By Abdulkadir J. Dualeh

In 1938, Hitler insisted upon Anschulus of Austria into a greater German Third Reich. His simplistic justification for demanding such a merger was that Austria and Germany inhabitants had a common language (German) and a common religion (Christianity).

Austria was a democratic nation and Hitler’s third Reich was totalitarian, but according to Hitler and his gangsters, that consideration was irrelevant – they new what was best for German people everywhere. The people of Austria rejected voluntary union with Hitler, so he opted to the use of subversion and intimidation.

The Nazis encouraged and funded local Nazi thugs to undermine the elected government of Austria. They fomented anxieties among the public by orchestrating street brawls. The Nazis also intimidated the elected representatives by massing their military forces on the border.

The similarity between this historical event in Europe and the present event in Somalia is glaring.

Somaliland is a moderate Islamic state that has committed itself to a republican form of government. It is engaged in a struggle against totalitarian forces that cite a common language and a common religion as a sufficient basis to destroy sister nations conceived in liberty and the rule of law.

Nations of the world have taken sides in this momentous struggle between the forces of light and the forces of heat. Each nation has based its polices, apparently, on fleeting parochial considerations.

The Arab states, in particular Saudi Arabia, Egypt and UAE, have decided to support the radical forces in Somalia. Curiously, these nations suppress identical radical forces inside their own countries. This apparent contradiction seems to be an attempt, by scared ruling families, to placate angry radicals in their own land who accuse them of complicity with the United States in a perceived war of the west against Islam.

Their policy seems to be: If we throw Somaliland to the radical wolves, we can look good to our own radicals, and perhaps the wolves will not come part the red sea and come for us. This shortsighted policy of appeasement is characteristic of the rich Arab states and it is the reason behind the interminable war in the Middle East. Whenever a courageous decision to secure the peace is called for, these rich Arab states, afraid of backlash from their local radicals, offer halfhearted measures to their partners in peace.

France and Great Britain appeased Hitler in 1938 by not challenging his rape of Austria. The shortsighted leaders of the time decided to sacrifice Austria to the Reich hoping Hitler will not come for them. The catastrophic results of that strategy are well known.

The African union, especially Ethiopia and Kenya have thrown their support on the side of a bogus, ineffective government concocted in Kenya with little support inside Somalia. Kenya is confused. They change their mind with the wind direction.

Ethiopian leadership seems paralyzed by indecision. They encourage Somaliland privately but then equivocate in public on recognition of Somaliland, apparently not to annoy their committed enemies and the governments that support them. Ethiopian leaders lack boldness in their policy and think that back room, dark alley whispering and intrigue will get them through this test. That is foolishness. History always punishes those whose convictions are not matched by their willingness to give it effect. Taking bold actions that may not be popular but correct makes progress.

It is time for Ethiopia and the US to take bold actions and recognize Somaliland. Such an action will sober up the firebrands of the ICU by unequivocally declaring to them that the free world has the will and means to stand up to intimidation. This will send a thunderous message to all Somalis in the south that the only path acceptable to the world is the formation of representative democracy. It will focus the mind of the Mogadishu residents to the correct path.

The vast majority of Mogadishu residents are tired of war and have no interest in false crusade in the north to re-impose a new tyranny. They have suffered as much as Somaliland populace under Siyad Barres tyranny. They understand Somaliland’s decision.

Somaliland has learned that politics is the art of compromise. They have stabilized their region by committing themselves to this art, and have resolutely stayed the course in many difficult times when it was easy to unleash the dogs of war. It appears that the implacable firebrands of the ICU, intoxicated by recent success over a weak enemy, have not learned the value of compromise yet.

Somaliland people are tired of the bluster and hubris of the firebrands that surround Baidoa.

They will not engage in appeasement. They will not parley with ICU until the ICU publicly renounces its commitment to violence, accepts Somaliland’s right to exist and commits itself to elections in the south. Somaliland is brazing its self for a fight for “right.” and will not rest until the last vestiges of these violent forces are dispersed and vanquished.

Somalilanders have fought and defeated megalomaniacs like the early 20 th century Mad Mullah (Mohamed Abdullah Hassan). This fake, insane, Mullah inappropriately cited Koranic verses as a basis for slaughtering thousands engaged in solemn prayer. One of his contemporaries exposed the Mullah’s hypocrisy and contradiction in biting sarcasm by declaring that if the mullah is a patriot and a pious man then “ Perhaps colonialists Italians are the Mahdi”. It suffices to say that the Mullah was chased out of Somaliland by a more genuine and more balanced nationalists and theologians who then liberated their people from colonialism. In a supreme irony of fate, comparable to the fate that befell the pharaohs, the once mighty Mullah succumbed to mosquito bite in his exile in Ethiopia.

Somalilanders have also sobered up the murderous and grotesquely cynical Siyad Barre who proclaimed a “Somali democratic republic” ala Korean Democratic republic ( North Korea) and German Democratic Republic (Former East German Police State). That conqueror of free people has also ignominiously perished, uneventfully, in exile in Nigeria. He is awaiting god’s judgment and retribution for his sins in a cold, dark, unmarked grave in the dusty field in Eritrea.

It is futile to reconstitute his old reactionary guard and give them recognition. Somaliland will simply topple them again - dej vue all over again is a bad policy.

Rich Arab states may need to reconsider their foolish policy. Sheik Turki, Sheik Sharif and Sheik Aweys have a universal (perhaps cosmological) agenda. They are not satisfied with Somaliland or Djibouti. They intend to part the red sea and bring their improvised Toyota battlewagons to Jeddah and Riyadh. They intend to chase away the Al Saud, Al Nahyan and Al Sabah ruling families and liberate the Sheiks incarcerated in the Lubiyankas of down town Riyadh.

History is full of uncompromising little men who thought they could enslave free people.

The men and women who died for the liberation of Somaliland from Barre and his Arab supporters did not die in vain; they did not die to replace an autocrat with a theocrat. They are brazing themselves to consecrate their body and soul for liberty and freedom. They are rearming the genuine Mujahadiins who liberated Somaliland from the odious yoke of that great cynic.

We shall become the fortress of liberty for all genuine patriots and genuine theologians. We shall defend our freedom. We ask no more. We demand no less.

Abdulkadirdualeh2@yahoo.com