MR ORGILAQE Posted November 2, 2004 Puntlanders and Somalilanders: Do you care the casualties of your men and the destruction of your meager resources? Omar Dhollawaa Melbourne - Australia Tuesday, November 02 2004 It is unfortunate and shameful for you to enjoy and sometimes feel proud to see the human casualties and the destruction of your meager resources. It is my believe that Puntland and Somaliland should put every efforts to explore some kind of viable initiative to end or at least to rein the border dispute between two States –Puntland and Somaliland. The people of Puntland and Somaliland are neighbors who for a longtime enjoyed a very good relationship in the areas of trade and people to people contact. Now, more than ever before, undoubtedly, it is the interest of all sides to preserve and maintain a peaceful relationship. It is the two administration’s duty to redirect their meager resources to health, education and employment sectors than war efforts. Claiming and counter claiming of your casualties bears no benefit to either side but creating more orphans, widows and the grieving of mothers and fathers. If I may briefly touch the contentious issues between Puntland and Somaliland, the two parts have to rationally reconsider and re-evaluate the following two important matters that are the centre of your problem: First, given the facts that anywhere in Somalia, well before the colonial era, we, the Somalis particularly those in Northern part of Somalia (North West and North East) had known traditional demarcations. Every tribe knew his borders and his grazing territory, where his livestock go for grazing, so that a formal demarcation was there since we started to occupy in this part of the world. Nevertheless, it is a fact, that when the British came here for colonial adventure they made demarcations that fit their geopolitical interest but NOT for the interest of either ***** or Isak - the main inhabitants of this region. Similarly, none of them, the Isak or ***** , had born with the arrival of the British colony. Therefore, the Somalilanders have to recognize their pre-colonial existence, and the facts that they were here with their known territorial borders before the colonial powers. They should not use as a stick yard to measure this matter with the reference of the British’s divide and rule tactics in the Somali’s contemporary political map. Second, both Puntland and Somaliland leaders have to seriously address the behavior of the few but high profile Laasanood politicians and traditional leaders who are criss-crossing the borders between the capitals of the two States. These politicians are sending the wrong signal to all sides, and they have to find their home either in Garowe or Hargeisa not the capital that milk the most. Obviously, this will help to clear the suspicious clouds that hover over the political and social position of the people in question. In relation to the current border accident, as result of the claims and counter claims from both sides, very few of us in the diasporas may know who started the war, but whoever did this was on the wrong and committed crimes against humanity. However, one thing is certain in this war, despite the claims of the Somaliland politicians and news portals, the President of the Somali Federal Interim Government Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was not responsible on this war. Any logic and rational Somali politician knows that this war was Abdullahi’s last wish for many reasons. However, that doesn’t mean the present State government had not provoked or started the war indefinitely. However, on the contrary, Somalilanders may gain more to start the war to attract more attention and try to discredit their traditional foe – but all these remains to be known in the future for us – the diasporas. In conclusion, I would urge all the politicians, on both sides of the border, to be considerate and avoid politicizing the border issue and explore a different ways and means to end their differences. Similarly, I would like to remind the masses on both sides to realize that the politicians will not be the victims of the war but the orphans, widows, the grieving mothers and fathers that the war will produce. Omar Dhollawaa Melbourne - Australia dhollawaa@yahoo.com.au Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
