ADDIS ABABA, 15 Oct 2009 (Somalilandpress) – French company Bollore Africa Logistics is to invest €500-million in the Somali port of Berbera, a crucial lifeline for landlocked Ethiopia, a diplomat said Wednesday.
Berbera, less than 300 kilometres east of the former French colony of Djibouti, faces Yemen on the Gulf of Aden and is the economic capital of Somaliland, a breakaway state more stable than the rest of Somalia.
“Bollore is about to invest €500-million in Berbera port to improve the port and create a new corridor to the hinterland. Ethiopia is very excited about that,” a French diplomat based in Addis Ababa said.
“The project is not completely finalised, but Bollore has a huge presence in West Africa and is interested in East Africa,” the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
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The company is part of a group owned by Vincent Bollore, a leader in West Africa’s ports sector and close friend of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Somalia has the longest coastline on the continent and forms the “horn” of Africa, which juts out into the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden and commands access to some of the world’s busiest maritime trade routes.
Ethiopia has had good relations with the self-proclaimed government of Somaliland and is heavily reliant on the port of Berbera for supplies.
The Bollore group confirmed to AFP in Paris it was interested in the project but did not elaborate further.
“We have not made an offer yet and no amount has been agreed,” a spokesperson said.
HARGEISA, 15 October 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Washington anelists emphasized the role of free press in promoting democracy at a Town Hall in Hargeisa, Somaliland today as the Voice of America (VOA) launched a new radio station in the Somalia breakaway region.
“We expect this station to serve our people impartially and to inform us – not just with news – but with balanced reports and knowledge,” Somaliland President Dahir Rayale Kahin said as he welcomed VOA’s new broadcast.
The launch of 88.0 FM brought together journalists, government officials, opposition members and civil society activists who gathered afterwards for a discussion entitled, “A Free Press in a Democracy.”
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Panelists praised the gains in independent media, but said challenges remain. Faisal Ali Sheikh, chairman of Jamhuriya newspaper, opposed pending legislation that would require the Ministry of Information to review advertisements.
“The media should lobby against the amendment … which is aimed at restricting the freedom of the press,” Ali Sheikh said. Other panelists included Su’as Hussein Hagi Elmi, a female activist and Mohamoud Hussain Farah, dean of Hargeisa Univesity’s Department of Law.
During an interview with VOA’s Somali service, Somaliland’s main opposition leader, Ahmed Mohammed Silanyo, also expressed his appreciation for the new station. “We are happy to see the Voice of American launch this FM station which will help the people of Somaliland,” Silanyo said.
VOA Hargeisa 88.0 will air 24 hours of VOA programs daily. The broadcast stream includes three and half hours of news and features from VOA’s Somali service along with popular English news, discussion and music programs such as World News Now, Daybreak Africa, Hip Hop Connection and Music Mix. Besides Somali, VOA also broadcasts in English and 11 other languages throughout Africa.
HARGEISA, 14 October 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Somaliland Foreign Minister Abdillahi Duale today 14 October, thanked all Somaliland political parties, as well as the friends of Somaliland for their well spirited engagement and support.
“The Somaliland Government brings to the attention of the international community that it affirms that a free, fair and peaceful Somaliland elections are now possible. Clearly, this will be possible under the condition that the recently signed six-point agreement is faithfully implemented”, he said
“Currently, the restructuring of the Somaliland National Electoral Commission is presently underway under specific selection criteria”, he added.
In this context, Somaliland Foreign Minister Abdillahi Duale, “thanked all Somaliland political parties for encouraging a home-grown consensus agreement. Our friends, especially Minister Dr. Tekeda Alemu of Ethiopia for his lead mediating role and the supportive partnership of the United Kingdom. The African Union Special Envoy, Mr. Nicholas Bwakira and the UN Special Envoy, Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, for their visits to Hargeisa and timely advice.”
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We are particularly encouraged by the Federal Democratic Government of Ethiopia’s statement of 28 August 2009, that “Somaliland’s success—no matter how impressive it may have been—should not be taken for granted,” and the African Union’s statement that “the African Union in consultation with the international community is available to assist all parties in Somaliland to reach an amicable solution or common understanding, as part of its overall efforts to promote peace, security and stability in Somalia”.
