Somalia’s Puntland Administration Appoints a Governor for Somaliland’s Sool Region
The leader of the Somalia’s Puntland regional administration has appointed a governor for one of Somaliland’s eastern most region – Sool.
The new governor, Abuubakar Cabdi Geelle, is relatively unknown and has been reported to be a resident of Lasanod city but is apparently well known for his anti-Somaliland views.
Since Sool is in Somaliland and and already has a Governor appointed by HE President Muse Bihi Abdi, it is unclear how the rival appointment from Puntland will be able to govern a territory in a different country.
The Chronicle has reached out to officials from Somaliland government for comment on this development and while most have thought of it as satirical, one who spoke on condition of anonymity stated that “the appointment is not worth the paper it is written on”.
There has been a recent spate of statements coming from the Puntland regional administration including calls for bombing and assassination of Somaliland leaders. Additionally, Puntland has repeated accused Somaliland of being Alshabaab patronage in the recent attack where terrorist group over ran a major military base near the regional capital Bossasso.
A timely appeal to the Government of the UAE
If, I was asked to define the era in which we are living, and the character of the events we are witnessing, I would have said ‘it is the era of the greatest event of the time, the agreement of the two governments, Somaliland and UAE’ with the partnership of Ethiopia.
This event is happening in a new turn in the history of mankind, a turn from unpopular to a Multi-polar world. This historical change on the global level is hugely impacting on us, in the third world, in the way we used to live, behave and reacted to the events that decided our destiny, specifically in the regions of the Middle East, the Gulf, and the Horn of Africa, where for instance, the civil war in Yemen led the UAE and Saudi Arabia to intervene in order to stop the Iranian regime’s expansion. And where, in another level, the contrast between Somalia and Somaliland systems can only be compared with that of Athens in the Greece ancient history, as Athens had been an Oasis of peace and democracy, while Sparta persisted as a terrain of wars and warlords. Unfortunately, the State elite in Somalia remain dictatorial and inhuman, both in ideology as well as in practice, reiterating the same practice of the Siyad Barre regime. The live example in this respect lies in the irrational reaction to the considerable beneficial agreement reached at between the two brotherly countries, which can significantly change the life of four million poor Somalis.
This Irrational hostile stand recalled the Somaliland people the crimes committed by the Siyad Bare army in 1980s. And instead to move, even at the level of lip-serves, towards the remedy of the deep injures in the heart of the people of Somaliland they mobilized the entire world against the livelihood of supposedly a brother people.
Unfortunately, the future prospect of reconciliation of Somalia and Somaliland became further remote with the undemocratic and inhuman orientation of the Somalia’s elite, a matter that raised a fundamental question as to what kind of Somalia they have in mind to build,
Evidently, not a democratic model similar to that of the UAE or the Switzerland based ideals, but retrieving the Fascist Somalia pattern of Siyad Barre which was similar in sectarianism to the one that Houties are trying to create in Yemen.
These rightful and legitimate concerns gave no room for optimism to the people and government of Somaliland rather, the possibility of provoking the deep wounds and emotional bias, fanatical instinct and sectarianism as contras to reconciliation and forgiveness that the Somaliland system teaches everybody, not only in this region but the world at large.
Taking these deep-rooted worries into seriousness, I would like to express my personal appreciation to the deal reached between our two governments, and urge the UAE to take another bold step towards diplomatic recognition of Somaliland, that would halt all attempts to establish Fascism in Mogadishu or sectarianism in Yemen.
By Ambassador Adam Jibril Muse
Somaliland Foreign Policy and the Equation of Existence and Thought
In philosophy as well as in the science of logic there has been a fundamental question about which one comes first, Existence or Thought. This question has been one of the most critical theoretical issues about life that confronted humanity in general and scholars of all-ages since Aristotle in particular. In our times too, the clarity about this issue is a pivotal point at every question concerning dynamism of life and human progress. This argument is relevant not only to the modern scope of human cognition but also constitutes a matter of urgent prerequisite for the politicians and practitioners concerning their ability to stand as pioneers for the creation of innovative ideas and new strategic thinking for change.
