Not quite the same.

Even if the federal government wins this battle against the Tigray forces, the political will of those forces vying for self-determination and decentralization at local level will remain, maybe not waging wars and conquering lands as the Tigray did. And nor sure if the Oromo opposition are capable to take such a political role, but eventually Abiy will have to negotiate a settlement m to keep Ethiopia together.

thousands of Somali’s, including those from SL have been expelled and pushed out from Oromo regions. yet there has been no mass deportations of Oromo workers and entrepreneurs from Hargeisa, Borama and Berbera, as the thousands and thousands of guards, gardeners, barbers and entrepreneurs are still there. On the other hand no SL folks have been pushed out from South-West or Jubbaland for that matter, and yet the SL government has deported 800 south-westerns from Las Anod and announced that even more will be deported from Erigavo (where there is not even a security issue to use as justification). Apparently Oromo’s seem to have more rights then Somali’s in Somaliland. I really can’t make anything else of this.

A prolonged conflict in other Ethiopian regions and weakened centre would not necessarily stop at the regional or ethnic borders, and could lead to fragmentations and balkanisations even with the Somali’s region. Secondly, TPLF and Federal government could still come to an agreement without the Somali’s benefitting from any potential outcome. There are other ways for the Somali’s to get more governing space, autonomy and equitable share of resources from the centre, with less risk of bloodshed and instability for the Somali region and neighboring ethnic states, while ensuring that the Somali interest are not excluded from any future arrangement.

Xaaji, if one would ask around in every urban settlement, village or city, on the local opinions and sentiments, I am sure every native community would happily see other groups or clans who they perceive to be a problem, swiftly be deported. And if one would govern or lead based on local sentiments and evict all those who the locals have a problem with and don’t consider to be native, I don’t think you would have any vibrant cities left. Remember we are talking about urban settlements, not pastoral grazing land or farm land, which is a completely different issue.

Xaaji, maybe you forgot that there is a significant number of your kind living in South-West regions who have been there for decades and even centuries. And how about those in Jabuuti, Jig Jiga, Janaame and Garissa? Do you want them all to be deported back to their native land as well?

Che, bal arintan noo fasir wadiga baryahan laangaabyada Xabashida sacabka u tumiyee?

Nothing wrong with political conformity and consensus between political leaders from the same clan, it would make negotiations and finding balance much easier within the current system that is based on clan arrangements. The issue is if clans can be easily divided based on the latest highest bidders, leading to unpredictable and unstable outcomes which makes it hard to manage or to seek equilibrium. @MMA, How many TV stations do Somali’s have, and how balance is their daily reporting? I suggest you start defending your political employer based on substance rather the only on clan based incitement.

Do the election cost 32 million shilling or dollars?

Obviously foreign politics and dealing with foreign countries isn’t Somaliland strong suite. However Somaliland makes that up in their domestic politics and dealings, seeking broad consensus and inclusive decision making on important matters.

They should advocate for greater democratisation and inclusive decision making in governance on local and regional/state level, rather then try to control or correct the process from central level.

Isn’t this the PM, the Head of Government? What’s wrong with him doing foreign missions restoring the diplomatic ties that Farmaajo seemed to have wrecked. Specially during a crucial phase in which Somalia needs international support in its negotiations with the AU led AMISON force on a new mandate. Or would you rather want AMISOM to expand its mission with a mandate to interfere in Somalia’s internal politics?

It might definitely motivate them. And it will definetly give further leverage to AMISON in their negotiations with Donors and Federal Government.

What’s all the fuzz about, have you even read the document? First of all it’s a communique not an agreement. Second it says nothing else that Kenya and Somalia are intending to discuss a number of subject such as Diplomatic Relations, Livestock, Security, Defense, Education, Agriculture, Blue Economy, etc. And lastly Blue Economy is a container term that also covers Fisheries, Tourism, Maritime logistics, Shipping, Marine Biodiversity, doesn’t mean necessarily Natural resources. The real significant issue that one seems to be ignoring here is that both countries will send back their Ambassadors agains and open their Embassies. And this seems to be a politically mature and sensible thing to do between two neighboring countries.

Many people from those clans did stand up, please do look up about people like aun, Garaad Abdiqani who spoke up against Siyad Barre, Ali Khaliif Galeydh a senior Minister opposing the regime and becoming the most senior political exile, Dr.Mohamed Aden Sheick Health Minister and Parliamentarian convicted for treason and spending years in prison, and who then build the Hargeisa Children’s Hospital that has been named after him. Aden Abdullahi Gabyow former Defence Minister who was jailed and later on led the SPM. And many many others who were Senior Politicians, Military leaders, Artist, Academics, etc opposed him from wll Somali clans. But you need to keep in mind that Somalia was under a military dictatorship in which power was concentrated in the hands of one man, and you will find in each clan people that cheered for him and supported him, and those that opposed him. Somali’s are not bad people, neither are there bad clans but try to look for more facts, listen to different people and what they have witnessed, only then you get a full picture of what happened.

Will ONLF be joining this new alliance?