Somaliland Foreign Minister Abdillahi Duale concluded his statement:
“We call on friendly countries to energetically champion the case of Somaliland within IGAD and the African Union. Indeed, the unsettled international status of Somaliland severely restricts our people from effectively transacting with the world in order to advance our development and post-war reconstruction goals. Currently, the high-levels of unemployment lead to many of our youth to migrate to neighboring countries, as far as South Africa, the EU and USA, and sadly many end up joining groups with a terrorist agenda”
“We hope that this brisk sprit of engagement with Somaliland by the friends of Somaliland and multi-lateral institutions will continue with the same sense of urgency, to advance Somaliland’s stability and a better future for its children, in the inter-connected interests of regional and world peace and security ”.
Issued by
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Hargeisa, Somaliland
14 October 2009
London,12 October 2009 (Somalilandpress)-Although I greatly enjoyed reading your article entitled, “Christianity must become more like Islam to prosper “published on Monday, October 12, 2009, I was equally saddened and offended that that article continued spreading deliberate disinformation about Islam. And the ironic thing is: it is this shameful and deliberate disinformation—a condoned racism—towards Islam and Muslims that in fact brought Islam to your door steps, in the first place. See the article:
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/christianity-must-become-more-like-islam-to-prosper-1910720.html
A case in point: your article states, “We consider that the treatment of the Magdalenes — regarded as “fallen women” in Irish institutions — was horribly punitive: Islam can be a lot crueler to women who are deemed to “dishonor” their families or communities by behaving in any way improperly. “Honor killings”…”
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Ignorance is blissful, isn’t it? I double challenge you to show me a verse from the Quran—the Muslim holly book—or a statement form Hadith—Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) sayings or narrations—that states that the “honour killing” is based on Islam. Of course you won’t find them.
You could have simply researched the truth by asking a local Muslim scholar whether honour killing is based on Islam. But you didn’t. And sadly, the truth is rarely the objective. In fact, any Muslim scholar would tell you that honour killing is based on some Middle Eastern culture and has NOTHING to do with Islam. Also, Islam resolutely opposes honour killing.
You owe an apology to the Muslim communities for deliberately dragging their faith through the mud.
What happened to the pillars of good journalism: thoroughness, accuracy, fairness and transparency?
HARGEISA, 12 October 2009 (Somalilandpress) – For the last four weeks, Somaliland has witnessed one of its critical political situations in connection to the following reasons.
There was a general concensus among Somaliland people regardless of their various social groupings and regional divisions (wherever they live in the country and abroad) that Somaliland was on the verge of collapse.
This situation arose mainly from the ineptitude and ineffectiveness of Somaliland government to respect the different timetables for the long-awaited presidental election to take place. The presidential election of Somaliland has been extended previously for three times. It became apparent that the president and the vice president whose terms in office expires on the 29th of October, 2009, have not been willing to leave office according to the rules and regulations of the game. The implications of this was huge and it has affected all sections across the society and Somaliland institutions.
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The Parliament
The parliament passed a resolution asserting that the president’s refusal of the election to be based on the voter registration system was unconstitutional and demanded the president to retract from this decision.
The president did not listen to the parliament’s resolution and as a consequence of this, the parliament introduced a proposal for the impeachment of the president and the vice president. In response to this, the president and his government used all their power to discredit one of the cherished institutions of the state – the parliament, for example, by dividing the parliamentarians and bribing some of them in kind and in cash to stop the impeachment.
Those parliamentarians put a counter proposal to dethrone the speaker of the parliament and his two deputies. Later the confrontation reached unprecedented level including fighting in the parliament among the MPs and the arrival of police and security forces in the parliament premises. To the surprise of everyone, the police confiscated the keys of the premises of the parliament and ordered the speaker and the MPs to leave the parliament compound.
In addition to this, in the evening of the same day, they also confiscated the keys of the Chamber of the Elders (Guurti). This was one of the intensive political moments in the Somaliland political history.
