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Somaliland: The Corridors of Power.

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Written by: Yusuf Deyr, Edmonton, Canada 

Hope is like the rain that gently falls upon the fields that lulls my devastated broken heart.  It protects it from solitude, loneliness, and that depression that often chases me.  It patters down so gently a sound that brings the sense of peace and tranquility in to my mind and soul. when it strikes the iron roof on the ceiling of my destitute shack, calling home.  Smoothness. and cheering follows the rain dimple drops that are reflected by the sun light beams, so soft, so still, and so sure.  Hence I can perform my daily five ritual – prayers at ease, and in unruffled serene and tranquility.  As far as peace sustains; love can exist and endure.  Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery, but today is the game of the play.  The right rite – passage, and the stage of a person’s advance through life.  But we are driven by force through the gun – point to watch a badly conceived concert that the actor is an aging dying actor, exhausted man that had declared bankruptcy of vision and the gift of the second sight.  who doesn’t believe in the second life after death in heaven.  The country has been hijacked by an interest group hungry for pain and blood.  Mr.Silanyo believes that death is the end of life and he is cynical about the day of judgment. 

Every morning when I wake up and stare at my e-mail Inbox, or look at the Tv.  I see many messages covering sad stories from home.  Where I could read some messages from some of my intimate friends reprimanding me, misjudging, and calling me a scared chicken old man. Regard me as a timid person who got scared  from the corridors of power; after hearing the ill snoring sound, and the boiling tongue of our coach and teacher, Mr.Silanyo.  Others suspect me for being tongue – tied nowadays, due to receiving kick – backs from the money-laundering of Sheikh Samale. These friends acting as the judge and the prosecutor at the same time, without giving me the benefit of the doubt, or the chance to defend myself.  Reading a prophetic remarks that has the seal of death on my innocent face.  It is an absurd and awkwardly enough when the offender and the victim, both blame you for mischief and suspects you in partiality.  Hence, you find yourself in a bay and a difficult situation that you forget to know who you are, and where you belong to.  Even the media and some of the Website owners gets upset and take it personal, if you pinpoint your finger to one of his clan or party, even if that particular person in question, is wrong doing.  The media that are supposed to orientate the political, and psychological attitude, and the perception of the masses to liberate their minds, from the shackles of tribalism and bias to one another. Alas! We are a nation totally blinded by the gold – dust of the Mother – In – Law from hell ( Tribalism ).  Then you find yourself alone, tongue – tied by the Mother – In – Law from Hell ( Tribalism ); in between the devil and the dead – sea.  Strangely enough, both the victim and the offender regard you as their enemy.  As a freelance writer, I believe in what I could see, touch, taste, and smell.  My client is the peasant, and the lay-man on the street. Regardless to his color,  creed or faith.   I am paid and got hired by my Self -consciousness. I am a street fighter on the cutting edge.  I am not going out of my way to break my neck.  I try my best to imitate my deceased Hero, Mr. Gariye the great, not in lyrics, but in writing some articles covering some ideas that are liable to open discussion, and that are of vital importance to our country. I try my best to imitate and act as my deceased Hero and mentor, Gariye, the Great.  The same in tone, tune, and rhythm.  Trying to be the resuscitator of Mr.Gariye to revive and refresh an ailing – society; led by a corrupted Regime which is hungry for pain and blood.  By divine, that is my ultimate logotype. But sometimes I run in frustrating situations, that confuses me and even I forget my name.  Too hard to detect, who is my foe and who is my friend?  Giving a nasty crack of my aging mind, and act as a vulgar, confused old man, almost to act like MP, honourable Ahmed Mohamed Deriye  ( Sugar Daddy Nacnac ).   Hence, I wrap my aging body with my dirty bed sheet, and dusty blanket. Go out of the air, and go back to sleep with depressed, and racked –brain. Believing that sleep may banish my sorrow.  Preferring to be dormant and under hibernation like a frog in a winter season. By diving deeply in to my antique bed, and travelling back over, rewinding old painful memory years.  Giving deaf ears to all those circumstantial evidence surrounding me. Preferring to be dormant and under hibernation like a frog in a winter season. By diving deeply in to my antique bed, and travelling back over, rewinding old painful memory years.  We are always violent and nervous, as our greedy business men like Dahabshill Co-Operation always poison ourselves with expired commodities. All we can buy and eat is expired sugar, white flour, and white salt.  The three deadly whites.  All that sugar makes us violent and always hipper.  Because where people with in hypoglycaemia, low blood sugar, were sometimes diagnosed as manic depressive and psychopathic, because of the sugar blues.  But hope and optimism is the only tools and Life – Support in our Survival – Kit to pursue and sustain life.  But who cares?  These business men are shareholders with the big brother and they are above the law.       

 Dear reader to make you laugh, there is an Arabic saying or proverb which says, ” The more you live longer, the more you hear and see some astonishing and disgusting scenes.  recently in my visit to Hargeisa, on March 6th instant, a hired jerk from Toront, Canada, licensed and hired to kill by MP Mr.Nacnac, addressed me in a threatening intimidating language, marked with words of slurs in a public place.  Declaring, openly that he has come from abroad for the intention of killing me.  Simply because I have insulted his brother MP Nacnac in the past, as he claims. “I peered around dumbstruck and wiped an arm across my sweaty forehead saying.  “ Then If your intention is to kill me, why you address me in a public place?  Why you don’t do it secretly to finish your deadly assignment?  Those who have the intention of killing, they never wash their dirt in public.  Continued saying, Hassan, If I am a sweet cake that can be swallowed easily by some cockroaches like you, I would had been eaten earlier by bigger cockroaches than you.  please stop your empty bluffing and mind your own business “.  I simply ended my argument with him.

 After, I had reported the incident to the Arms of the Law, through a Police Station near Edna Maternity Hospital.  At the same time informed his brother Mr.Ahmed Mohamed Deria.  Owing to that, I believe much that Mr.Nacnac is no more liable to be An MP.  He must be put in the American Terrorist List.  More disgustingly. the president of the Regional court of Maroodi Jeex province Mr.Faysal Abdilahi and the president of the court of Appeal Mr.Abdirashid Mahamoud are always harassed and disturbed by some intruders that are close allies with MR.Silanyo and those who act as the corridors of power.  Those top-Aides of Silanyo like his mouth – Piece Mr.Nacnac,  always put their long nose to the affairs of the Judiciary Department. I am deadly sure that Mr.Silanyo’s reaction will be punishing the two judges, soon or later; instead of the other way round.    

