| Health |
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Greater Horn
Suffers
Acute Food Shortages
Chris Mburu, Special Correspondent
Nairobi, February 9, 2004 (The East African) – POOR RAINS last year
and in previous years has compromised food security in several
countries in the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA), increasing the number
of people facing food shortages to an estimated 13 million.
Worsening the situation are political conflicts and the HIV/Aids
pandemic, policy issues, inefficient markets and disruption of
alternative sources of food and income, says the current issue of the
GHA Food Security Bulletin.
The bulletin is a collaborative initiative of the Famine Early Warning
Systems Network, the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for
Development, the Desert Locust Control Organization, the Livestock
Early Warning System, the US Geological Survey, the World Food
Programme and the US Agency for International Development.
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full text...
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The Real Time
Bombs
Kabul, Feb 12, 2004 (Star-Telegram) – The largest employer in
Afghanistan pays workers $150 a month to clear land mines.
That's good money in Kabul and Kandahar, and unfortunately the workers
can look forward to long-term employment -- if the job doesn't kill
them.
According to HALO USA, a not-for-profit organization that destroys
explosive items left in the wake of war, it will take another 15 years
to clear the most-mined country in the world of its deadly detritus.
Every year, more than 20,000 land mines are discovered in the worst
way possible: A person or an animal steps on one, and it explodes.
More than 20 million of these devices are still in the ground
somewhere in the world -- a residual of battles won and lost, of
territory held and abandoned.
Afghanistan, Cambodia, Angola, Iraq, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, Eritrea,
Sudan, Ethiopia, Somaliland -- all are nations trashed by what HALO
USA Vice President Nigel Robinson called "ridiculously simple and
cheap" munitions during a speech last week to the Rotary Club of Fort
Worth.
Anti-personnel is an apt description for weapons that cannot
distinguish between animal or human, civilian or soldier, child or
adult.
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full text...
U.S. Prosecutors Want
To Hold Somali-Born Canadian
Minneapolis, Feb. 9, 2004 (AP) — Prosecutors argued in court on Monday that
a man accused of providing support to the al-Qaeda terrorist network should
remain in jail because he's a flight risk.
Mohamed Warsame, a Canadian who was arrested in Minneapolis in December, had
been willing to leave the United States in the past and might do so if
released from custody, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Ward said.
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Somali Decision Welcomed
Local Somali welcomes Government's 'wise decision' not to repatriot fellow
Somali following UN report
Auckland, 11 February 2004 (NZCity) – The Government's decision not to
deport a Somali following a UN report on the situation in his country, is
being welcomed.
Abdikarin Ali Haji was about to be put on a plane at Auckland Airport last
October when the High Court suspended his deportation.
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| Headlines |
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USAID Official
Says Somaliland Is A Good Place For Investment
Mr. Andrew B. Sisson, USAID’s Regional
Director for East and Southern Africa, who was interviewed by the
Somaliland Times shortly before his departure from Hargeisa last
Monday, revealed that the US government was providing 25 million
dollars a year in humanitarian aid for Somaliland and Somalia through
USAID, in addition to 3 million dollars a year through the State
Department.
Mr. Sisson arrived in Hargeisa last Sunday as the head of a USAID
delegation that also included Mr. Flynn Fuller, office director for
Burundi, Djibouti and Somalia programs and Ms Moria Berry, USAID
Somalia unit.
The USAID delegation met with senior Somaliland government officials,
as well as leaders of civil society and the private sector. The
delegates also reviewed several programs run in Somaliland with the
help of USAID assistance.
Mr. Sisson, who lauded Somaliland for achieving a lot since the end of
the war in rebuilding the country’s infrastructure, houses and in
building democracy. He said they “hope to do more in the future [in
Somaliland]”, adding, “from what we have seen and heard from friends,
we will encourage our policymakers in Washington to take even more
interest in development assistance in Somaliland”.
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full text...
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Interview With
Andrew B. Sisson, USAID’s Regional Director for east and southern
Africa
Q: What are the impressions that you will
take with you as you leave Somaliland?