Outside the parliament, huge crowds of people assembled to safeguard their parliament and when the speaker and his deputies came out, they were welcomed by cheerful greetings and with ruptured vioces and claps.
The closure of the parliament became a very worrying situation for the Somaliland people and their friends all over the world. People were nervous. Their country that has been praised for its stability and democratic culture has suddenly appeared to be falling into unpredictable political abyss.
Important people from the society including religious, traditional and business people intervened to mediate among the stakeholders and asked the president to return the keys of the parliament.
Also the chairman of the Guurti, Mr. Suleiman Mohamoud Adam, contacted the president and warned him of the grave situation of confiscating the keys of the parliament. As a result of these pressures, the government accepted to return the keys of the House of Elders, but still retained the keys of the House of Representatives.
After heated discussions between the chairman of the Guurti, Mr. Suleiman and the president, the president told Suleiman that he would also hand the keys of the House of Representatives to him. But instead, the president sent the keys to the head of the traditional leaders who, though important, operate outside the Somaliland institutional framework. This made the head of the Guurti, Mr. Suleiman further angry and bewildered and he accused the president of playing political games and not keeping his words, and not giving the due respect that the state institutions deserve.
The fact that the keys were not handed to Suleiman but instead to the head of the traditional leaders further complicated the situation. On the other hand, the speaker of the parliament and his deputies were determined to return to their offices whatever that costs them if the keys were not handed over soon.
Eventually, the mediators gave a promise to the speaker of the parliament that they would take the keys from the president and the parliament would be reopened soon. But that did not take place, either. The following day, the speaker and his deputies drove to the parliament premises and with the support of the crowd outside the parliament, they managed to enter the parliament compound.
The police around the parliament premises fired at the crowd. Two young people were shot dead and several others were wounded. Inside the parliament, the impeachment discussion restarted and those pro-government MPs continued to disrupt the proceedings of the parliament to stop the impeachment discussions.
The Guurti
Inside the Guurti, there was another equally important discussion that was dealing with the extension of the period of the president and his vice president beyond the 29th of October, 2009. The Guurti was divided across the middle around this question. Some of them believed that enough was enough and no more extensions and wanted the president and his government to work with the political parties to accelerate the election processes and the date instead of requesting all the time for extensions.
On the Thursday night (24th of September, 2009), the chairman of the Guurti, Mr. Suleiman invited the three political parties to speak to the Guurti about their views and positions on the intriguing issues of the election. The two opposition political parties, UCID and Kulmiye came to the hall of the Guurti and spoke to the Guurti members to stop extending the period for the president and the vice president and to accept the six points worked by the international community. The fact that the Guurti wanted to extend the period of the president for another one year was unacceptable.
Chairman of the Guurti, Mr. Suleiman was strongly in favour that all stakeholders accepted the six points proposed by the international community. Although the president declared that he accepted the six points proposed, nevertheles, his party (UDUB) did not come to the important Guurti meeting on Thursday. This arose suspicion in the opposition political parties and immediately believed that the president is not sincere about his promise regarding the six-point proposal.
In the evening of Thursday, the two political parties, UCID and Kulmiye held a press conference at Imperial Hotel. Including in the press statements were, that they would form a government if the Guurti makes another extension for the president. They also said their supporters would come back to the streets and continue their peaceful demonstrations.
At 8:30 in the evening, the president sent three senior ministers to meet the chairman of UCID Party, Faisal Ali Warabe to persuade him to retreat what the two political parties said regarding the formation of a government and the re-starting of the demonstrations. Faisal refused and instead said if you continue the idea of extension, then we shall not afraid and refrain to form a government and to come back to the streets.
After the ministers took this message to the president, there were a hot debate among the key closest ministers of the president. Some of them including the Interior Minister raised the gravity of the situation while some of the more hawkish members suggested to use more power against the opposition including arresting their leaders.
