"Somaliland
should be commended for holding electionson a regular basis but with as much
experience as it has had with elections since 1991, I would have thought it
could do better by this time"
Amb David Shinn
By: Yusuf M Hasan
HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) - The
United States normally attaches considerable importance to the views of neutral
international election observers.
The US government is awaiting the
final report of the International Election Observer-IOE Mission which observes
the local council elections held in 28th November before it makes comments.
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This was revealed by Ambassador
David Shinn during an interview with the Horn newspaper in which he also
opinioned that the national police force needs international training
Below are the verbatim excerpts of
the interview
How do you see the local elections
held in Somaliland on 28 November and the report by the international
observers?
Somaliland should be commended for
holding elections on a regular basis. As you know, some countries in Africa and
elsewhere around the world do not have scheduled elections or any elections.
There were, however, some reports of violence and apparently no voting took
place in some districts in eastern Somaliland. Voter turnout in the rest of
Somaliland was reportedly high. Representatives of The Bartlett Development
Planning Unit (DPU) organized a 51-member team of international observers to
observe the elections. This is a relatively small number of observers for an
area as large as Somaliland. They only observed about 20 percent of the polling
stations. That means they were unable to observe the situation in most of
Somaliland.
The DPU observers reported that the
voting process was mainly free, relatively peaceful and marked by great public
enthusiasm. On the other hand, they witnessed widespread evidence of attempts
at multiple voting exacerbated by the lack of a voter registration system. With
as much experience as Somaliland has had with elections since 1991, I would
have thought it could do better by this time.
What impact will the final report on
local council elections by international observers have on the government of
the United States?
The United States normally attaches
considerable importance to the views of neutral international election
observers. As the DPU was the only international group to observe the
elections, I assume that the United States will pay close attention to its
final report. The United States will also look into allegations by groups such
as XAQSOOR that have strongly criticized the election process.
Do you think the international
community is ready to pay for the expenses of voter registration prior to
future elections in Somaliland?
If the government of Somaliland can
present a credible voter representation plan that is not excessively expensive,
I believe elements of the international community could be persuaded to provide
the funding. It is clear that voter registration is needed to improve the
process.
How do you interpret the use of live
bullets by Somaliland police against protesters armed with stones?
Since I was not present in
Somaliland during the election, I am not in a position to judge if live bullets
were used against stone-throwing protestors. If that happened, it was a mistake
and the government needs to be sure it does not happen again. Personally, I
favor international training for Somaliland police. Realistically, it probably
will not happen. Because of bad experiences in other countries in the past with
the training of police personnel, there is a reluctance to provide police
training by many nations. A few countries, such as Turkey, do provide police
training. Unquote
Addendum
Amb David Shinn who is a renowned
pundit on Horn Africa issues, who is currently an adjunct professor of
international affairs at The George Washington University.
David Shinn, who received his B.A., M.A., and
Ph.D. from GW, is a former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia (1996-99) and to Burkina
Faso (1987-90).
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