The Somaliland government and opposition parties sign new accord.
Jun 11, 2008
Hargeisa(QARAN)-
The Somaliland government and the opposition parties, KULMIYE and UCID have formally signed a new accord at a ceremony in Hargeisa.
At the ceremony held at the Maansor Hotel conference centre and attended by the Somaliland Vice-President Mudane Ahmed Yusuf Yasin, senior members of the Somaliland government, The chair of UCID party, Mudane Faisal Ali Warabe, the deputy chair of KULMIYE, Mudane Muse Bihi Abdi, religious scholars, members of the Somaliland parliament, the Ethiopian ambassador in Somaliland and other guest, the final agreement between all three Somaliland parties, KULMIYE, UCID and the ruling party UDUB was formally signed.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mudane Ahmed Yusuf Yasin paid tribute to all those who had participated in the dialogue, discussion and consensus which have led to the formulation of this accord.Mudane Ahmed Yusuf stated that this agreement will bring a lasting resolution to the recent debates in Somaliland and will enable the National Elections Commission to continue its mandate to administer free and fair elections across the country.
Vice-President Ahmed Yusuf Yasin concluded his brief remarks by stating that all Somalilanders should rejoice as the result of this agreement and continue to follow the time tested formula for resolving any issues through dialogue, discussion and consensus whilst at the same time aware of the difficult economic times not only in Somaliland but across globe affecting food and fuel prices.
Other dignitaries who also made brief comments at the signing of the new accord between the three Somaliland parties included, Mudane Faisal Ali Warabe, chair of the UCID party and Mudane Muse Bihi Abdi, deputy chair of the KULMIYE party who also both paid tribute to the Somaliland people for assuring that recent political debates have been resolved through dialogue, discussion and consensus.
The signatories of the new accord between the three Somaliland parties were as follows:-
For UDUB : The Somaliland Vice-President Mudane Ahmed Yusuf Yasin
For UCID: The Chair of the Party, Mudane Faisal Ali WarabeFor KULMIYE:
The deputy Chair of the Party, Mudane Muse Bihi Abdi
For Somaliland National Elections Commission: Chair, Mohamed Ismail
The main points of the agreement:
1. The Presidential elections will precede the local assembly elections.
2. The voter registration process will completed prior to local assembly elections.
3. The Somaliland National Elections Commission(NEC) will set the date the Presidential elections after the completion of the voter registration process.
4. The Somaliland Presidential election must be take place before 6th of April 2009.
5. Voter registration laws concerning the Somaliland Presidential elections which cannot be implemented in time must be rescinded.
6. The creation of a committee consisting of members from the NEC and the three Somaliland parties to resolve any unforeseen issues relating to the elections, with the added proviso that the Somaliland House of Elders will ratify the committees resolution without extension.
7. The creation of a standing technical committee consisting of one member from each Somaliland party to facilitate co-operation between the Somaliland government and the opposition parties. The first three nominees of the standing technical committee are as follows:
1. Mudane Ismail Bulaale, Secretary-General, UDUB
2. Mudane Aden Mohamed Mire, Deputy Chair, UCID
3. Mudane Abdirahman Abdilqadir Farah, 2nd Deputy Chair, KULMIYE
In general the Somaliland public both at home and abroad have welcomed the settlement of the recent political debates in the country heralded by this accord.
Source Qarannews
British Diplomats from UK Embassies in Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen visit Somaliland
Jun 10, 2008
Hargeisa - A large delegation of British diplomats from United Kingdom embassies in Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen have arrived on a visit to Somaliland.
The delegation led by Mr.John Marshall, deputy ambassador at the British embassy in Addis Ababa were met at Egal International Airport by the Somaliland Foreign Minister, Mudane Abdillahi Mohamed Duale, the Minister of State, Saeed Mohamed Nur and senior members from the ministry including the protocol department.
Speaking briefly to the gather media at the Egal International Airport in Hargeisa, Mudane Abdillahi Duale stated that the British diplomats are on a visit to Somaliland as part of the strengthening of the ties between the two nations.
Mudane Abdillahi Duale, the Somaliland Foreign minister also stated that the delegation will be in Somaliland for the next two days and will also visit the port of Berbera.