International community
The international community which was worried about the worsening political developments in Somaliland intervened to help the situation. When they listened to all parties, they formulated a six points compromise on the 23rd of September, 2009. UCID Party immediately accepted all the six points. On the second day, this was followed by the acceptance of Kulmiye. On Friday night, around 3:30 in the morning, the president accepted the six-point proposal. He sent this message to the Guurti telling them that he abandoned his earlier stand and wholeheartedly now accepted the six points proposed by the international community, and accordingly the Guurti accepted his message.
This was a complete reversal of the president’s earlier statement. Consequently, on Friday morning the Guurti eventually passed unanimously a proposal accepting all the six points worked by the international community and put aside the extension.
The local arbitration committee
The local arbitration committee consisted mainly of four groups: (1) the leading business people, (2) the prominent religious scholars, (3) the traditional clan leaders and (4) non-state actors (civil society and intellectual). They all wanted to bring all the sides together but their agenda and their interests were definitely different. Some of them were putting more pressure on the opposition rather than to be fair and independent. But on the whole, they were all working hard that the country should not be plunged into crisis.
Here comes a question: Who is to congratulate for this breakthrough of the stalemate? Many people heaped a lot of compliments on the Guurti as a whole, but that is not the case.
The credit goes to the following:
Guurti: In the Guurti context, definitely there were a group led by the chairman of the Guurti, Mr. Suleiman who fought to the teeth to stop the extension.
Parliament: In the parliament, the impeachment issue worried the president’s camp a lot. Though the government wanted to stop the impeachment even by pro-government MPs to fight in the parliament, finally they realised they could not stop the impeachment because of mainly the remarkable insistance of the chair (shirgudoonka) who stick to the constitution of the country.
The opposition political parties: UCID and Kulmiye who organised their action intelligently and smartly in that critical period and moreover, the contributions primarily made by the chairman of the UCID, Engineer Faisal Ali Warabe, particularly his strong message to the president through the three key ministers mentioned above.
The people’ power: Somaliland people who, by their demostrations, expressed that no more extension period be allowed.
And finally, who were the winners? Peace and Security and the Continuation of the Democratic Process in Somaliland.
Addis Ababa, October 12, 2009 (SomalilandPress)- Bollore Africa Logistics (SDV international), a French-based company, is close to striking a deal to manage Berbera Port, Capital has learnt. Eng.Ali Omer Mohamed, General Manager of Berbera Port Authority announced that a memorandum of understanding was signed between SDV representatives and port officials four months ago. He said: “We are looking at and dealing with this big French company in that regard.” However, he also admitted that since the memorandum of understanding was signed there has been little progress.
SDV’s agent in Addis Ababa did not have any comment on the issue. The Somaliland press said on 28 May, 2009 that a delegation of French officials arrived on a private jet in the Somaliland port city of Berbera for talks with the President of Somaliland Dahir Rayale Kahin and other senior officials who had travelled from the capital, Hargeissa.
The port manager told Capital that this French company was interested in investing in the port. According to the local media, Bollore was the first logistics network integrated in Africa and has over 200 agencies throughout the continent.
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Engineer Ali Omer Mohamed said that both the Governments of Ethiopia and Somaliland are working together to upgrade the port, and that everything is now underway. He added that neighbouring countries, including Ethiopia, can utilise the port for competitive and reasonable tariffs.
The security situation of Somaliland in general, and the Berbera Port in particular, are now considered stable and the Ethiopian business community can use the port freely. The port manger said it is very safe for trucks, containers and the necessary facilities for truck drivers are maintained.
Abdullahi M. Duale, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Somaliland said that Ethiopia is not a landlocked country because it has Berbera Port that it can utilise it as its own. The minister noted that Ethiopian and Somaliland are not only partners in security, but partner in trade; currently the World Food Programme is using the port as an alternative entry into Ethiopia to bring in its emergency relief packages for those people in Somali region who are critically short of food.
The foreign minister added that the port will have regional importance and that there are plans for its development, including a major new access road. He concluded: “We will be sending very soon a technical committee to Addis Ababa which will be looking in a comprehensive way at to how to start the activity. We will be hoping to sign a memorandum of understanding.”
