Somaliland : To the people of Somalia- We have our country, our people & our constitution

Somaliland Diaspora Groups, August  2012 Statement
Date:  25 August 2012

Immediate        
Somaliland:  We have our own Constitution and Elected Representatives

On 1 August 2012, Somalia adopted a new “Provisional Constitution” and by the end of August, a new government will be set up in Mogadishu (Xamar), Somalia.   

We are, however, yet again saddened by the fact that Somalians are still busy crafting constitutions and governments that claim to include Somaliland, when it is clear to everyone that since 1991, Somalilanders have not only established peace, but have adopted, a long time ago,  their own Constitution and have their own democratically elected president and parliament.   

Whilst we hope that Somalians achieve the peace and stability that has evaded them so far, we urge them and the international community to accept and respect the irreversible decision of the Somaliland people to re-gain their sovereignty in May 1991.  We state unequivocally once again, “We have our own constitution and elected representatives, good luck with yours”.  

Constitutions crafted in Mogadishu (Xamar)  – 1961 and 1979

In our desire for a union of all the five Somali inhabited territories of the Horn in 1960, we, in Somaliland, gave up our own independence and our own  first (1960) constitution and accepted, without any previous involvement whatsoever, a constitution drafted, in Mogadishu (Xamar) by Somalians. 

By the time, the vast majority of Somalilanders voted overwhelming against that constitution in the referendum held on 20 June 1961, our regrets over our precipitate union with Somalia were already abundantly clear.   

That first constitution was abrogated by the military regime in 1969 and its place was taken by another one drawn up in Mogadishu in 1979 by the Siyad Barre Dictatorship, which was endorsed at another national referendum held on 25 August 1979. 

The road to the second constitution of an independent Somaliland 1991 to 2001
Long before the military dictatorship ended in 1991, the dream of a union of all the five Somali inhabited territories turned into a delusion.   After the brutal and costly war of the 1980s waged by the Military dictatorship against the Somaliland people and the collapse of the state in 1991, the Somaliland communities met at a Grand Conference in May 1991 and decided to re-gain their sovereignty, as an independent nation.  The Somaliland people and their traditional leaders then embarked on a long process of re-building the peace between its communities and on establishing the necessary institutions of governance.   Drafting a constitution came after those initial peace-making processes were laboriously undertaken.  

This involved three incremental stages: the adoption, through constituent assemblies,  of a National Charter in 1993, followed by an Interim Constitution in 1997, and then finally the adoption of a Constitution in 2000 which was endorsed at a national referendum held on 31 May 2001.

Somaliland also set up democratic institutions and held successfully since 2002 two national presidential elections and parliamentary and local elections, which were all adjudged fair and free by international obersvors.  Nine political parties/associations are now busy getting ready for the nation-wide local elections to be held in November 2012.

Old habits die hard:  new Somalian Charters/Constitutions 2001 - 2012
In the last 20 years, numerous peace-making and government building conferences (and initiatives) had been held for Somalia.  Somaliland has never attended any of them.  And yet, old habits die hard and in two of the peace conferences held for Somalia abroad (in Djibouti in 2000 and in Kenya in 2004)  where Transitional Charters for “Somalia” were adopted, the wishes of the painstakingly crafted Somaliland democratic national institutions (which included political parties, elected president and parliament) were deliberately disregarded. 

The Somalian organisers of the conferences and their international sponsors decided that the Somaliland territory was henceforth inhabited by a newly invented clan called the “DIR North” which covered the majority of the Somaliland people and that the rest of the population shall be counted as part of the “DAROD” Greater Somalia Clan.  So with this fictitious identity, individuals (mainly from abroad or from Somaliland) were enticed to participate in the conferences in order to maintain the charade of Somaliland’s involvement in these processes.   

These individuals represented no one but themselves and are and have been considered criminals under Somaliland law.

The Somalia “Roadmap” and the August 2012 Constitution and Government
After two decades, and with Somaliland having held another peaceful presidential election and a smooth transfer of power from a defeated sitting president to a new one in 2010, who is ruling with an elected House of Representatives, one would have expected that the international community would no longer remain blind to the presence of a genuine democratic representation in Somaliland that can speak authoritatively for the Somaliland people. 

