Tuesday, 30 September 2003
The perverted logic of clan politics.
....And some men have arrived from the frontiers
and they say that barbarians don’t exist any longer.
And now what will become of us without barbarians?
They were kind of a solution.
C.P. Cavafy, ‘Waiting for the Barbarians’
After a long and bloody civil war, the military regime that assumed power through a bloodless coup in 1969 was forcibly removed from power in 1991.
Few months only after the demise of the military regime and the declaration of Somaliland’s’ independence in 1991, the former SNM fighters, who were united only by their opposition to the military regime, jumped on each others’ throats. And a serious of violent conflicts erupted in Burao, Berbera and Hargiesa. These conflicts were mainly instigated by a group of junior ex-Somali army officers, called Alan As, who came from a coalition of sub-clans bent on wresting political power from the first president of Somaliland Mr. Abdirahman Ahmed Ali.
The perpetrators of these conflicts caused thousands of innocent people to lose their lives while thousands others were maimed for life. In addition, there was no systematic reconciliation of the clans involved in those terrible civil wars, and, as a result, powerful Issaq sub-clans became alienated from the political system. These later sub-clans do not, even today, identify with the political system nor do they worry about its survival.
The lingering antagonisms among the Issaq clans become abundantly clear during the recent presidential elections in the country. One of the most powerful Issaq sub-clans overwhelmingly voted against the stronger Issaq candidate, the chairman of Kulmiye political party, Mr.Silaanyo, and voted for underdog, the Gadabursi candidate from UDUB political party.
In the logic of clan politics, bygones are never allowed to be bygones.
The un-free within the freedom
Since the declaration of secession in 1991,the inhabitants of Somaliland enjoyed more unrestricted freedoms of association, of speech and of conscience, than they ever enjoyed under the military regime. People enjoy greater civil and political rights. However, these greater freedoms are hardly structured and institutionalized. And the unrestricted freedoms enjoyed by many negatively impinge on the rights of many other citizens. In addition the system is rigged in favor of the well off and the majority of the poor are simply not empowered enough to enjoy these freedoms.
There is also a lack of space for the expression of alternative opinions in the mainstream monotone. It is hard to believe the level of uniformity of view and opinions, appearing daily in the pages of the few newspapers in the country.
Things are starting to change slowly and notable personalities in the community are beginning to voice bold ideas in the face of the current political stagnation in the country. However one views it, Hadraawiyis’ recent peace voyage to the South and his subsequently declaration of support for the unity of Somalia set new parameters of debate and discussion on issues of great concern to the public.
The malaise of Kleptocracy and ministers ad infinitum
In its first decade of existence, Somaliland witnessed a serious of the most corrupt and exploitative governments the country has ever seen since independence. One can hardly exaggerate the level of mismanagement, inefficiency and kleptocracy indulged in by the successive governments in power. Government became a password for personal enrichment.
One striking aspect of the political system of the period has been the constant formation and reformation of governments, which produced hundreds of parasitic and inefficient ministers. Ministers usually obtained their tenure as a result of the thick and thin operation of the policy of divide and rule, adopted by the successive presidents. And what many of these ministers ever managed to achieve has been to rob and dwarf the ministers that they were appointed to administer.
Many people who hoped that things would change for the better, after the first democratic election in the country in 2003, were sorely disappointed. Not only did the recent elections bring forth a bunch of undemocratic profiteers in the local municipal councils, but they also returned to power, thanks to Riyaale, some of the most corrupt ministers in the pre-election governments.
Indeed all the ministers appointed by Mr. Riyaale and rejected by the parliament, are still sticking to their ministerial positions. Recently, one of these ministers even issued administrative decrees, shamelessly infringing on the constitutional rights of citizens. This development challenges the legality of the whole system.
The peace incubus
After the demise of the military dictatorship in 1991, peace has become a scarce commodity throughout the Somali territories. Unlike the south, Somaliland enjoyed relative peace and stability, which was mainly due to the collective will of the people of Somaliland and not due to, as many people wrongly believe, the magic spell of traditional elders.
In the long durée, Somaliland failed to capitalize on this period of relative peace and stability and no significant headway has been made towards the strengthening of Somaliland’s institutions and the development of its poor infrastructure.
Rather than using the opportunities created by peace for the progress and the advancement of the country, peace became an instrument used to deny the rights of citizens. Talk about your rights and you will risk to be automatically branded as a troublemaker and the enemy of the peace! Peace became an obsession and a kind of incubus that descended on the whole country. It became a trade and an instrument for the self-perpetuation of the Guurti elders in the political system.
Undoubtedly, peace is the first pillar of life and every effort should be made to strengthen it. However, without justice, political transparency, accountability and respect for human right, peace can hardly be sustainable.
