In this issue: * STATEMENT BY MOHAMED IBRAHIM EGAL, PRESIDENT OF SOMALILAND ____________________________________________________________________ S O M A L I A N E W S U P D A T E ____________________________________________________________________ Vol 3, No 14 May 3, 1994. ISSN 1103-1999 ____________________________________________________________________ Somalia News Update is published irregularly via electronic mail and fax. Questions can be directed to Bernhard.Helander@antro.uu.se or to fax number +46-18-151160. All SNU marked material is free to quote as long as the source is clearly stated. ____________________________________________________________________ Editorial comment: SNU occasionally features signed articles written by persons with unique insights in the events in Somalia and Somaliland. The inclusion of these articles does not necessarily mean that SNU shares the opinion of the authors; the content of signed articles remains the responsibility of their authors. In this issue SNU can present - as probably the only media in the world - the full text of a statement by Somaliland's government, signed by its president. The Editor. OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF REPUBLIC OF SOMALILAND By Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, Hargeysa, May 2, 1994. The Government of the Republic of Somaliland finds itself compelled by circumstances deliberately created by actions of the UN Security Council and Secretary-General of the United Nations, to publish this statement both as a plea to the international community against injustices which are being perpetrated in their name and as an indictment against the pending of international laws to the will of the strong and powerful. Whilst the whole of humanity rejoiced at the ending of the Cold War and the end of the horrific fears of a nuclear holocaust, some feared and dreaded the future of a single superpower world. Throughout the history of humankind the rivalry of opposing forces has given legitimate dissent a premise of its own and the force to command a hearing for its cause. Athens and Sparta, Rome and Persia, France and Britain and recently, the Soviet Union and the United States have all, in their respective epochs, furnished the rivalry and hence inadvertently, the patronage for legitimate dissent and for the sanctity of international laws. In this fateful juncture of history when mankind stands at the threshold of a brand new chapter of history, when unfathomed electronic and atomic technology is anxiously and earnestly calling forth a matching wisdom and management, five bureaucrats in New York cannot constitute themselves modern Magies and arbitrarily decide the fate of peoples in far off countries they know nothing about. The lessons of Afghanistan, Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti and most of the other theatres of conflict must convince us that at least the Secretariat of the United Nations lacks the foresight and the leadership to manage crisis. Ours is the second heart rending plea against the mismanagement of the UN. Bosnia was the first that was betrayed, others would surely follow and the number of the bitterly aggrieved and wronged would multiply and that virus of discontent will breed a host of extremists who, like Hitler, will hold an innocent world to ransom, telling it to obey or perish. Our appeal is not just for a fair deal for ourselves. It is an appeal to stop, while it can be stopped, a nightmare of omissions and commission which is about to engulf us all. The first victims would of course be the weak but once the trend of ill-informed arbitrary decision-making by a few, is irreversibly established, then conflict would move into the sphere of the great and God help us then. Somaliland: Past and Present This short statement cannot embrace the whole extensive history of Somaliland but it is essential that a brief outline be given in order to rebut the attempt's to depict it as another Biafra, a break-away part of a historical state. Towards the end of the ninth century the proselytizing Muslim hoards arrived from Arabia on the Land of Punt. The Puntians accepted Islam peacefully and welcomed the Muslims with open arms. Consequently, the bilingual empire of Adal was formed. Unfortunately for the Empire of Adal, the Prophet's edict against the invasion of Abyssinia, denied it expansion and growth and it soon fell into decline. However, in its short life of less than two hundred years, it produced the languages and the nations that now inhabit the Horn of Africa. From that early age and after the success of an army sent from Hadar-al-Mawt to stop enforced apostasies, the societies and the character of the people of Somaliland has taken its distinct social and cultural dynamics. In the early eighteenth century Somaliland became part of the Ottoman Empire and in the 1880's it reverted to Britain as a protectorate. On the 26 June 1960, Britain granted independence to it's Protectorate and transferred full sovereignty to the people of Somaliland through their traditional leaders and their elected representatives. In pursuit of a dream to unite all ethnic Somalis under one