A Veiled Reprimand for World In Somaliland’s Congratulatory Message to Barbados

The Republic of Somaliland was quick to send a warm congratulatory message to the newest republic to join the ranks of free, independent nations of the world, Barbados, on December 1, calling it a ‘historic occasion’.

“The Republic of Somaliland would like to mark the historic occasion of Barbados’s flowering into the world’s newest republic by wishing its people and leaders well as they embark on their journey of independent statehood,” said a ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on the occasion of Barbados’s transition to an independent state.

The MoFAIC statement promised the new republic support – for what it was worth – in ‘on all matters of mutual interest and world concern’.

Then came the diplomatically veiled barb to an obtuse world that ignored the indignant cries of  5.7 inhabitants of 31-year-old Republic of Somaliland which has re-instated its 1960 sovereignty after a disastrous union with Somalia for 30 other years before that.

“The outpouring jubilation and sense of dignity with which the people of Barbados rightfully inaugurated their independence highlights the fundamental moral weight and legal primacy of self-determination as a foundational principle of the world order,” the statement said, falling slightly short of pointing out that that was what the internationally community abysmally failed to observe in the case of Somaliland’s.

“The liberty to determine one’s political status and fate is not only among the most important of international human rights in its own regard , but it lays the foundation for other cherished rights, such as those to freely pursue one’s economic, social, and cultural development,” it continued to drive home.

Then came down the grand finale with a big bang.

“The Government of Somaliland looks forward to a world where those legitimately seeking self-determination will enjoy the same precious achievement recently accomplished by the ;people of Barbados”, the statement emphasised, going on to promise that ‘Somaliland will continue to strive for complete sovereignty as a recognised nation.

How does Somaliland compare and contrast with the world’s newest nation?

Above, as the MoFAIC statement subliminally wished to illuminate, is food for thought for, primarily, the United Nations, the African Union and to all the international and regional organisations that professed a commitment to human rights and moral decency.