Northern Somali Unionist Movement (NSUM)NSUM PRESS RELEASE1 februari 2011Somaliland Militia unleash new aggression in Buuhoodle Region
Spawned by the terrorist organisation inappropriately called the Somali National Movement (SNM), the one-clan secessionist entity calling itself Somaliland has remained true to its genesis,Ever since they laid their hands on the weapons left behind by the disintegrated Somali national army after the collapse of the Somali State in 1991.
Waging war or unleashing terror against unionist clans in the north (former British Somaliland) has become their hallmark, chasing the mirage of recognition, no means to achieve it has been excluded thus, and their first target and victim was the western Awdal region. And once this area was brought by force under their hegemony, it was the turn of the regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn (SSC)- regions that are technically part of Puntland but betrayed by its administration, letting Somaliland’s militia capture Lascanod, the regional capital, in October 2007.
The incalculable human, social and economic disaster they caused continues to linger, the struggle between the SSC resistance to the occupation and to the forced secession and the militia of the occupying secessionist entity has entered a new and dangerous turn since Ahmed Mohamed
Mohamoud (Siilaanyo) was elected “president” of the enclave in July 2010 Hitherto, the conflict did not affect the peaceful coexistence among the SSC clans and neighboring clans hailing from the secessionist heartland,
All that unfortunately has changed to the detriment of the ordinary people on the
Both sides of the clan and regional divide.
What Siilaanyo has brought, apart from jumpstarting the quest for recognition, was an explicit new
policy in which his clan is used as auxiliary forces in support of their militia. Their use is not only to
Fight alongside their militia against the SSC resistance but also to attack the non-combatant SSC
Nomads. Ethnic-cleansing, occupying new territory and weakening the support to the resistance are the
Driving forces behind Siilaanyo’s new strategy to bring the SSC to heal. This strategy is doomed to
failure and all it can achieve is to poison the long enduring peace among clans. It is easy to start clan
conflict as Somali history attests to, but it is difficult to end it once the genie of tit-for-tat clan vendetta
is out of the bottle. That is the heritage that Siilaanyo in his old age will bequeath these long suffering
people.
In the latest assault on the defenders of Buuhoodle, Somaliland’s militia and supporting clan auxiliaries
Have kidnapped 18 SSC nomads and taken them to Burco as “prisoners”. If that was not a war crime,
they went further and paraded them on the local television in contravention of the Geneva Convention.
Sadly, this is only one episode in this unraveling tragedy in which ordinary people on both sides will be
the main victims. For the defenders of SSC, no price is high enough to defend their land and their
Inalienable right to remain part of Somalia. For the aggressors, they will gain nothing but hate and the
Loss of the invaluable peace they hitherto enjoyed.
It therefore behaves the international community, and in particular those who wield leverage over the Secessionists, to counsel them to end their secession for the benefit of all Somalia, north and south, but
as a minimum to get out of the SSC regions in which they have no right to occupy. The SSC regions and
Northern Somali Unionist Movement (NSUM) is a grass roots Somali organization whose members and supporters hail from Sool, Sanaag and Cayn
regions in the Northern regions of Somalia(formerly British Somaliland) and whose clan in these regions do not identify with the one -clan-driven
secession calling themselves” Somaliland”. NSUM stands for the promotion of peace and unity among the long-suffering people of Somalia.
NSUM_infoDesk
Contact: www.n-sum.org
People are part of Somalia and it is the responsibility of the TFG to speak up and condemn this
Aggression against its territory and its people by the secessionists, It may not have the force to face the
Secessionists but it should mobilize international support to minimize their damage until such time as a
Future strong Somali government can deal with this one- clan’s secession once and for all.
NSUM Executive Committee