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Aug 14, 2006
Somaliland president leaves for UK, USA
A delegation led by the president of the Somaliland Republic, Hon Dahir Riyale Kahin, flew out of Egal International Airport this afternoon to visit Britain, the USA, Germany and [words indistinct]. The president was accompanied by the ministers for foreign affairs, finance, posts and telecommunications.
Shortly before his departure, the president held a press conference and said: [Riyale] "I am travelling and may visit several countries. But I can now tell you I am going to Britain [words indistinct]. Speaking on Somaliland and the horn of Africa, Somaliland is aware of what is happening day and night in the area. Somaliland's position is not to side with any of the parties vying for supremacy in Somalia. Somaliland will only have relations with the government that is formed in southern Somalia and which recognizes Somaliland. That is the only one we shall have fraternal relationship with. Our second position is that we shall have peaceful relationship with our neighbours as before. [Passage omitted]
Source: Radio Hargeysa in Somali 1700 gmt 14 Aug 06
BBC Monitoring Posted at 06:56 pm by Somaliland
Somaliland weekly criticizes BBC
Text of report in English by Somali newspaper The Somaliland Times website on 5 August
The Somali population in the Horn of Africa region has depended on the BBC's Somali programme for news information for decades. As the only news media with a capacity to be accessible to most Somalis, no matter where they are in the Horn, the BBC has gained an enormous influence in shaping the political opinion of Somalis with regard to local or international issues.
A case in point is the way that the BBC had covered the recent fighting in Mogadishu, which pitted a group of powerful warlords against an alliance formed by the city's Islamic courts.
In the months before the Islamists were able to score a final victory against their foes, the BBC had through its Somali news broadcasts kept portraying the warlords as the bad guys while presenting the Islamic courts militia and their leaders as the good guys. While it was true that the warlords were nothing but a bunch of bloodthirsty gangsters interested only in extorting their own people to death, that was no justification for the BBC's portrayal of the leaders of the Islamist militia as saints.
Most neutral Somalis would agree that the Somali service's advocacy for the Islamists' cause was actually one of the main factors that contributed to the speedy victory won by the courts' militia.
A closer look at how the BBC's Somali programme handled those events would reveal a constant violation of the basic rules of balanced reporting. In every opinion poll conducted on the issue, at least 95 per cent of those asked about their opinion voiced praise and support for the Islamic courts. The outcome was often presented as though the overwhelming majority of Somalis favoured the courts.
While the BBC showed no hesitation to express contempt in its editorial contents for the warlords, it deliberately avoided to mention the implication of some of the Islamic courts leaders in the killings committed against a number of aid workers in Somaliland.
It can be argued, of course, that in the final analysis the unpopular warlords were destined to be defeated by the Islamists. It can also be said that the courts have restored peace to Mogadishu for the first time in 15 years. But such arguments can not be an excuse for the BBC's wrongdoing in deceiving its listeners by having presented one side of an important story.
Over the last two decades, partisan reporting has unfortunately become one of the regular features of the Somali programme's broadcasting.
During the 1980s, Somalia's former dictator Siyad Barre bought the collaboration of most of the Somali staff of the BBC, either through intimidation or cultivation of clan ties. Barre, a master in the art of deception and disinformation and a gifted orator himself, was aware of the powerful impact that the Somali language news broadcasts from the BBC could have on an oral society as the Somali one. He wanted the Somali programme to suppress news about his atrocities against the civilian population in Somaliland, which at the time was witnessing a popular armed rebellion.
For a whole decade the BBC gave southern Somalis a distorted information on what was going on up in the north. The BBC's biased reporting on those events and the conspiracy of silence on the gross human rights violations that were taking place have in a way helped prolong the suffering of the Somaliland people.
Following the defeat of Siyad Barre, Somaliland embarked on the difficult task of national reconciliation and rebuilding a new democratic state out of the ashes of destruction and death.
The BBC's Somali service played little attention to that gigantic effort. Instead, southern editors at the helm of the radio programme have made it their daily business to harass Somalilanders over the airwaves by using the prefix "the so-called" before the historical name of their country "Somaliland" (they didn't do the same with Puntland, a region previously known as "Majertenia").
With the onset of the Arta conference, the BBC had again indulged in campaigning journalism. The Somali service has suddenly become a mouthpiece for Djibouti President Isma'il Umar Gelleh, who engineered the conference to install his business partner Abdiqasim Salad as Somalia's next nominal president. The Transitional National Government of Somalia headed by Salad was formed in August 2000.
A number of the BBC's Somali staff were granted Djibouti passports. However, the fact remains that, despite its reputation for biased reporting, the Somali programme's outreach services remain unchallengeable and the only source of news information for most Somalis.
With the unlikelihood of the development of an equally powerful local broadcasting service, Somalis are expected to continue tuning to this London-based radio news programme. But the fundamental issue is that at this age of religious extremism it would be strongly dangerous to allow the BBC's broadcasts in Somali to remain vulnerable to abuse by its own staff.
The BBC leaders are urgently needed to take the necessary steps for the restoration of the journalistic integrity and neutrality of the Somali service. Also, they have to consider helping Somalis develop an alternative local media.
Source: The Somaliland Times website, Hargeysa, in English 5 Aug 06
BBC Monitoring
Posted at 06:52 pm by Somaliland
UNPO Congratulates Somaliland’s Newly Appointed Foreign Minister
UNPO Congratulates Somaliland’s Newly Appointed Foreign Minister
2006-08-14
In early August 2006 Somaliland saw some ministerial changes with Mr. Abdillahi Mohamed Duale taking up the new position as Foreign Minister of Somaliland, and Mrs. Edna Adan Ismail leaving office as formerly holding this post.
Somaliland’s President Dahir Rayaale Kahin reshuffled some of his ministerial posts earlier this month, including the position of Foreign Minister. The new Foreign Minister, Mr. Abdillahi Mohamed Duale, formerly served as Somaliland’s Minister of Information. Prior to this Mr. Duale had held other ministerial posts during the late Mohamed Ibrahim Egal’s Presidency.
UNPO has issued a statement of congratulation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs upon the recent appointment of Mr. Duale, and also taken the opportunity to express appreciation for the work of outgoing Foreign Minister Mrs. Edna Adan Ismail.
Somaliland has been a Member of UNPO since 2004.
