Secessionist Somaliland, Somalia’s Insurgency,

And

A Canadian Poverty Entrepreneur

 By: Said A. Saryan

July 17, 2008                                    

 On June 9, 2008 the long suffering people of Somalia caught a glimpse of a glimmer of hope. A U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Djibouti culminating in the signing of a Peace Agreement between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the main opposition, the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS). The central and immediate requirement of the Peace Agreement is “the cessation of all armed confrontation.” An important component of this desirable outcome is the restriction of the flow of arms to the warring factions.

 In the middle of the euphoria surrounding this historical event and the hope upon hope that finally peace will dawn on Somalia after 20 years of death and destruction, the Security Council’s Sanction Committee on Somalia appointed Mr. Matt Bryden, “Somalia’s self-appointed public enemy number”, as a Coordinator of the Monitoring Group (MG) which is mandated to monitor and report on the flow of arms to Somalia.

 Mr Matt Bryden’s surprise appointment as a Co-ordinator of the UN Security Council's Monitoring Group is a slap on the face to the Somali nation.  At a time when the international community is trying their best to reconcile the opposing faction in Somalia, appointing an individual who is loathed for his advocacy and relentless lobbying to dismember the country is, to say the least, disingenuous, misguided and counter-productive. The UN Security Council, the African Union, the Arab League, and the international community at large, confirmed time and again the Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity of the Somali Republic. 

 Matt Bryden’s political stance and activism in service of the secessionists is in stark contrast to the deep espousal of National Unity, which transcends political differences among Somalis. An exception to this is the secessionists’ project in the Northwest regions (Somaliland) which has been orchestrated by a coalition of war merchants, remnants of Siad Barre’s dreaded National Security Services (NSS) and a handful of die-hards clan chauvinists.

 Matt Bryden, a Canadian citizen and a veteran Horn of Africa poverty entrepreneur,  found his niche in the past two decades as a member of Nairobi-based Somalia’s Lord of Poverty’s consortium, has a close relationship, dating back to 1996, with the Hargeisa-based secessionists. Mr. Bryden is well known among the Somalis and the NGOs types in Nairobi as an active advocate and Lobbyist for the recognition of Somaliland as an independent country, separate from the Somali Republic. Along with others he has been lionized by the secessionists as friends whom “Somaliland history will write their names in Gold letters.”  To the Somali pro-unity camp he is known as the “secessionists’ Poster Boy” who constantly and relentlessly initiates or participates in schemes to derail any attempt by the international community to restore peace and order under a united stable Somali government.

 As the Director of the African Program in the Brussel-based International Crisis Group (ICG), Matt Bryden initiated and oversaw in 2006 the preparation and publication of a notorious one-sided sub-standard ICG report (Somaliland: Time for African Union Leadership) promoting the breakup of Somalia and the recognition of Somaliland. In a pointed critique of this report, Omar Ali Haji and Nura K. Ali of Qarshe & Tima-Ade International Center, a Washington-based Think Tank, wrote:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Matt Bryden (left) at Somaliland’s

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          2005 SOPRI Conference

“It is public knowledge that Mr. Bryden is biased and cannot be relied upon for an objective analysis of the Somali crisis. For example, he regularly attends functions that support the recognition of “Somaliland” such as the conference held by the Somaliland Policy & Reconstruction Institute, SOPRI in Los Angeles in June of 2005.”

In a sharp criticism of this pro-secessionist anti-Somalia ICG Report, Foreign Ministers from IGAD States concluded that

"The position and advice that the International Crisis Group (ICG) has been giving has resulted in damages to the region and to the peace process in Somalia," said an IGAD statement received by Reuters on Sunday

 Somaliland is prominently featured in the October 2006 UN Monitoring Group (MG) on Somalia Report, which was presented to the Security Council in November 2006 by the then MG Chairman, Mr. Bruno Schiemsky. The main task of the Monitoring Group, as read to the Security Council, was “to observe and report information regarding arms embargo violations and related matters in the context of unfolding events in Somalia.”

 On Page 38 of this comprehensive 2006 UN Report, the MG, as a chronology of their findings during their mandate, states:

 “On or about 4 July 2006, a prominent leader, Sheik Ali Warsame – former chairman of Al-Itihaad al-Islamiyya (AIAI) - of the ICU sent $ 250.000 US dollars to a businessman in Mogadishu through a remittance business. The money was later handed-over to the leadership of the ICU in that city. The origin of the funds was a businessman in Saudi Arabia. Initially, the money was sent to a remittance branch in Somaliland and from there re-sent to its final recipient in Mogadishu, all in an effort to conceal the source of the funds.”

 It is clear from these MG findings that money was being clandestinely funneled through Somaliland to the Islamic Court Union (ICU), a radical Islamic Movement in opposition to the internationally recognized Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

 Sheikh Ali Warsame, the middle man between the ICU and their Saudi funders, lives comfortably and openly in Burco, Somaliland.  It should be noted that the Sheikh is a Brother-in-Law of Sheik Dahir Aweys, Chair of ICU’s Shaura Council, who is designated by the US State Department as a Terrorist and who now lives in exile in Asmara, Eritrea where he heads the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), an umbrella political/military coalition opposed to the TFG and their Ethiopian allies.

Also the Monitoring Group reported the clandestine channeling of arms and ammunition to the then Mogadishu-based ICU through Hargeisa, the secessionist enclave’s business hub.  According to the MG report, on September 29, 2006, an Ilyushin aircraft (IL-76) containing an arms shipment for the ICU “departed from Assab, Eritrea, indicating a flight plan designating a destination of Hargeisa (Somaliland).”

 Based on the above documented facts the nomination of Mr. Matt Bryden as the new  Co-ordinator of the Monitoring Group is unwise and smacks of glaring blemishes of Conflict of Interests; and if it prevails, will surely result in limiting the effectiveness of the Monitoring Group and tarnish the credibility of their findings. Any information gathered by the team will be seen as serving the interests of Somaliland, one of the Somali post-Siad Barre warring factions targeted by the UN for monitoring and investigation.  After all Matt Bryden is a ‘Somalilander’ who will be suspected of looking the other way if, for example, arms and funds are flowing to Somaliland or clandestine transit through Somaliland to the anti-TFG insurgents in the southern parts of the country.

 It is a well know fact that the corner stone of Hargeisa’s blind pursuit for recognition is the continuation of the conflict and anarchy in the southern regions of the country. As attested by the Security Council’s 2006 Monitoring Group’s findings arms and funds were funneled through Somaliland to the ICU, thus undermining the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) whose success is a nightmare to the secessionists. The appointment of Bryden to the MC will only strengthen Hargeisa’s sadistic Modus Operandi that relishes on the suffering of their southern brothers and sisters.

 Entrusting such a sensitive role as monitoring of arms to Matt Bryden, a de facto ally and an honorary member of one of the opposing groups in Somalia, is tantamount to appointing a Serbian nationalist to monitor and investigate the flow of arms to the Balkans!

 For the sake of the United Nations’ credibility in Somalia and the Horn of Africa region Mr Bryden’s misguided appointment should be rescinded, or Mr Bryden should do the right thing and resign. A neutral credible person, detached from the Somali crisis, should be appointed instead as the Co-ordinator of the Security Council’s Somalia Arms Monitoring Group. 

 Said A. Saryan is a Bahrein-based Somali Writer with special interest in Horn of Africa’s social and political affairs.  You may reach him at: saidsaryan@hotmail.com