Mogadishu (PP Editorial) — In a speech to clerics in Hargeysa two days ago President Muse Bihi Abdi of Somaliland administration assumed the role of a judge and a prosecutor to pontificate on the Laascaanood conflict. He accused Laascaanood traditional leaders of waging a war against Somaliland, an entity he considers a sovereign nation state that seceded from Somalia. “If they believe to be represented in the federal institutions, they should have waited for the resumption of Somalia-Somaliland talks” said Bihi.
In Somalia-Somaliland talks, the secessionist administration represents anyone who subscribes to the rejectionist ideology that the Republic of Somalia broke up into two countries thirty two years ago. There is only one sovereignty in Somalia, and it is not a contested one as far as the International Law is concerned. The unilateral secession (1991) and unilateral referendum (2001), both conducted when Somalia did not have a recognised government, are the two pillars of the secession argument.
On several occasions President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud made it clear that “the Union is non-negotiable”. This is the principle on which the terms of engagement for the new envoy for Somalia-Somaliland talks are based. Puntland State of Somalia, which federally represents territories Somaliland claims on the basis of pre-Independence colonial borders, has reservations about the appointment of the new envoy. The Union places obligations on all subnational entities in Somalia to respect the consent of the people, to refrain from actions that violate the rights of citizens.
One of the tasks awaiting Abdikarim Guled, the new envoy, is to review some articles in the 2020 preliminary agreement signed in Djibouti by representatives from the Federal Government of Somalia and the Somaliland administration. The previous federal government accepted freedom of movement to be included in the text of the agreement. This concession was a betrayal of Somali citizens’ rights committed by the former government. The sovereignty of Somalia grants Somali citizens freedom of movement in any part of the Federal Republic of Somalia.
In 2021 the secessionist administration used the “freedom of movement” clause to forcibly displace more than 1600 Somali citizens in Laascaanood under the false claim that “they are foreigners.” Without rectifying this error in the agreement, the new envoy will lend support to the secessionist argument that the Federal Government of Somalia in principle accepts the right to secede as reflected in the freedom of movement clause. Failure to address this anomaly in the agreement will further fuel speculations that the new envoy is biased towards Somaliland.
Somalia-Somaliland Talks are not about the future of the Union. It will be a waste of time and goodwill if talks between the Federal Government of Somalia and Somaliland administration were to be conducted in violation of rights of Somali citizens not to be forcibly displaced or if the new envoy turns a blind eye to Laascaanood, a district shelled by secessionist forces offended by the right of citizens to assert their political identity based on the territorial and political unity of the Federal Republic of Somalia.
© Puntland Post, 2023
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