Osman Hassan

The Minister of the interior of the one-clan secessionist enclave calling itself Somaliland, Mr Ali Mohamed Waran Cade, has issued a stern warning that they had put their criminal occupation forces in Sool on high alert for imminent action in order to defend what he calls “their territory” from alleged Puntland’s aggression. What he calls “their territory” is none other than our own Khatumo State of Somalia, a unionist State that is polar apart from his secessionist enclave. This presumptuous arrogance is what you might have expected from the former colonial ruler but then they had imbibed so much from their former master!!

Such muscle-flexing and sabre-rattling from a puny enclave masquerading as a supper power might warm the hearts of his audiences in the enclave high on Qat overdose but it is one which will be dismissed in Khatumo for the farce it is when a one-clan secessionist entity, seen as a pariah by the international community and the rest of Somalia, claims sovereignty over other parts of Somalia.

What piqued this Minister is Abdisamad Ali Shire’s  presence in Taleex who is a native of Khatumo and from Taleelx itself. Abdisamad’s crime in the eyes of the Minister is to enter Taleex in his capacity as Puntland’s vice president, albeit a nominal one, without Somaliland’s permission or blessing. What matters about Abdisamad’s visit is not Somaliland’s preposterous posturing but the position of the people and government of Khatumo; for them, he is a native of Taleex and even if he is a traitor to his people he has every right to be back to his home territory and town provided he recants his treacherous past and does not engage in anti-Khatumo activities while on its soil. If he needed forgiveness or permission to return, it is not from an outsider, least of all a minister from an illegal entity occupying our capital and oppressing our people but from his own Khatumo State and his own people.

Unfortunately Abdisamad continues to serve not the interest of his people but against them by being an agent of his master, Abdirahman Faroole of Puntland,  a sworn pathological hater of Khatumo and its people who never misses an opportunity to make life hard for Khatumo and its people through Abdisamad and other collaborators hailing from Khaatumo. If he had his way, would have pushed them to refugee camps just as Somaliland’s occupation did as part of their ethnic-cleansing.

It is a mark of Somaliland’s progress in “statehood” that people who are deemed to be disloyal to the enclave are locked up in jail whatever their ranks in politics or standing in society or among their clans without any challenge to the government; not even Sultans had been spared. That is far from the case in the nascent fledgling Khatumo where the writ of the State has yet to take deep roots. That is why its enemies, like Abdisamad, can return and dare challenge its existence with impunity expecting with no retribution from government of Khatumo. But change is on the horizon when the Taleex conference installs a new administration that is to succeed the current provisional one.

But there is much to Abdisamad’s return to Taleex at this particular time than meets the eye just as there is more to the theatrical ultimatum to Puntland from Somaliland’s Home Minister. One has to bear in mind the commonality of interest between Somaliland and Puntland: both these two regional administrations are united and are in cahoots to scupper Khatumo. Both had been shaken by the establishment of the Khatumo State of Somalia in January 2012. Both have done everything possible to thwart or undermine it. But much to their frustration and dismay, Khatumo has continued to march on despite all their conspiracies and obstacles. What has lately given nightmares to these two enemies of Khatumo State is the prospect that the forthcoming Taleex conference would replace the current lame-duck provisional government with its rotating squabbling heads with a stronger functioning administration with an elected president, selected parliamentarians and a cabinet.

Needless to say, such a strong Khatumo government bodes ill for both Somaliland and Puntland: for Somaliland, it means the days of its occupation in Sool are numbered; and for Puntland, it would deal a death blow once and for all to its farcical baseless claim to the SSC regions as part of Puntland. Not that matters to Abdirahman Faroole. He  would continue with his delusion as long as he remains president of Puntland. Hopefully, his days too are numbered, not only for the sake of Khatumo but above all for  his suffering people in Puntland who have to put up with his arbitrary, divisive and destructive ways.

Abdisamad’s return to Taleex for the first time since he became vice president of Puntland is not for the love of his birth place or his people. If that was the case, he would have visited Taleex and other places in the wider SSC regions at other times in the past when his presence would have meant so much to his people. As it is, he paid lip service to their dire plight under occupation and hindered rather than helped their liberation, taking his cure from his boss, Faroole, and through him  from Somaliland.

His visit now is clearly at the behest of his boss, and his mission is to serve Puntland and Somaliland’s common agenda. In this regard, Somaliland’s ultimatum to Puntland is nothing more than a smokescreen for a joint action to thwart the Taleex conference in which Abdi’samd’s return to Taleex would be used by Somaliland as a pretext to invade Taleex. Puntland, which has no boots on the ground, has in the past contracted to Somaliland such military interventions against Khatumo as the attack on Tuka Raq over a year ago is a clear example.

Somaliland might consider Sool as the soft underbelly of Khatumo but they would be repeating their disastrous miscalculations in Kalshaale, Buuhoodle and Sooljoogto. Far from forestalling the installation of a new stronger Khatumo government, they would only make its people more united and resolute to foil the conspiracies of their enemies. Khatumo  might have traitors working for its enemies in Puntland and Somaliland but they and their masters would not prevail over a million Khaatomites imbued with their Darwiish heritage.

Osman Hassan
Email: osman.hassan2@ gmail.com