Dahar: Puntland in full control

[Dahar: Puntland in full control]

^^Thanks for your prayers.

[WAR DEG-DEG AH DAGAAL GOOR DHOWEYD KA QARXAY MAGAALADA DHAHAR]

Paragon, Las Korey will be the entry point for constructional material. It has small port that can handle small imports. Second, some construction raw materials are locally available. Bosaso is part of our territory as well but as you insinuate things might not be smooth.

.pdf"]http://www.laasqorayport.org/Technical%20Feasibility%20Report%20volume%201%20final[4].pdf

[K’naan says blacks in Africa have all too eagerly continued]

I totally agree with Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar.

[WAR DEG-DEG AH DAGAAL GOOR DHOWEYD KA QARXAY MAGAALADA DHAHAR]

xiinfanin, tribal system? I will give you the benefit of the doubt but I am displeased with troubling news of Sool, Sanaag, and Buhodle politicians at loggerheads over their never-ending pursuit of political power and money. When one of them resigns or is fired by the Sub-land entity, he jumpts to other entity's bandwagon and then discards the label he so vehemently loved to represent. This is a buoyant phenomenon that gives a good picture of the deteriorating situation there. More so, as our brothers Paragon , Mansa, and Dabshid put it eloquently, there will always be a recurring problem, so the need for Governance and structure, which is currently necessitated by the availability of economic infrastructure, is a front-line mechanism- especially Executive directorate with functions including political and security liaison.

 

Mr. Jibriil's proposal for Danwadaag state has met little resistance and Having talked to some members of the community, they agree, in principle, to make arrangements for the idea to take seeds in the ground at grass roots, when the right time comes, which is now. The main goal for the creation and establishment of such state is to safeguard both civil society Development and foreign organizations into which resources are pooled and and redistributed according to priorities and needs---one that gives a sense of belonging to all the people of Sanaag and Sool.

 

The General Assembly resolution A/RES/53/1(M) of 8 December 1998 qualifies the area for assistance as a “local community”, which may directly and independently obtain assistance from the UN.

 

Your concern is what would happen if this state supposedly is established and become functional?

 

I believe that both entities would quit meddling the local affairs and might instead begin to work with the locals as equal contenders whose rights and territories must be respected until a government of natiional union is established. Second, Somaliland administration would give up its claim of the regions. It might not be true, but what is driving Somaliland to interfere the regions is that it feels that it is overpowered by Puntland. Similarly, Puntland would also stop its meddling and change its attitude. Third, local warlords and politicians who travel from one entity to another and who lead formed and recruited local forces against their people and territory would timely diminish and come to a complete halt. You might ask why they are leading army to their clan territories. The answer is simple. All they have to do is show temporary physical presence in one of the disputed cities. They then pocket their money happily and walk away. Their silly task would in turn be used and sold by both entities as an application for control and responsibility.

 

 

S-Warrior, it is not an entirely accurate map but my aim is to manifest seperation of both regions from the sub-land entities. Bosaso District, which partially falls also under the Sanag community is with Puntland, and parts of Somaliland Sanag and Sool are lumped with the Whole Sanaag and Sool regions.

[WAR DEG-DEG AH DAGAAL GOOR DHOWEYD KA QARXAY MAGAALADA DHAHAR]

Thanks guys for the feedback. I was indeed busy.

 

Brothers, since there in place lineage-based administrations accentuated by heightened clan consciousness, I have thought of temporary administration and the formation of local troops independent of both entities for the sole purpose of protecting the security of the workers and engineers at the construction phase of the project. We need some form of formal authority maintaining peace and security within our boundary of jurisdiction, engaging in peace talks with neighboring communities when and wherever possible, restoring peace, supporting returnees, preserving public facilities and revitalizing social services. However, it seems that we are too disorganized and divided on some minor issues perpetrated by local warlords who have been empowered by the two entities.

 

In addition to the claims that they (Puntland and Somaliland) represent and control the regions through the facilitation by some informal and unpopular warlords from the locals, it is also credible that Punt land has been pushing itself forward recently by pretending to present opportunities for the locals in Dhahar. It announced the formation of District Council in Dhahar today, but what is the opposite side of the administration in Dhahar that comes under Punt land is one question. Another important question that comes to mind is that are they paving the road to reach and overtake the control of the future LasQorey Custom and duty Commission or possibly its administration? It is a long-term political game. However, shortsighted people would think it as a democratic gesture. Every thing is interest. We need a powerful charismatic leader who will be able to take the interest of the region at heart.

 

Secondly, there is a major problem that needs to be dealt with in terms of who is to manage and coordinate Internatinoal Aid and Distribution on behalf of Sool and Sanaag people with their consent. I do not totally put the blame on Puntland's shoulder for this particular problem on the exploitation and manipulation of U.N Aid and funds but for the ill-advised and unfair old policies of U.N's old zoning arrangement, which lumpted the two regions with 'Somaliland. Hargeisa, on the other hand, is 300 miles away and the fact that the community of Sool and Sanaag are averted to the question of secession, 'Somiland' withholds the fair amount of the aid allocation and then denounces the lack of support from Sool and Sanaag as an aggression against its self-styled government. The United Nation’s proposal of constructions and funding of primary schools around every region attest to this fact.

 

However, our community, in the mean time of anarchy and mayhem, can propose and implement community strategies for Reconstruction and Development. The community has always had an intention and a lively interest to support programs of social services, to engage in trade and commerce and to continue efforts to maintain infrastructure and improve its economic productivity.

 

 

I agree with Paragon that we should first focus on supporting the Port and make sure it materializes and turns to be fruitful to the community. Every thing else will be alright till we have a government of national union.

[WAR DEG-DEG AH DAGAAL GOOR DHOWEYD KA QARXAY MAGAALADA DHAHAR]

Originally posted by Mansa Munsa:

[QB]

Dear Mr. Maakhir,

these mercenaries of our regions have to be punished and even execution must be considered for the sake of the common good.

I completely agree with you on this point. I won't have even sensed qualms if they were playing greater roles or at least being pawns for higher beings, but being pawns for mere, and powerless clans on top of their regions' game, it is something that is dreadful to bear or accept the level our people have sunk today.

 

I blame no one but their intellectuals who left their region to minor wolves taking orders from other wolves on the periphery while accepting the crumbs of the aid spoils in their regions.

Some of them have surprisingly been mimicking technical terms of reference designed to shrink their territories.

[WAR DEG-DEG AH DAGAAL GOOR DHOWEYD KA QARXAY MAGAALADA DHAHAR]

Hunguri, is he not a leading colonel of the Dervish militia of Puntland in Sanaag? Of course he is a colonel of the Darawish in Sanaag and he has never balked from claiming to represent Puntland in Sanaag.

 

If you do remember his anamolous behavior towards a medical team who visited Sanag to distribute and adminster supplies to one of the Badhan hospitals , then you won't present suggestions that verify him to be a Mujahid. What kind of Mujahid person would prevent his people from receiving medical aid just because the visiting team is from a "suspected entity".

 

He even ordered the use of force in Majihan. His boys indeed volunteered for Puntland and even sustained some casualty. He is a loser and menace to our unity just as many other colonels in the region.

[WAR DEG-DEG AH DAGAAL GOOR DHOWEYD KA QARXAY MAGAALADA DHAHAR]

Mansa Munsa, I understand that the said administration's peripheries has been claimed to extend beyond its control, but to impel people against their will is an extra pitfall that resulted from perpetual disagreement among some locally financed warlords who are menace to the unity of our people.

 

 

I have advocated many times that for these two regions to become stable and out of phantom disputes, their people, ******* and *******, must be able to grasp the concept of their unity in relation to their administration, peace, security, public services and etc. They must get rid of the warlords they have , for instance the so called Ashuur and Dalaf who only serve not the interest of their people but of others' errors and irregularities in exchange for few pennies. Dalaf, Ashur, Cali Jamac Farah, Mohamed Said and many others who claim to be ministers and colonels of phantom administrations have turned to be a menace to the solidarity of our people.

 

It is also possible that the Dhahar conflict over the implementation and administration of direct international aid and NGOs could be a pretext to undermine the Las Qorey port project by manipulating considerable uncertainty regarding the ultimate deferral of its measurability or reasonable degree of assurance and critical event(actual construction).

 

I think those of us staying abroad and who can make significant change in the region must consider going back and piece together a necessary platform in which our people would be able to assert their needs and be save from outsourced, arrogant warlords.

 

VOA Coverage on the conflict in

 

[ April 10, 2007, 12:39 AM: Message edited by: Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar ]

[Faalo:Talada Gobolka Sanaag yey ka go'daa?]

Great analysis on the politics of Sanaag region of Somalia.

 

Faalo:Talada Gobolka Sanaag yey ka go'daa?

