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).
Mr. Issa Yusuf Mohamed (Hamari). former Chairman of National Elections Commission
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.
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.
Letter from President Bihi to Abu Dhabi Fund for Development on the Project Implementation Unit.
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.
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.
We warmly welcome President @musebiihi's appointment of Amb. Mohamed Omar Hagi Mohamoud as the #Somaliland representative to #Taiwan. A political scientist & senior diplomat, @mohamed_hagi will make a fine addition to the country's diplomatic corps. pic.twitter.com/tEaLN2DX8v
— 外交部 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) 🇹🇼 (@MOFA_Taiwan) July 4, 2020
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.
Yesterday, we saw the CCP end one country, two systems. We must ensure Taiwan never falls to the same fate. My bill with @HawleyMO helps ensure the US military has the capabilities and resources it needs to block a CCP invasion of Taiwan. https://t.co/q8A19S5OBc
— Rep. Mike Gallagher (@RepGallagher) July 1, 2020
As co-chair of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, I am alarmed by China’s ongoing aggression in the region. I will continue to support the right of people everywhere to have a voice in their government and oppose attempts by China to silence these voices.
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.
Chinese Ambassador in Somalia Mr. Qin Jian with President Farmajo
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.
The Regional District Court of Awdal Somaliland has sentenced a 22-year-old man to death by a firing squad on July 1st for the rape and murder of an underage girl in Lughaya in the east of the country.
Mr. Abdi Saeed Mussa, a 22-year-old man from Lughaya was convicted of the heinous crime of raping and murdering Shukri Hussein earlier this year. Mr. Mousa was apprehended by Somaliland Police in February this year and has been awaiting trial.
The death sentence of Mr. Mussa was welcomed by relatives of the victim and community activists and urged the government to pass the pending rape law.
There is an active investigation of another alleged rape case involving a minor in Hargeisa orphanage, according to sources, there are a number of suspects in Somaliland police custody.
The murder and rape of Shukri have shocked the community in Somaliland and particularly the small town of Lug-haya near Somaliland’s border with Djibouti.
It is unclear if the convicted man will appeal and when the death sentence will be carried out. Somaliland has executed 6 inmates convicted of murder earlier this year.
According to sources briefed on the matter, the President of the Republic of Somaliland HE Muse Bihi Abdi appointed a Representative to the Republic of China more commonly known as Taiwan.
The relationship between Somaliland and Taiwan has been developing for some time and includes high-level visits from Taiwanese government delegation and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation paying a visit to the East Asian nation.
Sources add that that the Taiwanese government has established presence in Somaliland earlier this year and is closely collaborating a number of ministries on capacity building and other technical areas.
Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps who has previously sent a large contingent of medical professionals to Somaliland has sent the largest and valuable COVID-19 medical supplies to Somaliland on Sunday.
— Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps /台灣路竹醫療和平會 (@TRMPCGlobal) June 29, 2020
Despite Taiwan’s unrecognized status, it enjoys a very strong relationship with the United States of America. Multiple US laws including the Taiwan Relations Act of 1976 and the more recent TAIPEI act show Taiwan’s importance to the US.
It is unclear why Somaliland government has kept this important relationship under wraps for this long but officials who did not want to be named for discussing a sensitive subject stressed the significance of a Somaliland – Taiwan relationship and indicated that Somaliland is working with many nations around the world but prefers quiet diplomacy.
The People’s Republic of China who has become a major player in Africa in terms of direct development projects has no relationship with the Republic of Somaliland.
Although the new Representative’s identity is not yet confirmed, sources tell Somaliland Chronicle it is a current member of Somaliland’s Foreign Affairs team.
It is unclear an expected reshuffle by President Bihi will make significant changes to his government especially to the Foreign Services team or if the new Representative to Taiwan will be announced in these upcoming changes.
Efforts to reach the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hon. Yasin Hagi Mohamoud Hiir (Faratoon) for confirmation on the appointment were unsuccessful.
The Ministry of Education and Science has administered the high school final examination to more than 11,000 students in 199 locations throughout Somaliland in one day. According to a statement from the Ministry posted on social media, Minister Ahmed Mohamed Diriye Egeh kicked off the countrywide exams from Lasanod in Sool region.
