The oversell catches up with Edna

[Sky]

The oversell catches up with Edna

 

 

Edna Adan is Somaliland’s best hope of recognition. As the most visible, active and capable member of the Riyale government, she combines that rare undefinable mixture of charisma, personal presence and grasp of her brief that makes extraordinary diplomats stand out from the merely capable. In Somalia context Omar Arteh certainly had it while the hapless Abdirhaman Buluqbuluq didn’t. This sheer lack of charisma and character partially led to Ethiopia so strategically outmaneuvering Somalia during the Libreville OAU meeting set up to prepare for the summit to follow. Somalia was completely isolated because he could not present his case effectively while his Ethiopian counter-part taunted him “Somalis seem to believe that everywhere a Somali cow grazes should be part and parcel of Somalia. If one takes into account that there are 20 million cows in Somalia then surely the whole of Africa will be claimed as part of Somalia soonâ€. The assembled African Foreign Ministers guffawed and the argument was lost forever.

 

But I digress. Edna already made a name for herself and is fast becoming synonymous with Somaliland. More accurately Somaliland is becoming synonymous with Edna in a way few leaders ever manage. Tito with Yugoslavia, or Nasser with Egypt or Makarios with Cyprus come to mind.

 

And that is not the end of her abilities. What other foreign minister can claim to have single-handedly built a hospital and still treats patients and teaches there while overseeing the nation’s bid for recognition at the same time. In short this is an iron lady of epic strengths and Somaliland is extremely lucky to have this majestic fighting Amazon of a woman.

 

But all great people often get their policy details wrong and find themselves in hot water. Mandela recently said to South African women “if we beat you it means we love you†– I wonder how those ferociously liberal Scandinavian females who fought so hard for his release from Robin Island might react to that? They will probably forgive him, it is the charm thing.

 

Edna is not helped by not having the backing of expert advisers or political strategists of any calibre in her department or indeed in the government at large. There are no short-term or long-term policies set in place for her to follow beyond the remit to get us recognition. Somalilanders are not big on addressing the `hows’. This leads to Edna often appearing to make policy on the hoof which is the most difficult form of policy-making known to man or beast because it is inherently risky and your interlocutors immediately suss you out even if you were someone as capable as Edna.

 

I fear these combination of factors are impacting on Edna’s otherwise sterling work and this should be a cause of concern for all of us.

 

Edna has made a habit of making forceful speeches about the wonders of Somaliland and how we are a debt-free, non-corrupt, self-sufficient Shangri-La in Africa. This worked for a little while with few Western journalists looking for exactly such fanciful stories from the continent but the shelf-life of such myths was always going to be short. Sooner or later someone was going to call Edna’s bluff and bring her down to earth. This is exactly what happened last night on the Question-Time programme from Johannesburg when Her Excellency repeated the same dross for the umpteenth time. While answering a question about aid and Africa she made the incredibly cheeky claim that Somaliland survives on “30 million dollars a year all of which comes from our own resources….â€. She capped this nonsense by saying “we receive no aid nor have any debtsâ€.

 

Unfortunately for Edna the wily and well connected Dimbleby has done his home work well and found out the truth about Edna’s Shangri la. Not only does Somaliland receive aid it is in fact almost completely dependent on aid for its entire budget. He discovered that the $30 million Edna mentioned are mostly bungs from friendly western countries.

 

He decided it was time to burst Edna’s Alice in Wonderland bubble. “But you ask for aid it is just you don’t get it†he probed Edna who was uncharacteristically dumbfounded for a very long second. She soon recovered and retorted “we ask for recognitionâ€. The boy from Britains’ broadcasting aristocracy wasn’t going to be taken for a ride by this African matriarch. He decided to drive his advantage home perhaps a little riled by a stunning verbal slap he received earlier from Moeletsi Mbeki whom he tried to patronise about his brother the South African president. “South Africa is not a family business†said the younger Mbeki to guffaws of laughter from the audience. TV show hosts’ highly developed egos are extremely delicate and they do not enjoy to be laughed at.

 

“But you do ask for aid as well� He repeated before Edna realised she had had her waterloo. To her credit she rallied forcefully saying that we are entitled to ask for development aid.