The international community was aware of and accepted Somaliland’s non-involvement in the “Roadmap” to end the “transition in Somalia” and so the Roadmap process including the adoption of the Constitution was driven by a group of signatories consisting of the Transitional Government (TFG), UN Representative, and Puntland, Galmudug and the ASWJ  representing the Northern and  Central regions of  Somalia.

At the London Conference in February 2012, the international community also agreed “to  support any dialogue that Somaliland and the TFG or its replacement may agree to establish in order to clarify their future relations” and a couple of preliminary meetings between Somaliland and the Somalian TFG have already taken place.

But, yet again, the whole new process of the adoption of the a new Somalian constitution and the selection (not election, as originally envisaged) of the new Somalia Assembly members was based on the same formula of denying the existence of Somaliland’s elected representatives and seeking to attract the participation of individuals from the same fictitious clan.  

Worse still,  the emphasis on clan representation has already led  to numerous Diaspora based individuals declaring “virtual clan states” even in the territories of Somaliland and neighbouring Puntland region of Somalia.  Attempting to break up Somaliland into various clan areas will neither bring back a new united “Somali Republic”, nor will it leave unaffected the patchwork of clan based disparate regions in Somalia as can already be seen in the numerous declarations of “virtual mini-states”.   

Somaliland was never involved in the making of Somalia’s new constitution, or in the selection of its new Assembly or government in Mogadishu.   The vast majority of the real traditional leaders of Somaliland remained in Somaliland and met in Hargeisa and Erigavo a few weeks ago when they denounced the invitations extended to them.  Attracting, therefore, a few mainly self-appointed elders from Somaliland who, in turn, picked “hasbeens” and “wannabes” from abroad neither co-opts Somaliland into this process, nor does it give the process any legitimacy in Somaliland.  It simply reinforces the Somaliland people’s belief that the prevailing attitude in Somalia is still the desire to run Somaliland from Mogadishu (Xamar).  This casts serious doubts on the future of the planned talks between Somaliland and the Somalia government agreed at the London Conference only six months ago and will pose a new threat to the fragile peace and stability in the Horn of Africa if the new Somalia government starts interfering in Somaliland’s affairs.

As the Somali sayings go, only a blind person can fall into the same hole more than once, and that losing your way on a road makes you learn it well. We lost our way once in 1960 when we gave up our sovereignty and have since counted the cost of that mistake in loss of  liberty,  limb and life, specially throughout the 1980s.  We shall never do that again and will guard and defend our precious sovereignty.

In short, our message is:
To the people of Somalia:  We have our country, our people, our constitution and our state  (Dalkayaga, Dadkayaga, Distoorkayaga iyo Dawladayadda), so please sort out yours. 

We can live in peace and prosperity as two neighbouring Somali states in the same way that we do with our Somali neighbours in Djibouti and in the Ethiopian Somali region.
 

To the incoming Government of Somalia:  You have no authority or legitimacy to interfere in Somaliland’s affairs. We hope that your priority will be making peace and re-building your country.  Whether or not the planned talks with Somaliland bring about a lasting benefit for both  countries or end before they even start will depend very much on your attitude towards Somaliland’s independent status.
 

To the International Community:  The Somaliland people have exercised their right to self-determination and withdrew out of a union with Somalia 21 years ago.  It is time that you respect our wishes and those of our democratically elected representatives.


To the Somaliland Government: We expect that the appropriate law enforcement agencies will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law any Somaliland citizens who, acted in contravention of the Somaliland Constitution and the 2003 Law forbidding participation in Somalian conferences and making it an offence for anyone to usurp the roles of Somaliland’s constitutional bodies.
 

To the Somaliland People: Unity is strength. Let us all promote our Somaliland Constitution and strengthen our democratic institutions. 

To the Somaliland Civil Society Groups: Be mindful of our own Somaliland national identity and laws when considering the attendance of meetings/seminars abroad.

