Agence France Presse. February 21, 2002
Somaliland leader sacks foreign minister, army commander
The leader of the breakaway Republic of Somaliland in northwest Somalia, Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, has sacked his foreign minister and armed forces commander, Radio Hargeisa reported in a broadcast monitored here Thursday.
The radio said that Egal decreed the sacking of foreign minister Abdulqani Garad Jama and Ismail Shaqale, who was briefly the chief of staff of the armed forces in the self-declared republic. The radio said the decree also appointed General Hassan Younis Habbane to the post of army commander, but did not indicate who was to take over from Jama as the new foreign minister.
Somaliland, a former British protectorate, joined its Italian-ruled neighbour to the south to form the republic of Somalia, five days after independence in July 1960.
The territory seceded from the rest of Somalia five months after the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in January 1991.
The self-declared republic has not been recognised by the international community.
Copyright 2002 Indigo Publications
The Indian Ocean Newsletter. January 26, 2002 N. 981
Desperately Seeking to Hold a Conference
Contesting the decision of the Hargeisa parliament to prolong the term of Mohamed Ibrahim Egal by one year (ION 979), the opposition is preparing to organize a national conference. The date of February 23 has been chosen , because it marks the official end of the presidential term. Its preparations in Hargeisa are being led by 18 sultans in favor of the opposition who are seeking to gather the $ 40,- to 50,000 necessary for financing the conference from the diaspora. If the sum is not collected rapidly, the opposition's chances of protesting the prolongation of President Ibrahim Egal's term will vanish into thin air.
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Copyright 2002 Africa News Service, Inc.
Africa News.January 22, 2002
Somalia; 33 Killed By Meningitis in Somaliland
BYLINE: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
Thirty three people have died in an outbreak of meningitis in the self-declared republic of Somaliland, northwestern Somalia, according to the UN's World Health Organisation (WHO).
"As of 16 January, the ministry of health in Somalia [Somaliland] has reported a total of 144 cases, including 33 deaths," WHO said in a report. The disease first broke out in October 2001. Collaborative tests identified the disease as 'Neisseraia meningitidis serogroup A', the WHO said.
"This type of the disease, if not controlled quickly, can spread rapidly and become an epidemic, especially in a crowded setting of cities", a WHO source told IRIN on Tuesday.
In order to control the spread of the disease, a crisis committee has been set up by the local authorities, the Red Crescent Society in Somaliland, Medecins Sans Frontieres, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and WHO. According to WHO, the surveillance system has been strengthened and preparations for a mass vaccination campaign are underway. Social mobilisation activities are also in place, including the dissemination of messages through the mass media.
Copyright 2002 Indigo Publications
The Indian Ocean Newsletter.January 19, 2002 N. 980
U.S. Explores Sands of Hargeisa
A small American mission flew discretely into Somaliland to look into Hargeisa's warehouse capacities for a potential anti-terrorist operation in Somalia.
The team of five or six military-type men sporting crew cuts landed in Somaliland around mid-December. According to information obtained by The Indian Ocean Newsletter, the delegation visited the Hargeisa airport before spending part of its time seeking a couple of warehouses capable of storing what the called "security-related equipment". Hangar owners were questioned about the possibility of renting out hangars to the foreigners, and after obtaining an agreement, the Americans pointed out that they would confirm their interest for the warehouses within a few weeks. They seem to have operated under a loose United States Agency for International Development cover. The delegation met with President Mohamed Ibrahim Egal who let them know that he would be disposed to help the United States in their anti -terrorist fight if Washington, in return, would recognize Somaliland as an independent nation. He also expressed the wish that the actions under consideration against Islamic terrorists have no negative effects for Somaliland. The discreet delegation seems to have been undertaking an evaluation mission on the security and logistic capacities of Hargeisa in view of an eventual military operation in the region. But no definite sign as of yet has emerged from the cabinet of George W Bush.</C>
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Copyright 2002 Indigo Publications
The Indian Ocean Newsletter.January 12, 2002 N. 979
Egal Postpones the Elections
Having failed last year to adopt a law to limit the electoral districts for a legislative election, Somaliland's government had to made do with announcing the holding of municipal elections for December 20 and a presidential contest for early February. But two days before the city elections, whose results would have served to determine which political parties would run in the presidential contest, that vote was cancelled as well. Then, Mohammed Ibrahim Egal, whose presidential term expires on February 23, demanded have the latter be extended for one year by the Guurti (house of elders) which has been debating the subject in secret for the past two weeks. Initially, the Guurti speaker gave the impression of wanting to take into account the arguments of the opposition which is adamant in refusing the prolongation and demands the holding of a national conference to design a new government. But Sheikh Ibrahim Yussuf Mader is a faithful of the regime and the Guurti is finally to opt for the prolongation of the president's term for six to 12 months.Presided by Suleiman Mohamed Aden, better known as Suleiman "Gall" (which means "non -believer" because his wife is British), the radical opposition party Asad has called for a national conference in Hargeisa in late January. Presided by Musa Bihe, the Sahan, a more moderate opposition party, may support the initiative. Thus, tension risks rising in the coming weeks.