SourcePosted at 06:35 pm by Somaliland
Aug 13, 2006
Pour vendre des médicaments, inventons des maladies
Pour vendre des médicaments, inventons des maladies
Ray Moynihan, Alan Cassels et [ Paris - France ]
 La méthode avait déjà fait la fortune du docteur Knock de Jules Romains : chaque bien-portant entrant dans son cabinet en ressortait malade, et prêt à débourser sans compter pour être guéri. A son image, ayant atteint les limites du marché des malades, certaines firmes pharmaceutiques se tournent désormais vers les bien-portants pour continuer à croître.
Et emploient pour cela les techniques de publicité les plus avancées.
Il y a une trentaine d’années, le dirigeant d’une des plus grosses firmes pharmaceutiques au monde tint des propos fort éclairants. Alors proche de la retraite, le très dynamique directeur de Merck, Henry Gadsden, confia au magazine Fortune son désespoir de voir le marché potentiel de sa société confiné aux seuls malades. Expliquant qu’il aurait préféré que Merck devînt une sorte de Wrigley – fabricant et distributeur de chewing-gums –, Gadsden déclara qu’il rêvait depuis longtemps de produire des médicaments destinés aux... bien-portants. Parce qu’alors Merck aurait la possibilité de « vendre à tout le monde ». Trois décennies plus tard, le rêve de feu Henri Gadsden est devenu réalité.
Les stratégies marketing des plus grosses firmes pharmaceutiques ciblent dorénavant les bien-portants de manière agressive. Les hauts et les bas de la vie de tous les jours sont devenus des troubles mentaux, des plaintes somme toute communes sont transformées en affections effrayantes, et de plus en plus de gens ordinaires sont métamorphosés en malades. Au moyen de campagnes de promotion, l’industrie pharmaceutique, qui pèse quelque 500 milliards de dollars, exploite nos peurs les plus profondes : de la mort, du délabrement physique et de la maladie – changeant ainsi littéralement ce qu’être humain signifie. Récompensés à juste titre quand ils sauvent des vies humaines et réduisent les souffrances, les géants pharmaceutiques ne se contentent plus de vendre à ceux qui en ont besoin. Pour la bonne et simple raison, bien connue de Wall Street, que dire aux bien-portants qu’ils sont malades rapporte gros.
Au moment où la majorité des habitants des pays développés jouissent de vies plus longues, plus saines et plus dynamiques que celles de leurs ancêtres, le rouleau compresseur des campagnes publicitaires ou de sensibilisation, rondement menées, transforment les bien-portants soucieux de leur santé en souffreteux soucieux tout court. Des problèmes mineurs sont dépeints comme autant d’affections graves, de telle sorte que la timidité devient un « trouble d’anxiété sociale », et la tension prémenstruelle, une maladie mentale appelée « trouble dysphorique prémenstruel ». Le simple fait d’être un sujet « à risque » susceptible de développer une pathologie devient une pathologie en soi.
L’épicentre de ce type de vente se situe aux Etats-Unis, terre d’accueil de nombreuses multinationales pharmaceutiques. Comptant moins de 5 % de la population mondiale, ce pays représente déjà près de 50 % du marché de la prescription de médicaments. Les dépenses de santé continuent à y grimper plus que n’importe où dans le monde, affichant une progression de presque 100 % en six ans – et ce, pas seulement parce que les prix des médicaments enregistrent des hausses drastiques, mais aussi parce que les médecins se sont mis à en prescrire de plus en plus.
Depuis son bureau situé au cœur de Manhattan, M. Vince Parry représente le nec plus ultra du marketing mondial. Expert en publicité, il se spécialise dorénavant dans la forme la plus sophistiquée de la vente de médicaments : il s’emploie, de concert avec les entreprises pharmaceutiques, à créer de nouvelles maladies. Dans un article étonnant intitulé « L’art de cataloguer un état de santé », M. Parry a récemment révélé les ficelles utilisées par ces firmes pour « favoriser la création » de troubles médicaux (1). Parfois, il s’agit d’un état de santé peu connu qui jouit d’un regain d’attention ; parfois, on redéfinit une maladie connue depuis longtemps en lui donnant un autre nom ; parfois, c’est un nouveau dysfonctionnement qui est créé ex nihilo. Parmi les préférés de M. Parry se trouvent la dysfonction érectile, le trouble du déficit de l’attention chez les adultes et le syndrome dysphorique prémenstruel déjà évoqué – tellement controversé que les chercheurs estiment qu’il n’existe pas.
Avec une rare franchise, M. Perry explique la manière dont les compagnies pharmaceutiques non seulement cataloguent et définissent leurs produits à succès tels que le Prozac ou le Viagra, mais cataloguent et définissent aussi les conditions créant le marché pour de tels médicaments.
Sous la houlette de responsables marketing de l’industrie pharmaceutique, des experts médicaux et des gourous comme M. Perry s’assoient autour d’une table pour « trouver de nouvelles idées concernant des maladies et des états de santé ». Le but, dit-il, est de faire en sorte que les clients des firmes dans le monde entier appréhendent ces choses d’une manière nouvelle. L’objectif restant, toujours, d’établir une liaison entre l’état de santé et le médicament, de manière à optimiser les ventes.
L’idée selon laquelle les multinationales du secteur aident à créer de nouvelles maladies semblera étrange à beaucoup ; elle est monnaie courante dans le milieu de l’industrie. Destiné à leurs dirigeants, un rapport récent de Business Insights témoigne ainsi que la capacité à « créer des marchés de nouvelles maladies » se traduit par des ventes se chiffrant en milliards de dollars. L’une des stratégies les plus performantes, d’après ce rapport, consiste à changer la façon dont les gens considèrent leurs affections sans gravité. Ils doivent être « convaincus » que « des problèmes acceptés tout au plus comme une gêne jusqu’à présent » sont, désormais, « dignes d’une intervention médicale ». Saluant le succès du développement de marchés profitables liés à de nouveaux troubles de la santé, le rapport affichait un bel optimisme quant à l’avenir financier de l’industrie pharmaceutique : « Les années à venir seront les témoins privilégiés de la création de maladies parrainée par l’entreprise. »
Il est certes difficile, étant donné le large éventail d’affections possibles, de tracer une ligne clairement définie entre les bien-portants et les malades. Les frontières qui séparent le « normal » de l’« anormal » sont souvent fort élastiques ; elles peuvent varier drastiquement d’un pays à un autre et évoluer au cours du temps. Mais ce qui ressort clairement, c’est que, plus on élargit la définition d’une pathologie, plus cette dernière touchera de malades potentiels, et plus vaste sera le marché pour les fabricants de pilules et de gélules.
