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Somaliland:President Silanyo Travels to France

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-Says SL sovereignty not a mere state policy but a concrete constitutional charter by the people

Bolloré talks to feature in his itinerary in wide ranging multi-lateral engagements

By M.A. Egge

The President H.E. Ahmed Mohammed Mohamoud Silanyo jetted out of the country yesterday afternoon for Paris, France on an official visit and would then proceed on to the UK later on.

The President reiterated once more that the independence of Somaliland was not a mere state policy but a concrete constitutional charter prescribing the aspirations of the people hence that SL is expected to achieve its sovereignty in the long run.

H.E. Ahmed Silanyo said that his Paris trip is an official one and is scheduled to indulge in multi-lateral talks touching on diverse issue with the French government.

He confirmed that his itinerary would include talks with Bolloré Africa Logistics.

“It is imperative for SL to engage with developed and economic giant countries in order to have impact and achieve its aspirations”, said the President.

Confirming his engagements by multinational group, Bolloré logistics, he said, “It is my wish that the Berbera Port is fully fledged hence the reason I have to meet with Bolloré”.

The President who was speaking to the media at the airport shortly before he left the country said that he would have a brief sojourn in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

He said that upon heading for France for the official visit he would then proceed to the UK for a short rest and health retreat.

He announced that he would officially be joined in France by the Foreign Affairs Minister Hon. Mohammed Bihi Yonis, the Presidency Minister Hon. Hersi Ali Hassan and their colleague Commerce Dr. Mohamed Abdillahi Omer.

The President was accompanied by the First Lady Amina Sheikh Mohammed Jirde and National Planning Hon. Dr. Sa’ad Ali Shire.

Berbera Port is a major gateway in this region of Africa and its upgrading will boost economy tremendously and provide the dynamics for development hence opening access to the landlocked hinterland countries.

The group had recently confirmed that it was in negotiations with the Somaliland authorities to develop a port in Berbera, on the Gulf of Aden.

“The Berbera port has indeed caught our attention,” CEO Dominique Lafont in mid December had told Port Finance International.

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During an interview in London, he explained that such a project could ease trade in and out of Somaliland.

The port could also act as a gateway to neighbouring landlocked Ethiopia, Mr Lafont had elaborated. “With a population in excess of 90 million and a growing influx of foreign investments, Ethiopia is bound to play an increasing role in East Africa”, he had noted.

“We therefore started negotiating with the Somaliland authorities several years ago. These negotiations have been through various twists and turns. For the second time, we are getting closer to conclusion,” Mr Lafont had underscored, before insisting that talks were ongoing and that nothing was settled yet. “We are fully aware of the highly entrepreneurial aspect of this concession.”

 “With Ethiopia, we have a textbook case, as it is a totally landlocked country with a huge potential,” Mr Lafont said. Bolloré Africa Logistics is a leading port operator in Africa. The Bolloré group is represented in Africa by its Bolloré Africa Logistics subsidiary, an acknowledged leader in the management of the continent’s container terminals

It is more than fifty years since Bolloré group decided to start operations in Africa and develop there. In 2008, it created a brand, Bolloré Africa Logistics, uniting all its activities on the African continent and in the countries that have commercial relations with Africa.

The dealer in multi-prong sectors, it is a leading integrated logistics network on the African continent and a specialized operator of public-private partnerships in the port and rail sectors.

It has a huge territorial coverage and effective presence in 55 countries, including 45 in Africa and a workforce of 25,000.

With its port expertise acquired over the years, it has a unique experience in the field.

Bolloré Africa Logistics invests 300 million euros each year to develop and enhance the infrastructures under its responsibility, building complete transhipment platforms.

 

For Bolloré Africa Logistics, the Berbera project is part of a wider strategy. The group, which has a strong port presence in western and central Africa, wants to expand those port activities to eastern Africa, where it already has logistics activities. In recent years, it won port concessions in Moroni (Comoros) and in Pemba (Mozambique).

Besides this “Pan-African axis”, Bolloré has ambitions beyond Africa. A few months ago, it made its first port investment outside the continent: it acquired a minority share in a container terminal in Tuticorin, on the southern tip of India.

(Additional information from Agencies –Editor)


Somaliland: New Ministry of Foreign Affairs Headquarters Inaugurated

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By Goth Mohamed Goth 

A newly constructed building complex housing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation was inaugurated yesterday by the VP in a well-attended ceremony in Hargeisa.

Vice President HE Abdullah Ismael Abdurrahman cut the ribbon to the new building which will enable the facilitation of better delivery of services and run diplomatic affairs on behalf of the state and the government and to implement the state’s diplomatic principles and policies and related laws and regulations; and handle diplomatic activities between the state and foreign officials.

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The New Building Housing the Ministry

Vice President Saylici speaking at the opening ceremony of the new building complex thanked the USAID and I.O.M for the continued assistance it affords to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in various capacities; he added that the building will greatly benefit the ministry.

The full furnished building complex is owned by the government unlike the previous which was privately owned building in Hargeisa of which it used to pay the monthly rent from the budget allotted to the ministry by the government, money which would have been used  for other vital purposes.

SomalilandPress.com

South Sudan: Ethnic Targeting, Widespread Killings

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Displaced people walk around Tomping camp in Juba, where some 15,000 people who fled their homes are sheltered by the United Nations on January 7, 2014.

Civilian Protection, Independent Inquiry Needed

JANUARY 18, 2014

(Nairobi) – Witnesses to the violence in South Sudan since December 15, 2013, have described how targeted attacks against civilians on an ethnic basis have taken place in both government and opposition-controlled areas. South Sudan’s government and opposition forces should both immediately end abuses against civilians.

