An African Union fact-finding mission has made a compelling case for the recognition of Somaliland as an independent, sovereign state. Now is the time for Africa's leaders to act to achieve this, write Iqbal Jhazbhay.
In Umrabulo 18, published in June 2003, I pointed to the emerging country of Somaliland as 'Africa's Best-Kept Secret'. 1 Some two years later the African Union fact-finding report has confirmed this initial finding.
Responding recently to a question on the little known country of Somaliland, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said: 'The African Union sent a high level team to Somaliland to assess the situation. Their report indicated that Somaliland should be treated differently to other situations of cessation. This report is now being discussed by other countries to determine how to proceed on the matter. It is important to note however that the recognition of Somaliland is one part of a bigger situation with regard to Somalia.' 2 If African countries are intent on hearing the guns in the Horn of Africa fall forever silent it will require level-headedness coupled with clarity in dealing with the subtle challenges that come with peace. Under focus is the reasonably peaceful, yet unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa, Somaliland. Writes one of the region's most famous sons, Nuruddin Farah: 'No secret is forever a secret - it has to be known by someone who places a value on it.' It is time for African states to step up to the platform and actively push, through quiet or public diplomacy, for the recognition of a continental success story. Some countries, such as Rwanda, Zambia and Kenya, are now doing so. Somaliland's achievements, Professors Hussein Adam and Ken Menkhaus assert, 'constitute one of the few pieces of genuinely good news in the troubled Horn of Africa.' 3 The African Union Commission and select progressive African leaders are among those who 'place a value' on Somaliland. So should other African states and institutions. Somaliland has recently applied for AU membership.
Hope is on the horizon, fuelled by clear thinking. The 2005 African Union (AU) fact-finding report on Somaliland recommended some clear steps towards resolving the African diplomatic impasse in dealing with Somaliland.
Somaliland's success over the past 15 years in state-building, democratisation and economic recovery, coupled with its home-grown disarmament and demobilisation, has attracted the AU's attention. Among the findings of the AU were that 'going by the clear presentation and articulate demands of the authorities and people of Somaliland concerning their political, social and economic history, Somaliland has been made a 'pariah region' by default. The Union established in 1960 brought enormous injustice and suffering to the people of the region.' It ends with a recommendation: 'Objectively viewed, the case should not be linked to the notion of 'opening a pandora's box'. As such, the AU should find a special method of dealing with this outstanding case.' African Union and cynics Not everyone would agree with the AU report's conclusions. A number of key African countries are advocating what they would term, albeit incorrectly, 'unity' - that Somaliland re-join Somalia. These perspectives are uninformed. The well-known pan-Somali nationalist vision to bring all the Somali territories together under one flag created mayhem in the Horn.
Ethiopia found itself in 1977 at war with the expansionist 'unity' project of Somali dictator Siad Barre. This 'sacred unity' vision saw the subsequent decline of Somalia.
Our urgent task is to spell out the facts obliterated by the passage of time.
The AU report says: 'The fact that the 'union between Somaliland and Somalia was never ratified' and also malfunctioned when it went into went into action from 1960 to 1990, makes Somaliland's search for recognition historically unique and self-justified in African political history.' Somaliland's fight for recognition is also not without historical precedent.
Many African countries went into a union and subsequently abandoned it.
Egypt and Syria (1958-61), Mali and Senegal (1960), and Senegal and Gambia (1982-89) are just some of the former derelict unions in Africa. Other lesser known cases, such as Rwanda and Burundi (1962) and Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau (1975), are lost in the milky haze of diplomatic amnesia.
Those who would see Somalia and Somaliland 'united' will argue the recognition of Somaliland will only further fragment the region; that the recognition of Somaliland will render the very term 'African Union' a misnomer; that the Transitional Federal Government in Somalia offers hope for change. Unfortunately, the reality does not speak to this. The country continues to spiral further into a state of anarchy.
It would be worth looking at when the Horn of Africa makes news. Reporting on last month's abduction of a group of Yemeni fishermen by Somali pirates, CNN.com reported: 'Somalia's coastal waters have become among the world's most dangerous in the 14 years the country has lacked a central government.' Comparisons, however, are not helpful, and they are beside the point. The facts at our disposal, and most analysis of the geo-politics of the region, point to the reality that Somalia, 'in the best-case scenario with its new Transitional Federal Government would be very minimalist in scope and capacity, and most of Somalia would remain a de facto zone of state collapse for the short term.' Despite this, key African states want to 'give them a chance'. We have.
