The President of republic of Somaliland Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo has appointed two committees (Steering committee and Task Force) to implement National Identity Card system.
To fulfill the responsibility entrusted with them, the two committees are requesting international and domestic companies to submit their bid proposal on National ID Card system (NICS).
The National ID Card registration will be conducted through-out Somaliland districts (i.e. 23 electoral districts) within 5 months.
Qualified companies can submit their proposal request to the office of National Tender Board within two weeks, not later than April 15, 2014.
Details of RFP can be downloaded from the official Somaliland Government website: www.somalilandgov.com
For further information please contact the following emails,
Authorities Increase Surveillance and Abuses Against Refugees
(Kathmandu) – Nepal has imposed increasing restrictions on Tibetans living in the country as a result of strong pressure from China, Human Rights Watch said in a new report published today. The new Nepali government should make it clear to China that it will accept Tibetans who flee persecution as refugees and will not restrict basic rights of peaceful expression, assembly, and association.
The 100-page report, “Under China’s Shadow: Mistreatment of Tibetans in Nepal,” shows that Tibetan refugee communities in Nepal are now facing a de facto ban on political protests, sharp restrictions on public activities promoting Tibetan culture and religion, and routine abuses by Nepali security forces. These include excessive use of force, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment in detention, threats and intimidation, intrusive surveillance, and arbitrary application of vaguely formulated and overly broad definitions of security offenses.
“The situation for the Tibetan refugee community in Nepal has markedly deteriorated since China’s violent crackdown on protests in Tibet in 2008,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “While Nepal continues to offer some protections to Tibetans, it is succumbing to Chinese pressure to limit the flow of Tibetans across the border and imposing restrictions on Tibetans in violation of its legal obligations. China cloaks its demands as security concerns, but they are really just an extension of its repression in Tibet and aimed at making it harder for Tibetans to tell the world of their plight.”
Nepal is home to a sizeable Tibetan community and has long played a crucial role as a haven and gateway for Tibetans fleeing repression in China. In 2008, China responded to large-scale popular protests on the Tibetan plateau by initiating a sustained crackdown, ramping up efforts to prevent Tibetans from escaping to Nepal, and increasing efforts to silence Tibetan communities abroad, in particular in Nepal.
As a result of a massive security presence in Tibetan areas of China and increased cooperation between Nepalese and Chinese security forces in recent years, China has been able to stem the flow of Tibetan refugees escaping to Nepal. In 2013, fewer than 200 Tibetans were recorded as having fled China, as compared to a pre-2008 annual average of more than 2,000.
“Under China’s Shadow” details how Nepal subsequently signed several security and “intelligence-sharing” agreements with China, and implemented close monitoring of the Tibetan community, its leaders, and real or perceived activists. The Nepal government has pledged increased cooperation with China’s People’s Armed Police border forces to “curb illegal activities at the border” and establish “an effective system of repatriation of illegal immigrants,” with no mention of protection of asylum seekers and refugees. The report also documents how the deployment of intimidating numbers of armed police in Tibetan neighborhoods on politically sensitive dates, such as the birthday of the Dalai Lama, or when high-level Chinese dignitaries visit, is now standard practice by the Nepal authorities.
“Nepal is invoking vague and inconsistent justifications to silence peaceful protest, discriminate against Tibetans, and intimidate Nepali civil society activists,” said Adams. “Any restrictions must be based on law, and not on Chinese political sensitivities.”
Forced returns to China
Under the terms of a “Gentleman’s Agreement” between the government of Nepal and the office of the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Nepal guarantees Tibetans who reach its territory safe passage to India, where they can obtain refugee status. International law prohibits Nepal from forcibly repatriating Tibetan refugees because they would be at risk of torture or persecution in China.
Yet partly as a result of the increasing cooperation between Nepal and China’s border security forces detailed in this report, there are significant concerns that Nepal may at times forcibly return Tibetans to China. A former senior Nepali Home Ministry official told Human Rights Watch that local border police have pushed back or forcibly repatriated Tibetans found at or near the border if they determined that they were not “legitimate refugees,” though no legal process or hearings were carried out. Another official, then at the Department of Immigration, also told Human Rights Watch that Tibetans were occasionally forced back.
