Column
Title: [SW Column](Zainab Aden) Somaliland Does NOT Recognize the TG Appointed in Djbouti Posted by/on:[AMJ][Friday, November 10, 2000]

 

Opinions expressed in this column are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of SW.

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Somaliland Does NOT Recognize

the Transitional Government Appointed in Djibouti

 

Another Centralist Government: A missed Opportunity

 The Government of Somaliland does not recognize the transitional regime headed by Mr. Abdul-Qasim Salad Hassan, who was appointed President by the Arta Conference last August. That development has further complicated efforts to reach a peaceful settlement by the opposing factions in the South, adding a new and more dangerous dimension to the stability of the region. Although the conference was convened with good intentions as a peace and reconciliation initiative, its sponsors squandered a rare opportunity to bring about a lasting solution to the Somali predicament. During the many months of discussions in Arta, little effort was made to reconcile the fundamental and bitter differences among the various Somali factions, who had lost any desire to trust anyone after years of clan conflicts. The Arta Conference sponsors, instead, focused almost single-mindedly on a mission to create yet another centralist government to “govern” the whole of Somalia. In their blind rush to create an administrative structure, so as to claim a quick victory, both Djibouti and the UN -- the two main sponsors of the conference -- terribly misread the nature and complexity of the Somali problem. Following the disastrous UN peacekeeping mission in Somalia in the 1990s, the UN’s urgent desire to seek a quick triumph in nation building is understandable. But to repeat the same mistake and ignore the ground realities of the Somali situation was as unconscionable as it was foolhardy.  

Contrary to what the organizers of the Arta Conference believed, the Somali problem is NOT due to the absence of a centralist government! In fact, it was the high-handed centralist administrations in the past that implanted the seeds of Somalia’s destruction and the demise of the state. No one steeped in the history of the country and the fierce clan-based rivalries among its people would have endorsed a process totally focused on setting up a centralist government, which is the only outcome of the Djibouti initiative. The Arta process was, therefore, flawed from the beginning but its proponents chose to ignore the voices of reason, including those of Somaliland, which counseled the need for a different bottom-up approach. The Somali people, after years of bad governance and clan infighting have lost more than a central government; they have lost allegiance to national structures; they have lost trust in anyone outside their clan circles; they have also lost capacity to rise above personal or clan interests and work for the higher national good. Because decades of corrupt regimes and uncompromising warlords have eroded the national fabric, reconstituting a national government can only take place if it is preceded by strenuous efforts to achieve genuine reconciliation among the opposing parties. That is where the Djibouti initiative has failed.  It was, indeed, the restoration of these lost national values that should have been the first and foremost priority of the Arta Conference.  Instead, another opportunity was lost.

 Initially, Somaliland welcomed the Djibouti-sponsored peace initiative very warmly. In fact, the Government of Somaliland had offered to host a conference in Hargeisa to facilitate reconciliation among the factions in the South. The working assumption was that once peace returned and a representative leadership emerged from the South, Somaliland would have a partner with whom to negotiate future relations. But the outcome of the conference disappointed Somaliland and its people. An unrepresentative government was appointed which has yet to establish legitimacy and authority anywhere, including the capital city, Mogadishu, which still remains divided.  

It would, indeed, be wrong to see the outcome of the Arta Conference as a triumph of democracy, let alone believe that the hastily patched up government can restore stability to Somalia, a country that has long disintegrated as a united entity. The appointment of individuals, with dubious backgrounds and records, to cabinet positions is reminiscent of Siad’s discredited era, when most of the prominent members of the Transitional regime honed their political skills; it is also reflective of a dangerous shortcoming of the leaders of the Transitional Administration. Because most of them had spent many years as exiles in other countries (before political ambitions beckoned them to Arta), they obviously lack sufficient grounding in the new political realities, contradictions and confrontations that exist in the territory formerly known as Somali Republic. And they cannot be expected to solve Somalia’s seemingly intractable problems reestablishing structures modeled after Siad’s failed system. There are bigger issues at stake than setting up a central government structure.  The main trouble lies ahead because bitter clan differences have not been resolved, and no one seems to be addressing them as the first step toward reconstruction of a national government

 The Transitional Regime’s actions so far speak volumes about how their priorities are deeply misplaced.  Since his appointment in August, Mr. Hassan has spent almost all of his time traveling to foreign capitals, seeking financial support and diplomatic recognition for his administration. He did very little to address the more urgent and fundamental issue of reconciliation among the various Somali factions. And therein lies another painful lesson. Because the Arta Conference was essentially a foreign-backed initiative, Hassan and his team seem to believe that they can govern only with the assistance of foreign patronage. Mr. Hassan’s tactic is to present himself as the leader of new Somalia. Yet there is nothing new about the content of his cabinet or character of his vision. Somalia’s problems are homegrown, requiring internal harmony, a local commitment to reconcile and a burning desire to succeed in nation building. No amount of foreign aid can remove decades of clan animosity and bitterness unless the people themselves reach an accommodation based on a genuine desire to live together peacefully. That is the agenda, which Hassan and his team should pursue relentlessly but there is a second and more disturbing lesson. After nearly thirty years of experimentation with a centralist form of government, it is obvious that the Somali people need leadership with a new vision and direction. But all that Hassan and his team are offering is a return to the old failed structures, shepherded by the same old faces. 