Faalo:- Waxan shaki ku jiran oo hubaal ah in uu dalku gacata ugu jiro Ethiopia, bal eeg oo u fiirso waxaa ka soconaya guud ahaan somaaliya ha ahaato Koonfurta Somalia, puntland,somaliland markaad u fiirsato waxaad oo dhan kartaa oo xaqiiqsankartaa in uusan dalku gacata ugu jirin dad Somali ah. hadii an mid mid u soo qaato:-

 

 

Puntland State of Somalia:

 

Waxay ahayd dabayaaqadii 1998 markii Beelaha Herti isugu yimaadeen magaalada Garoowe si dhidibka ugu asaan maamul u gaar ah maadaama uusan dalku lahayn dowlada dhaxe wallow ay jirtay dulmiyo farabadan hadana tanaasul ay sameeyeen beesha Warsangali ayuu maamulkii ku dhisamay .

 

Xaqiiqatan maamulkii looma qaybsan si cadaalad xildhibaanadii 80% waxa laseeyay hal beel madaxwaynihiina waa loogu daray Caasimadiina iyada hadalkeedba daa iyadoo ay jireen dulmiyaadaas faraha badan oo loo gaystay beelwaynta G/sanaag taas ay sabab u tahay siyaasi matala beesha oo aan jirin ,isim matala danaha beesha oo aan jirin iyo isku duubnaan la,aan jirta owgeed ayaa waxaa dhacda in dhamaan maamulka gacanta u galo hal beel oo ay saydoonto ugu tagri fasho danaheedana ay socodsiisato.

 

Bal eeg oo u fiirso Laasqoray waxaa maanta ka soconaya bal xasuuso shalay iyo Majiyahan .waxaa nasiib xumo ah in markii ay Beeshii damacday in ay lasoo baxdo macdanata dhulka oo lagadiiday oo ay dagaalna ay wax kuwaayeen oo la ogaa waxii karaacay in ay maantana shaati kale soo xirtaan oo shaati Ethiopian soo qaataan si ay u joojiyaan Dakada Laasqoray iyadoo marmarsiiyo laga dhiganayo Maxaakiimtii ayay hub uga soo dagaan,waxay beesha Warsangali ku xirantahay dhaqdhaqaqii maxaakiimta islaamiga taas oo ah mid aan sal iyo raadtoona lahayn oo larabo in dakada Laasqoray Lagu majaxaabiyo.Taasna maaha mid ay qaadanayso beel waynta Warsangeli waan mid ay ka simantahay .

 

Hadal badani haan ma buuxsho tan kaliya oo arintaan lagaga hortagi kara waa Dagaal waayo majiro siyaasi beesha matala oo ugu jira maamulka haduu jirana waa nin wax ku maqan yihiin oo horay bay somalidu u tiri (AF WAX CUNAY XISHOO), taas waxaa dheer ma jiro isim beesha matala oo tanahooda iyo wax ka maqan u raadiya hadii uu jirana horaa loo arki lahaa .haday codayn noqotona xildhimaanad beeshu gabigoodiba waa 9 xildhibaan out of 66 markaas taasna wax laguma keeni karo .hadii ay noqoto golaha wasiiradana waa hal wasiir ou of 16 .

 

Isku soo wadaduuboo tankaliya oo arintaan looga hortagi karo waa Dagaal lala galo Ethiopia iyo cida ay adeegsanayso.

 

Somaliland:

 

Somaliland iyadu hadalba male oo waxay gaartay in ay u gaarsato shacabka reer Sanaag oo ay ka iibsato Ethiopia taasna waxaa u markhaati ah ardaygii reer Sanaag ee in kabadan 5years ku xirnaa xabsiga Hargaysa meelkastana lasoo mariyay illaa ethiopia maalin kastaana mudaharaadadu ka dhacayaan magaalada Dhahar oo odayaasha codsigoodii la fulin waayay taasina waxay ku tusaysaa in aan waxba kuu oolin somliland .

 

Koonnfurta Somalia:

 

Waxay ilatahay nina looga warami maayo waxaa ka socda koonfurta Smalia iyo sida loola dhaqmayo lakiin waxaan kaliya oo leeyahay oo kuu sheegayaa in aysan iyaga qura ku koobnnayn ninkii ku farxayow oo iminkana loo soo dhigatay xira Warsangali ha ahaato Gobolka bari ama Sanaag.

 

Waxaysan ka filanayn sida ay isaga caabinayaan wallaalaheena reer koonfureed in layskaga caabiyo oo lagu jihaado waa fursad eh Ethiopia iyo cida u adeegaysa.

 

Qore: Seid Abdi Abdalle(Seid black)

profnaalaye@hotmail.com

Haydarabaad. India

[A Glimpse of History: The Rise of Pastoralists and the Evils of Locusts in British So]

A Glimpse of History: The Rise of Pastoralists and the Evils of Locusts in British Somalialand.

 

 

Somalis' struggle to foreign rule evolved in different forms throughout our history. It involved from one with cohesive agenda during Ahmed Gurrey to one that characterized our divisions like the Tories and Loyalists in American history to mostly popular politics in our revolt against a set of colonial policies. Here is an account of the revolt of pastarolists against the introduction of anti-locust campaign in the history records.

 

The introductory part of this important historic account rehearses the core justification of the colonial mission as to educate the “wild” and the “beast” on how to govern themselves and to adopt to a contemporary system of governance perhaps to psychologically influence readers what is to come in the body and conclusion of this historic account of our history. The colonial mission does still rest on popular assumption that colonialism improved Africa by creating European style nation-states. To begin with, The document is based on accounts of popular politics then unpopular in Somali history due to lack of sufficient study, nevertheless, it shares its place with subaltern nationalism and resistance in British Somaliland. Accounts like revolts against the imposition of taxation, small political parties that articulated the aspiration, resentment, and destiny of the people are few examples. However, the main one of this heterogeneous struggle, according to the account, was the Pastoralist’s revolt against locust control program in which the colonial regime attempted to allocate “set poisoned bait” to all the districts in British Somaliland. “A persistent theme in anti-colonial resistance throughout the colonial period was the suspicion that the administration had ecret designs to depopulate the country and introduce settlers, s the British had done in East Africa,” states it.

In May 1945, Locust swarms descended on the countryside and destroyed the grass. However, the locals became suspicious throughout the protectorate that the British have secret designs to destock or wipeout their livestocks. The first peace disorder took place In Zeila and Baran, burning bait dumps and attacking employees. Burco took the riot to the streets and petitioned the District Commissioner. The administration even went as far as to warn the people to refrain from spreading mischievous rumours that the colonial administration had had grand designs in its policies to destock in the interest of soil conservation. It warned anyone who is found of spreading or fabricating such ill-conceived rumors will be tried and punished. It also preempted religious leaders from playing any preaching role to the people because the administration was apprehensive of popular resistance.

 

However, locals adopted strategies of non-cooperation, street protest hurling stones, and poetic communication to foment public discontent. Although they were totally ignorant of the benefits of the poison baits, they wrongly thought their opposition to the locust control program was the right direction in saving their livestock but they might had had good reason. Prior to the campaign, the administration introduced two new policies to protect and conserve the ecology of the land by encouraging more livestock exports and grazing restrictions. The locals reacted negatively to the latter and recalled it during the campaign of anti-locust.

 

Literary struggle of poems called for the people to rise against the colonial policies and revenge for the corpse of Sheikh Bashir which was refused for burial and displayed instead as an exhibition in Polyneices’ punishment where his body was kicked and spat upon as a tactic to intimidate and humiliate the people. Haji Adan Afqaloc, a native of Erigavo composed two historic national poems. “Raqdii Bashiir”, “The Corpse of Bashiir” and “Gobonimodoon” while in Burco Jail. (Interestingly enough, Mahatma Gandhi and Kwami Nkurumah had been to Bur’o jail.) Previously, the rise of Sheikh Bashir came after the colonial adminstration punished the Habarjeclo by confiscating one thousand of their camels and charging extortionate money for the release of each camel. His struggle was short-lived after units of police officers attacked his fort and killed him and all of his followers. The poem in English goes:

 

Sheikh Bashir was hanged in daylight, at a house near you,

His body torn out by bullets,

And still covered with wet blood,

They kicked and insulted him

Then watched him with contempt

When the unwashed body was thrown outside,

And refused burial, you were all a witness.

There were others killed playfully,

About which nothing was done

The body of Qayb-diid is still warm

Though an old man, Farah was sent to jail

And now like a beggar he roams the outside world

They refused him rights over his family and wealth

The unjust man (British) is punishing everybody.

