Innocent Students the first Casualty of the Misguided SL Foreign Policy

There has been a lot of ambiguity on the foreign policy of Somaliland, since the current government came to power. There is little explanation, if any, as to why the foreign policy was changed from a clear pursuit of an independent statehood to an entity that is not different from Putland administration. I am not making this up, but this is what we see on the ground.

Let me come to the more immediate problem, which is why innocent students, who are barely in their teens and who were supposed to be in Turkey for their higher education in September the 29, 2011 were dumped and abandoned in Mogadishu.

As we all know and until today 17 of these students are wandering in the most dangerous place on the earth, completely cut off from their home country? WHY? To me this is a crim e regardless of the circumstance. The minister of education, MS Samsam Abdi Aden, who I have the greatest respect in view of how she was managing the ministry until this disast er, must take the brunt of this fiasco. The minister had publicly stated that Somaliland st udents will not travel through Mogadishu and will use the Somaliland Passport to travel to Turkey, which is the country that provided the scholarship.

I have no doubt that the minister has the best intensions for all the students for whom sh e is responsible, however there are only two scenarios in which this disaster could be exp lained:

Scenario One: The minister was planning, correctly as she explained, to send the students to Turkey directly from Somaliland without recourse to Somalia, and that something beyon d her control has changed this plan last minute. Still she is guilty because she missed the opportunity to come clean by cancelling the trip to Mogadishu, or resigning from her post if the president tried to overrule her

Scenario Two: The minister was planning, correctly as she explained, to send the students to Turkey directly from Somaliland without recourse to Somalia, at the same time some ot her authority within the Somaliland government was planning for the students to use the Mogadishu route from day one, simply because the current foreign policy of Somaliland is to work and cooperate with Somalia and that the minister was not part of this planning. Still she is guilty for the simple reason that she has been undermined by her government and I do not see how she could continue to be part of this government if this scenario is c orrect.

Therefore, Ms Minister the earlier you resign the better, because you really let down your students, regardless of circumstance.

Now the immediate and most important issue is the security and wellbeing of the 17 stude nts, who have been in that hell (Mogadishu) for the past two weeks for no logical reason. These innocent students face a very grave security risk and must be evacuated back to H argeisa by any means without further delay.