Using the devastating fire at the Waaheen market in Hargeisa, Villa Somalia has seen yet another opportunity to lie and exploit the tragedy and the gullibility of the government of Somaliland to advance a narrative of a savior that is so moved and is ready to infuse almost 12 million dollars to help the recovery and the potential visit of Somali Federal Government ministers to Somaliland. This is beyond despicable and fits in a larger pattern of Villa Somalia highjacking narratives to its advantage, but Somaliland should not fall for the crocodile tears and we must separate sympathy calls from cold and calculated moves by Villa Somalia to exploit our fiery tragedy.
Some simpletons may wonder why Somaliland should categorically reject a delegation from Somalia if it’s welcoming similar delegations from other Somalis in the region, such as Djibouti and Ethiopia. The answer is simple: only Somalia hosts a sham election of imposters who claim to represent the people of Somaliland in Mogadishu while denying the will of the people of Somaliland, only Somalia, especially under Farmajo, has spent millions to destabilize and sow discord among the people of Somaliland. This unhealthy and fatalistic pursuit of keeping Somaliland under its thumb set the Somali government, not the people, apart from anyone else in the world. This simple yet profound difference is why the Somaliland government and its people should remain vigilant of false narratives from Somalia and especially when trying to exploit one of the biggest tragedies in Somaliland’s modern history.
As President Bihi said at the Heritage Foundation when asked about what makes him proud about Somaliland, our resiliency is our greatest asset that has sustained us for more than a quarter of a century of international isolation and will get us through the tragedy of the Waaheen market fire but while resiliency is our strongest suit, gullibility and falling for every trap set by Somalia, especially under Farmajo has been our Achilles’ heels and the supposed offer of help from Somalia should be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism.
Somaliland government has been criminally slow in setting the record straight, particularly about the truth of the World Bank funds — 12 million dollars — that Somalia is claiming to release and has given Somalia the ability to exploit and repackage narratives to their advantage. This lack of clarity and communication must change, and keeping the public informed is a priority that will help shut the door and preempt the Villa Somalia squatters from exploiting our consistent achievements or occasional tragedies.
Somaliland Chronicle is responsible for the content of this editorial.
Notice: This article by Somaliland Chronicle is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Under this license, all reprints and non-commercial distribution of this work is permitted.
