Rare Haven of Stability in Somalia Faces a Test

Rare Haven of Stability in Somalia Faces a Test
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

BURAO, Somalia — The rallies usually start early in the morning, before the sunshine hurts.

By 8 a.m. on a recent day, thousands of people were packed into Burao’s sandy town square, with little boys climbing high into the trees to get a peek at the politicians.

“We’re going to end corruption!” one of the politicians boomed, holding several microphones at once. “We’re going to bring dignity back to the people!”

The boys cheered wildly. Wispy militiamen punched bony fists in the air. The politicians’ messages were hardly original. But in this corner of Africa, a free and open political rally — led, no less, by opposition leaders who could actually win — is an anomaly apparently worthy of celebration.

The crowd that day helped tell a strange truth: that one of the most democratic countries in the Horn of Africa is not really a country at all. It is Somaliland, the northwestern corner of Somalia, which, since the disintegration of the Somali state in 1991, has been on a quixotic mission for recognition as its own separate nation.

While so much of Somalia is plagued by relentless violence, this little-known slice of the Somali puzzle is peaceful and organized enough to hold national elections this week, with more than one million registered voters. The campaigns are passionate but fair, say the few Western observers here. The roads are full of battered old Toyotas blasting out slogans from staticky megaphones lashed to the roofs.

Somalilanders have pulled off peaceful national elections three times. The last presidential election in 2003 was decided by a wafer-thin margin, around 80 votes at the time of counting, yet there was no violence. Each successful election feeds the hope here that one day the world will reward Somaliland with recognition for carving a functioning, democratic space out of one of the most chaotic countries in the world.

But this presidential election, scheduled for Saturday, will be one of the biggest tests yet for Somaliland’s budding democracy.

The government seems unpopular, partly because Somaliland is still desperately poor, a place where even in the biggest towns, like Burao or the capital, Hargeisa, countless people dwell in bubble-shaped huts made out of cardboard scraps and flattened oil drums. Most independent observers predict the leading opposition party, Kulmiye, which means something akin to “the one who brings people together,” will get the most votes.

But that does not mean the opposition will necessarily win.

In many cases in Africa — Ethiopia in 2005, Kenya in 2007, Zimbabwe in 2008 — right when the opposition appeared poised to win elections, the government seemed to fiddle with the results, forcibly holding on to power and sometimes provoking widespread unrest in the process.

“There’s probably not going to be many problems with the voting itself, but the day after,” said Roble Mohamed, the former editor in chief of one of Somaliland’s top Web sites. “That is the question.”

Many people here worry that if Somaliland’s governing party, UDUB, tries to hold on to power illegitimately, the well-armed populace (this is still part of Somalia, after all) will rise up and Somaliland’s nearly two decades of peace could disappear in a cloud of gun smoke.

“I know this happens in Africa, but it won’t happen in Somaliland,” promised Said Adani Moge, a spokesman for Somaliland’s government. “If we lose, we’ll give up power. The most important thing is peace.”

Easily said, infrequently done. Peaceful transfers of power are a rarity in this neighborhood. In April, Sudan held its first national elections in more than 20 years (the last change of power was a coup), but the voting was widely considered superficial because of widespread intimidation beforehand and the withdrawal of several leading opposition parties from the presidential race.

Last month’s vote in Ethiopia, in which the governing party and its allies won more than 99 percent of the parliamentary seats, was also tainted by what human rights groups called a campaign of government repression, including the manipulation of American food aid to starve out the opposition.

Then there is little Eritrea, along the Red Sea, which has not held a presidential election since the early 1990s, when it won independence. And Djibouti, home to a large American military base, where the president recently pushed to have the Constitution changed so he could run again.

South-central Somalia, where a very weak transitional government is struggling to fend off radical Islamist insurgents, is so dangerous that residents must risk insurgents’ wrath even to watch the World Cup, never mind holding a vote.

So in this volatile region, Somaliland has become a demonstration of the possible, sustaining a one-person one-vote democracy in a poor, conflict-torn place that gets very little help. While the government in south-central Somalia, which barely controls any territory, receives millions of dollars in direct support from the United Nations and the United States, the Somaliland government “doesn’t get a penny,” Mr. Said said.

Because Somaliland is not recognized as an independent country, it is very difficult for the government here to secure international loans, even though it has become a regional model for conflict resolution and democratic-institution building — buzzwords among Western donors.

In many respects, Somaliland is already its own country, with its own currency, its own army and navy, its own borders and its own national identity, as evidenced by the countless Somaliland T-shirts and flags everywhere you look. Part of this stems from its distinct colonial history, having been ruled, relatively indirectly, by the British, while the rest of Somalia was colonized by the Italians, who set up a European administration.

