P R E S S   R E L E A S E

 For Immediate Release

September 8, 2006

We, the Unionists of Northern Somalia (UNS) and the Northern Somalis for Peace and Unity (NSPU), wish to convey and share with the US Government, with the foreign participants in this week’s “Somaliland” convention in Virginia, and with the international community at large that the existence of the self-styled secessionists’ enclave of “Somaliland” is based on a number of fallacies and fabrications, including:

1. That: the people of northern Somalia—“Somaliland” in their terms—are united on seceding from the rest of Somalia. On the contrary, many communities in the region are, indeed, opposed to the sentiment of secession. In fact, the region is adequately represented in the TFG under the 4.5-formula for power sharing in those Federal Institutions, now based in Baidoa.


2. That: the decision to secede was taken in a meeting held in Burao, one of the major towns in the region, in May, 1991. Indeed, the meeting was haphazardly held and the decision was taken on the spur of the moment when the SNM militia all of a sudden started saber rattling in a mob like atmosphere, forcefully calling for the separation of the region.


3. That: elections were subsequently held for the local governments, parliament and the president in a democratic way. On the contrary, those elections were held in the triangle between Hargeisa, Burao and Berbera, if at all. Especially, communities in the east—those in Sool and Sanaag – had declined to participate in any such elections. There may be a few individuals from those communities, who do not necessarily represent the people they claim to represent  and who serve in the secessionist administration of Hargeisa. Some such individuals are now participating in this Conference, as a ploy to show the world a false unanimity of the people of the North on the secession.


4. That: “Somaliland”, as a State, pre-existed the Act of Union of July 1, 1960 of the Somali Republic and that, on such baseless grounds, “Somaliland” ought to be recognized by the international community. No “Somaliland’ State existed before the Act of Union. It is ironic that the secessionists are holding their Conference in the backyard of the Federal Institutions of the United States of America to lobby the American Government. What a big, fat fabrication!

We, the Unionists of the North of Somalia wish to inform the world that, for sixteen years—since the collapse of Barre’s government—we have tolerated the existence of this misleading notion in the hope that such a mythology as the secession would in the end crumble under its weight, since our people are not united under its banner. On the contrary, the secessionists have also waited in the hope that the rest of Somalia would disintegrate so that the world would recognize their so-called sovereignty. The unionists of the North have now come out to begin to organize themselves and to rally around the cause of unity with their brethren elsewhere in Somalia.

The unionists further call upon the secessionist leadership in the North to start considering meaningful reconciliation, and dialogue between the communities in the North and with their Somali brethren elsewhere.

The unionists of the North also call on the International community to continue to uphold the national unity and territorial integrity of the Somali Republic.

For further info contact:

Gamal Hassan

Director, Communication & Public Relations

Northern Somalis for Peace and Unity (NSPU)

5470 Merivale Rd. Ottawa, Ontario. K2C 3M1 Canada

NORTHERN SOMALIS FOR PEACE & UNITY (NSPU) is a grass-roots Somali advocacy organization with Branches in Somalia, United Arab Emirates, Canada, USA, UK, and South Africa. We are dedicated to the promotion of peace and unity among the long suffering people of Somalia.  We believe the ‘Somalia problem’ can only be dealt with within the framework of a holistic strategic approach aimed at the empowerment of a central government to rebuild national democratic  governance institutions and restore law and order throughout the country. NSPU believes the balkanization of Somalia is a recipe for future conflicts and a bleak future for the  Somali people, who are bonded by ethnicity, language, religion, and shared centuries-old  culture and  traditions.