Somaliland army unleash new aggression in Buuhoodle

[Coeus]

Spawned by the terrorist organisation inappropriately called the Somali National Movement (SNM), the
one-clan secessionist entity calling itself Somaliland has remained true to its genesis. Ever since they
laid their hands on the weapons left behind by the disintegrated Somali national army after the collapse
of the Somali State in 1991, waging war or unleashing terror against unionist clans in the north(former
British Somaliland) has become their hallmark. Chasing the mirage of recognition, no means to achieve
it has been excluded.. Thus, their first target and victim was the western Awdal region. And once this
area was brought by force under their hegemony, it was the turn of the regions of Sool, Sanaag and
Cayn (SSC)- regions that are technically part of Puntland but betrayed by its administration, letting
Somaliland's militia capture Lascanod, the regional capital, in October 2007. The incalculable human,
social and economic disaster they caused continue to linger.
The struggle between the SSC resistance to the occupation and to the forced secession and the militia of
the occupying secessionist entity has entered a new and dangerous turn since Ahmed Mohamed
Mohamoud (Siilaanyo) was elected "president" of the enclave in July 2010. Hitherto, the conflict did
not affect the peaceful coexistence among the SSC clans and neighbouring clans hailing from the
secessionist heartland. All that unfortunately has changed to the detriment of the ordinary people on the
both sides of the clan and regional divide.
What Siilaanyo has brought, apart from jumpstarting the quest for recognition, was an explicit new
policy in which his clan is used as auxiliary forces in support of their militia. Their use is not only to
fight alongside their militia against the SSC resistance but also to attack the non-combatant SSC
nomads. Ethnic-cleansing, occupying new territory and weakening the support to the resistance are the
driving forces behind Siilaanyo's new strategy to bring the SSC to heal. This strategy is doomed to
failure and all it can achieve is to poison the long enduring peace among clans. It is easy to start clan
conflict as Somali history attests to, but it is difficult to end it once the genie of tit-for-tat clan vendetta
is out of the bottle. That is the heritage that Siilaanyo in his old age will bequeath these long suffering
people.
In the latest assault on the defenders of Buuhoodle, Somaliland's militia and supporting clan auxiliaries
have kidnapped 18 SSC nomads and taken them to Burco as "prisoners". If that was not a war crime,
they went further and paraded them on the local television in contravention of the Geneva Convention.
Sadly, this is only one episode in this unravelling tragedy in which ordinary people on both sides will be
the main victims. For the defenders of SSC, no price is high enough to defend their land and their
inalienable right to remain part of Somalia. For the aggressors, they will gain nothing but hate and the
loss of the invaluable peace they hitherto enjoyed.
It therefore behoves the international community, and in particular those who wield leverage over the
secessionists, to counsel them to end their secession for the benefit of all Somalia, north and south, but
as a minimum to get out of the SSC regions in which they have no right to occupy. The SSC regions and people are part of Somalia and it is the responsibility of the TFG to speak up and condemn this
aggression against its territory and its people by the secessionists. It may not have the force to face the
secessionists but it should mobilise international support to minimise their damage until such time as a
future strong Somali government can deal with this one- clans secession once and for all.
NSUM Executive Committee

[Coeus]

Habarjeclo fighting SSC