Shabait.com (Asmara)
6 September 2007
Asmara — The Somali Congress for Liberation and Reconstitution opened in Asmara today. More than 350 people representing different social groups of Somali society, including leaders of the Union of Islamic Courts, clan heads, intellectuals, community elders and religious leaders are taking part in the Congress.
The Preparatory Committee expressed gratitude to the people and Government of Eritrea under the leadership of President Isaias Afwerki for creating the opportunity for the Somali people to discuss, in a round table, the liberation and reconstitution of their country.
Speaking on behalf of the Committee, Sheik Abdulahi indicated that the Congress is aimed at forming an organization that represents the entire Somali people and serves their interests, liberating Somalia from the current invasion and ensuring its reconstitution, as well as organizing a forum of national reconciliation, security and stability, among others. He further expressed conviction that the Congress would create a reliable ground for the Somali people to work hand-in-hand to liberate their country from invasion.
Also speaking at the Congress, the Chairman of the Union of Islamic Courts, Sheik Sherif Sheik Ahmed, expressed his appreciation to the people and Government of Eritrea who stood alongside the Somali people in times of adversity. He further pointed out that Somalia had fell victim to Meles regime's invasion due to international conspiracy, and that all acts of defamation on the part of enemies and their collaborators, designed to tarnish Somalia's image under the pretext of terrorism, are baseless. Sheik Sherif Sheik Ahmed went on to underline that such acts are aimed at preventing the reconstitution of a sovereign Somali nation and exposes its people to lead a life of disintegration.
Addressing the Congress on behalf of the people and Government of Eritrea, as well as the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), Mr. Al-Amin Mohammed Seid, Secretary of the Front, congratulated the Somali people inside the country and abroad on the holding of the Congress, and noted that relations between the people of Eritrea and Somalia date back to the early 19th century and, as such, Eritrean-Somali relations is historic.
The PFDJ official indicated that the brotherly people of Somalia had not only stood on the side of the just struggle of the Eritrean people for independence but also extended support. Stating that such all-round support occupies a special chapter in the history of the Eritrean people, Mr. Al-Amin explained that the indiscriminate and genuine support which the people and Government of Eritrea extend to the Somali people emanates from this historical background, and is a historical and moral obligation.
Mr. Al-Amin indicated that following the 16-year long civil war and a period dominated of war lords, the Somali people through their own initiative managed to create peace and stability in 2006. Despite this, however, such developments that indeed deserved the support of all peace-loving forces was crippled by the open invasion of the Meles regime with the collaboration of the US Administration, he elaborated. The PFDJ Secretary further expressed goodwill that the holding of the Congress in Asmara by Somali brothers would attain the set objectives.
During the opening session of the Congress that was attended by Eritrean government and PFDJ officials, as well as diplomats accredited here, prominent Somali members of parliament, ministers and intellectuals, including Hussein Mohammed Farah Aideed and Sherif Hassen Sheik Adem, Chairman of the Independent Somali Parliament, delivered speeches. In their speeches, they pointed out that the United States is the one that assigned and provided all-round support to the Meles regime to invade Somalia. The aforementioned Somali personalities further underlined that it is high time for the Somali people to avoid differences and drive out the invading force which is presently exploiting their resources and raping Somali women.
Speech Delivered by Mr. Al-Amin Mohammed Seid, Head of Organizational Affairs for the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) To The Congress for the Liberation and Reconstitution of Somalia
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Participants and invited guests to the Somali Congress for Liberation and Reconciliation,
Allow me to welcome you and congratulate you on organizing this Congress.
I feel proud to present at this crucial and historic moment friendly greetings to the Somali people in Somalia and all over the world, on behalf of the people, the Front, and the Government of Eritrea.
Honorable participants,
The historic relation between the peoples of Somalia and Eritrea has its beginning at the start of the spread of colonialism in the Horn of Africa in the 19th century. There won't be any need for further analysis as this relationship is recorded in history.
During the first half of the 20th century, especially after the Second World War, the people of Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, instead of gaining their independence and establishing harmony and cooperation based on their own decision, they were pushed into crises and conflicts as a result of the then superpowers.
Although the Ethiopian people were able to win independence after a brief period of colonialism, the regime that came to power with the aid of the superpowers, instead of respecting the rights and the unity of Ethiopians and playing a constructive regional role, it supported foreign interest and remained a source of crisis and conflicts in the Horn region.
While the Somali people in the North and South were able to gain independence in 1960 and establish a sovereign state, the Eritrean people, by the choice of the then superpowers, were denied their independence and tied up to an agent of colonialism and were therefore compelled to pursue a political and military struggle for independence.
The Somali people, due to their historic relations with the Eritrean people, stood along the Eritrean struggle against the unjust decision. Subsequent Somali governments since independence in 1960, representing the choice and wishes of the Somali people, gave unparalleled support to the Eritrean cause in spite of all the inconsistent regional and international situations.
During the Eritrean war for liberation, the Somali people gave unmatched political material and military aid to the people of Eritrea, and this is an unforgettable historical fact.
The people and government of Somalia gave their support not only to the struggle of the people of Eritrea, but also to the struggle of the people's of Ethiopia, including the present ruling clique-Woyane.
Although historians may look at this from different angles, there is however, an undeniable and incontestable historical truth: the common and indivisible wishes of the peoples of Eritrea, Somalia, and Ethiopia for independence, mutual respect, and friendship. This historical truth, although foreign interests try to undermine it through different interventions, is nevertheless unalterable.
The friendship of the people and the Government of Eritrea and the people of Somalia is therefore based on this historical background, unchangeable with time, and aims for mutual interest and regional stability.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
By some historical coincidence, without going into detail, Eritrea became a sovereign state in 1991; the people of Ethiopia were liberated form a succession of oppressive regimes in 1991; the government of Somalia collapsed in 1990 and the end of the Cold War also occurred during the same period.
Undeniable, all these historical coincidences provided new historical opportunities, individually or collectively, to Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. But unfortunately, the developments during the last sixteen years did not meet the expectations of the peoples.
When the people of Somalia tried to rectify the damage caused by foreign interference and administrative weakness, it was frustrated by warlords and complicated by continued foreign intervention. The people of Somalia, during the last seventeen years, ended in a quagmire; and the destruction of the country and the decimation of the Somali people is truly a sad and horrifying situation.
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