In other news, the Director-General of the Somaliland Foreign Ministry, Mudane Awil Muhumed Farah also confirmed that the Somaliland Foreign minister also met with a delegation from the European Development Commission (EDC) yesterday in Hargiesa.
Source Qarannews
Somaliland: Dynamic and Progressive
Recently, the Somaliland House of Representatives approved the 2008 annual budget. A remarkable achievement for an unrecognised nation, this budget will see an increase of 27% from the 2007 budget. It would appear that the Somaliland Ministry of Finance is steadily increasing revenue whilst at the same increase spending on social, health and economic sectors.
Admittedly there are areas of improvement, including but not limited to the banking sector. But, the main thing is that Somaliland is managing to steadily increase its revenue and which is leading to a rise in the national domestic production. True to its democratic credentials, the budget went before the House of Representatives for scrutiny and eventual approval, how many nations in Africa or for that matter in the world can boast of such an adherence to good governance.
However, there are critics of the recent budget and their criticism is based on certain perceived "oversights". The budget is a financial plan for spending for the next annual fiscal year, and a nation can only spend what it has, that is why Somaliland is virtually debt free.
The Somaliland government's economic strategy is somewhat hampered by the fact that country doesn't yet enjoy international recognition and therefore cannot use the normal channels for aid and loans, but this appears to be a blessing in disguise, it has kept the nation debt free.
The Somaliland government has been criticised by some for spending a large proportion of its budget on security; perhaps these critics have failed to appreciate the nature of Somaliland's existence and its location. These critics need to be reminded that Somaliland has enjoyed seventeen years of continuous peace and stability in a volatile region of Africa, and without proper allocation of funds for security, there will not be stability let alone a budget.
Somaliland faces many obstacles and challenges, but it is important to remember that barely seventeen years ago Somaliland had to rise from the rubble of destructions. The development that Somaliland enjoys today is the direct result of national initiatives which has been community led and assisted by sympathetic international nations and aid agencies. Previous Somaliland governments have laid the foundations for the remarkable stability of the nation, the rapid improvement of the infrastructure, the burgeoning economic and educational sectors, and all within a budget of less than $100,000,000 dollars!
Without prudent management of its meagre funds and the constant self-sacrifice made by the people of Somaliland there wouldn't peace and stability, nor schools, hospitals, teachers, law and order, parliament, roads and so on.
As Somaliland's economy grows and revenue increases there will be a substantial reduction in security spending relative to other spending. Somalilanders as a whole are grateful that there is a budget which enables the government to protect the nation's sovereignty, and if the Somaliland military receives as some critics suggest a large portion of the nation's budget, then perhaps these critics can explain to the people of Somaliland how the nation can protected from the mayhem in the region?
Somaliland has recently reached an agreement with the World Bank and donor nations on a five year programme of Reconstruction and Rehabilitation programme estimated at $550 million dollars which will help Somaliland to improve its infrastructure, economy and social facilities. However, for the time being, like many nations Somaliland is facing many problems such as an increase in oil prices, increase in food prices and inflation.
The government of Somaliland recently eased the taxes and restriction of food and fuel imports to allow the business sector to meet the demands of the public. The government has also taken steps to combat against hording and price fixing. It is worth mentioning that there were no food riots in Somaliland as compared to many other places across the region.
The government of Somaliland has also taken steps to explore its natural resources and has recently conducted an extensive seismic survey which has led to agreements for exploration with foreign based oil companies. There have also been new developments in water resources, including a new complex at Las Anod, and plans for additional complexes across the country.
In terms of agriculture and livestock sector which are predominantly in the private sector, it is the policy of the Somaliland government to assist, regulate and facilitate these sectors. Both the Somaliland ministries of agriculture and livestock have taken steps to develop these vital economics sectors by providing facilities and developmental assistance.
In terms of livestock and animal husbandry these new developments includes the recent inoculation programme across Somaliland and the new animal export processing centre in Berbera.
Somaliland's ministry of agriculture has taken positive steps in assisting Somaliland's farmers with help of the international agencies in training, machinery and developmental tools.
The people and the government of Somaliland, along with the assistance of the international community are waging a successful campaign against HIV/Aids and other pandemics through local initiatives led by the youth of the country.
