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Now that the visit of the Chairman of Kulmiye Party, Mr. Ahmed Sillanyo,
to the US has ended, a preliminary assessment of that visit is in order.
It is our opinion that Mr. Sillanyo’s visit marks a success for
Somaliland’s democracy. Why? Because in a functioning democracy
political parties compete for the citizens’ votes, and in order to get
that vote they have to work hard and show that they deserve it. Mr.
Sillanyo did work hard to advance Somaliland’s cause during his US visit
and provided tangible evidence that when it comes to the national
interests, Somalilanders, regardless of whether they are in government
or in the opposition, are united, and that in itself is a credit to
Somaliland’s democratic system.
Mr. Sillanyo’s visit was also a success for Kulmiye party because it has
shown that even though it is not in government, it could mount a
diplomatic initiative to engage the most developed country in the world.
Furthermore, once they were in the US, Kulmiye party made it apparent
that it had a leader with diplomatic skills and political ability (Mr.
Sillanyo is no stranger to Washington for he was a member of the
delegation that accompanied Prime Minister Egal in his visit to the
White House in the 1ate 1960s, and has visited the US several times
since then), a team around him headed by Kulmiye’s shadow foreign
secretary, Dr Mohamed Omar, and the connection with Somaliland diaspora
that made it possible for Kulmiye’s delegation to venture beyond
Washington and into places like Minnesota and Ohio in the US hinterland.
Despite this overall positive picture, there are, however, two concerns
that must be raised. One, Congressman Donald Payne made a vicious and
malicious verbal assault on Somaliland in his infamous hearing which was
watched by a huge number of Somalilanders, and that image of him
releasing a barrage of threats against Somaliland remains indelibly
marked in the minds and psyches of many Somalilanders. So it is one
thing to engage in damage control, but to say or to insinuate, that
Donald Payne is a friend of Somaliland, as Kulmiye is doing, stretches
credulity.
Two, there was no international media coverage for the visit, and
Kulmiye, in this regard, blew an opportunity to distinguish itself from
Somaliland government which hardly makes any effort to sell Somaliland’s
agenda to the international media.
But despite these two concerns, Mr. Sillanyo’s visit was a success for
both his party and for democracy in Somaliland. What a better testimony
to this than the resolution that was passed by Minnesota’s House of
representatives honoring him for his life-long service to democracy.
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