Austin American-Statesman (Texas), September 28, 2003, SECTION: News; Pg. A15
Region of Somalia trying to stand apart, After seceding, Somaliland says its stability in a war-torn part of Africa should earn international recognition as a nation
BYLINE: Raymond Thibodeaux, SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
HARGEISA, Somalia -- The rusting hulls of tanks and personnel carriers litter a cactus patch on a hill overlooking Hargeisa, Somalia's second-largest city. They are remnants of wars that for decades battered this stretch of arid rangeland.
Mohammed Ali Ismail doesn't even notice the tanks anymore. They almost blend with the landscape.
"A businessman from Yemen wants to buy those tanks for scrap iron," said Ismail, a former government soldier who later fought for the rebels in this part of the country. As he talked, Ismail walked a narrow path deemed safe by white-painted stones.
Outside the white stones is a mine field that needs to be cleared before this former Somalian army maintenance facility can be converted into a repair depot for public buses, police cars and government trucks.
Clearing a mine field is dangerous and tedious, but it's a necessary aspect of this region's return to peace.
The clans in this stretch of desert in the country's north -- a region known as Somaliland -- declared their independence from Somalia after the collapse of Siad Barre's government in 1991. They have since maintained a degree of stability that is lacking in most other parts of the country. They have a functioning multiparty democracy, their own currency and license plates, potentially lucrative export income from livestock, oil and frankincense, and a deepwater port in Berbera.
The Somaliland region is about the size of Tennessee and has a predominately Muslim population of 3.5 million people, 90 percent of whom are supported by the more than $500 million sent every year from its emigrants living in places such as Britain, Saudi Arabia, Canada and the United States, according to Fatima Ibrahim, a human rights specialist for the United Nations Development Program in Somalia.
But the budding Republic of Somaliland has yet to be recognized by the international community, a refusal that puts the region in a diplomatic limbo that threatens to stunt its growth. Without international recognition as a sovereign nation, Somaliland is not eligible for help from international lenders, and many foreign donors wary of the region's in-between status are reluctant to provide aid.
Many analysts think that with the Somali peace talks in Nairobi on the brink of yet another failure -- after a decade of failed peace talks -- Somaliland's case for recognition is strengthened.
"Most people don't like the idea of balkanizing Somalia, but there might not be a better solution," said Ross Herbert, a senior Africa researcher for South Africa's Institute for International Affairs. "There's a strong moral case to be made for recognizing them. For one, it might help break the logjam in Mogadishu, where rival clans keep hoping that they'll pull together into a unified Somalia."
With presidential elections last year deemed fair by international observers, many Somalilanders are now wondering what other credentials are needed for the world to recognize their nationhood.
"We've shown that we can be democratic and that we can respect human rights. We are setting an example for the rest of Africa," said Somaliland's foreign affairs minister Edna Adan Ismail. "Where is our peace dividend?"
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter Kansteiner told Congress earlier this year that the United States should try to build on Somaliland's successes, but he stopped short of suggesting official recognition of the region.
The biggest hurdle in Somaliland's struggle for recognition is the African Union, a coalition of leaders from 53 member nations who generally vote in favor of protecting colonial boundaries. Western governments have expressed their willingness to follow African leaders on issues of territorial integrity.
"We cannot stand for dismembering one of our countries. We cannot talk about African unity and then accept Somaliland," said Desmond Orjiako, a spokesman for the African Union.
Some analysts agree that supporting Somaliland's independence from Somalia, with a total population of about 8 million, sets a bad precedent, especially on a continent where rebel forces in the Ivory Coast, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo have split those countries in two. In Liberia, rebel groups control a majority of the country despite a shaky cease-fire and a power-sharing agreement.
Although Somaliland gained its independence from Britain in 1960, it opted days later to join its southern neighbor Somalia, a former Italian colony. The two countries shared a vision of a Greater Somalia that included parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti.
Their partnership soured in the late 1970s when Somali forces failed to gain control of Ethiopia's Ogaden region, important grazing lands for Somaliland's goat, camel and cattle herders and a region with strong Somali clan ties.
The lasting resentment from the Ogaden war ended Mogadishu's dreams of expansion and prompted a rebel movement in Somaliland that -- joined by other rebel clans in central and southern Somalia -- eventually toppled Barre's dictatorial regime.
The rebellion cost Somaliland more than 50,000 lives, according to U.N. estimates. Government forces flattened the region's major cities: Berbera, Sheikh, Burao and Hargeisa, the regional capital.
