By Goth Mohamed Goth

The government of Somaliland has wholeheartedly welcomed the noble gesture made by the people and council. The Foreign Minister who was the first to welcome has since been followed by Guurti speaker Hon Saleiban Mohamud Aden and Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Hon Ali Yusuf.

Government ministers from Somaliland have thanked the people of Sheffield for recognizing their nation’s right to be an independent state.

Several dignitaries from Somaliland attended a Sheffield Council meeting on Wednesday, where members passed a motion acknowledging Somaliland’s right to self-determination. Sheffield is the first city in the world to recognize this.

Hon Mohamed Behi Yonis, Somaliland’s FM, said in the council chamber: “Somaliland is a peaceful, democratic nation, which has been striving to be recognized by the international community since declaring independence in 1991.

“Sheffield’s decision will help strengthen our campaign for recognition.”

The Chairman of the Guurti, Somaliland house of elders, today in press briefing expressed his profound gratitude to the city of Sheffield in which he said, “I would like take this opportunity to thank members of the Sheffield City Council for under taking a very bold and unprecedented motion to recognition Somaliland’s independence and achievements.

“Somaliland Diaspora living in Sheffield have worked in relentless manner lobbied for our national aspiration and not forgetting those noble members of Sheffield  city council have worked so tirelessly and passionately to show the rest of the world that Somaliland deserves  international ”recognition” so that our nation can assume its rightful place among the league of nations,” he said.

Hon Suleyman finally said , “ The  vote of confidence by Sheffield city Council to recognize the independent statehood of Somaliland was a clear and resounding message to UK foreign policy makers that have made a serious diplomatic blunder by not putting Somaliland case for recognition before UK parliament and at the UN”.

 By Jonas Jelinek

In January this year, Somaliland and Somalia signed the Istanbul Communiqué committing themselves to mutual cooperation and peaceful resolution of their relationship, which has been on rocks ever since Somaliland proclaimed independence more than 22 years ago. As much as the international community wants to be optimistic about the recent development in the horn of Africa, the completely opposite reaction of Somalia’s and Somaliland’s governments to the peace memorandum suggests the rift between the two has only got bigger during the last two decades. If Somalia wants Somaliland back, it is a now or never situation.

According to the Somalilanders, whom mass grave discoveries every now and then remind of Siad Barre’s regime atrocities, the use of ‘Government of Somaliland’ in the memorandum marks its official recognition by Somalia. The Somalis, keen to extend their relatively stable federal arrangement, think it is high time their prodigal son returned – after all, Somaliland has in more than 20 years of intensive effort yet to achieve any international recognition. It is not all about recognition however.

Since its secession, Somaliland has proved it can stand on its own feet. It has avoided security breakdowns and unstable leadership, and has made a remarkable progress in both economic and political spheres. Just like Botswana, famous ‘African tiger’, Somaliland incorporates elements of traditional clan based society into its governmental institutions. While the beel system helped to maintain traditional kinship relations during transformation, the guurti laid basis for the upper chamber in a bicameral democratic parliament. Inasmuch as lack of international recognition did Somaliland out of development aid, the country was forced to rely on domestic sources of income. A resulting unique collaboration between the government and local business environment, and mutual assistance thereof, has enabled the state to provide basic public services including education and health.

Yet, this is not to suggest that Somaliland is a thriving prosperous country, quite the contrary. A recent World Bank study[i] ranks Somaliland as the fourth poorest country in the world based on GDP per capita. Heavily dependent on its diaspora, Somaliland struggles to generate decent levels of domestic revenue, and is in dire need of reforms of its private and financial sectors.

Thanks to an eventful year, the economic future of Somaliland might not look all too gloomy after all. Sitting on the geologic framework of the Arabian Gulf, Somaliland has been in the spotlight of a number of energy companies that believe the country possesses lucrative oilfields. In fact, five companies, examples being Genel Energy or DNO International ASA, have already been granted oil exploration licenses. Genel operating in eastern parts of the country is expected to start drilling by the end of this year. Moreover, Somaliland is finalising a multi-million dollar deal to develop a port at Berbera which will operate as a trade hub between Africa and the Arab world, serving mainly landlocked Ethiopia. Both the port building French Bollore Africa Logistics and international oil companies are about to invest heavily in the country’s much needed infrastructure.

