Somaliland Government Plan To Cause Instability And Insecurity In Order To Increase Its Term In Office

By Malik Jeylani

The Government of Somaliland in an effort to crush down opposition leaders specially the Opposition leader of Qaran Political Association have accused and charged the Chairman of Qaran Political Association Dr. Mohamed Abdi Gabose and his deputies Mr. Mohamed Hashi Elmi and Mr. Jamal Aideed who are prominent and well respected politician in Somaliland for unfounded and politically motivated charges for forming a Political Association that will lead into a Political Party. The government states that the current three political parties of Somaliland will be the permanent parties for Somaliland for the rest of it is existence as a nation. Therefore, the government states that no one should be able to form any new political association which will lead into a political party; as such the government of Mr. Dahir Rayale’s view is based on its poor interpretation of the constitution Article 9 which states: Article 9. Stipulates ‘ The number of political parties in the Republic of Somaliland shall not exceed three (3)’.

Unfortunately, the Somaliland Constitution differ’s the government’s view and it sides with Qaran Political Association. That is why Qaran Political Association, Somaliland Lawyers Association, KULMIYE the current opposition Political Party in Somaliland all take the view that all citizens have every right to form a Political Association that could lead into a Political Party during the local elections and they state that the government’s view and article 9 of the constitution will only come into play post local election which is the election that allows citizens to change any political party they don’t want to represent them in to the Parliamentary and Presidential Election. The below articles of the constitution states clearly that citizens have the right to form a Political Association.

Article 22: Political, Economic, Social and Electoral Rights

Clause 1. Every citizen shall have the right to participate in the political, economic, social and cultural affairs in accordance with the laws and the Constitution.

Clause 2. Every citizen who fulfils the requirements of the law shall have the right to be elected (to an office) and to vote.

Article 23: Freedom of Movement and Association

Clause 3. Allcitizens shall have the right to form, in accordance with the law, political, educational, cultural, social, occupational or employees’ associations.

Clause 4. Associations with objectives which are contrary to the public interest or are secret or are military in nature or armed or are otherwise against the law, whatever their outward appearance might be, are prohibited.

The People of Somaliland including the current Opposition Party KULMIYE, the Somaliland House Leader and his deputy are deeply worried and concerned about the action of the government which violates the human rights of the citizens and detaining all political opponents without a good cause. The Somaliland House Leader and his deputy criticized the government action on and called as an action that was taken in hasty and without proper consultation in order to protect the rights of the citizens. The people of Somaliland are also demanding the release of the Qaran Political Association Leaders without any condition as their arrest was illegal, politically motivated and unjustified according to the laws of the Somaliland and International laws as this classified as prisoner of political of conscious. The government’s arrested these prominent and respected figures without a good cause and staining the clean names of these innocent individuals constitute a violation of the constitution ‘Article 24. (3). every person shall have the right to have his dignity, reputation and private life respected’ since the government arrested these prominent and respected figure without a good cause.

The government’s arbitrary arrests against its political opponents, journalists and human rights activists will cause instability and insecurity to the peace and stability of the nation. This clearly violates the constitution of Somaliland and Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Parliament should put forward a motion against the government of Mr. Dahir Rayale as their arrest for the three prominent and respected political opponents is a ground for the parliamentarian and judiciary to charge Mr. Rayale’s regime for planning to cause instability and insecurity to Somaliland peace and stability for the sole purpose of the government’s intention to increases its terms in the office by abusing the following article and planning to cause unrest in the state of Somaliland

Article 42: Period of Office and Election Term

Clause 3. If the election of the House of Representatives cannot be conducted because of dire circumstances, the outgoing House shall continue in office until the end of these circumstances and a new House is elected. Dire circumstances are: a wide war, internal instability, serious natural disasters, such as earthquakes, epidemic diseases, (and) serious famines; and shall be determined and resolved by the House of Elders on the proposal of the Council of Government

The Parliamentarian and Judiciary should charge Mr. Rayale’s regime for violating the following constitution article as their action of arresting political opponents, journalist and Human rights activists are grounds to cause instability and insecurity to the Republic.

