Actually, we don't expect you to acknowledge anything regarding Somaliland. That task is given to those who have no horse or emotional attachment to it. i.e. International community etc. And by any measure of that, we are content of the reports and the recommendation to improving our process & conduct. That said, it is only to your own disadvantage to hate Somaliland and also to refuse to learn from our experiences, not the other way round. If you know what I mean.

Somaliland is competing with Europe in its conduct of elections and acceptance of its results. If only reer Somalia stop hating and start learning from us, they would have been in a better situation than they are today. In fact, the last 4 years has been the worse years since Siyad Barre's gov't was toppled. The mindset of the political actors is now one of zero-sum game (Cad yahaw ama ku cunay ama ku ciideeyay) - The worse kind of political discourse The President that will result (if at all)from this political bloodletting and division will have his work cut out from the first hour. It won't be easy as there is no more goodwill credits left in the bank. Waa sagxadda. Time for reer Somalia for reality check. The days of "Soomaaliyeey Toosoo" to unite whip the feelings of people is long gone. They need to come up with new ideas to build their country with. Those old mantra no longer cuts it. Hating on Somaliland no longer cuts it. Otherwise, just acknowledge and face the reality and live and let live side by side as equals in peace and harmony without one trying to rule over the other.

Btw, this is not about me or what I wish or wish not. I am just the lone person providing a reality check.

By all means I have zero respect for the fraudsters, but just observing what I see as an individual who has no dog in this rat race. And of course I totally understand that nothing in Mogadishu or South Somalia is smooth. But in the grand scheme of things, the fraudsters are the closest to anything that resembles as free & fair s/election as a group.

That was after 3 days when the deal was signed. But the Press Release by the Company was before the Minister tweeted about this. To be exact, the Company releases news at 12pm London Time. While the minister tweeted about this 4:30pm London Time. Almost 4 1/2 hours late. It is called damage control. But too little too late.

Unbelievable. If someone told me this story, I would've said get-outta-town!!! It is wrong on so many levels. Had it not been the Company that published a Press Release in the USA, this story would have been kept under the carpet and the Bonus money divided up by the vultures in Mogadishu. All without anybody knowing about it. The big picture, where does this leave the International Community's trust? Or what legacy will this leave for other future investment deals?

Just to round off this farce, the so called Somaliland MPs seem to be the only ones that are actually conducting anything that is resembling of a free and fair s/election process. What a wonderful world we are living in, when the fraudsters that represent no one but their back pockets actually become the most well behaved and well organised group.

As the most corrupted overly delayed s/election process approaches dead line, the IMF which is the largest donor to the Federal Gov't in Somalia, has declared that it will be withdrawing its support from May 2022. The IMF/WorldBank donations is the lifeblood of Somalia's Federal Gov't and without it, things will grind to a halt Meanwhile both Beledweyn and Bosaso s/election process is getting deadly and bloody. Bombs went off in both towns and a number of casualties reported. The situation is very tense. Jubaland is counting the minutes and hours as the deadlock there gets more tense. We are approaching the business end of this farce of all farcical elections. IMF: Poll delays risk starving Somalia's budget WWW.GAROWEONLINE.COM

There has been a wave of Coup in the Francophone nations in West Africa. It seems there is a pattern to this too, they all seem to be targeting nations whose head of state is too close to the Chinese or is trying to pivot to the East. And certainly Ismail Omar Gheele seems to be falling into this category.

Sounds like you guys have a chip of sorts on your shoulders. Chill dude. There is a lot to discuss about everything that is going on. Including anything that has already been discussed.

Not too sure what has triggered him. I will pass. Here are some reports - almost identical title, same issues - just years changed. UN Feb 2022 Somalia, at Critical Juncture, Must Have International Support in Order to Hold Overdue Elections, Restore Stability, Briefers Tell Security Council UN Aug 2020 SOMALIA AT A CRITICAL JUNCTURE, AS FEDERAL, STATE LEADERS, MEET TO BREAK ELECTION IMPASS I could probably dig deeper and the same reports could be found in any given year since 1991. Somalia has never left the "critical juncture', what other see a alarming situation, it is business as usual.

25th of February is the the dead line by which the International Community has set to completion and election of a new President in Somalia. This parliament (inta magac parlaam sheegta xaal qaado) has become complete farce and holds number #1 spot for corruption, discredited process, lack of an iota of integrity, totally being closed race. So far the selected individuals who have become Parliamentarians in Somalia could be categorised as: 1. Clueless - majority of women fall into this category - they are there for the money only and couldn't care less if they are asked to vote to sell their own children to the lowest bidder. 2. Careless - These are majority from Somaliland, they couldn't care less whatever happens. 3. Those with "Blinkers" on - These are majority men who are selected for their unreserved obedience to key players in the Presidential race. It is a parliament bereft of brains, ideas or vision. From the old Somali adage: Hal xaaran ah, nirig xalaal ah ma dhasho. The photo below sums it all up. If you ever heard of candidate getting 100% of the votes. The below candidate not only secured 100% but also the vote of his own opponent.

