How Somaliland Can Heal Wounds Of Ceelafwayn War

Peace has more definitions than war, possibly because more of us want to live in peace than in war. A war veteran described war as hell, and men of religion generally promise hell for the wicked and heaven for the men who  walk not in the counsel of the evil, an expression that confirms the doctrine that peace is a paradise.

Convincingly one wonders much when to refer to the blind poet’s insight: Peace is order, he said, and war chaos. By poet’s standards, peace is the freedom from difficulties, while war is the presence of violence and discomfort.

Peace is a mercy, a shower that comes from above, and a tree that gives a shade and a shelter to all mankind to prosper and become beautiful and powerful.

Peace offers faith, tranquility, and time to all people to make plans in life, trials to make changes,  discover new ideas and develop new skills to overcome some anxieties in life.

Peace is the beauty of life. It is the power that blesses the life. Peace is the love, the success and the wealth of life. War is the uglification of life, the failure in all aspects of human life and the fulcrum of poverty.

Where there is love, there is peace. Where there is success, there is peace. Where there is wealth, there is peace.

Analogy comes easily in conversation. Step forward into recent events and refresh your minds with what was in the nation’s narrative. A recurrent tribal war in Ceelafweyn and its surroundings is what first comes into your mind.

Questions: Why war? War is not Hell? And even worse than Hell? Isn’t war what only destroys people’s lives? Why kill or be killed when you can live and let live? Why engage in death, destruction, and misery when you can instead enjoy life, production, and prosperity?  On the other hand, if peace is heaven,, and heaven is a place where most of us expect to end up, why we mobilise war now?  Are we not walking in the counsel of the evil? Who is inspiring and instigating Ceelafwayn war? What is in war for those who like to make it happen? Can the repetition of Ceelafwayn war be identified as a warfare that can return Somaliland to another episode similar to that of the year1994?

Observation is a form of evidence; it cannot be dismissed as irrelevant. Those with a reasonable memory have begun to worry about a return to 1994, when the civil war inspired and instigated by well known SNM veteran officers broke in Somaliland. If we are not careful we might be staring at 1994.

There is enough reason for cynicism in the repetition of Ceelafwayn warfare. Engrossing tribal battles tend to become fairy tales with a twist. Why?  Because good attempt does not defeat the twists of evil, when the merit of attempt is not sincerity.

The centre of gravity in any country is best measured by the credibility of its government power. There is position, represented by government, and that is the responsibility to protect people from one another.

Where did or does Kulmiye governments stand in Ceelafwayn war? Did Kulmiye governments approach and address this armed conflict in the right perspective? When there is lack of government role to intervene social interuptions, doesn’t this mean that there are hidden pursuits that people have to know?

Confession of dereliction of duty is like a broom which sweeps away the dirt and leaves the surface brighter and clearer. Failure to fulfill a responsibility and then covering it up with layers of denial and lies makes everything collapse.

The reasons of why Ceelafwayn war was not stopped are two-fold. First, one warring side has no readiness to stop the war. Somaliland citizens saw and still see that one side has breached the bonds and broken the oaths to end the hostility several times. Second, none of Kulmiye  governments had done anything about the deliberate attacks and aggression going on from one warring side, which is a clear image that confirms the fact that Kulmiye government is an accomplice in Ceelfawayn war continuation.

Some people might not believe the allegation that Kulmiye governments are involved the war in question. The point is not believe it or not. It is what it is —  what we learned from the past and what we observe today.

When we donot tell the truth when we know the truth makes us the accomplice of liars, sinners and hypocrites.

The truth is a well known SNM faction has always been relentlessly myopic, if not completely blind, about the concerns of what can exactly keep people together and what can keep them apart, because one thing that they learn from history is that they learn nothing from history.

It was yesterday when some of those myopic SNM faction, who thought themselves strong, inspired and instigated civi war in Somaliland. Use of force just seemed to this wicked SNM faction the easiest solution. But history proved, using its merciless judgment, that miscalculations pale before a confrontation over common purpose.

The civil war launched by the wicked faction from SNM initially started in Burco in 1992, then in Berbera 1993, then in Hargeisa and finally completed in Burco in 1994. The lesson that must be well remembered is that the group who made Somaliland civil war possible in 1994 are the ones that have the power and are ruling Somaliland today.

The man who said “I cann’t take supplication while I can kill” is Somaliland’s chief executive body today. Mohamed Kahin, who said “War has just now become a must” when Mohamed Ibrahim Egal became Somaliland president is the interior minister of Somaliland today. Suleiman Gaal, the head of the Guurti, who openly said “Shut your doors and windows from the inside just for view hours so that we can flush Habaryoonis out  of Burco city to his habarjeclo clan in 1992” is the second strongest and influencial figure in Somaliland today.

The questions that need asking are what one can expect from such people when Somaliland political power lands in their hands? Will they play fair games with those clans they saw and still see them as their enemy?

Today’s Ceelafwayn war is motivated more by anger at the past, less by rage at a future denied. The biases that caused Somaliland civil war in 1994, still apply to Ceelafwayn war.

Whether we like it or not most Somaliland leaders who have ascended to power in the last several years did not administer the nation as statesmen. What we saw and still experience is quite contrary to what any statesman would do. Their actions could only be viewed as those driven by instincts of untamed ignorant tribesmen.

Kulmiye ministers cannot even ponder when in charge. What did Mohamed Kahin mean when he plainly said during a recent reconciliation attempt in Ceelafwayn, “How can I speak to the clan whose weapons were conficated?” Was he going to take an action that tears the two warring tribes apart or that brings them together? Did his words promote policies that radiate love and tolerance towards the tribes, or did they perpetrate more hostility, enmity and bigotry?

Objectively speaking the solution to Ceelsafwayn ptoblem lies in the hands of the existing Somaliland government, no more, no less.  A solution, an immediate, decisive and harsh one at that, must come from the government. The issue has already crossed the red line, and it is not now a problem for    Suldans, religious men and traditional elders. This role was done but did not work and to use again what didn’t work in the past is a waste of time.

Government is not a mere outward show, any more than a tree is the leaf or the branch. The beauty about government is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain. And pain can only be avoided when “wromg” is punished and “right” protected.

Somaliland people must realise that government is neither a right nor a self-achievement. It is a mutual process. As long as Somaliland leadership, present and future, works as a form of ruling apparatus which resembles that of a local chief or clan leader, then government or nationhood cannot be achieved.

When a nation’s cohesion and coherence are undermined by myopia and meaningless routines, adversaries abroad pounce to take advantage, and uncertainty within encourages interventions, invasions and attacks from the outside.

In the 1994 we were not tested by outside forces; but today Putland, the regional administration of Somalia, began to ambush and attack Somaliland army and even invade Somaliland territory, declaring an all-out war to free Sool and Sanaag Region from Somaliland.

The timing of national politics does not absolutely depend on a gambling, but on what is likely to be available later. Even war on the nation’s foes cannot unite all people when timing is not convenient and correct.

By:Jama Falaag

      Hargeisa, Somaliland