There has been a great improvement in Somaliland's health infrastructure through government initiatives in areas such as refurbishment of existing health facilities in Sanaag, Sool and other rural locations and through international aid and private enterprise, the creation of non-profit facilities such as Edna's Maternity Hospital> and Manhal Speciality Hospital and clinics.
Somaliland has recently completed a child inoculation programme across the country, as well as, becoming a destination for patients from the Horn of Africa seeking medical attention in Hargeisa, Buroa and Borama.
The educational sector of Somaliland has also seen a marked improvement. There are currently five accredited universities, a comprehensive primary, middle and secondary education which have lead to record enrolment. The re-opening of technical schools in Buroa, Borama and Berbera are on the horizon.
Somaliland's communications facilities have also gradually improved. The recent upgrade of both Egal International Airport and the Port of Berbera will see an increase in revenue and traffic over the new few years. There have also been government, local and community driven initiatives to upgrade the road networks of Somaliland in places such as Berbera, Borama and Las Anod.
The economic sector in Somaliland is both dynamic and inventive. Aside for the normal business sectors such as production, wholesale and retail, there are remarkable new developments in telecommunications (for example Somaliland boast's the best and cheapest cellular network in Africa) and the proposed fibre optic cable installation will allow the industry to reach its potential and create> employment across the country.
There also has been a marked improvement in Tourism and> Culture. The development of the Las Geel caves and other> ancient sites along with Somaliland potential as a> destination for deep sea diving along the Red Sea coast> will see a substantial change in the tourism sector.> > Once again it important to emphasis that Somaliland is a> poor and under developed country with a miniscule annual> budget and without international recognition as of yet,> However, Somaliland critics must also exercise some> responsibility and admit to the nations achievements. > > Some of the developments mentioned in this article are> merely the tip of the ice, everyday across Somaliland jobs> are being created from construction to fishing, from the> service industry to transportation, children go to school, and> people go about their daily lives in peace and security. For> a nation recovering from the destructions of a brutal civil> war to free itself from a failed and unjust union,> Somaliland has come a long way.> > However, Somaliland has a long road ahead, but its future> is bright due to the democratic path chosen by its> citizens, and without security and stability its> achievements wouldn't have been possible.>
Somaliland seeks a little respect
Somaliland seeks a little respect
Written by Paul Salopek
Chicago Tribune
Jun 08, 2008
HARGEISA, Somaliland — Somalia isn't supposed to be this normal.Untroubled by petty crime, money changers in this quiet desert city leave their stacks of currency unattended—in piles the size of refrigerators — while they pray in mosques.Earnest government officials, elected in what may be the cleanest voting in Africa, eagerly meet reporters in roadside cafes, a practice that would be suicidal in the violent south of the country, where occupying Ethiopian troops do battle with a ferocious Islamist insurgency. (Even more unusual, the officials insist on picking up the tab for camel-milk tea.)
Across town, another private university is being planned—the sixth in the region. It won't teach the Quran, unlike the few other surviving educational facilities in war-ruined Somalia. Instead, its curriculum will be secular and American—pinched from Portland State University in Oregon, to be exact
"This is what frustrates us," said Dahir Rayale Kahin, president of the obscure self-declared republic of Somaliland, a parched enclave the size of Oklahoma that proclaimed its independence from Somalia in 1991 and is angling to become a platform for U.S. power in the region."We are a functioning state, but the world still ignores us. Instead, it props up a failed state in the south, in Mogadishu, a place with no rule of law, a state that is nothing."
Remote, desperately poor and unrecognized by any country—yet astonishingly stable and free—the separatist republic of Somaliland marked 17 years of democratic self-rule last month, a remarkable milestone of good governance that served to remind its few Western visitors, wistfully, of what's missing in the rest of Somalia: airports that aren't mortared by rebels, streets that are safe to walk at night, votes that are counted fairly, and a fledgling army that has managed, so far, to trump the divisive Somali obsession with tribe and clan.
