In a country that has put up with over two decades of fierce fighting and vast vacillation, Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has been scuffling to bring forward the Djibouti Peace Process and proffer contentment to the war-famine-torn nation. The fanatic groups professing heinous acts of crimes, high seas piracy, and instability are not conundrum just confines to Somalia, but one that broadly takes its toll on the international community as well.

Therefrom in October 2010 the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African affairs, Johnnie Carson, announced Washington’s Dual Track Policy toward Somalia. The promulgation asseverated that Obama administration will engage in a dual track policy to bring stability and security to Somalia: one track destined for the continuation of footing the TFG institutions while providing military assistance to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISON) and TFG National Security Forces, and the second one delineated to engage other established authorities throughout the rest of Somalia, such as Puntland, Somaliland, Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah and Galmudug, who are in common to repudiate both the ideologies of odium and terror spread by Al-Shabab and other extremists in Somalia. Track two would also serve as a key to grassroots involvement in the peace and reconciliation efforts at a community level and on the other hand as gateway for innovation and dissemination of programs designed to reach out to the Somali diaspora in United States for positive participation in the rebuild process of their birth-nation.

Apparently, the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) in Eastern Africa, an entity notorious for meddling in Somalia’s affairs to no avail, has been the first to roll up its sleeves to derail the dual track policy, counteracting to work against it with its disfranchising policy that suits the action to IGAD’s deeply rooted dogma of Balkanizing Somalia. A recent unprecedented enunciation for recognition of the one-tribe enclave of Somaliland as a sovereign state uttered by Augustine Philip Mahiga, the very current Special Representative of Secretary General of the United Nations for Somalia, at the presence of IGAD officials in Hargeisa perfectly serves as the substantiation of how IGAD and its affiliates actuate to dice Somalia into secluded slices that remain stateless.

Right after the Dual Track Policy announcement, IGAD has sponsored and contracted to The Horn Economic and Social Policy Institute (HESPI) to facilitate what they called “Consultative Meeting for “irrelevant” academicians and peace activists “supposedly” from Puntland and Somaliland to draft a so-called Road Map for enhanced cooperation and collaboration between the two”; a distracting plot to cover their disfranchising schemes.

Despite of the fact that Somaliland is one-tribe enclave that seeks to secede from the rest of Somalia, yet conjointly Puntland and Somaliland are relatively peaceful autonomous regions compared to the other regions of Somalia. As of Puntland, spearheaded by their traditional leaders (issimo), a congress of distinguished political elites, intellectuals, business community and civil society representatives convened in Garowe in 1998 and set a foundation for institutional administration that delivers services to their constituencies to improve and maintain security, mitigate poverty through free trade and developmental projects. Unfortunately, Puntland and Somaliland have had an ongoing dispute over Sool, Sanaag and Cayn(SSC) regions of Northeastern Somalia. Although SSC regions are part of the modern Puntland State of Somalia by birthright officially ratified in that homegrown constitutional conference held in Garowe in 1998, yet Somaliland confusedly claims as part of its territory based on an obsolete colonial bailiwick illegally chalked out in Berlin in the turn of the 19^th century; a hogwash requisition that only rubs salt in the old imperialistic wound at this sovereignty era of 21st century. As a respond to Somaliland’s claim, the traditional leaders of SSC have issued an official communiqué declaring their geopolitical stand.

Please follow this link below to read the complete declaration:

Declaration by Dhulbahante Traditional Elders

However, held at Djibouti in mid-December of 2010, the so termed Consultative Meeting did not live up to its stated potentials. Ironically, it only turned out that the very team of IGAD/HESPI officials who were organizing the meeting as commissioned mediators- many of whom highly respected in east Africa nations and executed tremendous tasks such as the preparation of the first real budget of the TFG (the 2011) and also implemented many developmental programs in east Africa on behalf of the AU,UN,IMF, World Bank and many more international organizations- were at this time unprecedentedly carried away with ill-conceived scheme to beget their own autonomous mini-quasi-tribe enclave under the auspice of the Somaliland secessionist, being derelict of their duty to facilitate efforts to attain mutual concession, peace and harmony between the two, the Puntland and Somaliland, so to speak. The outcome was a selfish catastrophic move laden with conflict of interest that known IGAD and HESPI professionals boldly placed themselves in a position to exploit their expertise and official capacity for Balkanizing the already troubled region, overtly contravening the progress of the Djibouti Peace Process and the U.S. Dual Track Policy for mere personal and organizational benefits.

