The Voice Of Somaliland: Somaliland seeks recognition.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Somaliland seeks recognition.

(Waridaad)The Republic of Somaliland has sent a formal request to the African Union asking to be recognized as an independent African government, according to diplomatic sources in Addis Ababa. Somaliland officials in the Ethiopian capital reportedly delivered the message to the AU. The 8 th AU Summit is scheduled to open in Addis Ababa Monday, with Somalia and the conflict-ridden Sudanese region of Darfur high on the summit agenda. Somaliland, a region in northwest Somalia, unilaterally declared independence from the rest of the country in 1991, as the Horn of Africa country disintegrated and erupted in civil war. No nation in the international community has recognized Somaliland's independence, but several countries keep unofficial diplomatic presence in the region's capital Hargeisa.

Dr. Charles Murigande, Rwanda's foreign minister, reportedly surprised African diplomats and angered Somali delegates in Addis Ababa when he openly called for Somaliland's recognition by AU member states. Dr. Murigande said the Somaliland government has a right to be recognized internationally, since the government returned law and order to the region and can self-manage.

The comments warranted a response from Abdullahi Yusuf, president of Somalia's internationally recognized transitional federal government. While commending Somaliland for securing the peace, President Yusuf called on the breakaway region's leadership to open talks with his government and reach consensus. Yusuf said his government would not interfere in
Somaliland affairs until southern Somalia was pacified.

Earlier this month, thousands of protestors in Hargeisa expressed their support for independence by taking to city streets and opposing Yusuf's Mogadishu-based government.

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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