Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Frankincense and myrrh: an ethical nightmare? '' Somaliland...'' By Sophie Laggan
- The richly woody scent of frankincense and its close relative, myrrh, has become synonymous with Christmas. Along with gold, frankincense and myrrh were the gifts presented to the Christ child as he lay in his crib by the Three Wise Men, and today, both are used widely in Christmas candles, beauty products and burner oils. But with around 90 per cent of the world’s myrrh supply originating in Somalia and much of its frankincense sourced from Yemen, how ethical can they really be? And with resinous frankincense and myrrh trees becoming ever more rare, is there anything eco-friendly about frankincense Christmas candles at all?
Native to desert ecosystems, frankincense and myrrh are crucial to the economic wellbeing of some extremely vulnerable regions. For thousands of years, people have collected the precious sap for use in beauty. But the Horn of Africa, where much of it originates, is plagued with conflict, human rights abuses and corruption.....
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Somaliland: Golaha Guurtida Oo Shirkiisii aan Caadiga ahayn Go'aamo ka Soo Saaray.
- Golaha Guurtida Somaliland ayaa go’aamo ka soo saaray dilkii foosha xumaa ee dhawaan ka dhacay deegaanka Seemaal ee u dhaxaysa Baki iyo Gabiley, waxayna sheegeen inay taageersan yihiin talaabo kasta oo xukuumadu arintaasi wax kaga qabaneyso.
Sidaa soo kale, golaha Guurtidu waxa kale oo ay sheegeen in go’aankii Madaxwaynuhu ka soo saaray dilkaasi ahaa mid geesinimo oo mudan amaan iyo bogaadin, iyagga oo sheegay in Guurti ahaan ay gobolada dalka oo dhan u dirayaan guddiyo umadda ku wacy-galiya nabadgalyadda.
Waxa kale oo ay sheegeen in dilkii ka dhacay deegaanka Seemaal ahaa mid siyaasadeed, maadaama bay yidhaahdeen wakhtiga dilkaasi dhacay uu dalku ku sugnaa ergayga xoghayaha qaramada midoobay u qaabilsan Somaliland iyo Somaliya, isla-markaana Magaaladda Hargeysa uu ka socday siminaar nabada lagaga hadlayey kaasi oo ay maalgalisay AU-du.
Somaliland:Foreign Minister addresses Council of Elders at Parliament
- Somaliland Foreign Affairs minister Dr. Mohamed Abdilahi Omar made lengthy speech on country’s foreign policy triumphs in front of Council of Elders that held an unusual session today at parliament premises. Dr. Mohamed Abdilahi kicked off his speech and said, “It is great honor and pleasure for me to come before the prestigious Council of elders that deserves respect and admiration from the nation. The world acknowledges the key role that you played in rebuilding this nation of Somaliland.
I have initiated the meeting in order to brief you when it comes to the tremendous responsibility that this nation bestowed upon us. The foreign minister spoke about the tenets that Somaliland foreign policy is based.
He said, “The main aim that this nation has set his foreign policy guidelines are of two prongs.
President Siilaanyo got wrong on Seemaal murder case
The recently cold blooded murder of three innocent Somaliland citizens, which took place near Baki township, shock most Somaliland communities including me. What I thought was a murder case that needed to be investigated thoroughly and bring justice those responsible for committing the crime, turned into vicious campaign, to discredit, condemn and defame the Gabiley community as the whole and particularly its respected leaders, on the court of public opinion.
Ironically, our own president spearheaded the smear campaign against the Gabiley community, by simply relying on the eyewitness account of unreliable individual, who said that he witness the killings and knew the allege perpetrators of the crime., and then he added that prominent Clan, political and religious leaders from Gabiley community were involved the murders, including: former Somaliland’s Army chief of staff Gen Tani, and President’s political advisor Abeeb Timadde.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Somaliland Officials Meet with UK, Wales Parliamentarians
- Officials of Somaliland, the nation which still didn’t get recognition as an independent nation from the United Nations and the African Union so far, have made an official visit to the United Kingdom (UK) and Wales and met with their parliamentarians. Ahmed Omar Haji Abdillahi, Governor of Hargesia Region and Chairman of Somaliland Governor Association, is among the officials who talked to the parliamentarians of UK and Wales during his tour of the UK Somaliland Communities, according to the press statement Wales Somaliland Communities dispatched to the media.
