Well done to keep the political leadership limited, this should make them more targeted, effective and efficient. Compare this with Hirshabelle’s 81 cabinet members whose authority, legitimacy and reach is non-existent. Hirshabelle President appoints 81-member cabinet after two years in office WWW.HIIRAAN.COM Jowhar (HOL) - President of Hirshabelle regional state, Ali Abdullahi Hussein Guudlawe, has appointed a cabinet for the first time after being...

This is the second time I heard the SSC leader speak and must say I am quite impressed, he eloquently explains for all to hear what has fueled the uprising and conflict, and what has been the political gain of this conflict. He is already more of a statesman then many others Somali politicians who have been longer in the limelight. Nevertheless, he has quite a task ahead of him.

Governments negotiate on treatment and release of POW, instead Somaliland government showed they really don’t care what happens with the 300+ soldiers held captive. This official even stating that they don’t care if those soldiers get killed, ‘ha laayaan ciidankaa’. subxannalah

Is this true, or just speculation? What does it mean for the politics of Somali region?

On the issue of national sovereignty, we have to ask our selves do we want sovereignty to be shared by the region and the centre? And I am no legal expert, but understand that sovereignty is defined as the supreme or dominant power of authority and whose characteristics can be described by permanence, exclusiveness, all-comprehensiveness, inalienability, indivisibility, and absoluteness, and has as different sub-types, titular(in name only), internal(obedience from all that are within), external(recognition on the part of states), and legal (highest legal power). Does it make sense from a practical perspective and also a principle perspective, if it makes sense for sovereignty to be shared by federal states and central government, and what would it mean for ultimate power to be shared by politicians from the centre and states. If this would make sense, and why one would want that? My personal thinking is that it would not lead to better balanced governance or checked power, but might lead to further muddied political landscape. And perhaps the ultimate de facto sovereignty of power lies with the traditional leaders, that have already a quite an informal and positive power over their constituencies but who are not given any formal role in the structure state, while on the hand ‘clan’ finds itself a role in the other bodies of the state through the 4.5 Parliament and clan based federal states, while clan shouldn’t belong there. So why not establish a House of traditional elders, that shares the titular, internal and legal sovereignty with the central state executive, and that way balances positively and formally the supreme authority, and has a formal role in peace making and reconciliation, and that way diffuses the pressure for clan representation in Parliament and the need to form clan based states. Let the formal traditional leaders be the formal clan representatives and share/balance sovereignty. And this House of Elders would have a formal role in matters of clans, and play a role in the peace and reconciliation between communities and channeling the need for clan representation. The African countries that have given a formal role in the state to traditional elders are some of the most stable, peaceful and cohesive developed countries. Botswana comes to mind as a very positive example, and others like Uganda, South-Africa, with the recently deceased King Butulesi and whose traditional leaders play formal and positive role in the state. In everything is clan and clan finds its way in everything deconstructing and making basic governance and service delivery challenging, why not give clan a formal role, through its formal leaders and give a seat and formal job description, and that way one can deterge it from the other bodies of the state. So that a Minister, MP, Regional State or local authority can focus on their real roles without feeling the need or necessity to represent the ‘clan’, as its channeled through the House of traditional elders. Lastly, we have recently seen how permanence, important and comprehensive the role of traditional leaders in solving the most complex societal conflicts and disputes, which has been nearly impossible for politicians to play that role and solve those issues. Look at the recent important role Garaads have played in uniting the SSC folks, the Suldaans from Somaliland have diffused the tension and simmering political deadlock, the Isims and Boqor in Puntland prevented an almost internal civil war. If indeed their role, authority and power is that strong over people, and despite decades of undermining their role and status in the formal affairs state, their status is permanent, why not make them a formal part of the structures and formalise their collective roles, responsibilities and mandates in membership of a collective decision making body or House?

