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Abdi
Ismail Samatar
Professor
of Geography
University
of Minnesota
Introduction
Professor Samatar. |
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The
debate pertaining to the integrity of the Somali
nation has entered a critical phase as the northern
secessionists push their agenda to convince the
international community, particularly the British
Government, about the merits of their claim. There
has been a great deal of misinformation about the
recent trip of Hargeisa political leaders to the
United Kingdom . The rumor mill and related sources
have widely misrepresented what has transpired
during their visit in London . I was passing through
London during the group's visit and attended the
meeting, March 17, 2004 , where the secessionist
leaders presented their case to a few members of the
British Parliament. It is vital to report to the
public of exactly what occurred at that meeting and
to briefly tease out its essence for our national
integrity. This essay provides an alternative, and I
dare say more accurate, recount of events.
The
Caucus
A
brief recap of the assembly is in order. First, the
meeting took place in the Parliamentary
office-building and not in Parliament's chamber as
others have claimed. Second, Mr. Tony Worthington
MP, of Clydebank & Milngavie, organized and
convened the council, and some members of
Parliament's All Party Group on International
Development attended. Third, nearly three-fourth of
those who attended were supporters of the Hargeisa
authority, peppered with a few British consultants.
Finally, the timing coincided with UK government
budget day, an event that monopolized media and
national attention and, consequently, obscured the
aforementioned meeting.
Mr.
Worthington initiated the discussion by recounting
his two visits to Southern and Northern Somalia
since 1991. Although he cited Baidoa as the most
tragic place in recent Somali history, his attention
and sympathy focused on Somalia's former military
regime's destruction of Hargeisa in 1988. His
opening statement revealed an uninformed and biased
reading of Somali political history. For example, he
bluntly remarked "you have regretted your
unification with Somalia since the beginning."
These words set the tone for the rest of the
discussion.
The
head of the Hargeisa authority, Mr. Dahir Riyale
Kahin, read a prepared statement that lasted for
almost thirty minutes. He reiterated a fiction that
many advocates of the secession agenda have come to
believe, one which celebrates British colonialism
and depicts northern Somalis as people who did not
struggle for independence. In this interpretation,
Sh. Bashir's, Abdillahi Suldaan Tima Cade's, and
Barkhad Cas' efforts, Sayyid Mohamed Abdulla
Hassan's movement and other less visible northern
heroes of Somali nationalism are erased from the
annals of modern Somali history. Mr. Riyalle and his
cohorts identified two former British Prime
Ministers, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher,
as their heroes. Labor Prime Ministers, including
Tony Blair, did not fit into this political map.
Once Mr. Riyale finished reading the speech, Mr.
Worthington took questions from the floor. As a
chairman he indicated to those present that non-Somalilanders
would have the first opportunity to ask questions,
assuming that all black people present in the
meeting were "Somalilanders."
During
this period, some of the northerners with Mr. Riyale
further embellished the same contrived history. They
made several incongruous statements. First, the
audience were told that
northern Somalis were British Orphans and that the
British Queen was their mother. None of the
speakers appreciated the irony that the Queen was
alive despite their claim to orphanhood. Second, the
advocates of sovereignty accused the British of
implanting the idea of united Somalia in northern
minds after the Second World War. Further, they
claimed that the British forced northerners to unite
with Southern Somalia , a place these speakers
referred to as "another African country."
Third, speakers alleged that the Somali Youth League
(SYL) lobbied to restore Italian power over southern
Somalia and campaigned against the unification of
all Somalilands under the British rule when the Four
Powers Commission considered the matter in 1948.
These assertions are, however, contradicted by
historical facts. British and United Nations
archives contain clear evidence that demonstrates
SYL's relentless opposition to Italian colonialism,
and old SYL stalwarts are alive in Somalia , Belgium
, and the United States to testify on the matter.
Fourth, this reinvention and falsification of
history did not stop here. For they proclaimed that
the North unwillingly joined a South trained in the
art of deception by the Italians. They stressed that
Southerners used trickery inherited from Italian
colonialism to hoodwink Northerners into accepting
secondary status!
