Somaliland demands justice

Africa Today: You were appointed in 2003. After two years of tireless efforts to present Somaliland's case, can you sum up and give us some idea of the situation now?

Edna Adan: You are right. It's is even two years and a half that I was appointed. It has been a very heavy responsibility. As Foreign minister it is my responsibility to present Somaliland to the world. Unfortunately for a long time, the people of Somaliland have been busy with all kind of other priorities - making peace, demobilising militias, taking land mines out of the country, setting up a constitution, setting up all kinds of basic essential rules and regulations to make the country become a state and make it functional. And it is only in the last few years that we had enough energy and time to look into foreign policy. Now, of course, foreign policy depends on the people that you are dealing with. And the world has been very ignorant about developments in Somaliland. The world has been thinking of Somaliland as something which is part of Somalia when we really are not. Somaliland is a sovereign country that was the first born independent Somali nation, a country that is at peace, that has good governance, and that will have elections coming at the end of this month (September). So it is my main responsibility to present the reality on the ground in Somaliland, to convince the world that we are people who have honourable intention and honourable past that we are good people to do business with and to recognize. I think my main task has been public relations.

Africa Today: You must have been travelling quite a lot. Can you tell us in which countries you received the best welcome? I mean the ones who have been listening to you and not just being polite.

Edna Adan: Of course I have been travelling a lot. At my age, I am 67 and I spend two thirds of the time up in the air. It cannot be very easy. My resources are limited. My energy is not as good as it was. So you can imagine how hard it is. There is the stress of meeting new people and convincing governments about something which is so obvious, when they have blocked their minds to you. Among the countries which have been most welcoming are: Great-Britain, where I am, at present, the United States, Canada, South Africa and France. Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, the European Union, Belgium and Netherlands have received me very well. I think it is a cumulative effect that each time we have a chance to go to a country and present our case, we always go back with the feeling that we have been able to share information that these countries maybe did not have before that mission took place. The main countries we wish to concentrate on are the African countries because they have this phobia of countries splitting when we are not a country that is splitting. Somaliland is a Somali country that is the first born Somali state to which Somalia became attached when later they became independent. We are the parent nation. And Somalia has disintegrated and has died. If Somalia has turned out to be the lawless, pirate infested, warlord infested country that it is it cannot be the fault of Somaliland. They have been the cause of their problems. Somalia has disintegrated itself and damaged itself. But if Somalia eventually gets itself in order and becomes a country we can talk with, this would not be any problem. African countries are the ones that I need to concentrate upon, but also the Arab and Asian countries also.

Africa Today: Would you say, as far as the western countries are concerned, that for them the main obstacle is the fact that the African countries should first take a step in your favour?

Edna Adan: That is exactly what I am trying to say. African countries have this complex of countries separating. It is not our case. Somaliland is a unit; it is an entity that administratively has separated itself from the administration of Somalia.

Africa Today: It seems that some Arab countries have an agenda which has nothing to do with fear of secession but has a link with the idea of creating a counterbalance to Ethiopia.

Edna Adan: It really is childish; it is something which is not based on logic. I do not know how Somaliland being a democratic country, a stable country with a stable economy, would be a threat to anybody. I think it should be an advantage that Arabic countries, African countries should be proud of and encourage more. I do not see what Arabic or African countries would gain from Somaliland becoming more or less like Somalia. When you have a country that is stable, that is willingly stable, that is putting its resources to remain stable, that is using its energy to have good governance, it should be the responsibility of the entire world, whether it is Arabic or African countries to encourage that. So it is something that has no logic for Arabic countries not to recognize Somaliland. They are ignorant of the realities.

Africa Today: What about the United Nations? You would like to be a member of course. How is it possible that they continue to say that Mogadishu is entitled to keep a seat in the UN while there is no effective government in this place? This is a mystery.

Edna Adan: It is not a mystery. I think that the United Nations, the guardian of human rights, of justice, of fairness, of law and order in the world, are the ones that are really openly hostile to Somaliland. The UN, that body formed by nations that should be well intentioned is the discouraging and damaging the stability of Somaliland. And we challenge the United Nations to come and find out what is the reality of Somaliland, not to be biased against Somaliland. I think the United Nations has been influenced by Somalia and it is refusing to understand the reality of what Somaliland is all about. And we appeal to the United Nations member states to influence the administration of the United Nations, to practice what the United Nations has been mandated to do.

Africa Today: There has been no fact-finding mission from the UN like the one the African Union sent recently to Somaliland...

Edna Adan: The representative of the Secretary General of the UN has not been to Somaliland. He gets reports from officers who visit Somaliland, who have their own interest to protect. They are based in Nairobi. They are not resident in Somaliland, they are not resident in Somali territory; they get allowances for not being resident in Somaliland. They are spending the taxpayers' money that was meant for development aid for personal reasons and personal expenses. As Somaliland's Foreign minister I am not allowed to present my case to the United Nations. I am not allowed to present my case to the Security Council. I am not allowed to present my case to the Secretary General. Can you tell me that is justice? I do not think that is justice. That is a bias; that is discrimination; that is unfair and that is abuse of the human rights of the people of Somaliland. If they are supportive of justice, then they should give me my day in court. They should listen to my case. My people have a right to be heard. That is all I am asking for. We are not forcing anybody to recognize us. But we are saying: give us a chance to have our day in court, to hear our plea, to hear our case.

Africa Today: Is it possible that some countries hostile to Somaliland have enough power to lobby the entire international community?

Edna Adan: Yes. Somalia that has killed Somalilanders and put them in mass graves and it is hostile to Somaliland.

Africa Today: But Somalia is not an entity anymore.

Edna Adan: It has supporters and has a voice and it is the one that is heard. The criminals, the warlords and the killers with their hands dripping with blood of innocent people, are accepted to sit in the United Nations; they are accepted to sit in the African Union; they are accepted to sit in the Arab League! So where is justice when the criminal is heard and the victim is denied being heard?



Africa today

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