It’s a simple choice actually that SL leaders have to make. A) if the SL leaders really belief in a inclusive Somaliland with the SSC community being an integral part of Somaliland, they will choose peace talks and every road that can lead to them rapprochement , reconciliation and rectification (three Rs). And they will welcome and embrace SSCs political leadership and its traditional clan leadership, as a legitimate counterpart as they are united in their voice and political aspirations. And believing in a shared destiny between the people of Somaliland or Northern regions, they belief that’s is only a matter of time to find common grounds for understanding through dialogue. Much of the criticism towards the SSC leaders over the past decades was that they were politically divided and did not have a unified political platform and leadership and fragmentation was preventing seriously engagement and addressing the political wishes of SSC community. And today the politically unity of the SSC community who have formed a unified political platform and leadership, and whose 14 Garaads have united under the same political umbrella provides an opportunity to engage with, dialogue with and seek common ground with a legitimate counterpart. B) But if one doesn’t believe in a inclusive Somaliland and shared ownership of Somaliland based on the colonial borders with all its communities being part of it or aspiring to become part of it, and they see it as a singular clan owned and dominated project, whose narrative fully aligns with that of the SNM clan ideology that thinks it can subjugate other clan and political groups by using the incomes and control of the Berbera Port as a power leverage, then SL leaders might choose continued war with SSC, other clans and those whose who have other political thoughts. And this will lead to further internal crumpling of Somaliland and division that has started with the SSC folks uprising and Las Anod conflict but will continue throughout other regions with further uprisings and more people rejecting this Somaliland, and more clan based regions and communities deciding on self governance and forming alternative ‘states’z I think it’s those two choices that SL leadership has, and these two choices are inherent directly linked to the future of Somaliland, its viability, stability and social coherence. SL leaders needs to look at things from this dialectic perspective, thinking and decision making that consist of opposed or contradictory ideas, in order to examine, consider alternatives and find the truth. Without considering this dialectic thinking and opposing ideas, many would and already tend to see things from the singular truth and pathways professed within the ingroup members and will overlook better and more promising solutions and alternatives than the currently chosen and professed one, which is currently the trend.

Noocaas cadiifiinta ayaa umadii meel kasta u taliniya, ama beel ha u taliyo ama madaxtooyo ha dhex fadhiisto, wa isla cadifiinti qori ku taaga xalka u heysatay.

I think we need to distinguish devolution from sovereignty. We all agree that one needs to have a devolved system and for regions to have the means, power and mandates to arrange and provide services on local level and to have descision making also on that level. However do we want sovereignty to be shared between the centre and the regions, and for the regions to have a ‘veto’ in the affairs of the country so to say, which we have seen how it looks like with Puntland demanding some sort of veto power and trying to steer foreign policy of the greater parts, as example of how this shared sovereignty in the context of the Somalia might look like.

Awdal elders made wise decisions 30 years ago, that have made Awdal the most peaceful region in the Somali peninsula. The disarmament of militias in Somaliland is one of the most bravest and wisest decisions one has made. Don’t throw away the baby with the bathwater.

Madness continues, why the hell would AS be welcomed when SSC won the battle for their region and wouldn’t they straight go to Sanaag instead of making a pitstop in Las Anod. Seems more like the old tactics professed by Puntland, trying to smear every group that defeats them with the terrorist card and solicit for military project support and funds.

Gamechanger, markii hore ina khaldaneed oo ka toobad keentay wa ku sax santahay. Marnaba danta tolka kumee jirin ina la diriro beelaha dariska, iminkana waxa dantu ugu jirtaa ina heshiis nabadeed la galaan. Gobolada Bari aad ba u maray, xaaladoona iminkana wee kasii xuntahay dhaqaale ahaan oo abaaro sameeyeen, wa ina dib loo fikiro oo wax loo daraaso. Waxa dantu ku jirta Bariga oo nabada, oo dib loo biloowo isku socodka, iyo Kala ganacsiga oo markaas dhaqaalaha kor u kaco. Siyasiintii khaladaad waaweyn ayee sameeyeen, oo mee eegin dantii umada. Xisbiga Kulmiye 13 sano wadanka maamuliyay, oo seeskiisa lagusoo dhisay Caynaba wexe eheed inu ka dhigo Caynaba, Elafweyn, Oog, Garadag centreka (bartamaha) dhaqalaha Somaliland, oo ka shaqeeyo sida xiriirka, nabada, isku socodka ganacsiga uu la leeyhay SSC, Puntland ila Galmudug, Hiiraan lasii adkeeyo oo deegaan kaasi noqdo bartama dhaqalaha, meesha maanta ee noqotay darifyda colaada. Maanta hadaa eegtid inta gadiid, ganacsi iyo dad u kala socda Hargeysa-Gebiley-Borama-Wajale-Jig Jiga-Zeila-Jabuuti, ee tirada ka badan. Wexe eheed Inta in ka badan iney Burco-Caynabo-Oog-Las Anod-Garowe-Adado-Dhusamareeb-Galkacyo-Beletweyn u kala socdaan. Oo Caynaba noqoto sida Gebiley oo kale, oo dhan kasta looga socdo oo isku xidha, la ganacsada oo waxba dhaafin, mashruuc kasta ka mid ah. Meesha wax si ka noqdeen ma garaniyo, ma fahmi karo caqligii meesha lagu xawilay. Iyo caqliga yiri aanu ka dhigno deegaankeeni mid coladeed. Caqliga yiri Jabuuti wa la ganacsan karnaa, laakinse Puntland lama ganacsan karno. Caqliga yidhi dariska galbeedka (Jabuuti iyo JigJiga) wa walaleheen, laakinse dariska bari (Garowe, Galkacyo) wa cadoow. Oo degaankii barina ka dhigay front dagaal, xad coladeed ma fahmi karo. Ileyn Jabuuti, Ethiopia, midna kuma aqoonsana, labada Somalia u aqoonsan Somaliland iney ka mid tahay oo isku socodka iyo ganacsi xor u yahay op sida wajaale iyo jabuuti visa lagu weydiineyn. Bal waxa ku weydiiyay adiga oo isticmaaliya caqligaga saliimka, xagee ku jirtaa dantada, danta tolkaaga iyo danta Somaliland? Iyo yee eheed oo dantana ku jirtaa ina la heshiisid oo la sameysid nabad, oo isku dan tihiin. Bal Inta ka jawaab.