During the two weeks long visit , the Somaliland delegations held talks with Rt. Hon. Alun Michael, MP and Chairman of UK Parliament – All Party Parliamentary Group for Somaliland, Rt. Hon. Peter Hain, MP and Shadow Wales Secretary of State, Mr. Kevin Brennan,MP and all four Cardiff Assembly Members namely Mr. Vaughan Gething, AM, Ms. Julie Morgan, AM, Mr. Mark Drake, AM and Ms. Jenny Ruthbone, AM and all with large constituent from the Somali Community .
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Djibouti Aspires to Build Largest Ship Maintenance Yard for Region
The administration of Ismael Omar Guelleh in Djibouti has plans to build what will be the largest ship maintenance yard for East Africa and on the Red Sea corridor at a projected cost of 400 million dollars. Yet, experts in charge of developing the project have to choose the site for the project between the north coast of Djibouti (around Tajourah) and the country’s south coast, around Damerjog.
Water depth, wind level and geographical protection are factors in determining where the shipyard will be erected, according to Aboubaker Omar Hadi, chairman of the Djibouti Ports & Free Zones Authority.
“Otherwise, you will have to build a very expensive facility for a water break,” he told Fortune.
The Silanyo’s Arrest Of Gabiley Traditional, Political And Religious Leaders Reminds Gabiley People The Brutal Of Siyad Barre’s Rule
''Dear Mr. President do not seek justice somewhere else, the Justice is to implement the Guurti Judgment of Elbardaale in 1993 and the new judgment of the Guurti in 2009''.
The Silanyo’s Government Arrested dozens of innocent Gabiley Political, Traditional and Religious leaders for the last one week, Government Security forces came into the homes of these respectful people in the midnight without Court Warrant which is against the Somaliland judicial system which is that no one can be arrested without Court Warrant, some of the Traditional leaders especially the Sultan Hussein Muse who is very sick is in the Jail and other two chiefs those who had car accident before their arrest with very serious injuries are in the Prison.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Financial Help More Often From Home Country Than Abroad. '' In the Somaliland region..''
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- While international remittances dominate the global dialogue about migration and development, they are only part of the conversation. Gallup's surveys in 135 countries between 2009 and 2010 reveal households worldwide are three times more likely get financial help from individuals within the same country (9%) than from outside the country (3%). Ten percent or more of the adult population in 43 countries report that their household in the past year received help -- in the form of money or goods -- from another individual living inside their country.
More than half of these countries are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, which also has the highest prevalence of adults receiving international remittances. In the Somaliland region, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Cameroon, Zambia, Kenya, Liberia, and Senegal, more than one in four adults live in households that receive help from individuals in the same country.
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Dr. Gaboose Oo Ku Dhawaaqay Urur Siyaasadeed Magaciisa La Yidhaa UMADDA.
- Wasiirkii hore ee Arrimaha gudaha Somaliland Dr. Maxamed Cabdi Gaboose, ayaa maanta ku dhawaaqay urur siyaasadeed cusub oo la magac baxay UMADA. Xaflad balaadhan oo loo sameeyay wanqalka ururkaasi oo lagu qabtay Huteelka Maansoor ee magaalada Hargeysa waxa ka soo qeyb galay Xildhibaano ka tirsan Goleyaasha Guurtida iyo Wakiiladda, boqolaal qof oo ka mid ah taageereyaasha ururkaasi oo iskugu jiray haween iyo dhalinyaro.
Guddoomiyaha Urur siyaasadeedkan Ummadda Dr. Maxamed Cabdi Gaboose oo ka hadlay ayaa sheegay inuu Madaxweyne Siilaanyo uga mahad celinayo sida uu uga dhabeeyay balan qaadyadii uu ummadda u sheegay xiligii lagu jiray olalihii doorashada Madaxtooyadda, waxaanu yidhi:
Patience and Care: Rebuilding nursing and midwifery, in Somaliland
Somaliland's maternal, infant, and child mortality rates are among the highest in the world. A rudimentary health system already beset by under-investment and neglect collapsed completely during the final years of a civil war which ended in 1991. Hospitals and clinics were looted or destroyed. Health professionals fled to refugee camps or overseas. In 2001, when Somaliland held a referendum which approved the adoption of a new constitution and confirmed the country’s independence from Somalia, the provision of health care to a population estimated at two to three million remained almost non-existent.
Fouzia Mohamed Ismail was one of the highly-qualified nurses and midwives who returned to Somaliland determined to rebuild their professions. In this timely account, published a decade after the referendum, Fouzia relates what has been done to train a new generation of nurses and midwifes, to improve standards of patient care, to develop relevant training programmes, and to foster regulation of the health sector in Somaliland.
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Sunday, December 11, 2011
Recognition: WHY NOT SOMALILAND? WY COULDN’T WE AND CAN’T WE...?