SOMALILAND DIASPORA ORGANISATION:1.       The Promotion of the Somaliland Constitution Group
2.       SIRAG
3.        Somaliland Societies in Europe (SSE)
4.       African Rural Health & Education Trust
5.       West London Somaliland Community
6.       Somaliland Society UK (SSUK)
7.       Somaliland Brain Trust Youth Organization
8.       Somaliland Ambassadors Without Borders
9.       Somaliland Development Organization
10.   Ottawa Somaliland Community Service
11.   Somaliland American Association
12.   East Africa Policy Institute

 [We urge any other Somaliland Diaspora Group that wishes to endorse this Somaliland August 2012 Statement to do so publicly and to contact us at the e-mail below)
 

NOTES:1.       The blatant ballot stuffing at that 1961 referendum was evident from the  reported yes votes of 1.79 million (90.1%) -  a figure which was nearly twice the total number of people who voted in the following 1964  national (assembly) elections. Although many of the districts in Somalia returned grossly inflated yes vote, the district of “Wala Weyn” returned a 100% yes vote of 69,000. Somalilanders, from then onwards, referred to Somalians as as  “Wala Weyn”! 
 
2.       Although unrecognised by the international community, Somaliland’s May 1991 act of  dissolving the union with Somalia, after a long war waged by the  then government against the majority of the Somaliland people followed by collapse of the state,  was not (as confirmed by  confirmed by the International Court of Justice in the Kosovo case)  contrary to international law.
 
3.       Terminology:

• “SOMALI” – refers to the ethnicity shared by all the people of Somali ethnic origin who inhabit the five Horn countries of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somaliland, Somalia and Kenya.

• “SOMALILAND” – refers to the current Republic of Somaliland, which was, briefly  in 1960, the independent STATE OF SOMALILAND and prior to that, the BRITISH SOMALILAND PROTECTORATE since 1880s

• “SOMALILANDER” – refers to a citizen of Somaliland

• “SOMALIA” – refers to the former Italian Trusteeship territory of Somalia and, in this Statement, also to the same territory since 1991 to distinguish it from Somaliland.

• “SOMALIAN” – refers to someone who comes from Somalia (in contrast to Somalilander).

• “THE SOMALI (Democratic) REPUBLIC” – refers to the state formed by the union of Somaliland and Somalia which lasted from 1960 to 1991.    The “democratic” middle adjective was added after the Military coup which toppled the then truly democratic government and proceeded to establish a dictatorship originally modelled after the “democratic” countries of the East Germany, North Korea, North Vietnam etc.

For any further information about this Statement, please contact us at:
somalilandconstitution@gmail.com

Caasimada Hargeysa Oo Bac La Ciirciiraysa Iyo Waxyeeladeeda Oo Saamayn Ku Yeelatay Ilaa Noolihii Badda

January 7, 2013 - Written by reporter  

Magaalooyinka dalka Somaliland ayaa waxa deegaan kasta lagu arkaa bacda ay dadku adeegsadaan hadhaageeda, taas oo xashiish ahaan marka loo tuuro fool xumo weyn iyo waxyeelo ku keenta deegaanka iyo bilicda magaalooyinka, isla markaana dhirta kala duwan caleemahooda ka wada lulata marka dabayshu qaado, iyadoo xataa dhirta ku keenta inay caleemaha yaryar isku duubto oo ka xidho nafaqadii caleentu heli lahayd ee xididadu geedku u soo gudbinayeen, ayaa caasimada Hargeysa goobkasta oo qashin qub ah waxa ugu badan bacda, taas oo inteeda badan laga soo waarido wadamada dibadaha, ayaa sanado farabadan ay shacbiga Somaliland u adeegsadaan inay ku ritaan alaabooyinka yaryar iyo raashinka qaydhiin iyo bisilba qaarkood, taas oo marka banaanka la dhigo ama goobaha xashiishka lagu rido dhibaato weyn ku haysa dadka iyo deegaanada kala duwan ee dalka, 

Waxa kale oo bacda dhibatadeedu gaadhay marka laga yimaado magaalooyinka iyo deegaanada miyiga dhibaatada faraha badan ee ay ku hayso xitaa inay dooxyada biyaha marayaa qaadaan xilli roobaadka, isla markaana noolaha badda ku jira ay waxyeelayso o dhibaato ba’an ku keenta kaluunka iyo noolaha kala duwan ee badda ku nool. 


