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.
HARGEISA, 9 October 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Millions of Muslims across the Middle East slaughtered sheep to celebrate the Eid feast at the end of Ramadan. Many of those animals were probably raised here, on the dusty plains of Somaliland, growing fat on the many green pastures hidden in the rugged landscape.
(Cattle dealers, such as Mohamed Ismail, receive 90 per cent of their business from the Middle East. Tim Freccia for The National)
Livestock rearing is a way of life in the Horn of Africa and nomadic Somalis have practised it for centuries. Here in Somaliland, the northern breakaway region of Somalia, the economy thrives on the sale of sheep, goats and cattle.
“Livestock is the backbone of our economy,” said Oumer Yusef Booh, the dean of economics at the University of Hargeisa in the Somaliland capital. “During Ramadan we sell over a million sheep to the Middle East in one month.”
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The Middle East, including the UAE, accounts for 90 per cent of Somaliland livestock sales. The rest is exported to the neighbouring countries of Ethiopia and Djibouti. Saudi Arabia, once a large trading partner with Somaliland, has had an embargo on Somaliland livestock for the past 10 years, which crippled the economy of this fledgling nation.
Saudi officials have said the reason for the ban, which began in 1998, is that animals from Somaliland could be infected with Rift Valley fever, a mosquito-borne virus that kills livestock and humans. But analysts in Somaliland suspect the motive purely political.
A strong, united Somalia is seen by Arab states as a counterweight to regional rival Ethiopia, which has poor relations with the Arab world. Moreover, Arab countries worry that recognising a breakaway state could set a precedent for other areas in the region with aspirations for independence.
In 1991, as Somalia plunged into a civil war that is still ongoing, Somaliland seceded from its union with greater Somalia. In the last two decades, Somalilanders have managed to build government institutions and security forces with little help from the international community, which does not recognise Somaliland’s independence.
The ironic result is that a beacon of stability in the troubled Horn of Africa is an unrecognised state. The Arab league along with most of the international community wants a strong, united Somalia and continues to back the beleaguered government in Mogadishu.
( The Middle East, including the UAE, accounts for 90 per cent of Somaliland livestock sales. Tim Freccia for The National)
“When Saudi Arabia banned our livestock, it was politically motivated,” Mr Booh said. “The Arab states don’t want Somaliland to be independent. The Rift Valley fever was just an excuse. It was in Kenya but not in Somaliland.”
Because of its unrecognised status, Somaliland receives no direct aid from the international community.
Aside from its livestock, the country has little else to export. It is too dry for agriculture and there is but a small, underdeveloped commercial fishing industry in the Gulf of Aden. A handful of Somalilanders are involved in the growing trade of frankincense, a fragrant resin obtained from the Boswellia trees of Somaliland. But livestock remains king.
Somaliland exports two million sheep per year, mostly to the UAE, Yemen and neighbouring countries, according to the government. Another 250,000 head of cattle and camels are sold from Somaliland. The exports are estimated to be worth around US$250 million (Dh920m).
Recently there have been signs of a thaw in Somaliland’s relationship with Saudi Arabia. Earlier this year, the Somaliland government and Saudi investors completed a livestock quarantine station in the port city of Berbera that will allow officials to screen animals for disease before being exported.
“The problem was a lack of quarantine,” Dahir Riyale Kahin, the president of Somaliland, said in an interview. “We have made a good quarantine in Berbera. We have high hopes that before the Haj, we will be shipping to Saudi Arabia.”
In 2007, Said Suleiman al Jabiry, a Saudi investor who built the US$5 million (Dh18.3m) quarantine in Somaliland, signed a deal with the government giving him exclusive rights to all the country’s livestock at a fixed price.
Somaliland traders, outraged at what they called a monopoly, began smuggling their animals out of discreet ports to find better prices on the open market. The government, losing customs and excise revenue, eventually opened up the market for competition last year.
( Baraud Kahin has been a camel trader for seven years and calls livestock trading ‘the greatest business in Somaliland’. Tim Freccia for The National)
In a dusty, windswept field on the outskirts of Hargeisa, traders meet each morning to buy and sell livestock. Nomadic herders with ochre-coloured hair and red robes travel to the city with long lines of camels and sheep.
“This is the greatest business in Somaliland,” he said. “It is how we survive.”
Mohamed Muhamed, a sheep dealer, said the time between Ramadan and the Haj is always good for business. During these months, he said he can move up to 50 sheep a day at $50 per head. The opening up of the Saudi market will be great for business, he said.
