SOMALILAND
DIASPORA GROUPS
AUGUST 2012 STATEMENT
__________________________________________________________________
DATE: 25 AUGUST 2012 IMMEDIATE
SOMALILAND DIASPORA
GROUPS “AUGUST 2012 STATEMENT”
SOMALILAND: We have our own Constitution and Elected
Representatives
On 1 August 2012, Somalia adopted a new
“Provisional Constitution” and by the end of August, a new government will be
set up in Mogadishu (Xamar), Somalia.
We are, however, yet again
saddened by the fact that Somalians are still busy crafting constitutions and
governments that claim to include Somaliland, when it is clear to everyone that
since 1991, Somalilanders have not only established peace, but have adopted, a
long time ago, their own
Constitution and have their own democratically elected president and
parliament. Whilst we hope that Somalians achieve the
peace and stability that has evaded them so far, we urge them and the
international community to accept and respect the irreversible decision of the
Somaliland people to re-gain their sovereignty in May 1991. We state unequivocally once again, “We have our own constitution and elected
representatives, good luck with yours”.
Constitutions crafted in
Mogadishu (Xamar) – 1961 and 1979
In our desire for a union of all the five Somali
inhabited territories of the Horn in 1960, we, in Somaliland, gave up our own
independence and our own first (1960)
constitution and accepted, without any previous involvement whatsoever, a
constitution drafted, in Mogadishu (Xamar) by Somalians. By the time, the vast majority of
Somalilanders voted overwhelming against that constitution in the referendum
held on 20 June 1961, our regrets over our precipitate union with Somalia were
already abundantly clear. That
first constitution was abrogated by the military regime in 1969 and its place
was taken by another one drawn up in Mogadishu in 1979 by the Siyad Barre Dictatorship,
which was endorsed at another national referendum held on 25 August 1979.
The road to the second
constitution of an independent Somaliland 1991 to 2001
Long before the military dictatorship ended in 1991,
the dream of a union of all the five Somali inhabited territories turned into a
delusion. After the brutal and costly war of the
1980s waged by the Military dictatorship against the Somaliland people and the
collapse of the state in 1991, the Somaliland communities met at a Grand
Conference in May 1991 and decided to re-gain their sovereignty, as an
independent nation. The Somaliland
people and their traditional leaders then embarked on a long process of re-building
the peace between its communities and on establishing the necessary institutions
of governance. Drafting a
constitution came after those initial peace-making processes were laboriously
undertaken. This involved three
incremental stages: the adoption, through constituent assemblies, of a National Charter in 1993, followed
by an Interim Constitution in 1997, and then finally the adoption of a
Constitution in 2000 which was endorsed at a national referendum held on 31 May
2001.
Somaliland also set up democratic institutions and
held successfully since 2002 two national presidential elections and
parliamentary and local elections, which were all adjudged fair and free by
international obersvors. Nine
political parties/associations are now busy getting ready for the nation-wide
local elections to be held in November 2012.
Old habits die hard: new Somalian Charters/Constitutions 2001
- 2012
In the last 20 years, numerous peace-making and government
building conferences (and initiatives) had been held for Somalia. Somaliland has never attended any of
them. And yet, old habits die hard
and in two of the peace conferences held for Somalia abroad (in Djibouti in
2000 and in Kenya in 2004) where
Transitional Charters for “Somalia” were adopted, the wishes of the painstakingly
crafted Somaliland democratic national institutions (which included political
parties, elected president and parliament) were deliberately disregarded. The Somalian organisers of the
conferences and their international sponsors decided that the Somaliland territory
was henceforth inhabited by a newly invented clan called the “DIR North” which
covered the majority of the Somaliland people and that the rest of the
population shall be counted as part of the “DAROD” Greater Somalia Clan. So with this fictitious identity,
individuals (mainly from abroad or from Somaliland) were enticed to participate
in the conferences in order to maintain the charade of Somaliland’s involvement
in these processes. These individuals represented no one but
themselves and are and have been considered criminals under Somaliland law.
The Somalia “Roadmap”
and the August 2012 Constitution and Government
After two decades, and with Somaliland having held
another peaceful presidential election and a smooth transfer of power from a
defeated sitting president to a new one in 2010, who is ruling with an elected
House of Representatives, one would have expected that the international
community would no longer remain blind to the presence of a genuine democratic representation
in Somaliland that can speak authoritatively for the Somaliland people. The international community was aware
of and accepted Somaliland’s non-involvement in the “Roadmap” to end the “transition
in Somalia” and so the Roadmap process including the adoption of the
Constitution was driven by a group of signatories consisting of the
Transitional Government (TFG), UN Representative, and Puntland, Galmudug and
the ASWJ representing the Northern
and Central regions of Somalia.
