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AWDAL SOOL SANAAG COALITION AGAINST SECESSION (ASSCàS)
In Support of Las-Anod’s Resistance Against
“The Somaliland” Occupation
Press Release
April 10, 2008
We, Awdal Sool and Sanaag Coalition Against Secession (ASSCàS), condemn and consider the occupation of Las Anod, the capital of Sool, by the Hargeisa secessionist’s militias on October 15, 2007 a premeditated act of aggression, an unprovoked initiation of hostility, and a serious crime against humanity and call upon the international community and the Somali people to prosecute the clique that are responsible for these heinous acts. We believe strongly that it is criminal to wage war against the peaceful inhabitants of Sool who are enduring the worst drought ever experienced by the inhabitants of that region. In fact, nothing justifies the exasperation of the tragic effect of the famine that is wreaking havoc on the lives of these people and their livestock. And it is our honest conclusion that only and only a who doesn’t value human life can entertain taking advantage of the human calamity that is unfolding in that region.
Knowing well the absurdity of clan warfare and the senseless fratricide of the last twenty years (1988-2008) that reduced the Somali people to the lowest rung of human destitution, we advise the Hargeisa-based secessionist enclave in the Northwest region of the Somali Republic to stop their expansionist policies and not to lead the Somali people into another bloody fray which will cause an unnecessary loss of life and the destruction of the meager resources of these people.
We are flabbergasted by how any one can forget the number of times the Somali warlords, satisfying only their egos, took an irresponsible act, and played poker with the lives of hundreds of thousands of Somalis. We are dumfounded by how any one can overlook the fact that the warlords, guided by their whims, dragged the Somali nation over a precipitous cliff and down into a dark abyss of nightmarish anarchy. And we are stunned by how any one can ignore the destructiveness of a civil war that pits one brother or sister against another and lays asunder the cohesiveness of entire communities, communities whose people have lived together for centuries in peace and harmony. A temporary victory may flatter the ego of an aggressor for a moment but at the end of the day when the dust settles, the fogs clear, and the stark reality of death and destruction stares one from every direction, everybody will regret; as war, especially civil war, benefits no one; and besides the loss of life and the material destruction, it degrades our humanity and leaves an indelible scars of animosity and bitterness in the hearts and souls of the belligerents.
The last thing most Somalis need is another cycle of violence that deepens the wounds of the Somali nation. Enough is enough. No more war. Now is the time to reconcile and bid farewell the animalistic ambition of tion. Now is the time to act as rational human beings, to behave as responsible citizens, and to promote peace among the Somali people everywhere.
Finally, we congratulate the Elders, Sultans, Women Leaders, and the religious Imams and scholars in Sool, who for the last twenty years have resolved problems in their region with wisdom and responsibility and have encouraged peaceful co-existence with their neighbors. We commend their foresight and their deep respect for the human life that they have shown once again.
In the absence of an effective government in the country the Somali people are relying on their Traditional Leaders (Sultans, Akels, Garaads and so on) for guidance and leadership. Therefore, it should be noted that Sool’s Traditional Leaders, representing every segment/sub-clan of Sool, denounced and rejected the secessionists’ occupation of their capital in a clear and unequivocal language, as reflected in their widely publicized Boocame Declaration of November 23, 2007.
ASSCàS supports Sool’s Traditional Leaders’ demand of the immediate withdrawal of “Somaliland” militia from their clan territory, thus restoring peaceful neighborly co-existence and co-operation among northern Somali clans.
We hope that those who are beating the drums of war and who are trying to secure imaginary boundaries among the Somali people will heed the wisdom of the Somali poet, Ismail Mire,
” Ragaw kibirka waa lagu kufaa kaa ha la ogaado.” (Pride and Arrogance come before a Fall).
Long lives the Somali Republic: United and Peaceful.
For further information, please contact Hamid Mashaeye Or Gamal Hassan at:
[email protected]
AWDAL SOOL SANAAG COALITION AGAINST SECESSION (ASSCàS) is a grass-roots Somali advocacy organization dedicated to the preservation and safe-guarding of the unity and territorial integrity of our beloved country, the Somali Republic. Our membership hails mainly from the pro-unity anti-secessionist regions of Awdal, Sool, Sanaag, and Ayn of the Somali Republic. We invite Somali citizens both back home and in the diasporas to join us defend our country against those who, with the material and moral help of external forces, are aggressively working to dismember our country and create a chasm of mistrust and conflict among people bonded by ethnicity, language, religion, and shared centuries-old culture and traditions.
Divided we are doomed; united we will surmount the challenges and by-pass the heinous traps laid for us!