Why Somaliland Wants to be an Independent Sovereign State
It has been twenty three years plus since when Somaliland Withdrawn its Independence from Somalia. The case was denied by the International Community to consent this self-determined, democratic, stable country as a Nation State. The elected government of Somaliland led by the incumbent President Silanyo officially declared again to keep this self-governing State a self-regulating free, liberated country, even if that takes 100 years plus. But the one million question is why Somaliland wants to be an Independent Sovereign State? To elucidate the main reasons behind why Somaliland wants to be an Independent Sovereign State are three simple whys and wherefores;
Firstly, the citizens of Somaliland are truly peace loving people who designated to have good relations with the neighbouring countries such as Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen as well as other nation states of the world. Collaboration and regional group effort towards political stability, economic development and social integration are the key political raised area of the Somaliland National Policy. Unfortunately, the Southern part of Somalia known as the Federal Republic of Somalia be injurious to this, as the elites of that ferocious country still insisting the unrealistic failed notion of future unity of the five Somali territories as a one nation state, including the self-determined nation Somaliland, Independent Djibouti, as well as the two other Sovereign Republics of Ethiopia (the Reserve Area) and Kenya (the NFD region).
Secondly, the people of Somaliland and their government will never consent to irrigate their blood to the farms of Egypt. This allusion back to the proxy war in Somalia between Egypt and Ethiopia, which concomitant to the Nile River. Somaliland President Egal unequivocally brought up his first diplomatic visit to Ethiopia and avowed that his country stands for regional peace and stability, promotion of democracy and the admiration of the international recognized borders. On the contrary, Somalia sees Ethiopia its biggest enemy and retaliation to conquer Ogadenia is an ongoing hidden agenda within the context of Mogadishu politics.
The third factor, which I revealed in my previous Article, was the interminable tribal politics between Darod and Hawiye. The most attention-grabbing phenomenon is, if the people of Somaliland join in matrimony with them, the discrepancy and power struggle will vanish. From there, these tribes have two different enemies, the internal one will be Isaak for the reason of in favouring Ethiopia. Whilst, the other one is very clear ‘’Ethiopia’’. This is to laminate the underlying tribal philosophy of Darodism and Hawiyism, where if Somaliland stays independently the power struggle and proxy war on the Nile River remains in the south. The unity will never prosper but only disturb the regional peace and stability of the region, either by tribal civil war that spreads in the region or another attempt of neighbouring aggressive war, most properly a radicalised faith war.
The universally recognized government of Somalia in Mogadishu failed to resolve the routine conflict cases of the Presidents and the Prime Ministers for the last 23 years. The artificial government again nosedived to defend and preserve its own premises let alone to restore peace and stability in the country as a whole. For instance, the offices of the President, the Speaker of the House, the Chairman of the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister have been attacked and invaded several times. These incidents disappointed the International Community as America and Britain express their concerns about the internal power struggle within the hand-made government of Somalia. It was the government of Qatar that compelled Britain and the US to stretch recognition to Mogadishu, so that the Regional State Administrations of Somalia come to be heartbroken and then follow suit or straightforwardly, fade away and evaporate.
The political and the social nature of Somaliland and Somalia, to a certain extent, is divergent. The citizens of Somaliland are peace loving people, respect the rule of law through means of legitimised government system. The nation believes skirmishes and political crisis can only be solved through conciliation, consensus and a vital compromise. Somaliland sustained healthy Political Accommodation and in the context of Somaliland culture these ideas is designed to help political groups and other stakeholders the means of a technical approach to develop a governance arrangement that supports to construct peace and social democracy. Any competing interests have already been set into conceptual tools, which are:
Equity of representation; which is not only to give different actors a seat, but a fair say and participation that always helps to improve the quality of the options developed. Equity of political decision making influence as well as the degree of public participation and mutual conciliation. Somaliland deserves to be recognised as an Independent Sovereign State. Because the nation fulfilled the qualification of statehood and the indigenous democratic pillars of their way of life. Where politics do not determine culture, but culture determines the political and economic life of Somaliland. Those are the political structure, the electoral system, the executive, the legislative, public participation, traditional and customary arrangements. Whereby people of Somalia are less civilized, arrogant and corruptive. The International Community sent more troops to stabilize Somalia, the procedure of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration ‘’known as DDR’’ and provides technical and financial assistance as well as institutional and the government formation.
The sustenance seems that the Mogadishu administration has not yet applied, that is why the US government changed the political perception, the White House is now more sceptical about the status quo on how this fluctuating situation be addressed. Current action for Copenhagen Summit is one good example. The reiteration of Somaliland Special Arrangement and the Somalia/Somaliland talks enshrined in the UN charter in New York shows a good hope and political enthusiasm that the world has no choice but to acknowledge the case of Somaliland.
Mohamed Hagi Mohamoud. The Department of Political Science. The University of Warwick. Email: M.Hagi-Mohamoud@warwick.ac.uk; mohamedomar1@hotmail.com