Such
clumsy distortions of the record were designed to
gain the sympathy of British MPs and then prod the
British Government to recognize a sovereign state in
northern Somalia in contradiction to the set policy
of the African Union and the United Nations. The
Hargeisa contingent flattered the British and
members of the House of Commons, who were present,
as their long lost brothers, imploring them to
revive their “old friendship.” In fact, one of
the speakers declared that " Great Britain will
always be our best friend." Finally, another
delegate indicated that the Hargeisa authority would
negotiate with the South without
pre-conditions but
only after the North becomes a sovereign state.
The
chair gave me an opportunity to ask my question
after nearly all others had spoken. I introduced
myself as required by the Chair. As I rose, I stated
that I was a native of Gabileh, a town fifty Km west
of Hargeisa. I added that I did not define myself as
a Somalilander but as a Somali citizen. Not willing
to wait for me to ask my question, the advocates of
the secessionist agenda jumped to their feet to
thwart me from speaking. It was a chaotic scene.
They hurled insults at me and one of them even
threatened me with physical violence. The Chair, Mr
Worthington, was embarrassed and had to forcefully
intervene. He ordered the crowd to let me speak. I
only had a brief statement to make. I told the Chair
that I had prepared a briefing for the Committee
pertaining to all of Somalia which I had sent to
their offices earlier. I urged the Chairman and the
rest of the All Party Group present to consider the
contents of the briefing. Subsequently, I asked the
Chairman if he would agree that what people of
Somalia needed the most is peace
and development before there can be serious and
legitimate discussions of future political
dispensation(s). I encouraged him and his colleagues
to urge the UK Government to give increased
development aid to all the people of Somalia , particularly the northern regions that
are most peaceful. I then thanked him for giving me
the opportunity to speak.
Only
one other MP, the Honorable Piara S. Khabra of
Ealing and Southhall briefly spoke and urged Somalis
in the UK to take responsibility for their children
in Britain . He expressed his serious concern about
the many Somali children who were unable to
appropriately adjust to Britain , and underscored
the responsibility of parents.
Before
the question time had lapsed, a fistfight broke out
between two members of the secessionist group, one
from the opposition Kulmiye Party and another from
governing Udub. The police had to be called in to
restore order before the meeting adjourned.
Final
thoughts
The
deliberation underscored two key issues for anyone
who cares about Somali interest. First, the
falsification of colonial and post-colonial Somali
history is most poisonous. These distortions signal
the incredible length the Hargeisa authorities and
their supporters are willing to go to impose their
political agenda on the country. Here, one wonders
why the group is reluctant to honestly present their
case and try to convince Somalis and others through
the logic of their argument and the clarity of their
evidence. By vilifying and abnegating our true
history, they humiliate all of us including the very
Northerners who gave up so much to help gain our
independence as well as those who dislodged the
brutal Siyaad Barre military regime. Further, the
erroneous accusation that SYL actively sought a
re-imposition of Italian rule on Southern Somalia
and fought against the unification of all Somalis
under the British is tragic. This deliberate
falsification of our past seems like a continuation
of the earlier SNM strategy that deceived the Somali
public about its intention to break up the country
into two parts. The few British MPs who witnessed
this affair, mainly belonged to the Labor Party,
know British colonial history better than our
brothers and sisters. They must have been
flabbergasted to hear this Uncle Tomish rendition.
Second,
the attempt by senior members of the Hargeisa
authority and supporters to silence me in that
meeting bodes ill for the future of the region and
the entire country. They claim to be democrats but
could not wait to suppress, through intimidation and
violence, opposing opinions, even in the shadow of
the British Parliament. Such intolerance to hear
dissent is symptomatic of what transpired during the
so-called declaration of independence in 1991 and
the recent referendum. Those who had the gun did not
allow any debate in either of these formative
occasions. One wonders, then, why they are so afraid
to engage in open debate. After all, the opportunity
for a citizen to freely express her/his perspective
was the fundamental reason why Somalis hated and
resisted the old regime. This is the essence of
democracy and the terrain of engagement for all
Somalis.
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