Why Are You Seceding… Brother?

[Jacaylbaro]

I recently posted on two Somali websites a piece titled “Recognition of Somaliland is good for Somalia”. In it I argued that recognition of Somaliland will not harm Somalia at all and may indeed have a positive impact for all concerned.

 

I also mentioned that most Somalis are inexplicably hostile to Somaliland and its people. As if to prove me right, almost every reaction on every Somalia website ranged between the merely mocking of the childish variety “You will never be recognised naah nanah nah nah!” to the viciously hateful of the “Death to all Somalilanders” type.

 

But amongst all the hostility there were one or two people who asked why is Somaliland seceding?brother? That question is particularly poignant when raised by young diaspora-born or brought up Somalis who were not part of the oppression of Somaliland during the 30 years of union with Somalia and did not participate in the ultimate destruction of united Somalia itself.

 

Below I will try to relate the facts that led to Somaliland seceding in 1991. I will try to be as objective as I can with the historical facts but I am willing to be corrected if anyone knows more than I do about the events that shaped this blighted land and Race over the last 50 years.

 

 

BACKGROUND

 

Somaliland became independent from colonial Britain on June 26th 1960. Four days later it joined with Somalia after the latter gained it’s independence from Italy which was ruling it on behalf of the UN for ten years. It is worthwhile to remember that before July 1st 1960, Somaliland and Somalia were never united as a nation-state or joined under any tribal or clan arrangements.

 

Somalilanders and Somalis were both swept along in the heady euphoria of nationalism sweeping throughout Africa at the time. But this was not part of the elite Africans’ utopia of Pan-Africanism, it was an essentially nationalistic local affair. Somalis were not interested in African unity they were interested in getting the Somali bits out of the rest of Africa and out of anybody else’s dominion and bringing them under one roof.. The union of this two was going to be the start of a `Greater Somalia’ encompassing all the regions in East Africa inhabited by Somali-speaking peoples: The ****** in Ethiopia, French Djibouti and Kenya’s Northern Frontier District. Whether one sees this as a noble cause of unity or distasteful nationalist chauvinism is a matter of opinion but at the time this was the wind of change blowing through the area and beyond. Both Somaliland and Somalia bought into it with typically unquestioning enthusiasm and warmth. And it was in that atmosphere of heady Somaliness that Somalilanders decided to join their brothers in former Italian Somalia.

 

 

 

 

FIRST BETRAYAL

 

When the Somaliland government led by its Prime Minster Ibrahim Egal came to Mogadishu one would have expected they will be part of a power sharing arrangement in the new united Somalia. Instead the Somalia government took the following posts of the first independent united Somali State: President, Prime Minister, Speaker of the House, Foreign, Interior, Finance. In fact initially they did not give one single post to the Somalilanders! That was a World first as far as voluntary unions of nations go, and to my knowledge, it remains unique in all Unions of all new nations and territories anywhere in the world.

 

When shell-shocked Somalilanders raised eyebrows and then kicked a little fuss the Somalia politicians offered the Defense portfolio which, interestingly, they considered lowly, to Mr. Egal. He made it such an important ministry that within two years they removed him and gave it to one of their own. They offered Egal Education which he turned down.

 

Somalilanders soon felt this was not a union but a takeover. They patiently waited for the referendum of 1961 which was supposed to ratify the Union and they promptly voted against it by a large majority. But since the referendum was across the new united Somalia, the more populous Somalia (Somalia population was 3 million and Somaliland’s just over 1 Million) overwhelmingly voted to keep Somaliland in the Union fold.

 

But Somalia’s corrupt politicians cheated anyway, just to make sure. In one infamous incident they resorted to a scale of ballot rigging that would have made Kim Il Sung and Saddam Hussein blush in unison. They claimed that nearly ten thousand people voted in the village of ********* between Afgoi and Baidoa when in fact the hamlet had about 200 souls, and half of those being camels were, in theory at least, not eligible to vote!

 

Few days later the Shabelle River flooded killing most of *********’s camel and human populations. Some Somalilanders took this to be divine retribution and one anonymous Hargeisa wit asked God to deal with the Somalia politicians instead of picking on the poor hamlet.

 

“Oh the God who let the river wipe away *********?could you take away the government Ministers next week please?”.

