The Tale of Two Cities: Halane Compound vs Mogadishu
Facing the Indian Ocean, a beautiful beachfront Halane Compound houses foreign dignitaries and their embassy staff members, over 300 NGOs, contractors, and AMISOM mission representatives in Somalia. The fortified Halane Compound tenants and the city of Mogadishu dwellers live in parallel universes. One secure and luxurious with all necessary amenities, including hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues and resorts, and the other of misery and sufferings of massive scale – the capital city, Mogadishu. The mission of these multinational entities overlap and at times they are funded over similar projects from different donors with no accountability.
Mogadishu was under a lockdown order before the Coronavirus outbreak. It is a city under siege. When the Somali Federal government failed to secure the peace and was unable to defeat the Al- Shabab insurgence, they decided to lock down the city and they barricaded themselves inside the Villa Somalia compound. Consequently, due to this, blockage businesses suffered and as a result, some of them were forced to close. The few that survive, struggle to pay customs duties and sales taxes to the government and to the terrorist group.
Somalia is approximately 178,218 square miles of mostly plain and accessible terrain, yet a military force of over twenty-thousand strong from the six African nations plus the Somali national army, fully mechanized with strong support from air and sea, could not defeat a group of approximately 3,000 poorly armed insurgents. One wonders why such a military force with disproportionately superior capability could not defeat and dismantle a weak terrorist militia.
Somalia receives assistance from many African and European countries to train their military and police force. This cross-continental trainings at times cause the breakdown of unit cohesiveness and command difficulties. Hence, the occasional confrontation among Somali military units themselves with major casualties. This behavior makes it very difficult to carry combat missions when there are underlying disciplinary concerns within a platoon.
It has been thirty years since the collapse of the military regime of Siad Barre. Unfortunately, Somalia did not recover from the ruins and destructions of the past thirty years. Although there is a provisional constitution and established regional states under the central government, the current regime of Fermajo undermined the rule of law. He undermined the constitutional rights of the regional states to hold independent local elections by forcing them to elect hand-picked loyal heads of states. He imposed economic sanctions to member regional states and treated them as foreign adversaries by withholding the allotted funds from international donors states and organizations.
Contrary, to the chaos from neighboring Somalia, Somaliland maintained stability and peace within its borders after reclaiming its independence from Somalia after a failed union in 1960. Somaliland held five presidential elections by one-man-one-vote. Recently, Somaliland stepped up its recognition campaign efforts and it has gained momentum as the Somaliland name echoed around the globe including superpower nations of the United States and China when Somaliland established diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The United States hailed the new Somaliland-Taiwan agreement. Several African countries including Gambia, Kenya, Guinea Conakry showed a renewed interest in discussing and promoting Somaliland agenda. Most recently UAE recognized the Somaliland passport. The new aggressive foreign policy is very promising, and in a very short time, it has yielded tangible and concrete results.
About the Author:
Mohamed Adan Samatar is a Former State of Arizona Government Management and holds BSc, MS Agriculture. He can be reached adan.samatar01[@]gmail.com
Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints of Somaliland Chronicle, and its staff.
Notice: This article by Somaliland Chronicle is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Under this license, all reprints and non-commercial distribution of this work is permitted.
Breaking – Egyptian Government Delegation Visits Somaliland
According to sources, an Egyptian government delegation visited Somaliland on July 12 for a series of high-level meetings with members of Somaliland government on bilateral ties and cooperation between the two countries.
Sources indicate that members of the delegation whose visit lasted two days have participated in a series of high-level meetings with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development. It is unclear if President of the Republic of Somaliland HE Muse Bihi Abdi met the Egyptian delegation.
According to a member of Somaliland government who spoke on strict condition of anonymity, the meeting was initiated at the highest level from Cairo, who are taking a closer look at the strategic region on the heels of newly established diplomatic ties between Somaliland and Taiwan.
Sources add that the Ethiopian government has lodged a formal protest with Somaliland within hours of the Egyptian delegation’s arrival in Hargeisa.