Suleiman Gall, a Habr Ja'alo, is determined not to let Mohamed Ibrahim Egal to win unscathed when the latter beat him in the presidential contest of 1997. But another Habr Ja'alo, the former head of the Somali National Movement (SNM), Ahmed Mohamed "Silanyo" (which means "skinny lizard") has fallen into the ranks and announced he would return to Somaliland from the UK. Silanyo is the only Habr Ja'alo acceptable to the Sahan of Musa Bihe, who is a Habr Awal/Saad Musa, a clan close to President Egal's Habr Awal/Issa Musa. But the president also has opponents within his own clan, such as the SNM's former ruler, Ibrahim Dhegawayne. If the latter make common cause with the rest of the opposition to organize a national conference, Egal's days in power may well be over.
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Copyright 2002 Indigo Publications
The Indian Ocean Newsletter .Jnuary 5, 2002 N. 978
Candidates Readying for the Election
Candidates are starting to materialize for Somaliland's presidential election scheduled for this year. First there is the incumbent: President Mohamed Ibrahim Egal founded a political party for the express purpose of running again. Then there is Ahmed Mohamed Mahmoud Silanyo: currently living in London, he is the former chairman of the Somali National Movement (SNM) and former planning minister. Last but not least, there is Suleiman Mahmoud Adan, who returned to Hargeisa last year to prepare for the contest: known as "Suleiman Gal", he is Egtal's main rival in Somaliland.
Copyright 2001 Africa News Service, Inc.
Africa News.December 27, 2001
Somalia; Refugee Returns a Strain On Somaliland - USCR
BYLINE: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
Somali refugees are returning from Ethiopia to the self-declared republic of Somaliland, northwestern Somalia, with little international help, the US Committee for Refugees (USCR) stated in a report on Wednesday, 26 December.
"With negligible help from the international community, Somaliland continues to absorb tens of thousands of refugees repatriating from eastern Ethiopia," according to USCR. Such a massive return of refugees, albeit welcome, was "placing additional stress on Somaliland's fragile, war-torn infrastructure," it added.
Some 4,000 Somali refugees - many from the Burao area, in the Toghdeer Region of northwestern Somalia - returned to Somalia on 22 and 23 December, according to the UN refugee agency.
The Somali refugee population in Daror, eastern Ethiopia, now stands at just 2,437, and the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) hopes to be able to close the camp before the end of the month.
Since the process of voluntary repatriation of refugees to northwestern Somalia started in 1997, over 181,000 had left camps in eastern Ethiopia,
The continuing lack of meaningful assistance to returning refugees was curtailing the already weak capacity of Somaliland's government and international agencies "striving to properly reintegrate returnees", according to USCR.
Returning refugees receive an assistance package to help them get started in their former homes, including basic household items and a nine months' supply of food, according to UNHCR.
If Daror becomes the third of eight Ethiopian camps for Somali refugees to be shut this year - Teferiber and Darwanaji were closed in June - the five sites remaining will host a total of 66,876 refugees: 11,642 in Hartisheik, 11,634 in Kebribeyah, 19,849 in Camaboker, 9,811 in Rabasso and 13,940 in Aisha.
Letters: Letters
The Economist; London; Apr 28, 2001; Special Volume/Issue: Vol. 359, Issue: 8219
(Copyright 2001 The Economist Newspaper Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Somaliland speaks up
SIR--I am the former minister referred to in an article on Somaliland ("The nation nobody knows", April 14th). I want to emphasise that I did not fix any price that would, as a result, benefit my business, as you purport. There is no gemstone mining company in the whole country and artisanal miners sell their crude stones to the highest bidder with absolutely no government intervention. No one can fix prices for nomadic people. I established a gemstone laboratory free of charge and just started doing initial geological exploration. I do not trade in gemstones. You were influenced by local NGOs of a clan with whom we fell out.
AHMED BEHI; Hargeisa, Somaliland
SIR--Somaliland's existence is remarkable considering the hostility it has to endure from multinational organisations like the OAU, Arab League and UN. Each has its reasons for trying to wipe the place off the map, mostly to do with abstract notions of "national sovereignty" and the "territorial integrity" of a non-existent country, Somalia. In fact, the rest of Somalia and indeed Africa have a lot to learn from the consensus-building techniques employed by Somaliland. They seem to have worked where countless initiatives sponsored by the UN and others have failed to end the misery and bloodshed.
AHMED JAMA-MOHAMED; London