Article 38: The Parliament and Joint Sittings

Clause 3. The Parliament shall fulfil its duties in accordance with the Constitution and its Rules.

Clause 4. The most important objectives and duties of the Parliament are as follows: a) the protection of the peace and security of the Republic and Republic’s sovereign rule over its land, sea and air.

Malik Jeylani

mjeilani@hotmail.com

Source Somaliland times

http://somalilandtimes.net/sl/2007/290/04.shtml

Qaran has a legitimate concern and an arguable legal case

Hargeysa, Somaliland, 14 April 2007 (SL Times) - Somaliland Times asked Ibrahim Hashi Jama, a Somaliland lawyer living in the UK, to give a brief and informal view of his understanding and thoughts regarding the current constitutional confusion surrounding the legality of registering a political organization/party in Somaliland. Ibrahim is the Chairman of the Somaliland Forum Constitution & Law Committee. He has written extensively about the Somaliland laws, and is also the editor of www.somalilandlaw.com website.

At the time, the SL Times did not have the intention to publish Ibrahim Hashi's views regarding this thorny matter, but we simply sought his opinion out of curiosity. After reading his reply, we thought that it deserved a wider readership. When informed of our intention to publish his reply, Ibrahim Hashi Jama lamented that had he known we were going to publish his response, 'he would have prepared an article deserving of the importance of this subject'. Nevertheless, he agreed that we could share it with our readership.....(Editor)

by Ibrahim Hashi Jama

10 April 2007

As you may know I have advised years ago that the constitutional three party limit does not sit squarely with democracy and there could have been other ways of limiting the number of parties through, for example, higher but lawful threshold requirements for the registration of political parties by an independent body. We also recommended in 2000 that, like all other democracies, the function of registration of political parties should be given to an independent Electoral Commission and not to the last temporary Registration Committee. You can see some of my then comments in this article I wrote in 2000 -
http://www.somalilandlaw.com/Article_Political_Parties_Law.htm

Nonetheless, we are stuck with the constitutional limit of three Parties, and it will be impossible for our Supreme Court to declare Article 9 (2) as being contrary to the rest of the Constitution, which it is, by the way. The new political association (NOT Party, by the way - Qaran) is using a different, and in my view, perfectly legal and arguable case. They are not challenging the three party limit, but what they appear to be saying is that there is nothing in the Constitution which says that the three parties must be the current ones, let alone identifiable party A, B or C. Indeed their argument that there are fundamental articles and principles in the Constitution which militate against any law which says that three parties will forever and Amen be A, B & C is correct and unassailable.

The problem is that the 2000 Political Parties/Associations Law (Law No:14/2000), as I said in my article, set up a system of a one-off registration of political associations and a one-off system for selection of the three parties. When the earlier drafts of the Law were circulated, the Registration Committee was supposed to serve for a term of 5 years, which suggested that their job would not have been confined to a one-off exercise (see the footnotes in my article). Sadly, the final version of the Law stated that the Registration Committee will be disbanded 6 months after the three parties are chosen, and that was what happened. This was highly unsatisfactory, because if one of the parties imploded or if it practically joined another one, the Law left no system for the creation and registration of a new party to fill the gap - worse it never even said when and who will pronounce the death or demise of any party. Laws should cover such possible eventualities and this Law was highly deficient in this respect.

If Qaran's argument is that by failing to provide it (and others) an existing registration mechanism for new political associations, so that they can compete for becoming one of the three parties, Law No:14/2000 is unconstitutional and should be changed so that the competition is opened up, then that is a perfectly valid legal argument. I am not sure though about their interpretation that Law No: 14/2000, as it stands now, allows them to be registered as a political association now. It does not provide for such a scenario and there is currently no registration committee; the committee has to be set up under an amendment of the Law which will have to be passed by both Houses and the President! Remember we and others recommended that the law be amended once before to open up the registration and that was how ASAD and the other late comers were registered prior to the last local government elections. Parliament and the President can amend any law and there are cogent constitutional arguments that they should do that soon as nothing in the Constitution gives these three parties the right to be the gatekeepers in perpetuity!