Although there has been previous high-level contact between Somaliland and Egypt, the latest visit from the Egyptian delegation to Somaliland comes at a time of heightened tension between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
The Djibouti near miss and the new Taiwan connection
On 14th June 2020 Somaliland and Somalia met in Djibouti for a four-day summit. The summit, the first serious one since the two sides started talking in 2012 in London, stirred up so much social media frenzy about its gamut and about whose initiative it was to bring the two sides together. The Americans, the Ethiopians and the Djiboutians were quickly identified as the midwives. But why this trio?
Somalilanders are forever suspicious of outsider motives ––and for a good reason. Not only that foreign intervention seldom brings fortune, but also the fact that states by definition look after their own interest does not sit well with missionaries repudiating Somalilanders. Wild speculations have it that each of the trio was chasing their own interest. For the American Ambassador Donald Yamamoto, the talks offered an opportunity to enhance diplomatic ambitions and for his country to strengthen her foothold in the Horn. For the ambitious Ethiopian young prime minister Abiy Ahmed, inspired by his recent bagging of Nobel Prize, to double his accolades by becoming the one who succeeded in bringing Hargeisa and Mogadishu back together again and to bolster his country’s economic ambitions. For the Djiboutian strong man, Ismail O. Guelleh, struggling with a local uprising against his aging regime, the talks offered an opportunity to remain politically relevant; for the outgoing Somalia’s Mohamed Abdillahi Mohamed (Farmaajo) a chance to use these talks to extend his tenure and probably win a second term in the next presidential selection and; for Somaliland’s Muse Bihi Abdi (MBA) a chance to flex his muscles. In short, the summit took place in the midst of these intriguingly competing interests.
Speculations aside, the reality is that since Somalia came under the leadership of Farmaajo, interest for the talks simply dried up. Farmaajo tried to achieve his country’s mission of bringing Hargeisa back under Mogadishu rule by reversing all earlier agreements thereby reducing Somaliland to a regional entity and by pursuing a policy of unsettling community relations in Somaliland. His move may not be entirely new. Propped up with international handouts and kept alive by foreign forces, his country, has always been failingly wishing to dictate the terms of the talks and to subjugate Somaliland into submission. One may remember Somalia’s Minister of Planning, Investment and Economic Development writing to international donors instructing them to cease special arrangements with Somaliland and the Somalian parliament trying to block a rare DP World investment opportunity in the Berbera seaport.
However, pressure from the trio has arguably this time forced Somalia’s Farmaajo to agree plodding to the table, but like his predecessors, serious about it was he not or worst yet prepared. He attended with an empty portfolio, pretending to worry about the people of Somaliland and drawing on the “Somalinnimo” narratives he started in his short stilted talk to preach MBA of the benefits of reunification but wasted much of his slot thanking “brother Ismail O. Geulleh” for bringing together “Somali brothers to work out their differences”.
Despite apparent frivolousness of the talks, Somaliland too turned up, but did so with intent. An incentive for the move was that the international convenors auspicing the loggerhead would tame if Somalia does not play by the rules. Critics in Somaliland remained skeptical of the expediency of the rendezvous, but things changed though when MBA delivered a stellar speech laying out the incontestable legal, historical and institutional grounds for Somaliland’s sovereignty. Explaining how the two sides got where they are now, MBA rested on the illegality of the defunct union, leaned on the genocidal acts against the people of Somaliland, on the ongoing sabotage of economic recovery, on the politicisation of humanitarian assistance and sped off by listing the catalogue of unfulfilled promises Somalia made since 2012 in a speech he enjoyed delivering and then left the judgment to the conveners.
The summit offered Somaliland an opportunity to open up for discussion the 1960 dubious failed union, a subject Somalia has forever been eschewing. Farmaajo’s team was already on the back foot, but the knot tightened further on his men for lacklustre attitude towards the talks when in an apparent attempt to derail the proceedings of the talks, they tabled trivial points undermining Somaliland’s sovereignty and the summit almost collapsed. It was a deadlock to be rescued by Djibouti at the eleventh hour to save face for everyone, well except for Somaliland.
