Somaliland
will be in a state of emergency indefinitely, according to a statement issued
Thursday by Somaliland Minister of Interior Ahmd Jambir Suldan. The
statement said the placing of the country under emergency security law was necessitated
by critically sensitive internal and external challenges being faced by Somaliland.
According to
the Minister's statement the new law will be put into force on the basis of a
presidential decree no 22/2000. The
law will however need the approval of the Parliament to become valid. The
House of Representatives and the Council of Elders which together constitute Somaliland's
two chamber Parliament are now in recess. The
government statement did not elaborate whether the emergency security law would
affect the rights of citizens to exercise their basic freedoms such as the freedom
of expression. Jambir
cited the outcome of Arta conference as one of the factors that prompted the government
to impose emergency law. | 