The other way for Qaran and others to effect such a change is to mount a case at the Constitutional Court, but the Court has not, so far, shown any flair or deep understanding of constitutional issues.

It is a pity that this debate was not entered into a year or two ago so that the mechanics can be put in place through an amendment of the Law. Qaran, of course, will not be the only association which may want to contest the elections if the registration is re-opened, and here is where practical considerations come into the equation. Any new association will be competing with three settled and well oiled, if not necessarily buoyant political parties and even if the new associations get off the ground, we are now only seven months away from the local elections. Considering that we are still arguing about the composition of the Electoral Commission, I cannot see how a consensus can be reached about an amendment of Law No: 14/2000, although part of the problem can be solved by giving the registration responsibilities to the Electoral Commission. Secondly, in view of the fact that, in my opinion, President Rayaale is not eligible for re-election to another term of office, having already served more than one term before he was elected, the controversy engendered by the formation of new political associations could lead to an unfortunate postponement of the elections and a playing of the old "Guurti term extension" trump card next year.

In short, Qaran has a legitimate concern and an arguable legal case, but I wonder whether politically it might make more sense for this round of elections to proceed and for the law to be changed immediately afterwards so that new political associations can be formed and can then have a good run at the next local government elections in 2012. Better still, in my view, we should amend the Constitution next year after the elections, get rid of the three party limit and have a proper and tough, but lawful, political parties registration regime which ensures internal democracy within parties and an obligation that they have to garner real support from more than three or four regions, attain a minimum percentage of votes etc.

If we get rid of the constitutional limit of three parties, we would not be facing these kind of thorny issues, and we would not have to have regular unnecessary additional competitions to decide who the lucky top three parties would be. In any case, there is no reason why local democracy only should benefit from multi-party/association contests, whilst the more important national political elections which can also benefit from the wider pool of candidates should be confined to the nominations of three parties only.

Finally, it is correct, as mentioned in my article, that the model we followed in 2000 was the one used in Nigeria in the 1990s for kick-starting the political parties after the end of the military regime and the abolition of the previous parties, but Nigeria only used that system once and the current elections this year, for example, are being contested by many parties which have been registered over the years.

Source: Somaliland Times
http://www.somalilandtimes.net/sl/2006/273/2.shtml

Arrests in Somaliland by Lord Aveubry

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Arrests in Somaliland

From Lord Avebury P0706084

Blog ericavebury.blogspot.com

Leaders of New Somaliland Opposition Party Arrested

Amnesty International
PRESS RELEASE
8 August 2007

Amnesty International calls for the immediate and unconditional release of three leaders of an emergent opposition party who were arrested in the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa on 28 July.

They are Mohamed Abdi “Gabose”, a neurologist and former minister in the Somaliland and Somalia Governments; Mohamed Hashi Elmi, a civil engineer and former Mayor of Hargeisa; and Jamal Aideed, a telecommunications businessperson. They are respectively the chairperson, the vice-chairperson and the second vice-chairperson of the Qaran party (“The Nation”), which is not so far legally registered but had begun informal political activities in advance of the local elections expected to be held in December 2007.

The Interior Minister had some days earlier warned the three Qaran party leaders to stop holding public meetings and threatened them with serious criminal charges, accusing them of “fuelling unrest”. To Amnesty International’s knowledge, there have been no demonstrations or violent incidents involving Qaran supporters.

The three men are detained in Mandera prison, 70 kilometres east of Hargeisa. They were taken to court and remanded for investigation into alleged unlawful political activities. They have not so far been charged with any offence and have been held incommunicado since 3 August 2007, after initially being allowed access to their legal representatives and families.

