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.
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
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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
Cairo, 09 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) — The Chinese government has pledged to give African countries billions of dollars in cheap loans at a two-day Africa-China summit in Egypt.
Addressing hundreds of Chinese and African businessmen at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Sunday, Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, said he would also cancel debts of African countries.
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In video
China’s growing trade with the military-ruled west African nation of Guinea
“We will help Africa build up its financing capabilities … we will provide $10bn for Africa in concessional loans,” he said.
Wen insisted that his attempt to boost trade ties with Africa was not being pursued at the expense of the continent.
He rejected critics who say that resource-hungry China ignores the human-rights records of many of the continent’s nations.
“Our efforts are sincere and selfless, without political strings attached,” he said.
“China’s training of 15,000 African professionals has provided the continent with a human resource more valuable than gold.”
Investment push
The Asian giant is now Africa’s second-largest trade partner, with the average yearly growth rate of that trade at over 33 per cent.
China-Africa ties
Trade between China and Africa has ballooned by an average of 30 per cent a year over the past decade.
In 2008, total trade stood at $106.8bn, up 45.1 per cent on 2007. In 2000, trade was only $10.5 bn.
Africa’s combined GDP is worth approximately $1.2trn, equal to about one quarter of China’s $4.4trn economy.
China’s imports from Africa are dominated by oil and minerals to fuel its booming economy. Most come from Angola, Sudan, Nigeria, Zambia, the DR Congo and the Republic of the Congo.
Beijing hosted the first China-Africa summit in 2006, pledging to boost investment, trade and aid to the continent yet further.
Critics say China should use its clout to press African governments on cleaning up corruption and rights abuses.
China has also been urged to step up pressure on Sudan over the conflict in Darfur. China buys almost all of Sudan’s crude oil exports, spending $6.2bn in 2008.
The Sharm El-Sheikh meeting is a continuation of a push to boost investment policy that has led China to sign business deals around Africa.
In 2006, the Sino-African summit included $5bn in loans and a number of projects, including building hospitals, anti-malaria centres, schools and roads – which Chinese officials say have largely been met.
Direct investment hit $7.8bn in 2008, and total China-Africa trade grew to roughly $107bn by that year – a tenfold increase from the start of the decade.
However, critics say the inflow of cash has come at a price.
Western governments and some non-governmental agenices contend that China has paid money to governments with few strings attached and little concern for their human-rights record.
For years, Beijing has played a leading role in developing Sudan’s oil sector, even while the Khartoum government was being accused of atrocities in the conflict-ravaged Darfur region.
More recently, a little-known Chinese company signed a $7bn mining deal with Guinea’s military government.
The agreement was announced in September, just weeks after Guinean soldiers opened fire on demonstrators – allegedly killing more than 150 people.
Chinese response
Beijing, itself widely criticised in the West for its human-rights record, said it was not involved in that deal and rejects the criticism.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Huo Zhengde, China’s ambassador in Guinea, said that companies based in the US, the UK, Australia and Russia were all doing business in the country.
“Just because these companies are doing business here, does that mean they are supporting the military government?
“So why, when Chinese companies do business here, is China accused of supporting the government?” Huo asked.
Beijing says it is up to Africans to decide whether the relationship is good for them, and is sure they will say it is.
In video
Al Jazeera speaks to Frank Sieren, author and journalist, on China’s expanding role in Africa
“Practice proves that the China-Africa relationship is mutually beneficial, and co-operation is win-win, embodying the wishes of the people and the demands of the times,” Chen Deming, the Chinese commerce minister, said.
It is a theme that African businessmen working in China say they have heard echoed increasingly over the past couple of years by Chinese companies.
Some Africans welcome how China’s approach differs from that of Europe or the United States.
“China’s policy is based on mutual development. Few Western countries have a foreign policy like this – most are about telling Africans what to do,” Kwaku Atuahene-Gima, executive director of the Africa programme at the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai, said.
Craig Bond, the Beijing-based chief executive of the South Africa-based Standard Bank, the continent’s largest, told The Associated Press news agency: “The reality is that China’s come of age.
“They’ve actually begun to realise that if they want to be global citizens, they are going to have to start doing things in a sustainable way,” he said.
“They’re going to have to start worrying about all the issues that the West has been worrying about.”
Some Africa watchers argue that while some Western criticism is warranted, African nations must also shoulder a good share of the responsibility.
Edward Brown, director for policy services at the Africa Centre for Economic Transformation, a research and policy advisory organisation based in Ghana, said: “Africans need to up the ante to see how they can best leverage their potential and ensure that Chinese investments are channelled into those areas where they generate the most value.”
ERIGAVO, 09 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) — Two men believed to be linked to a recent attempt to hijack a Daallo airliner in the neighboring Somali port town of Bosaso were arrested by Somaliland state police in the town of Erigavo.
The men who have not yet been unidentified were arrested on Sunday morning as they entered Erigavo from Bosaso by car.
It is believed that Somaliland police were informed in advance of the men by Puntland authorities who want them to be extradited to Bosaso to face charges.
On Tuesday, two men armed with pistols boarded the plane bound for Djibouti at an airport in Bossaso in a bid to kidnap two German passengers. Half-way the flight the pilot outwitted the hijackers and returned the plane and its passengers back to Bosaso where they were met by police.
