Somaliland: Time for Recognition

[Fyr]

http://www.somalilandtimes.net/2003/134/13402.shtml

[Nationalist]

"Somaliland: Time for Recognition"

 

I'm hearing that abused and overused line for years. Just face reality, you'll never get recognition. Not now and not ever.

[OG_Girl]

[JustCause]

So when is that time????

[BN]

So when is that time????

Presumably now.

[JustCause]

Originally posted by Bari_Nomad:

Presumably now.

Bari, you are not wrong there! Somaliland’s best hope of recognition lies with there being peace in Somalia and then could the road towards divorce start one way or another. That time could be now or the next 5 to 10 years!

 

PS.Thesis are written every day and nobody bothers to read them and neither are they used to argue for recognition! People here are behaving like number 10 (Downing Street) in nicking people’s thesis and basing their claims on it!

[BN]

Originally posted by JustCause:

Bari, you are not wrong there! Somaliland’s best hope of recognition lies with there being peace in Somalia.

Amazingly, those on the opposing side firmly believe(and hope) otherwise.

 

and then could the road towards divorce start one way or another. That time could be now or the next 5 to 10 years!

Certainly, I would hope divorce is not the route taken, but in the end it will be settled between Mogadishu and Hargeisa; sooner rather then later. Clearly, recognition will not forthcoming from either London or Pretoria, much to the chagrin of a few on this board.

 

PS.Thesis are written every day and nobody bothers to read them and neither are they used to argue for recognition! People here are behaving like number 10 (Downing Street) in nicking people’s thesis and basing their claims on it!

[LANDER]

Although many have already covered this topic, I plan on writing an upcoming essay on the broad subject of Self-Determination with Somaliland being my prime example. I very much look forward to this task as I plan on further indulging myself in concepts of international law, it should be a good learning experience.

This was the essay topic given to me by the prof: "With reference to specific examples, discuss the issues arising from the right of self-determination which is claimed by some ethnic/national groups." The only inconvenience is that I have to provide one other example besides Somaliland and I have to limit the entire essay to 2000 words. To my surprise though, being my first time taking a formal poli sci course the professor was familiar with the case of Somaliland and so were few other Canadian students as a matter a fact they use it as an example in other senior political courses as well as international law. I found this amazing given that there are virtually no Somalis on this campus. This thesis by Ms. Sanchez Bermudez will definitely help as it contains many of the aspects I was looking to cover. Thanks Tolstoy and don't hesitate to post any other related documents. If any of you know any great links or sources for researching international law feel free to share.

[Coloow]

I, Caaqil recognise it..how do you become a citizen? Is it a question of recognition or political, economic and social development?

[Warmoog]

Lander,

Try looking for these two books:

• Secession: The Morality of Political Divorce from Fort Sumter to Lithuania and Québec - Allen E. Buchanan
• The Economics of Secession - Milica Zarkovic Bookman

How about Spain and the Basque region for your second example? I don’t know if it will work. It depends on whether you’re looking for an example of a peaceful secession (few), or one culminating in civil war (many), or one that is still in limbo. Maybe you should try something closer to home... Québec?

[LANDER]

Yasmine,

thanks for the sources, I'll be sure to check them out. First of all in the two examples I am looking preferably to contrast a recognised nation (rather a new member of the UN) with the case of Somaliland. As for the second choice I am probably looking for countries that gained secession as the result of conflict. I was thinking more along the lines of either Eritrea or East Timor. Eritrea due to its similar ethnic and tribal make up where you got large ethicities like the Jabarti and Tigre and smaller ones like the Afar who were against the secession of Eritrea because it would leave them more vulnerable to the rule of these larger tribes. Not to mention the regional similarities that could be drawn between Eritrea and Somaliland. As for East Timor it could be a great example too, simply because its secession was defined by the old portuguese colonial territory. A border that was defunct for decades and was re-instated with the fall of a dictator (Suharto) hence the similarities with Somaliland. You suggested the Basque but I couldn't really draw any similarities or even substantiate argument for secession in their case. Firstly, the overwhelming majority of basque people do not pursue secession other than the smaller militant group known as ETA as well as a few smaller groups. Secondly, they do not control or run an integral amount of territory to even consider for a state, that is in either southern France or northern Spain. At least that is my understanding of the Basque movement. As for Quebec a slight majority voted in two referendums to not declare independence, therefore not what I'm looking for. I am open to suggestions though, feel free to give me any other ones if you come up with something else. Thanks.