Historically, a new way of thinking has always been the vehicle through which humanity has crossed the borders of darkness to the age of enlightenment towards the opening of new opportunities for shaping a better future for human societies. Moreover, the universally accepted truth is that there is no thought without existence and there is no progress without scientific based world outlook.
Essentially, the Peace and State building achievements anywhere in the world had been closely connected to an objective review to the issues under consideration through the scope of scientific interpretation of history, the present as well as the future prospect of events that occur in life. In order to put this abstract issue in a simple perspective, we need to bring our attention to one practical aspect applicable to the contemporary societies. The lack of an elaborated strategic roadmap any honest effort toward socioeconomic development becomes unfeasible and unrealizable and the same is true to the foreign policy of any country in the world.
That means, with the absence of a well explained visionary theorem for the Somaliland foreign policy the reality remained a continuation of stagnancy and without progress. In fact the same material existence persisted since 2010, where structures and a number of dutiful humans of men and women with great potential competencies but without the weapon of theory to enlighten their minds regarding the road to progress and to recompense what they lacked about national foreign policy strategy.
As an outcome of this stagnancy all opportunities for gaining the ability to move forward were lost and to ascending above the day-to-day random engagements which continued in the form of appointments, meetings, visits, assignments, and even serious commitments to dealing with daily issues ended up in vain. This is because of the obscurity about national blueprint designed for the recognition strategy with short, medium and long-term arrangements, and with vibrant priorities to underline which country or group of countries, sub-region, continents ought to be set as the first, second or third priority so that to be given more attention than others. With this reality, the actual status quo remained static and motionless and whatever resources and honest efforts that had been infested in the quest for recognition the outcome largely persisted ineffective compared with the remarkable achievements that were realized over the years in the internal front.
In reality, however, there is a historical necessity to understand that the required strategic oriented foreign policy for Somaliland begins with the following question; is there a gap of understanding between the engineers of the Somaliland foreign policy and the rest of the world, the answer is affirmative. Unfortunately, the gap of understanding between Somaliland foreign policy presentation and the level of the contemporary readings vis-à-vis foreign policy performance and the rest of the international community’s conceptual understanding remained unbridgeable and continuously been widening until, finally, a disengagement occurred with the Silaanyo,s administration.
The relationship with both the region and the world at large reached its lowest level with the Ahmed Silaanyo’s regime. A Western Scholar and friend of Somaliland told me this; ‘We don’t have anything in common to work with the Silaanyo’s government with the exception of a limited security areas, because we don’t know even with whom we can deal, and added, Adam, you should know why Somaliland is still in lack of recognition, with all those good things you have done, and with the three best foreign ministers in the world you had, Mr. Gees, Late Facade, and lady Eden Adem, they are knowledgeable people and with high morality standards’’, he continued by saying ‘’to my opinion, it is because you did not disavow yourself and disengaged from the Somali Irredentism and the crimes committed on its terms, the Ogden war, for instance, one of the most devastating conflict in the region in centuries.
At the moment, it is already a known fact that the Somaliland foreign policy’s ability is much shorter than ever to be able to define the political and legal challenges that this country faces concerning the regional and international relations, as a result of which all practical endeavors in search of recognition have ended up with failure.
The following is a modest attempt from my point of view to envisage the space and scope of these challenges by addressing to only one fundamental issue which constitutes the key problem that stands against the self-determination and recognition of Somaliland and in a very concise manner, because the magnitude of such a critical task requires to be tasked to a group of political and legal experts in a bid to achieve a comprehensive position paper about these challenges.
The core challenge comprises of both political and legality aspects and the decisive prerequisite to be dealt with are to recognize the root cause of the Somali crisis as a concrete reality. This reality has entered into international political literature as the “Somali Question”. On this very point lies the need to sort out how the interconnection of the Greater Somalia Ideology and the entire system of the practical policies of the Somali ruling elite since the 1960s led to the disastrous regional and internal wars, and why under the plights of these wars and their consequences the Somali people in both Somalia and Somaliland are still experiencing their agonizing outcome in different levels and dimensions. There is a need to reason why Somalia has fallen into the cycle of Political Islam, foreign intervention and the apathy of the corrupt elite, while at the same time Somaliland remained in a diplomatic limbo and isolation when it has fulfilled all the requirements according to Montevideo convention of 1933 as a criterion required for statehood.
