PRESS RELEASE


The following is the presentation made by the participants (Resource Persons 
Team / RPT) of the workshop held at Aberdare, Kenya for Puntland conflict 
resolution on March 11-17, 2002. This press is released, at Holiday Inn, 
Nairobi, Kenya, March 18th 2002, to all concerned parties and friends and 
nationals of Puntland in all over the world. 


PRESENTATION

1.
Good evening Your Excellencies, ladies and Gentlemen,

The idea for a Peace Conference came from the concerned people in Puntland and 
a request was made for resources for this.

This Planning Workshop, which we have just completed, was organised with the 
assistance of the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). We would 
like to express our gratitude to the Swedish Embassy for having the vision to 
support this extremely important endeavour.

Many of us travelled long distances and gave our time willingly to engage in 
this workshop and the subsequent peace building process. We would like to 
acknowledge the commitment and hard work of all the participants from Puntland 
and the Puntland diaspora.

We would like to thank Ms Jupp for her invaluable assistance in facilitating 
the planning workshop. Her energetic guidance and support helped us to explore 
the issues and develop strategies and an action plan for the peace and 
reconciliation process we will now embark upon.

Many thanks go to Mr Elias H. Selassie and the team from the Forum for Peace 
and Governance (FOPAG) who played an important role in setting the scene for 
the workshop and sharing their experience in conflict resolution and peace 
building.

We would like to extend a big thank you to Diakonia for responding to our 
request for assistance and for all their hard work in organising this workshop 
and getting us all together. We recognise the logistic nightmare this posed and 
are extremely grateful for all your efforts. Diakonia has further mobilised the 
support and commitment, both internationally and nationally, for the project we 
have planned. This includes members of civil society, local NGOs, women¹s 
groups, local administration, the European Union, United Nations, Swedish 
Embassy, Norwegian Embassy, United States of America Embassy, Netherlands 
Embassy and the Somali Red Crescent Society. We thank you all for your pledges 
to support us.

Special thanks goes to the Government of the Republic of
Kenya for allowing us to meet in their beautiful country.
Special thanks goes also to the Swedish Government and its
Ambassador to Kenya her Excellency Madam Ambassador Inga
Bjork-Klevby. We would also like to extend our thanks to all those countries
which have provided refuge for so many of the Somali people.

There are many people to thank, but we would particularly like to thank Ms Eva 
Johansson of the Swedish Embassy, Ms Mirjam Dahlgren, director of Diakonia-
Sweden, East and Southern Africa Region and Mr. Mohamed A. Ali, country director of 
Diakonia for their continuous support for the Somali people in their efforts to 
work towards peace.

2.  
There are twenty nine of us gathered from Puntland and the
Puntland diaspora. We represent founders of the Puntland
State, professionals of various disciplines and representatives
of civil society.

Let us start by sharing with you a little of our history. In ancient times this 
area was a major producer of frankincense and myrrh which was used for the 
mummification of Egyptian dignitaries. It is used still today in Jewish, 
Christian and Muslim places of worship. The name Puntland derives from this 
importance, it means the ŒLand of the aromatic frankincense¹. Before the 
European occupation there were three sultanates and the Dervish movement in the 
present Puntland area. This region has been neglected by both colonial powers 
and subsequent Somali Governments.

Somalia suffered civil war. Resulting from the disintegration of the Somali 
state and the many failed attempts at reconciliation lasting eight years, the 
Puntland State was established in 1998 by the will of the people of Puntland 
who wished to have their own state within a federal structure of the future 
Somali Government. Unfortunately a constitutional crisis arose in 2001 for a 
number of reasons. These include a misinterpretation of the Constitution and 
external influences.

The current situation in Puntland is regarded as being a stalemate. The two 
conflicting parties did not find an appropriate atmosphere to negotiate. The 
participants of this workshop felt that the situation could escalate and result 
in war if efforts of mitigation were not undertaken right now. Given its geo-
political position, we were concerned by the potential exploitation by 
international terrorists.

Yet, this region could have so much potential because of its natural resources 
and its people. We felt that within five years we could have sustainable peace 
and a good basis for development. This would have taken a step-by-step process 
starting with creating a basis for peace, building that peace, establishing a 
legitimate Government and building the capacity of our institutions

If we were able to achieve this in Puntland, it could be a powerful model for 
the rest of Somalia.

3.
We therefore came together to spend seven days in a participatory and intense 
planning process in Aberdare. We wanted to discuss and analyze in detail the 
situation in Puntland and agree on a common vision, strategy and action plan 
for a two month project to support the peace process and, in particular, create 
an enabling environment for a Conference of Issimos (Elders) and a resolution 
of the issues between the political leaders.

During the planning workshop we went through the following analyses:

.    Examined the present state of conflict in Puntland
.    Examined the causes and effects of the present stalemate
.    Imagined the future we all desired to be achieved within five years and 
the contribution this peace process could make
.    Made a thorough analysis of the primary stake holders in this project. 

Since the essence of the project is to influence a change in attitudes and 
behaviour, it was very important to try to understand the position, 
motivations, and sensitivities of these stake holders. Existing peace 
interventions were also identified. The detailed analysis provided insights 
into some of the risks associated with the project.

It was also important to identify and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of 
the groups which could support the change and contribute to the process, such 
as the business community, intellectuals, diaspora and civil society.

.    Generated and reviewed alternative approaches to advocacy and to 
influencing behaviour change

Having completed these analyses, we were able to select appropriate strategies 
and then we fleshed these out into an Action Plan, which will guide us during 
the next seven weeks and help us to track progress.

Our action plan has the following main points:-

.    Meeting and discussing the issues with the political leaders

.    Preparing the ground and supporting the Issimo (Elders) Conference in 
April

.    Raise the awareness of civil society regarding the peace process and 
soliciting their support

.    Requesting the international community to influence the peace process and 
provide resources for this

.    Encouraging the business community and diaspora to commit themselves and 
resources towards the peace process.

Finally , we would like to bring your attention to a major concern of ours. We 
have some critical environmental problems which are worsening day by day as a 
result of the lack of a functioning Government. These include the destruction 
of fauna and flora, in particular the acacia tree so important to the 
ecological balance of the land, the depletion of our fishing stock and 
wildlife; the dumping of hazardous waste substances in the Somali sea and coast 
which negatively affects the global environment and well being of all world 
citizens.

We earnestly appeal to all of you here to support us in this peace and 
reconciliation initiative and the long process to reach sustainable peace in 
Puntland. 

In particular we need your help to

.    Apply pressure on the conflicting parties

.    Provide technical expertise to help solve the constitutional crisis

.    Assist the region with development projects to create jobs and 
rehabilitation of militiamen.

.    Assist with measures to halt the environmental degradation

Thank you for your time to be with us today and we anticipate a long and 
fruitful association with you in the future.


THE RESOURCE PERSONS TEAM (RPT)