As the party political season gets underway in Somaliland, and everyone is gearing up for the presidential and parliamentary elections, we hear derisive comments from the un-elected leader in Somalia, Hassan Sheikh, or as we like to call him , Hassan “Riyoole”, (Hassan “the dreamer”)
At a recent ceremony to inaugurate another “federal entity” in Somalia, this one with cumbersome name HirShabelle, in Jowhar. Hassan,slowly awoke from his slumber and announced, with a straight face, that the “regions of the north are missing from the federal program”.
There was a time the majority of Somalilanders would get hot under the collar with regard to such comments, but, not these day. Because we are so focused in the marching the nation forward, such futile comments are like the buzzing of the fly, annoying, irksome, irrelevant and swiftly dealt with.
The gauge its irrelevance, the dollar mercenaries huddling in Mogadishu who purport to represent Somaliland have realized the chasm between what was and the reality on the ground. It is not possible to turn back time, and there is no future in living in the past.
Somaliland and Somalia are now two neighboring nations.
Withe each passing year Somaliland’s sovereignty takes root. After nearly three decades, the idea of a rekindling the failed union is a mirage. And a foolish one at that.
There is no doubt that the people of Somaliland wish their Somali brothers and sisters across the Horn of Africe, peace and prosperity, and there will always be cultural, economic and social ties, but there will never be political ties.
As for those who prefer to stick their head in the sand, much like the ostrich and Hassan “Riyoole”, eventually the tides of history will blow them over.
Allaa Mahad Leh