South Sudan’s leaders, the African Union (AU), and the United Nations should also support an independent, credible, international commission of inquiry to investigate all alleged crimes since the conflict erupted. The UN should also impose a travel ban and an asset freeze on anyone credibly identified as responsible for serious abuses and violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch said.

“Appalling crimes have been committed against civilians for no other reason than their ethnicity,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Both sides need to leave civilians out of their conflict, let aid groups reach people who need help and accept a credible, independent investigation into these crimes.”

Between December 27 and January 12, 2014, a Human Rights Watch research team in South Sudan interviewed more than 200 victims and witnesses to abuses in Juba and Bor. Researchers documented widespread killings of Nuer men by members of South Sudanese armed forces in Juba, especially between December 15 and 19, including a massacre of between 200 and 300 men in the Gudele neighborhood on December 16. Researchers also documented the targeting and killing of civilians of Dinka ethnicity by opposition forces in other parts of the country.

The targeted killings of civilians, looting, and destruction of civilian property by both parties to the conflict in locations across the country have contributed to the displacement of more than 400,000 people, according to UN estimates, in the past month. Many of the crimes committed after conflict broke out are serious violations of international humanitarian law and may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Fighting erupted in the headquarters of the South Sudan army’s presidential guard at around 10:30 p.m. on December 15, hours after a meeting of South Sudan’s leading political party, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). The meeting was marked by extremely high tensions between President Salva Kiir, who is of Dinka ethnicity, and former Vice President Riek Machar, who is of Nuer ethnicity. Kiir had dismissed Machar, a senior SPLM member, as vice president in July and fired his entire cabinet. Machar had earlier that year indicated his intention to run for president.

The government also arrested 11 prominent politicians and members of the SPLM’s political bureau on December 16 and in the following days, alleging they were involved in planning a coup. The politicians have been detained for four weeks without formal charges or access to legal counsel, as far as Human Rights Watch has been able to determine.

Kiir has called the violence on December 15 an attempted coup by Machar and his allies, a charge Machar, who is now in an undisclosed location, has denied. However in the following days a number of senior army commanders from key locations in South Sudan rebelled against the government, leading to intensive fighting in Bor, the Jonglei State capital, and surrounding areas, the town of Bentiu and other locations in Unity State, and Malakal in Upper Nile State.

Delegates representing both Machar and the government are attending negotiations over a cessation of hostilities and other issues in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, under the auspices of the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). They have yet to agree to a ceasefire.

On December 24, the UN Security Council agreed to temporarily increase the troop ceiling for the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) from 7,000 to 12,500 and to increase the mission’s police force to up to 1,323, from 900. The UN should accelerate the deployment of these reinforcements and take other urgent steps to improve the protection of civilians, including better security around UNMISS compounds sheltering some 66,500 civilians displaced by conflict, Human Rights Watch said.

Peacekeepers should also ramp up independent patrols to all accessible locations in areas where they are operating and where civilians are in need. The location and timing of patrols should not be subject to government approval.

Human Rights Watch said it had received multiple reports of looting of medical and humanitarian facilities, and of some government denials of flight authorization to areas where people are in desperate need of aid. The South Sudanese government and leaders of opposition forces should ensure unhindered access by UN and independent humanitarian agencies to displaced and other civilians in need of assistance and protection. Both sides should respect medical and humanitarian facilities, material and staff, as required by international law. Anyone who blocks or otherwise doesn’t cooperate with independent humanitarian activities should be held accountable.

The AU decided on December 30 to establish a commission of inquiry. The AU should avail itself of UN experience with commissions of inquiry by asking the UN to promptly provide staff and support a team of international investigators and experts to investigate serious crimes committed since December 15, Human Rights Watch said. The commission of inquiry should report to both the AU and the UN secretary-general. In addition, UNMISS should bolster the investigative capacity of its human rights section and report regularly and publicly on human rights and humanitarian law abuses by all sides.

“The South Sudanese and the international community should show that we have learned the lesson history has taught us that without justice and reconciliation, residual pain from gross violations and other crimes are all too easily abused by those seeking power at any cost,” Bekele said.

Killings, Arrests in Juba
In Juba, clashes between members of the presidential guard of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) erupted during the night of December 15, 2013, and spread the following day into neighborhoods around the army headquarters, also triggering serious fighting in at least two other areas of the capital. However, much of the violence in the capital the following week was targeted attacks by Dinka members of South Sudan’s armed forces, both the police and army, against Nuer males, including civilians, Human Rights Watch concluded after interviewing more than 150 victims and witnesses.

The witnesses and victims provided accounts of soldiers and policemen conducting house-to-house searches for Nuer men focusing on certain neighborhoods in northwest Juba, such as Gudele, Manga, Mangatain and New Site and around areas where fighting began in southwest Juba. Numerous witnesses described seeing male family members, neighbors, or others shot dead in or around their compounds or as they ran for safety to other neighborhoods or to UN bases. In most cases reported to Human Rights Watch, witnesses described multiple killings.

“The soldiers shouted at my mum that if (the men) don’t come out of the house they will start shooting all of us,” a 21-year-old woman from the Mia Saba area said, describing one incident. “When they came out they started beating them, and shooting. They shot my brother in the leg. My uncle ran and fell in a shallow ditch. They shot him in the face.”

A 42-year-old bricklayer from the New Site neighborhood described killings by security forces: “They brought out five of my neighbors and shot them in the street. We ran, the soldiers said ‘stop’, we refused and they shot at us. I stopped to pick my son but he was heavy and dead. When they reached him they shot him again.”