The Ministry has dispatched other high ranking officials from the Ministry including the Director-General Mr. Ahmed Abokor to other regions to kick off the countrywide exam activities.
The exam date was announced back in May where the ministry stated that due to COVID-19 only high school students will attend the final exam on a condensed one day schedule. Sources from the Ministry of Education who did not want to speak on the record confirm to Somaliland Chronicle that students will be complete exams for all 10 subjects in one sitting.
Prior to COVID-19 pandemic, high school exams were conducted over a day period of one week. It is unclear the compounding effect of distance learning and the condensed exam schedule will affect student’s performance for the 2019 – 2020.
8th-grade students have been exempted from the exam due to COVID-19 and the logistics involved in distancing students and the shortage that would cause in exam locations. According to the ministry, their grades will be based on their 7th-grade exam performance.
Minister Diriye who has appointed by President Bihi in December 2019 has made significant structural changes to his portfolio although he has recently reappointed his predecessor and others as advisors despite their removal for incompetency and allegation of widespread corruption.
For the third time in its 30 years existence, Somaliland has once more restarted talks with Somalia this time with an inexplicable urgency and following a now apparent behind the curtain talks between Somaliland and Somalia leadership. Boom – President Bihi is all of a sudden flying off to Djibouti to sit across from Farmajo with the world listening. At least that is how the talks were supposed to be different this time around.
Off to a good start, President Bihi gave a speech about how Somaliland came to be. The bloodshed that its people suffered under the brutal Siad Barre dictator. The public was giving a collective standing ovation to the team and how well the talks are going so far, but then a string of conflicting and confusing messages that the negotiations have broken down streamed from Djibouti. An impasse and Somaliland’s delegation may be coming home.
The public is ecstatic that the team led by President Bihi is so fierce that they will walk away from the negotiating table, but in reality, the talks were still pressing on despite members of the delegation telling the media that the negotiations have hit a dead end. The emotional roller-coaster continues.
When it was all over, a statement issued from Djibouti with the words “between the two countries” was the latest catnip the public was gorging on before they lined the streets of the capital to get a glimpse of the hero who made it all happen perched on top of a Land Cruiser with his fist raised to the heavens.
President Bihi returned to a hero’s welcome from Djibouti summit
Unfortunately, the festive environment was not meant to last as the mood was immediately dampened by a word semantics in the form of competing versions of the communique but the real issues lie in the meeting’s essence and its central themes to which the two parties agreed upon. Whiplash!
Despite President Bihi’s speech which was the most memorable among the other speakers at the summit and completely overshadowed meek Farmajo whose remarks were just an elongated “thank you” to Abiy Ahmed, the Somaliland delegation made the biggest fumble by not insisting on having the issue of separation of the two countries as a central theme of the negotiation.
So now that we made you relive the emotional roller-coaster from the summit, we want to bring your attention to a central question that no one seems to be asking or answering: What exactly did Somaliland gain from the summit? Nothing, but it has lost even more ground for the fight to disentangle itself from Somalia.
Why “Free Movement of People” is bad for Somaliland?
It is a security disaster in the making
One of the articles that Somaliland agreed to at the summit is the free movement of people between Somaliland and Somalia, an issue raised by the Somalia delegation and incidentally one of the items that almost caused the talks to collapse.
Article 2 of the agreement between Somaliland and Somalia.
Subsequent communiqués have gotten the public riled up on this particular item and the government has been unsuccessful in explaining how a potential mass migration from Somalia could benefit them.
The Somaliland government’s principal argument is that “people have always moved freely between the two countries before” and that it is nothing new. In that case, why is freedom of movement so important to the Somalia delegation?
On Independence day occasion President Bihi weighed in to swing back the public opinion about the summit and the free movement issue and added even more confusion stating that visas will be required for groups such as football teams and doubling down on the weak argument that people always moved freely between the two countries.
While everyone is focused on high profile personalities, football clubs, artists, and singers visiting Somaliland, an a critical aspect of the movement that seems to be glossed over by all is the security implication mass migration from Somalia will have on Somaliland, especially the ordinary people.
What made it difficult for terrorist groups such as Al-Shabaab from Somalia to infiltrate and take root in Somaliland is the fact that it is hard to blend in with Somaliland society and to a large extent, the public has helped to assist law enforcement in identifying terror suspects.