Above that, recently Mr.Silanyo is pushing the panic button of evil in both, in spirit and in flesh.  His vast nasty Empire spinning and threading all arts of mischiefs, corruption,  assassinations, plots, rigging the election, and conspiracy, even to his close allies. Putting a gag in the mouth of the free press, like the Hubal – Newspaper which had spent in his support, beads of sweat in his days of doom and gloom. More disgustingly, his top- aids blackmailing the poor decent girls by alluring them with money for illegal sex.  Rape and robbery is committed on the day light.  The peace and tranquility of the public is shuttered by Hired – Gangs like the brother of Mr.Nacnac, who is neck- named by, Xasan Qoti, and other serial – killers.  Malice and hatred are festering inside, and that is why resentment, and rancour of the masses are smoldering, and almost to brim to the surface.  Prices of local consumption goods are skyrocketing, inflation is at the climax, and unemployment and diseases are at the highest rate.  Our diplomatic relationship with our Ethiopian friends  and Great Britain are in a storm and in a low profile. At the same time, Mr.Silanyo, cupping his hand  to his ear, and trying to cover his mischiefs and failure with his selfish smile. Claiming that he was not the ogre he has painted. Pretending blindly that the country is safe and sound.  Mr.Silanyo, the mischief – maker, that is something you wanted intentionally more than anything else in your life time. People are going to bed hungry, walking in shuffled steps, and looking at each other with jaundiced eyes. According to his perception, confusion, chiase , and loss of law and order is enough justification for your appeal to UNISOM for intervention, to drive us forcibly back to Bermuda Triangle ( Mogadishu ). 

Sir, the only difference between Somaliland and the evil Empire in Mogadishu is that.  Before Silanyo we used to shout at each other instead of shooting each other.  But now since the arrival of Mr.Silanyo’s rule and reign, the Mogadishu scenario of assassination and kidnaping has started which is orchestrated by the Government. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery, but today is the game of the play.  As far as peace can sustain; love can exist and endure.  It is an odd and new revelation that important personalities are hunted on a daily bases, without no apparent reasons or explanation.

Before now, a judge from the judiciary Department was shot on the day light, another member of parliament Mr.Mohamed Farah Qabile was shot in a public place, our Mujahideen like Mohamed Kaahin was shot with three bullets in a restaurant.  That is unforeseen ill-omen which can be interpreted that the security and safety of the masses is in jeopardy.  Give me the list, who is next?  The only survival tool – kit we have was hope, and by now even our hope is in a coffin, in a Life – Support.  Nobody can predict how the weather is going to be like tomorrow.  Yesterday was painful memory, today is dark, and there is no a promising tomorrow.  The whole Nation is totally in turmoil and dilemma.

Mr.M.Kahin, you are not dying today but you already had prepared your coffin the day you had handcuffed your comrade in the war – trench, Mr. Abdirahman Abdulkader Farah.  By now, you are a lonely orphan who will live alone, and will die alone.  You turned to be defenceless since that day you had stabbed at the back, your twin brother in the war-trench.  I have an empty feeling.  Silanyo is not the kind of man you would want to go with him in a war, or have him on your side when you are in a tight bay.  By now, you are a prey to all hostile elements that are acting against you.  Now in your eyes, all male animals is your enemy.  Watch out for the evil – eye.  You are now a walking dead meat.  Mr.Kahin, by now, you are a bird with wet wings. Silanyo’s true friend is his reign and wallet.  He is a heartless robot which has no heart, feeling, or emotions.  It is hard to beat back his old bad habits of a life time.  By now you could see behind the veil of time and unclouded the facts on the ground.  Though the big enigma is still there.  Grapping with the mysteries of life and death.  Mr.Silanyo is discreet in wrong doing, yet  makes clear that he has not the ogre  that he has painted.  Mujahid Kahin, I wish you good luck but your faith is trembling on the balance.  Give me the list, who is next? 

Mr.Musa Bihi, how much positive you feel that Mr.Silanyo will filful the promise of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, to secure his declining rule and reign?  It is the broken pledge that bothers you.  You are aware that the Delete – Key has been made before the presidential bug first bit you.  But it will not hurt the father, like it will hurt the son.  Mr.Musa, do you know what it is like to look in a mirror, and hate what you see? Knowingly it will never be better.  Give me the boy until he is six, and you will know the man.  Now the spell is broken and it is too late to repair.  Mr.Silanyo is an onion, one layer after the other.  He is expert in speaking softly, hiding the rancour behind. 

By now, you are old enough to know that Mr.Silanyo believes that death is the end of life and there is no a second life in heaven.  But we all fade like a leaf, then meet again in the day of judgment. His nib has changed his plans.  But remember the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.  If life is watching a Tv, it takes two to Tango.  Stick to your flannels, until they stick to you.  Give me the list, who is next? I wish you good luck Mr.Mujahid. 

Mr.Abdulaziz Samale, go back to your Mosque and count the worrying – beads as before.  You are a passenger in a football team.  There is no room for you in the Oval – Office.  Money – laundering of the nation’s treasury is enough evidence for us to know who you are.  Mixing water with milk is an adulteration and illegal in the Islam-Law.  Serious Somalilanders count you out.  Tell me your friend and I will tell who you are.

Dear Country men, our country is on the edge of a cliff, and we are almost to fall apart.  It is an urgent duty for all of us to salvage the nation.  We must unite our vital force, peasant or prince.  Those masses rallying behind the Xaqsoor And Udhis parties must join and participate in the two official opposition parties.  But before that, there must be a thorough radical change in it’s rules and regulations from the scratch. Because their present status – quo is assumed as two restaurants that belongs to Mr.X and Mr.Y .  We have two dictatorships, one through the parties and the other in the Oval – Office.  The members of the parties must have a say, in the decision making, not simply a rubber stamp for the Chairman of the party.  That is the straw that has broken the camel’s back.