What the English always wanted, the people of India refused

The houses of Punjab and the gold that they hoarded there have been denied to them

Now they look back at them with nostalgia

The celebration is for Muhammad Ali (Egypt)

And the French are leaving Syria that they conquered

They withdrew from Beirut, and Lebanon

Many ships will arrive at our ports,

They will bring here (Somaliland) those thrown out by the stream of shit,

The place where you pasture Daawad (the land), the infidels will settle,

A man who owns a car and an aeroplane will force you to work on his farms,

Few would survive such humiliation.

 

This rich poem, the content of which features historic figures and awareness of political outcome in far regions, angered the Warsangeli and many other pastoralists. The final content of this history is how the Warsangeli pastoralist challenged the authority while the administration responded with brute force. For the first time, the administration sent armored vehicles and an aircraft from Royal Air force based in Aden led by Major General Wood to combat the pastoralists. At the time of these incidents, all locals were already disarmed and pacified by the administration, yet the pastoralists resisted with determination the anti-locust campaign by facing armored cars, for instance, in one instance, 300 Warsangeli armed with spears, attacked the police force and armored units at Hubeera and Hadeed. “Even though the pastoralists suffered losses, their attitude remained ‘unsatisfactory, and more force was considered necessary’: their attitude was ‘unsatisfactory’ to Major Wood, because they continued to resist the antilocust campaign, and so more troops and police armoured cars were dispatched to the district.121,” states it. It is important to note that our people understood the concept of unity as it prevailed in our country back then.

 

This history reminds us that our people were united against foreign rule regardless of our narrow differences. Great poems like those of Haji Afqaloc did indeed spark the revival of our natianalism that Sayid Mohamed instilled into our people. .

 

For further reading, visit

 

http://past.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/174/1/184.pdf

 

 

By Siciid Cali

 

abdihure1@yahoo.com

 

 

Baraagaha Qol.

 

 

Source: Dhahar

[Government officials assessing JNA for Sanaag Region]

Beautiful Erigavo pictures!

 

However, the Somali land adminstration does not control the region except a portion of it where its kinsmen settle, even its incomplete control of the capital Erigavo does not give a reality picture that it is legitimate entity and politically correct to lay abstract claim to the whole region. The JNP, though with its unfair and misguided policies has lumped the Sanaag region with Hargeisa, observing the recommendation of a resolution of the Security Council in 1992, which, at the time, divided the Country into four administrative zones, promised recently to change its old policies and allow the region to receive its share of international aid directly.

 

The UNDP along with a host of NGO just ended a two week seminar on developmental programs in districs like Badhan and Hadaaftimo.

 

Ku dhowaad 150 qof oo siminaar ugu soo xirmay degmada Baran ee gobolka Sanaag.

 

Siminaar ay soo qaban qaabisay hayada qaramada midoobey ee UNDB ayaa gebi ahaantiisba maanta lugu soo geba gebeyey magaalada Baran ee xarunta gobolka Sanaag siminaarkaasi oo soconayey mudo ku dhowaad 5casho ah ayaa waxaa uu ahaa oo lugu baranayey wacyi gelin iyo baraarujinta dhanka bulshada degaanka Badhan iyo degmada Hadaaftimo.

 

Siminaarkaan ayaa waxa taba barayaal macalimiina ka haa ila 12 tababaro oo markaasi bixinayey casharada.

 

12 tobonkaasi tababare ayaa waxay ku guulaysteen oo ay soo afjareen inay mihiimadii iyo casharadii laga baranayey fahamkiisa ku guulaystaan dad gaaray 150 oo ka tirsan degmada Hadaaftimo iyo magaalada Baran dadkaasi oo la siiyey training ayaa waxaa ka soo qaybgalay goobtii ay siminaarka ku baranayeen dhowr masuul oo ka tirsan howl wadeenada sar sare ee hayada qaramada midoobey ee UNDB iyagoo uu hormuud u ahaa madaxa Seviceka ama Kormeerka UNDB iyo Agaasimayaal ka tirsan xafiisayada UNDB iyo weliba masuuliyeen kaleeto oo qaar ajnebi ay yihiin.

 

Geba gebadii siminaarkaan ayaa waxaa uu ku soo dhamaaday jawi farxad geliyey ardaydii baranaysey iyo weliba macalimiintoodii iyagoo gacmaha usu ruxayo oo wada qoslaya ayaa ay isa soo macasalaamayeen.

 

 

Maxamed Axmed CIise

 

Badhan

[Halliburton moves to Dubai]

Yes this is the article I read one weak ago.

 

Halliburton moves CEO to oil-rich Dubai

FT

 

 

Another interesting article with a wealthy of information I read some time ago on March from the Fortune Magazine.

 

The richest city in the world (No it's not Dubai) with a plan of $ 200 billion to be invested there for the next 10 years. The Emirate Palace Hotel alone cost $3 billion dollars.

[Who can guess the city? (Its a game..soon to be SOL classic)]

I would suggest reading the book Literature and Somali Onamastics and Proverbs by Anwar Diriye ( Review ).

 

It gives detailed definition of Indigenous names. Every Somali clan represents the indigenous meaning of a Somali word or two words combined to manifest the uniqueness of a person, his character and talents.

 

 

For Moderators, if you allow me to write some of the definitions in the book, there are some interesting ones. The author mentions all of the Somali and Somali subclan indigenous names.

 

They are as follows:

 

Kaskiqabe--confident or someone who relies on his judgement.

 

Wadalmoge-- Wise or one who is very wise

 

Tanade--Intellectual

 

Biciidyahan -- Biciid is an antelope and "Yahan" an adjective that defines the talent of a person like Dagaalyahan(fighter), or Orodyahan(runner). He was a good hunter of antelope.

 

Cawlyahan-- same as above. Cawl means gazelle. He was good at hunting at gazelle.

 

Midgaan Skillful or one who is very skillful at doing many things.

 

Daar ood --means encloser of campe or builder of house.

 

Duduble -- means mascular or strong man.

 

Dishiishle --Prosperous or wealthy person.

 

Ararsame -- Articulate person.

 

 

ETC ETC. These are all cushitic, indigenous names.

 

Ps. One interesting name Somalis used to give their sons is Biddewaaq or Bidde Waaq, which means Cabdulaahi or the slave of God.

[Representing Voilence and Othering Somalia by Catherine]

I had the opportunity to read this scholarly article 'Representing Voilence and "Othering" Somalia by Catherine, defining an alternative root cause contrary to what "pundits, journalists, and politicians, had settled upon as an explanatory scheme for analyzing the situation in Somalia". She claims that anthropologists and pundits of Somalia had long portrayed the Somali people as outright savages. These labels from the media point of view circulate on a daily basis aided by academics on assumptions that drew on "familiar evolutionary typologies, racist assumptions, anthropological models, and a popular craving for simplicity that would boost the American self-image."

 

Catherine quotes the racist remarks of several well-known diplomats and journalists.

Chester Cracker, the influential former diplomat and assistant secretary of state for African affairs in 1981-89, explained to Time Magazine that Siyaad Bare was "an old style tribal chieftain lording over Somalia's 8 million who are split into rival clans that have been battling each other for centuries."

 

In another journalistic mantra, Jennifer Parmelee, concluded that "The people of Somalia have long been fashioned along clan lines. Rivalries that were once thrashed out with spears and stones are now conducted with automatic weapons, an unfortunate legacy of the superpower rivalry."

 

"The emerging image of Somalis became one of savages who got ahead of themselves technologically; of tribesmen still out there wandering around the primordial landscape, bound by ancient ties and animosities, dutifully following the factional footsteps of their forefathers," resonates the literary representation of Somalis, Catherine claims. She attacks consistently I.M Lewis and earlier colonial writers who have portrayed Somalis from evolutionary model with racist definition on our social construct.

 

She quotes also the deputy chief of U.S embassy at Nairobi as telling the New York Times that "We could end up with Africa the way it was before the colonialists came, divided up into tribal enclaves,” to which Catherine responds to the illustration as powerful colonial assumptions of many who believe that colonialism improved Africa by creating European style nation-states.

 

The thesis of Catherine's essay is that events in the 20th century exasperated the Somali situation and made it what it is today---Colonialism, the expansion of global economy, super power geopolitics, massive development aid, hierarchies of status, class, and race(i.e. minorities).

 

 

Read the 14 page document Representing Voilence and "Othering" Somalia

 

by Catherine

 

Do you think she is right in her reasoning and coming to our rescue to at least show the world that we are not "tribesmen still out there wandering around the primordial landscape, bound by ancient ties and animosities, dutifully following the factional footsteps of their forefathers," as she claims. I believe the international powers have manipulated politcally our social plight to isolate our country and people from the world and further deprive us of the rights to govern our selves peacefully, even before the civil war.

