US Dollars And No Guns: How Puntland Runs Itself

[miles-militis]

US Dollars And No Guns: How Puntland Runs Itself

 

The East African (Nairobi)

 

COLUMN

January 12, 2004

Posted to the web January 14, 2004

Arthru Okwemba

Nairobi

 

Special Correspondent ARTHUR OKWEMBA visited the state of Puntland in northeast Somalia recently and found, to his surprise, that it is not quite the lawless jungle that he had expected it to be

 

As our plane touched down on the deserted Bossaso airstrip during a recent visit to Somalia's Puntland state, my stomach churned with fear.

 

 

I had heard and read many stories about the security situation in the vast Horn of Africa country, so the peaceful crowds that strode languidly along the streets as we drove into Bossaso did little to ease my worries.

 

As if sensing what was going through my mind, the driver said: "Puntland is one of the most peaceful places in Somalia. So do not fear."

 

I was intrigued by the way the name Puntland rolled easily off his tongue, considering that the state did not exist before 1991 when civil war broke out after the overthrow of president Mohammed Siad Barre.

 

According to a report titled Scarcity and Surfeit: The Ecology of Africa's Conflicts by the African Centre for Technology Studies and South Africa's Institute of Security Studies, the fall of Barre actually "dampened prospects for peace and security and did not bring about an anticipated coalition government formed by dissident factions.

 

Instead, the war began and Somalia was broken into fiefdoms run by militias answerable only to certain warlords, prompting the European Union to commission the London School of Economics and Political Science to assess various types of political and administrative decentralisation systems that would work in Somalia and bring about a lasting solution to the conflict.

 

In a 1995 report titled A Study of the Decentralisation Structure for Somalia: A Menu of Options, the experts proposed four models - confederation, federation, a community-based type of power-sharing known as consociation; and a decentralised unitary state.

 

During two seminars held in neigbouring Kenya in 1996 to discuss the report, the Somali people, represented by politicians, religious leaders civil society and other stakeholders, chose the last option.

 

They agreed that the decentralised unitary state of governance would operate, while giving full autonomy to the constituent units.

 

That is how Puntland came into being as one of the autonomous units. But the country remains far from meeting the system envisaged in the study.

 

Since the war, Somalia has been divided into two states led by presidents, with the central and southern parts in areas like Mogadishu and Kismayu under the control of warlords.

 

The Republic of Somaliland, which was a British protectorate, declared its independence from the southern part of Somalia in 1991.

 

Puntland, in the northeast, followed suit and has remained relatively peaceful for some time now. With this development came other major differences in states found in one country.

 

Two different currencies circulate in the two states. Interestingly, Somaliland does accept the Puntland currency and vice versa.

 

The scars of the largely clan-based civil war are far from healing and this is manifested in the decisions and policies of the two states.

 

When a person boards a plane from Puntland state, for instance, he or she has to pay a visa fee of $20 at Bossaso airport and a similar amount at Hargeisa airport in the Republic of Somaliland.

 

As one moves down to the central and southern zones, a $20 visa fee is again charged at airstrips or airports controlled by the warlords.

 

Hence, in the same country, a person can pay the visa fee five times, depending on the zones being visited.

 

In places where a government exists, some of the money goes to the state. In other areas, it is pocket by warlords and the militiamen.

 

As such, there are those who are getting super rich as the conflict rages. This is the group locals say would prefer the current state of affairs to continue.

 

But this does not bother them as much as security does. Some locals are fleeing certain parts of the country to settle in either Puntland or Somaliland, which are relatively stable.

 

To the people of these two states, the most insecure places are the Southern and Central parts of Somalia, which encompass areas like Mogadishu and Kismayu.

 

Indeed, when a person passes through Puntland, the perception of a country on fire that many people in Kenya have fizzles out.

 

In Bossaso, one of Puntlant's most vibrant towns with a strategic port on the Red Sea, business is booming and much of it is conducted in US dollars. You can buy a soft drink or sweets with a dollar, and get change in US cents.

 

Even elderly businesswomen have mastered the art of differentiating a fake from authentic dollar by just feeling and looking at certain features.

 

Buildings are coming up fast in Puntland, as people race against time to catch up with opportunities lost through the war. In Bossaso, there is a university known as the University of East Africa.

 

The residents, who have not had an opportunity to get an education, crave for it, especially the English language.

 

A few private schools, which offer English language courses, use the Kenyan curriculum, administered by Kenyan teachers, who are increasingly setting-up camp in Somalia.

 

A primary school teacher, who earns about Ksh7,000 ($90) at home, can earn as much as $500 (Ksh39,000) a month in addition to a free return air ticket to Kenya when schools close. An estimated 600 Kenyans are said to be working in Somaliland in different capacities.

