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Two ugly and violent incidents that took place recently in Hargeysa
have raised serious questions that need to be answered. The two
incidents are the armed attack on the military base in Hargeysa and the
attempted assassination of Hargeysa’s chief judge, Adirashid Duran. What
makes these incidents more ominous is they occurred in Somaliland’s
capital, Hargeysa, where such attacks are unusual.
The first question these incidents raise has to do with the competence
of Somaliland’s CID and intelligence services that failed to prevent
them from taking place. This is even more distressing since information
about the planned attack on the military base was alleged to have been
available before it took place.
The second question has to do with progress on the investigation of the
attempted assassination of judge Abdirashid Duran. In this case, if the
information that was leaked to Haatuf newspaper about Somaliland’s
security services making progress in the investigation is true, that
augurs well for the government, and it behooves everyone to withhold
judgment until the investigation is completed and the results are made
public.
The third question is related to the politicians’ involvement in
judicial cases. No doubt there are many things wrong with Somaliland’s
legal system. But the problems with Somaliland’s legal system are not
caused by the judiciary alone. Somaliland’s judges have voiced
complaints many times about politicians, businessmen, and traditional
leaders trying to influence their verdicts. The criticism by some
parliamentarians of the jailing and sentencing of some politicians is
only the latest example of parliamentarians voicing their opinion on
judicial matters. In principle, parliamentarians have a right to
disagree with any judicial decision but the question is how far can they
go in expressing their unhappiness with the judiciary before it could be
considered interference by one branch of government in the affairs of
another branch of government, or worse yet, before it could be seen as
inciting the public to take the law into its own hands.
These are all issues that need to be carefully considered by
Somaliland’s people and their government. In the meantime, everybody
should stick to the principle of the priority of the country’s peace and
security over parochial agendas, a principle that has served them well
through the years.
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