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**Senasivar** · 06-27-2010, 08:28 AM

Ethiopia has had some sort of relations or presence in the region since Aksum is what I'm saying. Of course influence was two ways, no one said otherwise. But there was basically no contact with Southern Somalia until the modern period.

Q: Ethiopia = Tigray - Amhara regions? Are you aware of the fact that Sheikh Hussein the most prominent saint amongst Ethiopian muslims came from Merka, Southern Somalia?, or the multiple caravans that left medieval Southeast-Ethiopia for the ports in Southern Somalia?

To expand on the point about Italian v. British colonial influence on Somalia, I think it's important to note that the British left Somaliland to its own devices whereas Italy attempted to turn Southern Somalia into a prize colony.
The British take on their role in Somalia: "We will only seek to minimize conflict in our area, we will not invest or capitalize from the occupation. The only thing worthwhile about our occupation is its strategic location, so we will be hands off except when it comes to conflict avoidance and resolution."
The Italians: "We will invest a lot in our area of Somalia, we will modernize and begin development in the urban areas such as Mogadishu, we will displace a lot of people and have them work in the city to disrupt and fundamentally alter traditional lifestyles, in an ultimate attempt to terraform it for our purposes."

Nonsense, the word 'colonization' can't even be used to describe Somalia's brief period of foreign occupation:

"The Italians never succeeded in their attempted role of colonial masters. They were sometimes perceived as allies (by the Geledi in their fight with the Biimaal) and sometimes as enemies (by Maxamad Cabdille Xasan and his Dervishes), but rarely were they seen as masters. The love-hate relationship, so often present between colonized and colonizer, seemed not to occur in the Somali case. -
Politics, language, and thought: the Somali experience - Page 68

Somaliland gained independence from Great Britain on June 26, 1960 (today's the 50th anniversary btw)...Somalia gained its independence from Italy on July 1st 1960. Therefore, Somaliland was a sovereign and independent country for 5 days.

There was no such thing as an independent ''Somaliland'' state, it had no distinct flag(actually the Somali blue flag was first hosted there), no parliament etc. This is as absurd as saying one half of Morocco was an independent state because it had to wait for the other half to receive it's independence. Northern Somali representatives had already agreed to a union even before the protectorate achieved independence:

In February 1960 a Legislative council was elected by Universal adult male suffrage. On April 6 this council unaninamously passed a resolution stating its desires to recieve independence before 1 july, so that the country could be united with Somalia when it became independent -Encyclopedia Americana pg 251

As for the current entity of Somaliland and it's wish to secede, that's a tricky situation considering 40% of the territory claimed by Riyaale's government are die-hard Unionists, not to forget how the Awdal region is currently governed by it's own council and does not feel the need to secede from Somalia, but instead waits for stability to return, forcing them into a seccession could prolong or ignite a war in a relatively peaceful part of the country.

Last edit...Ezana, you're mistaken if you think that Somaliland's sphere of influence was Ethiopian. That is ludicrous, and as Boosted J mentioned, Somalis expanded from north to the south. And from the South to the North, this was not a one-time phenomena.

Most of the original Qadiriyya sufi saints buried in southern Somalia, and in Kelaafo, Ethiopia were from modern day Somaliland. Most cultural influences in the south have a northern origin anyway, from poetry/oral literature, to music...in the heyday of Somali music, the best singers and musicians in Mogadishu were from the North. To this day when you listen to Somali news broadcasted from Mogadishu, or the BBC Somali, it's with a standard north Somali accent. Indeed Hargeisa Radio was a pioneer, as was the Hargeisa theatre, yet why do some of our folk from that part of the region pretend they had no influence in the South, when your supremacist post is showing the opposite?

06-27-2010, 08:28 AM	#24
Senasivar Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 431 Senior Member	Ethiopia has had some sort of relations or presence in the region since Aksum is what I'm saying. Of course influence was two ways, no one said otherwise. But there was basically no contact with Southern Somalia until the modern period. Q: Ethiopia = Tigray - Amhara regions? Are you aware of the fact that Sheikh Hussein the most prominent saint amongst Ethiopian muslims came from Merka, Southern Somalia?, or the multiple caravans that left medieval Southeast-Ethiopia for the ports in Southern Somalia? To expand on the point about Italian v. British colonial influence on Somalia, I think it's important to note that the British left Somaliland to its own devices whereas Italy attempted to turn Southern Somalia into a prize colony. The British take on their role in Somalia: "We will only seek to minimize conflict in our area, we will not invest or capitalize from the occupation. The only thing worthwhile about our occupation is its strategic location, so we will be hands off except when it comes to conflict avoidance and resolution." The Italians: "We will invest a lot in our area of Somalia, we will modernize and begin development in the urban areas such as Mogadishu, we will displace a lot of people and have them work in the city to disrupt and fundamentally alter traditional lifestyles, in an ultimate attempt to terraform it for our purposes." Nonsense, the word 'colonization' can't even be used to describe Somalia's brief period of foreign occupation: "The Italians never succeeded in their attempted role of colonial masters. They were sometimes perceived as allies (by the Geledi in their fight with the Biimaal) and sometimes as enemies (by Maxamad Cabdille Xasan and his Dervishes), but rarely were they seen as masters. The love-hate relationship, so often present between colonized and colonizer, seemed not to occur in the Somali case. - Politics, language, and thought: the Somali experience - Page 68 Somaliland gained independence from Great Britain on June 26, 1960 (today's the 50th anniversary btw)...Somalia gained its independence from Italy on July 1st 1960. Therefore, Somaliland was a sovereign and independent country for 5 days. There was no such thing as an independent ''Somaliland'' state, it had no distinct flag(actually the Somali blue flag was first hosted there), no parliament etc. This is as absurd as saying one half of Morocco was an independent state because it had to wait for the other half to receive it's independence. Northern Somali representatives had already agreed to a union even before the protectorate achieved independence: In February 1960 a Legislative council was elected by Universal adult male suffrage. On April 6 this council unaninamously passed a resolution stating its desires to recieve independence before 1 july, so that the country could be united with Somalia when it became independent -Encyclopedia Americana pg 251 As for the current entity of Somaliland and it's wish to secede, that's a tricky situation considering 40% of the territory claimed by Riyaale's government are die-hard Unionists, not to forget how the Awdal region is currently governed by it's own council and does not feel the need to secede from Somalia, but instead waits for stability to return, forcing them into a seccession could prolong or ignite a war in a relatively peaceful part of the country. Last edit...Ezana, you're mistaken if you think that Somaliland's sphere of influence was Ethiopian. That is ludicrous, and as Boosted J mentioned, Somalis expanded from north to the south. And from the South to the North, this was not a one-time phenomena. Most of the original Qadiriyya sufi saints buried in southern Somalia, and in Kelaafo, Ethiopia were from modern day Somaliland. Most cultural influences in the south have a northern origin anyway, from poetry/oral literature, to music...in the heyday of Somali music, the best singers and musicians in Mogadishu were from the North. To this day when you listen to Somali news broadcasted from Mogadishu, or the BBC Somali, it's with a standard north Somali accent. Indeed Hargeisa Radio was a pioneer, as was the Hargeisa theatre, yet why do some of our folk from that part of the region pretend they had no influence in the South, when your supremacist post is showing the opposite?
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