Mr.Silanyo, what is bred in the bone, will come out in the flesh.  A torn flag is an honour to the capital.  A fool over eighty is a fool indeed. The only difference between the Somalilanders and the evil Empire in Mogadishu is that.  We, as Somalilanders, before now we used to shout at each other instead of shooting each other.  You have invited the Satan to dinner. Now, we are excellent matches to Mogadishu.  The ball is on the ground.  Wear your bulletproof vest.  If the cap fits, wear it.  No matter how you change the fashion, a ruffled temper will never be in style. Your disgusting ill snoring is the interpretation of your ill-omen. Serious Somalilanders are all eyes and ears. Mr.Silanyo, What you wear in your heart, shows in your face.  It is your own choice if you are going to Bermuda Triangle. We can read the Logo of your party which is shaking hands with Mogadishu. We have got your message, that your friends can do no wrong, and your rivals can do no right. The cow has forgotten that she was once a calf. There you are, you die alone and blame no one.  Your side of the road is always dusty. 

Mr.Silanyo, thank you for being totally ugly. 

The three piece suit is yours and the shame is ours.

Yusuf Deyr, Edmonton, Canada 

 

 

The Unfinished Journey of Somaliland and Somalia Talks

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As the new Istanbul II communique suggests, Somalia and Somaliland accepted a joint solution of almost all the agendas and substance that were raised. However, it should be noted that both sides were eminently incapable in addressing the issue of secession. The delusion that have been sweetening our pots leading up to these talks has once again disappointed the Somaliland citizens. The absence of Somaliland secession agenda again on the table is nothing more than a music to our skeptical ears. The avoidance of this agenda is particularly remarkable because of its relevance to the unity of Somalia and Secession of Somaliland. One might think both sides are not taking the most pressing agenda seriously.

Beyond the pictorially staged and carefully choreographed settings, If you closely looked at the nine precision points agreed upon there was no new game changing development that has really been introduced. Except the acknowledgement of the atrocities committed by the late regime of Siyad Barre, nothing new was introduced on the table. Sure some may say this was not a small feat, but still it is only one issues among many contentions. The other main point that deserves a mention is the issue of air travel control. Both sides agreed to form a four member party (two from each party) that will prepare the term of reference of the air travel control board. I’m pleased that this was added since last time Somalia was not able to live up to its previous agreements of the air control. Of course, hardly is Somalia nor Somaliland able to control their air space. Except in dividing equally the revenues collected I don’t see the big significance.

It is utmost important that Somaliland takes note at the pace of the talks. My caution today concerns the point of timing! We all agree diplomacy takes time, lots of time. But unfortunately the snail pace of these negotiations is unsurprisingly in favor of Federal government of Somalia. The biggest weapon in their arsenal is TIME. And, sad to say, most indication suggest that Somalia has nothing to lose in delaying to address the issue of secession, since they are legitimately recognized as a government hence they have no business in limbo. One might even suspect they are just buying time to carve out a sphere of influence on Somaliland once they get to sort out their ever spiraling government. A time might come when Somalia would be able to move vigorously diplomatically and gain a more leverage over Somaliland. This said, Somaliland should explicitly demand that the next round of talks address the elephant in the room. No more should Somaliland allow Somalia to treat the issue of secession as unwelcome burden! Ultimately, moreover, if there is no assurance that exists in addressing this issue, Somaliland should not reignite any more talks. Since the agendas have to be set prior to meeting now, Somaliland shouldn’t reflexively assume they are on the same page with their counterparts.

Crucially Somaliland citizens must not be allowed to perceive that the outcome of these talks without secession agenda on the table is an inch closer to achieving their noble goal of secession. Somaliland authority should express concern over the inability to convince Somalia to start real negotiation. In the coming months, instead of recycling politicians in the current administration the task should be to assemble a different group including Somaliland willing scholars this time. The current foreign affairs minister of Somaliland Mr.Mohamed Bihi Yonis is a highly regarded diplomat with ability to shape Somaliland foreign policy compared to his predecessor! He seems to be a man of unsurpassed integrity and intelligence. Even though diplomats see the world differently and with different priorities I have faith in Somaliland foreign affairs minister!

In all fairness, diplomacy calls for listening, respecting and understanding. For that we should praise both sides for their temperament. In the realm of diplomatic possibilities there is of course nothing impossible so let’s hope both sides get the courage to move on forward!

 By NomadPress

Puntland Is for Pirates

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Why are convicted high-seas bandits being sent to the Somali region that profits from their crimes?

BY Jillian Keenan

HARGEISA, Somalia — Mowlid Ahmed Abidoon stands quietly in the small prison cell where he has lived for nearly two years. Slot windows on one wall let in only a little sunlight, leaving his face almost entirely obscured in darkness. Yet there are splashes of color all around: The room’s bunk beds are covered in sheets with bright floral and geometric patterns, over which hang canopies of blue mosquito nets — cells within the cell.

Clad in a striped polo shirt and prison-uniform pants, Mowlid estimates that he is about 20 years old; the last traces of baby fat still cling to his cheeks. He insists that he shouldn’t be behind bars. “I’m a fisherman, not a pirate,” he says flatly, as though he has delivered this speech a hundred times before.

Court documents from Seychelles say otherwise. On Dec. 6, 2009, Mowlid and a band of fellow Somali pirates used firearms and explosives to attack the Topaz, a Seychelles Coast Guard patrol vessel. (Seychelles, an island nation, is about 825 miles southeast of Mogadishu, Somalia’s coastal capital.) They were arrested, convicted, and sentenced to 24 years in prison.

That’s how Mowlid ended up in Hargeisa Central Prison, home to 29 Somali pirates. The prison was born of necessity. Pirates are often tried in countries like Seychelles and Mauritius, in whose waters they are caught, but those states don’t want to keep the convicted in their jails. The Somali government can’t reasonably take them, given its extreme volatility. Yet one place has been eager to house pirates: Somaliland, a self-declared independent (but internationally unrecognized) republic in northern Somalia that wants to prove its state-like qualities and relative security in the tumultuous Horn of Africa.

So the United Nations invested millions of dollars to build a prison in Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital. Opened in 2010 and run by local authorities, it was the first new prison in the region in 30 years.

