The Voice Of Somaliland: The Mayor of Hargeisa in Vancouver for the United Nation's World Urban Forum

Thursday, June 22, 2006

The Mayor of Hargeisa in Vancouver for the United Nation's World Urban Forum

The Mayor of the Capital of Somaliland Hargeisa, Huseen Mohamuud Jiciir arrived today at Vancouver International Airport for the United Nation's World Urban Forum, which runs June 21-25 at the Great Northern Way Campus (555 Great Northern Way between Main and Clark).

Mayor Jaciir was welcomed at Vancouver airport by the Somaliland community in vancouver, Mr Hamza Hashi Jama Dahabshiil agent in Vancouver, Osman Adan Raxaab, Cabdi Macali Osman, Sabaax Gudaal, Asha Gudaal, Mohamed Hassan, Abduftah Madadaal, Faysal Cali Waraabe And Mohamed Ghalib Musa Somaliland Net Adminstrator.

The Mayor will attend tomorrow sessions Wednesday, June 21, 10:00-12:00 Municipal Finance: Innovation and collaborationRoom: VCEC-Ballroom C

Key Participants:

Mr. Anwar Versi, Editor, African Business,
London,United Kingdom
Jacqueline E. Schafer, Assistant Administrator, Bureau of Economic Growth and Trade, Government of the United States of America
Lamine Mbassa, Director of Economic and Financial Affairs, Communauté Urbaine de Douala (CUD), Cameroon
Mateu Turró, Associate Director, Projects Directorate European Investment Bank, International, Luxembourg
Jawaid Akhtar, Managing Director, Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation, City, India
Fernando Damata Pimentel, Mayor of Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Katherine Sierra, Vice President and Network Head, Infrastructure, World Bank, Washington, DC

Sustainable Cities: Urban safety and security: Taking Responsibility Room: Exhibit Hall A

Key speaker:

Anna-Maria Tremonti, Host,

The Current, CBC, Toronto, Canada (Facilitator)

Ghulam Sakhi Noorzad, Mayor, Kabul, Afghanistan

Mr. Yoshinobu FUKASAWA, Director for Planning, National and Regional Planning Bureau,
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Japan
Ian Davies, Visiting Professor, Cranfield University, United Kingdom Luis Eduardo Garzón, Mayor, Bogotá, SpainBhekokwakhe Hamilton Cele,
Transport Safety and Community Liaison Officer, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.

More than 10,000 people from 150 countries have gathered at the United Nation's World Urban Forum, in Vancouver this week.

The World Urban Forum was established by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies and policies. It is projected that in the next fifty years, two-thirds of humanity will be living in towns and cities. A major challenge is to minimize burgeoning poverty in cities, improve the urban poor's access to basic facilities such as shelter, clean water and sanitation and achieve environment-friendly, sustainable urban growth and development.

The World Urban Forum is a biennial gathering that is attended by a wide range of partners, from non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations, urban professionals, academics, to governments, local authorities and national and international associations of local governments. It gives all these actors a common platform to discuss urban issues in formal and informal ways and come up with action-oriented proposals to create sustainable cities.

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The New Somaliland Press & Publications Bill 2007

The Somaliland Government has recently sent to the House of Representatives a new Bill on press and publications. The provisions of this bill (based almost entirely on the Yemen Law No: 25 of 1990 on the Press & Publications) run contrary to international norms relating to freedom of expression and the independence of the press and are not in line with the Somaliland constitution.
The considerable powers given to the Minister of Information (and other ministers) include even deciding on appeals from anyone whose writings have been turned down for publication by a newspaper’s editor (Article 46). These ministerial powers over the press and publishers/printers/distributors etc, the compulsory registration of all press and publication activities, including the practice of the profession of journalism, and the extensive criminal sanctions which add to the existing array of criminal offences in the 1962 Somali Penal Code contrast sharply with the current Somaliland Press Law (2004), which contains no criminal sanctions and is based on codes of conduct. Unfortunately the Somaliland Government has repeatedly made clear its dissatisfaction with the current press Law and has used the Penal Code and extra-judicial powers to detain and imprison journalists. It is no surprise, therefore, that the Somaliland Government is not putting forward amendments of the current Press Law, but is now proposing its wholesale replacement by this new Bill which introduces considerable criminal sanctions, such as fines and imprisonment (Article 99) for the infringement of its numerous provisions, as well as prohibition of continued practice of journalism or publication or even circulation of printed materials; confiscation of property, including printing presses (Article 101) and seizure of printed materials (Article 102)..........Full Text

The Isaq Somali Diaspora And‎ Poll-Tax Agitation In Kenya, 1936-41‎

Poll-tax agitation has been a fairly common phenomenon in Africa. On most occasions it has involved little ‎more than vocalized protest. In a few instances, however, it has led to resistance that has been both serious ‎and violent; the earliest example of the latter is probably to be found in the widespread Fante uprisings that ‎occurred immediately after the introduction of the Gold Coast Poll Tax Ordinance of 1852; a later example is ‎the Natal uprising of 1906 which has been attributed in large measure to the introduction of poll tax at the ‎end of the previous year. Yet the agitation by the Isaq Somali in Kenya did not follow either of these two ‎patterns. In several respects it was a highly unusual movement: first, the Isaq were campaigning to pay higher ‎taxation; secondly, in order to secure their aims they attempted to mobilize the whole Isaq diaspora, so that ‎Somali in Uganda, Tanganyika, British Somaliland and Britain were all involved in this agitation, (see map )‎.....Read the rest

The "Letter-of-Death" by General "Morgan" January 23, 1987

(Waridaad) - Following is the famous "Letter-of-Death" as translated into English by Mohamoud Sheikh Ahmed Musa, former President of the Supreme Court, including his explanatory notes as footnotes:1
The report is addressed to the President of the SDR, the Minister of Defence, and the Minister of Interior. The latter, Major-General Ahmed Suleiman Abdalla, is also a son-in-law of the President, and Third Deputy Prime Minister. Since President Barre is also the Minister of Defence -- the previous holder of that portfolio, General Mohamed Ali Samatar, having been promoted Prime Minister on January 30, 1987 -- the report is seemingly confined to family members. This would explain its extreme frankness in specifying certain clans as targets for implemented and recommended punitive action.
The target is the Isaaq Clan Family. The term "clan family" was first coined by Professor I.M. Lewis, Professor Social Anthropology at the London School Economics, to describe the collective name for each of the several major divisions to which Somali clans traditionally divide themselves. The Isaaq clan family sub-divides into four main clans.
Top Secret.......Read the rest