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Suicide Attack Against Meeting Organised by Finns Thwarted in Somaliland

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HARGEISA, 13 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Security officials in Somaliland narrowly thwarted a terror attack that had been planned against a peace conference in the town of Hargeisa last Sunday. The gathering of clan leaders had been organised by Finn Church Aid, the foreign aid arm of the Finnish Lutheran Church.

Ten kilos of powder-based explosives were found in the possession of two uninvited guests. The aim was apparently to conduct a suicide attack against the meeting of the chiefs of the Hawie clan.

Such an attack would have put the lives of seven Finnish citizens at risk.

The events began to unfold on Friday, when about 30 clan leaders flew from the Somali capital Mogadishu to the Hargeisa meeting. Also on board the commercial flight were two young men. At the destination they boarded a bus taking the participants in the meeting to their hotel.

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The hotel’s security personnel made note of the nervous behaviour of the two. Organisers of the meeting also noted that there were two people there who had not been invited.

“Their room was searched, and explosives suitable for use in a suicide attack were found in their possession”, said Antti Pentikäinen, executive director of Finn Church Aid, who spoke by telephone from Washington.

Pentikäinen himself was to have attended the meeting on Sunday, its opening day, but the trip was cancelled after the terror plot was unveiled.

The suspects were arrested, and they have been interrogated by local officials. The identity of the suspected would-be bombers has not been disclosed, nor is there any information on what rebel group they might belong to. News of the incident apparently has not been reported in Somaliland itself.

On the basis of previous suicide attacks, the main suspect is the al-Shabab movement, which controls the south of Somalia. Al-Shabab introduced the practice of suicide attacks to Somalia a few years ago, and the movement is believed to have links with the al-Qaeda network.

After the plot was unveiled, the organisers considered cancelling the meeting. However, it began on schedule on Sunday.
“Security arrangements are at the maximum. The meeting will proceed only if security can be guaranteed”, Pentikäinen says.

The planned attack will not stop meetings aimed at peace from being organised in the future, Pentikäinen says. However, he adds that the situation will make it necessary to re-evaluate how the security of participants and organisers can be guaranteed.

“In Somalia, we are trusted as organisers of meetings of this type. Under no circumstances do we plan to pull out. When we have collected all information about this event, we will ponder how the risks could be minimised in the future.”

He sees the case as a worrying example of how security for aid organisations has deteriorated in recent years, especially in fragile states such as Somalia.

Finn Church Aid has organised gatherings of clan chiefs and religious leaders in Somalia for a year and a half already. The meetings are low-profile events set up for airing the views of local leaders on how the peace process in Somalia should proceed.

Pentikäinen emphasises that Finn Church Aid dies not bring its own agenda to the peace process. Instead, it seeks to support local communities, and to communicate their views to the international community.

Source: HELSINGIN SANOMAT

Somalis’ Money Is Lifeline for Homeland.

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HARGEISA, 12 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) PARIS — As Somalis struggle to survive the chaos that has overtaken their country, a network of companies that distribute money from the nation’s large diaspora has quietly expanded, providing a crucial safety net.

As in other poor countries, the main purpose of these companies is to ensure that money from those working abroad reaches family members left behind.

But in war-torn Somalia, where the government has little control of the country and is itself struggling to survive, the companies are now also helping international organizations shift money into and within Somalia, according to the World Bank, academics and aid workers.

And in Somaliland, a breakaway region where the government is more stable than in other parts of the country, the Somali diaspora has contributed money for education, health and other social programs.

The remittance system has become the lifeline for the Somali people and the lifeblood of the economy during the last two decades of civil strife,” said Samuel Munzele Maimbo, a World Bank specialist based in Mozambique, who added that many Somalis survived only because of the money from abroad. For others, the money has been crucial to establishing or propping up businesses.

A study sponsored by the British Department for International Development from May 2008 found that 80 percent of the start-up capital for small and medium-size enterprises in Somalia benefit from money sent by the diaspora.

Dilip Ratha, a World Bank economist, said that Somalia, like Haiti, was among the countries that are the most dependent on money from abroad.