Today, outside the prison’s main entrance, a sign warns visitors what they cannot bring with them: hand grenades, knives, assault rifles. Inside, inmates compete against guards in basketball, while feral kittens roam the dusty grounds. In the prison’s open kitchen, a huge pot of stew bubbles over a fire. Aside from spirals of barbed wire and armed guards atop open towers, there isn’t much obvious security.

Beneath the veneer of calm, however, the prison is nearing capacity. The facility can hold 506 prisoners, and it already has 480. (Pirates are housed alongside other criminals.) Mowlid, like many inmates, shares his cell with nine other men. Meanwhile, some 1,350 pirates currently incarcerated abroad await repatriation to Somalia. It’s clear that neither Hargeisa nor Somaliland generally will be able — or even willing — to take them all.

The solution, according to the international community, lies in another autonomous region in Somalia: Puntland, which encompasses the country’s northeastern coastline. The U.N. provided funding to upgrade and expand a prison in the port city of Bosaso, and, as of press time, another U.N.-backed facility was scheduled to open in Garowe, Puntland’s capital, in February 2014. But Puntland isn’t Somaliland. It is a less stable and more corrupt place. Perhaps most worrying, however, is that it’s also considered the heart of Somalia’s pirate culture.

“Puntland is pirate land,”explains Michael Frodl, the founder of C-Level Maritime Risks, a Washington-based consultancy. “If I were a Somali pirate, I’d do everything I could to get sent to Garowe.”

PIRACY BEGAN SPREADING rapidly in the waters off Somalia in the early 21st century because of civil war and poverty — offering a chance to make money amid an economic wasteland of opportunity. In a typical operation, pirates armed with guns and other weapons approach commercial ships in skiffs, hijack them, and demand a ransom, a chunk of which they often pay to wily financiers. But even if Somali pirates can be considered products of circumstance, some have also become torturers and murderers: Freed hostages have reported pirates hanging captives by their feet, submerging them at sea, staging mock executions, and locking them in freezers.

Reports of appalling violence, along with hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to shipping companies, have prompted the international community to focus on repressing, arresting, and prosecuting Somali pirates. In 2008, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution calling on countries with ships in the region to use military force against pirates. NATO and the European Union (among others) police the Indian Ocean, and private, foreign-funded security operations have also joined the fight. Meanwhile, shipping companies have fortified their vessels to repel attacks, using everything from armed guards to razor wire.

Their efforts have worked. There were only 15 reported attacks in 2013, according to the International Chamber of Commerce, down sharply from a peak of 237 in 2011. Analysts around the world have touted the drop as a huge success.

But while the most visible manifestations of piracy have diminished, the root causes of the phenomenon remain unaddressed back on dry land. Amid continuing political and economic instability, organized gangs of pirates still exist, looking for susceptible targets, and a new generation of young men like Mowlid could easily turn to a life of maritime crime. Indeed, according to a 2013 World Bank report, “Current and proposed onshore or offshore policies for curbing Somali piracy are either ineffective or unsustainable.” As a result, the report states, “whether they [pirate attacks] will continue to be suppressed is a major question.” Similarly, Jon Huggins of the nonprofit Oceans Beyond Piracy, has called the recent gains against pirates “fragile and reversible” and has warned against “emphasiz[ing] too much the declining numbers of attacks.”

The prisons in Somaliland and Puntland, in other words, are part of a security solution to a problem that is, at its heart, economic and political — a worrying mismatch.

The prisons in Somaliland and Puntland, in other words, are part of a security solution to a problem that is, at its heart, economic and political — a worrying mismatch. Ending piracy once and for all will require more than military might on the high seas and the threat of incarceration. According to the World Bank, it will require incentivizing — through both law enforcement and development initiatives — the local leaders enabling piracy to change their tune. Then there is the matter of jobs. “Ultimately, we need to get these Somali men, often youth, quality employment,” says Michael Shank, an adjunct professor and Somalia expert at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. The U.N. Development Program has pegged the unemployment rate for Somali youth between the ages of 14 and 29 at 67 percent — one of the world’s highest.

Pirate prisons alone certainly cannot address this problem. Although inmates can complete training programs in trades like construction, metalworking, and plumbing in the Hargeisa and Bosaso facilities, it’s unlikely they will be able to use their newfound skills upon release. Even fishing jobs are largely out of reach. Shank explains that, in addition to “ransom pirates,” there are “resource pirates.” The latter, however, aren’t Somalis. They are foreign fleets that threaten East Africa’s waters with overfishing and toxic-waste dumping, making it impossible for many Somali men to make money the way their fathers and grandfathers did. “To put the problem of piracy in perspective, ransom pirates made $60 million in their most lucrative year, while commercial-resource pirates illegally harvest up to $450 million in fish annually,” says Shank. “Any sustainable solution for this problem, then, must address this exploitation.”

Ironically, pirate prisons may also be generating new security risks. Pirates in Hargeisa and Bosaso are held in the same facilities as members of al-Shabab, the Somali terrorist group with ties to al Qaeda, and juveniles are housed alongside adults. That means there’s a very real risk that impressionable, disillusioned young men could be radicalized — young men like Mowlid, who, if his estimated age is correct, was only about 16 when he and his friends attacked the Topaz. “I don’t see any future,” Mowlid says of his life.

John Wilcox, a prison advisor for Somaliland with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), says roughly 12 of the Hargeisa prison’s inmates are members of al-Shabab. There is a covert prison intelligence program in place to ward off radicalization, but Wilcox still worries that the facility could become a breeding ground for extremists. “A lot of these guys don’t have father figures,” he says, alluding to another socioeconomic problem in Somalia: the disintegration of clan and family structures because of conflict and hardship. “And with al-Shabab in here, we certainly don’t want this to be the place where they find one.”

Radicalization might be less of a concern if prison inmates were certain to remain behind bars. But in November 2013, Bosaso’s prison was attacked by al-Shabab militants carrying at least one rocket-propelled grenade; they killed three people as they sought to liberate fellow extremists from their cells. The UNODC was quick to point out that, had it not been for its recent investments in Bosaso, the attack could have been worse. “However, we cannot close our eyes to possible attacks,” says Manuel de Almeida Pereira, a program coordinator with the UNODC in Garowe. “We remain, of course, worried.”

