this food economy group also engages in livestock trade and related employment to supplement their incomes. However, three consecutive seasons of poor rains have negatively affected livestock conditions and production. These poor rains have also caused crop failure and extremely poor fodder production. Moreover, in the surrounding Hawd grazing areas, pasture and browse were depleted due to overgrazing and general environmental degradation. The continuing ban on livestock imports by Somaliland's usual trading partners, now more than two years old, has severely restricted employment opportunities in the Togdheer agro pastoral FEZ as well as ruining the fodder trade, both of which were important sources of income. The terms of trade (grain/animal, wage/labour) in this food economy zone has therefore deteriorated, even after taking seasonal cycles into account.

Water is scarce in this FEZ and the price of water, primarily for livestock, has increased substantially as many barkeds, a common source of water, started to dry up. This has led to livestock out migration to neighboring regions.

According to the baseline study carried out by FSAU during 1998, 20- 25% of the population of this food economy zone are poor, 40-60% are middle wealth group and 20-35% are better off, as shown in 1 below. It is likely that the poor group has increased in proportion due to sharply diminished jobs and job opportunities. The largest proportion of poor Togdheer agro pastoral household income during a "normal"year (1993 is the reference year) comes from employment (30-40%), followed by sale of agricultural products including fodder (20-30%). Livestock product sales (such as hides) generate 20-25% while livestock sales contribute 10-15% of their income. All these income sources are potentially "expandable" in a normal year, meaning that households can increase their reliance on these income sources to offset a decrease in other income sources. Also, during a normal year, poor households have considerable discretionary income, about 10-20% of total income, for meeting other household needs. In this respect, the poor in the Togdheer Agropastoral FEZ are relatively better off than the poor in the Nugal Valley Lowland Pastoral, and the Hawd and Sool Pastoral FEZs.

In a "normal" year poor households purchase 50%-60% of their food needs from the market, while 30%-40% comes from their own crop production. Gifts and own livestock production contribute 10% and 0-5%, respectively. Purchased foods include cereals, sugar, oil and meat.

Due to this heavy dependence on market purchases, the largest portion of poor household income (40-50%) is spent on food and another 20-30% on non-food essentials like social services (education and clan tax), clothes and medicine. Veterinary drugs and agricultural inputs take about 10-15% while 5-10% is spent on oil, sugar and salt non-staple foods and; khat (a leaf stimulant).
The Current Situation

Results from a joint field assessment by FEWS NET and FSAU during the first week of September 2002 show Togdheer agropastoral food economy group to be highly vulnerable to sharp drops in income. Three successive seasons of poor rain reduced crop production to 10% of the baseline level and prices of staple foods have increased substantially. Poor households and most of the middle wealth groups have no cereal reserves and therefore depend entirely on market purchases for food. It is reported that the livestock ban has reduced employment opportunities by 20% of the baseline, prompting more rural-urban migration among poor agropastoral households. Fodder sales, which are also linked to livestock trade, decreased by about 60% of the baseline and reduced poor household income. About 80-90% of the livestock migrated this year to eastern Ethiopia where rains were better. Poor households have therefore sharply reduced direct access to their livestock and livestock products. For instance, milk sales, a major source of household income decreased seasonally by up to 80% of the baseline. Milk consumption at household level is almost zero, jeopardizing the nutritional status of children.

Gifts and kinship support, increased sales of livestock and charcoal production are the main copping strategies employed by poor households. Sales of own livestock increased by about 20-30% of the baseline level. Ironically, the increased supply of local quality animals in the market depressed livestock prices substantially. Findings from the FSAU Gu assessment and analysis workshop and the recent FEWS NET/FSAU field assessment show that poor households (8,000-10,000 people) from the Togdheer Agropastoral food economy zone are currently facing moderate food insecurity. They can meet their consumption needs up to the end of the year by resorting to their available coping strategies and mechanisms. However, they remain vulnerable to further shocks and might have food deficit if Deyr rains are poor, falling 50% below normal. Close monitoring of the situation will be crucial over the coming months.

Currency markets in most parts of Somalia/Somaliland have been in turmoil since 1998 -- injection of counterfeit notes, disruption of usual trade and remittance flows and insecurity-- are periods when the Somali shilling has lost considerable value. The currency market, essentially consisting of the major moneychangers in Mogadishu's main Bakara market, Hargeisa and Bosassos, who have sound knowledge about the supply and demand for dollars and shillings, sets the exchange rate for the Somalia Shilling every day. The Bakara exchange rate is the pacesetter rate that influences the other regional Somali exchange rates. These markets operate freely and transparently, although the authorities in Somaliland regulate the Hargeisa foreign exchange market to some degree. As there is no national exchange rate, each major town (such as Mogadishu and Hargeisa) has a different shilling against US dollar exchange rate. Currently, exchange rates vary somewhat regionally due to varying availability of US dollars in different district markets.

A number of factors influence exchange rate fluctuations, including livestock exports, the money supply and remittances, insecurity and the political uncertainties. The major factor is the livestock sector, accounting for 40% of GDP and or 80% of exports in normal year. This sector remains the main livelihood and source of income for many Somalis, as well as a major source of foreign exchange. As shown in Figure 5, the Somali shilling exchange rate is directly linked with livestock exports -- the more livestock exports increase, the more the Somali shilling appreciates. The shilling gained value in the peak period of livestock exports and lost value in the period of low livestock exports. For instance, in 2000 the value of the shilling increased and the exchange rate against US dollar fell to about SSh 10,000 per dollar. However, in 2001 the Somali shilling lost value and the exchange rate doubled to about SSh 20,000 per dollar. The major reason was the livestock import ban imposed by Saudi Arabia and other Mid-east countries in September 2000. The Somali shilling gained value in 2002 due to the resumption of livestock exports to Egypt and United Arab Emirate markets, though on a smaller scale. The Somalia and Somaliland shilling exchange rate decreased between September and October 2002. The Somali shilling in Mogadishu has gradually gained value against US dollar as the exchange rate fell from SSh 22,000 per dollar in September to Ssh 18,000 in October. Nonetheless, the exchange rate is still higher when compared to the rate before the ban at around SSh 6,000- 8,000 per dollar). In the same period, the Somaliland shilling exchange rate appreciated as well as, from Slsh 6,500 in September to Slsh 6,200 in October (Figure 6), but the Somaliland shilling-dollar exchange rate remains twice as high as before the ban, Slsh 2,900 in August 2000.

This slight appreciation of the Somali/Somaliland shilling helps poor people by increasing their purchasing powerand improving their access to imported goods originally paid in dollars. The appreciation of the Somali/Somaliland shilling affects food prices in several ways. First, appreciation reduces market prices in local currency terms of imported food staples, such as sugar, rice wheat flour and vegetable oil. A 50 kg bag of sugar, which cost Ssh 450,000 in late September, now cost Ssh 260,000 at the end of October. Average sugar prices decreased by 42 percent between September and October. In other words, a family can now spends 42 percent less on sugar. The second impact is the improvement of terms of trade for imported goods; where rural people can exchange their products (milk and animals) for cheaper imported commodities.

The appreciation of the Somali/Somaliland exchange rate provides short relief for poor people. However, experience shows that the Somali currencies depreciate rapidly, due to lack of availability of hard currency and due to the need of traders to obtain foreign exchange to pay for and import consumer goods from abroad. In addition, demand for the US dollar and other hard currencies is very high in Somalia, especially this month due to pent-up demand due when imports could not arrive due to seasonal high tides between May and September. The situation needs close monitoring.

Livestock Exports, Berbera

Camel	1,151	3,589	921 1,	251
Cattle	1,752	2,092	1,843	4,503
Shoats	12,861	35,233	30,089	42,261
Total	15,764	40,194	32,023	48,015

Source ** : Berbera Port Authority
SANAG AND TOGDHEER

During the second dekad the Hawd of Togdheer and the Golis range received fairly well distributed and effective Deyr rains improving browse and pasture. The drought affected areas of Sanag region received less rains -- apart from Gebi valley. In Sool plateau milk production, livestock reproduction and conception rates are below normal. The impact of the loss of productive assets in the last Hagai is being felt. However, the availability and access of water is now normal in all parts of the region apart from small pockets. Livestock migration is very limited in both regions whether it it is out migration or in migration and patterns are fairly normal. Camel calving rate is normal in the Hawd of Togdheer but far below normal in the Sool Plateau. For the first time it has been observed that traders from Bossaso are buying animals from Burao market and are sending them to Gulf countries as a result purchasing power of pastoralists is improving. In both regions apart from Burao town the price of milk / litre has dropped by 30-40% .
NORTH WEST AND AWDAL

Rains that were received were scattered and localised in both areas of the region. The coastal and sub-coastal belts remain hot and dry -- heavy rainfall was expected but it never materialized. The potential borehold of Karure village in Lughaya district has been out of order since May 2002 . Water availability is below normal in many parts of the coastal belt. The productive potential in the coastal/sub coastal belt is deteriorating due to the length of the long/dry hot season. As pastoralists rely on dairy production and livestock sales, the prolonged of the drought is causing difficulties for many households. The closure of the Ethiopian border with Somalia has reduced the purchasing power of both communities on both sides.

SOOL REGION

**Note Sool is an administrative region and the Sool Plateau is a geographical area and a food economy zone.

Sool Plateau and lower Nugal received scattered and patchy rains but good Deyr rains were received in the Hawd and upper Nugal. In the latter areas there has been noticeable improvement in pasture/browse, milk yield and herd body condition. The livelihood of the dominant pastoral Food Economy zone is stabilizing this month. Household access to food has improved following temporary livestock market price gain -- increasing pastoral production and Terms of Trade. In Las Caanood town 72mm of rain was recorded for the month. Small ruminants are gaining body weight - but camel and cattle are recovering slowly because of the impact of long standing drought conditions. The exchange rate dropped from 21,180 Ssh to 18,3000 Ssh in the last two weeks of the month. Consequently there has been a price decline in certain staple food commodities i.e -- the price of rice dropped by 15% in the month.

We are reminding Abdiqasim that Somaliland and Somalia were two sovereign states which united in the 1960's and each had its own territory. The people of Somaliland have decided to reclaim their independence as a result of problems experienced and the lack of trust demonstrated, like in this case, Abdiqasim's failure to admit that we were two separate states.

It is obvious to the international community that Somaliland has fulfilled all the conditions necessary for recognition following the decision by its people in a referendum in which 97 per cent of them supported its independence which was reclaimed in 1991.

The international community knows that Abdiqasim does not even govern even a single estate in Mogadishu and has frustrated attempts by IGAD and the international community to reconcile the people of the south and set up an administration.

The statement continued: We are urging him not to waste time on Somaliland which has decided on its fate and not to lose this final opportunity provided by the international community by ending fighting and bloodshed in their country. The statement concluded by comparing the matter with a woman unable to conceive crazy about a doll.

During contacts between the two sides, Ethiopia reportedly said it took the action to overhaul its tax collection system, complaining that transport vehicles from Somaliland were evading paying duties. It has not given a time frame on when the border might be re-opened to traffic. Somaliland politicians have begun sending pleas to Ethiopia to end the closure, but the neighbouring country has not yet responded to their pleas.

Meanwhile, our Sheekh reporter Hasan Khayre says police have completed a demining exercise in the district by unearthing 33 land mines and two grenades in a week. Land mines pose danger to people in the district.

The entourage includes Mohamed Mogge, Deeq Hassan Daher, Abdurahman A.H. Hennery and several other party central committee members. Along the route, the delegation will meet party representatives and the general populace in rural prior to their arrival in the evening in Berbera.

A public rally addressed by the party leadership at the public square is planned. The party speeches or theme is likely to cover the party position vis a vis the impending LA elections, party program and appeal to the public to turnout in huge numbers in exercise of the democratic right during election time. Other likely subjects are the recent cross-border trade standstill following the restrictions imposed by Ethiopia on the flow of goods and merchandise across the border in all points of entry.

Berbera's significance as the country's ntrport and trade corridor to Ethiopia is not lost to KULMIYE more so when it was only recently that it started to recover from loss of business as result of higher tariffs and relatively cheaper alternatives sought by trade entities.

The party will proceed on the 24th October 2002 to Sheikh and later to Burao whereby it is expected that a huge welcome await the Kulmiye party official and on the following day the party leadership will address a public rally and meet grass-roots members, civil society organizations affiliated to KULMIYE party and the local party leadership.

In other campaign fronts M.S. Noor 'Fagadhe' the party first Deputy Chairperson is at present in Sanaag and is expected to cover Sool before the end of October. Meanwhile, Elmi M. Farah and Keyse Da'ar Farah a central committee member and an influential Elder respectively left for Odweine on the 22nd October 2002 and other rural settlements in an effort to complete the campaign tour before end of October and officiate party officiate at party candidates nominations, similarly Zeila is being visited by a Yusuf Sh Abdillahi and accompanied by a KULMIYE regional team.

The students (3 boys and 2 girls) arrived here early last month to gain knowledge about Somaliland's society and to study how Somalilanders live. The study tour, sponsored by their school, the Oslo University College, Oslo, Norway, lasted about 35 days during which they visited Hargeysa, Boorama, Gabiley, Allay-baday, Berbera, Sheekh, Burco, Ceerigaabo, and other localities. The Oslo University College students are in their 2nd year and are expected to major in social science. The students told the Somaliland Times, that while in Somaliland, they met with hundreds of people. The Norwegians were also overwhelmed by the way they had been welcomed by Somalilanders. "Wherever we went, people have been friendly, warm and helpful" said Raghild Bruun. During their stay in Somaliland, the students had affectionately taken some Somali names and had put on Somali attire.

Raghild became Asha and another girl, Birgitte Dodgson, was dubbed Sahra. Henning Hertland Torma and Espen Wangensteen-Haugen were given the names of Muhammad and Guleid respectively, while Anders Mathiesen was nicknamed Omar Dheere. There are about 8,000 Somalis who are currently living in Norway. The Norwegian capital Oslo, is home to about 5,000 of them. It is through this community that the students have become introduced for the first time to the background of Somalis.

