Federalism for Somaliland

[sunnahswag]

the objective of the secession is self-government for the inhabitants of that part of Somalia. If that is the case, are there any other better options to achieve the same while remaining within Somalia, but at the same time avoiding the enormous complications of unilateral attempt to break away without a national referendum, a legal separation and negotiated agreement between Somali parties?

As South-Central Somalia was in chaos and had no creditable representatives to talk to, in the course of our debates onBottom-up Approaches to restore Somalia’s State and embark upon reconstruction plans, leaders of Puntland State of Somalia approached their Somaliland counterparts in the late 1990s on working out ways, conditions and terms for a fair, united and prosperous Somalia. Multiple letters and envoys had been exchanged between the Late Leaders of Somaliland and Puntland: Mohamed Ibrahim Egal and Abdillahi Yusuf Ahmed. This was done discreetly and diplomatically through mutually trusted envoys who shuttled between Garowe and Hargeisa.

To spearhead and champion for a federal system of government in Somalia, Puntland State proposed to Late President Mohamed Ibrahim Egal to agree to the creation of a rotatingCommon Presidencybetween Puntland and Somaliland in which Egal assumes the leadership of the first term. Under this arrangement, each state was to retain its local public institutions in a federal fashion while mutually benefiting from all advantages each had to offer in the way of economic, political and security cooperation. A Puntland Plan (B) in that initiative was to remind President Egal that legally and technically he was the last Somali Prime Minister overthrown illegally and he had every right constitutionally to reclaim Somalia’s leadership. While maintaining Somaliland as the first federal state, he could move on to be a central leader in a Federal Republic. Puntland offered him its full support if he was to choose the second option.

In the course of these diplomatic exchanges, there were two obstacles President Egal could not handle despite his known political shrewdness:

1.The President’s political base in Somaliland was so polarized towards Gooni-Usu-taag(Secession, independence) that no politician could dare to remind them of returning to Somaliweyn without risking outright ridicule and treason. This situation is still true in Hargeisa however with much less intensity (Another good reason as to why Somalis will never accept a one-city-state republic again).

2.The sticking friction (disputes) between Puntland and Somaliland on Sool, Sanaag and Cayn regions.

For Puntland State of Somalia, the issue of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn was easy to resolve, i.e. holding an internationally observed referendum for the residents in those three regions to decide their own fate and respect the final outcome. Moreover, if the two states were to integrate into a federal system the political tension surrounding these regions would have disappeared immediately for all parties to benefit, particularly inhabitants of these regions, who suffered such much under these political claims and counter-claims.

For Puntland State of Somalia, the issue of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn was easy to resolve, i.e. holding an internationally observed referendum for the residents in those three regions to decide their own fate and respect the final outcome. Moreover, if the two states were to integrate into a federal system the political tension surrounding these regions would have disappeared immediately for all parties to benefit, particularly inhabitants of these regions, who suffered such much under these political claims and counter-claims.

These negotiations finally collapsed with Egal holding a Somaliland “Constitutional Referendum” in May 31, 2001 with little or no say by the inhabitants of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn as they massively boycotted it. Deceptively, there was a last minute insertion in the questionnaire of that orchestrated referendum regarding Sool, Sanaag and Cayn approval of it as “considered” their acceptance of the “Somaliland” rule. This is a historical mistake that will haunt Hargeisa political leaders for years to come and make any “Gooni-Usu-Taag” impossible.

[Coldoon]

The issue of "Referendum" is a logical fallacy when dealing with Somalis, an ethnic group that solely base their entire existence, from politics to economy on bases of Clan hegemony.

The issue regarding Sool, Sanaag and Cayn, along with Awdal is not a matter of Territorial dispute, but rather one that is exclusively of tribal issue. The Somali tribes, Dhulbahante and Warsangeli that settle in their respective regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn have continuously shown the International Community their desire to be part of Somalia. One has to remember that, the Dhulbahante and Warsangeli clans are not laying claim to Western Sanaag, which is settled by the Isaaq clan, but rather to their portions of Sool, Sanaag and Southern Togdheer (known as Cayn).

With that said, one can only ask, what's the damn point of "Referendum"? Each clan should go it's separate ways, either to secession or to union.

[abdikarim86]

Again ...

[gurey25]

The minimum we would accept is an assymetrical confederacy.

i.e we keep our armed forces, this is very important and non-negotiable
We keep our currency and seperate economic policy.

anything else is negotiable.

[grandpakhalif]

The minimum we would accept is an assymetrical confederacy.

i.e we keep our armed forces, this is very important and non-negotiable
We keep our currency and seperate economic policy.

anything else is negotiable.

It is quite sad that you want to have seperate currencies when the world is moving towards Economic blocks like the EU..

[gurey25]

currency unions are good for banks and ultimatley bad for individual countries.
The banks are the ones pushing for this and countries go along with them.
For example the east african union will have a single currency, but kenya has different needs to Uganda.

You can have free trade blocks and movement towards an economic block but without a single currency.

[Cumar-Labasuul]

actually single currencies for multiple nations is a very bad idea take note of the european countries in utter disagreements and austerity measures. The initial plan of the single currency the Euro wasn't a bad idea for the countries who proposed it: countries like germany france belgium and netherlands - they share borders and economic trade with each as well as history.
The main issue is those different countries all had different values for their respective currencies so the problem would be: how can germany (for e.g.) a powerhouse in europe and the world share a currency with 'poorer' countries like portugal, greece, ireland etc

gurey, don't kenya, uganda and tanzania share the east african shilling ?