Dear Secessionist: Keep out Sool and Sanaag from your imagined “Somaliland”

As we all know, on 26 June 2010, “Somaliland” authorities organized a long awaited election to select president for the self declared republic in North West Somalia. This same election was delayed several times due to differences among the political class in Hargeisa on which date to convene. Actually these disagreements could have sparked to major tribal clashes if the elders in those areas would not have intervened at the right time.

However, after polling completed that day, the chairman of the election commission in his first press conference  next day, was quoted as saying that “an entire region (which is Sool) has not participated in the voting process” He also added that all the polling materials sent to Huddun district and surrounding areas were attacked brazenly in the town in daylight with their vehicles and were either destroyed or confiscated. Similarly all the ballot boxes smuggled secretly to Ayn and Sanaag/ Haylan regions were either captured by loyal SSC forces, or by Puntland Darawish brigades under direct orders from Mr Ilkajir, Puntland Interior Minister.

In short what we can conclude from the above events is that the alleged elections have not taken place beyond the borders of Togdheer region and Erigavo town in the east.

This in turn witnesses that almost all the inhabitants in those regions oppose the secessionist project spearheaded by selfish politicians in Hargeisa who are fishing on the remnants of a sinking nation (their mother Somalia) to bargain for the establishment of a breakaway clan republic in north west Somalia with no strategic objectives whatsoever in their vision except to win some political  positions in the breakaway republic  weakening Somali nation and thus perish all the hopes and expectations stirred in the Somali people  by the great Somali poet, Sultan Timacadde, in Hargeisa on the day of independence June 26 1960  

With all sourness it may taste now, they are determined to remain part and parcel of Somali Republic in all circumstances and would never abandon their identity and nation by choosing short term political gains over long term strategic interests of their country and people as secessionists have been doing in the last 20 years. They are still living with the hope that one day their brothers and sisters in Mogadisco, Garowe  and Borama will return to their common sense, tie hands together and start building their own nation with a strong will like other nations  and outshine  neighboring countries by developing our education, health, economy, rule of law etc.

 Validity of election results

Apart from few statements of little known UK NGOs such as Progresso, as well some reports by a few biased Somali correspondents; we have not received any reliable information that confirmed the authenticity of election results. On the contrary, in accordance with the following facts we have every reason to believe that election process is marred by deliberate mismanagement and deceive:

·         In the initial preparatory phase, a disagreement occurred between Interpeace which is an EU contracted agency for the development of parliamentary institutions in Somalia and Somaliland authorities over the lists of registered voters collected in the server computer. This raw ended with  the expulsion of the agency from Hargeisa to clear route for local intervention afterwards

·         In announcing the number of registered voters the commission declared in advance that it almost reached to 1.1 million but ironically less than half of that number has actually voted ( even though with a fear of double voting for some individuals) as declared by commission chairman. This in turn raises many questions. Where is the rest gone? Could it prove that unionist in the self declared republic outnumber secessionists?

·         No observers representing regional or worldly bodies  such as UN, EU, AU or Arab league were present in the field and hence no reliable information to depend existed

·         Many segments of Somali minority communities in “Somaliland” such as Gaboye and IDPs have been either ignored to participate in the voting or totally rejected to enjoy their full rights as Somali citizens. Most of the later group were living in major towns in the  North West such as Hargeisa for the past twenty years

Secessionists stand behind the current statelessness in Somalia

 Even though  the major blame for the current lawlessness in South/Central Somalia must be shouldered by local inhabitants there because of their inability to sort out their differences, in addition to their total blindness on the lethal consequences that could result from the ever worsening situation in that part of the country  against  the sovereignty of Somali nation, the secessionists’ godfather (SNM) has played a major role in preparing that scenario at the ousting of Barre’s regime in the final tempo.

Disguising as a legitimate opposition Mujahedeen fighters to dictatorship rule that is only interested to a political change in the country, they put every obstacle possible in preventing the numerous opposition fronts from uniting under one political umbrella that can smoothly fill the political vacuum that would result after the fall of central rule in the country as Ethiopians managed before the fall of Mengistu.  With all the bad luck, they succeeded in injecting that nasty idea to late General Aided, the then strongman of USC forces in ‘90s who accepted of mobilizing fighters in accordance with tribal power bases as they suggested with given promise that actual power sharing among the three major opposition forces will be discussed after the fall of the government. What a disaster!-everyone knows what happened then… 

This mischievous plot by SNM led to total tragedy and contributed extensively to the power vacuum, anarchy and state failure we suffer in it up to now.

Equally sad to know is that those who are campaigning to blow apart the Somali nation are the ones who got their education under United Somalia like Eng Faisal Waraabe, Bashir Goth, Dr Ali Jowhar and others. Even President-Elect Mr Silanyo has had his higher studies in UK (1960-65) under the direct sponsorship of Somali Republic

A formula for Just Solution

There is no doubt that many have changed in Somalia since 1960. For instance, Somaliland of SNL and USP in the past was totally different from “Somaliland” of SNM or its offshoot affiliate parties such as Kulmiye and UCID in 21^st century. The previous one represented a united, honest and unionist nation that envisioned democratic, strong and prosperous Somali Republic in the long run while the latter fights for a divided nation that might get multiple state names under recognition but will inevitably serve as satellite entities for other countries.

However, though we are a homogenous society, nonetheless we still require legal provisions in our constitution that could be used as reference basis whenever the need arises and define legally which proper steps to take for solution such as when certain communities in certain regions opt to secede from the mother country. But on doing so, one should be more careful in protecting the actual wishes of every individual in order to avoid forging somebody’s will by others in an illegal manner.

Hence, we can’t go back to North and South colonial borderlines before the union for a basis of separation of Somalia for two reasons:

·         Those boundaries have been annihilated in a democratic manner by elected parliamentarians from the two parties of the country in that era who formed a united Somali Republic in July 1 1960 and hence it bear no legal meaning since then

·         There is no general consensus among all regions of North West Somalia for demand for separation. We all know the case of Sool and Sanaag in rejecting the secessionist agenda. Even in Awdal region the situation is not clear particularly at grass roots level of the society. What we hear from that side is that dwellers in Borama still keep the Somali flag in their homes and show up to challenge the  local administration whenever they protest against them

However, an alternative of the above option is to insert a legal stipulation in a new constitution such as the following;

 “That any three neighboring regions or more in the country have a right to demand secession if the following conditions are met”:

·         That a referendum carried out in each region separately with the presence of International observers after offering conducive and democratic environment in which freedom of expression is a attainable to each and every one

·         That a two third majority for Yes Vote is needed to legalize independence from mother country

·         If less than three regions opt for Yes, the project becomes null and void

Those are only derived samples for the required legal framework but the final wording goes to the hands of legislative body in the country 

                                                                                                     

Finally I believe that with availability of such provision in the “would be established constitution” that should be written by a committee representing all segments and parts of Somalia, we could settle all crisis in our country in a civilized way and avoid fighting each other in 21^st century

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Said Farahinasanweine@gmail.com