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The two hijackers were arrested but Puntland’s internal security minister said a number of others helped them.
This is the first of such collaboration between Somaliland and Puntland authorities.
HARGEISA, 08 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) — The Deputy Secretary General of Pakistan People’s Party (ruling party), Sheikh Mansoor Ahmed arrived in Somaliland on a fact-finding mission on Friday. Mr. Ahmed who was leading a delegation of two, was received at the Egal International airport by Somaliland’s finance minister, Foreign Minister and governor of the central bank.
Mr. Abdirasak, Somaliland’s newly appointed representative to Pakistan told local media that the two sides have discussed the opening of a Somaliland representation office in Pakistan, to strengthen bilateral relationship and requested Pakistan to throw its weight behind Somaliland’s bid for international recognition.
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Somaliland also appealed to Pakistan to help them gain membership in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations with 57 member states spread over four continents.
Local media also reported that Pakistan would assist Somaliland to combat piracy in the region and train it’s small fleet of coastguards.
It is the first visit of such by Pakistani officials to Somaliland since restoring its nationhood in 1991. Many Somalilanders see the arrival of the Pakistani delegation as a firm step forward in a new relationship between the two nations that will open new doors for Somaliland in the Asian region.
The delegation also visited the coastal town of Berbera as part of their official visit to Somaliland, the port is currently busy with exporting livestock to Saudi Arabia during the Hajj period.
The delegation will also meet with the President and the other political leaders in the country in the coming days. Mr Ahmad, was accompanied by Pakistan’s Adviser on Consular Affairs between Foreign Affairs and Diplomatic Missions, Mr Shafiq Ahmed Qureshi.
HARGEISA, 8 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Youth is defined as a transitional phase from childhood to adulthood innovative by events such as completing schooling and further education, entering the world of work. Youth is also defined in terms of the duties a person takes on within a society; youth is seen as ending when the individual takes on adult jobs and responsibilities.
Youth have unique potential assets and resources to make their country into productive one and overcome his challenges. Youth in Somaliland organize themselves by established Youth forums, Youth organizations, Youth councils, Youth clubs and Youth alliances that are promoting youth rights, youth opinions and youth networks among different regions in Somaliland. The matters they deal with are as varied as the forms they take. Young people who join youth organizations have gain power and visibility through their involvement and want to bring about change. Thus, the role of youth can be depicted as harmonizing and essential to Somaliland’s development.
Today’s young Somali Landers need access to both decent formal education and opportunities to obtain a sort of life skills to actively participate of an increasingly knowledge-intensive society and become today’s young citizens and tomorrow as the country’s future leaders. Inspiring the young people to speak out by expressing their views and ideas feels he or she has some thing to offer in his society and also a sense of belongs. A major benefit of young people’s input in development process makes better the confidence, knowledge and motivates others to be apart of them. It is there fore important for every nation to ensure the wellbeing of its youth and Somaliland is not exceptional.
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Despite these contributions, the lives of young people in Somaliland are subject to number of contradictions. Young people in Somaliland suffer from unemployment, Migration, growing consumption of Kat and tobacco, alcohol and drugs. Young people qualifying the institutions of learning are roaming the streets of Hargeisa with nothing to do, observing the country and waiting a chance of employment.
Youth Participation through Organizations
The participation of young people in youth organizations provides an important van for young people’s involvement in social, economic and political spheres. Youth led organizations work for the benefit of youth. They provide services for youth, such as job preparation (Shaqo Doon), counseling for youth not to migrate, recreation informal education and health. Apart from their youth services some youth organizations initiated information campaigns about irregular migration (Tahriib) which is one of the problems faced in our society. You can see the corner of the roads in Hargeisa a large bill boards transmitting a message that is indicating the consequences and risks of Tahriib. While migration to Europe is pushy act for young Somali Landers in search of job opportunity and better life, at the other side recent days some parents consent to their children to encourage them to involve an irregular migration by supporting financial wise. This shows how the disease (Tahriib) affected even the Somaliland parents.
Truly, it is a key challenge facing for Somaliland who already suffered of human resource shortages. The Somaliland human resource is steadily drained as the young skilled and non skilled prefers to emigrate and apply their skills and force abroad owing to the elfin support to their home land.
Youth to Decision-Making Structures
The voice of youth is a precious asset to the political parties. Justice and welfare party (UCID) is committed to advancing the active engagement of young people in decision making process in the country. Initiatives include youth participation in advisory bodies such as youth wings in the parties were a step took in the right direction. For example the justice and Welfare party has an institutionalized national youth wing that has an access to the party’s decision-taking arena. The wing has now its own working strategies including the constitution, policies and procedures by which it implements its duties and exercises its indisputable rights. These efforts and contributions of the youth groups of UCID have drawn the attention of the party’s members and as a result, the party decided to offer 60 % of its total membership to the youth society of Somaliland.
In spite of these positive trends, young people still face many challenges and problems which prevent them from displaying their full potential. Somaliland lack sound national youth policies that guides to the next generations for participating the decision making process in the country. It is, there fore crucial that youth receive the guidance and support they need in this challenging phase of life and sustaining them successful transition from youth to adult hood.
Trade between China and Africa has ballooned by an average of 30 per cent a year over the past decade.