A dangerous legacy of the fight endures.
About 100 people are maimed every year from unexploded mortars, grenades and landmines. The mines are mainly U.S.-made M14s, used by the Somali army in their fight to keep Somaliland from seceding.
Mass graves near Hargeisa -- uncovered by heavy rains two years ago -- attest to the atrocities carried out by government soldiers led by Barre.
Somaliland authorities say that, with the help of international forensic teams, they have found the skeletal remains of more than 9,000 Somalilanders in 116 mass graves.
"Our union with Somalia was like a partnership that didn't work out, and when we tried to leave they held guns to our heads," said Mohamed Hashi Elmi, Somaliland's commerce minister. "No one is paying attention to the atrocities committed against us by the Somali government. They just expect us to stay with Somalia."
Raymond Thibodeaux is a Nairobi-based freelance journalist on assignment for Cox Newspapers.
GRAPHIC: Stability has brought a financial boom to Hargeisa, a city of about 300,000 people and Somaliland's would-be capital. // The dusty streets of Hargeisa bustle with street merchants selling everything from cigarettes to color televisions.
Source: UNDP, Date: 26 Sept 2003
Somalia: Hargeisa Airport closure averted for now
Nairobi (26 September 2003) - Hargeisa Airport will remain operational for another six months, after urgently needed funds were provided by UNDP and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to proceed with emergency patchwork. The 150,000 US dollars is only a fraction of the financial resources required to carry out essential rehabilitation, but will keep the airport open while other funds are sought.
"This is not a long term solution," ICAO Chief Technical Adviser, Joe Brunswig, says. "The emergency patchwork will deal with the immediate safety concerns and avert the closure of the airport for now, but the fact of the matter is that the landing strip needs to be completely re-carpeted."
Hargeisa Airport is crucial to the humanitarian, developmental and commercial work that goes on in the region serving approximately 4,000 passengers per month from Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and the Middle East.
The airport was built in 1973 to cater for the much smaller sized aircraft of the time. It was closed during the civil war in the early nineties and reopened in 1997. Over time, erosion and heavier aircraft than it was built for have broken up the surface of the landing strip. The resulting potholes and loose gravel could damage the airplanes, raising serious safety concerns. Since the reopening of the airport, the Civil Aviation Caretaker Authority for Somalia (CACAS) and the Somaliland authorities have been re-patching the problematic parts of the landing strip, but no comprehensive renovation has taken place.
"UNDP is particularly concerned about the Hargeisa Airport," Country Director El-Balla Hagona says. "This is not just about humanitarian flights, the airport is also a business stimulant. The more facilities that Somalis themselves have, the higher the chances of their own developmental initiatives bearing fruit."
CACAS, which operates from Nairobi, Kenya, is a joint effort between UNDP and ICAO, and falls under UNDP's Capacity Building for Governance Programme. It was formed in 1996 to ensure the safety of air transport operations in the absence of a recognized central government.
For more information, please contact: Sandra Macharia, Information Officer, UNDP Somalia, Tel: (254 20) 4448434; Fax: (254 20) 4448439; Email: sandra.macharia @undp.org
For further information see
http://www.undp.org
BBC Monitoring International Reports, September 23, 2003
SOMALILAND PARLIAMENT PETITIONS PRESIDENT OVER FIVE MINISTERS
The permanent committee of Somaliland house of representatives has said it has submitted to the Somaliland president, Mr Dahir Riyale Kahin, a petition demanding an explanation from the president to the house of representatives why five members still held positions in the ministerial cabinet yet the house of representatives had rejected their appointment as ministers when the president submitted the nomination of his new cabinet to the session of house of representatives in July for approval.(passage omitted)
The chairman of the standing committee in the house of representatives, Mr Huseyn Hajji Abdi Amir, said the gist of the letter they submitted to the president was to question the president's legal procedure in keeping the five ministers whose appointment was disapproved by the house of representatives. These ministers are as follows:
1. Education minister, Mr Hasan Haji Mohammud Warsame (Hasan Gadh-weyne)
2. Information minister, Abdillahi Muhammad Du'le
3. Minerals and water resources minister, Mr Qasim Sheikh Yusuf
4. Internal state minister, Mr Adan Muhammad Mire (Waqaf)
5. State minister of public work, Mr Adan Muhammad Diriye (Adan Ruush)
(passage omitted)
Source: Jamhuuriya web site, Hargeysa, in Somali 2 Sep 03) BBC Monitoring
The Boston Globe, September 21, 2003, SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A11
IN SOMALILAND, FRESH START BRINGS HOPE EXPATRIATES RETURN TO BUSTLING REGION ONCE RAVAGED BY WAR
BYLINE: By Raymond Thibodeaux, Globe Correspondent
HARGEISA, Somalia - At first, Fatima Ibrahim thought she had blundered in 1999 by returning to her homeland in this breakaway region of northern Somalia known as Somaliland. After living in Wales for more than 20 years, she had grown accustomed to its sparkling shopping malls and smooth highways.
