Time for Kenya & Ethiopia to recognize
Somaliland independence
The horn of Africa has endured
some of the biggest wars in Africa. The region is one of the most
unstable in the world. Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia are historically
the principal states shaping the region’s politics and due to the
Greater Somalia (GS) ideology Somali children know how to shoot
machine guns more than they know how to use a pencil. Because of the
GS, Somalia has been the only country in the world without a
government the last 16 years. And these irredentism ambitions of
Greater Somalia will bring more wars in the region since satisfying
Greater Somalia means destroying the boundaries of Ethiopia, Kenya
and Djibouti. So the big question is, why aren’t horn of Africa
countries assisting Somaliland get its independence and give GS the
final blow?
As Ethiopia and Kenya keep quiet, the propaganda attack against
Somaliland by Greater Somalia (GS) advocates is increasing everyday.
Many GS supporters are accusing Somaliland of being Ethiopian
puppet. This is comical because it is not Ethiopia that originally
put the Somaliland boundaries; it was UK holding it as a “British
protectorate.” So Ethiopia has nothing to do with the plan of
Somalilanders to have their own country. They already declared
independence many years ago and for them it is a done deal. Ethiopia
has nothing to do with their decision. Yes, Somaliland was
“federated” with Ethiopia 500 years ago and Yes, a small part of
Somaliland was governed under the Ethiopian ancient Kingdom of Axum
in the 3rd century. But today it is the 21st century. Ethiopians
today don’t have any ambition to take any part of Somaliland. In
fact, Haile Selassie was able to reach Mogadishu and Hargeisha many
times during various battles six decades ago, but he was never
interested in taking over Somalia. Also after the failed invasion by
Siad Barre, Ethiopia could have kept its troops in Somalia and tried
to permanently take its lands during Mengistu government. But
Ethiopia was not interested. In general, Ethiopia has NO interest in
colonizing or in taking Mogadishu or Hargeisha.
Secondly, other Greater Somalia (GS) supporters are accusing
Somaliland of being a secessionist. In fact, this “secessionist”
label is being used as a curse word. This is even more comical
because the same people who support the secessionist ONLF are
accusing Somaliland for being secessionist. This is illogical. It
doesn’t make sense.
But what is logical politics is for all the people in the horn of
Africa to identify the historical source of the region’s problems.
All countries in Africa are ethnically mixed and diverse. All
African nations have a multi-ethnic society; some of these are
shaped this way because of historical African conquests and some of
these are shaped this way because of the general AU consensus to
keep the status quo of boundaries used during the European
colonization. However, when we come to the Greater Somalia
advocates, they are seeking to be a nation of only one ethnicity by
annexing the territories of other African nations. By doing so, GS
contradicts the de facto AU status quo of a multi-ethnic society.
For the GS to be achieved, it has to break up all neighboring
countries. East Kenya has to be annexed, southeastern Ethiopia has
to be annexed and parts of Djibouti must be annexed. Thus, it is
clear that the horn of Africa will never have peace and stability as
long as GS politicians dominate Mogadishu politics. It is long
overdue for Mogadishu politicians to accept the reality in Africa
and to accept the status quo in Africa. So ONLF, ICU and many other
Somali groups seeking to directly or indirectly satisfy their
Greater Somalia ideology must be opposed if we care for the
stability of not just the region but also the whole Africa. The Horn
of African countries recognizing Somaliland’s independence will give
the final blow to the GS ideology and marginalize the GS advocates
out of mainstream politics in Mogadishu permanently.
Source:Jimma Times
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