June 26 in Somalia: From Great Expectations to Even Greater Disappointment

“Waxaa inaga baxay gumaysigii. Hadalka guntiisu waxa weeyi inaan [Luulyo] 1deeda la midownow walaalaheen Soomaaliya. Ninkay ku hadhay,hawli sugaysaa. Ilaahay haynala qabto.”

[The British] colonial power has left us. Ultimately, we [Northern Somalis] are set to join with our brothers in [Southern Somalia] on July 1, [1960]. The task of completing the unification process is left to us. May the Almighty help us.

Xaaji Maxamed Ibrahim Cigaal                                                                                             

June 1960 

Somalis commemorate 54 years of independence today (June 26, 2014).  On that historic day of independence in 1960, thousands of Somalis from across all the country’s territories trekked to Hargeisa and other urban centers to rejoice and celebrate the end of British rule in Northern Somalia. Both young and old abandoned their livestock and businesses to join in the celebrations. They converged in Hargeisa’s Victory Garden, waiting for the clock to strike midnight.

With great excitement, jubilation and a spirit of goodwill they watched the lowering of the Union Jack and the hoisting of the new, blue, Somali flag with the five-pointed star—symbolizing the new identity of the Somali people.  The eminent poet Cabdillahi Suldan Timmacadde said as he watched the flag rise, “This morning is the first day to see a Somali hoisting a flag” (“Soomaaloo callan taagta saakaa inoogu horaysa”).  Nationalism was to replace the old tribal ways in order to unite unconditionally Northern Somalia with Southern Somalia.  Independence Day for Southern Somalia was set for July 1, 1960, to coincide with the union of North and South.

It was the general public’s volition that had brought the two newly independent regions of Somalia together; and they mutually agreed to pursue the return of the three remaining territories of Somalia still under Ethiopian, Kenyan and French occupation. The new republic’s policy was to bring back into the fold all the missing territories of the Somali people.  In an interview with the BBC Somali Service in 1960, the new president of the Republic, Aadan Cabdulle Cusman said “Wali Kamaanu caajisin inaan isu doono xaqii ummadda Soomaali ka maqnaa.” We [Somalis] will continue to pursue without hesitation the return of what rightfully belongs to the Somali people.”

All those hopes and dreams of bringing the Somali people together have been dashed because of  self-seeking leaders, Somalia’s bad choice of friends; persistent, blind loyalty to tribalism; the failure to develop widespread nationalism; and stubborn unwillingness to compromise–a critical concept for which Somali vocabulary does not even have a word.

Today, whether readers consider themselves part of Somalia or of Somaliland, it is time to take stock of the failure to unite, and to begin immediately to work together for the common good.  It is time to seek conciliation and compromise in order to offer any hope for the future and save the Somali people from extinction.   The Somali people must not get caught up in the tribal monster that has taken hold of such a large number of Somalis in so many insidious ways.  Tribalism is a divider; it has no power to unite the Somali people across tribal lines.  It is time to sit down and negotiate for the sake of survival.  It is time to make compromise a part of not only the Somali vocabulary, but of the very ethos of the Somali people.  Contemporary Somali must attain to reach above and beyond the boundaries established by the colonial leadership, over which, sadly, they continue to stumble and fall (“Ma ogollin jalaafadda gumaysiga”).