In this issue:
* STATEMENT BY MOHAMED IBRAHIM EGAL, PRESIDENT OF SOMALILAND
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              S O M A L I A  N E W S  U P D A T E

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Vol 3, No 14              May 3, 1994.                ISSN 1103-1999

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Somalia News Update is published irregularly via electronic mail and
fax. Questions can be directed to [email protected] or
to fax number +46-18-151160. All SNU marked material is free to
quote as long as the source is clearly stated.
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   Editorial comment:
 SNU occasionally features signed articles written by persons with
 unique insights in the events in Somalia and Somaliland. The
 inclusion of these articles does not necessarily mean that SNU
 shares the opinion of the authors; the content of signed articles
 remains the responsibility of their authors. In this issue SNU can
 present - as probably the only media in the world - the full text of
 a statement by Somaliland's government, signed by its president.

   The Editor.



OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF REPUBLIC OF SOMALILAND
By Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, Hargeysa, May 2, 1994.

The Government of the Republic of Somaliland finds itself compelled
by circumstances deliberately created by actions of the UN Security
Council and Secretary-General of the United Nations, to publish this
statement both as a plea to the international community against
injustices which are being perpetrated in their name and as an
indictment against the pending of international laws to the will of
the strong and powerful.
    Whilst the whole of humanity rejoiced at the ending of the Cold
War and the end of the horrific fears of a nuclear holocaust, some
feared and dreaded the future of a single superpower world.
Throughout the history of humankind the rivalry of opposing forces
has given legitimate dissent a premise of its own and the force to
command a hearing for its cause. Athens and Sparta, Rome and Persia,
France and Britain and recently, the Soviet Union and the United
States have all, in their respective epochs, furnished the rivalry
and hence inadvertently, the patronage for legitimate dissent and for
the sanctity of international laws.
    In this fateful juncture of history when mankind stands at the
threshold of a brand new chapter of history, when unfathomed
electronic and atomic technology is anxiously and earnestly calling
forth a matching wisdom and management, five bureaucrats in New York
cannot constitute themselves modern Magies and arbitrarily decide the
fate of peoples in far off countries they know nothing about.
    The lessons of Afghanistan, Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti and
most of the other theatres of conflict must convince us that at least
the Secretariat of the United Nations lacks the foresight and the
leadership to manage crisis. Ours is the second heart rending plea
against the mismanagement of the UN. Bosnia was the first that was
betrayed, others would surely follow and the number of the bitterly
aggrieved and wronged would multiply and that virus of discontent
will breed a host of extremists who, like Hitler, will hold an
innocent world to ransom, telling it to obey or perish. Our appeal is
not just for a fair deal for ourselves. It is an appeal to stop,
while it can be stopped, a nightmare of omissions and commission
which is about to engulf us all. The first victims would of course be
the weak but once the trend of ill-informed arbitrary decision-making
by a few, is irreversibly established, then conflict would move into
the sphere of the great and God help us then.

Somaliland: Past and Present

This short statement cannot embrace the whole extensive history of
Somaliland but it is essential that a brief outline be given in order
to rebut the attempt's to depict it as another Biafra, a break-away
part of a historical state.
    Towards the end of the ninth century the proselytizing Muslim
hoards arrived from Arabia on the Land of Punt. The Puntians accepted
Islam peacefully and welcomed the Muslims with open arms.
Consequently, the bilingual empire of Adal was formed. Unfortunately
for the Empire of Adal, the Prophet's edict against the invasion of
Abyssinia, denied it expansion and growth and it soon fell into
decline. However, in its short life of less than two hundred years,
it produced the languages and the nations that now inhabit the Horn
of Africa. From that early age and after the success of an army sent
from Hadar-al-Mawt to stop enforced apostasies, the societies and the
character of the people of Somaliland has taken its distinct social
and cultural dynamics.
    In the early eighteenth century Somaliland became part of the
Ottoman Empire and in the 1880's it reverted to Britain as a
protectorate. On the 26 June 1960, Britain granted independence to
it's Protectorate and transferred full sovereignty to the people of
Somaliland through their traditional leaders and their elected
representatives. In pursuit of a dream to unite all ethnic Somalis
under one government, the sovereign State of Somaliland freely and
voluntarily united with the UN Trust territory of Somalia. Thirty
years later, the dreams of Greater Somalia are discredited and
disavowed and Somaliland found itself a pathetic captive state within
a ruthless hostile state. Naturally and inevitably it withdrew from a
union that lost the lustre and the energy of its original purpose
when opportunity arose. Somaliland has also had to escape the
degradation of a tyrannous captivity in a hostile state and its
ruthless population.
    The right of self-determination is enshrined in the United
Nation's Charter and the merit of the case of our restoration of our
sovereign state rests firmly and squarely on the articles and the
stipulations of that charter and upon other no less firm legal
grounds.

