By Tom Gardner
Tue Apr 4, 2017
LAND TENSIONS
Land has long caused trouble throughout Somaliland, and is behind the majority of violent incidents recorded in towns and cities, the Hargeisa-based Academy for Peace and Development (APD) reported in 2010.
Clan disputes have for years been drivers of conflict, aggravated by the destruction or loss of legal documentation during the civil war, leading to competing title claims.
Despite the existence of a national land law since 2001, clan ownership is still seen as the dominant, if unofficial property ownership system throughout most of the country.
In Berbera, the Ise Musa clan has dominated local politics since the late 1990s, and some fear the arrival of outsiders will threaten this.
Sayeed "Sonny" Sayeed, a young resident, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that many in the town are suspicious of the port deal, suspecting the plans will alter Berbera's clan composition.
"People from other regions want to take over," he said. "If they move here then new people will be born in this place, so that they can vote here."
His friend, Ahmed Nazal, said returning members of the diaspora were welcome, but only if they originally hailed from the area.
"If not, they should go and invest in their own regions," he said.
Others who spoke to the Thomson Reuters Foundation disagreed, saying diaspora investment would be good for the town.
"These lands were empty, no one was investing here," said Salelan Adel, a young unemployed man.
"It will give locals the chance to finally develop the lands that we own."
SIMMERING UNEASE
The port deal has also highlighted other tensions, with the role of the local council targeted for particular criticism.
Unlike many other major towns in Somaliland, Berbera's government controls swathes of land, including a 70-km (44 miles) "free zone" around the port.
This undeveloped land had been reserved for use by the port, but has been hurriedly allocated to newcomers since the DP World deal was signed, according to locals and Hargeisa-based experts.
"It is being sold off without clear procedures and guidelines," said Mohamed Farah, director of the APD think tank. Critics say most of this land has been allocated to those with government connections.
"What we are seeing is land grabbing," said Ahmed Hussein Esse, president of Abaarso Tech University in Hargeisa. There is now almost no public land left in Somaliland, he added.
Local official Abdulahi confirmed the council had been distributing public land, including parts of the "free zone", but said it had done so transparently.
Last summer it allocated plots to more than 700 Somalilanders returning from abroad, in a special area to be turned into a European-style village, he said.
However some worry that poorer residents will be driven out as the town gentrifies.
The average price of a 12 by 12 meter plot has more than doubled since last year, reaching $100,000 in places along the coast.
"The makeup of Berbera will definitely change," said Mohamed Aden Hassan, head of news channel StarTV. "It is already showing signs of becoming an increasingly exclusive club."
Jama Musse Jama, head of the Red Sea Cultural Foundation in Hargeisa, said if poorer residents felt excluded from development "then for the first time the risk is of class rather than clan conflict".
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-somal ... SKBN17624B
