Somaliland today
Within a relatively short twenty-year time frame, Somaliland has successfully grown a non-violent and democratic state that has earned widespread support throughout the country. The government has rebuilt many of the cities destroyed during the civil war; established its own currency; designed an efficient taxation system; built an international airport and major maritime trading infrastructure; signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and successfully prosecuted suspected terrorists and pirates within its borders. Somaliland currently boasts a three-party democracy that largely adheres to the Rule of Law and respects civil liberties. While areas of democratic and economic reform have emerged in recent years, solutions are plausible and primarily require political will more than fundamental transformations to implement.
While far from perfect, the country’s electoral successes should not be understated. Following the death of President Egal in 2002, Vice President Dahir Rayale Kahin fulfilled his constitutional mandate and assumed the vacant office within thirty days.16 This peaceful transition of power was an impressive feat considering Rayale hailed from the Gadabuursi clan, a distinct minority within
Somaliland, whereas Egal was from the Habar Awal sub-clan of the dominant Issaq clan family. The next year, Rayale, a member of the United Democratic People’s Party (UDUB), was elected to retain the Presidency by a slim margin of 80 votes. The losing political parties, namely the Peace, Unity, and Development Party (Kulmiye) and the Justice and Welfare Party (UCID), vehemently contested the results of the elections, causing observers to fear that the region would slip into conflict. After intense deliberations between senior party officials, the House of Elders, President Rayale and the National Electoral Commission, the losing political parties submitted their complaints to the Supreme Court (ICG 2003). On 11 May 2003, the Court upheld Rayale’s victory without providing any clear elucidation of its conclusions. Kulmiye and UCID officials reluctantly accepted the Court’s findings in order to avoid sparking violent conflict. Independent election observers determined that all three parties had equally benefitted from electoral loopholes and an inadequate voter roll, but nonetheless considered the elections to be just and representative of the will of the people. The 2005 Parliamentary Elections were also judged as free and fair and represented a landmark occasion as the people of Somaliland had for the first time elected their own representatives within the government. While there were significant and undemocratic delays prior to the 2010 Presidential Elections,17 the contest was also considered free and fair by international observers, with Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Sillanyo winning the Presidency with 50 percent of all votes.
As Somaliland’s government lacks the necessary finances to exert itself economically, the region’s economic sector is dependent on Diaspora-led businesses. The government’s 2010 budget did not exceed USD 50 million, much of which was generated from taxing the livestock export industry. While tax revenue brought in USD 47 million in 2010, the government intends on fortifying the personal and corporate tax rate while improving tax collection at the major ports, with the goal of increasing government receipts to USD 106 million within a few years (Clapham et al. 2011).
A lack of international recognition is a serious impediment to the country’s economic development as the business community is unwilling to invest in Somaliland while it remains legally conjoined to Somalia, and is thus perceived to be vulnerable to its instability. None of the approximately USD 80 million of annual international aid is accounted for or administered by the government, hindering its overall coordination effectiveness. However, a significant number of civil society organizations (CSOs) operate in Hargeisa and channel external resources and aid into the country. Recent developments serve to highlight Somaliland’s increased stability and future endeavors. As the country is comprised of over 55 percent nomadic herders, the economy has greatly benefitted from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates’ decisions to respectively eliminate livestock export bans, estimated to generate an additional USD 250 million annually (Ali 2011). In addition, both the Coca-Cola Corporation and Western Union have publically committed to launching services throughout Somaliland, providing implicit recognition of the region’s stability for future business ventures (Guled 2011a and McGregor 2011).
The European Union (EU) has recently committed EUR 3.8 million to analysis and blueprint for infrastructural upgrades to the corridor from the Port of Berbera to Ethiopia (SomalilandPress 2011c). On 7 June 2011, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a multimillion-dollar initiative, Partnership for Economic Growth, in Hargeisa intended on spurring business investments and economic growth throughout the region. Among its most significant policy platforms, USAID hopes to refine and improve livestock trade flows and help Somali women gain entrepreneurial training and access to start-up capital.
Somaliland’s print media is largely independent and capable of holding government officials accountable for their actions. Led by SomalilandPress, a weekly news portal that publishes in both English and Somali, print media is largely accessible throughout the country and provides thorough and balanced coverage. However, broadcast media, specifically television and radio, are heavily regulated and can be subjected to political biases. The national government owns one of the two basic television channels as well as the only domestic radio station, which serves as a mouthpiece for the ruling party (UKAid 2011). Further, security forces have consistently and unconstitutionally harassed, prosecuted, and jailed media members for highlighting corruption and nepotism within the government. During their coverage of the 2010 Presidential Elections, multiple journalists were temporarily detained, though all were quickly released and unharmed while in custody. Hamdi Abdisalam Yassin of the SomalilandPress has condemned the government for prosecuting a number of journalists on charges of libeling government officials, calling it. “another setback to Somaliland’s democracy” (Yassin 2011).
Somaliland has benefitted greatly from efforts to improve its education programmes. School gross enrolment has increased from 39 percent in 2006 to over 60 percent in 2010 (SomalilandPress 2011c). Since 2001, primary school net enrolment has increased from 23 to 49 percent, while the proportion of students who stay in school from first to eighth grade jumped from 50 to 96 percent (UNDP 2010a). In addition, the country’s literacy rates during this same time period have increased from 20 to 45 percent, according to Somaliland’s Ministry of Education. Somaliland also boasts over ten universities and numerous vocational schools, which currently service over 9,000 youth (UNDP 2010a). Significant contributions to all schools come from the country’s Diaspora, either directly through grants for construction or indirectly through the payment of teachers’ salaries and school supplies. However, the country still suffers from too few mobile schools, which the 2010 UN Millennium Development Goals Report asserts are more suitable for Somaliland’s nomadic population.
The Diaspora has played a key role in stabilizing and shaping Somaliland’s development. During the country’s state-building process, remittances served as start-up capital for the many peace conferences as well as the transitional government. Relying heavily on external funding layered the peace process with another check on political power by forcing clan elders and politicians to remain accountable to their foreign donors. During the violent conflicts in 1994–1995, Diaspora leaders led negotiation sessions through the Peace Committee for Somaliland when interventions from the Guurti failed to end violence between the warring clan factions. Today’s Diaspora provides invaluable financial and human capital for the region’s fledgling social sector; the remittance economy generates approximately USD 800 million annually, which is approximately twenty times larger than the federal budget (Clapham et al. 2011). Remittance funds currently constitute approximately 40 percent of all education spending and over 50 percent of all health care expenditures (Hammond 2011).
Foreigners invest heavily in private education and health clinics, paying for a wide range of costs from tuition fees to salaries to physical infrastructure. Some Diaspora members provide even greater support by returning to their homeland to practice their trade, which not only increases engagement with the Diaspora but also strengthens the quality of human capital in Somaliland. Civil society organizations are working with the Diaspora to develop a more structured, acute and powerful response to the region’s many institutional challenges. The government is currently establishing a Diaspora Liaison Office intended to facilitate and improve coordination between the Diaspora and local CSOs. Many government officials are former members of the Diaspora, including President Sillanyo, half of the Executive Cabinet and as many as 30 percent of the 164 sitting Members of Parliament (MPs) (Hammond 2011).
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