The Kenyan State House did not mince words about its view of Somaliland and its sovereignty, self-determination, statehood, nationhood or status.
To Kenya, the 25-year old Republic of Somaliland is a ‘breakaway region of Somalia’.
Kenya, undiplomatically and without recourse or regard to even the least iota of decency to the friendship Somaliland offers it, the aspirations and achievements of the people of Somaliland for over two decades or the Kenyan workforce this fledgling republic hosted, paid, tolerated and protected for so many years, played up to a non-existent Somalia ego.
Kenya and its young President did not think far ahead or consider the consequences of their ‘miraa-induced’ rash decision on Somaliland.
Let us look at A few facts:
- Youth unemployment in Somaliland is estimated at over 75%.
- Over 65% of employees at UN agencies, international NGOs and local universities are Kenyans
- A sizable expatriate community is resident here
- This entity Kenya has entered agreement with called ‘Somalia’ has no historical links with the Republic of Somaliland neither does it have legal jurisdiction to meddle in its affairs
- The Italian Somalia that Somaliland informally joined in 1960 to become the Somali Republic has been abandoned several times over by the Somalia-dominated, ruling juntas from the beginning. Somali Republic was changed to Somali Democratic Republic, then Somalia, then Somalia Transitional government, and now to an interchangeable ‘Somalia’ and ‘Federal Government of Somalia’ (FGS).
- Kenya, in its haste to placate its drug farmers, overlooked that by supporting ‘Somalia territorial integrity’ and to ‘safeguard Somalia unity’, effectively re-opens a Pandora’s Box that has its beady, sinister eyes trained on its Ex-Northern Frontier District, large swathes of eastern Ethiopia and Djibouti as part of a Greater Somalia – the Somalia unity which the Kenyan State has so eloquently defended by so ignorantly calling Somaliland a region of Somalia.
- The Union world talks about was practically and effectively wiped off by the Somalia creation of so many ‘envylands’ Somalia called federal states with their intractable number of presidents, MPs, armed forces, ‘national organizations’, etc. etc. which completely obliterated any remaining signs of the ‘Somalia’ of 1960 off the face of the earth.
- Consequently there is no Somalia that can talk with Somaliland even on common areas.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has conveniently overlooked the fact that neither the AU, EU, UN nor the other faceless international community so oft quoted when it is convenient do not pay for an expensive upkeep or weapons of foreign armies in Somaliland as they do in Somalia where so many of your sons and daughters were so senselessly slaughtered to satisfy hidden agendas.
In light of above, the representative, democratically elected government of Somaliland must immediately implement the following options:
- Expel all Kenyan-born expatriates in Somaliland within 48 to 72 hours
- Replace them with Somaliland-born workforce
- Cancel residence permit of any agency that refuses or procrastinates implementation of decision
- Lead a movement to revive the Greater Somalia dream of 1960 that rekindles the ‘nationalism’ fervor which led Somaliland astray and onto the lap of a glutinous, politically myopic, Mogadishu predator
- Withdraw from talks with the sorry joke in Mogadishu
- Reassess its relations with Ethiopia and Djibouti
- Take the ‘Somalia’-toting actors in Mogadishu to the ICC for plundering and looting resources to which Somaliland has a legal claim to and which has been illegally handed over to Mogadishu: Foreign reserves, ships, proceeds of airspace fees, embassies, land, etc. etc.
- Take Somalia to court for actively thwarting Somaliland development for over two decades on false pretenses and with no legal bases whatsoever.
- Take Somalia to international court for illegally occupying seats at the AU, the UN, the OIC, the Arab League and other international bodies without the consent of the Republic of Somaliland
- Take Somalia and its accomplices to international for compensation of all resources looted, hardships causes, Aid misappropriated and many more.
