The Republican, a weekly English language publication based
in Hargeisa, Somaliland.
Issue
127, Sept.2, 2000.
Hargeisa (Rep)- Somaliland will be in a
state of emergency9 indefinitely, according to a statement issued
Thursday by Somaliland Minister of Interior Ahmd Jambir Suldan. The
statement said the placing of the country under emergency security
law was necessitated by critically sensitive internal and external
challenges being faced by Somaliland. According to the Minister's
statement the new law will be put into force on the basis of a
presidential decree no 22/2000. The law will however need the
approval of the Parliament to become valid.
The House of Representatives and the
Council of Elders which together constitute Somaliland's two chamber
Parliament are now in recess. The government statement did not
elaborate whether the emergency security law would affect the rights
of citizens to exercise their basic freedoms such as the freedom of
expression. Jambir cited the outcome of Arta conference as one of
the factors that prompted the government to impose emergency law.