 To many objective observers, the Arta Conference represented yet another attempt by foreigners to dictate the destiny of the Somali people. The political low point of the Arta process was reached when the President of Djibouti personally appointed 20 people to the Transitional Assembly – an undemocratic experience which frightened off even the most staunch supporter of the Djibouti initiative.  

The Transitional Regime harps on about the need to create a new Somalia and restore unity. So far, however, they have taken no credible steps in that direction. Even in Mogadishu, where wars of words still accompany sporadic gunfire, there are no signs of efforts to unite the capital city. Reconciliation is a long and arduous process that is rooted in firm understanding of the realities on the political realities on the ground. In this faculty, the Transitional Regime can learn from the successful experience of Somaliland.   

The Arta Conference did not Concern Somaliland 

The Government of Somaliland supports strongly all efforts by our Somali brothers and sisters in the South to reach a rapid reconciliation, peaceful settlement and restoration of effective governance in the southern regions of the former Somali Republic. It is waiting impatiently for the formation of a legitimate government there with which it could negotiate the course of future relations between the two sisterly nations.

 The Arta conference, which was sponsored by the Government of Djibouti, did not concern Somaliland and its people directly. The people of Somaliland, however, wholeheartedly welcomed the initiative because it was seen as an attempt to bring about reconciliation among the warring factions in the Southern regions of the former Somali Republic, a country that disintegrated following the collapse of Barre’s brutal military regime in 1991. Somaliland has resolved all its internal conflicts peacefully with the help of its traditional leaders, religious notables, politicians and civil society in a spirit of solidarity and national sovereignty. Somaliland did not need foreign-sponsored initiatives to achieve peace and establish a functioning government.

 All along, however, the people of Somaliland have expressed serious reservations about the conduct of the Arta conference and its hostile attitude toward the people of Somaliland.  

• First, the conference sponsors ignored Somaliland’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.   

• Second, the conference sponsors repeatedly interfered in the internal affairs of Somaliland by encouraging Somaliland nationals to participate in the conference in violation of the rules of Somaliland. 

• Third, they launched a relentless diplomatic campaign intended to discredit Somaliland’s stand and its right to self-determination. Despite the open support that the people and government of Somaliland gave so generously to the reconciliation process in the South, the organizers of the Arta conference spared no effort to conspire against the Somaliland nation and its fledgling democracy.

 Fourth, in a callous disregard of the sensitivity of the people of Somaliland, the Arta conference appointed to the new “parliament” a number of war criminals that had led the genocidal war against the civilian population of Somaliland in the 1980s. These are people with heinous human rights records who should be tried at international tribunals. To give these people leadership positions in the new ‘parliament” and “government” is an affront to the memory of the thousands of Somalilanders who died in the hands of these criminals.   

Somaliland’s initial suspicions about the intentions of the sponsors of the Arta conference and their collaborators have now been confirmed by the belligerent stand that Mr. Abdul-Qasim Salad Hassan took against Somaliland soon after he was appointed by the Arta conference. He denied Somaliland’s existence as an independent state and even threatened the use of force to bring its people back into the failed union. Somaliland condemns his aggressive and militaristic threats against Somaliland. These irresponsible threats will not weaken Somalilanders’ resolve to protect their sovereignty.

Somaliland is a fledgling Democracy

 The Government and people of Somaliland are seeking international recognition for this new nation, which -- by all measures -- meets universal criteria for statehood. The country’s democratically elected government has successfully extended its authority throughout the country and, started a national reconstruction program that is slowly but steadily improving the living conditions of its people. Somaliland is a peace-loving country that is eager to join the UN family of nations and to establish friendly relations with all countries based on mutual respect, international cooperation and non-interference in internal affairs of others.  