Sidaasi dareet, waxa loo baahan yahay in laga hawlgalo sidii bacda dibadaha laga soo waaridyo loo yarayn lahaa ama waxyaalo kale loogu badali lahaa adeegsiga bacda dhibaatada ku haysa deegaanka   iyo dadkaba, isla markaana laga nadiifiyo magaaloouinka iyo deegaanada ay waxyeelada ku hayso, sidoo kale golaha deegaanka ee cusub ee caasimada Hargeysa, ayaa waxa horyaala caqabado badan oo isbarkaday oo u baahan waxqabad, kuwaas oo laga rajaynayo inay waxqabad dhab ah ku wajahan hawlaha loo igmaday inay caasimada ka qabtaan.

Hargeysa Somaliland
Xigasho Wargeyska Haatuf

Guud ahaan xubnaha iyo hawlwadeenada HORNWATCH waxay ILAAHAY ka baryayaan in uu Caafimaad Buuxa Siiyo Jama Mohamoud Haid oo ah Gudoomiyaha Baanka Dhexe ee Jamhuuriyada Jabuuti.

Guud ahaan xubnaha iyo hawlwadeenada HORNWATCH waxay ILAAHAY ka baryayaan in uu Caafimaad Buuxa Siiyo Jama Mohamoud Haid oo ah Gudoomiyaha Baanka Dhexe ee Jamhuuriyada Jabuuti. 

Gudoomiyaha oo haatan lagu dawaynayo Dhakhtar ku yaal Magaalo madaxda dalka  Kenya ee Nariobi.

EEBOW Jama Mohamoud Haid nin fiican oo umadda Soomaaliyeed jecel oo intii awoodiisa ah wax tara weeyi EEBOW adigaa awoodee Caafimaad Buuxa ayaanu kuu waydiinaynaa.

Maamulka Sare HADHWANAAGNEWS Waxay EEBE uga Baryayaan in uu Caafimaad Siiyo Jaamac Maxamuud Xayd oo ah Gudoomiyaha Baanka Dhexe ee Dalka Jabuuti isaga iyo Muslimiinta intii xanuunsanba

Kampala-(HWN)- Guddoomiyaha bangiga dhexe ee dalka Jamhuuriyadda Jibouti MudaneJaamac Maxamuud Xayd,oo xaalad caafimaad awgeed loogu qaaday caasimadda dalka
Kenya Ee Nairobi, oo haatan lagu dawaynayo.

Ugu horayn, Maamulka sare iyo dhamaan Wariyayaasha, iyo hawl wadeenadda ka hawlgala Wakaaladda wararka ee Caalamiga ee Hadhwanaagnews, waxay Ilaahay uga
baryayaan in uu Guddoomiyaha bangiga dhexe ee dalka Jamhuuriyadda Jibouti MudaneJaamac Maxamuud Xayd iyo dadka Islaamka ah ee kale ee iyana xanuunsanaya in Ilaahay caafimaad sareecan ah siiyo.

Dhinaca kale, Maamulka sare iyo dhamaan Wariyayaasha, iyo hawl wadeenadda Shabakadda Caalamiga ee wararka ee Hadhwanaagnews, waxay si naxariis leh ugacodsanayaan dhamaan akhristayaasha iyo dhegaystayaashaba iyo Ummadda Muslimiintaahba ,meel kasta oo ay joogaan inay u soo duceeyaan Mudane Jaamac Maxamuud Xayd,
iyo dadka kale ee xanuunsanaya in Ilaahay Subxaana Watacaallaa uu ka dul qaadoxanuunka oo siiyo caafimaad taam ah oo sareecan ah INSHA ALLAAH?.AAMIIN ALLAH HA AQBALO.

How Africom and African Governments can effectively Counter Terrorism and Boko Haram Insurgency By Ghana News -SpyGhana.com

By Ghana News -SpyGhana.com

Tue, Jan 8th, 2013                                                                                                       Opinion

In an article two years ago that appeared in various online magazines titled; “Nigeria as the New Center of World Terrorism” this writer tried to call the attention of policy makers around the world to the danger terrorist activities in the Nigerian state poses to the world community. Today that warning remains valid. Islamic terrorism finds conducive atmosphere in Nigeria for some reasons as we shall explain.

United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) headed by General Carter Ham is based out of Germany. AFRICOM is a US military outfit designed primarily to respond in African situations that pose danger to American interests anywhere. It is based in Stuttgart, Germany because it is alleged that no African country would grant it a base in Africa. The contention being that African countries feared that allowing such bases in their territories would open them up to a new kind of foreign imperial domination and manipulation. So right from the onset it appears that opposition has trailed the organization and its intentions in Africa. Some who are strongly opposed to it have called for the dismantling of AFRICOM altogether saying that it will only work against the overall interests of Africans. These people argue that what Africa needs is economic investment and not military or any other form of aids.

It is in recognition of this opposition that the US government tries to use any available opportunity to explain its real intentions about AFRICOM to any African audience. One of those opportunities presented itself during the just concluded Chinua Achebe’s Colloquium at Brown University in Providence, Rohde Island in the United States. Ham addressed a plenary session on the second day of the two day event. The colloquium took place between 7 and 8 of December, 2012. In the audience were many international scholars and members of the diplomatic corps. In his address Ham explained AFRICOM’s mission in Africa to the audience. This writer was in the audience and heard him tell of how it is the intention of American government, through AFRICOM to work as partner with governments in Africa to tackle the various domestic security issues of the African states especially in the area of rapidly rising incidents of Islamic insurgencies.

Of course the ultimate concern of United States as Ham clearly stated is the danger that these terrorist activities might and do pose to US citizens and business interests anywhere within the African continent. Only recently Islamic insurgents attacked, burned US Consulate and killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya. Because the Libyan attack took place on September 11, 2012 some people have speculated that the terrorists were reenacting the 2001 September 11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. The Benghazi attack killed the US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Without trying to overstretch the issue Islamic insurgents’ activities in the various African countries pose real danger to not just Americans and their interests within Africa and beyond, other Westerners too are increasingly being targeted. This can be better understood in the light of the name of one of the radical organizations. We refer to the Nigerian Boko Haram. A literal translation of the group’s name is “book is forbidden”. In this instance, Western books and ideas that in Islam are considered to be negatively influencing and corrupting pure Islamic knowledge and sharia.

In the just concluded year of 2012 there were various incidents of kidnapping and killing of many Westerners in Nigeria and around the Continent. A British and an Italian, construction workers were kidnapped in Kebbi State and murdered in Sokoto in March 2012 by Islamic extremists in Northern Nigeria. The two Europeans Chris McManus, 28, a British citizen, and Italian Franco Lamolinara 27, were murdered by their captors after being held for nearly one year. Then there was the German Edgar Raupach killed by the jihadists in May of the same year in Kano Northern Nigeria. The group that killed the German is said to have kidnapped him to use and bargain for the release of the wife of an al Qaeda operative in Germany. Both husband and wife had been jailed in Germany for violent Islamic jihad activities in that country. Al Qaeda affiliates in Nigeria abducted the German engineer with the intention of freeing him in exchange for the jailed woman but killed him when an attempt to free him by security forces failed. The 2009 Nigerian Underwear Bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who attempted blowing up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 over the Detroit airspace in the United States also claimed to be working for and under inspiration from al Qaeda network.

The most recent incident is the kidnapping of the 63 year old French national in Katsina State Northern Nigeria in what the French President François Hollande said is probably linked to the North Africa’s branch of al Qaeda network, AQIM. A radical Islamist group known as Ansaru has since claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of the French engineer Francis Colump this last December of 2012. Ansaru is said to have links with Boko Haram and the international al Qaeda network as well as the dreadful al Shabab of Somalia. The group claims it is holding Colump and other four French nationals who were kidnapped in Nigeria’s neighboring country of Niger Republic because of the role French government is playing in trying to dislodge the Islamists from Northern Mali. They also said that they are protesting the “law (in France) outlawing the use of Islamic veil by Muslim women, which is an infringement on (the women’s) religious rights.” In a statement a few weeks ago British government described Ansaru as a “Nigeria-based terrorist organization which is aligned with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, AQIM”. Boko Haram and many of the other extremist groups operating in Nigeria are also said to be connected with the Somali al Shabab and al Qaeda in the Maghreb in North Africa. A new offshoot of the Boko Haram group has recently emerged and it is just as deadly. It goes by the name Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi Biladis Sudan, JAMBS. The name roughly translates; Vanguards for the Aid of Muslims in Black Africa (VAMBA).