“It was a political thing with the Arabs, but now it is OK,” he said. “Business will be good this season.”
By: Matt Brown, Foreign Correspondent
Source: TheNational
HARGEISA, 9 October 2009 (Somalilandpress) – President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.
The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. Obama’s name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president.
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“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future,” the committee said. “His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.”
The committee said it attached special importance to Obama’s vision of, and work for, a world without nuclear weapons.
“Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play,” the committee said.
Record number of nominations
Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson won in 1919. Former President Jimmy Carter won the award in 2002, while former Vice President Al Gore shared the 2007 prize with the U.N. panel on climate change.
The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year’s prize.
In his 1895 will, Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize should go “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.”
Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded by Swedish institutions, he said the peace prize should be given out by a five-member committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Sweden and Norway were united under the same crown at the time of Nobel’s death.
The committee has taken a wide interpretation of Nobel’s guidelines, expanding the prize beyond peace mediation to include efforts to combat poverty, disease and climate change.
UNITED NATIONS — Britain called Thursday for U.N. sanctions against the tiny Red Sea nation of Eritrea for supplying weapons to opponents of the transitional government in nearby Somalia in violation of a U.N. arms embargo.
The United States, which warned in July that Eritrea could soon face sanctions unless it stops support for Somali extremists, said it was time for the international community to address the country’s destabilizing impact on Somalia and the region.
And Russia called on countries in the region not to allow mercenaries and arms into Somalia in violation of sanctions.
The comments at an open meeting of the U.N. Security Council indicated growing interest in punishing Eritrea, which has rejected accusations — including by the Security Council — that it supplied weapons to Islamist opponents of Somalia’s Western-backed transitional government.
Britain’s U.N. Ambassador John Sawers said his government is concerned that the latest report by U.N. experts monitoring the arms embargo included evidence that Eritrea provided support to opponents of the Somali government.
“Leaders of the African Union have requested the Security Council to impose sanctions against Eritrea in response,” he said.
“The council will need to give serious consideration to the African Union’s requests over the coming weeks,” Sawers said, adding that Britain “stands ready to support such action.”
In July, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice renewed U.S. allegations that Eritrea is “arming, supporting and funding” extremists including al-Shabab, and could soon face sanctions unless it stops. The Islamist militia group was designated a terrorist group by Washington in 2008 and has been trying to topple the transitional government.
U.S. deputy ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo told the council Thursday that “al-Shabab and other extremist groups, fueled by outside actors, have caused numerous deaths and violated the rights of Somali citizens with impunity — including by assaulting, detaining, and illegally arresting civilians.”
“It is time for the international community to consider ways to address Eritrea’s destabilizing impact on Somalia and the region,” DiCarlo said.
Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador Konstantin Dolgov said the Somali government needs support from the leaders of neighboring countries.
“We call upon the states of the region not to allow the flow of foreign mercenaries and arms into Somalia in violation of the relevant sanctions regime introduced by the Security Council,” he said. “We believe that there is a need to take additional steps to strengthen this regime.”
The council was meeting to discuss a report by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon which said the government has successfully rebuffed threats from extremist forces to overthrow it. But he said the government still faces many challenges, first and foremost dealing with widespread insecurity and a recent upsurge in attacks, assassinations and abductions.
Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991 when warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other, plunging the country into chaos and anarchy.
The fragile U.N.-backed government and an undermanned, poorly resourced African Union peacekeeping force have struggled to defend government buildings, the port and airport in the capital, Mogadishu — most recently rebuffing an offensive by Al-Shabab and the allied Islamic Party.
U.N. political chief B. Lynn Pascoe reported “slow but notable progress towards stability.”
But he said the humanitarian situation has “worsened dramatically” due to intensified fighting in Mogadishu, growing insecurity in much of central and southern Somalia, and deepening drought.
The result is that some 3.7 million people — 50 percent of Somalia’s population — need humanitarian aid, he said.
Pascoe cautioned peace and stability will take time and “national and external spoilers must be neutralized.”
“Targeted sanctions can be one effective way to deal with the spoilers,” he said.
Speaking last, Somalia’s U.N. Ambassador Elmi Ahmed Duale said: “We also wish … that the Security Council would apply and enforce sanctions against all spoilers, whether individuals, entities, or country, or countries.”
