By: Da’ud Farah
Columnist
Over the past three years, the self declared Republic of Somaliland (North west of Somalia), was gearing up for the Presidential elections in 2009, which many in Somaliland called, the last leap of democracy into recognition for the new Republic.
Then, along came the election “server”, a machine with a bizarre American software, that will control the registrations and count, the “one man one vote” process in Somaliland’s Presidential elections.
Sympathetic donors from the Europe Union, came
with the money, to establish the system, and an electoral commission was step up. Everything was looking well for Somaliland, and till all of the sudden, everything fell a part in a more disturbing Somali fashion way.
What went wrong?
29th of March 2009 was the date set for the Presidential Election in Somaliland, however this was later shifted to 27th of September 2009. What was the reason for the setback? well its all how you see it, yet the official justification was that the election “server”, needed more time to synchronize the data collected from the public.
This was all the excuse that, Dahir Riyale’s regime needed to once again extend the date of the election. The President of Somaliland was quick, to use his power to influence the house of elders, successfully prolonging his term in office to the end of 2009.
This move infuriated the opposition parties, who believed that they could easily win the elections, just because the President was from a minority clan.
For many supporters of Kulmiye party, that I met in Hargeysa, according to them, the delays were another attempt of the President to cling to power.
This led to several demonstrations by the opposition groups and arrests of opposition leaders in major cities like Hargeysa, Berbera and Burco. Many feared the spiral of mistrust and unrest will lead to violent confrontations in the relatively stable region of Somaliland.
Clan tensions?
On 11th of July 2009, armed men from the Isaq clan killed, four men from Gudibirsey, the President Riyale’s kinsmen, over land dispute, this lead to more unrest between clans in Somaliland. The following days protests erupted in Borama, the home town of President Riyale, for the first time demonstrators carried the blue flag of Somalia, stating they were fed up with the Somaliland’s system of clan unjust. A clear evidence that the unrest between the clans, quickly turned into political divisions.
On the other side you have prominent Isaq clan leaders, blaming President Riyale of dictatorship, not only that, they also blaming him for having hidden unification plans with the rest of Somalia!
This could be seen for the least, a new crack emerging from Somaliland’s heartland. While up east, the city of Burco, a kulmiye Party stronghold, is boiling with mistrust and frustrations over the election delays.
Somaliland is also facing more strains from Sool and Sanaag, the disputed regions, claimed by both Somaliland and neighboring Puntland State of Somalia.
More delays!
On 28th of July the electoral commission of Somaliland, announced that once again the so called “server”, was still not operational, missing the latest deadline of 27th of July. According to the commission there were many public registrations missing in the system, and the server with the strange American software, was not correctly matching the id’s, thus could not count the vote precisely!
So Somaliland’s electoral commission is proposing to keep the 27th September, date for the election, but allow people to vote without proper registrations! So after all this saga, No Sever! What a mess!
Who is to blame?
When it comes to who to blame for all of this disarray, actually no one knows it!
The opposition are accusing the government for sabotaging the democratic process. The government is finger-point the electoral commission, so called independent body that is managing the election process. The electoral commission says the fault lies in the “American Server”, which is managed by privately owned foreign company. The only thing that is certain, is that all sides are blaming each other.
Now the international donors are threatening to withdraw all their donations for the elections in Somaliland.
What holds the future for Somaliland?
Who every is to blame for anything, one thing is for sure, the election delays in Somaliland, is much bigger than one Server, that does not work properly.
It is interlinked, with deep clan divisions, that dates back all the way, to the beginning of the creation of the Republic of Somaliland.
Many clans in Somaliland, like Gedibirsey, Dhulbahante, Warsangeli, and other minorities, feel that they will always be part of greater Somalia, they don’t share the idea of a totally independent Somaliland, which is an idea mainly supported by the Isaq clans. These clans avoid any armed conflict with their Isaq brothers and sisters, in order to safeguard their stability and coexistence.
This might change in the near future, if these clans don’t get their voice in Somaliland.
The destabilization of Somaliland, will indirectly complicate things in the wider context of Somali conflicts. The only way out for Somaliland people, is to respect each other, and allow real democratization to take place in all regions of Somaliland. This includes giving the power to the people, to self determine their future with or without the rest of Somalia.
IRIN NEWS/SOMALIA