Merciless Saudis land in Somaliland

Merciless Saudis land in Somaliland

With weak, ridiculous and unsympathetic leaders, the small new nation of Somaliland sleep walks into a nightmare never visited along the shores of the Red Sea.

Somaliland having four million people to feed with meagre resources in this global economic hardship, a dark cloud arrived to haunt the natives from Djibouti's red sea coast to Kenya's Indian Ocean. A cloud which many ignorant African leaders are frightened to mention and it's coming at immense speeds.

With Europe's scramble for Africa, Somaliland was made British Protectorate mainly to

support British garrisons based in Yemen with supplies of meat. With this tradition of animal rearing, it's dominance came to provenance with the building of Berbera port as a major livestock export charming nomadic herders from Somaliland and Abyssinia. In fact the black headed sheep are called "Berberawi" in the middle east; named after the ancient port city's name.
Plot to pave way for Arab colonialism


Having survived from genocide and risen above the ashes of failed former Somali Democratic Republic, it's livestock became a victim to merciless and scrupulous countries engaged in a subversive economic blockade designed to bring final death to people already haunted by self-indulgent neighbouring countries. By 1998, Somaliland along with the rest of the horn faced an on-going ban to export livestock to Arabia after many questionable judgements were passed to Saudi Arabia ironically by corrupt anti-Somaliland officials working for the Food and Agricultural Organisation such as Somalia's former transitional Prime Minister Geddi.

The year 1998 was the year when the Arta Conference held in Djibouti sponsored by the Wahabi leaning organisations created what we now know as the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia paving way for current disasters. Their main plot was to economically subjugate and cripple Somaliland since Arab Union suspected the livestock trade to be crucial source of revenues for the Somaliland government. With this, they hoped Somalilanders to abandon their country and join the little beggars bowl often handed out in the endless self-styled "reconciliation conferences".


As Somaliland proved imperturbable, nearly a decade later Saudis emerge yet again to cripple and dominate economic activities in Somaliland. This time with the help of $26 Million USAID donated to improve the small and stagnant economy of Djibouti currently hosting American military in their "war on terror". Peculiarly, the same country who introduced talibanisation into Somalia is now hosting Americans to "hunt" the same people it once created.

Djibouti and Saudi businessmen embarked on a project called Red Sea Livestock Trade Commission to take advantage of USAID donations to build a livestock export facility which they hoped to monopolise the horn trade. Since the Arab countries were the main importers, they sat the terms of agreements with Red Sea Livestock Trade Commission led by a consortium of Arab business men headed by Suleiman Al-Jabir: a Saudi national. To make matters worse, Somaliland government accepted a poorly negotiated contract which expected to sell livestock to Al-Jabir only monopoly loosing free trade for the first time ever.


Exacerbating hunger and unemployment

Just as Djibouti's economies are heavily based upon logistic services to and from the port of Djibouti, Somaliland's economy is based on the livestock trade unlike in Somalia whose revues include funds from piracy, chemical/nuclear waste dumping and kidnapping of foreigners.Understandably Somaliland's traders were united in outrage and indignation against such agreement with Al-Jabir. This despite past calls by the Somaliland government for traders to invest in the building of a small facility worth $3 million to test and quarantine livestock. However, building such facility do not guarantee the opening of the Arab markets, hence the astuteness of Somaliland traders. It is now expected that such obstacles will never be lifted as long as Arab countries' prejudices remains.

Monopolising the back-bone economy of Somaliland is akin to a hostile act determined to breath havoc in what little good the country has enjoyed. Such monopoly will create poverty amongst those who once provided sustenance to families through the trade and exacerbate current unemployment. Such cocktail of ill-judged leadership and utter failure to jealously guard the interests of the people may finally bring an end to the current administration.


Since its paramount for importing countries to be assured of livestock safety and their welfare, Somaliland communities must understand and should consider again to invest in their own facilities possibly in exchange for lower taxes and improved services to the business donor community. Current facilities at Berbera are only holding facilities contrary to the contracts the government entered into agreement with Al-Jabir monopoly promising facilities similar to those at Djibouti.