Berbera Port Fact File:
– It is 1090 km from Addis Ababa
– It is located on the south coast of the Gulf of Aden
– Its time zone is GMT plus three hours
– Ships approach southeast from the Red Sea and southwest from Gulf States
– The depth of the entrance bay is approximately 30 metres.
– The depth of the water ranges from nine to 12 metres.
HARGEISA, 11 October 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Migration can be defined as the movement of large groups of people go to live in another area or country especially in order to find work . Migration, therefore, has been a chronic national problem since Somaliland regained its independence from Somalia in 1991. Thousands of Somaliland youth migrate (legally or otherwise) from their country every year to Europe and North America. They risk their lives by taking a dangerous means to get their desired destinations.
Out of the thousands that migrate, few are lucky enough to put their feet on western soil. However, there are countless challenges faced by such youth and among these hardships include: facing legal problems in transit countries due to the unaware of the political, economical and legal consequences of moving from one country to another .
The remaining few of them who are fortunate to get away from being detained in the degrading Libyan jails mostly dies in the Mediterranean Sea. The number one reason causing their death are the types of boats they are boarding. The boats are dug-out canoes around 10 meters long with an outboard motor fixed on the back. The boats are open to the elements and have insufficient life jackets or protective clothing. The traffickers send to sea the immigrants —60 to 70 crammed in a boat—with only a hand-held compass for guidance. They have no phone or radios to summon help in an emergency.
Some others die due to hunger because their meager funds has been robbed by blood sucking traffickers.
These young generation who are risking their lives aren’t blind from all these adventures but some of them have even on the top of their heads memorized the list of the names of the hundreds of young people who are daily reported to have been drowned in the sea. This month alone, a boat carrying 47 Somaliland youth went missing and the parents on those on board are sleepless due to the constant anxiety and worriness feelings.
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What follows present the first part of personal account of a young Somaliland girl who traveled to Europe on foot and her sad stories during her trip.
This personal account demonstrates the shocking situations Somaliland girls goes through during their Tahriib to Europe.
To Europe by Foot
A reporter from Hadhwanaag’s radio section by the name of Ahmed Haji Barkhad interviewed a young Somaliland girl on 21 September, 2009 who made most of her travel to Europe on foot. Here is the summary of her story .
The young girl which the reporter didn’t mention her name came from Gabiley region. She run off to Djibouti when she was 19 years of age with out the permission of her parents.
She stayed with her aunt until the idea of Tahriib came to her mind on August 2008. She began to convert her thought into action and set out from Djibouti 21 days later. “You take a car from Obokh, (Djibouti) to Asab (Eritrea),” she said. But due to the political conflict between the two countries, she and her colleagues couldn’t cross the border by car but instead they started walking on foot from Obokh to Asab, approximately 180km distance.
The rough mountainous journey took her three days and three nights with out resting a single hour. They were afraid that the Djibouti army will capture them and would return them back to Djibouti, ruining her long awaited dreams. She and her group comprising 15 male and 3 female have seen poisonous snakes. She said there were no trees to rest under and hid from the burning rays of the sun in the Sahara.
They have seen dead bodies. She was her first time to see dead bodies lying on the Sahara. People die due to thirst. The scene had caused her not to eat for almost 9 days and had nightmares in her dreams at nights. When she couldn’t sleep and jump from her sleeps, her Tahriib partners read versus of the quran over her. Later, which she felt alright.
Luckily they crossed the Eritrean border at night. Then Eritrean border patrol took them from Raxayte to Musawa. In Musawa, they met with the group of people who left the two died bodies in the Sahara. After she asked those people why they left these dead bodies in the Sahara, they told her that the two people were alive when they left them. They said these two people couldn’t walk due to the friction of their thighs and they left them there. She told her that one of the two died bodies had a bite on the shoulder and the head.
Some of the relatives of the two dead bodies called her from Burao. When she started telling the condition of dead bodies to their families on the phone, she cried and the families hung up the phone and never called her again. She stayed eight days in Asmara, Eriteria’s capital. Then she and other 60 persons were taken from Asmara to Mukuli, a camp for the Somali refugee.
