REBIRTH OF SOMALILAND (2)
The process of the union and the Act of Union
This part is about the process of unification between the
independent states of Somaliland and Somalia and the fallacies,
technical mistakes and legal loopholes of the so-called Act of Union
involved.
The Council leaders of Somaliland and Somalia briefly met in
Mogadishu during mid-April 1960. They agreed to form a Republic with
a parliamentary democratic system of government. In the meeting they
envisaged that both sides would sign a joint contractual agreement
(an Act of Union) that would set out terms being a legally binding
document for the two independent states in union. However, it is
vital to reveal the technical mistakes and legal loopholes in
processing the unification and the fallacies in proceedings of the
Act of Union. However, we proceed into this; it is noteworthy to
mention first to show the actual events that took place in Somalia
as part of preparation for independence whilst in UN trusteeship.
Unlike Somaliland protectorate, Italian Somalia underwent through
advanced preparation in terms of administration, management and
governance during its ten-year period of trusteeship. Therefore,
Somalia appeared to have acquired political maturity and had more
consciousness and preparedness than Somaliland as they started
negotiations for union. The only ingredient the northerners brought
to the table was the public emotional drive and the urge of the
people for union.
As Italian Somalia stepped towards final strides of self-governance,
the first legislative council or territorial Council was established
in 1956 but shortly afterwards timed with the discussions of union
with Somalia, Somalia increased the number of ‘deputati’
(parliamentarians) were increased to 90 of which only 29 were
elected (the remaining seats were reserved for the SYL party, the
main political party). Despite protests and boycotts all other
political parties especially those Somaliland and minorities in the
South were side-lined in the mainstream politics. The hidden agenda
was to rehearse manipulations to establish firm grounds for a
majority parliament dominated by the SYL and the SYL to be the
single dominant party dominated by the major clans in the south as
union state is established with Somaliland.
On the midnight of 30 June 1960 Italian Somalia was declared an
independent State. The following morning, 1 July 1960, the two
independent states (Italian Somalia and the already independent
state of Somaliland) united. Somaliland’s independence was
short-lived as union took was in effect on the 5th day. That took
the British Media by surprise and news headlines referred
Somaliland’s step as rejection of freedom “ ….The Territory that
rejected freedom”….. To seal the union the essential formalities
were never discussed and legal proceedings were not processed
properly. To render the union lawful, a legal binding document was
supposed to be agreed and signed by the representatives of the two
uniting independent states.
As Somaliland became the first Somali territory, out of the five
regions of Somali-inhabited lands to become a free and an
independent Somali state, it immediately joined the United Nations
(UN) and was recognised as an independent state by the 35 members of
the United Nations. A historical record was set. The newly
independent state of Somaliland was invited by the British
Government to join the British Commonwealth of nations made up of
independent countries of the British Empire. Unfortunately
Somaliland declined to take the offer. Instead, it sacrificed its
independence and membership of commonwealth. It opted for union with
the independent Italian Somalia of the South on very day of its
independence, 1 July 1960 and the end of UN trusteeship.
Somaliland’s union with Somalia was purely voluntary and without
strings or conditions attached to for the unique reason based on
wholehearted popular vision, converging aspirations and the
iron-strong wish of the people.
There was plan for union. Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, the late president
of Somaliland, once made a comment indicating that there were no
arrangements or plans in place by the politicians from Italian
Somalia in relation to the issue of the union. It has been reported
that Egal suggested the need to wait for at least 40 days since
Somaliland had just given birth to infant child of independence. The
truth of the matter, however, was that the union was not imposed on
Somaliland either. Rather it was Somaliland that pressed hard for
the consummation of the union pushed by the sincerity and wish of
Somaliland people though the Italian-administered Somalia preferred
to delay the unity for a while. Perhaps for months according to
Bereketeab (2012:5). That was as enunciated by the Southern
politicians after a delegation from the South visited Hargeisa when
they sensed that the Somaliland people were in sort of rush to the
union and without conditions. Nevertheless not much attention was
given by most of the Somaliland Council members who were themselves
under extreme pressure from their people. Garaad Ali Garaad Jama
(member of the Somaliland Council) also initially flatly refused the
union. On one occasion at the Kairiya of Hargeisa, the Garaad was
sternly responded by the crowd with ‘No, Garaad’ when mentioned the
period to wait for union. The Somaliland people were high in the
crest of emotional waves for union. The people were instrumental
factor and the engine force driving their politicians to convince
their Somali fellow Somalis in Somalia. But in the South the Somali
Youth League (SYL) party also waged campaigns for the unity sharing
similar concept of Greater Somalia.
