The doomsday trio and the coming Armageddon for Somaliland

 
'' these three individuals (Mohamed Farah Yabarag,Osman Hassan and Ali H. Abdulla), fill a monthly quota of ill-disguised, clan oriented diatribes against the people & government of Somaliland''. Osman

- I am always amazed at the number of opinion pieces that appear on Wardheernews (or as some call it Ogadennews) that are always critical of Somaliland, its government and people. The people who write these pieces repeatedly accuse Somaliland of sowing the seeds of disunity of the former Somali ‘state’ through its withdrawal from the union, and the restoration its independence. Again,

Somaliland is accused of committing all sorts of crimes under the sky against some large segment of its people in Sool and Awdal regions. The accusations range from simple exclusions and occupation of ‘their territory’ to committing genocide and other crimes against them.

 

Interestingly, the accusations are made repeatedly to the point of insanity by the same three people, Mohamed Farah Yabarag, Osman Hassan, and Ali Haji Abdulla who, it seems, take turns in Somaliland bashing. It is as if these three individuals fill a monthly quota of ill-disguised, clan oriented diatribes against the people and government of Somaliland.

 

The people of Sool and Awdal regions belong to Somaliland and the way the government of Somaliland treats them is not by any measure different from how it treats its other citizens. Citizens from Sool and Sanaag regions have been holding real positions of power in Somaliland from Speakers of the Parliament to Vice-Presidents in the past twenty two years of Somaliland’s independent existence.

 

In the current government of Somaliland, people from Sool and Awdal regions are represented by not less than a Vice-President, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Defense, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Minister of Rehabilitation, Reintegration and Reconstruction, Minister of Industries, Minister of Commerce, Minister of Public Works and the State Minister for Peace in Eastern regions. People from these regions also hold positions of power in other governmental institutions. Moreover, the longest serving president in Somaliland’s existence, Mr. Dahir Riyaale Kahin, came from Awdal region. This is a very unique experience of Somaliland and its democratic system of governance.

The trio seems to forget that the people of Sool and Awdal regions participated in the peace and reconciliation conferences that resulted in the restoration of sovereignty and the independence of Somaliland in 1991. In fact, Borama town played a host to one of the biggest peace and reconciliation conferences in Somaliland in 1994.

 

Again, the trio seems to underestimate the will of the people of Somaliland and their decision that Hargeisa will never be ruled again from Mogadishu. They also forgot that Somaliland was reconstructed from the ground up after the brutal destruction of the military regime of Siad Barre, without much support to speak of from the so-called international community.

All that the trio writes about Somaliland comes from secondary sources, reinforced by their well-primed vivid imagination and/ or their hallucinations. The armchair ‘experts’ can predict from their mini Mayan calendar the coming demise of Somaliland. The prophesied Armageddon for Somaliland changes from one month to another according to the dreams of the trio. The various forms it will take include, from one time to another, the creation ‘Khaatumo State’ (territorial or terrestrial?); the resurgence of ‘Darwiishes’ in Sool region; and a dodged election as the latest article from Yabarag predicts.

 

Clearly, the tirades against Somaliland by the trio will not even have a marginal impact on the situation in Somaliland. However, one might wonder what motivates the trio to tirelessly launch diatribes and propaganda against Somaliland. I do not claim to be endowed with the same vivid imaginations as them, but I can only assume that the trio, perhaps, benefited illegally from the past Somali state, and is dreaming of doing the same with a future utopian, strong centralized Somali state that will have control over all the territories of former Somali state, including Somaliland.

 

As things stand, it is the collective will and determination of the people of Somaliland to maintain their separate existence and independence. If and when that stand will change will be solely determined by the people of Somaliland, and will not be externally imposed by outside actors.

 

The noted professor from Awdal region, Abdi Ismail Samatar, recently realized how futile it is for the people of Somaliland to attempt to assume the highest reins of power in Mogadishu. The noted professor secured only the votes of the eight ‘representatives’ from Awdal region in the Somali parliament. This should be a good lesson for anyone who unconditionally campaigns for the reunification of Somaliland with the former Italian colony in the South, and then tries to take advantage of it.

 

Finally, the trio should know that if Somaliland ‘bites the dust’, it will unfortunately bite the dust as well with the people of Awdal and Sool regions. Following is a sample of a long list of articles against governments and people of Somaliland that the trio has been posting on various websites, but mainly on Wardheernews:

 

Osman Hassan