TNA says referendum “illegal”

The Transitional National Assembly (TNA) of the Transitional National Government (TNG) of Somalia, on Tuesday called on the president of the self-declared independent state of Somaliland in northwestern Somalia, Muhammad Ibrahim Egal, not to hold the referendum scheduled for 31 May. The TNA, set up in the Djibouti-hosted Somali peace conference last year, which was boycotted by Somaliland, is also calling on Somalis worldwide to demonstrate against the referendum.
The referendum will ask the people of Somaliland to approve a new constitution, which includes confirmation of Somaliland’s independence. Somaliland declared itself independent in May 1991, but has never received international recognition.

Maryam Arif Qasim, a member of the TNA, told IRIN that the TNA had set up a nine-member committee to “study how best to approach” the issue of the referendum. Speaking on behalf of the committee, she described the referendum as a “foreign inspired conspiracy” being carried out with the help of their Somali collaborators.
According to Arif, the Egal administration did not have the legal right to hold such a referendum. “It is contrary to the union constitution of 1960, which is still in effect,” she said. It was also contrary to international law. “Only an internationally recognised country can hold a referendum, not a region,” she added.

Arif said that the committee had called upon Somalis worldwide not to “support this so-called referendum meant to dismember Somalia”. She said that on 31 May Somalis should “go out and demonstrate to show their opposition”. The committee was also asking the international community not to support a referendum meant to create mini-states, “particularly in this time of globalisation”, she added.

The referendum is also opposed by the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland in northeastern Somalia, which described it as “unwise and provocative” and likely to lead to violence, in a press statement on 26 April. However, Somaliland Information Minister Muhammad Ali Waran’ade told journalists at a press conference in Hargeysa on 28 April that the referendum would go ahead as planned, the BBC said.