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Farah Ma’llin is a brother deeply touched
by the Somali dilemma
It
is a heroic and courageous step from a talented
politician of Somali origin to rise above the
tribal lines that divided the Somali nation. Hon. Farah
Mo’allin the Deputy Speaker of the Kenyan parliament
deserves standing ovation in his bid to find a credible
solution to the elu sive task of finding peaceful
solution to the Somali problem.
All Somali groups should applause and support Mr
Ma’allin’s recent fact finding trips to Som alia
and Somaliland to see the reality on the ground. Indeed,
he is a man touched by 20 yea rs of death and
destruction for his people and is seeking for a viable
solution to the problem.
Hon. Farah started his fact finding mission in Mogadishu
where he met the TFG government and civil society
leaders last year and appealed to them to work together
for peace and end the hostilities there. But as the
adage goes “you can take an old horse to the water but
can not make it drink”. Unfortunately, his noble mission
attracted little attention from the warri ng
factions there.
Hon. Farah wants the Somali people to re-discover their
traditional wisdom and engage in di alogue and
negotiation rather than the barrel of the gun to sort
out differences. This is whe re Somaliland
champions the region and certainly Mr Farah is hoping
the rest to follow suit. He has taken the honest step of
giving credit to where it is due.
The people of Somaliland have endured 20 years of
post-war sanctions and isolation impos ed to them
by the International community who refused to
acknowledge their right to self determination. But this
only reinforced the people’s dedication to independence
and streng thened their resistance to the
pressure. They pursued their choice of withdrawing from
the 1960 union with Somalia. They endured economic
pressure imposed by rest of the world, par ticularly the
Arab world who suspended the import of Somaliland’s
livestock, the main sourc e of hard currency
revenues for the country. Despite this harsh treatment,
Somaliland striv ed to flourish without any
outside help.
Somaliland has successfully adapted a functioning and
inclusive modest democracy with all the apparatus of a
modern state. They held peaceful presidential,
parliamentary and local council elections. This earned
Somaliland a position of respect from the democratic
world and honest personalities such as Hon. Farah
Ma’allin.
Accusing Mr Farah Ma’allin of stirring tension between
Somaliland and Puntland is absurd a nd cheap
propaganda by groups who profit from the suffering of
their own people (the very people Mr Mo’allin wants to
help). It is simply repeating the old usual pattern of
“do nothing and negate everything positive”. The Somali
people are in serious need of water, health, education,
jobs and above all, peace and stability to rebuild their
shattered lives. They don’t need Kalashnikovs, armoured
vehicles or tribal hatred.
Perhaps those calling themselves ex UN employees and
intellects criticising Mr Ma’allin’s fact finding visit
to Somaliland should direct their energies towards
helping the peace process in their country rather than
wasting it in attempting to discredit the noble people
helping their poor brothers and sisters.
The people of Somaliland appreciate and fully support
the efforts of their brother Hon. Farah Mo’allin.
Peace for all,
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