The people in the camp asked her many question regarding the cause of her travel to Eritrea. They asked her why she bothered to walk on Sahara where travelers die of thirst. Then again she started walking on foot from Eritrea to Sudan. A group of Mukhalisiin, smugglers, from Yemen arranged pick-ups from Eritrea Sudan. But the Pick-ups put them on Arxiiba, a district on the border of Sudan which is very far from Khartoum. They told them that their fare has run out. Then they started walking on foot and they got lost. They met with a group of robbers. As they were trying to escape from these robbers, then they got again lost. A night and a day, they couldn’t know where they were going. Later, they saw a sea a herd of camels. A boy who was with them got sick.
Then, the girl and another boy walked towards where live seemed possible. They met with an old man who drew a gun and pointed towards them, fearing that they were robbers. The boy who was walking with the girl knew Arabic. The old man welcomed them. They told the old man that there was a sick boy they left behind. Then the old man took the sick boy to one of his camels. The stayed with the old man at the night. Then they said good bye to the old man the next morning.
Then they walked 12 hours to another camp. In the afternoon, the rode a bus. They have passed vast deserts. They were walking under a rain for three days. They crossed a lake. They took a car near the river but unluckily, the car broke. They were walking in the burning Sahara for three hours and some of them vomited a blood. Finally, they have arrived Khartoun.
To be continued…………….
Written by Adnan A. Hassan
Hargeisa, Somaliland
adnan.abdi.hassan@gmail.com
HARGEISA, 09 October 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Ngonge A. is writing to Somalilandpress about his experience in Somaliland and will be talking about his funny yet true experience during his stay in the country – discover Somaliland from the experience of a person on his first ever trip home.
To read the part one CLICK HERE
To read the part Two CLICK HERE
To read the Part Three CLICK HERE
On the following day, my host took me to the infamous Obama restaurant. It was a very nice place and the food was quite good. Like most restaurants in Somaliland, it was mostly an outdoors place. They did have an indoors wedding hall and another section, which I presume to be the indoors part of the restaurant but I was quite satisfied with sitting outside. I was particularly pleased to find out that the flooring was made of gravel and not that dreadful sand that I grew to dislike in my short visit to Somaliland. This was going to be a very comfortable lunch. No need to worry about creeping assassins catching me by surprise.
At this point, the days start to get on top of each other and my memory becomes hazy. I know that I visited that place on more than one occasion. I know I enjoyed all the visits. But I cannot recall what day was what!
The strange thing about Obama restaurant is that it does not have the usual additions that are found in other places in Somaliland. It is probably a management decision to stand out and be different! I don’t think I spotted one single cat while I was there. There was no sign of the shoe polish boys that would usually take one of your shoes and disappear with it for ages before returning later to take the other one. Nobody tried to sell you any newspapers and the waiters took your order, delivered your food and kept the chitchat to the bare minimum. It was like being in a real restaurant. It IS a real restaurant!
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Later that day, I followed my tourist guide and a new more cheerful guide to Mansoor Hotel (I know it is spelt different). This was a nice place but having got used to the outdoor feel of all other establishments, the enclosed setup of this place felt (through no fault of theirs) very oppressive. Somehow, I suspect that my tourist guide had a premonition this would be the case and therefore took some wily steps to soften the blow. It worked a treat! The eye candy on display as we walked into the place was something to write home about (to the mates, not wife, mother or assorted female siblings).
Actually, on that day, my tourist guide and his new sidekick surpassed themselves. That was ‘meet the ladies of Somaliland day’ and it was not repeated on the rest of my stay in H town (I was only warming up but my hosts probably thought I played for the other side. What else would explain the lack of eye candy on subsequent days?).
