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DAWLADDA PUNTLAND EE SOOMAALIYA PUNTLAND STATE
OF SOMALIA
XAFIISKA MADAXWEYNAHA OFFICE
OF THE PRESIDENT
_________________________________________________________________
SUMMARY NOTES OF THE SPEECH OF H.E. ABDULLAHI YUSUF AHMED, PRESIDENT OF
PUNTLAND STATE OF SOMALIA ON THE 2ND ANNIVERSARY OF PUNTLAND – 1ST
AUGUST 2000
Mr Vice-President, Ministers, Members of Parliament,
Isimadda, members of the public, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters,
Today is
the 2nd Anniversary of our State – Puntland State of Somalia. We are
together reviewing the situation of our region and the performance of the
Government in the last two years as well as its plans for the coming years,
I do not wish to boast the achievements of my government
of the short two years nor do I wish to under estimate the constraints we have
encountered in arriving where we stand on today.
a) We all
remember that after a seven years wait and failure to achieve national
reconciliation and restoration of a central government, for which we made so
many concessions ,the legitimate
representatives of the people of the five regions of Nugal, Sool, Sanaag, Bari,
North Mudug and the Buhoodle District came to Garowe in 1998 and established
the State of Puntland;
b) We also
decided to remain an integral part of Somalia. We did all in our power to
promote peace, national reconciliation and neighborly regional cooperation. We
invited many Somali leaders from various regions of the country to Garowe to
share with us ideas on all possible political options for the resolution of the
Somali conflict;
c) With our
very limited resources of qualified manpower, financial, material and
inadequate infrastructure, the government managed:
-
To establish all the vital State institutions, particularly
the executive, legislative, judiciary branches and laid down many essential
legislation;
-
To ensure State security by establishing adequate Police
Force to protect our frontiers from aggression, our sea from piracy and our
urban centers from rampant crime;
-
To rehabilitate, with some help from the international
community, many public premises and important economic infrastructures such as
the main tarmac road, Bosaso Port and airports; and
-
To provide employment for over 6000 persons, which means
feeding 60,000 family members.
d) These
may not appear to be big achievements but they certainly are a major progress
over where we were two years ago, when the country was in a state of anarchy
and disorder. And we did all this on self-reliance and without substantive
assistance from the international community, who had clearly shown reluctance
to aid Somalia in any meaningful way.
Let me now
turn to, and outline the current Somali and world situation as it relates to
Somalia:
a)
The Somalia situation:
·
The civil strife is still going on in most of central and
southern Somalia;
·
There is hunger, starvation and famine in most of central
and southern areas of the country due to constant fighting, insecurity and lack
of national and international relief assistance or GURMAD;
·
The Djibouti process also presented new dimensions of
confusion, destabilization and disunity to the already difficult Somali
situation;
·
Fortunately, the whole Somali picture is not as gloomy as it
sounds for the northern parts of Puntland and Northwest enjoy peace, stability
and orderly administrations
b) On the world scene as it
relates to Somalia:
·
There are many large-scale internal civil conflicts going on
in the world at the same time, and particularly in Africa, that overshadows the
Somali conflict (Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Burundi, Angola, Afghanistan, Congo,
etc.);
·
There is, therefore, much competition for world attention
and for the limited international aid resources that may be available;
·
In any case, the international community seems to have
folded their arms about the Somali tragedy and remain indifferent observers on
the Somali conflict, waiting to pat on the shoulder the blood-handed victors;
·
In addition to the economic problems of globalization and
post-cold war period of foreign policy priority changes and donor fatigue
environment, a number of regional countries with opposing political and
strategic interests are further complicating the Somali internal conflict;
·
The Djibouti/Arta Conference is the last of about a dozen
costly, failed National Reconciliation Conferences sponsored by the
international community and held abroad. But the Djibouti Process may prove to
be the most divisive and destabilizing of all its predecessors.
a) Under
these difficult and complex conditions in Somalia as a whole and Puntland in
particular, our government adopted a number of principles and strategies,
including:
-
The establishment of
peace and security in Puntland,
-
The urging of peace
and reconciliation among many Somali political factions,
-
The promotion of
good neighborly relation and cooperation with all regions,
-
Constant appeal to the international community to sincerely
and generously assist all regions of Somalia in their efforts for peace,
rehabilitation and development; and
b)
Regarding the Djibouti Process, we learned the
undemocratic management, partiality and consequent dangers of the initiative
long before most people realized, and we forewarned our people, all Somalis and
the international community about the serious risks that Djibouti Conference
entails. Not many people believed us but truth is now on the board for everyone
to see.
