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The release
of two Somalilanders from Guantanamo is good news for the two
individuals involved and their families. Whether it is good news or bad
news for Somaliland in the long run will depend on whether these two
individuals live as peaceful and productive citizens or not. As things
stand now the release of the two detainees is an unambiguous American
vote of confidence toward Somaliland. By its decision, the US government
is saying Somaliland is as capable of taking custody of its nationals as
any of the countries who received detainees from Guantanamo. Anyone who
doubts this should read this statement by the US Justice Department:
“These transfers were carried out under individual arrangements between
the United States and relevant foreign authorities to ensure the
transfers took place under appropriate security measures. Consultations
with foreign authorities regarding these individuals will continue.”
Somaliland’s government deserves credit for facilitating the transfer.
However, it has failed mightily in contextualizing what happened.
Actually, it made no effort at all to provide a context. Clearly it
thought that the detainees will be transferred and that will be it and
had no idea about the huge amount of media attention this issue will
get. That is why Somaliland’s government was caught flat-footed, and it
could not seize the opportunity of the media’s hunger for information to
le them know about Somaliland’s track record: how Somaliland received a
detainee from Guantanamo a year ago without any resulting problem, how
Somaliland is stable and democratic, how it contributes
to the fight against terrorism and how illogical and hypocritical it is
to expect Somaliland to be an anti-terrorist bastion while at the same
time the international community denies it diplomatic recognition as a
sovereign state. For comparative purposes, Somaliland’s government
should look at the performance of the Yemeni government where two of its
embassy staff in Washington (Mohamed al-Basha.and Khaled al-Katheri) as
well as the Yemeni National Press Agency (SABA) addressed the issue and
promoted the role of their government; whereas Somaliland only posted a
couple of lines at the government website in which it said it received
two detainees and that “Somaliland Security Agency processed the two
prisoners before they were released to their families and relatives.”
The fault here lies particularly with the two ministries of information
and foreign affairs, both of which are immersed in local issues and seem
not to realize that they have a duty toward informing the outside world
about Somaliland (even when they do release information it is usually in
Somali which means foreigners will not be able to access it).
Fortunately, Somaliland is blessed with concerned private citizens who
try to fill the void. One such example is A. Khayre who quickly replied
to a Weekly Standard article correcting the author of that article about
Somaliland. But private citizens can only do so much. Ultimately,
selling Somaliland to the international media is the job of Somaliland’s
ministries of information and foreign affairs. Until now there is little
evidence that the two ministries understand this.
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