"The idea of coming to here was to enable us gain more practical knowledge and understanding of the real Somali society in action," Anders or Omar Dheere explained. Asked whether Norwegians know the difference between Somaliland and Somalia, Birgitte or Sahra pointed out that people of Norway as elsewhere in Europe, usually associate Somalia with Somaliland. "Because they didn't know the difference and that it was peaceful in Somaliland, people felt very worried when we told them about the trip we were planning to make up to here." It took the Norwegian students one year before their tour finally materialized. "I would feel more safe walking the streets of Somaliland towns than in many big cities in America or Europe," Birgitte added.

The students said they were sad that they had to conclude their tour. "No matter how we try, we can't fully express our deep gratitude to ordinary Somalilanders who treated us so nicely during our stay," Espen Wangensteen-Haugen or Guleid said in a voice cracking with emotions. While in Somaliland, the Norwegian students received many offers of help. "As we leave, it is deeply regrettable that we couldn't possibly avail of all the support we have been offered," Henning Hertland Torma concluded. The group also thanked the Somaliland Red Crescent, the Norwegian Red Cross and the Somaliland Ministry of Health for facilitating their trip to Somaliland as well for assistance rendered them while here. After their return to Oslo, the student group will write a report of 40 pages on their study of Somaliland society.

But according to Asha Ragnhild, the group has learned so much about life in Somaliland, it will not be possible to include all the information gathered in a report of that size.

Last Thursday 10 October however, Kulmiye went farther west and took its campaign to Boorama, the capital of Awdal Region, which also happens to be President Riyale's hometown. "I don't intend to get less votes from Boorama than Mr Riyale would get from Burco," joked Ahmad Silanyo, the chairman of Kulmiye, as he addressed an audience that gathered in downtown Boorama. The Kulmiye delegation is also expected to visit Zeila Seylac at the Somaliland Djiboutian border. Since last month, Kulmiye has been waging a vigorous campaign aimed at promoting its programme and winning supporters from the Somaliland electorate. So far, it has shown some considerable success.

Kulmiye leaders have recently adopted a policy that calls for the full active participation of the organization's members and supporters in the forthcoming elections.

The Somaliland administration has rejected several invitations urging it to participate in the Eldoret northwestern Kenyan town peace talks. The administration authorities emphatically insisted that it would not attend the talks, arguing that they had completely nothing to do with the talks.

But such negative attitudes are understandable considering that the majority of the Somalilanders who are eligible to take part in the forthcoming elections, have never actually experienced this kind of a process before. Yet after winning a decade-long struggle against dictatorship in the eighties, followed by another decade-long struggle for peace, national reconciliation and democracy, Somalilanders can not now dodge their right to vote and select their government representatives.

This is by no means to underestimate the huge challenges posed to Somaliland by the forthcoming elections. Apparently there are many shortcomings in terms of the country's preparedness for the elections. The tasks of voter registration, education and information are yet to be addressed. UDUB's illicit access to government resources continues to be a serious problem that if not resolved now may overshadow later the legitimacy of the election results.

Obviously there is little time left for overcoming the above difficulties. Neither does the incumbent government (both the executive and legislative branches) has much time left before its term in office expires by early next year.Apart from being a constitutional requirement, Somaliland's current transition from the Shirbeeleed electoral system to a multi-party based democracy, is going to create a set of moral and legal options that the world cannot ignore any more.

In the last 10 years while the international community has been busy in trying to reconcile the warring factions in the former Italian colony of Somalia, Somaliland has, by contrast, been involved in a successful peace-building and national reconciliation process without external help.

Within this period, Somaliland has also proven wrong the skeptics amongst members of the international community that argued it is not a viable state. Somaliland has demonstrated despite the constraints posed by the lack of recognition its ability to do business with the rest of the world, that it is economically more viable than many countries in today's Africa that depend on substantial foreign aid for survival. In fact, Somaliland stands as a model for democracy, human rights and self-reliance.

There is no doubt that Somaliland's electoral process, if conducted fairly and freely, will boost the probability of this country becoming recognized by the international community. It is therefore the common responsibility of all stakeholders, particularly President Rayale's Administration, leaders of the opposition and the civil society at large, to ensure that the forthcoming elections are held peacefully, fairly and freely.

The Oslo University College students are in their 2nd year and are expected to major in Social Science.The students told the Somaliland Times, that while in Somaliland, they met with hundreds of people. The Norwegians were also overwhelmed by the way they had been welcomed by Somalilanders. "Wherever we went, people have been friendly, warm and helpful" said Raghild Bruun. During their stay in Somaliland, the students had affectionately taken some Somali names and had put on Somali attire.

Raghild became Asha and another girl, Birgitte Dodgson, was dubbed Sahra. Henning Hertland Torma and Espen Wangensteen-Haugen were given the names of Mohamed and Gulaid respectively, while Anders Mathiesen was nicknamed Omar Dheere.There are about 8000 Somalis who are currently living in Norway. The Norwegian capital Oslo, is home to about 5000 of them. It is through this community that the students have become introduced for the first time to the background of Somalis.

"The idea of coming to here was to enable us gain more practical knowledge and understanding of the real Somali society in action," Anders or Omar Dheere explained. Asked whether Norwegians know the difference between Somaliland and Somalia, Birgitte or Sahra pointed out that people of Norway as elsewhere in Europe, usually associate Somalia with Somaliland. "Because they didn't know the difference and that it was peaceful in Somaliland, people felt very worried when we told them about the trip we were planning to make up to here". It took the Norwegian students one year before their tour finally materialized. "I would feel more safe walking the streets of Somaliland towns than in many big cities in America or Europe," Birgitte added.

The students said they were sad that they had to conclude their tour. "No matter how we try, we can't fully express our deep gratitude to ordinary Somalilanders who treated us so nicely during our stay," Espen Wangensteen-Haugen or Gulaid said in a voice cracking with emotions. While in Somaliland, the Norwegian students received many offers of help. "As we leave, it is deeply regrettable that we couldn't possibly avail of all the support we have been offered," Henning Hertland Torma concluded.The group also thanked the Somaliland Red Crescent, the Norwegian Red Cross and the Somaliland Ministry of Health for facilitating their trip to Somaliland as well for assistance rendered them while here. After their return to Oslo, the student group will write a report of 40 pages on their study of Somaliland society.

But according to Asha Ragnhild, the group has learned so much about life in Somaliland, it will not be possible to include all the information gathered in a report of that size.

"I don't intend to get less votes from Borama than Mr Rayale would get from Buroa," joked Ahmed Sillanyo, the chairman of KULMIYE, as he addressed an audience that gathered in downtown Borama. The KULMIYE delegation is also expected to visit Zaila at the Somaliland Djiboutian border.Since last month, KULMIYE has been waging a vigorous campaign aimed at promoting its programme and winning supporters from the Somaliland electorate. So far, it has shown some considerable successes.

KULMIYE leaders have recently adopted a policy that calls for the full active participation of the organization's members and supporters in the forthcoming elections.

It is the conventional wisdom that the peoples known universally as "Somalis" who are inhabiting in the Horn Of Africa and parts of East Africa are one and same people. That they derive from the same ancestral stock.

That they possess the same culture. That they share the same history. That they practice the same religion. That they speak the same language. That they subscribe to same values and customs. That they are of the same race, et cetera, at cetera. Nonsense!Quite on the contrary, there are two distinct and probably three or four peoples in the said geographical area. One is in the north; in Somaliland, Djibouti and northeastern Ethiopia.

The other or others are in the south; from the so-called Puntland down south all the way to northern Kenya and parts of southeastern Ethiopia. Let me categorize these peoples as "us" Northerners and the "them" Southerners. They have nothing in common except that misfortune has made them neighbors.

Grouping all of them as "Somalis" is a freak anthropological mistake the origin of which I cannot fathom but the propagation of which is sinisterly used by those who have not the interest of both peoples at heart. These pretenders, some from "us", most of "them" and many from foreign countries argue that since all "Somalis" are one and the same people, they are, or at least most of them are bound to be united under one unitary entity. Never mind that the same pretenders dismantled that unitary entity, the former Somali Republic, when it existed, and now that it does not exist, they want to revive it for the same motives that destroyed it in the first place. Nor do they take into account the fact that the identicalness of people do not obligate them to be united (witness the Arab countries; same people over 20 states) or that ethnic diversity is no bar to a union of peoples in one political state (most countries in the world are inhabited by ethnically diverse peoples. Witness USA).

But my intention here is not to discuss the pros and cons of "Somali" unity, or how to resolve "their" present day problems. My argument is that there is no such thing as homogenous "Somalism". It is totally a myth; a stereotype. The sooner all concerned realize and accept this first and foremost cardinal fact the better for the same all concerned. Everything else is secondary. For those who wish to promote peace and stability in this region, this fact should be the starting point: These are two different peoples; if they both want unity, they will unite; if one or both do not desire unity they will stay separate.

The origin of "Somalis" is a gray area. No member of either people (them or us) can trace his lineage for more than an average of 20 generations, which means approximately 500 years back. Neither people have a written history by themselves. What are available on origin of "Somalis" are what was researched and written by others; Europeans and Arabs. And this changes from time to time or is sometimes doctored to suit vested interests and political agendas. Sometimes the "Somalis" are Cushitics; sometimes Hamites, and still at other times Arabs of Semitic stock.

This can change again; it is a matter of time and fertile imagination. But if culture and values are any indication of shared heritage and ethnicity, it is very clear that "them" and "us" have none. Values are the unwritten rules of how an individual, a community and a people conduct themselves, amongst themselves and towards others. Southerners' values are egocentric, selfish and covetous. In pursuit of wealth or power the end justifies all means. Conning, cheating, lying, robbing either by stealth or failing that by open and often violent means are second nature to them. Let alone others far away, they will not even spare the near, the dear or the neighbor.

Virtues and vices have a very thin boundary here. In 1960, when Somalilanders by way of naivety and emotion gave up their independence and without conditions merged with the South in the name of brotherhood, the Southerners had the insolence of shamelessly taking all the major positions of government: the presidency, the prime ministership, the ministries of defense, interior and foreign affairs, the commands of the army and police and every other important post in the wheels of power.

It was as if the northerners were a vanquished people and victors were sharing the spoils amongst themselves. Such is the difference in the two peoples' values and traditions that if the circumstances were the other way around and the Southerners came to Hargeisa with their independence and soul in the bag, the Northerners would have gladly and willingly given all these posts to the Southerners anyway. One thing is called greed; the other is called grace.The graciousness and generosity of the Northerners especially towards strangers borders on prodigality or perhaps stupidity and is in stark contrast with the characteristic selfishness of the Southerners.

Even the destitute nomad in the North is known to kill the sheep that he had denied his malnourished family for the strange traveler who had camped near his settlement for the night. In teashops when friends, acquaintances or even strangers sit around the same table, it is normal that one them would make a point to foot the bill though no prior invitation was given. Friends, relatives and indeed strangers can call on a house at lunchtime and share food and drinks. If one is hard up he can count on his relatives and friends to pitch in. It is a kind of social security system that allows no one to be really rich but which never leave any one to starve. Would such things happen in the South? You bet your boots not.Indeed the Southerners, when they discovered this Northern trait, have typically put it into maximum use. If you befriend a Southerner, he or she would expect you to open your purse strings. If you don't, he or she would swear that you are not a Northerner; that you are a pretender. Usually they do not get disappointed but do not expect gratitude. Behind your back he or she will congratulate himself or herself on his or her ingenuity and laugh at your foolishness.

Sincerity is another area where we vastly differ. Smooth talking and flattery are their forte, but they are often not earnest in what they say. "Aboowe macanow or Abaaye macaanee" (Sweet brother or sweet sister) is what they call you while they may be devising your demise. In the North `Brother" and "Sister" are reversed for the real ones.

If you happen to be in their house they would say "Soo dhawoowhay, ninanku minankaagii waaye" (welcome, the house is yours), but you are expected to thank them and go away. If you are dumb or uninitiated and take them at their word by making yourself at home, you create an ugly situation.

Embarrassed glances will be exchanged by the hosts and silence will be deafening. You will soon realize that you are imposing yourself and going out of the door as quickly as possible will be a merciful relief for both you and hosts alike.Titles in the South are also very loose. I am reminded of an episode that occurred to a friend who was educated in the States to the Master of Arts level. On his return he became a ranking official in Mogadishu Municipality. After a few months his American wife joined him. She noticed that everybody was addressing him as "Dittore".

Thinking that she must have missed on her husband's academic advancement or that he had deliberately misled people on his educational achievements she asked him:"Abdillahi, since when did you attain your doctorate?""I didn't, but everyone calls me `Dittore' anyway." He told her, "I know it is embarrassing, but it is useless to protest or to correct them."In the South, the graduate is a "Doctor", the technician is an "Engineer", the clerk is a "Manager", the military officer is a "Leader". Anyone appointing himself a title gets away with it. If one is in a position of authority, one's subordinates will certainly oblige one with a fancy title and one will see no sarcasm in the whole exercise. In the North, a person throwing around his title or rank or accepting an undeserved one is considered egotistic and lacking in substance.

In the former Somali Republic, public and private wealth accumulated for scores of years were invested in the South as a matter of government policy. Revenues generated in Somaliland were routinely transferred to the South. All new factories, plantations, hospitals, schools, universities were built only in the South, while the North was denied even funds for proper maintenance of the existing public facilities at the time of independence.

Northerners were even prevented to invest their own money in their hometowns. In Hargeisa there a regulation that barred residents to construct buildings more than two stories high. Soon the two tallest private buildings in Mogadishu were owned by Northerners (Jirdeh Hussein and Abdillahi Omar). The upscale suburb of Casa Populare was almost exclusively a Northern community. Today there is no vestige of national and Northern owned property in the South.

Whole factories were dismantled and sold as scrap in the UAE, India and Italy. Private residences, school buildings, farms etc in the Mogadishu and other Southern areas are occupied by squatters who have killed or driven away the rightful owners. Ethnic cleansing occurred in Somalia before Yugoslavia made it notorious. Yet this is deemed as nothing out of the ordinary. People who do this are considered smart and brave.Islam and any other of God's religions have in my view two fundamental tenets. One, Piety, is the devout worship and devotion to God. Its inherent conspicuity draws respect and reverence from fellow men. If one is devoted to God, it goes that one must be benevolent to his fellow humans as that is the express wish of Him.

