Politics

Somalia warns corporations over independence of Somaliland

Published

1 week ago

September 9, 2024

Somalia promises to follow through on its threat to penalise corporations that misidentify or conduct business as if Somaliland were a separate entity.

By September 1, all companies operating in Somalia, according to Mogadishu, should have updated their network platforms to show that Somaliland is a part of Somalia.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) of Somalia ordered businesses to remove the name of Somaliland, the self-declared separate territory, from their network information sites, using the country’s interim constitution as justification.

The announcement, which also served as a warning to other remittance dealers and businesses to cease using the name Somaliland and instead use Somalia, gave particular names to money transfer companies such as Paysii, Dahabshil, and Jubba Express.

Ethiopian Airlines, which operates flights to Mogadishu and Hargeisa, was also held accountable for mislabeling the destination of Somaliland as a separate entity.

“Use Somalia only in your systems as from 1st of September (this year),” Commerce and Industry Minister Jibril Abdirashid Haji Abdi had said on August 24.

Airlines using Somali airports were also instructed by the Somali Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) to cease referring to cities like Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, as being distinct from Somalia.

However, the issue reflects what has happened since Ethiopia and Somaliland signed an agreement on January 2 of this year, whereby Addis Ababa might acquire a coastal strip for the construction of a naval station in exchange for Somaliland’s recognition—which it has been fighting for since 1991 without success.

Due to Mogadishu’s irritation with the MoU, it has protested at every international conference, charging Ethiopia with a plot to split up Somalia. On the other hand, Somaliland maintains that Mogadishu has declined to acknowledge the true issue.

First Secretary Ismail Shirwac of the Somaliland Liaison Mission in Nairobi stated that Somalia ought to attend to the issues of Somaliland rather than start a dispute with Ethiopia.

“The core of the matter lies in Somaliland exercising its sovereign right to enter into international agreements, as we did with the UAE’s DP World, while Somalia continues to assert that Somaliland is part of Somalia and, therefore, cannot engage in such agreements independently.”

In December 2020, Somalia severed diplomatic ties with Kenya, citing Nairobi’s meddling in internal matters in Mogadishu following the leader of Somaliland’s visit to Nairobi. It re-established contact after six months. In 2019, it severed its connections with Guinea for extending a red carpet greeting to the leader of Somaliland, Muse Bihi.

Formerly known as the British Somaliland Protectorate, Somaliland gained independence from the United Kingdom on June 26, 1960, and on July 1st, 1960, it willingly united with Italian Somaliland to establish the Somali Republic.

Following the overthrow of Siad Barre’s administration on May 18, 1991, the area unilaterally declared its independence. Since then, it has had de facto self-rule, functioning democracy, its central bank, and its currency.

Corporations have been evaluating business wins and losses thus far. For example, Ethiopian Airlines, which operated two daily flights to Mogadishu and six combat destinations, was forced to face the harsh reality of losing business in Somalia.

Related Topics:Featured Somali Somaliland

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Politics

Ghanian opposition protests, demands audit of voters register

Published

10 hours ago

September 18, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Ghana’s major opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) party protested statewide on Tuesday, seeking an independent forensic audit to clean up the voter register for free and fair elections.

NDC leaders said the election commission secretly relocated voters to various voting sites, undermining the register.

In red and black, thousands of supporters marched through Accra’s main streets, blasting reggae and campaign music and calling on international bodies, Ghana’s peace council, and religious and civil society groups to intervene. Protest leaders petitioned parliament and the Accra electoral agency. Ghana’s other 15 regions also saw protests, local media said.

Protester Kwame Acheampong, 68, told Reuters in Akan that his registration had been moved from the capital to Tamale. He asked, “How can I vote in Tamale?”

Meanwhile, the electoral commission claims the flaws were fixed. It suspended a northern Pusiga district director in August for “using his credentials to transfer voters without their knowledge.” Ghana is one of Africa’s most stable democracies, although eight people died in the last election, which was marred by opposition claims that the government unjustly influenced the vote, which it rejected.

Allegations of irregularities tarnish the electoral authorities. Afrobarometer’s July survey found Ghana’s election commission’s trust at an all-time low since confidence polls began in 1999. Johnson Asiedu Nketia, NDC chairman, told demonstrators he wanted “transparent elections.”

Ghana will have general elections for president and parliamentarians on December 7, 2024. President Nana Akufo-Addo cannot run again due to term limits after eight years. Old NDC president John Dramani Mahama will face New Patriotic Party Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia in the election.

The President of Ghana is elected in two rounds, while 275 MPs are elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting.

Politics

South Sudan ready to resume pumping oil through Sudan

Published

15 hours ago

September 18, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to South Sudan’s finance minister and the president’s office, progress has been made in getting South Sudan and Sudan to resume supplying crude oil through a pipeline that goes to a port in their neighbourhood.

South Sudan depends heavily on its oil exports for its income, and Sudan keeps a portion of the oil as a transit fee.

The devastation resulting from a fight between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces forced the closure of the major pipeline that transported oil from South Sudan via Sudan for export in February. According to observers, the stoppage has caused food prices in Sudan, where millions of people suffer from acute hunger, to rise. The damage is likely to cause major environmental degradation.

“Sudanese engineers have accomplished the necessary technical preparations for the resumption of oil production,” South Sudan President Salva Kiir’s office said in a statement late on Monday after a meeting in Juba between Kiir and Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

“Engineers from South Sudan are expected to visit Sudan in the coming weeks to familiarise themselves with the readiness of the facilities to jump-start production.”

“There has been a breakthrough, and (news of) it will come to the public very soon,” South Sudan’s Finance Minister Marial Dongrin Ater told a news conference late on Monday.
Burhan’s office said the two sides would develop an operational plan to restart oil flows.

Due to intercommunal violence, South Sudan’s economy has been under strain recently. Since the civil war that lasted from 2013 to 2018, revenue from crude oil exports has decreased, and more recently, export disruptions have occurred because of the conflict in neighbouring Sudan.

Following its independence from Khartoum in 2011, South Sudan began exporting roughly 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day through Sudan, following a formula that took the majority of the country’s oil production with it.

Before the civil war, South Sudan produced between 350,000 and 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day at its highest point.