Midnight Forever

[Jacaylbaro]

Introduction: On July 11, 2009 four prominent Somaliland citizens were kidnapped from a public highway and later on massacred in a tribal ritual. On August 6, 2009 Ali (Marshall) Gulaid died in a car accident on his way to Berbera. Ali Marshall was an economist, journalist, and leading opposition politician, in short a renaissance man who moved from USA back to his country of origin (Somaliland) to help bring about democracy, freedom, peace and stability to his people. This ugly massacre and this untimely death have brought the nation of Somaliland to its knees.

 

This article explores the reasons behind the massacre of 7/11. It articulates the hopes, dreams and also the nightmares of the people of Somaliland. Neither Ali Marshal nor Somaliland’s 7/11 victims will die in vain. Their blood will feed the tree of liberty and democracy. Freedom will win in spite of the forces of the extreme right of dictatorship, darkness and extremism.

 

I dedicate this article to the loving memory of the 4 victims of the Somaliland’s 7/11 whose murder will unite a nation to defeat lawlessness

 

Cali Maxamuud Nuur AKA Cali Bagaashle (Businessman) Daauud Xaashi Jaamac (Engineer) Mawliid Xasan Omar (Businessman) Cali Aw Omar Barre(Educator)

 

And in loving Memory of Ali Gulaid (Marshal)

 

His untimely sacrifice will teach the nation about sacrifice, decisiveness, discipline and commitment to the people’s cause of justice, transparency and honesty

 

 

Midnight Forever Part I: Grief

July 12, of 2007: The words are blurry. I focus. The letters move on their own. I feel wetness on my face and on my shirt. Arrows of sorrow and pain pierce through my heart. My breathing misses a step then another. Things around me look different. Darkness closes in.

 

Ali Aw Omar. I remember his last words to me at the Ambassador Hotel in Hargaysa, Somaliland. “This book, my present to you, delivered me from a state of utter ignorance. I pray it does the same for you. Look here for example, read this aloud if you have not forgotten your Arabic”. He challenged in the way only an old friend can. I noticed he was talking a bit louder. I made a mental note to check his hearing later. I accepted the book with the gravity it was offered. It is a book of Hadith (oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the prophet Mohammed, upon him be peace and blessings ). playfully I declared: It is an old book, old man. And it was. Yellow with age, over used, lovingly kept. I read the passage in Arabic taking up his challenge.

 

Narrated Anas: Allah’s Apostle said, “Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is an oppressed one. People asked, “O Allah’s Apostle! It is all right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?” The Prophet said, “By preventing him from oppressing others.”

 

July 12, 2009. Sheikh Abdullahi Sh. Ali Jowhar walked into the make shift morgue in Borama. The body parts of four men viciously murdered the day before were laid out for identification. This was no ordinary serial murder. The brutalized bodies spoke aloud of a dark tribal ritual murder ceremony only one step removed from frank cannibalism. The dead bore silent witness to the brutality of man to his brother.

 

There was something familiar about the head among reassembled body parts. The nose broken and twisted around before death looked both grotesque and familiar. The mouth was frozen in horror. The high forehead was serene as ever; shinning dark spot in the middle; the sign of prostration and submission to Allah (SWT) in Salaat (prayers). The marks on the torso left behind by a blunt knife stabbed and twisted around in the innards of the still living victim left no doubt about a tribal ritual signature intended for the living. The Sheikh moved on to the next body. But there was a foreboding sense, a subconscious alarm. The Sheikh looked back again. A face; a name, a pattern recognized! Ali Aw Omer. He is Ali Aw Omar; the Sheikh confirmed “Ina Lilahi wa inaa elayhi Rajucuun” (Verily, unto God do we belong and, unto Him we shall return Quran “The Lion 2:156)

 

2:155 (Asad) And most certainly shall We try you by means of danger, and hunger, and loss of worldly goods, of lives and of [labour's] fruits. But give glad tidings unto those who are patient in adversity 2:156 who, when calamity befalls them, say, “Verily, unto God do we belong and, verily, unto Him we shall return.” Quran “the Lion”

 

7/11, 2009 was a day like any other. Ali woke up fresh and immediately made a decision that will cost him his life that very night. He decided to delay his trip to Borama and to go shopping for that particular dress his daughter wanted now that he has few dollars to spare. That is all it took. But then again no one who knew Ali will be surprised that this was his last decision in this world.