 

The ********* tag stuck as a symbol of what Somalilanders considered Southern corruption and treachery ever since. To this day Landers* call all Southern Somalis Wallaweyn although without any malice.

 

 

 

 

AN ATTEMPTED COUP

 

After the refrendum fiasco in 1961, a group of Somaliland military officers led by Col. Hassan Keyd attempted a coup in Hargeisa but were betrayed by a co-conspirator known as Capt. Inda Dillo(”The Eyes of the Prostitute”). Somalilanders point out this officer, although Somaliland-born, was of Southern parentage adding to Landers’ general mistrust of all things Southern.

 

 

A WELCOME COUP

 

One corrupt Southern-run regime followed an even more corrupt one till Siyad Barre, yet another southerner and his mainly southern military officers seized power in 1969. Some Landers saw an anti-Somaliland bias in the coup, perhaps unfairly on this occasion. The coup took place shortly after some Somalilanders worked their way up through the maze of the incomprehensible southern political alliances leading for the first time with Mr. Ibrahim Egal, sidelined in earlier Somalia governments, becoming the new country’s Prime Minister and one or two other prominent Northerners emerging through the ranks too. Egal was in power for less than a year when the coup took place and he was imprisoned in a Southern jail. He remained there for almost 12 years.

 

Nonetheless Siyad Barre’s revolution was widely welcomed in Somaliland because he promised to fight corruption and establish a just and meritocratic Somalia. Landers knew they will be the most likely beneficiaries if he delivered on his promises.

 

Somalilanders live in one of the driest and most unproductive patches of the Somali desert but they traditionally controlled huge chunks of the economy and were among the most successful businessmen in all of the Somali regions in Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Somaliland. All these enterprising men and women needed was competent governance to let them trade and create wealth and Siyad Barre promised that. They rewarded him with wholehearted enthusiasm and loyalty.

 

 

NEGLECTED AGAIN

 

The euphoria of the coup soon turned stale when Somalilanders realised Siyad Barre was no more interested in Somaliland than any of his Southern predecessors. He did not build a single new college, hospital, sea or airport in Somaliland. This is all the more incomprehensible because the Somaliland Port of Berbera alone generated 80% of Somalia’s Foreign exchanges (see World Bank figures 1982). Before the Union with Somalia, Hargeisa, Burao and Berbera all had airstrips with international flights while Mogadishu was the only city in the South with an International Airport. By 1975 Siyad Barre’s regime stopped all international flights to land in any Somaliland Airport. He later re-opened Berbera’s because the USSR wanted to build a Military base there.

 

By contrast Siyad’s military regime lavished money and resources on far less important ports in Somalia from Kismayo to Bosaso. Mogadishu which did not export or import anything of value at all, was given a huge spanking brand new white elephant port built with EEC money. It remains a white elephant to this day.

 

Only when Siyad Barre realised that he needed a fast road to link the South and North in case he required his army to move up North fast for oppression purposes did he ask China to build a road linking the two parts of the country. Maybe he was also planning for invading Ethiopia which he did as soon as the road was completed.

 

Meanwhile the rot of Somaliland’s infrastructure under Somalia rule was typified by Somaliland’s second city of Burao. On the day of the union with Somalia in 1960 it had electricity, running water, two squeaky clean hospitals and two Secondary Schools (colleges). There were even few telephone lines for the most privileged.

 

The streets and buildings were so well lit the place shimmered like a gigantic diamond in the endless expanses of the Somaliland plateau. At night one could see its warm glow from nearly 50 miles away.

 

By 1980 after 20 years of Union with Somalia the water, electricity and the telephones were gone. There were still two hospitals but they were dirty and haven’t had a lick of paint for twenty years. The two secondary schools were now one. Burao no longer shimmered at night it was shrouded in permanent darkness.

 

 

OPPRESSION BREEDS RESISTANCE

 

Across Somaliland there was one area of exponential growth: Police stations and torture centres. Take Burao again. It had two police stations manned by unarmed cops when we joined Somalia on June 26th 1960. By 1980 it had at least twelve known police stations and torture chambers some manned by seasoned torturers with succinctly descriptive names like “Dhabr Jebinta” (”The Backbreakers”) and HANGASH , a unit so sinister no one even knows what their acronym stood for. Their activities were better known though: kidnap, rape, torture, murder and looting.

