Somaliland

Op-Ed: President Silanyo should fire his national security team

September 24, 2010   ·   184448 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fsomalilandpress.com%2Fpresident-silanyo-should-fire-his-national-security-team-18444Op-Ed%3A+President+Silanyo+should+fire+his+national+security+team2010-09-24+21%3A01%3A22Mo+Guledhttp%3A%2F%2Fsomalilandpress.com%2F%3Fp%3D18444

Recently, a group of armed ONLF insurgent group landed Somaliland western sea coast almost
succeeded crossing into Ethiopia’s Eastern border without a trace. It is clear that Somaliland’s military
commander in that region and some local people provided intelligence and logistical support for this
operation. The events that took place west coast region underscores why national security would always
be the top priority for the new administration, and the bad neighborhood we live.

For the past decade, former Somaliland administration kept blind eye and tacitly approved the illegal
activities in the west coast region—–arms smuggling, contra-band and the illicit trade of importing
Somaliland‘s exotic animals . By any means, we are not suggesting that former President Rayaale was
responsible the failure of the new government to detect and defend the latest incursion of armed militia
into Somaliland territory.

The events of last week and the way President Silanyo’s security team handled its aftermath were very
embarrassing indeed. However, we are expecting our leaders to learn from what went wrong and do
whatever necessary to secure our coastal area.

Right now, it is not the time for finger pointing and bad-mouthing about the new administration’s shaky
start. Constructive and objective criticism are helpful, but we would never accept those who want to
take advantage and capitalize this incident for their own political or personal gains, by spreading
lies ,false rumors ,trash and baseless stories..

Some editors of local websites have been waging lately, a full blown misinformation campaign to
discredit the new Silanyo administration, which could tarnish Somaliland image. For example, this week,
waaheen posted breaking news with this following Headline, “A group of heavily armed Ethiopian
troops have reached Sayla.” And it continues with the story that the Ethiopian Government is asking its
parliament to approve the deployment of Ethiopian troops into the West Coast of Somaliland. We would
not be surprise, if the source of this type of news came from a fringe website like Hadhwanaag– – the
mouthpiece of Al-shabab terrorist organization.

Just because they (the editors) did not get the jobs they were expecting from the new Administration; is
not an excuse to post and publish whatever disparaging stories about Somaliland in order to undermine
our new leader. This is really foolish and unpatriotic. What they doing are not true journalism; but a
desperate way to manifest their anger toward the victory of Kulmiye party.

At the time of crisis, we need unity and we should rally behind our leader; that does not mean giving
him a blank check to do whatever he wishes. We must demand real answers from our government:
what really happened, why heavily armed men landed on our coast, and what agency failed to do its job
on September 10, blunders. And the fact finding committee the President have appointed to investigate
the latest fiasco in the west coast is merely for public relation and damage control.

We know hard work, time and patience are needed in order to secure our long coastline. We strongly
believe, with right leadership, strategy, commitment and determination, we can secure our Coast from

East to West. Removing Somaliland coastal Guard under the jurisdiction of Ministry of interior is the
logical way to start. Instead the Ministry of defense should take over the command and control of the
Coast Guard, since they are dealing with external forces. For wrong reason, former administration
placed the Coast Guard under the supervision of the Ministry of Interior.

And establishing the Headquarters of Somaliland Coast Guard in Lughaye would bring into the region
the resources and the troops needed to secure the West coast Area —- from Bulihar to Seyla, an area
of 365 km long. We should also ask assistance from donor nations to bolster our small coast Guard with
the right training and equipment.

Majority of the people have serious reservations and concern about the people President Silanyo
chose to surround himself. Including the Al-shabab infected, President’s chief cabinet—who lacks the
experience and the credentials to run that post. We need individuals with law enforcement, intelligence
and counter insurgent background to lead the Interior and Defense Ministries. Mr. Gabose and Mr.
Adami are fine capable public officials; however, we believe the President have picked both of them for
political reasons. We should not politicize when it comes protecting our freedom and security. Sacking
both security Ministers makes sense, and bringing new security team would prove to the Somaliland
people that President is making tough decision for the sake our national security .

The new administration would be tested by our enemies again and would encounter problems as well.
At least, our job should be how to offer a feedback to rectify those challenges. Let’s stop the culture
of self destruction and we should not give comfort those want Somaliland to fail. We want the new
Silanyo/Seylici administration to succeed; failure is not an option.

Finally, Somaliland entity will succeed because its political institution are organic, having built by the
local indigenous people of the country rather than imposed from the outside by the donor nations or
the UN.

Written by Ali Mohamed
Somaliland Freedom Foundation,  Lewis Center, Ohio.
Email: aliadm@aol.com

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Somalilandpress’ editorial policy.

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By Mo Guled

Tags: President Siilaanyo, Somaliland, Somaliland Army, Somalilandpress