 

I still can see in my mind’s eye Ali Aw Omar, a single father at the time, riding by me on his motorcycle with his daughter holding onto his back in the streets of Djibouti. She was the jewel of his eyes. In a world where childcare is traditionally left to women Ali will be remembered as the prototype of the emerging role of the new caring father; definitely a welcome evolution in this ultra conservative patriarchal society. He remarried and became the doting father of 7 more children. He ensured that all of his children (sons and daughters) attended school and excelled in it in spite of the modesty of his means. His oldest daughter has just joined nursing school. He inherited this deep capacity to nurture from his mother Mumina (of the Bahgobo tribe of the Jibri-Abokor people of the Isaak tribe). And he inherited the hands on attitude to parenting from his father Aw Omer Barre (of Bahabar Abdalle of the Makaahil people of the Samoroon tribe.) This was Ali Aw Omar and it is important to remember his tribal lineage because the end of his life is so intractably tied up with this prehistoric curiosity.

 

The delay in travel timing from Hargaysa to Borama to the evening of July 11, 2009; meant Ali Aw Omar entered the vortex of a chain of events that will lead him to the devil’s den and that will end in his torture and death that shook his nation and that may lead to its death as well.

 

On the road that Ali traveled later that day and unbeknownst to him, Tribal Murder Warriors gathered under dying trees surrounding by dying animals, having come from homes where the monsters of hunger and starvation hunted the weak, the young and the old. It is a particularly dry season in this semi dessert but among the warriors gathered on this particular road on this particular day there was thirst only for one thing; human blood.

 

“Shaitiin” (Demons) set loose from their chains in fires of hell stirred the bitterness of collective tribal memory in the cold hearts of these men, as they schemed the murder of any one from the “other group” who travelled that route on that fateful day. Yes, yes there was some dispute over a parcel of land between few neighboring families. But that was nothing more than a pretext, and a flimsy one at that. It sure was not the cause of the horror that was to unfold. It could have been anything; a dispute between a student and a teacher over grades in school, an ordinary traffic violation, a mundane crime, anything at all. The real cause is that injustice and corruption has so weakened the newly born state of Somaliland and a budding dictator has chosen solidifying his hold on power on the basis of tribal allegiances, and at the expense of law and order and good governance. In these dire circumstances the tribal monster is rearing its ugly head and getting ready to consume the nation in a frenzy of primitive tribal blood orgies of mutual self annihilation.

[Jacaylbaro]

Midnight Forever Part II: The Murder

 

“Face Mecca and profess Islam, before I kill you”

 

The murderers conspiring on this desolate road carried within them the virus of Africa’s most potent evil; the Tribal Murderer. They were indeed the physical embodiment of this ugliest, most base and most inhumane manifestation of a tribal society. It is essential to elucidate here the role of tribal murderer.

 

The Tribal Murderer kills on behalf of his tribe. His action is both sanctioned and despised by the tribe. The contradiction inherent in this role gives it a massive destructive potency. It is essential to differentiate the role of the tribal murderer from that of the tribal warrior for there is hope in this distinction. The tribal warrior travels in the day time; he fights his wars in the battle field. He gains stature by his gallantry, his strict observation of the rules of war, his temperance and even his kindness towards non combatants. He is revered in public and loved in private by the members of his tribe. On the other hand the tribal murderer is by definition a psychopath and a vulture. He is the embodiment of cowardice. He never confronts an armed enemy. He sneaks behind the unarmed, the traveler, and the one peacefully tilling his land. Death and dismemberment is a trade he perfects and prefers. He is revered in secret, feared in secret and denounced in public by the members of his tribe. He and his progeny often become outcasts of society for which they played this dirty role as the tribal murderer succeeds in disgusting his own tribe’s men and everyone else. This is because there is something intrinsically offensive about the murder of innocent men in all human societies and the tribe even though a most primitive social organization shares in this disgust. And there is even more revulsion about torturing a human being or any sentient being to death. Yet these are the trademarks and the essential tools of the tribal murderer.

 

For the warriors who sat under the shade-less trees the names, the nature, the history, the personality, the holiness or lack of it of those who were to be murdered did not matter in the least. There were only few essential criteria that the victims-to-be had to satisfy 1) they should be warm blooded male homo sapiens 2) they should belong to the neighboring tribe “the other”3) They should be unarmed, unaware and vulnerable. The tribal murder warrior does not discriminate. He would accept any unarmed victim.

 

The act of tribal murder has to be specific, in stark contrast to the randomness of how its victim is selected. The method and mechanism of death of these random victims were meticulously and carefully planned by the tribal murderer. The death of the victim must be slow and gruesome. The body must show publicly demonstrable evidence of pain and dehumanization to teach the living “other” a lesson that “you must not mess with us”- the lions in this jungle. This explains why the body of Ali Aw Omar’s body was found in such a state of gruesome mutilation. The killing process has to showcase the “manliness” of the warrior’s tribe. In the strange world of the tribal feuds this dictum dictates the harvesting of the testicles of the victim. It is reported to me that Ali’s testicles were “taken” as he watched.