After more than 20 years, who do we blame for the lack of diplomatic recognition and how do we go around this never ending “somali-wayn” quagmire to attain our goal?To be blunt and humble at the sametime, I think we can only blame ourselves, to certain degree, and of course our past and current governments! Well, some will argue that Kossovo, South-Sudan, South-Ossetia, Abkhazia...all had powerful political friends such as (respectively), the West and Russia.
Even thought,legally speaking, we, somalilanders have a stronger case because we existed asan independent nation already (which means our cause is not in conflict withthat “sacred AU and UN territorial indivisibility act). But yet, we seem to behaving hard time convincing the world to our, well justified, cause and win some friends. Yes, as she said, that famous singer, “Gadhba gadhbaa latusaayeh, gacalkeen miyuu lumay...” Gacalkeen or our supposed friends are,unfortunately the anti-democratic-arab-muslim brothers who sadly ganged up onour beloved democratic Somaliland...Why?.
SOMALILAND IS MOVING FROM POSITION TO INTEREST, By Hamdi Abdi
- Somaliland has been a self-declared state for more than two decades. In the course of this period, she had three governments and the current government after the topple of Siyad,s government in 1990. After when Somaliland was declared independence in 18th may 1991, Somali landers were buoyed by the thought that their country was entering a new and exciting era of rapid economic development and political maturity and prosperity.
Today, some two decades later the mood is one of gloom and despair, mis -management of scarce resource, Despotism and a political order that may be threatened if advantaged and disadvantaged group within a Political system, have not acquired a commitment to and internalized constitutional rules of the game, But simply you look on these rules as tactical weapons for seeking to preserve what they have, or gaining What they do not have respectively.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Gen, Nuux Ismaaciil Taani oo Iska Duway Eedii Dilkii Ka Dhacay Saameel.
Taliyaha ciidanka qalabka sida ee Jamhuuriyada Diimuqraadoga ah ee Somaliland Gen, Nuux Ismaaciil Taani ayaa beeniyay eedaymo ay salaadiin iyo siyaasiyiin reer Awdal ahi hubsiimo la' aan isaga dusha ka saareen. Eedaymaahaas oo ahaa in Gen, Nuux Ismaaciil Taani uu si toos ah ugu lug lahaa dilkii dhawaan ka dhacay tuulada Seemaal. Isaga oo jawaab ka bixinaya eedaymahaasi waxa uu Gen, Nuux Taani yidhi:
Horta waan inaga wada tacsiyadaynayaa dadkii inaga dhintay dhamaanteenba, waanan canbaaraynayaa cidii falkaa gaysatay, waana in sharciga la hor keenaa, intaa ka dib, dadka la laayay ee hada dadka qaar aniga igu tisayaan inan ka danbeeyay dilkooda waxan leeyahay, waar anay iga dhinteen, waxanu aniga nahay marxuumyadan Ilmo-abti dhab ah, Markaa hadal aan meesha qaban in dad waawayni iskaga hadlaan iyaga oon hubsan waa laga wanaagsan yahay.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Hostage to Conflict: Prospects for Building Regional Economic Cooperation in the Horn of Africa
''CATHAM HOUSE:
Reports and Papers.''
This report examines the economic dimensions of regional conflict and cooperation in the Horn of Africa. It asks whether, over the long term, economic drivers have the potential to transform endemic conflict among states or whether political stability is a precondition for enhancing economic cooperation. The security interdependence that exists in the Horn is matched by an equally complex degree of economic interdependence. For while countries in the Horn have been deeply involved in warfare with one another and have consistently worked to undermine or rearrange one another's regimes, there is a wealth of other, potentially more positive, long established relationships that exist between people all over the region.
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Monday, December 5, 2011
Highly intellectual panel discussion on Somaliland.
''We should have good banking systems , efficient civil services and greatly enhancing and advertising the secure environment inside Somaliland''
- On Dec third 2011, there happened a great discourse on Somaliland at the Mosiac Restaurant in Ottawa , Canada. After a wonderful dinner and a friendly chat at the Mosiac Restaurant , where over 40 people attended , everybody descended to the basement meeting room and the event entered its second and most interesting phase of discussions. After verses of Quran read by Abdisabuur Sh Ali Jowhar . The panel was moderated by Dr Mohamud Tani , the Guest Speaker was Ambassidor Mohamed Sh Hassan Nuuriye. -former Somaliland Ambassador to Ethiopia and an ex- Somali Ambassidor to both Canada and Nigeria.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Recent Survey Provides a Glimpse into Civil Society in Somaliland
Recently the International Republican Institute (IRI) commissioned an opinion survey in Somaliland, in which 600 participants in the Hargeisa district were asked a number of questions designed to elicit thoughts on the current administration and the extent to which they were engaged with the political process. IRI is a U.S. based organization whose mission is “advances freedom and democracy worldwide by developing political parties, civic institutions, open elections, democratic governance and the rule of law.” Designed to gauge the state of civil society in Somaliland, the findings contained in the study contain valuable data, a rare one at that, considering this might be the first of its kind in Somaliland.
