Somaliland Forum

The Djibouti-Sponsored Somali Peace Conference: A Critique 

Ref SF/EC-004-2000
March 22nd, 2000In September of last year, the President of the Republic of Djibouti, an East African Country, Mr. Ismail Omer Guelleh, presented a Peace Plan at the United Nations whose aim was to find a lasting solution to this never-ending, “Somali Political Problem.” As stated in this plan, the aims and objectives of the conference was to restore ‘’normalcy'’ back to Somalia by facilitating a reconciliation conference for the Somalis in the horn of Africa and ultimately form a transitional government for the people of that country.

However, this proposed conference did not take into account any of the peaceful regions of the former Somalia, and makes the assumption that all of Somalia is a “chaotic war zone region”. It disregards that Somaliland, is a peaceful country, with all the internationally required attributes to form a “nation.”

In addition, the aim of this proposed reconciliation conference is claimed to be different from nearly a dozen previous initiatives and innovations on the Somali political saga such that, it would bypass the so-called ‘’warlords,'’ who were the key players in the previous failed attempts and, instead, would involve the civil society. This idea instantly appealed to those who would like to see a greater role for the Somali common person in the peacemaking process, as well as the UN diplomats, who are also keen on finding a ‘’final solution'’ to the Somali problem. But a closer examination of the conference plan, especially the recently issued conference proposal, reveals an utterly flawed attempt made by the organizers of this conference, which is headed by Mr. Guelleh. If it goes unchallenged, henceforth, there is no doubt that it will cause a renewed cycle of violence and mayhem in the Somali communities, instead of restoring peace and healing old wounds.

Why do Somalilanders feel that we are right with our projections on the political outcome of this conference? Perhaps the following list of seven fundamental concerns in the current Djibouti Initiative, by way of not only identifying those problems but defining them, will enlighten the international community to understand and sympathize with our position:

1. This Initiative miserably fails to address the real causes of the disintegration in the former Somali Democratic Republic in 1991. The organizers deliberately chose not to draw on lessons learned from the past in order to solve present problems. On purpose, they decided to ignore the history behind the failure of the Somali state, which they are currently purporting to resurrect, because that piece of history would certainly implicate some of them, as the main culprits who had orchestrated the state collapse, to begin with. Instead, they see ‘’clanism,'’ ‘’warlordism'’, and some established state governments such as the Republic of Somaliland as ‘’the problem'’, when, in fact, that is just the outcome of the breakup of the ex-Somalia, not the root cause of it.However, the actual causes were the subjugation of the people of Somaliland for a long period of time, denial of their legitimate human and political rights, and finally the destruction of their country throughout 1980s. At the end, the former Somali state was reduced to a political machine that spun out of control and, subsequently, injustice, rampant corruption, nepotism, gross human rights violations became a commonplace. This was largely caused by the initial formation of the state, which was a highly centralized political entity in which suicidal maniacs who were bent on the destruction of the Somali society dominated it from the top.
2. It also bypassed the protagonists of the conflict, ­ the armed groups and their supporters, the clans. The budding civic organizations have no need to be reconciled. They are not at war with each other. But those who have been branded as ‘’warlords'’ in Somalia (the southern regions of former Somali Republic) are in fact mainly the commanders of their clans’ armed wings. No ‘’warlord'’ can survive for a long time without the support and the allegiance of his clan. It is, therefore, the clans and their armed commanders that need to be reconciled. It is only them who can deliver peace. Ignoring them will not make the situation any better, as they are not going to fade away any time soon.
3. Even though the conference has already been sold to the international community as a grass-roots level meeting, a further examination of the people behind it, such as its ideologue promoters, organizers and agenda setters, would show that this is not a conference for civil societies resolving their political differences. Rather, it is a conference for political factions in exile, hiding behind a thin veil called “civil society.” Some of the summiteers, as high ranking political and military officers under General Siad Barre’s regime, were solely responsible for the death and destruction of the former Somali republic and its people, and they are nothing more than war criminals, who committed heinous crimes against their own people and humanity at large, who need to be picked up on the streets and brought to justice under an international tribunal. This is the main reason why they chose to ignore the Somali political history in their renewed effort to recapture the Somali state. Thus, any new attempt to refocus the Somali political lens will clearly expose them of being responsible for the death of Somalia. So, understandably, history is a thing of the past in this conference.
4. The main purpose of the conference, therefore, is not to build trust among the Somali communities, or reconcile their political differences, or even make peace between them. Rather, this is a new political scheme whose sole purpose is to set up a central government, which, again, will bring those political remnants of Siad Barre’s regime through the backdoor to rule this unfortunate country and its people.
5. If history is any guide to us, it is also the location for the conference to be held that is going to make it another failed attempt of the Somali political melodrama. Djibouti, in this case, is no different from other previous foreign capitals that hosted similar conferences for the Somalis over the last nine years. Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Tripoli and Cairo are among those foreign capitals, to name a few. Thus, except for a selectively hand picked few, the conference is practically not accessible to the larger Somali society it purports to involve. Legitimate representation of local traditional, civic, business, and other stakeholder communities have been automatically forfeited, in this regard.
6. It makes a mockery of the traditional Somali conflict resolution processes by allowing those war criminals to set the agenda for the conference from the start to the finish! Despite all the rhetoric on political consultation and participatory approach, coming from the organizers, all the key decisions such as the members representing each participating group, the agenda itself, and even the form of the future government have already been decided upon by the organizers long before the starting date. These selectively hand picked delegates will then be asked to rubber stamp a pre-arranged blueprint for governance. That is all that will be left for the civil society delegates to do in those two weeks in Djibouti, the duration that the conference is expected to last.
7. Instead of building on the achievements already realized by civic and traditional societies, such as the peaceful resolution of conflicts, or the establishment of working administrations in many parts of the former Somali Republic, Somaliland in particular, this conference totally disregards those success stories, and instead labels them with some derogatory terms such as ‘’clan fox holes'’. This acute denial of the very existence of the Somaliland Republic, as well as its great and successful strides in many fields, begs the question of what exactly the purpose of this conference is. What do the organizers expect its outcome to be? Are they willing to risk for another failed conference, when they are already off to a terrible start with no historical arguments to back up their new political road to hell?

