Shadow Peace Talks for Somalia

Ibrahim Hassan Gagale

Fear, anarchy, and lawlessness reigned in Somalia for the last 12 years. Horror and despair have been engulfing its people; prospects of hope for peace and wind of relief are not on the horizon yet. All peace talks and reconciliation conferences held for its salvation have been doomed to failure. Governments formed in Djibouti in 1991 and 2000, headed by Ali Mahdi and Abdiqasim Salad Hassan respectively, proved to be dysfunctional.

The on-going peace talks in Kenya may not break up the long time impasse. The international community exhausted all means to restore law and order in that country. Then, one may ask: What is going on? Are the Somali people shifting from civil to gun-culture society and hard to restore? Are its leaders unpatriotic? Is the agenda of peace talks misplaced and unrealistic? The people of Somalia may not be gun-culture minded society, and its leaders, with the exception of a few war criminals, may not be unpatriotic. The root cause of failure of all peace talks lies in the nature of their agenda. The agenda of all reconciliation conferences is and has always been the wrong one for the right solution. Since 1991, these so-called peace talks failed to succeed in reaching agreement because they never focused exclusively on Somalia (The South) where the problem exists, but each time the talks were held under the notion of "Greater Somalia Theory" (Somaliweyn) that does not exist today, and may not come true for a long time to come. Somalia is only one of the five Somali territories that once shared the dream of Greater Somalia, and has nothing to do with Somaliland, Djibouti, Western Somali province, and Northeastern Somali province.

Somaliland was the first Somali state that achieved independence on June 26, 1960. It entered into a disastrous union with Somalia on July 1st, 1960, then withdrew from that union in May 1991 after Somalia inflicted unforeseen death and destruction upon Somaliland in the decade of 1980-1990. This new Republic of Somaliland has been stable and peaceful since its proclamation, has democratic institutions and internationally recognized borders, and is close now to international recognition.

Djibouti became independent on June 27, 1977, and rejected to join the Somali Union after seeing how Somalia abused that union and violated its basic rules. Northeastern Somali province (NFD) is under Kenyan government while Western Somali province (Somali-Galbeed) comes under the rule of Ethiopian government.

Despite that undeniable reality, warlords of Somalia and peace talks-sponsoring countries (IGAD) have continuously ignored the fact that for any peace talks to succeed, their agenda should focuse on Somalia only and the delegates should have come from the legitimate people of Somalia. Instead, they intentionally invite false delegates from Somaliland and from other Somali territories in Kenya and Ethiopia that have nothing to do with the problems particular to Somalia. Amazingly enough, a Somaliland citizen named Ali Khalif Galair was appointed prime minister of Somalia in the Reconciliation Conference of Somalia hosted by Djibouti in 2000, and in less than two years he was expelled from office for failure because the people of Somalia did not trust him and questioned his legitimacy for being a Somaliland citizen.

The agenda of every Somalia peace conference brought together different Somali groups, half of them with false representation. Then, the false delegates urged each conference to bring Somaliland to the table of negotiations. When that became impossible, the talks were either postponed or ended without conclusion, thus perpetuating the suffering and hopelessness of Somalia`s people. These false delegates were never interested in achieving peace in Somalia since it was not their homeland. They were interested in money and positions to hold for a while. This was the routine procedure for all the previous peace talks that collapsed because of the nature of their agendas.

Somaliland, unlike others, is a separate independent republic and shall not, by any circumstances, participate in any peace talks on Somalia. Countries and governments sponsoring Somalia peace talks would be wrong to try bringing Somaliland into the fold. It would be a troubling double standard if the international community invites Somaliland government to the peace talks of Somalia while advocating for stability and democracy around the world. To expect Somaliland in such talks is nothing but wishful thinking. Somalia is the one, which needs peace and government, not Somaliland. Somaliland should rather be included in the list of peace talks sponsoring-countries if the people of Somalia would accept so, as Somaliland knows the history and traditions of Somalia better than any other foreign country.

The warlords of Somalia and the peace talks-sponsoring countries must stop betraying the people of Somalia with half-legitimate conferences, and must review the agenda and the procedure of future peace talks. They have the obligations and responsibility of holding peace talks that are exclusively for Somalia and attended by people who are from within Somalia and with genuine representation. If they continue holding shadow peace talks under the notion of Greater Somalia that makes peace unattainable in Somalia, then the people of Somalia must unite and take matters in their own hands to decide their own destiny for hopeful, peaceful, and bright future. My heart goes out to all the defenseless people of Somalia who have been living in dreadful conditions since 1991. I pray Allah that you get quick, peaceful solution for your difficult times.

Ibrahim Hassan Gagale,
January 30, 2003

If any one is interested in knowing the current status of Greater Somalia Theory and how it can not be linked to the peace talks and fate of Somalia today, please go to the article page of the following internet web sites: Midnimo.com, Togdheer.com, Radiosomaliland.com etc, and read the article titled: "Kiciddii iyo Kufiddii Aragtida Somaliweyn" (The Rise and Fall of Greater Somalia Theory.)

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