Italian colonization supplanted local elders, which might have been one reason that much of Somalia plunged into clan-driven chaos after 1991, while Somaliland succeeded in reconciling its clans.

Clan is not the prevailing issue in this election. The three presidential candidates (Somaliland’s election code says only three political parties can compete, and they take turns campaigning from day to day) are from different clans or subclans. Yet, many voters do not seem to care.

In the middle of miles and miles of thorn bush stand two huts about 100 feet apart, one with a green and yellow Kulmiye flag flapping from a stick flagpole, the other with a solid green UDUB flag.

Haboon Roble, a shy 20-year-old, explained that she liked UDUB: “They’re good. They hold up the house.”

But about 100 feet away, her uncle, Abdi Rahman Roble, shook his head. “This government hasn’t done anything for farmers,” he complained. “We can’t even get plastic sheets to catch the rain.”

He said he was voting for Kulmiye. “But I don’t tell anyone how to vote,” Mr. Abdi Rahman said. “That’s their choice.”

And like the other adults in the family, he proudly showed off his new plastic voter card, which he usually keeps hidden in a special place in his hut, along with other valuables.

Somaliland’s opposition leader Ahmed Mahmoud Silanyo won

By William Davison

July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Somaliland’s opposition leader Ahmed Mahmoud Silanyo won the June 26 presidential election in the breakaway region of Somalia, in a vote that observers said met international standards.

Silanyo took 49.6 percent of the vote, ahead of President Dahir Riyale Kahin with 33.2 percent and Faisal Ali Warabe of the Justice and Welfare Party with 17.2 percent, the National Electoral Commission said yesterday in Hargeisa, the capital. Turnout was about 55 percent of the estimated 1 million registered voters, according to the commission.

Silanyo, speaking today by phone, said his Kulmiye party would introduce a “leaner and more efficient government” that would be “prepared to work fully with the international community on issues of anti-terrorism and piracy.”

Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991, after the fall of former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre. No sovereign state has recognized the region as an independent nation. The election was delayed for two years because of wrangling over voter registration.

The losing parties have 10 days to make formal complaints about the preliminary results to the Supreme Court. Mahdi Gulaid, a legal adviser to the commission, said he expected a challenge from President Riyale’s party.

“I think they have grievances and complaints,” he said today by phone from Hargeisa. “I think they will complain.”

Riyale became president of the former British colony in 2002 and won election to the post in 2003, after his party defeated Kulmiye by 80 votes. His term expires on July 26.

‘Democratic Adherence’

Three U.K.-based groups that monitored the vote said the election was peaceful and praised the candidates “for their adherence to the democratic process.”

“Despite the many delays in the run-up to the election, the mission would like to point out that the days prior to the polling day -- and polling day itself -- were notable for their spirit of peacefulness and goodwill,” Progressio, a London-based development agency that was part of an observer mission of three groups, said yesterday in a statement.

Silanyo said he hoped the election would prompt the international community to “give more attention to Somaliland’s recognition and development.”

--Editors: Karl Maier, Phil Sanders

To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Hargeisa via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.

Prostate-Cancer Screening Reduces Deaths by 50%

By Kristen Hallam - Jun 30, 2010



A blood test for prostate cancer helped reduce deaths from the disease by almost 50 percent after 14 years in a study, though overall mortality barely changed as patients died of other causes.

Of 10,000 men invited for the screening every two years, 44 died of prostate cancer, compared with 78 of 10,000 men who weren’t offered the test, according to researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Total deaths were almost identical, at 1,981 in the screening group compared with 1,982.

The researchers said 293 men need to be screened and 12 diagnosed with prostate cancer to save one from dying of the disease. The finding may influence doctors’ debate over whether there’s too much screening and treatment of prostate cancer.

“Most of us feel better overtreating than undertreating,” Elizabeth Kavaler, an urologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, who wasn’t involved in the research, said in an e-mail. “This study supports that approach.”

The prostate-cancer tests reduced deaths from the disease more than comparable screening has done for breast cancer and colorectal cancer, according to the study. The results from the research, which is continuing, were published online today in Lancet Oncology.

In the study, 11.4 percent of men in the screening group and 7.2 percent in the control group were diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Most of the benefits of prostate-cancer screening occur after 10 years, the researchers said.

“This is to be expected from a disease with long lead-time and a long natural course,” the authors wrote. The men studied had a median age of 56 when they entered the research.

Men Over 70

“As the risk of over-diagnosis and over-treatment are still the major concerns in prostate-cancer screening, inviting men over age 70 for PSA screening seems questionable,” the researchers wrote.

The findings don’t imply that PSA screening programs should be introduced globally, wrote David Neal, a professor of surgical oncology at the University of Cambridge in England, in an commentary accompanying the study report.

