By Mohamed F Yabarag, London, UK

Here we go again. Another illegal incarceration from Rayale’s desperate regime; this time the recipients are Qaran leaders, Somaliland’s new political party. The writing was on the wall for Dr Gaboose, the party’s founding chairman and his deputy, Engineer Mohamed Hashi Elmi, a man dubbed by many as the “Mr clean of Somaliland politics” ever since they declared their intention of forming a political organization in Somaliland with the aim of competing for the forthcoming local government elections. In an attempt to cling on to power, Rayale’s government has been fighting tooth and nail with the help of all government apparatus against anyone they presume may threaten their grip on power in the forthcoming local and presidential elections.

A man who initially came to the highest office in the land by default to the surprise of almost everyone and consequently won it by the thinnest of margins ever recorded anywhere in a hotly contested presidential election is now on the rampage to destroy this nascent country by using strong-arm tactics that are all too familiar for those who had witnessed Siyad Barre’s dictatorial regime in its dying days. This is blatant and abhorrent abuse of power at its ugliest level by Rayale’s pathetic government. What we are witnessing today in Somaliland is nothing short of dictatorship in full swing. Under this government we are in democracy only by name. This government have no ears to listen to the desperate voices of its citizens who are yearning for a genuine leadership. It has dismally failed time and again to work with members of the elected House of Representatives as well as civil society organizations. With the arrest of QARAN leadership, our much vaunted democracy lies in tatters and the people who would have saved us from this pathetic government through the ballot box are now languishing in the notorious Mandhera jail. And what did the do wrong to go to Jail? The government wants us to believe that these guys are a REAL threat to the national security. Sounds familiar? How many people, including women and children has Rayale’s regime sent to jails on the ludicrous and rather bizarre grounds that they were a REAL threat to the national security? The REAL threat to peace, security and the existence of Somaliland as a nation is Rayale’s inept and power crazy government. Somaliland’s horrendous jails are teeming with innocent people and if this trend continues, half of Somaliland’s population could end up in jails, even tough there are not enough jails to accommodate such a number.

Since the formation of QARAN in early April, Somaliland government was on the back foot fearing that its supporters will most certainly erode as a result of this new party led by very highly effective leaders. The leaders of this organization, Dr Gaboose and Mohamed Hashi, have more than once asked the government and the constitutional court to register their party in preparation for the forthcoming elections. The government’s response to their demand was one of indifference at best, and intimidation at worse. The Association of Somaliland Lawyers (SOLLA) is adamant that this party should be registered and has every right to be allowed to compete for the forthcoming municipal elections under the Somaliland’s constitution. Almost all the political communities in this country, including the House of Representatives and the two opposition parties to name a few are in complete agreement that the government has no case to deny QARAN in participating national elections.

For heaven’s sake our constitution is not written in Russian, Amharic, Swahili, or even in Osmania script. It is written in plain Somali and can easily be interpreted and construed by all the concerned parties, but the government seems to be interested in few articles here and there.

Quite simply the government is buying time to make sure that no elections are held when they are due because they know with great certainty that they lost the confidence of Somaliland electorate. This is a doomed government teetering to a standstill. It knows that their time is up before the elections have even started in earnest. Less than six months are left before Somaliland voters go to the polling stations and yet the voter registration programme, a pre-requisite to municipality elections, is nowhere near a completion or certainty. Right now, Somaliland government has enough problems on its plate; the national election council and the 2007 budget to name a few, and yet they seem to be creating more problems on the mistaken believe rather foolishly that its tenure in office will be extended to allow it to sort out this mess they themselves have created in the first instances.

Any government that has the interest of its people at heart would have resolved the aforementioned issue by appointing an independent commission consisting of lawyers, ministers, and members from both houses as well as the two opposition parties. By taking this path Rayale’s government would have brought this matter into a conclusion that could have been acceptable to both QARAN leadership and the government. Instead the government has, as always, chosen the path of confrontation over the path of compromise and conciliation.

Somaliland government should release the leadership of QARAN leadership without further delay to avoid a long drawn out confrontation between itself and the rest of the country. Failure to do so would mean that some people may take the law into their own hands. The ball is in on government’s court.

myabarag@talktalk.net