It kinda shows how lucky he has been to have been given all that unchecked power. Imagine if he would have used it for the positive, how much he could have achieved.

One of the reasonable voices, but unfortunately some are trying to silence him and harass him to keep him silent knowingly that he speaks the truth.

Indeed, the ball is with Hargeisa and he should focus on building consensus there, therefor I was surprised he was addressing the Garaads instead of the own constituency or SL leadership. It seems there is some guilt there. There were also some who said that he opposed and undermined the Khaatuma agreement Siilanyo entered with Ali Khaliif aun, and didn’t see it as opportunity to expand peace in the east but made other wicked political calculations. Perhaps why he is feeling guilt today, but still he is barking on the wrong tree. best way is to correct your own mistakes by the right actions. And his actions and priority should be addressing the own constituency to reconsider supporting disastrous politics, and building consensus there. Following the footsteps and line of thinking of Buurmadoow perhaps.

Thanks MMA, definitely culture should not be left to clan states, but sought to be promoted on an over arching national level without talents being limited by ‘state’, ‘clan’ borders. That’s what I take from this discussion.

It’s called group therapy, it’s quite healthy actually to process things and find ways to connect with reality . Waryara, tolkeyga ha ku xad gudbina waxbaa ba na heysta oo la yaab nagu abuuray, buuqan arkisiina wexe ka mid tahay sida isku daweyno. Ha hadlaan, ha doodaan, laabta ha sii dayaan, cafimaad waaye camal. Hadii la aamusi lahaa ayaa aniga warwar Iga gali lahaa.

SSC controls properly more land than Jubbaland, Galmudug, Hir-Shabelle, and should get whatever those States are getting. On the second point, as long as a conflicts have not been settled through a formal settlement marking the end of the underlying issue of contention, it will keep lingering on passively, and thus distrust and mistrust will remain even if it’s decades after the active fighting, and will undermines any discussion on commons and governance. This is not just some western concept, it’s also how our ancestors usefull to resolve things under the tree.

Indeed, war’s and conflicts can only be ended through negotiated peace determining a new balance. But Somali conflicts cool down while they continue to simmer below the surface. Even if there isn’t active fighting it doesn’t mean the conflict has ended, there needs to be a formal conflict resolution and settlement, even if it was for the purpose to signal to people a reset and make them aware on the formal peace and give things a place. I think this also historically how Somali’s use to settle conflicts eventually ending through a formal settlement and reset of issues and relations under a tree. Garta Geed ba lala tagaa.

Maanshallah, well done, ownership, self initiative and involving people in decision making are the key to unlock development in the regions!