 

Somalilanders had had enough. They decided to mobilise peacefully, and typically they tried to do something about the neglected infrastructure first. A group of young men and women decided to clean up Hargeisa General Hospital and give it a new lick of paint. The Somalia government saw this as an extreme existential threat and arrested the whole group. They were beaten, tortured and raped in Hargeisa, Adadley and Mandera torture centres. Somaliland leaders and businessmen who tried to voice their objections peacefully were arrested or worse. By 1982 there were constant curfews, executions, mass looting and systematic rape. Somalilanders came to the conclusion peaceful opposition wasn’t working so they organised an armed struggle under the umbrella of Somali National Movement (SNM). This was no determined clan movement waging clan war for clan supremacy as its detractors will have you believe, but a reluctantly armed bunch of amateurs desperately trying to make their people survive.

 

When two of SNM activists hijacked a Somali Airline plane they had one demand: the stay of execution of Somaliland teenagers and their teachers who were due to go in front of firing squad the next day. Their crime? They held a peaceful, unarmed demonstration against a curfew and subsequent looting by the army in the Waterfalls district of Hargeisa.

 

 

ALL OUT OPPRESSION

 

The Somalia government felt the establishment of the SNM gave it a carte blanche to indulge in mass oppression in Somaliland. A State of Emergency was declared and the whole place came under the military rule of Siyad Barre’s cousin General Ganni. He was soon replaced by Siyad’s son-in-law General Saeed Xirsi Morgan because Mr. Ganni was not oppressive enough for the president’s liking.

 

Soon water wells were poisoned in every village, looting was made perfectly acceptable and rape became common place. Militias were formed from the ****** and Oromo refugees living in Somaliland since the 70s ****** war and tasked to do some of the work considered too dirty even for the regular army to carry out. I will leave to your imagination what these militias did.

 

 

ITALY CONSPIRES

 

Italy with its historic link to Somalia decided to come to Siyad Barre’s aid and kill off the SNM movement once and for all. It convinced the then European Economic Community (EEC) in 1988 that it will be in the best interests of both Ethiopia and Somalia if both stopped harbouring opposition movements in each other’s territory. The SNM used as Ethiopia as a haven to escape Somalia’s oppression at the time. No one in the EEC seems to have queried how can strengthening two dictators by silencing their oppositions will be good for the region and its peoples.

 

So in 1988 an embarrassed Mengistu Haile Miriam called the SNM leadership and told them to leave the safety of the Ethiopian hinterland. He knew what he was telling them: surrender to your enemy.

 

But of course surrender was no option. The SNM instead marched into Hargeisa and Burao on May 28th 1988 in a desperate last ditch effort to free their people.

 

 

ATTEMPTED GENOCIDE

 

The government’s response was as predictable as it was brutal. It shot every Somalilander male on sight. In Hargeisa, patients were pulled out of their hospital beds, put against the walls and shot. In far off Mogadishu special units started scouring the town for prominent Somalilanders. In one incident 46 Somalilanders were lined up and shot on Jesira beach outside Mogadishu. The Somali Nation State then decided to erase Hargeisa from the map and did exactly that. They ordered the whole of the Somali Airforce to bomb the town to smithereens and when one Somali pilot refused and landed his Mig in neighbouring Djibouti, they brought in Rhodesian mercenaries to do the task.

 

The British daily `The Guardian’ in headline titled “Somalis in a Genocide Bombing” said the following: “They just bombed and bombed till there was nothing left to bomb” it added that in the countryside too “They are conducting turkey shoots from the backs of Jeeps” Does this add up to an attempted genocide? I don’t know. I will leave that to those who know the legal definitions of what amounts to an attempted genocide.

 

 

SURVIVAL AND REBUILDING

 

Somaliland and its people survived the onslaught, just. The refugees returned to a country bombed back to year zero. There was hardly a building standing in the whole country. All the trained cadre and professional middle classes were decimated. There were no teachers, doctors, accountants, lawyers, plumbers or even mere farmers. Hargeisa region used to produce the best Sorghum(Elmi Jama) in united Somalia but no more. That is because they killed all the farmers or simply starved them to death by blocking their wells. The entrepreneurs who once made the North the most business-savvy region were either dead or went abroad. One commentator said to me at the time “Buildings can be repaired?.it is the human material that will take much longer to retrieve“.

