Cardiff Somalilanders – A Model For Others‎

EDITORIAL

The current visit to Britain by the Somaliland parliament’s speaker, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi, has already helped Somaliland in gaining new influential friends in the British political establishment and in a number of other countries as well.

Officially, the purpose of the visit was for the Somaliland parliament speaker to participate in the last March 1, 2006 inauguration of the Welsh National Assembly – Senedd – in Cardiff . Besides Queen Elizabeth II, the entire Welsh leadership and the speaker of the House of Commons, the opening of the Senedd was attended by speakers and presidents of parliaments in 90 countries including Somaliland.

The Senedd’s decision to include Somaliland in the countries invited came as a result of a tremendous lobbying effort by members of the Somaliland community in Wales . According to a spokeswoman of the Welsh Assembly both the Buckingham Palace and the central government were shown the list of invitees and made no objection against Somaliland ’s participation.

Welsh officials stressed however that they couldn’t ignore the request made by a significant number of their citizens in support of inviting the speakers of both houses of parliament in Somaliland .

In Cardiff , Abdirahman Erro met as many speakers of parliaments as he could. These contacts and the subsequent meetings with Welsh leaders are bound to create a better international awareness about Somaliland ’s demand for international recognition.

From Cardiff , Erro went to London where he met with the deputy speaker of the House of Commons Ms Sylvia Heal, officials of the 3 major political parties in the UK , and the Pakistani prime minister Shoukat Aziz. Again, the visit to the British parliament was sanctioned by the Foreign Office.

What is very interesting to note here is that this visit wouldn’t have taken place without the dedication shown by the Somaliland community in Wales . That community – led by the energetic Abdul Karim Adan and assisted by Welsh politicians – has also brilliantly succeeded in utilizing the speaker’s tour in such a way as to produce optional results from it.

A network of communication and coordination with other Somaliland communities including supporters of the 3 political parties was initiated with the aim of broadening the scope of the visit. In Bristol Erro met with members of the Somaliland community and MP Kerry McCarthy to express gratitude for her support of the Somaliland .

Efforts were also made to give the trip a media exposure in Britain as well as here at home, an important element that Somaliland officials have tended to ignore in the past.

The visit cost only a few thousand dollars. But most Somalilanders would agree that this first Somaliland parliamentary visit to the UK was by far more successful politically and diplomatically than the one made by president Rayale to that country in 2004 at the cost of over $100,000.

The Cardiff experience has shown that potentially the Somaliland communities living in other UK cities and elsewhere in the wider diasporra could play a significantly important role in promoting the issue of international recognition for their homeland. But the lesson to be drawn from the model provided by Cardiff is that no single Somaliland community, no matter how large it is, would be able to make any significant contributions to the quest for recognition unless it was organized.

Source: Somaliland Times

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