An open letter to:

Hon. Henry Bellingham Minister for Africa Foereign & Commonwealth Office.

An open letter to:

Hon. Henry BellinghamMinister for Africa

Foereign & Commonwealth OfficeKing Charles Street

London SW1A2Ah

Subject: The London Conference on Somalia (February 23, 2012)

Main feature: If Somaliland can break away from Somalia, then Awdal State has every right to secede from Somaliland and thatis prominently embodied in Article 1 of the Charter of the United Nations.

Hon. Minister;

On behalf of the people of Awdal State, it is my pleasure to write this letter to you. Without taking too much of your time, the essence of writing this to you is to thank you and your government for the magnanimous effort for organizing and launching the London conference and hope that Britain’s initiative to hold this conference will bear fruit.

Your Hon., we the people of Awdal State believe that this conference is a good avenue where the finest and most vibrant minds in the peace loving civilized world can find a strategy to address Somalia’s problems and to help its people. Apart from that, it also affords the insightful Somalis the opportunity to have an input to the solution.

Your honour, with all due respect, as is obvious and should be, specially to the British government, Somaliland is not a new found land. It is the land which was known as the northern part of Somalia before the fall of the Somali Republic. It is the land which was before known as the British Somaliland. It is also the land where known tribes lived (GadabursioftheWesternregions,theIsaaqsoftheMiddleregionsandtheDhulbahanteandHartitribesoftheEasternregions)long before the British colonized. Indeed it is not a new found land in1991. It is our good intention here to remind the world community that every clan in north Somalia (The former British Somaliland) has the right to determine its own destiny.

Your honour, where is currently known as Somaliland was formed in confederacy of tribes united by a league. An ideology of clans uniting to change the course to betterment (peace). A league based on understanding, cooperating, caring and sharing. A union with a vision of peace building and advancement.

In contrast,it has become apparent that the agreed upon policy of the foundation of Somaliland has been hijacked by elements whose doctrine is embarked upon an ideology adventure which lead the agreement into a ditch — The so called Somaliland. These ego-centric power crazy and tribal minded elements have slowly and dangerously moved Somaliland towards a clan state where selfishness, greed, injustice and dominance have become the state norm. Elements whose doctrine states to wield control onto others and whose motto are to establish a one clan state to bend the will of others.

Your honour, it is a mutual decision among the people of Awdal State that we must take a tough new line on Somaliland. We had enough with the methods of guide diplomacy and muted appeasement. These degrading schools of thought have clearly failed.

Your honour, it is our good intention and duty to protect our rights. Awdal had this union relation with Somaliland since the formation of the confederacy and has not been able to get the slightest concession on respect and fairness. The fact of the matter is that Awdal has gone through a dramatic shift from two decades policy of one clan show to a policy of taking matters and protecting their rights under the hijacked clan based rule of Somaliland.

It is obvious that people of Awdal are increasingly finding themselves facing economic decline, injustices and dwindling rights and these harsh circumstances have caused the people of Awdal State to drop their support of Somaliland and take their destiny into their hands.We the people of Awdal support a federal government of the people by the people and for the people of Somalia.

There were numerous attempts to revive the functionality of the federal Somali government before, the one being initiated and organized by the British government is another to come. We the people of Awdal State thank the British government for their restless efforts to bring the Somali map back to the civilized peaceful world map.

We the people of Awdal State recognize that the London conference is the last chance for the Somali people to come back to the world community and there fore would urge the British government and the other interested parties to pay attention to the main pillar which would hold the Somali house together. That pillar is the unity of the Somali nation. The idea of the power crazy Siraanyo led SNM group (Separatists) must not be allowed.Somaliamustbeoneandonlyonegovernmentunderoneflag.

Your honour, The two most important words the third world countries always hear and learn from the civilized western world aredemocracyandselfdetermination.We urge the western countries and specially the British government to honour the real meaning of the words.We urge the stake holders that would attend the conference to exerciser the value meaning of what the civilized western world preaches.

Somaliland must not be given the chance to separate from the rest of Somalia. Democracy and valuing the will and the desire of the people should take the front seat. Breaking Somalia into different parts will not solve the Somali problem but will further create more problems and will bring a new headache to the civilized world. Somaliland is not democratic and must not be allowed to play the self determination card as well. Surely that will also open doors for others to do the same.

Somaliland’sundemocraticcontradiction

In a democracy, every citizen has certain basic rights that the government cannot take away from them. These rights are guaranteed under international law. On the contrary, in Somaliland people from western regions — the Gadabursi people (Awdal State) and those in the eastern regions — have no rights at all.

People in that particular regions namely the Gadabursi and the Dhulbahante have no rights to have their own beliefs and to say and write what they think. If they say, write or even think against the so called Somaliland government they are automatically jailed with no mercy for no particular time with out any due process.

There is no freedom and pluralism in the mass media in Somaliland. No media is allowed to report anything against the government. No media functions in the western regions (Awdal State) of the Gadabursi people and eastern regions of the Dhulbahante (Khaatumo State). No single person from Gadabursi tribe nor the Dhulbahante even works in the Somaliland national media. And because of putting the lid on the peoples’ mouths, there are hundreds of Gadabursi people and the Dhulbahante that are in jails around the country who are accused of either saying or writing against the government.