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Editorial
- Police in Somaliland sought to detain Abiib Diriye Nur, a former
minister and prominent SNM veteran, but his private security prevented
the police from entering his house. This most likely is part of ongoing
intimidation of the opposition political parties by increasingly
confrontational Riyale administration. But will Riyale win concession
through harassment or will the opposition withstand the threats for the
sake of restoring democracy in Somaliland?
The attempted arrest of Mr. Nur, who served as the Aviation Minister
before resigning from the president Riyale’s administration in July
2005, is the latest of numerous ill advised threats by Riyale
administration to achieve political concession from the opposition.
In his resignation, just months before parliamentary elections were held
in 2005, Mr. Nur cited Riyale’s take over of the selection process of
UDUB candidates for the parliament as the main reason for stepping down
from his post. He later joined the opposition KULMIYE party.
The actual reason for the attempted arrest of Mr. Nur, late in the
evening on Tuesday, was not publicized but the police has been taking
orders to arrest opposition figures. No other legitimate reasons are
believed to exist for the attempted arrest.
Somaliland’s police chief, Mohamed Saqadhi Dubad, denied a widely held
view that the arrest order came directly from or with the knowledge of
Mr. Riyale. However, less than a week ago the police chief led a heavily
armed force composed of regular police and the presidential guards which
stormed the Parliament building in violation of the law and the
integrity of the Parliament.
Mr. Dubad then told the MPs who protested the presence of the armed
police in the parliament building, that he had orders from his superiors
even thought he refused to divulge any information that may incriminate
Mr. Riyale as the person ordering the invasion. The order came from the
Interior Minister Abdillahi Ismail Ali (Cirro) or from president Riyale
or his vice-president Ahmed Yusuf Yassin. In any case an order given to
the police chief by any of these individuals is politically motivated
one.
It is well known that several informal meetings were taking place at the
presidential palace chaired by Riyale and participated by his most loyal
ministers. Mr. Dubad is frequently summoned by the president to his
palace specially to be given specific instructions. The order to storm
the Parliament came as a result of instructions the police chief
received the previous night at the presidential palace if not directly
from Riyale then certainly with his blessing.
Mr. Riyale whose 5-year elected term ended in May 2008, used the Upper
House of parliament to controversially extend his tenure twice. It is
however unlikely that he will get anymore extensions this time since the
Upper House of parliament expressly stated that it will not give him
anymore extensions beyond October 2009 when their most recent
six-month-term-extension comes to an end.
The current roadblock to democracy started in July, barely 60 days prior
to the date of the presidential election, when Riyale unilaterally
declared that the voter registration list is to be shelved and will not
be used for the upcoming election. A move that is unlawful and
undoubtedly stands on flimsy legal grounds, contravenes the Electoral
Law and breaks an agreement which all parties reached last year.
The very reason the election was postponed on numerous previous
occasions was because Somaliland needed to register illegible citizens
as the Electoral Laws required to avoid vote-rigging and to protect the
integrity of the election. Barring a meltdown of the entire political
system or other unforeseen catastrophic event occurring, with his ever
declining popularity Riyale faces a certain landslide defeat at the
ballot box . The only way he possibly can avert such a defeat is to
adopt a strategy from which only he stands to gain and everyone else
loses, that is to open the door for vote-rigging and election
manipulation by utilizing the entire government machinery and resources
in his favor.
Should Riyale have it his way and voter registration list be dropped
altogether, with the way Riyale already micro-manages the political
activities of the regional administrations across the country, and by
experience from previous elections, it is not unthinkable that huge
numbers of untraceable votes in favor of his party turn up at the close
of the polls.
It is certain that a massive vote-rigging in favor of Riyale will take
place if voter registration list is dropped, in which case the neither
the opposition nor the public has any confidence in the discredited
Supreme Court (which also acts as the Constitutional Court) for
recourse. Even with massive rigging if Riyale can not offset the
overwhelming popularity of the two opposition parties which will also be
competing against one another, he will involve the Courts asking them to
annul the election. The Courts have never ruled against Riyale even when
his position directly contravened the constitution. Any court decision
will be a repetition of its 2003 decision for which the judges (all
appointed by Riyale) never gave any explanation of how they mysteriously
arrived at their verdict which increased Riyale’s margin from 80 to 217
votes.
Riyale believes that by applying a constant pressure including arrests
of opposition figures and supporters, the opposition will eventually
capitulate and fall in line with his demand for an election that is open
to fraud and manipulation, or at least even if the opposition withstands
the pressure he will stay on in power with or without another term
extension thus buying few more months.
In the meantime the arrests and the intimidation continue across the
country. A court in the eastern region of Sool sentenced Awil Ismail
Farah, UCID party’s Secretary in the region to six months in jail. Mr.
Farah who was held in prison for two weeks prior to the sentence, was
accused by the governor of Sool region, Ali Mohamed Hassan (Ali-sandulle),
of having planned and executed a peaceful public gathering that was held
in Las Anod in conjunction with demonstrations held nationwide by the
supporters of the two opposition parties three weeks ago.
Source: The Somaliland Globe Editorial, September 3, 2009
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