[MAYDAD LAGU GUBAY MUQDISHOM - INAALILLAAH]

I was shocked and outraged at the macabre photo scenes posted on Somali sites. I could not believe myself that any thing like this would happen in Somalia. Before these events overlap and become the norm, the world must do something to protect Somalia from its self-imposed demise.

[Editorial: Savagery in Somalia]

Editorial: Savagery in Somalia

22 March 2007

 

THE brutal fighting that took place yesterday in their capital, Mogadishu, no doubt sent cold shivers through Somalis who long only for the return of peace. The fighting is a wake-up call to rival faction leaders that the country once again finds itself on the threshold of another decade of violence and terror.

 

The barbaric mutilation and burning of two dead uniformed soldiers — it is still not clear if they were Somali or Ethiopian — was horrifically reminiscent of the treatment meted out to the dead crew of the US Blackhawk helicopter in 1993 when Washington sought to intervene decisively in the bitter battles between the warlords.

 

Such savagery is unacceptable. It is, however, the consequence of years of anarchy in which the rule of gun and drug-crazed thugs have triumphed over the values of a poor but civilized society. The ouster of the short-lived Islamic Courts government by the interim Somali government backed by the Ethiopian military offered the country a new start. It was always inevitable that Islamist fighters, once they had recovered from their overthrow, would begin a guerrilla campaign. This need not, however, have been a serious challenge to the interim government. While the Islamic Courts had brought peace at last, for which every Somali was grateful, their disorganization and their increasingly proscriptive measures rapidly led to their loss of popularity.

 

Source: Arabnews.com

[Siad Barre Vs Abdullahi Yusuf]

I am indeed suprised that you will compare a Provisional President and the last legitimate president that Somalia had.

 

Abdilaahi and ABdiqasim were transitional presidents, not real presidents of Somalia.

Siyaad Bare was the last legitimate president Somalia ever had. All other transitional presidents can not be considered as presidents of Somalia

 

-----------------

 

A provisional government is an emergency or interim government set up when a political void has been created by the collapse of a previous administration or regime. A provisional government holds power until elections can be held or a permanent government can otherwise be established. Provisional governments often occur as the result of a revolution or in wartime when an occupied nation or territory has been liberated or, conversely, when a government has been deposed by an invading army. Examples of provisional governments include, in chronological order:

 

 

An Example:

 

Provisional Government of India was established on 1 December 1915 in Kabul with Raja Mahendra Pratap as its President. It was a government-in-exile of Free Hindustan with Raja Mahendra Pratap as President, Maulana Barkatullah, Prime Minister, Maulavi Abaidullah Sindhi, Home Minister. Anti-British forces supported his movement. But, for some obvious loyalty to the British, the Amir kept on delaying the expedition. Then they attempted to establish relations with foreign powers.” (Ker, p305). In Kabul, the Siraj-ul-Akhbar in its issue of 4 May 1916 published Raja Mahendra Pratap’s version of the Mission and its objective. He mentioned : “…His Imperial Majesty the Kaiser himself granted me an audience. Subsequently, having set right the problem of India and Asia with the Imperial German Government, and having received the necessary credentials, I started towards the East. I had interviews with the Khedive of Egypt and with the Princes and Ministers of Turkey, as well as with the renowned Enver Pasha and His Imperial Majesty the Holy Khalif, Sultan-ul-Muazzim. I settled the problem of India and the East with the Imperial Ottoman Government, and received the necessary credentials from them as well. German and Turkish officers and Maulvi Barakatullah Sahib were went with me to help me; they are still with me.”

Under pressure from the British, the Afghan Government withdrew its help. The Mission was closed down.

 

 

Source: Reference.com

[Puntland Oil Mining Deal: The Offspring of an Affair btw Greed and Incompetence 'I']

Thanks guys for the contribution.

 

 

This Somaliaonline archive can be a good public discussion record.

[Why this isn't in the news.....?]

That is the escape reality in Puntland and Somaliland. As ugly as it is, they could restrain or crackdown the bandits and smugglers who use the ports for their cruel business. The smugglers overload old and hardly functioning boats for their long journey with hopeless, but innocent people in search of a better life to a third country. Sadly, when the tidal waves storm the sea, they discard the innocent people they took the money from to the deep sea to curtail the weighty burden of the boat. It is a cruel and inhuman business.

[Moving Words and Overdue Counsel to Puntland and Somaliland]

Moving words and Overdue Counsel by Colonel Jibriil Cali Salaad, to "Puntland and Somaliland" and about the implementation for a possible administration program in Sanag-Sool area. He had at the time consulted senior educated individuals, the elders, the public and sultans, confirming that he has broad support. His interview is partly based on the outcome of that consultation--an independent adminstration that will come after the Federal government. He counsels that clan militias of both adminstration to withdraw their troops from Sool and save the population in that area the phantom disputes and ceaseless conflicts.

 

 

Waxaan dadka guud ahaan u sheegayaa iney maamulkooda sanadkan dhistaan, lana xariiraan dowladdan federaalka ah e cusub ee inta ka horeyso ay dowladdu cagaheeda isku taageyso oo iyagu maamulka u sii fududeeyaan.....

Waxaan leeyahey Qoloda xaga Hargeisa iyo Garoowaba Iney ka dulqaadaan ciidamadooda e ciidamada ay dul dhigeen Laascaanood o Beel Beel Dul Fadhisa Waa Karaamo Seeg ama wa dad karaamadooda meel lagaga dhacayo. Waxaanu leenahay ciidan beeleedka Garoowana ha la noqdeen, ciidan beeleedka Hargeesana ciidamdooda hala noqdeen.

Dib ha u noqdeenoo, o beeshatan la dul fadhiyo e karaamadeeda iyo mustaqbalkeeda lagu cayaarayo

halaga dul kaco, taasuna taasaan sheegayaa

een qoloda dibada, dee waajibka iyo xaqa dadka idinka saaran wax ka soo qabta.

 

Source

[Peace has been pursuit but never attained in Somalia]

Another documented article, "Reconciliation in Somalia in the wake of Col. Yusuf's Return to Power in Puntland"(2002) I would like to share with the participants, answers the question raised in the thread, in my view. It clearly elucidates the political orientation and personality features of individuals from two camps/groups that have held the country in hostage for the last 16 years.

They, in technical terms, are known as “assemblists” and “militarists”. Each group has received financial and intellectual backing from a number of countries. The former group a.k.a the “manifesto” is dominated by civilian politicians of the 60s, whereas, the "assemblists" group is and has been dominated by former officers, colonels, and generals of the old Somali army. They do however shift alliances between the two groups, “shifting alliances have remained a constant feature of their personality composition.”(par.4) The "assemblists” were initially disappearing from the political landscape of Somalia by failing, on several occasions, to wrest regional control from the “militarist”, with the exception of Somaliland---the late Egal was able to defeat Abdirahman Tur and Ismail Hurre (Bubba). Then, the Arta Conference hosted by Djibouti and which had the IGAD’s mandate's of national reconciliation, (under the cloak of assisting Somalis reconstitute a unitary government and the development or empowerment of ’Civil Society’) restored the “assemblists”¨ whom it has supported since 1991, but it did so to the exclusion of the militarist and accusing them of “everything that went wrong in Somalia,” in front of the UN General Assembly in 1999. Djibouti also sought to undermine Abdillahi Yusuf’s authority in Puntland and by extension the whole militarist camp. This led to the formation of SRRC --the “militarist”¨ and Ethiopia, alienated as to how it could play a political role at the Arta conference under the auspices of Djibouti and with the support of the Arab league, Egypt being at its helm, saw the SRRC as an opportunity to counteract the TNG. As a forgone conclusion, the author shows, “Col. Yusuf may have concerns beyond Puntland,” which indeed happened, but the TFG and Ethiopia may now taking the footsteps of TNG and Djibouti, each to the exclusion of the other and both, as now appears, having no solution to Somalia’s mosaic fiefdoms and anarchy.

_______________________________________

 

 

The "militarists" and the "assemblists" have been the only two political forces contending for

power ever since the start of the ongoing political debacle in 1991, in earnest. The Islamists have been the only other form of political force of any significant influence in Somalia during the decade. Col. Jama's loss of power may signify a downhill trend for the assemblists, who essentially draw their support from a segment of the population loyal to the civilian politicians of the sixties-roughly speaking. the core of the so-called "Manifesto". In addition, the result of the Arta Conference has also indicated that the group has forged an alliance with two other groups of politicians in as far as the TNG's composition can indicate. These include the Islamists and the technocrats in Barre's rule; even some military personalities who happen to be of little political significance of their own right, as politicians. This hotchpotch of political groupings makes up the TNG. By

comparison, the militarists draw their support from that segment of the population which still remain loyal to their clan origins and most of whom have been organized around the armed fronts in their struggle against the former regime. The RRA, founded under Col. Shatigaduud, is the exception here, in that their front was founded later to free themselves from another front, long after the former regime had collapsed.