Dans certaines circonstances, les experts médicaux qui rédigent les protocoles sont en même temps rétribués par l’industrie pharmaceutique, industrie qui s’enrichira selon que les protocoles de soins auront été écrits de telle ou telle façon. Selon ces experts, 90 % des Américains âgés souffriront d’un trouble appelé « hypertension artérielle » ; près de la moitié des Américaines sont affectées par un dysfonctionnement baptisé FSD (dysfonction sexuelle féminine) ; et plus de 40 millions d’Américains devraient être suivis du fait de leur important taux de cholestérol. Avec l’aide de médias à la recherche de gros titres, la toute dernière affection est régulièrement annoncée comme étant très largement présente dans la population, grave, mais surtout curable grâce aux médicaments. Les voies alternatives pour comprendre et soigner les problèmes de santé, de même que la réduction du nombre estimé de malades, sont souvent reléguées à l’arrière-plan, pour satisfaire une promotion frénétique des médicaments.
La rémunération des experts en espèces sonnantes et trébuchantes ne signifie pas forcément l’achat d’une influence ; mais, aux yeux de nombreux observateurs, médecins et industrie pharmaceutique entretiennent des liens trop étroits.
Si les définitions des maladies sont élargies, les causes de ces prétendues épidémies sont, en revanche, décrites aussi peu que possible. Dans l’univers de ce type de marketing, un problème de santé majeur, tel que les maladies cardio-vasculaires, peut être abordé par l’étroite lorgnette du taux de cholestérol ou de la tension artérielle d’une personne. La prévention des fractures de la hanche parmi les personnes âgées se confond avec l’obsession de la densité osseuse des femmes d’âge mûr en bonne santé. La détresse personnelle résulte largement d’un déséquilibre chimique de la sérotonine dans le cerveau.
Le fait de se concentrer sur une partie fait perdre de vue les enjeux plus importants, parfois au détriment des individus et de la communauté. Par exemple : si le but premier était l’amélioration de la santé, on pourrait utiliser de façon plus efficace quelques-uns des millions investis dans les coûteux anticholestérol destinés à des bien-portants, dans des campagnes de lutte contre le tabagisme, pour promouvoir l’activité physique et améliorer l’équilibre alimentaire.
La « vente » des maladies se fait selon plusieurs techniques de marketing, mais la plus répandue reste celle de la peur. Pour vendre aux femmes l’hormone de substitution au moment de la ménopause, on a joué sur la peur de la crise cardiaque. Pour vendre aux parents l’idée selon laquelle la plus petite dépression requiert un traitement lourd, on a joué sur la peur du suicide des jeunes. Pour vendre les anticholestérol sur prescription automatique, on a joué sur la peur d’une mort prématurée. Et pourtant, ironiquement, les médicaments qui font l’objet de battage causent parfois eux-mêmes les dommages qu’ils sont censés prévenir.
Le traitement hormonal de substitution (THS) accroît le risque de crise cardiaque chez les femmes, tandis que, semblerait-il, les antidépresseurs augmentent le risque de pensée suicidaire chez les jeunes. Au moins un des anticholestérol à succès a été retiré du marché parce qu’il avait entraîné le décès de « patients ». Dans l’un des cas les plus graves, le médicament pris pour soigner de banals problèmes intestinaux a occasionné une constipation telle que les malades en sont morts. Pourtant, dans ce cas comme dans bien d’autres, les autorités de régulation nationales semblent plus attachées à protéger les profits des compagnies pharmaceutiques que la santé publique.
L’assouplissement aux Etats-Unis de la régulation de la publicité à la fin des années 1990 s’est traduit par une attaque sans précédent du marketing pharmaceutique en direction de M. Tout-le-Monde, soumis dorénavant à une bonne dizaine ou plus de spots publicitaires par jour. Les téléspectateurs de Nouvelle-Zélande connaissent le même sort. Ailleurs, le lobby pharmaceutique voudrait imposer le même genre de dérégulation.
Il y a plus de trente ans, un franc-tireur du nom d’Ivan Illich tirait la sonnette d’alarme, affirmant que l’expansion de l’establishment médical était en train de « médicaliser » la vie elle-même, sapant la capacité des gens à affronter la réalité de la souffrance et de la mort, et transformant un nombre bien trop important de citoyens lambda en malades. Il critiquait le système médical « qui prétend avoir autorité sur les gens qui ne sont pas encore malades, sur les gens dont on ne peut raisonnablement pas s’attendre à ce qu’ils aillent mieux, sur les gens pour qui les remèdes des médecins se révèlent au moins aussi efficaces que ceux offerts par les oncles et tantes (2) ».
Plus récemment, une rédactrice médicale, Mme Lynn Payer, décrivait à son tour un processus qu’elle appelait la « vente des maladies » : c’est-à-dire la façon dont les médecins et les firmes pharmaceutiques élargissaient sans nécessité les définitions des affections de façon à recevoir plus de patients et à commercialiser plus de médicaments (3). Ces écrits sont devenus de plus en plus pertinents à mesure que s’amplifiait le rugissement du marketing et que se consolidait l’emprise des multinationales sur le système de santé.
Cet article est extrait de Selling Sickness. How Drug Companies Are Turning Us All Into Patients, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest (Australie), 2005.
Alan Cassels et Ray Moynihan
© 2006 Le Monde diplomatique Posted at 02:51 pm by Somaliland
Aug 10, 2006
British authorities thwart terror plot to blow up several aircraft
Posted at 06:50 pm by Somaliland
Freed S.Korean wants to forget Somali captivity
Posted at 06:31 pm by Somaliland
East Africa: Kenya's Laws On Livestock Biased Against Herders
Posted at 06:01 pm by Somaliland
Aug 4, 2006
Laba haween ah oo Nin habeen wada Aroosay
Laba haween ah oo Nin habeen wada Aroosay
 Hargeysa (Jam)- Siciid Maxamed Cabdillaahi oo ah nin dhallinyaro ah oo u dhashay Somaliland waxa markii u horreysay taariikh cusub u furay taariikhda guurka Soomaliyeed kadiba markii uu hal habeen la aqal galay laba haween ah.
Guurka lamaanaha saddexan ee kulmiyey Caruus Siciid Maxamed Cabdillaahi iyo Caruusadaha lamaanaha ah ee Ubax Saalax Cawad iyo Sahra Maxamed Cabdi-dheere oo habeenimadii Isniineed ee toddobaadkan degaanka Galoolay (Fahda) oo 25km koonfur/galbeed kaga toosan magaalada Hargeysa.