In the past two years, our
priority was the establishment of the State government, its various public
institutions and administrative working infrastructure. In the final year of
its 3-year mandate, the government will devote its efforts and resources on
institutional consolidation, conference preparation, socio-economic development
planning and the defense of our people and national interests. In the
implementation of these programs, we cannot and we shall not rely on much
international assistance.
You know how very limited
are our financial and material resources. The regions of Puntland have always
been long neglected and called GAARIWAA (unreachable). By establishing Puntland
State, the people and government together made them reachable and much coveted.
You are fully aware of the situation. Nevertheless, we are determined to move
forward relying on our brains and labor. On this objective, planned government
activities for the next year include the following:
POLITICAL PROGRAM:
·
The preparation for the 2001 Constitutional Conference as
required by the Puntland Charter, activities consisting of:
-
Drafting of a fully fledged Puntland Constitution that will
guarantee all the rights the people want,
-
Taking of Puntland population census for democratic
distribution of representation and for effective development planning;
-
The appointment of an electoral commission to organize and
manage all the electoral process required;
-
The appointment of a Conference Preparatory Committee for
the preparation and organization of the 2001 Puntland Conference.
·
Puntland support and promotion of the “building blocks”
approach in future national reconciliation processes, whereby individual zonal
administrations are formed first and then mandated, representative leaders meet
to discuss the formation of a Federal Central Government in a practical,
equitable and democratic manner;
·
The forging of political and military alliances with
like-minded Somali leaders, organizations and regional administrations to pull
our common ideas and resources in self-defense and for the search for a
peaceful and democratic national solution.
·
Government’s continued encouragement and challenge to our
Somali neighboring Self-governing States and regions to meet us on the peace
table for dialogue, cooperation and coordination of efforts for reconciliation,
reconstruction and development for the suffering Somali people;
·
Government’s continued request to the international
community to give their informed and impartial mediation, reconstruction and
development support to Somalia and revive and practically apply the
"peace-dividend” policy.
SOCIO - ECONOMIC PROGRAM:
·
The Preparation of a Socio-Economic Development Plan
creating employment through infrastructure, social services and housing
development giving particular attention to women, youth, unemployed and the
vulnerables;
·
The Puntland socio-economic agenda must give priority
consideration and allocate greater resources in the future for the development
of the rural economy, where the majority of our people and most of the
resources are located.
·
The promotion of an overall private sector development,
including government support for export promotion, overseas product marketing,
economic infrastructure and institutional development, business training,
livestock, fishery and crops producer support and IT introduction; and
·
Also high in the government’s development plans is the
protection of the environment in terms of coastal pollution and waste dumping,
charcoal burning and urban planning.
·
We are renewing our appeal to the international donor
community to join us in partnership in the reconstruction and development of
Puntland;
SECURITY PROGRAM:
·
The security policies and activities of the government will
mainly feature on:
1. The finalization
of a peaceful settlement of Galkayo and Mudug Region security concerns and the
forging of inter-community trust and cooperation,
2. The
application of renewed policy and efforts in Jubaland and Kismayo and to return
them to their legitimate owners preferably through dialogue and peaceful means;
3. The
protection of Puntland peace and security from ambitious war mongers and other
enemies disguised as Djibouti born “national government”;
4. The
government is deeply concerned about the unconscionable, treacherous, continued
and contraband export of female livestock, Beeyo trees (frankincense) and
protected game species. This is serious economic sabotage and sellout of our
children’s inheritance. The government will apply existing laws and introduce
new and stronger protective legislation, if necessary. In the meantime, the
security forces are instructed to be more vigilant and ensure that no more such
exports take place again in any port of Puntland.
Fellow
countrymen and women,
I invite you to join us in the government for
this challenge to rebuild and develop Puntland so that we can play greater
positive role in the national reconciliation and reconstruction.
Thank you.
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed
President of Puntland State of Somalia