The remittance system — and its importance in Somalia — has grown as decades of political upheaval have driven many Somalis abroad and, in recent years, as Islamists have wrested control over much of the country from a weak transitional government. The government, which has international support, is trapped in a small section of the capital under the protection of African Union peacekeepers.

A recent study by the United Nations Development Program estimated the size of the Somali diaspora at more than one million and the amount of annual remittances to Somalia at up to $1 billion, equivalent to about 18 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.

The system began to take off during the dictatorial rule of President Mohammed Siad Barre, who ran the country from 1969 to 1991. As the banking system weakened, according to Mohamed Waldo, a consultant who has worked with Somali remittance companies, traders stepped in with a solution: act as middlemen in the resale of consumer goods shipped home by the increasing number of Somalis working abroad, especially in the Persian Gulf region. The traders kept a small cut of the proceeds and turned the rest over to the laborers’ relatives in Somalia. The shipments got around currency restrictions.

Eventually, when the government collapsed, Somali workers abroad began to send money instead.

Mr. Waldo said that these days, there were more than 20 active Somali remittance companies, five of them large. One of the leading companies is Dahabshiil, founded in the early 1970s by Mohamed Said Duale from his general store in Burao in northwest Somalia.

In 1988, fighting between government forces and rebels with the Somali National Movement swept Burao. Mr. Duale subsequently left the country and continued his work from abroad.

In 1991, when the Barre government was overthrown, Mr. Duale returned to Somalia. He opened offices in major towns and later in remote villages that the Western money-transfer giants would struggle to serve.

“Through word of mouth we built this business,” said his son, Abdirashid Duale, now chief executive of the company.

Today, Dahabshiil says it has more than 1,000 branches and agents in 40 countries.

The United Nations Development Program uses Dahabshiil to transfer money for local programs, said Álvaro Rodríguez, the agency’s director for Somalia. Such companies provide “the only safe and efficient option to transfer funds to projects benefiting the most vulnerable people of Somalia,” he said. “Their service is fast and efficient.”

Abdirashid Duale, who gives his age as “35, but with 25 years of experience,” declined to provide profit or revenue figures, saying that would only help his competitors. The company charges commissions that vary from 1 percent to 5 percent depending on the size of the transaction; he said most Somalis he worked with abroad sent home $200 to $300 a month.

Nikos Passas, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston who researches terrorism and white-collar crime, said Dahabshiil was helped by the closing of a larger rival, Al Barakaat, at the behest of the United States authorities in the wake of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

In the end, F.B.I. agents found no evidence linking Al Barakaat to terrorist financing. But for Dahabshiil, gaining market share from Al Barakaat was “like shooting fish in a barrel,” Professor Passas said.

Dahabshiil’s image has been helped by its charitable works. It says it invests 5 percent of annual profit in such ventures; Abdirashid Duale said this represented around $1 million a year.

In Mogadishu — a city of pockmarked Italian architecture and rubble — Dahabshiil operates from Bakara Market, despite continued clashes in the area between the weak government and Islamist insurgents.

Its office, in an unassuming two-story building, is protected by security guards.

Looking ahead, Abdirashid Duale plans more expansion.

“One day the fighting will stop,” he said, “and we will still be here.”

Mohammed Ibrahim contributed reporting from Mogadishu.

Source: NY Times, Nov 11, 2009

Somali Rebels Issue Aid Rules

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HARGEISA, 12 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Don’t promote democracy, fire all women, don’t take Sundays off and remove all logos from your vehicles: these are only some of the 11 new rules Somalia’s Shabaab rebels want to slap on aid groups.

According to a document obtained by AFP on Friday and issued two days earlier by the authorities for the south-central Bay and Bakool region – the country’s main humanitarian hub – aid groups should comply with tough new guidelines.

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“We are notifying all aid agencies operating in Bay and Bakool region that we will ensure their security 100%… and that the Islamic state of Bay and Bakool will issue permits once the following conditions are met,” it says.