Not everyone is celebrating.The U.S.-backed transitional federal government of Somalia, which theoretically rules this shattered nation from the war-gutted capital of Mogadishu, condemns Somaliland's leaders as traitors and renegades. And local and international human-rights groups have noted that Kahin, Somaliland's second president, has become more authoritarian in the past year, jailing and then pardoning local opposition politicians and reporters.
But as the United States struggles to contain the threat of Islamic terrorism in Somalia—and in the rest of the volatile Horn of Africa—dusty Somaliland, population 3.5 million, has stepped up as an unlikely partner in that Herculean task.Stretching across the north of Somalia along the blistering-hot shores of the Gulf of Aden, Somaliland recently offered its derelict port of Berbera as a base for the Pentagon's new Africa Command, or AFRICOM. The Pentagon, which already operates a counterterrorism base in neighboring Djibouti, has yet to respond to the proposal.
Welcome to oil firms
Somaliland's government also has invited U.S. oil companies to reclaim their 1980s exploration rights in the region, abandoned during the civil wars that led to Somalia's collapse. So far no companies have returned, citing legal concerns about Somalia's claim of sovereignty over the region.
For the same reason, Somaliland receives little foreign aid.Washington must walk a tightrope in its relations with a rustic statelet that covers about a quarter of Somalia and is inhabited primarily by camel and goat herders.Officially, the Bush administration has deferred the issue of Somaliland's independence to the African Union, which has a historic aversion to tinkering with old colonial borders on the continent. Angry Somalilanders argue that they actually are restoring their colonial boundaries: The region was a British protectorate that joined with Italian-ruled Somalia in 1960.
It is partly that history, Somaliland elders say, that girds their mini-state against Somalia's violence and chaos. While the Italians undercut tribal authority, allowing young warlords to seize power, the British left old clan structures intact. Somaliland's nascent government now includes a council of elders, or Guurti, that helps resolve disputes.
Still, U.S. policymakers fear that allowing Somaliland to become Africa's newest country would sink the already feeble transitional government of Somalia, which is propped up by U.S. cash and troops from the African Union and another U.S. ally, Ethiopia.Ethiopian forces, aided by U.S. intelligence, installed Somalia's unpopular federal authorities 18 months ago after an invasion that toppled a conservative Islamic movement.
Since then, thousands of people have died—and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes—in a stubborn Islamist rebellion.Except in Somalia's strangely placid north.
America's 'only real friend'"I don't know why America ignores its only real friend in the region," said Mustafa Farah, a youth chewing khat, a popular narcotic leaf, in Somaliland's self-designated capital of Hargeisa. "You could walk with an American flag across this city and nobody would bother you. We like Americans."
In fact, many Somalilanders are Americans.Though statistics are scarce, the regional government here estimates that as many as 100,000 Somaliland expatriates may live in the United States. Some of the region's parliament members speak English with cornfield-flat Minnesota accents. Entrepreneurs building the new university are modeling their classes on those of their alma mater in Portland, Ore.Remittances sent to local families from the United States and elsewhere are believed to dwarf the Somaliland government's annual budget of $50 million—a figure roughly equivalent to U.S. funding for fighting brush fires this year in San Diego County, Calif.
For its part, the State Department has allocated $1 million to help Somaliland organize its next presidential race, to be held no later than April 2009. It will be the region's fourth round of elections since declaring independence. No free elections have been held elsewhere in Somalia for almost 40 years.Somaliland's experiment with democracy hasn't been without glitches.The president faced criticism last year for imprisoning three journalists on charges of defamation.
Three politicians also were held after trying to form a new opposition party. The government quietly released the men, fearing their arrest had damaged its bid for international recognition."We will go ahead with our elections and we will never give up," Kahin, the Somaliland leader, said while relaxing at the presidential palace one recent evening. "We are a patient people."Wrapped in a traditional sarong-like skirt and stirring a cup of tea, he cited Kosovo and East Timor as recent models for achieving independence. He noted that those fledgling states had separated from viable countries—whereas Somaliland simply wanted a divorce from the wreckage of Somalia.
Outside, in a handmade republic in one of the toughest neighborhoods in the world, the city's generator-powered lights punctually kicked on. And among the mosques' amplified calls to prayer there came the tinny strains of hip-hop.
chicagotribune.