However it is only Almighty who really knows whether one's piety is genuine or not. God Himself has warned us of those who are pious only to gain acceptance and respect in the society and then do untold harm to God's unsuspecting people. He said they are worst kind of hypocrites and their place hereafter is the flaming Hell.Which leads us to the other tenet, which is Righteousness. This has more to do with morality and the laws God laid down to govern His beings. Human regeneration and sustenance of life would be chaos without righteousness. The institution of family and relations of man and woman are regulated by these moral laws.

Indeed, the laws of men themselves are also derived from this tenet. God is very particular of the preservation and protection of the lives, freedom and properties of His people. A righteous person, therefore shall not for instance, kill or rob or cheat or deny freedom from another person.Thus, Piety is apparent, but Righteousness can only be authentic. A person can be righteous but not necessarily be pious. There are atheists who are righteous. However a truly pious person is also inherently righteous. A righteous but not pious person can at any time in life repent and God has in his power to forgive him. But God has made clear that He will not forgive those who have sinned against His people.Now we the Northerners call ourselves Muslims.

The Southerners also claim to be Muslims. But I am leery to put myself in the same league with those whom committing atrocities or condoning them is a matter of course. One or the other must be outside the perimeters of Islam. Before the seventies, after which, all sorts of "Somalis" took to emigration in droves, the Somali communities in foreign countries - in the Arabian Gulf, East Africa and Europe, except Italy - were almost exclusively from the North. Then the Somalis were known in their host countries for their upright values, pride and respect of local laws.

The hosts' only complaint was the Somalis did not assimilate into the new societies, kept their distinct traditions and were easily bound turn violent if their dignity was offended. This in some cases became an advantageous reputation rather than a weakness as it bestowed to the Somalis respect and cautioned others against pettily picking on them. Thus it was easy and rather pleasant for Somalis to live and travel around in these countries.Then came the waves from the South and with them crime. Robbery, forgery, prostitution, human trafficking, racketeering, beggary - crimes never associated with Somalis - have been repeatedly committed by "Somalis".

With the fall of the "Somali Republic" and Somaliland lacking recognition, nations around the world view "Somalis" as people without government. Yet many countries have been considerate enough to allow them to travel and sometimes settle in their countries. However this kindness has been grossly misused. Recently for example, almost a planeload of teenage girls from Mogadishu with 15-day visas went to Dubai. "Merchant" said the profession space in their passports. It is only in the South where a young lady of fifteen masters the intricacies of commerce, but seriously I hate to contemplate on what business they were taken there. They were detained and returned and their male guardians were imprisoned. The authorities and people of these countries are dumbfounded by these un-Somali activities.

These are not the same Somalis they had known, they lament. Today a "Somali" even one traveling with a non-Somali passport is viewed with suspicion. Many countries have enacted regulations barring "Somalis" to come to their shores. I do not blame them.Now, the problem is: for most foreigners a "Somali" is a Somali. They do not know the difference between "us" and "them". A Somali passport or looking like a Somali? Kaput. The result is that straightforward Somalis with legitimate reasons to go to foreign lands bear the brunt of their officials' wrath.

Reinstating internationally recognized government to the former Somali Republic will not restore the image and good standing of the "Somalis". A name once spoiled stays spoiled. For Somalilanders the only available option is to educate the world on their separate and different identity as opposed to that of the Southerners. Redoubling our efforts for recognition is the first step.Northerners love for democracy and aversion for dictatorship are well known. It is manifested in our traditional pastoral Shirs (meetings) under the tree where the affairs of the community were discussed and consensual agreements were always reached.

It is implanted in the short and modern history of independent Somaliland where democracy flourishes in ways that is rare in most parts of the world.It is the opposite in the South. There autocracy or group supremacy is the order of the day. In the sixties groups originating from present day Puntland dominated the higher echelons of power. They believed it was their right to rule. Then came Siad Barre, himself a Southerner from another part and the Puntlanders turned against him, not because he was a bad leader but because their vanity and egoism would not allow them to stand any one except them to be in power. Siad with characteristic brutality made short work of them. Having shown his rough side, he then enticed them to come to his fold. Unprincipled as they were and with tails between their legs, they later joined him to commit atrocities in other parts of the country.

It is no secret that Siad himself did not intend to give up power even after death. He groomed his son, Maslah to take it over. Only his hasty flight in a tank from his palace with with freedom fighters at his heels spared the country of the formation of the Siad Dynasty a la Jean Bokasta's Central African Empire. When Aidid proclaimed himself President over the blood of so many innocent people, he cleverly gave positions to members of other communities. His vice president Abdirahman Tur (who ironically was the first president of Somaliland) and foreign minister Jama Yare were Somalilanders. However misguided they were and disloyal to their own people, these men and others in the Aidid government were seasoned, competent and mature politicians. Yet when he died, baby Aidid was installed as president and no feathers were rattled.

In the sham conference of Arta, there was no question that the post of president should go to a person from a particular area; the question was who from that area to give it to. How insulting! Since the Southern despotic leaders have the uniform tendency of never willingly giving up power (real or imagined) before death (usually violent) or overthrow, Abdiqasim Salad's imagery realm will certainly need a family successor sooner or later. Now I do not know if Salad has a teenaged or older son, but if he does not, his subjects, few as they are, need not despair. He must have a brother or a daughter or a nephew or an uncle to fill his shoes when the inevitable arrives.

Furthermore, the poor public is not spared the weight of the leaders' spouses and other relatives even before death. I am told that the Musa Matan ladies, one of them wife of Somalia's first president were the most effective lobbyists in the corridor of power in their time. Siad Barre's foreign minister was his brother. His intelligence chief was his son-in-law. Close relatives held most of the sensitive commands in the army. His wife, Mama Khadija, was reputed to be the second most powerful person in the country. World-class ministers and gallant generals commanding battle-hardened armies were known to suddenly go weak in the knees in her presence. Salad's wife is said to be his real finance minister and central Banker.

Language per se is no proof of homogeneity. English has become the native language of many diverse peoples and races. Swahili is spoken from Kenya to Zimbabwe. Somali literature is a northern domain. All classic and contemporary poets -Seyid Mohamed Abdulla Hassan, Ali Jama Habil, Salan Carabe, Qaman Bulhan, Ali Dhooh, Ismail Mire, Abdi Gahair, Omer Austeralia, Tima'ade, Hadrawi; I say all were or are Northerners. As were and are the songwriters and popular singers: Abdillahi Qarshe, Ali Sugale, Abdi Idan, Balayo As, Shimbir, Mohamed Ahmed, Mohamed Sulaiman, Omer Dhule, Abdi Qais, Madeq, Hibo, Sahra Ahmed, Bahsan, Khatra Dahir etc, the list is endless. Even Magool, a Southern, found her fame in the North. The only Southerner worthy of mention in this context is Arees Ise and he was more notable for the amusing female back up melodic chorus of "Runtaa!" ("True!" - agreeing with his utterances) than for thought provoking verses. Northerners who went to the South during the first years of the "Union" found hard to comprehend dialects.

Since the mass media, such radio broadcasting, the mass culture and the profession of teaching were dominated by Northerners; the Somali Language as spoken in the North became the magna lingua of both North and South. In short we taught them the Language.The fact of the matter is we do not celebrate the same way.

We do not grieve the same way. We do not play the same way. We do not have same birth rituals or funeral rituals. We do not dress the same way. We do not have the same marriage traditions. (By the way, speaking of marriage, there is in the South something called Qudba Sir and Qudba Shardi -secret marriage- that is a discreet and conditional marriages for a specific period and on specific conditions. No such thing in the North. And when I asked our religious scholars if Islam sanctions this, they reacted with horror. They said it is nothing less than adultery in the name of religion; a grave sin.)

We are something and they something else.The first time a Somali flag was hoisted in liberty, it was in Hargeisa. It was a Northern creation. Abdillahi Qarshe's descriptive song of that flag (Qolaba calankeedu waa caynee -every nation's flag has a different color-) and Abdillahi Timade's flag welcoming poem at independence (Kaana siib; kana saar -lower that, and raise this-) were truly moving and classic odes.

Yet, Somalilanders have now discarded that flag not because they hated it, but because they did not want to be associated with the Southerners. I agree. We had made that flag. We made another. We can make a third if we need to.Similarly, I believe that the name Somali has it origin in the North. As Somali culture is Northern oriented, the name could come only from that area. Some say it is derived from camel milking (Soomaal). In that case first camels in the Horn Of Africa were brought to the North from Asia. However, Somalilanders are not ones to make a fuss out of a name. As the adage goes: "what is in a name?" It is the character of a person or society that is important, not what the person or the society is called. In order to delete any remaining association with the Southerners, I propose that we change our country's name to something not containing the word Somali. I have no doubt we will find some name that is unique, descriptive and beautiful. Let the contest for it begin.I am not na Nor do I want to imply that you will not see some good people in the South. After all they must be people. But I would like others to point out to me where the Northerners are at fault.

You can count on me to admit them if they truly exist. And if there are verifiable Southern virtues, I am open to hear them as well. I am aware that I run the risk of being accused of expressing radical views. I tried my best to base them not on sentiments but on facts. I stand to be challenged on these facts.

Anyone who has come in contact with Somali culture will be aware of the central role poetry plays in that culture. For as long as we know, poetry has been the core form of cultural expression and is the basis upon which some other forms have been developed, in particular Somali theatre. Traditional life in the eastern Horn of Africa, where the Somalis live, has poetry woven into its fabric. Many of the day-to-day tasks which people carry out in the countryside have poetry associated with them in the form of work songs, each type with its own metrical structure and associated tunes.

A young girl might sing songs about the sheep and goats she is tending, weaving into such a song her feelings for the animals and what they mean to her family; a young man may praise his camels in a watering song, a woman tease her neighbour in a mat-weaving song and so on. Many such worksongs are of common heritage, but it is also the case that people compose their own lyrics reflecting concerns and events in their own lives. All these types of poems are generally described in Somali as hees and are part of what might be termed Somali folklore. In addition there is poetry which is composed by poets with the intention that the poem be heard more widely as a comment on something of importance to the community, whether that be the immediate kin or the whole Somali nation. Such poetry is termed maanso in Somali and is characterised by the fact that any particular composition is always associated with the poet who composed it and that anyone reciting the poem must do so with the aim of reciting it word for word as the poet composed it.

This verbatim memorization is a particularly important characteristic of the oral poetic heritage of the Somalis and such poetry is generally held in higher esteem than the hees type.It is important to bear in mind that Somali poetry is still primarily experienced through listening rather than reading; there has been some publication of collections of important poetry (mostly of poets from the past), but these are not widely distributed at all. The language was first written in an officially recognized script in 1972 and, prior to that, poetry was, with a very few exceptions, composed, retained and performed solely in oral form. Most poetry composed today is still essentially oral, although instead of memorization playing the major role in its dissemination, cassette tape and radio broadcast are more prominent. Cassettes are particularly important and the recording of performances of poetry and subsequent duplication of the tapes is very widespread and is not regulated through copyright laws.

The identity of the poet must always be made clear however and plagiarism and inaccurate recitation of a maanso poem are frowned upon and would lead to the ridicule of anyone trying it on. The matter of oral versus written poetry has become further blurred in recent years when we understand that some poets now use writing in the composition of their poetry. Hadraawi composes using writing and when performing his own poetry does so by reading a written text. There are other poets who continue not to use writing at all and who retain their poems in their heads and pass them on through recitation and recording on cassette.Maanso poetry is very much of its place and time. A great amount of poetry which is composed by people throughout the Horn of Africa (as well as in the diaspora) relates to events in the life of the poet and in his or her community. Thus as time goes by poets are constantly addressing new situations, and since there is no instituted way in which poetry is preserved, it is easily lost. Little poetry is remembered from before the turn of the century, but now, given the technology of cassette recording and also the development of writing, poetry is more readily kept for posterity. Work was undertaken towards preserving the poetry of some of the most important early poets by Somali poets and scholars in the 1960s and 1970s and there are now some published collections of such early poetry.

Of recent poets, few have published works. Hadraawi's collected poems (1970-1990) were published in 1993 in Norway (1), an important contribution to Somali literature.Another consequence of the importance of the context of composition is that some poems are very difficult to understand if one is not aware of the people and events involved. Some poems, however, are composed on general themes and this makes them more readily accessible to a wider audience and allows them to be understood through translation with a minimal amount of associated annotation. Such are both of the poems presented here.

The last two decades in the Horn of Africa have been times of great upheaval, culminating in the early Nineties in horrific violence in some parts of Somalia and the consequent displacement of a great number of people throughout the world. Much of the poetry which has become widely known over these years has been concerned with this and some imaginative and powerful poems have been composed. As has been the case throughout Somali history, some of this poetry is partisan, supporting or denigrating according to the allegiance of the poet. Poetry which becomes most widely known, however, tends to be that which deals with the situation as a whole and speaks to a wider section of society. As a result of these political upheavals, many people have found their way to the United Kingdom where there is now a large Somali community. Poetry remains an important part of that displaced community's life and the concerns of the people are naturally reflected in it. For some, a nostalgic reflection through the appreciation of the poetry of past times is important.

For others the development of new forms and use of new language is a major part of their cultural life in expressing their new experience and in assimilating new influences from the communities around them. The use of language in poetry is a matter of concern to many who now live in the UK. Younger people are sometimes unable to understand the language used in some of the poetry of the great modern poets, let alone the great poets of the past, because of the prevalence of the use of vocabulary which has its roots in the traditional pastoral way of life. The most widely known poetry comes from those whose The two poets whose work is represented here have both been resident in the UK during the 1990s. Although Hadraawi has now returned to the Horn of Africa, whilst living in London he made a number of public appearances reciting his poetry. His poetry has been widely known since the early seventies and has provided an important commentary on the life and political situation in the eastern Horn of Africa from those times to the present day.

Cabdulqaadir, who still lives here, is from a younger generation of poets, but his manipulation and skill in addressing matters via the traditional pastoral imagery is appreciated by those who have heard his poetry. Samadoon is particularly appreciated for these qualities.There are two formal features which are compulsory in Somali poetry: metre and alliteration. Metre is vocalically quantitative with a particular metrical pattern being defined in terms of the number and patterning of long and short vowels. Each genre of poetry (of which there are many) has its own particular metrical template.

As for alliteration, there is an alliterative word in every line or half-line, according to the genre, and the same alliterative sound is sustained throughout the whole poem.