 

What is more telling was the reaction of the South Africa audience. She simply did not win them over to her side or her cause. South Africans, like Africans elsewhere, know as much about Somaliland as they do about dark side of the moon. What they wanted to hear was generally dependent on their race: The Whites would have been very happy if Edna recommended Mugabe for lynching, sang the praises of benevolent white farmers who so selflessly feed the hungry natives, lashed out at aid givers and blamed everything bad about bad Africa on Black incompetence, rampant promiscuity, superstition and genetically inherited corruption. Morgan Tsvagirai, the Zim opposition leader knew this and by and large followed this line throughout the programme. The Black audience on the other hand did not warm to Mr. Tsvangirai. They wanted to blame all kinds of africa’s miseries from terrorism to Aids to Mugabe’s behaviour on big bad whitey. It was all the fault of the dastardly colonials and surely it is their moral, legal and ethical responsibility to sort it out.

 

Edna was caught in a dilemma she clearly did not predict and did not prepare for. And having no political campus of any sort to guide her responses, she flapped about and pleased neither side. In her first response she managed to fundamentally contradict herself about the causes of terrorism. She boldly and correctly asserted that poverty is no excuse for murder yet suffixed her response with the opposite.

 

None of this takes away from her monumental achievements. To be chosen from 53 fully recognised African foreign ministers is a testament to her dazzling abilities. But she needs to be less extravagant with her claims next time. Establishing political benchmark principles on where Somaliland stands on regional, Africa-wide and international affairs will give Edna solid grounds to base her views on. Taking a leaf from Israel’s diplomatic book might be more successful than her current `We are just fine’ mantra(if you are doing that well without recognition perhaps you do not need recognition some might wonder). Israel had for generations a long-term policy line of portraying herself as a weak David under immediate risk of existential annihilation by the Arab Goliath. The policy was so successful that even the Arabs fell for it thinking they can lob the whole weak Jewish edifice into the sea. Edna does not need to go that far. All she needs to say is “look we are small, civil-war devastated little country managing to survive on minimum income some of which is kindly donated by our friends to whom we are gratefulâ€. The lack of recognition is hobbling us because our business people cannot access capital or get into mergers or deals with foreign companies. We pay more for goods and services insurance although we are one of the safest places on earth because we are lumped with our unfortunately chaotic Somalia brothers. In other words she needs to outline how lack of recognition is adversely affecting our chances of survival and progress. This will be more truthful than the current policy line if there is one, and in my view it will be far more effective. And only Edna has the skills, abilities and the character to say it convincingly well.

 

Guled ismail

halyey@btopenworld.com

[Gabbal]

Edna has made a habit of making forceful speeches about the wonders of Somaliland and how we are a debt-free, non-corrupt, self-sufficient Shangri-La in Africa. This worked for a little while with few Western journalists looking for exactly such fanciful stories from the continent but the shelf-life of such myths was always going to be short. Sooner or later someone was going to call Edna’s bluff and bring her down to earth. This is exactly what happened last night on the Question-Time programme from Johannesburg when Her Excellency repeated the same dross for the umpteenth time. While answering a question about aid and Africa she made the incredibly cheeky claim that Somaliland survives on “30 million dollars a year all of which comes from our own resources….â€. She capped this nonsense by saying “we receive no aid nor have any debtsâ€.

 

Unfortunately for Edna the wily and well connected Dimbleby has done his home work well and found out the truth about Edna’s Shangri la. Not only does Somaliland receive aid it is in fact almost completely dependent on aid for its entire budget. He discovered that the $30 million Edna mentioned are mostly bungs from friendly western countries.

 

He decided it was time to burst Edna’s Alice in Wonderland bubble. “But you ask for aid it is just you don’t get it†he probed Edna who was uncharacteristically dumbfounded for a very long second. She soon recovered and retorted “we ask for recognitionâ€. The boy from Britains’ broadcasting aristocracy wasn’t going to be taken for a ride by this African matriarch. He decided to drive his advantage home perhaps a little riled by a stunning verbal slap he received earlier from Moeletsi Mbeki whom he tried to patronise about his brother the South African president. “South Africa is not a family business†said the younger Mbeki to guffaws of laughter from the audience. TV show hosts’ highly developed egos are extremely delicate and they do not enjoy to be laughed at.

 

“But you do ask for aid as well� He repeated before Edna realised she had had her waterloo. To her credit she rallied forcefully saying that we are entitled to ask for development aid.

