Yearbook 2008
Somalia. According to
Countryaah reports, one result of Somalia's collapse as a state was
the sharply increased piracy activity along the country's
coast during the year. By mid-December, over a hundred
vessels of various kinds had been attacked and some 40 of
them were hijacked, including a Ukrainian ship loaded with
tanks to Kenya and a Saudi-owned super tanker. The shipping
companies were estimated to have paid the equivalent of more
than SEK 200 million in ransom to the pirates. In June, the
UN Security Council approved military intervention against
the pirates, and in the fall, NATO and the EU, among others,
sent warships to patrol the area and escort ships with
relief to the civilian population. However, the efforts
seemed to have limited effect and the pirates became
increasingly daring and operated ever further out at sea and
further away from the Somali waters. In a new resolution in
December, the UN allowed:
Despite the support of the Ethiopian army, the African
Union and occasionally the US, the weak interim government
and its army became increasingly difficult to defend their
territory against the Islamist militia expelled from the
capital Mogadishu in December 2006. The government managed
to conclude a ceasefire agreement and co-government with a
moderate phalanx of the Islamists, but the more hardened
forces - accused by the US of conspiring with the terror
network al-Qaeda - opposed the peace calls and demanded that
all foreign troops leave the country.
In November, President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmad admitted
that the Islamists ruled virtually the entire country except
Mogadishu and the Baydhabo (Baidoa) government seat. Despite
the bad situation, which caused severe civilian casualties,
Ethiopia began to prepare its forces to leave the country
shortly after the turn of the year. In this pressured
situation, contradictions within the government were driven
to its forefront. The president tried to dismiss the prime
minister because of disagreement over how the peace efforts
should be conducted, but the parliament gave the prime
minister his support to remain. A new head of government
self-employed resigned just a few days after he was
appointed by the president. Finally, just before the turn of
the year, the President decided to resign himself, after
becoming internationally isolated and threatened with the
dismissal of Parliament. His departure left the country in a
difficult state.
The usually calm Somaliland in the north, which considers
itself an independent state, was shaken in October by a
series of coordinated suicide attacks directed at the
presidential palace, the UN offices and the Ethiopian
consulate. About 30 people were killed. The perpetrators
remained unclear, but the suspicions were directed at
militant Islamists.
Somaliland History
Battles in the border area
Unrest flared to and fro in the border area towards
Puntland. These were largely about the Sool and Sanaag
regions, which both Somaliland and Puntland claim. In late
spring 2018, fighting erupted, demanding 10 deaths. In
connection with this, several interventions were made
against media reporting from the area. Several journalists
were arrested and two TV stations were forced to close.
The parliamentary elections are postponed
The parliamentary elections that would have been held in
April 2019 were postponed until December of the same year,
to be postponed again in the autumn. This time to 2022
because the parties could not agree on who would lead the
new electoral commission, but it was also speculated that
elected officials were unwilling to give up their positions
of power. Local elections that would have been held in April
have also been postponed. And that in a situation where the
economy was already weak.
The decision to postpone the election helped to heighten
political tensions, especially among young people, who could
never vote in a parliamentary election (the last was held in
2005). It became particularly evident when the majority of
Somali countries are under 35 years of age. But most of them
are not politically active, and the political system gives
the clans great influence, and if they cannot pull on it,
little will change.
Representatives of the opposition party Waddani protested
in the fall of 2019 against the decision to postpone the
election, and two high-ranking party representatives were
arrested in November, but released after a week. The Kulmiye
government party blamed for the postponement of the Waddani
party, as it had rejected all Kulmiye's proposals for new
members of the electoral commission.
In addition, Kulmiye was shaken by internal
contradictions, which were largely due to tensions between
different subclans. At the same time, the authorities have
made several strikes against the media, including the
privately owned Horn Cable TV and the news site
HadhwanaagNews have been forced to close and several
reporters have been arrested. Particularly vulnerable have
been those who have raised corruption cases. |
