Monday, April 12, 2010

Time UNDP Stood up tribal entity sepretest Somaliland

The provocative and irresponsible disruption of a UNDP organised event in Hargeisa the other day by the secessionists based in NW Somalia (Somaliland) has come as no surprise to most Somalis. This is not an isolated case but only the latest of an established practice by the secessionists to hassle the UN agencies in order to get their way. As so often, they have been incensed by seeing their enclave included in the UNDP programme as part of Somalia when the UNDP has little choice but to dutifully follow the stance of the UN Security Council and the wider international community which consider the area as part and parcel of Somalia. Such nuances, however, do not cut much ice with the spoiled secessionists.
For too long, successive UNDP Country Resident Representatives (RR) based in Nairobi have gone out of their way to mollycoddle the secessionists and give in to their persistent nagging to the extent of treating their area for operational purposes as a de facto separate country from the rest of Somalia. Some Resident Representatives hailing from Britain harbour barely disguised empathy with the secessionist cause, hankering as they do for the days when the area was a British colony just as the separatists for their part crave for the good old days and the era of their former colonial master. This common bond goes all the way to the British Parliament.
Apart from sentimental attachments to former British Somaliland among some circles of the UN establishment in Nairobi assigned to Somalia, there is a more compelling reason for putting up with the tantrums of the over-indulged secessionists. These  agencies are keen to maintain some visible presence in Somalia and in particular in those so-called peaceful, self-administered regions like Somaliland. Without this symbolic presence in the territory, manned by local staff, their self-serving pretensions that they are engaged in humanitarian and development mission for Somalia from their save comfortable sojourn in Nairobi would have been patently tendentious and untenable. This is not lost upon Somaliland which has exploited it to the full.
Having been pampered for all these years, is it any wonder the secessionists would have the audacity to challenge and bite the hands that feed them? Such brinkmanship is not altogether irrational. All too often in the past, when such confrontations arose, it was often the UNDP and other UN agencies which buckled and backed down. Avoiding any showdowns to the extent possible, or, if they do, going along with the unreasonable demands of their ungrateful beneficiaries has become the modus operandi for the UN agencies.
Apart from receiving the lion's share of the development aid and technical assistance earmarked for Somalia, the secessionists have succeeded to wrest numerous other concessions from UNDP and other UN agencies since they declared unilateral separation from Somalia in 1991. The most spectacular one was their acceptance of the name "Somaliland" as the area's official designation. Even if the words "North-West Somalia" were disingenuously added to it as an afterthought, as a sob to sooth the sensibilities of other Somalis, such cosmetic dressing detracts little from the boost UN agencies have given to the secessionists' cause. For all practical purposes and intents, the area is treated as a separate entity from Somalia and UN agencies talk of the area as Somaliland and only add North-West Somalia in formal documents.
UN agencies are fond to organise events in Hargeisa when alternative venues are available elsewhere in Somalia, for example in Puntland. Despite the financial and other benefits they derive from the meetings, workshops and seminars organised in Hargeisa by UNDP, participants arriving at Hargeisa airport from other regions in Somalia have been routinely detained and summarily deported for "illegally" entering what is after all part and parcel of Somalia. When such deplorable events took place in the past, UNDP and other agencies often looked the other way. Such lax, permissive approach have only whetted the secessionists' appetite as witnessed by the latest confrontation with the secessionists..
Another grand supportive gesture from the UN agencies to the secessionists is over the status of the unionist regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn (SSC). Riding roughshod over their rights, the UN agencies have accepted the secessionist's claim that these areas are part of Somaliland on the grounds they are theirs having been part of now defunct colonial territory of the same name. The fact that these unionist regions are part and parcel of Somalia, or that they have nothing to do with the secession and that they do not want to be associated with Somaliland, clearly did not weigh with the UN agencies.
The established practice among UN humanitarian agencies, under the aegis of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, is to yield to the wishes of the secessionist administration in Hargeisa on matters relating to the SSC regions. Rather than delivering humanitarian aid directly to the SSC regions, entailing less cost and time, it is often channelled through Somaliland where most of that aid is routinely siphoned off and the transfer of the rest  unduly upheld as a weapon to force the needy SSC population to capitulate to the secession. It was in protest against these insidious practices that a delegation consisting of the traditional leaders and the Northern Somalia Unionist Movement made strong representations to the UN agencies in Nairobi last year. The jury is still out whether they have changed their ways or whether it is business as usual.
The absence of a functioning government in Somalia since 1991 has allowed these UN agencies to be a law unto themselves unaccountable to no one and to act as a government for Somalia by default. Though Somalia has presently a government, at least in name, it is in hock to the UN (and African Union peacekeeping forces) who ensure its survival. It is therefore unlikely to monitor or oversee the very entity that keeps it alive. This prevailing powerlessness from the Somali perspective vis-à-vis the UN agencies is one the latter very much savour. It is for no reason that many Somalis believe that the UN agencies based in Nairobi dealing with Somalia far from being a help are a hindrance to restoring Somalia's sovereignty and territorial unity so long as they nourish the secessionists' delusion that the de facto recognition they enjoy from these agencies is a prelude to a full recognition from the international community. The only alternative left is for concerned Somalis everywhere to organise concerted and coordinated direct actions against these agencies in Nairobi, as well as appeals to their respective headquarters which are not always conversant with what their field offices are up to. In the meantime, the time is well past and long overdue when the UN agencies should be standing their ground and threaten to pullout from the area altogether unless they are allowed to perform their activities unhindered in line with their mandate and their country agreements with Somalia.
O. H. Omar
NSUM Excecutive Committee
Web: www.n-sum.org
Email:admin@n-sum.org