For example in the poem Samadoon, an example of a genre known as gabay, there is at least one word in every half-line beginning with the sound 'd'; in Jacayl Dhiig Ma Lagu Qoray, as the metre is different (it is a Jiifto metre type in a poem genre known as hees (2), there is an alliterating word in each line, 'dh', (a retroflex plosive). A sensitivity to these formal features is most important in any attempt at translation, but how are they to be acknowledged and reflected in translation? This is a common enough decision to be made in poetry translation, but there are two factors which need to be borne in mind when considering this question for Somali. On the one hand these formal features define the piece of language as being poetry and on the other, given the skills of a good poet, the imposition of such strict features on the language used provides one means of developing movement in the domain of the poem as a whole. This is certainly the case in each of these poems.

In Samadoon, for example, although each of the the 179 lines of the original has the same metrical and alliterative structure, as is prescribed by convention, Cabdulqaadir skilfully weaves the strictures of the form with other facets of language structure and style such as syntax, repetition, additional alliteration etc, to develop the ideas and emotions in the poem and to bring a wider sense of phrasing to the tone of the poem as a whole.

This is also the case in Jacayl Dhiig Ma Lagu Qoray where it is achieved in particular through the series of negative questions which flow across the strict metrical lines.How, then, is one to deal with this in translation? The gabay line is 20-21 vowel units long, the Jiifto metre of Jacayl Dhiig Ma Lagu Qoray on the other hand has 9 vowel units and this difference in length has been reflected straightforwardly in line length in the translation. Some attempt at the use of half lines has also been made in the translation of the gabay Samadoon.

I have chosen not to keep to a strict metre in the English, but have tried to use a style which presents a rhythm in keeping with the phrasing and movement in the original poems as I perceive it. One major aspect of the translation has been to try in some way to reflect the aural nature of the poem. Given that Somali poems are not essentially written pieces but are composed to be heard (even though writing was used in the composition of both of the poems presented here), I have tried to move away from certain aspects of the written form, hence the lack of punctuation.

It is hoped that the words speak simply for themselves, as they need to in the Somali original in recited form, and that the line divisions are enough to supply the whole with some structure to aid understanding. Such rhythmic and line structure is clearly perceivable in any performance of the original Somali versions of these poems and is not therefore here an imposition of the written form.I wish to thank Hadraawi and Cabdulqaadir for their assistance in helping me to understand their poems and also William Radice and the editors for some valuable comments on draft translations.1- Maxamed Ibraahim Warsame 'Hadraawi', Hal-Karaan. Den Norske Somaliakomiteen, Kleppe, Norway, 1993.2- The term hees in addition to referring to the work songs and dance songs as mentioned above is also used as a term for modern poetry which is performed in a singing style to instrumental accompaniment.

Such poetry may be composed in one of a number of metrical styles.Cabdulqaadir Xaaji Cali Xaaji Axmad
Translated by Martin Orwin

Cabdulqaadir Xaaji Cali Xaaji Axmed, born following independence in northern Somalia in 1962, is one of the younger generation of Somali poets. He was educated at intermediary and secondary level in Hargeysa until 1982. He taught for a year before leaving to join the Somali National Movement (SNM) base in Ethiopia. In 1987 he joined the SNM's radio station, Radio Halgan (Radio Struggle), and while working there he began to compose poetry.The poem translated here was composed and first performed in London in 1995 after he had moved to the UK in 1990. It is a powerful comment on the civil war and the destruction of much of Somalia at the hands of the previous military regime and the various militias.

Its first public hearing was at a poetry reading in the East End organized by the Multicultural Arts Consortium at which Hadraawi also recited his latest poem of that time (Dabahuwan). Samadoon is composed as an oral epistle to a friend of the poet, Hirsi (Xirsi in Somali), who is entreated to pass on the message to the people. Most of the text comprises that which Hirsi says to the people.

This poem is of a type known as gabay, which is a genre used to deal with serious subjects. Each line in the Somali follows the gabay's metrical pattern which divides the line into two half lines, each of which must incorporate an alliterating word. The poem makes great use of pastoral imagery and allusions to the countryside, the plants and livestock. Some usage is in a negative sense:

1. they enter the shade of the dead wood
2. the forest's been destroyed by scorching sand
3. rotten brush dense dead thicket
4. silvered tree stumps calls of help help

1. the place where all points to milk full udders
2. the meadowland views unspoilt clumps of grass
3. 'dihi' in fresh growth the plant life and verdure
4. the mossy shoots with roots reaching deep

For instance, the originial Somali line: Inaad delewo haaneed tidhaa Adi dantaa maahahas been translated as: giving them the milking responsibility it's not in your interestA literal translation of the line would read:that you say 'Delewo' at the haan side it's not in your interest

Delewo is the proper name of a camel and haan refers both to the container used when milking and to the side of the camel which is milked by the person who is holding that container. This person would be the more experienced one of the two milking the camel, and the one, therefore, who takes the greater responsibility for preventing any loss of milk. It is this basic idea which I have tried to bring out in the translated line. It is not as detailed an image, nor as powerful a statement as the original line in the context of the poem, but one which hopefully renders both some of the image's substance and its role in the poem.

Explanation of some of the Somali terms and other allusions in the poem may be useful to the reader.aloe - this plant is known for its bitterness and is a metaphor here for malignancy.bull elephant - here this is a name given to Hirsi.

Barre - the former president and dictator of the military regime of Somalia, ousted in 1991.'d' - the sound of alliteration in the original Somali poem; in the original it is given its Arabic name daal.Daabad - the proper name of a burden camel; such proper names are often used in Somali poetry to represent the animals generically. Daylo - a name given to a female sheep with a half black head as opposed to the full black head of most sheep; used here generically.Awl, Daydad, Dirirad - sub-seasons in the Somali system of weather lore (Awl is spelt Cawl in Somali).Dayr - the main rainy season in the Somali territories and when the rains are good a time of plenty.dihi - a type of pasture plant which grows in salty areas (spelt in Somali: dixi).duur - this is a herbaceous plant with a long stalk.

Deleb, Diirran, Doorran - are names of camels, again used generically; Deleb refers to a game played with small sticks, the other two mean 'eager' and 'chosen' respectively. Koofil and Doofil - Koofil is the Somali pronunciation and spelling of Corfield who was a commander of the Camel Corps in British Somaliland, killed in 1913 in battle and the subject of a very famous poem by Sayyid Mohamed Abdille Hasan, the Dervish leader he was fighting. Here Koofil stands for the British imperialists and Doofil is a play on the sound of Koofil but using the poem's alliterative sound ('d') to represent the Italian imperialists. Go'e - literally means 'the one who is dying' and is used as an insult. I have not found a correspondence in English, and feel that the tone of the original word is appropriate in this context. Chosen, Outstanding, Support - where these are presented towards the end of the poem with initial capitals they refer to camel names. The names represent camels which in turn represent the poem.

The camel is the most important animal in Somali pastoral society and is often used in poetry as a symbol for what is valued. Here the meanings of the names themselves are also of significance in the context and have therefore been translated.
Samadoon
Hirsi

• the oppressed deceived hobbled from behind
• screened off enclosed absent perpetually dangling
• disowned killed 00buried stick thin destitute
• slaughtered for those without compassion
• astray saddled for greed empty of the grace of God
• neglected bound up for the bitterness of the aloe
• from resentment sitting head and hands on knees
• the water trough's absent even from the well
• good sense is refused the ratatat and bomb booming
• calls for the lost compliantly igniting
• troubles and provocation my bull elephant
• people sheltering engaged ever bethroted
• to mucus and weakness of all diseases
• malaria tuberculosis
• they're led astray by killing's admirers
• son of Barre and his lot
• in ignorance following
• the mistaken animal haired humans
• for my people with wickedness poured into them
• i pass you this message alliterating in 'd'
• to ring to pour forth harmony forging the path
• setting to rights easing the poem's affirmation
• to spread loyal honesty i summon you ring it
• be it perhaps God willing a balm accepted
• at dawn recite it if truth only heals
• press it into those stubborn one
• that they descend from mindlessness
• and you will say:
• deranged people a huge hole is screened from
• you gulleys and eroded water tracts
• obstruct descent paths set with
• hidden mines disturbing the eye
• traps scattered for you
• intending your misery as you suddenly
• topple into them this is not in your
• interest clashing together
• is success soothing fat
• to satan and his injustice
• the professed law of God
• and religion states
• when a murder is committed
• and the blame is clear
• is to be tried in law
• blood money and hanging
• will settle but before
• the accusation is made
• the discussion conducted
• the acacia watered
• for the gifted and wise
• he enters - peace - refuser
• evil brings things
• sweet to his saddle
• the gun and the ratatat of its bullets
• this is not in your interest
• denying the search for truth
• this is not in your interest
• these good young men of yours dead
• this is not in your interest
• the women wear again and again the mourning scarf
• this is not in your interest
• your cow bears each time a donkey
• this is not in your interest
• sheep suffer from worms and bloating
• this is not in your interest
• cholera kills you one and all
• this is not in your interest
• the typhoon trawls you down to the ocean
• this is not in your interest
• your bodies float away on the floods
• go'e this is not in your interest
• dizzyness a world cracking your knees
• go'e this is not in your interest

However, the international community's Somalia policy has openly contradicted Somaliland's repeated assertions over the last 10 years that it was not a party to the conflict that has been going on in Somalia. International as well as regional sponsors of the last 13 "peace and reconciliation conferences" held on Somalia since 1991, have one after another committed the terrible mistake of making Somaliland's participation as a preliminary condition for holding each of those meetings.

On each occasion, Somalia's warlords, religious extremists and former Siyad Barre associates have never missed to raise Somaliland's consistent absence from "reconciliation talks" as an issue with grave consequences for "Somali Unity". Because of this irrelevant issue, focus of "peace conference" deliberations often shifted from achievement of reconciliation between real antagonists of the conflict to the "restoration of Somali Unity and Somalia's territorial integrity".

We therefore welcome the new stand by the US and the EU countries expressing respect and understanding for Somaliland's decision not to attend the forthcoming Somali Reconciliation Conference to be held in Nairobi later this month.

By ending their decade-long policy of confusing the peaceful and stable situation in Somaliland with that of war-ravaged Somalia, the EU and the USA have in fact removed a highly distractive element from the path of the IGAD sponsored peace process.

The people of Somaliland are also encouraged by the decision of these countries, recognizing the government of Somaliland as the legitimate and sole political representative of its citizens.

There is no doubt that this new stance by some members of the international community will be viewed by Somalilanders as a kind of reward for their long and lonely struggle for peace and democracy.

We hope that the rest of the international community will follow suit soon.

Nairobi : Nairobi-based diplomats from the European Union and the United States said their countries will respect Somaliland's decision not to attend the forthcoming peace talks on Somalia, scheduled to be held in Kenya by Oct 15, 2002.

The Western diplomats told a press conference held in Nairobi last Tuesday that they still considered Somaliland as part of Somalia that is seeking independence.

In what seemed to be a shift in the common EU - US position on Somalia, the diplomats implied that they view the Somaliland government as the sole legitimate representative of the Somaliland people. This means that any delegates claiming to represent Somaliland in the upcoming peace talks will not be accepted unless authorized by the Somaliland government.

A US diplomat said that his country had paid attention to Somalia to ensure that the country did not become a terrorist haven. He pointed out that Washington would not try to control Somalia's peace process.

At the same time, the Security Council has called on Somalis to participate constructively in the forthcoming reconciliation conference.

Meanwhile, Kenya's Minister for Energy Raila Odinga has called on the international community to give recognition to the Republic of Somaliland.

The Swedish delegation is made up of Sven Persson, a senior teacher at the University of Malmo, Berhet Yobio, lecturer, Malmo University, Gunika Peannenstiol, international officer, Malmo University, Ahmed Hussein, Malmo Kommune (City) and Mohamed Samater, Somali Relief Organization, Malmo.

In an interview with Haatuf, Sven Persson said they envisage a good potentiality for cementing relations of cooperation between Hargeisa and Malmo, particularly in the field of teacher training and education.

Malmo, the 3rd largest city in Sweden, is also home to about 1700 Somalis. The Swedish delegation also met with the Mayor of Hargeisa to discuss specific areas for future cooperation.

Commenting on the difference between the Education here and Sweden, Mr. Persson said despite the apparent scarcity in a number of things deemed essential for delivering education, yet he has to admire the strong determination shown by teachers to fulfill their duties under difficult circumstances.

The European Commission is encouraged by the efforts of the IGAD frontline States in advancing the reconciliation process and particularly welcomes the conference as the next step in a process designed to facilitate the formation of sustainable structures of governance to be agreed amongst the Somalis themselves.

The support provided by the Commission is in line with the conclusions of the EU Council of Ministers of 22 July 2002 on Somalia. In these conclusions, the EU confirmed its continuing support to the IGAD Summit Resolutions of 24 November 2000 and 11 January 2002, which provide a general framework for the Somalia reconciliation process. Moreover, the EU encourages and supports the efforts of all parties in Somalia as well as of the IGAD Member States aiming at:

1. Promoting reconciliation among all Somali parties without preliminary conditions for dialogue and negotiation;
2. Achieving a durable cessation of hostilities in areas where fighting has recurrently occurred during the past years, and safeguarding and consolidating peace and stability in those areas where it can be achieved;
3. A progressive internalisation of the process leading to the establishment of new structures based on the sharing and devolution of power through the democratic process;
4. Supporting a complementary process of inter- and intra-clan reconciliation;
5. An early establishment of effective administration throughout Somalia including an all-inclusive, broad-based administration and, in parallel, the consolidation of provisional regional administrations representing components of Somali society;
6. Promoting friendly relations between Somalia and its neighbours and other countries in the region, such positive relationships being beneficial to the security of each state;
7. Providing efforts and assistance to improve the humanitarian situation and enabling conditions to promote and support economic social and human development and the return of refugees.

The numbers are staggering. Up to 90 percent of Djiboutian girls are subjected to FGM at the age of seven or eight, as is the norm in much of northern and western Africa. It is also practised among emigrant communities residing in Europe and America. Clandestine operations, often performed in filthy conditions, subject the girls to a horrifying ordeal. Sometimes extreme and long-lasting pain and frequently, death through loss of blood.

