Media
Release
Ref. SF/EC-027-2001
Somaliland Forum’s Response to the UN
Secretary General’s Report (S/2000/1211, 19, Dec. 2000) to the
Security Council: A
Negation of Reality and Vacation of Responsibility
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Introduction
It
was to be hoped that Kofi Annan, the current UN Secretary-General,
would better inform the Security Council on the realities in the
ex-Somali Democratic Republic for once. But nothing of the sort
has happened with his latest report to the Security Council. This
is a report that picks and chooses certain images and facets of
the Somali reality, leaving the reader in ignorance of the most
important details and implications. There are three things that
are striking about this report.
First,
it does not provide even the slightest historical background of
the Somali crisis, which makes its analysis lacking solid
foundation.
Second,
instead of giving consideration to relevant information from a
diversity of sources, the report is based on a narrow selection of
facts and a prejudiced interpretation of those facts, which makes
it seem as if the purpose of the report is not to ascertain Somali
reality but to help the Secretary General to justify an already
foregone conclusion.
Third,
the report shows very little evidence that the secretary general
is aware of the potentially disastrous consequences that could
ensue from the UN’s adoption and implementation of what is in
this report.
Specific parts and Somaliland Forum’s responses are omitted
from this summary.
Concluding Remarks
A
number of UN officials from Africa have in the past misrepresented
the facts of the Somali crisis. First and foremost, among them, is
the former Secretary General who was pursuing an Egyptian foreign
policy in the Horn of Africa. Second among them is the former
Under-Secretary for Peace Operations and present Secretary
General, Mr. Kofi Annan. These men, in their pursuit of political
ideology and expediency, have failed the Somalis and have even
tried to portray themselves as being more able to understand the
Somalis–Boutros-Boutros Ghali used to say that he understood
Somalis better than anyone at the UN by virtue of being from
Egypt, a country on the same side of Africa as the Somali
peninsula. This time it is no exception; and this report reveals
that the current Secretary-General, either intentionally or
unintentionally, presents a misreading of the Somali crisis.
It
is our hope that the Security Council, which represents a
plurality of nations and ideas, will not base it policies on this
report on the ex-Somali Democratic Republic. It is also our
expectation that the Security Council would suggest fair and
reasonable solutions to the Somali crisis. An essential ingredient
of such a solution is the right of Somaliland’s people to
self-determination.
As
has already been noted by the two jurists, Carrol and Rajagopal:
The birth of Somaliland inevitably
resulted from a combination of a distinct colonial experience,
extreme economic exploitation and human suffering (210). The
irredentist policies of Somalia and the systematic discrimination
bordering on genocide alienated the northern populations which
never acceded to the Union in the first place. The international
community has a rare opportunity to bring peace and prosperity to
the Horn, before the warlords of butchery in Mogadishu wipe out
the evanescent hopes of independence in Somaliland (211). By a
single act of recognition, the international community can end the
sad saga of human suffering, enhance the prospects for peace in
the region by putting an end to the Greater Somalia concept, and
enable the people of Somaliland to reclaim their future.
Anthony
J. Carroll and B. Rajagopal, “The
Case for the Independent Statehood of Somaliland,”
American University, Journal of International Law & Politics,
Vol. 8:653, 1993.
In
conclusion, establishing and reinforcing a new faction, and a new
warlord, Mr. Hassan, is an unwarranted action by the UN. If the UN
cannot or does not want to help Somalis to settle their
differences, then at least it should leave them alone, and not
help one faction against the others.
Let
there be no mistake about it: This is the first time that a
foreign-appointed government, which was unlawfully instituted in
exile by a foreign country, has been extended recognition by the
UN! The Secretary-General has failed the Somalis and they will
remember.
We
implore the sensible world leaders not to be taken in by the tacit
endorsement that the Secretary-General has extended to the
Djibouti-appointed “government”, and the “president”
without a country, Mr. Hassan. The people of Somalia proper need
the assistance of the world to reach realistic peace, but they do
not need the additional onus of a foreign-appointed
“president” and “parliament.”
We
urge the world leaders to reward the efforts of nations that help
themselves and create the conditions of peace that engender
prosperity for their citizens as well as those of neighboring
countries and the citizens of the world in general. Somaliland has
created the conditions of peace and statehood that benefit its
citizens and those of its neighbors. We urge world leaders to
recognize the right of Somaliland’s people to
self-determination.
Read
the complete response in [HTML]
format or in [PDF]
(Acrobat Reader
required)
Somaliland
Forum’s Response to the UN Secretary-general’s Report