Glenys urges Somaliland self-determination

09 Feb, 2007 -

 

EURO-MP Glenys Kinnock today called for Somalilanders to have the right to determine their country’s future. At a high-level meeting in Brussels, organised by Somaliland Societies in Europe (SSE) and Somaliland Community in Belgium (SBC), the Labour MEP said Somalilanders’ pleas for international recognition for their country must be heard

Glenys Kinnock said: “The right to self-determination for all peoples is a fundamental principle enshrined in the UN Charter. Somaliland has enjoyed stability for more than 10 years and, in contrast to the rest of Somalia, has achieved an enormous amount for its people.

“Somalilanders are rightly proud of their achievements and I know that pride is shared by the Somaliland community in my constituency in Cardiff. However, there is also bewilderment at the reluctance of the international community to officially recognise these successes. Indeed, it is an anomaly that Somaliland is still denied recognition by the international community.”

Somaliland has successfully managed to overcome the destruction carried out under the Siad Barre dictatorship that ruled the country until 1991.

Since then, Somaliland has been a de-facto independent sovereign state with a democratically elected president, parliament and local government, yet the international community has so far failed to officially recognise the country.

Among the topics discussed was ensuring Somaliland’s sustained stability in relation to the rest of the Horn of Africa region, the role of international institutions in building upon Somaliland’s successes and international recognition of Somaliland.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. Former British Somaliland became independent on June 26 1960 and four days later gave up its freedom to merge with neighbouring Italian Somaliland to become Somalia.

2. Under the dictatorial regime of Siad Barre between 1969 and 1991 thousands of Somalilanders fled into the bush and into refugee camps. Eventually the country fragmented and Barre was deposed in 1991.

3. There has been a Somali presence in Cardiff as far back as the tail end of the 19th century when sailors from the former British Somaliland stayed in lodging houses between voyage.

4. The Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Somaliland Parliament attended the opening of the new Welsh Assembly Building.
Source: News From Labor 

RESOLUTION ELDR CONGRESS IN BERLIN 18-19 OCTOBER 2007: Somaliland

Somaliland

RESOLUTION ELDR CONGRESS IN BERLIN 18-19 OCTOBER 2007Resolution: Somaliland

ELDR notes that:

1) Four days after its independence from the United Kingdom, Somaliland agreed to merge with the newly independent Somalia;

2) Following the fall of the Siad Barre dictatorship and the subsequent anarchy in the South, the former British Colony abrogated this merger and embarked on a programme of democracy and free market economy;

3) The Republic of Somaliland has declared that it has no territorial ambitions regarding any of its neighbours;

ELDR calls upon the European Union and all of its Member States to give diplomatic recognition to the Republic of Somaliland, actively encouraging the African Union to accept that Somaliland is not a secessionist state but rather a democratic entity which has abrogated a union with a failed State.

Source: ELDR
http://www.eldr.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1136

A Bill On Somaliland Recognition To Be Introduced To US Congress

 

 

US Congress

 

Washington DC, January 24, 2008 – A draft Bill on expressing the sense of the Congress that the United States should recognize an independent Somaliland is prepared and presented to members of the US Congress.

Prepared by a group that calls itself “Friends of Somaliland People” the Draft Bill urges the government of the United States to formally recognize the independent status of Somaliland “within its colonial borders which are still in tact, being a very reasonable step toward bringing peace to the Horn of Africa and constituting the acceptance of established international law.” 

“Patrick Linberry, head of the US wing of the group has met with legislators to discuss the introduction of a bill that would recognize Somaliland as an independent country, reads a press release by the group.

“Right now we are looking for a co-sponsor for the bill so that it can be introduced into one of the two houses. It has already been looked over by the Somaliland government and the Somaliland lobby in the US. As a starting point I have met with senators and representatives of whom I am a constituent,” he told a news wire called addishorn.com. 

“He has met with and spoken to the offices of Senators Dole (R-NC) and Burr (R-NC) and Representatives Miller (D-NC), who is member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Coble (R-NC), it was learnt.

“Rep. Howard Coble’s office said it is willing to offer support, whether it means writing a letter of support to the Department of State or actually seeing that this bill is introduced in the House, said the press release.

“It is to be recalled that a high-level delegation from Somaliland, led by President Dahir Kahin Rayale, departed Washington January 19 after an eight-day visit. While there, the delegation met with senior officials of the State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, Department of Defense, and National Security Council staff, among others. 

