Opinions » Somaliland
Somaliland: President Silanyo,The Mastermind of Somaliland’s New Direction
June 25, 2012 · 46 Comments
June 25th, 2012
For Somaliland, today (22 June 2012) has been a very moving day, because the past is always here. It never goes away. Somalilanders always believe that you can select what is best from the past to help you go forward to the future. For many years we bore the burden of international isolation, but we have displayed patience and endurance to a degree not easily imagined.
Somaliland experienced itself as being received, welcomed and understood as it is by the TGF and the international community. The end of the two days of talks in London on Somaliland and Somalia provided a framework and an end to the metaphors from both sides of the talks. Somaliland is reassured that talks will go on until the two sides reach an agreement regardless of the time. This means that talks are phased out to be in a sequential order.
The negotiators tried to sketch the talks in a crude and preliminary manner. Talks on this level are usually like this particularly when countries like Norway – which has a substantial experience on conflict negotiations- is involved.
There have been similar act of international level negotiations where countries receded their parent country or troubled union as in the case of Somaliland. Countries like, Eat Timor, Eretria, South Sudan claimed or reclaimed their independence after long intense talks with their old partner. These talks/negotiations take years to reach a fruitful result whereby both sides are content with the outcome.
But it took 21 years for Somaliland to bring its issue of independence and recognition to an international level. One will wander why this has happened. Why now and not before. What was preventing us to do this before? Was it that previous Somaliland administrations had no confidence to sell our case, or was it that they were shy to make their voice heard in an international level? Or did they believe that the world would come to their doorstep and speak for them. Were they waiting that Somalia will one day announce our independence without political courtship? I think the answers are self-explanatory. We were wrong to believe whatever we believed before and we were wrong to hang on such a political self- isolation attitude for that long. But the most interesting question is that who and what have changed our attitude now. The answer is below.
President Silanyo is strengthened by the aspiration of his people to go forward and give of his very best in meeting the new challenges that lie ahead. Because he knows that Somaliland is expecting the best of his own. Somaliland is facing political and socio-economic hurdles which require a change of attitude from politicians and the public alike. These obstacles need political and socio-cultural skills in order to circumvent the issues at hand.
President Silanyo and his administration know that the road ahead is not going to be easy if it is not faced with unity and with consultation at a national level. Silanyo is highly an intelligent person, who is planning and directing a complex and difficult project – Somaliland. He is the mastermind of this young nation’s new direction.
It is a surprise move for Somaliland and Somalia and it shows that both are in the direction of political maturity. They both showed that they are coming of age by behaving in adulthood manner. We, Somalilanders have to acknowledge and thank for the Somali interim administration (TFG) for attending such a sensitive meeting for the first time in 21 years. Nelson Mandela once said; if the former South African president – F.W. de-Klarke – did not pave the way for new democratic South Africa, the country would have been different today and I would still have been in jail.
For that reason, if the TFG or its replacement does not work with Somaliland in the hope of finding a lasting solution to our future relationship, Somaliland will still be in a legal limbo. Some international observers are asking themselves whether the Somali authority will bring any legal challenge against the Somaliland government, forcing it to remain in the union. I think it is difficult to see how they can do that but they may try to drag out the negotiations and buy more time out in detriment to Somaliland. It is therefore, good to see that the British government, Norway and the European Union are making interventions on behalf of Somaliland and Somalia.
Some leading global investment banks with largest client bases in the world which help clients to reach their goals are watching these talks. The World Bank, the IMF and the European Unions have all courteously welcomed the Somalia and Somaliland talks.
Ahmed Ali Aden
Birmingham
UK
Follow @somalilandpress
By goth Mohamed
Tags: Somaliland: President Silanyo, The Mastermind of Somaliland’s New Direction
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Somalia will definitely bring forward some legal challenges for Somaliland in attempt to halt our quest for statehood. It's up to Somaliland to study those challenges carefully before hand to counter-balance them.