In light of the promising economic development in Somaliland, Somalia’s willingness to peacefully resolve issues with its northern counterpart is more an acknowledgement and indication of Somaliland’s potential than an honest conciliatory gesture. Somalia knows it is now or never – once Somaliland starts benefitting from oil revenues there will be no coming back. Somaliland’s oil fields are simply too attractive to lose.

Somaliland will face enormous pressure in the near future, especially since Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, newly elected president of neighbouring Puntland, is likely to push for federalization. Unlike Somaliland, Puntland has very little interest in independence. Ali, a prominent figure of an influential Majeerteen clan, will find it difficult to forget his time as the Prime Minister of Somalia, and will try to finish off his federalization agenda. Bringing Somaliland in also gives Puntland a chance to acquire the Sool and Sanaag, regions disputed between the two.

It is clear that Somali jets zigzagging across Somaliland’s sky will not leave anytime soon. Regardless of the Istanbul Communiqué, the dissension between Somalia and Somaliland is gaining momentum. As the international community, including the African Union, advocates one-or-the-other strategy, Somaliland is once again thrown back on itself – a position from which it has developed a remarkably inclusive system of governance which many parts of Somalia can only dream about. It deserves to be given a chance to prove its case. So if the question for Somalia is still ‘now or never’, the answer is a resounding never.

Sources: St Andrews  Foreign Affairs Review

Is there more than meets the eyes?

Four and a half years ago or so the then Hargeisa Water Agency shouted publicly that ‘come 50 years and with all techniques, Hargeisa will never get any more drop of water’ than what was available!

As shocking and as irresponsible as the words may be that emanated from a public figure supposed to be otherwise, the latest form Hargeisa Electricity Agency echoes similar bells.

The kilowatt-man who is supposedly expected to be a responsible person sadly quipped to the media that “technical break-downs and management were NOT inter-connected” or related for that matter in his institution.

 Just as what bogged down the water-man and this time the kilowatt-man, it should be clear that consumers are not concerned in the very least about the politics behind or within their institutions.

Consumers were only concerned that they get what they pay for and constantly at that.

This is ever more important when the items, in this case, happens to be within the brackets of basic needs and necessities

Everyone knows that commercially based institutions are there to; at the very least again, make profits.

People in positions have every right to defend themselves just as any threatened persons would naturally do. This does not however call for the abuse of the intellect of the populace, in this case, those of the consumers. It is true that the past fortnight has not only seen shoddy services from the public power supply but indeed total disservice.

Simple transparency and sincere answers can easily change the hearts of many foes, or if vice-versa, even friends -as the cases may be.

Without letting out cats from bags hiding political skeletons in the closets, a simple word close to truth would have done at lot.

Almost half a week after the deputy head of the H.E.A talks of hope hence assures people that all technical and material support has been directed to address the issue, his boss speaks to the media exposing that his is sort of a “hands-off” style.

Ironically as per the hands-off style of management, the remaining generator gives way 24 hours later bringing the whole to a halt –and the institution to disrepute!

We know that the chief of H.E.A is relatively new to and on the job but he had all the ample time in the world to look for skeletons, if any were in the closets, and rogue them out for his work to run smoothly.

By now, his technical team should have briefed him on what were the expectations and what needed replacements or to be done.

So far, no body has talked of the commercial and private loss they have been subjected by the power surges, outages, fluctuations, blackouts and complete lack of it.

Nobody has seriously pointed a finger at the HEA in a scold. The question is, what is bogging it and why now? Why has the entire generators grind to a halt at one go?

Is there more than meets the eyes beyond technicalities?

Whatever the case the institution is a public one and we don’t want the state to be put into undeserving disrepute through flimsy and unmerited issues.

April 05, 2014

LONDON — A city in Britain has become the first to officially recognize Somaliland’s claim to independence. The vote — which is purely symbolic and carries no legal weight — is nevertheless being hailed by Somaliland leaders as a big step forward in their decades-long campaign to break away from Somalia.