The organisers may have planned to pave the way for eventually a favourable outcome for Somalia, but it was Somaliland, capitalising on the opportunity, that has, piercing into their psyche of the convenors with undisputed history, has turned a new page. Nodding and note taking American Ambassador under the tutorship of Dr Edna Adam fed the pedant populations of Somaliland with much-needed pride. The contrasting photos of the Somalian delegate returning home under the cover of darkness and Somaliland’s delegate receiving a hero welcome in broad daylight speaks volumes. As former Somaliland Vice President Ahmed Yussuf Yasin has tellingly observed the welcoming crowd braving the Covid-19 risks were sending multiple messages to their president, to the leaders of Somalia, Djibouti, and Ethiopia and to the Americans and beyond: to show the world that MBA only represents them in a two-state solution scenario and to express their unwavering support for anyone championing their aspirations.
President MBA showed in his speech so much charisma that made President Farmaajo look so sloppy that Somaliweyn pundits struggled to hide their frustration with the ineptness of “Somalinnimo” sentiments. Some even went so far as to suggest the summit was not meant to bring the two sides closer but to humiliate the very Somaliweyn ideal.
However, there were blind alleys to the talks. Suspicion arose when a few days later, Djibouti had unconventionally issued a ghost communique suggesting that Somaliland had, in the end, agreed on two very contentious points, one pertaining to cultural exchange with Somalia and the other to co-management of the Somaliland airspace. The suspicion was further inflamed when Somaliland’s Foreign Minister, Yasin Haji Mohamoud, suggested the communique contained a misprint, Edna Adam tried to play it down, but MBA alluded to Somaliland making a concession on the contentious cultural exchange point but with attached conditions.
The president took the risk of taking off the edge of his rising popularity when he tried to explain away the mess that it was a question of semantics. Much to the relief of anxious Somalilanders, the confusion was cleared following the announcement of Somaliland exchanging diplomatic missions with the China Republic of Taiwan. With the news that Somaliland has indeed turned the page, Farmaajo wasted no time. He immediately summoned the mainland Chinese Ambassador in Mogadishu to his fortified office. According to his office’s communique the two discussed the territorial integrity of their countries being infringed by Taiwan and Somaliland. To the talk’s critics, Farmaajo’s move was nothing but a knee jerk reaction indicating Somalia was not seeking a dialogue but control over Somaliland and wanted the trio (now plus the Chinese) to help her rescue her shipwrecked expansionist agenda. In any case, the new Taiwan connection has certainly dispelled any pretensions that under the sway of the summit Somaliland’s resolve may have weakened. The nodding and note-taking Americans are now suddenly welcoming the new Taipei-Hargeisa connection.
About the Authors:
Mohamed Obsiye, Ph.D. is a freelance researcher with a keen interest in the nexus of ethnicity, nationalism and nation-state building. He can be reached mobsiye78[at]hotmail.com. Mr. Obsiye’s previous articles include The Carnage of Heritage in Djibouti.
Hussein Abdillahi, Ph.D. is a former senior consultant to the Ministry of Agricultural Development in Somaliland and formerly an exiled dissident and can be reached habdillahi[@]gmail.com
Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints of Somaliland Chronicle, and its staff.
Notice: This article by Somaliland Chronicle is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Under this license, all reprints and non-commercial distribution of this work is permitted.
White House National Security Council welcomes Taiwan’s Engagement in East Africa
In the clearest indication of its interest in Somaliland and Taiwan’s newly established diplomatic relationship, the White House’s National Security Council welcomed Taiwan’s engagement in East Africa.
The bilateral ties between Somaliland and Taiwan have been underway for some time and were made public on July 1st with the announcement of previously undisclosed high-level visits and appointment of representatives.
Although many US policymakers are keenly following the news of the bilateral ties between Somaliland and Taiwan, the announcement from the National Security Council indicates the White House’s interest in East Africa and Somaliland in particular.