A more serious concern is the prevailing belief amongst the general public and the elite in Somalia that these predicaments came as a result of an external conspiracy alone, which is a reflection of an absolute simplicity of the layman’s daily awareness while overlooking the destructive internal factor that originated from the anti-democratic and warmonger Somali politicians. As a result of these policies, the International community’s major concerns about the peace in the Horn of African region rests in the fear from the Somali Irredentistas an ideology as well as official policy of Somalia and related the question that the peace in the Horn of African region can’t be endured so long as this ideological thinking is in place. The ‘Qalbi-Dhax’ issue in the Somalia Parliament is a case in point. The pure Ethnic based creed in politics has an unlimited common space of Similarity with the Nazism and Fascism. These policies remained the basic root cause of all those disastrous bloody events that today’s problems and predicaments emanated.
Moreover, the Somali Irredentism has different levels and scopes, but for the same allegiance and adherence. An important aspect here embodies in the reason behind the conflict between the Puntland regional state of Somalia and Somaliland. On one side stands a multi-clan based country of Somaliland, which comprises of different clans such as Issaqs, Daroods, Gadabursi, Iissas, and minority Somali clans within the bounders left behind by the European Colonialism, which is the case anywhere in Africa. And on the other side a single Somali clan-based state of Puntland, a phenomenon which is a clear representation of Somali Irredentism (Issr-raac). However, one can’t simply blame those young generations of leadership whether in Puntland or there in the Center in Mogadishu because that is what they have inherited from the older generation of the Somali politicians.
Nevertheless, the only conceivable exit out of this horrible page of the history of Irredentism and related disastrous legacy is to abandon it not only politically but also legally and morally. Such an extraordinary step would lead to new opportunities favorable for Somalis to speak to the world with contemporary language, thereafter, the argument with confidence that territorial claims on any country in this region by the side of Somaliland would constitutionally be outlawed. And maintenance of democratic Somaliland remains the only historical alternative.
The very responsibility to uncover this impasse is on the shoulders of the Ministry of the foreign relations, which its main task is to put these facts on the front of the political leadership and with crafting different options for the leadership to consider, in other words, the most urgent task to the Somaliland foreign policy designers is to sort out the best end to the desolation and disengagement of the ideology of Irredentism (Issir-raac) and in order to be clear and predictable there is an urgent need to denounce any territorial claims on any of the neighboring countries. This should have been the direction and engagement of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs from the very outset.
By Ambassador Adam Jibril Muse
Operation Power Grab: How Somalia ended up with an American Dictator.
The Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed has taken steps to consolidate power by sacking the Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Osman Jawari. This contentious move has brought wartorn Somalia to the brink of yet another civil war that brought rival armed militias and running gun battles in the Parliament until the Speaker finally stepped down.
Mr Jawari’s ouster while given a flimsy democratic façade, complete with a no confidence vote, it was clear that he was being ousted for breaking rank with the Executive Branch on a wide variety of issues including the dispute that erupted last year between Qatar and Turkey against Saudi Arabia and its ally, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and according to some analysts, Somaliland’s Berbera Dubai World Ports.
Mr Jawari’s impassioned final speech included these words “I considered the advice from people and took one word which is “one of us has to give up”.
With the ouster of Mr. Jawari complete, Mr. Farmajo has installed Mohamed Mursal Abdirahman, who has resigned his post as Defense Minister a month ago before Jawari’s no confidence vote and resignation. Mr Abdirahman, the new Speaker of the Parliament has miraculously secured over half of the votes from lawmakers that took part in the vote, deputy speaker Abdiwali Ibrahim Muudey said.
Many Somalia observers have pointed to a classic power grab where the Executive Branch sees dissent as a simple obstacle that should be removed.
Continuing on this dark path that in its essence is the very reason that Somalia is a failed state. Mr. Farmajo has sacked the country’s Chief Justice without a cause. If one is keeping track, two of the highest ranking officials in Legislative and Judiciary branches fired within days by the President.
The appointment of the new Chief Justice Bashe Yusuf Ahmed was received with mixed reactions in Somalia as some questioned if the young lawyer is qualified to be a chief justice as the constitution requires a minimum of seven years of work experience as a lawyer or in a high judicial position. While others, pointed to his blood relation with the Deputy Prime Minister Khadar Gulaid.
