XamdiDK

People from Somalia frequently love to circulate this famous quotation below by the Irish writer and travelor Gerald Hanley.The problem is that the writer's observations were drawn only from his encounters with Somalilanders during his travels and experiences in British Somaliland,whose people and way of life he described at length in his celebrated book, "Warriors and Strangers: Life Among the Somalis", presenting it as a testament to Somalilnders' national character,courage and fierce sense of independence. In other words,Somalians who proudly circulate Hanley's words should at least acknowledge the people and the land that inspired them. The irony is that a quotation so enthusiastically embraced by Somalians as a source of national pride has its roots in the very Somaliland whose distinct history and identity none of those Somlians sharing it refuse to acknowledge.