Somali people every time come up or hope for very negative and destructive outcomes, thinking it will help their cause and that it can’t make things worser and what happens every time, it does get worser.

What made the election for the Chair of Somaliland’s Parliament quite significant is; a) the Sool community is on a path to solidifying its political voice in Somaliland, listen below to the former Parliament Chair’s interview on the political ambitions of the community. b) And second the opposition won the Chairmanship which would enable for the legislative to exercise its role in holding the executive to account and thus improving the check and balances of state power, which into very common in this part of the world. c) And most importantly a majority of MP’s stayed loyal to their party’s and party candidates, which is quite a unicum. d) and lastly Somaliland progressing again in its democratic vibrancy after a decade of political stagnation and corruption where Parliament votes were simply bought off by the Executive and government functioning being without any check and balances. Thanks to the current President, who has proven again to be a champion for the rule of law and proper functioning of the State systems. Even though some are trying to ridicule the political development in Somaliland, you have to give credit where credit is due.

So how do you think a Balkanized greater Horn of Africa would look like? Would it create a equal playing field for all the smaller players, contributing to a power balance and stability without a disturbing power-axis?

Xaaji, weren’t you just cheering for the TDF/TPLF destabilizing Ethiopia? Even IOG fears the spillover effect. DJIBOUTI : IOG fears Tigray war domino effect in Afar regions WWW.AFRICAINTELLIGENCE.COM With the war in Tigray starting to spill over into the Afar region, interethnic tensions have been resurfacing either side of the...

Ethio-Djibouti line remains closed 31 July 2021 By Brook Abdu Ethiopia’s lifeline, the Ethio-Djibouti line, remains closed since Saturday July 24, 2021 with various vehicles and drivers stranded on the route, The Reporter has confirmed. Drivers stranded on the route around Dire Dawa said that they could not move to either side, following a conflict on the borderline between the Afar and Somali regions, where the Ethio-Djibouti route passes through. They said that many vehicles carrying fuel and containers have been parked by the roadside, while they are sleeping either inside the vehicles, outside by the roadside, or some in hotels. Because of the deployment of federal forces, the drivers now hope that the roads would soon be opened allowing transportation along the route. Apart from the road, the railway linking Addis Ababa to Djibouti had also been blocked by protesters who demonstrated against attacks on civilians by Afar opposition forces who are allegedly working with the TPLF. Witnesses from the area said that the raillines were looted and set ablaze by angry protesters. This, the witnesses say, could have damaged the electric line of the USD four billion railway. The Ethiopian government covered 30 percent of the cost for the project, taking the rest from the Chinese Exim Bank. Shortly, Ethio-Djibouti Railway was established in April 2017, based on an agreement signed on December 16, 2016, between Ethiopia and Djibouti, with a capital of USD 500 million. Augmenting the Ethio-Djibouti land line, the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway had reportedly transported a total of 3.45 million tons of import and export commodities and goods over the last three years. The Reporter’s efforts to reach the Railways CEO, Tilahun Sarka, were not fruitful. Transporting almost 85 percent of the country’s import and export trade, the Ethio-Djibouti route is often referred to as the lifeline for the country’s economy. Because of the need to diversify its port services to other neighboring countries, Ethiopia owns 19 percent of shares in the Berbera Port development and it has finalized deals to use the Port of Sudan and Kenya’s Mombasa port. Djibouti has also expanded its Doraleh Port facilities very recently to accommodate the growing demands of the Ethiopian market. Indicating that the port was mainly meant for the market in Ethiopia, Institute for Security Studies (ISS) warned in March 2018 “If trade from Ethiopia dries up, ships will no longer be queuing at sea for their turn to dock at these ports. This is significant because there are two separate situations that threaten the trading relationship between Ethiopia and Djibouti. The first is the brewing political crisis in Ethiopia.” But, if Ethiopia remains stable and continues to grow, its economy was predicted to be able to accommodate all ports around it. Such security situations had repeatedly closed the route, hindering the transportation of goods between Djibouti and Ethiopia. And when the roads would be opened remains unknown. The Reporter’s repeated calls to the administrations in Afar and Somali regions were not replied to.

He does actually explain when subsets of languages are classified as dialects, its determined by the linguistic distance which is measures by vocabulary rather then grammer and pronunciation. Even the Banidiri poem you have posted here consist largely of Somali words, which makes it Somali. The good professor also explains that languages like af-Barawe and those spoken by Mushunguli are related to Kiswahili rather then Somali. That words are pronounced differently or with a different grammer that you don’t understand, doesn’t make it a separate language.

This shows that the conflict in Ethiopia is not isolated and can have a severe impact on the region. For those that are hoping for more chaos and bloodshed, pray for peace of our neighbors or the fire might spread further to our Somali house.

You seem to forget that all Somali’s, including those in Somaliland, Somalia and North-Eastern have quite some leverage to dictate terms of their own future, but lack leadership that can see the big picture and seem to be consumed by internal clan related petty form of power politics. So, it’s easy talking how other regions ought to be doing, but how do you assess the opportunities in your fiefdom or region.