Washington, DC — Since proclaiming independence from Somalia 11 years ago, just a few months after the ouster of General Siad Barre in June 1991, the former British Protectorate of Somaliland has sought international recognition without success. Nonetheless, it is considered by many observers to be a remarkably stable enclave, somehow managing on the volatile Horn of Africa to have escaped the strife that has plagued much of that terrain. But just a week ago, Somaliland President, Mohammed Ibrahim Egal, died in a South African Hospital while to the east, in Puntland, another breakaway Somali state, a coup d'etat unfolded. AllAfrica's Charles Cobb Jr. discussed the possible impact of these events with Somaliland representative to the United States, Dr. Saad Noor. Excerpts:
In an unstable area, Somaliland has been considered one of the most stable. With the death of President Mohammed Ibrahim Egal, are we likely to see greater instability? A threat to Somaliland's viability?
Of course it is a national tragedy, both for the people and for the government. He was one of the leaders in our part of the world in both politics and nation building from 1960 when the former Somaliland Protectorate became independent from Great Britain. After that he became Prime Minister for all Somalia after the Republic of Somalia, which used to be a former Italian colony, and the Republic of Somaliland unified. Then a military coup d'etat led by the late dictator Mohammed Siad Barre overthrew him as the Prime Minister and ended the constitutional democracy of Somalia at that time and put him in jail for twelve years.
After all that, and after the war of liberation in Somaliland against the system in Mogadishu, he was elected President [of Somaliland] in 1993 and re-elected in 1997. At the end of that term last year, he was given an extension for one year, at the end of which national elections were supposed to be held.
Will the elections happen now?
They will still take place and there is no intention to postpone them. The seven-person election commission, made up of six men and one woman approved by the House of Representatives, will announce the date.
My basic question is still whether President Egal's death destabilizes Somaliland. What happens? Are new political forces unleashed?
No. There is a constitution in Somaliland. And the constitution was passed on the 31st of May last year by a 97 percent majority. The first article of the constitution declares that Somaliland is a sovereign, independent republic. The constitution says that in the event of the death of the president, the vice president will immediately be sworn in and that is what took place - three hours after Egal's death, Somaliland had a new president. In other words, all the things that could have brought instability were negated by the constitution, and also the people are not prepared to go through any kind of turbulence. Now that the mourning period has ended, the new president will be nominating a member of one of the two houses - either the House of Elders or the House of Representatives - and with the support of a majority of the legislature, that person will become the vice president of the republic.
Another component of my previous question is that Somaliland has been engaged in what at least from outside of your country appears to be an uphill battle to gain recognition of its legitimacy as a state or nation. Is this effort set back by the death of such a prominent figure as Egal?
No. The new president and the government and the people as a whole will continue with their quest for international recognition. Of course his passing away at this critical period will have some kind of impact on the psyche of the people in terms of their allegiance, love and respect for him. But when it comes to the nitty gritty and the necessary ingredients for nation building and for the development of the country both politically and economically the people are committed. And barring an unexpected setback, that quest for independence will go ahead full speed, and hopefully will be attained under the new leadership. Of course his [Egal's] weight and his persona's absence will have some initial impact but I do not believe that will be a severe or far reaching impact.
Of course, the question emerges - what amounts to the OAU question if you will - Why should Somaliland be independent anyway? Isn't it logically a part of Somalia?
No. Somaliland was a republic. It was a sovereign republic recognized by the international community prior to uniting with Somalia. So, what Somaliland has actually done is just to withdraw from the union to which it entered voluntarily. And it withdrew from it because that union was not good enough to bring about the hope and the fruition that was expected. The world has to recognize Somaliland because it has a history of independence. It is not like Eritrea, for example, that has never been recognized as a republic. Somaliland was a recognized republic. It has land. It has a permanent population. It has a democratic government. It has a history of independence. And it meets all the criteria that the international community has set up to be used as a measurement for the granting of diplomatic relations.
What is the attitude of the Mogadishu government?
There is no real government in Mogadishu. The Transitional National Government cannot even control three blocks of the city of Mogadishu. It does not have legitimacy within its own population. Because if it had any legitimacy, it would have transcended the three blocks. It is a government that was created by a conference held in Djibouti which was not a representative conference. If it had been, it would have had no problem with reconciliation or with reaching all the parts of Somalia.
If it had felt that the Djibouti conference had been representative, or if it felt that a future conference was representative, would Somaliland be willing to participate? I am asking if it is possible to foresee a time in which Somaliland decides that it will be a part of Somalia?
Somaliland will not participate in any reconciliation conference to be held anywhere because the constitution of Somaliland does not give a mandate for any Somaliland government, whether it's the present one or a future one, to partake in such a conference in which the purpose will be to determine the political future of Somaliland. Such a future has already been decided by the people in May 1991 when Somaliland was liberated from Siad Barre's Southern army. The decision was made that the independence of the republic be reclaimed. Constitutionally, Somaliland cannot participate in that.
But politically? If Somaliland reached a political decision that it wanted to be a part of Somalia it could presumably amend the constitution and take steps to enable itself to rejoin Somalia, couldn't it?
