Somalia’s Latest Selections Process & Somaliland: Here we go again!

REF: SSE/ Fr-017/16 Date: 26 August2016

STATEMENT

Lies will never build a house

1. Since the collapse of the Somali Democratic Republic state in 1991 and the reassertion of

the people of Somaliland of their sovereignty in May 1991, there has been a considerable

number of conferences (mostly outside Somalia) held to bring back peace and some form of

governance to Somalia. It is a matter of public record that the Republicof Somaliland which

established peace and democratically elected governance arrangements never participated in

any of these numerous conferences

, four of which haveset up governmentalstructures for

Somalia

. Yet for most of these 25 years, Somalians have told themselves and the world that

everything they decided in all these conference included Somaliland. The saying that marna

beeni aqal ma dhisto – lies will never build a house is apt, and the defunct 1960 union of the

independent states of Somaliland and Somalia will not be resurrected by these continual false

claims.

2. Somalilands successive elected governments have repeatedly and unequivocally confirmed

that Somaliland was not and will not be a party to any post 1991 Somalian political

arrangements, and the current on-going selection procedures for Somalia are no different from

the numerous previous Somalian selections. We endorse that message again, as we have done in

the past, for example in this 2012 Statement

Co-opting individuals that represent no one

3. Co-opting individuals from Somaliland, who represent no one but themselves, into these

Somalian conferences and processes (as well as any governing arrangements formed) has

becomea common feature of Somalian politics and is used as a window dressing to cover up the

reality of the defunct union of Somaliland and Somalia. It is not surprising, therefore, that

someone from Somaliland is invariably appointed as the Somalian Foreign Minister! The

Somalian Government may want the international community and the international media to

believe this canard, but this will not fool anyone who knows anything about Somaliland and

Somalia.

4. One Somalian political commentator

who was recently examining critically the few

decision makers of the current plans for Somalias forthcoming selection process listed them as

the various current 5 federal and regional states of Somalia, the Somalian Prime Minister (PM),

the Assembly Speaker and the ex officio President of the state of Somaliland or, as he described

also, the the leader of Somaliland (Northwest, Awdal, Sol, Sanag, and Togdher regions! This

pretend President or Leader of Somaliland is someone hailing from Somaliland who was

appointed as a Deputy PM in 2015 by none other than the current Somalian PM (and the

President). The irony of all this is not lost on the international community that has also been

actively supporting Somalilands popular national elections of successive presidents!

Somalilands absence is acknowledged but the ruse is maintained

5. Although it was specifically acknowledged by the Somalian leaders in a communique dated

12 April 2016

relating to their 2016 selections procedures that Somaliland is absent from the

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6. whole process, the pretensions of inclusion of Somaliland are still maintained. The latest

ruse is the setting up of what was termed a Somaliland ǮRegional Stateǯ Indirect Electoral

Implementation Teamǯ

which is apparently meant to organise the planned Somalian

September/October 2016 selection processes for persons who shall be representing

Somaliland in the two Houses of the Somalian Assembly.

7. Apparently it is planned that this Indirect Electoral Team, the candidates and their intended

panels of selectors handpicked by some so called traditional leaders will all be gathered

somewhere in Somalia (probably Mogadishu) where the selections (presumably for both

Houses) will also take place. In contrast, the Indirect Electoral Implementation Teams of the

current Somalian five

(or four) regional states (Dawlad-Goboleedyo), which shall each consist

of Eight members appointed by their state and three members by the Federal Government

shall implement the processes, with the selections taking place in each regional state capital. It

is even envisaged that the selections of the members of the new upper House will be

undertaken by the presidents and assemblies of these Somalian regional states, and the

relevant lower House selections will be undertaken by panels of selectors of 51 persons for each

seat

. These persons and the candidates for each House seat will be selected by traditional

leaders.

8. These selection procedures for the Somalian regional states were lauded as providing more

enhanced legitimacy

than the previous selections processes (from 2000 to 2012) which were

undertaken by invited persons including former politicians, warlords and traditional leaders in

venues which, until 2012, were invariably abroad. How Somalians arrange their selections

processes (and any future elections) isentirelyup to them,but we findit perplexinghow any

degree of legitimacy can be claimed for the intrinsically illegitimate planned proposals relating

to Somaliland!

