The JNA Exposed As A TFG Ploy

Hargeysa, Somaliland, September 2, 2006 (SL Times) – Somalilanders who have long suspected the “Somali Joint Needs Assessment” project as a ploy to raise funds for the so-called Transitional Federal Government of Somalia have been proven right following the announcement by a group of donors that they were ready to give aid for Somalia but only if the TFG and Mogadishu’s Islamic militias could agree to share power.

Donors represented in the International Contact Group met in Stockholm on Tuesday to discuss the stand off between the Itihad Al-Mahakem Al-Islamiya and the TFG. The international donors ruled out the convening of a donors conference previously planned to take place later this month in Rome.

“Aid will happen when there is a legitimate and legal transition government to deal with” Swedish International Development Cooperation State Secretary Annika Soder told reporters after the meeting.

The JNA had been devised by the TFG with the help of a Sudanese consultant called David Bissiouni. The idea was to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Baidoa-based powerless TFG.

To attract the attention of potential donors, the TFG deceived the Somaliland government into taking part in the so-called JNA exercise.

Despite widespread concern that participation would compromise Somaliland’s sovereignty, however President Rayale and his former minister of Planning Ahmed H. Dahir paid no heel.

The Somaliland government hasn’t even sought guarantees from donors for the establishment of a separate trust fund independently of the TFG.

Neither did the former minister of Planning object to the fact that the JNA focused on peace and capacity building for the TFG institutions, reconciliation, DDR and relief, issues of little or no relevance to Somaliland’s needs.

President Rayale and Haji Dahir signaled their endorsement of the exercise after meetings with David Bissiouni, a consultant largely concerned with making his mission successful and without mandate to talk on behalf of donors. While international donors have been clumsily praising the Islamic Court’s for restoring peace to Mogadishu, they said nothing about Somaliland which has been peaceful and stable for over a decade.

The donors also didn’t mention whether Somaliland would be exempted from the conditionality of power sharing to be able to access international assistance.

Source: Somaliland Times