Somaliland: The US and Somaliland: A Roadmap
Somaliland: The US and Somaliland: A Roadmap
Written by UNPO
Preeminent international affairs commentator, Dr J Peter Pham, provides an overview of recent strong strides made by the government of Somaliland in gaining international recognition, with particular focus on its relationship with the US, and provides a roadmap for the aspiring state for what further steps it can take to facilitate this movement.
Below is an extract from an article published by World Defense Review:
[…]
In January [2008], the president of the Republic of Somaliland, Dahir Rayale Kahin, accompanied by his foreign minister, Abdillahi Mohamed Duale, and several other members of his cabinet were invited to Washington for a visit that was officially acknowledged by the U.S. Department of State.
[…]
Barely two weeks later, on February 3 [2008], Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, arrived in Somaliland's capital, Hargeisa, with Ambassador John M. Yates, a veteran diplomat based in Nairobi, Kenya, who is America's special envoy for Somalia (the U.S. envoy to Ethiopia, Ambassador Don Yamamoto, preceded the pair by one day). Dr. Frazer, the highest-ranking U.S. official to set foot in the republic since it reasserted its independence in 1991, spent the day holding formal talks with top government officials as well as meeting privately with representatives of Somaliland's three registered political parties – the Union of Democrats (UDUB), the Peace, Unity, and Development Party (KULMIYE), and the Party of Justice (UCID) – and the unregistered "Qaran" political movement.
[…]
A few days after Dr. Frazer's visit, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) announced that it would "expand substantially activities designed to improve the lives of citizens of Somaliland," pledging "resources amounting to twice those spent in 2007 will be spent on projects focusing on the rule of law and security, democratic governance and on recovery and sustainable livelihoods, as well as on additional staff to increase the range of the ambitious programme in different regions of Somaliland" in concert "with the Somaliland government and other UN agencies."
Dr. Frazer was careful to emphasize that the recent flurry of activity did not imply diplomatic recognition was imminent, noting that while "we have said on many occasions that the U.S. will continue to work with Somaliland, in particular, in the strong democratic values which Somaliland has succeeded in implementing," the issue of recognition should be left to the African Union (AU), while America would "work with the AU and will respect whatever decision it makes on Somaliland's status." […] [The] AU is simply unable to actually address the matter as long as it continues to seat the utterly ineffectual "Transitional Federal Government" (TFG) of Somalia, which asserts sovereignty over the entire territory of the defunct Somali Democratic Republic despite being unable to so much as safely police its putative capital. Since Dr. Frazer is, undoubtedly, well aware of this reality, what is one to make of the recent developments?
In large measure, the recent engagement can be viewed as strategically sound at several levels. In the short term, it is increasingly apparent that the TFG's lease on life is perhaps even more tenuous than that of its "president," Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, who, until last week, had not been in Somalia for months and was evacuated to London from Nairobi last month for medical treatment.
[…]
Over the longer term, given the apparent futility trying to reconstitute a unitary state […] the members of the international community, especially the United States and its allies, have every reason to seek to engage Somaliland, not least of which is its geopolitical significance as a Muslim country with authentic democratic aspirations controlling over 900 kilometers of coastline along sea lanes along the Gulf of Aden, just opposite the Arabian Peninsula.
[…]
However, […] [this] does not mean that the United States will extend formal diplomatic recognition to Somaliland any time soon despite the consonance of the admirable efforts by its people to build a secure and democratic state for themselves to the vision which President George W. Bush outlined in his second inaugural address: "It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world ... Our goal ... is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way." Rather, while the commonality of ideals provides a basis for moving forward, Realpolitik dictates that not just ideals, but concrete national interests must be carefully considered if a great power like the United States is going to break new ground and recognize an aspiring state like Somaliland. In other words, […] I cannot foresee recognition from Washington unless the government in Hargeisa convinces skeptics that there is substantial "value added" in the relationship.
