I was hoping to have a few more Somaliland updates before I embarked on my journey to the northwestern part of Thailand, but it appears that I only have two more updates from the every-trusty Somaliland247 to provide.  However, both of them are highly intriguing, in that they reveal some aspects of Somaliland that are perhaps not often understood.

Somaliland Cultural Treasures

First, Somaliland247 presents some amazing cave photos of the earliest Somalis in a set of ten cave grottoes just outside of the Somaliland national capital, Hargesia [1].  The richly colorful and vibrant paintings show a Horn of Africa that is lush and green and full of a rich plant and animal life, in contrast to the arid region that now exists.  The earliest Somalis in Somaliland had a much better time as pastoralists than their descendents who deal with arid and sparsely inhabited badlands that now predominate in the region.

Previously, the caves where these beautiful red and gold-filled paintings can be found were thought to be haunted places inhabited by spirits by the (somewhat superstitious) local inhabitants, and sacrifices were offered to help keep the spirits away.  Now that the extent of the cultural treasure contained in those caves is known, the caves are being guarded to prevent looting.  Hopefully, such cultural treasures may inspire tourists who are interested in Africa’s earliest (and most pristine) rock art.  A vibrant tourism industry that was able to showcase Somaliland’s cultural treasures would add a level of opportunity for Somliland to be a well-recognized and well-respected sovereign nation in the eyes of ordinary people all over the world.  The cave paintings that survive are well worth the eyes of archeologists, art historians, and tourists.

SSC Photoshop Propaganda

Ever since the Soviet Union started faking photographs to remove party members who had been purged, photoshopping in some fashion or another has been in vogue as a propaganda tool.  Somaliland now has the honor of being the photoshop victim of propganda, as Somaliland247 reports [2].

The photoshopping consists of two flags added to a scene–namely the Somali flag, which would have the effect of trying to show that Somaliland was still a part of Somalia even though that has not been the case for nearly 20 years now.  Additionally, a UAE flag was added to the shot to balance out the fraudulent Somali flag that had been photoshopped in, albeit a little crudely (as the UAE flag is put in an empty coffee cup, while the fictitious Somali flag sort of just hangs in the picture.

Of course, the reason why SSC, a terrorist group that has violently protested Somaliland independence, engaged in terrorist fundraising among Somali communities in the United States [3] and sought to destabilize the situation between Somaliland and neighboring Puntland, would seek to photoshop such an important meeting is pretty obvious.  The recent UAE conference featured a classic quid pro quo on the part of Somaliland and the UAE–the UAE wants safer trade through the Gulf of Aden, and to do that Somaliland needs military and economic aid to help its antipiracy efforts and to develop its own criminal infrastructure to prosecute pirates.  Each has something to offer, and each has something it requires [4].  Therefore the SSC, wishing to show the anti-piracy efforts as a whole Somali effort rather than the reality of an independent Somaliland effort, has fraudulently tampered with photos for propaganda purposes.  Thankfully someone was there to sniff out the propaganda and show the evidence of the tampering to expose it.

[1] http://somaliland247.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/somalilandgrotto-galleries-show-early-somali-life/

[2] http://somaliland247.wordpress.com/2011/04/30/ssc-photoshop-propaganda-exposed/

[3] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/04/03/somaliland-update-anti-piracy-efforts-tax-codes-important-meetings-war-crimes-ssc-surveillance/

[4] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/somaliland-update-the-united-arab-emerites-enter/