Aroos wadareedkan oo uu Siciid hal habeen kula wada guri galay laba haweena oo sawjadihiisa ah ayaa noqotay mid bog cusub u furtay inta la ogyahay taariikhda guurka Soomaalida, taas oo dadkii ka qeyb galay xafladdaasi ku noqotay ashqaraar sheeko reebtay kadib markii ay shaahid u noqdeen hab-dhaqameedka guurka cusub iyo laba haweena oo iimaansaday inay Saygooda iyaga oo hareero fadhiya hal aroos habeen qudha kula aqal galaan.
Lamaanaha saddexan oo uu guurkooda laga filayo in uu bulshada ku noqdo mid hadal hayntiisu raad sheeko ku reebo, isla markaana uu noqon doono mid ay isweydiimo badan ka dhex aloosa bulshada iyada oo aan la halmaami Karin heeladihii iyo xiisihii aanuu kalgacalku ka madhnayn ee tan iyo bilowgii nolosha aadamaha soo taxnaa.
Inkasta oo mudane Siciid iyo labadiisa Marwo oo xalay Jamhuuriyo ku booqatay xaafadda ay ku aqal galeen ee Galoolay oo ka tirsan tuulada Fahda ay dareenkooda ka muuqatay farxad iyo kalsooni aan la soo koobi Karin, waxa uu Siciid sheegay in uu ku faraxsan yahay labadiisa Marwo oo isla mar la aqal galay.
“Daraynkaygu wuu fiican yahay ku talo-galka guurkayguna wuu ii hir galay.”
Marwooyinka Caruusadaha ah ee Ubax Saalax Cawad iyo Sahra Maxamed Cabdi ayaa iyaga oo tafaasiil ka bixinaya shucuurtooda.
Waxa ay Marwo Ubax Saalax oo ah Marwadii nasiibka u heshay habeen dhixii u horreeyey ee Saygeeda cusub oo ay ku mutaysatay 10 daqiiqo oo ay ka meher horreysay Marwada labaad Sahra Maxamed Cabdi, waxa ay tidhi; “Waan ku talo galay guurkan iyo arooskaba waananu isku jecelnahay.”
Caruusadda labaad Marwo Sahra Maxamed Cabdi oo ay ka sinaayeen xishoodkii haweenimo hadana waxa ay muujisay taageerada ay la wadaagto dangaladdeeda kale, waxayna ku dhawaaqday; “Waan ku faraxsanahay 90% waananu isku jecelnahay sidan guurka wada jirka ah.”
Ruun Qowdhan oo ah hooyada dhashay Siciid Maxamed Cabdillaahi, isla markaana ah hooyo aqoon farshaxanimo u leh alaabooyinka hiddaha iyo dhaqanka Soomaalidu caanka ku tahay, ayaa iyada oo dareen ahaan gudbinaysa nasiibka ay u heshay guur wadareedkan wiilkeedu calafsaday waxay dhoolo-ka-qosol ka tidhi; “Al Xamdu Lilaahi, waan ku faraxsanahay oo Ilaahay ayaa igu garab galay guurka wiilkayga, isaguna waabuu ku talo jiray.”
Hadaba, sababaha qisada guurkan ugubka ah suurto geliyey iyo arrimihii ku waajibiyey Siciid Maxamed Cabdillaahi in uu mar qudha aroos ku wada calfado inkasta oo ay ahayd himilada dareenkiisu mid cindanayd xataa yaraantiisii oo sida saaxiibadii sheegeen uu ku hadaaqi jiray in uu maagan yahay guur ka duwan dhallinyarada dhigiisa ah ayaa waxa uu Jamhuuriya uga xog waramay Cabdillaahi Ciise Gaboobe oo Adeer ugu toosan Siciid, isla markaana ka mid ahaa kooxdii Siciid u wehelisay tabaabushihii uu kula baxay marwada hore Ubax Saalax Cawad oo ay ka kaxeeyeen Hargeysa geeyayna tuulada Fahda oo ay degan yihiin Siciid reerkoodu, isla markaana Cabdillaahi oo goob joog ka ahaa qaban qaabadii hore iyo dhismihii dambe ee arooskan, isaga oo ka waramaya bilowgii u horreeyey iyo saan-saankii hordhica guurka Siciid waxa uu yidhi; “Inanku [Siciid] waxa uu inanta hore [Ubax Saalax] ka guursaday magaalada [Hargeysa] oo aan annigu kala sii kaxeeyey ilaa iyo degaanka Garabis oo uu reerkoodu deganaa inanka [Siciid].
Inanka [Siciid] iyo inanta hore [Ubax] may ahayn dad isku cusub oo waxay sheekaysanayeen muddo badan markii aanu tagnay halkaa ee subixii dambe oo aanu isu diyaarinayno qorshihii aanu ula tegi lahayn inanta reerkooda si ay noogu hibeeyaan inanta [Uban] oo aanu gabaatiga ugu geyno, ayaa intii aanu ku soo maqnayn inanta [Ubax] reerkooda oo joogay magaalada Hargeysa waxa dhacday inay niman na dhabar-marteeyeen oo inankii u sheekeeyeen oo ku yidhaahdeen arrintii Ubax odayaashu kuuguma maqnee gabadh kale guurso sidaas baanuu fuliyey.
Halkaa markii uu xaalku marayey oo dadkiina dawakh ku dhacay ayaa dadkii waxa ay u kala qaybsameen laba kooxood. Koox ku talisay in labada gabdhood midii hore 50 keedii Halaad la bixiyo mida dambana la arooso, iyaga oo markaa ka eegaya xag dhaqaale maadaama aanuu qoyska inanku ka dhashay aanay wada qaadi Karin inay laba gabdhood mar qudha ka yarad bixiyaan dhisaana.
Odaygii inanka [Siciid] dhalay ayaa isaga oo dhaqan ahaan xeerinaya waxa uu go’aansaday inaan labada gabdhood oo uu yidhi; “Labada gabdhood midna Abti ayaan u ahay midna Adeer, markaa midna la celin maayo.”
Markaa ayaanu dadkii degaankayagu tashanay oo wixii dhaqaale ahaan wax hayey go’aansanay in aanu labada aroos mid ahaan ku qeybno wixii ku baxayey midna uu odaygu dhiso, markii intaa la isla meel dhigay ayaa habeenkii saddexaadna waxa la meheriyey labadii gabdhood isku habeen oo waxa u dhexeeyey muddo 10 daqiiqadood dhan.