Fees

The list of requirements, which was distributed to local aid group representatives on Thursday, includes a registration fee of $20 000 payable twice a year.

Several humanitarian organizations confirmed receiving the document, which bears the Shabaab’s logo, but no official from the al-Qaeda-inspired insurgent group was immediately willing to comment on the record.

High-ranking Shabaab and security officials however confirmed the document’s authenticity, but also said that some of the insurgent group’s leaders thought the conditions too harsh and were pushing for the document to be re-examined.

Bay and Bakool are the main hub for the international aid efforts in the Horn of Africa country, where the Western-backed central government is unable to assert its authority a few blocks beyond the presidency in Mogadishu.

Weeded out

The United Nations has its largest humanitarian compound there, in the town of Wajid, and most aid organizations have already been weeded out from other regions under Islamist control.

The document imposes draconian conditions concerning women employees, who should all be replaced with men within three months.

Aid organizations “should distance (themselves) from anything that will affect proper Islamic culture… like promoting adultery and establishing women’s groups.”

World Women’s Day is singled out along with Christmas and World Aids Day as proscribed celebrations, while “preaching democracy” is also listed as a value “interfering with Islam” that should be banned.

The Shabaab also reiterated a ban on alcohol and movies and also insisted that all humanitarian organizations’’ logos should be removed from vehicles and all flags be taken down.


Source: AFP

Eritrea’s Repayment Of Its Fraternal Debt To The Somali People

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HARGEISA, 12 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) – I have just read Sophia Tesfamariam’s diatribe of character assassination and vilification against Professor Peter Pham on American Chronicle entitled “ETHIOPIA-Meles Zenawi’s latest ´Intellectual for Hire´ Exposes Himself” and dated 23 October 2009.

Ms Tesfamariam’s rant does not merit discussion here and Professor Pham’s credentials, objectivity and work are well known to those with an interest in the Horn of Africa, hence he needs no defense against this type of intemperate, personal attack. However, the piece did make me reflect upon the history of Somali-Eritrean relations and the current status of this relationship.

Historically, the Somali people have had warm, neighborly relations with the people of Eritrea residing as they do in the same locale. During the 1960s this relationship became one of close political allies as both peoples were victims of the collusion between the European colonialists and the Haile Selassie regime in Ethiopia to deny them their national aspirations for self determination.

Indeed, when the Somali Republic was formed in July 1960 by the union of the ex-British Somaliland Protectorate and the Italian-administered UN Trust Territory of Somalia to the south, support for the aspirations of the Eritrean people for self-determination and statehood became an integral cornerstone of the new Republic’s foreign policy.

To this end, the Eritrean liberation movements were supported politically and materially, and political offices for them were established in Mogadishu before any other African country. In fact, such was Somalia’s backing of the Eritrean quest for statehood that Eritrean refugees were routinely issued Somali passports to enable them to travel internationally, and many Eritrean refugees were awarded government scholarships alongside Somali students.

Thus, the Somali people were the first supporters of Eritrean independence and the Somali Republic was the first country to provide the Eritrean liberation movement with financial, material and moral support, in its cause for freedom. In one of those ironies that defy a deterministic and mechanical view of history, the Republic of Somalia began to collapse in 1991 just as Eritrea began to achieve its nationhood.

Since the achievement of independence in 1993, Eritrea has shown its appreciation for Somalia’s long and unstinting support of their struggle for self determination, by providing refuge and support for those members of Siyad Barre’s dictatorial regime that chose (or were compelled) to request same, e.g. Ahmed Suleiman Abdullah (“Dhafleh”).

It is indeed ironic, and rather bizarre, that the architects of Somalia’s collapse and erstwhile oppressors of the Somali people are now the beneficiaries of the support and largess these people extended to the Eritrean liberation movements.

While it might be understandable for the Afewerki regime to provide a safe haven for the members of the Siyad Barre dictatorship that assisted them in their liberation struggle, what is beyond the pale is their support for the murderers of Al-Shabaab and for the megalomaniacal dreams of Hassan Dahir Aweys.

