Francois Sudan, Special Correspondent  

Hargeysa, June 9, 2006 – Fifteen years ago, the independence of the northern part of Somalia has been proclaimed but yet recognized by nobody. And whereas the remainder of the country is in prey with chaos, this British ex-colony lives in peace. This 18 May 2006, with the extreme point of the Horn of Africa, a country celebrated the fifteenth birthday of its independence. This quite real country that however does not exist, represent a particular case in the world. It has its own territory, delimited by borders resulting from colonization, its own currency, its stamps and its administration; it delivers visas and passports, organizes democratic elections, ensures its safety and its economic development without the assistance of nobody.  

Poor among the poor, but viable taking into consideration all possible criteria, this territory of 176 000 km2 and 4 million inhabitants does not have any foreign debt, for a very simple reason: nobody within the international community, does not recognize it, No investor would risk investing in an economy not indexed by the insurance companies.

Terra incognita

The   Republic of Somaliland pays the price of the blindness, the ignorance and the disinterest of the African Union, which is seeing the secession of a member state. However, by virtue of the independence fight, Somalilanders form today a nation much more coherent, moral and culturally rooted that the majority of the African States. In a few weeks, Somaliland will knock officially on the door of the UA: its file will be on the agenda.  

What reception the Heads of State will give to its the request of admission? In Hargeysa, the martyr capital of Somaliland, people prefer not too much to be deluded with illusions. It remain however that Somaliland remain a real hope for the desperation that constitutes the present of Africa…British Somaliland, under the auspices of London, is born an independent state on June 26, 1960. During the thirty following year, the history of Somaliland will be written in letters of suffering: discrimination, then repression. Within the government of Mogadiscio, Somalilanders will never have more than four ministers, and their officers will not exceed the rank of captain in the national army. From 1960 to 1990, out of   the some 4 billion and half of dollars of assistances received by Somalia, only 5 % will go to North. President Siyad Barré, which is wary of the irredentism of Somalilanders, will still increase their marginalization by recruiting only southerners as police officers. In 1961, Somaliland officers undertook an unsuccessful military plot in Hargeysa. Few years later, the great Somaliland political leader of Somaliland,

Ibrahim Mohamed Equal, is captured and imprisoned during one decade. In 1981 the uprising of   Hargeysa students against the Somali occupant burst out of control.. Stone jets against kalachnikovs. Fifteen died,   hundreds of arrests. This same year, in London, Somali National Movement (SNM) is founded within Somaliland diaspora.   This movement, which preaches self-determination and   armed struggle, settles in Ethiopia, where Mengistu Haïlé Mariam offers a back base and camps .But the transitory reconciliation, six years later, between the "red Négus" and the dictator Siyad Barré meant that   SNM had to go on the offensive.

Fearing expulsion from Ethiopia, SNM fighters entered Somaliland urban centers and trounced Somali army. The process began on May 27, at 5 am. From Hargeysa airport hills, General Ali Samater, commander-in-chief of the Somali army, and the General Mohamed Hersi, called "Morgan", its assistant, decide, following Siyad Barre order, to shave the rebels from Hargeysa. .

During eight days, the Somali MIGS Hawker jets with South-African mercenarie ram the city and its inhabitants. Ninety percent of the future capital of Somaliland will be destroyed, at the terrifying price from thirty to forty thousand victims. Among the three persons in charge of this major war crime, two are always in life. If Barre died in exile in Nigeria in 1995, Samater found refuge in the United States, in Fortunia, not far from Washington, where he remained very quiet. As for "Morgan", he is in the South directing a clannish militia…Month later, Hargeysa and Burao were freed with overjoyed population on the look out. The revenge of Siyad Barre would be terrible. Berbera is destroyed, civilians killed before being itself liberated.

Today, in Hargeysa, the mass grave of Maka Durdure is one of most poignant. There the bodies of around fifty Somaliland students that bled to death.  

In the meantime, on May 18, 1991 in Burao, the Great Council of Elders proclaimed the unilateral independence of Somaliland when in the meantime the remainder of Somalia sank in   chaos. Somaliland incredible democracy has shown its strength in May 2002, with the Sudden death of President Egal. Succession has been dealt with in less than fifteen minutes.

Following the constitution, Rayale Kahin became the country president. In Somaliland, newspapers adopt a very critical tone and   the authority wants to be modest. Nothing distinguishes ministers from the regular Joe. The president residence is a simple, a masonry without grace where the Mogadishu appointed governor used to live.

Elected for a five years mandate   (renewable mandate only once- Somalilanders would never accept otherwise) Dahir Rayale Kahin is an exemplary democrat. “Somaliland is not a republican monarchy”, he explains, “We do not have here this typically African culture which consists in placing its family, woman and children. If my children are qualified, they will exert their competences.

But no one elected them. As for me, one my mandate is up, I will withdraw myself, but I will continue to serve my country “Words of wise man.

To read the rest of this report, please consult   Jeune afrique/l'intelligent n°2367,   May 21, 2006

Home | Contact us | Links | Archives