| Front Page |
EDITORIAL
In an unusual move, Somaliland’s top traditional leaders got together on Friday to send a message to IGAD and the international community in which they expressed their serious concerns over the implications that any attempts to ignore the right of the Somaliland people and government to exercise sovereignty over their boundaries will have for stability, not only in this country, but in the region as a whole. Somalilanders have never been divided on the issue of independence. But it has been rare for Somaliland traditional leaders to address an issue from a common platform unless the stakes were too high to be ignored. And nothing is of higher stake to Somalilanders than the preservation of their sovereignty. That is why Somaliland's traditional elders sent their unequivocal message to IGAD leaders and the international community.
Somaliland's traditional leaders know that the prevailing peace and security in Somaliland cannot be sustained without the country's sovereignty and independence. They also know that reunification with Somalia means return to chaos, dictatorship and genocide.
Despite the increasingly provocative turn that the Kenya-hosted peace conference on Somalia has been taking towards Somaliland over the last 10 months, Somaliland's leaders have, so far, exercised a great deal of restraint, lest they be blamed for undermining the already shaky talks.
If IGAD really wants to bring peace to Somalia, then they should focus their efforts on where the trouble is, which is the former Italian Somalia. Somaliland has been peaceful for over a decade, therefore any attempt by IGAD to include fake delegates who claim to represent Somaliland, or making statements that the government cobbled together in Mbagathi will have sovereignty over Somaliland would only mean that instead of creating peace in Somalia, IGAD wants to ignite war between Somaliland and Somalia.
IGAD is not the only entity that needs to stick to its writ. The warlords of Italian Somalia, too, should for once focus on finding a solution to their country's deadly conflicts instead of using Somaliland as a diversion. Somalia's warlords, IGAD, and the international community should by now have learned one of the main lessons from the previous 14 failed Somalia peace conferences. The lesson is this: once a future government for Somalia claims to have jurisdiction over Somaliland, that government is doomed to failure.
Home | Contact us | Links | Archives