Of course, it is self evident that Afewerki’s decision to support these terrorists was made as part of his strategy to confront Ethiopia at every possible turn pursuant to the unresolved conflict over Badme. Clearly, he is pursuing the time-honored tenet of realpolitik which holds that ´my enemy’s enemy is my friend´, and he saw an opportunity to bloody Ethiopia’s nose when it invaded Somalia in 2007.

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However, it is also true that ´if you lay down with dogs, you will get fleas´, and the maniacs that Afewerki has chosen to lie with are not only reviled in Somalia and Somaliland, but throughout the region and further afield. Further, Ethiopia’s ill advised invasion of Somalia has failed ignominiously and Ethiopia withdrew its troops over a year ago, yet Afewerki continues to arm and bankroll the jihadists, even as they behead, dismember, oppress and blow up their own brethren in a doomed, nihilistic quest to reverse the course of human progress and development.

Perhaps Afewerki should ponder that these ´friends´ of his perceive him as an infidel and that he would suffer death should he ever find himself in their version of the Caliphate. What is undeniable, however, is that the families, relatives and countrymen and women of the many thousands of victims of his ´friends´ in Somaliland, Somalia and Puntland will neither forget nor forgive the Afewerki regime for arming and succoring these murderers.

In modern parlance, it is considered smart humor to quip “no good deed goes unpunished”, but nothing could be a more apropos summation of the long and sustained support the Somali people extended to their Eritrean brothers and sisters and the evil with which the Afewerki regime has repaid them.

In fairness to them, it must be said that this regime is an equal opportunity evil-dispenser; after all it has managed to find a reason to fight a war against every single one of its neighbors. Thus, perhaps the people of Somalia should not feel too bad about the fraternity extended to them by the Afewerki regime; they share this gift of evil with the Sudanese, the Ethiopians, the Djiboutians and the Yemenis, not to mention, of course, the Eritreans themselves.

Since independence the Afewerki regime has done nothing to promote economic development and social progress for its citizens, but has instead chosen to squander the meager resources of this poor country in endless conflict and war.

After emerging from the agony of the longest armed struggle for freedom and independence on the entire continent of Africa, the Eritrean people had every right to look forward to developing their country and leaving a better future for their children.

Instead, they are the beneficiaries of the Afewerki regime’s policy of permanent war. Where Trotsky promoted the concept of ´permanent revolution´ as the embodiment of true Marxism-Leninism, Afewerki and his cohorts have implemented an actual policy of permanent war.

We can only hope that divine providence deliver the Eritrean people from this stunted cabal that can only trade in the currency of war, death and destruction instead of peace, fraternity and construction. As for the rest of the region, they must isolate and shun this regime of rogues.

By: Mr. Ahmed Mohamed Egal

Source: Somaliland Times

Somaliland stability 'at risk'

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HARGEISA, 12 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) — Somaliland has been hailed as a beacon of stability in the troubled Horn of Africa region since declaring independence from Somalia in 1991.

But Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Adow, reports that some experts now believe the self-declared republic is at crisis point, as an election row deepens.

The current tension in Somaliland centres on the presidential election, which was due to have been held on September 27.

The polls have been postponed indefinitely due to serious differences between the political parties since 2008.

This uncertainty has led to increased concern about Somaliland in the international community, and a flare-up of political animosity within the territory.
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Recent violence, particularly in the capital Hargeysa, has shown that the crisis in Somaliland has changed from being political to one of security and stability.

Fears over the crisis have even led one senior political figure to warn that it could become another failed state, like neighbouring Somalia.

Somaliland is a former British protectorate in north western Somalia.

In 1960, it gained its independence and united with what was then Italian Somaliland to form the Somalia republic.

Limited democracy

In 1991, it declared independence after Mohamed Siad Barre, the Somali military leader, was overthrown.

Somaliland has a population of 3.5 million people, according to government estimates, and is a relatively stable democracy even though it has not been internationally recognised.

This is partly because it has developed a unique hybrid system of government.

The row over elections – largely seen as a test for this fledgling nation – threatens to divide it.

