Finland Must Apologize!
Minister Mohamed Osman: How dare Finland deport Somali criminals back to Somalia, and then not even return our calls!
H/T: Kumitonttu
Finland stands out from most Scandinavians countries, not only because of the differences in language, but for its penchant in bucking the trend where immigration and refugee policies are concerned. While the rest of Scandinavia has widely opened its gates to both refugees and immigrants from all over the Middle East, Finland still plods along maintaining its own course, being very careful and watchful of what is happening around it.
Yes, there is room for concern for what some politicians here would like to implement, proving that not all Finnish politicians “get it”, but for the most part, carefullness and a watchfull eye is the hallmark of Finnish political attitudes towards this issues like these. So it doesn’t come as too great of a surprise that Finland deported a Somali criminal back to his homeland, and that they are not receiving any of the Somali minister’s phone calls. KGS
Somaliland, a state set up in the north of war-torn Somalia, has sharply condemned Finland for deporting a Somali-born man convicted of numerous crimes in Finland to Somaliland early last month. “Somaliland is no camping area”, said Mohamed Osman, Somaliland’s Minister of Return Migration and Reconstruction to Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday.“Finland should apologise to us and take the man back.” Finnish police escorted the man to Dubai, where they placed him on a plane to Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, on February 9th, along with a temporary alien’s passport. The ministry in Hargeisa learned about this action, and other deportation decisions made by Finland by reading the International Edition of Helsingin Sanomat on the Internet. Osman said that Finnish officials had not been in contact with Somaliland over the issue. “In our view, the man has been smuggled into Somaliland. We cannot accept this.” […]Osman says that Finland has not reacted to his government’s attempts at contact. “Finnish officials have not responded to us in any way. We interpret this as hostility toward us, and are very disappointed.”
I am from the northern region of Somalia- what the secessionists otherwise call “Somaliland”. Unlike the rest of African countries below the Sahara, Somalia is inhabited by one people sharing the same religion, culture, language and origin. The Somali people are not only in Somalia but also in Eastern Ethiopia (the Ogaden), Djibouti and Northern Frontier District of Kenya (NFD).
Before Europeans and Ethiopia carved up the Somali homeland in the Horn into five parts, there was no such a thing as British Somaliland, Italian Somaliland, French Somaliland, Ethiopian Somaliland and NFD. There were only free Somali clans in the Horn. Those clans in former British Somaliland also belonged to clans across the artificial colonial border. Hence they were not an entity having separate cultural, language religious or legal roots that separated them from the rest but only an artificial creation of the British.
When British colonial era ended in 1960, the two former European colonial entities- British and Italian Somaliland- immediately united to become the United Somali Republic or Somalia as it is mostly known, an indication of the desire for union among the peoples separated by colonial rule for nearly a hundred years.
For the information of the pro-Somaliland lobbyists, only one clan among the five clans in former British Somaliland supports secession. If every disgruntled clan or tribe were to be given self-determination, there will be no African state given their fragility. Those who are vying for Somalia’s break-up are only digging the grave for many other African countries. Our neighbours, Ethiopia and Kenya, are the ones to lose most. Don’t play with fire lest you burn yourself
The entity call Somalia never existed prior to 1961, however Somaliland has. Somalilanders gave up their independence in 1961 and united with the southerners in an ill faded dream for greater Somalia; Somaliland should have followed the Djibouti model and never united with the southerners whose hunger for power, nepotism and elitism doomed the union. No need to look further, they have been embroiled in chaos for close to 20 years since the fall of their dictator hero while the democratic Somaliland and its people have prosper living in peace side by side with the rest of the international community. Those who are opposed to Somaliland’s reclaiming its independence are quick to attempt to invalidate it with the clannish theory, truth is that Somaliland is not composed of one clan, but many clans who support it’s independence, one need not look further to dismantle such silly argument than the president of Somaliland since he hails from a different clan than the one claimed to solely drive the independence. With respect to sharing language and religion being the reason for union, the world is full of examples demonstrating that they are not strong bases for unions, Arab countries; US and Canada are just two quick examples. Southerners aka Somalia proper, time for you to move on, northerners opposed to independence, all I can say is that you can not stand against the wishes and the collective interest of the majority who support the independence, who are also committed to protecting the interest and well being of the minority clans living within the Somaliland soil. That is the spirit of Somaliland and its people, a far contrast from Southerners aka Somalia proper.