Ref. SF/EC-05-2000
Date. March 22, 2000
We, the members of the Somaliland Forum, are writing to you as one of the World Leaders to bring to your attention a potential danger that is coming to a peaceful, but unrecognized nation: The Republic of Somaliland. As you are aware of, the 12th conference to reconcile Somali factions, otherwise known as the Somalia National Peace Conference, will soon be held in Djibouti from April 20 - May 5, 2000. What differentiates this conference from the previous ones, however, and based on the now widely publicized proposal, is its blatant attack on the existence and sovereignty of the Republic of Somaliland.
The Somaliland Republic, formerly the British Protectorate of Somaliland, was unconstitutionally amalgamated with Somalia, formerly Italian Somalia, in 1960. Somaliland restored its independent status in 1991 after a decade-old liberation war (1981-1991) and has since been engaged in quiet reconstruction of its institutions without any international help. The territory of Somaliland still corresponds with the borders of the former Somaliland State of 1960, and with the British Protectorate of Somaliland before June 26, 1960.
But the agenda for this conference wrongfully blends Somaliland with the map of Somalia, its problems and chaos; it intentionally overlooks the inevitable breakup of the ex-Somalia state into Somalia proper and the current Republic of Somaliland. For example, it is Somalia that has been without a central government for 10 years, not Somaliland; it is Somalia that needs reconciliation, not Somaliland; it is Somalia that does not have peace and stability, not Somaliland. It was in Somalia that ‘Operation Restore Hope’ and United Nations missions failed, not in Somaliland. These are the facts, and speaking of the old Somalia as still one country is tantamount to speaking of the ex-Yugoslavia as still one country.
Somaliland Forum and the people of Somaliland are not against the Somalia reconciliation. In fact, we will go out of our way to help the people of Somalia to cease hostilities and concentrate on putting their political house in order. What we strongly object to, however, is the Djibouti Initiative’s intentional dismissal of the political situation in the country and its attempt to undermine the successes of Somaliland. Somaliland will not disappear from the international scene to suit the regional politics of President Guelleh of Djibouti and will not be party to any grand schemes of “Greater Somalia.” If that is the ultimate coveted goal of the Djibouti Initiative, may we kindly remind President Guelleh that Djibouti is also part of that “Greater Somalia.” If, however, the aim is to establish a Somalia administration in Somalia, then this Initiative is a misguided one as it wrongly identifies Somaliland “as the main obstacle” to the establishment of a government in Somalia and has given itself the task of dismantling the statehood and success of Somaliland.
The lessons learned from UNOSOM operations and Operation Restore Hope have shown that foreign interference, even if well-intentioned, can backfire on Somalia and should deter anyone from not benevolently intervening in the affairs of Somalia. President Guelleh’s agenda is not even a benevolent one: why would anyone in their right mind burden a conference on Somalia with the additional problem of forcing Somaliland back into the union that it left at the price of a genocide? Does Ethiopia need to force Eritrea back into the federation just to solve its own internal problems? No doubt, the Djibouti conference is inherently doomed to fail. Our concern, however, is the aftermath and the venomous seed of hatred that this outrageous Initiative may sow among the Somali communities that have succeeded in establishing peaceful coexistence.
In its recent statement on Mr. Guelleh’s Initiative, the Somaliland government made it clear that, “Somaliland will resist to the utmost any attempt to drag it into the quagmire of the anarchy and chaos that characterizes current conditions in Somalia,” and that “Somaliland will have a role to play when Somalia’s problems have been solved by the inhabitants themselves, and some form of central authority has been firmly established in that country.”
We support and sympathize with the Somaliland government’s stance because the peace and successes in Somaliland did not materialize out of thin air. The armed struggle against the genocidal regime of Siad Barre was followed by a series of national conferences (Berbera and Burao in 1991, Sheikh in 1992, Borama in 1993, and Hargeisa in 1995) through which peace, internal stability, a democratic system of parliamentary government, an independent judiciary and free press were realized.