government, the sovereign State of Somaliland freely and voluntarily united with the UN Trust territory of Somalia. Thirty years later, the dreams of Greater Somalia are discredited and disavowed and Somaliland found itself a pathetic captive state within a ruthless hostile state. Naturally and inevitably it withdrew from a union that lost the lustre and the energy of its original purpose when opportunity arose. Somaliland has also had to escape the degradation of a tyrannous captivity in a hostile state and its ruthless population. The right of self-determination is enshrined in the United Nation's Charter and the merit of the case of our restoration of our sovereign state rests firmly and squarely on the articles and the stipulations of that charter and upon other no less firm legal grounds. UN's Vicitimization of Somaliland Soon after the disintegration of the government of that ruthless oppressive dictator Siyad Barre, Somaliland separated itself from the chaos and the anarchy in Somalia. In May 1991 it declared its withdrawal from the union with Somalia and created the Republic of Somaliland. The human tragedy and the pathetic starvation and banditry that prompted President Bush to intervene in Somalia did not take place in Somaliland and the American forces did not therefore enter Somaliland. Only after the UN took over in 1992 and formed the umbrella organization of UNOSOM did the blanket and ill-considered resolutions of the UN Security Council were extended to include a reluctant Somaliland. Time and again the Government of Somaliland loudly objected to these blanket resolutions. At last, in exasperation, the Government ordered UNOSOM to leave Somaliland as soon as logistic arrangements could be made. In response to that expulsion order and as a measure of appeasement, the Secretary- General assured the government of Somaliland through his personal representative that UNOSOM accepts the authority of the Somaliland Administration, (a UN euphemism for the government of the Republic of Somaliland) over all the regions of the Northwest. The Government was further assured that UNOSOM would deal separately with the Northwest and that the decisions over sovereignty will be left for Somalis to decide upon. In-spite of that assurance, UNOSOM continued to support, sponsor and maintain false representatives of the Northwest among the southern factions of Somalia. Furthermore in the resolution that the Secretary-General prepared for the Security Council in January, respect for the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Somalia was openly included in the preamble. This had a two-fold significance for Somaliland: 1) First the Secretary-General's assurance that the sovereignty and territorial integrity will be left to the Somalis to discuss among themselves is refuted without reason. 2) Secondly, the good faith of the Secretary-General is opened to question since his commitments apparently cancel each other and the latest negates the former. Now a group of men in Addis Ababa who hold neither office nor authority in Somaliland is being instigated by UNOSOM to declare a renunciation of the sovereignty of the Republic of Somaliland. These men are disposing funds beyond their means and are staying in luxurious hotel accommodation which only the patronage of the dispensers of huge public funds can secure for them. Conclusion The Republic of Somaliland, by the collective will of its people, is here to stay come what may! Its secession from Somalia is irreversible in-spite of the instigated declarations of hired traitors: Whatever other local politics that might divide their ranks, the people of the Republic of Somaliland are united in the maintenance of their sovereign independent state which they had formed in 1991 in Burao and reaffirmed in Borama 1993. If individual or even a small minority of a clan endanger this sovereignty or compromise it, they will be dealt with, as they would be in any other country, by the laws of the state. These vociferous traitors do not constitute a danger to Somaliland. What we fear are the hasty ill-considered manoeuvres of the Secretary-General and the UN Security Council, who in their desire to extricate themselves from Somalia, would sow the seeds for a bitter civil war between two neighbouring brother nations. That the people of Somaliland would fight bitterly with unshakeable resolve for their independence is an absolute truth that can only be ignored at the peril of the peace of the Horn of Africa. We call upon the international community to stop the creation of a tragedy that would be a thousand times worse than what had happened in Somalia. Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, President. ____________________________________________________________________ SNU is an entirely independent newsletter devoted to critical analysis of the political and humanitarian developments in Somalia and Somaliland. SNU is edited and published by Dr. Bernhard Helander, Uppsala University, Sweden. SNU is produced with support from the Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala, Sweden. ____________________________________________________________________