Mon, Oct 06, 2003 page16

• Somaliland tries to get some respect

  Since breaking away from Somalia 12 years ago, the tiny country has become one of the region's only true democracies, though few outside know or care

  • DPA
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  From the air the landscape looks as though it is dotted with outsized footballs, but once on the ground it becomes clear that these are human dwellings.

  They are built using a technique that has also been adopted by Western outdoor equipment manufacturers in making their igloo tents.

  Flexible rods form a semi-spherical skeletal structure that is then covered with old bits of clothing, plastic sheeting and old sacks.

  In Somaliland, the breakaway republic in the north of Somalia, these patchwork huts stand right next door to the concrete houses of the better off and the white-washed buildings put up by the international aid organizations.

  Somaliland is poor but proud. Twelve years ago the former British colony declared itself independent from Somalia, although no one has yet recognized it as an independent country.

  Undeterred by their lack of success on the international stage, the inhabitants of Somaliland hoist their own national flag, use their own registration numbers on their vehicles and print their own money.

  The currency's value is so degraded that exchanging a US$10 note leaves the visitor with more cash than can comfortably fit into a normal wallet.

  Money changers in the nominal capital of Hargeisa sit surrounded by knee-high piles of bank notes, which provide a handy footrest when they take their midday siesta.

  "This is a peaceful and stable country. You can travel around without being stopped by armed militias," says Jesper Morch, the representative of the UN children's organization UNICEF in Somalia. He believes it is time that the international community acknowledges the political achievements of the small republic.

  And the International Crisis Group, a group of independent political experts, is even more explicit in the way it sees the situation.

  "International recognition would establish Somaliland as one of the few truly democratic states in the region," they say in a report.

  In April Somaliland conducted a tense presidential election, in which President Dahir Rayala Kahin was confirmed in office against all expectations with a majority of just 80 votes.

  Foreign Minister Edna Adan, a former midwife and the founder of a women's clinic in Hargeisa, has acquired the status of a resolute mother figure in this small country with an estimated population of some 3.5 million.

  She represents Somaliland on the international stage with a mixture of charm and determination to see it granted recognition as a full member of the family of nations.

  Somaliland cannot survive without international aid. Income from the trade in livestock has declined dramatically after the outbreak of disease in the national herd.

  And a large part of the national income is consumed in the form of khat, a leaf imported from Kenya and Ethiopia that the residents chew. The habit, which provides the consumer with a mild high after hours of chewing, can cost up to five dollars a day.

  Only 17 percent of the children of school-going age actually attend school, and more than 90 percent of the women are believed to undergo a form of circumcision in childhood that is often so radical that they suffer severe health problems in later life, especially when they give birth.

  "There is simply no family planning here," says Dahir Mohammed Yusuf, the deputy director of the Edna Adan Clinic in Hargeisa.

  Despite all the country's problems, however, life is better here for ordinary people than in the rest of Somalia. Somalia is rated the fifth poorest country in the world, and for the past 12 years it has had no effective central government.

  During the civil war, many of the country's educated elite simply left, and in the capital Mogadishu the warring clans continue to battle for turf and abduct anyone they believe can provide ransom money.

  A UN security official, returning after a two year tour of duty in Mogadishu, said recently: "In this place, all hope is in vain."
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