On August 1, 2012 the spokesperson for Boko Haram Abu Qaqa restated the aim of the group. His declaration also represents those of the other active groups operating within the country:

“We want to stress that in our struggle, we only kill Nigerian government functionaries, security agents, Christians, and anyone who pretends to be a Muslim but engages in assisting security agents to arrest us. We are responsible for the attacks in Bauchi and at the residence of Namadi Sambo in Zaria as well as the one in Damaturu where we bombed a patrol vehicle. We wish to extend our profound gratitude to Almighty Allah for giving us the opportunity to fulfill the promise we made on launching spontaneous attacks in Sokoto. We have reasons for all our activities and we only kill those who wronged us. We attacked Sokoto because many of our brethren have been incarcerated there.”

Clearly, from the afore mentioned and many other incidents, there is every reason for United States and Europeans to be concerned about the security of their citizens and business interests in Nigeria and other parts of Africa. Undoubtedly it is in attempt to do something about these threats that informed the recent move by the US AFRICOM. A news report has it that AFRICOM is preparing to send military personnel and equipment to as many as 35 African countries (including Nigeria) to help train and equip the countries’ military. It is aimed at increasing the capacities of these countries to respond effectively to the scourge of Islamic terrorism originating from their localities. By any standard, this is an elaborate project that seems to be misdirected for several reasons. It is bound to exert a lot of pressure on both the African states and the United States from different quarters. Citizens of the African countries are going to ask questions and express concerns. There will be a considerable financial cost may be some wastes, on the United States treasury. Many critics will use this as evidence in arguing the point on why they believe that the US is only out to exploit the Continent to her benefit.

To effectively counter and eventually defeat the jihadists’ problem in Nigeria and all over the Continent it will be more appropriate to take time and understand its origin and correctly assess the challenges. The jihadists engage in it as a struggle that has, for them ideological or cultural and physical aspects. “. . . in our struggle, we only kill Nigerian government functionaries, security agents, Christians, and anyone who pretends to be a Muslim but engages in assisting security agents to arrest us.” Islam is basically political as well as religious. In its religious aspect it strives to control and dictate the religious and cultural standards for its adherents. And to do it effectively it must struggle to create and control a space that is exclusively for Muslims where they can practice their religion. When trying to counter such a phenomenon, it becomes harder to win when the focus is solely on military equipment and tactics. Here is one reason why; “Despite a heavy military and police presence, the sect’s adherents have continued to launch frequent attacks.” That is how the Associated Press recently reported on one incident of the numerous intransigencies of Islamic terrorism in Nigeria.

We want to believe that AFRICOM efforts are not simply to impress the Africans with the military might of the United States. So, let’s take for granted that there is genuine intention to solve the menace of Islamic terrorists in Nigeria and throughout Africa. Using Nigeria as the model we know that the cause of the religious tension and most of the other problems there is the direct effect of the colonial state structure of the country. The same is applicable to the other parts of the Continent. Nigeria’s Boko Haram and the rest insurgents’ problems in African can be solved through the use of dialog. Talking of dialog, no one is suggesting negotiating with terrorists. The kind of negotiation that will work here is to dialog to renegotiate the issue of the colonial state boundaries in Nigeria and the other parts of Africa. Majority of Nigeria’s terrorist problems have their root in the structural defects of the Nigerian state.

