- Title: [SW Column]( Somaliland Forum) ALL THAT SOMALILAND WANTS IS WHAT DJIBOUTI HAS: A RECOGNISED INDEPENDENT STATE
- From:[]
- Date :[20 March 2000]
Opinions expressed in this column
are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of SW .
ALL THAT SOMALILAND WANTS IS WHAT DJIBOUTI HAS:
A RECOGNISED INDEPENDENT STATE
The Somaliland Forum, an organisation that
unites Somaliland intellectuals in the Diaspora, opposes the latest "Somalia"
peace initiative promoted by the Djibouti government. The proposed Somalia peace
initiative conference scheduled to be held in Djibouti, East Africa.
The Forum believes that the exaggerated support
this Djibouti initiative has gathered is ill placed as its' central premise that it will
appeal to the civil society over the heads of the so-called warlords has not been and
cannot be delivered. It is this simplistic message, which has attracted strange political
bed-fellows such as Egypt, Ethiopia and Libya, but the Somaliland Forum believes, it is
deeply flawed because it disregards the expressed wishes of the civil society in
Somaliland and the peaceful parts of Somalia.
The Djibouti conference has extended invitations
to many individuals who do not officially represent the Somali people. Furthermore, it has
been reported that individuals who were involved in the destruction of Somaliland and
other parts of Somalia during the Barre's regime have been invited to participate in this
peace process, this alone should be a concern for the International Community.
Also Djibouti's insistence that a central transitional government be appointed for the
whole of the Somali territories disregards what the civil society has already achieved in
many parts of these territories and, in particular, in the Republic of Somaliland, where
the civil
society has already spoken and determined its own destiny as a sovereign independent
state. Instead of building on these achievements (as has been suggested lately in the
so-called "building blocks concept" by many, including UN observers), this
conference aims to destroy these efforts and resurrect a central government. As such, far
from heralding a new dawn of peace for all, it is likely to suck peaceful Somaliland, and
the Northern and central regions of Somalia into a new cycle of conflict.
The Somaliland Forum believes that this
conference will spawn an unrepresentative, un-elected interim government in Mogadishu,
which will promptly use the fig leaf of international legitimacy in subduing the very
civil society which has created peace in the Republic of Somaliland and other areas. We
have already seen threats by the conference organisers to use the veneer of international
support in bringing into line those who do not agree with the outcome of the conference.
Somaliland will not fall in line because there is nothing in this initiative which meets
the wishes and aspirations of its people. Somaliland regained its independence and built a
peaceful nation with no or little international support and no amount of illegitimate
pressure will make it re-unite with Somalia. The Republic of Somaliland has a vibrant free
market economy, a bicameral parliament, an independent judiciary, a free press, and
functioning central and local governments. Yet, Somaliland is still denied recognition
because of misguided attempts to re-constitute Somalia.
"It is ironic that Djibouti, as former
French Somaliland, and one of the five regions of the Horn where ethnic Somalis live,
chose to be a free standing country on its independence. Somaliland, which on its
independence, in 1960, wrongly chose, to its everlasting cost, to pursuethe chimera of
"Greater Somalia", has reasserted its sovereignty in 1991, and demands nothing
less than what Djibouti has – an internationally recognised independent state",
said Jama Musse Jama, Chairman of the Somaliland Forum.
The Somaliland Forum, therefore, urges the UN,
the OAU, the Arab League and all the countries of the world to re-examine thoroughly the
proposals of the Djibouti conference, and to accept the reality of Somaliland as an
independent state. As we believe this will, in the long term,contribute to the peace and
stability in the region.
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