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Issue 58 March 1, 2003

Special

Somalia and Survival in the Shadow Of the Global Economy (Part II)

Special Guest Writer for the Somaliland Times, Prof. William Reno, Northwestern University

[Continued from the previous issue]

"...It is unlikely that this political project will generate nation-state identities of the sort seen among dominant states, as indeed independent Somalia failed to become. Instead, the organization of identity and political community adapts to manage connections with the rest of the world within constraints and adaptations to marginality."

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Feature

Excerpts From Interview With David Shinn

"I Am Less Optimistic About The Situation In Somalia Except For Somaliland"

Washington DC, Feb 24, 2003 (The East African/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) - David Shinn worked in Africa for 17 years as a US ambassador and as an officer in Foreign Service. He also directed the Office of East African Affairs at the State Department, and helped coordinate US relief efforts in Somalia in 1992 and 1993. He currently teaches courses in African affairs at George Washington University. He spoke to Special Correspondent Kevin J. Kelly on the Kenya government's anti-corruption campaign and the prospects for peace and stability in the region. 

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Symposium On Civil Society Concluded In Hargeisa

Hargeisa (SL Times): The largest gathering for representatives of civil society organizations operating in Somaliland and Somalia took place this week in Hargeisa.

Hundreds of people assembled at a conference hall in Ambassador Hotel, last Saturday, to attend a symposium organized by the Dutch international NGO NOVIB on civil society in Somaliland and Somalia.

The majority of participants came from neighboring war-torn Somalia and there was a fair gender representation in the composition of delegates from both Somaliland and Somalia.

The symposium discussed two studies prepared by NOVIB: "Donor Assistance towards Somalia-Development Policy and Coherence" and "Mapping Somali Civil Society."

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Ministry of Finance Fails to Account for Billions of Shillings in Gov’t Revenues

Budget for Fiscal year 2003 Estimated at SL SH 97 Billion with Some Ministries Allotted Highly Inflated Figures

Hargeisa (SL Times): Somaliland's Ministry of Finance has failed to account for how at least 19 billion Somaliland Shillings in government revenues for fiscal year 2002 were spent. According to account statements by the State Accountant General, the amount represented a surplus income over the Sl Sh 88.9 billion previously budgeted for 2002. However, the Ministry of Finance has only acknowledged a surplus of 16 billion shillings out of the 19 reported by the Accountant General’s office.

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Editorial & Opinion
Lessons Learned from the Civil Society Symposium

Last month (February 2003), Hargeisa consecutively played host to two regional conferences where Somalilanders rubbed shoulders with delegates representing international organizations and civil society groups in neighboring Somalia.

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Empowering Should be Reciprocal 

Hargeisa (SL Times): The Somaliland Society for Independent Journalists And Writers (SSJW) has issued the following press release on the occasion of the conclusion of the Somali civil society symposium:

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Somaliland Presidential Election Chronicles: Back to the Future? (Part 1)

A. Mohamed Ali Hashi ‘Dhimbiil’

Two forces are vying for the future of Africa: one is authoritarian the other is democratic. Curiously, the authoritarian strain was once democratic; previously, it had embraced the ideology of democracy so as to awaken the masses for insurrection against imperialism and colonialism. At the dawn of independence many of these once democratic organizations and leaders transformed themselves into one party states and later deadly and predatory autocrats.

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The Blind Leading The Blind

Ali Gulied, San Jose, USA

Twelve years and some have passed since Somaliland withdrew from the Union. And as friends and foes alike say no one has recognized yet. The ill effects of two decades of neglect, a decade of under siege and bombardment and a decade of non-recognition have taken its toll.

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Peace Talks
TNG Says Peace Talks Facing Collapse

Nairobi, February 26, 2003 (IRIN): Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG) has refused to take part in the peace talks which were moved recently from the Kenyan town of Eldoret to the capital Nairobi, warning that they are facing collapse.

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International Committee to Monitor Ceasefire Accord

Nairobi, February 25, 2003 (IRIN): An international committee is being set up to monitor a shaky ceasefire accord signed by Somali faction leaders, Kenya's special envoy for Somalia Bethwel Kiplagat said on Tuesday.

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Somalia Clashes Claim 12

Mogadishu, 27/02/2003 - (SA) - At least 12 people have been killed and 18 wounded in two days of clashes in the Medina enclave of the Somali capital on Wednesday, residents said on Thursday. 

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International News
Zenawi's Greatest Fear and Fatigue Is "Hunger"

Dr. Abdullahi Mohamed

Meles Zenawi is familiar with hunger. Long ago, before he became Ethiopia's prime minister, he saw a young lady gnawing on an old cow's bone. The animal had been dead for weeks, but she was desperate.

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Djibouti's Poor Frustrated By Lack Of U.S. Help

Knight Ridder/tribune

DJIBOUTI CITY, Djibouti - U.S. Marines are training in this desolate nation, America's key ally in the Horn of Africa, to fight regional terrorists or Iraqi forces.

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African Women's Leadership Group for MTCT-Plus Initiative Challenges Global Community to Put Women First in HIV Care, Treatment

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Feb 25, 2003 (ASCRIBE NEWS via COMTEX) - In a vigorous discussion Saturday (Feb. 22) in Johannesburg, a group of leading African women expressed their outrage at the assault on gender that the HIV/AIDS pandemic represents. At this first meeting of the MTCT-Plus African Women's Leadership Group, the women expressed their determination to use the MTCT-Plus Initiative as a tool to mitigate the impact of HIV on women throughout Africa.

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