SOMALIA: Street Protests against the Faroole Administration in Bosaso, Puntland [in Pictures]

On Friday 8th March, the residents of Bosaso, Puntland’s commercial center, staged a demonstration in opposition to the administration led by President Abdirahman Mohamed Faroole.

By: Yusuf Sharmarke

Hundreds of ordinary citizens participated in this protest that started in the morning at the center of Bosaso.

They blocked the traffic on most of the major roads of the city. Some of the protesters sat in the middle of the road, while other groups conducted marches through out the major city streets.

The protesters were carrying signs depicting caricaturing of the ruling family, and signs that said: “The government has fallen”, “No Faroole”, among other things.
One person was wounded by a bullet fired by the Police forces who were trying to disperse the crowds. However, the demonstrations continued, and you could hear rounds being fired all day and through out the city, specially near the Municipal Office and Hotel Juba.

General Adde Musse, the former President of Puntland, was among the people who got stuck in traffic due to the street sit-ins of the protesters. Adde Musse came out of the truck he was riding in and tried to convince the demonstrators to reopen the way, but was unsuccessful, even though they let him pass and proceed to his house in the Laanta Hawada neighborhood in Bosaso.

The protests ended when the call to the Friday prayer was announced. This is the third demonstration to occur in Bosaso in the last two months, a time of great price inflation in the region.

This is a period characterized by a significant drop in trade through Port of Bosaso due to adverse exchange rates and ill-advised government decrees.

The market was equally harmed by the Administration’s decision to ban the fuel imports from Yemen: a decision opposed by most business people and all motorists. Some of the small merchants of Bosaso accuse the government of favoring and giving special license to bigger companies that are connected to the Ministry of Finance and the Presidency.

The government’s stated reason for the ban is that this fuel is imported on small ships that pose a danger to the security of Puntland by bringing arms or cooperating with Al- shabaab. However, the boats from Yemen are still arriving in Bosaso, and the only thing that has been banned is the fuel, a situation that affected fuel merchants describe as favoritism toward a particular interest group.

“….The boats from Yemen carrying food-stuff, the Yemeni fishing boats are still coming to the Port of Bosaso, and are not forbidden. Only the fuel boats are forbidden, and it is an obvious case of nepotism and all small traders know of the relationship between the Finance Minister, the President’s son and the traders, based in Dubai, who have received the license to import the fuel”, said Salax Abdirazak, one of the small fuel distributors in Bosaso.

Puntland Elections

Among the protesters are some who are opposed to the government’s extension of its term in office. At present, the government is insisting that the registered Parties will be contesting the first elections in May.

With only a little over a month left, it is unlikely that such elections will take place, considering that most of the registered Parties are unable to secure the required 330 signatures from at least 5 regions of Puntland.

The Transitional Election Commission is making the claim that there is no need for the verification and registration of the agreed upon number of signatories, when it became evident that some of the Parties, including the ruling Horseed Party of president Faroole, were unable to muster the required 330 members from 5 regions.

At the same time, no voter registration has been initiated, and it is not clear who is eligible to vote. Lately, we have been hearing from the Commission that the district election will proceed without any voter registration; (Read in Somali) and, so far, it has not been decided the districts where these elections will happen.

Some of the registered opposition parties have released declarations where they warned about the way the Commission, selected by the President, was managing the election process.

It was only last month when Midnimo Party released a statement to voice their displeasure toward the Commission for registering a political organization that failed to fulfill the requirements imposed for all political organization in order to receive recognition.