Somaliland recognition

Camel traders, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Here is the text of a letter I received from Omer Hussein Dualeh,
Somaliland Citizen, Doha-Qatar, for which I thank him most kindly.

"Ethiopia is not honest about the Somaliland issue, regardless of the good neighborly relations that we have, and at the same time, as the Sudan papers say they do not want Somalia to be stable and prosper either. There was traditional man made enmity between Somalia and Ethiopia of the centuries, but if they [Ethiopia] think properly, its the interest of their country to have a peace of mind [peace with its surroundings] to enable them to have time to make use of the Nile water. This is the whole problem that Ethiopia has with Somalia, because Arabs [Egypt] are those who do not want Ethiopia to have more time to build Dams and irrigate the land to feed their people. This is whole problem in this part of the world.

It is therefore, the interest of Ethiopia to recognize Somaliland and have good brotherly relations with both Somaliland and Somalia. This will enable Ethiopia prosper and eliminate the Arab influence in the Horn.

I hope our brothers in Ethiopia will come to terms and extend hand with the Somaliland people. Let Ethiopia go back to the history and dig archives and see that they were one of the 35 countries who recognized Somaliland in June, 1960, before we join the Italian Trusteeship of Somalia. We united with Somalia for a purpose, and that purpose has not worked. We have now disengaged, simply because that un-rectified union was a failure..

The people of Somaliland build a nation from the ruins of Siad Barre Force bombardments, and we have institutions that are working and progresses by the day. We are at peace with ourselves and our neighbors. The viable democracy we have built is show case for Africa if they want to copy.

The moral values of the West are at stake and needs to be revisited by their head of states. Tony & Bush claim almost everyday, that they are promoting democracy in the Middle East, but they do not see what is happening this part of the Middle East, which could work with the interest of their slogan.

We are the only country in Africa, where the liberators of Somaliland did not stick to the power, but handed over to the people within the stipulated period of two years if not less. We put our house in order, by creating a unique peace formula, and came in peace with each other, by avoiding the reprisal and finger pointing to those who were fighting or supporting the old regime against majority of the People of Somaliland. The current President of Somaliland has said in different occasions that I am one of minority clan that was not part of the liberators of this country, and I was elected by the people of Somaliland who, for the interest of the country forget the past.

Where are the Ethics and fairness of the West and the wider world? We have been punished for the democracy that we built in our own way, without the help of the international community.
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Somaliland could help and be part of the solution with regard to the regional geopolitical and stability, if we are given the chance to do that. We have nothing to do with the Africa’s so-called Pandora’s box, because we stay within our colonial boundary.

AU and others must come forward in dealing with the situation in Somaliland and extend a helping hand by recognizing this young nation."