 

Nevertheless Somaliland is rebuilding. Its towns now have some electricity, some running water and some of the hospitals are painted once in a while. It is nowhere as good as 1960 when Somaliland joined Somalia but its’ getting there! Landers are repairing the broken human material too. They are relearning peace and decency and compromise and democracy. They are relearning to speak freely as they once did and tolerate each other’s views. It is a hard slog after 30 years of suppression, trauma and sheer horror and it sometimes shows. They have an almost paranoid government that bans radio broadcasting and believes arresting political opponents is an acceptable practise in a democracy. But it doesn’t rob them or rape them or torture them. It does not line them up against walls and shoot them. And that is progress.

 

 

Conclusion

 

So the reasons of the secession include betrayal and sideling from power from day one of the union, oppression, taking away of people’s freedoms; complete and absolute neglect of Somaliland infrastructure and development; wholesale destruction and misappropriation of properties; venal corruption; denial of basic human rights and dignities and finally mass murder and attempted genocide of Somalilanders by the Somali Nation State.

 

But perhaps the most powerful argument for secession is the fact Somalilanders are now working really hard to attain the levels of development they had inherited from colonial Britain nearly 50 years ago. The Union, it can be reasonably said, had failed the people of Somaliland. That is why `we’ are seceding?..brother.

 

 

Thank you

 

Guled Ismail

 

 

here

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Somalilanders soon felt this was not a union but a takeover. They patiently waited for the referendum of 1961 which was supposed to ratify the Union and they promptly voted against it by a large majority. But since the referendum was across the new united Somalia, the more populous Somalia (Somalia population was 3 million and Somaliland’s just over 1 Million) overwhelmingly voted to keep Somaliland in the Union fold.

Wrong. Hiiraan was not in Waqooyi the last time I knew. Only Hiiraan and Waqooyi Galbeed provinces voted against it. Nothing to do with dissatisfaction of South or North. Nothing to do what was practically written in the constitution. It had everything to do what the campaigning local politicians told them to vote. Reer Hiiraan voted against the constitution because a local Reer Hiiraan was a fierce political competitor and who narrowly lost the to Aaden Cadde to the seat of presidency; Aaden Cadde being another Hiiraani. This just happened just before the constitution referendum. They voted against because inay ku xumeyaan Aaden Cadde, who was campaigning for the constitution and was president.

 

Instead the Somalia government took the following posts of the first independent united Somali State: President, Prime Minister, Speaker of the House, Foreign, Interior, Finance.

Wrong again. The speaker's position went to a man by the name of Qaalib, a northerner.

 

Somalilanders and Somalis were both...

There was and is no such thing as "Somalilanders." It is a term invented and dubiously used by long gone colonial, non-Soomaalis. We are and were Soomaalis to this day.

 

It is worthwhile to remember that before July 1st 1960, Somaliland and Somalia were never united as a nation-state or joined under any tribal or clan arrangements.

It is worthwhile to remember before the white gumeysidoons came to our land, Soomaalis, though not ruled through a central government, recognized and were interdependent of one another. The Soomaali in Seylac and Jabuuti knew and recognized the Soomaali in Raskambooni. The one in Gaarisa knew what was upto the one in Raasxaafuun. The Soomaali in Jigjiga knew what was upto the one in Baraawe. The one in Baydhabo knew what was upto the one in Diradhabo.

 

I'd have loved to comment other misinformation ku jiro this qoraal, laakiin waqtiba uma haayi.

[Kool_Kat]

I'd have loved to comment other misinformation ku jiro this qoraal, laakiin waqtiba uma haayi.

Weh after all that you wrote, wax yaalo kale maaba sii jiro oo 'misinformation' ah on this post...Intee u ordee, watiba uma haayi kuyeh...I demand you to get back here, right now, and continue educating those less educated about this - KK being number 1 student...Thank you...