The official proposal was from the Somaliland side. It was a kind of
a unidirectional push – almost one way process. On reflection it was
madness. Southerners were surprised by that unreasonable mode, i.e.,
bringing an independent state to another partner with reference to
no condition. Their byword “Fratello forunato folle” which in
Italian means “the mad fortunate brother” – The fortunate brother
(Somaliland) because Somaliland was fortunate to get its
independence but again Somaliland people were considered as mad
because they were seen as giving away their independence without
even a single condition or a string attached to the union.
The decision of Somaliland to proceed into that direction owed much
to the animation of pan-Somali ambition and the strong public
emotion developed particularly after the Haud and Reserve area was
ceded to Ethiopia in 1954 that caused a public outcry. Therefore,
independent Somaliland State voluntarily united with Italian Somalia
without conditions in a loose fashion. Italian Somalia took
advantage of the situation of no conditions which led them to have a
free ride approach. That led the union between the two states to
occur in a rather loose fashion and in a flawed manner as all
necessary precautionary paraphernalia was not taken. Consequently,
legal loop holes and cracks became apparent. Northerners accepted
the union blindly. A complete southern domination in the government
formed resulted: a southern Constitution, a southern capital, a
southern flag, a southern President (Aden Abdille Osman) and
southern Prime Minister (Abdulrashid Ali Shermarke), and police and
military forces commanders both southerners (Mohamed Abshir and Daud
Abdille Hersi respectively). All key ministerial portfolios: the
Finance (Ahmed Roble), Foreign Affairs (Abdillahi Essa Mohmoud), the
Interior (Abdirizaq Haji Hussein) to name but a few. Only Mohamed
Ibrahim Egal who was the First Minister (similar to Prime Minister)
in the Somaliland government was allocated to a post of a Minister
(Defence) from the northern contingent. Other important posts for
southerners included the national bank and the commerce. The number
of parliamentarians in the national Assembly were two-thirds ((99)
from South and a third (33) from Somaliland was not proportionately
adjusted while there still were options open to take to address
justice and fair-sharing in power. Abdulrizaq Haji Hussein
(Interior); Abdillahi Essa Mohamoud (Foreign Affairs); Ahmed Roble
(Finance).
Before the union, the Somaliland Protectorate cabinet had seven
ministers consisted (4 Somalis and 3 English). At independence, the
three English ministers resigned and were replaced by Somalis.
Therefore, at union stage Somaliland had seven ministers while it
had 10 ministers before independence but by uniting Somaliland got
one minister (6.6% of the total of the cabinet), Mohamed Ibrahim
Egal (Defence Minister) albeit he sacrificed his position of head of
a state. Therefore, the Parliament was dominated by Southerners [(90
seats or 73% for Somalia) and 33 seats or 27% for the North
(Somaliland)].
At union no Act of Union was agreed and signed bilaterally at all.
