The Universal Postal Union welcomes discussions between Emirates Post and Somalia to help jumpstart postal services in this country located in the Horn of Africa.
After 23 years with no postal services, Somalia could soon start receiving international mail. Abdullahi E. Hersi, Somali minister of information, posts, telecommunication and transports, and Fahad Al Hosani, acting president of Emirates Post Group, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) this week at UPU headquarters in the presence of UPU Director General Bishar A. Hussein. The Universal Postal Union facilitated talks between the two parties as part of its development cooperation efforts.
Under the MOU, the parties commit to negotiating the details of an agreement that would see Dubai act as a hub for handling mail destined for Somalia in future. The plan is to enable global Posts to forward international mail for Somalia to Dubai, where it could then be transferred to the office of international mail exchange in Mogadishu using airlines flying into the Somali capital.
“It is time for our government to provide postal services,” said Minister Hersi, who added that communication is a human right. “People may have the internet and phones, but these will never replace the benefit of receiving mail from a distance,” he said.
The postal network is basically inexistent today in a country covering more than 637,000 square kilometers and with a population of 9.9 million people. In 1991, Somalia had some 100 post offices and a postal staff of 2,165. Today, there is one general post office in the capital and some 25 staff.
Just the beginning
UPU Director General Hussein said the agreement signaled an important step toward launching mail services again in Somalia, but it is just the beginning, he said.
As soon as the two parties finalize details of the agreement, the UPU International Bureau will inform the Union’s 192 member countries of the resumption of mail services to Somalia, expected in the next few months.
During the signing ceremony, Hersi appealed to the postal community to help rebuild the Post in his country. “We ask for all means of assistance as we have to start from ground zero,” he said.
The current Somali government came into power in September 2012 after years of civil war, chaos and a number of transitional governments. Some two million Somalis live abroad.