Afyare Elmi, a Somali political analyst, told Al Jazeera: “The concerns are real. The opposition fears the government is not interested in holding this election and there is a lot at stake. Unless these elections take place, they might have some problems.

“However, if history tells us anything, the Somaliland leadership has shown that at least they could address with traditional leadership the issues when they arise.”

The hope now rests with a recently appointed electoral commission, entrusted with the task of organising elections, a step seen as vital to Somaliland’s quest for international recognition.

 

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Premier Somaliland Boarding School Begins Inaugural Year

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HARGEISA, 11 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) — This week marked the beginning of the Abaarso Tech 2009 – 2010 school year. AT is pleased to announce that all 51 students who received an invitation, committed to Abaarso Tech’s four year secondary program and many more students expressed their desire to join the school.

Of the 51 students accepted, 30 boarding students were chosen as a result of scoring in the top 1% of the country on the Somaliland 8^th Grade Exit Exam and then further passing an exam administered by SOS and AT. This diverse group draws from all over Somaliland, including the distant Eastern regions, with 20% of students coming from Sanaag and Sool.

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Abaarso Tech’s 21 day students were selected from a pool of students who fell just below the top 1% on the Somaliland 8^th Grade Exit Exam, were recommended by their principals, or attended our September program. This group then took a separate AT exam which tested math, logic, science and writing. With an acceptance rate well under half of those students applying, the AT faculty is extremely pleased with the day students selected and thus far those children are proving every bit as good as those who are boarding.

Initially, Abaarso Tech did not anticipate having the capacity to house female students in its first year. However, the school recently received a grant commitment from Horseed Inc. (a non-profit organization committed to supporting education in Somalia) to put towards the construction of a temporary girls dormitory. As such, AT was able to accept 8 girls in its inaugural boarding school class and 15 overall. In the future, when proper dormitories are constructed for both boys and girls, this structure will become the Abaarso Tech biology/chemistry Lab.

Apprentice teachers during August English training
Apprentice teachers during August English training

Abaarso Tech is a world class secondary boarding school designed to take the best students from across Somaliland, provide them with four years of practical curriculum and intensive English classes. At the end of their time with Abaarso Tech, students should be well equipped to seek opportunities in Somaliland and abroad that they would not have had access to otherwise. Abaarso Tech is also running professional training for teachers and starting development projects in the village of Abaarso.

Source: AllAfrica

Saudi livestock move boosts Somaliland economy

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BERBERA, 10 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) — Days after Saudi Arabia lifted a nine-year ban on livestock imports from Somalia, the market in Hargeisa, Somaliland, has seen a 10-fold increase in sales, according to local traders.

“One thousand five hundred sheep used to be sold in the market before the recent announcement… compared to more than 16,000 animals in the market daily in the last few days,” Jama Farah Du’alle, a middleman (`dilal’) in the market, told IRIN on 7 November.

Livestock keepers in the self-declared republic of Somaliland, whose mainstay is pastoralism, said they were beginning to see a change in their fortunes.

“In the last nine years I used to earn 5,000-10,000 Somaliland shillings a day [US $1.6 – 3.2] but by Allah’s mercy in the past few days I have been earning 60,000-70,000 a day, which has really improved my life,” Du’alle said.

Somaliland’s livestock minister, Idiris Ibrahim Abdi, announced the Saudi move on 5 November. Imposed in late 2000, the ban followed an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in the Horn of Africa region.

RVF is an acute viral infectious disease of humans, cattle and sheep, which usually occurs during the rainy season. Clinically it is characterized by fever, loss of body coordination and sudden death.

Saudi Arabia, which used to be the biggest buyer of Somali livestock, said it had lifted the ban to coincide with the `haj’ pilgrimage later in November.

Better days for Berbera

The decision allows livestock keepers to ship animals to Saudi Arabia through Somaliland’s traditional livestock port of Berbera. In the past, the port also served livestock trucked from the neighbouring Ethiopian regions of Somali and Oromiya.

