The Issue of Human Rights Violation in the Dialogue between Somalia and Self-declared Somaliland
The Isaaq clan of the self-declared Somaliland is, like the other Somali clans, a divided clan that is composed of fractious and competing sub-clans. What binds these unruly Isaaq sub-clans is the illusion of the self-declared Somaliland recognition by the international community as a separate state. Thus the traditional rivalry and propensity for violence is curtailed during the search for the recognition.
Further, the Somali National Movement (SNM) justified the secession by putting the blame for the human right violations in the Northwest Region not just on the Somali Government but also on all Somali clans other than the Isaaq. They claim these violations to be genocide committed against Isaaq clan by the Somali Government with the support and connivance of other Somali clans. SNM fostered a mindset among the members of the Isaaq clan that regarded anyone (all other clans) other than Isaaq as being associated with the government and therefore an enemy.
This distortion of history was and is designed to gain the support of the Isaaq clan for separation from the rest of Somalia. In addition, the self-declared Somaliland is claiming the Warsangeli, Dhulbahante, Samaron and Issa clans to be part of their entity. Therefore to further their secessionist aspirations, the self-declared Somaliland is seeking acknowledgement from the Somali Federal Government and from the international community that genocide was committed against Isaaq clan. However this warped view of the events since the military came to power in 1969 and thereafter must be corrected.
The fact remains that all Somalis suffered human right violations under the military regime. The Isaaq clan was not the first to be singled out for persecution. The members of Isaaq clan were pillars of the regime during its heyday. They held prominent positions in every facet of the institutions of the Somali State. Isaaq army and security officials spearheaded the persecution of the Majerteyn clan in Mudug, Nugaal and Bari regions after the failed coup of 1978 that was led by Abdulahi Yusuf, who served as the elected President of the Transitional Federal Government between 2004 and 2008.