The Taleeh meeting started as a gathering in which the Dhulbahante clan was going to discuss its affairs very much like any other clan, and that was why Somaliland’s government did not interfere with it and allowed some of the delegates to pass through its airports and other entry points. But as is widely known, the meeting was hijacked by individuals from the diaspora who politicized it and declared a state called Khatumo. This was viewed by Somalilanders as a negative development. As we already wrote before, this was also a negative development for the Dhulbahante clan, because all it did was further divide an already divided clan. But it also had one ironic result: it discredited many of the individuals who used to claim that they opposed Somaliland’s independence (or secession as they called it) because they were nationalists who want to keep Somalis together. Suddenly those same would-be nationalists were claiming that they had set up an administration that will govern the areas where the Dhulbahante clan resides and that they wanted nothing to do with Somaliland, or even Puntland. Not only that, but they urged other Somaliland clans such as the Samaroon, Ise, and others to break away from Somaliland and form their own separate governments. The strange thing is that while they say this, they also claim that they are Somali nationalists who want Somalis to be united. This is indeed an odd way of uniting Somalis, and hardly any sensible Somali is buying it. For how can so-called nationalists call for further fragmentation of Somalis to the sub-sub clan level, not just in Somaliland, but everywhere? And what sort of nationalists want Somalis to follow their example of declaring three presidents for one clan? It is absurd.
That is what we meant by saying the fake nationalists have been exposed. It is obvious that their more nationalist than thou rhetoric was just a cynical ploy. Everyone now knows what their real aims are: fragmentation to the sub-sub clan level, and every sub-clan with three presidents. That is a far cry from nationalism. There is a name for it though. It is called fake nationalism.































 

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