How TFG, BBC, VOA and Mahiga sustain Somaliland's Claims.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

How TFG, BBC, VOA and Mahiga sustain

Somaliland's Claims.

By Osman Hassan

May 03, 2012

 

If the collapse of the State was an almighty calamity for the people of Somalia, if not for Somalis everywhere other than the secessionists for whom it was a blessing, another existential one might be looming. This time it is the break-up of Somalia, as talks are to be held between two parties that care little or nothing for the union or for that matter Somalia itself, depending which side of the table they sit. One party is the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), an unelected, foreign-made, lame- duck government. The other party is the entity calling itself Somaliland which claims to represent the people and territory of North West Somalia and now demanding formal separation and recognition at the talks.

It is a mark of the separatist's success that a secession declared by one clan that is only one among the main five clans who inhabit North West Somalia (former British Somaliland) has come to be erroneously seen by the TFG and in various quarters outside Somalia as representing the people in that part of Somalia. The only challenge they face to their false claim is not from the indifferent if not acquiescing TFG, or from the dehumanised and disinterested people in southern Somalia, shell-shocked by the endless problems and suffering they had gone through since the fall of the Somali State.

 

Rather, the opposition to the secessionists and the challenge to their claim is from within, and from the four unionist clans who refuse to go along with the secession, typified by the on-going clashes since 2010 between the people of Sool,Sanaag and Cayn (now the Khaatumo State of Somalia) and the occupying Somaliland militia; or the formation of the other regional States- Makhir and Awdal. These are the defenders and saviours of the union and not its supposed custodian, the TFG.

 

This article examines how the secessionist clan, using the region's former colonial name of "Somaliland" as a put-on veil to hide its true one-clan nature continues to peddle its false pretensions and claims as a country with one nation, one people and one government and still find willing believers.

 

1. Somaliland's own efforts

 

No doubt the secessionists have been helped by circumstances or by others. The absence of a Somali government for many years and the indifference of the current TFG play a large part as do the support they receive from the Somali Services of the BBC and lately the VOA and Ambassador Augustine Mahiga, the UN Secretary- General's Special Representative for Somalia. Otherwise, much of the secessionist clan's achievement to project themselves as the sole representative of the people of North West Somalia is through their own efforts and relentless public relations and propaganda campaign.

 

Unhindered by the absence of government, and as the only active and organised clan in the whole of Somalia, facing no organised opposition within north west Somalia until three years ago, and with much of southern Somalia fragmented into mutually antagonistic clan homelands, the secessions had the whole field to themselves for a long time and it was to be expected that their baseless claims to receive under the circumstances receptive ears and minds in the outside world.

 

2.The role of the TFG

 

Apart from the support of others, it is the lack of challenge by the TFG in whatever form since its formation in Embagati, Kenya, that has played a large part in propping up Somaliland and its claims. The continued silence of the current TFG headed by Sheikh Shariif, with no finger raised or word of condemnation uttered, in the face of the secessionists' repeated brutal attacks on Buuhoodle, presumably part and parcel of Somalia, and killing hundreds of its citizens, sends an unmistakable message to the secessionists and to the international community that the Somali government tacitly accepts the break-up of Somalia and has no intention to challenge the secessionists in words or deeds.

 

One has only to look at the disheartening leading figures of the TFG to see what is going right for Somaliland that make one lose all hope: in terms of treason to the union comes the current minister of the interior, Mr. Abdisamad Maalin Mohamoud, a self-declared supporter of Somaliland's recognition and who, to add insult to injury, is included in the TFG team participating in the talks; then there is the Prime Minister whose preoccupations are confined to serving the interests of Faroole's Puntland within the TFG, keeping his post and endearing himself to his foreign mentors as the only pair of safe hands who can safeguard their interests.

 

And then there is Sheikh Shariif, the President, whose concern is keeping his office and making the most of it while the going is good. His vision otherwise does not go beyond the walls of Villa Somalia as far as the country is concerned. Maintaining the unity of the country does count little with him. One day he endorses the Khaatumo State of Somalia, only to get cold feet the next day in deference to the secessionist lobby. His secret talks with their emissary in Abu Dubai, purportedly about a possible quid pro quo deal in which he will help with their secession in exchange for support for his presidential candidacy tells it all. These cases and others going back to the time he was head of the Union of Islamic Courts epitomise how the Sheikh changes his colours like a chameleon in response to his impulses or inclinations of the moment. We have every reason to worry that he might do a lasting damage before he leaves office and all the more to be on the guard.