Somaliland is NOT a separatist region; it is an independent nation reconstituted by its own people following the demise of the ill-fated union with Italian Somalia. On 26 June 1960, Somaliland gained independence from Britain – BEFORE Italian Somalia became independent. The people of Somaliland, in a remarkable demonstration of solidarity with their brothers in the South, decided voluntarily to form a union with Italian Somalia – without any conditions. It was a union between two independent sovereign states which was, at the time, applauded by Somalis everywhere as the first step in a long march toward unification of all Somali territories, including Djibouti  

That union failed miserably to meet Somaliland’s political, economic and social aspirations. It relegated the people of Somaliland to a second-class status, denying them the right to fully participate in the governance of the united country. Those who dominated the union, from the beginning, shamefully betrayed the trust of the Somaliland people. What was intended to be a union between two equal partners rapidly metamorphosed into an unequal marriage, in which one side totally dominated the other. The people of Somaliland have never fully recovered from that traumatic experience. .  

 During the 30 years of southern domination, the people of Somaliland had suffered one of the worst political persecutions in Africa. In a carefully orchestrated campaign of terror, the Southern military administrators who ruled the region killed over 50,000 civilians and forced another million people to flee to the neighboring countries as refugees. The “national” army destroyed all basic infrastructure through indiscriminate aerial bombardments and artillery shelling.

 An armed struggle led by the Somali National Movement (SNM) waged a resistance campaign against the occupation forces in 1982. After nearly a decade of bitter fighting, SNM,  with the support of people  of  Somaliland in and outside Somalia, succeeded in liberating the country for the first time in 30 grueling years of humiliation, economic depression, environmental degradation and social injustice. The people of Somaliland finally crossed an important milestone in their long and arduous journey to restore national dignity and sovereignty. On 18 May 1991, the people of Somaliland decided to reclaim Somaliland’s sovereignty once again by announcing total withdrawal from the Union with the South. That proclamation of independence was made by a congress of   Somaliland’s tribal, religious, political and military leaders representing all clans of the country.

 The new nation moved quickly to build a new administration from scratch, rebuilt a government machinery, elected a president and two houses of parliament, restored the judicial system, demobilized the SNM soldiers and started rejuvenating the economy. When war and conflict were raging in the rest of the former Somali Republic, Somalilanders of all walks of life were busy consolidating the peace and reconstructing the nation for the betterment of its nationals. Despite lack of international recognition, the country has survived on the meager resources of its nationals.

 For too long, the international community has failed to take notice of Somaliland’s remarkable progress in national reconstruction and social development. Despite concerted efforts by its Government and its people, Somaliland has been unable to attract official development aid for its reconstruction and development program. Many in the international community hastened to accept the unfounded claim by Somaliland’s enemies that Somaliland was only a “separatist region” of former Somali Republic”.  But Somaliland is not a breakaway region; it is an independent state with internationally recognizable boundaries. It is a living example of a courageous people working hard to consolidate democracy and achieve economic progress and social equality with the participation of every citizen. 

Over the past 9 years, Somaliland has proven to be a viable, peaceful state with a vibrant economy led by the private sector. As independent visitors observed, the new country has achieved a degree of stability and freedom rarely seen in many other African countries that are recognized as sovereign states.  

Now that Somaliland has put its house in order, it is crying for international support to alleviate poverty. The country needs massive foreign aid to consolidate its infrastructure, strengthen its political, business and social structures, expand its export potential and create jobs for the increasing population. For this it deserves sympathy and understanding but not conflict and friction. Somaliland wishes well for its brethren in the south. But it is not prepared to gamble its hard won sovereignty once again on the dubious premises that it will be easy to forge a functioning unified state for all Somalis.  

Conclusion 

Somaliland supports all homegrown peace initiatives seeking to bring about genuine reconciliation among the opposing factions in the South. For any such initiative to have a realistic chance of success, however, it must start with a set of measures to rebuild trust and confidence among the various groups. The sponsors of the Arta project failed to appreciate the importance of this fundamental prerequisite and, in the process, missed a good opportunity to bring the Somali people together. The Arta Conference, which was unrepresentative and undemocratic, did not concern Somaliland. Its outcome, therefore, is not binding to Somaliland, which does not recognize the authority of the “Transitional Administration”.

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The above paper was delivered at the conference Rebirth of the Somali State-Policy Options and Programme Opportunities for Canada, sponsored by the Som-Can Institute for Research and Development (SCIRD) in collaboration with Partnership Africa Canada (PAC). The two-day conference was held at Parliament Hill's Railway Committee Room and at Carlton University's Southern Hall, Theatre B.

The main objectives of the conference were:

• To inform the Canadian Government, NGOs and the International community about the current political changes with respect to Somalia.
• To present some lessons learned from the Somali peace process.
• Discuss how Canada, International community and the Somali Diaspora can play a role in the reconstruction of Somalia.

• Canadian Government
• Canadian NGOs and other institutions
• Somali NGOs and Civil Society
• Somali Diaspora in Canada, including youth representatives
• United Nations
• Media

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Column]