A: We have excellent impressions. Flynn and I lived in Somalia in
1980s and at the time we traveled all over the country. So it is very
nice to see the progress that has been made here in Somaliland. Your
government and your people have a lot to be proud of. You have
achieved a lot, particularly since the war, in rebuilding your
infrastructure, your houses, your economy and in building democracy.
We applaud all of these impressive achievements. You have done it very
much on your own with little bit of assistance from here and there but
basically something you have done on your own. We congratulate you for
that and will take this message back with us to our colleagues in
Washington: that your have achieved a lot and are committed to a free
society, to a democracy and to a political form of participation. No
democracy is ever perfect and yours is a young one. So it needs to
grow and to flourish. We will take interest in your parliamentary
elections so that your democracy becomes a very participatory and
representative one. We hope you continue to make strong improvements
in your rule of law. Your government has good intentions on all of
this and is taking good steps. We encourage you to continue down that
path. We leave Hargeisa today very encouraged and looking forward to
coming back.
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UNESCO Asked To
Return Manuscripts For Grade 5-8 Textbooks
Hargeisa, Feb 14, 2004 (SL Times) – The
Somaliland authorities have asked UNESCO PEER to return the
manuscripts of over 30 textbooks and teachers' guides intended for
grade 5-8 students in Somaliland.
In a letter written on Monday, Feb 9,
2004, to the Nairobi-based UNESCO PEER, Somaliland’s Deputy Minister
of Education, Ismail Mohamed Madar, demanded that the documents be
returned to the ministry.
Mr. Madar’s letter said the decision to
reclaim the manuscripts was taken following the publication by Haatuf
newspaper on Feb 6 the text of a secret letter written by UNPOS to
UNESCO “in violation of Somaliland’s independence and our children’s
rights for education”.
The letter of the deputy minister also
cited the long delay by UNESCO in printing the manuscripts in the form
of textbooks and teachers' guides.
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full text...
Somaliland Forum
criticizes UNPOs's censorship of Somaliland Textbooks
The constructive re-engagement in
Somaliland by some United Nations agencies detected over the last few
years is being undermined by the Nairobi based United Nations
Political Office (UNPOS), whose occasional forays into Somaliland
affairs have always been counterproductive, in contrast to the work of
other operational UN agencies such as UNCHR, UNICEF, WHO etc.
The latest reported edict from this office (UNPOS) was a written
instruction (dated 21/10/03) to UNESCO to “desist from printing” a
Grade Five Social Studies Schools textbook for Somaliland because it
“advocates for Somaliland’s secessionist policy”. How it does that is
listed in a page to page examination which points out the following
items in the textbook that are considered by UNPOS to be “sensitive”
and unacceptable:
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full text...
Bill Banning
Plastic Bags Introduced By: Rep. Ismail H Farah, Mait District, Sanaag
The Aim of this Bill:
To promote the use of paper bags and to prohibit (forbid) the use of
plastic bags by stores or other retail outlets in Somaliland.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE SOMALILAND LEGISLATURE(PARLIAMENT):
Section 1. Findings. The Environmental Commite of the Somaliland House
finds that plastic bags pose a threat to our environment. Plastic bags
are not biodegradable and, when discarded improperly, pollute our land
and marine environment. Plastic bags pose significant danger to many
of the plants, animals and other wildlife that inhabit our country.
Plastic bags discarded on land are unsightly and can trap water that
stagnates or becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other
disease carrying insects. Paper bags pose much less of a threat to our
environment because, unlike plastic bags, they are biodegradable and
rapidly break down in the soil or water. Furthermore Turtles and other
marine animals sometimes mistake plastic bags for jellyfish or other
food. When a turtle swallows a plastic bag, the bag can block the
turtle's digestive tract and seriously injure or kill it. Sunken
plastic bags can also become affixed to coral and can block out the
sunlight that the coral depends upon for survival The Somaliland
Legislature finds that it is in the public interest to promote the use
of PAPER BAGGS and to prohibit the further use of plastic bags by all
stores or retail outlets or any other entity or person in Somaliland.
Read
full text...
