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by JAmhuriya Newspaper

BBC Interview With Somaliland Forum Media Contact for Europe, Mr. Dahir A. Jama Transcript of the interview --- August 28, 2000

BBC: Introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about the Somaliland Forum.

Dahir A Jama: The Somaliland Forum is an international organisation that represents the Somaliland Diaspora. We mostly undertake and support humanitarian projects, but we will also involve ourselves in the politics of Somaliland whenever important issues, such as the Djibouti conference, arise. And, my name is Dahir Abdi Jama, and I am the Somaliland Forum Media Contact in Europe.

BBC:The people in Mogadishu were rejoicing about the election of the president of Somalia in Djibouti. There were celebrations all over the streets in Somalia. Why are you, the Somaliland Forum, against the election of this president?

Dahir A Jama: The people in Mogadishu have a right to rejoice about the election of this president if they wish to. There has been war ravaging in Somalia for the last ten years and it is not surprising if they can hope for the best. But the people of Somaliland had a government and a parliament for the last ten years while war ensued elsewhere in Somalia, so this election does not concern them. Moreover, the Somaliland Forum is not opposed to the election of this individual as a person, but what the Somaliland Forum is opposed to is for these people who gathered in Djibouti to violate the wishes and rights of the Somaliland people’s to self-determinations. Again, we wish our Somali brethren peace and stability but at the same time we want them and this conference to respect our wishes and understand that Somaliland is an independent country which this election or the Djibouti conference does not concern.

BBC -Don't you think this is the best chance the Somalis ever had for peace for the last ten years?

Dahir A Jama - If Mr. Guelleh's actions were sincere and wanted to bring peace and stability to Somalia, then this would have been the best chance the Somalis ever had. But for such a peace to be achieved the process has to be from the bottom up and not from the top down as it is in the Djibouti conference. Moreover, if the process recognised and respected Somaliland's right to self-determination and dealt with the southern (Somalia proper) factions who are warring with each other, then it may have succeeded. As it is at present, the remnants of the old Somali regime are running the show in this conference. The war criminals of the late dictator Siyad Barre, like General Morgan, known as the butcher of Hargeisa, and Gani, the two most senior military men in Somaliland during that time who presided over the killing and destruction of Somaliland and Somalilanders are now well respected Parliamentarians in this conference whose views are seeked by the Djibouti government. So, one cannot say that this would bring peace to Somalia while the people who caused the problem are still part of the solution in this conference.

Also, any new government elected in Djibouti would not have any powers at all. The country they are supposed to rule is Somalia. And, they cannot set a foot in Somalia, let alone Somaliland. There is still war ravaging in Somalia. Just yesterday, 18 people were killed in Jawhar and twenty wounded. The story is similar in other parts of the country. So, it is not only forming a government that is important but actually bringing peace to the country, which this conference claimed it would do, has not been achieved.

BBC -Are you saying that after Somalia plunged into civil war you are selfishly running away from them and claiming your independence?

Dahir A Jama - Not at all. Somaliland gained its independence in 1960 from Britain; it then entered into a voluntary union with the former Somalia Italian colony. After thirty years of death and destruction, however, Somaliland decided to reinstate its sovereignty. We want peace and stability for our Somali brethren, but not if that’s at the cost of our country and people. We will support them and welcome any initiative that’s geared towards doing that but not if the cost is that of destabilizing Somaliland.

BBC -Why don’t you help them then in that case and try and bring peace and stability to Somalia as well?

Dahir A Jama - Back in 1999 the president of Somaliland Mr. M.I.Egal offered to host a peace process for the warring Somali factions. Shortly afterwards, Mr. I. O. Guelleh, the president of the Republic of Djibouti, playing regional politics snapped up this idea and announced at the United Nations General Assembly that he was going to host a peace conference for Somalia. interrupted...

BBC - Hold on, are you saying that because your president did not succeed in hosting this conference you are against it?

Dahir A Jama - No. What I am saying is that the Somaliland Forum and the Somaliland people support peace and would at any time help their Somali brethren achieve that. But, when Mr. Guelleh started this conference, instead of trying to resolve the Somali problem and bring peace and stability to that part of the world, he focused his attention on fighting Somaliland. He deported Somaliland’s representative in Djibouti in the most uncivilized manner from his country and tried to provoke Somaliland into war by closing our joint borders and strengthening troop presence. So, while we support peace for Somalia we do not see the actions of this conference as sincere and the aims as trying to bring peace to Somalia.

BBC - You have the same language, culture and religion, why on earth do you want to secede then?

Dahir A Jama - We are not seceding from another country. As many other unions that have not worked, like the union of Guinnea Bissau and cape Verde, the Somaliland people entered into a voluntary union with Somalia in 1960. This union did not work, and after thirty years of experimenting the Somaliland people decided to reinstate their sovereignty. Also, Djibouti, the same country that’s now hosting the conference when it gained its independence from the French in 1977, although it is a Somali country itself, unlike Somaliland who was championing Somali unity at that time, decided not to join the Somali union.

Perhaps, they could foresee the problems. I am not willing to contemplate on their reasons, but all I know is that if something does not work you cannot keep it together by force. In any democratic society you will know that the people of that country have the right to determine their destiny. And, the people of Somaliland were in 1960 determining their destiny when they forced their leaders into a union with Somalia. Now in 1991 these same people were determining their destiny when they decided to withdraw from that union. They have done this through democratic and traditional means in 1991. And, all they are asking the world to do is to respect their wishes.

BBC - In thirty years of union with Somalia, one can say that you benefited from them and after there was nothing left you are selfishly claiming not to want to have anything to do with them.

Dahir A Jama - Only the uninformed will claim that. Somaliland achieved in the last ten years of its statehood what it did not and could not achieve in thirty years of union with Somalia. There are two houses of parliament and an independent judiciary system. Somaliland has two universities and a booming free market economy. In thirty years of union with Somalia, more than thousands of Somaliland citizens either vanished or died. There were no universities or any benefits at all from that union that could be seen in Somaliland. So, any one claiming that Somaliland had benefited from that union is not very well informed about the state or history of that part of the world.