On the 9th February the British
parliamentarians thronged in the famous Palace of Westminster, the home of
British legislatives, to debate Somalia’s troubled affairs two weeks before the
start of the upcoming international conference on Somalia scheduled to take
place on the 23rdof February, which will be chaired by prime
minister David Cameron and expected to be attended by more than 40 world
leaders consisting of presidents, prime ministers, head of states, the UN,
civil societies and a significant number of regional and international
organizations. The agenda of the meeting circulated earlier by the Home Office
consists of seven points of which piracy off the Somali coast and the potential
terrorism threat to the UK interests are one the most significant ones as far
as the host country is concerned. The UK (England and Wales in particular) is
home to in excess of half a million strong Somali community, making it one of
the largest concentrations of Somali Diaspora anywhere in the world. With the
potential threat posed by the UK citizens of Somali extraction in the Al
Shabaab-run camps in Somalia coupled with the continuing piracy threat off the
Somali coast which had economically impacted on the maritime business, the UK
government has every right to worry about Somalia and the continuing threat it
poses.
After more than fourteen failed attempts to
resuscitate the Somali state mostly by IGAD members states, the United Kingdom,
the former colony of the northern regions of Somalia, had stepped in to have a
ago at one last attempt to save Somalia from being destined into the history
dustbin and complete oblivion. Most Somalis in and outside the country have
welcomed the brave and valiant attempt by David Cameron to tackle the perennial
Somali problem that refused to go away for well over two agonizing decades .
Somalia has suffered immensely more than any other country in the world from
all kind of things, including but not limited to failed state, anarchy,
terrorism, invasion by its erstwhile enemies, piracy in the high seas,
warlord-ism, displacement, famine and starvation that killed more than a
million people and made homeless almost a quarter of the entire Somali
population. Somali refugees are currently spread all over the world, including
more than half a million in the inhospitable camps in Kenya, where they face
harassment, torture and rape on a daily basis.
The undesirable intervention of Alun Michael
The debate on Somalia started with a long and detailed
report delivered by the right honorable secretary of state, William Hague,
emphasizing the importance of establishing a country that is at ease with
itself, protects its citizens from Al shabaab hegemony, combats piracy and
finds a place for every disgruntled regional administration (including
Somaliland) in an all-inclusive democratic system that accommodates everyone in
Somalia.
Then all of sudden, Alun Michael, the MP from Cardiff
south Cardiff and Penarth whose constituency has a sizable number of Somalis
mainly from northern Somalia, intervened the debate with his undiminished
support for the separatists in “Somaliland”. What promised to be an interesting
discussion on Somalia was almost unfortunately hijacked by one Alun Michael and
turned it into a debate about “Somaliland” and how its recognition was well
overdue.
For most Somalis, who witnessed their country to be
debated for the first time in the UK parliament, it was depressing to see such
a scene in the mother of all parliaments, especially when they thought their
enemies are dwindling. Alun Michael and his fellow MP, Tony Baldry, can move
mountains to dismember Somalia into clan-based regional administrations so that
their beloved “Somaliland” will benefit from such a move. Alun Michael, in
particular, has been known to support the secessionist project for more than
twenty years and that fact that he achieved nothing for his endeavor
illustrates that the international community has no stomach for recognizing the
secessionist enclave. His current raving and ranting in Westminster will change
nothing as far as the Somali unity is concerned. The honorable MP should know
better than anyone else that the world is not daft enough to recognize “Somaliland”
on such flimsy basis. The following are one of the few facts that perhaps Alun
Michael and Tony Baldry should know before they waste their valuable time and
that of their fellow parliamentarians on the secessionist project:
· The
British Somaliland ceased on the 26th June, 1960 and joined their
fellow Italian Somaliland on the first of July, 1960 to form a state called
Republic of Somalia.
· On July
20, 1961 and through a popular referendum,
the people of Somalia ratified a new constitution which was first
drafted in 1960. Any future alteration on the territorial integrity of Somalia
can only be changed through a popular referendum by all Somalis and not by the
people in northern Somalia alone.
· The
former British Somaliland is home to five major clans and other numerically
smaller ones: Dhubahante and Warsengeli on the east, Gadaboursi and Issa on the
west and Isaaq in the middle. Of all these clans, only hardliners among the
Isaaq Clan are pushing for a complete separation from motherland Somalia at the
expense of other clans. The blind support of Alun Michael for secession is
nothing short of denial of the rights of all the aforementioned clans who want
to remain with their fellow Somalis in Somalia.
· Somalis
are the most homogenous people in Africa i.e. have same culture, language,
religion and even same look that any attempt for their division into clan-based
administrations will never work.
Following Alun Michael’s long speech in support of the
secession project, this is what the right honorable secretary of state, William
Hague, had to say about Somaliland: “We give it [Somaliland] a lot of
assistance in many ways and welcome the fact that it has become a more stable
area within Somalia, and we will welcome its participation at the London
conference. The emphasis here is “we give it a lot of assistance
………….within Somalia”. This should have been a forewarning and smack on
the face of Alun Michael that the UK government is not going to buy this
nonsensical thing called “Somaliland”. Alun Michael is elected from Wales, a
country that is part and parcel of the United Kingdom despite its distinctive
language and culture, and yet he is calling for the dismemberment of a country
and people that has no such distinction. How ironic is this!
If that was not enough, this is what MP Richard
Ottaway had to say about Alun Michael’s relentless push for “Somaliland”
secession in the debate: “I have to confess that I have an open mind on that
question [separation of Somaliland], but I find it slightly ironic that a Welsh
MP who believes in the United Kingdom should be calling for such a separation
in Somalia”. This statement was an ultimate blow to the separatists and
their ilk and music to the ears of those who want to see Somalia back where it
belongs - in the international community.Moreover, the foreign mercenaries recruited by the secessionists
throughout the last twenty years they seeking recognition (wild goose) had now
deserted this lost cause. May be Alun Michael and Tony Baldry are the last
Johnny foreigners remaining on this sinking ship of Somaliland. It is good for
them to jump the ship before it is too late.
In conclusion, every sane person in northern Somalia
knows that the secession project is dead in the water and that it is high time
to give it a decent burial. Furthermore, the international community which
abandoned Somalia many years ago is now returning back to give Somalia another
bite of the cherry. With the formation of Khaatumo state of Somalia and the
earlier declaration of Awdal State, Somaliland’s faintest chance of
international recognition is now coming to a grinding halt - naught. With war
raging in eastern parts of the enclave between Khaatumo state of Somalia and
the secessionists in Hargeisa, the much-vaunted peace that was once the
hallmark of “Somaliland” is now a distant memory. The fact that Somalia, the
mother country, is on the mend and its people in and outside the country are
sensing for the first time that their country is back on track has also dealt a
mortal blow to the secessionists in Hargeisa and elsewhere in the enclave. It
is time Alun Michael and his fellow MP, Tony Baldry, should abandon their
futile search for Somali balkanization and side with the majority of
peace-seeking Somalis.
Ahmed Silanyo’s phantom government can no
longer ignore the will of the people in Las Anod, Buholdle, Erigavo, Borama,
Dila, Lughaya and elsewhere in northern Somalia. No amount of bribery or
intimidation in the form of massing armed clan militia in the cities and towns
will bring back people of Awdal and SSC to the secession camp. In the past few
weeks, Borama city was teeming with SNM clan militia marauding in the streets
and dispersing crowds. No amount of press gagging and arbitrary incarceration
of journalists will conceal the culpability of Silanyo’s reign of terror and
the atrocities committed by his clan militia against innocent civilians in SSC
and Awdal. Borama News Network office in Borama was raided two days ago by
separatists’ militia and two journalists were taken away. Cabdicasiis
Cabdillaahi is still in jail for the second day running.
Without any shadow of a doubt the tide is turning against the head of the
secessionist camp and, no matter how hard he and his entourage try to convince
people that “Somaliland” is for all, there will be no change of heart and no
turning back the clock for the people of aforementioned cities and towns.
They have had enough of secession; of alienation and separatism; of misrule and
intimidation; of lies and innuendo, and more importantly, they have had enough
of living under the whim and brutality of one-clan state, particularly a clan
state that has no name and place in the international community. Somaliland’s
main claim for being a separate and legal state hinges entirely and exclusively
on the concocted so-called Burco convention in 1991, where a number of
hand-picked elders from several parts of northern regions of Somalia were asked
to toe the line and accept the SNM dictate or face the consequences of their
actions by a well-armed clan militia. Such gun-ho policies, intimidation and
arm-twisting tactics have no place in the international community. You cannot
create a whole new country on this simplistic and flimsy basis. Ahmed Silanyo’s
clan militia has taken a significant part of the destruction of the last Somali
government on the false pretense that their clan members were deliberately
singled out and murdered en masses, a claim many historians dispute. Unfortunately
people die in civil wars and that was the case in northern Somalia. More people
have perished in south and central Somalia. The crying shame, however, is that
the separatists want to hang up to a doomed state whose time is over; a state
that the international community has shunned ages ago and large part of its
perceived territory is slipping away from its fingers. The nightmare scenario
dreaded by separatists has begun with the declaration of Awdalstate and the
ultimate creation of Khaatumo state of Somalia. More importantly, Somalia is on
the mend while the secessionists are on the wane. It is all over for
separatists. However, it is not too late to change policy. Somalis are prepared
to welcome back their long lost child.
Mohamed F Yabarag
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The House of Commons Debate on Somalia
The debate on Somalia started with a long and detailed report delivered by the right honorable secretary of state, William Hague, emphasizing the importance of establishing a country that is at ease with itself,