Even before her plane landed in this dusty city, "you could see people shooing goats and camels off the runway. I wanted to go back immediately," said Ibrahim, a human rights specialist for the UN Development Program in Somalia. "Hargeisa was nothing like what you see now. Everything's being rebuilt."
Ibrahim, who trains this region's police officers, lawyers, and judges to respect human rights, is part of a massive return of Somalilanders in recent years from such places as Britain, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. They are rebuilding this region shattered by war into what they hope will be the world's newest country: The Republic of Somaliland.
Somaliland, which broke away from Somalia in 1991 after the ouster of the country's longtime dictator, Mohamed Siad Barre, has maintained a degree of stability that is lacking elsewhere in Somalia. About the size of Tennessee, Somaliland has a predominantly Muslim population of about 3.5 million, a functioning multiparty government, its own currency and license plates, a potentially lucrative export income from oil and livestock, and a deepwater port in Berbera that rivals the seaport of its northern neighbor, Djibouti.
Hargeisa, the regional capital, is bustling. Men gather at sidewalk tea shops to read the Haatuf, one of the city's two daily newspapers. Past the rows of shops selling electronics, construction workers install electrical wiring for the first two floors of a five-story World Trade Building of Somaliland, a symbol of Somalilanders' faith in their country's future.
Many Somalilanders, however, say their future hinges on international recognition as a nation. So far, clan leaders in Mogadishu, the seat of power for Somalia, are reluctant to grant Somaliland its independence. Legal advisers from South Africa's Foreign Affairs Ministry supported Somaliland's claim to statehood, but a spokesman for the ministry said that South Africa was "still investigating" the issue.
Some European countries have indicated a willingness to recognize Somaliland's independence but have held off. Earlier this year, Walter Kansteiner, assistant US secretary of state for African affairs, told Congress that the United States should try to build on Somaliland's successes, but stopped short of suggesting official recognition for fear it would undermine Somali peace talks.
The diplomatic purgatory threatens to stunt the region's growth. Without it, Somaliland cannot borrow money from international lenders, and many foreign donors wary of the region's status are reluctant to provide aid.
But analysts believe that Somaliland's case for recognition is strengthened by faltering peace talks in Nairobi, where clan leaders from central and southern Somalia have been trying to hammer out a national constitution.
"Most people don't like the idea of balkanizing Somalia, but there might not be a better solution," said Ross Herbert, a senior researcher for the South African Institute of International Affairs.
The biggest hurdle in the region's struggle for recognition is the African Union, a coalition of leaders from 53 nations, "We cannot stand for dismembering one of our countries," said Desmond Orjiako, a spokesman for the African Union. "We cannot talk about African unity and then accept Somaliland."
Somaliland has remained relatively peaceful for more than a decade. And with presidential elections last year deemed fair by international observers, many Somalilanders are now wondering what other credentials are needed for the world to recognize their nationhood.
Somaliland gained independence from Britain in 1960, and opted days later to join its southern neighbor Somalia, a former Italian colony. The two countries shared a vision of a Greater Somalia that included parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti.
The partnership soured in the late 1970s when Somali forces failed to gain control of Ethiopia's Ogaden Basin, important grazing lands for Somaliland's goat, camel, and cattle herders and a region with strong Somali clan ties. The lasting resentment from the Ogaden War ended Mogadishu's dream of a Greater Somalia and prompted a rebel movement in Somaliland that eventually toppled Barre in 1991.
But the rebellion cost Somaliland more than 50,000 lives, mostly civilians killed during bombing raids, according to UN estimates. Government forces demolished Berbera and Hargeisa.
Mass graves near Hargeisa uncovered by heavy rains two years ago attest to the atrocities carried out by government soldiers under Barre.
Somaliland authorities say that the remains of more than 9,000 people in 116 mass graves have been unearthed.
Meanwhile, the people depend heavily on the estimated $500 million sent every year from family members abroad. By comparison, the region's livestock exports to the Middle East bring in $120 million a year.