In sum that makes the union unconstitutional and illegal. Though the
union was considered as the first stepping stone for the realization
of uniting all Somali-inhabited regions in one nation under a single
banner with one flag, the Act of Union was never ratified by the two
respective parliaments of the two independent states. It was purely
driven by the peoples’ sentiments, emotion, enthusiasm and extreme
euphoric behaviour and patriotism. The vision and expectation was
that the other three regions inhabited by Somali people would soon
follow suit and join the two independent entities. As mentioned
above the union between independent Somaliland and independent
Italian Somalia in the South was pushed only by the people
(especially from the public in Somaliland) as pursuit of achievement
of the ‘Greater Somalia’ dream bringing together all five
territories or parts inhabited by populations of ethnic Somali
origin in East Africa, i.e., in the South East of the then Ethiopian
Empire, the Northern Frontier District – NFD which was part of the
British colony with Kenya, the French colony of Djibouti, the
British Protectorate of Somaliland and South Somalia under Italy.
During the union, the only constitution in place at the time was the
one made for Somalia. Somaliland legislative body had no input into
the constitution and knowledge of those activities as well as the
prevailing political environment and climate simply because of an
emotionally charged public pressure as the push factor. This
indicates that the amalgamation of Somaliland and Somalia was more
of a nationalist fervour blowing from the North. At the end of May
1960, as part of negotiation prior to amalgamation, Somaliland
Council led by Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal made a visit to Mogadishu
and met with Aden Abdulle Osman, Abdulahi Essa Mohamoud, Sh Ali
Jimale and others. In the negotiations, the Somaliland delegation
was adamant to the unification while their counterparts showed
reluctance. Even the president of the South, Aden Abdulle Osman
insisted that if union is the case then there will be changes made
to the government already in post. Abdillahi Aden Congo who
accompanied the Somaliland delegation to Mogadishu reports that Egal
was not in hurry and advised that Somaliland had to adopt a cool
down position before proceeding to the union. Aden Abdulle Osman
himself voiced similar attitudes for different reasons in suggesting
that there is a hasty decision is being made by the northerners.
Osman even voiced a federation between the two independent states
might have been appropriate because of the two different
experiences. In the end those prompts in the discussions were
superseded by the emotional wave of the public pressure pushing them
from behind (more so strongly on Egal’s team from Somaliland). The
final agreement was a union to be forged by 1 July 1960.
Between April and June 1960, the Legislative Assembly of Somaliland
passed resolutions and submitted an Act of Union draft to the
Constituent Assembly of Somalia. On the second day of the
independence of Somalia (27 June 1960), the Somaliland Legislature
passed a law and made a proposal of their final version of the Act
of the Union for further discussions and requested to finalise a
single text of Act of Union before the date set for the union, I
July 1960). But the variations between the two text versions were
never finalised. The two legislatures never met and a joint version
of a single text was never put before the National Assembly for
ratification. Interestingly, however, A different version of an Act
of Union (Atto di Unione) drafted by the South Somalia was debated
briefly. The truth of the matter was that the Somalia Constituent
already approved their version of the Act (Atto di Unione) a day
prior to independence. The Northern politicians were not aware of
that. Discrepancies and differences appeared between the two texts
of the two versions. The process did occur as Somaliland legislature
suggested earlier (that the two governments need to agree to a
unified version to form a single Act which was supposed to be
presented for approval by the joint legislatures. Therefore,
although the ratification process for the union was hitherto
verbally agreed, the official agreement was not practically
implemented.
In addition to that the legislature Council of Somalia, without
consultation with Somaliland legislature, added a new clause in the
constitution - the election of a provisional president (by the
National Assembly). On 1 July 1960 the two legislatures met briefly
to elect a provisional president for the union Republic. Neither a
signed document nor an agreed Act of Union was still in place. On 1
July 1960 at 7.00 am, a provisional president, Aden Abdulle Osman,
for the Somali Republic (the union of the two governments). The
president immediately signed a ‘Decree’ entitled the “Law of Union
of State of Somaliland and Somalia”, a version that was again never
discussed before or agreed.
