Somaliland leader in Turkey for talks

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu welcomes the leader of Somalia's autonomous Somaliland region, Ahmed Mahamoud Silanyo, in front of his offical residence. (Photo: AA, Hakan Göktepe)

Ahmed Mahamoud Silanyo, president of Somalia's autonomous Somaliland region, paid a visit to Ankara on Tuesday for talks with Turkish officials.

Silanyo had talks with Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ and officials from the Ministry of Energy. He was also scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday; however, the meeting had to be canceled due to Erdoğan's ill health. Erdoğan has caught a cold and will rest at home for a couple of days, according to reports. Today's Zaman was unable to confirm with the Prime Ministry whether the meeting between Erdoğan and Silanyo will take place at a later date.

Somaliland unilaterally declared its independence as a de facto sovereign state in 1991 but is internationally recognized as an autonomous region of Somalia, after a coalition of clan-based armed opposition groups ousted the nation's long-standing military government.

From time to time, there are also reports published by media claiming that the Somaliland leadership supports al-Shabaab, a Somali-based terrorist splinter group of the militant Islamist group al-Qaeda, and has links with the assassinations, abductions and bombings that have taken place in the country.

In a 2011 interview with BBC news, Silanyo said he hopes for independence and that Somaliland deserved to be seen as an independent country. “The people of Somaliland cannot be denied the chance of their own referendum to vote for secession,” said Silanyo.

A senior Turkish diplomat, who spoke to Today's Zaman on condition of anonymity, however, stated that it would be wrong to qualify Somaliland as a separatist region. “Within Somalia there are several regions, including Somaliland, that have their own administrative structure and a president. It is claimed that Somaliland is as separatist region; however, it would be wrong to qualify it as such,” said the diplomat.

The diplomat maintained that Turkey is against the division of Somalia, adding that Turkey will never support a group that poses a threat to the territorial integrity of Somalia. "In order to protect the territorial integrity of the country, we are in contact with all the sides in Somalia. Due to the instability, which is caused by terrorism and poverty, in the country, there are many groups calling for division. Somaliland is the only region which has been able to free itself from the effects of instability,” said the diplomat, adding that when stability can be maintained in the country, the separatist groups will give up the idea of division.

An Ankara-based Somali diplomat, who also spoke to Today's Zaman on condition of anonymity, stated that the visit was taking place to discuss issues of development in Somalia rather than political issues. "We have no problem with this visit. We have been aware of the demands of Somaliland since 1991 but we are against the division of the country," said the diplomat.

Somalia has suffered from civil war and religious extremism due to the political vacuum in the country since 1991. When asked whether the Somali government is uncomfortable about the visit, the same diplomat replied that this was out of the question, adding that the visit is taking place with the knowledge of the Somali state.

"Turkey will never support a group that poses a threat to the territorial integrity of Somalia. There is nothing to make the Somali state uncomfortable,” said the diplomat, adding that Turkey has made important contributions to the improvement of the situation in the country.

In 2011 a drought in Somalia killed 29,000 children under the age of 5 and left 12 million people on the brink of starvation. In Somalia, the drought has added to already present troubles resulting from the 20-year-long civil war in the country. The United Nations said Somalia's drought was one of the largest humanitarian crises in decades. Turkey initiated a countrywide aid campaign to help Somalia after the drought.

Tony Hawyard’s Genel May Find Oil in Somaliland, Minister Says

By Selcan Hacaoglu

Somaliland is optimistic that a search for oil by Genel Energy Plc (GENL), run by former BP Plc Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward, will find commercial quantities of crude, Mines and Energy Minister Hussein Abdi Dualeh said.

The company has completed about 95 percent of an airborne geophysical study and plans to conduct a two-dimensional survey of a 4,000-kilometer (2,485-mile) area in the semi-autonomous northern Somali region, Dualeh said in an interview yesterday in Ankara, the Turkish capital. Patrick D’Ancona, a spokesman for London-based Genel, declined to comment beyond its annual results statement issued on Feb. 28.

