The question of Somalia and Somaliland

News about the former British protectorate of Somaliland which broke away from mainstream Somalia in 1991 with the ouster of the former military ruler, General Siad Barre, is scanty. One has to browse the Internet to find out what is happening.

I did this week. The news is that Somaliland will be holding Presidential Elections on March 29, this year, complete with competing voices in the country's polity which includes a fully-fledged Parliament, House of Elders and House of Representatives.

With a population of 3.5 million people, Somaliland has three major political parties. The last vote was taken in 2003 and the next vote which was due last year but delayed for some reason will now take place in March. In the last vote, Dahin Riyaale Kahin of the 'Unity, Democracy and Independence Party' won the vote. He is expected to stand again this year, challenged by a buoyant opposition.

A dispatch by Reuters I gleaned on the Internet says: "Somaliland hopes this year''s presidential elections will lead to international recognition of the northern Somali enclave as an independent country, according to officials. "The polls are seen by many as an acid test for the former British protectorate which broke away from Somalia in 1991 when the ouster of former dictator Siad Barre plunged the Horn of Africa into anarchy.

"Somaliland has enjoyed relative peace and prosperity and has held previous democratic elections, but analysts say it is not recognised globally because of concerns that rewriting colonial borders would open a Pandora's Box of other session claims."

Reuters quoted Somaliland's Chairman of the Electoral Commission as saying: "The election is a test for Somaliland's recognition bid."

So non-recognition of this obviously de facto state of Somaliland is most unfortunate given the reality of the fact that Somalia with its capital of Mogadishu in the south, as known and recognized by the international community is, to all intent and purposes; a failed state.

As we have noticed in the intervening period, Mogadishu's Somalia has no government to speak of. The Ethiopian-backed government has but collapsed, preceding which we have witnessed the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops.

The Taliban-like rebel forces, Al-Shabaab, are threatening to capture Mogadishu and impose a Taliban like fundamentalist regime. Coupled with this spectre has been the news of the emergence of Somali pirates on the loose in the high seas in the east coast of Africa. These pirates have become an international scourge demanding concerted international action.

So the question really is: If there is a de facto state of Somaliland in the north which has proved its efficacy as a sustainable state, why has the international community been hesitant to recognize it? Is the caution to avert a Pandora Box really meaningful?

Is it not true that an internationally recognized Somaliland state will be a stabilizing factor in the Horn of Africa rather than the whole area becoming a no man's land or a den of pirates?
These are the questions to be addressed especially by the African Union and the United Nations. And indeed they are the questions requiring the attention of the big boys of this unipolar world we live in these days.

Information made available to me by a Somaliland contact group in the United States -- Somaliland-American Council - has it that Somaliland government authorities have arrested 11 US residents who were caught smuggling Anti-aircraft missiles into Hargeisa, the capital city of Somaliland.

"The Somaliland government has information that indicates these weapons were originated from Eritrea and transported to Galgudud region in Somalia, where the arrested persons were being trained by the Al-Shabaab group now poised to overrun Mogadishu," says the Somaliland-American newsletter. According to the newsletter, Al-Shabaab Taliban-like rebel group has links to Somali Americans living in the United States.

So really, if Somaliland is not supported by offering it formal recognition by the powers that be including the United States and Britain - Somaliland former colonial power - the whole country from the South to the North and indeed the whole Horn of Africa will be engulfed into the flames of a senseless war and piracy eschewed in a bizarre ideology.

To my mind, the best option would be to support a de facto Somaliland state which has proved its sustainability as it has been able to run elected governments and democratic institutions as long as 1991. This will be a spur to the rest of the former unified republic to purge itself of piracy and gangsterism.
 

*Makwaia wa KUHENGA is a Senior Journalist & Author.

Source:Dailynews