 

These trio and others in the TFG are directly and indirectly supporting Somaliland's claims and pretensions. As such, they are the last people to be trusted with the fate of Somalia's unity. It behoves all those who care about Somalia's unity to ensure this does not happen. These talks, if ever they have to take place, should be left to a future legitimate government accountable to its people and faithful to the constitution.

 

3. BBC Somali Service

 

No outside body had lent so much legitimacy to the secessionists' claim that Somaliland is a separate country from Somalia, embracing all the clans and regions of North West Somalia (former British Somaliland) and represented by its government more than the BBC Somali Service from the moment its current Editor took office. Almost all the information coming from the area is from the secessionist enclave and their principal towns- Hargeisa, Burca and Berbera. The Corporation's two local correspondents are both in the secessionist heartland (Hargeisa and Burca), often reporting government propaganda masquerading as news.

 

At Bush House in London, Somaliland's affairs would often feature in relevant regular weekly or daily programmes. Visiting Somaliland leaders, politicians, academicians, artists, etc are interviewed. All this mutually reinforcing coverage of the secessionist heartland while news from other regions and clans have no outlet puts out the desired but false picture of a Somaliland that is a separate country at peace with itself and united behind the secession and its government. The height of the BBC Somali Service's pro - Somaliland support was during the London conference on Somalia in February2012 when the period from 22 to 24 February was devoted to a blatant bonanza for Somaliland's propaganda and promotion of its cause.

 

On the rare occasion when they are forced to report on the SSC regions (Khaatumo State), as for example when fighting has taken place between the occupying Somaliland militia and the defenders of Khaatumo State, the BBC local correspondent in Burco, hundreds of miles away from the front, will first seek the authority's version of the fighting from their defence minister in Hargeisa. And then, for the sake of appearances of impartiality, will then seek back-up information form known Somaliland lackeys in the SSC who are expected to corroborate Somaliland's version of events.

 

Leaders of the now defunct SSC Hoggaan, established to campaign peacefully for the end of Somaliland's occupation, were smeared as terrorists by Somaliland, a charge often echoed by the BBC, disingenuously claiming to be repeating what the Somaliland "government" has said. The current leaders of the Khaatumo State, like their predecessors, are described among other things as terrorists and warmongers - crude slander imbibed and regurgitated by the BBC. Having been over the years blacked out, little that happens in the Khaatumo State (or in the rest of the unionist regions) that could negate Somaliland's image or its claims is allowed to reach the listeners of the BBC Somali Service.

 

Bowing at last to complaints, it is only in the last month or so and rare occasions that the leaders of Khaatumo State had been allowed by the Service to give their versions of events. But this is nothing more than tokenism, a flash in the pan that does not dent the wider pro-Somaliland picture. To be fair to the overall BBC management, they could not be accused to be behind this abuse of the Service for partisan purposes. What they can be blamed for is to allow it to persist for so long when it is happening right under their noses.

 

http://www.wardheernews.com/Articles_12/May/Osman_Hassan/03_How_TFG_BBC_VOA_and_Mahiga_sustain_Somaliland_Claims.html

[burahadeer]

[One has only to look at the disheartening leading figures of the TFG to see what is going right for Somaliland that make one lose all hope: in terms of treason to the union comes the current minister of the interior, Mr. Abdisamad Maalin Mohamoud, a self-declared supporter of Somaliland's recognition and who, to add insult to injury, is included in the TFG team participating in the talks; then there is the Prime Minister whose preoccupations are confined to serving the interests of Faroole's Puntland within the TFG, keeping his post and endearing himself to his foreign mentors as the only pair of safe hands who can safeguard their interests.

 

And then there is Sheikh Shariif, the President, whose concern is keeping his office and making the most of it while the going is good. His vision otherwise does not go beyond the walls of Villa Somalia as far as the country is concerned. Maintaining the unity of the country does count little with him. One day he endorses the Khaatumo State of Somalia, only to get cold feet the next day in deference to the secessionist lobby. His secret talks with their emissary in Abu Dubai, purportedly about a possible quid pro quo deal in which he will help with their secession in exchange for support for his presidential candidacy tells it all. These cases and others going back to the time he was head of the Union of Islamic Courts epitomise how the Sheikh changes his colours like a chameleon in response to his impulses or inclinations of the moment. We have every reason to worry that he might do a lasting damage before he leaves office and all the more to be on the guard.]

 

 

 

 

 

That what happens when you set fire on where you not seen different ,looking greener pasture in distant horizon unaware beyond! in the middle of earthquake...

 

meel lagugu jeclyay hadaad ka carartid meel lagugu necebyay baad hesha...will see if that prophecy on the money.?