| Front Page |
Abdifatah Ismail Dahir, Western Cape University, Cape Town, South Africa
The lack of recognition for our young republic is a thorn on our back. It hinders the people and the country’s development. Anyway, striving for the better is one thing and getting there is another. Achieving a goal you have strived for often takes a lot of time and energy. After 12 years of unsuccessfully trying to get the world political shapers on its side, Somaliland still stands in square one in the world’s political arenas. Apart from sympathy, which of course Somaliland does not need, there is no single country in the world that responded to our consistent pleas for recognition. Ironically, the people of Somaliland are not yet demoralized by this continuous marginilization.
In the past fifteen years, more than dozen countries either seceded from a union or took independence from colonialists. None of these countries remain unrecognized today; the latest being East Timor and the states which broke away from the defunct Soviet Union. Both the international and regional bodies were quick to recognize those new states. Indeed they were welcomed with open arms. Tyrants rule many of these countries and their economic growth is considerably low. Their markets operate under the outdated systems where the state controls the market. Unlike these states, Somaliland has to its credit, a liberal market and a functioning democracy, yet the international community is adamant not to recognize it.
The so-called political experts attribute the international community’s reluctance on the recognition of Somaliland to several varying theories. One of these suggestions connects, particularly, the western nations reluctance to recognize Somaliland to multilateral interests that might be lost if they make what they consider as a wrong political move. Another theory suggests, the West is led to believe that Somaliland cannot survive on its own as a state and therefore it is in the best interest of Somaliland to remain united with Somalia. The fact that many countries whose people’s per capita income is far less than that of the Somalilanders' stand on their own, leaves grey spots on such arguments. Nevertheless, from a simple academic point of view all these analyses that we hear from those so-called expert opinions, are based on invalid arguments.
Others go one point further and blame the lack of recognition for insincerity on the part of our political leaders. This theory too, just like the other, does not have concrete evidence. The propellers of this view argue that the political leaders of Somaliland were/are not sincere about the realization of statehood. They base their argument on political incidents that implicated important figures from time to time. One of these incidents was Abdirahman Tur’s (former President of Somaliland) public dismissal of Somaliland’s ambition for statehood and the late Egal's chairing of the first Somali reconciliation conference in Djibouti in 1991. Another important figure, Suleiman Gal was also accused of going to Djibouti with sinister motives to undermine Somaliland. This theory puts a question mark on why the elite political leaders of our country tend to undermine the state when the buttered side of the bread is not theirs? However, since politics always takes place behind the curtains, it is difficult for non-participants to tell exactly all that is happening and hence we are left on evaluating things as they unfold.
On their part, our politicians argue that they have tried their best but they could not secure recognition. They say the reason why even the friendliest countries would not like to be the first to recognize us is possibly the fact that there are political heavy weight nations who are ever busy untying every knot that Somaliland makes for its recognition. They point out that the matter was also exacerbated by several resolutions, seemingly propelled by those countries working under cover, and passed by regional bodies e.g. OAU, IO and Arab League. Our leaders argue that these resolutions were designed to make sure all gates are closed to Somaliland’s dream for statehood.
In other words, this is tantamount to saying that we are almost going to be defeated on the diplomatic front. If so, don't we need political saviors? Since this is a world of politics and it is evident that our current political leaders failed to sail us through this transitional periods on the international front, it would be naïve to believe that recognition will come by itself.
I should acknowledge with uttermost respect the successes the current leaders claim to have made on the local fronts. It is not only commendable but also applaudable. But it should be noted also that it is the general public who deserve the better part of the ululation for the pacification of the country. Anyhow as of now I suppose the country’s primary need is recognition as that would enable us to enter bilateral and multilateral agreements with international investors, Briton Woods institutions and other international lenders. And since our current leaders could not secure recognition from the international community, this creates a concern about whether Somaliland will survive any longer politically.
Meanwhile, of late there is notion among the African academics that the people of Africa have been and continue to be political hostages for a veteran political groups who at no time had the interests of the people anywhere close to their hearts. They argue that members of this group held and continue to hold a firm grip on the leadership in the modern history of Africa. This argument holds some water because ever since the independence, former political prisoners who (as it seems) were intentionally released from colonial jails to ineffectively rule and facilitate the economic down fall of their countries. This seems to have been designed to make them ever dependent on the west’s handouts in exchange for multi billion plans at the expense of their people. These old guard politicians have manipulated and steered the political consciousness of our people. They repeatedly used, took opportunistic advantage of, abused, and discarded our people’s will.
Internally applying this notion, do you ask yourself why Somaliland’s political movers and shakers are all Sheikh high school products of almost the same time? Are they academically updated? Are they competent enough to articulate their wants in a language Blair and Mbeki understand? And how does this affect or have an impact on the issue of recognition that we are struggling with? What happened to the new Crops of Sheikh High School and others? Asking yourself these questions, you might be inclined to conclude that this is the time to replace the old guards with a young, dynamic new crop of leaders. This is not to say the likes of Egal were not competent politicians, but rather the possibility that the political methods they were familiar with may no longer be in use.
Though all the political parts in Somaliland have young leaders in their ranks, it is unfortunate that old guard politicians hold the key posts. Our country needs to rephrase its political ideologies and this can only be achieved if the generation, who use to be termed as the future leaders for the past 20 years or so, are to take opportunity to lead now. What hindered the recognition seems to be a technical problem as opposed to an out right rejection by the international community, and this needs to be rectified.
Home | Contact us | Links | Archives