The Ghost Envoy: The lie that did not pass
Spokesperson of the president reporting on the alleged UAE delegation
Finally, Kulmiye is too clever for their
own detriment. For the last eight years
this party has bet on the gullibility of the public to shamelesly lie to their
face, telling them what the people wish to hear. For instance, on their visits
to Somaliland, western ambassadors to Somalia are casualy introduced to the
public as the representative of the country in Somaliland and Somalia.
But this time, they have gone too far.
Today, one thing is obvious and that is the government is lying about the
nature of supposedly UAE delegation the president has receivd yesterday.
The government’s narrative is that a high
level delagation consisting of 12 persons met the president and apologized for
remarks made by UAE minister last week. Allegedly, the delegation also promised
to lift ban on Somaliland livestock exports, train and equip Somaliland forces
and faciliate free movement of people and goods between the two countries.
All this is good news, but many citizen are
not having any of it. That is mainly due
to the secrecy surrounding the identity and the ranks of the delegation. Apart
from being twelve persons and of high-level, the government failed to release
any more details. There were no joint press conference after the meeting.
Journalists were not provided photographs of the delegation along with the
press release.
All we know about the envoy comes from the
spokesperson of the president in a video posted on his Facebook page. The
ministry of foreign affairs reiterated spokesperson remarks today.
This is remarkably different than how usually
Somaliland receives dignitaries and how they are presented. Normaly,
journalists are invited to the reception or photos of the event are posted
online.
There is also the matter of inconsistency
in the press releases of the president’s spokesperson and the press release of
ministry of foreign affairs. While the presidency mentions the establishment of
kidney hospital, and public servants
training provided by UAE, Ministry of Foreign Affais does not.
On top of cherry, the UAE
side is yet to make statement regarding the alleged delegation.
The final blow then came from an online
tabloid newspaper, Qarannews, which reported that the delegation is not political
at all, but consists of junior officials in DP World and the Djiboutian
businessman Abdirahman Boore.
At this juncture, one might wonder, what
would compel the government to so blatantly lie to its people. A little
background information explains it all. Last week, the UAE state foreign
minister told BBC Arabic that Berbera military base and port deals came to
being thanks to understanding with the Federal Government of Somalia, and that UAE
did not have any communication with Somaliland. This embarrassed the Kulmiye
who for long played the card of patriotism against the opposition. Suddenly,
Kulmiye became a suspect of relinquishing the sovereignty of the country.
Uncharacteristically, Waddani party has not
let the chance go by. Abdirahman Irro called for the resignation of Muse Bihi
and the trial of ex president Ahmed Silanyo
for high treason immediately after the revelation.
That must have had thrown the government of
tracks. In a desperate attempt to safe face Muse Bihi have grossly underestimated
the intelligence of the people and orchesterated this sham. This time, I am
glad to say, people know better. People are
mocking the ill prepared and executed sham on social media. There are jokes and buns about the
invisibility of the delegation, stolen photographs of the event that mirrors
the theft of the constitution of Somalia that was revealed recently. Some
people are even wondering the existence of a ghost country which is also called
UAE that sent a ghost envoy to Somaliland.
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