Amnesty International considers these three people to be prisoners of conscience. It is concerned that they may be detained without charge or trial for a prolonged period, or subjected to an unfair trial.

Background

In the last elections in 2002, only three political parties (one government-linked and two in opposition) were allowed, due to the proliferation of parties at the time and to prevent the formation of parties based on clan affiliations. There is currently no mechanism for registering new parties as the registration committee was disbanded in 2002.

The Republic of Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991, but has not so far gained international recognition. It is the only part of the former Somali Republic to have established security and functioning institutions of governance, with a government through a multi-party system.

Three previous prisoners of conscience were journalists of Haatuf newspaper. They were detained in January 2007, subjected to unfair trial and variously imprisoned for two years and 29 months, then released by presidential pardon in late March.

End to unlawful arrests or the end of Riyaale’s reign of tyranny by Yassin M. Ismail

As a Somaliland citizen in Diaspora, I and on behalf of my fellow Countrymen and women who care about Somaliland and hold precious to the virtues of democracy, justice, equality and the rule of Law, strongly condemn the recent arrests of 3 prominent members of the Qaran political party by the authorities in Hargeisa last week.

The three members, namely Dr. M. Gabose, Mr Mohamed Hashi and Mr. M Aideed were detained by the police in Mandhera prison without trial. We believe the arrests were unlawful and politically motivated and constitute to gross violations of both human rights and Constitutional rights of the individuals concerned.

The imprisonment of the three men was the latest in a series of arbitrary arrests in which number of innocent people have been detained without trial or due legal process. Earlier this year, three journalists working for Haatuf Media Network had been incarcerated for more than 100 days and turned blind in the eyes of the law.

We therefore, strongly condemn the capricious imprisonment of the three members of the Qaran party and any other unlawful jailing of similar nature whereby the constitutional and human rights of an individual has been violated and thus demand the immediate and unconditional release of the three Qaran party members.

We further demand the restoration of the dignity and freedom of the three men and urge the authorities in Somaliland, particularly the president to refrain from the use of repression, unlawful imprisonment and other high-handed tactics against his political opponents and without any due consideration to the Laws of the Land and individual Civil Liberties.

We also warn President Dahir Riyaale and his catspaws against the serious perils of his draconic practice and the potential that unlawful arrests of high profile citizens can trigger a major civilian unrest, which could undermine the peace and stability of the country and hinder Somaliland’s democratic process.

To the people of Somaliland as whole I have the following to say: It does not matter whether or not you support Qaran Party or have political allegiance to the individual detained.

The overriding truth is that any unlawful imprisonment of a citizen of Somaliland is unacceptable and must not be tolerated and hence the detention of Dr. M. Gabose, Mr. Mohamed Hashi and Mr M. Aided summons our morals with obligation that we must act in protest of such practices.

I therefore urge the civilian population of Somaliland to make their voices heard and stand for the defence of our citizens Constitutional Rights. Our silence and indifference to president Riyaale’s dreadful behaviour simply encourages his tyranny and taints our morals with guilt of not doing anything.

Yassin M. Ismail

Kent, UK

Email:foryassin19@hotmail.com

The Unlawful Arrest of QARAN Leaders is Un-acceptable by Ahmed Eid Adam

"Intolerance is it self a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit"

- Mahathma Gandhi

We, always hear, that Somaliland government is a democratic government. If it is so, there are some prime rights to consider: protecting basic human rights such as freedom of speach and press; the right to equal protection under the law; and the opportunity to organize and participate fully in the political, economic and cultural life of the society.

Liberty of thought and participation in the politics are great rights of a man living in a civilised society with a democratic government. Any government which doesn't grant these rights can't claim to be a democratic government.

