This article, “Second Phase of the Isaaq Genocide: The World Must Not Look Away,” written by M. Amin, argues that a second phase of genocide against the Isaaq clan in Somaliland is emerging, perpetrated by the Somali federal government.
It draws parallels to the Isaaq Genocide of the 1980s under Siad Barre and uses Dr. Gregory Stanton’s Ten Stages of Genocide to frame its analysis.
Here’s a breakdown:
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Historical Context: The article recounts the Isaaq Genocide of the late 1980s, where the Somali government targeted the Isaaq clan, resulting in mass killings and displacement.
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Ten Stages of Genocide: It uses Stanton’s model to argue that current developments mirror the early stages of genocide. These include:
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Classification, Symbolization, Discrimination: Federal government actions like removing “Somaliland” from international platforms.
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Dehumanization: Federal officials using derogatory terms for Somalilanders.
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Organization, Polarization, Preparation: Alleged federal support for militias in contested territories.
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Persecution: Harassment and attacks against Somalilanders in Somalia.
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Extermination: The murder of Abdinasir Dahable, framed as a targeted assassination.
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Specific Allegations: The article makes specific allegations against the Somali federal government, including:
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Supporting militias in the Sool region (Las Anod conflict).
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Creating a new federal member state (SSC-Khaatumo) to undermine Somaliland’s claims.
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Using inflammatory rhetoric against Somaliland.
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Harassing and discriminating against Somalilanders.
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Involvement in the murder of Abdinasir Dahable.
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Legal Argument: It claims that Somalia’s claim to Somaliland lacks legal basis under international law because the union between British Somaliland and Italian Somalia in 1960 was never formalized by a legally binding treaty.
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Call to Action: The article urges the international community to recognize Somaliland as an independent state to prevent a second genocide. It argues that recognition would protect the Isaaq population, acknowledge Somaliland’s legal rights, and disrupt genocidal narratives. The author emphasizes that failure to act would make the international community complicit.
In essence, the article is a strong warning about potential atrocities and a plea for international intervention through recognition of Somaliland’s independence.
The complete piece is as follows:
Second Phase of the Isaaq Genocide: The World Must Not Look Away
By M. Amin, freelance journalist and Researcher in Hargeisa
In the late 1980s, the Somali Democratic Republic under General Mohamed Siad Barre launched a brutal and systematic campaign against the Isaaq clan of northern Somalia—resulting in what international scholars and human rights groups have since labeled the Isaaq Genocide. Tens of thousands of civilians were slaughtered. Cities were bombed to rubble. And to this day, mass graves continue to be uncovered, testimony to atrocities that the world largely ignored.
Now, decades later, the warning signs are flashing again.
Through the lens of Dr. Gregory Stanton’s internationally accepted Ten Stages of Genocide, current developments—ranging from military actions, hate speech, state manipulation, to targeted killings—suggest that a second phase of anti-Isaaq violence is emerging. And once again, the international community is dangerously silent.
I. The Ten Stages of Genocide Repeating
Stanton’s model describes how genocide is not a sudden eruption but a process—beginning with classification, symbolization, and discrimination, escalating through dehumanization, organization, and polarization, and culminating in persecution, extermination, and denial.
In the current context, all these stages are visibly unfolding.
II. The Historic Blueprint: Isaaq Genocide of the 1980s
Between 1987 and 1989, Barre’s regime deployed the full force of the state to annihilate the Isaaq people. Hargeisa and Burao were bombed. Over 200,000-500,000 people were killed, and 1.6 million were displaced. British declassified documents and US embassy cables confirm that the Barre regime intentionally created the Sool and Awdal regions in 1984–1989 to weaken Isaaq unity and isolate SNM resistance in strategic districts.
The British Government’s 2009 report on Somali geography notes that these regions were politically engineered—not administratively logical—reinforcing a clear pattern of genocide preparation and territorial weaponization
III. The Present Echo: Federal Interventions in Las Anod and SSC
In early 2023, a conflict broke out in Las Anod, part of the Sool region claimed by both Somaliland and Somalia’s Federal Government. While initially presented as a local uprising, evidence quickly emerged that federal-aligned militias, political funding, and personnel—including Danab special forces—were involved.
Among them was Mohamed Adan Suleiman, a former Danab commander. Though Danab leadership claimed he had resigned in 2021, he reportedly flew from Mogadishu to Las Anod in 2023 to support SSC militias. He died during the conflict. The US-trained Danab force, officially a counterterrorism unit, denied involvement—but his presence points to federal complicity in arming and organizing violence in contested Somaliland territories.
These actions fall under Stages 5–7: organization, polarization, and preparation—as militias are armed, political boundaries redrawn, and identity weaponized.
