By John Drysdale

In the Author’s view, Somaliland’s withdrawal from the Somali republic in 1991 had Political Justification and thus had no element of a Beach of Territorial Integrity contrary to the claims of the United Nation and the African Union which, Asserting such a Breach, and thus rejecting Somaliland’s claim to diplomatic recognition that is base on Universal Self-Determination which Somaliland was awarded by the United Nations in 1960.

The hasty merger between Somaliland and Somalia in 1960, for which no treaty existed, and Somaliland’s legitimate withdrawal from the union in 1991, is today the hot spot of Somaliland’s dispute with the United Nations and the African Union. These two important organizations, which influence the foreign policies of the International community, both believe that Somaliland cannot be awarded diplomatic recognition again, after independence in 1960, because Somaliland’s separation from Somalia in 1991, was a violation of the territorial integrity of the former Somali Republic 19 years ago.

The assertion of a violation of territorial integrity is disputable for five reasons, namely, there was no Act of Union between Somaliland and Somalia: there was a referendum but it was boycotted by Somaliland: the original reasons for the union no longer existed after the parties linked their two national assemblies in Mogadishu; the desire then of all Somalis in both countries for a Greater Somalia was thwarte4d by the United Nations, hence the premature union between the two countries: Somalia’s President Siyad Barre was autocratic and criminal as a ruler over Somaliland, including his passion for mass graves of innocent victims who were murdered without trial for alleged political offences: war was raged by Somalia against Somaliland, and Hargeysa was bombed, resulting in thousands of Somaliland citizens fleeing in terror to Ethiopia where they became refugees for nine years. These were breaches by Somalia of Somaliland’s territorial integrity for which Somalia has received United Nations and Africa Union diplomatic recognition.

Somalia forces in Somaliland were defeated in battle with the Somali National Movement guerillas and those who remained fled to Somalia where the late General Mohamed Farah Aidied of the Somalia army drove them and their commander, the late President Siyad Barre, across the Kenya border in exile. The Somali Republic Government thus ceased to exist. Where lay in international law a breach by Somaliland of the territorial integrity of the Somali Republic?

The United Nations and the African Union cannot hold in perpetuity that Somaliland’s military expulsion of an aggressive and criminal Somalia military regime, stationed without prior consent in Somaliland, in the absence of a full explanation of the political circumstances then prevailing in Somaliland and in Somalia was a breach of the former territorial integrity of the Somali Republic.

In my view, Somaliland was politically justified in withdrawing from the Somali Republic, as the following account of the political circumstances prevailing in 1991 offer proven evidence. The United Nations and the African Union should be asked what evidence they have for denying recognition of Somaliland’s sovereignty which they possessed in 1960. This does, of course, rest on the question of whether political justification for a withdrawal from territorial integrity can in law or in international practice exonerate the charge of breaching territorial integrity. If not, a Government could embark on atrocities against their own people, like bombing their cities, with impunity.

These events took place a long times ago and institutional memories are usually short. I was then the political adviser to the late President Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal and my memory of the events at the time has been the subject of books that I have written. Perhaps the United Nations and the African Union might wish to be reminded in some detail of the circumstances that led to Somaliland’s withdrawal from the Somali Republic to observe in all fairness whether the United Nations and the African Union have a case to answer.

There were pressing difficulties between Somalia and Somaliland in 1991. Difficulties that did not exist elsewhere in Africa. A union between them was originally considered imperative because the union of the two countries was to be, at a later stage, the forerunner of a Greater Somalia. That is to say a new, wholly Somali-speaking country embracing Somalia and Somaliland, the Ogaden of Ethiopia, French-speaking Djibouti and the Northern \frontier \District of Kenya – all Somali occupied territories. The concept received universal acclaim among Somalis in most Somali-speaking communities in the Horn of Africa.

The problems with Somalia and Somaliland in 1991 included different official languages, Italian and British, different office procedures, different laws, different accounting systems, a different work ethic and multiples of complex administrative procedures. It was a nightmare.

At a more significant political level, the joint Somalis and Somaliland parliament could not agree on the next of an Act of Union for the newly formed Somali Republic. A year later, a referendum was held on union which Somaliland largely boycotted. Moreover, British trained Somali army officers carried out a failed coup d’état because of their disappointment with the union and their aversion to senior Italian-trained army officers who had had a very different military upbringing.  A British judge in Mogadishu tried the rebel officers and found them not guilty of treason because no act of Union had been passed by parliament.

On the international scene, France, Djibouti and Ethiopia formally objected in the United Nations to a Greater Somalia, buressed by criticism from world leaders including Britain, France and America. The concept was doomed. It was no longer a rallying cry for the Somali Republic.