Hargeisa Urban
Household Economy Assessment
EXPENDITURE PATTERNS
A breakdown of expenditure patterns for households at different income
levels was obtained through semistructured interviews with small
groups of men and women engaged in a wide variety of economic
activities.
Expenditure of active very poor and poor households
The figure above illustrates the expenditure pattern of some of the
poorest households that weren't completely dependent on gifts for all
their food and income (i.e. they were not destitute). The active very
poor group illustrated here spends roughly SlSh 13-14,000 per day (or
about US$2) on both food and nonfood items for a family of 7 people.
The standard of living of these households is low compared to other
wealth groups. Essential food items include rice, wheat flour, maize,
sorghum, sugar, vegetable oil, and very small quantities of vegetables
(onions and tomatoes especially), cowpeas, meat, milk powder, salt and
tea leaves. Very poor households tend to purchase food daily in small
quantities, which means that they end up paying more per kilo than
better off households that can purchase in bulk. For example, the very
poor purchase milk powder approximately every other day in 17 gram
units costing SlSh 500, tea leaves daily in units that cost SlSh 100
or 200, and salt daily in units that cost SlSh 100 (each of these
items comes as a spoon full wrapped in small pieces of plastic bag).
Meat is purchased most days, but in units that are described as a
`small piece' and that weigh about 125 grams. The vast majority of
calories consumed by these households come from cereals, sugar and
oil. Less than 5% of calories are obtained from vegetables, milk
powder and meat. The main non-food items that are purchased daily are
water, charcoal, and kerosene. Items that are purchased less
frequently include soap, second-hand clothes, and khat. Spending on
schooling and health care is minimal.
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full text...
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International
News |
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German President To
Visit Africa On Footsteps Of Chancellor
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia February 06, 2004 (The Sub-Saharan Informer) – In what
appears to be an all-out effort to counter movements of the Chinese in
Africa, President Johannes Rau of Germany is visiting the continent in March
of this year.
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full text...
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Freed UN Worker
Speaks Of Ordeal In Somali Gunmen's Hands
NAIROBI, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- A German UN worker who was freed over the
weekend in Somalia after 10 days in captivity on Tuesday narrated his
ordeal under the hands of Somali gunmen, saying that he was not
mistreated.
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Still Striving
For Equality
While not to suggest that issues of family
are uniquely women's issues (or that they are the "natural" concern
women in any way) there does seem to be an increase in attention on
social matters that traditionally impact women in many societies. "I
think more social areas would be better developed if women were in
more decision-making positions because theses are areas that really
touch women and their families and their children," suggests Edna Adan
Ismail, the foreign minister of Somaliland in a BBC interview.
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full text...
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Compensation
Splits 2 UK Army Rape Families
Nairobi, Feb 10, 2004 (East African Standard) – A major dispute has
erupted between two families of the 600 Kenyan women who allege they
were raped by British soldiers in Isiolo and Marsabit districts.
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Mixed Results From
Police-Somali Meeting
OTTAWA, Feb 10 2004 (CBC Ottawa) – About 20 members of Ottawa's Somali
community met with the critical-incident team of the Ottawa police Monday
afternoon.
It was an attempt to smooth tensions following a confrontation between
police and Somalis at a Somali-owned restaurant two weeks ago. Some were
more ready to be mollified than others.
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full text...
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‘Old Guard’
Shares Skills With Djiboutian Army
By Spc. Eric M. McKeeby
ARTA, Djibouti, Feb. 6, 2004 (Army News Service) – Soldiers from the
3rd U.S. Infantry’s Bravo Company recently completed two weeks of
infantry combat fundamentals training with soldiers of the Djiboutian
Army’s Rapid Reaction Force and Republican Guard.
