I feel at home finally im in Australia back to my second favourite country after the motherland Somaliland.
I missed mysomali and the crew here, i missed my Lakemba and my Bondi beach. I missed alot but i seen alot as well. I went to Malaysia it was off the hook then Dubai, i was to visit UK but we changed our mind about that so instead i went to France. It was amazing experience. Now back to my Somaliland.
Recently Somaliland registered a new political party despite the constitution only allowing three so called parties, but many have argued that its one party with three shirts, therefore people must know the new party called Qaran party.
I love them and while surfing the new hadhwanaag news, i discovered their site (www.qaransomaliland.com) and im a member now. Yes im true Qaran member. Its easy to join Qaran, all you have to show them is love for somaliland, and some moral and eductional values, which i posses as many of you might not believe but im getting my bachelor degree end of this year. Keep your prayers coming adeero yal iyo inadeeroyal.
Now let me introduce Qaran to you, what they are, what they stand for and what they do. The sad thing is the leaders of Qaran were recently imprisoned by the riyale regime and this is unacceptable and violets the Somaliland constitution and international laws.
East Africa Policy Institute wrote:
There is a vigorous argument taking place in Hargeisa about the announcement of a new political association (QARAN) headed by veteran Somaliland politicians like Dr. Mohamed Abdi Gabose (former Interior Minister) and Mohamed Hashi Elmi (former Minister of Industry and Commerce) and Mr. Jamal Aideed. The big question mark is centered on the legality of establishing any new political association intending to become a political party when the Somaliland constitution allows the existence of only three national parties.
The government is vehemently opposed to this new development and points out to an article 9 in the Somaliland constitution as supportive evidence for its argument.
Article 9: (Political System) clearly states that: “The number of political parties in the Republic of Somaliland shall not exceed three”.
The artificial limit on the number of political parties have been chosen to avoid the experience of the early 1960s Somali Republic when a considerable number of political parties based on clan affiliations contested elections and created chaos, specially during and after the 1969 general elections. Those who oppose the formation of this new political association point to this article to bolster their argument and assert their conviction that the matter is clearly decided since the number of allowed parties has been enshrined in the constitution, and the country has already chosen said parties.
Proponents and supporters of Qaran on the other hand insist that the constitution is on their side and point out that Articles 22 and 23/3:
1) “Every citizen shall have the right to participate in the political, economic, social and cultural affairs in accordance with the laws and the Constitution”. 2)”Every citizen who fulfils the requirements of the law shall have the right to be elected and to vote”. Article 23/3 states “ Every citizen shall have the right, in accordance with the law, to form political, educational, cultural, social and professional associations”. Articles 22 and 23 of part three in chapter one of the Constitution entitled: “The rights of the individual, fundamental freedoms and the duties of the citizen”.
This is important because along with democracy and the establishment of multiparty system in the country (article 9/1), the fundamental rights and personal freedom of the individual are the only articles in the constitution that cannot be amended by any branch of the government. This is noted on article 127 of the Constitution (the limits of amendments or corrections of the Constitution) which clearly states:
No proposal to amend or correct the constitution shall be made if it includes a provision which is in conflict with:- (c) Democracy and plurality of political parties. (d) The fundamental rights and personal freedom of a citizen“. Furthermore, article 21 emphasizes the implementation of the provisions present in all the fundamental rights granted to citizens such as the ones in article 22 and 23. It should also be interpreted in accordance to the international conventions which relates to such rights, and international covenant on civil and political rights.
TO CONTINUE THIS ARTICLE visit QaranSomaliland.com
Video at the bottom is the chairman of QaranParty, Dr Gabose.
In conclusion, the people of Somaliland have achieved alot but they also have alot of challenges ahead as the nation slowly becomes one of the most democratic and peaceful nations in Africa.
Today there is a bitter argument and instead of pointing to the guns, everyone has got out their own copy of the Constitution. Lawyers have been hired rather then warlords, thats what makes Somaliland so different from the rest in a troubled place of Africa. And today they will solve their differences in peaceful manner but the world and every somalilander should condomn the detention of political leaders without any charges laid on them.
They are not murders they simply created a party and should anyone go to prison for that I thought prisons are for criminals not people with different ideologies and thoughts.