I'm very pleased that the UK , Norway and EU members are paying unwavering attention to the talks between the 2 nations and they'll gain further knowledge on the Somaliland/Somalia intricate political culture in the meantime. As Somalilanders, we should realize our strength in convincing Somalia and the rest of the world to re-examine our case for irrevocable international recognition.
It's the quite achievement, so, I wouldn't give all the credit to the president alone but to all Somalilanders..
Osman Qaal
For those of us who have people in the current Somalia-Somaliland talks, alerady knows that the final result will be , the Somaliland areas where the SNM clan lives will get indepedence while the areas of Khatumo clan and the Harti clan in Sanaag will stay in Somalia everything east for Burco will have a sign in 2015 called " Welcome to Somalia" and the other way welcome to Somaliland
We the somali people have finalled agreed and united behind somalilands indepedence and Harti staying in Somalia, good luck reer somaliland, we have now cut our ties after 50 years of common union.
Where on Earth does it say the so called''Khaatumo state'' will stay in Somalia? Most of them are Somaliland supporters.
Read your post too fast, my mistake.
what will happen is semi-autonomus states Those who Think recognition it’s on The you dead wrong.
by The way future goverment have no right and mandate to recognize anything.IC have it put not interested chupping somali peninsula into pieces.
S/land region & it’s leaders barricaded Them selfs dark room”self impose isolation”. no one was preventing s/land to come out & have meaningfull discussion.
is silanyo responsible in This meeting as The author mention i doubted, everything has time & right place condition. TFG were getting stronger with The help of IC and s/land realized can no longer sustain This sort self impose isolation high unemploymeent & so forth.
It’s imposible to measure against east timor & south sudan to s/land region for number of reasons,timor & south sudan both been colonize muslim nation and They have large deposit of oil/gas also They unanimously represent all Their territory.
s/land case totaly different it does not represent whole nothern somalia and IC know That.IC british-norway are all aware somali situation They are not keen breaking somalia into two hectare for each tribe.
One great somali phlosiphor once said i can sense smell feel & hear somalia will become in The future semi-Autonomous states with cental govern which less power.
Mohamed, Well Said Sl case is very different the solution is only unity.
the problem lies in the Act of Union 1960. in article 1. part A says:
"The State of Somaliland and the State of Somalia do hereby unite and shall forever remain united in a new, independent, democratic, unitary republic the name whereof shall be the Somali Republic".
the problem lies in the frame "forever remain united". this was signed by our fathers without thinking of a safe exit if the union fails. this is what we are facing now. the UK and EU are lubricating talks so that it goes smooth, but they can't enforce any decision.
but this doesn't mean we have nothing to fight for. if somaliland violated article 1 part A from the act of union, somalia violated article 2 part 3,5,6. article 6, article 7, and the whole of article 8. in other words, they are the one who revoked the act of union so we have the right to leave the union due to gravel breech of the act. We have evidence of these breeches and Somalia knew that but they didn't do anything about it.
I think the somaliland case is very very defendable
you missing The point here by mile and half. IC UK norway it is not Their Agenda to call every somali region a country,why They are wasting own resources time? instead They could declare mine independent states if They wish to.
To somalis/wailers,
Somalilanders are not interested in baseless argumentative stance by anyone.. We rely on forward thinking and legality aspect of things..
Somalila will not be able to provide any legal ramification that'd impede on Somaliland's ambitions to become a sovereign state. The sings are already up at the freedom garden in Hargeisa for statehood celebration.
Caution: The objects in the rear viewing mirror are usually closer than they appear.
Osman Qaal
according to somali media the talks in london somaliland wants union and good deals so what is this with separation or is this the hardcore separation website? that are still in denial?
It's a propaganda. Somalia tries to persuade Somaliland to unite and Somaliland is clearly saying no to that. Somaliland is trying to present its case for recognition. Also, in february 22 london conference, David Cameron said we need to talk. Come on, what's the point of being enemies?