Still, the day itself was exceedingly pleasant and though I did not flirt, sweet talk or try to pull any garments down, I did (quietly) enjoy myself. My host was proving to be a man amongst men when it came to proper hospitality. However, I was disappointed to find out that H town did not have its own public shiisha places. Not that this stopped this magical host of mine from conjuring another trick and finding me a place where I could indulge in my favourite pastime. There was more eye candy! Shiisha making eye candy. Of course, being the perfumed tobacco connoisseur that I am, I did not really like the shiisha on offer. I appreciated the effort and was impressed with the expert way the shiisha was made but I am no fan of mint. It is double apple all the way for me. Be that as it may, I still enjoyed the conversation (though I hardly took part) and the hospitality.
Now, before anyone lets their imagination run with them, let me assure you that this was all good clean fun and no sexual shenanigans took place here. My host was no flesh-monger and, in fact, though the ladies were pretty and very attractive it seems that the vast majority of them were married! Having said that, I have to confess that my interest was initially aroused and my dormant devil was fully awake. Alas, married or not, I was not going to indulge in any funny business. I was a tourist after all. All this was new to me. To join strange women in the enjoyable act of exploring delicious flesh would have required me to strip, throw my clothing, wallet, passport and all my other valuables aside for however long the act would have lasted (and it would have lasted for days, I tell you). I was not prepared to take such a risk for so little return. However, this does not mean I was not strongly tempted. I just thank (and sometimes curse) my sensible, paranoid and responsible nature for stopping me from acting on my impulses (though, right now, more cursing than thanking is taking place).
Still, the company of the gentler sex was a change from my usual manly surroundings and helped to spice up my day. They were all pretty girls and all had something interesting to say. My host, it seems, is like a vintage car lover that has been banned from driving but still enjoys acquiring more cars to merely park in his garage and look at from time to time. I doubt if he ever broke the law (yet).
Talking of women, in H town like the moon and stars, the women also love to come out at night. You see them walking around in twos and threes. You see them strolling about or hurrying somewhere. The streets are always heaving with women. I was puzzled as to why they all walked around in the dark instead of during the day. But then I remembered how hot the days can be and understood why these ladies choose to walk around at night!
On the following day, my tourist guide arrived early and we left the city to visit Berbara. This was going to be my first trip out of H town. I was quietly excited and looking forward to seeing the city that everyone who heard about my visit to SL was raving about.
As we reached the border of H town, we approached a police roadblock and had to stop and tell the attending policemen our name (well, only the driver’s name) and how many people were in the car. We also had to inform him of our destination. I thought this was very intrusive at first but as we went on and happened to stop at the roadblocks at the exists of every village in our way, the reasons for these questions and their answers started to make sense to me.
The motorways (highways) of Somaliland are very treacherous and full of potholes. This, I suppose, is the result of fighting and wars that took place there in the past and the government’s inability to maintain such roads. Therefore, drivers have to be careful and slow down as they approach each hole in the road only to speed up again for a few hundred yards before slowing down again. In addition, a myriad of creatures leisurely cross the road as you speed past at ninety miles per hour. I spotted a camel, several goats, many tortoises, some deer, wild hogs and I could not stop myself from chuckling as we screeched to a halt to allow a darn chicken to cross the road! This would explain why the policemen wanted to know our information and where we were heading. For if an accident should ever take place they would be able to know who the people involved were and what city they came from (and, you have to admit, with all the hazards on these roads accidents in SL are probably not a rare thing).
HARGEISA, 9 October 2009 (Somalilandpress) – The laughing young man has a perfect set of teeth, his golden incisors glinting in the sunlight.
Suddenly he pops out a pair of dentures, revealing a gap-toothed smile, the four upper front teeth missing, a common sight among mixed-race Capetonians that has spawned outrageous myths and stereotypes.
A group of youngsters clad in baggy sweaters, caps drawn low over shiny sunglasses, mill around curiously before they start to pop out their own dentures, showing off gummy smiles and striking gangster poses.
“It is fashion, everyone has it,” said 21-year-old Yazeed Adams, who insists he had to take out his healthy incisors because they were “huge”.
One of the most enduring images of mixed-race South Africans known as coloureds is the frequent absence of their front teeth, a mystery to many but popularly believed to facilitate oral sex.
This sexual myth – not borne out by research – has seen the trend referred to as the “Passion Gap” or the “Cape Flats smile”, after a populous neighbourhood.
