Somalia Report: From Pres Mohamed Ibrahim Egal to PM Rabin

[Jacpher]

I just came across this letter. It's a decade old but it sure looks scary.

 

 

Text of the letter sent by fax to former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak

Rabin by President of the Republic of Somaliland Mohamed Ibrahim Egal.

 

 

Republic of Somaliland

The Presidency

Our Ref: SLR/PO/ISPMI/7/95

Your Ref: .......................

 

3 July 1995

Hargeisa

 

His Excellency The Prime Minister

of Israel Mr Yitshak Rabin

Hakirya, Fax No. 972 2 513 950

Jerusalem, Israel.

 

Your Excellency

 

Establishing Strategic Partnership with the State of Israel

 

In my capacity as the President of the Republic of Somaliland, an admirer

of the state of Israel and the courage of its people, please accept my

compliments and my people's profound felicitations to you, your Government,

President and the people of Israel for their tenacity, strength and

resourcefulness which had finally constrained its adversaries to make peace

with the State of Israel. I have the honour of representing the people of

Somaliland and its nascent state in this opportunity for seeking to

establish amiable and strategic links with the State of Israel.

 

It is important to note that our two nations have had strong links since

time immemorial. Indicative of such historical links, stretching well

before the advent of Islam to this date, is the influence of the Hebrew

culture in Somaliland and how Jewish legends and their mystical powers are

widely acknowledged and homage paid to them. In addition, the people of

Somaliland are appreciative as they have an indelible memory of the fact

that Israel was among the first three countries who recognised Somaliland

after it declared its independence from Britain on 26th June 1960, alas,

that independence lasted no more than four days as Somaliland entered into

a voluntary union with the UN Trust Territory of Somalia on 1st July 1960,

in the hope of creating Greater Somalia.

 

Exactly, thirty five years later, the dreams of Greater Somalia are

discredited and disavowed. It was under the union with Somalia that

Somaliland found itself a pathetic captive within a ruthless, destructive

and hostile state. Indeed, it was this union whose culmination was the

tyrannous and repressive regime of the late Siyad Barre which brought

about the enormous suffering, starvation and destruction in which the

world had witnessed and came to notice, too well, during the past five

years or so. The people of Somaliland have renounced such a union in May

1991 and reclaimed their independent sovereign entity, and nothing will

make them reverse the decision to extricate themselves from the captivity

of Somalia.

 

The vice-president and the Foreign Minister of Somaliland have, recently,

paid an official visit to Eritrea and while there met H.E. Ariel Kerem,

the Ambassador of Israel in Eritrea, who furnished them with valuable

advice and suggested that I, the President of Somaliland, should write to

your Excellency, as the Prime Minister of Israel, in person, informing you

about Somaliland's eagerness to establish an ex parte relationship based

on strategic partnership with the State of Israel and sharing with you

about my government's concerns and fears vis-a-vis the alarming menace

emanating from the expansion of Islamic influence in our strategic region.

 

As I am sure you are aware, at the height of the cold war Somalia's

strategic geographical location was acknowledged by both sides

(East/West). Today, however, although the West had won the cold war and

the threat of communism appears to be vanishing in many parts of the

world, we, in the Horn of Africa, are being threatened by a more sinister

and pernicious enemy in the form of encroaching Islamic influence. It

would be true to say that the State of Israel and its people are, perhaps,

more aware and alert of such threats than most other countries, and know

how perilous and pestilential the spread of Islamic influence would mean

for the entire region.

 

The political upheavals which have been taking place in the Horn of Africa

and the lack of stability in the region could be aggravated further if the

influence of Islamic Fundamentalism is not curtailed or contained very

soon. Somaliland's concern is reinforced by the growing influence of the

Saudis and the pro-Islamic Yemen, particularly ever since it had crushed

and defeated the South Yemeni's courageous attempt to forsake or renounce

its union with the north. Discovering that Eritrea is not interested [in]

to act as an Arab satellite, both Sana' and Riyadh, as well as Khartoum

(not to mention how pariah states like Iran and Libya are meddling into

the internal affairs of my country), are now directing their efforts to

force Somaliland to forfeit or withdraw its independence with the

intention of installing a pro-Islamic Somali state (under a federal

Somalia). This will most definitely render the control of both the north

and southern coasts of the Red Sea to pro-Islamic regimes, with the

exception of Eritrea and the miniature state of Djibouti which has no

significance leaving the whole region to become a bed-rock for Islamic

influence.