[Gabbal]

Eritrea due to its similar ethnic and tribal make up where you got large ethicities like the Jabarti and Tigre and smaller ones like the Afar who were against the secession of Eritrea because it would leave them more vulnerable to the rule of these larger tribes.

Truly a repulsive line of thinking. Lander thanx for summing up what anti-secessionist have been saying all along. That "Somaliland" is a one clan show using colonization to be big fish in a small pond.

 

And Lander please don't respond with a punt, because your meaning was concise and clear, although not a reality.

 

As for similarities with between Eritrea and "Somaliland"; there is none save for the fact that they are both in the horn of Africa.

[LANDER]

Lander please don't respond with a punt, because your meaning was concise and clear, although not a reality.

Don't flatter yourself; your small-minded gibberish doesn't usually merit a response on my part.

[Mohamed nuur]

No warlord Should Claim land and say it is is people.

 

First Of All What People Are we talking about and second of all who gave an irish the right to talk about somali live.

 

I any somali knows any other somali than we know why the north still has it guns, And it comes down to oneanswer

 

POWER!

 

The north wants power and power and that is all they care about, as long as theie clan gets the food out of it then its all good for them.

 

Unlike me who hate their guts and soon, we shall loose these name all together

[Warmoog]

Mohamed,

Brother, your comments honestly don't warrant a second look, much less a response, but I'll offer a simple reminder. The Somaliweyn ideology, noble in its intent, is not about hate of any sort, least of all the tribal variety. I find your line of thought, along with that of more than a few other characters on this site, exasperating. If you are the supposed proponent of an ideology that seeks to bridge differences and unite all Somalis, why undermine its aspirations and chip away at its foundation of goodwill by professing to hate particular groups of Somalis?

 

*Sigh*

 

For the sake of maintaining sanity, I suppose there is little else to do but to differentiate between the Somaliweyn ideology in its intended form and the contorted interpretations propagated by confused youth who, in their misdirected frustration, haunt an otherwise respectable website such as this, leaving trails of questionable material and disagreeable ideas in their wake. Frankly, this constant yet necessary sifting through masked 'ideologues', who're trying to shroud conflicting beliefs with the same taut banner, is really getting tiring.

 

Lander,

Thanks for the clarification. I have a better understanding of what you're trying to do. Well, there isn't much I can say about East Timor because I'm not familiar with its history, but Eritrea sounds like it might draw a decent comparison. I'm guessing the focus of your essay is Somaliland's case for secession with the assumed finish line being that marked recognition, but perhaps you should also delve into issues that may arise in its future. Then again, doing so might stray off-topic. I just think it would be better to approach it with an understanding that Somaliland's problems will not disappear upon a legitimization of its nationhood. If you were to use Eritrea as the second example, you might also have to take its recent transition into dictatorship into consideration. Somaliland's own budding streak of authoritarianism isn't exactly promising, especially when one considers the eerie sort of complacence some people have already lulled themselves into. Whether you choose to discuss those foreboding issues, and how they can be circumvented, or not is really up to you.

 

Anyway, I finished one stressful essay assignment this week and roughly half of my references were journals and papers, all of which were available online. One good source was The Taylor & Francis Group, an archive of e-journals, papers and articles. To give you an idea of what you might find there, I initiated a search on "Eritrea" and received 370 results. A search on "East Timor" returned 657 results and one for "Somaliland" returned 84. Take a look. You should try gaining access through your school library account, otherwise you might have to register.