“This cordial and constructive visit demonstrated U.S. engagement with Somaliland in furtherance of our common interests in the areas of regional peace and security, economic development, and democratic reform,” said a statement from the US Department of State.

Source: Addis Horn

http://www.unpo.org/article.php?id=7541

The Pentagon’s view is that “ Somaliland should be independent”

Robert Gates, US Defense Secretary
By Ann Scott Tyson
 
CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti, December 3 - The escalating conflict in Somalia is generating debate inside the Bush administration over whether the United States should continue to back the shaky transitional government in Mogadishu or shift support to the less volatile region of Somaliland, which declared independence in 1991, U.S. defense and military officials said. 

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates discussed regional issues during a visit to Djibouti on Monday, including Somalia and the presence there of about 8,000 Ethiopian troops, the officials said. Ethiopian forces intervened a year ago to install the fledgling government in Mogadishu and they continue to fight Islamic radicals in Somalia. 




"My biggest concern about Somalia is the potential for al-Qaeda to be active there," Gates said on his first visit to the Horn of Africa as defense secretary. Asked about allegations of human rights abuses by Ethiopian troops in Somalia, Gates said: "We're obviously very interested in helping the African Union and Ugandans to try and exercise some constructive influence on the Ethiopians." 

U.S. military officials say Somalia is the greatest source of instability in the Horn of Africa, leading them to seek new ways to contain the violence there. 

One approach, Pentagon officials argue, would be to forge ties with Somaliland, as the U.S. military has with Kenya and other countries bordering Somalia. A breakaway region along Somalia's northwestern coast, Somaliland has about 2 million people and an elected president, and offers greater potential for U.S. military assistance to bolster security, even though it lacks international recognition, they say.
" Somaliland is an entity that works," a senior defense official said. "We're caught between a rock and a hard place because they're not a recognized state," the official said. 

The Pentagon's view is that " Somaliland should be independent," another defense official said. "We should build up the parts that are functional and box in" Somalia's unstable regions, particularly around Mogadishu.
In contrast, "the State Department wants to fix the broken part first -- that's been a failed policy," the official said. 

The official U.S. government position is that the United States should withhold recognition from Somaliland because the African Union has yet to recognize it. "We do not want to get ahead of the continental organization on an issue of such importance," said Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi E. Frazer in an e-mailed response to questions. 

The issue is diplomatically sensitive because recognizing Somaliland could set a precedent for other secession movements seeking to change colonial-era borders, opening a Pandora's box in the region.
In Djibouti, U.S. military officials say they are eager to engage Somaliland. "We'd love to, we're just waiting for State to give us the okay," said Navy Capt. Bob Wright, head of strategic communication for the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa. The task force is composed of about 1,800 U.S. troops who conduct military training and reconstruction projects such as digging wells and building schools in 11 countries in the region.
Meanwhile, the United States continues to back Somalia's weak Transitional Federal Government, set up in late 2004 with support from international organizations and the African Union. 

That incursion also created an opportunity for the U.S. military to take action in Somalia with counterterrorism raids by small Special Operations teams. Together with the CIA, they are attempting to eliminate members of what is known as the East Africa al-Qaeda cell, thought to be responsible for the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, according to defense officials. 

"They are precise, laser-like focused, small, a handful of guys who go in and out," the defense official said. "Some things the agency [ Central Intelligence Agency] does, some things they allow us to do," the official said, adding that counterterrorism operations are ongoing. 

In Somalia, the U.S. military has also staged at least two AC-130 gunship airstrikes and a naval strike targeting suspected al-Qaeda operatives in the past year. 

In recent months, human rights groups have accused Ethiopian forces of abuses such as rape and indiscriminate killing of civilians as they bomb and burn villages in counterinsurgency operations.
Despite those allegations, the Pentagon continues to back the Ethiopian presence. "Any government that provides Somalis with assistance we support, including Ethiopia," a senior defense official said. "I am unaware of specific allegations regarding the conduct of the Ethiopian troops."

Source: Washington Post

http://www.somalilandtimes.net/sl/2007/307/027.shtml

It's time Somaliland was declared independent

While Somalia in the south is in chaos, the north is safe and democratic – yet seems invisible to the international community



Jeremy Sare
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 October 2008 20.40 BST
Article history





The recent spate of piracy off Somalia's coast is yet another symptom of the country's collapse of stability and some of its peoples' intense desperation. Reports that the pirates or hijackers of the Ukrainian vessel had begun shooting each other formed a perfect microcosm of Somalia's brutal inner turmoil.

