issue 194

‎“In Somaliland a ray of hope is flickering. I say flickering because it is under the onslaught of the same ‎forces of evolutionary stress: tribe, toxic waste and visa exempt bugs of all kinds. But there sure is something ‎interesting developing there, a singular experience, and something different altogether. There is peace ‎around the water wells, in the grazing areas, in the villages and in the towns. There are plenty of guns. Plenty ‎technicals. Plenty Klashnikovs. But no one is firing them. The tribes are not massacring each other. Instead a ‎primordial state and its primordial institutions are gradually appearing. We need to know what is happening ‎in Somaliland? Is this what evolutionary adaptation looks like? Is survival feasible after all? Should we not ‎study this natural experiment with a magnifying glass, I mean instead of being scared by it or vilifying it or ‎pulling magic numbers (like 4.5) out of tainted Diaspora hats? Stay tuned for Part 4 where I will be exploring ‎this topic, its evolutionary ramification and the promise it may hold for all Somalis.” From Part III “The ‎Extinction of Tribal Society. ‎
This is part IV. A promise made and a promise kept (eventually!).‎
‎[Continued from our last issue]‎

Human knowledge and human behaviors are both universal. The history and knowledge of mankind belongs equally to all of us. We can draw wisdom from the well of humanity’s accumulated knowledge. And we can draw solace from the universality of evil for our fall is nothing more than a repetition of human folly. Man has been there before and will visit this most acute of all human tragedies again… the tragedy of being at the edge of total extinction. Some may think I exaggerate. Surely the thousands of Somalis who drown in the high seas every year in their flight to death from death know something different. The thousands who perish in the deserts and dry savannahs of Africa in their search for safety bear testimony to the contrary.

I will digress briefly and draw your attention to work of the Canadian scholar Kim Vincente who in his book, “The Human Factor” explores the concept of “magnificent transitional instability”. He is actually speaking of cell phones, cars, and computers. Nevertheless it is the human organizations that are involved that could be instructive for the Somali.

Living systems whether biological or social can be measured with a scale for equilibrium that ranges from the most stable to the most chaotic. Societies in Equilibrium are too stable and too rigid to change. Societies in total chaos are too disorganized to change (the city of Mogadishu comes to mind). Somaliland is not in state of Equilibrium. It is not in state of total chaos either. It is somewhere in between the two. It can be described as being on the Edge of Chaos. It is a state of affairs that places Somaliland in an unstable yet dynamic position with the capacity to err, falter and fall and also with the capacity to stand up, adopt and evolve. Vincente describes such a state in a human organization as magnificent transitional instability.

With this background let me attempt to elucidate what drives Somaliland and what makes it tick. It is essential to understanding these underpinnings of Somaliland society to make sense of what is taking place in that part of the world.

Self-Organization : Internally driven Self-Organization has defined all recent developments in Somaliland . The disarmament of the thousands of hardened warriors who were on the verge of developing the tentacles of tribal gangsters, and the mass killing power of warlords was an internal process. The peace and reconciliation and the building of the institutions that could maintain the newfound order were locally driven and locally maintained initiatives. There was no international aid for Somaliland disarmament, peace making, or peacekeeping. On the contrary there was a deliberate effort where severely limitations were intentionally imposed on external influences that preceded any positive transformation in the country.

Two aspects of this limitation of external influences that are often lost in the historical subscripts of the Somaliland story need to be underlined here for the record and for a better clarity of vision. First the Guurti reconciliation conferences in the early nineties in Somaliland limited the role of the educated Diaspora based elite by its utilization of traditional authority and traditional leadership. Diaspora Somalis has developed into external agents in the Somali conflict. The terrible wars and mass starvations of chaos do not threaten their life or that of their immediate family. Their intense participation in the local politics of Somalia is sometimes driven by altruism and idealism. But much more often it is driven by ambition and greed for power and plunder. The sidelining of this external influence was essential for self-organization in Somaliland and a stroke of genius on the part of the Guurti.

