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September 13, 2005
Somalia: Market vs. Government
As you're hearing all of the moaning about the so-called anarchy in New Orleans (which isn't anarchy but government-run chaos), recall that genuine anarchy in Somalia was supposed to be a bad thing, too. However, it's turned out to be much better than almost everyone expected, and the people there are still resisting the imposition of a government.
Now consider this bit of news:
Somafone, the newest GSM operator in Somalia, who is committed to delivering the highest quality of service, the latest GSM features and the lowest airtime and international rates, announced today that it has deployed international roaming and SMS capabilities from TECORE Wireless Systems, opening up the opportunity to establish roaming agreements with operators worldwide.
Note that no government was needed for that. In fact, if one existed, the company would probably still be mired in red tape instead of providing needed services.
Meanwhile, we find that
Police in the Somali town of Jowhar, where the transitional government is based, have stopped local UN staff from entering their offices.
The UN children's agency, Unicef, said no reason had been given.
Last week, foreign UN workers left the town because of security concerns after the arrival of some 1,000 troops to support President Abdullahi Yusuf.
The government is divided with several ministers in Mogadishu, refusing to join the president in Jowhar.
Unicef was operating several projects in Jowhar including education, health centres, water, HIV/Aids, youth projects and other humanitarian activities.
Thus we see that the government that wishes to control the country is making it impossible for good projects (yes, yes, I know it's the U.N., but still . . .) to get done. In fact, the very presence of government troops raises "security concerns" among U.N. workers.
The Somalis are wise to resist the imposition of a government. They can plainly see who is helping and who is hindering them. Would that more people around the world would recognize the same thing!
Posted by Mike Tennant at September 13, 2005 01:02 PM
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