[Jacaylbaro]

I doubt you read all that KK

[Chimera]

Brother do you know what really pisses me off? when Somalis hold grudges against each other for the actions of death men but somehow can kiss and make up with foreigners

 

Did you forget it was the US who was arming the Siad Barre administration? 70 million US dollars a year in military aid was send by Reagan's administration yet Guled Ismail doesn't seem to hold a grudge against the American people on how their death leaders once contributed to the death and destruction(and still do) inflicted by the Barre administration on our people in multiple regions of Somalia, no his real enemies are his own kin. The same people who's airforce completely deserted and left for other countries as a sign of protest against the inhumane actions of this administration in the North forcing the Dictatorship to hire foreign pilots

 

Why use past acts as a casus belli to secede or hold grudges when at the same time your trying to seek warm relations with people who bombed our schools enriched our dicator and his torturers with military hardware and funds? is it because those men behind it are no longer in power? but wouldn't this be a contradition in it's purest form when you have a former collaborator of the Barre administration as a leader?

 

Mogadishu pre-civil war was a hub for Somali entrepreneurs from all over the Horn of Africa, most of the development was due to them because they considered it their 'home' so it's only logical for this part of Somalia to be more developed than others. Most of these so-called 1st class citizens AKA 'Southerners' were Somalis who originated from all over East Africa. My home region Puntland wasn't even on the map in that era i can't even point out one significant city in that area during the Barre adminstration yet i do know that Berbera and Hargeisa were important cities in pre-civil war Somalia. When people's properties are returned this alone will showcase the large influence and wealth non Southerners once had in peace time Mogadishu

 

Our second President Abdi Shamarke then serving under President Aden Abdulle Osman's adminstration formed a government consisting of a coalition between SYL(a party that did not even state their origins as a sign of unity), the Somali National League and the United Somali Party(latter two originate from the North)

 

Another politician that rose to prominance was Prime Minster Mohammed Ibrahim Egal who first became the president of SYL and then Prime Minster. He practically ruled the country and it's foreign policy during his term. The most important thing to the Northern Somali politicians during the first two administrations and the third was incorporating the Haud region into Somalia and the general opinion in that era was that the country's presidency would eventually rotate from the South to other regions of Somalia especially with the beforementioned ascendency of P.M Ibrahim Egal, the materialization of this theory was however denied by the Military government in a bloodless coup ironically through the brilliance of a Northerner named Captain Khaawe

 

But make no mistake Britian did nothing for Northern Somalia, everything you see from pictures of the 60s/70s/80s is due to Somalis themselves just like it is today, so it ridicilous to even suggest Britian was somehow benificial to Northern Somalia when it neglected this part of Somalia for 4 decades in such a way the three Somali administrations wouldn't even qualify to hold a candle against it

 

The 1961 coup by junior officers from the North was never intended to be a coup to break the union that is just modern propaganda, these junior officers were admirers of the great general Dauud and proclaimed him Head of state to get rid of tribalism:

 

quote:The actual motive or motives of this aborted coup may never be made public, and the only clear statement about it that can be made is to repeat what each side side asserted. The lieutenants claimed that they were acting against ''tribalism'' and corruption and that their intention as Somali patriots was to seize the reigns of government in the entire country

 

quote:The Junior officers announced that they had made General dauud [commander in chief of the army], as head of state -John William Heelloy: Modern Poetry and Songs of the Somali pg 128

 

Those claims of breaking up the Union were rumours and there is no evidence to support this theory, fact is Somali patriots from the North put down this coup initiated by teenagers my age and eventually let them free without any punishment

 

So no brother all that you have written down is not a reason for secession just like in 5 years time our people in the South cannot use the actions of Yey the Vampire as a casus belli to secede

 

Thank you!

[ADNAAN]

“ So the reasons of the secession include betrayal and sideling from power from day one of the union,

oppression, taking away of people’s freedoms;

complete and absolute neglect of Somaliland infrastructure and development;

wholesale destruction and misappropriation of properties; venal corruption; denial of basic human rights and dignities and finally mass murder and attempted genocide

of Somalilanders by the Somali Nation State.”

^^ Well, in da souther "politics" , these characteristics aren’t considered bad at all. Case in point, their sheikh (read aweys) and Sheydaan (read abdulaahi yusuf) are respected in their respective regions, knowing wat dey did n r still doing, Why?

 

Now be careful, I think this article isn’t for the consumption of odayaal sisyaasad ku indho beeley, it si rather for:

 

“But amongst all the hostility there were one or two people who asked why is Somaliland seceding?brother? That question is particularly poignant when

raised by young diaspora-born or brought up Somalis

who were not part of the oppression of Somaliland during the 30 years of union with Somalia and did not participate in the ultimate destruction of united Somalia itself.”