Again you said according to the Somalia based websites. Sorry to tell you this, but your leaders lied to you, Somaliland does not want Re-union it wants its full recognition. Somaliland does not want Federalism it wants to keep its Democracy, Hargeisa does not want to be the capital of Somalia, its content being the capital of Somaliland. Last but not least, Somaliland does not want ill for Somalia, it wants it to prosper, side by side as two brotherly states.
Happy 52nd Independence Day my fellow Somalilanders around the world
@Kid Carlito
i truly respect the people of borama, borama is a true somali patriot city who have dedicated & risked their lives repeatedly for the people of Somalia. First i suggest you read more of the history and the culture of somalia. the best solution for awdal is to become a federal state within somalia, in that way you have more power to govern by yourself without the inference of the regime in mogadishu but if you choose the separatists then you will become a minority which means the majority will abuse you, economic decline, injustices and dwindling rights etc.
loooooooooool Give it a rest mate, just because I'm a Somaliland native and supporter from Boorama you think you can brainwash me and my people lol.
My friend why would we give up on something we help create (Somaliland). That's like the US giving up on the UN. Do not try and tell us that a federal system will be best for us. For goodness sake we have democracy and the rule of law. Oh and come visit Boorama you will see that 99.9% of the people on the ground are ardently pro Somaliland.
What does Puntland have? Other than pirates and snakelike politicians. Wallahi these Somaliland haters make me laugh when will you understand that trying to play Divide and Rule against our country will never work.
Where did you hear that from you created Somaliland? SNM were the ones who created SOMALILAND from the ethiopian bushes while they were hiding in tunnels.
stop embarrassing yourself, your full somalia end off, if you want to separate from somalia then move to hargeisa cuz that where the separatists HQ is.
Mate get a life and stop hating on Somaliland, you'll live longer.
Boorama Conference of 1993 which lasted 5 months.
People like you are the definition of bitterness, you claim Somaliland aint anything yet day and night you obsess about Somaliland, get a job or a hobby or something
you dnt make any sense, yes there was a meeting in Boorama 93 but it came after 2 years wen siad barre fled mogadishu in January 91, but lets go bk to April 1981 wen couple of unemployed is@@q dissidents created SNM to revive the dead long british colonial border, those clans elders who participated the meeting were either forced or hand picked, what matters the most iz that the boorama conference is lyk a piece of paper which can be torn to pieces cuz it has no means of determining the truth.
Ps im not bitter or jealous but i want all somalis to be equally treated fair, i will not accept land grab, even if awdal state needs urgent volunteers to help to expel the invading ethiopian stooge SNM, i be the first person on the front line.
Yes i do have a job & im married to girl from hargeisa.
Blah blah blah go back to Bossaso
somaliland can jack off but if they lay their dirty hands on puntland territories (Khatumo & Maakhir) we will cut their fingers off.
hahaha this is somaliland territory fool they have more rights with us than in maj*rtania you are no match for us if you try to touch our land within our centuries old borders than it shall take no sweat to crush and dismantle your tribal entity so there
MEANLESS CLAIMING it doesnt belong either of u.. Waroos will declare thier own state to save the day half of Barri region and 3 and half out of the 5 district of sanaag region.
@khaatumo citizen
its better if you stay under puntland otherwise somaliland will have you for lunch.
tukaraq was a wake up call for Khatumo state, which reflects their weakness after somaliland invaded it.