In the worst single incident documented by Human Rights Watch, soldiers and policemen from around the Gudele and other nearby neighborhoods gathered hundreds of Nuer men during the night of December 15 and the following day and detained them in a building used by the police, near the junction that divides Juba’s Gudele 1 and Gudele 2 neighborhoods. Survivors estimated that between 200 and 300 men were jammed into a room so crowded and hot that several people collapsed during the day on December 16. At around 8 p.m., gunmen alleged to be government forces began systematically shooting into the room through windows on one side of the building, killing almost all of the people in the room, a few survivors said.

“It was very dark,” one survivor said, adding that he survived because he was shot early in the massacre. “The windows were opened and then they shot through them. It was just light from the guns and the sound of the shooting. They shot me in the inner thigh, I fell and then dead people fell on top of me.”

About an hour later, armed men with torches entered the room and shot again several times at people, apparently anyone who appeared to have survived, leaving the door open after they left. At least two survivors escaped during the night. The following afternoon, members of South Sudan’s National Security Service freed 11 others who had been protected when bodies fell on them and who had spent the day with the corpses. Several of the survivors had severe gunshot wounds.

“I thought I would go mad … for three days I could hear the screaming and the shooting in my head,” said one man who had been hiding near the site of the massacre. “I knew my brother was captured in there.”

Human Rights Watch talked to neighbors of various ethnicities who described with great distress the huge number of bodies they saw at the site on December 17 and their removal in large trucks on December 18.

Human Rights Watch also documented mass arrests during the week of December 16. Former detainees said they were among scores of Nuer screened for their ethnicity and then held, usually for between three and seven days, most commonly in army buildings or in a national security building close to the Nile River in downtown Juba. Most were arrested in their houses or on main roads as they tried to reach family members or safe locations. Victims showed injuries from beatings and described overcrowding, extreme heat, and a lack of food and clean water in the detention sites. Almost all who had been held in Juba suffered from a similar skin ailment that may have been caused by the extreme heat and overcrowding.

Four Nuer men, interviewed separately, also described being tortured by members of security forces who demanded information about Riek Machar’s location. The men said security forces lashed them, beat them until they lost consciousness or smashed the victims’ faces into the ground with a boot to the back of their head. Security forces took the Nuer men’s cars, phones, and money in most cases, and house-to-house searches were often accompanied by extensive looting.

Many of the Nuer interviewed said they still do not know the location or fate of male family members and friends. More than 25,000 Nuer were displaced by the fighting and attacks in Juba; many fled to two UN bases in Juba and say they are still afraid to return home.

The Events in Bor
Human Rights Watch was not able to conduct an on-site investigation in the town of Bor because of the ongoing conflict, but in early January researchers interviewed more than 50 people in Awerial, to which 84,000 civilians from Bor and surrounding areas fled following successive waves of fighting in December and January.

Witnesses described clashes between government and defecting anti-government security forces, indiscriminate attacks on civilians in densely populated areas, targeted shootings and attacks on civilians, and widespread looting and destruction in Bor. The civilian death toll is unclear, but many witnesses who had returned to Bor in late December said the streets were littered with dead bodies.

The conflict in Bor erupted on December 18. Forces loyal to General Peter Gadet, a prominent Nuer commander, took control of the town following events in Juba, triggering clashes within the army, police and wildlife services and in certain areas of town. The fighting caused thousands of civilians to flee to the UN compound in Bor, as well as outside the town.

Since December 18, Bor has changed hands twice, with the government regaining control between December 25 and 31. Opposition forces and armed Nuer civilians, referred to as the “white army,” control Bor and surroundings now, witnesses told Human Rights Watch.

Bor residents who fled the initial attack but returned soon after government forces retook the town on December 24 reported seeing bodies of both soldiers and civilians in several neighborhoods. Human Rights Watch viewed footage obtained by a local government official showing 28 dead bodies in various locations, including close to the UN base, and many witnesses interviewed in Awerial said relatives or neighbors were among the dead. At least two disabled war veterans were killed and their homes looted during the first attack.

A journalist named seven old or mentally ill people he had been told had been killed by Gadet’s forces in the initial attack. The journalist said he had seen the bodies of two of them, Majang Mach and Piel Mayen Deng, soon after the government recaptured the town.

Government forces retreated as Gadet’s forces, augmented by thousands of armed Nuer, including women and children, retook the town on December 31, 2013.
By some accounts looting and destruction of civilian property increased during the second attack by anti-government forces as they approached villages near Bor.
Many civilians received warnings of the approaching forces and fled into the bush and marsh areas surrounding the town, in some cases leaving behind elderly or ill relatives who could not run. “Those unable to run (from the rebels) were burned in their houses, including two elderly men, Achieng Mayen and Kuol Garang, and a paralyzed woman, Yanadet Garang,” a chief from an area just outside Bor told Human Rights Watch.

One mother of four said that armed Nuer aligned with anti-government forces killed her 70-year-old mother. “We came outside (of the house) and the attackers shot at us,” she said.

Witnesses also told Human Rights Watch of attacks by armed Nuer groups and soldiers who followed fleeing civilians into marshland around Bor, possibly to steal cattle from the large cattle camps. Many of those interviewed reported attackers had looted all of their cattle during the first and second attacks on the area, effectively stealing their primary source of livelihood. A 55-year-old community leader who had fled to the marshland from a village outside Bor said that on January 7 a combined force of Nuer soldiers in uniform and armed civilians had attacked the cattle camp where he had taken shelter, killing at least seven people including a seven-year-old boy, and stealing thousands of cattle.