"We've shown that we can be democratic and that we can respect human rights. We are setting an example for the rest of Africa," said Somaliland's foreign affairs minister, Edna Adan Ismail. "Where is our peace dividend?"
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Construction workers tended to the World Trade Building of Somaliland yesterday. The new structure is considered a symbol of Somalilanders' faith in their country's future. / GLOBE PHOTO / RAYMOND THIBODEAUX
The Indian Ocean Newsletter, September 20, 2003, SECTION: DIPLOMACY; / SOMALILAND; N. 1056
German Experts in Hargeisa
A mission of German experts has just arrived in Somaliland to study the feasibility of creating a budgetary monitoring service in the Hargeisa parliament. The service would supervise the state's expenses, including those relative to the budget after its adoption by parliament. The six-week mission is lead by Harmut Schultz, an expert who worked for 23 years in the finance ministry and other governmental agencies in Germany. Two new teams of experts are set to arrive in Hargeisa this week. The German ministry of international cooperation and the European Commission showed interest in participating in financing projects that will be carried out by these expert missions on behalf of the Somaliland parliament.
www.africaintelligence.com
Source: UN OCHA Integrated Regional Information Network, 19 Sept 2003
Somaliland ministers hold discussions with donors
ADDIS ABABA, 19 September (IRIN) - Ministers from Somaliland have held unprecedented talks with international donors and the United Nations. Foreign Minister Edna Adan Ismail described the meeting, held on Wednesday, as a breakthrough for the self-declared republic, which is seeking international recognition. "It gives us status and it gives us political importance that we have never been accorded before," she told IRIN at the end of the talks.
Officials from Ethiopia and Djibouti also attended the day-long talks, which focused primarily on the 600,000 displaced people in Somaliland. Other participants included the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF, the World Bank and embassy officials from the US, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Finland.
The talks, held in Addis Ababa, form part of preparations for a consolidated appeal by the United Nations and NGOs for humanitarian assistance for Somalia.
Somaliland unilaterally declared independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991 after the fall of former leader Muhammad Siyad Barre. It has remained relatively free from the chaos and war that have ravaged other parts of Somalia, but has failed to gain recognition as an independent country.
One diplomat at the talks - which have been a year in the making - told IRIN: "If state recognition is an incremental process then this is one step in that process."
Maxwell Gaylard, head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative for Somalia, who initiated the discussions, said the trend for donor support was slowly increasing. "It is the first time that we have brought together, or been able to bring together, the authorities of Somaliland directly with the international donor community," he said.
But he played down claims by the 12-strong Somaliland delegation, which included four ministers, that the talks were a step towards recognition of the self-declared republic. "We are trying to build peace and Somaliland is an oasis of peace and stability, certainly much more than southern Somalia and I think we are coming at it from that angle," he said.
Source URL:
http://www.irinnews.org/
Africa Analysis, September 19, 2003
DATELINE: HARGEISA
THE entrepreneurial people of Somaliland have set up half a dozen private airlines and telecommunications companies in the 12 years since they broke free from troubled Somalia. But Somaliland still does not have a commercial bank. In order to survive, most of its 3.5m people rely on OEhawala' money transfer companies, which have been getting bad press since the US started accusing them of funnelling millions of dollars to Osama bin Laden 's al Qa'ida network. Now Dahabshiil, the Horn of Africa's oldest remittance company, is on the path to becoming Somaliland's first fully-fledged commercial bank. Founded in Burao, Somaliland's second city in 1970, Dahabshiil has grown to become Somalia and Somaliland's biggest private sector employer, with over 1,000 staff. It has offices offering money transfer services in 34 countries worldwide, including 50 branches in Britain and 25 in the US.
It has also set up a postal system in Somaliland, a road and housing construction company and is a major shareholder in Somtel International, which operates 10 telecommunications stations in the country. The bulk of its business, naturally, comes from some 2m Somalis in the Diaspora, who are estimated to send $ 500m home each year. Commission on money transfers is as little as $ 3, 70% cheaper than rivals like Western Union and Moneygram.
Dahabshiil already operates a bank in southern Somalia, offering all the services that customers would ordinarily expect. Clients include half a dozen United Nations organisations, such as UNDP, UN High Commission for Refugees, UN Children's Fund and the World Health Organisation, as well as national and international aid agencies and the British Broadcasting Corporation.
