This president has an easy going personality, I don't know if incrementalism will work since Somalis like to see quick results. The people in Mogadishu and surrounding areas seem to love him and if he succeeds in eliminating Al Shabab and establish a modicum of a secure government in South and Central Somalia that would be a tremendous accomplishment.

Somaliland and Puntland are losing ground and both are resorting to theatrics, if they were an Arab state they'd distract their people with the Palestinian issue. Talk is cheap and as usual Faroole lacks the subtlety to do things behind the curtain, but the delusion that both Somalilanders and Puntlanders hide behind is a marvel to behold.

"Pirateland" has been running circles around everybody else until recently, they made the frame work for the peace process and were a major force behind the constitution. Their problem is the new president seem to be hell bent on forming a more centralized Somalia, and they chose the wrong time to transition to a new political system ( I don't think that Somalis are sophisticated enough due to clannism for a multiparty democracy). Somaliland is losing ground due to self inflicted wounds, they had many opportunities to take initiative but failed to do so but there is still time to salvage things I think.

Somalilanders should be happy and jump on this opportunity, if they reach a peaceful settlement with PL and and agree on a border they will solidify their chance to secede and have a stronger bargaining position with the Somali government. Of course I oppose this gesture since both government will divide lands that they don't posses in Sanaag and Sool.

Sheeesh... It might take many generation for the wounds to heal, you'd think people who claim to be Muslims know how to solve problems like these.

Xaaji Xunjuf;913713 wrote: And if you come with Somali, no one can base a statehood national identity on a lose identity called Somali,because what is Somali. what makes one Somali. its similar to the lose identity of the Arabs. Our next door neighbors the Djiboutians are Somalis for what ever that means. If a lose identity as that of Somali or Arab unites people. the Eritreans would have not fought a war to be separate from their linguistic kin in tigray whom they share the same religion language with but they consider Tigray not their identity. Similar to the lose albanian identity when the Kosovons gained independence one would think they would unite with their Kin in Albania but this was not the case ask you're self why because Albanian is not their identity Kosovon is. You're simplifying things as usual. Kosovo is a unique case, an ethnic group suffering from genocide and ethnic cleansing separating from their Serb oppressors. After gaining their independence its up to them to have their country or unite with Albania. Somaliland is an arbitrary country with borders based on colonial rule, there is nothing unique about Somalilanders that differentiate them from the people in the South so they made the logical choice and formed one country. If you had the foresight you could have called yourselves something else instead of "Somaliland" and invented a basis for separation, but you just want your own country for clannish reasons. What makes me a "Somalilander"? Where is this identity you speak about? Is it the British colonial rule or a concept beyond my comprehension?

Kurds, Eritrians, South Sudanese, Somalilanders. One of these things is not like the others, One of these things just doesn't belong. Somalilanders don't have any grounds for separation, they are not a unique ethnic group or religion. If every tribe wants a separate country then Africa would have 3000 countries. Yeah we know that you suffered from a brutal regime but you were not the only ones who suffered and the SNM wasn't a peaceful group either since they themselves committed atrocities against the peaceful people in Sanaag.

Haatu;913500 wrote: Somalia gravediggers grieve improved security What a funny macabre article title. I thought it was an onion article not from al jazeera.

Nice project. The architecture looks very Scandinavian.

My family is from eastern Sanaag, and they are the most peaceful people. I don't hate the SNM or Somaliland despite members of my family being killed by them and my aunt escaping to Syria to live as a refugee for years. People need to let go, I don't know maybe If Somaliland played it right I'll become a Somalilander

I really don't get this president, he is either playing a three dimensional chess board while everyone else is still playing checkers or he is bumbling ***** but things work for him like Mr. Magoo.

Oodweyne;909273 wrote: 1- remove this ever lying and incompetent foreign minister of somaliland. I thought you liked his credentials. Oodweyne;909273 wrote: 2- Make a clean break with the previous policy of talking to somalia till you have the IC actively joining the talks as a guarantor and as arbitrators. This is the worst idea I've read in a long time, why isolate yourself and anger major powers at the same time. Somaliland needs an agreement with Puntland on their borders. This nebulous border isn't helping you. Oodweyne;909273 wrote: 3- Stop subcontracting your foreign policy to any state such as Djibouti. You can't alienate anyone even if they don't hold your best interest at heart. Oodweyne;909273 wrote: 4- Rebuild the old diaspora effort in gaining the ears of the power of their adopted states. Astroturfing doesn't last long. Oodweyne;909273 wrote: 5- Establish a strategical resource based alliance with countries that need such thing from you. You don't have any leverage or resources currently to force that. Oodweyne;909273 wrote: 6- Bypass the regional organs such as IGAD and AU by basically making a mutually beneficial understanding with individual states on a strictly resource sharing arrangement. Isn't this identical to #4?

It would be great if you linked to the source, but anyway It's really sad how easily Somalis kill each other these days. I live in Edmonton Alberta and Somali on Somali crime is destroying our reputation.

Why bother if you knew that those properties would drown in a 100 years? My mother's family had properties in Mogadishu and they gave up on them.

Admiral?! are they fighting at sea?

Qaranki;900734 wrote: There's a difference between badmouthing and making an allegation. Somali 'journalists' think you say can whatever you want and if you are called on it get NUSOJ to release a statement on your behalf. I thought there was a court system in Somaliland. If he made unsubstantiated allegations then the aggrieved should file a defamation suit or is that too advanced for a so called democracy (C'mon man, you live in London) .

You can fix all the problems of clan democracy if Somaliland change their electoral system. A proportional voting system that takes into account every vote for every party will make it more important to court all the people (or clans) instead of only catering to the majority. The only problem I can see from that system is the instability in forming coalitions, but at least this will encourage people to vote for a party and know that their vote counts.

I'm starting to change my mind about this guy, does he know what a federal system means?

What a mess. I thought Somaliland despite their sub-clan democracy had a better voting system than the rest of Somalia. What happened to all the voter ID registration and biometric systems, what a farce. Being from Sanaag (nobody voted from my region) I'm glad we didn't participate in a fake democracy.

AfricaOwn;897049 wrote: And this is somehow is fixed by them joining a more complicated clan structures with Somalia? Haha Touché. I think it will be better to have proportional representation instead of a first past the post system.

Is the Somaliland electoral system a "first past the post" or proportional representation?

In 10 years Mogadishu will be one of the most beautiful cities in Africa. I'm impressed by what the people there can do when they achieve a modicum of peace.

I hope the Somaliland government keeps a cool head and doesn't increase their military operations in that region. People had enough with the interference of both mini states. Only the people of Sanaag will pay for election posturing.

There is a lot of mistrust and tribalism coming from people living in the west. I thought people learned something living there.

Who should care about the diaspora. Bunch of $@&*&^.