POINT OF VIEW: JEHAD NGA SOMALIA

Jehad Nga was born in Smith Center, Kansas. While attending UCLA in 2002 Jehad began taking photos after discovering the Natasha Merritt book The Digital Diaries. Between 2001-2002 he spent months traveling through the Middle East taking medical volunteering positions in Gaza and documenting the trips.Wanting to continue working as a medical volunteer Jehad trained to become an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) in 2002 while interning at Magnum Photos. In Jan 2003 Jehad traveled to Iraq with Writer Kareem Fahim and Illustrator Brian Wilcox to cover the US lead invasion. In the summer of 2003 Jehad began working in Africa with his first trip to Liberia. Since 2004 Jehad has been based in East Africa.

For more information
http://www.jehadnga.com/

BOOMING TELECOMS SECTOR IN SOMALIA

Despite the intability and lack of a effective functioning government in Somalia, the telecommunications sector has been able to thrive. An interesting article in the Wall Street Journal highlightingthe surge in the Telecoms sector.

"The rapid evolution of technology in Somalia—and people's access to it—comes as several telecommunications companies here jockey for customers amid the absence of any government-regulated phone or Internet access. The competition to supply phone service has stoked the nascent revival of Somalia's shattered economy, and it shows that some complex businesses can thrive even in one of Africa's least developed markets.

Backed by expertise from China, Korea and Europe—and funded from their own pockets—Somali telecom entrepreneurs are providing inexpensive mobile-phone services. Users can conduct money transfers via mobile phones and gain Internet access, both wireless functions that aren't widely available in many other parts of Africa.
The success of Somalia's telecom sector isn't all that unusual for a war-shattered economy, experts say. In countries with shaky economic foundations, such as Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, telecommunications companies have stepped in to provide missing infrastructure.

In these environments, "the first ones who put in electricity generators in rural areas are the telecom operators," says Svet Tintchev, a World Bank expert on the telecom industry in developing countries. "In a way, their leverage goes beyond pure telecom service."
In Somalia, the telecom companies haven't competed only for customers. They have also cooperated with each other to maintain their networks and set prices to ensure that competition doesn't become too cutthroat.
One of the largest, Hormuud Telecom Inc., has sales of about $40 million a year, substantial in a country where an estimated 70% of the population lives on less than $2 a day. Hormuud declined to disclose its profit.

Hormuud's chief executive, Ahmed Mohamed Yusuf, started his business selling bread, spaghetti, sweets and other groceries. He later opened a popular supermarket.

But like his competitors, Mr. Yusuf saw huge gaps in the telecom sector. "Everyone wants to get in touch with his brother or sister, whether inside or outside the country, to hear the latest news" amid rising violence, says the 50-year-old CEO.

In 2002, he pooled money with friends and launched Hormuud, a cellphone and land-line telecommunications company. It would later expand to include a bank and a mobile money-transfer service, which Somalis now use to avoid being robbed in this cash-based economy.
The World Bank's Mr. Tintchev says the sector has become among the country's biggest revenue generators, and the service it provides has helped revive the economy. "They became the economic enablers in Somalia," he says.

Four main telecommunications companies now operate in the country.

The first private telecommunications company to open in Somalia was Telecom Somalia in 1994, a Hormuud rival that offers a range of wireless services. NationLnk Telecom also offers land-line and mobile services, but it hasn't expanded into more advanced services, such as Internet access. Despite their rivalry, the three companies signed an interconnectivity deal in 2005 that allows them to set prices and expand their network access. The cheapest mobile-phone service provider, called Somafone Telecommunications Service Co., is a tiny upstart that operates outside the alliance.

The investment in telecom businesses is one of the clearest signs that Somalia's economy has continued to grow amid the ruins of war. Few reliable figures exist for the overall economy. The United Nations estimates that in 2007 the East African nation's economy expanded 2.7%. Per-capita GDP, at $291 a year, remains among the lowest on the poverty-stricken continent.
Since its last strong federal government fell in 1991, Somalia has been beset by warring clans and militias. The 1991 violence destroyed every phone line in the country, according to a World Bank assessment, forcing people to communicate by military radios, if at all.
To navigate Somalia's tangled web of clan alliances, Hormuud sells shares to all interested parties. In this way, the connection to Hormuud cuts across the country's warring groups, leading Somalis from nearly every clan to feel vested in the company, says Mr. Yusuf, who often surfs satellite news channels in his Mogadishu office.