It’s not just al-Shabab that threatens the prisons’ security: Puntland has a reputation for tolerating and even enabling piracy. Although Puntland’s former president, Abdirahman Farole — in office from 2009 until January 2014 — made repeated public pledges and some concrete efforts to undermine, arrest, and convict pirates, a 2012 report by the U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea called into question “[t]he authenticity of the Puntland authority’s commitment to fighting piracy.” Gangs have reportedly paid off local communities in order to dock hijacked ships in Puntland’s coastal cities during ransom negotiations, and Puntland government officials have been known to receive pirate money in exchange for protection agreements and information about the location of foreign ships. A 2012 Chatham House study also found that ransom money contributes heavily to the region’s economic development, particularly in provincial capitals. “Puntland’s political elites are therefore unlikely to move decisively against piracy,” the report concluded.

The decision to invest in greater detention capacity in Puntland — like Somaliland before it — was due largely to a lack of alternatives. (It didn’t help that, due to an ongoing border dispute, Somaliland has refused to imprison pirates born in Puntland, saying it must deal with its own problems.) But the large-scale transfer of pirate prisoners from abroad hardly seems like a safe solution. Pirates have had success bribing their way out of custody throughout Somalia. The U.N. is working to ensure that prisoners are not unlawfully released from the facilities it funds, but some experts are worried that pirates may still slip through the cracks in Puntland.

“Pirates are basically being sheltered by the regime in exchange for protection money,” Frodl, the maritime risk consultant, says. “Those jails might hold a few foot soldiers, but if you tried to incarcerate any high-level pirates in Puntland, they’d buy their way out in a week.”

MOWLID, WHO GREW UP IN THE TOWN OF Barawe, south of Mogadishu, perks up slightly when asked about the Puntland prisons. Puntland might be better, he agrees. In Somaliland, he has never been able to have a visitor, and he misses his family. Puntland would be closer to home.

A few of his fellow inmates nod. A transfer might be nice.

But that’s not what they really want to talk about. As the minutes pass, they shift in their seats, ignoring the bottles of fruit juice and water a prison guard has passed around.

“How can you help us?” demands Ares Isse Karshe, a 40-year-old pirate who was captured with Mowlid. He has a thin, ragged beard with hints of gray. When I explain that I can’t help him, he leans back in his chair and says nothing.

Across the room, Mowlid is willing to speak — but only a little. He claims once more that he is innocent and that his right to a fair trial was violated.

“Please leave us alone,” Mowlid says finally, looking down. “We give up the sea. It belongs to you now.” His fingers have curled into fists.

 Source: Foreign Report

Somaliland:Life is Water and Water is life!

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SomalilandPress-22nd March is the annual World Water Day which focuses attention on the importance of freshwater and advocates for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.  Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater. This year’s international theme highlights the issue of “Water and Energy”. The Main objective is to draw attention to this topic and to show the close linkages between these two basic needs. 

In Somaliland water is in extremely scarce.  Only 43%[1] of the population have access to improved water sources. The lack of water is a major concern for both urban and rural populations.  For livestock, water is essential and the population is reliant on rain-fed dams, balleys and water pans.

Responding to the water shortage in Somaliland, the Minster of Water Resources with help from its partners wish to promote “Rain Water Harvesting” for World Water Day. This theme will raise awareness and promote actions at the local level. During the World Water Day, Somaliland Government, EU officials (The largest water sector donor in Somaliland), UN agencies and International NGOs will promote the importance of “Rain Water Harvesting”.  It will generate local interest among Somaliland people and both urban and rural communities will be targeted. In addition, the link between rainwater and “Water & Energy” will be made by promoting rainwater harvesting as a low-cost, readily available and energy-saving method of water collection, which does not require any external energy inputs, unlike most other forms of water supply which require motorized pumping, road transport, human resources, etc.

Every person has the right to have access to safe drinking water. Access to clean water is the key to finding a quality life free from water-borne diseases.  Good health starts with having access to clean water. In developing countries, almost 80% of diseases are caused by poor water hygiene. One in every five child deaths is attributed to water-related diseases. Especially, children are more vulnerable to diseases transmitted through diseases.

European Union has made their commitment to reduce the burden of water scarcity in Somaliland and is funding significant water programmes in Somaliland the moment. The EU is the largest water sector donor in Somaliland. The goal of EU-funded water programmes is to improve the quality and quantity of fresh water available to Somaliland people and its future generations. These Water programmes are being implemented by a different partners such UN-Habitat, UNICEF, Caritas and Terresolidali. The EU is committed to Somaliland development and growth.

Among these projects, Hargiesa Urban Water Supply Upgrading Project- HUWSUP- is the largest European Union funded water programme in Somaliland and is implemented by UN-Habitat in partnership with Hargeisa Water Agency (HWA) and the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR).

The principal water infrastructure for Hargeisa was constructed in the 1970s to supply what was then a city of 180,000 inhabitants. Following rapid urbanisation and resettlement, the estimated population of the city is now over 750,000 people, while the daily supply from the existing water system is just 9 million litres – the same as it was in 1988, with only about a quarter of the current population.

 

 

 

The chronic lack of water is only half the story. The twenty-five- to forty-year-old pumping mains between Geed Deeble and Hargeisa are heavily deteriorated and regularly burst, leaving the city without piped water. Throughout the year, Hargeisa Water Agency carries out continuous maintenance of the old pipeline that brings water to the growing city of Hargeisa. 

 

 

On 6 December 2012, UN-Habitat, in partnership with the Hargeisa Water Agency and the Ministry of Water Resources, began the implementation of the HUWSUP.

The objectives of the project are simple and straightforward: to increase the amount of water to Hargeisa from nearby wellfields, and to ensure that the supply system is secure and sustainable. To achieve this, UN-HABITAT engages the services of professional engineering consultants and contractors, respectively to design and then construct a new upgraded water supply system.

The upgraded system also has the potential to further increase the water supply: connecting additional wellfields (Hora Haadley and Laas Durre) in the future could supply Hargeisa with as much as 20 million litres a day.  A significant number of additional households will benefit from improved direct access to the Hargeisa municipal water system. HUWSUP will also contribute to enhanced livelihood opportunities through income generation and job creation.

