Berbera port deal sparks land rush, say residents

On 18 April 2017, Horn Diplomat reported that a rush to buy land in Berbera had followed a deal signed in September 2016 for the development of the port.

The September deal, described by Horn Diplomat as Somaliland’s largest ever investment agreement, could allow Berbera to become a major trading hub for goods to and from the Horn of Africa. The development is to be carried out by DP World, a multinational port operator from the United Arab Emirates, which valued the project at more than US$400 million, according to the report. That valuation is not a confirmed contract value.

A separate agreement with the UAE, signed in March, covered a military base a few kilometres from Berbera, Horn Diplomat reported. The report does not specify the year of that March signing.

Adan Abokor, a researcher at the Rift Valley Institute in Hargeisa, told Horn Diplomat that the project has sparked a land rush, as diaspora Somalilanders and wealthy businessmen from nearby regions buy land in Berbera. Jimale Abdulahi, a local government official, claimed there has been more building in the last two years than in the whole period from 1991. The report does not provide independent verification of that claim.

Horn Diplomat described brick foundations enclosing recently demarcated plots from the airport to the coast, and freshly built walls sprouting into the distance, but the surrounding land still appears deserted. The report does not say who demarcated the plots or under what tenure.

Alongside the reported land speculation, the article records tension and uncertainty. The Ise Musa clan has dominated local politics in Berbera since the late 1990s, according to Horn Diplomat, and some fear the arrival of outsiders will threaten that. Resident Sayeed “Sonny” Sayeed told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that many in the town are suspicious of the port deal, suspecting it will alter the clan composition. Ahmed Nazal said returning diaspora members were welcome only if they originally hailed from the area. But Salelan Adel said the lands were empty and no one was investing there. Jama Musse Jama, head of the Red Sea Cultural Foundation in Hargeisa, said if poorer residents felt excluded, the risk would be of class rather than clan conflict.

At the port itself, Horn Diplomat reported that workers demonstrated last month against wage cuts brought in by the new operator and that 280 have been laid off. Port guard Yusuf Heebed, a guard since 1977, said DP World has brought order to the port but has not brought salaries.

What the report does not establish is what has actually happened since the September 2016 deal. It does not state that any port construction has begun or been completed. It does not provide a total project cost, only DP World’s valuation. And it does not confirm the scale or legal basis of land transactions beyond anecdote and claim.