Somaliland Government some times ignore the basic rights of it's citizens. It made series arrests in which it had detained large number of innocent people, traditional leaders and journalists. The latest of such arrests is a recent imprisonment of the three prominent politicians, QARAN party leaders, Dr. Mohamed Abdi Gabbose, the chairman, Eng. Mohamed Hashi Elmi and Jamal aidid, the vice chairman and the second vice chairman, respectively.

Such political arrests or any other arbitrary arrests are not good for the people of Somaliland and their government. They can only make civilian anrest which could endanger the peace and the stability of the country. In the past years, Somaliland people faced different situations and difficuilties, and maintained to reach this stage of peaceful co-existence through tolerance and co-operation. This is an existing fact which shows the join efforts of the people of Somaliland, which needs to be encouraged.

Somaliland government should not try to stop the wishes of it's people. It should't label to any one or any other party who exercises his/her constitutional or political rights, or gives a constructive criticism as a person who is threatening to the peace and stability of the country, or as a distablising force.

If QARAN leaders founded a new political party, they did not engage in unlawful activities or break the law. They, as per the law and the democratic principles, exercised their constitutional and political rights which is allowed by the national constitution. Then, Somaliland government should not deny the basic rights of it's citizens and patriots.

At last, the government should make and immediate and unconditional release of the highly respected leaders, Dr. Mohamed Abdi Gabbose, Eng. Mohamed Hashi Elmi and Jamal Aidid Mohamed. They should be freed with out any further delay.

By Ahmed Eid Adam

ahmediid@hotmail.com

Veteran Politicians Rock Somaliland’s Political Landscape

"the constitution gives every citizen the right to form a political party"

Dr. M A Gabose (right) and M H Elmi, during Thursday's press conference

Hargeysa, Somaliland, April 7, 2007 (SL Times) – On Thursday, veteran politician Dr. Muhammad Abdi Gabose announced the formation of a new political party and said he had informed the ministry of internal affairs about the creation of his new political party. On Friday, the ministry of internal affairs issued a press statement in which it repudiated the claims of Dr Gabose and others who are involved with the new party, and said that the formation of a new party is a violation of the constitution of the country and there is no way it can allow it to happen. The statement of the ministry of internal affairs went to say that it will not allow a few individuals to break the laws of the land and create mischief in Somaliland’s political institutions, and that it will take firm action against those who take part in such things. The statement added, ‘according to the constitution of the country there can only be 3 political parties to enter local and presidential elections. Moreover, this so-called new party is illegal and will be disbanded by the ministry, and if those involved do not refrain from these illegal activities, they themselves will be brought before the law to face criminal prosecution by the state.’

Dr Gabose and the former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Muhammad Hashi Elmi, announced the inaugural of the Party for Peace and Development (SNPPD) during a press conference in Hargeysa. Dr Gabose was the former chairman of the defunct Sahan party which lost the 2002 local government election.

In his opening remarks, Dr Gabose said, ‘the new party is comprised of 55 members coming from a wide and divergent backgrounds and professions who were brought together by one unifying factor, which is, their earnest desire to develop the current stagnant state of Somaliland and its people.’

Dr Gabose explained that, “the new party will differ from the current political parties in many ways. First, the party leader/chairperson cannot run for the presidency. Second, the party will give women a greater role by setting aside a quota for women to take part in local government elections. We will prioritize the social issues affecting the nation, especially, health, employment, and education. We shall assist the diaspora in coming back and developing the country.”

Legality of new political parties

Dr Gabose stressed that the constitution gives every citizen the right to form a political party/organization.

He explained, “Articles 22 and 23 state that every Somaliland citizen has the right to participate in the country’s political arena, and is free to establish a political party, if they meet the registration criteria dictated by the law. These rights cannot be altered or changed by any government, parliament and court. The only way in which these articles can be changed or deleted from the constitution is through a referendum.”

Dr Gabose argued that by-law 14, passed by parliament for political parties, is the law, which initiated the formation and registration for KULMIYE, UDUB, ASAD and the others. “Has there been a new bylaw passed by parliament which replaced this one [14]? The answer is no. Article 21 of the constitution states that all those in authority, justice, parliament and the executive must abide by this bylaw (140)”, Dr Gabose asserted.

