By Guled Ismail

Sool is an unlikely place to fight over. In an extraordinary moment of reflective wisdom, the Commander of the Puntland forces facing the Somaliland army in the disputed territory said as much. In a POW exchange ceremony, the battle hardened former Somali National Army man said to his Somaliland counterpart “We should never fight again…over such barren hillocks”

Sool typifies the deprivations and hardships the Somali has to endure: Its very name means `extreme thirst’.

But Sool also lies at the very heart of how Somaliland sees itself. Is it going to succeed in its bid to re-establish the colonial borders it inherited at independence or is it going to reshape itself into a new entity free from the confines of those arbitrary lines on the desert?

There is no doubt that most Somalilanders are keen to revive the geographical Somaliland they inherited from the British empire which included all of what is now Sool. But the reality on the ground today is a different one to that of June 26 1960 when former British Somaliland Protectorate gained its independence from Britain.

There is little doubt the loyalties of Sool people is divided. The capital of the region Las Anod has been taken over by radical sympathizers of Puntland in 2001 and it remains in their hands to this day. The Somaliland authorities confined their attempts at regaining the capital of what they officially claim as part of their country to rhetoric flourishes rather than military adventures. This is to their credit, and at wider level perhaps proves the concept that democrats - as Somaliland is, are generally reluctant to fight. They even took to the airwaves rather than to the battlefield when the Somaliland President was shot at and chased out of Las Anod in 2002. The Deputy Defense Minister of Somaliland issued strong warnings and threatened to invade Puntland’s capital, but his men remained firmly in their barracks. Perhaps he knew his dirt-poor electorate preferred road improvements in his own capital to fratricidal adventures in the far reaches of Puntland.

But there are Sool residents who are committed Somalilanders. The colonial powers did not create Somaliland out of vacuum they merely institutionalized in laws and official borders a bond that was already there. That bond remains. It is cultural and social and economic. It only needs to be revived, strengthened and reinvigorated. Or so was the thinking of those who re-established Somaliland in 1991.

The late President Mr. Egal fought hard to keep Sool in the Somaliland fold. Sool Somalilanders like Fuad Aden Adde, The Minister of Environment and Mr. Qeybe the former Speaker of parliament, risked the wrath of their Sool clansmen to champion the cause of Somaliland.

But it appears the fight for Sool has now been given up by sections of the Hargeysa political establishment. One can understand the ruthless realpolitik at work here: the Sools had made themselves too irrelevant to the power struggles of Somaliland’s more densely populated heartlands to the west. Most of them refused to participate in the successful democratization processes that is now entrenched part of the Somaliland political dynamics. They noisily condemned as a traitor any Soolian who suggested working with Somaliland. And as it has no significant economic value; Sool had wasted its only bargaining chip: its political voice.

Sool is now viewed by the Hargeysa government the same way Peshawar is viewed by Pakistan: too wild and too far to the east to the matter to the centre.

By siding with Puntland against Somaliland, the Sool’s have chosen a lesser party by any objectively measurable standards. Not only is Puntland far poorer than Somaliland and its infrastructure far less developed – it is also politically less stable. Law and order is shaky at the best of times and Las Anod the Capital of Sool became almost completely lawless ever since Puntland supporters took over. Murders are disturbingly commonplace and the ill-trained, unpaid police act more like criminals when and if they act at all. It is only the interventions of clan elders preventing a complete meltdown of law and order

Puntland, which never really cared too much about the `northern’ Sools, has lost all interest ever since its ambitious founder Mr. Abdillahi Yusuf set his sight on the bigger prize of ruling the whole of Somalia. The shift of his attention southwards has completely sidelined Sool making the blighted region more rudderless and more lawless than ever.

There are unmistakable signs of panic among the radical pro-Puntland clique in Las Anod. They tried and failed to stop all economic links with Somaliland. In desperation they turned their attention to enforce social apartheid by putting a ban on sporting activities and such between Sool and the rest of Somaliland. This didn’t work either. They recently raided and confiscated a truck carrying life-saving vaccines for Sool’s children because it was supplied by UNICEF through Hargeysa! When a normally pro-Puntland local radio station complained, it was shut down and its staff imprisoned.

The Sool political limbo has many losers. In Somaliland the biggest immediate loser is the KULMIYE party which has its supporters in the eastern regions adjacent to Sool. If Sools’ voted in large numbers in support of KULMIYE (as they will be expected in Somaliland regional politics), KULMIIYE’s veteran leader Sillanyo will be in Hargeysa’s Presidential palace today.

But by far the biggest losers are the people of Sool. The Sools are noble, resilient and wise clansmen in the mould of the archetypal Somali nomad. But they have a history of making wrong choices in Somaliland politics. They have a taste for following ambitious tribal chieftains from other Darod clans who abandons them in ignominy when he inevitably loses crazy wars or unlikely political games against badly chosen foes. The Sools are left to face the local political music on their own.

They chose (most of them) The Sayyid Abdille Hassan movement over the majority Somaliland clans. Mr. Hassan lost and fled to his remote homeland in Ethiopia where he died in peace. But the consequences for the Sools has been disastrous as the local clans exacted their revenge. The Sools then sided with Siyad Barre, yet another Darod chieftain on an inevitably losing trip. The Sools commitment to his cause was typical: wholehearted, determined and courageous to suicidal standards.

When that project and the whole of Somalia project got unhinged they were left with nothing. Although Siyad Barre appointed few Sools to run his secret services agencies or man his crack army units detailed to destroy his enemies, he actually did not invest anything in Sool itself. He knew he can count on their unquestioning loyalty under all circumstances. In Siyad’s world as in that of other autocrats national resources are used to appease potential enemies as much as to gain or keep friends. Better spend your money to keep wavering allies onside rather than waste it on eternally loyal subjects.

Today history is repeating itself. The Sools threw their political lot with Abdillahi Yusuf probably the most selfish of all Darod chieftains. He is on a guaranteed losing trip and yet they still take the ride. Only on this occasion he feels they have done their bit- time they got off the power train.

Lets hope they have the wisdom to understand this and the courage to learn from it. On our part we should not give up on them. They are too close, too noble, too part of our culture and heritage. They are us.

Halyey@btinternet.com

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