Somalilanders celebrated outside Sheffield city hall after the council voted Thursday to recognize the region’s right to self-determination. Thousands of people of Somaliland origin live in the northern British city.

Somaliland’s Foreign Minister Mohamed Bihi Yonis attended the vote; he later told VOA of its symbolic importance. “Somaliland has the border, the population [in favor of independence], the currency, the independence, the elections, the democracy, the rule of law, the human rights record of Somaliland. And I think they have looked into all of those areas and realized that Somaliland has met the requirements of statehood.”

Somaliland occupies the northern section of Somalia.

The rest of the country has been plagued by lawlessness and violence since the overthrow of Somalia’s leader in 1991. Later that same year, Somalilanders voted in a referendum to become independent — a vote that has not been recognized by any nation.

Oasis of peace

Mohamed Yonis calls Somaliland a relative oasis of peace. “We have a proper functioning government and institutions, while the other part of Somalia is actually burning and having a lot of difficulties as you know — issues of piracy, terrorism, al-Shabab [Islamic militants].”

Somaliland did gain brief statehood upon its independence from Britain in June 1960. But its government chose to merge with Somalia.

Convincing the world that Somaliland should be recognized as independent will not be easy, according to Alex Vines of London-based policy analyst group Chatham House.

“Internationally, everybody says it would have to be led by Africa,” said Vines. “When you talk to African leaders, it’s like, ‘Well, we might consider it, but we wouldn’t be the first.’”

Somaliland authorities insist the region’s economy would support independence.

Source: VOA

By Eng. Bashe Abdi Gaboobe

The history of negotiations between Somaliland and Somalia is very much a young history, with successive elected governments of Somaliland stead-fistedly refusing to partake in negotiations with Somalia, in the past. Payne (2011) believes this is because these governments were armed with the understanding that engaging with

Mogadishu implicitly accepts its authority over the affairs of the Somaliland region; thus belying Somaliland’s longstanding justification for the right of self-determination. However, this stated view is slowly being replaced by a new perspective championed by the current president of Somaliland, President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo whose government has willingly participated in several internationally sponsored dialogues with their counterparts in the newly elected government of Somalia.

This should not be taken to signify a change in Somaliland’s attitude to Somalia’s claim over its sovereignty, as Dr. Omar, Somaliland’s ex foreign minister and signatory of the Seven Point Agreement in Ankara, stated in an interview, “Somaliland is not seceding from a functioning independent state, but simply decided to withdraw from a union that had absolutely failed in all respects” (Wardheernews, 2011). Rather, it illustrates the importance of a new factor that had come into play and which is the formation of legitimate government in Somalia with which the Somaliland government can broach the matter of getting the Somali government and the international community to accept the dissolution of the union that had already happened 24 years ago.

Dagne (2010, p.27) states that there have been over 14 national reconciliation conferences which have largely “failed to bring about lasting peace in Somalia”. Thus, without any power-wielding government in Somalia, let alone a legitimate government, Somaliland continued with its own state-building exercises – such as strengthening its political institutions by regularly holding elections that are highly peaceful and in accord with international standards (Bradbury, 2008) – while biding its time until Somalia stabilizes and elects a democratic government that can openly represent the interests of its people, and confer acceptance over Somaliland’s right to self-determination.

The newly elected government is headed by President Hassan Sh Mohamoud who took over from the Transitional Federal Government that was provided with the authority to govern Somalia on the behalf of the Somali people since 2004 (Sage, 2005). As the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2013) notes, “the new president is committed to improving security and justice in Somalia, including the protection of human rights. This greater political commitment is encouraging, but the government faces many of the same capacity problems as its predecessors.”

Somaliland has engaged with this new government in Somalia by participating in the London Conference on Somalia, despite concerns of the ‘capacity problems’ that plagues the new government, in the hopes of demonstrating its commitment to safe-guarding any possible future where Somalia becomes a stable country and Somaliland is awarded the recognition it highly seeks.