Prostate-cancer screening has been controversial because the tests can detect cancers that don’t threaten the patients’ health, resulting in unnecessary treatment that can impair quality of life, Neal wrote.

“Current programs that raise awareness and provide balanced information about the pros and cons of screening seem to be the right way forward,” he wrote.

The test detects the presence of a protein made by the prostate gland called prostate-specific antigen, or PSA. Higher concentrations of PSA in the blood point to a greater risk of prostate cancer.

The Swedish Cancer Society, the Swedish Research Council and the U.S. National Cancer Institute funded the study.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kristen Hallam in London at khallam@bloomberg.net

Top 5 cost of living ranking cities worldwide

Top 5 cost of living ranking cities worldwide
Top 5 cities – Overall

* Luanda, Angola (1st)
* Tokyo, Japan (2nd)
* N'Djamena, Chad (3rd)
* Moscow, Russia (4th)
* Geneva, Switzerland (5th)

Top 5 cost of living ranking cities by region
Americas Asia Pacific Europe Middle East & Africa

* Sao Paolo, Brazil (21st)

* New York, United States (27th)

* Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (29th)

* Havana, Cuba (45th)

* Los Angeles, United States (55th)



* Tokyo, Japan (2nd)

* Osaka, Japan (6th)

* Hong Kong, Hong Kong (8th)

* Singapore, Singapore (11th)

* Seoul, South Korea (14th)



* Moscow, Russia (4th)

* Geneva, Switzerland (5th)

* Zurich, Switzerland (8th)

* Copenhagen, Denmark (10th)

* Oslo, Norway (11th)



* Luanda, Angola (1st)

* N'Djamena, Chad (3rd)

* Libreville, Gabon (7th)

* Victoria, Seychelles (13th)

* Tel Aviv, Israel (19th)

Inside Story Somaliland Future

Heart Disease Health Center

Tea, Coffee Drinkers Have Lower Heart Risk
Study Shows 3 to 6 Cups of Tea Daily Linked Reduced Risk of Death From Heart Disease
By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

June 18, 2010 -- People who drink a lot of tea or drink coffee in moderation are less likely to die of heart disease than coffee and tea abstainers, new research suggests.

The finding adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting that coffee and tea help protect against heart disease, but not stroke.

Researchers followed more than 37,000 people in The Netherlands for 13 years in one of the largest and longest studies ever to examine the impact of coffee and tea drinking on heart health.

They found that:

* People who drank three to six cups of tea per day had a 45% lower risk of death from heart disease than people who drank less than one cup of tea a day.
* Drinking more than six cups of tea a day was associated with a 36% lower risk of heart disease, compared to drinking less than one cup.
* People who drank more than two, but no more than four, cups of coffee a day had about a 20% lower risk of heart disease than people who drank more or less coffee or no coffee at all.
* Moderate coffee consumption was associated with a slight, but not statistically significant, reduction in death from heart disease, but neither coffee nor tea affected stroke risk.

The association was seen even though the researchers considered other lifestyle factors associated with heart disease, including smoking and exercise level.

Slideshow: 24 Foods That Can Save Your Heart
Benefits of Black Tea

The study did not include people with known heart disease, so it is not clear if drinking coffee or tea is beneficial for them, study researcher Yvonne T. van der Schouw, PhD, tells WebMD.

"But for healthy people, it appears that drinking coffee and tea is not harmful and it may even offer some benefits," she says.

Several earlier studies have also found that drinking coffee or tea lowers the risk for heart disease.

In one, reported in 2008, women who drank four to five cups of coffee a day had a 34% lower risk of dying from heart disease while men who drank more than five cups had a 44% lower risk.

In another study published the same year, drinking green tea was associated with improved blood vessel function and lower heart disease risk.

But most of the people in The Netherlands study drank black tea, which is also consumed more than green tea in America.

The study appears in the latest issue of the American Heart Association journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.

"The perception has been that green tea is the 'healthy' tea, but this study suggests black tea may be just a good for the heart," University of Vermont professor of nutrition Rachel K. Johnson, PhD, tells WebMD. "That will be good news to people like me who are not big green-tea lovers."
Flavonoids in Tea, Coffee May Protect Heart

While six cups of tea may sound like a lot, Johnson points out that a large glass of iced tea may contain two to three cups of liquid.

"Iced tea is very popular in some parts of the country, especially in the summer," says Johnson, who is also a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association. "Just make sure to go easy on the sugar. I would hate for people to get the message that they should be drinking more sugar-sweetened beverages."

The researchers suggest that powerful antioxidants called flavonoids found in black and green tea and coffee may explain the protective effect seen in the study.

Other foods that contain flavonoids include red wine, red grapes, dark chocolate, blueberries, and red beans.

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