 

There seems to be not much difference between the two groups in either their solutions for the Somali question or in their political methods. Both groups appeal to clan sentiment for revenge and vengeance. Both groups resort to military power when the situation demands it. Both groups have indicated a

tendency to impose government from the top and have shown little respect for public accountability and participation in government. Neither of the two groups have a political solution for the Somali crisis beyond their own

motivation to seek political control.

 

But, in general, the militarists often fare better with military methods for gaining power and the assemblists fare better at exploiting the bid for power by the clan elite, by promising governmental posts as an incentive for their support. Hence, they are 'assemblists' in the sense that they assemble the clans' traditional, civil and political leadership by buying support in exchange for money and governmental posts. Although, even the militarists have resorted to this option, when they tried to establish government under,

for example, Aideed's dictatorship-perhaps, knowing no better-Ali Mahdi's governments of the early 90s and, more recently, those of the TNG provide a vivid example of this tendency. Each of these governments had a cabinet of over eighty members.

 

........But most immediately, countries like Djibouti, Egypt and Ethiopia must change their approach to intervention for peace in Somalia and must come out clean in their support for the people of Somalia in its entirety, if at all, rather than taking sides with individuals or groups of factions. They should never use the camouflage of assisting Somalia in the pursuit of their own selfish interests. Alternatively, these countries can wash their dirty laundries

elsewhere and must, indeed, conduct their wars within their respective boundaries. The people of Somalia are sick and tired of fighting proxy wars.

 

AN OLD CASE EXAMPLE BUT RECURRENT

 

Pending the settlement of the dust of the latest battles between the two groups in Puntland, the Southwest of Somalia remains a troubled zone. Here, the competition for control is felt most intensely on the eve of the ever dragging-on preparations for the IGAD-sponsored Reconciliation efforts in Nairobi. The region is slowly bleeding to death and the exodus is at its

highest into Kenya while the government of that country is struggling very hard to host a meeting between the men who are causing the havoc in the same region from which the refugees are fleeing. It is note-worthy to mention in

passing, that, for a while-that is, until the installation of the TNG-all the regions of Somalia have been experiencing a lull towards stability, which was gradually giving way to a cooling off period. No sooner than the installation of the TNG, who immediately saw itself as the government de jure, did the

World see an escalated degree of fighting and political instability in all parts of Somalia.

 

 

Source of the referenced article

[Peace has been pursuit but never attained in Somalia]

Somalia: Traitors’ Paradise

 

Muhsin Mahad

 

Feb. 11, 2007

 

No one should be surprised if I call our nation as one not only infested with traitors but also run by traitors for their own benefit, their cronies and clans, but above all for the service of their foreign masters. Where in other societies, leaders look to the democratic will of their people for their political sustenance and legitimacy, for our unelected, foreign-imposed lot, it is Ethiopia’s support and patronage that underpins their survival.

 

The beaten track to Addis Ababa and regular endorsements from Meles Zenewi is now an absolute imperative for all those holding power in Mogadishu, Garawe, and Hargeisa or those aspiring to it. For Meles’ Somali lapdogs, trooping to his capital for “consultations”, at his behest and at the drop of a hat, has higher priority for them than attending to pressing domestic matters crying for their attention. Beleaguered as they are in their foreign-protected residences, they rarely venture out to meet the public in the capital or to see the rest of the country for all the time they had been “power”. For all practical purposes, Nairobi and Addis Ababa are their preferred domiciles and are only quartered in Mogadishu purely for political necessity.

 

Competition for Meles Zenewi’s eyes and ears is so fierce that the standing of any Somali leader is measured not by how much support

he earned from his people but how many times he visited Meles in a given period. Those at the lower end of the collaborators’ league table will have to make the necessary extra sacrifices in order to enhance their standing with the new superman in the Horn. Since the top rank of the table is reserved for the super collaborator whose long-standing track record s is unbeatable, the rest of the pack can only scramble over the leftovers. These behavioural manifestations are indisputably the hallmarks of traitors.

 

Ethiopia’s only gift to Somalia, apart from spreading AIDS, is breeding traitors in our midst. There are so many of them around these days, their treasons so common, that it is becoming increasingly internalised in our collective psyche as part of the normal daily reality. Such is the change that not everyone will see these collaborators as less honourable than any one else in our society. It has not always been like this, and one has to go back to our history to trace the genesis of the act of national betrayal and its proliferation to its current level.

 

The year 1967 is a special one in the Somali political history calendar. It would be remembered for the year when the second government since independence, headed by President Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke and Prime Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, .was formed. But it will also be remembered as the year when the first Somali espionage case in our history as a nation was uncovered. The person concerned was Ahmed Yussuf Dualeh, who at the time was serving as foreign minister in that government. He (together with another government official) was found to have committed the ultimate, unthinkable and unpardonable crime: any Somali could have engaged in, not least by the very person in charge of the nation’s foreign affairs. Needless to say, he was found out to have been spying all along for the country’s arch enemy- Ethiopia.

The shockwaves that the event generated rocked the young nation to its foundations and its tremors were felt further a field wherever Somalis lived. In the newly independent country, this reaction was to be expected among a people who were until then nationalists and morally uncorrupted. If that episode was to be the only case of its kind, it would have remained a mere solitary story in our history books and the nation would have recovered from its psychological trauma. Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of worse things to follow. The story of Ahmed Yussuf Dualeh is instructive in how far we have changed in our perception of traitors.

 

Today we live in times where barefaced treasons committed by holders of the highest offices of the state are so commonplace and where serving Ethiopia’s interests is second nature to them. But no matter how bad Somalia has gone down the road of a failed state, nothing has prepared us for the shock of 2007, another year which will also enter our political history calendar. Yet, by all accounts, there was a far greater shock in 1967 when Foreign Minister Ahmed Yussuf Dualeh was accused of passing state information to Ethiopia than 40 years later in 2007 when President Abdullahi Yussuf invited them to invade the country and, worst of all, let them occupy the Somali capital. Nothing could better portray the sea change in our national values and sentiments than our different reactions to these two epoch-making events.

 

Unlike the country-wide shock to Ahmed Yussuf Dualeh’s espionage case of 1967, the reaction to Ethiopia’s occupation of Somalia, and particularly its capital, is at best one of localised, transitory and muted indignation and at worst one of indifference if not outright undisguised approval. For the pro Ethiopian invasion camp, the irreparable damage to our sovereignty and national esteem is of little concern, swayed as they are by crude clan sentiments and the primitive urge to score points against the other “side”. This permissive accommodating mindset towards Ethiopia may have now reached its pinnacle but has been long in the making ever since the overthrow Siyad Barre’s government in 1991.

 

The sweeping transformation in the perception of Ethiopia, among certain circles of our population, from a foe to a “friend”, is a process that began decades ago and pioneered by no other person than Abdullahi Yussuf himself. It was him, in his insatiable quest to wrest power from Siyad Barre, who went over to Ethiopia in the 1970s, where he established bases for his SSDF rebel movement and from where he subsequently launched attacks against Somalia in collusion with Ethiopia. While most Somalis saw him as a traitor, others, clan related supporters, considered him otherwise.

 

Once Abdullahi Yussuf braved the taboo attached to collaborating with Ethiopia, and weathered the inevitable stigma he incurred as the first former Somali military officer to betray his country, it was only a matter of time before other power-seeking individuals or rebel movements would follow in his foot steps. And so did the SNM and USC. Doing Ethiopia’s bidding, these three rebel militias succeeded in their different ways in toppling Siyad Barre. But they also brought down the Somali State in the process. What they gained may be a moot question but for the Somali people as a whole, the collapse of their State has engendered incalculable dire consequences whose fallouts will continue to blight them for the foreseeable future.

 

Just as the political careers of Abdullahi Yussuf and his SSDF comrades blossomed despite their treacherous connections with Ethiopia, likewise none of the leaders of the other equally clan-based rebel movements have met with any opprobrium from their clan constituencies. On the contrary, they have been received as liberators in the aftermath of the collapse of the Somali State. Against this background, it was not surprising to see the amazing turnaround in Ahmed Yussuf Dualeh’s political fortunes from a former a pariah to the Honourable Minister of Education in “President” Egal’s secessionist government in Hargeisa. His past crimes, far from being held against him, are now seen in Hargeisa as heroic actions against a Somali State that all secessionists are working or praying for its irredeemable disintegration.

 

The high-water mark of Ethiopia’s creeping colonisation of Somalia since the fall of Siyad Barre’s government must be the capture and occupation of Mogadishu with hardly a shot fired in anger. Hitherto, they contended themselves with launching occasional incursions into small border towns but occupying Mogadishu unopposed is something beyond their wildest dreams. No less incredible for the Ethiopians is the low ebb of Somali nationalism, graphically symbolised by the burning of the Somali national flag in Hargeisa by mindless secessionist mobs, and the proposal by Hussein Aided calling for the border between the two countries to be abolished and one common passport be adopted.