Berbera had been losing its importance as a business centre since 2000. Thousands of people there moved to other towns such as Hargeisa and Burao.
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“[Most] of the young men who used to work in the livestock export business as animal herders on vessels heading to Saudi Arabia, have moved to Arab countries or other urban centres within Somaliland,” a local resident said.

The Saudi decision, according to local pastoralists, has renewed hope that Somali livestock can fetch a good price. “We have suffered in the last few years because of the ban; our animals had no value in the market.

“For example one lamb was valued at only about US$20, which is much less than the cost of foodstuff,” said Rashid Haybe Illeeye, from the Lebi-Sagaale region along the Somaliland-Ethiopia border.

“Today I came with four lambs as usual – to buy food – and three of them were bought at $40-50,” Illeeye said.

A local journalist based in Burao told IRIN that the lifting of the ban was a boon to all. “The market has not seen such activity for nine years,” he explained. “The whole of Burao – from tea ladies, truckers and nomads, to porters – is doing a booming business.”

Source: IRIN

Video: Port of Berbera welcomes largest container ship in history

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Berbera, 10 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) — The port of Berbera welcomed the largest ship in its history on Sunday, using the opportunity to promote its 12-metre deep-water facility that was constructed in 1964 by Russian engineers at a cost of $5.6 million.
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The MV Anders, a 230-metre Saint Kitts and Nevis flagged ship was carrying some 20, 000 tons of food for Somaliland investors from the Gulf states.

Berbera port vice-director, Mr Bile Hersi Eid warmly welcomed the ship and its crew to the port and added they were expecting similar sized ship-liners in the coming days.

He said port of Berbera was capable of handling such sized ships and that the port authority are expanding the Port of Berbera container terminal and proceeding with development plans to modernize its deep-water facility to meet modern demands.

The deep-water facility was completed in 1969 and was the main commercial seaport for what was then the Somali Republic.

Source: Somalilandpress

Somali pirates seize weapons ship, attack tanker

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HARGEISA, 10 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Somali pirates have seized a United Arab Emirates-flagged cargo ship loaded with weapons bound for the anarchic Horn of Africa nation in contravention of a U.N. arms embargo, maritime experts said on Monday.

Also on Monday, the gunmen launched their longest range hijack attempt yet — opening fire on a giant Hong Kong-flagged crude oil tanker some 1,000 nautical miles east of Mogadishu.

Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme told Reuters he believed the weapons ship was using the fake name Al Mizan. He said it was hijacked on Sunday and was now held near the northern Somali town of Garacad.

“She is one of the regular weapons carriers circumventing the U.N. arms embargo on Somalia,” Mwangura said. Maritime sources say the craft is believed to be carrying light arms and ammunition, as well as rockets and rocket-propelled grenades.

Somalia has been torn by 18 years of civil war and hardline Islamist insurgents linked to al Qaeda are fighting to topple President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed’s fragile U.N.-backed government.

Some 19,000 civilians have died since the start of 2007 and more than 1.5 million have been driven from their homes, triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

Somalia’s pirates have no overt links to the country’s hardline rebels but some southern pirate ports are in insurgent-held areas, and experts say there may be cooperation between some sea gangs and some rebels.

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In the latest pirate attack, the European Union naval force EU Navfor said gunmen opened fire on a Hong Kong-flagged, 330 metre (1,083 ft), 160,000 tonne crude oil tanker, the BW Lion.

The attempted hijacking took place about 400 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles and 1,000 nautical miles east of the Somalia capital Mogadishu, EU Navfor said.

“This was the longest range of a pirate attack off the Somali coast ever,” it said in a statement.

Mwangura said the tanker had caught fire after being hit by automatic bullets and a rocket-propelled grenade, but there were no casualties and the captain had steered his ship to safety.

“There have been 12 pirate events in this area in the last 30 days. There is a high probability of attacks in this area for at least the next 24-48 hours. Weather conditions are expected to remain favourable for piracy…through this period,” he said.

DEAL TO FREE SPANIARDS?

Seasonal monsoon rains brought a lull in hijackings but the pirates have stepped up their attacks in recent weeks and now hold at least 11 vessels and more than 200 crew.

