The WORLD Talks About Somaliland Elections

[Jacaylbaro]

Somaliland elections: Why the world ignores Horn of Africa's oasis of stability

 

 

The self-declared republic of Somaliland voted this past weekend for a new president. Somaliland is the one corner of Somalia that functions, but the international community refuses recognize it as a nation-state. Is the West scuppering its best chance for democracy in the region?

 

A little over a year ago, I boarded an aged Russian propeller plane in Djibouti for a short flight into Somaliland. It was my first and, so far, my only visit to that self-declared republic, which broke away from Somalia 20 years ago while no one seemed to be looking.

 

Strangely enough, the world still isn’t looking.

 

Last weekend, Somaliland held elections and – unlike elections in more respectable nation-states like Kenya, Sudan, and Burundi – there were no claims of foul play, no international election observers citing “irregularities.” Not even a “hanging chad.” Al Qaeda issued warnings for voters not to participate, but the voters ignored them. And when the results came in, and the country’s president lost, there was a peaceful transfer of power to the president’s rival.

 

Of course, it’s easy to ignore Somaliland. Unlike Sudan, Nigeria, and Angola, it doesn’t produce oil. Unlike Burundi, it hasn’t had a recent spate of genocide. Unlike Kenya, it isn’t a vibrant commercial hub for the region with occasional self-destructive tendencies. Somaliland’s biggest export is mutton, and I can’t remember the last time the international community intervened in a country over mutton. Even when it’s nice and lean.

 

But perhaps more importantly, the international community doesn’t intervene unless a country is in crisis. Quiet, poor, functional states – like well-behaved children – well, they tend to get ignored.

 

If Somaliland is the good child, then Somalia itself is the petulant brat. Somalia – the nation that technically still includes Somaliland and all the villages and pirate ports in between down to the border with Kenya – has been at war with itself for more than 20 years. Its disintegration after the fall of President Siad Barre in 1991 prompted President George Bush to send in US Marines to secure food deliveries. Continued conflict among Somali warlords for control of what was left of Mogadishu – and the death of 18 US Army Rangers (Black Hawk Down) – prompted President Bill Clinton to withdraw them a few months later.

 

Since then, Somalia has been the poster child of ungovernability. Nearly 2.5 million Somalis rely entirely on food aid from the UN’s World Food Programme for survival, to the tune of $485 million a year. Some 6,100 African Union peacekeepers keep a tottering transitional Somali government alive in the perhaps five square blocks of Mogadishu that the government still controls.

 

 

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[Jacaylbaro]

Voting in a country that doesn't exist

 

 

Somaliland voters braved al-Qaeda threats to engage in "the devil's practice" -- but the result of the poll won't be recognised outside the country

 

On Saturday June 26, across the length and breadth of the breakaway state of Somaliland, the rising sun revealed long lines of people snaking towards polling stations.

 

Many of them had walked considerable distances and queued all night to vote in presidential elections that have been delayed by almost two years. They also braved threats by separatists and by an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group which, on the eve of polling day, issued a warning to stop people voting and described democracy as "the devil's principle".

 

Despite the threats, more than one million voters came out.

 

But even with the high turnout and an election that was deemed free and fair by international observers, the result will not be officially recognised beyond the country's territorial borders. Indeed, in the eyes of the international community, Somaliland is a country that does not exist.

 

Somaliland, a nation the size of England and Wales, declared itself independent in 1991 after a brutal civil war and has enjoyed a level of peace and security that contrasts sharply with the lawlessness of neighbouring Somalia.

 

However, recent security issues and bitter disputes over voter registration caused a delay in last month's elections that led to fears that the country's nascent democracy might be under threat.

 

Polling day did see some disturbances. An attack on a polling station by separatist militia in the Puntland region left an election observer and three others dead and resulted in the closure of 34 polling stations. But the fears of attacks by the al-Qaeda-linked group, al-Shabab, did not materialise.

 

The election saw the defeat of President Dahir Riyale Kahin and the UCUB party, which has been in power since independence. The new president-elect, Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, of the Kulmiye party, will be sworn in by July 26 and the country is expecting an orderly transfer of power. All parties have agreed to abide by the result and Somaliland is expected to renew its reputation as a "model" to the Horn of Africa.

 

 

"A successful free and fair election will have a huge impact on setting Somaliland on the right path to democracy, prosperity and international recognition," said political analyst Hussein Dualeh.

 

The Somaliland system of government manages to fuse Western-style institutions with its own traditional forms of social and political organisation. Its bicameral Parliament reflects this with the Senate consisting of traditional elders and the House of Representatives consisting of elected representatives.

 

Although terrorism in Somaliland remains a concern, with an increasing number of radical clerics in the country as well as a porous border with Somalia, the predominantly Sufi form of Islam practised in Somaliland does not lend itself to extremism.

 

However, the Sahel, stretching from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, is increasingly being seen as the new front line in the war on terror. But this just might present an opportunity.

 

With its strategically important position on the Gulf of Aden and a deep-water port in Berbera, Somaliland is positioning itself as an important ally in the war on terror. While conscious that too close a relationship with the Americans might not be popular with its population, the government also recognises the advantages that collaboration with the United States bring.

 

As well as qualifying the country for aid and support from international financial institutions, recognition would allow mining and oil companies access to the country's natural resources. Large-scale extraction of oil, coal, gemstones and minerals could transform this country of 3,5-million people, 40% of whom live in extreme poverty.

 

Dualeh is optimistic. "I firmly believe that Somaliland stands a good chance of being recognised as a sovereign state in the next five years," he said.