The attacks on Bor’s Dinka community have reopened old wounds and revived ethnic divisions from atrocities during Sudan’s long civil war. In what was known as the “Bor massacre,” in 1991, largely Nuer forces loyal to Machar attacked Dinka communities in and around Bor, killing hundreds and displacing thousands. At the time, Machar had split from SPLA, then the South’s rebel force, and fought against it with support from other factions.

Attacks on Civilians Elsewhere
Human Rights Watch received alarming reports of targeted attacks on Dinka civilians in other areas of South Sudan, as well as credible reports of indiscriminate attacks on civilians during fighting in Bentiu and Malakal, but was not able to visit these locations in the initial investigation. The impact of conflict on civilians in these areas requires further in-depth investigation.

On December 19, large numbers of armed youth together with unarmed women and children, and accompanied by uniformed security forces, attacked a UN mission base in the town of Akobo, in Jonglei state, where around 30 Dinka, including disarmed soldiers and civilians had taken shelter, witnesses said. In the stampede on the base, two peacekeepers and an estimated 20 civilians and disarmed soldiers were killed.

Armed men also issued serious threats against Dinka seeking shelter in UN bases in Yuai in Jonglei state, where a UN helicopter was shot at as Dinka were being evacuated, and in Nasir, Upper Nile state, UN officials said.

Two Dinka staff at a base owned by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Companyoil consortium described to Human Rights Watch how Nuer day laborers turned on Dinka staff and killed at least six men using batons and machetes on the night of December 16. Both witnesses said Nuer police on the base saw the violence and did not intervene.

Government response
President Kiir has acknowledged that ethnic targeting and killings took place in Juba and said in aChristmas day speech that those responsible would be punished. The chief of staff of South Sudan’s army, General James Hoth Mai, issued an order on December 21 to arrest a number of members of various armed forces suspected of killing “innocent soldiers and civilians simply because they hail from different tribes.” Some soldiers have been arrested but have not yet been charged.

On December 28, the inspector general of police for South Sudan, General Pieng Deng Kuol, established a five-member committee of policemen to investigate allegations of killings of civilians including media reports that “a great number of people were dragged into one of the police stations in Juba and murdered cold blooded inside the cells.”

On December 30, the African Union’s (AU) Peace and Security Council decided to establish acommission to investigate “human rights violations and other abuses committed during the armed conflict in South Sudan” and submit a report within three months.

The AU’s call for an international commission of inquiry is a positive step. Any such commission should be fully resourced and supported by United Nations and concerned governments. To be truly independent and credible, the commission should be mandated to report to more than one organization, for example to both the AU and the UN, and it should consist of international experts who have experience with South Sudan, forensic investigations, human rights and humanitarian law, and arms and munitions, Human Rights Watch said.

 

World: Send Snowden home

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The world’s greatest whistleblower is stuck in the Russian winter, facing solitary confinement, ridicule, and life in prison if US agents grab him. But this week, we could help get him to safety.

Edward Snowden exposed the mind-boggling and illegal level of surveillance the US government is conducting on, well, all of us. His welcome in Russia runs out soon, and he’s got nowhere to go. But Brazilian President Dilma is angry at US surveillance and experts say she might brave massive US pressure to consider asylum for Snowden!

This is about much more than one man. If Snowden’s act of truth-telling leads to crippling punishment, it sends the wrong signal to abusive governments and whistleblowers everywhere. If 1 million of us take action now, we can send President Dilma the largest citizen-supported asylum bid in history — click below to safeguard Snowden and defend democracy everywhere:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/send_snowden_home_loc/?bWiHveb&v=34292

Time is running out on Snowden’s one-year visa. Sharks are circling to drag him back to the US where he is unlikely to face a fair trial, but Brazil’s president Dilma hates mega spy program PRISM, has cancelled a state visit to the US over the issue, and is working to safeguard her people from spying. If she’s to support Snowden, Dilma needs to know she can withstand tough US pressure.

Opponents of giving Snowden asylum say he broke the law and put global security at risk. Some even call him a traitor, and say letting him get away with it could open the floodgates for others. But while Snowden did break the law — he did so to reveal a massive system of illegal global spying on an industrial scale. Snowden’s heroic action can make the world a better and safer place for everyone.

And Snowden isn’t just any whistleblower; his revelations have already changed the world for the better. Germany and Brazil have moved to reform privacy protections for citizens. The issue has been addressed openly in the United Nations, and a US court has ruled some forms of NSA spying are illegal. This week US President Obama is going to change the spy practices of the NSA, in reaction to Snowden’s leaks!

President Dilma needs our support to stand up to US pressure. Let’s show her that the world’s people will stand with Brazil if Brazil stands for bravery. Join the world’s biggest asylum request ever, for Snowden:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/send_snowden_home_loc/?bWiHveb&v=34292

With more than 30 million members around the world — including 6 million in Brazil — together we have already been key to protecting our internet from government gag laws. Now we can support the man who has sacrificed so much to protect us from a massive international spy scandal.

