Garowe Online New Political Strategy Exposed

[Cowke]

 

 

Somaliland can save Somalia from Mogadishu's maniacs, but will it?

6 Jul 6, 2010 - 11:01:03 AM

 

GAROWE ONLINE EDITORIAL | Somaliland can serve as an example to other Somali regions and Hargeisa, Somalia's second capital, can become the seat to a new Federal Somalia.

 

No doubt congratulations are in order for the new President of Somaliland, H.E. Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud "Silanyo," a former rebel chief and more recently leader of the Kulmiye opposition party. More congratulations go to the voters in Somaliland who, after enduring two painstaking years of unconstitutional rule under the Riyale regime, voted out the UDUB party for the first time in the unrecognized separatist republic’s history.

 

Ahmed Silanyo, new President of Somaliland

 

Somaliland's political system showed maturity and uniformity, for the most part, and the presidential election was praised rightly by many outside (foreign) observers. At Garowe Online, we agree that Somaliland's election be praised for the transparent and orderly nature of the people's democratic exercise. The election is a classic example to other Somali regions and yet another testament that self-rule under a Federal Somalia is the only option to restoring the defunct Somali nation-state.

 

However, foreign election observers and the international community must understand that there was no election held in Sool and Sanaag regions, which are allied to Puntland State. In fact, a Puntland government delegation led by Interior Minister Gen. Abdullahi Ahmed Jama "Ilkajir" has been Sanaag region since before Somaliland's June 26 election day. There were reports of election workers being shot and killed in parts of Sool region. No doubt, Somaliland and its elections remain deeply unpopular in Sool and Sanaag regions.

 

The incoming president of Somaliland has many difficult tasks and days ahead. Tackling corruption and attracting investment seem to be high on agenda for the new administration. Such things are domestic issues.

 

Review the separatist agenda

 

But Somaliland's separatist agenda must be reviewed for long-term stability and sustainable peace in northern Somalia.

 

On Oct. 20, 2007, just days after Somaliland troops seized Las Anod (provincial capital of Sool), Garowe Online editorial wrote: "What is important to note is that Somaliland's peaceful existence for so long depended on their detachment from the civil war. But by conquering Las Anod, Somaliland has effectively drawn itself back into the civil war."

 

Somaliland needs to inject a new voice into the discourse over its politics. The real question must be tackled: will Somaliland re-join the Somali national peace process?

 

Map of the Puntland-Somaliland land conflict

 

In prior years, it has been lawful to punish free thought in Somaliland whenever a native raises the prospect of Somali unity. Such restrictive measures alienate the public and provide another foothold for sentiment expertly utilized by radical propaganda from Mogadishu’s megalomaniacal maniacs or their sympathizers. Other restrictions include a government ban on independent radio stations; for example, Radio Las Anod, which operated during Puntland's control of Las Anod, was shut down immediately after the arrival of Somaliland troops in late 2007.

 

Will Kulmiye politicians open serious internal debate in Somaliland about the negatives and positives of the separatist agenda? Indeed, as in any true democratic society, free thought should be encouraged – not punished. Without international recognition and foreign investment, Somaliland is still a dirt-poor part of Somalia. Indeed, if only peace was a measure, Al Shabaab extremists have brought peace to major cities in southern Somalia, including Kismayo and Baidoa.

 

Elections and stability

 

President Silanyo's victory has many different meanings. He is the fourth President of Somaliland, after Tuur, Egal, and Riyale. He takes the helm of power through peaceful elections, a rare event in East Africa where longtime rulers such as Ethiopia's Meles, Eritrea's Aferwerki, Djibouti's Guelleh, and even, Kenya's Kibaki have all clinged to power through one illegal measure or another.

 

The people of Somaliland conceded power to the elderly Ahmed Silanyo for three major reasons: 1) his acceptance of the 2003 election, when Riyale defeated him with 80 votes; 2) his role as leader of the Somali National Movement (SNM), whom Somaliland's separatist zealots refer to as "Mujahid" (same term used by Al Shabaab extremists to describe their fighters); and 3) the Riyale regime's overt corruption and constitutional disturbances.

 

Somaliland's incoming leader should tackle to fix the constitutional disorder the outcoming Riyale regime created since postponing the elections for two years. This should be one of the new administration's major duties to help reverse the political problems that arose from the two-year constitutional crisis. Representative government based on constitutional law that is respected by all parties is the key to stability, and Somaliland people understand this.

