END TRANSITION RULE IN NORTH SOMALIA

[KingBlack]

The green, white, and red flag with a centered black star, inspired by Ethiopia’s regional flag of Gambela, has been flying in some parts of northern Somalia since the collapse of the central government more than two decades ago. Proclaiming itself as an independent state from the rest of the country and the successor state of British Somaliland protectorate, Somaliland has failed to gain international recognition after long 21 years of self-imposed isolations.

At first the general feeling in the north was to establish an inclusive temporary rule to stamp out various militia feuds and disarm the warring clan rebels across the north that operated with total immunity and little regard for human lives after the downfall of Dictator Mohamed Siad Bare. The idea was to establish some kind of guardians until Somalia recovered from the instabilities. After months of chaos, deadly tribal clashes and ruptured relations between the main northern Somali National Movement (SNM) rebel and the prominent southern Somali-based United Somali Congress (USC); few elders and small pocket of the SNM declared unpopular independence from the rest of the country in May 1991 in Burao. Somaliland was conceived as a temporary solution to the unrests. It was the north’s version of the south’s solution that later would be known as the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

The declaration was quickly met with heavy opposition and deadly clashes erupted between pro-secession SNM groups and union SNM elements led by Chairman Abdirahman Ahmed Ali (Tur). A new tribal divide quickly emerged and inter- and intra-clan warfare followed. In an effort to pause the bloodshed, the tribal elders organized a ceasefire conference in the town of Sheikh after ten months of all out war that left hundreds of thousands dead and half a million displaced. A temporary ceasefire was signed but militants remained heavily armed. The conference was followed with a last deal breaker in the town of Borama, however, the summit was hijacked by secessionist groups and many invited delegates who strongly opposed the idea were misled. For instance, delegation from the Darod sub-clan Hartis were invited as witnesses to the accord between the two opposing SNM groups. Having declared the former Somali Prime Minister, Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal, as their new President, the secessionists cited that all Somalis in the north endorsed their new entity or Somaliland.

With the security and political situation only deteriorating in the south, many northern communities felt it was not the right time to protest their opposition to the Somaliland project. After two decades of pretend game and knocking many doors only to be rejected, the north feels it is time to rollup the temporary carpet like the TFG and tuck it away for good.

For the region’s rival nation-states, and particularly for neighbouring Ethiopia, the idea of recognizing Somaliland as a state has always comprised a security threat of its own that the government fears may end up opening a Pandora’s Box of separatist movements in its own country. But separatists maintain, Ethiopia is their closest ally even though it has no any diplomatic ties apart from a small one-man trading office in Hargeisa.

The Somali people are one of the sole ethnic groups that inhabit in much of the Greater Horn region of sub-Saharan Africa. As traditional nomads, they are scatted across four nation-states and after years of colonial and tribal divides, they failed to regroup themselves around a single nation-state. Most of the estimated 20 million Somalis now live in the Somali Republic and the rest remain under foreign rule in Ethiopia, Kenya and with an exception of Djibouti. The region, which encompasses the Somali Republic, Ogaden region in Ethiopia, Djibouti and the Northern Frontier District in Kenya is often referred to as Greater Somalia or Somaliweyn. Since early 1920s, the Somalis have been involved in armed struggles against imperial rule and have revolted against the European colonial powers of Britain, Italy, France and their African mercenaries such as Ethiopia and Kenyan rule.

Following the British decolonization of Africa, the London-controlled north gained a short-lived independence of only five days before merging with the bigger southern Italian-Somaliland to form the Somali Republic in July 1960. The new nation made several attempts to regain all missing Somali territories but all insurrections failed. After long decades of military rule under Major-General Mohamed Siad Bare and ruthless crackdown against civilians, guerrilla wars broke out throughout the country in the early 1980s. Several attempts to overthrow the socialist government were quelled in the northeast now known as Puntland region after the army colonel Abdillahi Yusuf established the first rebel group. The silence also ended in the neighbouring northwest region now known as Somaliland region when the first SNM rebels raided the main cities of Burao, Berbera and Hargeisa. Siad Bare responded with heavy tactics against the mainly Isaaq population who were accused of supporting the SNM and his move only further angered the populous and it was not long before an open war broke out between Siad Bare’s forces and the Isaaq community. Fueled by their resentment towards the southern tribes due to the lack of development in their regions, the Isaaq rallied behind the movement. The insurgency and the ruthless crackdown instigated by Siad are said to have cost the lives of 50,000 civilians in the north alone and hundreds of thousands more in the south.

