Somaliland is on the Verge of a Dark History Repeating Itself!

bv Farah Ali Jama Monday, April 06, 2009   It has long been said that, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." That is exactly what is happening today, in Somaliland! And if we do not act immediately to reverse the dark clouds hovering over the people and the country and nip the evil in the bud who had been hissing and for so long and sabre rattling constantly, executing brazen threats and deeds, and clearly been endangering of our just cause, hard won independence, peace and security, the overall developmental progress we made so far, the stability and territorial integrity of the country, and the existence of Somaliland—we may be doomed to suffer similar or worse consequence of our past and present colossal mistakes—May God forbid this dreaded scenario, Amiin.   As you are aware, on this day, April 6, 1981, marks an important historic Day that is written and sealed with our precious blood in our collective psyche or in the hearts and minds of our people or in the history of the modern Somaliland. It is the Day in which the Somali National Movement (SNM), the lion-hearted liberation movement was founded by a few gallant and heroic leaders in London, U.K. in order to liberate their people from the then, ongoing scorch earth policy, collective punishment, gross violation of human rights, pogroms and massacres, systematic use of rape as a political tool, systematic economic strangulation of the populace, horrendous crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the systematic genocide against the people of Somaliland, which was committed by the tyrannical military regime of Fascist Siyad Bare of Somalia particularly against the progressive Isaaq Clan and specifically against the poor and un armed civilians, innocent women, children, and the frail elderly.   This was a well planned and a well executed genocidal campaign that was put in place to entirely uproot and dispossess the Issaq Clan from their ancestral lands and to wipe them off the face of this planet and to replace them with other foreign tribes from Ethiopia such as Ogaden, Oromo, etc. and illegally settling them on their lands and country. In addition, the SNM was founded to entirely liberate the people and the country from the brazen ANNEXATION of Somaliland by Somalia following the ill-advised, voluntary, ungratified by both parliaments, and illegal "Somaliland-Somalia Unity" in 1960. And to restore the full sovereignty, territorial integrity the country and reclaim the long lost independence of the State of Somaliland.   As a result, after a long and bitter armed struggle (1980 to 1991), the lion-hearted SNM broke the back of evil and liberated the people and the State of Somaliland with their ever increasing efforts and all that they had in terms of wealth and properties, their sweat, tears, and the precious blood of hundreds of thousands of its brave sons and daughters and achieved a sound victory over the tyrannical military regime of Somalia, expelled them from Somaliland, and reclaimed their long awaited independence, and declared the independence and sovereignty of the Republic of Somaliland in May 18, 1991. What a costly, but sweet victory!   Since then, Somaliland turned inward and did some soul searching, reconciled its citizenry, extended a general amnesty to the former supporters of the defeated regime, began a national rebuilding process from the scratch of rubble on its own and from the bottom-up—they resurrected the viable democratic Republic of Somaliland that had been at peace with itself and with its neighbours in the Horn of Africa region. And the democratization process was in place and in full gear. Somaliland is indeed the bastion of peace and democracy in this turbulent region. Some have deservedly dubbed Somaliland as "the little country that could do." And we had been proud of our achievement since then. That is why tomorrow, on Monday April 6, 2009 marks the celebration of this historic and dearly cherished Day of the 18thAnniversary of the lion-hearted SNM, its martyred and living Mujahideen, and the overall liberation of the people and the State of Somaliland.   Nevertheless, the great and historic Day of April 6, 2009 also coincides with dark and uncertain Day in which the tenure in office of the lowly, unqualified, inexperienced, greedy, arrogant, and tyrannical "president" Dahir Riyaale Kahin and his inept and corrupt administration, which is heavily infested by the remnants of the dreaded former NSS Gestapo, which the equivalent of the SS of the fascist Nazi Germany; Hangash, Faqash, and some backward tribalists who are hell-bent and had been violating the prestige of the office of Presidency, abusing power, trampling on the Constitution and the laws of the land, sabotaging the just cause and the existence of Somaliland from within and without, undermining the democratic process put in place and attempting to replace it with raw dictatorship, muddling the international image and standing of Somaliland, frustrating the efforts of ever achieving the international recognition of Somaliland, targeting and ransacking the offices of the opposition parties and incarcerating their senior leaders and supporters particularly KULMIYE party, the official opposition party of Somaliland; suffocating the public by denying them their constitutional rights to stage peaceful demonstrations, committing gross violation of human rights, restricting the freedom of association, reversing the freedom of the press and imprisoning the journalists, and retarding the overall progress of the people and country at all fronts and in all aspects of life as well as literally holding the people and the country of Somaliland as hostage since 2003, will come to its end and to their detriment and demise.    It is de-ja-vue all over again. However, the nationalist and patriotic people of Somaliland as well as the independence War Veterans of the lion-hearted SNM are fully prepared and ready to re-liberate their people and country for the third time (First, from the European colonialists; Second, from the Annexation of Somalia; and third, from the remnants of the NSS Gestapo, Faqash, Hangash, and tribalists) who had hijacked the just cause, hard won independence of our people and country—Somaliland, our Motherland.   It should have come to this point in this information society, fast moving and globalized world, and in this 21st Century era or at this juncture of the state of affairs of our people and country. It is a shame that things we had to tolerate evil this long for things to deteriorate to this dangerous and uncertain point. We should not blame anyone else, but ourselves since we failed to learn from history therefore we are doomed repeat it. What a disgrace!   Whatever the case, we will once again rise up and nip in the bud the enemy of humanity as well as our avowed enemy and defeat them soundly as before. God willing.   I therefore urge all the noble, proud, good cultured, nationalist, patriotic, and intrepid people of Somaliland to stand up to Evil and to sacrifice, at all times, their precious blood in the defence of their hard won independence, peace and security, stability and the territorial integrity of the country, the just cause, and the existence of Somaliland by whatever means available and at any costs so as to, once again, defeat this Devilish enemy in its tracks, once and for all. Then, rejoice with your sweet victory, as usual, with the famous song: "Dheg Dheer Dhimatoo Dhulkii Waa Nabad…" while keeping in mind not to make the same mistakes of ignoring history again, but to learn from it so that we may not be doomed to repeat, time and again, or in the future. I say: Victory and Liberty to you all. Insha Allah. Farah Ali Jama, Ottawa, Canada. Farah.jama@alumni.uottawa.ca