Somaliland Government not to compromise sovereignty through slumbering security
Somalilandsun – No wonder that the quest for the sovereignty of the Republic of Somaliland has painfully limped through 24 years of agony and neglect without producing a single exciting moment.
No wonder that every Somalian (of Somalia) – young and old, political and apolitical, educated or man of the street, man woman, child … everyone – has had a field day in attacking and ridiculing Somaliland people’s undeniable right to self-determination.
No wonder that Somaliland has not cemented a meaningful friend’s friendship with its state neighbors in the region. Neither has it labeled it as enemies opposing its stand-alone quest and restoration of independence.
No wonder it has, of recent, confused its public by its lackluster acceptance of every vile epithet thrown at its status by Mogadishu by not defending its integrity from turncoat, ex-Somalilanders playing subservient to Mogadishu kingpins, from Somalia politicians who saw the chinks in the Somaliland government and exploited it, from so-called journalists insulting a majority decision at time of which it was reached some were not even born, from ruthless, unscrupulous NGOs and UN organizations using ‘Somalia’ on official correspondence with the Republic of Somaliland to hammer home that, to them, the Somaliland reclaim of its independence was not worth the ink it was written on, from, equally, unconscientious so-called Somalilanders who would rather wash an enemies feet than stand tall among equals.
No wonder that the only independent, resident Liaison office of Ethiopia in Hargeisa has changed status to a consulate taking orders from Mogadishu.
What has prompted me to write this opinion piece is what I have learned of the ineptitude, double-standards and loose accountability of the Attorney General’s office and Security organs in Somaliland.
Living in the Diaspora and wanting to promote your motherland in the eyes of yours peers, on best of times, is a tall order, especially when that specific motherland is so blindly dragging itself in the mud on every turn.
EXAMPLES
(a) The Republic of Somaliland media has long ceased to use the words ‘Republic of Somaliland’ and Jamhuuriyadda Somaliland in their publications, broadcasts – consciously or unconsciously.
(b) Likewise, the media which had been at the forefront of sovereignty proponents, in the past, shrunk back to copy-and-paste practice – losing its oft-praised vibrancy – in whose publications, posts and broadcasts Somalia news items dominate Somaliland items – thus relegating their homeland and its causes, development initiatives and aspirations to second- or third-place niches.
For instance, the media and the government often fail to stand up for the Republic of Somaliland in often disparaging views that belittle it in the eyes of the international community, and especially when none challenge them. A piece that one Somalian recently co-authored with a character claiming to be a former advisor to the ‘UN RC and UNDP’, titled ‘Somalia 2016: an Upgraded New Deal, a New UN SGSR and the Role for Somaliland’ which argued that Somaliland had a role, a place in a federal Somalia, has yet to be credibly challenged by either the government or the Somaliland media.
Somalians, too, often incite Somalilanders to violence, disobedience and a revolt against the sovereignty of the Republic of Somaliland directly contravening clauses/points in agreements that negotiators from Somaliland and Somalia reached and signed before in the presence of members of the international community. The Somalia media people lead this affront to the people of Somaliland.
Both keep their mouths, minds tightly sealed against national defense on the diplomatic, media fronts to date without the least resistance mounted.
(c) The Republic of Somaliland government Ministers are often seen promoting personal interests and making names for themselves on the expense of nationhood and sovereignty. Addressing events or granting interviews or speaking through supporters, it is their name that is promoted, not that of the Republic they work for.
(d) Likewise, Said Ministers and other higher government officers never have the right, forceful, defensible, well- research, confident words to defend their country and constituents from detractors and enemies – Somalian or international.
(e) The Republic of Somaliland justice system is more often than not compromised by fumbling judicial organs and an indifferent Attorney General’s office which lacks both direction and conviction. This office and its branches would rather play to the tune of an interested party or a government official than set itself out to protect state interests through judicial, fair practice of the law of the land. Prisons are breaking at the seams because of unrequited justice.
(f) Likewise, security organs that would have fed judiciary channels reports of existing and/or impending threats to security, sovereignty, civil order, etc. had long gone into a heavy slumber that can only be nudged into semi-wakefulness through the jingle of coins on greased palms. Police stations and the open secrets they hold stand testimony. Non-existent, moth-ridden, spider web-covered CID and national security office attest to this fact. Traitors flicking in and out of Somaliland entry points, wearing enemy flags in Hargeisa and elsewhere, people singing enemy anthems openly in stadiums – not apprehended and not punished, armed gangs training rocket-propelled Bazookas on security forces on broad daylight and on television in Somaliland cities cannot be denied. So-called journalists, under the pay of sworn Somaliland enemies, working in the capital, flaunting Somalia flags on the state’s and public faces without fear of the wrath of the law on Facebook pages is an indictment to – not only the law and security organs – but the whole state.
(g) Not knowing how to deal with an international community that can be favorably won over by using the right channels is a 24-year old failure of all Somaliland administrations that has taken the helm since 1991 – without exceptions.
(h) The government abysmally failed to develop a mechanism to deal with double-dealing foreign diplomatic missions in Kenya and Ethiopia, the US and the UK in particular, who so pointedly invite all disgruntled, dismissed or reneging ex-ministers of the Republic of Somaliland to their missions as soon as they leave office for God knows what purpose/s.(i) Likewise, the government has failed to awaken the nationalism, patriotism in the hearts of its public and media practitioners along the lines that had been developed through the centuries by western governments who had succeeded to silence critics without using brutal, open force/violence. Their tactics, it is needless to say, do not rule out subtle nudges to opposing camps to remind them who the master really is – when required.
(j) Finally, the administrations that consecutively ruled the Republic of Somaliland since its inception in ’91 failed supporters and true patriots by always and invariably turning their back on them to run after their detractors and opponents. No where in the world – past or present – did such a philosophy work. An enemy is an enemy. A friend is a friend. To sacrifice a friend for an enemy is a recipe for disaster.
Together we can still hike our flag high, higher than many colored rags presently commanding the skylines of this here insouciant world.
Rise, Somaliland! Rise!
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Amran Aideed
A proud Somalilander
