July 02, 2010
Although Mr. Rayale, the former president of the secessionist regime in Somaliland, has yet to admit defeat gracefully, the newly elected president of Somaliland aka North Western Somalia has finally claimed the elusive title of Mr. President. Like Abdullahi Yusuf before him who struggled a very long time to enter Villa Somalia, Silanyo is destined to occupy Villa Hargeisa after a long wait filled with anticipation and false starts. He narrowly lost the last election with a margin of 80 votes only. Many analysts suspect that the last vote was rigged in Rayale’s favour. Fortunately for the people of Somaliland, Silanyo at that time demonstrated his leadership qualities by accepting the verdict without subjecting the area to unnecessary bloodshed and instability unlike many African politicians.
Compared to the former National Security Service Colonel before him, Silanyo is a seasoned politician who seems to have the courage and confidence to make a lot of changes in this part of Somalia that has witnessed a peaceful transition of power in comparison to the dysfunctional South that is still burning after 21 years of anarchy, bloodshed and extremist religious dogma.
Unlike his predecessor, Rayale, who is a high school graduate, Silanyo is well educated having earned two college degrees from Universities in the west. He also held many important posts in the defunct Somali government in its heydays.
Many people in Somalia hope that President Silanyo will live up to the name of his party ‘Kulmiye” which in Somali means “To bring together”. On a recent trip to the United States he openly admitted that the Somali National Movement which he joined in 1982 never intended to divide the Somali nation into two separate entities. Despite the fact that the outgoing Rayale remained with the Somalia government till its unceremonious collapse in 1991, he has openly supported and campaigned for dividing Somalia as if to please those who helped catapult him to a position he never dreamed of holding in the first place given his educational background and former profession.
Somalis everywhere are hopeful that President Silanyo will be able to tackle the myriad of problems awaiting him. He inherits from his predecessor:
1. A Corrupt government with dysfunctional institutions that is worried more with getting world recognition than helping create a decent life for its people. Rayale’s seemingly intoxicated Foreign Minister went as far as seeking the recognition of the Jewish State. There are even recent reports about secret arms deals with former members of the Israeli army.
2. Cities and towns that lack clean water, reliable electricity, paved roads, good education, job opportunities and proper healthcare. Hundreds of young college graduates risk their lives on the high seas to escape from a hopeless and bleak future.
3. A capital city that is filled to the brim with a multitude of small NGOs that only benefit their operators and do the minimum for the people that they are supposed to help. In such a corrupt atmosphere, the rich get richer and the poor sink further into poverty.
4. A brainwashed young population that has been raised on hating their Somali heritage and belonging. There is a need for a massive effort to re-educate these young Somalis to reclaim their Somali History and to reconnect with their Somali brothers all over the world.
5. Cities teeming with Ethiopians who have a long term agenda of eventually laying claim on parts of the long Somali coast. It is unfortunate that Somali politicians like Faisal Warabe use political rhetoric to compare the Somali people in the South of the country to the Ethiopian invaders. For people like Warabe, an Ethiopian is closer to him than a Somali from the South. Warabe used to be a government official in the South before the Somali government collapsed.
6. An unproductive population that thrives on chewing a drug known as Kat that drains most of their meagre incomes and contributes to their malnourishment, disease and poverty. The Kat also creates an atmosphere of moral degradation that encourages practices that are against Islam and Somali cultural norms. Many households breakup because of this cursed drug after fathers become unable to provide for their families.
7. A serious regional conflict that can get out of hand and plunge this peaceful part of Somalia into an abyss that it can ill afford. Rayale bankrolled local militias in the North Eastern part of Somalia to force his secessionist agenda on the populations of these areas against their will. The action has triggered a counter reaction that saw the birth of the SSC alliance that groups the regions of Sool, Sanaag and Ayn in their effort to resist the balkanization of their country. Innocent lives were lost as a result of this misadventure that was meant to bolster Rayale’s chances of being re-elected to a second term. Only a few hundred people participated in the recent presidential election in these regions. Those who cast their vote in these regions mostly belonged to the Rayale paid local militias and members of the Somaliland army stationed in Las Anod, the capital of Sool.
8. More than half of the Somali people live in an atmosphere of anarchy, war and famine. Although they live in the southern part of the country, they are Somalis who cannot be ignored by their brothers in the North. Their misery will sooner or later affect the residents of the North. Despite the claims of Warabe, Rayale and other Northern Politicians who seem to thrive on hate and division, the Somali people are one and cannot be divided along illusionary colonial borders. When draughts affect the mostly nomadic herders of the North, their camels travel freely as far as Hiiran in the South in search of grass and water. This has been the norm for centuries and misguided politicians cannot ignore that fact. It is illogical to watch the house of your brother go up in flames without helping to control the fire. It will eventually devour your house too.
President Silanyo’s plate is full and the first order of business is to reinforce the peace and stability that the Northern Clans fought so hard to achieve. Without peace and stability, there can be no development or progress. His leadership qualities will be judged by the strategy he adopts to defuse the volatile situation in the North East that was created by Rayale and his allies. He needs to immediately withdraw the thousands of armed militia stationed in the city of Las Anod by his predecessor. This will save his government thousands of dollars needed for development.
The Northern Clans share a lot in terms of culture, intermarriage, grazing lands, watering holes etc. It would be immoral for Silanyo to follow in the footsteps of Rayale who put a wedge in the close historic relations enjoyed by these clans.
It will all depend on the calibre of people Silanyo surrounds himself with. If he, like Rayale before him, appoints government officials along clan lines and hate mongering, nothing would have changed, and it would be business as usual. On the contrary, if he rises above such practice and surrounds himself with the educated elite of Northern Somalia, then we can all look forward to a bright future for all the people of Somalia, North and South.
Northern Unionists do not call for a blind union with the South. The new union can be a staged process similar to the European Union. The first member would be Somaliland that has achieved a working democracy, although not perfect and still based on clan affiliations. Other Somali regions can join the union if they fulfil the conditions set for a democratic system of administration. Elected officials from such regions would form a presidential council that elects a president in a rotating fashion. These are just ideas for a new Somalia that is based on justice and democracy. There are many ways to put in place systems of checks and balances that are meant to prevent the repetition of the injustices that took place in the past.
The worst scenario for Somaliland is to stick with the status-quo. Logic stipulates that one seeks alternatives around an impregnable wall that has failed to budge over the last 21 years at the expense of economic and social development. Hopefully Silanyo and his advisers will manage to find such an alternative to the benefit of the Somali people.
A Somali scholar suggested in a recent Aljazeira debate that the Somali capital be moved from Mogadishu, a city soaked in blood, to Hargeisa where all the offices of the United Nations for Somalia in Kenya can relocate. Such a step could open the floodgates of bilateral aid for the peaceful regions of Somalia thus sparking an era of prosperity and development. The millions that currently pour into the pockets of corrupt TFG officials like Sharif Sakin and Sharif Miskin, can be channelled towards developing the Somali people. A reconciliation effort led by the traditional leaders of the North can follow to defuse the sad situation in the South. Even the seemingly difficult religious fanaticism in the South can be resolved with a united front forged by all the regions that are outside the influence of these radicals. The phenomenon of Islamic radicalism can only be resolved without foreign interference. Somalis are traditionally against all forms of extremism.
Let us hope that Silanyo and his party will not disappoint the thousands of Somalis desperate for finding ways out of their miserable lives. Let us hope that he will have the courage to tell those who elected him that it is about time that the Somali people unite against their common enemies, Ethiopia and Foreign Islamic Radicals.
Ali H Abdulla
E-Mail: aliegeh@gmail.com
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