Overall, HUWSUP is the first step towards a safe and secure water system for the city by laying the foundations for improved and sustainable water infrastructure for the entire city of Hargeisa. In combination with EU and other donor-funded projects, as well as work undertaken by the Hargeisa Water Agency and the Ministry of Water Resources, the entire population of Hargeisa will benefit from an urban water system built for the future.

Large-scale urban infrastructure developments of this kind require appropriate funding, planning and time to implement. Rather, the present system upgrade provided by HUWSUP is laying the foundation of an adequate and sustainable water supply system for the Somaliland capital, which will be able to satisfy both present and future demands.

In order to get a more equitable distribution of the extra water available in 2016, HUWSUP and HWA are actively working together designing a series of dedicated trunk mains starting with a main to Ahmed Dhagah and a service reservoir. From here, the trunk main can continue to Mohamoud Haybe. HUWSUP will continue to provide technical assistance to HWA for the expansion of the urban network.

 

Now the design has been completed, the tenders being advertised worldwide to attract the right contractors who can build the new pipeline and pumping station.  Construction works are expected to begin by mid 2014. HUWSUP will achieve the first milestone towards future clean water of Hargeisa resident by December 2015.



[1] Somaliland Household Survey. World Bank, 2013.

I was shaking and giggling like a kid

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I just got off the phone with Renata and I have to share this with you!

She told me, “When I found out she was free, I just ran around the house yelling, ‘she’s out! she’s out!’ I was shaking and giggling like a little kid. I yelled for my husband, grabbed him and started dancing around. I had no idea how much change just one person can bring!”

Renata was talking about Hannah*, an Austrian woman who was facing prison in Dubai for extramarital sex, after reporting her brutal rape to the police!! When Renata read about her in the newspaper, she was “horrified and angry. Then I thought of Avaaz. I thought I can ignite a fire, get others to join.”

Her petition to Austria’s foreign minister got over 150,000 signatures in one day and was quickly at the center of a media firestorm in Austria and around the world. Suddenly, after six weeks of inaction, the Minister scrambled a crisis team with high level negotiators who flew to Dubai, and three days after the petition was launched Hannah’s horrible ordeal was over and she was free!

Any of us can use Avaaz’s petition site to do the same thing, and now Avaaz is going to send the top 10 petitions to 10,000 people each to jumpstart their impact. Click below to get started, andlet’s get more shaking and giggling happening in the world 🙂

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/start_a_petition/?cl=3916891874&v=37609&source=recruit

The difference between reading about the worst news stories and actually being able to do something to change them can feel like a huge chasm — but it’s not. The internet is bringing people together in powerful ways faster than ever before, and by simply starting a petition, countless members of our community are literally saving lives.

Renata’s petition is just one story — petitions started by people just like her have protected a vital park space in Italy, helped bring us inches away from ending a corrupt secret voting practice in Brazil and helped get the national government to move to protect habitat for orangutans in Indonesia. The potential of this simple step to change the world is why Avaaz is pledging to send the top ten petitions chosen by our community to 10,000 people straight away, making sure that the best petitions started by all of us can quickly have impact. That means that a great idea can go from 100 to thousands in hours, the first important step to the media mega-storm Renata used to save her fellow Austrian from a terrifying future.

It only takes a couple of minutes to get started, and there are tonnes of tips and advice to help you along the way. Click below to start a petition now:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/start_a_petition/?cl=3916891874&v=37609&source=recruit

We’re winning every day, but the world is full of opportunities for impact. With almost 35 million of us, we can spread our power like wildfire and bring justice across the globe. Let’s get started changing the future for all of us.

With hope for all we will achieve together,

Christoph, Jeremy, Patri, Ari, Alice, Ricken and the whole Avaaz team

*Hannah is a pseudonym used to respect this woman’s request for anonymity

SOURCES:

Austria brings home rape case woman from Dubai (Reuters)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/01/31/us-austria-dubai-idUKBREA0U0PR20140131

Sebastian Kurz under pressure to secure release of Austrian woman in Dubai (Austrian Times)
http://austriantimes.at/news/General_News/2014-01-30/50406/Sebastian_Kurz_under_pressure_to_secure_release_of_Austrian_woman_in_Dubai_

Nude protest against Brazil secret vote (IOL)
http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/nude-protest-against-brazil-secret-vote-1.1579620#.UyoOSeddVpw

Brazil’s lower house approves end to secret voting in congress; reform now goes to senate (Fox News)
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/09/04/brazil-lower-house-approves-end-to-secret-voting-in-congress-reform-now-goes-to/

176.000 signatures save Abruzzo’s Regional Park, in italian only, (Gaia News)
http://gaianews.it/ambiente/il-popolo-del-web-salva-il-parco-regionale-in-abruzzo-49587.html#.UyrFFK1dW80

Global calls to save Aceh Forest, (The Jakarta Post)
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/05/19/global-calls-save-aceh-forest.html

Somaliland: Top UCID officials Invited to Attend Upcoming Socialist International Africa Committee Meeting in Dar es Salaam

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By Goth Mohamed Goth

Top leaders in  the Justice and Welfare “UCID” officials Invited to Attend Upcoming Socialist International Africa Committee Meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Top UCID officials Invited to Attend Upcoming Socialist International Africa Committee Meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania due to be held in on 28-29 March.

The Socialist International is the worldwide organization of social democratic, socialist and labour parties. It currently brings together 161 political parties and organizations from all continents.

To the members of the SI Africa Committee

Dear comrade,

I am pleased to confirm that the Socialist International Africa Committee will meet in Tanzania, hosted by the SI member party in that country, Chama Cha Mapinduzi, CCM. The meeting will take place in Dar es Salaam on 28-29 March.

The agenda of the meeting will be as follows: (1) Opening; (2) Our commitment to peace and the resolution of conflicts in the region; (3) Participative democracy, solid institutions and good governance; (4) For an economy that serves all the people, respects nature and provides growth; (5) Brief reports on national situations in countries of the region; (6) Statement of the meeting; (7) Date and venue of the next meeting of the Committee; (8) Closure.

The meeting will open at 10.00 hrs on Friday 28 March, and conclude at 13.00 hrs on Saturday 29. Simultaneous interpretation will be available in English and French.