Habeenkii arooska waxa loo sameeyey dadab weyn oo la soo hadoodilay halkii loogu talo galay inay fadhiistaan Caruuska iyo labada gabdhood ee aroosadaha ah, ayaa waxa aanu dhignay saddex kursi oo ay ku kala fadhiisanayaan caruuskuna uu dhexda fadhiisanayo labada aroosadoodna labada dhinac ay ka kala fadhiisanayaan, minxiiska iyo minxiisaduhuna waxa la fadhiisiiyey meel hal jaranjaro ka hoosaysa halka uu fadhiyey aroosku, intii ay socdeen heesihii iyo madadaaladii kale ee arooska loogu talo galay ayaa runtii dadku fadhiisan waayeen oo arrinta ayaa waxay ku noqotay wax ku cusub intii arooska lagu jirayna waxba lagama dareemayn labada gabdhood, waxayna ahaayeen dad hore isu yaqaanay.”
Hadaba, xafladda gaafka ee arooska oo xalay ku beegnayd ayaa waxa goob joog ka ahaa wasiirka dalxiiska Cismaan Cali Bile oo sheegay in uu aad ugu faraxsan yahay guurkan ugubka ah ee halka mar la wada aroosay labada gabdhood, isla markaana imaanshiyihii uu kaga soo qeyb galay xafladda habeenka gaafka arooskan ay ka markhaati kacayso tixgellinta uu u hayo maadaama uu yahay wasiirkii dhaqanka hiddaha iyo dalxiiska.
Posted at 04:49 pm by Somaliland
Jul 12, 2006
Somaliland should be allowed to depart a chaotic country in transition
Dan Simpson: The ghost of Somalia
Somaliland should be allowed to depart a chaotic country in transition
Wednesday, July 12, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The issue of whether Somaliland should be recognized as a separate, independent country has been on the African and international agenda since government collapsed in Somalia itself in 1991.
The entity that calls itself Somaliland, the former British Somaliland, which merged with the newly independent Italian Somaliland in 1960 to form the then nation of Somalia, has had many of the attributes of nationhood for more than a decade. These include a functioning government, settled borders, a flag and a constitution. It even has an airline, Daallo Airlines, which I didn't find substantially worse to fly than US Airways.
Somaliland seemed different from Somalia itself when I visited its capital, Hargeisa, briefly in June. Hargeisa, by contrast to Mogadishu, the ostensible capital of what is left of Somalia itself, shows no guns and seems like a busy but quiet African capital. Africa and the world continue to insist that Somaliland is still part of Somalia and that its independence should not be recognized.
When I was U.S. ambassador and special envoy to Somalia in 1994-95 I agreed with that point of view. Part of my reasoning then was that there was still fighting among the Somalis in Somaliland over its borders and over who controlled the government. Those differences have now been resolved for years and I see no further valid reason to deny Somaliland recognition as a separate, independent country.
The argument against recognition of its independence is that to accept its successful separation is to accept the dissolution of Somalia as a country. Africa and the world do not wish that to happen. Not only is it messy, worst of all from the point of view of other African countries it risks encouraging separatist movements across the continent to seek independence for their own pieces of real estate. Countries vulnerable in that regard are numerous. Plus, there has been only one agreed separation to date, that of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1993, and that has led to warfare between them that simmers to this day.
So, runs the argument, the position of the African Union, supported more or less mindlessly by the United States to please the Africans, de facto Somaliland independence remains unrecognized. The U.S. government continues to pretend that Somaliland is part of the country of Somalia, which no longer exists except as lines on the map.
Somalia as a country collapsed formally in 1991. Africa and the world has tried, with visibly diminishing enthusiasm, to put it back together again ever since. Having stubbed its toe badly there in the 1991-95 period, the United States virtually ignored Somalia in its fragmented state until some of the Somali warlords managed to persuade the Bush administration that they were worthy recipients of cash to use in the alleged war on terrorism.
Never at a loss in using words creatively, the Somali warlords called themselves The Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and for Counter-Terrorism. Now who could not want to finance peace and the war on terrorism? It is said that they were receiving $100,000 to $150,000 a month at one point to bring freedom to Somalia. That U.S. enterprise crashed and burned June 5 when the peace and counterterrorism gang were driven out of Mogadishu by the Council of Islamic Courts gang.
Insult was added to U.S. injury June 22 when the Courts group signed an agreement with the ostensible Somali Federal Government of Transition in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. The accord, which included an FGT surrender, posing as a cease-fire, was signed under the auspices of the Arab League, whose current president is Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, one of America's least favorites. The league's secretary general, former Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, called the warlords America's team, war criminals who should be put on trial.
No Westerners were involved in the event. The next meeting of the Courts Council with the hapless transitional government, based in Baidoa, far from Mogadishu for its own safety, will take place July 25, again in Khartoum.
The United Nations seems to be coming to terms with the Islamic Courts Council. Its representatives met with Courts officials in Somalia on July 3. The United States appears so far not to have regained its feet in the face of the June 5 and June 22 setbacks. Press reports first had the United States offering talks. On July 1, however, State Department Africa bureau head Jendayi Frazer told Congress that the United States would not hold talks with the Courts group, now clearly in control of most of the old Somalia, minus Somaliland and another candidate breakaway area, Puntland.
Ms. Frazer said U.S. policy would be to seek to strengthen former Somali police in support of the Baidoa transitional government. It is true that it is toothless; resuscitating the old Somali police, however, is quixotic. The United States tried that at great cost in the 1990s. It didn't work.
The bottom line is that Somalia remains a big mess, although the Courts group may now be able to impose some order. I didn't go to Mogadishu this time because I knew how I could get in, but not how I could get out given the lack of clarity there. The idea that Mogadishu is a nest of al-Qaida adherents is a fantasy sold to the United States by clever Somali warlords, always adept at working scams to get money for arms.
It is also definitely time to recognize the independence of Somaliland. There is no longer any Somalia whose territorial integrity needs to be defended. The African Union has shown itself to be hopeless with regard to the Somalia issue and has now been supplanted in any negotiating role by the Arab League.
If there is still in existence a sense of Somali national identity that cuts across the old Italian and British Somalilands, Somalis seeing Somaliland walk away independent might revive it. If not, why hold a new Somaliland hostage to a ghost? Posted at 04:45 pm by Somaliland
May 27, 2006
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| SOMALILAND - May 21, 2006 - by FRANÇOIS SUDAN, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT |
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(Article translated from french by Babelfish)
Autoproclamée fifteen years ago, l'indépendance northern part of Somalia n'est recognized by anybody. And yet, whereas the remainder of the country is in prey with chaos, this British ex-colony lives in peace. Forgotten world.
