The recent verdict that was handed down hastily few weeks ago by a military court to a group of suspected military camp assailants in Hargeisa could lead Somaliland back to civil war .
The court verdict was swift and harsh and the defendants didn’t get a chance for legal representation.
Somaliland government argues that the men attacked a military camp and caused deaths although both the accused and the military were involved in the incident and exchanged heavy gunfire.
The cause of the conflict was a land dispute that is common in Somaliland. The disgruntled attackers who are remnants of the Somali National Movement (SNM) felt betrayed because the strip of land that they have been occupying for the last 21 years belonged to their grandparents. They were informed that Somaliland government was taking the land from them and selling it to a local businessman.
The matter was reported to the Somaliland authorities before the incident happened. But local sources say that Somaliland government provoked the attack by placing army around the disputed area before a planned negotiation with the would be attackers took place .
The incident caused unnecessary deaths of three army personnel and four civilians including innocent pregnant woman and a child hit by stray bullets .
The dispute could become national if the verdict of killing the 17 suspects by firing squad is carried out. This is simply because, this young nation is still in transition from a coalition of clans to full democracy. Any provocation of a clan conflict could take the nation back into civil war , keeping in mind that all the accused are from one sub-clan of a major stake-holder in the country. Also, Somali politicians who don't want Somaliland secession could exploit any Somaliland clan conflict and break or weaken Somaliland clan coalition entity.
It would , therefore , be advisable to Somaliland government to let civilian courts take over the case and let the legal processes take its own routes rather than letting military tribunals threaten the public with death penalties and closed room verdicts.
Somaliland is a young emerging and unrecognised democracy that needs to respect human rights . Military tribunals are a matter of the past in the new African order.
Please support this cause and tell Somaliland government to try these suscpects in a civil court and to abolish capital punishment.