Comparatively, Al-Shabaab has been very successful in embedding itself in every aspect of life in Somalia and free movement provides them ample opportunity to position assets in Somaliland to not only attack targets inside Somaliland but Ethiopia which they see as an archenemy and Djibouti, home of America’s largest military base in Africa.
With Somaliland acting as a buffer, both countries have been safe from large-scale terrorist attacks. The freedom of movement between Somaliland and Somalia is very harmful to their security.
Expansion at Berbera Port by DP World
Berbera Port managed by DP World and multiple daily flights from Somaliland also represents viable targets to Al-Shabaab that could set Somaliland back decades in terms of development and reputation as a secure and peaceful nation.
Do Somaliland’s security services and intelligence have the technical capability to track and monitor hundreds of terror suspects simultaneously? Or could they trust NISA with its known ties to Al-Shabaab to share intel and help vet suspects? No matter how rife the Somali government is with a terrorist infestation, Somaliland will have no choice but to collaborate with it on security matters.
Mass migration between Somaliland and Somalia does not mean all Somalis coming across are terrorists, but what it does is create a golden opportunity for Al-Shabaab to gain even more fertile ground to bring more carnage and have easier access to attack Ethiopia and Djibouti.
Ambassador Yamamoto with Head of US Africa Command General Townsend in Mogadishu
In every previous round of negotiation with Somalia, Somaliland lost something precious such as its airspace, but this time it is about to lose its peace and security as a result of allowing unfettered and uncontrolled mass migration with Somalia.
Somaliland gains nothing from an unfettered and uncontrolled mass migration or integration with Somalia and what President Bihi and the Somaliland delegation have agreed to are potentially the most destabilizing factor to Somaliland’s and the peace and security of the entire region.
Hubris and lack of excellent advisors are President Bihi’s Achilles heel. He may have just opened the gates of hell.
Somaliland Chronicle is responsible for the content of this editorial.
Somaliland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hon. Yasin Hagi Mohamoud Hiir (Faratoon) has falsely characterized the Somaliland airspace co-management as a simple clerical error contradicting article 5 of the agreement he signed on behalf of Somaliland in Djibouti.
Minister Faratoon was speaking to the media following an uproar on the latest communiqué issued by Djibouti on the summit between Somaliland and Somalia.
Article 5 of the agreement between Somaliland and Somalia.
The fifth article of the agreement signed between the two countries at the summit only refers to Somaliland’s airspace and not the entire airspace of Somaliland and Somalia or what was previously known as the Somali Republic.
Mr. Farhan Aden Haybe. Current Chairman of the Civil Service Commission and former Aviation Minister
Somaliland’s previous Ministers of Aviation Mohamoud Hashi and Mr. Farhan Haybe have given conflicting statements on what was agreed up on with Somalia on previous rounds of talks between the two countries.
It is unclear if either minister have officially contested transfer of airspace control to Somalia by ICAO.
Despite public enthusiasm and President Bihi’s return to a hero’s welcome from the meeting, public opinion in Somaliland on the talks with Somalia have soured with the emergence of the latest version of the communiqué. So far, the actual agreement between the two countries have not been publicly disclosed by either Somaliland or Somalia governments.
According to diplomatic sources in Djibouti, the United States Ambassador is pressing Somaliland to accept the unresolved issue involving free movement of people between the two countries. A point, Somaliland delegation did not accept at the summit.
Sources add that the United States Ambassador Donald Yamamoto has contacted the President of Somaliland HE Muse Bihi Abdi to accept the insertion of a murky article about free movement of people between the countries including Somaliland politicians currently based in Mogadishu. Sources indicate that President Bihi has outright rejected the suggested language.
A Communiqué released by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Djibouti has a compromised version of the language that allows movement of people for non-political reasons. It is not yet entirely clear if the Somali Federal Government or Ambassador Yamamoto will accept it.
The language in the new Communiqué states “The two sides also agreed not to impede non-political social engagement (cultural, academic, sports and trade) in order to promote peace and dialogue between Somalia and Somaliland.”
Below is the full Communiqué released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Djibouti who hosted the latest talks between Somaliland and Somalia.
