Issue 242

We all know that the Joint Needs assessment was appraised by the UN/WORLD Bank for the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) by UNDP/ WORLD, which was established in Nairobi in 2004. The 16th Reconciliation Conference held in Kenya for all the fighting CLANS in former Italian Somalia have adopted a CHARTER (CAHDI-BEELEED) that legalized the TFG. Somaliland did not participate in none of the 16 Reconciliation Conferences arranged for the factions of Southern Somalia by the International Community in order to resolve their dirty clan-wars after establishing a Federal Government that can establish the rule of law, which was lacking over 16 years. Of course the legal base in administering the JNA program is the TFG Charter and in such circumstances Somaliland should not participate as Independent State unless its CONSTITUTION is amended and agreed to become a member of the future states of the TFG, which in my opinion would not happen until the youngest fighter of SNM attains age 80. I have not seen in the voluminous reports written about the discussions held by the mission with Somaliland authority that the JNA portion for Somaliland would be administered under the merits of the TFG CHARTER As a result of this, I believe that the mission deliberately undermined the POLITICAL INTEGRITY OF SOMALILAND by failing to disclose to the authority the legal base of the program. I do also question the in-competence and poor judgments of Somaliland authority of not consulting a Somaliland legal expert on this matter before investing a lot of efforts on a misleading program appraised for TFG.

It appears that members of the UNDP/World Mission did not clearly explain to Somaliland authority the fact that J.N.A Grant conditional ties ( incase if it materializes at all, since no one knows when the TFG will arrive from ‘ EXILE’ with the help of the Ethiopian Military might ) will be administered under its Legal Base and that will be TFG Charter and not under the auspices of Somaliland Constitution or a special Memorandum of Understanding tailored for Independent Countries that have not yet been diplomatically recognized e.g. Palestine, East-Timor, Kosovo…etc. Although the opposition Parties supported the participation of the JNA at the initial stage, they have withdrawn their support after consulting legal expert on similar economic packages financed by these International Organizations. I understand that Somaliland authority, more specifically Senior Government Officials told the leadership of the house of Parliament and House of Elders that the mission has made an under-taking that Somaliland would be engaged in a separate arrangement based on a special M.O.U for the portion of the GRANT appropriated to them. Unfortunately, I believe the mission was merely interested to measure the desperation needs of Somali Landers to reconstruct and redevelop their destroyed county by the Regime of Dictator Siyad Barre during 1981-1991. Although, the Team Leaders of the mission were well conversant with Somaliland political integrity, yet the mission did not even mention in their reports that Somaliland seceded from former Somali Republic on 18/05/1991 and since that time has achieved democratization processes which are pre-requisite in qualifying for an economic package of this nature from Multi-lateral and Bi-lateral Donors. The mission also were aware of the fact that Somaliland could have fulfilled all the conditionality of the JNA, if they have been properly advised to negotiate with UN/World Bank Organizations independently without being forced to share JNA program with fighting factions in Southern Somalia who have established TFG in 2004, but still on EXILE as it could not establish itself as an effective Federal Government until now. In net shell, the mission refused to disclose to Somali Landers that the JNA program will be placed under the responsibilities of the CABINET of Ministers of the TFG and the day-to-day administration will be MONITORED by the Ministry of Planning of the TFG. Also, they did not disclose in the JNA reports concerning Somaliland that conditionality of the GRANT will be administered under a Financial Act to be approve by the FTG parliament as specified in the FTG Charter. In the case of PUNTLAND, the mission clearly indicated that the adoption of the Transitional Federal Charter aims to establish four levels of administrative hierarchy and it will define the responsibilities of the TFG and State Government.

I do question therefore, the integrity of the mission leaders who failed to clarify the legal base of the program, as well as the integrity and the competence of the Senior Government Officials who until now did not seek a legal opinion on this issue when the mission were in the field or prior to the arrival of the mission. Moreover, the Legal Consultant and his team that was specifically charged the JNA COMPONENT OF GOVERNANCE & RULE OF LAW on behalf of the UN/WORLD BANK should have disclosed to Somaliland authority that all decisions to be implemented on the JNA program would be based on the basic principle stated below, which will demand laws of the country to guarantee such a commitment:-

To fulfill pre-requisite condition that will give an assurance that public institutions will conduct public affairs, manage public resources and guarantee respect of human rights in a manner which is free from abuse of power and corruptive practices and with due regard to the rule of Law and such undertaking should be based under the TFG Charter;
and again this will require that all member States of the Transitional Federal Government set-up decentralized Executive, Legislative and Judiciary Bodies whose powers are clearly separated as stated in the TFG Charter and a detailed explanation as to their respective responsibilities is in an ACT to be approved by the TFG Parliament.

Conditions like 1, 2 and others like how to raise revenues for a State and the Federal Government need to be fulfilled prior of signing the GRANT, while other conditions are to be fulfilled prior to disbursement of GRANT proceeds. The question to ask the UN/World Bank mission is, why did you assume that Somaliland is a member state of the TFG?

Since the team leaders have refused to respond to questions pertaining to the legal base in which the program is to be administered, refused to report upon the political integrity of Somaliland in their JNA reports and failed to recognize the fact that Somaliland qualifies for an economic package for reconstruction and development as a result of achieving democratization processes and the fact that Somaliland can not share an economic package with a political entity that Somaliland do not recognize yet politically (i.e. TFG) , a political entity known to lack the trust of the Southern Somalis it is intended to rule, a political entity that seeks foreign military force to colonize its own citizens on behalf of War-lord President Col. Abdillahi Yusuf, a political entity that failed to reconstitute government institutions for a period of 2 years and a political entity over-whelmed by former corrupt Senior Officials of Siyad Barres’ Regime and a political entity that exists only as theoretical paper-tiger. As a result of these findings, Somaliland authority should boycott the Pledging Conference to be held in ROME, unless Somaliland is accorded the status of a political entity Independent from the TFG and JNA GRANT Agreement for Somaliland is governed by a special MOU endorsed by Somaliland authority and UN/World Bank Organizations;
Somaliland authority should seek clarification from UN/World Bank Organizations why the most senior legal consultant on the component of Governance, safety and the Rule of Law, taxation , operational budgets, accounting procedures and multiple financial and administrative laws that should guarantee proper management of GRANT PROCEEDS and ascertain the proper utilization as appropriated by the DONORS and in accordance with the conditions specified in the GRANT Agreement, was reluctant to guide Somaliland authority in seeking to negotiate for a separate JNA program in a way that do not undermine the political Integrity of Somaliland like other political entities of similar status mentioned in the preceding paragraphs;
SOPRI Executive is requested to allocate time-schedule for the discussion on the JNA issue by the delegates to the conference to be held in Washington D.C, in order to explore a legal alternative that a separate JNA will be appraised by Somaliland;
Somaliland authority should seek legal advice on Multi-lateral and bi-lateral assistance before co-operation negotiations are launched and officials charged with such responsibilities should be selected on merit logy and not otherwise.