Though on several occasions some commentators, including the United States State Department have cited some other issues such as poverty and political corruption as being the reasons for the problem, but those are mere effects of the underlying problem. Islamic insurgences in Nigeria and the other parts of Africa compare to a hydra headed monster. We can succeed through military force to cut off a few heads like Boko Haram, Ansaru or any other group. But that will just be a temporary victory in which so much human and material resources would have been wasted to achieve very little result that would not last. The monster will regrow those militarily wounded heads. When it heals enough it will tend to be more vicious and devastating. Terrorist monster of Northern Nigeria and the entire continent will not die by merely cutting off some of its heads. That had been done before. What is needed is to apply a lasting solution to the problem. Nigeria’s terrorist problem can be solved if we decide to go after it at the root rather than the reactionary approach as is the case right now.

One important observation that policy makers in this matter should not overlook is the fact that the killings are actually one sided. The killers are killing only the people whom they consider to be the impediment on their way to establishing their ideal Islamic state: “We only kill Nigerian government functionaries, security agents, Christians, and anyone who pretends to be a Muslim but engages in assisting security agents to arrest us.” In Nigeria it’s neither a religious nor an ethnic fight in the conventional sense of it. The other parties getting killed, apart from the government are not engaging their attackers. The intention of the killers as they have stated many times, is to ethnically/religiously cleanse that part of the country of the people and structures that impede their desire to establish an Islamic state in Northern Nigeria. The truth is that the North of the country which is largely Islamic wants to be left alone. They want a state of their own free of Christians and believer of other religions. Nigeria’s unity is forced on the various parts of the country by the British colonial rulers and ever since has created the endemic clash of non-compatible peoples and cultures. For anyone who has followed the pattern of events and killings, it’s not difficult to observe that the attackers have been consistent. They attack and eliminate those targets they consider to be representative of or aid the obstacles to their goal. They target Igbo people and Western nationals because they consider them as local representatives and foreign assistants respectively of the Islam polluting agent: Christianity.

It is suggested that AFRICOM and other Western interest groups should approach the problem bearing in mind the terrible effect of the defective colonial state structure in Nigeria and all over the Continent. They should instead aid Nigeria and other African countries in adopting a multi-state solution to solve the seemingly endemic problem. With this approach, Africans and their political leadership will not need to be afraid of any imperialistic threat from the United States or any other Western power. And with that as the case, the only real foreign domination and manipulation that should concern Africans and their political leaders is clearly the dysfunctional effect of the extant foreign-imposed state boundaries on their sociopolitical existence. This has created so much unnecessary tensions that have depleted and dissipated any creative energy that Africans need to create conducive environment that enables growth, security, stability and prosperity. Once this problem is solved through the 2011 Sudan solution then the problem of bad governance, poverty, youth unemployment, corruption, dearth of functional social utilities and infrastructures, lack of accepting responsibilities for matters of personal and collective concerns and most of all Islamic religious intolerances and extreme jihadist insurgencies will cease or reduce to manageable proportions. Religious extremism of the kind going on in Nigeria and other parts of Africa thrives better in a chaotic or dysfunctional state than it does in a poverty stricken society. It is chaos that creates such monster and not poverty. Poverty might help it to grow after but chaos and indoctrination are the initiators.

United States or any other government does not need to expend any of the resources as are being budgeted to train and equip African national armies. In a multi-state solution the governments can achieve very positive short and long term results at a very minimal cost and record time. Because in the heart of the religious insurgences in Nigeria and other parts of Africa are the incongruent colonial state boundaries, it will make more sense if AFRICOM and Africans can redraw the African political map rather than retrain and reequip African Armies.

Source: Osita Ebiem.

Somalia: Consolidating Peace Still 'Not Easy' - UN

Tuesday, 8 January 2013  Press Release: UN News

Somalia: Welcoming Recent Gains, Un Envoy Says Consolidating Peace Still ‘Not Easy’

Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Augustine P. Mahiga

New York, Dec 31 2012 5:00PM

The top United Nations official for Somalia today signalled the need for uninterrupted international support for the Horn-of-Africa country if gains over the past year are to be consolidated and advanced.

“For the first time in a generation, a safe, secure and prosperous Somalia at peace with itself and its neighbours seems more like a reasonable aspiration than a distant dream,” said Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Augustine P. Mahiga, in a ‘year-end’ letter to the people of Somalia and the international community.