Dr. Gabose said that their party intends to take part in the up and coming national municipalities elections, scheduled to commence at end of the year.

Muhammad Hashi Elmi, the former Minister of Commerce and Industry who was sitting next to Dr. Gabose, commented on the role of the diaspora and Somaliland’s women. Mr. Elmi said, “the majority of our housing were built through the contributions of the diaspora, a great many of these are women. The same was true in our struggle to liberate Somaliland from Siyad Barre. Most of those who sacrificed their livelihoods were the diaspora. Those who contribute these days to society are the diaspora and women. They are the breadwinners in most households in the country and abroad. Our people in the diaspora contribute over $500 million a year to Somaliland. For these reasons, we believe there is a need to give the diaspora, and women in general, a larger say in running the country.”

Elmi, one of the founding members of the Somali national Movement and a long time political veteran of Somaliland politics, added, “we in this new party want to formulate a trade policy that lessens the country’s imports and increases its exports. We want to create employment for the many hundreds of thousands of students and those jobless in our urban centers by injecting cash in the manufacturing industry and small factories. We will open the cement factory in Berbera within 6 months if we are voted in power.”

Here are some questions and answers that took place in the press conference:

Q: ‘You were supposed to hold the press conference in Ambassador Hotel, as stated in your press invitation. What went wrong? Why have you changed the venue?’

A: You are right. We were supposed to hold the conference in Ambassador Hotel. We wanted this conference to be a large gathering, and we agreed to the number of people taking part with the owners and paid the money in advance. Unfortunately, at the last minute, we were telephoned this morning at 7 am and were informed by the hotel manager that he was visited by the chief of Somaliland police force, Mr. Muhammad Saqadi, who told him that the press conference is illegal and cannot be held in the hotel because the purpose of the press conference is to announce the formation of a political party. The police chief warned the hotel manager that it was up to him whether to allow the press conference to take place in the hotel or not, but there will be confrontations if it takes place because the government intends to stop the press conference. That is why we changed the venue of the press conference. We do not want confrontations with anybody, neither do we want to disturb the peace.

Q: ‘If the government rejects your application to register your party, what will you do?’

A: The thing is, this paper we have distributed to you (handout), contains the party’s constitution. Five months ago we presented it to the ministry of internal affairs. We said to the ministry that we consulted the most notable lawyers in the country, and we have been advised by them that the constitution and the bylaws relating to the formation and registration of political parties is still valid, the same as they were in 2002 local and presidential elections. We were given concrete legal advice by lawyers well versed in the constitution. We did this so to make sure that we were not contravening the law and not be labeled by our detractors as ‘disturbers of the law and peace’. We also took our organization’s constitution and the summaries written by our lawyers regarding the legal argument for new political parties to the General Attorney’s Office, the Supreme Court, the two houses of parliament and their house committees overseeing legal and judicial law concerns and to the National Election Commission. Neither the government nor these mentioned state institutions replied, instead they kept quiet for 6 months. This gave us a signal that it was permissible to form a new political party.

Q: ‘Once the hotel venue where you wanted to hold your press conference has been denied to you by the government, what chance is there for your new party being registered by the government?’

A: First, when you have a right for something, you should never lose sight of that right. There will be trials and opposition to you to get your rights. It will not be a smooth journey in getting your rights. The most important thing is to ask the question: “do you have the right or not?” If it turns out that you have the right, then all legal paths should be taken to achieve this right. In addition, we will educate the people about their rights and inform them of the illegality of the government’s actions. We will not change our cause. We will not be deterred by the government’s canceling of our press conference or the government’s propaganda. And we will not stop until we get the rights that the constitution has given us.

Source: Somaliland Times

http://www.somalilandtimes.net/sl/2006/272/1.shtml