 

Much as Hussein Aideed’a proposal sounds like a daft outburst by an unthinking former USA mariner, it should not be dismissed as idle talk. He could well be airing Meles Zenewi’s agenda. Having lost Eritrea, Ethiopia is desperate for access to the sea. Swallowing defenceless Somalia with the connivance of its unelected and unaccountable leaders would serve Ethiopia the dual purposes of shuttering the dream of Greater Somalia and at the same time ensuring it access to 3000 km coastline. In any other country in the world, a minister committing such a gaff would have resigned and, if not, sacked. But not by one headed by Abdullahi Yussuf and Gedi whose views on our relations with Ethiopia very much conflate with those of Hussein Aideed.

 

No less an Ethiopian “man” is Prof Gedi. Here is a man with no previous history in Somali politics or in the struggle against Siyad Barre and yet was sprung out of no where and made Prime Minister on Meles’ orders. Gedi’s only claim for the post is his unquestioning loyalty to Ethiopia. It did not take much time before his show his true colours when he expressed, not in so many words, his indifference to the secession of Somaliland. That amounts to supporting it. Throughout the first week of Mogadishu’s occupation, when most Somalis were in shock and morning, this man was shamelessly going around stridently justifying the legibility of the Ethiopian invasion. At least President Abdullahi Yussuf had the sense to keep a low profile for a while until the dust settles even if he approves of this invasion as much as Gedi.

 

The incomprehensible and humiliating submission to the enemy and the support it received from Somalis is a knockout blow to our national honour. It will continue to haunt us for generations to come just as the French have not come to terms to this present day with their own humiliations when their enemy, Germany, occupied Paris during the Second World War. Considering the crimes committed against the country, Abdullahi Yussuf deserves to be tried for treason one day, just as Norway and France did to their own Quislings and collaborators with the enemy and as Somalia once did to Ahmed Yussuf Dualeh. For the time being, he remains crowned for what it is worth as Somalia’s president, albeit presiding over the graveyard of a country he did his best to destroy. That will be his everlasting epitaph when he departs, physically or politically. Not that he cares about his place in history so long as he remains president, regardless of what happens to this country in the process. Siyad Barre is often quoted as saying while in power, perhaps unfairly, that there will be no country after him. It may well come to that after Abudllah Yussuf

 

The UIC, their rise and fall

 

Somalia’s deepening political malaise has for over a decade defied all attempts by the international community to resolve it and revive the defunct Somali State. But like providence from heaven, it took the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) only a matter of mere weeks to achieve what the international community and their umpteenths reconciliation conferences have failed to accomplish: they brought peace and order throughout the territory under their control. The UIC succeeded where others failed because their words and actions have struck a deep chord with the long-suffering public.

 

The military defeat of the UIC was partly of their own making. Intoxicated with their initial blitz against the warlords and their unopposed expansion into other towns and regions, they came to overestimate their military prowess. But above all, it was their reckless creeping onslaught on the TFG base, and their bravado and irresponsible brinkmanship to threaten Ethiopia with a Jihad all the way to Addis Ababa, often mouthed by the wild-eyed self-appointed Sheikh, Yussuf Indhacade, that did their final undoing.

 

Sheik Yussuf Indha Cadde’s provocative threat to attack Addis Ababa was as credible as President Ahmadinejad of Iran’s call for Israel to be wiped off the map. Such empty threats only serve to play into the hands of Ethiopia and Israel and provide them on a plate the pretext they need for pre-emptive action against their antagonists in the name of self defence. Ironically, when the Ethiopian invasion came, Indhacade was the first to take to heels and seek shelter abroad deserting the young men and boys he misled to be slaughtered in the marshes and mangroves of the lower Juba.

 

The UIC were of no direct immediate threat to Ethiopia but only remotely so, to the extent that the movement supports the Somali aspiration of Greater Somalia. Ethiopia’s backing for the TFG is for strategic reasons. An important pillar of that strategy is to keep in place a pliant government it created in the first place that would allow it access to Somali’s sea and at the same time to forestall Somali irredentism ever again rearing its head in the Horn. If the TFG were to collapse under pressure and replaced by one dominated by the UIC, Ethiopia’s worst fears would have materialised. It was the need to save the puppet TFG rather than any immediate threat to Ethiopia that prompted its invasion of Somalia. Like other anti-Muslim governments fighting Muslim militants, Ethiopia has invoked the war on terror ad nauseam as a handy cover-up to keep Somalia under its tutelage. In this, it has been aided by overt and covert USA support and an international community preferring to look the other way.

 

The UIC allowed itself to be high jacked by some disreputable criminals, masquerading as Islamists who brought them nothing other than to alienate many potential Somali followers as well as to draw the hostile attention of all those in the West dogged by Islamophobia notably the American government. With friends like Sheikh Indhacade who needs enemies. The blame, though, squarely lies on the shoulders of the leader of the UIC, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Awais. This is the second time he led a militant Islamic movement against Abbdullahi Yussuf and Ethiopia and lost both times mainly because of his misguided tactics and poor leadership. When there are repeated defeats of such disastrous proportions, there should be accountability. In this regard, Sheikh Dahir Awais is now a liability to what is left of the movement and the sooner he steps down and retires for good, the better for all concerned.

 

The UIC as a coherent functioning body has been defeated militarily- at least for now -but their fundamental appeal, based on Somali nationalism and Islamic values, has not been destroyed but remains alive. To replace that appeal, it will require the emergence of a Somali government that would embrace those core values of the UIC that endeared them to the Somali people of every clan and region throughout the country, north and south. The TFG represents the very antithesis of what the UIC stood for and therefore has no appeal for the wider Somali people except for those motivated by myopic clan loyalties to one leader or another in the TFG. As such, the need for a better structured and led UIC has not diminished by any means. Despite their mistakes and shortcomings, what they stood for is beyond reproach. With time and with help from within Somalia and from the Diaspora, those mistakes could have been corrected, Ethiopia permitting, which they never did for obvious reasons.

 

By Mohsin Mahad

E-mail: mohsinmahad@yahoo.co.uk

[Somalia: Warlordism, Ethiopian Invasion, Dictatorship, America’s Role]

Somalia: Warlordism, Ethiopian Invasion, Dictatorship, & America’s Role

Abdi Ismail Samatar

 

 

University of Minnesota

 

 

February 13,2007

 

 

The American sponsored UN Security Council Resolution on Somalia in December 2006 prepared the grounds for an Ethiopia invasion of Somalia. This resolution authorized the deployment of an African Union force, excluding Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti from participating in the force due to their conflict of interest in Somali affairs. Despite such a clear instruction from the Security Council the US government gave Ethiopia the green light to invade Somalia. The aborted visit to Mogadishu, under Ethiopian occupation, by the America Assistant Secretary of State for African Affair, US air bombardment of southern Somali villages, and the confirmation that US and UK forces and mercenaries have worked with Ethiopia over the last year all attest to Washington’s collusion with Addis Ababa from the start. These American direct actions and those of its proxy once more demonstrate the disregard the world’s dominant power has for international law. Such an affront sends the message that might is right no matter how illegal its application. In addition to the American/Ethiopian aggression against Somalia, warlords who have terrorized the Somali people, before the Union of Islamic Courts drove them out, have returned with Ethiopian blessing. These developments completely discredit America’s claim of being the friend of democrats in the Third World. This short editorial examines four concerns: a) why the American government endorsed Ethiopia’s illegal invasion; (b) why does it support the deeply sectarian and corrupt Somali transitional government which it loathed until recently; © why is it silent about the return of the warlords on the backs of Ethiopian tanks if its rhetoric on democracy has any validity; (d) and what all of this might mean for the Somali people[1] and American image in the region.

 

 

Genesis of the Problem

 

 

The Somali saga began about 37 years ago when a military coup ousted the last democratically elected government on October 1969. Somalia which was up to that time Africa’s most democratic country succumbed to a military coup. Military rule undermined and ultimately destroyed the nascent democratic institutions as well as the functioning quasi-meritocratic public services. Moreover, the regime developed an elaborate sectarian system which further politicized genealogical difference between communities as it divided citizens into friendlies and enemies, and rewarded its allies while it punished whole communities it considered anti-regime. This war against many segments of the population eroded public confidence in state institutions and the rule of law became the rule of the man with the gun. The military regime turned the state into the people’s enemy and most denizens became estranged from public affairs. Disaffected Somalis failed to organize a national movement to remove the dictatorship from power. Instead they became the foot soldiers of estranged members of the elite whose agenda was driven by personal ambition rather than a national cause. Opposition members of the elite turned to force as their preferred method of confronting the regime and mobilized the population on the basis of genealogical identity rather than civic belonging or a political program. The net result of the opposition’s strategy was to play into the hands of the regime by adopting the same tactic. Such a genealogy based political mobilization also fractured the various elements of the elite into enemies rather than allies. As a result, the regime’s life span was extended for almost a decade due the weakness of the fragmented opposition. When the regime finally collapsed under its dead weight no national political front existed to hold the country together under one authority. The first Prime Minister of the post-military government instructed the remnants of the national army to surrender to the sectarian militias and this was in effect the final act of literally killing the Somali state.

