The Chairmen of the two opposition parties of Somaliland Mr. Abdirahman Abdillahi Cirro and Mr. Faysal Ali Waraabe, flanked by other party officials held a press conference today in Hargeisa.
In their press conference, Mr. Warabe and Cirro both stated that the President of the Republic of Somaliland His Excellency Muse Bihi Abdi has embarked on a dictatorial path and has refused to consult the opposition parties on range of issues and called for an early Presidential elections to be held on 2020.
Although both chairman spoke at length of the President’s recent trip to Addis Ababa during the African Union Summit and the purported visit by the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Mr. Abiy Ahmed and the President of Somalia Mr. Mohamed Abdillahi Farmajo to Hargeisa, Mr. Warabe spoke of a never heard before detail involving 30% of an 800 million dollar that was promised to President Bihi. He added that the President “tap dances” when he hears money.
The Chairman of the opposition party of UCID, Mr. Warabe called the President’s actions in meeting with Somalia treasonous although he did not elaborate exactly what the treasonous action the President took or share any evidence to that effect.
Back in July 2018, Mr. Warabe met with an uproar when he met with the President of Somalia, Mr. Mohamed Abdillahi Farmajo in Belgium.
The latest political chasm follows President Bihi’s annual address to join sessions of the congress where he announced a solution to end the political stalemate by opening up the political arena to other parties and ending the 10 year period that limited the number of parties to the existing three.
The Chairmen of the opposition parties of WADDANI and UCID did not explain the logistics of holding a Presidential election years before President Bihi’s term is up.
At the closing, Mr. Warabe repeated “I will cut off their rent payment, I will cut off their rent payment” possibly referring to something the President said regarding the public funding of the three parties and gave the President an ultimatum to come to the negotiating table by a certain date or that he will no longer be President and that he would not be able to collect taxes.
The existing parties, including the incumbent Kulmiye party receive public funding of 171,080,000 million Somaliland Shillings a month or roughly 240,000 US dollars annually.
According to sources at the Ministry of Information and National Guidance, the Minister Hon. Saleban Ali Kore and the Director General Mr. Mukhtar Mohamed Ali has been at odds on multiple issues at the ministry and the latest difference has spilled into the open in the form of a memo from the Minister.
Somaliland’s Minister of Information and National Guidance Hon. has issues a directive regarding the Ministry’s fuel spending and has instructed that hence forth, only Deputy Minister can approve all fuel related expenses.
It is unclear prompted the Minister to restrict the Director General’s ability to approve fuel spending but government records seen by Somaliland Chronicle and corroborated by sources at the Ministry show that the Ministry of Informational and National Guidance has spent more than 115,000 US Dollars on fuel, a much higher spending level than most other Ministries.
Ministry records are not clear enough to understand if the 115,000 US Dollars of fuel was on running the television, radio or was used for the ministry’s vehicles.
Since His Excellency President Muse Abdi’s visit to Addis Ababa during the African Union annual summit, Somalia has launched a massive misinformation campaign to frame his visit on the background of meeting with the Somali President Mohamed Abdillahi Farmajo.
Official response from Somaliland Government has taken days until President Bihi in his latest annual address to joint sessions of congress clarified the purpose of the visit and explained the sequence of events that led to the brief encounter with Somalia leader at the behest of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia.
Although the Ministry of Information and National Guidance has an array of media outlets including Somaliland National Television, Radio Hargeisa and multiple print and online newspapers, it has not been effective in countering the wave of misinformation from Somalia.
In fact, Horn Tribune, the English version of Dawan newspaper used a widely debunked fake photo of President Bihi shaking hands with Farmajo.
The Ministry of Information and National Guidance was rocked by corruption allegation and although criminal charges have filed against a former Minister and other high ranking officials, no was prosecuted.
Although the current Minister, Hon. Saleban Ali Kore was a member President Bihi’s original cabinet, he has been reassigned from the Ministry of Water Resources on December 2nd 2019.
On a warm mid-day in November 2019, around the public bazaar in my longitudinal research field town of Gebiley, 58km west of Hargeysa, the capital of Somaliland, I unexpectedly encountered with an old man who stood on a bench stoning a dead dog. A young boy nearby explained to me gently that the old man, his maternal uncle, had lost his mind after having witnessed a massacre around his house on one evening in 1989 at the height of the Hargeysa Holocaust when the genocidal regime adopted annihilation strategies (e.g. Africa Confidential 1988, 1989; Indian Ocean Newsletter 1988, 1989; Amnesty International 1989; Human Rights Watch 1990).