Some of the Implications from this Conference as We See Them:

• The Djibouti Initiative, in its current format, will further divide the Somali communities. Instead of reconciling their differences, it will usher in a new cycle of civil war, which the international community may not be able to contain. It is also very likely that it will destabilize even those areas that are currently enjoying a large degree of peace and stability. This so-called transitional government, which is supposed to be formed, will also try to impose its authority over people (i.e., the people of Somaliland) who have already left the former Somali political arrangement after its collapse in 1991. And such a move will clearly violate the political and civil liberties of the people of Somaliland who formed their own state in that same year at Burao, Somaliland. The outcome from this will then be unnecessary wars and upheavals, as the two entities will be already on a collision course, if the idea of so-called authority materializes.
• The renewed Somali political conflict will equally spillover into the other neighbouring countries in the region, including Djibouti itself, and would tend to destabilize the entire Horn of Africa.
• It will also dry up this current reservoir of goodwill from the international community to help Somalis resolve their political differences, which may not permit the world community to host another conference for them in the near future.

Solutions to the Somali Problem as We See Them:

1. First and foremost, and before there can be any attempts to form a government, as the Djibouti Conference aims to do, there must be a reconciliation among all fighting factions and clans at the local and regional levels as was successfully done in Somaliland. In contrast to the foreign-inspired conferences, the successful traditional peace building in Somaliland, which the Djibouti organizers fail to acknowledge, used the time-tested process of traditional conflict mediation mechanisms. It started with a series of grassroots reconciliation conferences held in all parts of the country that finally culminated in a national conference in Borama, Somaliland. These conferences resolved all the major outstanding issues and restored trust between the communities across the country before the final grand conference was convened. The Borama conference established, as a result, a framework for resolving future disputes, created a constitutional structure for Somaliland and set up the foundation for a new system and structure for governance that also incorporates traditional political institutions in the process.
2. Any peace initiative must build on the achievements already made by the civic and traditional societies across regions. More importantly, the causes of the problem must be adequately addressed and dealt with, which at present the Djibouti initiative has failed to do so.
3. The existence of Somaliland must be acknowledged and not ignored. Somaliland is not a new invention, nor ‘’a clan fox hole'’. It was an internationally recognized political entity known as the British Protectorate of Somaliland for nearly eighty years, until it gained its independence in June 1960, and then united with Somalia. Unfortunately, however, the people of Somaliland suffered under the conditions created by that ill-fated union for 30 years. They were literally treated as second-class citizens in their own country. They were also discriminated against and humiliated in every way possible. This act of political discrimination culminated in the wholesale killings of civilian population in Somaliland, and the wanton destruction of their cities and towns in the late 1980s. When the Somalilanders finally liberated their territory from Siad barre in 1991, they then collectively declared their independence from the South. To this end, they have now adopted their own constitution based on liberal democratic principles, and all-inclusive government with two parliamentary chambers (a representative chamber and a chamber of traditional elders). A president with executive powers heads the government of Somaliland and chooses his own cabinet of ministers. As a result, the country is now peaceful and remarkably prosperous with the lowest inflation ever and a balanced budget. Somaliland’s international trade links are also enviable as its balanced current account indicates. In spite of the destruction it suffered during those dark years, the country made more progress in the last 10 years, as an independent state, than in the previous 30 years in the union. Hence, it is here to stay and its sovereignty will be fiercely defended.

Somaliland Forum and the people of Somaliland are not against reconciliation in Somalia. In fact, we will go out of our way to help the people of Somalia (former Italian Somalia) to cease hostilities and concentrate on putting their political house in order. What we strongly object to, however, is the approach of the current Djibouti-sponsored initiative and the intentional dismissal of the political reality of Somaliland. This is likely to plunge the whole region into an abyss of civic strife and suffering rather than restore peace and governance.

 Background on Somaliland Forum

The Somaliland Forum is an independent association with thousands of members and associates from different professional backgrounds - doctors, professors, engineers, scientists, political scientists, historians, administrators, teachers, and university students- across all five continents of the world. We came together to contribute to the rebuilding of our country. We support mainly health, education and orphanage projects. We are part of the “civil society” that the Djibouti initiative claims to want to involve. For more information see our web site