PuntlandGeezer lol spare me the drama the only reason u claiming our territory is coz u afriad u'll be isolated again like during siad barre.. name me one single mj commander whos in tukaraq those are Ina cali shire (puntland vice president) militias, adeer dont worry dhul@bahante and Iss@@q always used to fight and they never won till we joined Harti bullsh**t we starting to realised our biggest mistake was to help u build puntland 1988 when u were fighting into subdivision clans….but no worries thoe even if we not part of puntland anymore we'll come to ur aid wheneva u need us like just galkacayo incident how our trational elders sorted
lol puntland didn't even excited in siad barre administration, anywaiz forget bout the past & look at the future, i kno your mad cuz puntland left you dry & cold wen they left Lasanod without defending it but mogadishu was the main goal for the late Abdullah Yusuf in order to stop somaliland aggressive & to achieve peace in mogadishu.
so puntland sacrifice Lasanod for mogadishu, mashallah it paid off, today mogadishu is the most peaceful city in somalia.
Ps somaliland has Lasanod the same way as puntland has gaalkacyo, so there really is no difference cuz its all under somalia.
looool to be honest i dont see any different lacanod being under somaliland control or puntland.. at least now theres few schools.. yes u didnt defend it coz u couldnt 100 Jamac siyaad lads and thier few khat addict cousins from burco chased u away before and if wasn't for my uncle (Ahmed karash) they would've been in garoowe right now…. dee ileen inaku waan isnaqaana..
ina Yay only followed cali khalif Gayldh footsteps the first d-block lay at foot on Mogadishu after Siad barre……. galkacayo is a good example why somalis are so divided because of people like faroole….
wen Abdullahi Yusuf became the president, he deployed thousands of troops from puntland to mogadishu including vehicles, tanks, weapons, ak47, ammunition etc.
there was all kinds of insecurity in puntland posed by SNM separatists , Al shabaab terrorists, peace spoilers, thief, pirates etc, & worst was wen billions of counterfeit somali notes were printed in puntland by corrupt officials & it reached places lyk the market, there was a lot of anger, puntland police couldnt handle it, puntland was on the brink of destruction, the sooner they realized puntland weakness, the SNM separatists & the few duulbaahaante traitors invaded & captured Las Anod.
but i can confidently say Las Anod will fail again either to puntland or khaatumo state, somaliland wont stay much longer, their supply routes are block or surrounded by anti somaliland forces who will ambush them if they leave their bases, they like sitting ducks.
puntlandGeezer lool and how did that worked it out he only brought Ethiopian into our country and made even worse. whats u mjs and love for habashis anyway, u used hand over onlf to Males…
i know ur intension are good and want us to be united but better divided..
waroos =maakhir state
dhuloz =khaatumo state
mj = ex -puntland or Waqooyi Barri u not allowed keep the name btw (puntland)
Kastuumo Citi.
But you failed to sort your own issues out. Charity begins at home. Wake up …the mayhem of Dhulos emanates from their dysfunction … and you seem proud eh! What a headless.
If they decide to separate they should sign a joint military agreement incase an outside enemy attacks one of them, espcially now that oil has been discovered in the Puntland. Iam sure the west is filing its nail to steal it like they have done in Iraq,Libya etc.
Faroole has done it before the West. Sis.
Sl case of secession will not work because they don't have legitimate case to be recognize, one there is dispute land, Sool and Sanaag don't want joint with SL that make the case of SL harder so the only solution is unity.
Dream on brother. You have no clue what so ever what is happening on the ground but read unwarranted articles from the website and just believe it. Dream on brother. What Sool and Sanaag you are talking about; here people with brains are talking about facts not fiction. Deam on brother………………………What was name??? Xarago, keep on dreamoing Mr. Xaragoooooooooooooooooooooo
SOOL AND SANAAG ARE NOT 'DISPUTED' LAND WALAALO. THEY ARE PART OF SOMALILAND. SOMALILAND IS RESPECTING INTERNATIONAL LAW BY REMAINING WITH ITS COLONIAL BORDERS. IF IT ACTED ON EMOTIONS AND IRRATIONALITY LIKE PUNTLAND, SOMALILAND WOULD CLAIM LAND FROM OGADEN WHICH WAS RIGHTFULLY THEIRS!!! BUT SOMALILAND IS A MATURE DEMOCRATIC STATE WHICH RESPECTS THE RULES WHICH GOVERN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY UNLIKE SOME.
