Somaliland Forum July 4, 2001 Ref.SF/EC-043-2001
To: His Excellency Kofi Annan
Secretary-General of the United NationsCc: UN Security Council
Your Excellency:
On May 18th 1999, as the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, you delivered an address in The Hague on promoting peace in this new century. In the speech, you declared, “the last right of states cannot and must not be the right to enslave, persecute or torture their own citizens.” (Vital Speeches of the Day, 06/15/99 vol. 65 issue 17, p514).
The people of Somaliland could not agree more with your statement, since those are exactly the shackles of tyranny they have freed themselves from. They did so by an overwhelming majority of 97% vote in a referendum held in the Republic of Somaliland on May 31st 2001. In voting thus, they reaffirmed and reclaimed their Sovereignty from a disastrous and non-ratified union they made with Somalia in 1960.
Your Excellency, in your Hague speech you advocated and reaffirmed the universal principal that ‘the state derives its sovereignty from the will of the governed.’ Clearly the desires of the people of Somaliland could not have been expressed better than by that statement and by the outcome of the May Referendum.
In addition to meeting the universal principal on sovereignty of states, the people of Somaliland have two more compelling legal reasons that support their reclamation of their sovereignty. Firstly, the July 1st, 1960 union with Somalia was never ratified. Secondly, in reasserting their independence, Somaliland falls in lockstep with the Organization of African Unity charter which outlines the inviolability of colonial borders.
There can be no better illustration of the fact that rendering justice with teeth is the right medicine the international community must now administer to support the aforementioned statements. It can do this by facilitating the international recognition of the Sovereignty of Somaliland.
We sincerely believe that inaction to facilitate the recognition of Somaliland’s Sovereignty — a Sovereignty recognized internationally in its infancy when it attained its independence from Britain on June 26, 1960 - will be a betrayal of the Somaliland people’s right to self determination, clearly enunciated in Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966.
Your Excellency, the outcome of the referendum also highlights a call from the people of Somaliland not to be held as a bounty for Somalia. The United Nations must realize that the outcome of the Referendum convincingly shows the will and determination of the people of Somaliland that they will never freely surrender to a union with Somalia. Their freedom blossomed from the rivers of their own blood and the shameful genocide of its citizens. This determination should serve against disasters on the horizon should the international community not heed the reality of the outcome of Somaliland’s Referendum.
Finally, the Referendum clearly projected that the people of Somaliland support and justify their pursuit of Sovereignty and rightfully deserve to be recognized as a sovereign state among the community of nations. International recognition can only ensure the continuity of peace, stability and the booming free enterprise that is the driving engine of its economy.
Your Excellency, we respectfully ask you to respect the outcome of Somaliland’s Referendum and help facilitate the recognition of its Sovereignty. It is the only hope for peace and security for the Horn of Africa Region.
Somaliland Forum
The Somaliland Forum (SLF) is an international organization that brings together Somalilanders from all parts of the world mainly, through the medium of the Internet. The primary objective of the Forum is to work with the Somaliland communities around the world in order to provide some lasting solutions to the needs of the Republic of Somaliland and its people. For more information, Please visit forum’s website at: