Monday, Somaliland Day

Fred with a tall Somalilander friend, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

It is Monday today and Mondays usually mean nowadays that I can spend the morning reading through Somaliland Times online to follow the latest developments in Somaliland and Somalia. The link to this site is in the rright-hand column.

Not exactly so much news from Somaliland this week except that the President is showing signs that he may back down in the Haatuf journalists affair and pardon the journalists should they be convicted under the press law. I had been told already that a way would be found out of the impasse, in a typical Somali way, and so it appears to be happening., although the men are still being incarcerated.

Further, there is a lot of geo-political analysis looking at the US interest in the Horn, with US companies hving large concessions to explore for oil in Somalia, through deals signed with the contemptible dictator Siad Barre in his last days. I, myself, wonder why Somalia should honour such deals, if they were made by a disgraced war criminal such as Barre. I suppose the answer is that if Somalia does not, it risks being directly invaded by the US? I don't know. Anyway, again it looks like oil is more of a curse than a benefit.

On the positive side, there were demonstrations last week in both London and Oslo to mark the 25th anniversary of the uprising against Siad Barre. The London demonstration was attended by two Welsh MP's, Alun Michael and Kerry McCarthy, and a letter and a petition was presented to Downing Street. The article can be read here, where there is a photo of Hussein Bisad who is one of the tallest (and presumably biggest) men in the world.

Further, there was a letter reminding people of the online petition to Tony Blair, in favour of Somaliland recognition, which can be accessed here.

Tags: Somaliland