 

In this respect, despite the over 10 years of conflict that has slowed down development in Somalia, the country appears to be beating the odds. Everybody is going about their business with no apparent worry. There are no people carrying guns around as is popularly believed, although many have them in their homes.

 

A 16-year-old boy told me he has his own gun, which can come in handy in the event that his clan is attacked by another.

 

Most of the locals blame the civil war or clan wars, as some call them, for providing the fertile ground for the guns to get into the hands of civilians.

 

With only $50 (Ksh3,850), one can get a pistol. Double that amount and you have an AK-47 rifle.

 

The biggest worry is that with so many people owning guns, conflicts can flare up easily and degenerate into something nasty.

 

If person is killed by someone from another clan, the attack is taken as an assault on the clan of the deceased person. Therefore, the offended clan will kill anybody from the other clan in revenge.

 

This situation has forced international agencies working in Somalia to define how to offer tenders and contracts, or hire people.

 

A staff member of an international agency working in southern Somalia says: "In this part of the world, sometimes qualifications do not matter when hiring. You have to know how a clan will take it if you employ someone from a rival clan."

 

The process is said to be so dicey that the agencies have to consult the elders, who then decide who should get a contract or a job.

 

On its part, in an attempt to bring law and order, the governments of Puntland and Somaliland have ordered that only law enforcement agencies, the military and few people licensed to have guns should carry them in public.

 

In addition, many Somalis hope that the ongoing peace talks in Nairobi will come up with solutions that would minimise the current tensions fuelling gun ownership among warring Somali clans.

 

This kind of hope, however, does not resonate among the Somalis in Somaliland. A number of the locals interviewed are neither anxious nor interested in the whole peace process.

 

They still harbour - something one discerns easily - a deep mistrust of their brothers in South Somali and Puntland.

 

Screamed one of them when I inquired why unity had eluded them for so long: "We cannot participate in talks when senior people who served in the Siad Barre government and were architects of the maiming of our people and destruction of our land are now seen as saints in the talks in Nairobi."

 

There are claims that around 1991 and 1992, Barre's army, which continued fighting after his ouster in January 1991, bombarded Hargeisa, one of the then flourishing towns with a strong political and economic base. The raids are said to have left over 640,000 people dead and the entire town reduced to rubble.

 

Many of the people in Somaliland have kept pictures and relics of the town immediately after it was flattened as a reminder of the injustice meted out to them.

 

Pointing at one of these pictures, Egal Mohammed says agonisingly: "We speak the same language, worship the same religion, we are people of the same race, and yet we were battered like this by our fellow brothers. It is difficult to start talking of unity."

 

Even those who might disagree with him are now losing their patience with the talks, which began in 1991 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia under the facilitation of the United Nations.

 

To many of them, the consultations have taken too long without any tangible success and are turning out to be an avenue for some people to enrich themselves.

 

Although most locals and senior politicians who are in favour of the talks say the country can only be governed through a decentralised unitary state, with a loose central government, Somaliland is taking a different stand.

 

It says it does not even want to be part of that decentralised unitary state. They just want to stand as an independent state. Indeed, they have been fighting hard to win international recognition.

 

Like a fledgling democratic state, people in Somaliland elected their third president early last year and recently concluded municipal elections. Early this year, they plan to hold parliamentary elections.

 

Meanwhile, compared with the two states, the other parts of the larger Somalia are struggling to put their act together.

 

Politics revolves around clans - the ****** , ***** , **** , *** , ********* - a number of which say only self-determination is the way out.

 

This brings into sharp focus the question, Should self-determination be used by the Somali people as a way of solving conflicts?

 

In Sudan, the Sudan People's Liberation Army led by John Garang prefers the same model. Conflict experts argue that if self-determination can bring lasting peace on the continent, then why not think about it in any political parleys?

 

http://allafrica.com/stories/200401140397.html

[wind talker]

Whoa. An insightful article.

 

Two of my highlights:

 

"Hence, in the same country, a person can pay the visa fee five times, depending on the zones being visited."

 

This is the only thing I have against dividing Somalia. I don't want to have to pay visa taxes just to visit Burco.

 

"This brings into sharp focus the question, Should self-determination be used by the Somali people as a way of solving conflicts?

 

In Sudan, the Sudan People's Liberation Army led by John Garang prefers the same model. Conflict experts argue that if self-determination can bring lasting peace on the continent, then why not think about it in any political parleys?"

 

I say nothing is wrong with self-determination. And who the hell are 'conflict experts'?

 

Anyways, wonderful article. Long live Puntland, Somaliland, Jubbaland, Riverland, Wind Talker land, and so on.

 

Peace.