Despite his seemingly thin qualification as a Chief Justice of a war-torn country, many saw his appointment as politically motivated as he was an active member and high ranking official of the Wadani Opposition Party in Somaliland.
Public records show that Mr Bashe Yusuf Ahmed received a Master’s Degree in Commercial and Maritime Law in 2014 from the University of Hertfordshire. There is no record of him defending, prosecuting a case or acting as an officer of the court at any capacity. Many analysts have pointed to this thin experience when discussing the new Chief Justice and stressed that the Somali constitution requires a minimum of 7 years of law practice.
Mr Yusuf, however, has an extensive experience working with International NGOs such as Mercy Corps who has congratulated him in a tweet of an unflattering picture that highlighted “the field” oriented nature of his work.
Mr. Farmajo who is a United States citizen and has lived outside of Somalia since its collapse in 1991 has recently started donning military fatigues. It is important to note that though, the Somali President is the Commander of the armed forces, he has never been in the army or seen any combat.
These dictatorial actions by Mr Farmajo to install an inexperienced or a member of his own cabinet in as the heads of the Legislative and Judiciary branches have alarmed international community including AMISOM, where some spoke on condition of anonymity and have accused Mr. Farmajo of power consolidation and setting the stage for his reelection by ballot or by simply cancelling elections. With special emphasis on Mr. Farmajo’s American citizenship, a representative of a major financial donor to Somalia said “Somalia has gotten itself an American dictator”.
It is not our Culture to Harm Innocent Civilians – Somaliland Minister of Interior
“It is neither Islamic nor any other culture to harm guests and innocent civilians in our midst and it is definitely not Somaliland’s culture. We view any Somali national in Somaliland as someone in their second homeland. The statements coming out of the Garowe Administration are completely nonsensical and akin to a grasping at straws.” Mohamed Kahin – Minister of Interior of the Republic of Somaliland.
The Ministry of Interior issued above statement to address a recent appeal by the Puntland Administration to all Somali national, particularly students studying in Somaliland universities to immediately leave Somaliland and return to their homeland in Garowe because they feared for safety in Somaliland.
Puntland regional administration issued this appeal following a spate of statements made by politicians, parliament members and ministers from Puntland that have called for violence against Somaliland and in particular the assassination of UCID Chairman, an opposition party in Somaliland, Faisal Ali Warabe.
In response to some of the statement including the one that called for his assassination, Mr Warabe has pointed out that the people of Somalia particularly Puntland has a long standing ties to Somaliland and to make his point pointed out the thousands of Somali business people working in Somaliland and students currently studying in Somaliland universities. There was no mention of violence or acts of reprisals against Somali national in Somaliland by Mr Warabe.
Mr Warabe has been very outspoken about the border conflict between Somaliland and Somalia in Tukeraq and has accused that Somali Government in Mogadishu of stoking hostilities.
While Mr Warabe has not shown any concrete evidence of Somalia’s involvement he has pointed out that both Mr Farmajo and Khayre, the President and Prime Minister of Somalia has vowed to take strong measures after Somaliland has signed a 30 year deal with Dubai Word Ports and the Ethiopian government.
The war of words from Puntland has intensified since the failed offensive on Somaliland army posts in in the border town Tukeraq on May 15th this year.
Somaliland President HE Muse Bihi has expressed Somaliland’s desire for peaceful coexistence to Puntland regional authorities, to Somalia and to the world.
Landlocked Ethiopia Plans to Build Navy, Prime Minister Says
Landlocked Ethiopia is planning to build a navy, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said during a briefing of the heads of the country’s National Defense Force.
“Following the efforts made to build capacity of our national defense, we built one of the stronger ground and air forces in Africa,” the ruling party-funded Fana Broadcasting Corp. reported Abiy as saying on Friday. “We should build our naval force capacity in the future.”
Two calls to the mobile phone of Abiy’s national security adviser, Abadula Gemada, didn’t connect.
Ethiopia currently has a civilian Ethiopian Maritime Training Institute on Lake Tana. It trains more than 500 marine engineers and electro-technical officers each year and plans to increase this to more than 1,000 officers annually, according to its website.
