stuff and nonsense ,,,,

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OVERVIEW The stalled electoral process has plunged Somaliland into a serious political crisis that presents yet another risk of destabilisation for the region. If its hard-won political stability collapses under the strain of brinkmanship and intransigence, clan leaders might remobilise militias, in effect ending its dream of independence. The political class must finally accept to uphold the region’s constitution, abide by the electoral laws and adhere to inter-party agreements such as the electoral code of conduct and memorandum of understanding signed on 25 September 2009, so as to contain the crisis and permit implementation of extensive electoral reforms. International partners and donors should keep a close watch on developments and sustain pressure for genuinely free and fair general elections in 2010. President Rayale’s third term of office should have expired on 15 May 2008. The election that was to have been held at least one month earlier has been rescheduled five times, most recently for 27 September 2009. The new National Electoral Commission (NEC) has yet to set a sixth date. The latest delay was ostensibly caused by the unilateral decision of the previous NEC not to use a voter registration list tainted by massive, systematic fraud. This prompted both opposition parties to declare an election boycott and suspend cooperation with the commission. The resulting impasse triggered yet another crisis. Publicly the political elite sought to blame the NEC, its technical partner, Interpeace, and each other, but the crisis was one largely of its own making. The recurrent rescheduling of elections and the fraud-tainted voter registration process are symptoms of deeper political problems. While President Rayale and his ruling party have benefited most from more than a year and a half of additional time in power, all the political stakeholders are in some way responsible for the selection and continuation of an incompetent and dysfunctional electoral commission, rampant fraud during voter registration, frequent skirting of the constitution and failure to internalise and institutionalise democratic practices. The crisis was defused in late September, when the parties – under strong external and internal pressure – accepted a memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreeing to a change in the NEC’s leadership and composition, use of a “refined” voter registration list and delay of the elections to a date to be determined by the NEC, with input from independent international experts. The MOU brought the parties back from the precipice, but it is a vague document that must be complemented by additional measures to prevent new crises. Somaliland has made remarkable progress in its democratic transformation, but political wrangling and wide-scale attempts to manipulate the political process have corrupted governing institutions and undermined the rule of law. Democratic participation, fair and free elections and effective governance need to be institutionalised and made routine, or non-violent means to resolve political crises could be replaced by remobilisation of militias, with significant risk of violent conflict. Improving the political culture will necessarily be a long-term, internal process, but as a start the institutions that manage elections – the NEC and the office of the voter registrar – need to be professionalised and depoliticised and the electoral laws and agreements adhered to strictly by both political parties and voters. International partners should encourage and support the government and parties to do the following: Civil society and international supporters must shield the new, inexperienced NEC from political pressure as it organises the presidential elections, and the NEC itself must actively resist succumbing to manipulation. The new commissioners must focus on preventing electoral fraud, working with international experts to develop a calendar for the vote, identifying problems with the current voter registration list and developing solutions for extensive duplicate registrations. The NEC also should be given the resources to hire adequate staff. All parties have agreed to the need for a revised registration list. The problem is that the list clearly still contains too many duplicate records and is not trusted by the political parties. Priorities for the new NEC should include hiring a competent, impartial permanent registrar and complementing the list with alternative methods and mechanisms for voter verification and fraud prevention, such as using indelible ink to identify those who have voted, limiting polling hours and imposing driving prohibitions to prevent parties and clans from transporting people to multiple locations. The emphasis should be on improving the process of updating the database and transferring the capability to do so to the Somaliland staff. Because of concerns for its accuracy, the registration list should not be used to determine the number of ballots and ballot boxes for particular areas, since that could lead to ballot stuffing where there was greater registration fraud. Agreement is needed on the number of boxes and ballots to be sent to the polling stations. Unconstitutional extensions of mandates must stop. Separate elections should be held for both the House of Representatives and district councils in 2010. More contentious will be renewal of the Guurti, presently the non-elected, clan-nominated upper house of the parliament. The constitution provides its members should be selected every six years, but does not stipulate how. Renewal has not happened since 1997, and the procedure needs to be defined urgently. The constitutional provision limiting the number of political parties able to compete in legislative and presidential elections to three has resulted in the monopolisation of power by the parties and leaders who were in place when the constitution was adopted. A new law clarifying how these three parties are to be chosen and permitting changes, coupled with a permanent system for the registration of new and independent political associations, should be adopted to encourage competition and accountability in political life. The new NEC, with donor support, should identify established, reputable local NGOs to prepare pre-election voter education and civic awareness campaigns. Materials should be developed for schools, and the education ministry should require classes on democratic practices. Clerics should be enlisted to raise awareness of election laws. Local NGOs, with foreign technical aid, should help train party and civil society observers to detect fraud, resist political and clan pressures and carry out nationwide election monitoring, partnering where possible with international monitors.