UN's Vicitimization of Somaliland

Soon after the disintegration of the government of that ruthless
oppressive dictator Siyad Barre, Somaliland separated itself from the
chaos and the anarchy in Somalia. In May 1991 it declared its
withdrawal from the union with Somalia and created the Republic of
Somaliland. The human tragedy and the pathetic starvation and
banditry that prompted President Bush to intervene in Somalia did not
take place in Somaliland and the American forces did not therefore
enter Somaliland. Only after the UN took over in 1992 and formed the
umbrella organization of UNOSOM did the blanket and ill-considered
resolutions of the UN Security Council were extended to include a
reluctant Somaliland. Time and again the Government of Somaliland
loudly objected to these blanket resolutions. At last, in
exasperation, the Government ordered UNOSOM to leave Somaliland as
soon as logistic arrangements could be made. In response to that
expulsion order and as a measure of appeasement, the Secretary-
General assured the government of Somaliland through his personal
representative that UNOSOM accepts the authority of the Somaliland
Administration, (a UN euphemism for the government of the Republic of
Somaliland) over all the regions of the Northwest.
    The Government was further assured that UNOSOM would deal
separately with the Northwest and that the decisions over sovereignty
will be left for Somalis to decide upon. In-spite of that assurance,
UNOSOM continued to support, sponsor and maintain false
representatives of the Northwest among the southern factions of
Somalia. Furthermore in the resolution that the Secretary-General
prepared for the Security Council in January, respect for the
sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Somalia was openly
included in the preamble. This had a two-fold significance for
Somaliland:

1) First the Secretary-General's assurance that the sovereignty and
territorial integrity will be left to the Somalis to discuss among
themselves is refuted without reason.

2) Secondly, the good faith of the Secretary-General is opened to
question since his commitments apparently cancel each other and the
latest negates the former.

    Now a group of men in Addis Ababa who hold neither office nor
authority in Somaliland is being instigated by UNOSOM to declare a
renunciation of the sovereignty of the Republic of Somaliland. These
men are disposing funds beyond their means and are staying in
luxurious hotel accommodation which only the patronage of the
dispensers of huge public funds can secure for them.

Conclusion

The Republic of Somaliland, by the collective will of its people, is
here to stay come what may! Its secession from Somalia is
irreversible in-spite of the instigated declarations of hired
traitors: Whatever other local politics that might divide their
ranks, the people of the Republic of Somaliland are united in the
maintenance of their sovereign independent state which they had
formed in 1991 in Burao and reaffirmed in Borama 1993.
    If individual or even a small minority of a clan endanger this
sovereignty or compromise it, they will be dealt with, as they would
be in any other country, by the laws of the state. These vociferous
traitors do not constitute a danger to Somaliland. What we fear are
the hasty ill-considered manoeuvres of the Secretary-General and the
UN Security Council, who in their desire to extricate themselves from
Somalia, would sow the seeds for a bitter civil war between two
neighbouring brother nations. That the people of Somaliland would
fight bitterly with unshakeable resolve for their independence is an
absolute truth that can only be ignored at the peril of the peace of
the Horn of Africa. We call upon the international community to stop
the creation of a tragedy that would be a thousand times worse than
what had happened in Somalia.

Mohamed Ibrahim Egal,
President.

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SNU is an entirely independent newsletter devoted to critical
analysis of the political and humanitarian developments in Somalia
and Somaliland. SNU is edited and published by Dr. Bernhard Helander,
Uppsala University, Sweden. SNU is produced with support from the
Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala, Sweden.
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