Namely, Ali Isse Abdi,(Former IMF representatvie in Ethiopia and Tanzania)  the Managing Director of HESPI, Mohamed Buraleh Farah ,( FAO Representative in Ethiopia) the Chairperson of HESPI and Mohamed Said Omar, Senior Governance & Policy Advisor of IGAD, Ali Khalif Galeydh, the former Prime Minister of Somalia from October 8, 2000 to October 28, 2001 and the founding father of the SSC insurgency in Nairobi, Kenya in 2009, Jama Abshir Hassan,Former African Development Bank officer Saleban Abdi Duale, Former Islamic Bank Officer and property invester/developer all of whom hail from the SSC regions and otherwise are business partners, dubbed themselves G-6 and ganged up on the peace and stability of the Horn, particularly on Puntland regime.

HESPI previously sought an operational license with diplomatic immunity to operate within Puntland territory for profit. Authority of Puntland denied the issuance of such license because of its murky “diplomatic immunity” demand. Thus HESPI holding a grudge against Puntland and hence opted for settling a score, exacted its revenge by partnering with SSC insurgency to mobilize and indoctrinate Dhulbahante tribe of Puntland regime to secede and establish its own enclave under the umbrella of Somaliland enclave, promised that in return it will exclusively manage the SSC regions developmental programs given the new enclave would provide all the credentials required by the international donors. Somaliland itself equally wears its motivation upon its forehead; the majority of Somalilanders hold unorthodox believe that having SSC regions seceded from Puntland to somehow under the umbrella of Somaliland would mean one step closer to gaining international recognition as an independent state for that it encloses the colonial territories it bases on its secession, not to mention it would grant an exclusive authority to contract HolHol oil reservoir of SSC territory to China for drilling. China has been soliciting to win oil concessions agreement with Somaliland.  Phillips International Corp of USA, in association with Conoco, has signed a concession agreement with the late Somali Democratic Republic to explore for oil and gas on a 3.5 million acre including HolHol oil reservoir.

In parallel to that, Puntland Senior officials lead by Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed Faroole, the president of Puntland, Gen. Abdisamad Ali shire, the Vice President, several cabinet Ministers and some TFG Parliament members have summoned irregular meeting with SSC elders and traditional leaders in Puntland State House in Garowe, the capital, to discuss how to deal with the danger brewing from those plotting such terror to undermine the integrity, security and the natural resources of the Puntland regions. Puntland also hired The Moffett Group, headed up by former Rep. Toby Moffett (D-Conn.) to encourage ConocoPhillips to reinstate its oil concessions in Somalia, in the hope to thwart China’s aggression. The Moffett Group is a unique government relations and strategic consulting firm in Washington whose leader is familiar with senior figures tied to Conoco. Ruth Harkin, the wife of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), and Ken Duberstein, former Reagan White House chief of staff and chairman and CEO of the lobby firm, the Duberstein Group, serve on the oil company’s board of directors.

Please follow the link below to see the agreement signed by the convened parties.

http://horseedmedia.net/2010/03/17/somaliapuntland-government-and-ssc-elders-sign-an-agreement/

To substantiate their plot, the first congress of such partnership between SSC militia and G-6, dubbed Khatumo-1 of SSC Consultative Conference in London, took place in London in April 2011. In that conference G-6 arrogated to itself the power vested in the traditional clan leaders by the people of SSC for the people of SSC. Initially they handpicked a puppet group of diaspora men with specific terms of references, dubbed G-15, and since flown them back home to indoctrinate all sects of SSC society— the tribe, religious clerks, traditional leaders and chiefs, combatants militias and the extremist sympathizers in recruiting, training, financing, propagandizing, and conducting political activities in support of their secession plot.