The decree signed by the president had much less substance than what
the stipulated Act of Union would have contained. The decree was
never presented to the National Assembly to be assented and
converted to a law. It was a clear breach of Article 63 of the
constitution. The law was neither agreed, publicised nor
promulgated. It had not been passed by the National Assembly. As
stated above in the first parliamentary session of the union
government, the president-elect, Aden Abdulle Osman, was nominated
on the 5th of July 1960 and chose Abdulrashid Ali Sharmarke who
formed the southern-dominated a government of 16 Ministries.
In reiteration the union of Somalia and Somaliland, despite its
political implementation at every level of government and in every
sphere of society for more than thirty years, had not been legally
validated. It was clear that it was the people from the North only
who were the major actors, the power and dynamism pushing to the
union. It was the people from the North who actually forced the
union upon the South so precipitously without effective and
substantial negotiations and who overwhelmingly without question
accepted the Southern proposals.
Elections came afterwards new governments came to power but
unfortunately the imbalance of power sharing was never addressed. In
the 1964 elections, Aden Abdulle Osman was re-elected as president
and he nominated Abdulrizaq Haji Hussein for premiership.
As the union of the two states was formed (formation of the Somali
Republic), the country was virtually functioning as two countries
though under one flag. Two administrative systems (Italian and
British), two customs and taxation systems, two official languages
(Italian and English) and two educational systems were running in
parallel. There was no harmonisation between the two administrative
systems inherited from two different colonial regimes for lack of
proper plan and preparation.
What is more interesting to mention was that the National Assembly
was formed before any Act of the Union was signed for lack of
respect of the constitution in place. For instance, Article 1,
paragraph 2 of the final provisions of the constitution showed the
new National Assembly to be in existence after signing the Act of
the Union which would then elect a provisional President. The
process of formulation of the Act of Union was therefore utterly
incomplete. The procedure of union was scrambled and topsy-turvy.
Thus, the formation of the national Assembly was based on
illegality. The representatives of both legislative councils did not
sign any bilateral agreement which indicates that the two
legislatures never discussed the issue of the union. This fact gives
more support of the existence of legal anomalies surrounding the
union itself that in turn shows how the Somalia and Somaliland was
loose formed for more than thirty years.
On 31 July 1961 an utterly new version of an Act of Union was
brought before the General Assembly for approval. This was
retrospective act as a remedial measure, but otherwise an illegal
act, to rectify the anomaly. The trick was that the National
Assembly was dominated by a majority party, mostly unelected
deputies in the view of majority vote to pass the motion. However,
such action was prohibited by the provisions of the Article 10(1)
and Artcile10 (2) of the Act of the Union, the draft which was not
discussed.
Moreover, after the union was established, the SYL (the majority
party in the parliament or the governing party, decided to hold a
constitutional referendum in the country. Up until then, there was
no unified constitution. The constitution that was available for the
country was the one prepared for Somalia during the trusteeship
period which based on the Italian Penal Code. It was written in
Italian. At that very juncture, the representatives from the North
sensed the illegality of the entire constitution as most of the
conditions forwarded by them were not fulfilled. The principal party
from the North (Somaliland), the SNL, campaigned against the
ratification of the constitution of the country. In 1961 a
constitutional referendum was held in the North and people voted
with an overwhelming majority against its ratification. The people
in Somaliland voted against this (Hargeisa, 69%; Buroa, 66%; Berbera,
69%; Erigavo, 69%).
It was in October 1963 during the preparation for the 1964 general
elections, after a the split of SNL and USP and SYL parties, Egal
and Sh Ali Jimale from the South formed the a new alliance party,
the Somali national Congress (SNC) Party against collusions the
dominant SYL. As yet there was no unified constitution as Somaliland
made no input into the one in hand before and later on Somaliland
political parties' votes against it. Besides that, as the election
approached it (the constitution in hand) was written Italian and was
still not translated into English. The only input the northern
politicians made at a later stage was the article related to the
elections by adding “ ….. Civil servants should not take part in the
election and if they do so wish they should make resignations six
months before the elections”.
In Somalia, a diffuse corruption, misappropriation and inflation of
the number of people voted for the constitution was not uncommon.