In 2025, the federal government went a step further. In violation of its own interim constitution, it recognized a new federal member state, the SSC-Khaatumo administration, encompassing Lasanod, Lasqorey, Taleh, and Badhan—a region spanning two different official regions, thus contradicting Somalia’s own legal stipulation that only two or more whole regions may form a federal state.
This decision effectively nullified Somaliland’s historical claim to these areas and reignited fears of territorial engineering for demographic replacement—an updated form of genocidal policy.
IV. Demonizing Rhetoric and Erasure of Identity
Federal officials, including some from Somalia’s executive and parliamentary leadership, have publicly labeled Somaliland as “worse than Al-Shabaab,” “traitors,” and “illegitimate separatists.” These statements, widely disseminated through media, amount to dehumanization—Stage 4 of genocide.
Moreover, the federal government has ordered international business platforms to remove “Somaliland” from drop-down menus, effectively erasing its global identity. This symbolic erasure is a direct act of symbolization and discrimination (Stages 2 and 3) and also indicates deliberate efforts to suppress a people’s national identity.
V. The Murder of Abdinasir Dahable: Targeted Assassination in a Secure Zone
One of the most chilling developments occurred in February 2024.
Abdinasir Muse Abdirahman (Dahable), a 32-year-old Chevening Scholar and aviation professional from Somaliland, was murdered inside the green zone of Mogadishu Airport—a supposedly high-security compound controlled by aviation and intelligence authorities.
His body was found strangled, jaw broken, eyes crushed, and genitals mutilated.
Somali police swiftly arrested six young men of Somaliland origin—his friends and colleagues. Held without charge, they were reportedly tortured into confessing. But a forensic team invited to assist the investigation found no evidence linking them to the crime. They were later released, and a court found them not guilty.
Yet no investigation has been opened into the role of Somalia’s aviation authority or intelligence service (NISA)—despite widespread allegations and social media claims that Dahable was killed for leaking sensitive data to Somaliland.
This is Stage 8—Persecution, and veers toward state-sponsored assassination. Abdinasir’s death, the torture of innocent men, and the silence from Mogadishu reflect the use of violence and impunity to eliminate perceived internal threats.
VI. Identity-Based Harassment and Institutional Discrimination
This is not an isolated case.
Numerous reports confirm a growing pattern of identity-based harassment against Somaliland-origin individuals in Somalia:
In 2021, two doctors from Edna Adan Hospital in Hargeisa, traveling to Kenya via Mogadishu, were arrested at the airport. Their Somaliland passports were torn, and they were deported back to Hargeisa. They were not criminals—just students seeking medical education.
In 2024, a seriously ill patient in Hargeisa needed urgent evacuation to Addis Ababa. The federal government refused to authorize a medical evacuation flight, forcing the patient to travel by road for—a violation of humanitarian norms.
In Mogadishu, several Somaliland-origin youths have reportedly been stabbed or attacked in recent months. Looting of Isaaq-owned businesses, coordinated harassment, and arrests have also been reported on social media.
These actions—seemingly unconnected—are actually linked by the thread of systemic persecution based on identity, confirming the progression toward Stages 8–10: persecution, extermination (targeted killings), and denial.
VII. Legal Incompatibility of Somalia’s Claim to Somaliland
Somalia’s federal government continues to claim Somaliland as a region—but it has no legal basis under international law.
When British Somaliland gained independence on June 26, 1960, it was a sovereign state. The union with Italian Somalia on July 1, 1960, was never formalized by a legally binding treaty, and crucially, it was never registered with the United Nations under Article 102 of the UN Charter.
The 1961 Somali Constitution—unilaterally adopted—was rejected by the people of Somaliland in a popular referendum, as documented on Somalilandlaw.com.
Thus, under international law, no binding union exists, and Somaliland retains the right to statehood as the sole legal successor to the former State of Somaliland.
VIII. Time to Act: Recognition as a Preventive Tool
The signs are clear. The process is underway. Every stage of genocide—symbolic and actual—has either occurred or is reoccurring.
Failure to recognize Somaliland is no longer just a political issue—it is a life-and-death matter. Recognition would:
- Protect a vulnerable population from persecution
- Restore justice to a historically marginalized people
- Acknowledge the legal reality of a state that never lawfully united with Somalia
- Disrupt genocidal narratives that flourish under ambiguity and denial
Conclusion: Every Day of Delay Costs Lives
Genocide is not always carried out with bombs or machetes. It can begin with words, policies, borders, and silence.
The world failed to stop the Isaaq genocide in the 1980s. Now it has a second chance—not just to condemn the past but to prevent a repeat.
The international community—especially the United Nations, the African Union, and the United Kingdom—must formally recognize Somaliland as an independent state and protect its people from the slow, calculated revival of one of Africa’s forgotten genocides.
To ignore these signs again is to be complicit.
