A French academic questions Somaliland's academic freedom and respect for the constit

[AYOUB]

Awdalnews Network, 10 Sept. 2005.

 

A French academic who was expelled from Somaliland at the orders of Somaliland's strong Interior Minister explains his case in a letter he addressed to one of Somaliland’s newspapers a copy of which had been obtained by Awdalnews Network. Following is the full text of Mr. Roland Marchal's letter:

 

 

Dear Sir,

 

On 31 August 2005, I was asked by Somaliland immigration officers to leave Somaliland by 1 pm that day. I had been in Somaliland for 6 days legally and my original travel plans were to go to Nairobi the following day; just 18 hours hence. I was not a new face in Somaliland. I have been visiting Somaliland since 1993, sometimes as a guest of the Somaliland government and sometimes as a consultant for various companies and organizations including the World Bank, UNDP, EC and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

In an article that you published on 2 August, 2005, you stated that the Minister of Interior, Mr. Ismail Adan accused me of not being an academic but an anti-Somaliland activist, an accusation that was supposed to justify why I was deported on Wednesday August 31. I was not brought before a judge to determine whether I committed a crime and no one, including the Minster, was able to provide me with any information regarding a deportable criminal activity on my part. When the immigration officers came to take me by force to the airport, I told them that I had planned to leave Somaliland the very next day and it did not make any sense for them to deport me given that I was going to leave anyway. I told them that I was willing to be confined to my hotel room at Maan-Soor under guard or at the house of my friend, Dr. Ahmed Hussein Esa. (a former research scientist at the Institute Pasteur in Paris and a well-known person in Somaliland and outside of Somaliland). I considered this to be a reasonable arrangement, but your immigration officers insisted that they had orders to put me on the first plane, at my own expenses. Over the past 27 years, I have seen Somali (including Somalilander) asylum seekers come to my country and I know that none of them have been deported or asked to leave France without due legal process.

 

With due respect to the Minister of Interior’s views, I categorically say that this Minister is flatly wrong and my expulsion from Somaliland raises serious concerns on the state of academic freedom in Somaliland and was a very wrong reading some of the officials of your country have of your democratic constitution. Neither does my expulsion advance the cause of Somaliland in my country or internationally. Let me first say that my position as an academic is not questionable by any minister of interior, either in Somaliland or France: the French Minister for Higher Education and Research is the one in charge (please visit the website of my institution:

www.ceri-sciences-po.org).

I am the Editor-In-Chief of the main French academic journal on African politics, Politique Africaine (please visit the website:

www.politique-africaine.com).

 

Being an academic has a number of professional implications: respecting the laws of countries you are visiting is one of them that I have respected throughout all my stays in your country from 1993. According to your constitution, which was overwhelmingly endorsed, had I committed any crime, the police should have investigated and evidence examined by a court. This did not happen. The police never asked me any questions about alleged wrongdoings. Your Minister of Interior was at Hotel Maan-Soor when immigration officers came not only to arrest me but to push and shove me into their car. He did not stop his officers from harassing me (I was not a threat to them or to anyone else, but simply demanding explanations for their actions). The Minister of Interior who was just 20 feet from me did not dare to provide me with the motives of my expulsion. In my reading of your constitution, the rule of law has a quite different meaning from what some of your ministers understand. This was also a historical first for me; a Minster clearly attending to the mistreatment of an international guest.

 

Let me now consider the label I got from your minister: an anti-Somaliland activist. As I said before, I have been visiting Somaliland from 1993, a time when some of your current ministers were not paying much attention and support to Somaliland. Never had this label came out. What did I do this time to deserve this label of activist? Did I distribute leaflets in the streets of Hargeysa? Did I organize meetings or qaat sessions to convince people and political parties in Hargeysa (whose commitment to Somaliland independence is not questionable) to change their minds? Of course, not! I did not do any of that any my position as a researcher an academic will not sit well with that anyway.

 

Throughout my last stay in Hargeysa, I never discussed this issue of independence since there is a strong consensus in Hargeysa anyway among all (I have concluded this from my many visits to Somaliland.) The only time this came up in a discussion was when two elderly businessmen, Abdilkadir Hashi Elmi, the owner of Hotel Maan-Soor and a new acquaintance I was later told is called Abdillahi Gahayr, came to me one evening and started discussing problems of more interest to me such as the low efficiency of Berbera port and the need for a fiscal reform in your country. At one point, the argument shifted to the issue of Somaliland independence. As an academic, I do not have to take sides and certainly, those persons could be upset not to have found the support they expected. I am neither a politician nor a decision-maker and I have to consider not only your tremendous achievements but also the rational behind the reluctance of the international community to recognize your country, long before the various TNG or TFG were established. As an academic, I reminded these two gentlemen that there is an international law that both South Sudan today and Eritrea yesterday endorsed despite decades of struggle and that the issue of recognition raises a number of international problems much beyond the Somaliland/Somalia case. The only thing I could acknowledge is a stalemate for the time being. I understand that many Somalilanders would be happy to see their foreign guests share exactly their vision and resolution of such a problem, but my doing so would have been simplistic and for me to ignore fundamental legal and international issues. In any case, I was expressing in a private conversation my understanding of international law, and to accept their arguments would have meant abandoning my academic neutrality. I have read your constitution and I fail to see how my readings in this matter would constitute a VERY GRAVE criminal activity and the grounds for deportation within 2 hours.

 

I want to conclude this letter by stating flatly that the treatment I received from your government will in no way change the views I developed about Somaliland and its people over the past 12 years. I always found your people to be hospitable and tolerant. The achievements of your people are laudable and I will continue to support your efforts to democratize your country and towards economic development.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Roland Marchal

Senior Research Fellow at the National Center for Scientific Research, Paris