By Somalilandtimes network

Baidoa, Somalia, April 1, 2006 – The Baidoa meeting is still on, but not much has been accomplished. This is not by accident, since the people behind the meeting, warlord “president” Abdillahi Yusuf, Ali Geedi “the prime minister” and Sharif Hassan “the speaker of parliament”, have organized this meeting so that they can convince international donors that they are actually a government and deserve monetary aid. But it seems that using this meeting as a scheme for milking the international community is about the only thing the above trio agree on. Each one of the above trio wants to seize as much as possible of the promised international aid for himself. The lack of trust between Abdillahi Yusuf and Geedi, as pointed by Jinni Boqor (a member of Parliament), is the reason both them flew to Brussels to sign an agreement with the European Union. In order not to miss out totally on the loot, Sharif Hassan dashed to the Arab League.

The EU has singed a memorandum of understanding to give 70 million Euros ($84 million) in addition to the $200 million it had already donated to Somalia. The Arab League has also promised to assist Somalia financially. But the key question is whether this money will be given through international aid agencies or directly to Abdillahi Yusuf, Geedi and Sharif Hassan. If this money is given directly to the above trio (Abdillahi Yusuf, Geedi and Sharif Hassan) there is little doubt that it will be used to line up their own pockets and to execute their personal agenda.

Ali Geedi’s happiness at getting close to laying his hands on money from the European Union was spoiled when a reporter asked him about the situation in Mogadishu, and he replied that some rebel-ministers from his government have been fighting with rivals, including the Islamic courts, and that the rebel-ministers have been defeated. This little exchange showed that international observers of the Somali scene are aware that the so-called Somalia government is a government in name only, and does not govern anywhere in Somalia.

In Baidoa itself, the security situation is as bad as ever. Shootings, car-jackings and armed robberies are common.

The bad faith and wrong priorities of the organizers of the Baidoa gathering has affected the morale of the participants which is very low. When you add to this the dangerous lack of security in Baidoa, the prognosis for this meeting gives much reason to worry (last week, one of the ministers was robbed of his car at gun-point). But Abdillahi Yusuf, Geedi and Sharif Hassan are not paying much attention to this, all that they are interested in is to get their hands on the donors’ money.

 

Source: Somaliland Times