Livestock carrier ships shall also be considered to facilitate the welfare of animals as many traders will be insured against loss of animals to the sea. Only this week did many trader loose their animals to high seas after two cow-boy Yemeni boats sank in the red sea. Berbera port officials shall avoid releasing such boats into the dangerous seas.


Arab Scramble for Africa

After many years of Arab chauvinism and bigotry, finally they had capitulated to western supremacy due to their incapacity to challenge and negotiate with western oriented modernity. To add insult to injury, Arab nations had also failed to match their Asian counter parts such as Singapore, Indonesia and China.The result has been a potent revival of Arab renaissance in the Old World when Africans were the bogeymen, and Arabs the Sultans. Many African countries now suffer a land grab by Asians for the sole purpose of only exporting essential agricultural produce to their ever hungry nations instead of supplying desperate home countries. Uganda alone now has 21% of its agricultural land occupied by people of Asian origin.

Faced with unsustainable economic habits of food imports, many Arab countries now deliberately seek and encourage their investors to purchase agricultural land in corrupt African regimes. An example is the current Saudi influenced president of Djibouti who has been awarded with farmland within Ethiopia by the Ethiopian Prime Minister, no doubt as an agent of Saudi Arabian businessmen since he has no knowledge of farming.

Rahman Hassan, a junior veterinary technician in Burao talked of African failure to learn from history. He points out to major race issues touched by Kenyatta having found himself facing death threats from British settlers during his presidential campaign. As farming land and trade routes were respectively dominated by British and Indians, he said:
"When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the Land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible"


Those in Africa must question their governments why their needs are ignored in a world where food prices rise steeply and fuel almost impossible for the average person to fathom. In Somaliland, a bag of rice imported from India had increased by 300%, and dates from Saudi Arabia by 200%.If current capitulation of African leaders continues, the continent maybe full of starving children, starved of ideas eventually falling victim into another slavery by a different continent.. With the rise of the west, west Africa fell victim to slavery. Similarly, with the current rise of the Asia economies and petrodollars, east Africa is unfortunately heading for a similar fate.Stronger leaders with strong emphasis on nationalism, economic progress and selective protectionism in the name of "security" need to be sought after to run African governments compared to current weak, docile and selfish leaders prone to exploitation.


Continent fragmented and ghettoised

Much of the current predatory administrations in Africa is born out due to infantile political crisis often created by few individuals hell bent on bringing constitutional crisis to their own country just to extend their own tenor. Its common to hear African countries falling into chaos during elections or electoral arguments whether to extend presidential terms. An example is current Somaliland administration named as the "Crisis Government" ("Dawladii Muranka") as it continuously brings disrepute into the constitution often due to setting unreachable targets causing electoral board to fail their duty, hence postponing elections as a result. Sadly, such leaders bent on fighting against freedom and accountability enshrined in the constitution are tantamount to criminals rather than their inability to comprehend the magnitude of their responsibilities.

Unlike in Europe where the power of "empowerment" prevails, African continent takes pride in its overt provocation of citizens to either pick arms to destroy their own homes or to destroy that of neighbours. For almost two decades, the self styled African Union is still asleep on the issue of Somaliland's reclaim to independence from its fraudulent union with Somalia on the 1st of July 1960. Although not helped by the non-existent of its former partner "Somalia", they did fail to progress as the EU extended a hand of friendship to countries such as Montenegro from the old Yugoslavia; after all they will all be part of the EU umbrella. Conversely the African Union not only insults Somaliland in public meetings, but is yet to officially issue a visitor's pass.

To bring halt to such fragmentations and men of ill-will, common Africans must unite to cooperate in the demise of such blood thirsty predatory systems in their respective countries without military means. Such men would not have existed if they were not kept alive by others wilfully adopting because of ethnic ghettos or self-interests. Its time we all fought with tooth and nails to safe our resources for our children just as Asians are protective of their resources.




Author:
Shuun Isaaq


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