The Right Honourable
Ahmedou Ould Abdallah
United Nations Special envoy
For Somalia.

January 27, 2009

Dear Sir,

Subject: Somali Warlords Conference In DJibouti.


It is utter nonsense and completely irresponsible on the part of the United Nations special envoy for Somalia to extend an uncalled for invitation to Somaliland to join the hordes of human savages currently convened at DJibouti. The criminal gangs hosted in DJibouti have no mandate to represent the suffering people of Somalia. These are the architects who engineered the destruction of the Somali state. The statement of the veteran diplomat is a harbinger of instability and the resumption of hostilities in a volatile region.

For the information of the Right Honourable Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, on May 17, 1991 the Somali Republic ceased to exist as a unitary state. The people of the Republic of Somaliland declared on that day:

A) The dissolution of the ill-fated 1960 Union of Somalia and Somaliland;
B) The reclamation of the sovereignty of Somaliland based on the boundaries as of June 26, 1960

The reclamation of the sovereignty of the state of Somaliland is based on sound legal and historical grounds in accordance with international law; this fact is irrevocable and non-negotiable. The intractable quagmire of Somalia is a matter of no concern to the people of Somaliland; therefore, any efforts to drag Somaliland into any peace making conference is a futile attempt. The Republic of Somaliland came into existence through sweat, blood and tears. With minimum external assistance, the people of Somaliland built a vibrant, viable, and a functioning nation in a very unstable region. This phoenix rose from the ashes of the inferno that consumed the Somali Republic.

Your Excellency,

For the past seven months or so, your good office has been making ceaseless rounds of shuttle diplomacy to broker some sort of agreement between the so-called Transitional Government of Somalia and a confederacy of hard-line religious groups. In early June, 2008 a delegation of the United Nations Security Council also participated at the initial stages of the conference-a show of the international community's resolve to broker a closure to the Somali conflict.

However, if the experience of the past eighteen years is taken as a benchmark, it is abundantly clear that the attempts of the United Nations and the international community have been a disastrous failure in handling the crisis in Somalia. The fundamental flaws in the peace making process and the methodology applied:

1. The Somali conflict has defied the application of the classical theory of conflict resolution;

2. The process empowers and rewards the warlords and marginalises the ruled masses;

3. The 4.5 clan based power-sharing formula is archaic impediment unsuited in state building;

4. The legitimacy and the credibility of made-for-Somalia government will always be questionable.

Your Excellency,

The current DJibouti conference is the fifteenth attempt to secure a lasting peace acceptable to the warring factions of Southern Somalia. The fourth time this cyclic peace and reconciliation convention is held under the aegis of the government of the Republic of Djibouti. The international community has undertaken the cost of these conferences; unfortunately, without any tangible results. The DJibouti conference is doomed to fail.

From March 1993 to March 1995, Under UNISOM-II, the United Nations alone spent the staggering amount of US$1.60 Billion. In addition, the mission casualties totalled 157 individuals. It was a disastrous attempt at peace making.

It has been eighteen long years and the United Nations is pursuing an approach that is outdated and unsuited to the Somali crisis. The efforts of your predecessors, such as: Mr. Francois Fall, Mr. Ismat Qittani, and Mr. Mohamed Sahnoun all failed to chart a road map for a lasting peace in Somalia.

Your Excellency,

Now is the right time to make a radical departure from the failures of the past eighteen years. The political will to investigate alternative options should come from the warring Somali factions. Periodic conventions at the luxurious resorts of the region did not deliver the peace dividend. A blueprint for peace in Somalia should include:

1. A bottom approach empowering the grassroots is inevitable;
2. The peace and reconciliation process should take place within the country;
3. Former army generals and high ranking civil servants of the military regime should be barred from participating in
any future peace making efforts;
4. Those accused of war crimes and other human right violations should be handed to the International War Crimes Tribunal;
5. The 4.5 clan based power sharing should be discarded.

This is the only viable approach that gives the Somalis the ownership of their problem. The challenge is to explore the dynamics of the conflict and consequently devise an indigenous mechanism to manage it.

The United special envoy to Somalia should confine his efforts to southern Somalia only.


Ahmed Ali Ibrahim Sabeyse