Details of the venue as well of hotels where special rates are being negotiated for participants will be sent to you shortly.

We look forward to your participation at this meeting and to seeing you in Dar es Salaam.

 

Fraternal regards,

Luis Ayala

Secretary General

SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL

Maritime House

Old Town

Clapham

London SW4 0JW

United Kingdom

Tel: (44 20) 7627 4449

Fax: (44 20) 7720 4448 / 7498 1293

Email: secretariat@socialistinternational.org

www.socialistinternational.org

Somaliland:Admas University College holds Event Marking World Social Work Day in Hargeisa

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By Mukhtar Mohamed Abby

Social Workers around the world came together to celebrate World Social Work Day, which is celebrated annually on 19th  , March, to highlight for the global community the social work’s professions many contributions to society and to be a part of an on-going dialogue with partners as to how various social challenges can be responded to.

The theme of this year’s World Social Work Day 2014 is: Social and Economic Crises-Social Work Solutions.  Social workers are being called upon to engage in actions which:

Promote equality and equity; Enable people to live their lives sustainably; Build participation of service users, consumers and communities; Facilitate caring communities, and Respect diversity and build connections amongst people.

On a daily basis globally people are confronted by issues of poverty, a lack of access to quality education, unaffordable and or inadequate housing, and a lack of needed health and mental health services. What we as social workers know is that a climate that respects and protects basic civil, political, socio-economic and cultural rights is fundamental to human wellbeing.

Current global economic situation calls for us raise our collective voices and to increase our professional unity and engagement, so that as social workers we can be more influential and relevant in political and economic arenas.  A key aspect of social works primary mission is that of enhancing human well-being and working to ensure that people are able to meet their basic needs, especially the most vulnerable among us.  As a global profession we have done this through our many different roles in society, and in our varied fields of practice.

Admas celebrates

Now we must work to ensure that those who are the most vulnerable amongst us are at the front of all of our efforts as we work for more just economic systems to be put into place. As social workers we must continue the fight to eradicate poverty and to make sure that the impact of so called austerity measures which are occurring globally and are injuring the most vulnerable around the world are identified resisted and pushed back against!

The Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development continues to be the best vehicle to help us to do this. This effort between the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), and the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) continues to ensure that our profession becomes stronger. Our shared belief that the world can be changed for the better when we as social workers join together, advocating for the dignity and worth of the person; a more just world; and celebrating the importance of human relationships through the creation of more healthy environments and promoting social and economic equalities amongst people and societies.

adms pic 6

As a profession, social work has been dedicated to improving the welfare of society, of the individual and working with communities towards self-realization. We work to ensure that people are able access their own power at both the individual and community levels, and that solutions to problems are driven from the service user perspective which help to influence the way systems function and social work services are provided.

We must also continue to ensure that people’s human rights are ensured and protected and that the voices of those impacted by others poor business and political decisions are not ignored and are responded to.  Pioneering social worker and Nobel Prize recipient Jane Addams said: “What after all has maintained the human race on this old globe despite all of the calamities of nature and all of the failings of humankind, if not faith in new possibilities and courage to advocate them.”  As a profession we must continue to stand up and be counted when it matters . . . and it matters now more than ever.

On this World Social Work Day 2014, as Dean of  Department of studies in Sociology and Social work, Admas University college, I am proud to know that there are so many dedicated social work practitioners who especially during these times of such serious global challenges are standing together and working in solidarity and who through their commitment and dedication are invested in ensuring that the needs of those who are the most vulnerable are acknowledge responded to by actions that will benefit all of humanity.

In 1964 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as he accepted his Nobel Peace Prize said: “I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.  I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up.”

As professional social workers we too must have the audacity to believe that the world can be more just and work more fairly for all. Yes there are many issues which confront us and there is much work for us to do, but I know that by working together we can alleviate and impact those issues and decisions which negatively impact those who are the most vulnerable amongst us.

As the late Nelson Mandela so eloquently stated “A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dream of.”

 

By Mukhtar Mohamed Abby

Dean of studies in Sociology and Social work Department

 

AU Special Representative commends Djibouti for its continued commitment to peace in Somalia.

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PRESS RELEASE

Mogadishu – March 20th, 2014; The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia, Ambassador Mahamat Saleh Annadif has hailed the role played by Djiboutian troops serving under AMISOM. Speaking during a meeting with the visiting Chief of Defense Forces of Djibouti- General Zakariah Sheikh Ibrahim, Ambassador Annadif observed that since their deployment into the mission, the troops have made significant contribution towards the fight against Al-Shabaab terrorists in the country.

The AU Special Representative noted that last week alone, the troops from Djibouti serving under AMISOM helped Somali National Army soldiers to liberate the strategic and key town of Buulo-Burto from Al-Shabaab terrorists.

Ambassador Annadif paid tribute to six Djiboutian soldiers who have lost their lives during the military operation to liberate the town of Buulo-Burto and prayed for quick recovery of those who sustained injuries. He said; “On behalf of the African Union Commission and on my own behalf, I express heartfelt condolences to the Government and people of Djibouti, relatives and friends of six Djiboutian colleagues who lost their lives in the fight for peace and stability in Somalia.”

In his remarks, General Zakariah Sheikh Ibrahim reaffirmed his government’s continued commitment to peace and stability in Somalia noting that the death of the six soldiers will not deter Djibouti’s resolve to end fighting in the country. After their meeting, the two saw off six bodies of the fallen Djiboutian Soldiers at the Adden Abdulle Adde Airport. 

Colombia: Disappearances Plague Major Port

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Criminal Groups Terrorize Neighborhoods, Displace Thousands

(Bogotá) – Paramilitary successor groups have abducted and disappeared scores, and possibly hundreds, of residents of the largely Afro-Colombian port of Buenaventura, Human Rights Watch said in a report and video released today. Thousands of residents have been fleeing their homes in the city each year, making Buenaventura the municipality with the highest level of ongoing forced displacement in Colombia today.

The 30-page report, “The Crisis in Buenaventura: Disappearances, Dismemberment, and Displacement in Colombia’s Main Pacific Port,” documents how many of the city’s neighborhoods are dominated by powerful criminal groups that commit widespread abuses, including abducting and dismembering people, sometimes while still alive, then dumping them in the sea. The groups maintain “chop-up houses” (casas de pique) where they slaughter victims, according to witnesses, residents, the local Catholic church, and some officials.