While the findings might suggest that civic engagement or civil society as perceived through the lens of the Western conception of civil society is not wide spread (that is, one premised on the notion of ‘individualism’ and secular institutions), the findings suggest that traditional aspects of civil society (religious scholars and institutions) enjoy a high degree of legitimacy and engagement from citizens whichare rooted in social solidarity and notion of a community united by a common religion.
There is still a long way to go Mr. President
- Mr. President, in comparison to your predecessors you have accomplished a lot in a very short period. To mention few of your administration’s accomplishments; you doubled the salaries of the civil servants. You gave school fees brake to the primary school kids. Your administration carried out a partial transformation of the justice system. The old Somalia currency circulation was ended in Togdheer region and replaced with Somaliland currency. A Somaliland TV is on the air and can be watched all over the world.
A radio station that will serve the nation from Selal to Sanaag is on the works. Compared to your predecessors, these are compelling achievements; however, these are not enough, because our nation was aspiring to achieve even more under your leadership. From now on, we would prefer not to hear the past triumphs of your administration, but instead would like to know more about where we are strategically heading and what we need to achieve.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Putting Somalia into an AU Trusteeship is the Only Option. By professor Robert I. Rotberg
When the heavy rains let up, Kenyan soldiers will be able to continue their advance on Kismayo, Ethiopian troops will take Baidoa, and Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers may be able to completely clear Somalia’s capital Mogadishu of al-Shabaab militants. Al-Shabaab rebels have been in control of large swathes of southern Somalia but reports from the field suggest that the Islamist group’s draconian strictures on women, schools, music, and international relief efforts have already ended whatever popular following it once had. Nor is its self-proclaimed alliance with al-Qaeda likely to afford the group continued legitimacy or an enduring role in the volatile south of the country.
Al-Shabaab’s days as a sustainable and robust fighting force are rapidly coming to an end. The losses of Kismayo, Baidoa, Mogadishu and other southern towns will prove financially costly since al-Shabaab’s revenue stream derives substantially from fees, duties, and taxes on trafficked consumer imports and agricultural exports through those towns.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Somaliland Plans Law Allowing Foreign Banks to Set Up Operations
- Somaliland, a breakaway state in northern Somalia, will pass a banking law early in 2012 establishing a central bank and enabling foreign lenders to begin operations, the speaker of parliament said.
The Central Bank of Somaliland Act, which replaces the 1997 Central Banking Rules and Regulations Act, was presented to lawmakers today in Hargeisa, the capital, where some objections were raised, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi said in an interview today in the city.
“There are few MPs that object to the Act and those who do are only concerned with individual articles,” Abdillahi said. “We are confident that the Act will be passed early next year.”
Friday, November 25, 2011
Lunch Meeting with H E The President Of Somaliland et al The Commonwealth Club, London
On 21st Nov 2011 Friends of Somaliland and Founders of the Somaliland Development Corporation (“SDC”) hosted a lunchtime meeting with the President of Somaliland, with the agenda item being a discussion on the Somaliland Development Corporation. Len Tiahlo, an SDC CO founder, sponsored the event.
With him was Legal Advisor and co –founder Jeremy Carver CBE, formerly Head of International Law at Clifford Chance and Board Member of Transparency International, Steve Taylor, Director of Crown Agents, who have agreed to provide SDC banking services and Paul Whiteway of Independent Diplomat. Fellow co-founder Ambassador Myles Wickstead CBE was absent on travel but passed on his best wishes with great expectations for the SDC.
Vocational training cannot be excluded from the definition of education in Somaliland.
The simple dictionary definition of education is “the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction.” With such a wide definition which can fit absolutely any type of instruction, why is it that education is still defined narrowly in Somaliland?
Most Africans, let alone Somalis, you speak to in the West and back in the continent only consider formal schooling as education. To them education is a very strict clear process. You go to Primary and secondary school and then either move to college or straight to university to study an important subject such as law, engineering or medicine in the hope that one day one would occupy an office post of national importance. By simply looking at the shocking unemployment figures of the graduates of the industrialised world, this mythical passage to an important profession and role can be dispelled.
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