 

 

Warlords and Dictators as proxies

 

 

With the collapse of the state in January 1991, Somalia became the first country in modern history to become stateless. Consequently, lawlessness gripped the country and roaming militias terrorized the population. A little over a year after the regime disintegrated, violent confrontations developed between two competing factions in Mogadishu which ultimately led to one of them using food as a weapon against vulnerable population in southwestern region of the country in the vicinity of Baidoa. Farmers in the region were unable to cultivate their fields due to the fear induced by gangs and with warlords blocking food shipments to the region thousands of people began to slowly waste away. By the time the news media took note of the problem an awful famine was in full swing and tens of thousands of people were deliberately condemned to death through starvation. The United Nations which had a small contingent of peace-keepers was unable to clear bandits off the roads in order to deliver food aid to the needy. Life conditions became so ghastly that the first President Bush was moved to act and ordered thousands of American troops to enter Somalia in order to open the roads so emergency food aid can urgently get through to the people. The troops were able to accomplish this task with relative ease and as a result tens of thousand of lives were saved. By contrast, rebuilding Somalia’s government from scratch was more difficult, even under the best of circumstances, but the US/UN force had ill-defined mandate and solicited bad advice regarding the causes of Somalia’s disintegration. American/UN agenda of rebuilding the government was incoherent and led to a fiasco in which 18 American soldiers were killed by the militias of one of the warlords of Mogadishu. By then a new American President, Clinton, was so shaken by this singular event that he evacuated US forces from Somalia. Other nations who had contributed troops to the campaign and the UN followed and Somalia was left to the warlords.

 

 

Warlord terror became the order of the day since 1995 and numerous attempts to form a national government failed. A most promising effort in this regard was in the neighboring state of Djibouti where representatives of nearly all Somali civil society groups were invited in 1999 excluding warlords. The conference successfully led to the establishment of a Transitional National Government (TNG). However, the Ethiopian government which had supported many of the warlords, particularly Mr. Abdullahi Yusuf, and supplied them with weapons over the years was not happy about the prospect of a civic order and worked against it from the start. The combination of Ethiopian sabotage and Somali leaders’ incompetence and venality destroyed this precious chance. At one point the Ethiopian Foreign Minister told the TNG’s Foreign Affair chief that Ethiopia will be able to support the Somali government on the condition that their ally, Mr. Yusuf, was appointed as prime minister. The Ethiopian minister was not pleased when he was told that the responsibility to appoint and confirm the PM rested with the president and parliament. In the meantime, Ethiopia used its diplomatic influence in Africa and elsewhere to call for yet another Somali reconciliation conference with the pretext of forming an “inclusive” government while it continued to supply the warlords with weapons. The proposal was accepted by the Intergovernmental Agency on development (IGAD) and there started another reconciliation process in which the mediators (Kenya and Ethiopia) openly favored the warlords.[2] After two years of pretentious negotiations the conference was brought to a conclusion without any reconciliation among Somalis. The Ethiopian government successfully attained its goals of wasting the remaining time of the TNG’s tenure, enabled the warlords to appoint more than two-thirds of the members of parliament, and finally succeeded in having its clients selected as president and prime minister.

 

 

American policy, during the long two years of negotiations in Kenya, was characterized by indifference at best and tacit support for warlords’ domination of the conference. In the main, the US representatives in Kenya watched the process from the sidelines and seemed disgusted with the quality of the output in the form of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). For nearly two years after the formation of the TFG the American government remained disinterested in the affairs of the TFG. Instead it financed the formation of “anti-terror alliance” which consisted of the very warlords who have tormented the population for over a decade. America’s objective in supporting the warlords was to hound three people accused of being involved in the attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and who were presumed to be hiding somewhere in southern Somalia. The warlords’ contract with the CIA also included capturing or killing those who were considered radical Islamicists. America’s warlord project backfired as the majority of Mogadishu’s population sided with the Muslim leaders and routed the warlords. American policy makers panicked with the formation of the Union of Islamic Courts (UICs) and the liberation of Mogadishu and surrounding region from the tyranny of the warlords. Shortly after UICs took over Mogadishu senior American policy makers began to speak about the “internationally legitimate” government of Somalia and actively used America’s diplomatic and other resources to bestow respect on what it previously considered decrepit operation. Meanwhile, Ethiopia activated its propaganda machine and accused the courts of trying to establish a fundamentalist regime which it claimed will endanger its security despite the fact that Somalia did not have an army. It immediately dispatched a “protection” force for its client Somali government holed in the regional center of Baidoa. As the Courts spread their reach into most parts of southern Somalia, Ethiopia increased its troop presence in Baidoa into several thousand heavily armed units. The US government encouraged this invasion and used its diplomatic muscle to shield Ethiopia from international criticism. The united American-Ethiopian propaganda machine completed the demonization of the courts as a fundamentalist organization in cahoots with Al Qaida. This joint effort led to US government sponsoring a resolution at the Security Council, 1725, which mandated the deployment of an African Union force in Somalia aimed at protecting the TFG and stabilizing the country. Other countries in the Security Council insisted and prevailed that those countries who share a border with Somalia must not be part of the African force. America and Ethiopia were worried that the Courts might overrun their client in Baidoa before the African Union force was in place. Consequently, Washington gave Ethiopia the green light to take on the Courts and openly invade Somalia, contrary to the tenets of the UN Security Council Resolution. Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia was accomplished four weeks after the UN resolution was passed in violation of two UN Security Council Resolutions. Attempts by some members of the Security Council to demand Ethiopian withdrawal was blocked by the American government. While most analysts knew that America was implicated in the invasion, it was the use of American airpower against villages in Southern Somalia in early January 2007 that confirmed how deeply the US was involved. About 73 nomadic individuals and their livestock were killed by the air raid and no one openly condemned this aggression, including the AU. More recently, it has been discovered that American, British, and hired mercenaries supported the Ethiopian invasion.

 

 

Supplicant Tyranny versus Autonomous Legacy

 

 

Somalia’s “internationally legitimate” government came to Mogadishu, the Somali capital, onboard Ethiopian military helicopters and guarded by Ethiopian troops. The Ethiopian invasion brought back the warlords who were defeated by the Courts and the latter took over their former fiefdoms. Some of Mogadishu’s roads are once again punctuated with checkpoints manned by young thugs. It is not certain how long the warlords and their fiefdoms will last but it is clear that insecurity has returned to the city and the country. The declaration of martial law by the TFG on January 13, 2007 gives utmost power to the TFG president [3] who is known for his clanistic behavior and dictatorial practices. Such leadership does not bode well for the city and the country, and is unlikely to lead to just peace and stability. The imposition of martial law (the troops enforcing this law are Ethiopian) means that the TFG is no longer a government of reconciliation, if it ever was, as this act forbids public meetings and citizens’ attempts to organize political campaigns to challenge the TFG. Subsequently, the TFG ordered that the major radio and TV stations in the capital cease their operation. This draconian law muzzles freedom of expression and association, and is therefore a throw back to the days of the old military dictatorship. Finally, the Ethiopian occupation force and the militias of the warlords have begun to scour the city for people who were opposed to their agenda and others suspected of being against the regime in Ethiopia such as Oromo refugees. The hunt is on and more bloodshed can be expected. Ethiopian military contingents continue to abduct businessmen, professional, and others who are opposed to the TFG and the invasion, from their homes in the dead of night. Senior leaders of the TFG and the majority of MPs are people not known for their public management skills and high ethical standards. Consequently, Somalis can not expect political relief from these leaders who are supplicants of the Tigray regime in Addis Ababa.