Somaliland has been hailed as a beacon of stability in the troubled Horn of Africa region since declaring independence from Somalia in 1991. But BBC Africa analyst Mary Harper reports that some experts now believe the self-declared republic is at crisis point.
Michael Walls – co-coordinator of the international election observer mission to Somaliland – has issued a report bemoaning the repeated postponement of the presidential election.
In his report for the Chatham House think-tank, he says that if the situation is not resolved, the territory will inevitably lose many of the gains it has made since breaking away from Somalia.
Somaliland’s stability has surprised many people. Although no country has recognised its independent status, it has managed to avoid many of the problems encountered by its neighbours.
This is partly because it has developed a unique hybrid system of government.
A traditional house of elders or “guurti” is combined with other more modern institutions. There is a limited system of democracy, whereby only three political parties are allowed to exist.
This mixture of the modern and the traditional has been a largely effective way of governing. But recent developments put all this at risk.
“With international attention focused on piracy off the Puntland coast, the rise of militant Islam in southern Somalia, and the threat this is perceived to represent to international security and global terrorism, the potential for deterioration in Somaliland must surely be cause for concern,” says Mr Walls.
The current tension in Somaliland centres on the postponement of the presidential election, which was due to have been held on 27 September.
This is not the first time the vote has been delayed – it has been postponed at least three times since last year.
President Dahir Riyale Kahin’s term in office – which was meant to run out in May 2008 – has been extended several times.
It is currently due to expire on 29 October, and it is unclear what will happen after that.
Fist-fight
This uncertainty has led to increased concern about Somaliland in the international community, and a flare-up of political animosity within the territory.
In September, for example, there was a fist-fight in parliament during discussions about a possible impeachment of the president. One MP is even reported to have drawn a gun, although no shots were fired.
Mr Walls says one of the main reasons for the repeated postponement of the polls is what he has described as the incompetence of the national electoral commission.
“Fears are widespread that the electoral commissioners will find themselves incapable of providing the organisation required for a successful presidential election,” he says.
“Even if an election date was agreed, the commission wouldn’t be able to organise the vote.”
Another problem has been the inability of Somaliland’s three political parties to agree on a voters’ register.
The previous presidential election in April 2003 was held without a register. But as President Riyale won by the narrowest of margins – just 80 votes – it was widely agreed that a more robust system was required to help avoid future problems.
The compilation of a voters’ register has been fraught with difficulty.
“The process has been marred by astonishingly widespread fraud and mismanagement”, says Mr Walls.
More than half of those who registered did so without providing a readable fingerprint. Many people were registered without being photographed – instead, they brought their own pictures, which were held up in front of a camera and photographed.
There has been no widespread population count in Somaliland since the 1970s, and there is great sensitivity about the compilation of a new voters’ register because it is likely to provide a different picture of the region, altering the balance of power between the clans.
This could have serious political implications, altering voting patterns and possibly the outcome of elections.
Animosity remains
The government of Somaliland insists there is no serious cause for concern about the political situation.
“There is no crisis in Somaliland. I accept there are some problems but these are mainly caused by the lack of economic development,” says Adam Musse Jibril, Somaliland’s representative in the UK.
Mr Jibril said people had to trust the territory’s record of resolving political disputes.
“Somaliland has been able to achieve this by combining modern democratic systems with our traditional value systems, where people sit under a tree to talk, argue, and eventually reach a consensus,” he says.
But political animosity remains. Mohamed Omar of the opposition Kulmiye party says he does not believe the government will honour a memorandum of understanding recently agreed on a possible way out of the political impasse.
Mr Walls says it is not too late for Somaliland. But he says a presidential election must be held as soon as possible.
“The dangers of instability and authoritarianism characteristic of a number of Somaliland’s neighbours can still be averted, but the traditions of dialogue still urgently need to be reactivated”, he says.
The sight of an Arab leader clambering out of an aircraft to begin a two-day official visit to another Arab country does not normally stir much excitement.
But the long-awaited appearance of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah in the Syrian capital, Damascus, was one of those rare events that clearly flags the arrival of changing times, and raises hopes of better ones.
The two countries have played leading roles on opposite sides of the sharp rift that has divided the Arab World in recent years, at odds over every one of the region’s many intractable and interlinked problems.
For the past three decades, Syria has had a close and solid strategic relationship with non-Arab Iran, seen by the Saudis as a malign regional influence and an instigator of tensions between Shia and Sunni Muslims.
