newsletter 2007

With the newsletter, we aim to offer you a little more than news about ourselves. The newsletter aims to provide a forum for interesting commentary on issues relating to Somaliland and reports on events and activity surrounding Somaliland.

In this issue, we offer a report from the frontline of the "Somaliland Day of Action" in Britain on February 22nd; three interesting pieces of contemporary commentary; and a piece of archive news commentary from 1960, in the run-up to Somali decolonisation, reproduced from The Economist. With hindsight, it makes fascinating reading to anyone interested in both Somalia and Somaliland.

You can click through to the full versions of each article from the introductions below or the links on the sidebar.

Somaliland's day of action
Mohamed Omer Maigag, the chair of Somaliland Societies UK, reports on the demonstrations calling for Somaliland's recognition in several British cities on February 12th 2007...  read more.

The collapse of the Islamic courts: What future for Somalia and what impact on Somaliland?
Dr Adan Abokor and Dr Steve Kibble of Progressio, an NGO which co-ordinated the international observation team at the parliamentary elections in 2005, give commentary on the impact on Somaliland of the collapse of the Union of Islamic Courts in December 2006-January 2007. Written shortly after events unfolded, their observations remain pertinent to Somaliland, where the long-term effect of the collapse remains is still far from clear...  read more.

An interview with Dr Adan Abokor
In a interview one year following the parliamentary elections, Dr Adan Abokor speaks to Dave Tanner of Progressio about the main issues and challenges facing Somaliland… read more.

The Sheikh Concordat -Settling Constitutional Disputes in the Somaliland Way

Ibrahim Hashi Jama, a leading authority on constitutional law in Somalia and Somaliland, examines the difficult relationship between Somaliland's House of Representatives elected in 2005 and the Guurti, the council of elders that functions as an upper house in Somaliland's parliament…. read more Ibrahim_article 247K PDF

Somali Take-off (originally published February 27th 1960)
A lead article from The Economist (reproduced with kind permission) looks at the challenges facing the Somalis in the run-up to decolonisation from Britain and Italy in 1960. With hindsight, a particularly fascinating item… read more.