“We believe in unified Somalia………” Hillary Clinton said in the press conference shortly after the international conference on Somalia was concluded at Lancaster house on the 23rd February, 2012. The president of the internationally backed TFG, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, has done all the talking for Somalia, including Puntland, Galmudug, ASWJ, Khaatumo State,Awdal State, Xumin and Xeeb, Jubbaland, Hiiraanland and most importantly “Somaliland”. Yes, the same entity that time and again refused to sit down with their fellow Somalis.

In the end, not only did they sit down with the legitimate leader of Somalia, Sheikh Sharif, but they rubbed shoulders with Abdirahman Faroole of Puntland and Colonel Caalin of Galmudug in a humiliating fashion, the very people they despised so much in the past. Secessionists had to eat a humble pie and they did it in full view of the public. Unlike Ahmed Silanyo, both Abdirahman Faroole and Colonel Caalin are proud to be part of all-inclusive Somalia and even prepared to share their fellow Somalis with almost everything for better and for worse. On the contrary, and judging by their continuing intransigencies coupled with their chauvinistic clannish mentality that all Somalis are against them, the secessionists are willing to tie the knot i.e. enter matrimonial engagement with any other country in the world except Somalia. How about that for hypocrisy?

In the meeting, the self-styled president of the secessionist enclave called “Somaliland” was not given even a whimper to present his already flagging campaign for international recognition in front of the world leaders convened at Lancaster house, although a recorded message believed to be doctored by his spin masters was distributed to local and international media a day after the meeting was concluded. According to Qarannews.com and others, Ahmed Silanyo was never given a chance to address in the meeting and all the talks that he has done wonders in the meeting and that his secessionist enclave was elevated to the level of a state in par with the conference attendees is just a pure fantasy intended only for local consumption.

Even before he left for London the writing was always on the wall for Ahmed Silanyo and his entourage. His farcical and chaotic entry into a number 10 downing street has shamed his delegation, giving the impression that Somalis are a bunch of uncivilized nomads who do not know how to behave in the international state. No such scenes were reported to have occurred in Sheikh Sharif’s camp, who admirably held his head high as a real statesman. The YouTube clip on Ahmed Silanyo and his scruffy rowdy crowd jostling for a place and bushing each other in front of David Cameron’s residence had most people wondering how this lot was allowed to come anywhere near number ten Downing Street in the first place.

In a rainy, dreary cold whether outside Downing Street, Silanyo delegation looked more like they were lining up for food coupons than being a delegation representing a country. The separatists have clearly demonstrated their lack of grasp for international protocol and diplomatic discipline. In one incident, I overheard a man in the crowd shouting of his head and asking if there was a place for him in the delegation. This is how chaotic Silanyo delegation looked in the preying eyes of the international media. Nothing concrete to support secessionists’ so-called achievements in the London conference is evident, unless they are deluding themselves.

As in the past, Somaliland delegation was received in the fringes of the meeting by their usual friends and supporters, including Chatham House where the international press has cut Silanyo and his novice foreign minister into shreds. For a moment the old man had lost for words and could not find a proper answer to a question related to Ahmed Godane, the boss of the terrorist Al Shabaab group who hails from Hargeisa before his young companion, the foreign minister, came to his rescue.

During the heydays of the secession, president Egal was reported to have said that the secession of “Somaliland” had run aground and that the world has no stomach for a new state within Somalia. This realistic statement had nearly cost his seat. From that day onwards, every politician aspiring to become a leader in the enclave must promise the earth and deliver nothing at the end of his tenure. During his long period in office, Dahir Rayaale kaahin was reported to have said that the “green shoots of recognition” was imminent — just around the corner.

The same message was repeated all over again and again for eight long years he was in power. And then in the dying days of his reign, one reporter asked him this question: “Mr. President what happened to the international recognition you promised so often during your period in office”? The answer may have been shocking to the reporter but it was the right answer in the politics of “Somaliland”. “International recognition cannot be bought from shops”, was Rayaale’s succinct answer, and that fact will remain the same so long as the secessionists are in this recognition-syndrome.

Despite all the rumors and counter rumors that Somalia will be put to the sword and placed under joint EU-AU trusteeship, the country that many doom mongers in Hargeisa and elsewhere wanted to go down in the drain so that that they can benefit from its demise, has come out intact and somewhat victorious. In fact, the conference has strengthened Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and given its leaders more clout and respect than they have ever managed in previous meetings. On the other hand, “Somaliland” was given a bloody nose, a blow they cannot recover for a very long time. In a list compiled by Waaheen media group in which participants of the London conference were categorized as losers and winners, Ahmed Silanyo and his delegation had topped the list of losers.

Indeed, that is what he is. Given that this has come from a die-hard pro-secessionist media outlet, this must have been the biggest hammer blow to hit the secessionists and their leader at the international stage for quite some time.

For me, there is nothing wrong with Silanyo as a leader; the problem lies with the hopeless product he and his likeminded were so blindly invested so much time and effort that no country in the world is prepared to buy it.

In a country where a mere critique on the secession equation is regarded as being anti-Isaaq, the clan largely behind the secession, there will be no light in the end of the tunnel as far as recognition is concerned. The status quo will continue, with “Somaliland” people becoming the victims of this lunacy. “Somaliland” people have been told lies after lies for more than two long barren decades, and yet they seem to be learning nothing from the past.
What Silanyo and his spin doctors are telling you today are no different to what Rayaale told you yesterday. And by the time the former’s [Silanyo] tenure is about to end, you will hear the same answer the latter [Rayaale] had given to the aforementioned reporter at Hargeisa airport: “international recognition cannot be bought from shops”. Lunacy is described by psychiatrists as repeating the same activity again and again with the expectation of different outcome. This is exactly what has been happening in “Somaliland” for the past two decades. How long the big lies will continue in “Somaliland”?

Mohamed F. Yabarag

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