The AU Dodges It’s Responsibility ‎Towards Somaliland‎‎

EDITORIAL

African Foreign ministers while meeting in Banjul, Gambia, on Wednesday opted to exclude Somaliland’s application for membership in the African Union from the agenda of the summit of African heads of state, scheduled to open in the Gambian capital today. These ministers came up with an agenda which included such highly contentions subjects as sending African peacekeepers to Somalia and replacing the AU’s current peace mission to Darfur with a force from the United Nations. The promotion of democracy, good governance and peaceful change of government in Africa was also on top of the agenda.

However by dodging the issue of Somaliland, the AU has once again put its credibility as a continental leader into big question.

Somaliland and Somalia were two separate countries until July 1, 1960 when the independent states merged to form the Somali Republic. Unfortunately the unification worked to the great disadvantage and suffering of Somaliland which in effect became a colony ruled by Somalia. It took the Somalilanders 10 years of armed struggle in 1980s and a lot of human and material sacrifices to liberate themselves of Somalia’s oppressive rule. On 1991, Somaliland declared independence withdrawing from its 1960 union with Somalia.

Ever since then Somaliland and Somalia embarked on two different paths. Somalia plunged into a chronic state of chaos, armed conflict, warlodism and religious fanaticism, defying 14 internationally sponsored attempts to salvage it. By contrast, Somaliland had successfully utilized its local culture and Islamic heritage to restore peace, realize reconciliation and institute a system of governance made up of a mix between tradition and modernity.

In the last 3 years, Somaliland conducted one of the most democratic elections ever witnessed in Africa while Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, which was setup in Kenya in 2004 by external mediators, has been insisting that it can’t govern unless provided with foreign troops.

By choosing not to deal with the issue of Somaliland at the Banjul summit, the AU evaded the responsibility it owed to the people of this country, at least those who survived Siyad Barre’s genocidal campaigns in the 1980s. The AU’s stance is a kick in the face of the Somaliland people who have succeeded in turning their land into a peaceful and constitutional democracy.

At Banjul, the AU claimed that it was serious about promoting democracy and good governance in Africa while at the same time it allowed itself to shun Somaliland, the only African society that has successfully minted a democratic system of governance that is compatible with its culture and responsive to its internal and external needs. Somaliland has requested to be given a chance to explain its case before Africa’s highest forum – the AU Summit. However its seems that some countries such as Egypt and Sudan, who perceive Somaliland’s independence as a threat to Arab interests in the region, succeeded in blocking what otherwise could have been an opportunity for the AU to resolve the sovereignty dispute between Somaliland and Somalia in a peaceful manner.

By unnecessarily siding with the TFG, the AU has alienated Somaliland which until now has acted with restraint in response to the TFG’s claims to sovereignty over Somaliland.

The AU’s decision not to engage Somaliland and to bolster instead Abdillahi Yusuf (TFG’s president) militarily, will make confrontation and violence as the only option left for resolving this dispute. And with religious fundamentalism riding the crest of a wave generated by the recent triumph of Dahir Aweys forces in the former Italian Somalia, the AU’s stance on Somaliland is likely to undermine the forces of moderation while further encouraging the forces of extremism in the region.

Somaliland is not a secessionist movement. It is a country that withdrew from a union with another African country just in the same way that other African countries like Gambia had done in the past. There is no reason why the case of the Republic of Somaliland which reverted to its historical colonial borders of former British Somaliland, should be treated differently by the AU.

Source: Somaliland Times

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