Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 5, 2008 (SL Times) – Somaliland Parliamentarian Saeed Mohamed Elmi has challenged the Norwegian oil service company TGS-NOPEC to become accountable and transparent in terms of its dealings with the Somaliland Ministry of Water and Minerals.

The Somaliland legislator who is a Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Natural Resources told reporters on Monday that both the ministry and TGS have both refused to comply with the law by declining to submit to parliament a copy of an agreement that they had concluded.

The TGS had confirmed, earlier this year, completing a seismic aerial and ground surveys for minerals and oil in Somaliland. According to the Somaliland constitution, all international agreements reached by the administration must be ratified by the parliament.

The Director General of the Ministry of Water and Minerals Ahmed Ibrahim Suldan, however, insists that parliament has no authority to bring the ministry to account to the legislators for its dealings with foreign companies. Responding to Rep. Saeed M. Elmi, the DG said the ministry is not answerable to the parliament.

The following is a text of a letter that the MP had written to minister of Water and Minerals:

“To: Minister

Ministry of Water and Minerals

Somaliland Republic

Hargeysa

Re: TGS-NOPEC

Sir,

Practicing our constitutional obligations and national responsibilities we notify you that, with utmost disbelief, we hereby put forward our grievances on the obscure and doubtful activities of some foreign companies who are acting in the field of oil and minerals in Somaliland. To the amazement of this elected House of Representatives, and specifically to me as the Chair of Natural Resources and Environment Committee of the house, we have not been informed about the existence of agreements with foreign entities, let alone submitting copies of agreements for the statutory approval.

Through Somaliland civic societies, media groups and other interested parties we have been updated that TGS-NOPEC has acquired and completed [without the approval of the house] two offshore/onshore oil exploration programs in Somaliland. We consider TGS-NOPEC as a European company with whom transparency is a vital strategic component. With greatest regret, we assume that such ambiguous operations can generate detrimental argument between this house and the ministry and, inevitably, could affect our relations with the Norwegian government and Parliament.

We, herewith, note that we are determined to promote and safeguard good governance, hence transparency and the rule of law.

Hon. Minister, with utmost respect, we wait for your formal and written information about TGS-NOPEC activities, and expect that we will keep transparency as our strategy for achieving good governance.

Hoping for your immediate response, may I thank you in advance.

Yours truly,

Hon. Saeed M Elmi

Acting Chairman

Vice-Chairman

Natural Resources and Environment Committee

Somaliland House of Representative.”

Source: Somaliland Times

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