A&T, I can see you are retreating niyow ,,,, dib u gurasho xeel dagaal miyaa la odhan jiray ,, The fact is that IGAD has different views than that of Egypt (and Arab League) ..... but no, i'm not giving u more details about the issue. It will come out sooner than later. You will see Egypt begging Somaliland for a bilateral relationship ,,,,, believe me

So u say reer burco way buuq badan yihiin ?? ,,

could it be part of the population ?? ,,

Originally posted by Abtigiis & Tolka: "We defeated so and so and we are moving ..." is a sort of slogan I would expect from mujahid Muuse Bixi not from a learned person. Anyway, I don't like the certainity there. I can simply say you didn't defeat anyone? The Siyad regime was crumping anyway? But that is another matter. If Aideed didn't storm Muqdisho, chances are the SNM would have been stuck with the 'refugee militias' for another century. Let us be honest here! JB, qaabkaad u hadlaysaa waa qaabka dadka qiiraysan ee saaxibul-mirqaanka ah. Never be too much inward-looking. Kolkaad leedahay, we deafeat all miyaadan xishooneyn? who was arming SNM? not Ethiopia? That should not boil your blood unless you're guilty of those 88-91 actions ... yes we defeated Siad Barre while he has the support of All Arabs and others. Aideed woke up the last minute when the government was on the verge of collapsing. Now that is another subject ,,, but i want to concentrate that Egypt or Arab's support means nothing to those who are seeking ,,, Look at Mogadishu now ,,, Look at Darfur ,, look at Iraq ,,, and don't even mention Palestine.

A&T, all those you mentioned where here (except Eritrea which was under Ethiopia) between 1981 and 1991 ,,, they could help nothing ,,,, and they are here (including Eritrea this time) between 1991 to present ,,,, And we keep moving ,, defeating those they supported and moving in the right direction.

waar ma af-hayeenkiisii baad noqotay ,,

waar ma af-hayeenkiisii baad noqotay ,,

Egypt and IGAD do not have the same objectives sxb ,,, looks like Hargeisa is the playground for the moment. The Egyptian ambassador arrived a day before the IGAD delegation to send a msg. IGAD delegation was here for different purpose which i don't want to disclose now. As for Egypt, I understand they wave the "greater Somalia" flag but that did not help anyone in the region. Somaliland is here without them, and with everything they could do to stop us ......

I don't need their endorsement, that could not help Somalia, not in the past and not now.

For the losers ,, of course and they failed miserably.

Probably adiga iyo qaar keleba way ka nool yihiin ,,,,

Markii dagalkii 1977 uu dhexmaray Ethiopia iyo Somalia, dad fara badan ayaa kasoo qaxay kilil 5naad oo yimid jamhuuriyada Soomaaliya. Markaas waxaa dhacday iney dawlladi xerooyin qaxooti ey ka samaysid waqooyiga iyo gobollada koonfureed ee Soomaliya. I always had the feeling that you were member of qaxootigii sabacad .....

Holding memorials are not even islamic in which the prophet of islam used to curse the christians and jews for turning the tombs of their prophets into places of remembrance and memorials. The prophet made it clear to muslims don't hold memorials for him. Yet you have sland holding 88 memorials? another indicator pointing to the un-islamic administration they have. Waa markii diinta lagu meeraysan jiray marka wax kele la waayo ,,,, ninkii muxuu yidhi "Alla maxaa dhakh nebiga baratay"

Looks like you're scared sxb ,,,, Something must be in the pipeline ,,,

No pics yet ..... i guess someone will have the balls to take some photos ...

Are implying that pirates are xayawaan ??

I think that is exclusive for u ,,,,

Aka "ana waa ikan" style ? ,,,

hater ! !

SHEIKH, 7 December 2009 (Somalilandpress) – It is always exciting when a new species are discovered in country, but the idea that most animals are long gone from Somaliland either by migration or the due to the civil war in the 80s has now changed with the discovery of what seems to be a Gorilla. Now, it’s been reported that at least two gorillas has been discovered in mountains about 20-kms east of the town of Sheikh in Somaliland. According to local reports, the inhabitants of the area, who never seen a gorilla before, described the animal about the size of a small donkey and moving around by knuckle-walking. At the time of the sighting, the locals said one of the gorilla was chasing a chimpanzee. The sighting has created fear among the people of Geed-Lookor area. Many feared the animal could attack their livestock, which is livelihood to many here in Somaliland, while others feared it would create health hazards. Mr. Mohamed Adan who is prominent expert on ancient studies, has been collecting data on the sighting of this animal. Mr Mohamed stated that the fear of the locals is that this animal might come to the water wells and ponds in search of water and could transmit diseases to local people and animals. Mr Mohamed is also a staff member of the Ministry of tourism in Somaliland. In the past, diseases such as Ebola hemorrhagic fever broke out in number of African states and is highly contagious and causes a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise and in many cases internal and external bleeding. Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a deadly illness with case-fatality rate ranging from 50 percent to 89 percent that can occur in humans and in primates (monkeys, gorillas). Although, gorillas are strong and powerful animal, it is a ground-dwelling and predominantly herbivorous, therefore posses no direct threat to local livestock and other animals. However, because we share 98% genetic material with gorillas we can easily transmit diseases to each other, therefore it’s important that the government determines if there really are gorillas in Somaliland’s Geed-Lookor mountains and protects both the endangered animal and the locals. Somaliland ministry of tourism said they plan to send a surveillance team to investigate further into the sightings and will do health examinations if required. It is not clear how and when these animals arrived in Somaliland because gorillas typically inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas were unheard of in Somaliland until now, however due to over-hunting, climate change and socioeconomic unrest animals such as ostriches, lions, and kudu that once were found in great numbers in this land are either extinct or near-extinct. Even though, in the past eighteen years, many animals have slowly returned because of stability in the region, many are endangered due to deforestations and land clearance. According to a study by the Academy for Peace and Development, more than 2.5 million trees are felled annually and burned for charcoal in Somaliland in 2007. The report stated that each household in Somaliland consumed an equivalent of 10 trees a month.

He knew the IGAD's delegation and he just wanted to come before them ,,,,,

in Masaaridu ay ku dhegen tahay midnimadda Somaliya Ku dheggenow dheh ,,,,,