While Human Rights Watch is not able to corroborate these admissions, they appear to be credible and require further investigation, not least because such individuals face a high risk of torture and ill-treatment on return to China. Tibetans detained by Chinese authorities for crossing the border irregularly from Nepal are routinely imprisoned and physically abused.
Nepali officials have justified their increasingly restrictive policies toward Tibetan refugees by citing “geopolitical sensitivities,” Nepal’s official adherence to the “one-China principle,” and what they present as the related duty of not allowing “Nepali soil to be used for anti-China activities.” Yet the term “anti-China activities” has no meaning or force in Nepali law. Any policies or practices specifically targeting Tibetan political speech are clearly discriminatory and violate international law. Nepal’s prohibition of peaceful political protests, even those by noncitizens, violates well established international human rights obligations.
The consequences of Nepal’s hardening stance are being felt across the Tibetan community. Nepal continues to deny at least half the Tibetans in Nepal proper identity documents, making Tibetans more vulnerable to increased surveillance, monitoring, and abuse by police or the criminal justice system, regardless of whether they are politically active. It is harder for Tibetans to obtain documentation that would allow them to go to school, seek employment, run businesses, travel abroad, or engage in other activities.
“Nepal continues to deny thousands of Tibetans, most of them born in Nepal, any legal existence by refusing to issue them any form of official identification,” said Adams. “This fuels a pattern of marginalization and abuse of the Tibetan community at large.”
The report shows that the government’s emphasis on taking China’s political sensitivities into account has also increasingly affected Nepal’s civil society and media. Nongovernmental organizations that have continued to monitor the human rights situation of the Tibetan community have been subjected to pressures and accused of disloyalty towards Nepal.
Human Rights Watch called on Nepal to take specific measures to better guarantee the basic rights of Tibetans in the country, including providing all eligible Tibetans with refugee identification certificates and strictly upholding international law prohibiting forced returns (nonrefoulement). Human Rights Watch also urged China to stop pressuring Nepal to take measures inconsistent with Nepal’s international human rights and refugee law obligations.
“Nepal seems to think that restricting the rights of Tibetans is a small price to pay to placate a powerful neighbor,” said Adams. “While good relations with China are important, restricting basic rights crosses a red line. It not only undermines efforts to uphold a very fragile rule of law in Nepal, it also encourages politically motivated policing and impunity for abuses.”
Selected Quotes
“[The Chinese delegation] demanded that Nepal punish the Tibetans illegally entering into Nepalese territory as per the law of the land, instead of handing them over to the UN refugee agency.”
– A Nepali official present at a Ministry-level meeting in Beijing, July 2012
“I thought I would be safe here. But now I realize China is telling Nepal what to do about us.”
– Tibetan refugee Dorje Tsering, Kathmandu, March 2013
“We are afraid that the Nepali authorities share all this information with China. Many of us have relatives back in Tibet, and we fear that the authorities there might retaliate against them.”
– J.T., Kathmandu, December 2012
“Right now we are discussing the possibility of turning in to the Chinese government those Tibetans who do not have legal IDs here and are involved in anti-Chinese movements.”
– Deputy Inspector Gen. of Police Bharat Bahadur G.C., March 2009
“The day the police took us out of the basement we resisted walking over the bridge [to Nepal], we didn’t want to go! But the Chinese policemen just grabbed us by the neck and forced us across the bridge.”
– A Tibetan with Chinese citizenship forced back to Nepal, April 2012
Long term strategy to improve access to employment for different marginalized groups in Somaliland
By Goth Mohamed Goth
Khayraat Development Association is well known for initiating innovative self-help projects with the purpose of preparing the women for job market with the necessary skills that empower them with life planning skills and knowledge of positive planning for starting Business Ventures
Khayraat Development Association vocational education and training Project coordinator Mrs. Amina Farah Carshe speaking during the graduation ceremony for 100 young women who had completed the capacity building training said, “The project has mainly benefited young women from all regions of the country and that the organization has helped youth to set up small scale businesses so as to enhance employment.
