In his speech to the nation on the 24th anniversary of the Somaliland’s re-affirmation of independence as a sovereign State, His Excellency the president of the Republic of Somaliland questioned the motive of certain heads of missions to Somaliland/Somalia from the international community in interfering with the internal Affairs of the republic.
EU Envoy Michele-Cervone-d’Urso disqualified himself in the eyes of Somalilanders as an impartial Representative by compromising his office as an inadvertent messenger of Somaliland opposition in Hargeisa and Mogadishu
The President voiced his concern that these figures, among whom were the EU Head of Mission, d’Urso, and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Nicholas Kay, acted hastily on incomplete, one-sided reports given them without taking into consideration the adverse consequences of their statements on Somaliland unity as well as democratic process.
“Somaliland has perfected and put in place peace-making mechanisms that have resolved far graver impasses in the past,” the President said, continuing on to say that he was confident all Somalilanders will set aside personal gains for national considerations.
The President particularly questioned why these august figures found the internal affairs of Somaliland more engrossing than an adequate response to Somaliland’s request for an intervention on the stalled talks between ROS and Somali on the part of the international community.
Kerry’s main message: “Beef up your military!”
The President, also, articulated Somaliland’s concern on why the international community is sanctioning a beef-up of a Somalia military might implying that country’s poor track record on human rights and propensity for dictatorial purges and genocides out of which the Somaliland of today was born.
The President’s words alluded to the advise US Foreign Secretary John Kerry gave Hassan Sheikh of Somalia during his recent visit to Mogadishu.The President, particularly, pointed out that the arms embargo placed on all actors in the erstwhile, now-defunct Somali Republic was partially lifted to benefit Somalia with Somaliland not accorded the same.
The President’s remarks received wide support among a Somaliland marking 24 years as an unrecognized fully functioning government whilst the rest of the world was struggling with a non-existent phantom called ‘Somalia’ that, to a myopic international community, still included the de facto Republic of Somaliland.
To express their view of how the international community continued to take sides with Somalia against Somaliland, and to send an unmistakable message out, the Somaliland public came out in unprecedented numbers to commemorate the country’s 24th anniversary as an independent state in all the major cities and cities of Somaliland: Hargeisa, Borama, Burao, Las Anod, Berbera, Erigavo…
Copy of President’s speech in Somali: Khudbaddii Magaxweynaha oo Dhammaystiran