Conclusion

It took the amalgamation of recent historic phenomena – the formation of a legitimate government in Somalia, a stronger assuredness of its stature as a sovereign nation in Somaliland and renewed efforts from countries such as Turkey, UAE and Britain to intercede directly between the two countries – to bring about direct talks between the two countries. Nevertheless, the talks entered into were only held with the precondition that the issues to be discussed were to be solely centered upon mutually agreeable issues. These talks have been heralded by the international community as being ‘a move in the right direction’, even though the outcomes from those negotiations, as will be argued by this author, demonstrates core divisiveness between Somaliland and Somalia that will be hard to overcome in any future negotiations.

The success of any negotiations between two entities is highly dependent on the willingness of both parties and more significantly, the intermediary to compromise on the core tenets which divide the two parties. The central positions that divide Somaliland and Somalia – sovereignty vs unity – is so divisive that it renders any negotiations entered into by Somaliland and Somalia highly untenable. Furthermore, the indecisiveness of the international community – as evidenced by the recent conferences hosted by Istanbul and London – to justify the Somalia position of national unity, while relying upon it as their default option when dealing with both Somaliland and Somalia has led to an erosion of the credibility of such countries such as Britain to intermediate fairly in the eyes of Somaliland. This diminishes the prospects for Somaliland to successfully steer future negotiations. Thus, the expected impact will result in a ratcheting of tension between the two countries, increased instigation from Somalia as already seen in the conflict over control of Somaliland’s airspace – and eventually result in the destabilization of the two countries.

Editor’s Note

This article was delivered by the author in a debate launched by the University of Hargeysa about Somaliland and Somalia negotiations in August 2013.

by Elizabeth Barr

Midwives and other medical experts speak out on how to end the staggering loss of life occurring in the act of giving birth.

Every two minutes a woman dies in childbirth or complications from pregnancy. It’s a sobering statistic, to be sure; staggering, even, considering that 99 percent of those deaths are preventable. Like so many ills in the world, maternal mortality can be linked to poverty and lack of education and resources. And when those issues are addressed, maternal mortality goes down.

As proof, consider Edna Adan Ismail, founder and CEO of Edna Adan University Teaching Hospital. Having grown up in British Somaliland, Ismail won a scholarship to study as a midwife in Britain. When she returned to Somaliland in 1960, she was the first—and only—midwife in the entire country. “I was where the buck stopped,” she told the audience at the “Breakthroughs in the Fight Against Maternal Mortality” panel, sponsored by Merck, at the Women in the World summit Friday afternoon at New York’s Lincoln Center.  

In the 54 years that Ismail has been in practice, serving women from all corners of Africa, she has been an integral part in reducing the maternal mortality rate by 75 percent. It wasn’t an easy process, as she had to learn on her own how to deal with the major causes, including preeclampsia, pulmonary embolism, and postpartum hemorrhage.

“I would have women show up who had been having seizures for four or five days; they were suffering kidney and liver failure and were almost dead. When I asked why they hadn’t come earlier. They would tell me they had been on the road that long.” Ismail said.

Fortunately for the women of Somaliland, Ismail not only has trained plenty more midwives to serve Africa’s women, but also has opened her own hospital. For most of Africa and the developing world, though, there is no time to wait for hospitals to be built, or even for doctors to be trained. “So we must do the next best thing,” insisted Ismail. “We must educate women to be midwives.”

Maternal mortality is not only an emerging-nation problem. In fact, the U.S. has recently fallen from 41st to 50th place, the worst among developed nations, reported Soledad O’Brien, the panel’s moderator. Two women who mercifully survived near-death experiences, Cheryl Gambrill and HRH Princess Sarah Zeid, joined the panel in their roles as advocates for education and early intervention.

Gambrill, an executive assistant at Baltimore Healthy Start, which provides mobile support to pregnant women and new mothers in part thanks to the Merck for Mothers program, was in her 20s when she went into labor at just 25 weeks. The delivery was so problematic that her mother was called in and asked to choose between saving her daughter or her grandson, who was eventually born at just 1lb. 6 ½ oz. Gambrill’s boss, Alma Roberts, president and CEO of Baltimore Healthy Start, was also on the panel and noted the particular needs of poor urban areas in the U.S., particularly in minority neighborhoods. “African-American women are four times more likely to die in childbirth, and African-American children three times more likely.”

Sarah Zeid had just given birth to her third child when she experienced an embolism. “I could not imagine what it would be like for my children to not have their mother,” she said.