Fifteen years later, fourteen peace conferences, five transitional governments and the world's most expensive peacekeeping mission, UNISOM, have not yielded any worthy results.
Diplomacy or the military option African states need a clear-minded approach. It will be a depressing day when clear thinking is silenced and the matter of Somaliland and Somalia is settled militarily.
One's memory is jogged by the case of Eritrea and Ethiopia. Eritrean fighters doggedly fought Ethiopia for 30 years from 1961 to 1991. Finally, the military option decided on the separation of Eritrea from Ethiopia.
Sadly, the UN and the former Organisation of African Unity (OAU) were silent witnesses to this carnage. Sudan has experienced 50 years of on-off war since its independence, Africa's longest running conflict.
Somaliland, after receiving its independence in 1960, voluntarily joined Somalia. In 1991, after a tragic union with Somalia, Somaliland opted to return to its original British Protectorate boundaries. Somaliland's leaders have defiantly proclaimed that it would rather go to war than join Somalia and give up its hard earned independence.
Visits to the UN-verified mass graves in Somaliland's capital, Hargeisa, bring back the horrifying memories of the recent Rwanda genocide.
Somalilanders recount with a passion and level of forensic detail that reveals that this is still a open wound of the 1988 injustice of Somalia's military, led by dictator Siad Barre.
As history is the reminder, injustices and grudges that are not addressed, acquire a momentum all their own, shuddering across continents until they erupt in a thunderous roar.
As Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi recently affirmed, history and reality has shown us that it is better to carry a separate passport with its inconveniences rather than go to war with Eritrea. The Prime Minister was responding to the cry of some Ethiopians who have relatives in Eritrea and require now to have a passport on entering independent Eritrea.
South Africa has a diplomatic vanguard role to play in the Horn of Africa, along with a number of key African states, because of South Africa's stated 'commitment to promoting the peaceful resolution of conflicts and to encourage post-conflict reconstruction and development' and as Chair of the African Union Committee on Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Sudan. In addition, South African government international law advisers have concluded that Somaliland does have a strong legal case. 4 Somaliland is the only unsettled political case in Africa, excluding Western Sahara, where a country is being shaped on its original colonial boundaries.
This is entirely consistent with the AU's charter, which alludes to colonial boundaries achieved on independence. The crucial question is, do African countries have the political will to advance this AU fact-finding report on Somaliland by suggesting a follow-up process? The non-recognition of Somaliland also impacts negatively on that country's ability to sustain itself. The AU report observes: 'The lack of recognition ties the hands of the authorities and people of Somaliland as they cannot effectively and sustainably transact with the outside to pursue the reconstruction and development goals.'
Africa's Future
Africa's profile has never been better. Today, 40 percent of African states have elected democracies. Continental growth in 2004 was 5.1% and is estimated at 5% in 2005 and 4.7% in 2006, the most favourable performance for many years. South Africa's economy, the largest in Africa, expanded by 4.9% in 2005 up a bit from the 4.5% in 2004. Internationally, Africa's profile has never been higher on the global agenda.
In 2005, South African President Thabo Mbeki, in a letter to Somaliland President Dahir Riyale Kahin, suggested that the AU lead on the matter of Somaliland. Today, the AU has done so, and now the ball is in the court of African countries to mobilise towards a follow-up on the AU's report on Somaliland in the larger interests of the subtle challenges of peace in the Horn of Africa.
Africa cannot afford, by ignorance and bad policy, to undermine its flagship New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) programme, which aims to promote stability and peace. The stark reminders of conflicts past and present on the continent serve as a caution.
Should a prospect for stability exist, as in Somaliland, it should and must be supported. Clear thinking prevailed in the Sudan to suggest the possible option of a self-determination referendum for South Sudan in 2011, in the larger interests of a peace deal.
We all need to mobilise in support of the AU Commission's worthy efforts for peace and stability. The AU's recent fact-finding visit to Somaliland, as well as its opening of a office in Somalia's Jowhar city, are moments of clarity and calls for applause. It indeed affirms the AU's plans to be on the ground, although the choice of the city of Jowhar remains controversial among Somalians.
The 'small' conflict of Somaliland and Somalia, left to fester long enough, will have an uncanny way of bringing down regions and empires. This serious and lethal issue merits careful and clear thinking for a better Africa. Are African policy makers and progressive institutions willing to listen and act? The time has come for affirmation of success. That is the least we can do for an African Renaissance.
Iqbal Jhazbhay teaches at the University of South Africa (UNISA), serves on the ANC's Commission for Religious Affairs, and is director on the board of the Institute for Global Dialogue.
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