This 18 May 2006, with the extreme point of the Horn of Africa, a country of nowhere celebrated the fifteenth birthday of its independence. This quite real State and which, however, does not exist, is in oneself a single case in the world. It has its own territory, delimited by borders resulting from colonization, its own currency, its stamps and its administration; it delivers visas and passports, organizes democratic elections, ensures its safety and its economic development without the assistance of whoever. Poor among the poor, but viable taking into consideration all possible criterion, this territory of 176 000 km2 and 4 million inhabitants does not have any foreign debt, for a very simple reason: no one, within the international community, does not recognize it, and it would not come to mind from any financial organization to lend only one dollar to a fiction, nor with any investor to risk itself within an economy not indexed by the insurance companies.
Terra incognita, the Republic of Somaliland pays at the full price the blindness, the ignorance and the disinterest of the Member States of the African Union, which are obstinated to see in him only one secession of this phantom State delivered to the anarchy and the whims of the lords of the war which is Somalia. However, by fight for their independence, then to only manage it, without never having to tighten the hand, Somalilandais form today a nation much more coherent, moral and enracinée that the majority of the African States. In a few weeks, at the time of the top of Banjul, in Gambia, at the beginning of July, Somaliland will knock officially on the door of the UA: its file will be on the agenda. Which reception the Heads of State will they hold at the request of admission of this virtual country whose reality however jumps to the eyes? In Hargeisa, the capital martyrdom of Somaliland, one prefers not too much to be deluded with illusions. To go there, via Addis or Djibouti on board a crachotant cuckoo, raises a little the asceticism admittedly - but the reward is at the end of the effort: a lesson of hope for all those which despairs sometimes the present of Africa...
Fatima, wounded memory
At the beginning was the History, a history of blood and mistake. In the tradition of the clan issak, which represents 80 % of the population of Somaliland - an invaluable homogeneity ethnic -, the patriarch came from Kerbala, to Iraq, in unmemorable times. Between Issaks and the four other large Somali tribes, there is, certainly, a language and a religion communes, but no genealogical bond. A fundamental difference which will devote the colonial period: end of the XIXe century until the following day of the Second World war, Somaliland is British, whereas Somalia is Italian. June 26, 1960 is born thus the State independent of Somaliland, under the auspices of London. But the time is with the panafricanism, and the Somali elites, qu' they are North or South, dreams aloud of "large Somalia" which would go from Djibouti in Mogadiscio and Ogaden to the septentrional provinces of Kenya. Five days very exactly after the proclamation of independence, the chiefs of brought together clans with Hargeisa vote with a short majority the sovereign fastening of Somaliland to the Somali unit. Catch in the fever of the moment, this decision was preceded by no negotiation with the "brothers of the South".
A serious error, door of consequences. During the thirty years which will follow, the history of Somaliland will be written in letters of suffering: discrimination, then repression. Within the government of Mogadiscio, Somalilandais will never have more than four ministers, and their officers will not exceed the rank of captain in the national army. From 1960 to 1990, on the some 4 billion and half of dollars of assistances received by Somalia, only 5 % will go to North. President Siyad Barré, which is wary of the irredentism of Issaks, will still increase their marginalisation by squaring the province of police officers and civils servant Southerners. Since 1961, soldiers issaks try a takeover by force in Hargeisa, which fails. A few years later, the uncontested political leader of Somaliland, Ibrahim Mohamed Equal, are apprehended and imprisoned during one decade in cell of insulation. In 1981 the Intifada of the pupils and students of Hargeisa against the Somali "occupant bursts". Stone jets against kalachnikovs. Fifteen died, of the hundreds of arrests. The same year, in London, is founded Somali National Movement (SNM) within Somalilandais of the diaspora. At once, this movement, which preaches self-determination and the armed struggle, settles in Ethiopia, where Mengistu Haïlé Mariam offers a back base and camps of drive to him. But the transitory reconciliation, six years later, between the "red Négus" and the dictator Siyad Barré oblige the SNM to pass to the offensive. Fearing to be expelled of Ethiopia, the men of the maquis issaks penetrate in mass in Somaliland, hustle the Somali regular army, libèrent Burao then Hargeisa before moving on Berbera. We are then in mid-May 1988: the revenge on Siyad Barré will be terrible. More than anything else, it is it which will found nationalism somalilandais - and its visceral rejection of the South.
All begins on May 27 at 5 hours of the morning. Since the heights of the airport, which they preserved between their hands, the General Ali Samater, commander-in-chief of the Somali army, and the General Mohamed Hersi, called "Morgan", its assistant, decide, on order of Barred, to shave Hargeisa rebels it. During eight days, the Migones controlled by Somali trained in Soviet Union and the bombers Hawker Hunters, with the orders of which took seat of the South-African mercenaries, ram the city and its inhabitants. Ninety percent of the future capital of Somaliland will be destroyed, at the terrifying price from thirty to forty thousand victims. Among the three persons in charge for this major war crime, two are always in life. If Barred died in exile in Nigeria in 1995, Samater found refuge in the United States, in Fortunia, not far from Washington, where it was done very discrete. As for "Morgan", it is prosperous and highly respected with Mogadiscio, where it directs a clannish militia.
An impunity which makes presque cry of rage Fatima Saeed. This small sharp woman, marries ministre, which lived a long time in Great Britain, had a duty to count, with the assistance of some American medical examiners, all the common graves of the country. Only in Hargeisa, nearly two hundred mass graves were thus located. All go back to 1988 and 1989 and testify to the terrible cleaning ethnic which followed the resumption of the city by the Somali army. Announced by a double hedge of cactus, at the edge of a dry wadi and with two hundred meters of the general ex-district - high place of all tortures under Barred Siyad -, the mass grave of Maka Durdure is one of most poignant. Here the bodies of around fifty of students issaks, bled with dead in order to feeding were thrown the transfusions of wounded Somali army. Each year, at the time of the great rain season which goes from April at June, the streamings discover new pits. Under our feet, fabric ends and fragments of human skeletons leave ground "the Islamic religion prohibited the ossuaries, as for Rwanda, sighs Fatima, but at least, which one perhaps maintains the sites, which one protects them and that one sets up a memorial" One day...