It took about four months G-15 to conclude their task of indoctrination and as a result chose Taleh town to assemble at the end of this month (Dec. 2011) a rubber-stamp congress, dubbed Khatumo-2, needed to pass their prefabricated scheme of SSC to secede from Puntland.

The Khatumo-2 congress is designed by G-6 such a manner that it excludes traditional leaders from having a say over their communities’ affairs. It is for this reason, the traditional leaders conveyed strong message of unity and peace and called upon their constituencies to stand for the greater goodness and avoid the catastrophic trap of such congress set by the G-6 perpetrators.

To counter-balance the influence of the traditional clan leaders and deter their call, G-6 stroke back by initiating the revival of the now defunct Al Itihad Al Islam (AIAI). AIAI is the parent group of today’s Al-Shabab.  Since Al-Shabab is facing flash-out operations from the south by the coalition of the AMISON, TFG and Kenyan forces, it is seeking to set up a new base of operations in the Northeast. It was only last year when Puntland forces fought and defeated Al-Shabab militant lead by Sheikh Atom at GalGala Mountains. The G-6’s new tactic of soliciting the support of the AIAI can be interpreted as alliances of convenience based on the fact that SSC communities, besides Puntland regime, recognize two more distinct authorities, traditional clan leaders (who in here stood against G-6) and religious leaders, whose responsibilities in the maintenance of individual and community affairs overlap to the depth that Islam is assimilated into the clan culture.

It stirred an outcry in The Puntland Diaspora in USA and elsewhere that they just do not see why in the first place the G-6 members in a leadership position with whom representatives of IGAD and HESPI should be in the making of tribal enclave in Northeastern Somalia that already resulted shedding the blood of innocent civilians at Taleh District and would lead to more deadly armed clashes in that region, providing sanctuary for extremist movements that could further spill into the Gulf and boost the Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. Al Itihad Al Islam (AIAI) ruled the region during the period between March 1991 and June 1992. Regional forces fought against them, in which AIAI was defeated and forcefully dispersed. However, although AIAI withdrew from direct military activity, still there are a substantial number of supporters and reservists in the region. That AIAI has old scores to settle with Puntland, it sees allying with G-6 and its affiliates as an opportunity to re-create political momentum and build public support.

Thus the traditional leaders of SSC and the Puntland Diaspora in USA and elsewhere, after deliberating at length on this matter hereby:

•    Condemn certain members of IGAD, HESPI and G-6 for exacerbating the conflict between Puntland and Somaliland, undermining the regions peace and stability and providing known extremist groups an opportunistic window to regroup in the region, which will result and influx of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons.

• Call upon the bodies that oversees IGAD/HESPI administrations to examine the real conflict of interest (COI) raised by G-6 members and demand to reprimand, suspend or discipline if appropriate that known IGAD and HESPI professionals placed themselves in a position to exploit their official capacity in a violent way that contravenes the progress of the Djibouti Peace Process and the US Dual Track Policy toward Somalia for mere personal or organizational benefits.

• Call upon the UN Security Council, Amnesty International, neighboring countries and as well as the international community to hold IGAD, HESPI and G-6 accountable for the massacre and assassinations taking place at Taleh District of Puntland as well as for the armed militias and extremists they are mobilizing in the region for further killings and chaos in violation of  United Nations Security Council Resolution 1566.

• Call upon USA to look the matter with scrutiny that US citizens are part of the G-6 and their affiliates whom accused of destabilizing the Horn and initiating the revival of now defunct Al Itihad Al Islam group.

• Call upon the Puntland State of Somalia and the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia to immediately intervene to secure the peace and stability of Taleh District to thwart any further killings perpetrated by G-6 and their affiliates.

• Call upon the Somaliland regime to refrain from providing material support for G-6 and their affiliates such as harboring and offering usage of their ports of entry.

Taleex Media Editorial
editor@taleex.net