The Somaliland Forum, an independent association, has several thousand members and associates who hail from all walks of professional life such as doctors, professors, engineers, scientists, political scientists, historians, administrators, teachers, university students, men and women of all ages and are from all over the world. We are a part of the “civil society” that President Guelleh is priding himself to have invited to his platform in Djibouti. But unlike Mr. Guelleh’s selected conferees, some of whom are indeed war criminals and the very warlords that Somalia needs saving itself from, we do truly represent a cross-section of “civil society” from Somaliland.
Our will and voice are communicated to you through this letter. We appeal to you as a World Leader with an influence in the global politics, to not support the implications and actions of this Initiative that are designed to destabilise Somaliland. Our people are quietly engaged in reconstruction and development; we are not at war with anyone, and we have come a long way to get here. For the first time in our history, we have institutions of higher learning, we have television stations, and we have privately run airlines and telecommunication companies, to name a few of the successes we achieved in less than a decade. Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, is one of the safest cities in the world; it is even safer than Mr. Guelleh’s capital, Djibouti. Yet, we are still recovering from the trauma of a genocidal war waged against our people by the Barre regime. And to add insult to injury, the Djibouti Initiative is welcoming, with open arms those war criminals that destroyed our towns, killed tens of thousands of innocent people, and left thousands maimed and hundreds of thousands homeless.
We are determined to protect what we have achieved so far by our own efforts at all costs. We have rebuilt our homes and started a new economy virtually from scratch; thousands have returned and have invested millions of dollars. It is indeed an irony in this world that all we ask for is to be left alone to prosper and progress. Our will should not be tested because we know justice, with Allah’s grace, will be on our side.
The people of Somaliland have pulled themselves by their bootstraps and have achieved peace and stability in their land without burdening anyone or suppressing anyone’s rights. We appeal to you to help us preserve liberty, peace and stability in Somaliland and in the Horn of Africa as a whole; we sincerely believe that you will not allow another bloodshed in Somaliland and in the Horn of Africa; we believe that there are right things to do and that you will not allow to have a guilty conscience hanging over your head because you did not do the right thing at the right time. We sincerely hope that you will support Somaliland’s independent status under the principle of self-determination, a basic right guaranteed by the covenants of the United Nations.
References:
1. The Guardian (London, UK), 25 November 1999. “David Gough in Hargeisa”
2. Hussein M. Adam. Formation and Recognition of New States: Somaliland in Contrast to Eritrea. Review of African Political Economy ,No. 59: 21-38, 1994.
3. Anthony J. Carroll B. Rajagopal. The Case for the Independent Statehood of Somaliland. American University, Journal of International Law & Politics, Vol. 8:653, 1993.
4. Ain Fisher. Hargeisa Journal: a Somali Woman of Firsts and Her Latest Feat: a Hospital. New York Times, November 29, 1999.
5. Robert M. Press. Renewal amid the Ruins. The Christian Science Monitor. April 12, 1993, P. 10.
6. Alan Rake, Somaliland: Rebuilding from Scratch. New African, December 1991, P. 20.
7. Jean Louis Vassalluci. Divorce À La Somalienne. Jeune Afrique, No. 1688. 15-11 Juin 1991.
8. Jack L. Davies. Somaliland: Separate Question. New African, May 1994. P. 8.
9. Andrew O’riordan. Somaliland President Emphasizes Need for Sovereignty, Recognition. The Daily Princetonian.thursday, October 14, 1999.
10. Gerard Prunier. Somaliland Goes it Alone. Current History, May 1998, P.225-28.
11. Reuters. Somaliland Signs Energy Deals with Foreign Firms. April 11, 1998.
12. Peter Biles: Somaliland: Building Peace amid the Rubble of an African Civil War.the Guardian (London), 31 October, 1991), P.8.
13. Matt Bryden. Somaliland: Fiercely Independent. Africa Report , November december, 1994, P35(5).
14. Julie Flint. Somaliland: Struggling to Survive. Africa Report , January-February, 1994, P36(3).
15. Alan Rake. Somaliland: The North Declares Independence new African, July 1991.
16. Gérard Prunier. Le Somaliland, le pays qui n’existe pas. Le Monde Diplomatique, October 1997, p. 18.