With hope and determination,

Joseph, Christoph, Michael, Sayeeda, Ricken and the whole Avaaz Team

MORE INFORMATION:

Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower ( NYTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/opinion/edward-snowden-whistle-blower.html

Brazil urged to give Snowden asylum (Express)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/435646/Brazil-urged-to-give-Snowden-asylum

Brazil’s Rousseff calls off state visit to U.S. over spying (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/17/us-usa-security-snowden-brazil-idUSBRE98G0VW20130917

Edward Snowden and the NSA files – timeline (The Guardian)
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/23/edward-snowden-nsa-files-timeline

U.S. Spying Prompts UN Panel to Review Surveillance (Bloomberg)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-26/u-s-spying-prompts-un-panel-to-review-surveillance.html

Brazil confirms satellite deal after US spying outcry (The New Age)
http://thenewage.co.za/112997-1021-53-Brazil_confirms_satellite_deal_after_US_spying_outcry

Nine reasons you should care about NSA’s PRISM surveillance (PC Authority)
http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Feature/346592,nine-reasons-you-should-care-about-nsa8217s-prism-surveillance.aspx

Somaliland:President Appoints National Committee to Counter the Degradation of Moral standards

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By Goth Mohamed Goth

17 January 2014

HE President Ahmed Silanyo appointed a national committee tasked with countering and preventing the country decadency into the degradation moral standards such as actions which may amount to social vice which in recent times seems to threaten our cultural and religious values.

In accordance with Article 5 of the constitution of Republic of Somaliland and in consideration of the report presented to me and prepared by the Ministry of Religious and Endowment, I hereby appoint a national committee to counter the vice and to be headed by the Minster of Religious affairs.

I do hereby order all concerned governmental agencies to use necessary measures at their disposal to counter actions which are considered inherently immoral, regardless of the legality or objective harm involved.

Article 5 of Somaliland constitution stipulates that all the laws which were current and which did not conflict with the Islamic Sharia, individual rights and fundamental freedoms shall remain in force in the country of the Republic of Somaliland until the promulgation of laws which are in accord with the Constitution of the Republic of Somaliland.

Vice is often used in law enforcement and judicial systems as an umbrella for crimes involving activities that are considered inherently immoral, regardless of the legality or objective harm involved in the case of Somaliland the law regarding the issue needs to be clearly defined.

The remolding will not always produce good effects such as a dignified style of life and social stability, although it is necessary and indispensable for improving the living standards of each citizen. This is because introducing western elements into non-Western countries may sometimes cause serious friction and tension with the traditional cultures.

Members of the panel consists of

1.      Minister of Religious Affairs Chairman

2.      Minister of Home Affairs Member

3.      Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Member

4.      Minister of Youth, Sports and Tourism Member

5.      Police commander

6.      Head of the National Secret Services

SomalilandPress.com

Somaliland:President Silanyo Sacks Regional Administrators at the same time Naming New Ones

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By Goth Mohamed Goth

HE Ahmed Mohamed Mahmoud Silanyo has issued a Presidential Decree # JSL/M/XERM/249-2249/012014, in which he appointed a new Governor for Togdheer region, a new Governor for Selel and a deputy Governor at the same time replacing the Governor of Selel and his deputy, filling position of the Governor of Togdheer region after the former one quit the position.

The Press Statement which released by the official Presidential Spokesperson Ahmed Saleban Dhuhul read as follows:-

In accordance with Article 90 and Article 110 of the Constitution of the Republic of Somaliland and the need to fill the vacant position with a qualified person for the which plays a n important role in serving our national interests.

I do hereby appoint to the following positions

1.       Mr. Mohamed Muse Diriye   to be as of today the new Governor of Togdheer region

2.       Mr. Abdirizaq Waberi Rooble to the post of the Governor of Selel region

3.       Mr. Abdikadir Aden Yusuf to the post of the Deputy Governor of Selel region.

I do hereby replace and relieve of all duties Mr. Abdillahi Farah Maydhaneas the Governor and Mr. Ali Allale Riyale as the deputy Governor of Selel with immediate effect and that they should transfer the offices in an orderly manner to the newly appointed officials.

At the same time I do hereby on behalf of the Government of Somaliland take this opportunity to thank the outgoing Governor of Selel and the deputy Governor for the servitude to the nation.

SomalilandPress

 

Somaliland:The Resumption of Wahabism’s Abhorrence: The Prophet’s Birth Day Festivals

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Somaliland Youth Taking part in the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) Birth Day Fesitval

By Abdirahman Mohamed Dirye

Somaliland has being an Islamic country for millennium at the least. The mosque with two Kiblas of the direction towards the Jerusalem still there exists intact.  And the lavish celebrations of the birth of the prophet Mohamed (PBUH) were a great sin to miss ever since ; the country’s body of Ulimo the clergy trained in the hands of Sufist orthodox Islamic approved the virtue but when Somalia entered abysmal political turmoil everything including religion were  corrupted for material gains rather keeping religion intact. The Mowlid Nabi, the prophet’s anniversary memorial birth were ridiculed by Saudi exported cults as ‘heretic’. Later years, mysterious mini-leaflets locally known as Risalad of unauthorized source were distributed among ordinary folks to change their mind on the Mowlid, the fool mobs followed as a result of some Iftar program donated by Saudi sinners to clear off their heinous sins; the prophet’s commemoration were held in clandestine since the Wahdad’s advent, the pioneer, incubator of Somalia’s evil ideology, militancy, and terror infrastructure.

But societal shift occurred this year. Their justification for banning is not compliant to the scripture was found out. Sorry depicting religion as scientific discovery, but the things were rerouted to original context unlike the myths imposed on us.

Timoweyne’s, the genuine Somali Muftis, of financial sources of collecting some sheep to keep preaching and Qasid , set of prayers and Allah-praising songs , from their fellow sisters were prohibited by the Wahabi cult who engaged in proselytizing impoverished society to their twisted, radical dogma: much like trinity church, they introduced Islam, a religion Somalia was familiar with for millennium minimum, in new face dividing the fundamental creed  into three novel straits: Divine Ones ( Ilaah Ulaahiya), Divine Worshiping, and etc to confuse the masses. Anyway, the books they refer are even unavailable in Saudi Kingdom libraries.  

