Thread by @YahyeRSL

Is @igadstvs a tool to disadvantage Somalilanders?

A Thread

IGAD Sheikh Technical Veterinary School and Reference Centre (ISTVS) gives opportunities rightfully belonging to #Somalilanders to students from Somalia under the guise of IGAD and “Somali”. 1/7

#No2integration

Somaliland government handed over the Sheikh Technical Veterinary School to IGAD under the supervision of the EU (3 million EUR project). This means the #Somaliland government knew the purpose of the transfer and what the school will be used for. 2/7

The project is implemented by Terra Nuova and under the auspices of African Union, Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources. According to Terra Nuova’s website, the school’s purpose is “leading Somalia becoming a world leader in the export of live animals”

3/7

The aforementioned vision is confirmed by the school’s intake from 2018 (no data available after 2018). Somaliland’s ministry for education @moe_somaliland is complicit or wilfully ignorant. I will let you decide which is it is. 4/7

The school’s twitter and Facebook pages state that its purpose is to “improve food security and livestock sector in the Somali Ecosystem” which shows the school was set up for expansionist ethno nationalist purposes and not for IGAD as per its vision. 5/7

IGAD’s anti Somaliland approach and influence on the school and the undermining of #Somaliland’s sovereignty was apparent when the school posted COVID-19 update in 2020 about the Horn of Africa and used a map which denied the existence of Somaliland. 6/7

To add insult to injury, University of Hargeisa signed Memorandum of Understanding with the school. This means as scholarships are open to all and free, someone who is not Somalilander will have the opportunity to get educated for free at expense of a deserving Somalilander. 7/7

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