Opinion
Somalia: 'Victimland' and its Confused Case [Opinion]
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Jun 29, 2009 - 6:28:38 PM

by Cadde Xaayow, caddexaayow@live.com   

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."

                                                                                                         -John Adams

Long before the white colonialists showed up in the Horn of Africa, the Somali race was one. Their lands undivided, the Somalis lived as one people on contiguous one land. As nomadic herders mainly, they traversed from one corner to another of this land, depending on rain and green pastures. Nothing, from language, culture or religion, has ever distinguished one Somali from another!    

Then, the European colonialists showed up. Among themselves, they carved up the land of Somalis, segregating members of same family from each other. The White colonialists always put their names before “Somaliland:” Hence the British, French and Italian Somaliland, as they were then.   

Was the word Somaliland in British Somaliland (white man’s phraseology) anymore special than the same in French or Italian Somaliland?

The lands Somalis inhabit in the Horn of Africa are all Somali lands. Even Meles Zanawi recognizes the Kilil 5 (zone 5) as Somaliland! How about that! 

How unfortunate today the clan elite in Hargeisa would base their identity, and the case for independence, on colonial aggression against the Somali race! We were the “British Protectorate,” they so shamefully boast.  

Let us examine then If, on the other hand, the case for secession of the north from south of Somalia is based on southern hegemony and oppression of the north. Here, Mohammed Siyad Barre’s rule comes to play. 

I ask the northern elite in Hargeisa: How come the first opposition group to Siyad Barre’s rule was from the east of Somalia (part and parcel of the south)? The last I checked, the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF) group, led by Abdullahi Yusuf, were southerners.

The group which drove Siyad Barre out of the Presidential Palace, Villa Somalia, was called United Somali Congress (USC). Were they northerners?

Somalis, from east to west and north to south, took up arms at the end to overthrow Siyad Barre’s government. 

For better or worse, Mohammed Siyad Barre was an equal opportunity dictator. To suggest only the northerners had legitimate reasons to struggle against alleged or real oppression by Siyad Barre is ludicrous.

It is not, and never was, about south vs. north, is it?

The only remaining case for independence of the misnomer “Somaliland” is a cynical and naked opportunism. That is to gain independence on the misery current in the south.         

The Hargeisa’s sot on secession elite and their apologists constantly shine big light on the progress on many fronts in the north, and on the devastation in the south, for contrast purposes. They are perplexed about why the world is not rewarding them with independence for good behavior. There is simply no one precedent to site on this in the whole world. In fact, the opposite is true. 

First-world democracy and economy did not earn Hong Kong independence. It did not stop the British government to hand it over to the totalitarian, communist China. 

Progress, western style, has not born Taiwan a recognition fruit for independence either. Why not? Because they are all Chinese!

But the clan elite in Hargeisa want the whole world to stop and marvel at few things they cleverly gummed or glued together (Xanjo xanjays). They want the world to endorse a one clan state, out of indistinguishable in any way Somalis in the Horn of Africa. 

Were the northern elite’s ancestors, who could not wait for the birth of their identical twin from the belly of the White colonialists in the south, all stupid for family reunification? It was not even a union; it was rather reunion from forced separation. 

To union means to make one out of more than one. This may aptly describe the European Union (EU), as many with different languages, customs and religions who came together. 

God made the Somalis one unique people! Few peoples in this world are as unique in all ways as Somalis! The European and other colonialists imposed their will, by force, on this one Somali family and separated them. 

To the extent that the British and the Italians released some of the Somali family from their grip, which made family members rush towards each other and embrace, does not make it a union. It was a beautiful and spontaneous family reunification.

Chances are Djibouti would have been incorporated, by the French, into greater Somalia had it not been for the substantial Afar minority. The interests of the Afar in Djibouti were better served with fewer Somalis in a Republic of Djibouti than in a sea of Somalis in the Republic of Somalia.

Now, there are those who say Arabs are one people. Yet, they are divided into more than 20 countries, all functioning respectively. What they do not mention is how Arabs are divided by royalty, resources and religious denominations or ideology. Arabs are also further divided by interests of great powers in oil resources. 

Three Somali lands are already off line. What is left is Somalia, the only country recognized by the Somali race. What is there to further divided, if not for the whims of a particular clan elite?

To play a devil’s advocate, let us say this so called Somaliland gets independence. Have you the elite fervent for independence ever thought about inherent dangers fraught in such. 

Once the incentive for independence against the South is removed, and the dream made real, the Habar on Habar (subclan denominations) war will surely commence. This already happened in early 1990s during the reign of Egal government in Hargeisa. Read the UN report: http://www.africa.upenn.edu/eue_web/camabokr.htm

You are no different than any other Somalis in having a potential violent outbreak of clan disease, which has been evident in the South. What is possible of one Somali group or region in Somalia, for good or bad, is also possible anywhere in Somalia.

Moreover, the Djibouti government will have every right to claim its bordering Saaxil and Awdal regions. Why not? If you think that is impossible, then think again. There is a very good reason why that will happen.

The removal of big brother Somalia to deter Djibouti’s hyena neighbors (Ethiopia and Eritrea) from its border will force Djibouti to add to its numbers for survival. It will become a matter of imperative demographics for its existence. Other wise, Djibouti will become the stray calf from the herd and an easy meal for fierce predators. It simply will not allow that.   

Besides, the Somalis in Saaxil and Awdal have by far more in common with their Djiboutian brothers than with Hargeisa’s. But for the border, there is no difference, not even in accent, between Djiboutians and Saaxils and awdalites. We Somalis know each other, don’t we? 

For especially Awdal, Djibouti will be less dominating of them than the big clan in Hargeisa. Do not forget about that water drilling rig equipment incident in Hargeisa not too long ago! In case you have not heard about the story with the water drilling rig in Hargeisa, here it is:

On early July, 2008, a rumor started in Hargeisa, that a water drilling rig was to be moved to Borama, Awdal where the current president hails from. This sparked a riot by members of the dominant clan in Hargeisa, in which 3 people died and 11 injured by police firing on them. 

One might think people would know that a rig is not onetime use equipment. It is a portable thing to be used here and there. But then again, it was not about the rig. It was about clan terms; So much for the claim, by northerners, of enlightenment and overcoming old Somali demons. 

Sooner or later, Somalia will weather its current political storms; it will be made whole again. Hargeisa’s elite wishes will never come to pass. The world will not put asunder what God joined. For better or worse, for richer or poorer, Somalia is one.