Somaliland Minister of Energy, Mr. Dualeh, rails against foreign aid, calls it a curse on the continent and something Somaliland would rather not have

[Admin]

(Reuters) - The breakaway territory of Somaliland cannot access foreign aid because it has not yet been recognized internationally as a state, and that suits it just fine.

 

"That is a blessing in disguise. Aid never developed anything," Hussein Abdi Dualeh, Somaliland's minister of energy and minerals, told Reuters on the sidelines of an African mining conference.

 

"Aid is not a panacea, we'd rather not have it ... How many African countries do you know that developed because of a lot of aid? It's a curse. The ones that get the most aid are the ones with the problems," he said.

 

Dualeh is in Cape Town trying to woo junior mining companies to come and explore for minerals in Somaliland, which Dualeh described as Africa's "land mining frontier. Almost completely unexplored".

 

That might be a hard sell as even raising capital can be difficult for projects in a state that is not recognized internationally but Dualeh said Somaliland, which broke away from Somalia in 1991, showed that an African country could fend for itself with no outside help.

 

Somaliland has enjoyed relative stability compared with the rest of Somalia, which has been racked by decades of civil war, and has held a series of peaceful elections.

 

"We've been left to our own devices. We are our own people and our own guys. We pull ourselves up by our own boot straps," said the U.S.-educated minister who speaks English with an American accent.

 

He also said that while the country could not access international capital markets it also had no debt as a result, adding to its narrative of self-reliance.

 

"We owe absolutely nothing to anybody. We would not change hands with Greece today. We have zero debt," he said.

 

He said the country's national budget was around $250 million, funded completely by its own resources.

 

Its economy is largely based on selling livestock - goats and cattle - to Arab countries, while it also relies heavily on the remittances of its diaspora community.

 

"Remittances from overseas prop up the economy to the tune of about a billion dollars a year," Dualeh said.

 

Source: http://www.reuters.com

http://www.somaliaonline.com/somaliland-minister-of-energy-mr-dualeh-rails-against-foreign-aid-calls-it-a-curse-on-the-continent-and-something-somaliland-would-rather-not-have/

[burahadeer]

foreign aid goes back to pockets of those provided by atleast 80% and infact a curse but its the African ruling class that love cos they get small piece of the pie and build their first beautiful villas.

[Homunculus]

Emphasis on "would".

[Gheelle.T]

"He said the country’s national budget was around $250 million, funded completely by its own resources."

How much of that statement is true? Some of this if not have of it comes from incentives paid by the US and the EU. Also, doesn't the UK fund the security police and educational programs in SL.

 

It's one thing to emphases the effectiveness of foreign aid and the dependency and corruption it creates in the third world, but it's completely different thing when you say you cannot access it or rather not have it, when in fact your entity receives fair junk of aid from Int. donors and the UN.

[Hawdian]

I agree with the minister Duacale - Aid is never the solution. Good on Somaliland for trying to seek other ways to improve the life of the average citizen in the country.

[galbeedi]

I hate to disrupt the party but, this minister is misleading people or lying. What Somaliland lacks is loans from international lenders not foreign aid. It doesn't take much to figure out how much direct and indirect aid Somaliland is getting from donor countries, NGO's and United Nations Development Agencies. Since the July 2011, this government got direct aid from different countries.

 

!- 28 millions from EU for water improvements.

2- 10 million from Kuwait for Airport improvements.

3- 19 million from UAE for road contractions.

4- 30 million from Britain, from European Somali fund

5- 4.8 million from government of Denmark.

6- 25 million from money raised by Turkey people for Somalia.

7- 1.8 million from US aid for local enhancement.

8- 2.9 million from U S for the training of anti terror force called RRu.

9- 6.5 million fro inter peace for the municipal elections.

10- 5 million for the prison management of Somali pirates captured in the high seas housed in Somaliland.

Add that, the 119 international NGO' who are based in hargeisa. If each one of them spends $ 1.2 million a year, that will make it almost 140 million and that is Conservative estimate. All the pick up trucks and cars operated by the police is donated by the UNDP. Remember the elections has to be postponed because the money from Inter Peace and others was missing. give me a break.

 

This numbers are conservative estimates because there are more money that comes from France and other places. How about giving that money three cities how will they look. or distribute to the cities of Somaliland for Sanitation, roads and education. Mr. lying minister please give me a break.

[Miyir]

is not the whole landers claims built on lies? why single him out?

[Abu-Salman]

 

We should strive for facts and accuracy; Somaliland does not indeed really receive any significant bilateral aid, let alone funding from major institutions, guarantees, not even significant foreign expertise or scholarships etc.

Humanitarian spending and NGOs inevesting in villas, foreign consultants or cars, to assist IDPs or try social engineering (women empoerment and that kind of stuff), piecemeal, unsustainable or self-serving projects such as "anti-terrorism" units etc is not serious aid.

 

Besides, again, things should be put into their proper context; countries such as Djibouti receive $150 of aid per capita (aid is defined loosely here), and some countries even more, alongside all sorts of foreign rents such as military bases rents, taxation of foreigners, major investments under guarantee from international institutions, scholarships, technical assistance, etc.

All these things are obviously not accessible to Somaliland, even simple insurances and letters of credits are a challenge albeit improving etc.

Even if added, everything spent on Sland would not amount to anything close to the $150 of basic aid per capita ascribed to Djibouti (which actually gets much more both directly and indirectly, even outside its multiple rents).

 

Anyway, aid matters if its real aid (no Japanese trucks funded by Tokyo, French loans tendered to French companies etc) that does not disrupt the accountability of the state to its citizens and is reliable and consistent, supporting local initiatives rather than imposing foreign priorities.

In practice, this seldom happens apart from the Marshall program and other schemes where there was some local capability and genuine desire or interest to help like-minded societies (hence why manufacturing and trade helped many more countries to lift themselves).

[Hawdian]

Alot of Numbers from you Galbeedi, But where is your source? We need facts not Fantasy numbers. At the end of the Day Somaliland receives pennies compared to Nextdoor Somaliya.

[galbeedi]

Mr Howd, unlike most Landers I always follow the money. The most important reason that most of the Somaliland youth are crossing the dangerous waters of the Mediterranean sea is for the green buck ( dollar). I don't know about you, but for me a million dollar is a lot of money.Most of these figures are announced in the media by the ministers themselves or are available . I know Djibouti and others receive large amount of foreign aid, in fact Djibouti gets money from multiple donors including Iran and Arab countries. The question here is, where the money is going. for 3 1/2 years they never built a hospital, School, Water wells or thirty kilometer of road. If you go to donors and ask money for sanitation, education and roads , you better use the money for those reasons.

[SomaliaRising]

Ok, They dont want aid so TFG must cutt down the aid they receive from UN and which small percent of that aid goes to maamulka waqooyi galbeed. Let see what they will say next.

[burahadeer]

<cite>

@galbeedi

said:</cite>

The question here is, where the money is going. for 3 1/2 years they never built a hospital, School, Water wells or thirty kilometer of road. If you go to donors and ask money for sanitation, education and roads , you better use the money for those reasons.

 

 

Mr Galbeedi and his crusade! They rebuilt hargeisa & berbera airports,repairing hargeisa and berbera road,Hargeisa water project on +100M due to open 2015,pitched in for many otha roads,water wells done on many villages,now planning to capture dry river water flowing to sea on all regions,raised salary for all civil servants, police and army,instituted free education for all school children and more.I'm sure you can show us all these links since you are keen on finding any negative`stuff.