Ilyria, It makes much sense for Somalia to adopt a devolved and decentralised system that delegates much of the authority, powers and roles to local/regional level of governance. And whether this system ought to be Federal, Confederal, Decentralised Unitary State or a combination of these, should be determined by Somali’s when in a sound and rational state. But for Somali’s to be able to rationally decide on this, I think we have to first reconcile the past and make peace with eachother over the inter-communal conflicts of the past decades who are still unresolved even though many are in a cooled down or frozen stage but whose presence is still impacting every day communal life and status of local governance in Somalia. Somali people and communities are still haunted by the decades of war, conflict and inflictions, which have fractured the inter-communal relationship and taint every political discussions with the underlying emotions and ghosts from the past making rational discussions impossible. In the absence of this peace, and lack of a genuine process of reconciliation and state building, initiatives have been taken for a bottom-up process of establishing localised/regionalised authorities. Which has been a positive step that filled the political vacuum and gaps experienced over the decades. Even though the established localised authorities have been positive, they were born out of necessity and political situationalism, rather than out of a long held political desire or struggles of different communities and regions. Not devaluating federalism or the established state authoritie,and certainly it makes much sense to utilise them as building blocks for whatever central State one is building, however we have to question ourselves what is it that politically Somalis or different Somali communities want and how can one satisfy their political wishes and aims. Now if we decide on federalism as the most suited structure or form for Somalias State, before fully understanding what everyone wants, we might make another mistake by prescribing a cure or remedie(federalism) without knowing the underlying disease, and that way we risk again providing a solution that doesn’t solve underlying problems(because we haven’t considered it) and then might even lead to more harm then benefit, adding to the complexity of the initial problem. An analogy from biology or medicine would be almost like a doctor prescribing a drug to a disease without understanding fully the nature of the disease is, leading both to the disease not being cured but also the drug’s side effect adding to the initial inflictions. Furthermore, if we assume indeed that ‘federalism’ is indeed the overall cure at hand, then the questions that rises is what sort of federalism, as ‘federalism’ is a ‘container’ term used for so many different state forms, of which some even are less federal than many unitary states. You have countries that unitary in structure but whose devolved and delegated authority is more ‘federal’ then countries like Ethiopia, Pakistan, Canada that all profess to be federal but whose regions have a lesser say then unitary states like Netherlands, UK, Spain and South-Africa. Coming back to the medical analogy, federalism becomes almost like a drug as ‘Hydrochloride’, which is based on acid salt, and is a base or ‘container’ drug for so many different sorts of medicine, from cancer drugs to simple cold treatments. The number of and diversity of different drugs based on hydrochloride is multitude and daunting. So for developing a new drug thinking in the direction hydrochloride is only one step, but nevertheless one has to figure out the other exact components to combine it with in order to cure the underlying disease, which still needs to be figures out.

It’s been nearly two weeks since Somaliland’s defeat in Las Anod, even though many sensible voices have spoken out about the mistakes and atrocities SL has committed more recently and also over the years in the region, nevertheless the political leaders have been quite silent on what’s next, except for distracting the people with calls to support and wave the flag for the army and worrying signs they want to take revenge and prepare for a new attack. Which many even doubt if the army is even capable of, nevertheless would serve no purpose other then to attempt to mask the failed leadership and distract the people even further. I think on the short term there shouldn’t be any doubt on what SL ought to be doing to descalate, save people from more bloodshed, get back on the track of peace and above all save SL government and social contract from imploding. A. Admit publicly its mistakes, offer apologies to the people of Sool and call for peace. B. Call all people to refrain from escalations, incitement and animosity while reaffirming the brotherly relationships between and communities. C. Send message of peace to Garaads and offer to come to Las Anod with an peace delegation of traditional leaders (Ergo) waving the white flag to Las Anod, to offer a hand of peace, negotiate over the damages committed, account for the casualties, terms for release of prisoners and guarantee peace and protection to all rural/urban civilians across all regions. I don’t think the Garaads will refuse to receive the peace delegation, but in case they do send an Ergo to Boqor Burhan with request to mediate. This is what I think specially SL traditional leaders ought to be doing as soon as possible, with or without Muse’s consent. Learning lessons of true leadership from allah ha u naxariisto Garaad’s Abdiqani’s example, when he in the 1990’s saved whole regions, communities from bloodshed and forged the reconciliation. Would this make sense?

In that sense one can state that this war, how ever unfortunate of the many casualties, has turned out to be a remedy for Somaliland that laid bare the truth, uncovered the lies and extreme ideologies spread, and hopefully might lead to modesty, and more rational political thinking.

Mr.Irir Samale, naga kala daa dee ma gobolada oo dhan ayaa isku qaadisaa. Ka waran hadaa dooda deeganada D** ku eekano.