The old man was not directly related to the victims of the massacre who were all but Isaaq clan civilians (Isaaq being the predominant clan in Somaliland). They were caught of harbouring solidarity and sympathy with the largely Isaaq-dominated armed resistance front: The Somali National Movement (SNM). Gérard Prunier, who visited the SNM fighters around Zeila in 1989, reached an apt conclusion that they were ‘the Isaaq people up in arms’ (1990). For the genocidal regime, if the SNM forces were the hard target that could not be suppressed, the Isaaq civilians were the soft target that could be silenced.
The overall objective of the massacre was to instill fear in the psyche of the infuriated Isaaq men and women. The perpetrators were foot soldiers (levies) from southern Somalia, commanded largely by certain cruel clan commanders (the local people could identify who was whom). Some of these commanders are now living abroad, often with impunity, in places like Birmingham, London, Manchester, Minneapolis and Washington. One exception is Colonel Yusuf Ali Tuke of Fairfaix, Virginia, who was found guilty of war criminal activity.
How this specific massacre in Gebiley occurred was still fresh in the mind of the madman on that day . Once the massacre began, he recalled and recounted through his young nephew, the anxious cries of the Muslim shahada (the first pillar of Islam) could be heard from a faraway neighbourhood. At the end of the mass murder, the killing site was silent. In the next morning, dogs devoured the unburied bodies. Unable to stop thinking about what had happened, today the madman kept stoning dogs whenever and wherever he met them. Hapless and hopeless, he kept silent throughout the massacre. Thirty years later, he was still silent, expressing the memories of what he saw through silence and stoning.
Seen from an anthropological perspective, as social anthropologists would have it, stoning is an aggressive gesture divorcing the self from (un)seen devils, but silence forces the self to act in that unique way. Determined both by the setting, silence and stoning are substantial and surreal. It is with silence that the apparently irrational, yet deeply expressive act of stoning a dead dog by the madman can be fully understood.
In the talkative pastoral Somali culture, speech is highly-valued, often synonymous with authority and influence, whereas silence is frequently seen as a tacit (dis)approval of something mysteriously secret. In her ground-breaking study of silence as a significant strategy, the anthropologist Cheryl Glenn (2004) has revealed various methods in which tactical silence can be as expressive and strategic an instrument of people’s communication as powerful speech itself.
In 1989, the same year that the massacre happened in Gebiley, the poet Mohamoud Abdullahi Iise ‘Sangub’ composed a playwright named ‘waa maadeys adduunyadu, dadkuna wey metelayaan’ (the world is a stage and people merely players). Intentionally or unintentionally, Sangub borrowed the title of William Shakespeare’s 1599 comic ‘all the world is a stage and all the men and women merely players’.
Strikingly, Sangub included in his playwright a political song concealed as a love song to divert the attention of the censors from the genocidal regime. The song was sung by two female and one male singer. The latter, Mohamed Ahmed Dhabarlow, chanted: ‘Hadduu carrab, hadalka daayana cillado badan baa ku aasan’ (if a tongue stops talking, mysteries are buried underneath). Such mysteries resulted in a combination (or complication) of madness, memory and massacre.
In Somaliland, many people are silent today because of the massacres (part of the broader genocide in the 1980s) they had witnessed or lost family members. Like the madman, some are out of action, while others are in/of absence. In a recent research report entitled ‘Mental Health in Somaliland: A Critical Situation’, published by Bjpsych International in 2020, the London-based psychologist Fadumo Abdi Abdillahi, the Hargeysa-based Edna Adan Ismail and Warwick Professor Swaran P. Singh have painted dire psychiatric spaces where patients needed urgent care and cure.
The mental health condition of the madman, both a cause and a consequence of the genocidal regime, enables anthropologists, historians and political scientists to glimpse important elements of a specific contemporary silence – the one pertaining to the state terror of the genocidal regime and its excessive use of violence to deal with the anti-autocratic public uprising. The reflections and revelations of this history adds a fresh empirical data to the debates and discussions over what to do and not to do about the crimes committed (and continue to be committed) in the name of the Somali state in the present regime of Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo as well as in the past regime of Mohamed Siad Barre.
About the Author Mohamed Haji Ingiriis is a BA, Dip., MSc, MA, Ph.D. (DPhil) Candidate in Modern History, University of Oxford and Fellow at the LSE & the African Leadership Centre, King’s College London.
Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints of Somaliland Chronicle and it’s staff.
Somaliland Chronicle stands behind its original report and after legal consultation has decided to publish the Minister’s email with minor redaction on page 3.
Repeated efforts to reach the Minister were unsuccessful.
The President of the Republic of Somaliland His Excellency Muse Bihi Abdi has departed today from Egal Internal Airport heading to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
A statement from the President’s Spokesman Mr. Mahamoud Warsame Jama stated that the visit is similar to previous visits by President to neighboring countries and that the President will meet with African leaders in Addis but did not elaborate on the purpose on this previously undisclosed visit.
