Government Denied Warrant To Search Haatuf Offices

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Hargeysa, Somaliland, August 27, 2005 (SL Times) – The Hargeysa Regional Court Thursday declined a government request for issuance of a warrant to search the offices of Haatuf Media Network in Hargeysa.

 

The HMN publishes 3 newspapers: the Somali language daily “Haatufâ€; the Arabic weekly Al-Haatef and this newspaper.

 

The Somaliland government announced earlier this week that it was going to sue Haatuf for false information. The announcement came after the newspaper published allegations of corruption and nepotism in connection with the procurement of television equipment.

 

There was no information as to why the government wanted to search HMN offices. It was also unclear whether the government would appeal the regional court’s decision denying the search warrant.

 

Meanwhile, the government-owned media continued its attacks on Haatuf and the Somaliland Times through most of the week. But the government campaign has so far been counterproductive, instead of triggering sympathy for the government, it resulted in tremendous public support for the two sister newspapers.

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Somaliland Government to Sue Haatuf Newspaper

 

Hargeysa, Somaliland, August 27, 2005 (SL Times) – The Somaliland government has decided to take the Somali daily newspaper “Haatuf†to court for “publishing false information†in connection with the government’s procurement of equipment for a public television station recently established by the government.

 

Haatuf reported in its August 19, 2005 edition that the government paid “$380, 000 over the actual price†for the TV procurement project. According to Haatuf’s story, the contract for the provision and installation of the new TV station was awarded without bid to Mr. Mahmud Abdi Nasser who is married to the sister of Huda Barkhad, Somaliland’s first lady, allegedly for an amount of $450,000. However the government has, through its spokesman Abdillahi Mohamed Duale, Somaliland’s Information Minister, described the newspaper’s report as “false and a malicious attempt aimed at discrediting the government’s successful introduction of public television services as well as harming the reputation of the President’s family members through mudslinging."

 

Minister Duale disclosed last Saturday that " the government has taken legal action against Haatuf to challenge the validity of its report in a court of law.†Mr. Duale said he “has already requested the Attorney General to take the necessary legal steps towards bringing the newspaper in front of the law.â€

 

Referring to previous press allegations that Mrs Huda Barkhad had bought a house in Cairo during her recent visit there, the Haatuf report also linked the first lady’s Egyptian trip to a shadowy business deal allowing a fleet of Egyptian fishing ships to operate off Somaliland’s Red Sea coast. According to Haatuf’s article, over 20 vessels operated non-stop day and night off the coast of Zaila to Lughaya without the slightest compliance with international rules and regulations for the protection of the environment and marine ecological system.

 

The article also quoted Somaliland and Djiboutian fishermen complaining that the Egyptians were using internationally forbidden fishing gear and methods. As a result coral reef formations in the sea water have already sustained considerable damage.

 

When the Haatuf story resurfaced in the Somaliland Times (August 20, 2005 edition), it drew a reaction from the minister of Fisheries, Mahmud Oday. At a press conference held on Monday, August 22, 2005, Mr. Oday described the Somaliland Times report on the Egyptian vessels’ fishing activities off the Somaliland coast as baseless. He also denied that the country’s first lady, Huda Barkhad, had anything to do with any fishing agreement.

 

Despite their lengthy statements of denial, however neither Mr. Duale nor Mr. Oday presented any concrete information to discredit the allegations carried in both Haatuf and Somaliland Times. For instance, the minister of information failed to come up with figures pointing out how much the new TV station cost the government or who purchased it for the state and from where.

 

The Somaliland Times can now confirm that Information Minister Duale was in contact with potential bidders for the supply of the TV equipment when he became aware that the procurement contract had already been granted. The procurement was funded from allocations in the budget of the information ministry without the knowledge of minister Duale. The budgetary allocation was originally earmarked for the purchase of a more powerful transmitter than the existing one at the government-run Radio Hargeysa.

 

The idea to buy a TV station instead of expanding the transmission capacity of Radio Hargeysa came from Huda Barkhad. The President then asked his Finance Minister, Hussein Ali Duale, to find the money, which he did. Upon learning about what had happened, the Information Minister, Abdillahi Dualle, was so upset, he didn’t report to office for nearly 2 weeks.

 

The Minister of Fisheries’ response to the Somaliland Times’ report was even less convincing. He avoided talking about the nature of relations between his ministry and the Egyptian fishing companies fishing in Somaliland waters. Nor did he mention the background and credentials of these companies.

 

Mr. Oday also failed to make a specific denial on press reports that the first lady bought a house in Cairo, allegedly from resources obtained as a result of the fishing concession awarded to the Egyptians.

 

Meanwhile, a Borama-based group calling itself “Almis Fishing Company†said on Thursday that they were going to sue the Somaliland Times for publishing false information about their fishing business. The group claimed that they were actually the ones fishing off the Somaliland coast in an area stretching from Lughaya to Zaila. However, the Somaliland Times has learned that the group serves as a local agent for the Egyptian trawlers. Members of the group have also links to Huda Barkhad.

 

Haatuf publisher “Haatuf Media Network†has issued a statement saying that the legal basis for any legal action brought against them should be the Somaliland press law which was passed by the Parliament and signed by the president. The statement warned that the HMN will not accept any attempt by the government to resort to laws dating back to the colonial era or the post-colonial rule of Siyad Barre. "The government should understand that this [the government's case against Haatuf] is a civil case and not a criminal one,†the statement added.

 

The HMN also said it was regrettable that the government decided to go to court even after Haatuf had published their denials. "The government should stick to the provisions of the press law,†HMN stressed.