That was the first, the other aspect the second factor that is often lost in the fine prints of history is that Egal (the second President of Somaliland) kicked United Nations Peacekeeping Forces (UNISOM II) out of Somaliland . He took the step because they challenged his authority, something Egal never took lightly. But in hindsight it is clear that the meddling of such well-resourced external agent in the internal relationships of the social forces of the emerging state would have prevented self-organization.

Self-organization is a fundamental principle of the world we live in. It defines organisms, organizations and states. Self-Organization has the advantage of being adaptable, resilient, creative, and capable of learning and growing through the process of positive and negative feedback loops of errors and achievements. Self-Organization, which is known to occur more readily in situations of transitional instability, is the reason for the fundamental transformation of Somaliland society.

The death of an ideology has profound consequences for mankind. It causes the disappearance of the reason of existence of nations, states and empires. It inevitably leads to disintegration and redefinition of social and political systems. In our life time such a disintegration of states and appearances of new nations followed the defeat of both Nazism and Communism. But the same story has been repeated countless times in the history of man.

Great Somalia was a romantic effort of a deep desire to bring all ethnic Somalis in the Horn of Africa under one big nationalist tent. Like all ethnocentric philosophies in this millennium it gave the Somali only war, death, ignorance and destruction. It created havoc in the region and caused uncountable misery to ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia , Kenya and Djibouti . Somalilanders realize that the ideology is dead and that it should be buried with dignity and left alone. As Alice in Wonderland would sing “All the king’s men and all the king’s horses could not put Humpty back together again.”

The first act of healing is acceptance. Somaliland took the only logical conclusion that can arise from this acceptance. It withdrew officially from the union and brought back its old name Somaliland . I was first taken aback by the adoption of nation of its colonial name, until I realized the historical ramifications of the name.

The acceptance of the colonial border had an expected and calming effect inside Somaliland . In the local, presidential and parliamentary elections the six districts established by the British became the internal borders of the election. The tribes of Somaliland collectively took a deep sigh of relief and thanked the gods that they don’t have to constantly engage in war over territory. Arguments between regions will come now and then as they always did. The remedy now is the colonial map interpreted by trusted local institutions. There will always be a few who will appeal to tribal sentiment to come and kill the enemy and take the land. Primitive, aggressive tribal minds will continue to lust for the blood of the “enemy”, but the internal colonial borders have substantially curbed their influence.

On the External front Somaliland accepted the colonial border of the day of its independence on June 26, 1960 . The acceptance of the colonial borders with Ethiopia , Djibouti normalized relationships and clarified the basis for interactions. It led to some interesting if unexpected developments: Somaliland no longer considered Ogaden Liberation Front as a front for the liberation of Somalis and refused to allow it to workout of its territory. Border disputes with Ethiopia evaporated overnight. The process of working out neighborly relations will take long but it there is good will on both sides.

The same did not work with the border with Somalia for this is border like no other. It is a border that carries the weight of a history of thirty years of marriage followed by one messy separation.

