Hiiraan Online

SOMALIA: It is not too late to save

Every state worthy of its name should possess three fundamental nationhood features namely sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence. After that, legitimate states strive to achieve internal peace and pursue good governance, economic and social progress. These universal national objectives are work-in-progress for almost every country.

On July 1, 1960, the founding fathers of the Somali state secured the three prerequisite characteristics of statehood and recognition poured in from every corner of the world. Somali became a member of the United Nations and the new country took, literally and figuratively, its rightful place among community of nations. That is what our fathers achieved. Their hope was that the next generation would tackle the important work of nation building. Instead of rolling our sleeves and joining the global march for progress, we drifted to undo the hard-won independence of the founding fathers.

Fast forward to July 1, 2008 and it is obvious Somalia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence is not intact. For one thing, one-third of Somalia otherwise known as Somaliland declared its independence from the rest of Somalia. The de facto secession of Somaliland puts a huge question mark on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia. More importantly though, there are thousands upon thousands of Ethiopian troops and spies in every corner of Somalia. The mere presence of these forces, whether they were invited by the TFG or they invaded the country, flies in the face of the cardinal principles statehood.

Nations are sovereign because they have territorial integrity, in other words, the forces of other countries could NOT be in a sovereign country; consequently, states have political independence, that is, they are free to pursue their national-interests and manage their affairs as they see fit.  In Somalia, foreigners such as the UN agencies or foreign embassies in Nairobi, Ethiopia and Eritrea are sadly more influential, when it comes to the political future of Somalia, then those who consider themselves as principal actors in the current Somalia drama.

The simple reason the sovereignty, national independence and territorial integrity of Somalia are compromised is that we, SOMALIS, squander the achievements that our founding fathers. These national heroes attained their epic success with less education and resources then are available to us; they also faced formidable odds. 

Thanks to SYL and the Somali people who backed them, July 1, 1960, was day full of hope. The Somali people were literally one big happy family. To illustrate the maturity and forbearance of our people, let us revisit what had transpired the four fateful days between June 26, and July 1, 1960. On June 26, 1960, the Northern region of Somalia otherwise known as “British” Somaliland got its independence from Britain. Four days later, on July 1, 1960, the rest of Somalia known as “Italian” Somaliland attained their self-determination. That very July 1day, the two Somali regions - North and South - as they were known, reunited to form the Somali Republic.

Due to perhaps the euphoria of the independence, innocent mistake on the part of the founding fathers or sheer insensitivity of some politicians, the key political posts and the most important symbol of power of the new Republic were awarded to the South. By this we mean, the President and the Prime Minister of the Republic were elected / selected from the South and Mogadishu, which is in the South, become the capital of the nation. This apparent imbalance was not lost to some politicians from the North but they could not dare postpone the birth of the nation, the act of union and July 1 festivals.

The people of the North who enjoyed four days of independence and smelled the sweet scent of freedom wanted the creation of united, free Somali Republic. They expected their representatives not to indulge into politicking. The echoing mood of the masses - both in North and in the South as well as their instruction to the politicians was: keep your eyes on the prize – the creation of a united, independent, sovereign Somalia.

Today July 1, 2008, neither June 26 nor July 1 is commemorated in Somaliland. In fact, May 18  the day northern Somalia declared its independence from the rest of Somalia has changed these important dates in the history of Somalia.  This sad reality, as well as  the fact that there is fierce fighting, political assassinations and absence of progress are the reality of most Somalia is as a direct result of our uncompromising and dilapidated politics. We are in this political and military quagmire because we, SOMALIS, bickered among ourselves. We perpetuated injustices among ourselves. We maltreated each other.  We abused the trust of our people.

 Because of these self-inflicted mortal wounds, our body politic crumbled, our borders were infiltrated and everyone who had axe to grind with us or whosoever coveted after our resources saw a rare opportunity to exact revenge on us or to exploit our resources. The consequence is our current mournful July 1 Day.

The reigniting the glory of Somalia is possible. We only need to employ the same political outlook our founding fathers. They compromised. They kept their eyes on the prize. We can celebrate the next July 1^st Day in jubilation - that is if we reconcile, if we compromise and if we realize that we are one family – in the truest sense of the term. There are not many countries on this planet whose citizens share the same religion, the same language and the same culture and a beautiful country as we do.

Let us keep our eyes on the prize. The recent Djibouti peace agreement seems to be the best chance we have.   Let us give peace a chance. The key to sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence as well as progress is unity. A divided house cannot stand.

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