“However, the road to stabilization will not be easy,” he added. “Somalia remains a state in need of support from the international community, which will need to re-invest comprehensively and generously if it is to capitalize on its massive investment of time and resources.”

August marked a historic political watershed for modern-day Somalia with the swearing-in of the country’s first formal parliament in more than 20 years.

The event brought to an end the so-called Somali “transition,” which had begun with the 2004 launch of a UN-backed interim government after Somalis had been without a functioning government since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

In his letter, Mr. Mahiga spoke of the New Year being “full of promise and hope” for the country, which, since 1991, has seen warlords, Islamist militants, and its neighbours variously involved in its affairs.

“After several failed attempts to end of the Transition in Somalia, we succeeded this past year because the process was inclusive, transparent, legitimate, participatory and Somalia-owned,” the UN envoy said.

The Special Representative also heads the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS), which the was established in 1995 to help the world body “advance the cause of peace and reconciliation through contacts with Somali leaders, civic organizations and the states and organizations concerned.”

UNPOS supports the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in Somalia which, known by the acronym AMISON, has since 2007 been trying to help bring peace in the country.

A series of Somali Government and AU offensives, as well as a Kenyan army incursion in 2011, resulted in the end of frontline combat involving the al-Shabaab Islamist militant group in the Somali capital of Mogadishu in August last year. Al-Shabaab lost its last urban stronghold – the important southern port of Kismayo – this past October, along with the significant inland town of Wanla Weyn.

“At the beginning of the year, my office and half of its staff relocated to Somalia and continued to work alongside key Somali partners in a variety of sectors,” Mr. Mahiga said in his year-end letter, in a reference to the move from UNPOS’ former office headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

“The centre of gravity has shifted to Mogadishu, and UNPOS (is) completing a major strategic review to ensure full alignment of its policies and programs with the goals and aims of the new government,” he added.

Mr. Mahiga said the mission is in the process increasing staff presence in the Somalia “by 100 per cent in the coming weeks,” as he called on other members of the international community “to come to Mogadishu.”

The Special Representative noted that, in the last year, UNPOS had “closely cooperated with key regional interlocutors to ensure a unified and coordinated approach on important political issues.”

According to Mr. Mahiga, initiatives included the establishment of a “joint framework” between the AU and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) – an eight-country regional body that aims to encourage cooperation between its member states.

He said the framework ensured “close collaboration on issues affecting the Somali peace process.”

“This harmonized international and regional response to challenges within Somalia played a critical role in enabling the international community to speak with one voice in support of the process,” Mr. Mahiga added.

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For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

ETHIOPIA SPECIAL REPORT - Zenawi's death leaves a ticking time-bomb

The death of Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi on the night of Aug. 20 will amount to no less than a time-bomb for the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and for its hard core, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) because it will ignite previously restrained ambitions of his would-be successors.

Haile Mariam Desalegn, former adviser to the Prime Minister and current vice prime minister, was named as acting leader. But there's no saying Desalegn, an engineer from southern Ethiopia who was Meles Zenawi's favorite, will be able to impose his authority in lasting fashion on TPLF bosses from the north of the country.

Despite an appearance of calm, the fight for power has already begun behind the scenes. 

Some TPLF leaders like Meles Zenawi's widow, Azeb Mesfin, whose political ambitions grate on others in the party, could seek the top post for themselves or for one of their own. 

The leaders Amharas and Oromos from EPRDF are calling for the post to fall to a non-Tigrean. This report will help you examine the complicated equation of Meles Zenawi's succession.

Heads of security and police weakened by Somaliland elections

04/01/2013                                                                               The Indian Ocean Newsletter  N°1347

President Ahmed Mohamed Mahamoud aka Silanyo

The European Union (EU) and the United States Embassy in Ethiopia both wrote separately to President Ahmed Mohamed Mahamoud aka Silanyo to ask him to explain the violent repression of demonstrations during the recent local elections in Somaliland. (...)  

Abdilahi Fadal Imaan Somaliland Police Commissioner

If you interest to read the full article of this news find here: http://www.africaintelligence.com/ION/politics-power/on-the-line/2013/01/04/heads-of-security-and-police-weakened-by-somaliland-elections,107938454-BRE
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