Actually the geo-politics in the region has changed everything. It is not only Somaliland that is after something but there seems to be shared interest from both sides. Key US Senators have been sold what Somaliland could offer the US in the turbulent and dictator-ridden Horn of Africa and that is huge in my books.

That guy is not a lobbyist. He is actually an employee of the State Department. He started as an analyst in African issues and used to write reports about Somaliland/Somalia issue for the Christian Science Monitor Newspaper. Since then, he joined the State Department and has held a number of positions for the US in Africa. Potentially he could be assigned to the Horn of Africa sometime in the future, so do not count him out. No I am not underestimating, but traditionally speaking the Black caucus are not the go to for Foreign policy issues. Probably the one issue that is exception to this rule is if it is related to race or Black people in Africa. This is where the Amhara uses to get the blacks interested. They sell the idea that Ethiopia, the only African country that resisted colonialism, is under attack. They could careless about an issue like Somaliland vs Somalia. I don't think they even like to side one way or another in as far as African issues is concerned. But the Lobby firms that specialise in Foreign Policy and have access to the policy makers that set the guidelines as far as Foreign policy is concerned, those Firms do not come cheap. We are talking about highly sought after firms that have many foreign states as customers from Arabs to Asia all the way to Europe itself. This is the group that Somaliland has tapped into and have arranged the upcoming meeting between Somaliland officials and key gov't officials in Washington come this March.

Turns out that the so called Lobby Firm is actually a lone wolf who has some access to the Black Caucus members. He is probably the cheapest lobbying service in Washington.

I agree there is a synchoronisation of elections issue in Somaliland. The delays have costed us a lot of time. But we are not in a hurry, we are learning and we are fixing our problems and in the process making lots of progress. The issue with political party vetting is something that is still up in discussions so I am not going to prejudge. But one thing I would like to say is that, there is nothing set on stone. If Somalilanders vetted their political parties in local council elections, there is nothing stopping us from using a different method of vetting process. In the end, what matters is that the vetting process is clear, free and fair. There is no one that is getting destroyed here. Everyone is on the same boat. It is just matter of opinion and like we always do, we will have our heated disagreements but we will always come together and decide a way forward.

It seems there is more lobbyists in Washington writing about Somaliland than ever before. In my opinion this is good advertisement. The more eyeballs and minds thinking about Somaliland the better. Lobbying is not cheap, It will be a great shame if they do not sustain their effort and sign up for multi-year deals which is cheaper than one off contracts. In any case, I welcome the fact that Somaliland has finally getting the attention it deserves (for the better or for the worse) which ever side you are on.

Ethiopia couldn't come up with the dollars to purchase the 19%. That is where UK's Investment arm the CDC stepped in. The Ethiopians are all in, thanks in many ways to the UAE which has special relationship with the current leaders in Addis Abeba. The Berbera Corridor will become one of the major trade corridors in Africa. DP World is investing an additional $1 Billion dollars to develop this trade corridor with a string of dry ports in key locations all feeding Berbera Port. Within the next few months there will be a lot of activities in kicking off a lot of projects including the Berbera Free Zone and the second phase of the development of the Port. With regards to Bosaso, that is history. The Pirates mismanaged the millions of dollars that was meant to create space for the port and secure it and now they are broke and cannot do anything. Dubai's DP World, UK's CDC to invest up to $1.7 bln in Africa WWW.REUTERS.COM Dubai ports giant DP World and Britain's development finance agency CDC Group on Tuesday said they planned to jointly invest up to $1.72 billion in logistics infrastructure in Africa over the next several years... Ministry of Transport of Ethiopia and DP World sign MoU for the development of the Ethiopian side of the Berbera Corridor WWW.DPWORLD.COM MoU paves way for formal discussions on potentials to develop the corridor to unlock economic benefitsDP World and its partners envisage investing up to US$1bn in developing supply chain infrastructure...

The major news for me is the rapprochement of Djibouti and Somaliland. Somaliland is now has very close State-to-State working relationship with Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. Somaliland will have a good relations with Eritrea once the despot is removed from power.

Somaliland introduced the idea of having a licence to practice politics just like any other profession that need to be controlled as if it is not checked it has the potential to have negative affect on law and order. This is only required so long the prevailing mindset has not become sophisticated enough to carefully organise the society in terms of interest, need or like-mindedness. Once the society has reached that stage then this law can be ditched. So for those who are baffled by this law, it is no different to a doctor who operated a major brain surgery the day before but had to sit for his license renewal the day after. It happens. So if the 10 year license expires all the political parties will have to renew it. It works for Somaliland and that is what matters.