The government says it cannot hold the elections until it has a complete voters’ register, but opposition parties accuse it of incompetence.

Abdulkadir Khalif
Hargeysa, Somaliland, April 30 2009 – Despite meetings between the mediation committee set up by the government and opposition parties in the Republic of Somaliland to look into issues that might threaten the country’s security, Somaliland’s stability remains rather fragile.
On April 6, hundreds of protestors from the opposition Kulmiye party gathered at their headquarters in the capital, Hargeysa, ostensibly to mark Somali National Movement day, which honors the rebel group that fought the former Somali government in the northern regions of Somalia in the 1980s. But the meeting, called by the party’s leader, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud aka Sillanyo, turned out to be a protest against the six-month extension of the term President Dahir Riyale Kahin and his deputy, Ahmed Yusuf Yassin.
Sillanyo, a masterful politician, did not hide his bitterness feeling when the presidential election was postponed to October by the Upper House of Parliament (Guurti) on March 28.
“Guurti does not have the constitutional right to grant an extension,” said a statement by Kulmiye party the same day.
“Only the Somaliland Election Commission has such rights, with the consent of the three official political parties,” it added.
During the demonstration, protesters chanting resistance slogans rallied around Sillanyo and moved to a main road leading to his residence.
According to some government officials, the police intervened and fired into the air to prevent the Kulmiye party supporters from taking to the streets and instigating civil disobedience under the guise of celebrating the 28th anniversary of the SNM. A woman was injured during the incident as confusion reigned in a city that has seen no serious use of firearms for a decade and a half.
Protecting Somaliland
Most people in Somaliland admire the SNM, which has a political and military wing, for the role it played in “protecting” Somaliland from annexation by Somalia.
Historically, the former British Somaliland and the Italian colony of Somalia both gained independence in 1960 and formed the Republic of Somalia on July 1 the same year.
Those who formed the SNM in London on April 6, 1981, intended to keep Somaliland away from the rest of Somalia.
However, the movement operated just like other rebel groups that were opposed to General Mohamed Siyad Barre’s dictatorial regime.
Then, on May 18, 1991, Somaliland declared independence from Somalia after the SNM defeated Barre’s troops in the northern parts of the country in January that year, forcing him to flee Mogadishu.
Following the confrontations with police on April 6, the Kulmiye party leader hastily called a press conference at his house, during which he termed the police’s intervention an act of provocation. “We have the right to celebrate SNM Day and also to express our feelings by peaceful means,” he asserted.
But as the Kulmiye members were being watched by the police, those from the ruling UDUB, and the other opposition party, the UCID, were celebrating SNM Day at Ambassador Hotel in Hargeysa.
While Sillanyo, who is believed to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, argues that there is no excuse for postponing the elections for the third time, the ruling UDUB says that elections cannot be held until the Somaliland Election Commission has a complete voter register, which is crucial for elections, especially the presidential election.
UCID chairman and presidential candidate, Faysal Ali Warabe, has also expressed concern about the extension of Kahin’s presidential term. However, he has taken a less confrontational stance.
“We are saying that Kahin’s term ceases on of April 6,” said Warabe. “The political parties and the houses of parliament should decide on an interim administration until elections are held.”
Warabe warned against staging protests, saying that the people of Somaliland were not prepared to handle grievances through demonstrations, and neither were law enforcers equipped to tackle such actions.
“We cannot afford to waste what we achieved over decades through concerted efforts,” said Warabe, who went on to hint that Kahin should simply surrender power.
But it is exactly this approach that President Kahin and his lieutenants have been resisting. On March 2, when the Election Commission gave the current administration until May 31, the presidential spokesman, Said Adani Moghe, rejected the opposition’s demand for an interim leadership. “An incumbent president can only be replaced by an elected leader,” said Moghe in a statement from the presidential palace in Hargeysa.
But the Kulmiye leader believes that President Kahin and his cronies use state facilities to suppress the opposition as well as the few independent media.
“The independent media have been under attack, freedom of association undermined and no progress made in the provision of civil liberties in Somaliland under Kahin,” said Sillanyo.
The situation is made worse by the view people have of President Kahin because of his background. Many people consider him a remnant of Barre’s regime, in which he served as senior security officer in the National Security Service (NSS).
But some people also question the credentials of the Kulmiyeleader. Sillanyo served as a senior minister under Siyad Barre in the 1970s. “Although he later joined and became leader of the SNM, he is widely seen as having abandoned Siyad Barre’s government and fleeing to exile in the UK in the early 1980s after failing to maintain the dictator’s friendship,” said a political insider in Hargeysa.
Political temperatures in the country went a notch higher when the Somaliland Election Commission extended President Kahin’s tenure for the second time on March 2. The elections, which were due to be held March 29, were postponed to May 31. The commission’s chairman, Jama Mohamed Omar, alias Jama Sweden, said the move had been necessitated by the lack of an officially verified voters’ register.
“This extension to May 31 will coincide with the last day of the last extension the Guurti offered the current administration,” a statement from the commission said. At the time, the move was supported by the UCID.
The Upper House voted in May last year for a year’s extension when, for the first time it became clear that incomplete voter registration would not allow for fair elections. All three parties endorsed the Upper House’s decision, and started looking forward to Mary 29 as the date for the presidential election.
But few are willing to accept the latest postponement. Kulmiye’s national secretary, Kayse Hassan Ege, issued a statement attributing the problem to government incompetence.
Ege further claimed that donors were withholding funds due to lack of both progress and accountability by the government, especially with regard to its contribution to the election funds.
“Despite all the complications, we respect the Election Commission’s role to fix the timing of the election,” said the statement. Ege, however, warned the commission that it does not have unlimited powers.
“Any time beyond April 6 the national power structure will change automatically,” warned the statement. “The current administration will cease to have ruling powers and it is up to the two houses of the parliament to establish a caretaker administration until an election is held,” it added.
“In 2008, we accepted the extension of the current government for a year, despite irregularities,” the party revealed. “Another extension is a proof of the government’s unwillingness to hold elections.” Matters have been further complicated by the Election Commission’s decision to endorse the latest Guurti extension and to set the new date for the presidential election as September 2009.
Reacting to the commission’s action, Warabe said he doubted its neutrality. “The Commission must consult all national political stakeholders while addressing the issue,” he pointed out. Given the delicate situation, many people support the UCID party’s conciliatory approach.
Some people have pointed out that, though vocal, Warabe has been placing emphasis on citizenship, as opposed to tribal politics.
Some politicians accused President Kahin of seeking to reunite Somaliland with the rest of Somalia. But underneath the veneer of calm, many people know that burning and explosive issues need tackling. The tug-of-war between separatists and the unionists is a case in point.
While the vast majority of the people in the enclave are in favor of Somaliland being independent from the rest of Somalia, a significant section of the population, especially those from the eastern regions of Sool and Sanaag, appear unwilling to accept separation from Somalia.
Although the radical Islamists in Somaliland might not be as active as they are in other parts of Somalia, it is common knowledge that they are a dormant force, with great potential for causing havoc, as the three suicide attacks in Hargeysa on October 29 last year showed.
One radio commentator in Mogadishu summed the situation up thus: “The news that even diaspora Somalilanders are leaving their safe haven in Minnesota, US, to strap explosives to themselves, pulverize buildings in Hargeysa and dismember human beings is just a bad dream politicians in Somaliland need to awake from.”
Source: The Daily Nation
 

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