Madam Amina said, “an increased number of young women are currently participating in capacity building training activities and improving on their capacity building through mainstreaming sustainable training skills in various programs which will enable them to start viable income generations projects.
Learning a new trade is one step closer to finding a job to make a living in Somaliland’s. With high unemployment rates and limited chances of opening doors to the job market, many young people mainly women chances of getting employed is low and are usually stuck in absolute poverty.
“It is anticipated that by the end of the project period, there will be realization of positive living and reduced levels of dependency among young women in project Regions and successful graduates received a financial grant and the tool related to their new trade, to help them increase their chances of future employment ”, she said.
ILO and IIDA Women Development organization obtained the necessary funds from EU for the training of 400 young women in capacity building vital for starting viable income generations projects through capacity building training was facilitated by Khayraat Development Association support to vocational skills trainings is part of a longer term strategy to improve access to employment for different marginalized groups in Somaliland.
A) Objectives of the Workshop
i. Improving skills of women in small business
ii. Enhancing the information sharing among the women in small business
iii. Introduce basic principle of good business management in a simple and practical way
iv. Improve your business aims to make small businesses more viable, and so contribute to the creation of more job
KDA profile
Khayraad Development Association (KDA)
Six Regional Women Associations
Profile
A )Asthe need for Somaliland women development became necessary, Khayraat a local multipurpose association has taken the burden to intervene and sought possible productive solutions on the issue.
The immediate target objective was to create professional women associations in all regions of Somaliland and to open representative branches. In mid of 2009, KDA organized and shared ideas with the representatives of the associations to structure their bylaws and formation of one common umbrella named Somaliland Women Development Agenda (SOWDA) funded by COSPE an International Italian Organization residing Nairobi. KDA with support of COSPE coordinated 60 women from different sectors in all regions. SOWDA under Khayraad Development Association (KDA) will compile all informational data on the development and welfare issues of the women they are serving on the basis of a universally adopted system of informational data.
The umbrella with the help of KDA will then provide useful informational data on the various issues and areas, programs and topics of great interest to their associations where as prioritizing them under their participation it would be easy to perform essential feasibility study of real needs of Somaliland women in all its phases whether education, trainings, capacity building, viable income generations projects and other essential assistance demanded in all possible means. According tour experience in these issues this shall be the most rapid way for immediate intervention and real effective, secured action.
In all the talk about tackling the economic crisis, Somaliland Government Authorities are missing one critical and fundamental factor: the centrality of investing in women entrepreneurs and women profession lists. It is essential for both short-term economic recovery and long-term economic growth in Somaliland. It also holds the potential to catalyze a lasting shift in women’s political participation and leadership. Since small businesses form the backbone of every economy in everywhere, the fact that in here women own more tiresome businesses not more than feeding families, this indicates that international donors and policy makers need to put women center-stage as they tackle the economic crisis.
Problem Statement
•Difficult access to the financial support (loan or grants)
•Lack of internal and external financial support towards development of businesswomen development
•Lack of development advice system
•Poor co-ordination among the key actors involved of women development
•Poor information on the success stories of women in business and working women
•Lack of technical skills and knowledge to create sustainable businesses and professional associations
•Business women involvements are not mentioned on Somaliland national plan.
Therefore, with the help of International donors, we would like to empower Somaliland women to promote and encourage them
Goals
1. Seek and allocate financial support for all development schemes for women.
2. To provide appropriate training and education for both the leadership and the association members.
3. Educate young girls to cope the world they live in
4.Create income generations projects for the association in order to minimize dependency on external funds.