It will be necessary to wait until 1991 and the fall of Siyad Barré so that Somaliland reappears of its ashes. May 18, 1991 in Burao, the Great Council of old (Congress of Council of Elders) proclaims unilateral independence whereas the remainder of Somalia sinks in chaos. A long national conference in two times follows, in Berbera then with Baramo, the following which the clan ultramajoritaire of Issaks forgives the minority clans which collaborated with the deposed mode. Some tensions, in particular between soldiers and civil, persist until 1995, arbitrated by the "father of independence", Ibrahim Mohamed Egal, left living Siyad Barré. Place, from now on, with the democracy...
With the kingdom of the wise ones
Enracinée in culture very egalitarian of clans - a culture that Indirect British Rule preserved, contrary to the policy of assimilation which prevailed in Italian Somalia -, the democracy somalilandaise is a reality much more tangible than in a number of countries of the continent. Since the constitutional referendum of 2001 which had value of poll of self-determination (97 % of yes), Somaliland knew three elections: local in 2002, presidential in 2003 and legislative in 2005.
Supervised for the two last by international observers, and organized by an independent electoral Commission, their results are significant. Resulting from a minority, Gadabursis, but popular clan at Issaks, président it dahir Rayale Kahin carried by a difference in... 213 votes (42,08 %, against 42,07 %) on its rival, 213 votes out of 600 000 voters! Overcome did not protest, since the Commission returned its verdict. The legislative ones, they, were gained by the opposition, majority to the Parliament, and the cohabitation between executive and legislature proceeds without too many clashes. Secrecy of this consensual democracy: the Council of wise of 82 members designated by the clans and under-clans, which intervenes as soon as a blocking is in sight. Its opinions are unanimously accepted the more so as its role is limited to level the divergences "for the good of Somaliland". It is this same Council which, in May 2002, with the advertisement of died in South Africa of the father of independence Ibrahim Mohamed Egal, had regulated its temporary succession in less than fifteen minutes.
In this country where the rare newspapers adopt a tone sometimes very critical with regard to the capacity (in particular the hebdo Somali Times), the authority wants to be modest. Nothing distinguishes the ministers from Mr All-the-Tout-le-Monde, and the presidency of the Republic, a masonry without grace where the governor named by Mogadiscio sat formerly, is brood in full heart of Hargeisa, along a busy street. In front of the green gate, two or three guards mâchonnent qat: who could want some with the host of these places? Elected for a five years renewable mandate once ("Somalilandais would never accept it, it is excluded! "it exclaims when it is asked to him whether it would not be tempted to modify the Constitution to prolong its lease), dahir Rayale Kahin revêt the clothes of the exemplary democrat" Somaliland is not a republican monarchy, explains it, we do not have here this typically African culture which consists in placing its family, woman and children, at stations of being able, because they bear your name. If my children are qualified, eh although they exercent their competences elsewhere, it is healthier. No one did not elect them. Myself, my completed time, I will withdraw myself, but I will continue to serve my country "Words of wise...
When Berbera wakes up
A sun in fusion floods its volcanic heat one of the largest natural handles of Africa. In the empty streets, along the Turkish arcades, the shade of the boutres, cross the shades of Henri de Monfreid and the sheik Issaak Ben Ahmed, the patriarch of the clan issak.
The gulf of Aden is blue, and Berbera its pearl deadened. Berbera: if one day Somaliland wakes up, it is here that all will start. Already, Ethiopia made of this port its second opening towards the sea after Djibouti. More quatre hundred ships accosted there in 2005, charged of sugar of Brazil, of rice of Indonesia, cement or flour for the immense Ethiopian market. A little with the variation, the French company Total - single Western company present at Somaliland - manages an oil terminal and ten tanks while waiting to exploit one day appreciable the gas réserves offshore oil rig. Not far from there, to the foot of a peeled hill, the largest landing strip extends from Africa (eight kilometers!), built by the Soviet army under Brejnev, at the time where Berbera was a base of the cold war. Later, the Americans used it, making of this concrete ribbon overheated one of the tracks of help for their space shuttles. Today, only some rare planes land in Berbera, while waiting for that the Chinese, who invest Africa at the speed of sound and to which l' interest geostrategic and economic of this port on the southern coast of the Gulf does not have escaped, decide to concretize their exploratory missions.
The business, it is in Hargeisa, the capital, that it is necessary to go to seek it. Avenue of 18-May throne - if one can say - Bank of Somaliland, Banque central founded in 1994 and who, with his six provincial branches, holds also place of single commercial bank of the country. It has been it which, for twelve years, has emitted the national currency, the shilling, printed in London at Thomas Of the Street No reserves of of course gold, but sufficiently of currencies in the trunks to maintain a rate of exchange with the dollar (3 500 shillings for 1 dollar), fixed for five years. In spite of its situation of "outlaw" in comparison with the international financial institutions, Bank of Somaliland maintains the working relationships with Commerz Bank of Frankfurt, the BPCI (Paribas) of Djibouti, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and the Standard Bank of Kenya. Confronted with terrible problèmes budgetary, in particular when it needed only, without any external help, to rebuild a devastated capital, the State always wisely took care not to "bleed" the central Bank, preferring to call upon the patriotism of Somalilandais. The important diaspora (nearly a half-million people divided between Ethiopia, Europe, the United States and Arab countries of the Gulf) takes part thus largely in the Government loans, just like rare the grosses local fortunes. To build a public building, to open a road, to set up a hospital or to build a university, the recourse to the contributions is systematic. Met in the hall of the hotel Ambassador (one of the two establishments of the capital with Mansoor), the mayor of Hargeisa was this day a happy man: in a round table, it came to join together 1 million dollars of promesses of gifts to finally throw a bridge on the wadi. Who paid? quelques the men d' businesses of the vintage that the aberrant boycotting imposed for eight years by Saudi Arabia on exports of cattle had somalilandais, principal richness of the country, did not ruin. Officially for medical reasons (the fever of the Valley Rift, completely éradiquée in Somaliland). Actually for political reasons. Riyadh is hostile with any project of bursting of Somalia, Member State of the Arab League.
In Somaliland, however, the civils servant are regularly paid at the end of each month. The wages are weak, certainly (a minister gains the equivalent of 500 dollars), but it is a small miracle. An outline of economy for each family would certainly consist in decreasing, even stopping, the consumption of qat, this imported euphoriant grass of the Ethiopian high plateaus for which Somalilandais spend nearly 60 million dollars per annum. Impossible. The daily chewing of these small green sheets in branch, with the bitter taste, sold in plastic bags which then will flood the streets, is, with the desire of independence, the thing best divided in Somaliland...