When the rebel groups led by SNM and USC overthrew the military dictator, few self-styled leaders of the north (Somaliland) declared their independence from the union with Italy-Somaliland. While Somaliland region has enjoyed relative political stability compared to parts of the south, the suffering is common throughout the Somali Republic. Lack of tangible development, unemployment, poor infrastructure and education remain uniform across the two artificial borders after 21 years the north has managed to isolate the population.

Apart from small emerging private sector, the north’s own acute domestic problems remain at large and year after year the inadequate infrastructure left behind by the Siad regime is slowly fading. While their favorite slogan has become “Africa’s best kept secret” — interestingly the public feels nothing has changed for them and the region has failed to turn the corner in two decades.

After two decades of isolation and optimism on the rise again in the south, northern Somalis are increasingly abandoning the temporary Somaliland solution for better opportunities. For years, the Somaliland project presented itself as a solution to the regional security problems of terrorism and maritime piracy but the international community treated them as a mere “semi-autonomous” region in Somalia or de facto.

One indivisible nation under God

Breaking up the most homogenous race in Africa due to the mistake of one military dictator is not the interest of the international community or the regional bodies. The international community cannot afford feeding yet another disintegrated Somali region with outdated tribal mentality and policies. Worse still, it has already opened the Pandora’s Box of clan rivalry and for the last three years clashes have been occurring in the eastern regions of Sool and Sanag where restive Harti tribes set up their own autonomous rule.

Those behind the Somaliland drive, only a minority, often claim that their declaration was their right to self-determination but when the same forces were unleashed in Awdal, Sool and Sanag regions, they were met with violent confrontations. Clearly, Somaliland supporters represent the highest level of hypocrisy and deceit on their part. People in these regions as well as those in many parts of togdher, Hawd and Northwest are akin to Somalis. Their desire and aspirations are to remain with the rest of the Somali state.

They remain voiceless and the Council in Hargeisa has handpicked few opportunists as representatives of these people. It is not only hypocritical that they deny the internationally recognized and legit representatives of the north in Mogadishu but at the same time it is okay for them to force few individuals on others.

Today more than ever, the desire to reunify the Somali people is on the rise and optimism is gaining momentum both in the north and south. Today, Somalia is close to ending two decades of chaos and lawlessness. Old groups that once divided the Somali race due to their personal indifferences are slowly fading and new generations are restoring the Somali dream.

In the last quarter of a century, the northern tribal secessionist administration has been denying people the right to travel south to seek better opportunities using all kinds of scare tactics and illusory stories of horror. They were hoping that fear, tribal identity and illusory threats would help reinforce a new identity of “Somalilander” and favor disintegration of the Somali race.

Along with these tactics, the mainly few Isaaq sub-clan project hoped using colonial history and a myth of a common ancestry would create a strong bond and appeal. However, northern Somalis are discovering that the tribal regime in the north only wants to keep them in the dark and loyal to a system that has failed them for two long decades.

In protest to these ill policies, more than ever, northern Somalis from all walks of life are now migrating in masses to the south to look for a better life elsewhere in the Republic. After so long in the darkness, they have became immune to boogeyman tactics. The tribal Council in Hargeisa is running out of ideas and lies just like Pyongyang and its closed totalitarian state.

The latest to abandon the northern protest is Somalia’s newest and most powerful woman — the newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Dr. Fowziya Yusuf Haji Aden. It was just months ago when she was nurturing a small political party in Hargeisa before she discovered the realities on the ground. The north is entirely driven by clan politics and the democracy card is only used against Western agencies and governments to cough up some aid. She could not bear the idea of fighting with every tiny sub-clan for some small votes so she decided to walk away and chase a bigger dream. That long walk to Mogadishu came after she was thrown behind bars by separatists for forming a party led by a female. On Sunday, she made history becoming the first ever Somali female to hold such high profile portfolios in a man-dominated society under the leadership of Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon.

Now Fowziya must be worried for her family and those close to her who are still in the north. It is important to understand that speaking out against the secessionist system can render harsh consequences, and seeking political career in the nation’s south causes a person’s family to be labeled as having “spoiled blood.” This is certainly true against Fowziya. The protest camp under the leadership of former SNM rebel leader Ahmed Silanyo have already began labeling her as “woman of Wanlaweyn”, a designation used against the south, since her ex-husband, who is no longer with us, was from the south-central regions of Somalia.

