Debunking “Democracy” In Somaliland
Modern democracy has been called the “rule by the people, for the people” and, as it is widely accepted, implies freedoms and rights for the people to assemble, participate, speak and choose their own leaders.
This system involves consent of the governed, rights and freedoms protected by law and equality before the law. It also requires state institutions, accountability and security that safeguard and facilitate those rights and freedoms.
For western countries, democracy elevated to the rank of sacred pedestal has become another tool to put pressure on African countries and keep them in perpetual dependence as long as it fulfills their interests.
In most African nations, and particularly in disarticulated Somalia, democracy is conflated with elections, multiparty system or as a sign of political maturity. Myths about democracy abound everywhere, however.
Understanding Somaliland
In northern Somali regions, or Somaliland, which organized early after the central government collapse in 1991, there is a persistent belief that people from the North have inherent democratic values which doesn’t exist in the South (from Bari to Lower Jubba).
A colonial propagandist once called it “pastoral democracy” to put this twin deficit clan based system in equal footing with the western model of good governance and open society. Of course, this myth doesn’t do justice to the truth about what Somali culture whether in Borama, Burao, Bosaso, Beledweyn or Barawe.
The Somali Xeer-based system was used for centuries to manage people and resources until the colonial system relegated it to an inferior level, thus destabilizing the harmony that existed in the region.
When former president Mohamed Siyad Barre fled the country in turmoil in January 1991 and the central government collapsed, the Somali National Movement (SNM) rebel militia made Hargeisa the political centre of the newly secessionist northern regions.
After the self-proclamation of the “Republic of Somaliland” whose territory is supposed to encompass the former “British Somaliland” area, the “central clan”, a term used to designate the clan where the whole system revolves, namely the Isaq clan, made sure a semblance of agreement is obtained from other clans residing in that region.
Out of the five northern Somali regions (Sool, Sanaag, Togdheer, Waqooyi Galbeed and Awdal), the “central clan” are the majority in two regions (Togdheer and Northwest) which are located in the middle of the northern regions map.
Following the power vacuum left by the fall of the central government and their access to abandoned arms depots, SNM militiamen carried out a murderous chain of massacres against clans that did not support their rebellion.
To stop the cycle of reprisals and the continuation of violence, the SNM called on all other clans to strike a deal and meet in Burao in May 1991 where, unexpectedly, the secession of the northern regions was announced.
Clan supremacy-based democracy
The significance of the centrality and dominance of the “Central clan” is not more about the number of its population (no census has ever been done or planned) or their location but has more to do with its political organization which stems from its militancy against the Barre regime.
The primacy of the “central clan” transcended successive Somaliland presidents and was protected by the Hargeisa elite. The system was initiated by the SNM and Mohamed Ibrahim Igal, the first Somaliland president, who had a rocky relationship with militant SNM, didn’t oppose it, as himself was a privileged member of that clan.
His vice-president and successor, Dahir Rayale Kahin, who came from Awdal, benefitted from tensions within the Central clan to cling to power and did not touch the system he inherited. He was finally ousted by the SNM old guard once they found common ground.
If we compare to other “democratic” societies, Somaliland would be closely related to other exclusionary democracies like Israel, South Africa under Apartheid and even the Ancient Greece.
The exclusivist ideology of the SNM that President Igal wanted to dilute resurfaced more militant than ever during the campaign to remove Kahin from the presidency.
We could compare it to the hateful campaign the Union of Presidential Candidates unleashed on President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo the last few months.
Among the terms used against President Kahin was he was “foreign” to the Hargeisa region, he was from a “lesser caste”, he didn’t participate in the “jihad” against Siyad Barre, he was a “dictator” like his former boss in reference of his position as the head of the National Security Service (NSS) in the Barre regime. Hateful rhetoric and the use of the media as a propaganda machine were common to remove him.
Somaliland clan-supremacy democracy is not the kind of democratic system that will bring Somalis together but rather a step for the next civil war. The monopoly of the “central clan” in Hargeisa, as in the duopoly in the federal, will only weaken the Somali nation and corrupt those who feel entitled to lead the general population.
Somaliland political parties
In 2010, when the SNM old guard, united under the Kulmiye party led by Ahmed Silanyo, unseated president Kahin, the first action the new president did was to undermine Kahin’s UDUB party until he replaced it by the Wadani party to Hargeisa’s jubilation.
UDUB party’s appeal to politicians from diverse backgrounds and especially Rayale Kahin influence in Hargeisa politics were unbearable to Silanyo and his Kulmiye party. He conceived the idea of temporarily opening the closed multiparty system to pluck UDUB of its promising leaders who formed their own parties for the 2011 municipal elections.
Some will say democracy is about multiparty system. In Somaliland, only three political parties, hailing from the same dominant clan, are allowed. Numerous demands and protests to allow other parties to register and stand for election have fallen on deaf ears.
Serious or not, the current president, Musa Bihi, reportedly considered letting other parties run for the next elections, but the other two political parties refused. Imagine that.
The difference of the three official parties is more on the form than on the substance but also more on sub-clans’ politics and access to more cash for their corrupt leaders. All candidates MUST be registered under either of these parties, whether or not they agree with their platform as no independent candidate is allowed.
It is a cruel fate to see candidates from Awdal, Sol and Sanag running for Faysal Ali Warabe’s party known to regularly badmouth their communities.