 

Your Excellency, my government firmly believes that owing to this region's

strategic geopolitical importance as a result of its propinquity to the

oil routes and the narrow Babul-Mendeb entrance, as well as its proximity

to the Gulf, the Middle East and the access to the Indian Ocean, it will

be highly deleterious if such a strategic region falls almost entirely

under the dominion of pro-Islamic regimes. Needless to say that this

should be a portentous eventuality which will in turn adversely affect the

national security of the State of Israel, and that of other countries in

the Horn of Africa who are trying to recover from years, if not decades,

of both man-made and natural disasters i.e. civil wars, military coups,

draughts and famines, etc. In addition, since countries in the region are

not politically stable the encroachment of Islamic influence will most

certainly have a destabilising effect. For instance, in Ethiopia with its

various nationalities and particularly with its large Muslim population,

the expansion of pro-Islamists in the region would act as a tinder-box

with the potential to enflame the entire region.

 

Although the people of Somaliland are over 98% Muslims, they are,

nevertheless, averse to adopt an antiquated Islamic Sharia Law as their

way of living and governance. In contrast my government intends to make

Somaliland a beacon of democracy and oasis for stability in this region of

upheavals and turmoil. But this is unlikely to happen in the present

climate, as we are ranged against by strong and powerful Islamic proxies

whose primary aim is to put out such an illume of hope. A foretaste of

what will happen if dark forces of Islamists will succeed in their pursuit

of bringing in a passé or an out-moded system, could be seen in Mogadishu

today, where a de facto administration from a coalition of Islamic proxies

and minority tribal groups headed by not so long ago UN/International

fugitive warlord General Aideed, where Islamic surrogates have been

infringing people's human rights with impunity; people are being stoned to

death for committing no crime other than fornication; and limbs are being

chopped off for petty crimes such as mugging and burglary in a barbaric

inhuman and uncivilised manner. My government has, in lieu of imposing

Sharia Law on our people, just completed the draft of a new secular

Constitution which is very liberal and mundane, for I am conscious that

Sharia Law does not reflect the needs of my people who are aspiring to

become a modern society.

 

Pro-Islamists are hell bent on spreading their influence & version of

Islam in the region, and are exploiting the plight of the people of

Somaliland. Islamists are the kind of people inspired by a boundless hate

who could even exculpate and excuse the crimes of the Holocaust. They have

scant regard of the dire needs of the Somali people. All they are

interested in is to have their way and are pouring arms and funds to

set-up a pro-Islamic regime in our country and establish more Islamic

proxies throughout the region. Their modus operandi is to take advantage

of people's predicament and impose unsuitable Islamic regimes upon and

unsuspecting people. Somalila nd is doing all it can to be a bulwark

against the spread of Islamic fundamentalism and sees this as an

international issue, thus would appreciate it if your Excellency would use

your good offices & enormous influence in the West, particularly in the

US, to alert them about the portentous/ominous situation developing in

this region, so that they would not remain hapless on-lookers while their

national/international interests are being threatened. I am absolutely

certain that those Arab countries noted above, as well as Iran, will

whip-up Islamic/Arab passion against Somaliland establishing amiable &

strategic partnership with the State of Israel and thus could use this as

a pretext to exacerbate our situation further both inside and outside

Somaliland. However, those countries need to know that my government is

not playing with empty emotions, as they often do, but playing pragmatism

and real politick for the best interest of its people and country. The

people of Somaliland have a daunting and onerous task to overcome their

Islamist adversaries and contain the encroachment of Islamic influence,

considering their strength, however, we are like David facing Goliath, but

then there were an overwhelming odds against Israel when it defeated Arabs

in three major wars. In order to surmount such an onerous task my

government needs the support and assistance of the State of Israel, not

only to defend our nascent state from the menace of pro-Islamist dark

forces, but also in terms of relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction of

this devastated country. In this regard my government has a number of

priority areas where your Excellency's assistance is pivotal to the people

of Somaliland, among these are: First, military equipment and counter

insurgency experts. Second, conducting plebiscite on the issue of

independence at the end of next year 1996 or early 1997. Third, relief and

rehabilitation aid as well as development advisers, petroleum and mineral

exploitation expertise. The people of Somaliland have full confidence in

their government and are absolutely behind me in this historic decision of

establishing strategic partnership with the state of Israel and I am

determined to see it come into fruition.

