The United States Department of State’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) in an attempt to applaud the successful containment of cheetah trafficking in the Republic of Somaliland wrongly labelled the country as ‘Somalia’.
The OES in the comment it made on Twitter showed a gaping absence of knowledge distinguishing between the two neighbourly countries as it also could not locate where the cheetah conservation activities were happening.
“We applaud the recent conviction of four cheetah traffickers in Hargeisa. This important milestone in Somalia helps combat cheetah trafficking from the Horn of Africa to the Middle East. We must protect this vulnerable species and End Wildlife Trafficking,” the OES said in its Tweet.
We applaud the recent conviction of four cheetah traffickers in Hargeisa. This important milestone in #Somalia helps combat cheetah trafficking from the Horn of Africa to the Middle East. We must protect this vulnerable species and #EndWildlifeTrafficking. pic.twitter.com/w5GWVD0ZTK
— U.S. Department of State | Science Diplomacy USA (@SciDiplomacyUSA) February 4, 2021
in Response to the geographical blunder, the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) was quick to point who of the Somali Somali states it worked with.
The CCF walked the Department of State through a short, spunky lesson in diplomacy.
“The Republic of Somaliland is a separate legal jurisdiction. The info we regularly share about the effort to combat IWT is attributable to the Somaliland government and its – military, coast guard, police, and wildlife officers,” it told the US OES.
The Republic of Somaliland is a separate legal jurisdiction. The info we regularly share about the effort to combat IWT is attributable to the Somaliland government and its – military, coast guard, police, and wildlife officers. #Somaliland #EndWildlifeTrafficking @MoERD-JSL https://t.co/2avciZMpeM
— CCF Cheetah (@CCFCheetah) February 7, 2021
Since the CCF is a non-governmental organization, it had every right to rap the United States on the knuckle for the lack of political, geographical suavity.
The Republic of Somaliland was dumped under a Somalia hegemony and domination for 30 years in an ill-fated union which ended in January 1991. For the next 30 years, it succeeded to raise a formidable democracy from the shambles of a war of attrition in the hands of a Somalia-dominated military machine which left its cities in ashes.
Somalia, in contrast, is still fumbling to hold even its first 1Person-1Vote to Somaliland’s six which saw three presidents peacefully changing places in a civilized manner within 14 years.
The Somaliland Environment and Pastoral Development ministry, technically supported by the Namibia-based CCF, had successfully foiled the traffic of cheetah cubs which it nursed back to a stage where they could be let back into the wild.
Thanks to a collaboration between the CCF and the ministry reserve parks have been designated which are expected to become fully bloomed national parks for wildlife conservation.