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Ex-Somali Police Commissioner General Mohamed Abshir

Ex-Somali Police Commissioner  General Mohamed Abshir

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater
Somalia army parade 1979

Sultan Kenadid

Sultan Kenadid
Sultanate of Obbia

President of the United Meeting with Prime Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Egal of the Somali Republic,

Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire

Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire
Sultanate of Warsengeli

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre
Siad Barre ( A somali Hero )

MoS Moments of Silence

MoS Moments of Silence
honor the fallen

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre  and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie
Beautiful handshake

May Allah bless him and give Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan

May Allah bless him and give  Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan
Honorable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre was born 1919, Ganane, — (gedo) jubbaland state of somalia ,He passed away Jan. 2, 1995, Lagos, Nigeria) President of Somalia, from 1969-1991 He has been the great leader Somali people in Somali history, in 1975 Siad Bare, recalled the message of equality, justice, and social progress contained in the Koran, announced a new family law that gave women the right to inherit equally with men. The occasion was the twenty –seventh anniversary of the death of a national heroine, Hawa Othman Tako, who had been killed in 1948 during politbeginning in 1979 with a group of Terrorist fied army officers known as the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF).Mr Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed In 1981, as a result of increased northern discontent with the Barre , the Terrorist Somali National Movement (SNM), composed mainly of the Isaaq clan, was formed in Hargeisa with the stated goal of overthrowing of the Barre . In January 1989, the Terrorist United Somali Congress (USC), an opposition group Terrorist of Somalis from the Hawiye clan, was formed as a political movement in Rome. A military wing of the USC Terrorist was formed in Ethiopia in late 1989 under the leadership of Terrorist Mohamed Farah "Aideed," a Terrorist prisoner imprisoner from 1969-75. Aideed also formed alliances with other Terrorist groups, including the SNM (ONLF) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), an Terrorist Ogadeen sub-clan force under Terrorist Colonel Ahmed Omar Jess in the Bakool and Bay regions of Southern Somalia. , 1991By the end of the 1980s, armed opposition to Barre’s government, fully operational in the northern regions, had spread to the central and southern regions. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled their homes, claiming refugee status in neighboring Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. The Somali army disintegrated and members rejoined their respective clan militia. Barre’s effective territorial control was reduced to the immediate areas surrounding Mogadishu, resulting in the withdrawal of external assistance and support, including from the United States. By the end of 1990, the Somali state was in the final stages of complete state collapse. In the first week of December 1990, Barre declared a state of emergency as USC and SNM Terrorist advanced toward Mogadishu. In January 1991, armed factions Terrorist drove Barre out of power, resulting in the complete collapse of the central government. Barre later died in exile in Nigeria. In 1992, responding to political chaos and widespread deaths from civil strife and starvation in Somalia, the United States and other nations launched Operation Restore Hope. Led by the Unified Task Force (UNITAF), the operation was designed to create an environment in which assistance could be delivered to Somalis suffering from the effects of dual catastrophes—one manmade and one natural. UNITAF was followed by the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM). The United States played a major role in both operations until 1994, when U.S. forces withdrew. Warlordism, terrorism. PIRATES ,(TRIBILISM) Replaces the Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre administration .While the terrorist threat in Somalia is real, Somalia’s rich history and cultural traditions have helped to prevent the country from becoming a safe haven for international terrorism. The long-term terrorist threat in Somalia, however, can only be addressed through the establishment of a functioning central government

The Honourable Ronald Reagan,

When our world changed forever

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)
Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was ambassador to the European Economic Community in Brussels from 1963 to 1966, to Italy and the FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] in Rome from 1969 to 1973, and to the French Govern­ment in Paris from 1974 to 1979.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac 'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac  'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.
Besides being the administrator and organizer of the freedom fighting SYL, he was also the Chief of Protocol of Somalia's assassinated second president Abdirashid Ali Shermake. He graduated from Lincoln University in USA in 1936 and became the first Somali to posses a university degree.

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic
Somalia

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