5. To ensure security and the success of women
Activities
1.Prepare a full study
2. Allocate funds for the project step by step as possible
3. Construct the centers furnish it and equip it fully
To provide appropriate training and education for both the leadership and the association members
Make full feasibility study
•Pinpoint suitable income generation projects
•Provide seeds capital for each group who have finished training
•For sustainability create soft loan opportunities available
•Search funds for Associations major schemes (Small scale/Medium)
•Health issue awareness
Overall Strategic Goal
Realize development and welfare of Somaliland Women in all aspects of life with in the coming five years.
Activities
1.Make premises for training of the members in all regions.
2 .Create the essential leader ship and other human resource
3. Seek and allocate financial support for all development schemes
Workshop for the Formation of Women Association Held at Mansoor Hotel
Woman selling assorted grains of local production
Women livestock trader checking sheep in Hargesia market
Fish sellers in the fish shop
A young woman selling local raw salt,
All these women having vendor kind businesses get their income in harsh ways. They get up 5A.M and go home at 6PM without eating well and lack of toilets. Their income is just to feed their kids and sometime they loose money not having good sales some of the days or not knowing how to make good book keeping. In Somaliland women are the breadwinners for their families and for this sake the support of the donors and care of the government is greatly missing. Therefore, Khayraad Development Association is ready to support these women in the ground if we get the fund from the Donors. KDA is already made an assessment well and organized some regional associations and have the experts to do so. KDA chair is a businesswoman having Master Degree in International Trade from George Mason University in Virginia, U.S.A.
Fiberglass boats and water tanks making business owned by a one of the country’s woman Entrepreneur
When 16 year-old Liz was beaten and gang raped, the police let her six attackers go. When over a million of us made a scandal of this, their bosses just transferred them to another station, but now we can ensure that Kenya’s police help victims, not violators!
It’s crazy that these police are still in uniform, on the front lines of Kenya’s war on womenin whichtwo thirds of school girls suffer sexual abuse. It’s time to turn up the heat on the national police chief who tried to blame Liz and her family, and the national prosecutor who’s only paid lip service to her case, letting five out of six suspects remain in hiding.
We do this by turning our amazing community into a virtual law enforcement agency,bringing public pressure on Kenya’s top cops through billboards, radio ads and a social media blitz. Let’s get started right now:
Liz’s story is horrifying. The 16-year-old was walking home from her grandfather’s funeral last year when she was gang raped by six men. When they were through with her, they threw her, badly injured, down a toilet pit. Hours later, when neighbours found her, she identified her attackers right away. But the police simply logged the attack as an “assault” and said the accused could go free with no charges if they merely mowed the lawn outside the police station.
The world rallied behind Liz — 1.7 million of us joined the call for justice, backed a march in Nairobi by women’s groups and exposed this horrific case in the media. This week’s trial is a good first step, but the police officers who let the attackers off scot-free are still working as police, and the police are making little or no effort to track down the remaining attackers, despite strong leads.
In Kenya, two thirds of school girls and half of school boys have been sexually abused. Kenya has strict anti-rape laws, but all too often the police get away with ignoring them. Unless we help ensure police accountability, these outrages will continue. Let’s make them so infamous that Kenya’s police chief has to act. Add your name now and together we’ll overwhelm the airwaves with our calls for justice:
Last year, our community joined the massive call to bring justice for Liz. We helped ensure her attackers would face a court of law, and now that step forward is at stake. Let’s come together once again to demand those responsible are held to account to make sure rape is no longer brushed aside — for Liz and for the millions of survivors of sexual violence everywhere.
With hope and determination,
Jeremy, Marie, Sayeeda, Caroline, Alex, Sam, Emma and the rest of the Avaaz team
PS: Liz is a pseudonym given by the news outlet that broke her story and has since been widely used. She is not pictured here.
Dahabshil International Group is honored to be part of the Muslim News Awards for Excellence 2014 which took place last night at Grosvenor House, London. The Muslim News is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and the awards are an important celebration of Muslim talent and the contribution of the Muslim community to British Society.
In 2013, Dahabshiil was honoured to be the recipient of the Excellence for Enterprise award for its vital role in fostering social development and increasing financial stability in developing countries through remittance finance.