Jacqui Friedling of the University of Cape Town’s human biology department studied the phenomenon in 2003 and found fashion and peer pressure the main reasons for removing teeth, followed by gangsterism and medical reasons.
“It is the ‘in’ thing to do. It went through a wave, it was fashionable in my parents’ time,” she said of the practice which has been around for at least 60 years.
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Dental modification in Africa is historically found only in tribal people, including filing of teeth and ornamentation, but in modern Cape Town the practice abounds, often as a rite of passage for teenagers – almost exclusively from poorer families.
Rob Barry from the dentistry faculty at the University of the Western Cape said the practice has increased, even though dentists are ethically barred from removing healthy teeth.
“Almost every week I get some or other teenager in here wanting teeth out,” he said.
He said he has made thousands of partial dentures for people who need to look acceptable at work or for special occasions.
Friedling said the dentures themselves have become a fashion statement, some decorated with gold or bits of precious stone or various designs.
She noted that the Cape Town trend preceded the hip-hop culture fad of wearing ornate gold or diamond “grills” on teeth that swept the United States in the last decade, in which people opted for removable gold or ornamented caps rather than extracting the actual teeth.
“Here, it was a case of them elevating themselves above the rest of their peers, (it was) not to do with hip hop culture. The minute they can afford different sets of dentures then (the idea is) ‘I am a bit better than you’,” Friedling said.
“That’s what makes it here in South Africa so unique,” she said.
Kevin Brown, 33, sits in his “office”, a crate on the corner of Long Street, the city’s nightlife hub, where he hands out cards for an upstairs brothel, popping out his teeth at passers by – often tourists – and laughing at their reactions.
“I am the pimp,” he smiles, displaying four gold incisors. “It is a fashionable thing.”
Ronald de Villiers, 45, lost all his teeth after he initially put in gold dentures which infected the rest of his mouth, a common occurrence.
He said his 11 year-old and 14 year-old had already had theirs out “to look a bit prettier” and says it is easy to find a dentist to pay a bit extra to remove the healthy teeth.
“I think it was initially a form of identity. If you look at the coloured people they are a hodge podge of everyone that came in, they couldn’t claim any of those ancestries of their own,” said Friedling.
To her surprise, she also discovered the practice among a few whites, blacks and even one or two Chinese living alongside poor coloured areas.
In interviews with 2,167 people, 41 per cent had modified their teeth of which 44.8 percent were male, in the only study of its kind.
Peer pressure was cited by 42 per cent while 10 per cent removed their teeth due to gangsterism practices – a huge problem on the Cape Flats – a mainly coloured area on the outskirts of Cape Town.
“They said when they have gang fights they take the people’s teeth away, it is taking a bit of their wealth away,” said Friedling, adding that different gangs would also have different implants.
Not everyone is pleased with their decision.
Ebrahim Jardin, 33, is not wearing his silver, gold or plain pair of dentures today. A cigarette is clenched between his gums.
“I should have kept my front teeth. Most of the younger people do it, but I don’t think it’s cool anymore. It is people expressing their stupidity.”
HARGEISA, 9 October 2009 (Somalilandpress) – The Somalia’s region of Puntland condemned the Ethiopian government of invading its territorial wounding some people and arresting others.
The Puntland’s chief of police, Mr. Ahmed Ali said the Ethiopian army entered Galkayo city at around 3am this morning where they carried out operations agains ONLF members arresting two and wounding two others. He said they sent a complaint to the Ethiopian government and expecting an immediate response.
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“This is not acceptable, Ethiopia should not cross the border and carry out operations inside Somalia” Said Mr. Ali.
Galkayo city is close to the Somalia’s border with Ethiopia and it is believed that some of the Ethiopian rebels are based in the town. Secret operations and assassinations are often carried out in the city among different clans and groups. The former Minister of Information of Puntland administration was assassinated in July this year in Galkayo for a clan revenge.
Reports from Galkayo said those arrested by Ethiopian forces are on top of the Ethiopia’s wanted list.
There is no official statement from Ethiopian government as per now.
