Somaliland's Silanyo takes oath in show of democracy
July 27, 2010
HARGEISA (Reuters) - Somaliland's new leader, Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, was sworn in as president on Tuesday, furthering the breakaway Somali enclave's democratic credentials as it fights for international recognition.
International observers said June's election had been largely free and fair, and was seen as an impressive achievement when compared to the two decades of civil war in southern and central Somalia where foreign peacekeepers prop up an almost powerless government in the face of an Islamist insurgency.
"I am handing over the presidency with good spirit and welcome President Silanyo who won the election," outgoing President Dahir Rayale Kahin said at the ceremony.
"I tell my supporters that the campaign and election are over and that the people of Somaliland are expected to unite and work for the future of Somaliland and recognition."
Colonised by Britain while the rest of Somalia was under Italian administration, Somaliland declared independence in 1991 as the rest of the country disintegrated into anarchy.
But the African Union and foreign powers have not recognised Somaliland. Many in the breakaway republic suspect the African Union fears its formal recognition would trigger a flurry of secession bids across the continent.
Silanyo, who will make his official inauguration speech on Wednesday and announce his cabinet, pledged equality and justice and said he would strive to strengthen Somaliland's democracy.
Somaliland won independence from Britain in 1960, just a few days before Italy relinquished control of southern and central Somalia. The republic of Somalia was created, but Somaliland, rapidly felt marginalised.
Years of fighting against the south ensued and galvanised Somaliland's population, dominated by a single clan, to turn its back on civil war and seek independence.
Source : Reuters
Peaceful Poll in Somaliland Points a Way Out of Conflict
Kevin Kelley
5 July 2010
Nairobi — The recent elections in the breakaway region of Somaliland hold out the hope of progress toward resolving the nearly 20-year-long conflict in Somalia, some US analysts say.
Strengthening Somaliland while also assisting other regional and local oases of peace and good governance, could promote stability throughout Somalia, says Prof Ken Menkhaus, one of the leading Somalia experts in the United States.
These entities could emerge as effective competitors to the TFG, which "is making no effort to earn the sovereignty" conferred upon it by outsiders, he adds.
Jubaland remains a more difficult case, Prof Menkhaus says.
"From a distance and on paper," the concept of an autonomous Jubaland "looks like a really good idea," he observes.
The region features "a certain amount of ethnic homogeneity" and is also a well defined geographic area, Prof Menkhaus says.
In addition, "the whole region is a satellite of the Kenyan economy."
From a strategic point of view, Prof Menkhaus continues, "I understand why Kenya is interested in having Jubaland as a buffer zone."
He notes, however, that every time the notion of an autonomous Jubaland has been floated, the clans in the region "have never been able to agree on allocation of resources and power in Kismayo."
Shabaab also remains a powerful presence in Jubaland.
It would have to be defeated as a precondition to establishing Jubaland as a stable region on Kenya's border, the US analysts all point out.
In a vote that international observers described as free and fair, the polls demonstrated to a world audience how profoundly Somaliland differs from much of Somalia.
The northwestern area, which declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, has remained comparatively stable even as much of the country descended into seemingly intractable strife.
Depending on how the losers react to the outcome of the three-party contest, Somaliland might move to co-operate with Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and possibly with the autonomous Puntland region in fighting against Islamist insurgents, one US expert on Somalia suggests.
"A number of people in Mogadishu and Hargeisa want
to bridge the gap," this analyst says, referring to
authorities in the respective capitals of Somalia and Somaliland.
Many outside interests would welcome such a development, adds this source, who does not want to be identified because he works in an official capacity in Washington.
The United States as well as countries in the Horn generally believe that such a coalition could have positive effects on trade and economic issues while also playing a potentially decisive strategic role, the analyst suggests.
He says that in addition to weakening Al Shabaab, the main Islamist insurgency in Somalia, a coalition involving Puntland could roll back the plague of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
But other experts are sceptical about the prospects of forming such a coalition.
Bronwyn Bruton, author of a recent report on Somalia by a prestigious New York-based NGO, cautions that a smooth outcome of the Somaliland voting is far from assured.
Ms Bruton also sees little reason to assume that the TFG would co-operate with Somaliland and Puntland.
"They aren't willing to deal with anyone they see as threats," she says in regard to the TFG's leaders.
Somaliland, Puntland and Somalia are, at this point, "three different countries," Ms Bruton observes.
Somaliland and Puntland also "aren't the best of friends," she points out, adding that while those two entities might form "a bulwark against the spread of disorder into the north," they are unlikely to get involved militarily in central and southern Somalia.