 

In comparison, the State of Puntland does not use popular elections to change leaders. In January 2009, Puntland held its third peaceful election in 11 years and H.E. Abdirahman Mohamed "Farole" was elected president by the 66-member Puntland Parliament, which functions like an Electoral College during elections. Puntland, which envisions a Federal Somalia, has many lessons to learn from the Somaliland style of elections -- which mimics Western-style models of democracy in the hope of gaining international recognition from the West. Yet, the African Union, dominated by dictators and tyrants who despise elections, is the key to recognition for any part of Africa seeking independence.

 

Wisdom dictates that millions of dollars spent on expensive election gimics and experts, all from Western countries, could be better spent on productive activities such as improving water and electricity, or renovating roads and hospitals. Funds donated by Western countries towards the Somaliland election in the millions often benefit companies and experts from the West, while the people of Somaliland continue to face water shortages, for example.

 

Our advice to Somaliland: look at Turkey's years-long effort to appease the West with the hope of being accepted into the European Union. Turkey even banned Islamic clothing for Muslim women at Turkish universities. Where did that effort get Turkey? Today, research indicates that most of Turkish society no longer want to become EU members after belatedly realizing that what they lose is far greater than what they gain.

 

After 20 years of appeasing the West, international recognition has not come nor is it coming. Indeed, is it not time to rethink separatism and to take a share of the Somali pie that is going to waste in Mogadishu?

 

Mogadishu is not sacred

 

No doubt, funding and other resources donated by the international community under the name "Somalia" (incl. Somaliland) are spent in Mogadishu, to support the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), or Somalia's "shell government" as noted by regional experts. What is the result of international support to Mogadishu's shell government: only more killings and more displacement of civilians.

 

By joining the peace process, Somaliland can lead the way; Mogadishu is not Makkah, eternal seat of the Muslim Ummah. This is to say VERY LOUDLY the message that doomsayers seem to never comprehend: Mogadishu's status as a capital city is not sacred. Mogadishu has not seen peace over the past 20 years and its sense as a national capital where all Somalis feel an emotional attachment has eroded beyond recognition. The war-battered city’s newest residents, Al Shabaab and AMISOM, have continued the unjust wars inflicted upon any group that lives in Mogadishu since the outbreak of the 1991 clan pogroms and the subsequent ***** exodus.

 

If the international community genuinely wants to restore peace and governance in Somalia: all legitimate political elements with constituencies must be included in the process and foreign meddling should be minimized to the extent possible. The national peace process needs all pieces of pre-1991 Somalia to come together and to reorganize the country into federal states – a strategy that centers on community self-development, for which Somaliland and Puntland are examples, and not foreign-imposed "shell government" that controls a few blocks of Mogadishu.

 

Somaliland can serve as an example to other Somali regions and Hargeisa, Somalia's second capital, can become the seat to a new Federal Somalia. Mogadishu's maniacs have held hostage the Somali nation for 20 years and their time is up.

 

If Somaliland cannot step up, Puntland will.

 

Garowe Online Editorial

Comments/Questions/Concerns/Letters to the Editor: editorial@garoweonline.com

[Cowke]

Somalia: Failure in curbing the advances of the Somaliland secessionists

6 Jul 6, 2010 - 10:27:46 AM

 

 

by Mohamed A. Elmi**

 

July 5, 2010

 

As concerned Somali expats we are dealing with a complex set of problems in our quest for an ideal future for perpetual peace and prosperity through an overarching vision nourished by benevolent objectives and specific guidelines. We understand and consider the need for further research and study of the strengths of Somali cultural identity, political union, good governance and untapped natural resources. The scientific improvement of such crucial items is knowledgeably impeded by the continual fragmentation of Somalis into clan-inspired mini states and dominions.

 

Looking at the scale of measurement thus far, still running negatives for the indicators of our absolute social values are apparent injustice, cruelty, regressive political expression and self-destruction. That it might take beyond our lifetime to cut the social and economic deficit is a serious consideration unless the international community of states alters its outright negligence about the baleful conditions under which Somalia throttles in.

 

The Northern (Somalia) dilemma

 

While the South suffers under the weight of proxy wars, the North is routinely classified as relatively calm. Of the lopsided coverage of the presidential election in "Somaliland, a new description entered the Somali conflict.”Ballots vs. bullets" has been recently coined to draw a stark and unfair contrast between the North and the South of Somalia, respectively, while leaving the dire situation and conflict in Las Anod city and environs out of the spectrum of the political discussion.

 

It is praiseworthy that Prof. Mohamed Said Gees and his highly valued research organization, the Academy for Peace and Development (APD) pioneered and sustained the democratic process of "Somaliland" like the strengthening of the multi-party system, voter registration, constitutional law, how to develop and sustain peace and consensus among Somali communities, but it is not largely enough if it encourages and advances, in its publications, reports and academic books (commissioned by the UNICEF and the UK Government), the dismemberment of Somalia. On the other hand, the political reality in the North (Somaliland) gives us a different perspective. Fascist thoughts and behavior are tolerated and advanced in public spheres, schools and around government circles. For instance, the history of the SNM movement was officially proposed (though later reversed) to be part of the academic curriculum in Primary and Elementary schools. A die-hard secessionist would openly glorify the atrocities committed against the people of much of Sool, Ayn, Haylan, and Sanaag regions by the SNM guerilla fighters as justified means to “freedom”, and to secure the right to secede from the bulk of Somalia. The last authoritarian regime’s resort, however, to brutal force and bad policies had had dire consequences on every Somali citizen in almost equal measure until its collapse.

 

Inspired by a British colonial legacy, "Somaliland" declared an “independence” from itself, but the international media often ignores this fact. It also ignores how this entity emerged from the wreckage of the collapsed state of Somalia and how it superimposes its political aspirations---warped as it may---on the regions of Maakhir Territory (made up of much of Sanaag, Haylan and western Bari regions) without any ground forces to manifest for its bogus claims. Though, always and successfully, challenged, the claim to Maakhir Territory is her propaganda asset in her desire to balance and seek a legal personality status with rights and privileges as a new member of the international community. I am surprised the secessionist "government" is under no international pressure to retreat from its narrow political agenda, which might set a precedent or a "contagion" effect for this volatile, Horn of Africa, region.

 

International Economic Integration

 

Even though the rise of secessionist sentiments and clamor for statehood in the areas around Bur'o, Berbera, and Hargeisa, a.k.a the Triangle, is well reported, the region has not proven to be economically viable as it lags behind Puntland and the rest of Somalia in trade volume and foreign direct investment (FDI) in the private sector, according to a comparative analysis by the World Bank, collected data of the revenues between the ports of Berbera and Bosaso. With the exception of Sanaag and Sool regions, both of which are well-documented (Somalia, The Petroleum Economist, 1991) to have large deposits of oil and minerals besides marvelous greeneries in the Calmadow plateau, the secessionist-controlled areas are less endowed with such resources. "Somaliland" does not even fit Robert Gurr's 'Global View of Ethnopolitical Conflicts’, which states, "Smallness can be an asset in the division of labor in the modern world, where economies are linked through international transactions. The secessionist "government" also parlays the benign assistance from the U.N and related aid agencies into serious political advantages. A central government that would have applied a much-needed break against the parochial excess of one-clan secession is long dead, suspended or absent.

 

Moreover, fueling the violence and the anarchy in Mogadisho are part of its best strategy to dismember Somalia.

 

The Double Standards of the International Action and Media

 

Human rights violations, for instance, is systemitacally bypassed and news of a voter registrations process and presidential polls given credibility. Various not-for profits European organizations and individuals found new jobs and opportunity to build up their resumes and win lucrative contracts from donors and the states in which they are registered. Shameless deals with foreign non-state actors over our national resources for a mere payment--less worth of public expectation--or much lower than the its intrinsic value--are traded on popular stock exchanges in Australia and Europe.

 

The support of one group at the expense of another is how the policies of divide and rule in Africa are still employed and maintained by the powers that be. I recall once reading a good article about Somalia from the Foreign Affairs magazine. It argued for the promotion of a bottom-up approach as a viable solution to Somalia's political and economic crisis. One of its interesting policy prescriptions or recommendations was that it called for either the U.N or the U.S to launch a national deposit fund that doubles almost in half for every dollar every Somali region receives as a remittance from Europe and America. The money will be used to encourage local initiatives and traditional models of governance. At the moment, all the significant financial support and blind attention that Somalia gets have been unfairly given to three entities, one of which is the Transitional Federal Government Somalia (TFG)--the main recipient, while both Puntland" and "Somaliland" have been granted financial incentives to play minor roles for the International Community such as the war against piracy, international terrorism, and the promotion of human rights and democratic principles, though they abuse the responsibility that comes with such collaboration--almost routinely, in their hostile dealings with Maakhir regions.

 

**by Mohamed A. Elmi, ahafinance@gmail.com

San Diego, CA

[Duufaan]

You and Garoowe online editor need to fish together. let us see who get most fish by mouth fishing

[Cowke]

Duufan Garoweonline editor is one of farole son's therefore it's kind of official becuz you know what they say "father like son" I am fairly certain farole son know exactly what their father's policies are!!!