The Social Contract also keeps people from being totally alienated and affords them better protection. If a large group of people enter a Social Contract, they can more easily defend themselves against their enemies, and criminals who live in societies with no Social Contract. Thus in spite of giving up some individual rights for the Social Contract, they have not lost any more freedom, because all within the society have surrendered their rights freely and equally, and suffer the same inequality. In other words, all things being equal, man is still free, and maintains autonomy. Everyone must surrender his or her rights for the social contract to work. If one person gives up their rights and another does not, the person who does not has power over the other person and there is no contract. However, it is to a person benefit to agree to the social contract, because by giving up the freedom of Natural Liberty an individual gains Civil Liberty. Natural Liberty is the freedom man maintains in the State of Nature. Civil Liberty is freedom you have in society, freedom gained from the social contract. Rousseau argues in chapter eight of the Social Contract, What man loses by the social contract is his natural liberty and an unlimited right to everything he tries to get and succeeds in getting; what he gains is civil liberty and the proprietorship of all he possesses. If we are to avoid mistake in weighing one against the other, we must clearly distinguish natural liberty, from civil liberty. . . (Rousseau, P.196) Simone de Beauvoir is obviously trying to address the weakest point of Sartre's philosophical exposition of existentialism -- what sort of value system arises from the existential outlook? De Beauvoir wants to show how existential assumptions actually do lead to an ethics of a non-classical sort. In speaking of the freedom of men from the deterministic bounds of society, religion, or the material world de Beauvoir states: "[I]t appears to us that by turning toward this freedom we are going to discover a principle of action whose range will be universal (23)." This seems to be an important point as it addresses directly the accusation that the very "existential freedom" of man is a destructive and horrific isolation of each individual into self-justifying random action. Later de Beauvoir states that it is actually freedom itself which is this universal. "At the same time that [freedom] requires the realization of concrete ends, of particular projects, it requires itself universally (24)." She then continues to set up an equality between being free and being moral. Even considering the starting point of ambiguity, how can freedom in terms of consciousness become the basis for any morality? So whatever you do is moral as long as you choose to do it?
By the "Social Contract", people set up the government and give it power to protect their own rights.
A good government should be divided into 3 branches: executive, legislature and judiciary.
King's power comes from people, not by God. The government represents the "general will" of people. The will of the people of Somaliland is to persue their own dreams.
Locke believed that the relationship between the state and its citizens took the form of a 'contract,' whereby the governed agreed to surrender certain freedoms they enjoyed under the state of nature in exchange for the order and protection provided by a state, exercised according to the rule of law. However, if the state oversteps its limits and begins to exercise arbitrary power, it forfeits its 'side' of the contract and thus, the contract becomes void; the citizens not only have the right to overthrow the state, but are indeed morally compelled to revolt and replace it. A secondary view on Locke's position of revolution argues that Locke requires that the legislative power must be dissolved, not by the actions of the common people, which effectively puts people back into the state of nature. This view would not suggest that people have the right to revolt, but rather to resist an arbitrary power to dissolve itself in order to make way for a new political structure.
Once again defines why self-determination and the right to define our own destiny is Somaliland's best interest. Somaliland is a Social Contract.
Somaliland (Somali: Soomaaliland) is a de facto independentrepublic located in the Horn of Africa within the internationally recognized borders of Somalia. On May 18, 1991, the people of Somaliland declared independence from Somalia. However, it was not recognized by any other country or international organization. The Republic of Somaliland consists of six administrative regions with a governor as the highest ranking leader of each region. The area encompasses all the former British Somaliland protectorate, an area of about 137,600 square kilometers (53,128 sq mi), which was briefly an independent country for five days in 1960. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the south and west, Djibouti in the northwest, the Gulf of Aden in the north, and the autonomous region Puntland in Somalia in the east. The capital of Somaliland is Hargeisa.
HISTORY:
The origins of the Somalis and their time of entry into present-day Somaliland have been debated, with many Somalis claiming descent from Arab patriarchs who settled on the coast 1,000 years ago, although genetics do not bear this out and show Somalis to be for the most part native to the Horn of Africa. By the 12th century, the ancestors of some of the clan families were already established in their present territories, while others moved southward through the 19th century. The borders of Somalia were set at the end of the 19th century and a great number of Somalis were left out by the border placement, leaving them in eastern Ethiopia and northern Kenya.
Prehistoric Somaliland
One of the great masterpieces the ancient civilization that inhabited present-day Somaliland produced is thought to be the most significant Neolithic cave paintings in the Horn of Africa and the African continent in general - the Laas Geel rock paintings. These cave paintings are located in a site outside the capital Hargeisa. These paintings were untouched and intact for nearly 10,000 years until they were discovered recently. The paintings show these indigenous people worshipping cattle. There are also paintings of giraffes, domesticated canines and wild antelopes. The paintings show the cows wearing ceremonial robes while next to them are some of these people prostrating themselves in front of the cattle. The caves were discovered by a French archaeological team during November and December 2002. The Laas Geel cave paintings have become a major tourist attraction and a national treasure.