Somaliland government rejected China’s effort to prevent the rapprochement between Somaliland and Taiwan. China and Somalia have announced their strong opposition to the diplomatic relationship between Somaliland and Taiwan.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian accused Taiwan of “undermining Somali sovereignty and territorial integrity.” and added, “China firmly opposes Taiwan and Somaliland establishing an official agency or having any form of official exchanges,”.
United States Embassy in Mogadishu has been a strong supporter of Somalia’s Federal Government who has sided with China in its opposition to Taiwan’s bilateral ties with Somaliland. It is unclear if the Embassy will follow suit of the White House and support Taiwan’s arrival in East Africa.
Taiwan is an important strategic ally of the United States and its engagement with Somaliland aligns with the US’s Africa Policy to push back Chinese expansion in Africa.
Breaking – Recently Appointed Project Manager of Berbera Corridor Resigns
According to sources close to the Berbera Corridor, the Project Manager appointed on June 3rd by President Bihi Engineer Mahamoud Abdi Mohamed (Dhuudhi) has resigned.
Sources add that Engineer Mohamed’s resignation is due to disagreement with the Minister of Transport and Road Development Hon. Abdillahi Omar Abokor who wanted the newly appointed team to report to him.
The complaint of interference from Minister Abokor reached the President along with an offer to resign. President Bihi has accepted Mr. Mohamed’s resignation and may replace him with the former National Election Commission Chairman Mr. Issa Yusuf Mohamed (Hamari).
Minister Abokor whose core portfolio includes the Road Development Authority and is in charge of Somaliland’s road network has been excluded from the Project Implementation Unit appointed by President Bihi on just a month ago as reported by Geeska newspaper.
The President’s letter to Abu Dhabi Fund for Development about the formation of the Berbera Corridor Project Implementation Unit did not mention a role for the Ministry of Transport and Road Development, instead, it stated that the team will report directly to the President.
According to sources, President Bihi is reportedly unhappy with the progress of Berbera Corridor’s progress where only 12 kilometers have been completed since the project started a year ago.
Traffic fatalities remain a major public health hazard in Somaliland where according to Minister Abokor over 200 people died last year in traffic-related accidents. Today, 9 fatalities have been reported in multiple accidents in Somaliland, one of which claimed the life of a Police Captain.
Questions to the Ministry of Transportation and Road Development and the Presidency for clarification and progress of Berbera Corridor were unanswered.
Ministry of Transportation Unveils Vehicle Safety Inspection Facilities in Somaliland
In an effort to reduce traffic-related fatalities in Somaliland, the Ministry of Transportation and Road Development unveiled vehicle inspection facilities throughout Somaliland.
The unveiling ceremony was attended by the Vice President of the Republic of Somaliland HE Abdirahman Abdallahi Ismail Saylici, the Minister of Transportation and Road Development Hon. Abdillahi Osman Abokor, the Minister of Investments Hon. Minister of Investment Mohamed Ahmed Mohamoud (Awad) and the Minister of Information and National Guidance Hon. Saleban Ali Kore.
According to Minister Abokor, the vehicle inspection facilities are part of the ministry’s strategic plan and vehicle safety has been identified as a major contributing factor to high traffic fatalities in Somaliland. The Minister compared COVID-19 fatalities in Somaliland which he said were below 50 to over 200 traffic-related deaths in Somaliland.
Minister Abokor explained that contracts have been awarded to six privately-owned companies to run these facilities and praised them for investing 250,000 dollars minimum to these operations up and running and added the inspection itself won’t help them recoup their investment but vehicle servicing will and that he hopes they add vehicle maintenance service to their offering in the future.
The price for a non-commercial passenger vehicle will be $18 while commercial vehicles including trucks will be $40 according to Minister Abokor.
Vehicle inspection will focus on seven specific areas including braking, steering alignment, suspension systems, emissions, safety systems including the seatbelt, and other areas including turn signal indicators and windshield wipers.