Operating in Somalia remains hazardous. Mr. Yusuf says he is reluctant to invest in the very latest technology because Hormuud's land lines, painstakingly laid down, have been blasted by mortars in the past two years during heightened violence.

Last year, a mortar shell crashed into the gate of the company's headquarters in the main Bakara market in Mogadishu, killing one employee and wounding another. Asked who might have fired the mortar or whether he thinks it was meant to hit the company, Mr. Yusuf shrugs, indicating there are simply too many explosions to tell them apart.

In some Somali villages, Hormuud no longer offers service because all the people have fled the militant groups. The most formidable force in Mogadishu is al Shabaab, a violent group linked to Al Qaeda that has banned beards, school bells and tractors because, it says, they violate Islamic law.

Al Shabaab has also punished telecom operators, threatening employees who sell scratch cards for cellphone use and demanding "taxes" from any companies that operate in their territory.

But Hormuud has also profited in this war economy. Calls—and revenue—go up when fighting erupts and people need a way to get in touch with friends and relatives. In militant-controlled areas, young men and women are banned from socializing, so they tend to stay home and send text messages to each other instead. The militants use Hormuud's service too, relying on the company's mobile-phone network to coordinate attacks and call for reinforcements.
The new Somali government, installed last year, has begun to try to tax the lucrative telecom businesses. Government officials grumble that some companies aren't contributing their share, but Mr. Yusuf says that businessmen like him will pay whoever happens to be in power.
"

Telecom Firms Thrive in Somalia Despite War, Shattered Economy

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608104575220570113266984.html?mod=rss_africa&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

MAPPING THE HISTORY OF THE HORN OF AFRICA AND LINKING TO THE CURRENT EVENTS

An interesting post by Bill Easterly Professor at New York University seeking to showcase the role of the changing maps in the horn of Africa and its link to the current events in the region.


"In the greater Horn of Africa, the talk is of civil war, genocide, tyranny, interstate war, failed states, fragile peace. Where did this all come from?

... Among the forces at work changing the map are Europeans’ increasing knowledge of the area, the expansion of European colonial control, European border changes, and Ethiopian expansion. Somehow it led to the present mix of tragic mess, cultural richness, and potential for hope."



For more visit Aids Watch Blog
http://aidwatchers.com/2010/05/the-map-history-of-an-unhappy-place-1829-present/

CALLS FOR GREATER COOPERATION IN AFRICA TO IMPROVE AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY

Food Security in Africa: Interview with African Union Chairman and Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika from Farming First on Vimeo.

Speaking ahead of the World Economic Forum on Africa, which begins in Tanzania tomorrow, Bingu wa Mutharika said he planned to work with other African leaders to devise a programme on food security that was sustainable "regardless of who is looking at it", and set up what he called an African compact on food security to act as an independent advisory body to the African Union (AU) on agriculture and food issues.

In an interview with Dr Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, CEO of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) and chairman of the Farming First coalition, Mutharika said he would chair the compact for the next five years.

For more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/katine/2010/may/04/bingu-wa-mutharika-food-security-africa

AFRICA OPEN FOR BUSINESS - SOMALIA

Informative and insightful video feature on business in parts of the Horn of Africa







Very encouraging comment left by viewer of the video "...what we say in somali? If wealth is lost, nothing is lost. If time is lost, something is lost. If hope is lost, everything is lost."

INVESTING IN AGRICULTURE

An interesting article on the need for investment in agricultural and rural development which is vital to food security and sustainable economic development in Africa.

"Poverty is predominantly rural. Globally, three-quarters of people living in extreme poverty are in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods. About 380 million women, children, and men in sub-Saharan Africa live on less than $1.25 a day.
Many are malnourished or hungry. But, with some 80 million small farms in sub-Saharan Africa producing 80% of agricultural goods, smallholder farmers have a key role to play in resolving the financial and food crises and unleashing Africa’s potential to feed itself.
In order to lift people out of poverty and ensure food security, a sustained effort is needed to develop Africa’s agriculture and the associated infrastructure – notably roads, telecommunication, and energy – needed to unleash agricultural potential. Strengthening agriculture is one of the best investments any African country can make."

"...although investment in development assistance is key to supporting Africa’s advancement, nations will ultimately have to take responsibility for their own development. No nation, no people, ever experienced growth that sprang solely from external support.
So Africa’s development must be made in Africa, by Africans, for Africans. Every tree, every plant, must be fully rooted in its own soil to flourish. Change cannot be imposed from outside, it must be cultivated from within."


Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2010.www.project-syndicate.org
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/nwanze2/English