FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Horn of Africa Development Organization (HODO Life Line) Expresses Deep Concern Over Plight of Somaliland Diaspora
Hargeisa (ANN) – The Horn of Africa Development Organization (HODO Life Line) expresses its profound concern regarding the difficulties faced by members of the Somaliland diaspora, many of whom are currently stranded in airports across the globe, particularly in America, Africa, Europe, and Australia.
This situation has arisen following the imposition of restrictions on e-visas for Somalilanders living abroad, effectively forcing them to obtain visas from a country to which they have no connection or intention of traveling – Somalia.
The Somaliland diaspora, numbering in the hundreds of thousands and spread across various countries, routinely travel to their homeland to visit relatives and reconnect with their roots. Many of these individuals fled Somaliland during the liberation war following the union of Somaliland and Somalia on July 1, 1960, a union which the people of Somaliland overwhelmingly rejected in a referendum held in June 1961. The then-government of Somalia disregarded the results of this referendum.
Subsequently, during the 1980s and early 1990s, a brutal conflict raged between the Somaliland National Movement (SNM) and the forces of the Siad Barre regime. The former government committed numerous war crimes and acts of genocide. The United Nations has documented that in 1988 alone, the Siad Barre regime massacred an estimated 50,000 civilians. The total number of civilians killed during this period is estimated to be as high as 200,000 innocent people. These members of the Somaliland diaspora are the survivors of the genocide perpetrated by the former government of Somalia.
Therefore, the people now being told they must obtain Somali visas are the very same civilians who fled the genocide and survived. They are unwilling to be forced to obtain visas from those whose fathers and mothers killed their relatives in order to travel to their own country, the Republic of Somaliland.
Furthermore, Somaliland citizens are being forced to pay visa fees upon arrival at Somaliland airports if they hold foreign passports. This effectively requires them to pay twice – once for a visa to a country they are not affiliated with or traveling to, and again to enter their own country.
Despite Somaliland having reclaimed its independence 33 years ago, the international community has yet to formally recognize it as a sovereign state. However, Somaliland is a de facto independent state, and statehood under international law does not depend on recognition. Citizens living in recognized and unrecognized states are entitled to the same rights.
The implementation of this e-visa policy by the government of Somalia is viewed as part of an ongoing, misguided campaign against the people of Somaliland. The world must recognize that Somaliland has been an independent nation since 1991 and has fulfilled all the requirements for statehood as defined by the Montevideo Convention. Somaliland’s independence violates no international or regional laws.
Since the collapse of the central government of Somalia in 1991, the airspace of both Somalia and Somaliland was managed by ICAO. Control was returned to Somali authorities in 2018, following agreements between the governments of Somalia and Somaliland to jointly manage the airspace equally, with the headquarters to be located in Hargeisa. However, the government of Somalia violated these agreements by relocating the headquarters to Mogadishu and politicizing the airspace, using it as a weapon against the people of Somaliland.
We, the people of Somaliland, are deeply saddened by these developments. We urgently appeal to ICAO, the United Nations, the African Union, and IGAD to conduct a review and intervene in the management of Somali airspace. We request that Somaliland be granted autonomy to manage its own airspace. Alternatively, we propose that the management of Somaliland and Somalia’s airspace be temporarily returned to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) or entrusted to a neutral third-party nation.
Finaly, the international community and the countries where Somaliland citizens reside or transit are urged to take immediate action to resolve the situation of Somaliland citizens stranded abroad and in international airports. This is to ensure their safe passage to their homeland and to end the politically motivated e-visa requirement, which is intended to punish the people of Somaliland for their historic decision to determine their own future and become an independent nation
Your sincerely,
Dr. Abdi Abdillahi Hassan (Matan),
Chairperson Horn of Africa Development Organization.
Email address: ahassan113@yahoo.com