Hawa Ahmed Youssouf has decided to speak out against the practice, bringing up the issue with the UNO and at international conferences on women's rights. She points out that while FGM is illegal under the country's law, 73 percent of the population is illiterate and bear more respect for local lore than national law. However, with a legal framework in place and continued pressure by national structures and NGOs, Hawa Youssouf intends to fight for women's and children's rights in her country. Setting a shining example for others to follow abroad.

Those who confuse FGM with Islamic rites are wrong, since FGM is a tradition which pre-dates Islam and there is nothing in Islam which refers to this practice as a specific religious duty.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY
PRAVDA.Ru

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The American authorities appear to be backing away from a threat not to allow into the United States Somali refugees who have genitally mutilated their daughters.
A group of about 12,000 Somali Bantus are currently waiting in a refugee camp in northern Kenya and have been given the right to emigrate en masse to the US.
But earlier this week the American embassy in Nairobi confirmed that some of those refugees had been rushing to circumcise their young daughters, having learned that the practice is illegal in the US.
An embassy spokesman said those involved would be investigated and the families probably barred from emigrating.
But now it seems doubts are surfacing.

Rite of passage

The American State Department is trying to tread carefully over what is becoming a very emotive issue.

It has put out a brief statement saying that it condemns the "abhorrent" practice of female genital mutilation and that it is seriously considering the next step.

Somali mothers traditionally circumcise daughters

Privately, aid workers have been critical of the American threat, saying it is "unworkable" and pointing out that the rush to circumcise has more or less stopped anyway following a series of recent publicity campaigns.
The United Nations Refugee Agency has gone further.
A spokesman, Emmanuel Nyabei, said there was nothing unique about what the Bantu Somalis were doing to their daughters.
The same thing has happened in the past, he said, with other groups waiting to emigrate.
The circumcisions, carried out without anaesthetic, are illegal in Kenya and the United States.
But the practice, an ancient rite of passage, is widespread in Somalia.
The 12,000 Bantus are members of an ethnic minority, the descendants of slaves who are persecuted in their country.

The first families are due to fly out to the US within a few months.

Each item, removed from a tiny plastic bag, is carefully placed on a small wooden table. A bottle of disinfectant lies next to them. With them Kaeja, a 40-year-old mother of three, performs female genital mutilation (FGM) - an agonising and ancient custom.

As she admits, cutting away a young girl's genitals can take at least half an hour. Three other women hold down the girls - usually aged between seven and 14 - while the operation is performed. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates some 138 million women have undergone the operation.

Demand for Skilled Circumcisers

    Her dank mud hut in a Somali refugee camp in Hartishek, southeastern Ethiopia - surrounded by flies and insects - serves as the makeshift operating room. But the operations are not confined to the women in refugee camps. Many Somalis who have fled abroad to avoid the decade long war that has ravaged their country, return to the Horn of Africa - and particularly Ethiopia - for the operation.

Skilled circumcisers are often sought out, charging up to US $50 for a child who has flown in from abroad.

African leaders have come under pressure to outlaw the controversial practice. The European Union (EU) has threatened action such as withdrawing aid against third world countries which refuse to ban FGM. Yet only Britain, Norway and Sweden have outlawed the procedure among immigrant populations in Europe. It is also banned in the US and Canada.
Raising Awareness

Maryan Siad has refused to allow her two young daughters to undergo the operation. Her husband, as a result, has threatened to divorce her if the girls, who are currently four and five, never marry.

"Men do not want to marry girls who have not had this done," she says. "The shame is enormous. Often a woman would have to leave her village if it was known she was open."

Maryan took her stand after years of painful reminders from the operation. She lost the use of her bladder and suffered from serious fistula problems.

Midwife Maryan Yusef, who works for the British charity Save the Children, tries to convince the women in Hartishek camp to take a similar stand against the practice.

"They are listening and they are aware of the dangers," she says. The charity uses the circumcisers to help warn of the dangers. The message, in a region where literacy among women is around 20 percent, is conveyed through plays and songs. The plays attract large crowds who all claim to have stopped the practice.

"Many of the circumcisers are now helping us by telling women they have stopped practising," said Maryan. "We also have women and men taking part in plays to get the message across."

Save the Children estimates that the number of operations in Hartishek camp has dropped as a direct result of its awareness-raising programme. It now plans to take its programme further afield.

But preventing FGM is an uphill struggle. It is deeply ingrained in the cultures of the countries that perform it and provides a lucrative business to the circumcisers.

Organisations like SCF-UK try to help the circumcisers by training them to become traditional birth attendants to ensure they do not lose their income. But some women continue to use income from the FGM to supplement their already meagre existence.

As Kaeja, who performed the procedure on two of her aughters, admits: "If someone came today then yes I would do it. I need the money. I have to provide for my children. We don't want to. We now know the dangers, but many people here are poor."

Box 1. BBC World Service, 3 March, 2002, 11:41 GMT Muslims condemn genital mutilation The women want to tackle negative images of Islam By the BBC's Flora Botsford in Cordoba, Spain Delegates at an international conference on women and Islam have heard a strong condemnation of female genital mutilation - the practice known as female circumcision. The controversial topic was not part of the official agenda, but came up in discussions on domestic violence. 200 women are attending the conference The organisers say the practice is not recommended in the Koran, and has too often been mistaken by people in the West as an Islamic custom. The conference has brought together more than 200 Muslim women - most of them living in Spain - although speakers have included women from Libya, Sudan and Iran. Organisers say they are hoping to counteract the predominantly negative image in the Western media of Islam and Islamic women, which has been exacerbated by the 11 September bombings and the American-led war on terrorism. Too often, they say, this comes from ignorance or misunderstanding, as in the case of female genital mutilation - this is traditional practice in some African societies, and has got nothing to do with the Muslim faith or the Koran, say the organisers. Integration issues Kamila Toby, co-ordinator of the World Congress of Muslim Women, says the subordination of women in general was also a misinterpretation of the Muslim holy book. "Muslim women are equal in Islam," she said, adding that many countries have become confused between "what is their culture and what is Islam". Delegates have also discussed some of the difficulties of Muslim immigrants in Spain - seen recently in the row over a Muslim teenager who was initially refused permission to wear a headscarf in school. One of the speakers said it was a mistake to confuse integration with the obligation to adapt to Western customs. Muslim women wanted to be part of a multi-cultural society, but they should be free to choose their own style of dress, to exercise their right to work, to marry, divorce, to have children or not. Above all, she said, they must be given an education and a voice which can be heard. See also: US may ban genital mutilation parents US authorities threaten to bar the settlement in America of Somalis carrying out female circumcision on their daughters. Muslims condemn genital mutilation A conference on the role of Islamic women in society hears condemnation of the practice of female circumcision. Niger's genital mutilation campaign An NGO in Niger begins a campaign against genital mutilation - which is widely practised on girls and young women in rural areas. African woman sentenced for genital mutilation An African woman has been sentenced to eight years in prison by a court in France for the genital mutilation of young girls. Woman on trial in Paris for female genital mutilation A woman has gone on trial in Paris accused of the genital mutilation of around fifty young girls. Female genital mutilation banned in Senegal The government of the West African state of Senegal has banned the practice known as female circumcision, which involves the genital mutilation of young girls. Togo bans female genital mutilation The Togo parliament has banned the genital mutilation of women under new legisation carrying penalties of up to ten years in jail. Egyptian court upholds ban on female genital mutilation The highest administrative court in Egypt has upheld an official ban on female genital mutilation, or female circumcision. 'Thousands suffer mutilation each day' An international conference on violence against women is told of the extent of female genital mutilation. Cutting out a tradition in Mali Producer Ruth Evans describes how methods as diverse as weaving projects and musical theatre are fighting the practice of female genital mutilation in Mali. EU tackles female mutilation Campaigners from Africa call for clear recognition by the European Union that female genital mutilation is an abuse of basic human rights. Changing attitudes to female circumcision Sudanese health campaigner says that more work needs to be done to change the minds of women in the fight against female genital mutilation.

http://www.unicef.org/teachers/wishbook/ A Very Sad Story Halima tells another story... "Let me tell you, I had difficulties with all my deliveries. Every time I had to go to hospital. I lost four of my babies. I have had twelve pregnancies and each time I had this terrible pain in my side. When I trained as a midwife I found out why I had these problems. It was because I was circumcised. Ever since my mummy had me circumcised, I have had problems. During my childhood I had problems urinating because the stitches left so little space. Then when I started my period the blood would not come out as it should. This was because of the same blockage. And when I married I had another problem. I did not enjoy lovemaking. I am telling you all, mothers, fathers, daughters, this custom must stop." Facts on Female Genital Mutilation FGM is performed on girls aged between 6 and 10 and can cause: haemorrhaging feeling of shock infection of the genital area difficulty in release of urine injury to surrounding flesh Long Term Complications Caused by FGM Problems in childbirth: The mother's labour may be obstructed. This can be fatal for both mother and baby. She may suffer permanent injury and infection Other possible long-term problems: infertility recurring urinary tract infections blockage of menstrual fluid causing infections incontinence painful pelvic infections severe scar tissue cysts constant pain around the genital area sexual problems for both partners Take Action Fact: In Somalia the mortality rate of mothers is one of the highest in the world. Voices from the Boroma Women's Organizations "Female circumcision is not based on any Muslim religious instruction. In fact it is prohibited within our religion. But we only recently understood this and now we are all working to stop this dangerous practice." "Many mothers still have their girls circumcised. But this is against the Rights of the Child. Mothers and children, parents, everyone needs to learn about this." What do you think about this? Do you want this practice to stop? Discuss this with others. Together see if you can find the solution to this problem. "I have the right to live without abuse...." UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Copyright c UNICEF

After refusing to integrate their pious and better-trained militia with the TNG's forces, the judiciary lost its role in local law enforcement. As a result, the role of the judiciary is limited to administering a small number of Mogadishu prisons.

One substantial effort of the TNG has been to gain public confidence by removing uncontrolled militia from the streets of Mogadishu. The initial phase of this exercise (still ongoing) has not been demobilisation per se, but rather the conscription of militia into training camps to form a national army and police force. This has made the streets of Mogadishu only slightly safer, although indiscriminate banditry, rapes and carjacking continue even in areas of supposed TNG control. Given that the conscripted militia maintain their clan-based commanders and elders, the TNG forces cannot be expected to act as unequivocal supporters of the TNG when confronting opposition warlords. In fact, when clashes with militia factions do occur, as happened with Hussein Aideed at the Mogadishu seaport in May 2001, the TNG military is not even called to respond. Rather, the fighting is done by the personal militia of businessmen loyal to the TNG (UN-IRIN, 2001).

...and Lucrative Cartel

If the TNG is so dysfunctional as a formal government structure, how can its continuing survival and the support of the Mogadishu business community be explained? After all, Mogadishu remains one of the most violent cities in the world and political rivalries are regularly settled at gunpoint. To answer this question, it is necessary to analyse the personal relations, clan networks and financial flows that benefit the inner circle of TNG supporters. This is the key to understanding its strategic importance and prospects for success. At the same time, it reveals a far more sophisticated political arrangement at work that leads one to question: how democratic the Arta process really was.

It is no coincidence that the TNG, led by President Abdiqasim Salad Hasan (whose clan genealogy is Hawiye: Habr Gedir:Ayr:Absiye), was established through a peace process led by the Government of Djibouti. Abdurahman Boreh, one of the key financiers of the Arta conference and the eminence grise to President of Djibouti Ismael Omar Guelleh, has long-standing business connections in Mogadishu (ION, 2000a). For instance, both prior to and following the Arta conference, Boreh has been a key investor in the SomTel communications company with the TNG's first Prime Minister, Ali Khalif (ION, 2000b). Boreh was also financially connected to a group of Mogadishu businessmen that continue to support the TNG's operating costs.

Most notably, this group includes Mohamed Deilaf (also from the Ayr:Absiye clan). Deilaf was a relatively unknown entrepreneur before the civil war, but capitalised on aid contracts to transport food and exchange dollars into local currency for international relief agencies (i.e. ICRC, WFP, ADRA and others). This launched him into large-scale trading activities. He is known for importing food and non-food items into Somalia, primarily Brazilian sugar, and then transporting them onwards to Kenya and the greater Horn of Africa region without paying duty. Given the financial and legal problems of conducting such an operation without banks or national certificates, Boreh has invested in Deilaf's enterprise by accessing letters of credit from Djiboutian banks and registering bills of lading destined for Djibouti port (ION, 1999b and also Marchal, 1996).

As one of the richest and most powerful men in Mogadishu, Deilaf had little trouble recruiting other businessmen to co-finance the TNG. In fact, he has long been the nexus of a cartel of pious businessmen who supported the emergence of Shari'a Courts in south Mogadishu and Lower Shabelle. The failure of Somalia's militia-factions to provide a stable investment and trade environment motivated Mogadishu businessmen to identify an alternative to the inefficient and costly protection racket established by the feuding warlords (ION, 1999c). This brought together a number of influential Hawiye traders and hotel owners, such as Abdirashid Elqrete (Hawiye:Habr Gedir:Saad), Haju Abukar Adan (Hawiye:Abgal:Warsangeli), Abdulkadir Enow (Hawiye:Abgal:Warsangeli) and Hussein Golei (Hawiye:Habr Gedir:Ayr). These and a dozen other key businessmen are all involved in lucrative sectors of food aid transport, remittance banking, telecommunications, construction or management of small beach ports near Mogadishu.

While the TNG's formal bureaucracy is not functioning, the strength of the TNG emanates from the symbiotic relationship with this group of businessmen that dominates the regional currency supply, import markets and other UN/NGO contracts. The businessmen have provided a range of services to TNG members, including the provision of houses, hotel rooms, office and home furnishings and food stuffs (ION, 2001). Even more importantly, it is these individuals who provide security services and vehicles for key members of the TNG, as well as engaging in battles with warlords opposed to the TNG. Although this support forms the backbone of the TNG's military and economic capacity, it is not officially part of the institutional structures comprising the administration. This explains the ability of the TNG to disavow its hand in any of the recent violent confrontations with Hussein Aideed and others.

