Somaliland: Looking for recognition (Lundin Oil has an oil concession here)
Financial Times, June 3
The breakaway region has held its first trade fair since the outbreak of civil war in 1991. Mark Turner reports
"While the south of Somalia remains in the thrall of warlords battling for supremacy, Somaliland - although not recognised by the international community - has a basic government and has largely been at peace for three years."
My comment:
[Lundin's concession is situated in Somaliland in the north, not far from the town Berbera mentioned in the article below]
Mohamoud Mohamed Dualeh leans across the table and
produces five small plastic bags, each filled with several
amber-coloured chunks of perfumed gum.
"My family have been selling this for hundreds of years
to Arabia," he explains. "Over recent years production
has dropped to a tenth of what it was - under the
Somalia government monopoly we used to get very little
money for it, and people stopped producing.
"But there is a large market for it - Europeans can use
as much as we can produce. I want to export to them
directly, and cut out the middle men. Eventually we will
distil it here."
The rubbery substance, prized by Saudis for chewing
and westerners for its aromatic oil, is frankincense, and
Mr Dualeh has put $100,000 into restoring a business
which for centuries made his region one of the most
prosperous in north-west Somalia, previously British
Somaliland.
All around him other small traders and manufacturers
are similarly dreaming of success. They are all
exhibiting at Somaliland's first trade fair since civil war
broke out in 1991.
It is a new and encouraging step for the breakaway
state. While the south of Somalia remains in the thrall of
warlords battling for supremacy, Somaliland - although
not recognised by the international community - has a
basic government and has largely been at peace for
three years.
Shukri Ismael has started a small grinding mill
producing henna and qasil - a powdered leaf with
exfoliating soap-like properties that she hopes to sell to
the Body Shop.
Amina Egeh is bottling mango juice, which is proving
just as popular as its imported Yemeni competition. And
with his perfumed gum, Mr Dualeh, a Canadian citizen,
is one of a growing number of the large Somali diaspora
who are waking up to the fact that this dry patch of the
troubled Horn of Africa offers some lucrative business
opportunities.
Undoubtedly there is a long way to go before this
country of under 3m people can stand on its own two
feet. The largest source of foreign currency is
remittances from abroad - at least $200m-$300m a year
according to most accounts - and the biggest trade
earner, sheep, goats and cattle, is only now starting to
recover after the lifting of a Saudi import ban.
Despite a flurry of construction work, Hargeisa, the
Somaliland capital, is still devastated from war in the
late 1980s when Siyad Barre led a brutal campaign
against the region's Isaaq clan. There are no real banks
- only money facilitators who charge 7 per cent on every
transfer from abroad.
Somaliland's diminutive budget is spent mostly on the
army and police force, and there are allegations of
corruption even in the nascent state structures.
North-East Somalia contests Somaliland's eastern
border, and unemployment is very high. Most urban
Somali men spend their entire afternoon chewing qat
(miraa), a stimulant flown in from Ethiopia.
Thousands of refugees abroad see little incentive to
return.
But the recent construction of a business hotel, the
rehabilitation of Berbera port, mobile telephone
companies which charge $1 per minute for international
calls and a proliferation of import/export companies
undercutting prices in Ethiopia suggest that the country
is beginning to pick up the pieces. The great majority of
these developments are private sector-led.
But one of the biggest obstacles to recovery, say
traders and politicians, is Somaliland's lack of
international recognition.
"We have a moral right to be recognised," says
Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, Somaliland president.
"In eastern Europe, countries with no previous history as
a state have been recognised. Here we have a state,
institutions, and demarcated borders.
"We have just penned the first electoral law for multiple
parties, and hope to hold a plebiscite on our constitution
by the end of 2001."
Abdullahii Dirie Jama, secretary of the chamber of
commerce, says potential investors are advised by their
legal departments to stay away, and credit is difficult to
obtain.
"We are handicapped without recognition," he said.
"We cannot enter into formal trade agreements; we
cannot even contact the outside through direct postal
services, as we are not a member of the postal union.
But we need books, we need journals and magazines."
The international community continues to insist that
Somalia as a whole is a viable state, and is loathe to
precipitate further fractionalisation of the Horn, although
it did recognise Eritrea in 1993.
In practice, however, the European Commission is
co-operating with the Somaliland authorities much as it
would with a recognised government, although budget
support is still some way off.
"De facto we are going more and more in that direction,"
said Joao Carvalho, head of the EC Somalia Unit in
Nairobi. "After all, Somaliland was a different entity, with
different laws. Many are asking whether we should not
give it some kind of recognition - perhaps like the
Palestinians." |