Somalia’s Sufists tried to resist the newly invading cult upon their country but they couldn’t because of huge budget they get from Oil Arabia. Somalia became target and dumping ground for any modernist cult, the cult wealthy founders live as far as Pakistan and Morocco and praise idiot followers in Somaliland . If you go to Hargaysa, you pray in the newly built mosques, you hear their fairytales of Pakistan, a country of 10% of its population are Hindus and Sikhs and yet Pakistanis are preaching in Urdu to Somalis! When Somalis did learn Urdo or Hindi Others are by bankrolled and underwrote by Saudi businessmen.  Subjugated Imams are preaching politics rather than verses or Hadith and want to prevent any foreign investor from coming into Somaliland. For instant, Swiss investor probably a Muslim as I heard, went from home country with the persuasion of his Dutch citizen of Somaliland origin to establish poultry firm in Hargaysa. Less than 6 months of his stay, he was, unfortunately and  brutally murdered while shopping at Star Café  by false heaven seeker of twisted mindset whose Imams told him to keep Somaliland at the stone age era by eating the black things Arabs in prehistoric age used to inflate their flat bellies: dates and black.

The news of the murder wildly spread all across the investment forums of the world.  Somaliland though never realized the magnitude of the disaster suffered further isolation.

There only one true preacher unfunded by anyone else but self-sufficient is  Adan Siiro, May Allah Save His Soul. His Friday sermons are relevant, not about what Saudis in medieval era are doing, and uninfluenced by biases or other factors. His enemies not just make name-calling and swearing but always try to make character assassination to silence and divert him from the truth.

This year begun with phenomenal changes:  Al-Shabab finally met their waterloo, on the other hand, the force of truth and neutrality made their voice heard by restoring Mowlid Nabi, a big day for all Muslims, bigger than 18 May or anything else we celebrate.

Some greedy Sheikhs never being trained in Pakistan tribal dirty areas or Saudi third-rate Madrasa converted to Wahabism for incentives and outlawed any activities that venerate the prophet to please their underwriter of oil firms in Arabia after Siyad Barre’s ouster. Somalis de-cultured and entered decadence .Nevertheless, many memorial ceremonies of the prophet in Somaliland were held in nation-wide untainted by fear or intimidation this time and it is very encouraging sign for the first time the birth celebration is held openly without of any fear from Islamists’ backlash and God Willing will continue next year  and forever.  

The Islamic World unified in the prophet’s respect except where few followers of Wahabism who prefer Sheikh Abdi Wahab over the prophet! Are you one of them? Love the prophet, not Sheikh Godanits or his ilk whose religion is only 15 years old from Pakistan where he embraced his cult founder Mr. Ibrahimi, a blind man from Saudi King who fell in love with creating cults.

Djibouti: The Crackdown Intensifies

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The brief arrest today of many leaders and activists members of the Union for National Salvation (USN), the main opposition parties’ coalition, and altercations that would have resulted, clearly reflect the intensification of the campaign of repression led by the current political regime against any dissenting voice in Djibouti. FIDH and LDDH strongly condemn these acts.

« The regime condemns, imprisons and harasses political opponents, independent journalists and human rights defenders in alarming proportions, » said Karim Lahidji, FIDH President.

On 16 January 2014, a dozen leaders of the USN and an unknown number of activists who were celebrating the first anniversary of the creation of the opposition coalition were briefly arrested and detained at the Nagad administrative detention centre where clashes would have erupted between detainees and the police injuring several people. Following these arrests, the USN headquarters located in Q4 was attacked and vandalised by unidentified persons.

These events occur in a climate of increased police and judicial repression against opposition parties, independent journalists, and human rights defenders. Since the beginning of December 2013, dozens of opposition leaders and activists have been arrested and some even sentenced. Further, custody of arrested militants frequently extends beyond the legal duration permitted, sometimes up to 11 or 17 days as was the case for Oumar Waberi and Mohamed Gadito Chehem. Although these two activists were finally acquitted thanks to their lawyer, many others remain in detention for having asserted their opinion, and have not been effectively assisted by their counsel. Acts of torture, as well as other inhuman and degrading treatment, are regularly reported in detention centres in Djibouti and several militants have died in custody in recent years, including the latest, Mohamed Elmi Rayale, an USN activist who died in Gabode prison on 29 August 2013.

« Every day I visit detention centres and go to the court to try to legally assist arrested prisoners of conscience, but my access to those in custody is constantly denied, which is a flagrant violation of Article 10 of the Constitution guaranteeing the assistance of a counsel » says Zakaria Abdillahi, LDDH President and one of the few Djiboutian lawyers trying to provide legal assistances to members of the opposition, journalists, and human rights activists.

Because of the legal assistance Mr. Abdillahi provides, and because of his denunciations of abuse of power, he is harassed, put under surveillance, and receives death threats. In fact, any dissenting voice is subject to this type of police and judicial harassment.

FIDH and LDDH urge the Djiboutian authorities to put an end to the repression of human rights defenders, and to comply with its national and international obligations to respect human rights, in particular civil and political rights. Our organisations call upon the African Union, the European Union, and influential diplomacies, including those which hold military bases in Djibouti (France, USA, Japan, etc.) to challenge the Djiboutian authorities to respect fundamental freedoms.

