Hargeisa (Somtribune) – The Republic of Somaliland has gunned the harshest, most no-none-sense words to date against the Special Representative of the United Nations’ Secretary-General and the Head of the UN Special Assistance Mission to Somalia, James Swan, for – on more than one occasion – lumping Somaliland with Federal Somalia’s electoral bodies and envisioned process.
The UN and Somaliland traditionally maintained an uneasy relationship which rested more on programmatic interventions than on realistic eye-to-eye connection on matters political.
Somaliland, this time and around, sounded and wrote its frustration of what it called Mr Swan’s continued ‘involvement’ in grouping Somaliland with Federal Somalia entities’ election plans.
“The Government of the Republic of Somaliland notes with deep regret the recent statement by United Nations Special Representative of Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia, James Swan.disclosing his office’s involvement in efforts aimed at ‘guaranteeing the unilateral and unwarranted inclusion of Somaliland in UNSOM’s plans and vision for Somalia’s electoral process,” a statement signed by the government spokesperson, the Honourable Minister for Information, Culture and National Guidance, Suleiman Yussuf Ali Koore, said.
The statement reduced a recent statement by the SRSG at a UN institute and in a report to the UNSC in which he reprimanded the Mogadishu government for not completing election special arrangements for ‘Somaliland’, Benadir and women, to hurtful ‘rhetoric’ ignoring Somaliland sovereignty and track records of nearly three decades.
“This rhetoric, while not in any way impact in the reality on the ground of Somaliland’s independent political existence and democratic process, serves to undercut the UN’s claims to be an honest broker in regional diplomatic initiatives,” the statement said.
The government viewed the UNSOM head’s statements as ‘provocative’ and an ‘interference’ in Somaliland sovereignty and established self-governance.
“The Government of the Republic of Somaliland condemns the SRSG’sstatement as both a provocative interference in Somaliland’ssovereign self-governance, as well as a demonstration of disrespect toward the country’s democratic process and progress to date,” the government statement added.
The statement also pointed out that the SRSG’s repeated violations would neither help Somalia nor support the ongoing dialogue process between the two erstwhile, ill-matched political Somali entities: the Republic of Somaliland and Federal Somalia.
“Such a politicisation of the SRSG’sinterventions will only hurt the prospects for the normalisation of relations between Somaliland and Somalia, at a time when the two separate and independent countries are due to i·esume internationally-sponsored dialogue in order to clarify future relations,” the statement said, castigating the SRSG for impartiality and naked interference in Somalia/Somaliland politics.
The statement, again, urged international partners, including the UN office to stop pretending Somaliland was in any way linked t – let alone governed by – the Villa Somalia they so heavily and expensively guarded.
“The Government of Somaliland, therefore, calls on the international community refrain from any action or rhetoric that risks defaming Somaliland’s electoral integrity, independence and sovereignty, and instead shift its energies to\vards continuing to work with the Som.aliland government and people address the main developmental and security challenges facing the region,” the statement concluded.
This is not the first time Somaliland communicated its ire to the UN office and the international community – calls which, apparently, went unheeded.
It is not the first time the UN office has openly endorsed two Somalilands: one represented in Mogadishu’s Federal system by self-serving economic opportunists and the diplomatically unrecognized but very much the most potent democratic reality in the Horn of Africa – the Republic of Somaliland.
If, James Swan, thinks a few outcasts in Xamar represent Somaliland, then he is delusional. By the way, Xamar only collects our nacas & khasaaro. No fariid Somalilanders will betray their country & it's people. Keep drinking the "kool-aid" or in this case
"grapefruit-aid".. pic.twitter.com/dLInVU3n2a— Somaliland Rural Education Committee (@RuralCommittee) March 7, 2020
in 2017, the UNSOM office so rapturously supported the ‘election’ of Somaliland MPs in a room few individuals were herded into at Halane compound while dealing with the other Somaliland on another level which relegated it to a mere ‘state’ that was neither here nor there.
Calls for concrete action against Mr Swan are gathering momentum among the public. Sample Tweets below demonstrate the depth of that feeling.
MFA Somaliland's condemnation to James Swan, will not bring results. Somaliland's foreign ministry needs to take concrete steps by expelling James Swan, UNSOM and demanding the UN to nominate a special representative assigned to the Republic of #Somaliland. @somalilandmfa
— Somaliland Global (@Somaliland26jun) March 7, 2020
INACTION on part of consecutive #Somaliland governments has put us in a bizarre situation:
– Our international standing among other sovereign nations continues to rise… BUT..
– International orgs. and NGOs continue to belittle and insult SL with seemingly no repercussions.
— bhlub (@thebhlub) March 7, 2020
https://twitter.com/YahyaYayoHassan/status/1236430335094775812?s=20