 

Shalom,

I have the honour to remain,

Your Obedient Servant

 

Mohamed Ibrahim Egal

President

Republic of Somaliland

 

Source

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Salaan...

 

Ducaqabe, ma rumeysatay qoraalkaan? It is unsubstantiated warqad circulating around the net the last five or six years, widaayoow. It sure was written in diplomatically, but marxuumka in laga eed sheegto ma fiicno.

 

I deeply have my suspicions about this letter. For one, Cigaal until to his grave was a staunch pro-unity nationalist Soomaali [he even accepted shirkii Carte lagu qabtay in lagu qabto Berbera or other small towns but changed his mind in the last minute because of a heated pressure within his rank and to keep his kursi, according to C/qaasin], and more reer Waqooyi Galbeed than waxa maanta goosasho rabo, oo u badan kuwii kacaanka guulwadaha u ahaa.

[Pure blood]

Abhorrent and very juvenile! I have seen this same document numerous times---with different sources.

[Jaylaani]

I guess we’re Jewish now?

[Warmoog]

Walle, Soomaalidu waa dad yaab leh.

 

This letter is thoroughly inauthentic. Pay close attention to the date, folks.

[RedSea]

Assalamu Calaykum,

 

I can only shake my head, this is total lie. The poeple of Somaliland don't need Muslim influence for they are already 100% Muslim. I don't think any one who even claims to be a Muslim can ever attempt to write such pathetic article. It seems the article did more to discredit Islam and the Muslims living in Somaliland than the recongnition which was the intentions of the article. Once again this is a total lie,Somaliland was in the middle of civil war when this article was dated, there was no such thing as Somaliland in 1995,the majority of the people were in refugees, Igal governments had no authority in any city except some parts of Hargyesa and I don't even thing he was a president, because he was voted into office in 1997. No way will I believe Igal wrote such thing or a Muslim person thought of such a filty article, NO way in Gassilion years my friend. :mad:

 

Assalamu Calaykum.

[STOIC]

Someone sent me the above letter in my mailbox and this is the response I have written back.....

 

 

Dear Poster,

 

 

You can count me as someone who hardly swallow

every wild claim passed off in the Internet as a legitimate

representation of an authority as anything can be feign easily in

this cruel world we live in. The tone of the above paper is one that

is acerbic in its nature towards the Muslims. One can glean from the

tone or the style of the writer as a servile self-seeker who is

attempting to please the Israelis at the expense of the Muslims. The

above writer comes out as a hangdog who will only be happy as clam

only if the Israelis will recognizes his wild dreams of

international recognition. This kind of letter can only be composed

if the writer is under a hypnagogic state (Which I suspect the

author to be).Any one with a half brain will realize that in the

International sphere countries abide mutual respect and consent and

not by potboiler like the above letter. I am not convinced that the

president of Somaliland has written the above letter , but if he did

then surely the country was run by a government occupied with

picayune matters. I personally have nothing against the Somaliland

relationship with Israeli, but my stab stems from this infra dig

letter. I am personally highly suspicious of the letter.

[Castro]

^ But the question is, what possible motive might the person(s) circulating this rubbish have? What do they aim to achieve? Why does this (clearly fake) letter rise to the level of a hoax and not just a bad joke?

 

I think it feeds some of the prejudices of (some) of its recipients. Or at least it is supposed to feed it. That's why.

 

Nonsense fawqal nonsense.

[STOIC]

Castro, I guess you may call this vilification at best.I have no clue why will someone write such a letter that debase Muslims.It is Poli ticks .....

 

 

EDIT Now that I have exposed myself for Posting my email exchange,I hope this will not haunt me at the end

[Jacpher]

MMA:

 

I don’t keep up the current Somalia politics as it changes almost everyday, let alone Waqooyi. I saw this letter on golkhatumo while in search of a certain gabay and I found its content very shocking. I didn’t realize it was circulating the net for the past few years. I don’t really know much about Cigal but it seems as if someone was out to discredit the deceased man. I happen to agree with Red Sea that it gives us, Somalis bad image/name than getting international recognition. SL deserves commendation for stability and all the good work they've accomplished in the region but I respectfully disagree with dismemberment of the country.

[Castro]

^ Saaxib you don't have to explain yourself coz I wasn't referring to you when I wrote that stuff above. It's the people who wrote it that make me ill.

[Jacpher]

Sxb, I actually didn't have you in mind when I wrote the reply but it doesn't hurt to know.