A deal to free the 36 crew members of Spanish fishing vessel Alkrana held hostage since October 2 could be on the cards, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Monday.

“The government thinks that the (hostage) situation could be on the road to a solution,” he said at a media conference in Poland.

Earlier on Monday, the first mate of the Basque tuna boat, speaking from on board the Alakrana, said that he understood Spain’s government had agreed to send two accused pirates back to Somalia in exchange for the crew’s release.

“It seems almost certain that they are going to send the (captured) pirates here,” Ricardo Blach told Spanish state radio.

“We want to believe it, good news, even if it’s clutching at straws, because of the tension we have here,” Blach said.

The Spanish navy captured the two Somalis soon after pirates overran the Alakrana on October 2 and took its crew hostage. They are set to face trial in Spain for kidnapping.

The pirates holding the crew have said they would not negotiate a ransom for their release until Spanish authorities freed their two colleagues.

“In the morning (on Sunday), they were telling us in signs that they were going to cut our throats. Now the head of the pirates is smiling,” Blach said in the Spanish daily El Mundo.

Environment Minister Elena Espinosa told state TV the Spanish government was exploring various options. Judge Baltasar Garzon, who ordered the two suspects be brought to Spain, told Europa Press agency that Madrid should not cave into pressure.

“I believe there are legal ways to find a solution to this conflict and without a doubt that is going to happen,” he said.

The pirates said last week they had taken three men from the Alakrana ashore. But Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said he believed the whole crew remained on board.

Source: Reuters

Somaliland Surviving the Agonizing Process of International Recognition.

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09 November 2009 (Somalilandpress)-On 18 May 2009, the self-declared ‘Republic of Somaliland’ marked eighteen years since it proclaimed independence seceding from the rest of Somalia. Even after nearly two decades of self-rule, however, the international community remains hesitant to recognize the breakaway territory as a functioning sovereign state. Yet Somaliland leaders remain undiscouraged by the apparent lack of enthusiasm and inaction by the international community, including, most importantly, the African Union (AU). As a result, the messages coming out of Somaliland often refer to ‘the irreversible independence’ or almost of ‘no return to the union with Somalia’.

claim to statehood is being made on the basis that the territory has had historically separate status for a brief period following independence from Britain in June 1960. The next month, in July 1960, the former colonies of Italy and Britain voluntarily established a unitary nation-state known as Somalia. Almost immediately the leadership in Somaliland regretted this decision and begun to wage a secessionist struggle against Siad Barre’s misrule for two decades. Barre’s forces pursued Somaliland armed movements killing tens of thousands of people and destroying infrastructure in the region. This experience of brutal political repression and military atrocities fostered the emergence of the Somali National Movement (SNM) in 1981, which waged a secessionist struggle, leading to the collapse in 1991 of the Somalia state and the eventual declaration of independence by Somaliland.

Since then, the Somaliland government has been persistent in its pursuit of official recognition. It declared the territory a ‘Republic’ in 2002 and wrote to the AU asking it to send a fact-finding mission to see the viability of the de facto state. In response, the AU dispatched, between April 30 to May 4 2005, a mission led by its former Deputy Chairperson of the AU Commission Mr Patrick Mazimhaka. Later the same year, in December, Somaliland’s President Dahir Rayale Kahin submitted a formal application for admission to the AU, pleading for recognition as a fully active member of the continental body.

Despite the lack of international recognition, Somaliland has the primary constitutive components evident in most nation-states including: an internally accepted political system; institutions of governance; a police force; and its own currency. But the lack of recognition has significantly impeded the territory’s overall progress. In this regards, the AU observer mission report had noted that ‘the lack of recognition ties the hands of the authorities and people of Somaliland, as they cannot effectively and sustainably transact with the outside to pursue the reconstruction and development goals’. The AU fact-finding mission has also concluded that the situation was sufficiently ‘unique and self-justified in African political history’ and recommended that the AU ‘should find a special method of dealing with this outstanding case’.

