Somaliland: A Democracy Under Threat

Virtually on its own, this province of Somalia has established itself as a solid democracy in a very bad neighborhood.

Dahir Rayale Kahin is the president of Somaliland, a de facto independent state in northwest Somalia (see map). Though not internationally recognized, it has, with minimum help from the outside world, established itself as a solid democracy in a very bad neighborhood. Somaliland formally presented its request for recognition to the African Union in 2004, but came away empty-handed.

Stepping up its diplomatic offensive, this past August President Kahin made a pilgrimage to the British and German foreign ministries, but had no success. As Somaliland’s foreign minister, Edna Adan Ismail, said in June, “Instead of encouraging us, we are being pushed towards Somalia, which continues to fall apart.”

Sharif Hassan TFG Parliament Speaker (Left) and Leader of UIC Consultative Council, Hassan Dahir Aweys (centre) and UIC head of foreign relations Professor Ibrahim Hassan Adow (left) sign agreements in Mogadishu on Saturday

Mogadishu 25, Nov.06 – Decisions have been issued unanimously in a press conference held by the Union of Islamic Courts consultative council leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys and the government’s parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden in the capital Mogadishu.

The Islamic Courts and the parliament members in Mogadishu have agreed on at least six articles that are supposed to facilitate the resumption of Khartoum peace talks.

Addis Ababa , November 17, 2006 – Ethiopia, the fabled home of the Queen of Sheba, is a striking contrast of landscapes. It is partly traversed by the Great Rift Valley, which extends from Lebanon to Mozambique. Its jagged, lush mountains make it a kind of huge fortress surrounded by forbidding desert, which is one reason why it has been isolated from much outside influence and has gone its own way. Even the scramble for Africa in the 19th century by European colonial powers left it unscathed.

Election fever

Ahmed Kheyre, London, UK

Sir, with the Republicans recently routed by the Democrats in the US mid-term elections, and the French on the verge of electing their first female President, election fever is beginning to stir in Somaliland. There have been spate of articles already tossing their hats into the ring as to who is going win the next Somaliland presidential elections.

From the humble shepherd to the sophisticated urban dweller, from the student to those of us living in the diaspora, may Allah bless us all, we are politicized. So, for all those   gearing up for the hustings (the campaign), here are several points to get the debate going

Problems in Muslim countries cannot be fixed by outside intervention, howsoever dire the crisis or noble the intervention might be. We should have learned this lesson from the Somalia experience.

By Alamgir Hussain PhD

November 22, 2006 – When the UN-led forces drove the Taliban out of Afghanistan, I was indignant at the United States, like the overwhelming majority of Muslims worldwide. However, it was not long afterwards that my perception totally changed. During their five-year rule, the Taliban robbed the dignity and future of the entire women of Afghanistan. All sorts of human rights violations, along with the introduction of cruel and often barbaric Sharia laws, caused immense sufferings for the people of Afghanistan.

Business is thriving in Mogadishu after over 16 years of stagnation, but at price of certain personal liberties.

Things haven’t been that stable for a long time

MOGADISHU, November 21, 2006 – After more than a decade of brutal factional fighting, the road-blocks and gunmen have been cleared off the streets of the Somali capital, business is thriving and Mogadishu is being rebuilt. But strict standards of religious and behavioral discipline are being introduced, and questions are being asked about the vision of the new authority, the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).

In search of New York's most elusive drug

New York, USA, November 21st, 2006 – Hamada Alsaedi, a slight 19-year-old, flashes me a distrusting stare as I enter the Eexus Deli & Discount store in Harlem, where he is jammed in a claustrophobically narrow space behind a Plexiglas partition. When I ask another worker about where to get khat, referring to it as a drug, Alsaedi interjects, "It's not drugs. . . .

EDITORIAL

Addis Ababa , November 18, 2006 – At a time when the new millennium has ushered in a time of unprecedented global wealth and extraordinary opportunities; the Horn of Africa is frying in the heat of famine and pandemics. A determinate order of institutions, powers, and interests operate through complexes of ideas and values, filling out, specifying, anchoring and, often short-cutting human security; imposing ideological as well as practical limits on the extent to which and how reform processes in Horn can be opened up or broadened.