Somaliland: Grabbing the Ethiopian lion by the tail with
help of Bollore
Somaliland is cleverly inducing a third party –Bollore
Africa Logistics to facilitate and bring into fruition
the elusive Berbera Corridor that holds so much economic
promise for this yo ung nation irrespective to its
inability to partake in or to become a party to an
internatio nal agreement. Bolloré Africa Logistics is
well suited to harness and fulfill Somaliland’s
as pirations due to its political influence coupled with
its shear capacity, comparative-advant age and expertise.
Once implemented the Berbera-Corridor will connect
Somaliland with t he emerging 90 plus million nation of
Ethiopia that has been one of the fasts growing
econ omies in the world and better yet that has managed
to sustain its growth. President Ahm ed Mohammed Mohamoud
Silanyo of Somaliland has pertinaciously toiled for
Berbera Port and its corridor to Ethiopia to be fully
agreed on by the nexus of parties involved, the
So maliland president has visited both capitals Addis
Ababa and Paris within this single mon th retaining to
this matter.
There is already a feasibility study of port Berbera’s
capacity and the road networks con necting Somaliland
with Ethiopia underway and it is being carried out by a
German compan y Gauff that was selected by IGAD and
funded by the EU. Port Berbera will be instrument al in
creating trade relations to the already political
relations and cultural relations that both countries
enjoy. Already the benefits to Port Berbera is that it
has a shorter road distance to Addis Ababa than compared
to both port Mombasa of Kenya and Port Sudan of Sudan.
The road linking Port Berbera and Addis Ababa is 930
kilometers in length, with 240 kilometers of it within
Somaliland and remaining 690 kilometers in Ethiopia.
There is no denying it, the last decade has been the
Renaissance of the African lion-Ethio pia, the second
most populous country in Africa with a population of
over 90 million and GDP of over 100 billion exhibited an
extraordinary growth rate for a non-oil producing
cou ntry. Ethiopia might have been known for been largest
exporter of coffee and having the most efficient and
profitable airline on the continent, but Ethiopia will
soon have the high est skyscraper and will be the biggest
power exporter in Africa thanks to its economic
transformation, where in the last decade Ethiopia was
one of the fastest growing econom ies in the world.
Somaliland is trying to grab this lion by the tail and
hoping that it will have the multiplier effect that
beyond just revenues provides jobs, stimulates
investment, spurs long term-growth and mitigates the
constraints from the lack of recognition that have put
bilateral assistance and capital markets beyond its
reach. Somaliland is ready and aiming to capita lize on
the landlocked nation of over 90 million by leveraging
its Berbera Port as the corri dor to which Ethiopia will
cater its emerging market to the rest of the world.
The impasse to the Berbera port has been Somaliland’s
inability to partake in and to beco me a party to an
international agreement since it is not officially
recognized by the rest of the world, which limited or
eliminated the renowned financial institutions and
insurance companies willing to ensure if not at premium
certainly the cargo’s travelling through Som aliland or
ships docking on Berbera port.
However Somaliland’s strategic maneuver to include a
large multinational conglomerate likes that of Bolloré
Africa Logistics which has the sway and capacity along
with Ethiopia to back and guarantee the presumed
liabilities associated doing business in an unsover eign
nation situated in a conflict- predisposed zone of world
dominated by terrorism and piracy. Certainly Somaliland
values Bollore’s political connections and technical
know-how and presumes that Bolloré Africa Logistics is
capable of making this venture a success.
The clear-cut objectives of President Ahmed M.M.
Silanyo’s administration have been the promotion of
political, social and economic interests of Somaliland
and thus his grandiose development-plan and Somaliland’s
economic prosperity lies with the free flow of people,
services and goods between the Berbera-Corridor. Berbera
corridor has been identified as a project that can
transform Somaliland and irrespective of its political
quandary Som aliland is encouraged by its proximity to
Ethiopia and is geared up to benefit from it. Somaliland
wants to be a recipient of the Ethiopian electric
surplus that many in the East African countries are
about to become beneficiaries to. The World Bank and the
African development bank have funded what is called the
“Eastern Electricity Highway project” that will soon
light up 5 African countries that include Tanzania,
Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi and that is on top of
Djibouti and South Sudan who are already receiving
electric ity from Ethiopia. Somaliland certainly wants to
benefit from the Ethiopian electricity surp lus, but
first the Berbera –Corridor has to be implemented and it
has to become a succe ss.
