IS PRIVATISATION THE ANSWER? - June 18, 2005 - 12:48
Berbera port has been and still is Somaliland’s main strategic infrastructural asset. This semi-natural port facility has been handling the nation’s trade with the rest of the world for at least 700 years. The wealth earned in this most unlikely of all places spread to every corner of the Somali speaking race from Borame to Bulo Xawo and every village and clan in between. Incredibly Somalis used to `walk’ their herds of sheep, goats and camels from as far afield as the Jubba river valley in order to sell them at the lucrative marshalling market town of Burao from which they were transferred to lorries driven by suicidal maniacs who hauled the beasts over the treacherous Sheikh Mountain passes at break-neck speeds (the break-neck was quite literal for many drivers and their cargo). Those who made it were then off-loaded rickety ships who took them all the way to the slaughterhouses of Jeddah and Jizan.
The exciting smell of money was overpowering in Burao and Berbera during peak times like the Pre-Hajj season as hundreds of millions of dollars exchanged hands creating a whole new class of moneyed city dwellers known as `adhile’(seller of sheep and goats) and nomads flush with cash shopped for everything from teas and sugars to gold and silks.
The British colonial authorities recognised the economic importance of Berbera but never bothered to invest in it because Aden met their trade needs and the welfare of the Somalilanders was hardly a priority they cared about. This comes more into focus when you compare their neglect of Berbera with massive investment the French made in nearby Djibouti, a hithero completely unknown port with no history of trading with the outside world.
That neglect continued under the southern-run regimes of Somalia after independence and union. Strengthening Somaliland was not something they were particularly keen on since they fully well knew that an improved harbour facilities at Berbera could only lead to more wealth and influence for the already economically powerful Somalilanders.
Instead they fought hard to replace the whole of the livestock trade with the banana business in the South, and Berbera with the southern ports of Kismayo, Mogadishu and Bosaso. But both the banana trade and the infrastructural facilities erected to support it were simply not strong enough to compete with Berbera,(despite Somali bananas in Italy enjoying the monopoly established in 1937 by the then fascist regime) and by 1980 livestock exported from this Red Sea hub accounted for nearly 80% of Somalia’s foreign exchange earnings.
But Berbera port was still left to rot. Its staff remained untrained and its ability to meet the needs of modern marine transport systems continued to decline. And then came the most devastating blow possible: the Saudi Arabian embargo on the livestock business, Berbera’s and Somaliland’s lifeblood. But to its credit Berbera survived all the colonial neglect, Southern Somalia envy and treachery and international skulduggery heaped on its stiflingly hot shores. Somaliland and Ethiopian traders started to use it as `bagaash’ importation facility while rich SL diaspora returnees began bringing their luxury cars and over-stuffed sofas home from the four corners of the globe. In what could have been an opportunity of historical significance for Berbera, the Eritreo-Ethiopian conflict forced the Addis government to seek alternative outlets for the giant country’s growing international trade. Berbera seemed the most suitable harbour and number one Ethiopia’s shopping list. Somalilanders were friendly to Addis, grateful for the protection it gave them as refugees from Somalia’s genocidal war of the 1980s. Berbera is closer to Ethiopia’s populated heartlands than any other port in the region including Djibouti. The roads from the port to Jijiga, Harar and Dire Dawa although far from perfect were nonetheless passable throughout the year. And then Berbera had a unique and age old link with the people of Ethiopia’s huge, famine-prone and often restive Somali region. The traders travelled from this bush and scrubland area known as Ogaden to Berbera for hundreds of years and the trade routs are well trodden and well established.
Unfortunately the Ethiopians did not like what they saw in Berbera and once in a millennia opportunity was lost. The place was badly run, badly managed, badly maintained and riddled with corruption. The machinery was so dilapidated that it took three times more to unload a ton of food in Berbera than in Port Sudan(which turned out to be the final choice for Ethiopia). The management were not only greedy, abrasive and ill-trained but thoroughly incompetent and not in control of their own employees who behaved the way they saw fit.
Things have now gotten so bad that even the most loyal and patriotic of Somaliland traders are willing to use Bosaso port instead of risking another delay and bullying at Berbera. Shipping companies in Dubai refuse to go to Berbera point blank because they are sick and tired of being mistreated terribly while getting hit for extortionate bribes at the same time.
The solution is obvious but needs political courage from the government and generosity of spirit from Berbera’s port workers as well as its traders and residents. The answer is to privatise the port with a controlling majority shares left in the hands of Somaliland-owned businessmen. The government is unlikely to make more than couple million dollars from the sale but the gains in the long-term could be highly lucrative for all involved. Privatisation will bring capital for investment and upgrading. Competition will do wonders to improve the customer care skills of Berbera’s famously unfriendly port workers. Efficiency will increase sharply as effective management procedures are put in place by people who have an interest in actually improving the facility because their bottom line will depend on it. The current unbelievably useless customs and immigration personnel will be retrained(or politely told to work elsewhere)
But I strongly suspect Riyale does not have the stomach for a fight over Berbera. There are reports he already clashed with his psychologically suspect vice president over a supposed `shir beeleed’, a sleep (and sometimes psychosis) inducing marathon empty-talk fests beloved of Somalilanders. This particular `shir’ was being organised by Berberawis, god knows why, except perhaps that they felt like one. Riyale turned it down, correctly in my opinion as `shir beeleeds’ are a complete and total waste of time, money, effort and space. But the Vice president, who has a whispering reputation for being partial to the occasional dabkat-and-foox session, took serious umbrage over this unforgivable insult to his Berbera constituents and threw the mother of all wobblies, even physically assaulting the president according to one report. Raising Berbera privatisation at this stage could only further enrage the VEEP and some of his now shir-less clansmen there. But without such a bold step Berbera, and perhaps Somaliland with it will surely wither and die. And then we will need the biggest of all shir beeleeds just to rue the chances we missed and the opportunities squandered.
Guled ismail
halyey@btopenworld.com
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