Somalia: Clan wars, British tax money and Somaliland's aggressions [Editorial]

Violent clan aggressions, blatant lies of separatism, support for terror groups, and other crimes will not get Somaliland any closer to international recognition.

On Monday, Feb. 7, 2011, soldiers loyal to the separatist administration of 'Somaliland' fought fierce clashes against local clans over control of territory. Of course, explaining the tragic events of that Monday to a reader brainwashed by the 'Somaliland' separatist ideology is difficult, but one simply has to analyze the changing political rhetoric in Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared yet unrecognized 'Republic of Somaliland.'

Sool and Sanaag regions [Map]

Over the past few days, Somaliland's internal politics has been rocked by the events of Feb. 7th. Reliable reports put casualties suffered on the Somaliland army side between between 52 and 65 soldiers killed, while local clan fighters lost an estimated 22 men during the day-long battles, when heavy weapons inlcuding tanks were used.

It is regrettable that clan fighting continues in this day and age in any part of Somalia. More worrisome, Somaliland's administration, which considers itself the West's 'democracy darling' of Somalia, is directly waging clan wars and benefiting from British tax-payers' money to fund violent aggressions, uprooting of communities and land expansion at the expense of civilians.
Some estimates put British aid to Somaliland at 60% of all British aid to Somalia. The separatist rulers in Hargeisa claim Sool and Sanaag regions, along with Buhodle district, based on defunct colonial-era boundaries. Notwithstanding this claim, local clans and the international community watched with silence as Somaliland troops militarily seized Las Anod, capital of Sool region, in Oct. 2007.
Such a violent military strategy was tried in Buhodle district. Monday's fighting is deeply rooted in Somaliland's aggression to advance its violent land expansionism in order to uproot local clans and import clans loyal to the separatist agenda. Insiders know that Somaliland President Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo ordered Somaliland troops to attack villages after his sub-clan, the Habar Jelo of the Isaaq clan, failed in their effort to uproot the local Dhulbahante clan from Kalshale village.
Since coming to power in July 2010, President Silanyo's administration has been seized by hardliners from the SNM rebel group of the 1980s. Unlike his predecessors, President Silanyo did the unusual step of allowing a subordinate, Mr. Muse Bihi, to become chairman of the ruling Kulmiye party. Every Somaliland president before Mr. Silanyo held the dual posts of Somaliland President and Party Chief, at the same time.
Mr. Silanyo's concessions to Mr. Bihi, himself another SNM veteran, has two key reasons: 1) Mr. Bihi's Habar Awal sub-clan, of the Isaaq clan that formed the SNM in the early 1980s, is the dominant clan in Hargeisa; and 2) Mr. Bihi and junior SNM veterans know quite well that Mr. Silanyo is a one-term president, given his old age.
The SNM veterans, who were intentionally kept out of Somaliland government for nearly 20 years, have returned with a vengeance. They are seeking to reunite the Isaaq clan and strengthen the separatist agenda by diverting intra-Isaaq disputes to the 'us vs. them' dynamic. In other words, the SNM veterans are seeking Isaaq clan unity by posing an equation for the Isaaq population that Isaaq political destiny is under threat of Dhulbahante clan, whic is a false pretense based on the SNM's historical hostilities and aggressions against neighboring clans.
Mr. Silanyo's predecessor, Mr. Dahir Riyale and his former administration, have been repeatedly accused of arming and funding Al Shabaab terrorist elements in Sanaag region. This strategy was fuelled by Somaliland's jealousy of Puntland, which is a stable region, with a functioning government, yet supports Somali national unity under a federal structure. In short, Puntland's historic stability became a threat to Somaliland's lies that the rest of Somalia is war-torn and lawless. But supporting terrorists, as similarly to raising snakes, is never a successful plan. Today, Puntland has militarily defeated Al Shabaab terrorists and flushed them out of the Sanaag mountains, while Al Shabaab remnants have fled to safety in Somaliland's major towns, posing serious security risks for Somaliland inherited by the Silanyo administration.
Peace, security and stability is for the interest of all communities in Somalia. Violent clan aggressions, blatant lies of separatism, support for terror groups, and other crimes will not get Somaliland any closer to international recognition. What readers should understand is that Somaliland has always played a villian role in Somali politics. It is Puntland's continued stability, and some success, that has brought Somaliland's crimes out for public scrutiny.
Even today, when Puntland remains quiet as regards the battles of Monday Feb. 7th, Somaliland officials continue to blame Puntland while it is Somaliland tanks that have targeted villages and uprooted communities. This fact is out for everyone to see.
It would be prudent for Somaliland's leadership to stop lying to their own population. After 20 years, there is no international recognition and an old man is the president, who has become a victim to SNM veterans motivated by clan hostilities. Creating new clan wars is not the path to seeking clan unity to bolster a long-failed secessionist agenda. It is heart-breaking to witness young men and women, travel by road for hours from Hargeisa to Garowe, capital of Puntland, seeking a Somali federal passport and the opportunity to be smuggled abroad. It is Somaliland's youth who are losing massively in this hopeless campaign of separatism, as they have very limited educational and employment opportunities commonly experienced by all youth across Somalia.
Finally, the British Government should carefully review its Somalia aid policy, because if British aid is used to fund clan wars, the reprecussions could be great for all parties concerned, as Britian and its record of human rights is well-respected in the community of nations.