But Dahabshiil's Somaliland clientele have, until now, been limited to savings and cheque accounts and facilitation of international payments for imports. However, Dahabshiil recently acquired a licenced foreign exchange in United Arab Emirates and east Africa, which will give the company access to international banking services, including the use of a standard swift code. This will give clients the option, where correspondent banks exist, to deposit remittances with an international bank for direct transfer to and from the existing Dahabshiil branches, including Mogadishu, Hargeisa, Bosaso and Burao.
BBC Monitoring International Reports, September 13, 2003/Source: The Somaliland Times web site, Hargeysa, in English 7 Sep 03 ) BBC Monitoring
SOMALILAND WEEKLY ACCUSES BBC SOMALI SERVICE OF BIASED REPORTING
Text of editorial entitled "The BBC Somali Service's biased reporting on Somaliland" published in English by Somali newspaper The Somaliland Times web site on 7 September
Under the stewardship of Yusuf Garad, the BBC Somali service's reporting on Somaliland has become so biased it prompted the doyen of Somali studies, I.M. Lewis, to dub it the "Arta faction mouth piece."
About four years ago when Yusuf Garad was named the editor of the BBC Somali Service, he became the first Somali to hold such a position.
Unfortunately, since the commencement of preparations for the Arta peace conference in early 2000 and the subsequent enthroning of Abdiqasim Salad (Hasan) as president of the now-defunct TNG (Transitional National Government), the Somali Service of the BBC seems to have departed from the BBC's standard policy of fair, objective and accurate reporting. Of particular concern is a pattern of omission and distortion of developments taking place in this country and the harshly anti-Somaliland fervour consistently emanating from the Somali Service broadcasts. Here are a few of the latest sins of omission and commission perpetrated by the BBC's Somaliland Service:
On 28 July, the International Crisis Group (ICG) issued one of the few serious reports ever written on Somali affairs since the downfall of Siyad Barre's dictatorship in 1991. A Somalilander living in London had informed the BBC's Somali Service as well Haatuf newspaper in Hargeysa about the ICG report. While a summary of the report was later published by Haatuf and its sister newspapers the Somaliland Times and Arabic Al-Haatef, the Somali Service with a much wider audience, has until now refrained from informing its listeners about the ICG report.
The report mainly dealt with the issue of democratization in Somaliland, including a critical review of the electoral processes that the country has witnessed recently. It also contained an extensive amount of analysis and commentary on social, political and security issues of deep concern to Somaliland and Somalia. Obviously, somebody within the Somali Service must have an interest in suppressing information on the peaceful progress made by the people of Somaliland towards democracy, and the growing understanding and sympathy among the international community for Somaliland's demands for recognition.
Moreover, the Somali Service still calls Abdiqasim Salad Hasan the president of the TNG as if Salad's term had not expired and the TNG did not cease to exist as of 13 August. Last Wednesday (3 September), Mr Yusuf Garad himself indulged in this habit of portraying Abdiqasim Salad Hasan as the head of a working government while he was being interviewed by the Somali Service on the occasion of his recent return from Mogadishu. By contrast, it is a taboo within the Somali Service to call Somaliland by its name without adding to it such terms as self-proclaimed or self-declared republic.
There is also the deafening silence of the BBC's Somali Service about human rights violations in Djibouti, (and) the huge areas of land expropriated by Abdiqasim Salad Hasan's clan militia in southern Somalia.
The BBC Somali Service has done great damage to the reputation of the BBC, and something must be done about it before it is too late.
SOMALIA: Interview with Abdirashid Duale, CEO of Dahab Shiil money transfer company
NAIROBI, 4 Sep 2003 (IRIN) - Dahab Shiil Group is the largest money transfer company in Somalia, with over 1,000 employees. After 11 September 2001, Somali money transfer companies came under international scrutiny and the biggest company Barakat was shut down after the US government accused it of links with terror groups - a charge vehemently denied by the company. Here Abdirashid M Duale, the CEO of Dahab Shiil, tells IRIN of some of the challenges facing the remittance business and his company in particular.
QUESTION: There have been accusations that Somali remittance companies are not transparent in their operations. How transparent is Dahab Shiil?
ANSWER: The whole process of Dahab Shiil money transfer and remittance is fully transparent. Every transaction is meticulously recorded at the point of collection as well as payment. Every sender is given a receipt and every recipient signs a payee-voucher.
So there is a paper as well as an electronic trail for each transfer. Our records are open to any concerned authority that wishes to peruse. We not only bear our allegiance to our clients but also obey the laws of the countries that we operate in. We have clear policies and modes of operation that are free of anomalies. All transactions go to our head office for checking, processing and authorisation. Dahab Shiil works within its communities, it knows its clients, and its agent knows the sender and the recipient.
