The Coalition for Justice and Peace in Somaliland

There is strong likelihood that plans to open the new slaughterhouse in Hargeysa in early January will lead to violence, possible loss of life, injuries, destruction of property and harden attitudes, making compromise difficult. The Coalition for Justice and Peace in Somaliland (CJPS) is issuing this statement as a plea for dialogue and a peaceful resolution of the current tensions between the mayor of Hargeysa, Hussein Mohamed Jicir, and the co-operative of butchers.

The slaughterhouse of Hargeysa, administered by the municipality, is located in the district known as New Hargeysa. It was built during the era of Britain ’s administration of Somaliland. At the time, the town was much smaller and the slaughterhouse was far from residential and commercial centers. With the rapid expansion of Hargeysa, the slaughterhouse, which is old and in very poor hygienic conditions, is now close to homes, restaurants and shops. There is broad consensus that the old slaughterhouse must be closed down. Even though the poorest people who eke out a living from the slaughterhouse will lose out, there is also agreement that the new slaughterhouse, located some distance from the old one, will bring improvements with regard to hygiene.

The co-operative of butchers brings together thousands of people whose livelihood depends on the sale and slaughter of cows, camels and sheep, the livestock which is the backbone of Somaliland’s economy. They include the men who buy the livestock from nomads, those who look after them in Hargeysa, the men and women who slaughter the animals, the young men with wheelbarrows who transport the meat to the markets, the men who own the trucks in which water is brought, the women and men who sell the meat, the very poor—mainly women—who sell the bones and scraps, who salt the hides etc… Many of them have spent all their working lives at the slaughterhouse, and first came there as children with their parents who worked there before them.

The co-operative accuses the mayor of creating the bitter and dangerous controversy through his unilateral decision to award the running of the new slaughterhouse to a private company, Maandeeq, without consulting the broad membership of the co-operative, and, according to public statements by a member of the local council, without consulting the local council itself, raising a range of questions. They criticize the mayor’s decision to give government number plates to vehicles owned by this private company and maintain that the company’s own capacity to manage the slaughterhouse has yet to be proven, adding that this can best be done by a process that is open and transparent. Finally, they argue that the Government of Somaliland and UN agencies have made financial contributions to building the facilities at the new slaughterhouse, and ask why a wholly private company has been given the right to run it without government involvement and supervision.

According to the co-operative, in an attempt to force them off the premises, the mayor has removed the generator which provided lighting for the slaughterhouse, with the result that people are slaughtering animals in the early dark hours with the help of a torch, causing injuries. They also accuse him of cutting back on cleaning services, making a bad hygienic situation worse and then publicizing the unsanitary conditions to undermine their credibility. The result, they say, is a sharp fall in the sale of meat which has caused huge economic problems for their members.

In newspaper and television interviews, and in lengthy discussions with the Coalition, members of the co-operative, including their newly elected governing committee, have emphasized their willingness to move to the new slaughterhouse, provided it is managed by the municipality or the central government. They are, however, adamantly opposed to management by a private company which, they say, is not accountable to them as taxpayers and whose primary concern they believe is their own commercial interests. With no signs of a move towards dialogue, they have vowed to use any means possible to oppose the opening of the new slaughterhouse, scheduled for early January, creating the potential for needless violence.

In an interview with the Coalition, the mayor explained that the municipality understands the fears of the co-operative should control of the slaughterhouse pass to Maandeeq. For that reason, he said, they have come to an arrangement with Maandeeq whereby the company will merely be responsible for cleanliness and maintenance, and all other aspects of management will remain in the hands of the municipality. He pointed out that certain people will inevitably lose out given the distance, for example the young men who transport the meat on wheelbarrows and others. Nevertheless, he argued, nothing of substance will change as far as the majority of workers who use the slaughterhouse are concerned. Asked what interest the company has in such a system, he replied that their profits will come from using the slaughterhouse to export meat abroad.

The problem, however, lies with the failure of the municipality to take the time and trouble to engage in dialogue with the very people whose livelihood is at stake. It is this inability to take their case to those who are most concerned and affected that has brought the current standoff. A contributing factor is the mayor’s preference to deal with certain members of the old committee, rather than with the committee elected on 25 December.

The controversy around the slaughterhouse can, like the tragic incident at the hospital, be resolved by peaceful negotiation, especially given the fact that there is a consensus that a new slaughterhouse is a necessity. It is deeply regrettable that the mayor, an elected official, has resorted to efforts to silence, marginalize and punish people who have a right to express their views on issues that touch their lives. Instead of listening to complaints, he selected a group of men who belonged to the old committee of the co-operative to impose his will, and detained several of the men he regarded as outspoken critics. Mohamed Ismail Farah, Dayib Omer Kahin and Saeed Hassan Adan spent four days at New Hargeysa police station. They were arrested by police officers after they were pointed out by the former committee members loyal to the mayor. They were never questioned or charged at the police station. After they complained, they were told that they had been arrested on the orders of the mayor and the divisional commander of the police for Hargeysa. Fouad Aw Adan, who is himself a member of the old committee, was beaten on the head with the butt of a knife by policemen. Nagib Yusuf Mohamed was at the market when policemen dispatched from the municipality sought to arrest him. They were forced to back off after the public threw stones at them. Nagib and another colleague were arrested the evening of Thursday 30 December and held in police detention for 24 hours following a protest against the government-owned Somaliland National TV for not airing their views after it had given time to their opponents.

Over a week ago, members of the central government organized a meeting at the municipality between the mayor and his colleagues and the co-operative to look for solutions. At the end of the meeting, the co-operative was asked to hold a general meeting within five days and to elect a new governing council. A new council was voted in on Sunday, 25 December. Unfortunately, the stalemate continues.

The Coalition is deeply concerned about the prospect of another bloody clash between civilians and the police or army, especially given the disastrous intervention of the army in Hargeysa Group Hospital on 24 December when the government used armed personnel carriers inside the hospital to confront unarmed civilians, causing deaths, injuries, chaos and damage to the hospital. This time, if the situation is allowed to get out of hand, the consequences could be far more serious. This should not, and need not, happen.

Editors Note: "The Coalition for Justice and Peace in Somaliland brings together organizations and individuals that share a common interest in promoting justice, peace, human rights, the culture of dialogue and the establishment of democratic institutions in Somaliland."