By Dalmar Kaahin
In early 2005, as soon as Abdullahi Yussuf wasparachuted into the presidential seat in Baidabo,Somalia, defeating the Islamic Court Union ICU andwarlords in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, seemedto be in his priority. However, the Mogadishu battlewas just a smokescreen to hide his real motive. Theultimate fight! From the get go, a showdown betweenthe Transitional “Federal” Government of Somalia TFGand Somaliland seemed inevitable. And no sooner hasMr. Yussuf barely quelled his opponents in Mogadishu,of course while he hid behind the Ethiopian tanks,than he has daringly attempted to expand his authorityinto Somaliland territory. No time wasted! But who isgoing to fight for him this time?
Recently, Mr. Yussuf not only opened an immigrationoffice which would soon issue Somali passports andtraveling documents to travelers, in Laasannod (theprovincial capital of the disputed Sool region, inSomaliland), but he also sent thousands of the TFGtroops stationed in central Somalia to Sool in orderto test Somaliland’s strength. As a result, althoughrarely reported by the media, a showdown betweenSomaliland and the TFG troops has been looming on thehorizon for past few months. So as the battle fieldsgrow so are the minefields. Thousands of troops fromboth sides with their deadly weapons flooded theregion. An interview with widhwidhonline radio (apro-TFG radio), a Puntland frontline commander evenconfirmed the TFG forces have been fighting alongPuntland’s in Sool region.
The commander states, “TheDarawhish (Puntland militias) and the TFG forces arebattling against Somaliland troops.” Also, accordingto radiowidhwidh, “Heavily armed TFG forces from thecentral regions of Somalia have been pouring into thebattle fields in Sool and fighting against Somalilandtroops.” Furthermore, wardheernews website alsoreported the influx of the TFG troops pouring intoSool region. Additionally, a Puntland website reports,“The fight between Somaliland and Puntland troops hasbeen the heaviest yet.” What is going on? If Puntlandforces were supposedly spread throughout SouthernSomalia to protect Mr.Yussuf—a former warlord ofPuntland and now the president wannabe of Somalia—thenthe mind-boggling question is: where did these new andheavily armed troops come from?
During the Mogadishu massacre in which over 2000citizens were slaughtered by the brutal Ethiopiantroops, Gen. Adde Musse, the current president ofPuntland, signed an agreement with Mr. Yussuf in thebattered capital. And despite the chaos and masscivilian killings in the city, for Abdullahi Yussufand for Gen. Adde Musse (cousins of shame) it wasbusiness as usual. Nothing to worry about! In thisagreement, the entire Puntland forces would operateunder the TFG’s scrutiny, but if need be these forceswould be deployed to the battle fields in the disputedregions of Sool and Eastern Sanag.
So, in April, 2007 when Somaliland and Puntland forceswere locked into a deadly battle for control ofDhahar, a small town in Eastern Sanag region, thePrime Minster of Somalia, Mr. Geedi, quickly flew toBossaso, the capital of Puntland, and not onlyexpressed his unequivocal support for Puntland butalso, as reinforcement, he deployed a fresh batch ofthe TFG troops from Mogadishu to Puntland. And onceagain, in light of Sool crisis, the TFG deployedthousands of heavily armed forces to anotherprone-conflict area—Laasanod, the provincial capitalof Sool. So in essence, the TFG and Puntland forcesare one and the same. These forces are led by Mr.Yussuf who, in the first place, invaded Sool region in2003, and Gen. Adde Musse who is now left to carry thelegacy of Mr. Yussuf. Surely enough, these forcesreceived much needed training and weapons, so war willinevitably engulf the region soon.
Much of the training provided for Puntland militiasdisguised as the new Somali National Army SNA wasbased on clan loyalty. In the heat of battle and clanpolitics loyalty is crucial, so is the U.S. support.Since the ill-conceived U.S. sponsored plan to liftthe UN arms embargo imposed on Somalia succeeded, thenew SNA (predominantly former Puntland militias)received lots of weapons from Ethiopia, Yemen andother players. Having much needed logistics, i.e.superior military machines and the backing ofInternational funding, these heavily equipped butbarley disciplined and remotely motivated SNA or TFGforces finally gained some confidence to attackSomaliland forces which they previously considered aformidable army.
