Ethiopia and Somalia’s Secessionist Enclave of “Somaliland”

[me]

Ethiopia and Somalia’s Secessionist Enclave of “Somaliland”

 

By Osman Meygaag

December 26, 2007

 

 

 

It had been said that a leopard does not change its spots. And so the impoverished country of Ethiopia, and would-be regional power, is showing its true colors in terms of attempts to exploit in the worse possible way of Somalia's ongoing political problems. It is an open secret that this country (Ethiopia) has been meddling in the internal affairs of Somalia—its neighbor to the east—long before it's widely publicized invasion of the country in December, 2006.

 

The Zenawi Government's rationale for the invasion was rapped in the mantle of a state assisting its neighbor—nothing more than a desire on the part of Ethiopia to shore up Somalia's embattled Transitional Federal Government's (TFG) efforts to take Mogadishu from the Union of Islamic Courts movement that had controlled the city since June of that year. The fact that the UIC vowed to "liberate" the whole country was given as an incontrovertible proof that the Islamist movement emanating from Mogadishu represented a danger not only for Somalia but the entire Horn of Africa region and beyond. Many Somalis brought into this argument in part because they supported the TFG, warts and all, but also because the type of governance practiced by the UIC movement during its short tenure was fraught with heavy-handedness, uneven application of justice, and the presence of criminal and pseudo-religious warlords among its leadership. This was not reassuring to great many Somalis, especially when law and order was to be the Islamic movement's strong suit.

 

As it turns out this was far from being the whole story. Ethiopia’s military intervention proved to be much more expansive and beyond a mere support for the TFG. Their continued presence on Somali soil and expansion into relatively peaceful areas threatens Somalia's national unity and territorial integrity to the core. Furthermore, Ethiopia has all but made public its plans to dismember Somalia.

 

Despite many denials, there is emerging evidence pointing to Ethiopia having made decision to "recognize" “Somaliland”, the secessionist enclave of Northwestern Somalia as an independent nation. This is a hostile act aimed at stabbing the Somali nation at the back at its hour of susceptibility.

 

Judged from his nefarious activities vis-à-vis the secessionists-held enclave in the Northwest, Meles Zenawi must be convinced, these days, that the price of aggression against the Somali nation is rather cheap!

 

One does not have to look any further than Zenawi's Hilltop Palace's decision to appoint Ato Wubeshet Demmisie, an ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary, to that rebel occupied Somali territory as a head of large diplomatic mission in Hargeisa.

 

The recent interview that Ambassador Demmisie gave to Somaliland Times in which he commented about the secessionists' naked aggression against Sool region as an internal affair of "Somaliland" highlights the duality of the Ethiopian policy towards Somalia as the Ambassador has indicated in the interview and said that “Somaliland will not ask for permission from Ethiopia to engage Las Anod (Sool’s regional capital) because it has the right to engage and capture its territorial borders”.

 

The decision by Zenawi's regime to cozy up to the Hargeisa rebels has apparently been in the works for sometime. According to knowledgeable sources, among them the freelance Ethiopian journalist Tamarat Nega, the decision was recommended by a committee of Somali specialists that Zenawi personally commissioned for this task. Their recommendation, which Zenawi is said to have accepted in its totality, posits that Ethiopia recognize "Somaliland" as the linchpin of what they called two-state solution for Somalia. The committee offered this recommendation as panacea for Ethiopia’s historical inherent vulnerability as a landlocked country as well as the potential future threat of a strong united Somalia.

 

The proposed solution submitted to Zenawi by the so called “Committee of Somali Specialists” was a reward to “Somaliland” politicians' willingness to slavishly carry water for Ethiopia in any number of strategic issues of importance to Ethiopia. For example, politicians have agreed to round-up and hand-over to Ethiopian security personnel, Somalis from the Somali region of Ethiopia that come into their territory. It would then be up to the Ethiopian security personnel to determine the detainees' guilt or innocence. If they are young to middle-aged, male and from the ****** tribe, they are automatically suspected of being ****** National Liberation Front (ONLF) members or sympathizers. And so more often than not tortured and imprisoned, or worse, killed. This is in addition to the well known fact that weapons and torture equipment used by the Ethiopian regime against fellow Somalis in Ethiopia’s Somali region and within Somalia particularly in the nation’s capital, Mogadishu, are unloaded from Somaliland main port of Berbera and shipped by land to Ethiopia.

 

Having two full-fledged embassies, one in Mogadishu and the other in Hargeisa, Ethiopia has already embarked on the heinous course of virtually dividing Somalia into two. Having lost the Assab port to Eritrea and having soured relations with Djibouti ever since the management of that vital port was taken over by Dubai Ports, as a landlocked impoverished country with rapidly burgeoning population, Ethiopia has been seeking a secure conduit to the warm waters of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. Taking advantage of the prevailing grim political situation and fragmentation in Somalia, Meles and his cronies see the easy way to achieve Ethiopia’s strategic national interest is to divide and subjugate the Somali nation.