Last night, Mr Abdirashid Duale, CEO of the Dahabshiil Group, was proud to present the Fazlur Rahman Khan Award for Excellence in Engineering, Science and Technology to Dr Farid Khan for his outstanding contribution to technological innovation in the field of human health in the UK and the Developing World.
Mr Duale said, “I am extremely proud and honored to be part of the Muslim News Awards for Excellence. The awards are an important way to celebrate success and recognise the contribution of Muslims from all walks of life to British Society.
Dahabshiil has in the past been recognised for the contribution to the communities that we serve and for supporting increased financial stability in Somalia. These principles remain at the heart of our business.
I was pleased to have the opportunity last night to raise the issues facing the Somali remittance industry directly with the Prime Minister himself and would like to thank the UK government for their ongoing commitment to find a solution which enables a safe and transparent remittance corridor to remain open with Somalia. This is vital service for the Muslim community in the UK and overseas.
I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Mo Farah on winning the Faezeh Hashemi Award for Excellence in Sport and to thank him for his continued support of Dahabshiil and the Save Remittance Giving campaign.”
The Peace Gardens came alive with singing, dancing, drumming and flag-waving as a motion tabled by Labour Coun Mohammad Maroof was passed by full council.
The historic move means Sheffield is the first local authority in the UK to recognise Somaliland as a sovereign state.
Coun Mahmood’s motion stated: “This council believes recognition will help to bring about stability in Somaliland. This council calls upon the Government to recognise Somaliland as an independent state and to encourage other governments around the world to do the same.”
Many men from Somaliland came to Sheffield after WW2 to work in steelworks.
Somaliland is in northwestern Somalia. It voted for independence in 1991 and has had democratically elected government since.
The Somaliland Minister of Interior and the head of the police force Brigadier General Abdullah Iman Fadal have on behalf of the government of Somaliland signed joint security cooperation with the government of neighboring Djibouti.
The Inferior Minister briefing the press said, “The aim of the discussions is to come up with shared ideas needed to identify ways to enhance future counterterrorism efforts and cooperation in the region and create a lasting dialogue between in order to achieve joint collective strategic counterterrorism efforts.
Hon Mohamed Ali Waran cade said the talks with Djiboutian counterparts focused on how we would jointly improve our counter terrorism capabilities such as identifying or sharing Intel on terror groups and most importantly to disrupt threats.
Since both nations citizens commute to and fro through the shared borders on a daily basis we must put in place the necessary measures to be used at land/sea/air border crossings to ensure that persons entering/leaving Somaliland pass through robust security and immigration checks, allowing both Djiboutian and Somaliland authorities to identify and disrupt threats which understanding of the common threat across the borders.
Somaliland officials were later given a tour of the Djiboutian police command center whereby they had a chance to observe ongoing anti-riot police demo trainings.
Hargeisa-The ruling party KULMIYE executive committee has today has announced that they have solved one of the hurdles that was blamed for the numerous postponement of the third ruling party convention which is said to have being caused by an impasse among party delegates on how to award delegates party positions by which one of the camps insisted it should be awarded through regional representation while the opposing side insisted it should be through tribal quotas and which seems to have been the only viable alternative is to increase the number of delegates taking part in the convention from the current 941 delegates to 1162 delegates .
The meeting held today at the private residence in Hargeisa of the Vice President Hon Abdurrahman Abdullah Saylaci in which resulted to heated deliberations among the members of the ruling party Steering committee were all present, moments after the meeting ended it finally became clear they have agreed as a last resort to the allocation of party delegates through tribal quotas.
They committee members through voting agreed to bring aboard additional 221 new delegates from the present number of 941 and finally to a total of 1162 delegates after long heated debates lasting several hours.
With new changes ruling party rules, KULMIYE loyalists hope it will be a lasting solution to long running and recurrence of the party’s internal wrangles.
The number of party delegates numbering at least 1162 shall be allocated through tribal quotas.