“The situation in Buenaventura is among the very worst we’ve seen in many years of working in Colombia and the region,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “Simply walking on the wrong street can get you abducted and dismembered, so it’s no surprise the residents are fleeing by the thousands.”

Paramilitary successor groups emerged in Buenaventura after the deeply flawed official demobilization of right-wing paramilitary organizations a decade ago. Currently, the Urabeños and the Empresa are the main successor groups operating in the port city. The groups restrict residents’ movement – attacking people if they cross invisible borders between areas controlled by rival factions – recruit children, extort businesses, and routinely engage in horrific acts of violence against anyone who defies their will.

More than 150 people who were reported to have gone missing in Buenaventura between January 2010 and December 2013 are presumed by officials to have been abducted and “disappeared,” twice as many as in any other municipality in Colombia. Interviews with authorities and residents, as well as official reports, strongly suggest that the actual number of people who have been abducted and killed by paramilitary successor groups in the city is significantly higher. One major cause of underreporting is the widespread fear of reprisals.

Buenaventura residents told Human Rights Watch that they had heard people scream and plead for mercy as they were being dismembered in “chop-up houses.” In March 2014, after criminal investigators found bloodstains in two suspected “chop-up houses,” the police announced the discovery of several locations in Buenaventura where victims had been dismembered alive.

“In Buenaventura, there are chop-up houses,” said Monsignor Héctor Epalza Quintero, the Catholic bishop of Buenaventura. “People say that in the middle of the night you can hear the screams of people saying ‘Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! Don’t be evil!’ These people are basically being chopped up alive.”

In 2013, violence drove more than 19,000 people from their homes in Buenaventura, more than in any other municipality in the country, according to official numbers. Decades of violence and armed conflict have forced more than 5 million Colombians to flee their homes, giving the country the second largest population of internally displaced people in the world. Buenaventura also led all Colombian municipalities in the numbers of newly displaced people in 2011 and 2012. Displacement caused by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas has also been a serious problem in Buenaventura’s less-populated rural areas, according to official numbers.

People living in parts of the city where the paramilitary successor groups have a strong grip reported that the police presence in their neighborhoods was scarce. Several residents reported witnessing members of the police meet with the successor group in their neighborhoods.

Prosecutors have opened more than 2,000 investigations into cases of “disappearances” and forced displacement in Buenaventura committed by a range of groups or individuals over the past two decades, but none has led to a conviction. No one had even been charged in 509 of the 512 investigations for which prosecutors provided Human Rights Watch information about the status of the investigation.

“There is a pervasive sense of defenselessness among Buenaventura residents, who have seen how the authorities continually fail to protect them from atrocities or bring to justice those responsible,” Vivanco said.

On March 6, after a regional police commander announced the discovery of several “chop-up sites” in Buenaventura, President Juan Manuel Santos said the government would intervene to address the city’s security problems. Along with increasing the presence of the security forces, President Santos promised to take measures to improve socio-economic conditions in the city.

Human Rights Watch outlined several steps the government should take to ensure the effectiveness of any intervention in Buenaventura. These include:

  • Maintain an uninterrupted police presence in neighborhoods were paramilitary successor groups are most active;
  • Establish an independent commission to evaluate the problem of “disappearances” in Buenaventura and develop a plan to curb the abuses and punish those responsible;
  • Create a special team of prosecutors exclusively tasked with investigating “disappearances” in Buenaventura; and
  • Vigorously investigate officials credibly alleged to have tolerated or colluded with paramilitary successor groups there.

“President Santos made an important commitment to address the human rights disaster in Buenaventura,” Vivanco said. “To be successful, the government needs to ensure accountability for

abuses in Buenaventura, and dismantle the brutal paramilitary successor groups terrorizing the city.”

Testimony of Buenaventura residents contained in the report and video include:

“No matter how much screaming you hear, the fear prevents you from doing anything…. People know where the ‘chop-up houses’ are but do not do anything about it because the fear is absolute.” – Buenaventura resident.

“They’re taking young people off of buses in order to take them away to dismember them…. You live corralled, like a prisoner.” – 17-year-old Buenaventura resident.

“What I want is for someone to tell me, ‘Here are the remains of your son.’ It’s a really difficult thing that I wouldn’t wish on any mother.” – Mother of a “disappearance” victim in Buenaventura.

“They take the homes and become the owners. And who is going to complain? If you complain, they’ll kill you.” – Displaced Buenaventura resident.

“Here in the region of Buenaventura we don’t have any hope…. The violence is affecting all of us.” – Mario Riascos, Afro-Colombian community leader in Buenaventura.

Human Rights watch

Somaliland youth and professionals: Somaliland journey and development – through pictures talk and discussions

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Kayd Somali Arts and Culture in partnership with West London Somaliland Community would like to invite you on Friday 28th March, 6pm-9pm, to an event dedicated to exploring the role of young and professional Somalilanders in the future development of their country. At Oxford House, Derbyshire St, London E2 6HG.

Speakers:
Yusuf Dahir, photographer
Nimo Ali, SOAS PhD Candidate
Chair; Micheal Walls, UCL and Somaliland Focus

We are delighted to host the talented photographer Yusuf Dahir, and SOAS PhD Candidate Nimo Ali.

Yusuf, who has also published for the National Geographic has been photographing and representing Somaliland’s development over the last decade. Through his camera lenses he has offered his audiences an alternative and multifaceted perspective on the country. At the event, Yusuf will give a talk and showcase his work. His presentation will be followed by an open Q&A session.

Nimco Ali will present the findings of the research she has conducted on Somaliland youth employment, which explores how we can assist and support Somalilanders in the diaspora. Is there a role for diaspora youth, what initiatives are available and how can we support these?

Finally, we will also hear about the Erigabo Road campaign and the 18th May celebrations, and reflect on the role that young people can play in supporting these initiatives. Volunteers will be encouraged to participate in the Erigabo-Burco Road project.

This event if free but please do register your self. please invite thouse you think will benefit from this event.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/somaliland-journey-and-development-through-pictures-talk-and-discussions-tickets-11019165621