To this end, the following are some steps which President Kahin and his government might take to build upon the recent progress in ties with the United States with a view to eventually securing formal recognition of what their citizens have accomplished in building a nation out of the wreckage of the former Somalia:
First, one cannot understate the importance of the presidential election scheduled for August 2008: it must be a model of free, fair, and transparent balloting. One of the most important claims that Somaliland makes on the attention of the international community is its democratic politics. While the 2005 elections for the House of Representatives marked a significant milestone in that the incumbent president's UDUB won only 33 seats in the 82-member legislature (KULMIYE and UCID won 28 and 21 seats, respectively), following this up with a successful second direct democratic presidential vote (the first took place in 2003), would truly confirm Somaliland's status in the company of emerging democracies. […]
Second, beyond the voting, Somaliland must continue making progress on democratic governance. The territory is characterized a "partly free," scoring 5 on political rights and 4 on civil liberties in Freedom House's annual report, Freedom in the World 2008 (the scale is 1 to 7, with 1 corresponding to the highest and 7 the lowest levels of freedom). While the scores are impressive in contrast to that of the countries in its neighborhood – Somalia scores an abysmal 7 on both indices, Ethiopia and Djibouti scores a 5 on both political freedom and civil rights, while Eritrea manages to score 7 and 6 respectively – there is still considerable room for improvement. The members of the upper chamber of parliament, the House of Elders (Guurti), for example, have repeatedly extended their own terms of office. Corruption, while not as insidious as elsewhere in Africa, nonetheless needs to be systematically combated; while President Kahin deserves credit for sacking a number of corrupt officials during his tenure, the fact that they were even in place at all and needed to be removed is still disconcerting. While Somaliland is a largely homogenous society, there are nonetheless a few very small minority communities whose concerns could also be better addressed in the overall political process.
Third, while President Kahin expressed the willingness of Somaliland to work with U.S. regional counterterrorism efforts during his meetings with Defense Department officials in Washington last month – and legal avenues for such cooperation need to be found on the American side – Hargeisa must redouble its efforts on the anti-extremism front. And while government agencies on the American side may have unresolved issues with certain types of engagements with their Somaliland counterparts, nothing prevents the latter from more increasing the quantity and quality of intelligence which they share. This would be particularly helpful since American military and intelligence officials have very limited access to reliable information from southern Somalia, an area where Somalilanders not only are better positioned to operate, but in fact already do so extensively. While I realize that this proposal shifts the burden somewhat to Somaliland, it is, after all, Somalilanders who are trying to make a case for partnership with the United States. (For their part, American officials would do well to shift responsibility for matters relating to Somaliland from the U.S. embassy in Kenya to the one in Ethiopia given that while there are no direct connections between Hargeisa and Nairobi, Somaliland officials and civilians routinely pass through Addis Ababa en route to other destinations.)
Fourth, it is no secret that the former Somalia has significant potential natural resources. […] [There] are reports of the Swedish-based Lundin Petroleum AB (owned, since 2001, by Canada's Talisman Energy) had approached Somaliland's Ministry of Water and Minerals for rights to oil and natural gas exploration [and] authorities in Hargeisa would do well to consider the long-term strategic implications of their decisions as well as the economic benefits. Even if their foreign policy elites were not generally divorced from the interests of their business classes, neither Sweden nor Canada would likely be much of a strategic ally for anyone, much less a nascent state in a dangerous neighborhood like the one Somaliland finds itself in. In contrast, as Walter Russell Mead and other scholars have pointed out, there is a long tradition of American business and government working in tandem, with the latter often following the former's lead and U.S. political interests adjusting themselves to advance the economic interests of its citizens. Not only should the government in Hargeisa be open to approaches by American firms, but it ought to actively court them, realizing that without significant commercial ties to the United States, any political relations – if they come about at all – will be very tenuous. Conversely, the presence of American business interests, especially in strategic sectors, reinforces the geopolitical case for diplomatic ties between Washington and Hargeisa.
Commenting on Somaliland, I.M. Lewis, the British scholar who for half a century has been the preeminent authority on the Somali peoples, observed: "The overall achievement so far as truly remarkable, and all the more so in that it has been accomplished by the people of Somaliland themselves with very little external help or intervention. The contrast with the fate of southern Somalia hardly needs to be underlined." For these two reasons, among others, it is hoped that Somaliland will take the steps necessary to take advantage of the momentum in favor of advancing ties with its natural strategic partner, the United States, to the next level.
Source UNPO
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