On the other hand, Somaliland has had its arms tiedbehind its back. The arms embargo is still imposed onit, however; it luckily lost few soldiers for the past17 years, and its field commanders are mainly fromformer SNA forces of during Gen. Siad Barre’s era. (Bythe way, the rest of the former SNA commanders inMogadishu were assassinated one by one before theinvasion of Ethiopia. No wonders there!) Without adoubt, the Somaliland Army is highly disciplined andwell trained. Not to mention, the army maintains ahigh moral standards consistently. But the unfair armsembargo against Somaliland as well as the absence ofmillions of dollars from the so-called Internationalcommunity would compel the troops to fight their handstied behind their back. Nonetheless, make nomistake—as history attests, they would pose to be aformidable army. Now another question comes to mind:who instigated the latest fight in Sool?
Though the latest flare-up in Sool was the result oftwo opposing local militias from Sool region asreported by the BBC, nonetheless, Puntland and TFGregimes sought this conflict as an opportunity todistort the reality on the ground and to testSomaliland’s defense capability. As part of Mr. Yussufand Gen. Adde Musse’s grand strategy, while theEthiopian forces quell the upraising against the TFGand the occupation itself, the TFG forces wouldcontinue provoking Somaliland, at the same time theterrorist card would be played exhaustively to drawthe attention of gullible Americans.
Shamelessly, the TFG and Puntland have over-played theterrorist card. (Surely, by now George Bush is saying,“Hell with your terrorist crap, it never works”).During the battled between Somaliland and Puntlandforces, in Dhahar, Eastren Sanag, Mr. Geedi, while inBosaso, accused Somaliland of harboring terrorists andattacking Puntland. He states, “The conflict inDhahar is the work of the terrorists—the Islamic CourtUnion and Somaliland forces who want to destabilizePuntland and the TFG.” As part of his rescue efforts,Mr. Geedi is once again in Puntland to prop up supportfor the war in Sool region where he is expected tospit out nails and label Somaliland as a safe heavenfor terrorists. Maybe out of either pure frustrationor sheer ignorance, Mr. Geedi—a die-hard Ethiopianstooge—reflexively tantamount everything, includingbird droppings, to an act of terrorism.
Also, in these latest fights, Puntland quickly accusedthe Somali Liberation group—whom both the TFG and thePuntland authorities consider a terrorist group—formedin Eritrea and Somaliland of attacking Sool region.Ever wonder if the TFG—Puntland quisling leaders wouldgive up their terrorist crap? It is all about:terrorists! terrorists! terrorists! But no vision!Sadly enough, with their spectacular belly-dances theyshamelessly continue entertaining the U.S. andvoluntarily keep recycling its regurgitatedvomit-worthy propaganda of war on ghost terrorists.
Finally, despite enjoying the International backing,the TFG is obviously committing suicide by attackingSomaliland. But Hargaisa (Somaliland capital) won’tgive up an inch of its territory, nor will it budge onits quest for International recognition.
Paradoxically, in its efforts to promote democracy andto fight against terrorism, the Internationalcommunity inadvertently continues to destabilizeSomaliland not only for withholding its recognitionbut also by providing arms and resources to the TFG.
Clearly, the majority of the TFG forces are formerPuntland militias because Gen. Adde himself singed anagreement, which placed the entire Puntland militiasunder the TFG’s command, with Mr. Yussuf. Now thesecombined forces (former Puntland militias and TFG’snon-Puntland forces) are used as a bulwark againstSomaliland forces. So, it does not require a rocketscientist to figure out the thousands of heavily armedforces from the central region of Somalia that havebeen pouring into Sool region, as reported by varioussources, belong to the TFG.
Undoubtedly, the presenceof the TFG troops in Sool and opening an immigrationoffice in Laasanod confirms the TFG ultimategoal—creating chaos in Somaliland.
Interestingly enough, no immigration offices has beenopened in Bossaso or in Garowe (major Putland cities),but opening one in the heart of a conflict-prone arealike Laasanod seemed more appealing to the TFG. Thatis, provoking and destabilizing Somaliland is in theTFG’s top priority list.
As for Mr. Geedi’s poorly rehearsed terrorismpropaganda, from the start, he voluntarily jumped onthe bandwagon of war on imagined “terrorists” (but heevidently landed on the wrong side) and desperatelyattempted to ingratiate with the U.S. He constantlyscreams so loud and shrill—the typical crying wolf.But his pathetic transparent lies and shamelessfear-mongering tactics now made him more of a nuisancethan an alliance.