9. Since 2000, Somaliland held a national referendum on its constitution, and set up its own

statutory National Electoral Commission which has already organised successfully 5 nation-

wide one person/one vote elections and two nation-wide voter registration schemes, one of

which (based on ground breaking iris recognition) is about to be completed soon. Inour view,

had the 5 July 2003 Somalian Embagathi (Kenya) Conference plenary resolution

which

adopted, by acclamation, a policy of building a new government (and parliament) for Somalia

which would then enter into discussions with Somaliland not been countermanded by the then

Somalian Transitional President, Mr Abdiqasim S Hassan (a former Interior Minister in the

late1980s), talks between the Somaliland and Somalia might have been started well over decade

ago.

Two countries and not two regions united in 1960

10. At a time when Somalia is again following a constitutional federal arrangement of its own

design andbased on the pre-1991 regions, we emphasise (again) that Somaliland has never

been a party to any of these post 1991 constitutional arrangements and is not concerned at all

about how Somalia wishes to govern itself. We should, however, remind everyone (and in

particular the vast majority of the young population of Somalia) that two independent states,

Somaliland and Somalia, and not two regions

, united in 1960 to form the now defunct Somali

Republic. Indeed both versions of the Acts of Union quiet clearly refer to the independence as

states of Somaliland and Somalia. The Somaliland 1960 version

starts with the State of

Somaliland and the State of Somalia after referring in the preamble to the independence dates

of both states, and the 1961 Act of Union

version starts with Somaliland and Somalia and

both refer also to the existing rights and liabilities of the two independent

governments/states

11. Secondly, the 1960 independent State of Somaliland consisted of six (6) Principal Districts

and at the time of union with Somalia, the latter consisted of six (6) regions divided into

numerous districts in each region.

The Somaliland principal districts were grouped into two

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regions (Hargeisa and Burao regions) in the early 1960s and it was only in the dictatorship era

when the 8 regions were increased by Decrees

to 18 of which only 3 of the new additions were

in the territory of Somaliland. It is up to Somalia whether or not it wishes to revert to its 13 pre-

1991 regions, but neither the pre-1991 regions nor the proposed Somalian federal

arrangements has any relevance to Somaliland which has already established functioning

elected governance institutions at both national and local levels

The defunct union of Somaliland and Somalia

12. It is again worth reminding that however tenuous the legal foundations of the union were,

there was one common agreement in both Acts of Union, which was that the two countries shall

form an independent, democratic and unitary republic which shall be known as THE SOMALI

REPUBLIC

. The Constitution of the Somali Republic which was drafted for Somalia (hence the

reference to Somalia in some of its provisions) also re-emphasised democracy and rights. Both

Acts of Union also confirmed the initial composition of the first National Assembly, and the

Assembly seats division between Somaliland and Somalia, which was later re-confirmed in the

Electoral Laws of 1964

and 1968

. Furthermore, on the proposal of Somalia, the constitution

itself was also made an integral part of the 1961 Act of Union

13. All these principles and the constitution, which were central to the formation of the union,

were swept away by the military dictatorship in 1969 when the constitution was initially

abrogated and then annulled

. With the abolition of the political parties and associations,

democratically elected parliaments and local authorities, and the restrictions of liberties and

freedoms, the central planks of the union were immediately demolished by the military

dictatorship. In 1979, a new constitution was promulgated and put to a nationwide referendum,

thereby finally obliterating the last vestiges of the 1960 Constitution

14. In our view, even before the dictatorship regime started bombing the main Somaliland

towns in the late 1980s, the legal foundations of the union have already been demolished, and

the final nail in its coffin was when, after the overthrow of the dictatorship regime, a Mogadishu

Somalian politician crowned himself as President in January 1991, thereby throwing away the

1979 constitution. The people of Somaliland, who voluntarily entered into the union in 1960,

then decided to reassert their sovereignty in May 1991 –this marked the end of any shared

constitutional arrangements.

Concluding comments

15. The Somalian government and its people are fully aware of the reality that the union of

Somaliland and Somalia no longer exists and that the issue is whether Somaliland and Somalia

can live side by side in peace as two sisterly independent states of populations of Somali ethnic

origin

. We would urge, therefore, that they should continue building peace and governance in

their Somalian country and as called for intheir 2004conference resolution (see para 8 above)

concentrate on these endeavours and then enter into meaningful talks with Somaliland on the

future relationship of the two countries.

16. This means giving up the senseless claims and ruses of co-opting individuals from

Somaliland who represent no one. As the Somaliland President announced recently, any of these

individuals who decide not to be involved any longer in these matters, which are criminal

offences under Somaliland law, may receive a pardon and return to his/her country.

SOMALILIAND SOCIETIES IN EUROPE (SSE

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