In Response to Gregory R. Copley’s “Egypt’s Instability Triggers a New Proxy War aga inst Ethiopia and it’s Allies”.
Dr Ismail Aadan
Somalilandsun – The infamous Gregory R. Copley has once again surfaced from abject obscurity to return to what he does best; namely, to try and sell old trodden geopolitical stereotypes and baseless defamatory personal attacks worthy of any second-rate gutter tabloid as insightful analysis.
In his most recent diatribe, Copley provides a convoluted narrative to suggest that the Government of Egypt is hell-bent on asserting its dominance in the Horn of Africa and in particular – access to the Nile- at all costs.
In doing so, he believes that Egypt is wilfully arming and instructing the newly recognised Federal Government of Somalia to invade and neutralise the Republic of Somaliland so as to assume control of Berbera port.
In midst flow, Copley breaks off from his longwinded rant to launch into a farcical attack against the current Somaliland government by first; accusing the it of having “reversed” the positive gains made by the former Riyalle Administration in seeking international support for recognition; second, insinuating that the President of Somaliland is suffering from “advanced diabetes” and “probable dementia”; and third, accusing the Minister of Presidential Affairs, Hersi Haji-Ali, as an “allay and front for the salafist jihad movement, al-shabaab”.
Copley’s accusations remain laughable at best, if not downright utterly ridiculous and intentionally incendiary. A peripheral figure continually searching for relevance on the political margins, Copley has been described as “a right-wing ultra conservative racist bigot whose views are so radical that one wonders whose planet he lives on”.
Further, writer Felix Ayanmouh noted in 2010 that Copley fundamentally remains no more than an “Australian defence contractor who masks his activities under the guise of a publisher, analyst and strategist” peddling his lies under the “obscure right-wing…International Strategic Studies Association”.
Copley is at least consistent: consistent in being wrong, always. Somalilander’s are already familiar with Copley’s falsehood masquerading as analysis.
During the 2010 Presidential elections, in an act of malicious interference, Copley issued a similar tirade against the then opposition Kulmiye Party, describing it as unrepresentative of Somaliland’s people and accusing its leadership of being riddled with – yes, you guessed it, al-shaabab! History and the Somaliland people relegated him as footnote in history when the Kulmiye Party under the leadership of Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo went on to secure a landslide victory in an internationally applauded democratic election and formed one of the most successful and effective democratic governments ever seen in the history of Somaliland.
Incidentally, all three of the individuals previously named by Copley as al-shaabab (ironically, which did not include his current target-of-the day, Minister Hersi Haji-Ali) including, Abdul Aziz-Samaale, Dr. Gaboose and Eng. Mohamed Hashi Elmi all went on to hold cabinet posts with varying degrees of success in the Kulmiye government.
He also warned in 2010 that if elected, the Kulmiye Party would dissolve the Somaliland Constitution to rule instead by “Quranic law”. Three years since the elections, Somaliland’s Constitution remains solidly in place and its institutions and enforcement mechanisms stronger than ever. Copley further accused the Kulmiye leadership of being staunchly anti-democratic and viewing democracy “as a western conspiracy to destroy the Islamic world” and the “US and other western democracies as the enemy”.
Of course, yet again, facts and history proved Copley utterly wrong.
President Silanyo oversaw one of the most democratic reform processes undertaken in Somaliland by stepping down from the leadership of the Kulmiye Party, opening up competition for national parties to increase political participation, advancing the role of women, and successfully completing Parliamentary and municipal elections.
Amongst the most absurd of Copley’s recent accusations is that the President is too sick to govern and that the cause of Somaliland recognition led by the Riyalle regime has been stalled by the Silanyo government. By making such accusations, Copley is doing no more than what disgruntled and disaffected gossip pedlars would say in back street coffee shops. Clearly, this type of name-calling is the last bastion of the politically defeated and intellectually bankrupt.
President Silanyo has been a ground-breaker throughout his entire political career and needs no defence against Copley and his ilk. His actions and results speak for themselves.
Unlike any other leader in Somaliland, President Silanyo has not only spearheaded wide-scale reforms internally, but he has personally led an ambitious and extremely successful campaign to increase the global profile of Somaliland which is manifestly clear to any reasonable, informed and impartial observer.
Unlike ever before, under the leadership of President Silanyo, Somaliland has attained international diplomatic status totally unparalleled in its previous existence by securing access to international governments at the highest level. Somaliland’s international access resulting in increased support and direct financial assistance from the international community is real mark of the confidence in the political maturity of the Silanyo government.
One need only look at President Silanyo’s recent whirlwind visits to UAE, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States as indicative of the relentless energy the President continues to exert to advance the cause of Somaliland. Not only did he provide academic lectures in globally respected Think Tanks, but he published editorials in globally respected journals, secured high profile coverage in numerous international news outlets, and met with senior ranking government officials and key business leaders.
Which other Somaliland President did so much?
Somaliland’s success under the Silanyo government is undeniable and solid. According to Dr. J. Peter Pham, a Senior Advisor with United States Afri-Comm, “Somaliland underscores the fact that even in the middle of the most uncompromising of circumstances, there are always choices, and the right ones deliver some truly exceptional results”. [Marine Corps Journal, Volume 3, N.1 2012].
Far from being a safe haven for extremists as the much discredited Copley tries to imply in his latest article, Thomas M. Murray, Major-General of the US Marine Corps, recently applauded Somaliland as the “hope” for the Horn of Africa region.
The Major-General of the Marine Corps went on to recognise that “the positives of what is happening in Somaliland should be on the minds of those dealing with the rapidly evolving circumstances in the Middle East and North Africa in the wake of 2011 “Arab Spring” [Marine Corps Journal, Volume 3, N.1 2012]. It would not be a stretch to suggest that the Major-General of the US Marine Corps remains more informed than the beleaguered and obscure strategist Copley.
At the end of the day, Gregory R. Copley’s motives for continually presenting blatantly false and malicious rumours about the Kulmiye Party and its leadership since its days in opposition remains unclear and frankly profoundly bizarre
Obviously, this is a man with an axe to grind acting out of his own volition, or perhaps on behalf of others for whatever reason. Indeed, he may be relying on the old adage that if you repeat a lie long enough, it becomes the truth.
It will not be so in this case. Somaliland and its people are acutely aware of all those seeking to destabilise their hard won stability through the proliferation innuendo and lies calculated to divide and distract.
Such thinly veiled attacks will not halt Somaliland’s continuing advancements towards safeguarding democracy, increase livelihoods and attain international recognition under the President Silanyo’s government.
Dr Ismail Aadan
ismailadan69@yahoo.com