 

While the machinations of Machiavellian Meles Zenawi would only multiply the list of Ethiopia’s budding woos, it will certainly prompt Somalis to join forces and regenerate their battered nationhood.

 

Osman Meygaag

E-Mail:omeygaag@yahoo.com

 

 

http://www.wardheernews.com/articles_07/December/25_Ethiopia_&_Somaliland_Meygaag.html

[Xoogsade]

This writer is optimistic to a fault but God can prove him right and I hope Allah does prove him right. We desperately need to defeat the Xabashis and their ignoble cohorts who share blood, culture, and religion with us. It is somalis with no qualms about their country's future who facilitate the devision of our country for their clanish goals. If we don't defeat both ideology and the people behind it at the personal and local level, Ethiopia is here to stay ruling our country through Somaliland, Puntland and through Nolander Savages like Maxamed Dheere and Qeybdiid. As long as somalis are in love with their clan associations, their objective doesn't extend beyond narrow clan objectives, Somalia as it was Allah u naxariisto.

[NGONGE]

^^ This writer is talking nonsense and you're not doing much better yourself, saaxib.

[Xoogsade]

^ My impression of the writer is based on the last sentence of his article, he is too optimistic to assume somalis will suddenly turn against and be united by Zenawi's political gains in Somalia's devisions(that is, if you actually agree Ethiopia is undermining Somalia by promoting fiefdoms instead of a Unified Somalia).

 

 

Besides that, Is there anyone who makes sense in your book to begin with? I would be offended seething with rage if you weren't NGONGE. You are dismissed son, go learn few somali words for a change.

[NGONGE]

^^ I am afraid if I learn more Somali words they might infect my mind and eventually make me like you. I would never want to be like you, saaxib.

 

As for your question, the answer is YES. Many people make sense to me. Some from Somaliland, others from Puntland, few from the South and even some Ethiopians!

 

 

One's position and stance on any given subject is not what makes sense but rather their ability to articulate that position and the level of honesty they display. You don't display any (not a personal attack but simply an observation).

 

 

If we don't defeat both ideology and the people behind it at the personal and local level, Ethiopia is here to stay ruling our country through Somaliland, Puntland and through Nolander Savages like Maxamed Dheere and Qeybdiid.

[Xoogsade]

^ I write on the boards when I am short on time alternating between work and quick visits to the section. I do not have much time to write impeccably. I should invest more and write some serious replies I suppose. Some people are naturally gifted and don't require time to write masterfully, but I do.

 

Some subjects, articles, or posts don't require articulated responses as well. Few counter points in a paragraph or two can suffice these sorts of meaningless posts. There is room for improvent in my communication skills definitely. I won't be the first to claim perfection or live with the pretense of it when it comes to writing skills. As for you not interested or wish to be like me, we are even, I am not interested to be like you or somebody else as well, I am contented.

 

 

Finally, you have the option to not push yourself harder to read my messages from now on, you already know they are unintelligible. Do the right thing mate, skip them. That will save me few more precious minutes to write to others who can understand.

 

I am not gonna bother about my alleged dishonesty, I know I am right and honest, that is good enough for me.

[Ibtisam]

Ngonge look what you have done now!!! :mad:

[NGONGE]

^^ I did nothing. The words were up there to be read (and commented on) and I did just that.

 

Xoogsade,

 

Afraid I can't oblige you there. You post it, I'll read it. It's all opinions, saaxib.

 

If you believe it's about articulating yourself then I would strongly advice you to work on that area. At the moment, most of your posts come across as those of someone who dislikes one certain clan yet tries to hide such hate by throwing all manner of other issues around it. If that sincerely is not your intention or feeling, I would also suggest you thank me for drawing your attention to the way some of your words may be perceived.

[Centurion]

You want a pat on the back?

[Xoogsade]

^^ To be brief, I dislike A/Y and his support base. I shouldn't be faulted for taking a stance against him and the people who blindly support him, but if I am, I accept whatever label I am given for that. I have a first cousin who is from A/Y's sub-sub clan, my paternal grandmother who raised my father and his siblings is the same sub-sub-clan clan as that of A/Y, My mother's first cousins are of the same clan as well, these are my habaryaro, I disagree with and dislike some somalis based on their blind loyalties rather than their clan association. Their clan is incidental. People can belong to any clan and I may find myself disliking them.

[Baashi]

The author has a point. His point is 1) Addis junta has a vested interest in weakening post-conflict Somalia’s position in the region. 2) Somali political warlords, admin leaders, and what have you, are in collusion with Addis’s plans as the junta there has unparalleled influence over the political discourse of the Somalia that once existed. 3) Secessionists up in the North practice rendition -- round their brethren up, religious men, and hand them over to their enemies -- for political reasons related to the recognition drive.