Its amazing how SomalilandPress lets comments of people who blatantly lie about the country post comments on here! Contrasting viewpoints are one thing, outright lies are another! As a Somalilander this site has gone to the dogs! when the likes of almagmag kayse xarago can post paragraphs and the moderator does nothing one has to ask themselves, how much longer are real Landers going to stick behind a site that lets Landers be smeared online?
If this site continues like this we only have our selves to blame for not abandoning it.
I for one will start now!
stubido.
This is freedom of speech exchanging views and ideas without shooting each other. folks like you never understand The system never will.
He is not alone, all those who support warlord Silaanyo are like that. Who cares if they go other voices opposed to them will replace them like in every thing else and speak on their behave. They that shallow. Always on retreat, crying, isolation, protesting…
I actually like the direction thus far of our foreign policy strategy under this government, i think so far they have ticked all the right boxes and have made the right strategic moves. I believe one of the goals of this dialogue with Somalia is to try and change the psychological mind set of the TFG and convince them that granting our rights to full recognition will be best for Somaliland and Somalia and that recognition will only alter things in terms of legality but in essence there would be freedom of movement of people and animals and there will be great economic integration between the two states, as well as bilateral military co-operation if we come to some sort of understanding.
It seems the southerners have a phobia about what recognition of somaliland would entail, bizarre when you think Somaliland has been defacto independant for over 20yrs now, but non the less we have to allay their fears.
recognition will not happen what so ever. concentrate something That is constructive for your region instead of keep circling around Theory That doesn’t exist.
My Goodness, these folks are banging their heads against the wal. My brothers and sisters it is over. Somaliland was, is, and will always be a separate country. Let us be friends, and live side by side in peace. There is no hope of the union being revived, it is dead. Somalis will always have cultural, social, business ties, but not political ties. it is over. We will depart as friends or we can depart as foes. The choice is yours.
The international community has recognized that Somaliland is a de-facto state, we are just going through the steps to satifsy them before we receive de-jure recognition. Anyone with an ounce of common sense and is aware of world events, will see that these are the steps Ethiopia-Eritrea, Czech-Slovakia, Sudan-Southern Sudan took, before going their separate ways.
need to ask your self very simple sensible question,why s/land region never get & never will The fake recognition That it craves?
*s/land region does have natural resources
*s/land region it doesn’t represent all nothern communities.
*IC not intereted somalia chopping into small Enclaves & never will.
correction…doesn’t have natural resources.
My, brother, what ever we have is enough. So long, either join Somaliland or Somalia but don't end up lost in the wilderness.
@Kid Carlito
awdal people are true patriots, borama iz wer the Somali republic will be resurrected, just stay away from the secessionists who backstabbed somalia.
You is a grade A loser, you keep trying to play divide and rule, it will never work, Somaliland done come too far
I really thank the author for this piece of writing which I liked the best.
I would pick 3 points for comment.
Why not opting this way earlier?
The 21 years were not all that bad as we kept ourselves out of the chaos as well as the initial political formation what eventually become the TFG of Somalia. Yet Riyaale Govt is not blameless for not having opted this path despite the continuous urge of IC and SL friends to change our attitude. For a reason unknown to me, UDUB-led Govt turned deaf ears to the IC.
No legal challenge left for the Somalia but they may drag out the negotiations to buy more time.
This is my long-held belief and indeed needs a plan B. The good news is; SL Govt has thought about this and was prepared for. The SDC set up in Britain, which is meant to circumvent the difficulties faced by SL in attracting For. investment due to lack of insurance, is slap on the face of those (not only Somalia) who may try to hinder or jeopardize Somaliland’s effort for political recognition.
Thanking Somalia.
I see no reason we should thank them. They simply earned it not. Somalia’s TFG is pressured to do what they are doing. I agree with the current Govt’s policy of easing up and normalizing relations with Somalia, though.