Regardless of whether Somaliland enters into a more co-operative relationship with the TFG, it deserves greater support from the international community, US-based analysts argue.Calling Somaliland "a special case," Prof Menkhaussays "we should do all we can to reinforce its success."
Greater support for Somaliland need not take the form of international recognition of its nationhood, Prof Menkhaus says.
"A lot of governments in the Middle East and Africa are justifiably nervous" about the prospect of a fully independent Somaliland, he notes.
Somalilanders advancing that cause are perceived as members of a secessionist movement, and the breakup of states frightens the African Union and most of its members, US analysts point out.
Recognition of Somaliland by other nations would also make the territory "a major target for a destabilisation campaign," Prof Menkhaus continues.
Al Shabaab strongly opposes Somaliland even in its current unrecognised status -- not least because of the region's close ties to Ethiopia, the arch-enemy of Somalia's Islamist militants.
J. Peter Pham, senior vice president of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and a longtime advocate of US support for Somaliland, acknowledges that "recognition, however deserved, will not be immediate."
"What I do expect, however," Prof Pham adds, "is increasing international engagement on top of existing relations and, in the intermediate term, the carving out of an interim international status for Somaliland that would permit it access to international multilateral institutions without explicitly conferring full recognition."
The Somali people have made clear they do not favour a unitary state, Prof Pham says.
"One can honestly say that there is already a partition and Somalis are decided on it themselves," he declares.
Source : All Africa
Somaliland votes to bolster separatist aspirations
FRANCE 24
June 27. 2010
Voters in Somaliland, a breakaway territory in northern Somalia, defied warnings from the Islamist Al Shabaab group by casting ballots in a presidential poll they hope will bolster their aspirations for a separate, internationally-recognised state.
AFP - The self-proclaimed state of Somaliland voted for a new president Saturday in a poll threatened by Islamist insurgents but seen by many voters as a stepping stone towards statehood.
The northern territory has been more stable than Somalia since it broke away in 1991 but a message warning voters to stay home by the leader of the Al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab movement drew draconian security measures.
"All our country's forces are locking the borders. Movements and transport inside Somaliland are also forbidden except for those authorised by the national election commission (NEC)," police chief Mohamed Saqadi Dubad said.
Voting wrapped up at 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) with no reports of any violence or fraud, said Abdulrahman Mohamoud, who was in charge of the largest polling station in Hargeisa.
Somaliland, which is more tribally homogenous than the rest of Somalia, has been striving for international recognition for almost two decades and many voters saw the election as a fresh opportunity to demonstrate their aspiring state's democratic credentials.
In the capital Hargeisa, queues started forming in the middle of the night, hours before polling stations opened, amid tight police and army scrutiny.
"I will travel to my polling station now and sleep there," said Ismail Maalin Mohamoud, a tailor, as he prepared to set off late Friday. "I want to vote for Kulmiye," he said.
Kulmiye, which won the largest number of seats in the latest parliamentary elections, is the party of Ahmed Mohamed Silaanyo, seen as President Dahir Riyale Kahin's main rival in Saturday's poll.
The Justice and Welfare party is the country's third parliamentary force and its leader Faisal Ali Warabe the other top contestant.
Official results are not due for another week but a victor is expected to emerge over the next few days as partial results start trickling in.
Earlier this week, overall Shebab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane, a native of Somaliland, issued an audio message warning the breakaway state's population that they would "face the consequences" if they cast their ballot.
"Do we say yes to Allah and accept his ruling or follow the infidels who want to lead us in the path of the evil?", Godane said.
Somaliland has strong ties with Shebab arch-foe Ethiopia.
The territory's unilateral secession from the rest of the country is also a challenge to the nationalistic vision of a unified Somalia essential to some of the Shebab's Somali leaders.
It also upsets the ideology held by Somalia's western-backed President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed who congratulated the people of Somaliland for their peaceful election in a radio broadcast but urged them to "keep the unity of Somalia in mind".
Saturday's vote has little direct impact on Somaliland's efforts to become independent but breaking away definitively from its troubled neighbour appeared to be the prime motivation for most of the voters queuing up at polling stations Saturday.
"I'm voting for the opposition Kulmiye party. If they are given the mandate to govern Somaliland, they may bring international recognition to our declaration of independence," said 21-year-old Nasir Mohamoud.
Mohamed Abdullahi Barud explained he was growing impatient with the world's reluctance to recognise Somaliland.
"Western countries are hypocrites and colonial-minded... They want to unite us with neighbouring Somalia but that would be like attempting to restore the Soviet Union," he said.
The responsibility to recognise Somaliland as a sovereign state is considered to be the African Union's but the continental body has been very wary of setting a precedent.