The people have already spoken. I don't foresee and don't think there will be that day when the people of Somaliland will say that we have changed our mind and we are going to reunite with Somalia. I don't think that's in the books because there is no reason for the people of Somaliland to do that. The people of Somaliland came to this particular conclusion after twenty years of Southern domination, disenfranchisement and destruction. There is no use for the people of Somaliland to go back to be re subjugated by anyone else. I think what Somaliland can do is to encourage the people of Somalia to put their house in order in any which way we can. And particularly if the international community sees Somaliland as a party that can, with their assistance, do that job. Provided that Somaliland is given a special status that is separate from Somalia, Somaliland would be very happy to participate and actually spearhead that kind of international effort. Thus far all the efforts have failed and now the anticipated meeting in Nairobi does not look like it will be different, although we hope that Igad will succeed in having the brothers in that part of Somalia to meet with each other and put their house in order.
What are you looking for or expecting from the United States?
We are looking for the United States to understand the Somaliland situation and I think that has been done already. the United States government understands the reality of the situation. The U.S. should recognize Somaliland because it is a secular democracy that lives in peace. It meets all the criteria of statehood. Even if that is not forthcoming now in the present situation, it should assist in economic development and institution-building. After all, any assistance to Somaliland will further democracy, economic and social development, will be money in the bank - an investment in regional development.
Will you get that kind of assistance? Will you get recognition?
The international community already deals with Somaliland. The more we develop economically and socially, the more we can participate in ensuring peace and stability in the region and sub-region. And the more the international community will see the reason for - we shall say - tieing the knot.
To the east of you, Puntland, seems to be unraveling. Are we looking at a new outbreak of warfare that will continue into the foreseeable future?
First of all the struggle in Puntland has different levels. At one level it is a struggle between two former army officers. Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf and Colonel Jama Ali Jama. At the same time they both belong to two sub-clans of a major Somali clan called Majeerten. Abdullahi Yusuf belongs to the sub-clan called Omar Mahmud and Jama Ali Jama belongs to Osman Mahmud. What has happened since Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf began his sweep to the port of Bosaso, we have not seen any major bloodshed or fleeing civilians. The town has just surrendered, and it seems to me that the militia of Abdullahi Yusuf saw to it that they do not harm property or hurt civilians. That is good news. We in Somaliland were concerned because if such destruction had taken place, a lot of the fleeing refugees would have come to our country and put more burden on us. That has not happened, thus far. Nor have we heard of any active resistance. Apart from the irrationality and unconstitutionality of Colonel Abdullahi's move, I think at the present time the situation seems to be calm.
So, although this is a coup d'etat, you're seeing stability?
I hope. I hope there will be some kind of understanding among the major sub-clans and that further bloodshed, bloodshed that could be far bigger than what we have seen, and many other calamities will be avoided.
All of this raises the broader question about Somalia. What we're seeing in Puntland, clan tension or violence, is repeated across Somalia. So is Somalia viable at all? And the flip side of this question is how has Somaliland managed to escape this?
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I think Somalia - that is Italian Somalia - is viable as an entity, provided that the clans there will sit down and just forget about dominating each other and let us use the rules of traditional law. What has happened in the South, particularly in Mogadishu, is just that one sub-clan wants to take power by any means. And that sub-clan is Haber Gider. It looks like the problem lies with the Haber Gider insisting to have the presidency in Mogadishu and to have dominant control. The leadership that came from that group began with General Mohammed Farah Aideed. After he died [in 1997] you have his son young Hussein Mohammed Aideed. You have another man called [Osman Ali] Atto. You have another guy who is called Abdulkassim Salat Hassan, who is the interim president of the TNG (Transitional National Government). All those men are from the sub-clan Haber Gider. Unless that clan decides to share power equitably with others who are more numerous than they are, there will be no solution.
Can they reach agreement among themselves or will it take some sort of outside intervention?
It has been taking a long, long time - since 1991. And they all failed. This reconciliation conference that is supposed to be held in Nairobi sometime this spring or early summer, under the auspices of Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi and with the full support of the IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development - Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda)- group with particular responsibility given to Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya it looks like the three governments don't have the same view. Because Djibouti is still trying to impose its will on the two others, claiming that they are Somalis and they know more about Somali affairs than the other two countries. Of course, Kenya and Ethiopia both have big Somali populations. Unless people use traditional laws and unless Haber Gider ceases and desists from this relentless quest for power, I think the prognosis is not going to be good.
So now, why is Somaliland different? After we declared independence we had our own share of unrest. What we did was to go back to our traditional jurisprudence. And we selected our leadership from all the clans and sub, sub, clans - even from the nucleus of a family up to a sub-clan and to a major clan. We selected a group of people who have the trust of people in households. And they sat in a conference for four months. All the problems and all the issues that were pending were nailed down from the grassroots to the top, and we selected a parliament and then the parliament selected the government of Somaliland in 1993. That is what you call home-grown time-honored, traditional jurisprudence. We have succeeded in using that - institutions from within our own culture.
