Somaliland: Somali Unity, A Failed Experiment

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Somalilandsun- 58 years ago, Somaliland has taken its long waited and struggled independence from the Colony of the United Kingdom. Within four days they sacrificed without any pre-agreed conditions to their unforgettable flag, independence, and administration to test the experiment of Somali Unity.

This experiment has taken for a period of almost 30 years; during this period there were several trials to add the missing Somali states in to the unity but all failed. During this period there were wide range of complains of that was existing among the two united Somali states, i.e. (Somali Italian and British Somaliland).

This complains was rooted to power sharing, inequality among national resource sharing, elimination, coercion and intimidations targeted to the people of British Somaliland and after performing this for decades, this irritated fury of people from Somaliland and has lead to the foundations of Somali National Movement (SNM), in which after decade of fighting against dictator regime of Siyad Barre, they finally ousted Barre’s regime from the power.
I personally believe and consider this as an experiment that we have tried to conduct and made it successful but it was failed, and those who were responsible on its failure are yet those who want to re-try it, in a moment when Somaliland has been harvesting the benefits of the governance, peace and stability for the last 28 years.

Somaliland today, is attracting foreign international investments, and optimistically looking forward international recognitions from the rest of the world. The government of Somalia and its Arab allies wouldn’t stop Somaliland to use and benefit from its resources, the way forward isn’t to try to stop the unstoppable but the way forward is to look and search a win-win solutions

Somaliland is unrecognized and poor but is able and willing to use its resources and attract foreign international investment so as to tackle the level of poverty and unemployment among its societies.

 

Even in Somaliland there are power sharing complains in which the Isaq clan has taken most comparing to other clans of Harti and Samaroon, but Somaliland societies have a chance to correct their errors and complains, cause of that their experiment is yet ongoing and not yet finished and if its corrected then Somaliland unity in the long run will be successful.

Above all, strengthening the pillars of existing democracy in Somaliland including but not limited to freedom of speech and free and fair on time elections will help Somaliland communities remain stable and prosperous nation in the horn of Africa. Lastly Somalia should think wisely and forget the Somali unity which is an experiment tried before 58 years but failed and the only option they have is to learn lessons from that experiment.

Ahmed Suleiman Omer

Don’t think of it as a failure, think of it as a designing experiments through which you are going to learn” – Tim Brown, CEO, IDEO.

An opinion of Ahmed Suleiman Omer

 

2 COMMENTS

  1. Every Somali who believes and advocates for the division of Somalia, is clearly advocating against what Allah Subhana Wataala has commanded in the Quran (Surah Ali-Imran 3:103). Furthermore they are advocating for what Satan and his allies want….the division of the Muslim ummah.

    “And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favour of Allah upon you – when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favour, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be guided.” (Quran 3:103).

    The way you ended your poorly written article (below) clearly demonstrates your misguidance and the misguided order of your priorities, where religion comes last, since “Somaliness in general” is the same thing as tradition.

    “What Somaliland people do not compromise is the Somali identity, traditions and religion and Somaliness in general.”

    If your doctorate is worth the paper it’s written on, then you will realise that the International Community will never recognise Somaliland as a country. Why I hear you ask…., but the answer is simple. There is no such thing as the “International Community”, the “International Community” is a mere cover for American & European imperialism which is also known as NATO. The Americans & Europeans have drawn and agreed upon the lines on the Map of Africa. To understand who controls parts of Africa all you need to do is look at the imperial map of Africa and the part of Somalia that has become known as Somaliland is the protectorate of Britain…..even today.

    The “International Community” will never recognise Somaliland unless Britain agrees and Britain will never recognise Somaliland as a country. Once again I here you ask why…? Yet again, the answer is simple it’s called “divide and rule”, and you obviously do not know how this ancient European strategy works so I have copied and pasted from Wikipedia so you can learn how the strategy works.

    “Divide and rule (or divide and conquer, from Latin dīvide et imperā) in politics and sociology is gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into pieces that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy. The concept refers to a strategy that breaks up existing power structures, and especially prevents smaller power groups from linking up, causing rivalries and fomenting discord among the people (Wikipedia)”

    Why should Britain recognise Somaliland? Think about it Dr Hassan!
    Is it really in Britain’s interest to create a regional power that can say “No” to its demands?

    This is precisely why under the auspices of Britain, Greater Somalia was broken up. This is why today Somalia has 6 presidents each of which is incapable of doing anything and is completely dependent on the “International Community”.

    The day Somaliland says “NO” is the day it will cease to exist and the day Puntland will get the upper hand. Do you not see what is being done to Somalia you utter FOOL!

  2. Mr Omar all said well. Opinion of all is Somaliland to remain as a state and no way it will go back to the rule of Somalia. One thing that the Somaliland is forgetting is to get its divorce papers. This needs to be done officially and submitted to AU and UN and Somalia to accept and be forced to allow Somaliland to be independent. This needs a lot of lobbing influencing the super powers I.e Britain and China to crash its decision in 1960. In the UN there is document that says Somaliland will only get its independence if it agrees to join Somalia. This was submitted in May 1960. Now you need to nullify and be a state otherwise Somalia will not let u enjoy the economical growth you have reached. The stability and resource u have.