As for the haters who want to put a stop to the progress, it is being long said “wan weyn indhihiisu circa ma arkaan ilaa la gowraco” , so just wait till the day Somaliland is recognised. It is only then that you will wake up and learn that the world rewards those who live in peace, aspire high and work hard to attain their goals.

 

 

Havin said all that, I have no doubt that the majority of Somalis in Somalia would want to live in harmony with their brethrens in Somaliland and inshalaah such a day will come regardless of wat da cynics say.

[xiinfaniin]

Way to go yaa Dul qarnayn a-Suumaali!

 

 

Laqdabo nooma hoosayso iyo lab iyo ceebaale

 

Lahan keeni mayniyo wixii lur ina gaarsiine

 

Lillaahaan kaga xoojinnaa luqada teena ahe

 

Ninba wixii ku laabudani waa inay ka laacaane

 

Amar nagu luggooyo ah kufrina lagu libaynayo

 

Oo nagu lid ah bay wadaan nimanka ‘Laatiine’

 

Leelleel waxaa qaba ninkii diinka laayaca e

 

Ma liibaano ruux gaalnimo laabta ku hayaaye

 

Laasima Shareecada rag naga leexday baa jira e…

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

If waqoye galbet has a historical grudge against Southern Somalis, what does that have to with the rest of northern regions. If there was any, the northern regions of Awdal, sool, sanaag and togdheere had as much to do with the "oppression" of woqoye galbet as southern regions like Hiiraan, Benadir and Jubba. If you can not agree with Mogadsihu, how can you agree with Laas Canood?

[Thierry.]

Well said dulqarnayn

 

You highlighted some important points that the picture is not as black and white as some deem it to be.

However there is no doubt that the people of Somaliland suffered significantly in the civil war and the wounds have not healed. Lets put our selves in their shoes, they have stable region and a growing economy, would you then join a warlord infested government and sacrifice your stability I know I wouldn’t. I wish Somaliland all the best in getting international recognition as a independent state.

 

When the time comes they will join their brothers in the South just as they did in 60s and just as many wanted to during ICU era.

Yusuf Yey and his cohorts are the problem Somalia needs a healer of wounds, someone who brings people together not a warlord who does not have an inch of diplomacy in his skin.

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

But Yusuf fought against the man, may God rest his Soul, who made you want to leave the country. Should he not be your Hero or is he from the wrong region?

[Thierry.]

What are you on about saxiib read the post clearly

 

I said the likes of yusuf do not bring people closer and do not benefit the greater unity of Somalia. Hence why the people of the South and North do not want to work with him. What that go to do with him being in a rebel group in the past.

 

 

NN there you go again making baseless assumptions, you think everybody that opposes Abdullahi Yusuf and his cohorts are either “looter Inc or Secessionist” you don’t know where I am from so do not shoot yourself in the foot, I am maybe closer to Yey than yourself.

[Xidigo]

^

[Baashi]

Thierry,

 

Awoowe which Somaliland are you rooting for? Clearly not all regions in the former British protectorate are for seceding from Somalia.

 

There are Hargeisa-Berbera-Burco-Boorame-Seylac triangle. And there are Sool, Ceyn, and Sanaag. Arguably overwhelming majority of the former is for secession. Significant number of the latter is for staying put with the rest of Somalia.

 

Apparently the South's mess has not affected the regions in the North that are for pro-unity. Puntland too seem to be stable and are thriving economically.

 

Why support the imposition of recognitition on folks who choose to stay put with their brethern?

 

Awoowe dismembering Somalia is not practical period. If dismembering Somalia is practical without violating the self-determination of some of the residents in the region plz explain to me. I'm all ears.

[Thierry.]

Baashi I have never rooted for Somaliland to secede that would go against my fundamental principle of greater Somali unity.

If those folks in the north want to secede then it is there right and I am talking about the former triangle.

 

I fully agreed with a post of yours the other day when you said Yusuf Yey and his government has strained the relationships amongst Somalis going against the purpose of the transitional government which is to facilitate a platform of unity.

 

When the time comes I am sure Riyale or who ever will be head of Somaliland will not turn down a cup of tea with someone like Sheikh Shariff where they can discuss ways forward.

[Baashi]

Cool.

 

Thierry awoowe we are on the same page then.