At the London Conference in February 2012, the
international community also agreed “to support any dialogue that Somaliland
and the TFG or its replacement may agree to establish in order to clarify their
future relations” and a couple of preliminary meetings between Somaliland
and the Somalian TFG have already taken place.
But, yet again, the whole new process of the
adoption of the a new Somalian constitution and the selection (not election, as
originally envisaged) of the new Somalia Assembly members was based on the same
formula of denying the existence of Somaliland’s elected representatives and
seeking to attract the participation of individuals from the same fictitious
clan. Worse still, the emphasis on clan representation has
already led to numerous Diaspora
based individuals declaring “virtual clan states” even in the territories of
Somaliland and neighbouring Puntland region of Somalia. Attempting to break up Somaliland into
various clan areas will neither bring back a new united “Somali Republic”, nor
will it leave unaffected the patchwork of clan based disparate regions in
Somalia as can already be seen in the numerous declarations of “virtual
mini-states”.
Somaliland was never involved in the making of
Somalia’s new constitution, or in the selection of its new Assembly or
government in Mogadishu. The
vast majority of the real traditional leaders of Somaliland remained in
Somaliland and met in Hargeisa and Erigavo a few weeks ago when they denounced
the invitations extended to them. Attracting,
therefore, a few mainly self-appointed elders from Somaliland who, in turn,
picked “hasbeens” and “wannabes” from abroad neither co-opts Somaliland into
this process, nor does it give the process any legitimacy in Somaliland. It simply reinforces the Somaliland
people’s belief that the prevailing attitude in Somalia is still the desire to
run Somaliland from Mogadishu (Xamar).
This casts serious doubts on the future of the planned talks between
Somaliland and the Somalia government agreed at the London Conference only six
months ago and will pose a new threat to the fragile peace and stability in the
Horn of Africa if the new Somalia government starts interfering in Somaliland’s
affairs.
As the Somali sayings go, only a blind person can
fall into the same hole more than once, and that losing your way on a road
makes you learn it well. We lost our way once in 1960 when we gave up our
sovereignty and have since counted the cost of that mistake in loss of liberty, limb and life, specially throughout the 1980s. We shall never do that again and will
guard and defend our precious sovereignty.
In short, our message is:
1.
To the people of Somalia: We have our country, our people, our
constitution and our state (Dalkayaga, Dadkayaga, Distoorkayaga iyo
Dawladayadda), so please sort out yours. We can live in peace and
prosperity as two neighbouring Somali states in the same way that we do with
our Somali neighbours in Djibouti and in the Ethiopian Somali region.
2.
To the incoming Government of Somalia: You have no authority or legitimacy to
interfere in Somaliland’s affairs. We hope that your priority will be making
peace and re-building your country.
Whether or not the planned talks with Somaliland bring about a lasting
benefit for both countries or end
before they even start will depend very much on your attitude towards
Somaliland’s independent status.
3.
To the International Community: The Somaliland people have exercised
their right to self-determination and withdrew out of a union with Somalia 21
years ago. It is time that you
respect our wishes and those of our democratically elected representatives.
4.
To the Somaliland Government: We expect that the
appropriate law enforcement agencies will prosecute to the fullest extent of
the law any Somaliland citizens who, acted in contravention of the Somaliland
Constitution and the 2003 Law forbidding participation in Somalian conferences
and making it an offence for anyone to usurp the roles of Somaliland’s
constitutional bodies.
5.
To the Somaliland People: Unity is strength. Let
us all promote our Somaliland Constitution and strengthen our democratic
institutions.
6.
To the Somaliland Civil Society Groups: Be mindful of our own Somaliland national
identity and laws when considering the attendance of meetings/seminars abroad.
SOMALILAND DIASPORA
ORGANISATION:
1. The Promotion of the Somaliland Constitution Group
2. SIRAG
3. Somaliland Societies in Europe (SSE)
4. African Rural Health & Education Trust
5. West London Somaliland Community
6. Somaliland Society UK (SSUK)
7. Somaliland Brain Trust Youth Organization
8. Somaliland Ambassadors Without Borders
9. Somaliland Development Organization
10. Ottawa Somaliland Community Service
11. Somaliland American Association
12. East Africa Policy Institute
[We
urge any other Somaliland Diaspora Group that wishes to endorse this Somaliland
August 2012 Statement to do so
publicly and to contact us at the e-mail below)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
1.
The blatant ballot stuffing at that 1961 referendum
was evident from the reported yes
votes of 1.79 million (90.1%) - a
figure which was nearly twice the total number of people who voted in the
following 1964 national (assembly)
elections. Although many of the districts in Somalia returned grossly inflated
yes vote, the district of “Wala Weyn” returned a 100% yes vote of 69,000.
Somalilanders, from then onwards, referred to Somalians as as “Wala Weyn”!