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| Editorial
& Opinions |
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Somaliland Should
Stay The Course In The East, Reach Out To Abdillahi Yusuf's opponents
Initial reports coming from Somaliland's eastern front indicate that
Somaliland's eastern policy is working. These days, Col. Abdillahi
Yusuf seems like a man under siege. The opposition to him has
increased. Many people in Puntland who never accepted his violent rule
now want to take advantage of the colonel's conflict with Somaliland
to get rid of him. Somaliland should reach out to those people. In the
past, both Ethiopia and Somaliland had ignored the opposition to the
tyrant of Garowe because in the wake of the creation of al-Ittihad
infested TNG, headed by Abdiqasim Salad Hasan, the Somaliland and
Ethiopian governments had understandably shown a preference for having
Abdillahi Yusuf around instead of seeing him removed and then risk the
specter of a takeover by religious extremists. But this policy has
tended to backfire on the long-term interests of both Somaliland and
Ethiopia, as Abdillahi Yusuf never desisted from exploiting it in his
favor. By portraying himself as having the unequivocal support of
Ethiopia, Abdillahi Yusuf managed to intimidate many of his opponents
which resulted in the tarnishing of Ethiopia’s image among large
segments of Puntland's population. Since Ethiopia's long-term
interests lie with the majority of the people and not with one
individual, Ethiopia should make it clear that it is against Abdillahi
Yusuf's repression and is on the side of the people of Puntland.
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Somaliland’s
Eastern Strategy Is Working
By: Jamal Gabobe
Listening to a lady reporter who was being interviewed by Radio
Galkayo the other day has confirmed to me that Somaliland's current
eastern strategy is working. The lady in question, who happened to be
a supporter of warlord Abdillahi Yusuf, said that Abdillahi Yusuf's
militia want fighting to start soon in Las Anod rather than let the
current tense situation continue. Her reasoning was that once the
shooting starts inside Las Anod, people would have to take sides.
Since war is inevitable, it's better that we have it soon rather than
later, she explained. As strange and perverse as it may seem for
someone to advocate that war with all its attendant death and
destruction should take place in one's own town, the woman reporter
was tacitly admitting that the present status of the conflict was so
unfavorable to Abdillahi Yusuf, a shooting war inside Las Anod would
seem a better alternative. Which only confirms that Somaliland's
current approach to Abdillahi Yusuf is the right one and should be
built upon and continued.
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The Making of the
New Man
By: By Adan Adar
What is the most striking aspect of life
in North America that a visitor or an immigrant (from the ‘Old World’)
would notice at a glance? If the visitor is not a gadget-man wearing
facial-rings, equipped with clattering devices - mobile phone, pager,
walkman, and dancing solo with his own rhythm, what makes him uneasy
at first sight? What makes the old ‘New World’ distinctively
captivating? What prompts him to believe he is out of place?
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The Lure of
Mogadishu & The Shame of Siilanyo
By: Ahmed M.I. Egal
Our elder stateman, Mr. Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud “Silanyo”, has done it
again. He has committed a major gaffe and firmly placed his foot in
his mouth yet again. On 2nd February Somaliland.org and Qarannews.com
reported a press conference Mr. Silanyo gave at his residence in
Hargeisa during which he talked extensively about his viewpoint
regarding the agreement recently reached by the participants at the
Somali Reconciliation Conference in Nairobi. In a nutshell, Mr.
Silanyo opined that this new agreement to form a parliament of 275
members was likely to result in the formation of an interim government
for Somalia, which is supported by the international community. He
goes on to state that the proposed parliament appears to include
representatives from Somaliland and that these two facts change the
situation and therefore require that Somaliland reconsider its
original position with respect to Somalia. He suggests that wide
ranging consultations involving the government, opposition parties,
traditional elders, both houses of parliament and “everyone else” be
held to reconsider Somaliland’s policy in the light of this new
development, i.e. the agreement reached by the participants of the
Reconciliation Conference.
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Masquerading
Successful Somaliland As Failed Somalia
By: Bashir Goth
Reading the opinion piece “Somalia’s warlords: Feeding on a failed
state” published by the International Herald Tribune on 20 Jan 2004,
one doesn’t have to go any further to understand why a place like
Somaliland, a peaceful, democratic and by the testimony of many
foreign diplomats, writers and academics a model for homegrown African
reconciliation and building of state institutions, has been ignored
for so long by the world community.
It is such selective half-truths touted by people like Abdulqawi A.
