I am very curious about this statement.
You mind listing the the things that he said that were false and can easily be debunked? It’s a pretty long article and since “most” of what he said could easily be debunked I’m sure you could shoot off at least 5 things.
So you quoted me without even reading his article? Sure here are few.
1- That there are five clans in the former British territory and only one of them, and not all of its members at that, are supportive of the secession from Somalia. It occupies less than 20 percent of the territory.
2- That the other four clans, occupying more than 80 percent of the territory, and who do not call themselves “Somalilanders” but citizens of Somalia, are unionists and oppose the secession.
3- That any claim as to who is the majority and who is the minority in the area, as Meservey has indulged in, is presumptuous since no official census of the clans have ever been made,
That the five clans that fell under British conquest are not exclusive to that area but are part of their fellow clans in southern Somalia (former Italian Somaliland), Ogaden region and Djibouti.
That each of the five clans, exercising its inalienable right, freely chose to join the union with Italian Somaliland.
4- As such, no clan was forced to be part of the union just as none can be forced to be part of the secession as the one clan enclave calling itself Somalilanders is, forcing the secession on the other four unionist clans.
5- Even the ruling clan is not monolithic about the secession. An inter-clan civil war erupted in the heart of the enclave in 1993/94 when one of the clans supported the former Somaliland president Abdirahman Ahmed Ali who was an avowed unionist.
ike a lot of façades put-up in the enclave, elections are not held as a prerequisite of democracy but as a show to win favourable international impression to win recognition. And on the whole they have been successful. A good convert is Mr. Meservey.
6- Once the facades are out of the way, the reality is something completely different. A more fitting analogy to the enclave would be the white minority-ruled former Rhodesia. Just as all power was monopolized by the whites, so allp0wer is exclusive to the clan. The three political parties permitted in Somaliland are in the hands of the ruling clan. No other party is allowed to compete with them which closes the doors on other clans and regions. The clan’s control permeates also both houses of Parliament, the civil service, the police and the armed forces.
7- Access to justice and non-discriminatory application of the law underpin the rule of law. Yet those who do not have the means to defend themselves, or not connected to those who wield power, or belong to minority clans, are likely to be the victims of the abuse of power.. Extra-judicial killings, common in occupied Lascanod, the capital of Sool region, are used as a tool to suppress the rising opposition to the occupation and secession.
Th United Nations Independent Expert on the human rights situation in Somalia has been following some of these cases which speaks for itself.
8- And within northern Somalia (Somaliland), the government has been until now restrained and relying on peaceful means to deal with the secession. It would now be justified to act more robustly and, as a minimum, support the unionist regions to free themselves from the secessionist occupation. A one-clan enclave without the rest of the northern unionist regions would be unsustainable.
Many within the enclave are already deserting the secession and coming back to the fold, feeling they are better off being part of the Somali nation than belonging to a renegade clan enclave. Many more are likely to follow them when they see the unionist regions free and part of Somalia. Contrary to what Mr. Meservey said about the recognition of Somaliland sounding the death knell to Somali irredentism, the USA action could inadvertently bring about Greater Somalia by destabilizing its own allies holding on to Somali territories.
This is 8 points full of distorted facts, lies and half truths. In the case of 7 & 8 he actually contradicts what he said earlier about human rights and then goes on a ramble on greater Somalia. Do you see how delusional he is threatening America with greater Somalia if they recognize Somaliland?
He's not alright in the head.
Anyway be my guest and choose any of the 8 points above you want me to debunk. The facts are rather clear both in past & present.
