In an announcement disseminated in the internet, a conference organized by the “Northern Somalis for Peace and Unity” is expected to be opened in Washington DC this weekend.

Reference to “peace” in the group’s name about Somaliland where peace has reigned for the past decade and half reveals it all- a nefarious ploy hatched to mar the image of Somaliland as an oasis of peace and democracy and to undermine her quest for recognition. A theory must be grounded on reality, which is lacking in this case. Even in the realm of fiction is a character obsessed with, and in search for, something existing aplenty fails to elicit curiosity and interest.   

Somaliland’s independence is rooted on the distinct territory she possessed upon independence from Great Britain on June 26, 1960 which is in conformity with the AU principle of the inviolability of the territorial integrity inherited from colonialism. The people of Somaliland refuse to be linked to, and have nothing to with, the borders inherited from Italian colonialism. Somaliland’s independence is legal and moral. Somali unity, after a very short life, died along with the Somali state almost sixteen years. The chance of the Somali state coming back to life is as remote as the Ottoman Empire coming back into existence.

 A civil war with catastrophic consequences is looming in the horizon in the former Italian colony of Somalia as the forces of the Islamic Court Union (ICU) encroach towards Galcayo and Garowe on one side and Baidabo on the other. A conference on unity coinciding with a period when the ICU is making progress in bringing other people by force under its rule shows the participants have sympathizes for the ICU, wishing and hoping the fundamentalists will overwhelm those areas and bring Somali speaking peoples under their rule. The conference must then shed light on the nature of the anomalous regime in Mogadishu: Who is providing funds and armaments to the two warring groups the TFG and the ICU? Are there Islamist fighters from the Middle East in Mogadishu? The proxy war looming in Somalia now with Ethiopia and Eritrea involved. How does this impact the people in Somalia and the whole region in general? And finally they must learn from Somaliland for its implementation of conflict resolutions, good governance, building democratic institutions and co-existence peacefully on its neighbors.

Somaliland’s independence was adopted unanimously in a nationwide referendum. Sovereignty lies with the citizens who gave full consent to their independence. There is zero (repeat) zero constituency for unionism in the country.  Indeed, any effort for reunification will spark a bloody confrontation of unprecedented proportion. This conference is nothing but an exercise in fantasy. 

Saeed Megag Samater       Adan Hassan Iman         Rashid Nur www.sopri.org

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