At the end of February 2013, protests against the methods in which legislative elections were conducted led to mass demonstrations organised by the opposition. Those demonstrations were met with violent repression. Since then, arrests and trials against political opponents take place on a regular basis in Djibouti. In September 2013, FIDH and LDDH, through Mr. Abdillahi, reminded the Human Rights Council of the United Nations of the dramatic situation of human rights in Djibouti, and in particular of political, public and union freedoms, as well as of the persistence of torture in the country.

Source: FIDH

Somaliland:Report on Hargeisa Water Shortages?

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THE MAIN REASONS FOR HARGEISA WATER SHORTAGE AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

 BY SAAD MOHAMED QAWDHAN

 Hargeisa is the capital city of Somaliland and has a rapid growing population. According to the UN (2013), the population of Hargeisa is around 1,000,000. That is six times more than the population of Hargeisa in the 1970s.The principal water infrastructure for the city was built in the 1970s, and is not only aged and dilapidated, but also cannot meet the growing demand for clean, potable water. Furthermore, as the above population figure indicates Hargeisa water infrastructure was designed to accommodate around 150,000 people not 600,000. That said Hargeisa’s limited water availability is a critical shortcoming in essential service delivery, and seriously impedes the right to water access and local economic development (UN,2013).

Clearly, Hargeisa needs six or more water infrastructure in order to meet international minimum standards for urban water consumption and improve the lives of Hargeisa residents. Hargeisa has four main Boroughs (Gaan Libax, Dumbuluq, 26 June and Iftin). Each and every borough needs one  water infrastructure similar to the one the city posses now (Ceelka biyaha Shiinaha). The current water infrastructure is not even enough for one of the four main boroughs of the city. This clearly shows that people of the city are in desperate for clean water.

The main question is why it took so long to increase the water capacity of Hargeisa since the 1970s. Is it because the water resources of the city and in the region are far and hard to reach or is it because the government and NGOs have no means and capacity to increase the water infrastructure. Another possible and grave explanation for the failure could be a negligence due to the fact that someone (i.e ministry of water) is not delivering their duties and responsibilities, hence failed to predict and forecast that the population of the city is growing and need more water infrastructure.

  WATER AVAILIBITIY IN SOMLAILAND

In Somaliland, water availability is naturally a seasonal issue. Having extremely low rainfall (250 mm per year on average) and much higher potential evaporation (over 2000 mm per year), the country is characterized as water-scarce. Much of the country has arid or semi-arid climate due to the extremely low and variable rainfall, which is often unreliable.

This indicates the need for more rigs in and around of all cities of Somaliland rather than relying solely on the rain. The water-scare is not only limited to Hargeisa but effects the county as whole in similar or greater scale. For example, severe droughts interrupted by devastating floods occur frequently resulting large size starvation and killing thousands of animal. Any sign of drought are received with dread and worry.

 CONCLUSION

 Currently, it appears that it is beyond the government’s power to increase the water capacity of Hargeisa and whether this is the government’s lacks resources, corruption or it is simply beyond their means is open to debate and critics are hungry for answers and it is beyond the scope of this report. However, the recent water shortages demonstrations in the Capital (Hargeisa) has further cemented the deep frustration of the residents of Hargeisa in getting clean water. Therefore it is time for the government, NGOs, Public, Diaspora and everybody to get together and find a lasting solution for this deeply ingrained water problems. Then and only then Hargeisa, which is a fast growing city fir both economically  and population will meet international minimum standards for urban water consumption and improve the lives of Hargeisa residents.

 BY Saad Mohamed Qawdhan

saad.osman@thameshr.co.uk

Somaliland:The SIHA Community Activism Guide for Women Rights (CAG) provides critical analysis of women movements and organisations in the Horn of Africa

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A review by Lyn Ossome

Community activism is acknowledged as being a core component of the work of women’s rights and human rights organisations. As a strategic and long-term endeavour, it carries the objectives of understanding the social, political, cultural and economic contexts within which women’s rights activists work, and seeking to actively change or enhance the viability of working in these environments. Community activism also bears the objective of deepening links with local grassroots communities and understanding the needs within these communities; and thirdly, it is critical for activists to nurture deeper understanding among various stakeholders and interest groups regarding their work, objectives and vision.

The Community Activism Guides (CAG); four papers developed by SIHA network were as such not the work of an individual, nor the organisation alone, but rather, the result of months of conversations, interactions, interviews, and discussions among the SIHA research team and many generous members who comprise the organisation’s network. These papers are the outcome of a qualitative research study that was conducted between November 2011 and July 2012 in four countries in the region: Somaliland, Sudan, South Sudan and Ethiopia.

In each of these four countries, the research team conducted interviews with many different groups of stakeholders, ranging from influential individuals in the community, members of local government, traditional leaders and elders, religious leaders, state officials, women leaders of non-governmental organisations and community based organisations, and various compositions of focus groups. This qualitative research process drew richly on various methods, including informal conversations, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions.

The outcomes of this research process –are reflections of the challenges and desires communicated to us by all the men and women who generously shared their work and narratives of struggles with us. Much of what have emerged as activism strategies within these papers is, therefore, a direct outcome of the inputs given to us, complemented by critical analysis on our part. In other words, we have tried as much as possible to retain the organic content drawn from the research process, and hope that each of you shall hear your voices reflected with sincerity in these pages.

