Sovereignty for sale: The silent surrender to Somalia’s dismemberment

[Deeq A.]

MOGADISHU, Somalia — In the gilded corridors of Washington, D.C., a sophisticated and foreign-financed machine is methodically working to dismantle the Somali Republic. A recent report by Caasimada Online has pulled back the curtain, revealing a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign, bankrolled by the United Arab Emirates and executed by the powerhouse firm FGS Global, with a single, devastating objective: to legitimize the secession of Somaliland.

This external assault on our national integrity is audacious. Yet, the most profound danger lies not in the ambitions of Abu Dhabi or the guile of its lobbyists, but in the catastrophic paralysis gripping Mogadishu.

The deafening silence of the Somali Federal Government and the abdication of our intellectual class constitute a self-inflicted wound far more grievous than any foreign plot. They are standing idle as our nation’s future is being auctioned to the highest bidder.

The architecture of division

This is no organic independence movement; it is a corporate takeover of a nation’s destiny. The UAE’s strategic investment in Somaliland’s Berbera port is now being secured through a political offensive in the West.

By channeling millions to FGS Global, Abu Dhabi has purchased legitimacy, buying a seat for its regional proxy at the tables of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, The Economist, The Daily Telegraph, Bloomberg, and the Washington Post.

It has commissioned favorable narratives from influential think tanks like the Hudson Institute and the Atlantic Council, which now market the dismemberment of Somalia as a “rare opportunity” for American interests.

This well-oiled machine of influence is manufacturing a reality for Western policymakers. It sells a sanitized vision of a stable Somaliland, deliberately juxtaposed against the complex struggles of greater Somalia.

They are not merely lobbying; they are authoring the official story, ensuring that the only narrative that reaches the world’s most powerful decision-makers is the one that serves their strategic and financial agenda.

A dereliction of duty in the capital

Confronted with this existential threat, the response from the Somali Federal Government has been a symphony of inadequacy. Where is the strategic counter-offensive? Where is the robust, well-funded diplomatic campaign to defend the sanctity of our borders?

While our soldiers bleed to protect our territory from extremists, our sovereignty is being diplomatically outmaneuvered and sold off in Washington.

The prime directive of any government is to protect the nation’s integrity. This duty is not confined to the battlefield; it is fought and won in the op-ed pages, the policy forums, and the backrooms of international diplomacy.

By failing to mount a serious challenge to this separatist lobby, Mogadishu is not practicing statecraft; it is overseeing a managed decline. This passivity is an abdication of its most sacred responsibility, allowing a regional administration’s PR campaign to eclipse the voice of a sovereign state on the world stage.

The crippling silence of the scholars

Equally complicit are the Somali intellectuals, academics, and public thinkers. In a contest that is fundamentally a war of ideas, their silence is a national tragedy. Our nation is blessed with brilliant historians, lawyers, and economists who possess the intellectual firepower to dismantle the lobbyists’ arguments piece by piece. Yet, this arsenal remains locked away.

Where are the intellectual antibodies to this political poison? Where are the compelling, data-driven papers submitted to the very think tanks being co-opted? Where are the sharp, incisive articles defending the legal, historical, and economic necessity of our union?

This is not a moment for academic neutrality; it is a moment for patriotic intellectualism. Their failure to enter the fray is a betrayal of their role as guardians of the national consciousness.

A national summons to action

This grim reality is not a eulogy, but a summons. The fight for Somalia’s unity must be waged with the passion, professionalism, and strategic resolve that our adversaries have demonstrated.

First, the Somali Federal Government must awaken from its slumber and unleash a diplomatic and intellectual counter-offensive. This requires immediate, significant investment in professional representation in key capitals to champion our cause relentlessly.

Second, our scholars and public intellectuals must answer the call. They must form a united front to reclaim the narrative, engaging with global media and policy circles to present an irrefutable, evidence-based case for a unified and prosperous Somalia.

Finally, the Somali diaspora and media must be mobilized into a global force. We must use every platform to expose the foreign interests driving this division and rally a global chorus of support for our sovereignty.

The battle for our nation’s soul is being fought not with guns, but with narratives. Our opponents are disciplined, funded, and determined. We must meet their challenge with a unified and unwavering national will. History will not forgive the generation that allowed its nation to be lost, not in a war of arms, but in a war of words it refused to fight.

Caasimada Online Editorial Team