Elders were unwisely dismissed by Somali males in trousers’ on independence in 1960 as illiterate human beings wearing sarongs.. The new besuited men were now in charge. Being urbanites, they knew little about the pastoral world where the vast majority of Somalis lived and worked. They thought elders were irrelevant to modern governance and would in any case attempt to compete with political parties. If anyone could have controlled the malfeasance of the modern government the elders could have done so but they were denied access to the inner sanctum of government and virtually silenced. They certainly would have influenced the quality of representation in Mogadishu, as they do today in Hargeysa.

Somaliland withdrew from Somalia on May 1991, following the defeat of Siyad Barre’s army in Somaliland. Likewise the partial defeat, at that time, of Barre’s army in Somalia by General Mohamed Farah Aideed Somalia had no formal government. The Somali Republic no longer existed.

On the morning of May 19, outside the Congress Hall in Buroa, Somaliland, hand-held loud speakers drew crowds to the center of the city. By the Afternoon, tanks and armored troop carriers took up menacing positions outside the Conference Hal. That evening, the Movement’s chairman passed a message through the military network to Mahdi a then political leader in Mogadishu, advising him that Radio Hargeysa would that night be broadcasting a declaration of independence.

On the following day an enormous crowd assembled in Buroa to listen to the formal declaration of independence and to cheer, more with relief than with euphoria, as the Somali National Movement flag was unfurled. The pressure of public opinion had stripped the Somali National Movement of caution. Abdirahman Ahmed became the first president as chairman of the Somali National Movement. Abdirahman read a declaration constituting the ‘Republic Of Somaliland’ as the name of the new Republic.

For a week thereafter a great deal of lobbying was in progress over a draft constitution. The Congress of the Somaliland National Movement’s Central Committee, which ran the celebrations, had to address a crucial question. It was to be debated. It was whether the future civilian government of Somaliland should have an executive president, or a constitutional president and prime minister, which had been the constitutional practice in the former Somali Republic. The latter, a constitutional president, accorded with traditional Somali practice (xeer) over the ages. The vote was taken on May 26. There was a majority of 46 votes to 33 in favor of an executive president.

In 1993, a 150-member Council of Elders who had earlier arranged for a pan-Somaliland conference in Borama to discuss security and the new institutions of government which would succeed the two –year provisional period of government after May 18, 1993. The five-month conference was chaired by the late Sheikh Ibrahim Sheikh Yusuf Sheikh Madar. It invited proportional representation from every clan in Somaliland. They numbered 500 persons drawn from a cross-section of elders, religious leaders, politicians, retired civil servants, intellectuals and businessmen.

 By April 25, the conference had agreed on two resolutions; a security framework and a national constitutional structure. The conference was designated as an electoral college, to elect a president and a Vice-president. On May 16, 1993, the late Mohamed Ibrahim Egal was elected Executive President of the Republic of Somaliland, after he had been forced to resign as prime minister of the then Somali republic in 1969. Abdirahman Ali Farah became his Vice-president…

I worked in President Egal’s office in Hargeysa as his adviser. He told me about the biggest mistake made in Mogadishu. It was the political reliance on elected political leaders and political parties. “We had a dismissive attitude towards clan elders”, he said “Politicians are ephemeral. They just come and go, but the Elders are permanent institutions provided they serve the people with honesty and justice as they do, particularly in the rural areas”

“That is why”, he said, “We acknowledge the SNM’s initiative to form the Guurti. There is an essential need for the Council of Elders as part and parcel of our Government institution.”

The National Constitution of the Somaliland Republic was promulgated on March 8, 1997. It was authored by a committee of prominent Somalis from varied walks of life. No words were borrowed from the literature, it was therefore uniquely Somali in character and purpose.

The Borama Conference came to unanimous decisions about the terms of a Charter including, inter alia, the future constitution in outline, the size and composition of a bicameral parliament, representation in parliament and the government executive.

These were the fundamentals,  17 years ago, that brought about, in contrast to Somalia, on June 26, 2010 a new, wholly democratic government following a unanimously acceptable Presidential election results, won by the opposition leader of Kulmiye, led by the now President Ahmed Mohamed Mahmud (Sillanyo)  who was graciously congratulated by the outgoing honorable former  President Dahir Rayale Kahin. A New Government, therefore, legitimately is seeking, for the umpteenth time, international recognition in all justice.

John Drysdale

New Somaliland Cadastral Surveys

And Landscape Contours

Hargeysa, Somaliland

e-mail: john.cadastralsurveys@hotmail.com

Tell: 00 252 2 4155328/00 252 2 4479919

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