Q: How wide is your reach in the Somali regions and in the Diaspora? For example can anyone send money to any place in Somalia, no matter how small?
A: Dahab Shiil has a large worldwide network. It has a representation of approximately 400 agents and branches in 34 countries around the world. It is represented in practically every country where there is a significant Somali community. About the amount of money sent, yes, anyone can send whatever amount he or she wishes to any part of the Horn of Africa and also receive it through Dahab Shiil.
Q: How many clients do you serve?
A: Well, when you speak of a client, the thought may be about the person sending the money. We at Dahab Shiil hold both the sender and the receiver as part of our network of clients. About the number of our clients, well at least every Somali in the Diaspora has engaged our services and the same can be said of the Somalis living in the Horn and East of Africa.
Q: How much money do you handle in an average year and what is the average transfer?
A: Over 90 percent of the transactions still consist of small amounts of less than $200 sent mainly from Europe and North America to support dependants or to help relatives and friends out of difficulties. These small amounts of transfers sent through us when added together amount to millions of dollars a year. However, a significant number of transactions relate to investments, commerce and social development projects initiated in the region of the Horn of Africa. For the Somali business sector, Dahab Shiil is their main gateway to the rest of the world.
Q: Barakaat was known for providing people with small loans to start businesses and served as a place to deposit money safely for a short term. Do you provide such services?
A: Dahab Shiil acts as a financial institution for a wide spectrum of the Somali society, whether individuals, enterprises or international organisations and provides a range of services to its clients, including small loans. It also facilitates international payments for imports. As people trust Dahab Shiil with their money, it serves as a conduit for investment funds, and hence plays a major role in the development of the country. Dahab Shiil works with United Nations agencies as well as other international organisations in the region, facilitating their development and humanitarian projects.
Q: Given the fact that money transfer companies, likes yours, are under great deal of pressure since September 11, do you have any plans to set up a bank in the future?
A: We are already existing as a bank in Southern Somalia where we are offering all the services of an ordinary bank and we are currently negotiating with the authorities in Somaliland towards achieving the same. Our vision is to become the first fully-fledged Somali Commercial Bank that works in partnership with foreign banks. Dahab Shiil recently acquired a licensed foreign exchange in Dubai and Djibouti, which will make it possible for Dahab Shiil to access international banking services including the use of the standard swift code.
Q: What has been your greatest challenge since September 11?
A: The events of September 11 have had an enormous impact on the financial services sector. These difficulties are not unique to Somali remittance companies but have affected all money transfer businesses throughout the world. Before this date there was little regulation governing remittance, and neither law enforcement agents nor legislators paid much attention to it. After September 11, it suddenly caught international attention and became the focus of the media and governments. Rules and regulations were rushed through houses of parliament and government departments. In a very short time we found ourselves faced with a host of guidelines and laws to follow and comply with.
In response we embarked on a campaign to apply for and register our operations with concerned authorities in all the countries where we are represented. Secondly, we trained staff on rules and procedures, and thirdly we published guidelines for our agents on how to detect suspicious transactions and report them.
In addition, Dahab Shiil will soon introduce propriety software that will make it possible for all its agents to provide near real time transfers of funds and make reporting requirements mandatory. The new software program will incorporate a “lookout list” published by international authorities.
Some of the challenges we face can only be addressed either by a recognised Somali authority or international agencies concerned about the welfare of the Somali people. The European Union and United Nations Development Programme have made great efforts in the last two years to study and understand the issues facing Somali remittances. But the sector has still some way to go to fully realise its potential, and needs technical and political support from the international community.
Q: How does Somali society benefit from your operation?
A: The Somali money transfer sector has expanded and has come a long way in a relatively short time. It enabled the Somali community to survive on its own and today it is a lifeline service on which the livelihood of millions of Somalis depends. The importance of this service cannot be over-estimated. Remittances from the Diaspora save lives daily. One can say without much argument, that without remittances coming from abroad many people would not have survived the prevailing poverty conditions and the huge unemployment.
Without it the figures for asylum seekers migrating to Europe and North America would have steeply risen as the poverty-stricken community, with no meaningful sources of livelihood, migrated for “better lives” abroad. Investment and reconstruction would have been much more difficult. Remittances also play an instrumental role in the peace-building that has taken place in many Somali communities and the international community would have been asked to provide much more financial assistance than it currently provides.