 

What is more telling was the reaction of the South Africa audience. She simply did not win them over to her side or her cause. South Africans, like Africans elsewhere, know as much about Somaliland as they do about dark side of the moon. What they wanted to hear was generally dependent on their race: The Whites would have been very happy if Edna recommended Mugabe for lynching, sang the praises of benevolent white farmers who so selflessly feed the hungry natives, lashed out at aid givers and blamed everything bad about bad Africa on Black incompetence, rampant promiscuity, superstition and genetically inherited corruption. Morgan Tsvagirai, the Zim opposition leader knew this and by and large followed this line throughout the programme. The Black audience on the other hand did not warm to Mr. Tsvangirai. They wanted to blame all kinds of africa’s miseries from terrorism to Aids to Mugabe’s behaviour on big bad whitey. It was all the fault of the dastardly colonials and surely it is their moral, legal and ethical responsibility to sort it out.

 

Edna was caught in a dilemma she clearly did not predict and did not prepare for. And having no political campus of any sort to guide her responses, she flapped about and pleased neither side. In her first response she managed to fundamentally contradict herself about the causes of terrorism. She boldly and correctly asserted that poverty is no excuse for murder yet suffixed her response with the opposite.

Wow Dheh.

[nuune]

This article by this brother should be forwarded to Ms Edna's office in Hargeisa, it will help her causes and refresh her abilities next time she comes to an audience like the one we witnessed, but in any case, kudos to her for making that special programme,

 

I remember, one of my friends said to me this the other day "I have seen a Somali woman on that special programme Question-Time " I wonder how he forgot the "land" part in which Ms Edna said countless times or maybe he didn't noticed there was a "land" in Somalia!

[Blessed]

^^If someone from England is English, one from Ireland Irish and one, from Poland Polish. What would a person from Somaliland be?

 

Hint, not a Mali

 

Anyway, well articulated analyses. I too hope it’s passed on to her office.

 

The trouble with SLers is that we are so in love with Edna that we forget that she’s just another politician, a profession of storey-tellers. And as the writer observed even the most articulate of politicians get caught out by their constant fibs.

 

To be honest, I was more worried about her response to the Mugabe question then that of Aid. I wondered how much Dimbleby knew of UDUBs HR policies-, which lets face, it, hasn’t been very sparkly of late. But has managed to come away by asserting a glossy image of SL and pleasing both the whitey’s and Africans. By acknowledging he’s misdemeanour but pointing out that it was for the African union to deal with…

 

Still, you’ve got to love the woman. If every dopey Farah in politics put as much effort; Somaliland would be GREAT.

 

And if anyone gets us recognised, it wil be Edna. This of course will mean we’ll be able to apply for IMF loans. Hence, get into debt and apply for more aid ..

 

Oh- the beauty of politics.

[nuune]

^^^^

If someone from England is English, one from Ireland Irish and one, from Poland Polish. What would a person from Somaliland be?

ofcourse Somali, menaah, my point was sidan: this friend completely forgot and didn't even noticed there was a mention of the word somaliland in the program, many others could have been the same too, and many audience should have missed Ms Edna's point on Somaliland or didn't even cared, I had to explain to him later in our discussion everything about Somaliland which took me long to do it!

[Johnny B]

I think Edna got what she came for !!

To extensively use the term SOMALILAND where applicable and even sometimes go off subject to name SOMALILAND few more times .

 

Though this is ONLY a panel in popular TV program ,aired from a Democracy ,

It´s a great acheivement for Somaliland in the eyes of those who so dearly want it recognized.

 

Now I dnt think attacking the Persona Edna or pointing out how she was off track will help.

Where is Somalia´s foreign minster? and What is he doing regarding the Somaliland issue?

 

[N.O.R.F]

So what does it mean to have Edna representing Somliland on a well known and well respected program?

 

She may not have covered herself in glory but she 'was' there. A lady (Somalilander)representing 'somalis' on a world wide televised program :cool:

 

Why was she selected i wonder rather than a member of the current Somalia govnt (whom represent Somalia)?

 

Why would a high calibre programe like QT select the foreign minister of an un-recognised country?

 

Have the BBC recognised that Somaliland is independent of Somalia?

[Suldaanka]

Lady Edna did her best in answering quite diverse and mostly unexpected questions, and most importantly she did achieve what she was there for. I am sure had she were not representing Somaliland, she could have articulated her own opinions more freely without the constraints of walking a diplomatic tightrope as she had.

 

If you analyse the performances of all the panelists, no one was perfect, even the British Government Minister had her moments when Dimbleby probed the contradictions in accusing Zimbabwean government for acts of humanrights voilations while her governments deports potential asylum seekers.

 

Over-all, she did a great job. Kudos to her.