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by Abdishakur Johar
Friday, March 27, 2009
Burco
The national party KULMIYE headed by its most able and aging leader Silanyo has finally formulated and carried out an elegant Burco grand opening move. For those who are geographically challenged Burco is the second capital of Somaliland. Less well known and perhaps more important is that the city is the heart of the economy of Somaliland, being the central market for Livestock in the region (Somalia, Ethiopia, and Somaliland.) Still less well known and increasingly more important is that the city is fast becoming an entrepreneurial and industrial hub. Maaxda Burco is the most popular bottled water in Somaliland. Ileys Industries have the largest detergent plant in the Horn of Africa (that includes Ethiopia and Kenya) in Burco. Meat processing and skin products are making their appearance in the city. The economy makes Burco a crucial player in the Politics of Somaliland. And it has become a central stomping ground for all three political parties and particularly for KULMIYE.
A Successful Conference
On March 13, 2009 KULMIYE concluded a conference of the two main tribes; Habr Yonis and Haber Jeclo in Togdheer ; where Burco is the capital city. Haber Jeclo which also happens to be the tribe of KUlMIYE Party Chief silaanyo sponsored the conference. It seems, from all accounts, that a united front for the support of KULMIYE emerged. The success of the move is illustrated by the fact that previously all powerful agents of president Riyale in the region failed to stop this conference or to mount an effective counter attack against it. President Riyale showed his desperation in this matter by deploying his most influential ally in Burco; Minster of Finance Xusseen Cali Dulaale, AKA Cawil. And the weakening of the president’s clout was clear for all to see when his effort were swept aside with so much ease; and when his delegates were reduced to grumbling and empty threats. This trend of increasingly diminishing support for Riyaale became clearer in this last of week when Riyaale’s no 2 man and his running mate who is also the sitting Vice President failed to gain traction in his own home town.
KULMIYE Adopts and UDUB Retreats
Kulmiye’s Burco Strategy can be summarized by one word: Peacemaking. The party has spent time and effort in preventing Riyaale Administration from exploiting the traditional rivalry between the two main tribes in the city Habr Yonis and Haber Jeclo ; This rivalry was at the core of Riyaale’s success in the presidential elections of Nov 2003. And his administration has invested heavily in keeping the fires of tribal animosity burning on pilot mechanism. KULMIYE’s peacemaking effort and its success bodes well for the party but even more, much more it bodes well for the city. For it helps to heal old wounds and it prepares the grounds for enhanced peacefulness in the region regardless of the prevailing political winds. And this of course is a necessary pre-condition for progress and for the escalation of the industrial base that is rapidly taking root in the city. This is peace and this how it begets prosperity.
KULMIYE’s Coming Test
The test is to see whether KULMIYE will succeed in extending its firefighting, peacemaking role to other cities, towns and villages to the east and the west of Burco. Everywhere the Riyaale administration has stoked the fires of tribal rivalry, setting neighbor against the other in a desperate effort to gain allies and retain the power by all means necessary. The president’s own city, Borama, is a case in point. For here, as everywhere else in the nation, Riyaale has succeeded to inspire a tribal tension the likes of which has not been in the last 30 years and that is wreaking havoc in the historically peaceful city. If KULMIYE succeeds to take its newly found peacenik overture to all of Somaliland, the presidential chair will come to them walking. Their search will be over. They will just have to sit on it.
On the other hand if Kulmiye’s peacemaking role ends on the borders of Togdheer, then it will be seen as a regional party with a narrow base that appeals to the lowest common denominator of a tribal society: Me and MY Brother against My Cousin...
An Opening for UCID
KULMIYE’s new strategy allows the third party of Somaliland politics to present its agenda as the agent of change. KULMIYE and UDUB have chosen a tribal battleground as their political field in the struggle for dominance. KULMIYE taking the banner of tribal peacemaker and unifier this time and Riyaale taking the role of tribal agitator and warrior; a role he is ill suited for. He will be greatly helped in this however because he is an expert in information management (read a former Security Agent).
Regardless the two political parties have taken traditional roles and have provided a free breathing space to UCID, which may indeed score a historical upset. UCID leader Faisal Cali Waraabe has been vocal these past few weeks and he has been masterful in raising and expounding on his emphasis of citizenship as opposed to tribal membership as the only real hope for change and for a different future for this nation. Surely Change is in the air…
Abdishakur Jowhar
E-mail: [email protected]