Vote rigging and inflation of voters’ population occurred. For
example, the population of people voted in some small towns and
villages of Adan Yabal and Wenla-Weyn was extra-ordinarily inflated
The term ‘Adan Yabalism’ became a popular political term in
elections due to association with vote rigging and the interestingly
enough the total number of people who voted in the South (Somalia)
was more than the entire population of Somalia. That also acted as
one of the ingredients that sparked mistrust and lack of confidence
among the people from the North at very early stage. As such the
first seeds of dissatisfaction were sown at the outset of the union.
Politicians and civil servants from the North sensed the all-out
undermining and discrimination of the north (Somaliland) and its
regions. Tensions hyped up among the people of Somaliland who were
yesterday forcing the union with emotions. Expectations dried up,
they saw the union as a non-deserving and Somaliland expectations
were nulled. It was in the same token that one of the famous
Somaliland poet, Ahmed Ismail Deria (Qasim) highlighted the
following lines in one his popular poems:
“Namaydaan abaalmarine waana ambinaysaane (You did not pay reward us
but made us lost,
Afarteeda naas baan lahaa ubadka deeqsiiye (I was hoping that milk
from its four teats would suffice for the children),
Ma afurin agoonkii wadiyo kii usha u sidaye (The orphaned camel boy
and its carer has still not broken his fasting),
NFD ha daaqdaan lahaa adhaxda jiilaale (I wanted to the NFD
grasslands in mid-winter season),
Adisababa gee baan lahaa ayda doogga lehe (I wanted to take it (the
she-camel) to the green pasture),
Ilimaha Jabuutaan lahaa aayar soo mariye (I wished to pass it across
the thinly tapered paths of Djibouti) [(Ahmed Ismail Dirie (Qasim)].
Soon after the union, it was clear that the governments were
undermining the progress and development of the regions in
Somaliland and policies against the port of Berbera contained for
their export-import businesses, the major traders and enterprising
companies began moving to Mogadishu to be close to the only centre
of power. The companies such as Jirde Hussein and sons Co,; Yusuf
Iman and Co.; Haji Ibrahim Osman Food (Basbaas); Abdillahi Omaar and
Co.; Mohamed Rashid Ali Ismail (Bergeye) and others all immediately
relocated their businesses in Mogadishu.
The emotional drive that led the people of Somaliland to join their
brothers in Somalia all of a sudden took a twist to the opposite.
That resulted in the U-turn of the public opinion. Consider how
famous Somalilander poets read the politics of the south and how
they passed messages and feelings of the peoples’ of Somaliland as
they lost hope.
“Gumeysigu hashuu naga dhaceen gurayay raadkeeda (The she-camel
taken away by the colonialist, the one I wanted to recover),
Gu’yaal iyo gu’yaal badan hashii gama’a noo diiday (years and years
we did not sleep for its absence),
Goobtay istaagtaba hashaan joogay garabkeeda (Wherever it
(she-camel) stands I was nearby),
Guuraha habeenimo hashaan gabi walba u jiidhay [The one (she-camel)
I made travels by the dark nights],
Gacmaa lagu muquunshee xornimo noogumay garane [It (the she-camel)
was forcefully taken waway, it was’t taken for sake of
independence),
Goortuu sidkeedii galay galabtay foolqaaday (When it reached final
term of pregnancy and we started to deliver),
Iyadoo candhada giijisay oo godol ku sii daysay (As the udder was
swollen with pre-parturium milk and ready for milk let-down),
Garaad nimaan lahayn bay la tahay waad ka gaagixine (To a mindless
it (the she-camel) he will stop it from producing milk),
Hashaan gaadda weynow libaax uga gaboon waayay [The one (the
she-camel) that I did not let for the fierce male lion],
Inaan gorayacawl uga tagaa waa hashoo gudhaye (That I let it (the
she-camel) for an ostrich is as if the it bcomes dry (milk less).
(Abdillahi Suldan Timaade).
(Continued)
|