By Farah Ali Jama,

Following the recent offshore activities in which the Somaliland Coast Guard mounted several operations to protect its resources, local fishermen, and to get rid off the area from the ongoing illegal foreign fish poachers particularly the notorious Yemeni fishermen, some high ranking Yemeni government officials as well as their media immediately ganged-up on Somaliland, cried wolf, and alleged that: Some Yemeni fishermen have been kidnapped by pirates operating off Somaliland coast! In addition, the utterances of the puppeteer Warlord of the tribal entity of Majertenia (Puntland), Somalia also reinforced the same falsehoods and allegations in order to appease his Arab master by also stating that: Somaliland pirates have kidnapped Yemeni fishermen!

As a result, the Yemenis immediately begun a callous campaign of misinformation and propaganda partly to deflect blame and culpability of their illegal activities such as violation of the sovereignty of Somaliland coastal waters, fish and marine resource poaching, and use of illegal fishing practices and gear and partly to satisfy the domestic audience who were calling on the government to do something, but there is an ulterior motive at play here.

As silly as the claims of piracy may seem to Somalilanders, these reckless and malicious allegations should not be taken lightly or dismissed simply because of their falsehoods. Although it is easy to go on with life as usual as if nothing ever happened here or not to comprehend immediately the seriousness of these open lies and accusations, there is a lot at stake here and the enemy has already targeted them! Therefore, the citizenry, the business community, and the government must thoroughly access the situation and must take a quick and decisive action to defuse the enemy’s motives to hurt our economy.

In my view, these unfounded allegations and the collaborations and meetings between the Yemenis and the leaders of the tribal entity of Majertenia (Puntland), Somalia denotes the existence of a well calculated and coordinated sinister plan to hurt the economies of both Somaliland and Ethiopia. In fact, the real reasons behind these ridiculous allegations are as follows:

• To manufacture a non-existent sea piracy crisis between Somaliland and Yemen so the later country may have the excuse to directly meddle in the internal affairs of Somaliland just like it does in the anarchic Somalia.
• To tarnish the international reputation of Somaliland and that of its peaceful coast.
• To undermine the peaceful nature and viability of the Berbera Port, Somaliland, while indirectly helping to prop-up the rival Djibouti Port, which is managed by fellow Arabs.
• To indirectly send a message to scare the international marine insurance companies of a perceived danger and risks posed by “pirates operating off Somaliland coast.”
• To undermine the agreements between Somaliland and the land locked Ethiopia to use the Berbera Port.
• To undermine the agreement between Somaliland and World Food Program (WFP) to ship relief foods and logistics destined for Somalia through the Berbera Port.

I hope now you understand how serious is the Yemen and Majertenia allegations, and what is at stake here. I Therefore, urge both the peoples and governments of Somaliland and Ethiopia to immediately take Yemen to task and to forward the issue to the appropriate international bodies in order to defuse this malicious allegations and accusation that are, nothing more than, a bunch of concocted lies that are intended to hurt the economies of other peaceful nations.

To set the record straight, unlike in Yemen and Somalia, the intrepid people and democratic Republic of Somaliland have no history or culture of religious extremism, suicide bombers, kidnappers, terrorism, and piracy. And for the last 15 years this country of 3.5 million had been the bastion of peace, progress, and beacon of democracy in the Horn of Africa region; while the neighboring anarchic Somalia was and is still in total collapse, lying down there helplessly, and bleeding profusely. It is therefore important to call a spade a spade and understand the difference between the peaceful and democratic Somaliland and the anarchic Somalia, where the Arabs have exported their dark culture of extremism and social rife and, where Warlords, sea piracy, kidnappings, hostage taking, religious extremism, and terrorism is the norm.

Above all, unlike in Somaliland, it is common knowledge that on numerous occasions various incidents such as kidnappings, hostage taking, and bombings of US Naval Ships has happened in Yemen. It is also known to have various local terrorists and suspected of the existence of some Al-Qaida operatives/cells in Yemen. So why blame and accuse Somaliland for what it is not?

Farah Ali Jama,

Ottawa, Canada.