Abiy’s government in May agreed to develop Port Sudan on the Red Sea and agreed with Djibouti to swap shares in state-owned ports, airlines, and telecommunications. It also agreed to acquire land at Kenya’s Lamu Port for “logistical facilitation,” according to a joint communiqué issued after a meeting between Abiy and Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta.
Earlier this year, Ethiopia took a stake in a port in Somaliland, a semi-autonomous part of Somalia that aspires to statehood and borders Djibouti. Somaliland will host a naval base for the United Arab Emirates.
US military: 4 soldiers wounded in Somalia treated, in Kenya
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Four U.S. service members who were wounded in an extremist attack in Somalia that killed one special operations soldier have been treated and discharged, the U.S. military said Saturday.
A U.S. Africa Command statement said the four were in the care of the U.S. Embassy medical team in neighboring Kenya. They were awaiting transport “for additional medical evaluation.”
Names of the soldiers have not been released while the U.S. notifies next of kin.
This was the first public announcement of a U.S. military combat death in Africa since four U.S. service members were killed in a militant ambush in the West African nation of Niger in October.
Friday’s attack in Jubaland is likely to put renewed scrutiny on America’s counterterror operations in Africa.
U.S. troops with Somali and Kenyan forces came under mortar and small-arms fire and one “partner force member” also was wounded in the attack about 350 kilometers (217 miles) southwest of the capital, Mogadishu, the U.S. military said.
The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group, which is based in Somalia and controls parts of the country’s rural south and central regions, claimed responsibility. The group was blamed for the truck bombing in Mogadishu in October that killed more than 500 people and raised concerns about al-Shabab’s ability to build ever-larger explosives.
Friday’s joint operation, part of a multi-day mission including about 800 Somali and Kenyan troops, aimed to clear al-Shabab from contested areas. The U.S. said its personnel had provided advice, assistance and aerial surveillance during the mission.
President Donald Trump in early 2017 approved expanded military operations against al-Shabab, leading to an increase in U.S. military personnel to more than 500 and the launch of dozens of drone strikes. The U.S. had pulled out of the Horn of Africa nation after 1993, when two helicopters were shot down in Mogadishu and bodies of Americans were dragged through the streets.
Another U.S. service member in Somalia was killed in May 2017 during an operation about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of Mogadishu.
Farmajo: Clapping Without Crowd
The state is one of the international legal personalities which has its own elements that determines whether it is a real or artificial. In international law, the state should have a defined territory, a permanent population, has the capacity to enter into relations with others, and a government which has the capacity to control the territory it claims and provide services to its citizens.
The political scientists both classical and contemporary agreed that sovereignty is an integral part of the state and regard it as the engine room of the post-Westphalia Peace Agreement statehood. This concept has two distinct dimensions: internal and external. A range of elements determines the internal, therefore, the state should have the capacity to govern the state, make laws, provide social services and security to the citizens, and have an authority in the territory it claims. Providing those services to the citizens’ at large lead the citizens endorse and trust to the state institutions, thus ensures state legitimacy, and this in return legitimizes the internal sovereignty of the state. In a broader sense, the internal sovereignty stems from the consent of the state citizens.
Not similar to the internal, external sovereignty in international law relates to two crucial factors: the recognition which is the practices of the modern states to formally recognize each other through diplomatic means and also equality within the states in the international system, respect of other states, and policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of the other states.
Having this in mind, does Somalia has the legal claim as a genuine state let alone its foreign-imposed governments, in accordance with the above elements of the state. Does Somalia has the internal sovereignty with the assent of the Somali citizens, or does it has the external sovereignty. If the latter does exist, is it real or artificial in connection with the existing condition in the entire Somalia regions, the Somalia Italian Trusteeship?
From the ‘provisional government’ of Ali Mahdi in 1991 to ‘Salballaadh’ of Aideed in 1994, Abdikasim in 2000, Abdullahi Yusuf in 2004, Sheikh Sharif in 2009, Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud in 2012, and the recent Farmajo government in 2017. All these ‘governments’ have had and still has an illusion claiming as genuine governments representing the will of the Somali citizens.