The “initial map shows big, promising basins,” Dualeh said, adding that Genel hasn’t interpreted all of the data yet. “That does not mean there is oil there. There is still a lot of work to do: 2-D seismic, exploratory drilling, a lot of processes. It looks promising.”

The hunt to develop energy resources in East Africa has gained pace since Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) made the decade’s biggest natural gas discovery off the coast of Mozambique. Finds in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia have also raised the region’s energy profile. Demand in China and India helped spark a bidding war last year between Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Thailand’s PTT Exploration & Production Pcl (PTTEP) for Anadarko’s partner Cove Energy Plc.

Licensed Blocks

Somaliland has licensed one-third of its oil fields where the Anglo-Turkish company Genel operates in five blocks, with plans to drill a first well by mid-2014, said Dualeh. Ophir Energy Plc (OPHR) of the U.K. is also in negotiations for a 2-D seismic contract and may start drilling in 2015, he said.

“It is a no brainer, there is oil” said Dualeh. “It is a matter of finding commercial qualities.”

Somalia, particularly its northern regions of Somaliland and Puntland are a “southward extension of the lucrative geologic framework of the Arabian Gulf” that includes Saudi Arabia, according to Osman Salad Hersi, an associate geology professor at the University of Regina in Canada. Saudi Arabia is the world’s biggest oil producer.

“The country, Somalia, including Somaliland, can potentially be the Saudi Arabia of East Africa,” Hersi said in an e-mailed response to questions. “But the instability of the country within the past 30 years or so hindered any meaningful hydrocarbon exploration.”

No Recognition

Somalia has been wracked by more than two decades of civil war since the fall of Mohamed Siad Barre’s dictatorship in 1991. Somaliland declared independence after Barre was removed from office and the former British protectorate has yet to gain recognition as a sovereign nation by any other country or foreign institution.

“Lack of international recognition for their unilateral secession and not being part of the internationally-recognized Federal Somalia of Mogadishu puts Somaliland in limbo,” said Hersi.

Somaliland is negotiating with other unidentified international oil companies hoping to sign exploration contracts in 2013. Cnooc Ltd. (883), the state-owned Chinese oil company, and Canadian and Australian companies are already forging oil deals with the Somali government and that of the semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

“We have not had any active exploration on such a scale until now,” said Dualeh. “Genel is really leading the charge in really putting together a very aggressive big exploration campaign to really evaluate the potential of Somaliland.”

Hayward resigned from BP, Europe’s second-biggest energy company, in October 2010 following the Gulf of Mexico disaster. He teamed up with financier Nathaniel Rothschild to create Vallares Plc, a shell company that raised 1.33 billion pounds ($1.98 billion) through an initial public offering in London in June 2011. Vallares agreed to merge with Genel in September 2011.

Shares in Genel fell less than 0.1 percent to 794.50 pence in London yesterday. The stock has gained 1.9 percent so far this year.

Our operations in Somaliland

·         

  

 .    Two PSAs covering five blocks: SL-6, SL-7, SL-10A, SL-10B, SL-13

·         Genel 75% interest and operator in blocks SL-10B, SL-13 (East Africa Resource Group 25%)

·         Genel 50% interest and operator in blocks SL-6, SL-7 and SL-10A (Jacka Resources 30%, Petrosoma 20%)

·         Total gross acreage 40,300 square km

In August 2012, Genel was awarded an exploration licence for onshore blocks SL-10-B and SL-13 in Somaliland, with a 75% working interest in both. Genel extended its presence in November 2012 with the acquisition of 50% participating interest in the Odewayne Production Sharing Agreement which covers blocks SL-6, SL-7, SL-10A.