Peace with Somalia : The Somaliland-Somalia border is still entangled in the death of the Somali Republic . In time reason will prevail. It is interesting to note the consensus among all of Somaliland ’s political parties and of the general public that force should never be used to settle questions related to the border between Somalia and Somaliland . The Somaliland political establishment is aware that such a war would immediately become a tribal war. Tribal wars do not resolves boundary problem. Tribal wars lead only to much cruelty, much death and much destruction in a land that already has plenty of all of these. The no war with Somalia policy has become an article of faith in Somaliland . And thankfully so.
Adoption of multiparty Democracy : Strange things happen at the edge of chaos. Who would have thought human rights, democracy, the rule of law and free press would become central in the stability, progress and peace of society of ferocious, nomadic tribes with a penchant for blood, vengeance and anarchy. The highly competitive, “republican” nomads, every one of whom believe he is the only cowboy in town found the egalitarian principal of one man one vote a solace for their inflated tribal self worth. The free press that at times is too loud and too entitled has kept the corrupt officialdom with the desire for despotism in relatively tame state.
Accommodation of tribal structure of society: Somaliland is as deeply tribal as any other Somali society. The single most potent enemy that could tear it apart into civil strife and extinction is the tribe. Success or failure will depend upon who takes the upper hand the Somaliland tribes or the Somaliland state. If any thing defeats Somaliland it will be this internal tribal enemy. The tribal structure of Somaliland demands to be taken into consideration and for its energy to be directed to productive ways (like competition for building universities or at least naming them). But that is not enough. Somalilanders have to find a way to direct the tribal sentiment into useful pursuits. Maybe they should go build themselves tribal universities in place of spilling tribal blood.

Somalilanders stumbled on to the institution of the Guurti (House of Elders, the upper house of the Somaliland parliament). It started as tribal council of the SNM and upon the fall of Siyad Barre it was expanded to cover all Somaliland Tribes. It became the one institution that has so far proved to be indispensable to the stability of Somaliland . The Guurti is a body composed of the Who Is Who of Somaliland tribal society; the most eminent of traditional leader, those known for their wisdom among their peers, the opinion leaders, religious leader and cultural leaders are all members of the Guurti. Tribal minds stop saber rattling and yelling battle cries when the Guurti speaks. It is interesting to note that these are predominantly men whose learning is not corrupted by exposure to western schooling system.

I have described in broad strokes of what became of the union. I spoke about the story. And reviewed its state. About all of this you, dear reader must make your own conclusions. On my part I will call you to entertain mine as well. I will call my conclusions the third way-building blocks for a new story.

Recognize the union is dead. Bury it.
No more reconciliation conferences in foreign soil. No more.
Accept the colonial regional borders inside Somalia as the basis for administrative reconstruction to safe Somali tribes from the perpetual wars of translating tribal genealogy to tribal land grab.
Recognize Somaliland . The colonial borders are the central pillars of peace in Africa and in most of the world. Come back to it and survive. The shock wave of such a bold step will jump start serious reconsideration of the diabolic experimentation as the basis of a new story.
Accept the universal concept of citizenship. Every Somali citizen is equal to every other Somali citizen regardless of tribe, color, creed, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religious persuasion. One citizen One Vote. Discard totally the tired process of tribal horse-trading and of killing the camel by dividing it into 4.5 pieces.
Disarm the Warlords Forcibly. Recognize the warlord could not be coaxed, begged, appeased, loved, hated or cheated or enticed to lay down their arms peacefully. The Warlords, the armed fundamentalist courts, the fortress hotels and armed business could only be disarmed in war or by the credible threat of overwhelming force on the ground, a force that is willing and ready to go to war with these enemies of statehood. Somalis should reach a political consensus on the nature and source of such a force and they must decide on how they will pay for it. The problem is that Somalis will find that there is no body out there that is willing to die for their stability and peace; there is no body out there that will solve their problems. I cannot imagine that there could be foot soldiers of such a force could that is other than Somalis. The leadership should be from the UN or another international organization that has the funds and the will to take on such a momentous task.
Somaliland must play an active role in this Third Way . It could play as the land base for the creation of the international force, it could be the vehicle for temporarily holding the hopes and aspirations of nation, it could be the hatching grounds for a new look. At the end of the process it could be rewarded with peaceful settlement with Somalia .

Finally I know the Third Way is not in the cards in the foreseeable future. Abdillahi Yusuf’s bloodthirsty ambition has to take its natural course. Somaliland has to establish its democratic credentials and feel safe from a resurgence of the cursed tribal menace. The current elections have to occur in a manner the contesting political forces see as legitimate. I am brainstorming here on a Sunday afternoon. Kicking around ideas and hopeful that someone else will continue the process.