N.O.R.F Posted January 22, 2009 Somalia: Somaliland Election Heats Up Ahead of March Vote Elections in Somalia's separatist republic of Somaliland are heating up ahead of the March 29 vote, when the breakaway region's next president will be elected, Radio Garowe reports. Somaliland President Dahir Riyale was recently accused by fellow members of the ruling UDUB party of "illegally" naming a committee to organize the party's upcoming conference to select a single nominee for the election. Mr. Abdullahi Hussein Darawal, a former Somaliland health minister, held a press conference last week at Imperial Hotel in Hargeisa, the breakaway region's capital and Somalia's second-largest city. "Riyale has used an authority he does not have by appointing an illegal committee, and [he] even made his deputy Ahmed Yusuf Yasin the chairman," said Mr.Darawal while referring to Somaliland's vice president. Fellow UDUB member Ahmed Sandon Hassan, who held a joint press conference with Mr. Darawal, suggested that President Riyale is planning to "eliminate competition" within the ruling party. Both Darawal and Sandon are seeking UDUB's party nomination for the presidential election in March. Somaliland's leader has not responded to the accusations. Skirmish Fighting was reported early Wednesday morning in Awr-bogeys village, in disputed Sanaag region. Local sources reported that a gunfight erupted after Somaliland officials brought voter-registration materials to the village, with pro-Puntland native militia reportedly attacking a house where the Somaliland officials stayed. Conflicting reports emerged following the battle, with unconfirmed reports saying local militias burned one of the Somaliland armed trucks. The Somaliland officials were led by a politician from the native clan in Sanaag, named Hayran Hagar Dirir, local sources said. Somaliland's separatist government claims legality over Sanaag region under colonial-era boundaries. Efforts to bring Somaliland election boxes to disputed Sool and Sanaag regions have been met with violent opposition from locals. Neighboring Puntland, a relatively stable self-governing region within Somalia, claims ownership over Sool and Sanaag due to kinship ties to the native clans. Politicians and traditional elders from the disputed regions are mainly in Garowe, the capital of Puntland, where they participated at the peaceful parliamentary vote on Jan. 8 that brought President Abdirahman Mohamed "Farole" to power. 2009 election The upcoming election is a major test for democratic progress in Somaliland. The breakaway republic has held parliamentary and presidential elections before, but the March election is an opportunity for the region to elect a new president who can lead the region in a new direction. President Riyale is widely criticized for illegally extending the office term for the Guurti, the upper house of the bi-cameral Somaliland parliament. In return, the Guurti gave Riyale an additional year in office after his five-year mandate expired in May 2008, in a move strongly condemned by the opposition Kulmiye party as unconstitutional. The political crisis was resolved peacefully weeks later, but Riyale's term-extension damaged the young democracy's ambitious statehood agenda. Relevant Links East Africa Somalia Ahmed Silanyo, the Kulmiye party chairman and Riyale's likely opponent, is a rebel veteran who fought against the Gen. Barre regime in the 1980s when Riyale was an intelligence agent for military dictatorship. If Silanyo loses the election, as he did in 2003 by a small number of votes, there are lingering concerns that an insurrection might erupt in Burao, the opposition stronghold. With the Ethiopian occupation of Mogadishu coming to an end, and the Puntland parliament electing a new president, Somaliland is poised to embrace the wave of change that is gradually sweeping Somalia. http://allafrica.com/stories/200901220005.html Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