For a year and a half now, speculation has been rife that the support of key businessmen will wane unless the TNG is successful in establishing order and collecting taxes to pay for its own daily operating costs. The TNG has been able to acquire only limited supplies of hard currency through foreign aid. Despite vociferous diplomatic support from the United Nations, the international community has been very slow to release new aid flows to the TNG. To date, direct assistance from the UN and EU to the TNG has included little more than limited training of parliamentarians, socio-economic studies of the potential for demobilisation, and the supply of excess desks and computers. In terms of hard cash transfers, only the support from Saudi Arabia and Libya mentioned above has been forthcoming. This is hardly an amount comparable to the regular operating costs of the TNG, when one includes salaries and offices for parliamentarians and the cost of payments to militia in the demobilisation camps.

However, there is a serious fallacy behind speculation that business support for the TNG will dwindle unless it becomes self-financing. Even in the absence of further support, some Mogadishu businessmen have already benefited from the TNG. It must be recalled that the Somali business community has long paid extortionate rent to the militia for protection. This is simply part of the cost doing business in Somalia. By supporting the TNG rather than militia factions or the Shari'a Courts, key Mogadishu businessmen are no longer paying a rent that is entirely unrecoverable. Rather, they are using the same money that they would inevitably pay for protection to invest in the TNG with hopes of future returns in the form of international aid. Even if the Saudi and Libyan donations are only one-off gestures of support, that is more money than businessmen ever received from the likes of Hussein Aideed or Osman Atto.

The TNG's use of the $15 million provided by Saudi Arabia gives an example of how this symbiotic relationship between the TNG and Mogadishu businessmen works. The arrival of the Saudi aid in hard currency provided the businessmen an opportunity to realise a new source of revenue that went above and beyond their regular profit. There were two conduits for this exchange of money. First, the TNG used the Saudi money to repay handsomely the support of their financiers who had maintained receipts for all of the services provided to the TNG to date, and were able to to claim portions of the Saudi aid directly from the TNG's coffers. According to informed sources within the TNG, the amounts charged for individual services clearly outstripped the real cost incurred and provided for a handsome profit.

Second, at the same time the Saudi aid arrived, the TNG was forced by public outcry to confront rampant inflation and devaluation of the Somali Shilling. The devaluation of the Shilling was caused by the introduction of a massive consignment of new banknotes by the very same businessmen identified above. Over the past ten years, in the absence of a formally recognised government or central bank, Somali businessmen and faction leaders have regularly procured new notes from printers in Canada, Indonesia and Malaysia (see UNDOS, 1999). To mop up the excess Shillings, the TNG held an auction of the remaining hard currency supplies to mop up excess local currency. Only the Mogadishu traders close to the TNG and involved in the money printing were able to participate in this auction, which offered an extremely favourable exchange rate (information from interviews conducted by the author).

In this exchange, the TNG's financiers were able to make three forms of profit from their initial investment in printing and shipping costs. Thes included 1) the original seigniorage (i.e. the difference between the market value of the printed money and the cost of its production), 2) the opportunity for arbitage through the controlled introduction of the new currency into the Mogadishu market, and 3) the sale of a portion of their remaining Shilling stocks to the TNG at favourable exchange rates. Simultaneously, the Mogadishu businessmen continue to make money from their regular trading activities and services to international aid agencies.

Conclusion

In practice, the TNG comprises two separate structures. First, the TNG has established an intricate bureaucracy that resembles the structure of a formal state institution. That bureaucracy does not function and no investments are being made to increase its capacity. Second, the TNG rests on a unique and powerful relationship between key Mogadishu businessmen and senior government officials, nearly all of whom are drawn from the Hawiye clan. They use their private sector connections to wield power by controlling the flow of trade in Mogadishu and financing large standing militias under the guise of business protection.

Politically, the modus operandi of the TNG is clear. Its institutions serve to gain social acceptance and co-opt potent political forces, such as the Shari'a Courts, in weak government roles. This is a means of neutralising their potential opposition towards the TNG. An economic modus operandi also seems to be emerging. Rather than struggling for territorial control in the face of staunch military opposition, the TNG is trying to squeeze its challengers - those businessmen who continue to support other militia factions - out of the trade market entirely.

By undermining the ability of the warlords to finance their struggle, President Abdiqasim hopes to force them to sue for peace and slowly extend his authority. To succeed with these strategies, the TNG President must find a way to manage the dissent of its MPs and Cabinet, while sharing the profits of trade and aid with supportive businessmen. If this can be accomplished, it may be that only continued Ethiopian military support for his rivals in the SRRC prevents the TNG's opposition from total collapse. However, until the TNG's financiers begin to invest in the functional capacity of the TNG's bureaucracy to provide security and essential services for the Mogadishu public, it makes little sense for the international community to support what amounts to little more than a business cartel.
References

1. Indian Ocean Newsletter (2002), 'Somalia: TNG Threatened with Desertion', Issue 984, Paris; (2001), 'Somalia: A Thrifty (Not) Government', Issue 976, Paris; (2000a), 'Djibouti/Somalia:Boreh Is a Happy Man', Issue 917, Paris; (2000b), 'Somalia: Business Picks Up', Issue 925, Paris; (1999a), 'Djibouti/Ethiopia: Mister Sheraton', Issue 871, Paris; (1999b), 'Somalia: Islamist Militia Offensive', Issue 879, Paris; (1999c), 'Somalia: Warlords May Be Sidelined', Issue 878, Paris.
2. Le Sage, A (2001), 'Prospect for Al Itihad and Islamist Radicalism in Somalia', Review of African Political Economy, vol. 27, no. 89.
3. Marchal, R (1996), 'The Post Civil War Somali Business Class', Research Report for the European Commission Somalia Unit, Nairobi.
4. UNDOS (1999), 'The Macroeconomy of Somalia - A Conceptual View', UNDP-Somalia, Nairobi.
5. UN - IRIN (2001), 'Somalia: Fighting at port challenges interim government', 12 May, Nairobi.

Some Yemeni businessmen are in talks with the Somaliland government on the resumption of livestock exports.

BBC Worldwide Monitoring, October 10, 2002, Source: Radio HornAfrik, Mogadishu, in Somali 0500 gmt 10 Oct 02

Yemen has good business relations with the self-declared administration of Somaliland. The two-man delegation was received at Hargeysa airport by the foreign minister of the self-declared administration of Somaliland, Muhammad Farah Ges...

The president named Abdiqadir Muse Muhammad as the new police commissioner. The deputy is Muhammad Shir third name indistinct .

The president praised the replaced police officers highly for their service and said they were replaced because of various shortcomings. He urged the former officers to hand over power to the new heads.

Despite the lack of active media coverage of Somaliland, the country has been resurrecting from unreported genocide (verified by the UN) to the establishment of a vibrant democracy that has seen three peaceful transition of power, a referendum on reclamation of self-rule and a constitution for the new republic and now the preparation for a multi-party election. All these have been achieved without any external support and acknowledgement. It is understandable that media always seek sensations and thus may have not noticed the great strides achieved in statecraft by the people of Somaliland. However, it is inexcusable to accept the total lack of interest by our governments who has very important interests in the political developments in the collapsed state of Somalia. As Kenyans we believe that amongst other our core national interests include our territorial integrity as a country, security of our people and economic development and thus we propose that Somaliland's aspirations for statehood should be examined on the basis of how that would impact on the said interests.

While officially launching the book "Search for a new Somali identity" that has been authored by a respected Somali ambassador, Husayn Ali Dualeh, Raila has opened the debate on the Somali question, which incidentally has been very challenging to our country since independence. This a question that all political actors in the country including our fine political columnists should explore and ask all the pretenders to the throne to state their foreign policy (that is if they have any) as regards Somalia as the other option is to let Djibouti and Ethiopia who also have stakes in Somalia do the job for us.

Our Forum once again thank R Odinga for bringing this matter to the fore at this important juncture in our political transition.

The UNHCR has donated equipment to Radio Hargeysa which is owned by the self-declared administration of Somaliland.

According to reports from Hargeysa, Mr Stephen Morris, the UNHCR representative handed over the equipment to the information minister of Somaliland, Abdullahi Muhammad Duale. The equipment donated included antennas and studios as heard .

This is the first time the UNHCR has provided such a donation to the Somaliland administration...

The chairman of the committee, Muhammad Muse Diriye, said it was a mistake and totally wrong for the Arta group to stop assuming the plain facts regarding the statehood of Somaliland. "I would advise these men in Mogadishu not to pretend by denying the truth, instead have faith and build for themselves the government that they inherited from Italy," said Mr Diriye, adding that "failure to abandon such crooked mentality by the Arta group and others with a similar view, the Somaliland issue would create further complications and problems that would affect the Horn of Africa region.

"I am warning the people in Mogadishu and the international community, if Somaliland is not left alone, the way it is now, and instead got interfered with, a fresh spark of fire would break out and gutter down the Horn of Africa in general"...

However, the international community's Somalia policy has openly contradicted Somaliland's repeated assertions over the last 10 years that it was not a party to the conflict that has been going on in Somalia. International as well as regional sponsors of the last 13 "peace and reconciliation conferences" held on Somalia since 1991, have one after another committed the terrible mistake of making Somaliland's participation as a preliminary condition for holding each of those meetings. On each occasion, Somalia's warlords, religious extremists and former Siyad Barre associates have never missed to raise Somaliland's consistent absence from "reconciliation talks" as an issue with grave consequences for "Somali unity". Because of this irrelevant issue, focus of "peace conference" deliberations often shifted from achievement of reconciliation between real antagonists of the conflict to the "restoration of Somali unity and Somalia's territorial integrity".

We therefore welcome the new stand by the US and the EU countries expressing respect and understanding for Somaliland's decision not to attend the forthcoming Somali reconciliation conference to be held in Nairobi later this month.

By ending their decade-long policy of confusing the peaceful and stable situation in Somaliland with that of war-ravaged Somalia, the EU and the USA have in fact removed a highly distractive element from the path of the IGAD Inter-Governmental Authority on Development sponsored peace process.

The people of Somaliland are also encouraged by the decision of these countries, recognizing the government of Somaliland as the legitimate and sole political representative of its citizens.

There is no doubt that this new stance by some members of the international community will be viewed by Somalilanders as a kind of reward for their long and lonely struggle for peace and democracy.

We hope that the rest of the international community will follow suit soon.

Raila Somaliland has not been recognized by any country. But in spite of the international isolation, they have made tremendous progress in trying to build an economy out of the ruins of the civil war.

They basically depend on livestock which they sell to other countries and through that they are able to raise sufficient revenue to reconstruct an economy. The economy is fairly liberalized. The foreign currency regime is liberalized. They have a very efficient communication network. They have five independent telephone companies.

The diplomats said Somaliland's decision not to take part in the talks and to be independent was a decision based on the wishes of the people of Somaliland. They said they would respect that decision.

They made it clear that Somaliland could only be represented by its government. This would halt any moves by avaricious ethnic Somalilanders who would want to attend the talks just like some Somali reconciliation talks.

The diplomats made it clear at the news conference that they respected the position adopted by Somaliland not to take part in the talks. They said they viewed Somaliland as a part of the former Somali state which is seeking international recognition. They said no group which claims to represent Somaliland will be allowed to take part in the talks apart from the government of Somaliland...

Demonstrators waived placards which said Somaliland is a sovereign country, we are not part of the Somali peace talks and other slogans.

Hargeysa's mayor, Ahmad Muhammad Mahmud, who took part in the demonstration, told the demonstrators that it was good that they had come out to express their feelings, and urged them to collectively support the Somaliland government.

Opposition parties in Somaliland also participated in the demonstration...

The ambassador pledged to support Somaliland in the information sector.

The envoy who was accompanied the embassy counsellor told the president that he was on a fact-finding mission. He congratulated Somaliland and said the international community was impressed by the success attained by Somaliland. He added that he would like Somaliland to state it position at the Nairobi talks and that they wanted to provide additional medical and education assistance to Somaliland. President Riyale who looked visibly displeased with the Egyptian position which has not changed, said Somaliland's freedom and the restoration of its independence could not be put in jeopardy and that the country would not talk to warring factions from southern Somalia. He said we are not a province which has broken away from its country. He said Egypt knew that Somaliland and Somalia were two sovereign states which joined in the pursuit of Greater Somalia which was popular in 1963 when the OAU was being created.

He said we ask you to remember the recognition granted to us by Egypt on 26 June as Somaliland and to renew it. He said you should not waste time on the matter and that the people of Somaliland had made an irrevocable decision on the matter as expressed by the referendum in which 97 per cent of the people approved the constitution.

The president stressed to the envoy that the people were not ready to hear about reunion with southern Somalia and that they were not opposed to have the two remain two brotherly countries, just as Egypt was with Syria when they unified and later separated.

The meeting was attended by the minister foreign affairs, Muhammad Si'id Ges and Muhammad Abdi Ismail.

The Somaliland president also ordered vehicles not to transport khat from across the border other than taking the commodity from airports. He ordered Somaliland forces based at Hargeysa, Burco, Boorama, Berbera and Ceerigaabo airports to enforce the directive.

The presidential spokesman said that the administration would take severe action against planes and vehicles defying the order.

While in Hargeysa, the delegation is expected to hold talks with businessmen and government officials to discuss business prospect.

Back to Balligubadleh: KULMIYE, Siilaanyo gauge support on Campaign trail

Stopping at the Gumburaha village on their way to the last seat of the SNM leadership where leadership of the movement passed on democratically to Abdulrahman Mohamoud Ali who took over from Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud "Siilaanyo" himself - the longest reigning Chairman and the incumbent leader of KULMIYE party, the touring officers briefly spoke of their objectives to an enthusiastic crowd at the village. Reminiscent of the party's earlier tour of Gebilay, Kalabaydh, Arabsiyo, Allaybaday and other villages along that stretch of land, people appeared to have been fully alerted to the group's composition, beforehand which obviously, was not always the case. What certainly transpired during Friday's tour and the one before it was, however, the appearance of unprecedented crowds of peopleat each stop that, perhaps, wished to relive a solidarity, a one-ness of purpose and the magic of name-recognition that people last experienced during the armed struggle for freedom under Siilaanyo, himself, and the memories they held for people during the 80s.