 

 

The Union of Islamic Courts has ceased to exist as an effective organization and their last refuge in the acacia forests and swamps of south-eastern Somalia was devastated by air raid and shelling of American and Ethiopian military forces. It was clear that the Courts made serious strategic mistakes over the last three months of their tenure induced by the haughtiness of their military wing. Among these blunder were their rigid religious rhetoric and interpretation of Islamic texts, and the absence of serious and effective engagement with credible nationalist and skilled people. But the most damaging affair was their military hot-headedness. Such blind miscalculation suggest that the courts will not recover as an organization, but the message that earned them so much respect and following among the Somalis is more salient today than ever before. Among the principals they articulated were: Somalia’s independence, freedom from warlord terror, justice, and respect for the Islamic faith. Whatever were the shortcomings and mistakes of the Islamic Courts, they certainly had an independent mind which was not subservient to other countries or leaders. During their brief tenure the Courts began a process of returning looted property to their rightful owners using Islamic law and without advice from expensive outside consultants. Once the announcement of the restitution policy was announced people came from other regions of the country and from overseas to reclaim their properties. In addition, they nullified the clanist 4.5 formula and articulated the importance of a unified citizenry. The TFG has yet to make any declaration regarding any of these matters or any other vital issue central to reconciliation. Further, the Courts acted as independent Somali leadership which is in sharp contrast with the Ethiopian domination of the TFG. This comparison between the two reminds citizens of the country an earlier time when Somali authorities were accountable to their people and had an autonomous Somali centered domestic and foreign policy.

 

 

Two interrelated principals that guided the Courts will have far reaching consequences for the future of the Somali people and their polity. These anchors were common citizenship unmarred by sectarian and clanistic identity, and Islamic values of justice and inclusion. One of the first things that attracted a majority of the population’s support was the courts’ emphasis on faith and justice and the containment of tyranny. Islam as a foundational principal of community affairs easily dovetailed with common Somali citizenship regardless of genealogical pedigree and that attracted popular support. These twin principals contradict the transitional charter which the warlords wrote in Nairobi and that marginalizes both of these values. The charter grounds public affairs on genealogy rather than common citizenship.[4] Thus, citizens are divided into 4.5 clan units and all public institutions are staffed on the basis of such arithmetic. The immediate and long term consequence of this strategy is to balkanize citizenship and community. Such compartmentalized political order is driven by rent-seeking (corruption) rather than providing an efficient service to the citizens, and has no chance of leading to political stability and economic development.

 

 

America’s Pledge: A Sectarian Dictatorship

 

 

Finally, the American-endorsed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia and the imposition of sectarian warlord-dominated government on the country are unlikely to lead to a democratic development. The U.S. government’s absurd support for the warlords in Somalia and an Ethiopian government that is at war with its own people and American leaders’ anti-Islamic orientation has deepened that population’s antipathy towards the USA. America’s instrumental collaboration with other people’s terrorists (states and non-state actors) has undermined the purchase of its democratic rhetoric. In essence, the hallmark of America’s bankrupt policy is the conspicuous gulf between its democratic rhetoric and its support for thugs, warlords, tyrants, and venal politicians in the Horn of Africa and elsewhere. In the minds of most people in the region American foreign policy and practice has become synonymous with dictatorship and arrogance, and most people believe that those are the core values of the America government. Consequently, the US government has lost the hearts and minds of the Muslim people all over. America’s gifts to the Somali people in the last few years have been warlords, an Ethiopian invasion, and an authoritarian, sectarian and incompetent regime. Recent discussions of creating a broad-based government and a reconciliation conference based on the TFG model will not deliver legitimacy for the occupation or produce the necessary peace and common Somali agenda. Supporters of the proposed conference to be held in Mogadishu can not seriously expect a genuine agreement since the capital is under Ethiopian occupation and is dominated by the sectarian militias of the TFG leadership.[5] Participants of such a conference will be handpicked by the Ethiopian occupiers and their clients and therefore will be charade. The alternative positive sum game is a civic centered program which does not seem to be on the cards for now, but this is the only avenue to reconciliation, and through which the people’s hearts and minds could be won and which might eliminate all types of terror.

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] For more details on the matter, see Abdi Samatar, Forthcoming paper (February 2007).

 

 

[2] The author was present in Eldoret as an observer and witnessed these events first hand.

 

 

[3] One can not speak about Mr. Yusuf as Somali president since he takes his commands from Addis Ababa and not from the Somali people.

 

 

[4] This stance reflects Abdullahi Yusuf obsession with Clanism. His vision is confined to knowing the genealogical origins of any Somali he meets. Such is his point of reference that the Somali people are divided into friends/supplicants and enemies. Thus, there is no national identity and politics in his mind.

 

 

[5] The TFG leaders have proposed a conference in which 3000 delegates will meet in Mogadishu under the TFG auspicious. It is reported that the EU has decided to support this forum. Unfortunately, this seems like the Embagathi conference and will only reproduce the TFG. The outcome of this effort will not lead to reconciliation. It will another exercise in futility.

[An Open letter to the leadership of Northwestern states of Somalia]

Jaylani, you are giving an unfair legitimacy to an ad hoc clan-based administration whose existance no one knows. What is important is their contact address, which the parliamentarian underlined in bold terms.

 

 

One of the largest communities/clans in Lower Juba region voice their concern against the illegal incarceration of Yasin Kilwe Osman.

Isimada iyo Aqoonyahanada beelaha Kismayo dega oo cambaareeyey Hargeesa.

[NEW NAME FOR SOMALIA]

Following is an Online post made in 1995 by Abdirazak Hirad nearly 12 years ago.

__________________________________________

 

 

(The following is a repost, circa Dec 1995).

 

 

Forum members:

 

As contentious as they might be, people with frankness and fortitude should not shun away from discussing issues which they think they might draw horns of those who are, unwittingly, hurt because of the issues themselves. ********** issue is all about haunting betrayal which I believe we've another one in the making and the generations behind us will be saying: Somalia would not have been in the hands of the Ethiopians if the Somalis did not betray themselves.

 

Let us start with the country Ethiopia itself. During the nineteenth century scramble for Africa, Abyssinia admirably defended itself from

colonial powers. It has to be commended with the fervor and skill with which she achieved this. Unfortunately, its neighbors, Somalis whose

hands were tied behind their back by the European colonial powers and their ever-present internal squabbles, paid the price for Abyssinian

success.

 

Somalis were not allowed to obtain arms hence defenseless clans were raided by the Abyssinians with impunity as the following logic explains

it:

 

"The Abyssinian authorities have hitherto obtained large quantities of arms and ammunitions through the French Protected port of

Jibuti, in addition to the supplies which have been furnished to them by the Italian Government through Zeila and Massowah, and it is said that

it is the possession of these arms which has enabled the Abyssinians to raid the Somali tribes of our Protectorate with impunity, the latter not

being permitted to obtain firearms in the ports of the British Protectorate." (Red Sea Papers: Memo by Mr. Bertie (extracted from

Eastern Dept. Memo of Oct. 15, 1893)

 

Therefore, were it not this policy of *Garbaduub* practiced to the detriment of the Somalis and to the advantage of the Abyssinia, there is no way ********* or for that matter any Somali territory could have fallen into the hands of Abyssinia. Nor would they have been able to bully Somalis, in terms of tax imposition, forced labor and down right rustling of life stock without these arms. So, with the preferential

treatment secured for Abyssinia by the Europeans(Brussels Gen. Act of 1890), Abyssinia was able to Sunday-stroll on the Somali territories and

it will now, given the current situation in Somalia, provided it wants to taint its hands with Somali mud.

 

Now comes the question of betrayal of the Somalis by themselves. Well, let us revisit the Dervish movement, who kept the British and their

cohorts at bay from 1900 to 1920. Were Somalis, en masse, as supportive to this movement, it is doubtful that the predatory bands of Abyssinians

"would have dared evidently to raid the lowlands." The Dervishes, unlike other Somalis who were denied the right to import arms, were well armed and their forays to the ****** lands are well known. Since we have the hindsight advantage of the past, it goes without saying that, were the Oggaden clans unanimously supportive of this movement or were

the Somalis as whole united within themselves, irrespective of under what banner, Abyssinia would have had second thoughts of venturing to

these lowlands. However, as my grandfather used to say, "Geel darreeray nin ka darshay, ma awliya Allaa." So, why would the Abyssinians standby to an easy prey.

 

Whatever movement it was, if the Somalis were not undermining each other as they are doing now, we would not have been discussing this much ado

about Kilil5 this and Kilil 5 that. Now, comes the question, what is hindering Ethiopia to annex the whole Somali nation, after all, it is as

vulnerable as it can be. Nothing! The same way we betrayed each other before of being paralyzed by petty internal squabbles is why we are at

cul-de-sac. Anyone can take advantage of us now, whether they dumb nuclear waste, deplete our resources, or down right taking of the

wretched Somali country. Then, hundred years later, we would have a discussion of why Somali territory was lost. Betrayal, disappointment,

and petty bickering is why.

 

 

Regards,

 

 

Hirad

 

 

PS: Now could be the start of those hundred years and "Kutub gurigiisii

loo diiday, sayaxba wuu dili."

 

[ February 11, 2007, 11:50 PM: Message edited by: Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar ]