Pres­i­dent of the Fed­eral Re­pub­lic of So­ma­lia 55th An­niver­sary of In­de­pen­dence (when north­ern re­gions of So­ma­lia got in­de­pen­dence from Britain) 26 June 2015.

To­day we cel­e­brate one of the most sig­nif­i­cant mo­ments in So­ma­li­a’s his­tory – the mo­ment of our in­de­pen­dence.

55 years ago, the poet Cab­dil­lahi Sul­dan Tim­macadde, said as he watched the So­mali flag rise, “Soomaaloo callan taagta saakaa in­oogu ho­raysa” (“This morn­ing is the first day we will see a So­mali hoist­ing a flag”).

Thou­sands of peo­ple had con­verged in cities around So­ma­lia to see in the new day: a day where na­tion­al­ism was the ral­ly­ing cry, where for­eign rule would no longer be tol­er­ated.

55 years on, we have the chance to look back and ask our­selves what we did with the op­por­tu­nity that this his­toric oc­ca­sion gave us.

My friends, ‘What have we done?’ We took 55 years to get to the point where we fi­nally used our in­de­pen­dence to do the right thing for So­ma­lia – choos­ing democ­racy over dic­ta­tor­ship.

We took a long time and So­ma­lia lost many sons and daugh­ters be­cause we failed to make the right choices, failed to cap­i­talise on op­por­tu­ni­ties, failed to pur­sue a bet­ter fu­ture – the fu­ture those thou­sands of peo­ple dreamed of 55 years ago.

We can­not waste our op­por­tu­ni­ties again.

Just like that day 55 years ago, when So­ma­lia chose a dif­fer­ent fu­ture, and united against a com­mon en­emy to se­cure that fu­ture – we are the same point tonight.

We have a mo­ment to choose in­de­pen­dence again. Not in­de­pen­dence from for­eign agents, but from those in­ter­nal el­e­ments which hold us back from great­ness.

Then – we united for bat­tle. Now- we must unite for peace.

Then -we fought to­gether for in­de­pen­dence from ex­ter­nal forces. Now – we must give up fight­ing ap­a­thy, com­pla­cency, medi­oc­rity, the sta­tus quo.

We have a mo­ment to choose to­geth­er­ness. To choose to­geth­er­ness, to come to­gether to fight a worse en­emy than we ever faced with for­eign forces. You may think, when I talk about en­e­mies, that I’m talk­ing about al Shabaab. It is true that they are an en­emy of So­ma­lia, an en­emy of Is­lam, an en­emy of peace. But it is not al Shabaab to whom I re­fer­ring.

I am re­fer­ring to the en­e­mies that are with us in this room. Do not look at your neigh­bour with sus­pi­cion; it is not your neigh­bour I am talk­ing about. In­stead we must all look care­fully at our­selves. We must look down at our hands; look at our tongues, ex­am­ine our hearts.

So­ma­li­a’s fu­ture is not some­thing that any one can give to us. It is only some­thing we can make for our­selves.

No amount of dol­lars in ex­ter­nal for­eign fund­ing; no amount of sup­port­ive troops; no amount of ex­ter­nally gen­er­ated poli­cies, pro­grammes and pri­or­i­ties will give So­ma­lia what she needs. As grate­ful as we are for these things- they are not our an­swer.

Be­cause what So­ma­lia needs is not some­thing that can be mea­sured and re­ported against a pol­icy frame­work.

What So­ma­lia needs is her sons and daugh­ters to­day to choose their own fu­ture. More than that, we must MAKE our own fu­ture.

We will never do this if con­tinue to al­low our his­tor­i­cal griev­ances and our cur­rent frus­tra­tions to stall our con­ver­sa­tions be­fore they be­gin, to un­der­mine our trust and con­fi­dence in each other.

My gov­ern­ment is com­mit­ted to con­tinue di­a­logue with So­ma­liland ad­min­is­tra­tion, with the aim of re­solv­ing our dif­fer­ences and en­sure that the legacy of unity left by our free­dom fight­ers pre­vails.
So­ma­lia is at a crit­i­cal point.

For the first time in 20 years, we are largely at peace. We have a le­git­i­mate gov­ern­ment in place, and are mak­ing progress in emerg­ing from a nascent to full state hood. How­ever, we know that peace is frag­ile and progress is re­versible.

In many ways, de­spite our rich cul­tural her­itage, So­ma­lia is a coun­try in in­fancy. We are a na­tion of clans and some­times of com­pet­ing agen­das. But I think it is fair to say that we have all had enough. And that is why in­clu­sive­ness and con­tri­bu­tion is at the heart of the gov­ern­men­t’s agenda.

I firmly be­lieve that we can have the best gov­ern­ment, the best pro­grams and the best in­sti­tu­tions in the world, but that none of this will mat­ter, or bring peace, un­less we first have an un­der­stand­ing of what makes us one na­tion. Un­less we first look at each other and see our­selves.

Un­less we have One So­ma­lia.

Next year, we have the chance to prove to the world that we are on the right track. I am fully com­mit­ted to na­tional elec­tions in 2016 and am ex­cited that for the first time in 45 years, So­ma­lis will have the chance to choose.

We are mak­ing plans for these now. I look for­ward over the com­ing months to shar­ing those plans with you and seek your in­put in how we can make them work.

There is no other choice but ‘Soomaalin­i­mo’. There is no other choice but to make our mark now. I trust you will join me in mak­ing that hap­pen.