Onshore Somaliland is a relatively unexplored region, with few exploration wells drilled. The total size of the blocks is approximately equivalent to the entire Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Genel took the opportunity because of encouraging indications including onshore oil seeps and existing geological data showing favorable conditions for hydrocarbons to have accumulated in numerous large tilted fault blocks and sub-basins. In addition, the basins of Somaliland were contiguous to Yemen prior to the opening of the Gulf of Aden in the Oligocene-Miocene - similar sedimentary sequences and structural styles are expected in Somaliland.

We are targeting resources of over 1,000 mmbbls in blocks SL-10B and SL-13. The Odewayne block has a similar resource potential to this, targeting in order of 1,000 mmbbls. A substantial 2D seismic campaign is to commence for all the blocks in the second quarter of 2013, with the first exploration well targeted for the second half of 2014.

Somaliland and Israel

By ABDIRAHMAN MOHAMED DIRYE

Ever since I was born I could hear the waves of hatred and prejudice pouring upon Jews for unexplained reasons, but apparently associated with the Arab-Israeli conflict, which Somalia was not a part of.

During Siad Barre (Somali dictator from 1969 to 1991), there was an Arabization program in Somalia that entailed the hatred of Jews as part of a standardized process of Arabization of our formerly non-Arab country.

When crisis erupted in Somalia and the lights went out in the 1990s, it became obvious that Somalia had been abandoned; no country acted to alleviate the Somalis’ enormous suffering.

Somalia has received various kinds of aid over the years, from various sources, but in the post-Cold War era, as Somalia’s strategic importance to the great world powers has waned, the country has effectively been left to rot. Its healthcare infrastructure, for example, is damaged to a degree which seems irreparable. Somalis seeking urgent medical care thus must often cross the border into Ethiopia, or seek treatment further abroad.

I am not a doctor by profession, but have served for many years as an interpreter for Somalis seeking medical care in Ethiopia. It was in this capacity that Special Adviser to the President of Somalia Dr. Omar Dihoud and I met with Mohammed Mohamud and Farah on March 4 at the Nati Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, prior to their 9 p.m. departure for Tel Aviv.

It was a remarkable occasion for all of us.

The two young men were overjoyed, but also a little shocked; they hadn’t expected anything other than rejection from the Israelis they had been taught all their lives to consider “immortal enemies.”

“When we were told Israeli embassy in Addis Ababa had granted us the visas, it blew our minds!” said “We’re grateful to the Hadassah organization that offered us to treat us. We’ve life threatening injuries and yet no money” to go to Germany for similar treatment, added, explaining that “[the treatment] costs a minimum of $100,000 for each of us.”

“Our people, friends and families phoned us from all over the world when they heard the good news” Mohammed said with a broad smile. Their phones kept ringing all night long.

Whether their treatment is successful or not, one thing is certain: the Hadassah organization’s place in the hearts of these two young men is secure Mohammed’s CT scan results are in front of me: “hyperdense foreign body noted (displaced skull bone fragment) ... Conclusion: (1) right occipito post-traumatic encephalomalacic cyst, (2) dense foreign body in the cranial cavity....”

According to Mohammed, the foreign body lodged in his skull, is a bullet, which he says is the reason he’s paralyzed. His condition is critical, but treatment wasn’t available in Somalia or Ethiopia, so he was obliged to seek treatment overseas. However, he couldn’t afford the treatment, and had given up hope.

Enter the State of Israel. Israel, which has one of the best healthcare systems in the world today, offered to fly Mohammed and Farah to Jerusalem, a holy city for Muslims, Jews and Christians alike, via Tel Aviv for the delicate surgery.

Moreover, this wasn’t a unique occurrence; Israel has been engaged in this type of activity for quite some time, and hopefully will continue to do so until Somalia can rebuild its shattered health infrastructure.

By way of comparison, in reply to those like Mohammed and Farah seeking health care assistance abroad, Saudi Arabian philanthropists say: We finance Madrassa and Haj tours for specific people who contacted our hidden representatives in Hargeisa or Islamabad.

Indeed, the Saudis are obsessed with spreading the radical Wahabi cult to the poor masses of Somalia, and are prepared to give alms only if doing so serves this end.

While willing to fund places of worship – as long as they fall in line with the Saudi brand of Islam – the Saudis at the same time, fuel so-called “jihad” from Afghanistan to Somalia, and bribe the major oil companies to prevent oil exploration in the Horn of Africa and beyond.

In fact, it is Saudi “aid” that has kept Somalia at war for the past six years. The Al-Haramayn and Muntada Islami organizations feed orphans in Hargaysa and Mogadishu, true – but indoctrinate them at the same time. Raising jihadis under the banner of feeding the poor is an activity the Saudis have been engaged in since at least the 1990s.

To truly care for an orphan is to raise them into adults capable of living independently, not into jihadis whose only purpose is to increase the number of new orphans.

I call on Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to make a trip to the Holy Land, instead of wasting time in countries whose influence and contribution is quite limited, or comes with strings attached. Israel, the Silicon Valley of the Middle East, has the ability to help turn Somalia into a paradise in a short period – if our leaders can find the courage to ask.

Many Somalis are unaware of the fact that Jews and Christians fall in the same category according to Islam: People of The Book (Ahlukitab in Arabic), and that it is no more wrong to seek help from Israel than from the predominantly Christian West.

And we need to ask for the help of each, on grounds of common humanity rather than religious affiliation, clan or color. The Somali public is highly appreciative of Israel’s assistance to those in dire need, and will remain close friends with the people of Israel forever.

The writer is a Somaliland activist and senior editor at The Democracy Chronicles, African news edition. dirye@democracychronicles.com

Talia And Newtec Power GSM And Mobile Payments Network For Somalia

SINT-NIKLAAS, Belgium, 

New Satellite Communications Backbone Infrastructure for Somalia 3G Operator

Talia and Newtec are pleased to announce the provision of a new satellite communications backbone infrastructure for AGSM.MOBI, a Mobile operator in Somalia. Based on Newtec's FlexACM® technology, the network will enable reliable mobile voice, data, and payment services throughout Somalia.

Somalia is a country in the midst of rapid economic and social change. With a population of more than 10 million, mobile connections have risen dramatically in the past two years to exceed 3 million connections and are expected to reach more than 5 million by 2015.

"The communications infrastructure for mobile calling, payments, and data services have to be rock-solid," said Abdullahi Abdi Hussein, President and CEO, ASGSM.MOBI. "Talia have extensive experience in providing such services, and with Newtec technology, we are getting a reliable, cost-effective service based on industry-leading technology."

The AGSM.MOBI network will be hosted at the Talia Teleport and other places, and Talia will provide connectivity as a managed service, interconnecting with co-located ASGSM.MOBI equipment. The satellite network will run over a fully-redundant Newtec hub.

"The current absence of a national telecommunications infrastructure in Somalia, along with the ever-growing need for voice and mobile data, make satellite communications a natural fit," said Alan Afrasiab, President and CEO of Talia. "And Newtec FlexACM technology was the natural fit for the technology - fast, efficient and offering the best mix of reliability and cost possible."

FlexACM is an end-to-end solution combining a range of technologies to optimize IP trunking and IP backbone satellite links in the most efficient way. FlexACM can double data rates in the same bandwidth without the need to acquire extra satellite capacity.

Serge Van Herck, CEO of Newtec, said: "We are very excited to be working with Talia and integrating FlexACM to optimize the satellite link and ensure that it is robust even in conditions of dust and rain fade - which can be a challenge in the sub-Saharan and tropical regions in Somalia. The auto-adaptive technology incorporated inside Newtec's FlexACM takes care of any fading condition, interference (noise and distortion) or variation in the satellite link. This avoids link and data losses to provide optimal service availability."

For further information about Talia's services visit www.talia.net and for Newtec's IP Trunking and Backbone solutions go tonewproducts.newtec.eu/new-products/application/ip-trunking-and-backbone.