The Minister of Transportation and Road Development Hon. Abdillahi Osman Abokor did address several areas critical aspects of vehicle safety such as airbags and if Somaliland’s inspection standard which he described as “homegrown” will ensure their functionality. The majority of vehicles imported in Somaliland do not have airbags.
In addition to airbags, the majority of vehicles in Somaliland are right-handed vehicles driven on left-handed roads. It is unclear if the ministry has future plans to address the importation of these vehicles or change the road to enhance safety.
There are currently no signs on Somaliland’s poor road infrastructure and it is unclear if at some point the ministry plans to address the issue.
Minister Abokor whose core portfolio includes the Road Development Authority and is in charge of Somaliland’s road network has been excluded from a new Project Implementation Unit nominated by President Muse Bihi Abdi to manage Berbera Corridor highway development and report directly to him.
According to sources, President Bihi is reportedly unhappy with the progress of Berbera Corridor’s progress where only 12 kilometers have been completed since the project started a year ago.
The Ministry of Transportation and Road Development announced many ambitious projects in the past including the installation of GPS tracking devices on all government vehicles speed limiters on all commercial vehicles throughout the country. It is unclear if either project has been fully implemented.
Among the speakers was the Minister of Investments Mohamed Ahmed Mohamoud (Awad) who eluded to having a role in making these inspection facilities setup since he is in charge of both foreign and investment by Somalilanders.
There are a number of questionable investments announced by the Ministry of Investment since its inception when President Bihi has taken office.
Efforts to get clarification from the Ministry of Transportation and Road Development including the enforcement portion of the vehicle safety inspection and the impact of debilitated roads on traffic safety were unanswered.
Breaking – Somaliland rebuffed a Chinese Government offer to prevent a diplomatic relationship with Taiwan
According to multiple sources, the Chinese Ambassador in Somalia Mr. Qin Jian visited the Republic of Somaliland twice to try to convince the Somaliland government to cease its activities with Taiwan.
The first visit was shortly after a delegation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation returned from a trip to Taiwan earlier this year and a more recent trip.
The Chinese Ambassador in Somalia Mr. Qin Jian met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hon. Yasin Hagi Mohamoud Hiir (Faratoon) and President Muse Bihi Abdi to discuss the People’s Republic of China’s offer to Somaliland and ongoing work on establishing diplomatic relations between Somaliland and Taiwan.
Sources state that the Ambassador and another official from the Chinese Embassy in Mogadishu offered to open a Chinese Liaison Office in Hargeisa if Somaliland halts all activities with Taiwan.
The Chinese Ambassador spoke at length of the People’s Republic of China’s view towards territorial integrity as it relates to Taiwan before he presented the offer to open an office in Hargeisa.
For his part, Minister Faratoon told the Chinese delegation that Somaliland welcomes all nations including China but declined the request to stop working with Taiwan.
President Bihi who was briefed on the Chinese offer met the delegation briefly the following day. According to sources at the meeting, President Bihi rejected the offer of a Chinese Liaison Office in Hargeisa.
Minister Faratoon confirmed the visit by the Chinese Ambassador and the meeting with him and President Bihi.
On July 1st, Somaliland and Taiwan governments have announced formal diplomatic relations between the two countries and exchanged representatives.
There is strong bipartisan support for Taiwan in the United States Congress and the US government considers it a vital strategic partner and there are legislations in congress to re-establish Mutual Defense Pact to protect Taiwan against a Chinese invasion. The United States Embassy in Somalia, based in Nairobi had no comment on the newly announced diplomatic relationship between Somaliland and Taiwan.
After a meeting between the President of Somalia and the Chinese Ambassador Mr. Jian, today in Mogadishu, Villa Somalia released a statement to denouncing Taiwan’s establishment of diplomatic relations with Somaliland as a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
It is unclear if Somalia will take action against Taiwan or is aware of the Chinese government’s offer to Somaliland to establish a Liaison Office or if Mr. Qin Jian discussed his meeting with Somaliland Government with President Farmaajo.