Mr. Jama added that Somaliland’s Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hon. Yasin Hagi Mohamoud Hiir (Faratoon) was already in Addis on diplomacy related matters.
According to Mr. Jama, the President’s delegation to Addis Ababa consists of the Ministers of Agricultural Development Hon. Ahmed Mumin Seed, the Minister of Livestock and Fisheries Development Hon. Saeed Sulub Mohamed, the Minister of Somaliland Minister Of Parliament Coordination And Constitutional Affairs Hon. Mohamed Haji Adan Elmi and President’s Economic Adviser Mr. Osman Sheikh Ahmed.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed received at his office today the President of the Somaliland Administration H.E. Muse Bihi Abdi and his delegation. The two parties discussed on a number of key issues of mutual interest.
It has been exactly two months since the President of Somaliland HE Muse Bihi Abdi reshuffled his cabinet and appointed Hon. Ahmed Mohamed Diriye Egeh the Minister of Education and Science.
Minister of Education and Science Hon. Ahmed Mohamed Diriye Egeh
In this relatively short period, Hon Egeh has uncovered a major discrepancy in the official staff headcount of the ministry, specifically in the number of employees were in the hand-off documents and those that were submitted by the ministry’s Administration and Finance and Human Resources departments for payroll.
Region/Office
Human Resources
Administration
Difference
%
Gabiley
500
558
58
10.4
Maroodi Jeex (West)
1,052
920
-132
-14.3
Togdheer
765
1,105
340
30.8
Headquarters
347
364
17
4.7
According to internal ministry memos detailing the conflicting staff headcount, which as high as 30.8% in the Togdheer region, the minister has halted payroll for all regions in question and the Ministry headquarters until his subordinates provide satisfactory answers for the discrepancy.
It is unclear why the ministry has three conflicting headcounts for its staff and why it was not noticed before the arrival of Hon Egeh just two months ago.
Although the Civil Service Commission has completed an official headcount of government workforce as part of a 10 million dollars World Bank-funded project, it has failed to address the minister’s basic question of how many staffers work at the Ministry of Education and Science.
Former Civil Service Commissioner Mr. Sharmarke Geele giving ghost worker list to former Ministry of Finance Minister Mr. Yusuf Mohamed Abdi
The Civil Service Commission has claimed to have purged some 1200 ghost workers from the government payroll at the end of the headcount project.
The internal memos show that the Minister may reach out to the Civil Service Commission and the Auditor General to help look into these issues.
Asked about their view of the Minister, an employee described him as “a personification of righteous retribution upon the corrupt in our ministry, they can’t fool him, he is exactly the right man for the job.”.
“He is attention to detail at his level is exceptional; he will pick out a needle in a haystack of numbers. He is just getting started.” Said a former coworker who worked with him at the Ministry of Planning and National Development.
The internal memos show the minister’s no-nonsense tone to get answers, and his detailed analysis of the current state of affairs shows a man with a knack for crunching numbers into early morning hours to make decisions, a rarity among the current crop of administration officials.
Former MoE Minister Mr.Osman Jama Adam
Former MoE Deputy Minister Mr. Mohamed Dahir
There has been an audit that was ordered by the President to look into an allegation of corruption at the Ministry of Education and Science before the arrival of the Hon. Egeh and although both the Minister and his Deputy were both replaced the audit findings were not made public.
MoE Director General Mr. Ahmed Abokor
The Director-General, Mr. Ahmed Abokor has also been implicated in corruption in the past while working for Save the Children on projects for the Ministry of Education and Science. According to sources, Mr. Abokor has been terminated by SCF as a result of those allegations.
Shortly after his termination from SCF, he was appointed as Director-General Ministry of Education and Science in former President Ahmed Mohamoud Silanyo’s administration and President Bihi has kept him on.
Mr. Abokor had a short stint at the Ministry of Investments and was part of a team that worked on a billion-dollar deal with a non-existent Chinese Bank but has since successfully lobbied the President for reassignment back to the Ministry of Education and Science.
As confirmation of an in-depth review of the Ministry’s operations and direction, on a separate memo, the minister has ordered the immediate halt to ongoing pilot registration of primary/intermediate students for the JPLG project for further review and clarification of objectives.
Although he is too new to evaluate, the Minister’s genuine desire to properly evaluate and bring about reform is on a collision course with entrenched interest and corruption and success depends on how much the President, who ran on an anti-corruption platform, will support his action.
Repeated attempt to speak with Hon Egeh about the staff discrepancy, payroll freeze, JPLG, and other reform items on his agenda has been unsuccessful.
In December 2019, a group of Russian military age males applied for visas in Djibouti’s Moscow Consulate on separate dates and on brand new passports. The same group of men arrived in Djibouti on the same day and applied for Somaliland visas.
Vladmir Babkov, Maksim Grishin, Anton Putekhov and Dmitry Shtanko travelled to Djibouti and immediately flew to Hargeisa, Somaliland via Air Djibouti.
According to sources, after a short stay in Hargeisa, the gentlemen proceeded to Berbera where they spent the bulk of their time in Somaliland and even chartered a boat to the west of Berbera all the way to Zeila.
Search of the men’s identities reveals little except that one of them is using the name of a famous Russian MMA fighters while others seems to be generic Russian names.
Sources added that their passports were new and seemed to have been issued within 2 months of one another.
Kremlin interest in Africa and Somaliland has been widely reports recently and Somaliland and its strategic coast would give Russia a much needed foothold on Bab al-Mandab Strait.
Somaliland government officials declined to comment on what they know about the visit.
In less than two years, Berbera Port Authorities have purchased a second tugboat for the bustling Berbera port.
In a statement on his facebook page the Port Manager Mr. Saeed Hassan Abdillahi announced the purchase of the tugboat and added that the purchase was facilitated by P&O Maritime.
The Port Managers statement stated that the purchase of the tugboat is fully funded by the government of Somaliland.
Capacity of Berbera Port has increased significantly and is expected to handle more traffic once the ongoing expansion by DP World currently underway is concluded.
No details of the new tugboat was provided and attempts to reach the Port Manager were unsuccessful.
A Delegation of Somaliland Government officials led by the the Vice President HE Abdirahman Abdallahi Ismail Saylici signed a €7.5 Million with the European Union Representatives in Berbera.
@NBerlangaEU together with HE @VPsomaliland today inaugurated the Berbera Urban Development Project, at the coastal city of Berbera. The project will support inclusive local governance, urban waste management, and livelihood and entrepreneurship for the locals.@UNHabitat_Sompic.twitter.com/WA3MIpdbkr
Berbera Urban Development Project is funded from the European Development Fund (EDF) under the Regional Indicative Programme (RIP) 2014-2020 for Eastern Africa, Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean.
According to a statement released by the EU, the project support inclusive and sustainable development of the coastal city through strengthening the capacity of the municipality in urban planning, improving the waste management system as well as stimulating employment and entrepreneurship for urban communities.
Among other investment in infrastructure, the project includes the construction of a network of 20kms of feeder roads that will also connect to a new dumpsite, as well as internal roads within prioritized community areas in Berbera.
Berbera Municipality and its Mayor Mr. Abdishakur Mohamoud Iddin has been widely praised for their work on the roads and local infrastructure. Berbera is also home to Somaliland’s major port currently managed and upgraded by DP World.
According to government records examined by Somaliland Chronicle, Somaliland government officials spent more than $765,000.00 on travel-related expenses on 2019.
There is no sufficient information to determine if the travel activity is business-related, but many of the records we examined show officials frequent travel to countries where their families live. Many officials have embarked on a European tour, sometimes traveling to London, Sweden, and Germany for no specific reason while using taxpayer funds.
Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Livestock Development Ms Yurub Abib Abdi (Right) with former Somaliland UK Representative
Late last year, the Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Livestock Development Ms. Yurub Abib Abdi spent 35 days in the UK for unspecified official business although she has attended many welcome parties, she has not disclosed the nature or outcome of her long visit. Ms. Abdi’s per diem alone exceeded $10,000 US Dollars.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has outspent every government agency, including the Presidency coming in at a whopping 26% of the $765,000 with the Minister and few department heads doing most of the traveling.
Expenses include flight and a standard $300 daily per diem allowance.
The Head of the Protocol of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Mr. Abdirisak Mohamed Saeed (Gees) has traveled to Turkey frequently with unspecified official business as the justification.
Sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation point to a strong connection between Mr. Abdirisak Mohamed Saeed (Gees) and the Turkish Consulate in Hargeisa with one official describing him as the Gatekeeper of Turkish Visas.
It is unclear how current and former government officials can afford a lavish lifestyle in Turkey, many including Mr. Abdirisak Mohamed Saeed (Gees) have been confirmed to own properties and have moved their families from Somaliland to Turkey.
Records show that the former Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has approved questionable travel expenses totaling $11,588 for various employees for unspecified counter-piracy activity in London. Records include letters issued by the Counter-Piracy Coordination office’s Executive Director authorizing for himself and others.
One official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation who spoke on background stated that very few staffers always go on official trips and that knowledge transfer of any kind is ever conducted by these frequent flier staffers.
While many of the records we have examined seem legitimate and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is the biggest spender in this category, there are questionable travel expenses across all Somaliland ministries and agencies that seem entirely unnecessary or are conducted for personal reasons.