In 1960, it was their choice to be part of the bigger Somali family and again today, their desire remains the same. They must not be alienated, stigmatized or suspected of anything. The Somali family, as usual not entirely free of dysfunction, is once again moving in the right direction together.

It is time the likes of Silanyo and his lieutenant Hersi Ali Haji Hassan (Hersi Gaab) accepted the will of the Somali people in the north. The days of barricading them in the former residential home of wanted General Hersi Morgan are long gone. North Somalis must rise up without violence and say no to another two decades of total darkness and international isolation. Time is overdue to end the Somaliland transition. We cannot be chasing our own tails every year from north-to-south and vice-versa. It is time to shift all small entities and unlawful tribal rules for good.

By Abdisamad Mooge “Kayse”
Kaysejapan@gmail.com

[abdikarim86]

Dear God

I'll bet anything this "analysis" was written by some homeless daarood

[KingBlack]

Dear God

I'll bet anything this "analysis" was written by some homeless daarood

no is Kayse from Somalilandpress hes Habar Yoonis from Japan

[abdikarim86]

Dear God

I'll bet anything this "analysis" was written by some homeless daarood

no is Kayse from Somalilandpress hes Habar Yoonis from Japan

Here is some advice ...don't believe everything you here on the internet

[LondonLad]

Ha I actually know this Kayse guy from SomalilandPress. If you go back to around 5 months ago this guy was a Somalilandpress regular and hardcore Somaliland advocate he was so extreme that this guy use to call fellow Somalis from the South gorillas and brutes and he use to say Somaliland people were naturally civilised.

Then when the 17 Haber Yonis people were put on death row in Hargeisa for trying to storm the Army HQ he went mad and changed sides and decided to become a sworn enemy of Silanyo and this guy believes in a Silanyo-Dahabshill-Habar Jeclo unholy triangle that is trying to kill HY off so he decided to reinvent himself as a Pan-Somali Unionist.

This guy is not sincere in anyway if you don't believe me go on articles around 6 months ago in SomalilandPress and you'll see this Kayse guy insulting and dehumanising fellow Somalis in the South as he was an extreme Somaliland advocate until he had a personal vendetta against Silanyo.

Somalis amaze me, if you want to be a unionist or sessecionist then make sure you follow your principles that you believe in until the death. Instead you get people that have a personal beef against Silanyo switching sides either to gain power (See current Foreign Minister of Somalia Fowsiya Yusuf Haji Aden and Sulieman Hagloystie ex SCC-commander turned Somaliland cabinet member).

I believe in Somaliland and at the end of the day I would never change my stance if I had beef with the Silanyo administration likewise if someone was a unionist and stuck to their guns from the get go I would respect them a great deal, I can not stand these volatile snake like politicians in Somaliland and Somalia.

[abdikarim86]

Ha I actually know this Kayse guy from SomalilandPress. If you go back to around 5 months ago this guy was a Somalilandpress regular and hardcore Somaliland advocate he was so extreme that this guy use to call fellow Somalis from the South gorillas and brutes and he use to say Somaliland people were naturally civilised.

Then when the 17 Haber Yonis people were put on death row in Hargeisa for trying to storm the Army HQ he went mad and changed sides and decided to become a sworn enemy of Silanyo and this guy believes in a Silanyo-Dahabshill-Habar Jeclo unholy triangle that is trying to kill HY off so he decided to reinvent himself as a Pan-Somali Unionist.

This guy is not sincere in anyway if you don't believe me go on articles around 6 months ago in SomalilandPress and you'll see this Kayse guy insulting and dehumanising fellow Somalis in the South as he was an extreme Somaliland advocate until he had a personal vendetta against Silanyo.

Somalis amaze me, if you want to be a unionist or sessecionist then make sure you follow your principles that you believe in until the death. Instead you get people that have a personal beef against Silanyo switching sides either to gain power (See current Foreign Minister of Somalia Fowsiya Yusuf Haji Aden and Sulieman Hagloystie ex SCC-commander turned Somaliland cabinet member).

I believe in Somaliland and at the end of the day I would never change my stance if I had beef with the Silanyo administration likewise if someone was a unionist and stuck to their guns from the get go I would respect them a great deal, I can not stand these volatile snake like politicians in Somaliland and Somalia.

Qaar bay cuqdad xuni haysaa runtii.
Calling for the dismantaling of SL and being ruled
from and giving our taxes to Xamar so some faqash rat
can get a hold of it JUSt because of Silaanyo is beyond pathetic.

Cid dhagaysanaysana ma jirto