But in the northern half of the country, known as Somaliland, there is no such mayhem. Given its close proximity to the ravaged "failed state" of Somalia, it is astonishing that Somaliland should be stable, safe, democratic and largely crime-free.

To most people, Somalia is synonymous with bloody anarchy – simply one of the most dangerous places in the world. Only the few people with an active interest in the Horn of Africa seem aware of Somaliland's peaceful existence. The leading authority on the region since the 1950s is Professor Ioan Lewis – his book, Understanding Somalia and Somaliland, published in July, leads you to the conclusion. In comprehending the unending enigma of the Horn, one course of action is clear – the peaceful north must be allowed to declare independence from the endless chaos of the south.

That view is privately shared by many governments in Africa and in the wider world, but Somaliland's declared independence of 1991 is still yet to formally recognised by any nation and it remains an "invisible" country.

Diplomatic recognition is the perpetual obsession of the Somaliland government; without it, the country remains starved of foreign investment and aid. In all probability, it would take just one country, such the US, to move on the issue and the rest, with a handful of exceptions, would be bound to follow. However, none of the main players wants to be first, so they are engaged in a multiple "Mexican stand-off".

The few countries who openly oppose recognition (Egypt and Italy) argue "former colonial boundaries should not be redrawn". But Somalilanders agree. The country was a former  British protectorate which became independent in 1960 and simultaneously joined in union with the former Italian colony of Somalia. By the mid-1980s the union was rapidly disintegrating; the mass bombing in 1988 of Somaliland's capital, Hargeisa, where 50,000 civilians were killed extinguished any thoughts of reconciliation.

The collective policy of finding a peaceful solution in the southern half of Somalia has not progressed even after 15 peace conferences in as many years. One Somali commentator called this apparently pointless exercise, "the policy of following a blind camel". A  Senlis council report published in April says, "the international community needs to be reawakened from its torpor on Somaliland".

But Ted Dagne from Washington's congressional research service argues: "Somalia must develop a federal structure that gives regional autonomy." For the Somalilanders in the north this political theorem is plainly non-sensical. They see the failed union like two brothers who went into business together – while one brother was sober and hard-working, the other went off the rails, destroying the company's stock along with its reputation. Yet it is to the "reckless brother" the international community relentlessly turns to for a solution.

The Somaliland president Dahir Riyale Kahin visited the US in April in the hope of broadening support towards the goal of recognition. Somaliland has certainly passed any democratic test set by Washington in establishing a multi-party system, holding free and fair elections and upholding freedom of speech.

There is now a division of opinion at the top of the US government on this issue. Pentagon chief Robert Gates sees Somaliland as "an entity that works". But Dr Jendayi Frazer, second in command at the state department said: "The US will not take the first step to recognising Somaliland before the African Union."

A change of president in January may alter that position, or before that Bush may be persuaded that Somaliland recognition could be part of his "African legacy". The military see the strategic importance of having a base in the Gulf of Aden as a bulwark against al-Qaida and the deep-water port of Berbera could be ideal.

Ultimately, these are the factors which are likely to determine Somaliland's chances of gaining equal nation status under the UN and not its efforts, against the odds, to create a democratic and free society.

Source: guardian.co.uk

Chronic Failures in the War on Terror - From Afghanistan to Somalia

Chronic Failures in the War on Terror - From Afghanistan to Somalia

In order to adorn the twilight of his presidency with a success story in his self-proclaimed ‘War on Terror’, President Bush should implement a high-intensity, Fast Track policy for Somalia and Somaliland that pushes the former towards stability and rewards the latter for its significant achievements over the past decade. Fast tracking Somaliland recognition will send a shock wave to Somalia, and send a clear message that peace and prosperity can be rewarded without the need to use overpowering military force. To date, efforts to resolve the crisis that has blighted Somalia have been half hearted and misconceived. Meanwhile, the Horn of Africa’s beacon of stability – Somaliland – continues to toil in relative anonymity, receiving little recognition for its remarkable progress towards creating a viable, stand-alone state.

Somaliland has succeeded where the TFG has failed because it possesses precisely those attributes that Somalia lacks: democratically elected institutions with domestic legitimacy, institutions that serve as a repository of nationalism and sovereignty etc. Fighting terrorism is therefore a domestic priority (it was enshrined in the constitution long before 9/11) since extremist violence threatens the institutions of statehood and the common aspiration to international recognition.

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