Not only the name of the leader they revered most at the time, Siilaanyo, alone, was cause enough for all the clamor or the record, spontaneous attendances at each stop the KULMIYE delegation made but, it eventually came to light, other names and faces quickly recalled and associated with one more fulfilling times and the emancipation of Somaliland from a long detested tyrant that were quickly identified in the delegation line up also accounted for much of the zeal and festive reception people demonstrated names that struck memory chords most resonantly included on yesterday's touring delegation included, besides Siilaanyo, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Mohamed Samaleh, Party Secretary General Daud, Mohamed Eid Dhimbil, Ahmed Yusuf Hersi, Abdi Haibeh Mohamed, Basheh Jama Ibrahim, Khadar Abdi Hussein, Abdi Girreh, Abdullahi Ali Asker, Dayr Aw Farah, Omar Abokor and Ali Abdullahi Mohamed all whom were either in the executive or central committees of the party. The marked attraction that the KULMIYE delegation drew at each stop, was to be later in the afternoon explained at Balligubadleh. "We have witnessed support canvassing rallies which three other parties - UDUB, UCID, and BIRSOL - held for us here in Balligubadleh before today's KULMIYE. None has seen a crowd of this size or enthusiasm. It is because of the association faces in this delegation has with the days of Somaliland's struggle for freedom from oppression and tyranty", Elder Mohamed Jama of that district later vocalized. He said that even the presence of the Vice President, himself (UDUB) could not draw such a crowd.

The delegation made its second stop during the tour at Balligubadleh, itself, where it reached just in time for the Jum'a prayers. A sort of preview of what the tide held for the party at Balligubadleh was, perhaps, practically staged at the main Mosque where village elders and religious scholars decided to honor Sheikh Abdul Aziz Mohamed Samaleh, a delegation member, to read the day's sermon- a great honor indeed. Preceded by speakers like Mohamed Eid, Ahmed Yussuf Hersi and Ibrahim Olad who all so eloquently took the crowd through the introduction, background and campaign programs of the party, right after lunch, the Chairman moved over to center stage and the microphone. "Balligubadleh is not new to me or other members of this delegation. To many of us, the town has been the home and main base of operations at a time most of Somaliland was still under the yoke of an oppressive regime", Chairman Siilaanyo began, thus immediately rekindling memories and forging a bridge a common bond between a vividly remembered past and the present it helped create with his audience.

"The present districtship and the kind of pedestal on which Balligubadleh presently sits way above most other districts in Somaliland is mainly due to", Chairman Siilaanyo said, "the crucial role the town played in the liberation struggle", drawing further applause and heartwarming grunts from the gathered populace. The Chairman went on to explain the need for fair play and civic mindedness in the conduct of ballots during the forthcoming elections. He asked his audience to always observe and respect the constitutional, fundamental rights of the individual to vote for the political party of his choice. He stressed that the peace and stability of the nation should always be maintained and made to supersede all other consideration.The Chairman, however, drew their attention to the choice he wished Balligubadleh to make by delving back into the past and an analogy that portrayed how one particular bus driver wooed in passengers into his vehicle.The said driver, he said, used to cry congenially but firmly at hesitant travelers by saying: "If travel you must and to Hargeisa you must go, anyway, why not on the Armiye bus?" this he said, always drew a laugh and another fare on his Burao - Hargeisa rode. "This means", he said, laughing with the crowd - if vote you must and for a party of your choice, why should it not be KULMIYE, friends? Why not ride with a platform that has already earned your trust and full respect due to the proven track record of its officers".

The Chairman reminded his audience that the struggle for national identity has just entered its second phase. That reconstruction and overall, even-paced development was required besides a diplomatic recognition can only be achieved through how Somalilanders conducted themselves in the democratic process. He underlines that education, health, physical and social infrastructure all needed new impetus and the parties represented a key to that development Somaliland is so in dire need of. "A healthy competition", he said "through democratic, time-tested trails the multi-party system embodies is what we are looking for. Let not your respective alliances to one party or an other cloud your perspective. Hold --- to your gains and build on them". The Chairman and officers of the party, reporter Abdi Haibeh said, later paid courtesy visits to Sultan Mohamed Sultan Farah and the newly installed Boqor Eissa Haibeh Khayrreh at their homes before passing on to the site of the old command base of the SNM from which he once commanded. The delegation returned to Hargeisa late on Friday evening.

Reminiscent of the party's earlier tour of Gebilay, Kalabaydh, Arabsiyo, Allaybaday and other villages along that stretch of land, people appeared to have been fully alerted to the group's composition beforehand, which obviously was not always the case. What certainly transpired during Friday's 27 September tour and the one before it was, however, the appearance of unprecedented crowds of people at each stop that, perhaps, wished to relive a solidarity, a one-ness of purpose and the magic of name-recognition that people last experienced during the armed struggle for freedom under Mr Silanyo himself, and the memories they held for people during the 80s...

The marked attraction that the Kulmiye delegation drew at each stop, was to be later in the afternoon explained at Balligubadleh. "We have witnessed support canvassing rallies which three other parties - UDUB, UCID, and BIRSOL - held for us here in Balligubadleh before today's Kulmiye. None has seen a crowd of this size or enthusiasm. It is because of the association faces in this delegation has with the days of Somaliland's struggle for freedom from oppression and tyranty", Elder Mohamed Jama of that district later vocalized... The chairman Silanyo reminded his audience that the struggle for national identity has just entered its second phase. That reconstruction and overall, even-paced development was required besides a diplomatic recognition can only be achieved through how Somalilanders conducted themselves in the democratic process...

The ministers will hold talks with officials of the labour organization on how to create employment in Somaliland. The ministers will also visit, Nairobi, Kenya, and hold talks on the relations between Somaliland and donor organizations.

The president further said that Somaliland was preparing for elections, and urged the US government to support it.

The delegation said it would convey the message to the US government.

It is expected to visit parts of Somaliland during its fact finding mission, with emphasis on the town of Boorama in western Somaliland .

The delegation was headed by Leonard Rogers, the USAID deputy assistant administrator in Washington, USA. Mr Rogers informed the president that he was on a fact-finding mission to Somaliland so as to include it in aid disbursement programmes on priority basis. These includes the Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Education and Hargeysa mayoral chambers. Mr Rogers said the delegation will also visit Boorame District.

The president reminded the delegation from Washington that it had been previously discussed that USAID opens an office in Somaliland. He said it was necessary that the office is opened to serve this country. Kahin said despite the livestock ban imposed on Somaliland, the country through cooperation, and trust in Allah, has been making progress every day. He said the country is currently moving from clan-based politics to pluralism and was preparing for general elections. The president also discussed areas of need which include education, health, water, animal husbandry and industry sectors.

Mr Rogers told the president that the International Republican Institute is the body mandated to tackle issues pertaining to elections. He said the body was proficient in dealing with parties and elections matters.

The delegation was accompanied by officials from UNICEF and CARE which are based in Nairobi. The delegation which arrived in the country yesterday will leave tomorrow.

The meeting was attended by the minister of the presidency, Nuh Ahmad Usman.

Ahmad Muhammad Mahmud Silanyo tour Gabiley District

The officials thanked the people for the cordial welcome accorded to them.

Silanyo said in his speech that the upcoming elections will be a brotherly contest. He also expounded the party's agenda if it is elected. He urged the people to fight for peace and brotherhood and to ensure that we attain development.

The officials also talked about the party's manifesto in education, health, and in social development issues.

US agency warns of looming food crisis in Somaliland Sool and Sanaag region

Calving rates, milk reproduction and livestock value had been affected during the third consecutive year of below normal rainfall in the region. Lack of access to boreholes for livestock was becoming a growing problem, reported FEWS, which caused stress and reduced reproduction rates among female livestock. Households in Dhahar District of Sanaag region had resorted to trucking water to their weakened animals.

In the short-term, there would be a reduction of milk at the household level, leading to inadequate diets and malnutrition especially among mothers and children. In the long-term, herd sizes would be reduced, which would put more strain on the environment as a whole, as pastoralists who had lost major livestock assets turned to other methods of survival such as charcoal burning.

"One of the consequences will be the intensification of environmental degradation and high poverty levels," FEWS warned.

S.T.I.L.L warn foreign not to interfere with the Somali politics.

Any Somalilander living abroad who has shown interest in challenging for a Presidential or any other position to be elected in the next Government he or she should do so in a democratic electoral process .

Those falsely claiming they represent Somalilanders in Europe, America Or Canada must obtain a mandate of their members and clarify their status as politicians affiliated to a Somalilander political body registered in the country they are living in.

Those who are using the Internet attacking individuals indiscriminately with out any reservation have only demonstrated their level of under standing and intelligence. And should not be taken seriously. Somalilanders at home will only decide the faith of their destiny and their representative of their Government. . Those of us living abroad have a responsibility of helping the country in true sense Economically, Educationally and Socially.

We should be proud of our nation and achievements ,and show the rest of the world and our neighbours the true Somaliland image proud ness and tolerance .With the help of Allah we will achieve our aims and objectives in a positive democratic manner. I am sure the nation will continue to support and enjoy the peace and the stability of our country.

Allah Mahad Lah. The days of clan based ideals has long passed. We are a nation now and our judgement must be based on principals on national security and long time interest .I believe most of the contenders of the national election were a team of the Late President Egal's Government at some point who successfully achieved stability and prosperity as a team .I trust that policy should continue as most of that team in that Government are still intact.

Individuals who decided to go alone, form or join another party are free to do so .We expect a fair democratic contest to take place as the whole world including our opponents are focusing on these elections We have already shown the world and demonstrated the democratic election process of transferring power to the vice President when the last President passed away. .Also how the referendum was conducted .was an evident of the true democratic of Somalilanders. We wish you every success and a peaceful elections .

Allah Mahaad Lah.

Haji Mohamed Abillahi Abby, President of S.T.I.L.L

The visit by Kulmiye party officials is part of the election campaign by political parties. Speeches by the officials were hailed by people in Gabiley and Kalabaydh. The officials thanked the people for the cordial welcome accorded to them.

Silanyo said in his speech that the upcoming elections will be a brotherly contest. He also expounded the party's agenda if it is elected. He urged the people to fight for peace and brotherhood and to ensure that we attain development.

The officials also talked about the party's manifesto in education, health, and in social development issues.

Of the 2,000 refugees registered this year by the UNHCR and the ONARS, 349 people returned to the towns of Harirad, Abdulkadir and Hargeysa, capital of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland.

DEYR RAINFALL BEGINS IN NORTH WEST : As a result of the poor Gu rains, the FSAU and Horn Relief reported last month that about 25,000 Somali pastoralists in the Sool Plateau in north-western Somalia faced increasing food insecurity. The high cost of water has weakened the purchasing power of the poor pastoralists and scarcity of quality pastures has weakened the livestock of better-off groups. Food access is threatened by increasingly restricted income opportunities. Good Deyr rains in October will be critical to improving food security in the Sool Plateau, as well as in the neighbouring Sanaag region, and to prevent conditions in other pastoral and agro-pastoral areas from taking a further turn for the worse. Recent rains are offering hope that the Deyr will bring some essential recovery.
NORTH WEST SOMALIA

The Togdheer Agro-Pastoral Food Economy Zone lying between Burao and Hargeisa has been particularly hard-hit this year. Usually one of the better-endowed food economy zones, households in this area suffered severe crop losses whose impact has been worsened because of the lack of labour opportunities. The Northwest Agro-pastoral Zone from Hargeisa through Gebiley to Boroma saw considerable recovery following good Karin rains in August. Crop production is still thought to be below normal. However, this estimate may be revised again in October, following the completion of the season.
Three : Livestock Exports September 2002

Type	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Shoats	2,814,495	957,224	2,048,136	1,601,083	42,554	178,777
Cattle	66,939	92,213	89,967	63,263	13,962	14,936
Camels	50,587	11,663	37,430	16,984	2,660	12,354

Berbera Port Authority

It is estimated that two-thirds of the gross domestic production (GDP) for central and northern Somalia is based on livestock production and marketing. Despite the gradual resumption of exports, pastoralists have suffered from reduced income because of lost sales. As shown in Figure Four shoat exports in 2002 (compared with a normal year - 1977) reduced 56 percent (from 3,308,815 heads in 1977 to 1,459,545 heads in 2002). In value terms, pastoralists lost 1,849,270 heads, which is the equivalent of US$46,231,750. Not only have pastoralists lost sales, but their purchasing power has deteriorated as livestock prices reduced by up to 60 percent (from US$25 per goat in a normal year to US$10 per goat in 2002). Job opportunities have also been affected, particularly for herders, rural brokers, water suppliers, transporters, exporters, pen owners, animal care-takers, fodder sellers and veterinary personnel. This has also affected the ability of pastoralists to purchase imported commodities.

Traders have spared no efforts to find alternative markets. Egypt is beginning to accept shipments of camels and other livestock from Djibouti, knowing full well that many of them originate in Somalia or the Somali region of Ethiopia. Marketing initiatives have been created by traders who have installed slaughterhouses in Mogadishu and Galkayo, often in an unsand insecure environment. Even though this type of business is new to Somali traders they have achieved it with unpredicaccess to water, electricity and freezing equipment. FAO reports that the number of goats being slaughtered for meat is raising questions about the sustainability of supply. However, this new industry will probably never replace the number of live animals sold for the Hajj, unless small meat exports to India expand considerably in the next few years.

It is not known when the import ban will be lifted, but it is likely to take time for livestock health surveillance and inspection procedures to be put in place. The Middle East Commission of the Office Int\'e9rnational des Epizooties (World Body for Animal Health) made it clear at a recent meeting held in Tunis that the issue is not Rift Valley Fever, the alleged cause that triggered the livestock import ban. It is the lack of a credible system for effective health certification of livestock and livestock products. Such systems, which require a functioning and effective veterinary service take time to build.

POTATO PRODUCTION IS REVIVING SANAAG REGION
Potato Producing Areas

Sanaag region is located in the eastern part of Somaliland, bordering Sool region to the south, Togdheer to the west, Bari to the east and the Red Sea to the north. See Figure Four below. Figure Four : Potato Producing Areas in Sanaag region With a population of 150,000-200,000, Sanaag region is one of the remotest in Somaliland with almost no developed infrastructure. Unlike the neighboring lowlands, the Golis Mountains of Sanaag Region receives relatively good rainfall, about 300-400mm per anum. The Golis Mountain waterfalls are the source of numerous streams between the mountains that provide enough water for livestock and human consumption, as well as crop production throughout the year. In addition, the area has a unique cool climate, which is favorable to crop production, especially horticulture. Four food economy groups (pastoral, urban, fishing, agropastoral) are found in Sanaag region but this article focuses on the agro-pastoral group who grow crops on the foothills of the Golis Mountains in Erigavo, Eel Afweyn and Badhan districts. Their livelihood revolves around horticulture and shoat keeping.

