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  • REF: SSE/ Fr-017/16 Date: 26 August2016
    STATEMENT
    Somalia’s Latest Selections Process & Somaliland: Here we go again!
    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
    1
    , four of which haveset up governmentalstructures for
    Somalia
    2
    . 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
    3
    .
    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
    4
    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
    5
    relating to their 2016 selections procedures that Somaliland is absent from the

  • Page 2 of 5
    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
    6
    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
    7
    (or four) regional states (Dawlad-Goboleedyo), which shall each consist
    of Eight members appointed by their state and three members by the Federal Government
    8
    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
    9
    . 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
    10
    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
    11
    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
    12
    , 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
    13
    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
    14
    version starts with Somaliland and Somalia and
    both refer also to the existing rights and liabilities of the two independent
    governments/states
    15
    .
    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.
    16
    The Somaliland principal districts were grouped into two
  • Page 3 of 5
    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
    17
    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
    18
    .
    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
    19
    . 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
    20
    and 1968
    21
    . Furthermore, on the proposal of Somalia, the constitution
    itself was also made an integral part of the 1961 Act of Union
    22
    .
    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
    23
    . 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
    24
    .
    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
    25
    . 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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