Following the above rather sympathetic gesture, president Rayale, on 16 May 2006, met with the then AU Commission Chairperson, Alpha Oumar Konaré to discuss Somaliland’s application for membership. Somaliland authorities’ argue that their claim is consistent with article III of the OAU charter and article IV of the Constitutive Act of the AU, which states that the Union shall function in accordance with the principles of respect for the borders existing on achievement of independence. They also infer the experience of other states, including in Africa, acceptance of self-determination, such as recognition given to Bangladesh, Eritrea, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia.

Given the AU’s sensitivity about the maintenance of colonially inherited borders, the 2005 mission report could be seen as exceptionally sympathetic. But so far the organization has taken no further concrete action. Instead the AU’s current efforts are focused overwhelmingly on south/central Somalia. The organization in 2006 deployed a peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in support of the fragile Transitional Federal Government (TFG), that is presently battling with Islamist insurgents. In effect, since president Kahin had submitted an application for membership four years back, there is no breakthrough at the continental organization or at member states level.

Regardless of the lack of progress on formal recognition, Somaliland still attracts significant attention, as the region occupies a strategic position near the world’s major oil transport routes and major power wants to see it guarded carefully. Consequently the self-declared republic has established political contacts with a number of countries. Ethiopia and the UK insist that Somaliland deserves encouragement and support as the self-proclaimed state has provided an area of relative stability in the volatile Horn sub-region.

In a similar context, Somaliland has also established significant contacts with Belgium, Ghana, South Africa, Sweden, and Djibouti. Moreover, in early 2007, the European Union sent a delegation to discuss future cooperation; while President Kahin led his own delegation and attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kampala, Uganda. In December 2007 the Bush administration also considered whether to back the shaky transitional government in Somalia or to acknowledge the less volatile Somaliland secessionists. Recently the UN special envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, was quoted as saying: ‘We will open a new UN political affairs office in Hargeisa …[and] this office will further advance UN funding support to Somaliland in the fields of maritime security and counterterrorism.’

However, before Somaliland gets recognition by the rest of the international community, it needs full and formal legal recognition from the AU. Since President Kahin has submitted a formal application pleading for recognition four years back, there is no breakthrough at the AU or member state level. While it is normal to feel sympathetic to Somaliland’s agony in this process, it is equally understandable to see the rationale behind why the AU remains indecisive on the matter. There are indeed risks for the AU to say ‘yes’ to Somaliland’s request for recognition and set the ‘wrong precedent’. At least from the Union’s perspective, the principal objection against recognition is the strong reservation African governments have about revising borders inherited from colonial times. This is a legitimate concern that cannot be ignored, given the heterogeneity of the majority of African states and the possibility that many may face with the proliferation of similar ethnic and secessionist movements. Other potential risks relate also to the nature of the relationship that is going to be forged between Somaliland and Somalia. Central in this case is whether the two will create friendly relations, through which mutual recognition will be exchanged. Currently, there is a serious threat of Islamists controlling most of the territories of the South and central Somalia. Such elements could aim to infiltrate Somaliland, de-stabilise it and take it over with the support of local Islamists. Moreover, Somaliland is in dispute with the neighbouring autonomous Somali region of Puntland over the Sanaag and Sool areas, some of whose inhabitants owe their allegiance to Puntland and could lead to further destablisation of the sub-region.
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To conclude, Somaliland has persevered for 18 years as an independent state, hoping that it will one day get the attention of the international community, especially that of the AU. The debate whether the breakaway territory deserves recognition as well as the implications of it continues. Coupled with its electoral crisis, presently it has become clearer that without recognition, it remains hard to tell how long Somaliland’s relative peace and stability can last. It is critical, therefore, that the international community shows foresight. In particular, the AU has yet to act decisively on the matter. Meanwhile, the people of Somaliland still continue to live with the agony of waiting to hear from the decisionmakers whether they will be a recognised “Republic” or not.

Source: ISS
Alemayehu Behabtu, Researcher, Peace and Security Council Report Programmee (PRP), ISS Addis Ababa Office

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