While there is still so much to be done to address maternal mortality and, as Zeid said, “often more heartbreak than breakthroughs,” important progress is being made.

With the Merck for Mothers initiative, the drug manufacturer plans to spend $500 million over 10 years to address the issue. One output of this initiative is the development of a form of Oxytocin, reported Merck Chairman and CEO Ken Frazier, whose own wife had a near-death experience in childbirth. “Oxytocin can address postpartum hemorrhage,” he said, “but one of the issues is that it has to be refrigerated. We’ve developed a version which can be stored at any temperature, which will allow us to deploy it to Africa and other developing nations where refrigeration is a huge problem.”

Source: The Daily Beast

April 4 2014

 Hargeisa has instructed a British lawyer to negotiate with the French group Bolloré to hammer out the details of the agreement to manage Berbera port.

Meetings began about two weeks ago between representatives of Bolloré Africa Logistics and the British law practice McCue & Partners to work on an agreement for the French group to run Berbera port. In fact, several months ago the Somaliland government instructed the firm’s main partner,Jason Daniel McCue, 44, to look for funding to develop the Berbera corridor towards Ethiopia. This is a vast project including an oil pipeline, estimated to cost a total of around $2.5 billion. This mandate was attributed to the Berbera Development Company (BDC) founded by McCue in London in April 2013 to make the Somaliland port into a logistics hub for the whole region.

McCue and BDC have consequently also become Bolloré’s primary contact points for Somaliland. BDC has three directors in addition to McCue, who is interested in security via his MODA Alliance Group. They are the Britons John Richard Moore, 45, who heads John Moore & Co and Ibrahim Ali Yusuf, 41, plus the Canadian Ahmed Mohamed Abokor, 48. The latter lives in Djibouti, where he is in partnership with the businessman Mohamed Said Guedi in the company Afro Shnagai-Djibouti. He is also one of the directors of Pontus Marine Ltd (ION 1359) – an industrial fishing company in Somaliland founded last year in London – alongside the British lawyer from Somaliland, Mohammed Yusef who is moreover the founder of Invicta Capital. Pontus Marine has one heavyweight as a non-executive director: the Conservative MP Henry Bellingham, a former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in charge of African affairs.

  Source: Indian Ocean Newsletter

By Goth Mohamed Goth

Somaliland Minister of Aviation and Air Transport Hon Mahmoud Abdi Hashi who is currently on working in Ankara, Turkey has meet with top officials of the Turkish Airlines to discuss plans by the international carrier to start flights to Egal International Airport soon.

In a press statement released by the official spokesperson in the ministry of Civil Aviation and Air transport Mr. Saddam Mohamed Ahmed and which stated as follows:-

The Minister of Civil Aviation and Air Transport Hon Mahmoud Hashi Abdi has meet with top Turkish officials and which he began by saying “we hope a very fruitful outcome from the talks; we are at the moment discussing technical matters.

The Aviation Minister flanked by two legal experts from the Somaliland Ministry of Civil Aviation and Air Transport meet with His counterpart Turkish Minister of Aviation and Transport Mr. Lutti Elvin, of whom they discussed several issues including the ongoing air control management talk with Somalia of which they expect to find long term solution to the problem and how Turkey government can assist Somaliland by upgrading the Egal International Airport.

On the hand Somaliland Minister of Civil Aviation meet with the CEO of Turkish Airlines Dr. Temel Ikotil to discuss plans by the Turkish Airlines to begin flights to Somaliland Airports in June, 2014 with the first expected to land at Egal International Airport, Hargeisa.

Somaliland Delegation also meets with the officials from the Office of Turkish Prime Minister deputy director of TIKA Mr. Sureyya Polat to discussed ways in which the Turkish government can contribute and help in promoting sustainable developments in Somaliland, Hon Mahmoud Hashi  Abdi gave the deputy director of TIKA   a proposal for the upgrading of Egal International Airport.

The Deputy Director of TIKA pledged his agency would send a team to do the assessment and evaluated   the which areas need assistance most ,he also promised that the Turkish development aid agency would donated and deliver a modern fire fighting vehicle to be used at the Egal International Airport this April.

SomalilandPress. Com