The Eldoret Talks : Somalia Should Learn from Somaliland

Somalia’s so many faction leaders attending the Eldoret reconciliation talks need not worry about peaceful Somaliland. Instead of trying to make an issue out of Somaliland’s justifiable absence from the Eldoret conference, these warlords, including those from the Arta faction, who are currently taking part in the Eldoret talks, should better focus their discussions on bringing to an abrupt end the senseless and self-destructive war that they have been waging against their own people in Somalia for the last 11 years or so. The anti-Somaliland rhetoric coming out of Eldoret will certainly not help the cause of peace in Somalia itself or even the region. At the very least, it would divert the talks from dealing with the prime issue on the conference agenda, which is the realization of reconciliation amongst warring factions in the former Italian colony of Somalia as well as the cessation of all hostilities there.

Whenever a reconciliation conference is held on Somalia, participating faction leaders show a tendency to conceal their inadequacies, failures and crimes by simply putting the whole blame for all their country’s misfortunes on Somaliland.

By once again singing the song of “Soomaaliyeey toosoo- Somalis wake up” and claiming that the lack of Somaliland’s participation is tantamount to betrayal of Somalia’s sacred unity, Abdi-qasim and his folks are actually repeating the same old game of inciting the ideology of Somali irredentism against Somaliland and countries in the region.

We believe that the Eldoret talks should concentrate on removing the many obstacles to peace and reconciliation in Somalia. Somaliland is definitely not one of those obstacles as it is neither at war withitself nor against anybody else. On the contrary, Somaliland has a reservoir of experience in the process of peace-making and nation-building that nobody else can provide to the people of Somalia. In fact Somaliland’s achievements in the area of conflict resolution could be emulated and successfully applied in many aspects within the context of Somalia.

It is just unfortunate that while all of Somalia’s faction leaders do not mind soliciting help in this respect from countries unfamiliar with Somalia’s conditions, yet they consider it a shame to learn from their brothers in Somaliland the skills that they desperately need for resolving their disputes. However, Somalia can still benefit from the experience of Somaliland in peace-brokering and peace preservation provided the Somali leaders currently at Eldoret come forward with the will and courage to do so.