Markale Midnimo by Khalid Hassan Yusuf

01:54 AM April, 07 2020

Sudanese Online
خالد حسن يوسف-الصومال
My Library
Short URL


A statement was issued carrying the idea of ​​restoring Somali unity, by a group of intellectuals who are known to support the separation project, which took the name of the Somaliland Republic and announced on May 18, 1991, as it booed the separatist component.
Why did that call get strong rejection؟
Which was expressed according to various images and through many channels of expression, the most momentum of social media.
On the other hand, why did the invitation statement find great welcome by the broad trend of Somalis؟

There is no doubt that both parties have their political justifications, which are known and flow in the context of the controversy that has been present in public circles for the last three decades, where there are those who believe that the unity of the State of Somalia represents a political loss to him, and another that he sees as a necessary necessity.
What are the rules for both teams؟
The separatist team is based on the Al-Ishaq tribe, whose movement was known as the Somali National Movement, and announced the separation.

Not to mention that a large stream of residents in the North who wanted to declare secession represent them without returning to them despite their prior refusal to secede, and in turn, the "unity again" statement was commissioned to be spoken on behalf of them and similar to the secession movement which I imposed on them on May 18, 1991, and the result is Dedicating the representation of a tribal component to the people of northern Somalia, in light of the separation and in the event of unity, and apart from returning to the rest of the partners, one of whom was not taken to the Somali program on the BBC or participated even remotely.

Mohamed Basha Haji Hassan, spokesman for the statement group, stated in his interview with the BBC on March 9, 2020, "Those who work with him to embody the idea include all of Somalia, as he indicated their secret presence in the cities of Hargeisa, Burao and other cities, indicating that they avoided the suppression of the Hargeisa administration (1) While he declared that view in the absence of personalities from outside the separatist component, they could share the idea and the program, especially since the likes of these people have a greater degree of freedom and movement.

What is new and exciting that accompanies that call؟ Which took the same slogan Markale Midnimo, which corresponds to "unity again", the statement was issued by a group of intellectuals who were known to support the separation, not to mention that they belonged to the tribes of the owner of the project, when their statement received great resonance and different responses, and that group justified that from The most important issues that prompted her to adopt this political conviction, "the deterioration of the Somali reality during the past 30 years, and the deterioration of the situation in both regions, in addition to the changes taking place in the Horn of Africa." (2)

The question is whether the justification of this educated group is credible or not؟
Of course, the mere declaration of secession itself was not democratic, as it was devoted by a political organization that decided the future of Somalia without referring to the broad stream of society, while the group of intellectuals referred to is part of a large segment of the Ishaqi component, who are known about the reality of the fluctuation of revolt Adhering to a separatist stance and other declarations in favor of the unity of Somalia, not only that, but some of them retreated from their stance in favor of unity due to their failure to achieve their political calculations while they were in Mogadishu, and back again to support secession.

The statement issued by them came after three decades of the absence of democracy in the canton of secession, which witnesses a large number of negatives and failures present in turn at the Somali level, as the actual unity of the republic continued between the period 1961-1991, a period similar to the date of the proclamation of secession, until the present statement was issued, It results from this comparison that the destruction of separatists from the age of unity is matched by the destruction of the separation age.

Consequently, the mere talk about democracy, rights, and abuses committed against the pro-secession component has become discredited and content, especially in light of their practice of tyranny, confiscation of rights, and armed aggressions towards those who reject the option of secession and supporters together in northern Somalia and impose all of this, from During the use of surplus power inherited from the failed Somali state, which was dominated by the Ishaqi movement.

The announcement of the statement came very late, not to mention that it did not include the trend of the round table, but rather that it is merely a tactic case that falls within the framework of the talks that take place between the Somali government and the context of the exchange of roles in the secessionist circles, which were never actually absent from Somali political life, and to the extent that Its economy is still linked to the Somali government and all the requirements related to sovereignty, due to its lack of political recognition.

And implicitly, the group of intellectuals to whom the statement was attributed desires a confederation political unity, while this type of political contract was not present in the year of the 1960's, when two Somali regions were merged, they gained their freedom from Britain and Italy, and neither of them was then a state, This is what resulted in a merger unit of a central nature, which is inconsistent with the call of the unit of a confederate nature, which is pushed by the statement group, and the result is that what distinguishes it is merely a pre-eminence declaration that ends in federalism, and its purpose is to push the separatist canton of unity and the formula closest to the accounts both of them.

While the administration in Hargeisa does not like such positions, which it sees as constituting a factor for the dismantling of the Ishaqi House, and in light of an advanced stage of the entitlements to negotiate, push and pull with the Somali government, and as a precipitous measure that will stand as a stumbling block to the occurrence of a confederation unit that guarantees separatists the supremacy and more possession of wealth And political representation at the Somali level, if compatible with the Somali government.

The role of the “Unity Again” statement is to put pressure on the political group stationed in Hargeisa that ended up as heir to the Ishaqi movement, in the context of the internal political conflicts within the tribe itself, in light of the struggles of its elites, and it is not surprising that the invitation was announced by a group with social roots One, and did not even intend to merge or consult with the positions of the big current in northern Somalia, which refuses to secede.
Especially since the desired unity between the Somalis is not confined between two Somali regions that gained independence in 1960, insofar as those who wish to lead the "unity again" must address in their rhetoric and accounts the reality of faltering and division in the north on the one hand, and its counterpart in the south.

The irony is that all the sins that were brought to the central Somali state were practiced by the elites that it inherited, but what the latter committed is worse than what political regimes practiced, and of course there is no confidence in those elites or the attraction to their rhetoric, and this includes the group of "unity again" , Whose organization did not take into account the unitary context, and the orientation of the relevant social and political rules, in order to formulate a common vision, and it could profoundly affect the separatist current, but these moves will be in the context of moving stagnant water and the emergence of a more feasible and realistic political discourse, and it was desirable to announce The statement from M. Soft Somali instead of announcing in London and across the way British media.

Khalid Hassan Yusuf

Arabic Forum