 

When the rains come in Hargeisa, a mass grave beside the river is exposed. Bones protrude from the red earth, some still tied at the wrist. Beside the airport road, a rusting Russian tank plastered with election posters is a reminder of Somaliland's war-ravaged past and a symbol of hope for a democratic future. The success of the long-awaited elections offers a clue to what that future might look like.

 

 

HERE

[Jacaylbaro]

Somaliland elections and coverage surprisingly…normal

 

 

By Tom Rhodes

 

Critical voices in the East African media—whether in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, or Uganda—have been intimidated, banned, blocked, and beaten prior to elections in recent years. Somalia is so embroiled in conflict that even the concept of having elections remains a faraway dream. But in late June, the semi-autonomous region of Somaliland in northern Somalia managed to hold relatively peaceful and free elections with decent media coverage, local journalists and election observers told CPJ.

 

“Given the poor resources and training of the journalists here,” BBC reporter Jamal Abdi told CPJ, “the local media did a remarkably good job covering the elections and polling across Somaliland’s six polling regions.”

 

Former opposition leader Mohamed Silyano from the Kulmiye Party defeated outgoing president Dahir Riyale, who honored his pre-vote pledge to accept the results and leave office peacefully.

 

Yet not everything has been rosy. For one, the June 26 elections were postponed three times—they were originally supposed to take place more than two years ago. And throughout the process, local journalists told CPJ, high tensions simmered between the government and the media. In early June, police detained several journalists for a day after they took pictures of former presidential guards attacking opposition party supporters who had displayed an opposition flag, local journalists told CPJ.

 

Police detained Al-Jazeera reporter Mohammed Adow for two hours prior to the election results after he visited a politically sensitive border area where territorial disputes exist between Somaliland and the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, local journalists told CPJ. Security agents also detained independent website Editor Hadis Mohamed, originally from Mogadishu, during the election for “serious crimes” that were never detailed. “I have been arrested seven times over the past few years without any reason ever given or attending court,” Mohamed told CPJ. “Our website, Baadiya, is targeted because we gave equal coverage for the political rally activities wherever possible.”

 

Local journalists also told CPJ they felt the media’s coverage was politically polarized. The state press was biased toward the former president while the independent press favored the opposition parties. With limited independent media coverage outside the capital, Hargeisa, the state-run Radio Hargeisa (the only station officially allowed to broadcast in Somaliland) provided coverage biased toward Riyale outside the city, the BBC’s Abdi said. Still, the Netherlands-based opposition Radio Horyaal managed to broadcast in remote areas of Somaliland where Radio Hargeisa could not reach, the editor of the private newspaper Heegan, Mohamed Amin, told CPJ.

 

In comparison to greater Somalia, however, where insurgents banned viewing the World Cup and a near-powerless government continues to arrest journalists for negative coverage, Somaliland’s media scene appears robust. Journalists were allowed to move freely throughout the polling stations without hindrance, Associated Press reporter Mohamed Olad told CPJ.

 

The public and local press feared violence after two former ruling party officials alleged there had been vote rigging in favor of the opposition in five precincts, Abdi told CPJ. “But I was pleasantly surprised when I visited the offices of Radio Hargeisa,” Abdi said. “I found Radio Hargeisa staff actually complaining that the allegations were false and could lead to post-election violence.” Even Riyale supporters objected to the allegations and the two officials were arrested, Abdi added.

 

How has Somaliland kept the elections and its media coverage relatively peaceful? “They have learned from example—the bad example of their neighbors,” said Olad, who often reports in the war-torn Somali capital, Mogadishu. Somaliland has become a haven for exiled Mogadishu journalists fleeing the fighting in Somalia, where 33 journalists have been killed for their work since 1993.

 

Somaliland journalists told me they now hope government and media relations will improve under Silyano. Whereas Riyale was a former intelligence official and wary of the press, Mohamed said, Silyano was more open with the press as an opposition party leader. “But let’s wait and see,” a cautious Amin told me, as opposition leaders often change their spots once they attain power. A once-popular Senegalese opposition leader, Abdoulaye Wade, had promised upon his 2000 presidential election to decriminalize libel laws against the press. A disgruntled local Senegalese press, who had strongly supported his 2000 candidacy, is still waiting.

 

 

(Source: CPJ)

[Jacaylbaro]

Election observer’s diary of the Somaliland election

 

 

In Somaliland earlier this month, there was a change in power – and it was even reported on by the Associated Press. But there’s more to elections than who wins. Here is a link to some observations on the recent election in Somaliland. An excerpt:

 

"We foreigners, the non-Somali ones anyway, can only hope to absorb so much. So we fall back on the visuals. To avoid potential clashes, the three candidates take it in turns to campaign exclusively on particular days. Long trains of cars, buses and trucks, each crammed with more people—men, women and children, the young vastly outnumbering the middle-aged and the old—than the technology should rightly bear thread through the streets. Loudspeakers blare, women ululate".

[Jacaylbaro]

Somaliland's 'commitment to democracy'

 

 

Minister for Africa Henry Bellingham congratulates Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, of the Kulmiye Party, on his victory in the recent Somaliland Presidential elections.

A woman casts her ballot in the Somaliland Presidential elections (Getty images)

 

Henry Bellingham said:

 

'I congratulate Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo of the Kulmiye Party on his victory in the recent Somaliland Presidential elections and all the parties for their commitment to democracy. The British Government looks forward to building on our good bilateral relationship with Somaliland and working together in the interests of stability and development in the region.

 

I recognise Dahir Kahin Rayale's commitment to Somaliland during his tenure as President, his contribution to the strength of our bilateral relationship and his graceful acceptance of the election results. He has done much to promote democracy and stability in Somaliland.

 

I congratulate the National Electoral Commission for managing the electoral process with great professionalism. This election sends a very positive message to the rest of Africa and beyond.'

 

HERE