Recognition: the Sisyphean rock
After a decade of existence, Somaliland has yet to secure international recognition. Granting of recognition to Somaliland is said to go against the grain of African international relations and the charter of African Union, which stipulates that the inherited borders at the time of independence are inviolable and that their sanctity are to be maintained.
The position of the international community on the issue has been, all along, that the secession of Somaliland is an internal Somali affair and that it is up to the Somali people to decide and agree.
Immediately after its declaration, many people, including some SNM political heavy weights, indicated that Somaliland would face a Herculean task in achieving international recognition and acceptance.
To date, Somaliland officials failed to sell the idea of an independent Somaliland to the international community. And people are beginning to realize that securing international recognition became a hopeless exercise, a kind of Sisyphean rock kept pushed uphill only to fall back to the ground.
The deceased president of Somaliland, Mr. Egal, used to occasionally remind the people (of course indirectly) how difficult the task of securing international recognition turned out to be. I remember the president telling journalists, after returning form a foreign trip, how the international community turned its back on Somaliland. In another time, Egal proposed that Somaliland should inherit Somalia by filling the seats that the former Somali state had sat in the international organizations, like the UN and the Arab league. Of course, the later proposal could have been realized only by renouncing the claim of Somaliland’s separate existence form the rest of Somalia.
Recently, the media was amusingly celebrating the recognition of Somaliland by a Mogadishu- based USC faction! What the media did not tell the people, however, is the fact that only states, and not warlords, enjoy the right to recognize other states in the international system. If anything, the incident showed the level of Somaliland’s desperation towards securing international recognition.
Some people attribute the difficulties faced in securing international recognition to some kind of an Arab conspiracy against Somaliland. That is why one frequently sees articles very critical on Arab states in the ‘media’.
The Harti departure
The ‘media’ in Somaliland recently alerted to the people the creation of a new region, curved out of Somaliland proper, by Puntland Authorities. With Buhoodle as its the regional capital, the new region, named Ain, is said to include also Aynabo district, which is mainly inhabited by an Issaq sub-clan. While the government minimally responded to this development by establishing a ministerial committee to deal with the issue, the people of Somaliland viewed the whole affair with an uncharacterized indifference.
In the grand council of Burao, where the secession of Somaliland was declared in 1991, the Harti sub-clans participated actively and supported the secession, partly not to appear to be going against the tide in those momentous times and partly worried of what may become of them if they failed to do so. However, the Harti gradually left the fold and many of the Garaads, who earlier supported the independence of Somaliland, ended up participating in the grand council, where the rival state of Puntland was created in 1998. Later, many of the Harti leaders openly gave their allegiance to Puntland state. Understandably, the Harti were reluctant to be associated with Somaliland, which they consider to be an Issaq lake.
After his election to office, Riyaale visited the Harti capital, Laas Aanood. The presidents arrival was greeted with unexpected violence and he was forced to terminate his visit. Riyaale’s recent imprisonment of a Harti man, who is alleged to have killed a Mareehan/ Gadabursi man, maternally related to Riyaale, in America, further aggravated the situation and caused a serious friction between the Harti ministers and president Riyaale.
The incident culminated in the departure of one of the Harti heavyweight ministers, professor Mohamed Said Gees.
Nowadays, it seems that the few remaining Harti members in the government are being deliberately pushed off the boat. The media has been repeatedly accusing Mr. Qaybe of his alleged anti-Somaliland stand. In an article in Jamhuuriya on 23 September, Mr. Qaybe was accused of meeting with Dr. Ismail Buubaa in the United Arab Emirates. Even if the alleged meeting has taken place, was it a criminal act?
Conclusion
As things stand today, Somaliland even failed to fulfill the modest expectations of the people who celebrated its birth. And despite a minority who have vested interest in the status quo, the majority of the people feel that Somaliland cannot continue in this direction, indefinitely. Somaliland exists by default and as soon as some semblance of peace and stability returns to the South, Somaliland could predictably cease to exist. As far as I can see, nothing to prevent this eventuality from ever occurring has been put in place.
Recently, the traditional leaders of Somaliland declared their willingness to mediate among the warring Hawiye factions in Mogadishu. If the government allows the traditional leaders to proceed with the mediation effort (and that is the only option currently open to the government), it is going to be a major departure from the policy of non-contact and non-negotiation with the ‘other’ Somalis, followed by the deceased president.
In the final analysis, if, through the intervention of Somaliland traditional leaders, the Hawiyye and the Southerners manage to establish some semblance of peace and stability in that part of Somalia, I could pave the road to a possible negotiation between the two entities and a way out of the political quandary that Somaliland found itself.
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