Saudi Arabia, by contrast, is one of Washington’s staunchest allies in the Middle East, and a bastion of Sunni conservativism.
After several years of growing tension, the rupture between Damascus and Riyadh was sealed in 2005 with the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, a Saudi citizen and political protege of the king.
Syria was widely blamed, though it denied responsibility.
Lebanese expectant
Since then, no arena has been more obviously vulnerable to the vagaries and tensions of the Saudi-Syrian relationship than Lebanon, where Syria backs the Iranian-supported Hezbollah and its opposition allies, while the Saudis are deeply involved with the pro-Western coalition now headed by Hariri’s son and political heir, Saad.
Currently Prime Minister-designate, Saad Hariri, has for nearly four months been striving to put together a national unity government following legislative elections in June, in which his coalition came out narrowly ahead of Hezbollah and its opposition allies.
Lebanese political and media circles are attaching huge significance to the Saudi monarch’s visit to Syria.
There is a widespread belief that a new Saudi-Syrian understanding will encourage the rapid formation of the new Lebanese government, with predictions that it could happen as early as the end of next week.
The assumption is that King Abdullah would not have gone to Syria unless the rapprochement process had not already made a lot of headway, and the trip itself is clearly expected to consolidate and boost that process further.
Peace process
The reconciliation moves began with a positive encounter at the Arab Economic Summit in Kuwait in January, followed by a mini-summit with Egypt in Riyadh in March.
By July, the Saudis had decided to send an ambassador back to Damascus after a year-long absence.
And late last month, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flew to Jeddah, after much 11th-hour hesitation, to attend the inauguration of the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, holding a long, informal meeting with the monarch.
An entente between these two key players could clearly have beneficial implications for many of the region’s crises, though the impact might not be as immediately felt as it is expected to be in Beirut.
As in Lebanon, the two have been backing different sides in the dispute between Palestinian factions, with the Syrians supporting and hosting Hamas and other militant groups opposed to the US-backed peace process, and the Saudis backing the Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Even if the Saudi-Syrian rapprochement gains further ground, nobody really expects the Syrians to break with their Iranian allies.
A Saudi-Syrian rapprochement could clearly encourage the continuing effort to bring about inter-Palestinian reconciliation, as a necessary precursor to any revival of serious peace moves with Israel.
Egypt is driving the Palestinian entente process and hopes to conclude it in Cairo on 26 October.
But if Syria remained out in the cold and motivated to spoil, the prospects for an accord being concluded successfully would be slight.
A similar agreement between the Palestinians, sponsored by the Saudis at the height of their breach with Damascus two years ago, was signed but rapidly went up in flames.
US overtures
As well as generally benefitting the regional peace process, there are also hopes that a Saudi-Syrian understanding would impact positively on the general Arab position, which has been in disarray in recent years.
An Arab peace plan engineered by the Saudis was approved at a summit in Beirut in 2002, but has been left by the wayside because (among other obstacles) the Arabs lacked the collective will to push it forward.
Now it is back on the table, and Arab commentators have expressed optimism that entente between Riyadh and Damascus could help invigorate the pan-Arab role.
There is also speculation that the Saudis might build on this progress to tackle another of the knots that is preventing the Arabs from taking muscular collective positions – the coolness between Syria and that other major Arab player, Egypt.
Even if the Saudi-Syrian rapprochement gains further ground, nobody really expects the Syrians to break with their Iranian allies.
But that contradiction, which has survived for so long and often has not been a particular problem in inter-Arab affairs, might diminish in significance should the Iranians continue to respond positively to Western concerns over their nuclear programme, following the relatively positive outcome of last week’s seven-party talks in Geneva.
Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran are also of course immediate neighbours to that other land of unresolved crisis, Iraq.
The US, bent on drawing down their forces there and focusing more heavily on Afghanistan, is eager to foster a spirit of cooperation and non-interference by Iraq’s neighbours.
They also include Nato-ally Turkey, which has been actively involved in encouraging the Saudi-Syrian rapprochement.
The Syrians have been loudly accused by the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki, of permitting Islamist militants to cross the border and carry out bomb attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere – a charge Damascus denies.
Behind the reconciliation moves, and explaining their timing, is the vast background sea-change that is affecting the region as the US shifts gear from the divisive, confrontational policies of George W Bush to the more conciliatory approach adopted by Barack Obama.
Washington itself has been making overtures to both Damascus and Tehran, providing a propitious climate for the Saudi opening to Syria.
source:bbc
