Somalilandsun-DP World’s construction work on the development of the multi-purpose Berbera Port in the Republic of Somaliland has started with a special ground-breaking ceremony to mark the occasion.
DP World has opted to develop a port in the region after a long-term fracas with neighbouring Djibouti over the Doraleh Container Terminal (DCT).
Despite DP World twice winning a case to operate DCT in an international court of arbitration, the Djibouti government has remained steadfast in its approach that it has a right to operate the terminal.
A number of articles have been written about the secessionist enclave known as Somaliland which seek to portray it as a stable democratic nation.Their sham elections have been touted as a milestone some misguided people have been urging the recognition of Somaliland based on this and other factors such as the stability and peace enjoyed by this northern enclave.The rest of Somalia,particularly the south,ravaged as it is by al shabab terrorists and an embattled Amisom backed SFG,is held up as the very antithesis of the idyllic haven in the north.This rhetorical and ideological combat launched by the supporters of Somaliland is often underwritten by that familiar imperial discourse which compares the civilized to the savage,the north to the south and the colonizer to the colonized.It is no wonder that imperial scholars such as IM Lewis and his ilk are often the most vocal in their support of Somaliland as a separate entity worthy of sovereignty and recognition.In pushing for the discourse of a separate Somaliland,these proponents of secession perpetrate several myths which are easily shattered under careful scrutiny.
The myth of Somaliland’s uniqueness and difference from Somalia is shattered bu the fact that all Somalis,from Djibouti to Eastern Ethiopia,to Northern Kenya speak the same language,share the same religion,tradition and customs.Regional differentiation in terms of dialects do not in any way hamper Somalis from interacting socially and economically,and intermarriage between the clans is rife.There are four clans inhabiting Somaliland, the Isaaq,Dhulbahante,Issa,Warsangeli and Gudabirsi, and the last three these do not subscribe to the separation of Somaliland from the rest of Somalia. Ony the Isaaq do.The Dhulbahante,who occupy the Eastern third of Somaliland do not ascribe to separatism and indeed have launched an armed political movement to expel the Somaliland presence from their ancestral land under the banner of a movement named after the regions they occupy,known as SSC(Sool,Sanaag and Cayn).They have formed a new federal state known as Khaatumo State of Somalia, which is currently based in Buhodle Town in Ayn Region.
Due to neglect and suppression of news, and the zero prescence of international agencies or NGO in SSC, conflicts in Somaliland are rarely,if ever reported by both the Somali and international media.There are no media reports for example of the deadly struggle of the SSC and their struggle aginst Somaliland’s occupation of their land.There is no mention of the the creeping genocide in eastern Somalia where Isaaq militias are depopulating areas belonging to Dhulbahante and Warsangeli clans.There is no mention of the flight of the citizens of Las Anod Town in eastern Somaliland since the occupation of the town by Somaliland.A cursory check at the refugee population in Kenya’s refugee camps will show the presecnce of at least 20,000 Dhulbahante’s who have fled the torture,arbitrary arrests misery and deprecations of Somaliland’s occupation of their hometowns.
Most of somaliland’s clans are excluded from the political process.Out of the three parties allowed to run for office ie UCID,Kulmiye and Udub, all are headed and dominated by Isaaq politicians. The government bureaucracy and the military are 100 percent Isaaq.
The current skirmishes between the Dhulbahante clans is fully funded and backed the Somaliland government under the leadership of the criminal genocidaire, Muusa Bihi the president and his interior minister Mohamed Kaahin, both Isaaq, and both involved in the mass killings of Dhulbahante civilians in the 1990’s. The Somaliland government has an agenda of depopulating the Dhulbahante from SSC through inciting and funding inter clan clashes. Isaaq clans have been financed,equipped and backed by the Somaliland government to move into Dhulbahante lands.
The only way out is to establish a federal state under Somalia to cover the SSC regions, a move which the majority of the Dhulbahante support.