Somaliland is not waiting for Ethiopia to hold its hand
or anyone else to dictate any top-down solutions,
Somaliland has subsisted within its frugal means since
its inception witho ut any substantial assistance from
the international community. Somaliland is led by a
president with an economic background who has taken a
holistic approach with strategic alternatives for
fostering economic growth by making development a
national priority. To maximize the impact of the
president’s economic agenda, the president laid the
groundwork and transformed the government sector first
and his administration did not rest on Somaliland’s
internal-strengths and laurels of peace and security but
they have rather enhanced the capacity of Somaliland’s
public sector by honing in on and streamlin ing
government services.
Once the government reforms where concluded with the
president transitioned onto eco nomic development and in
a quest to realize Somaliland’s development aspirations,
Soma liland has created an enabling and conducive
business environment that started with the creation of a
whole new government branch to the ministry of Commerce
solely to attra ct foreign Investment. This new branch
has published an Investment -Guide and an inter net
portal that aims to attract foreign direct investment in
Somaliland by enticing would be investors with
incentives and tax-abatements. It has also created a
“One Stop-Shop” that does away with the
counterproductive requirements and bureaucratic controls
that hindered investments in the past. Somaliland has
instituted a viable economic plan called The National
Development Plan (NDP) and has also created Somaliland
Development Fund (SDF) that is in line with Somaliland’s
developmental ambitions. Somaliland’s NGO act ensu res
that aid and humanitarian agencies along with
development partners concerning the New Deal to be in
lockstep with Somaliland’s developmental priorities. The
current Nation al Development Plan of 2012 to 2016 is
based on five pillars that is guided by urgent issu es
concerning developments in key areas that are set the on
the steady path for the lon g term vision of Somaliland
in 2030. President Ahmed M.M. Silanyo’s administration’s
unti ring concerted development effort has taken the
concrete actions that will bring such vis ion to reality
by enhancing the simple Pastoral economy of Somaliland.
The expedited improvement of Somaliland’s public sector
can be credited to caliber of com petent ministers that
have laid a new foundation for Somaliland’s
transformation. For the first time in Somaliland’s
history the national forecasted budget was brought to
the parli ament on a timely manner and it was the largest
in the country’s history $152 Million. With its meager
scare resources the government has invested in the long
term human ca pital of Somaliland by freeing primary
education and ensuring Somaliland future cadre are
literate and in 2013 Somaliland undertook a country wide
census in order for to governm ent comprehend demographic
outline of the nation to better meet social needs of its
citiz ens.
The Ethiopian transformation could be contributed to the
vision and insistence of late Meles Zenawi who is
considered the father of Ethiopia’s economic miracle and
driver of its momentous achievements. Meles Zenawi
affirmatively chose to adhere to the economic growth
model of Asian Tiger and rejected the neo-liberal and
deregulation growth model prescribed by the so called
Washington consensus that consists of the World Bank, US
Treasury and the IMF, In addition to the political
pressure he was under at the onset from the world trade
organization that insisted Meles liberalize the telecom
and banking and the national Airline. Meles prudently
placed Ethiopian state owned institutions at center of
development, which they are playing a big role in even
in their current 5 year economic plan 2011-2015. The
Ethiopian government had concrete plans and competent
institutions that is why its economy prospered and fared
well, Plans like the Growth and transformation plan” and
steering institutions like Public Enterprise Supervising
Agency (PESA). Ethiopia has used its state owned
institutions like the Ethiopian commercial bank to
support national priorities and act as an anchor for
strategic development.
In Somaliland’s case it has placed it self well to
benefit enormously from this mutually ben eficial port Berebera project. With its limited resources and
capability Somaliland has don e everything within its
sphere to rebuild its physical and human capital
infrastructure. Somaliland’s current economic phase
holistically seeks to incorporate public private
partn ership (PPP) with the backing of it’s the civil
sector. Somaliland has impressively financed the
maintenance and construction of its roads through
levies, windfall tax and with the assistance of willing
public who see the Ceerigabo road as a national calling.
Somaliland has had great achievements such the free
primary education, the doubling of public pay, ushering
new political parties, in addition to numerous other
government endeavors that included Military Ranks.
It is my hope that if the Berbera-Corridor is agreed
upon it will have the multiplier effect that Somaliland
is in dire need of, and if given the opportunity
Somaliland will certainly grab this resilient Ethiopian
lion by the tail to create jobs, stimulate investment,
and spurs long term-growth for Somaliland.
Bienvenue Au Somaliland!
Geleh Ali Marshall
Geleh@hotmail.com
Hargeisa Somaliland
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