The City of Sheffield has become the first city in the world to officially recognize Somaliland as an independent nation this after members of the city council unanimously passed by 83 members,2 voted against and 1 abstention earlier today.
Wednesday 2 April, Sheffield City Council voted to pass a motion recognising Somaliland’s right to self-determination, and calling on “the British government to recognise Somaliland as an independent state and to encourage other governments around the world to do the same.”
The historic debate was tabled by Councillor Mohammad Maroof who yesterday received over 2,000 signatures from the Somaliland community in Sheffield, petitioning the council to support recognition.
The Foreign Minister of Somaliland, the country’s most senior statesman aside from the President, Mohamed Bihi Yonis spoke in the Council Chamber, “Somaliland is a peaceful, democratic nation, which has been striving to be recognised by the international community since declaring independence in 1991. Sheffield’s decision will help strengthen our campaign for recognition.”
Councillor Neale Gibson (Lab) noted that “Somaliland fulfils all the criteria for statehood required by international law. A permanent population. A defined territory. A government. And the capacity to enter into relations with other states.”
Councillor Ben Curran (Lab) said “We hope that Sheffield’s support is just the first step to helping Somaliland fulfil its right to self-determination.”
Councillor Julie Dore (Lab) said “We fundamentally believe in Somaliland’s right to self-determination.”
The Energy Minister of Somaliland Hussein Abdi Dualeh thanked local Labour MPs Paul Blomfield and Clive Betts as well as City Councillors for their support of Somaliland’s independence.
Somaliland sees this as an important, breakthrough moment for their campaign to be recognised as an independent nation by the international community. Their Independence Day will be celebrated around the world on 18 May.
This Friday, 4 April, Sheffield Central MP Paul Blomfield will be speaking at ISRAAC, the Somali Community and Cultural Association, in support of Somaliland’s case for recognition.
This meeting brings together key Governments, National Oil Companies and leading corporate players
NICOSIA, Cyprus, April 1, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ – Global Pacific & Partners (http://www.glopac-partners.com) announce the 11th Maghreb, Mediterranean, MidEast Upstream Conference 2014 from 20th to 21st May, at the Hilton Hotel in Nicosia, Cyprus, with the support of the European Rim Policy and Investment Council.
This meeting brings together key Governments, National Oil Companies and leading corporate players, and is the longest and most established upstream meeting on this region of its kind.
Key Focus:
● Building Portfolio: Corporate Players & Strategies
● Regional Government Oil & Gas
● Commercialization & Investment in Emerging Markets
● Frontier Opportunities
● Gas-LNG Outlook & Unconventionals
● Regional Landscapes & Energy Future
Highlights:
● Widely acclaimed 11th Maghreb-MidEast Strategy Briefing 2014 held on the 19th May
● 150+ Senior Executives
● 32+ Presentations
● Cocktail Reception & PetroAfricanus-PetroArabian Dinner held on the 20th May
32+ Confirmed Speakers, including:
ADX Energy Ltd
Barcelona Centre for International Affairs – CIDOB
Botas Petroleum Pipeline Corp
Cygam Energy Inc.
Dana Gas Egypt
Delek Belron International
European Rim Policy and Investment Council (ERPIC)
Global Pacific & Partners International
Hellenic Petroleum S.A.
Habboush Group
International E&P BV
Levant Law Practice
Natural Resources Authority, Jordan
Noble Energy Inc
Northern Petroleum Plc
Petroceltic International
Petroleb
RWE Dea AG
Onhym
Polish Oil & Gas Company
Petra Petroleum
PGS
San Leon Energy plc
Sea Dragon Energy Inc
SPTEC Advisory
The Ministry of Oil, Iraq
White Stream Pipeline Company Ltd
The Global Pacific & Partners’ Clubs connect the corporate and state players, facilitate industry interests and deal flow in Africa’s Upstream, through networking with senior executives from around the world.
Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of Global Pacific & Partners.
Note for the press:
For further information, please contact Global Pacific & Partners:
