By Mohsin Mahad
The core people adhering to the secessionist enclave going by the name of “Somaliland” have committed treacherous crimes against the Somali nation twice in our history. First, they sold their allegiance to the British in their fight to defeat the Darwish nationalists in the first part of the 20th Century. Secondly, and in the lifetime of most Somalis, they played a leading role in the demise of the Somali State when their clan-based insurgents, the Somali National Movements (a misnomer if there was ever one) rose against the Somali State in collusion with Somalia’s arch enemy. The collapse of the Somali State, which was their objective, left them free to declare their unilateral secession from Somalia in May 1991 and to proclaim the revival of the defunct former British Somaliland.
As such, the clan’s “Somaliland” was born out of terrorism and through the barrel of the gun. All the other four clans in northern Somalia (former British Somaliland) have either been forced to join the secessionist enclave under their hegemony or are still resisting them to the present day. Given their illegal basis and their one-clan nature, no country has so far recognised them to this present day or is likely to do so in the future. Even newly independent Southern Sudan, targeted as one susceptible to persuasion, has been painstakingly courted but shunned their persistent unwanted advances.
The only hollow success Somaliland mustered thus far is a farcical recognition from Sheffield City Council, an English town in South Yorkshire, whose remit is mainly to provide homes to the town’s homeless, take care of old age pensioners and collect the residents’ garbage bags. This laughable recognition came after the town’s secessionist residents mobilised their faithful and lobbied the Council’s uninformed and gullible Councillors. Even their underemployed Foreign Minister- not one to miss a golden photo opportunity- joined the act, hailing this risible recognition as a great day for Somaliland and a prelude to imminent worldwide recognition of his renegade enclave!! Others might snigger at this laughable affair but, among the secessionists desperate to hear any scrap of good news, it has triggered wild celebrations inside the enclave and among their worldwide diaspora.
After more than 23 years since their declaration of secession, their control of the unionist regions or clans of North West Somalia, other their own clan enclave, is tenuous notwithstanding their bombastic bravados to the contrary. Apart from the capital, Lascanod, and a nearby small town called Hudun, the SSC regions (Sool, Sanaag and Cayn), representing close to half of North West Somalia remain largely free from the control of this later-day colonial copycat. Without the SSC regions in their bag, a pie in the sky, any claim of an all inclusive “Somaliland” that could merit statehood and recognition is simply empty idle talk. And since the SSC people would never subscribe to this secession that alone would foreclose the emergence of an independent recognised Somaliland.
The failure to win the SSC regions after all these years, either by force or persuasion, should have persuaded the secessionists to throw in the towel and instead seek rapprochement with the rest of Somalia to take their place in a united Somalia. On the contrary, the longer their frustrations and failures persist, the more reckless they tend to be, often throwing reason and caution to the winds.
Their first and successful adventure was when they captured Lascanod, the capital of the SSC regions, in October 2007, a victory given to them on a plate when the defending Puntland forces betrayed the town and ignominiously retreated without much fight to their safe haven in Garawe, capital of Puntland. This success has whetted their appetite to go for bigger stakes and that is what they did when they, three years ago, invaded the town of Buuhoodle, the capital of the of Cayn region. Their costly miscalculation was to delude themselves that Buuhoodle would be a walk-over just as Lascanod was. Unlike Lascanod, Buuhoodle was defended by its warriors. As it turned out, the invaders were routed, a defeat that tamed them for a while but not enough to dissuade them from attacking softer targets in the Sool region.
There is panic in Hargeisa and concomitant reckless misguided adventures each time the secessionists see Khatumo State of Somalia (based i the SSC regions) moving away from their orbit, advancing as a State, deepening its governance and constitutional roots and putting further distance between themselves and the secessionist enclave. Thus, on 15 April, Somaliland launched a flagrant unprovoked attack on the ill-defended town of Taleex in Sool region – presently the provisional capital of Khatumo State of Somalia until Lascanod is liberated from the occupying secessionists.
In embarking on this invasion, Somaliland has taken leaf out of Puntland book which invaded the town last December to thwart the Khaatumo people from holding their third constitutional conference, killing in the process scores of people and visiting havoc on the town. Somaliland’s militia similarly invaded Taleex for the same reason- to deny the Khatumo people to exercise their God-given right to hold their conference in their own region just as the one-clan Somaliland routinely does in its enclave, and as do other regions of Somalia in line with the country’s Constitution. Khatumo needs no permission from anybody to exercise its inalienable right, least of all from the secessionist enclave. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Similarly, what is good for Puntland, Somaliland and other regions of Somalia is also good enough for the SSC regions. Khatumo cannot be the exception.
After capturing Taleex, the world was waiting for Somaliland’s usual bravados and triumphalism to gloat over their military prowess, not so much to cow the SSC people but to scare away Puntland which also ludicrously claims the SSC regions on the grounds they were once partners but cannot come to terms with the separation. What is amazing is that Somaliland’s militia remained in Taleex for only few hours and had to depart in an unseemly hurry with their tails between their legs. This welcome outcome was due largely to the intervention of the international community which told the enclave in no uncertain terms to end their aggression and immediately and unconditionally withdraw their militia from Taleex. This action from the international sends an unambiguous message to Somaliland that they have no business to be in Taleex and, by extension, anywhere else in the Khatumo regions.
The contrast of the Somali government’s response to Somaliland’s criminal act and the reaction of the international community could not have been more glaring. As often happens, almost all remained on mute mode when it comes to defending Somalia’s unity and territorial integrity. Only the President uttered his usual mealy-mouthed mantra, calling on Somaliland and Puntland to exercise restraint without a word of support to the aggressed Khatumo people defending and dying for the unity of the country.
The President’s response comes as no surprise. This is the same President who, soon after his election, congratuled Somaliland on the success of their local elections, representing their separation from Somalia, and on the very same day when they were gunning down demonstrating unionists wavering the Somali flag in the streets of Lascanod, resisting the holding of these treacherous elections in their town. It is also the same president who, together with his Minister of the Interior and his ambassador to Kenya, gave a nod and a wink the other day to the Kenya government to deport Somalis from their country, at a time when the international community and international human rights organisations were defending their rights.
Chastised by the International community for invading Taleex, Somaliland can only huff and buff and put on a defiant brave face for domestic consumption to cheer up their demoralised downhearted followers, a job left to their so-called foreign minister, Mohamed Behi Yonis. Quoting article 10 of what he called Somaliland’s constitution which states as follows (as translated from the Somali text):
“Somaliland is a country that abides by the Charter of the United Nations and international law. It believes that conflicts be resolved through peaceful means and dialogue and respects the borders of other countries. For this reason, Somaliland would never accept that its borders with other countries be violated, nor would it tolerate trouble-makers and anti-peace elements to hold an illegal conference not authorised by the Somaliland Government, nor would accept pressure from any source not to extend its obligation to keep law and order anywhere inside Somaliland”.
Like the rest of his secessionist comrades, the Minister looks like living in a cloud cuckoo land. Needless to say, a one-clan entity that is not recognised by any government in the world, nor by the United Nations and regional organisations, such as the AU, but on the contrary is considered to be part and parcel of Somalia, cannot have any borders of its own nor can it claim any sovereignty or territorial integrity. It is only Somalia’s borders, sovereignty and territorial integrity which are recognised by the international community. No one should know this better than the Minister, having worked for the UN and other international organisations for almost all his professional working life.
It is the epitome of Orwellian double talk to state that they believe in the resolution of conflict by dialogue and peaceful means, when in reality the use of force has been the only language and means they have used to establish their separatist enclave in the first place, and thereafter to impose their secession by force on unionist regions. To say that they respect the United Nations Charter, when at the same time they are using brute force to deny the people of Khatumo State to peacefully and democratically exercise their inalienable fundamental human rights, as enshrined in the very same UN Charter, and to call them “troublemakers” and “anti peace” is again the height of arrogance, humbug and hypocrisy. If anybody is a threat to peace and has aversion to Somalism, it is the renegade secessionist enclave.
Normally one would reserve such ranting for the enclave’s notorious raving maverick, Faisal Ali Warabe, but not their foreign Minister who, until less than a year ago, had worked for decades for the United Nations and regional organisations as a Somali citizen sworn to Somalia’s unity. Given his credentials and background, no one is better qualified than him to bring sense to his people to take their place in the new federal democratic Somalia. Instead, he chose to forsake his life-long belief and jump on the secessionist bandwagon. In doing so, he did more harm to his integrity and character than he did to Somalia.
Arrogant and overconfident outlaws are prone to bring their own demise when they overreach themselves. This is what has happened. Their misguided attack on Taleex has backfired. As it is, the international community, having had enough of their excesses, has now drawn a red line for Somaliland that they can no longer have impunity to trample over other peoples’ fundamental rights. This is something that the people of Khatumo (and the rest of Somalia) welcome, all the more so since they have been let down by their own federal government.
Khatumo has prevailed over the obstacles and invasions from its two predatory neighbours. It’s Conference at Taleex at the end of April heralds a new phase in which neither Somaliland nor Puntland can any longer sabotage its political, social and economic development. Sooner rather than later, it behoves Nicolas Kay, the UN SRSG, presently beholden to Puntland, to treat Khatumo State on equal footing with other States of Federal Somalia. This is not a favour but his duty.
Mohsin Mahad
Email: Mohsinmahad@yahoo.co.uk