Somaliland: the only hope remaining in Africa's Pandora's Box

By Bashir Goth
A Somali anecdote says that the elders of a clan had agreed to call for a council meeting.

"Call all the elders," one of them said, to which a little boy who was up in the tree under which the meeting was to be held responded:

“Don’t call only the elders; call the intelligent people of the clan?” Realizing the sagacity of his words, the elders decided to include him in the meeting.

Over the last 15 years, Somaliland has been like that little boy, calling African elders to heed the voice of sagacity and wisdom on its issue, while African leaders have been blocking their ears and turning their backs to it.

Often described as “ Africa’s Best Kept Secret”, Somaliland is the youngest and best example of an African homegrown democracy. Its statehood, however, goes back into the dawn of Africa's postcolonial history when Somaliland emerged as an independent and sovereign state from the British rule in 1960 as part of Africa ’s wind of change.

Amid the euphoria of nationalism spearheaded by Africa's liberation fathers of the day, Somaliland gave up its hard won independence to unite with Italian Somalia as the precursor of a greater Somalia, which included bringing all the Somali territories in the Horn of Africa under one national flag.

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