Axumite Somaliland
The Kingdom of Axum encompassed modern day northern Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen and western Somaliland from about the 3rd century to the 6th century or 7th century AD. Unfortunately little is known about its impact and cultural significance on Somaliland, and no archaeological survey has been done in the Awdal and Wooqoyi Galbeed regions which could prove if there were traders and settlers in the western regions of Somaliland.
Early Islamic states in Western Somaliland
With the introduction of Islam in the 10th century in what are now the Afar-inhabited parts of Eritrea and Djibouti, the region began to assume a political character independent of Ethiopia. Three Islamic sultanates were founded in and around the area named Shewa (a Semitic-speaking sultanate in eastern Ethiopia, modern Shewa province and ruled by the Mahzumi dynasty), Ifat (another Semitic-speaking[1] sultanate located in eastern Ethiopia in what is now eastern Shewa) and Adal and Mora (a vassal sultanate of Ifat by 1288, centered around Dakkar and later Harar, with Zeila as its main port and second city, in eastern Ethiopia and in Somaliland's Saaxil and Woqooyi Galbeed regions; Mora was located in what is now the southern Afar Region of Ethiopia and was subservient to Adal).
By the 13th century, they had become subservient to the Emperor of Ethiopia. Over time, rebellions against Ethiopia (14th and 15th centuries) and political unification of the three sultanates under the Walashma dynasty of Adal created a strong Islamic state capable of achieving full independence from Ethiopia by the early 16th century. In the mid 16th century Adal embarked on a great conquest of Ethiopia from its capital of Harar, with disastrous results. After the collapse of Adal, the part of Western Somaliland centered around Zeila became part of the Ottoman province of Habesh.
Ottoman Somaliland
In 1546, the Ottoman Empire occupied the western regions of Somaliland and made Zeila the regional capital due to their strategic location on the Red Sea. The occupied region became part of the Habesh region of the Ottoman Empire. From 1630 to 1830, Ottoman Somaliland was under the rule of the Grand Sharifs of Mecca. Between 1830 to 1874, Ottoman ruled Somaliland under de facto hereditary governors. This led to the region being occupied and governed by Ottoman Egypt on 7 September1874 (Egypt and Somaliland were both under Ottoman suzerainty). Ottoman buildings and houses are dotted all around Berbera, Zeila and Hargeisa.
Colonial Somaliland
Somaliland became home to the new arrivals from the near east. The death of the Islam's prophet Mohammed 571-632 AD brought many changes, the Arabs migrated to other new islamic centres. In their quest to reach the kingdom in the eastern highlands of Ethiopia, they arrived in the 'Land of Punt' the old name given to Somaliland by the Pharaohs. They married the locals and most of the locals adopted the new religion of Islam. During the Ottoman rule Somaliland become an important trade route. The city of Zeila was the gate way to east Africa. Trade begun to flourish in Mombasa and Zanzibar in Kenya. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed, Egypt occupied western parts of Somaliland (hence naming it Egyptian Somaliland), the other regions being controlled by Somalitribesmen and Arab settlers.
During colonial times, Egyptian Somaliland was taken over by the British, as part of the British occupation of Egypt. The region now claimed by Somaliland was annexed and officially became the British SomalilandProtectorate. British Somaliland became independent on 26 June1960 as the State of Somaliland, and Italian Somaliland's independence came four days later, whereupon the two entities immediately merged on 1 July1960 as the Somali Republic.
Politics and Government
Somaliland has formed a hybrid system of governance combining traditional and western institutions. In a series of inter-clan conferences, culminating in the Borama Conference in 1993, a beel (clan or community) system of government was constructed, which consisted of an Executive, with a President, Vice President, and Council of Ministers, a bicameral Legislature, and an independent judiciary. The traditional Somali council of elders (guurti) was incorporated into the governance structure and formed the upper house, responsible for selecting a President as well as managing internal conflicts. Government became in essence a "power-sharing coalition of Somaliland's main clans", with seats in the Upper and Lower houses proportionally allocated to clans according to a predetermined formula. In 2002, after several extensions of this interim government, Somaliland finally made the transition to multi-party democracy, with district council elections contested by six parties, considered the most peaceful in Africa for twenty years.
My own gateway to Somaliland - the nation of the brave and heroes, democracy and reformers, hate rejecters and peace advocates, nation of honor and respect, nation of green, white, and red, tolerance and Islam. Not known by the world but known by its own people, somaliland is a home grown love. Come on and discover it.