While the issues that women in the Horn of Africa are dealing with appear to be remarkably similar across countries, there are, however, many nuanced differences in the ways in which women’s rights and human rights activists approach these issues and are responding to the same issues in each country. For instance, in all four countries, activists are confronted by questions of the law, both customary and formal, which manifest differently depending on the cultural and political environment. In Sudan, criminalisation of personal behaviour and corporal punishment such as flogging and stoning to death of women continues to pose serious challenges to the humanity of women and the realization of women’s human rights. Both these laws are an evocation of deeply patriarchal Islamic doctrines naturalised into formal laws. But while Sudanese women are seeking to challenge these repressive legal regimes through very public campaigns and advocacy, often facing harassment, intimidation and even death, their counterparts in South Sudan stand at a more ambivalent position with regards to women’s human and legal rights. For while a constitutional review process and various state interventions there seek to guarantee certain rights to women, customary law remains the ‘living’ law, undermining the values of constitutionalism, and continue to prevent women from accessing real power to participate in politics, let alone write more gender-positive laws. In Somaliland, the problems with the law relate largely to who can or cannot access legal redress, and also the conflict between customary law and formal law. Thus, while laws exist that ought to promote the rights of all women, those women deemed as belonging to minority groups have virtually no access to legal and judicial protection or remedy, even where such institutions exist and function. In Ethiopia, the Charities and Proclamation Law (CSO Law) of 2005 has imposed far-reaching restrictions on the work of human rights and women’s rights organisations, and many organisations have had to redefine their work, reconsider their strategies and reconceptualise the ways in which they could still achieve their objectives. The barriers created by this law have nonetheless spurred new and ingenious strategies for community organising. But such ingenuity is not restricted to Ethiopia alone, for one of the most significant observations from this study is the ways in which women’s organisation and activists continue to seek creative, resourceful and inspiring ways of overcoming the many hurdles they face on a day to day basis in the course of their work.

Yet a number of significant challenges to community activism and organizing around human rights in all four countries persist, and are a reflection of the inherent weaknesses of women’s rights organisations in relation to existing complex political, cultural and social situations. These issues are intertwined, and are discussed in relation to each other in the sections below.

The NGOization of the women’s movement is a term used to describe the formation or proliferation, not of NGOs per se, but of particular kinds of NGOs. Such NGOs have been associated with a backlash against a feminist agenda and principles which were critical in the organisation of women’s movements not just in Africa, but globally. The rapid rise of NGOs from the early 1990s under political and economic liberalisation and, as Sonia Alvares (2008) notes in relation to Latin America, through the promotion of more politically collaborative and more technically proficient feminist practices were what triggered what she calls the NGO boom. This boom challenged and ultimately unsettled the hybrid identities of many feminist NGOs in that region, leading some of them to place empowerment goals and a wide range of movement-oriented activities on the strategic back burner. They were replaced on the front burner with “demonstrable impact”, short-term projects, large scale workshops and forums, and more overt participation in the policy arena.

In other regions, as Aida Touma (2008) shows, NGOization became visible as women moved increasingly into project-oriented work, delivering services to women, focusing on issue of violence against women and personal issues. Those kinds of activities have resulted in organisations moving away from their own constituencies, from mass organization, and becoming more professionalized and technocratic. The results are the activists are vanishing away from the women movement little by little. This has created a huge gap between the discourses used by NGOs in analysing the situation and the real activism on the ground (Touma 2008). The gap between the grassroots women and the elite women providing leadership in organisations and movements continues to drive deep wedges between women in the Horn region, and the ability to mobilize and organize masses of women when it is crucial and needed is being lost.

The elitism of the women’s movement, observed particularly in Ethiopia and Sudan, also bears a big cost for the specific objectives of pursuing a progressive women’s human rights agenda that is independent of other elite forces and sections in society. In Sudan, this is particularly evident in relation to the extent of influence which the fundamentalist Islamic regime has been able to fund its own cause by compromising numerous NGOs through the leadership, to champion a reactionary, anti-woman agenda. In a funding environment in which traditional funding channels have been deliberately frustrated and restricted, many women’s organisations, desperate for survival, have found themselves at the mercy of the state. It is for this reason that feminists are facing a serious backlash in their attempts to organise against punitive, misogynist laws, and why cultural pundits are experiencing a resurgence of life as scared and intimidated communities retreat further and further away from perceived threats from the ‘international community’ represented locally by NGOs.

A final dimension of the challenges we observed in the course of this study is what could be read as a failure of the women’s movement to see and respond to emerging dynamics that are directly impacting on the status of women in the region which include religion, state politics, international and regional dynamics and corruption. This failure is also manifesting in the relative diminishing of the women’s movements as a relevant political and social force, and poses serious challenges for the work towards empowering women to claim their rights. Women’s machineries in all four countries under the study are increasingly being co-opted by the state, and the leverage of the movement to lobby, petition, advice, and influence policy is substantially weakened.

These are issues that women’s movements must once again take seriously if they are to become effective and survive. Feminist NGOs in the Horn region must, as Alvares (2008) notes in relation to Latin America, begin to place movement work on the front burner. They must seek to rearticulate their agenda and create new bridges, or fortify existing ones, not only within the feminist field, but also with other civil society and social movement activists. This, as suggested in the Community Activism Guides, entails the work of committed documentation and archiving of our struggles, dedicating more resources to critical research activities, sharpening our knowledge of our political and social contexts, and most of all, seeking to once again reconnect with the organic struggles in our communities.

Lyn Ossome is a researcher based in the Political Studies Department at Wits University, Johannesburg. A feminist scholar and activist, her research work has spanned the East, Southern and Horn of Africa countries, where she has also served in consultative and advisory capacities within a number of civil society organizations. Her research interests are in the areas of feminist political economy, land and agrarian studies, postcolonial studies and African politics, on which she has written several journal articles, book chapters and opinion pieces