These claims are entirely baseless fabricated by foreign actors which are beneficial to the protracted state collapse in the south. In Mogadishu for instance, the federal government has no physical presence at all as it resides only in a small highly secured area protected by Amisom. The question arises here is: does Farmajo aware what is going on in Halane, neighborhood of Villa Somalia, which is in contrary to the security and sovereignty of the Somali people, does he also aware what is going on in Balli Doogle, before he talk about other regions and towns in the south–central Somalia. These two military bases are neither in the control of the Somalia’s ‘government’ nor under the jurisdiction of their ‘authority’.
Not only in Halane and Balli Doogle, but also Balkanization of your state ‘Somalia’ into self-governing states by competing interests both from the region and beyond are undeniable facts. Doubly important, there are growing numbers of autonomous regions which claim independent administrations from the ‘federal government’ in Mogadishu, with the support of foreign governments. These regional states, including Puntland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Jubbaland, and the Southwest State of Somalia claim greater autonomy within the ‘Somalia’ state territory. The real Somali citizens believe that these multiple administrations in the name of federalism have not only contributed its part in endangering the existence of your state, but also derail the efforts to establish long-lasting peace and state institutions in ‘Somalia’. Do you agree Mr. Farmajo?
In contrast to this chaos in Somalia, Somaliland was known as the British Somaliland Protectorate approximately for 80 years before its merger with the Italian colony. The aim of this blinded union was a part of the Greater Somalia Ambition in which most of the Somali people anticipated. In 1991, Somaliland declared its withdrawal from the unjust union of the 1960 for political, social and economic reasons. The euphoria of the citizens who were enthusiastic about the birth of an independent, inclusive Somali State in the 1960, their exhilaration has quickly dissipated as the south occupy all state institutions without considering Somaliland as an independent state which united with the south just to realize the Greater Somalia Agenda.
The unjust practices of the Somalia’s southern-led governments (1960–1991) is as clear as the daylight. In his book “Search for a New Somali Identity” (2002), Hussein Ali Dualeh stated that since the independence in 1960, Somalia has got a total aid of 4.482 billion dollars, for 148 projects. Barefacedly, 139 projects went to the south, while only 9 projects went to Somaliland. In other words, the people of Somaliland got 142 million dollars, out of a development aid of about 4.4 billion dollars. In support of the Dualeh’s argument, I have the list of all projects, including the project name, the place where the project was implemented, and the amount allocated in each project.
This kind of practice and thinking of the Somalia decision-making circles made Somaliland citizens to become hostile to the Somali state institutions till it ceased to exist as a state in 1991. Given the emphasis on this argument, the unjust distribution of power and national resources between the two (British Somaliland Protectorate and Italian Trusteeship in Somalia), remains the source of the Somalia’s conflicts and the protracted civil war and its subsequent disintegration of the state. Do you agree Mr. Farmajo?
In spite of all difficulties, in the post-1991 period, Somaliland has managed to build its own state institutions without an international engagement, has a full control into its territory, and later transitioned the country from elders appointed to popularly elected presidents. Somaliland’s road to democracy and multi-party politics is an outcome of Somaliland’s successful political reconciliation, reconstruction of its economic infrastructures and the subsequent well-built state institutions. Somaliland is an island of peace and stability surrounded by a violent and a volatile region. Do you agree Mr. Farmajo?
Certainly, Somalia’s statehood is uncertain, let alone its floating ‘government’, which isn’t in control of about 1km2 in its capital. The concrete evidences acquired from the Somaliland indigenous peace and state building endeavors affirm that building governance institutions and security mechanisms work best when the people at the grassroots are part of the process, and thus elect and rally behind their leader without international interference. But nothing would work if the leader is clapping without crowd as the current situation of the Farmajo clearly states. Farmajo’s ‘government’ is just nominal and is anti-thesis of the Somalia peace and reconciliation efforts as it isn’t a genuine government representing the will and interest of the entire territory of the former Italian Trusteeship in Somalia.
Despite the illusion of the Somalia politicians, since 1991, Somalia remains in what John Burnett described in his book “where soldiers fear to tread” (2005), as a shambles, torn apart by more than [two] decades of lawlessness and near-classic anarchy. It is the only nation without some form of central government, and it is considered still to be one of the most dangerous places on earth.
Nasir M. Ali
The opinion expressed here does not necessarily reflect to any institution rather it is my personal view and impression.
