You Cannot Hide Nor Run from the Almighty

[Brave]

Rebuilding the basket case

 

When it comes to African disaster stories, Somaliland is among the worst. Yet, RANJENI MUNUSAMY found people rolling up their sleeves and getting on with the daunting task of rebuilding their land

 

VISITORS to the mass graveyard just outside the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa have to tread carefully to avoid tramping on pieces of human bones and the mass graves of countless Somalis executed under the military regime of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

 

 

Finger bones, a jawbone, a piece of someone's shoulder half eaten by scavengers, and bits of skull lie scattered, exposed by erosion and rain.

 

 

"When I first came here, I used to have nightmares. It's like walking in a horror movie," says Fatima Ibrahim, a Somali human rights activist.

 

 

The shallow graves of what is believed to be a conservative estimate of 40 000 people, are a grim reminder of a bloody era when the people of Somaliland were tortured and killed by their power-mad president. After prompting clan-based conflict, Barre went on a killing spree targeting, in particular, intellectuals and businessmen to avoid an uprising.

 

 

Although 10 years have passed since Barre was overthrown, the horror stories of mass executions, bombings, rapes, poisoning of drinking wells and the destruction of normality are still vivid in the minds of most Somalis.

 

 

Women tell tales of how whole families were herded to the killing sites to watch their husbands and sons being shot. They were not allowed to cry as their children would also be killed by the soldiers. As the guns were fired, they were forced to ululate to show they were rejoicing at the murder of their loved ones.

 

 

Many fled the country to neighbouring Ethiopia and spent years of misery in refugee camps.

 

 

Somaliland today is a different place. The former British protectorate split from Somalia in the south in 1991 and is a self-declared independent state. The independence is not recognised by the rest of the world, in particular the United Nations and the Organisation of African Unity, which still pretend Somalia is one united country.

 

 

But the people of Somaliland are rebuilding the country themselves - with or without the help of the outside world.

 

 

Educated exiles have abandoned successful careers in western countries and returned home to help reconstruct the country.

 

 

Those still living abroad send money back home to the tune of US300-million (R2.4-billion) to US500-million (R4-billion) a year. With livestock, charcoal and frankincense as the only viable industries, this money is the main contributor to the country's budget.

 

 

And although there are crumbling buildings on every street and roads that have not been maintained for 20 years, there are signs of life shining through. There are newly constructed houses and shops in the place of bullet-ridden, collapsing structures. There is a functional education system, the blossoming of small enterprise and a society at peace with itself.

 

 

This is a far cry from the Somaliland that Hussein Bulhan returned to in 1991 when he left a lecturing post at the University of Boston in the US .

 

 

Bulhan, the director of the Somaliland Academy for Peace and Development, says his countrymen are prepared to endure hardship in return for independence because they have seen the worst.

 

 

"When you've touched the bottom of hell, you don't need much to make you happy," says Bulhan.

 

 

Although South African mercenary pilots took part in the bombing raids on its people, this country is the one of the few foreign powers the Somalis are prepared to trust.

 

 

They look to South Africa as the great hope to lead the country out of political and economic isolation.

 

 

Somaliland is angling for a form of legal status as a first step to formal recognition.

 

 

This week saw the formation of the first political party in the country - UDUB, meaning pillar - under the leadership of President Mohamed Egal. Within seven months, the first national elections since the formation of the state are scheduled, even though there is no sign of an opposition movement.

 

 

"We are moving towards permanent democracy and we have fulfilled all the necessary criteria to gain full recognition. The international community can't keep us in limbo," argues Abdullahi Duale, Somaliland's minister of civil aviation and one of Egal's acolytes.

 

 

He says the US is considering giving Somaliland interim status while several South African Cabinet ministers and leading members of the ANC have given them an ear.

 

 

"We have lots of friends pushing our case. We have a contribution to make in stabilising the region and are in a strategic position for trade. We also have the experience of putting together a country from scratch."

 

 

Sunday Times