Yusuf, the writer of the article, taking advantage of his position as
editor of the African Year Book of International Law and assumed
knowledgeable background, that places blinders on the eyes of the
international community, narrowing their vision to the darkness and
ugliness that prevail in Mogadishu and most of the regions in the
Former Italian Somalia. This kind of sweeping generalizations and
regurgitating of clichés favored by foreign media such as anarchy,
violence, and chaos, is what dampens and trivializes the great
achievements accomplished by the people of Somaliland, former British
Somaliland Protectorate, against the apocalyptic situation in the
Italian South.
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The Only Solution
For The Somali Crisis Is To Recognize Somaliland Republic
By Hassan Ismail Bulale
The so-called reconciliation process for Somali warlords and faction
leaders has nothing to do with Somaliland, because this self-developed
unrecognized state has taken many splendid democratic measures,
including municipal and presidential elections respectively, whereas
war-torn Italian Somalia is still under the control of bloodthirsty
warlords. Thus we wonder the prime reason why the international
community is losing sight of the fact that Somaliland and Somalia
were, are, and will forever be two neighboring countries in the Horn
of Africa.
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full text...
Somaliland,
The Boqor, And Puntland
By: Mohamed Daad
So much tribal warmongering can be found on Somaliland websites these
days. It seems many have lost the ability to discuss tribal matters
without hate and blind emotion. Unfortunately, those of us outside
have absolutely no effect on events on the ground no matter how heated
the discussions get. Most of us have little concept of the reality
back home.
There are those who relish the Habar\Habar dirt-throwing which
unfortunately is started usually by non-Isaaqs posing as Isaaqs. The
Isaaqs in their unthinking emotionalism quickly react in knee-jerk
fashion and attack the other branches of the clan with all the venom
and dirt they can summon. It’s a shame that the thinking of the
so-called diaspora hasn’t changed that much since the sad days of the
early and mid-90’s. I guess some learn the hard way.
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| Peace Talks |
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Kenya Asks
Ethiopia To Support Somali Peace Talks
NAIROBI, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Kenya asked Horn of Africa power Ethiopia
on Friday to support faltering peace efforts among militias in
neighboring Somalia, a chaotic country that often accuses Addis Ababa
of attempting to dominate it.
A Kenyan Foreign Ministry statement said Foreign Minister Kalonzo
Musyoka, who hosts the 15-month-old peace talks, made the appeal
during a meeting in Nairobi with visiting U.S. Acting Assistant
Secretary of State for African Affairs Charles Snyder.
An African diplomat involved in the peace talks said the appeal was an
attempt to persuade Ethiopia to return its delegates to the conference
in Kenya, the 14th such peace effort since the country collapsed into
anarchy in 1991.
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EU Hails Somalia
Peace Agreement
Addis Ababa, February 13,2003 (WIC)- The European Union hailed the
Somalia peace agreement signed in Nairobi 29 January 2004 describing
it as a road to a final phase and "a window of opportunity to be
seized upon without hesitation".
Ireland, president of the EU, said such agreement paves the way for
moving to the third and final phase of the conference.
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full text...
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Peace Process On
Course, Says Kenyan Ambassador
NAIROBI, 12 Feb 2004 (IRIN) - The peace process under way in Kenya is
on course and will move into its final phase soon, according to the
Kenyan ambassador to Somalia.
Ambassador Muhammad Abdi Affey told IRIN on Thursday that a plenary of
the conference would be convened "within the next few days" to endorse
the agreement signed by the Somali leaders on 29 January.
The leaders of the Somali groups meeting in the Kenyan capital,
Nairobi, on that day signed what has been described as "a landmark
breakthrough" agreement on a number of contentious issues that had
earlier been plaguing the peace talks.
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It Is Now Or Never For Somalia
The move to include the breakaway Somali states of Puntland and
Somaliland in the final government is already being undermined by the
border dispute between the two. Initial hopes of holding parallel
reconciliation talks within the conference between Somaliland and
Puntland over the disputed Las Anod strip have been dashed by
Somaliland's failure to send representatives to the talks.
That also means that, should the third phase of the conference
eventually come up with a transition government, the breakaway
Somaliland may still not be part of it.
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full text...
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