The World Bank And The UN In Somaliland

EDITORIAL

No one, least of all members of the international community, should be surprised by the skeptical and at times negative reaction of many Somalilanders to the Somali Joint Needs Assessment conference that took place in Hargeysa. All one has to do is look at the name of the conference. “Somali Joint Needs” smells to most Somalilanders of just one more ploy by the international community to negate their political will and make them join Somalia. Another problem was the timing. Somaliland has been independent over a decade and the UN and the World Bank ignored it all those years. Why did the UN and the World Bank come to Somaliland only after the Imbagathi conference was concluded and a fictitious paper-government was declared for Somalia . A third problem is the exact relationship between the Somali Joint Needs Assessment and warlord Abdillahi Yusuf.

All of these are valid concerns. UN and World Bank officials did make an attempt to answer these issues. They stressed that they are in Somaliland to help, and not to make Somaliland join Somalia . They also emphasized that Somaliland will get assistance directly, and not through the Jawhar faction of warlord Abdillahi Yusuf. But just at the point when Somaliland ’s officials and the international community were beginning to understand each other, a document surfaced that cast doubt on what the UN and World Bank officials were saying. According to the document, the Joint Needs Assessment will divide Somalia into six parts with Somaliland constituting one part of the six, the Jawhar faction will be represented by 13 members, Majeertenya will have 6 members, and Somaliland will have 3 members. The document also has other odious features which are unacceptable to Somaliland .

Despite all of these problems, the coming of World Bank and UN officials to Somaliland was a valuable opportunity for both sides to listen to each other and learn each other’s views. If the World Bank and UN officials were thinking these are needy people, and therefore, they will accept whatever we offer them, they were certainly disabused of that notion. Somaliland needs help, but it will not accept the kind of help that damages or subverts its independence. Somaliland has had over a decade of progress and stability, and it has different needs from lawless and chaotic Somalia . The challenge for both Somaliland and the international community is to come up with programs and mechanisms of implementation and funding that are acceptable to Somaliland as well as the international community.

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