The Agro-pastoralists grow various cash and food crops such as potatoes, cabbages, tomatoes and onions and a variety of fruit crops from their trees. Farmers and key informants (nine interviews were carried out between 1-5 September) agreed that 50-60 percent of their land was actually allocated to potato farming.

Horticultural farming and potato production has been an important food and income source for the Golis agropastoral food economy zone in Sanaag region. Various joint initiatives/projects specifically aimed at improving potato production at the farm level were implemented by the former Somali government and donor agencies. It is noteworthy that the sector has expanded significantly even without much outside attention over the past decade.

Potatoes, tomatoes and onions produced in the area could be made more profitable. There are good markets in the main towns of Somaliland and Puntland where demand is high. Supply from the Golis agropastoral zone reaches Erigavo, Burao, Laasanood, Garowe and Bossaso towns. The cash crop sector is, however, facing some serious constraints. These include water management and irrigation problems due to uneven topography, poor production and marketing skills (particularly for those who only recently turned to horticulture) and low farm-gate prices. Water run-off from the Golis Mountains erodes a significant part of arable land each season, to the extent that some households who previously owned relatively large farms are now in danger of loosing their entire productive land. In the longterm, this may constrain the availability of productive land, particularly for those who cannot afford to own land through inheritance or purchase.

Of late, drought has been more frequent in neighboring prime grazing areas like Sool Plateau, Hadeed and Hawd ecozones, which host the largest livestock population in Somaliland. Consequently, many pastoralists experienced a reduction in herd size and often well below a sustainable level. This has resulted in a remarkable shift from pastoralism to agropastoralism. The number of poor pastoral households who joined the agropastoral food economy group continues to increase. The Golis agropastoral group also expanded with the advent of the first livestock trade ban by the Gulf states in 1998, when many households, in order to minimize risks, cultivated the neighboring fertile land and diversified their food and income sources.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Horticultural farming in Sanaag region provides livelihood sources for a population of up to 25,000-30,000 people directly or indirectly through employment and trade. Horticulture has the potential to grow and employ even more people, especially poor pastoralists and small traders (mainly women) in urban centres. It is, therefore, important to explore existing opportunities in the sector and verify ways of tackling current constraints. This could be achieved in a more in-depth study (30-40 days) of the full range of viable economic options. The outcome could help decision-makers, local authorities, NGOs, farmers and traders in the region earn steady and remunerative income.
EARLY DEYR RAINS COMMENCE IN THE NORTH EAST AND NORTH WEST

1-10 September 11 - 20 September 21 - 30 September Satellite imagery shows light and patchy rainfall in the northwestern, northeastern as well as southern parts of Southern Somalia in the first dekad (1-10 September). However, in the second dekad (11-20 September) heavy rains were received in these two areas as well as the lower Juba Valley regions, particularly Afmadow, Kismayu and Jamame districts. In the third dekad, localised rains were also received in parts of Bay, Hiran and Galgadud regions. Field reports confirm the early start of the Deyr rains. Agropastoralists and farmers are however concerned about the early start of Deyr rainfall and face a dilemma whether to plant early or not, as they are not sure about the rainfall pattern and are trying to avoid the cost of replanting due to uneven crop germination, given the high price of seeds. Normally the Deyr crop production contributes approximately 35 percent to the annual output.
SANAG AND TOGDHEER

Apart from certain pockets both regions received Deyr rains earlier than expected during the first dekad of this month -- although the intensity of the rains was not good enough to regenerate browse and pasture. Pastoralists in both regions started their normal seasonal movements. The berkads and balleys in both regions are half or fully filled - apart from certain pockets in the Hawd of Togdheer. The availability of pasture and water is still below normal. Gebi Valley which had been badly affected by drought has made a good recovery. The Sool Plateau of eastern Sanag received significant Deyr Rains in the first week of September. Rain improved the availability of pasture and water though livestock production is far below normal. There was a high mortality rate and rate of abortion during the last hagai -- and pastoralists in this area will not immediately recover. The poor households within the Agro-pastoralist group and even middle wealth households failed to cultivate their farm lands due to the effect of crop failure in the past seasons. Only better off households planted.
NORTH WEST AND AWDAL

Rain continued in most parts of the region during September while the coastal belt remained dry and hot -- rains are expected in the beginning of October. Pasture and grazing is considered normal for the time of year. The continuity of rains has significantly improved crop condition and the establishment of replanted maize and sorghum during the seasons of 2002. Crop harvest assessment will commence the third week of October. Water is available although the Karure borehole in Lughaya district and is still broken -- hindering water availability in Karure district. Construction activities have contributed to employment in urban areas.

SOOL REGION

**Note Sool is an administrative region and the Sool Plateau is a geographical area and a food economy zone. In the latter there are 26,500 vulnerable people. The former covers mostly the Nugal valley where there isn't so much vulnerability, except the north-east corner of Taleh and parts of Hudun, which are in the Sool plateau. Weather conditions in Sool region are encouraging as rains started early in the month, filling many berkads and balleys which helped to regenerate pasture. Milk production has improved and the price declined from 14000Ssh (litre) last month, to 9,000Ssh this month.The area of concern which covers the Sool plateau in parts of Taleh and Hudun districts continues to be of concern. It is estimated that around 9,100 people are unable to acquire their basic food needs, due to the ongoing drought and persistent water shortages. Households from Sool Plateau cannot move to Nugal because the pastue in the latter has been depleted and is awaiting rejuvenation from the Deyr rains. On the plateau, there is more pasture but no water causing people to switch expenditure from foodstuffs to this vital commodity.

1. The 1992 war around Berbera.
2. The 1994 - 1996 clashes between the government and one Isaak clan militia.
3. The failure of the Administration to pay sufficient attention to the affairs of the region.
4. The emergence in 1998 of a regional state in the Majerteen enclave of Puntland whose territorial claim to the region has not been sufficiently challenged by the Somaliland authorities.

The president and the delegation also discussed other issues including the relations between Somaliland and its neighbours and the Nairobi peace talks...

Regarding the Nairobi peace talks, the president said the talks were similar to all Somali peace talks and that they were not relevant to Somaliland...

The President asked the Swedish delegation to help build the country and attain recognition. The meeting was attended by Somaliland's minister of foreign affairs, Qasim Shaykh Yusuf.

• a. Coordination and Consulting:
  (1) UNDP established a Resettlement Coordination Group in September 2001 that is composed of Government bodies, UN agencies, and international and local Non Governmental Organizations NGOs). This group meets on a weekly basis to coordinate plans and activities in IDP and returnee settlement areas.
  (2) UNDP has developed an Integrated Area Development Plan of Action for Reintegration in consultation with government, NGOs, civil society the private sector, and recipient communities. This was presented at a multi-stakeholder workshop in Hargeisa in May 2002.
  (3) Interagency Settlement Areas Assessments have been conducted in Hargeisa and Burao with funding from UNDP. These assessments have involved all the key stakeholders and have been participatory in method, thus fully incorporating the views of recipient communities. The assessments included a survey of 800 households and over 20 focus groups from IDP and returnee communities in Hargeisa.
• b. Projects implemented specifically for IDPs in Somaliland
  (1) Emergency assistance has been provided to Dami IDPs including household items, cooking pots and blankets.
  (2) Fifty-three latrines have been constructed in Dami camp in addition to a community center.
  (3) Training and education regarding hygiene and sanitation.
  (4) Bridges have been constructed across seasonal rivers separating Shiek Nur and Mohamed Moogeh settlement areas from Hargeisa town center.

How can I say something about you?
• Where shall I start?
• You are not brave enough.
• Your are not kind enough.
• You are not wise enough.
• You are a dust storm
• And a summer drought.
• You are an empty wind
• And a bad harvest.
• You are made of a bad clay.

1. Where does all this money come from?
2. It doesn't come from people's work.
3. Who paid for?
4. All theses colorfully decorated houses?
5. Where do these Japanese cars come from?
6. When most people have nothing?
7. They do not come from the sky.
8. These people are flaunting their wealth instead of hiding their shame.
9. Don't they know that they will have to stand for their crimes?
10. That there will be a day of reckoning?

• All things that were hidden
• Are now unveiled
• Gone are the days of genteel language
• Lo, the poets have formed two antagonistic camps.

The term 'Tugdheer', originally used in this piece, was susbsitututed for its cousin, Togdheer, to conform to current usage.

Since the livelihood of the Plateau's population revolves directly or indirectly around pastoralism, this downward trend will have grave food security implications. In the short term there will be a reduction of milk availability at the household level -- hence inadequate diets and malnutrition especially in mothers and children. Asset depletion in the form of fewer animals could therefore be imminent. The long term effect will be the reduction of herds, in terms of numbers of animals and mix of species from necessary levels to sustain pastoralism as a viable way of life. This will put further strain on the rangeland and environment since poor, destitute, drop-out pastoralists (those who lost their livestock assets and those remaining with too few) will try to cope by turning to the collection of bush products, charcoal burning etc. One of the consequences will be the intensification of environmental degradation.
CURRENT FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION SITUATION

According to the FSAU and Horn Relief, which conducted an assessment in July, a population of approximately 25,000 is currently highly food insecure and facing the risk of malnutrition. The majority of this population, divided amongst the regions, is comprised of poor pastoralists who mainly rely on income derived from the sale of livestock and livestock products.

In May 2002, a nutrition survey was conducted in Sanaag Region that showed a high global acute malnutrition rate of 14% reflecting the effects of the preceding prolonged period of food insecurity. Although the Gu rains that followed were not \lquote normal', they brought some relief to the area. The improvement in food security, including the increased availability of and access to milk is likely to have contributed to the improvement in nutritional status reflected in a more recent assessment (FSAU, July 2002).

It is very likely that the current deterioration in food security will reverse this positive trend and cause the nutritional status to deteriorate again. Water prices have recently increased, putting more strain on the already poor purchasing power of the poor pastoralists. Other evidence is that milk production/accessibility has fallen to 50% of the baseline level; livestock prices (especially for local quality goats) decreased by half compared with pre-livestock ban prices. Due to the increased number of people seeking jobs, daily wage rates are only 70% of the baseline level. Social and kinship support has also reduced significantly due to the continual deterioration of the living standard in the Sool Plateau population. The highly food insecure population of approximately 25,000 are in need assistance and livelihood support up to the next (deyr) rainy season due to commence in October -- November 2002. However, later in the year, the movement of pastoralists and their animals should be encouraged back to neighbouring areas (e.g. Nugal, Mudug) and care should be taken over the positioning of relief interventions so as not to disrupt natural migratory patterns. In the final quarter of the year (as shown in the article below) the pasture and water access is expected to improve in surrounding grazing grounds.
SANAG & TOGHDEER

Overall, the food security situation of Sanag / Togdheer regions varies from normal, below normal and far below normal. The situation in Sanag is far more serious than in Togdheer. In many areas of Sanag such as Xadeed, Bancadle, Saraar, eastern/southern parts of Erigavo -- 70 percent of the poor pastoralists are currently getting by on one or two meals a day instead of three. It is estimated that more than 300 urban households in Erigavo are currently getting only 65-70 percent of normal food requirements per day. Livestock herds in Bancadle plains and Xadeed plateau exhausted the last pockets of pasture, about 60 days ago, as a result of overgrazing. Cattle and camel deaths (which commenced several months ago) are continuing with increasing momentum especially among new borns and milking animals. Milk production in the Sanag plains is poor or negligible, levels which have not been observed in the last fifty years. Water shortages in some parts of the Sool Plateau have caused the level of water in wells and boreholes to drop to new lows. In most areas the average price of 200 litres of water is 40,000 SoSh -- too expensive for poor pastoralists. In Sanag and Togdheer, petty trade, import and export activities have declined significantly, over the last month due to the poor purchasing power of the vast majority of the population -- pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and poor urban dwellers. All indicators reflecting food security are considerably below normal -- animal death rates, reproduction rates, demand for export quality animals, pasture and water availability and household cereal reserves. In the Hawd of Togdher there are also water shortages and over grazing but the FSAU Field Monitor reports that groups living in this area should manage until the end of September. The agro-pastoralists of Togdher region who did not receive the karan rains are also vulnerable. Many pooer agropastoral groups have depleted assets after several attempts at reseeding and the extra associated costs with additional tillage result from several difficult seasons and the delayed karan rains.
NORTH WEST & AWDAL

The Karan rains started in the last dekad of July. They have been scattered, sporadic and of varied intensity but are an improvement on the Gu rains -- and have significantly improved the crop condition, especially the sorghum. The Karan rains have also improved pasture and grazing and the livestock body condition is fairly good. Trade links between Djibouti and Somaliland have normalized since the reopening of the border in June. Some livestock traders are taking their animals to Djibouti where they are taken on to Gulf countries. Hence the purchasing power of people is expected to be strengthened. Construction activities are providing employment opportunities and in both regions the sale of charcoal has been observed as a coping mechanism.
SOOL (and the Buhoodle Hawd)

Food insecurity in the previously vulnerable areas of the Sool plateau continue, north of Ainabo district and parts of lower Nugal valley Livestock body condition has deteriorated and there are significant deaths within herds. In Buhoodle Hawd, the level of water in berkads is poor. Prices for water increased and herds out-migrated to the west and Nugaal valley. There are significant shortfalls of milk and other dairy products. One litre of milk is now costing 14,00 SoSl in main markets as compared to 5,000-6,000 SoSl a litre last year. The supply situation of most imported cereals is normal, however cheap sorghum and maize is in short supply in all areas. There is grazing scarcity amongst pastoral groups due to poor gu rains. Overall livestock productivity has declined over the last 2-3 seasons and the cumulative effects are being felt in pastoral communities. Camels are particularly badly affected by malnourishment and if deyr rains do not start on time, the consequences will be devastating.

1. With the news of a slaughtered she-camel
2. Everybody hurried to the scene.
3. The fun will be to see the others
4. Who saw the smoke from the high peaks
5. And will come rushing down the slopes and the ridges.
6. Laughter is a crime.
7. The hero gave his neck.
8. In the shed there was a snake.