Generals dead
Out of battledress and beret, without apparent rank, the General Nuh Ismaël Tani, chief of staff of the army, return visit to his armoured brigade aligned under the sun as to the parade. A half-dozen of Russian tanks T55 and as many Italian transport of troops FIAT. All go back at least twenty-five years, and all were recovered on the dead army of Siyad Barré. Their maintenance is done by cannibalization, and the mission of the Tani General - formed with the Military academy of Odessa, in Ukraine - is "to defend the integrity of the territory". It lays out with this intention of 15 000 men, including 11 000 ex-militiamans who were integrated with their weapons without the assistance of any program of international support. Surrounded of a body of officers, of which oldest were useful in the "Somaliland scouts" British, Tani works in close coordination with its counterpart of the police force, the General Mohamed Egeh Elmi. If the order and safety reign in Hargeisa - so much so that the changers of shillings their tickets in full street without fearing pile up the steerings -, it is at the borders that the two men have to make. Particularly in the east.
The infiltrations the islamist ones armed coming from Somali chaos are indeed not rare. In 2003 and 2004, three members of ONG operating in Somaliland (a Kenyan and two British) were assassinated by a group come from Mogadiscio and claiming Al-Qaïda. Decrees, the eleven membres of the commando were condemned to died in 2005, sorrow commuted later to prison with life "It is the population which challenged them, whereas they were on the point of fleeing towards Ethiopian Ogaden, explains the Elmi General proudly. Here, chaque inhabitant is a police officer "He does not prevent: the islamist ones profited from local complicities, of which that of a radical Imam of Hargeisa, also imprisoned to him "It acts of a negligible minority of Somalilandais, rétorque president Kahin, the fight against terrorism is registered in our Constitution; we are not fanatics. We are open Moslems, certes, but Moslems. I will say even laic Moslems "
In search of recognition
From Bangladesh with Timor-Is, while passing by the republics of the Soviet ex-Union and of the Yugoslav Federation, without forgetting close Érythrée, the contemporary history abounds of these autoproclamées independences, then recognized by the international community. Better: Somaliland, one saw it, was independent one week, before being linked in Somalia then to dissolve this union by an act of unilateral divorce. There still, the precedents exist: Federation of Mali, Sénégambie, United Arab Republic, etc. Why thus has the community internationale - as a premier place African - balked for fifteen years to co-opt in its centre the Republic of Somaliland? For several reasons. Even if it were, as dahir Rayale Kahin recognizes it, "a heavy error" made by the leaders of the time and even if it were lived in misfortune, the union with Somalia lasted thirty years all the same. One was accustomed there, at the point to forget that this union was that of two ex-colonies différentes, at the clearly delimited borders. Moreover, the "case" of Somaliland really was never reproduced on the international diary, UNO and the great powers preferring to shelter behind a hypothetical Panafrican recognition before beginning on this way "All the Council Resolutions of safety reiterate the principles of unit, of integrity and of sovereignty of the Somali unit", recalls François Fall, former Prime Minister of Guinea and current special representative of Kofi Annan for Somalia, which adds that "the problem of the recognition of Somaliland is not that of the secretariat-general, but that of the Member States". Mezza voce, one specifies very in the same way in New York as "if the African Union decides to admit Somaliland in its centre, UNO will be able to only follow". However even if a delegation of the UA sent to inquire on the spot in 2005 produced a report/ratio rather favorable to the recognition of Somaliland, this continuous prospect to cause strong reserves.
Initially, that of Egypt and Sudan - joined recently by Libya. In theory, for reasons "of Arab solidarity". In truth because Cairo and Khartoum always wanted large Somalia in measurement to counterbalance the weight of Ethiopia, which control 80 % of the sources of the Nile "It is true, our alliance with Ethiopia carries us wrong in the Arab world", admits the Minister for Finance Husssein Ali Dualeh, a former diplomat, author of a lighting book on the subject (Search for has New Somali Identity). "But Addis was always our ally whereas the Arab countries delivered our militants to Siyad Barré." And to point out the military support granted by Nasser and Sadate to Mogadiscio during the wars of 1964 and 1977 against Ethiopia, as well as the hardly buckled hostility expressed by the Egyptian Boutros Boutros-Ghali, then secretary-general of UNO, at the time of the proclamation of the independence of Somaliland in 1991.
Remain that anarchy without exit in which Somalia sank (fifteen conferences of peace and the dizaines of million dollars absorbed for nothing) profits little by little, a contrario, with the somalilandaise cause. After deposithaving officially deposited its request for adhesion to the African Union at the time of the Summit of Khartoum last January, Hargeisa hopes well to see its case put on the agenda of that of Banjul at the beginning of July. The support of Thabo Mbeki, Mélès Zenawi, Olusegun Obasanjo and Abdoulaye Wade seems acquired. That of Algeria is hoped - "Algiers recognized the Republic sahraouie, which does not control its territory, whereas we are here on our premises! "president Kahin entrusts. Except Africa, Somaliland profits from a wave fort of sympathy in the United States, in Great Britain, in Germany and Scandinavia. France, it, misses. Undoubtedly for not froisser Djibouti, of which the reserves with regard to an official recognition of its neighbor (and competitor potential) somalilandais are deaf, but real.
The scandal of Laas Geel
Nothing illustrates better this nonsense, which consists in asphyxiating, by depriving it of any help, a State in margin of the international legality, which the disaster of Laas Geel. Some share between Hargeisa and Berbera, with ten kilometers of the road, in a universe mineral and overheated stony hills, to lie an abandoned treasure. Sixteen caves decorated with extraordinary fresques rupestres going back to 5000 years before Jesus-Christ, to tens of scenes of hunting and everyday life, disappeared animals and forgotten plants, testify to the time when the Horn of Africa was green and fertile. A symphony of ochre, beige and the russet-red one that the ministry for the Culture tries to protect from the devastations of time with ridiculous means: two huts and a guard. At each rain season, water streams in the caves and erases little by little these sites of which some were not even explored. In 2003, the minister wrote with UNESCO a letter, then another with the embassy from France to Djibouti on the council of paleontologists from Montpellier. He asked for a few thousands of dollars to make safe the caves and a scientific expedition in order to carry out their classification. In vain. No answer, if it is not this confidence kafkaïenne of a senior official of UNESCO: "We can nothing make, your country does not exist" When the autism of the international community generates the crime against the Inheritance of humanity, it is difficult not to despair... |
Posted at 09:29 am by Somaliland
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