 

The tribal murder is the most primitive version of psych-ops. It could aptly be described as a form of psychological terrorism in a backward tribal setting. The death of “the other” in this most gruesome manner unleashes the vilest of the hidden demons in the psyche of the collective and it triggers a catastrophic chain of events that leads to genocide of a group against the other. In the dirty tribal wars that ensue there are no winners. From the times of posterity tribal wars has always been a lose-lose proposition. That is why tribal society everywhere is in decline, or has become extinct or is about to become extinct.

 

One must understand clearly and with no ambiguity that this whole shocking process is not personal at all. The warriors, who hunted, captured and tortured Ali Aw Omar to death had nothing against him in person. Their roads never crossed. Strangely enough the warrior appeared willing to help Ali achieve Janna (heaven) in the next world; One of the murderers is reported to have asked Ali “Face Mecca and profess Islam, before I kill you”. In the irrational and schizophrenic mind of the tribal warrior, there is no contradiction between torturing Ali Aw Omar, murdering him and “taking away his testicles” and the warrior’s firm belief that he has nothing against Ali Aw Omar the person.

 

This is how genocide starts and works. The human, the person, is taken out of the equation and replaced with a mental image of the horribly caricatured “other”. Later on the virus of violence spreads with hyper-inflated waves of hatred with the power of many tsunamis. Killing and torturing the dehumanized “other” become as easy as walking and talking. This is how Auschwitz and Rwanda came about. This is the explanation of the mass graves (the legacy of Siyaad Barre) that keep cropping up in Hargaysa every now and then.

 

And so on that fateful shocking and ugly day Ali Aw Omar and 3 of his fellow citizens were caught up in the dragnet of the tribal vengeful murdering warriors. We remember. We will not forgot. They are:

 

Cali Maxamuud Nuur AKA Cali bagaashle (Businessman) Daauud Xaashi Jaamac (Engineer) Mawliid Xasan cumar (Businessman) Cali Aw Cuamar Barre(Educator)

They died a painful, horrifying death. I will spare you the details of their horrible death but one small fact needs to be mentioned. One man escaped the mayhem and reported on the manner of their death. In an interview with the BBC Somali services he reported of one particular exchange that he overheard and that could summarize the horror of that day. The man who escaped reported that he heard one of the victims beg for mercy “Men of Islam, my religion; kill me but shoot me with a bullet; are we not Moslems all?” The heartless leader responded with “cut out that tongue that dares to speak” and the tongue was cut off.

 

And there he was; butchered by evil. The light of death shining from his black eyes, a stone’s throw from Kalabaydh the small town where he grew up working in his brother tea shop. I mourn for Ali Aw Omar and I mourn for my people.

 

“tribal war is not about politics….. tribal warfare is about revenge. Tribes don’t fight for principles. They fight to get even.” “Tribal wars are therefore particularly and intentionally full of atrocities. Victims of tribal wars may be skinned or burned alive. Their dead bodies maybe mutilated and displayed. The aim of tribal revenge is not to achieve balance, but to attain vindication and total submission or extermination of the other. A tribe that fails the bloody test of revenge takes the risk of finding its resources, land and homes plundered, women carried off and men bullied.” July 2005 Abdishakur Jowhar’s “Essentials of Tribal Psychology

 

I wrote these words four year ago. I did not know then that I will witness them so vividly, so personally.

 

Ali Aw Omar: Memories of my Generation

 

July 12, 2009. I hold on to the book of Hadith. I opened the same passage again that I read with Ali Aw Omar two years before. This time my head hung low in grief, I read the passage again with eyes unseeing flooded with the gravity of the loss.

 

Narrated Anas: Allah’s Apostle said, “Help your brother…

 

I knew immediately why Ali selected the particular Hadith for my attention. Lifelong bonds of friendship ensured shared experiences and shared memories. Now that he has gone, in these memories, shared no more, I exist. I must remember to pass them on, to those who will come, for to bear witness is a responsibility.

 

Ali and I have been together in the social justice movement in Somalia since the early seventies when we both joined forces with other members of our generation to confront the military dictator of our time Mohamed Siyad Barre. We were on the side of the progressive left of the political spectrum. Che Chevera of Cuba, Franz Fanon of Algeria, Amílcar Lopes Cabral of Guinea Bissau and Joe Slovo of South Africa were our heroes. We were the post independence generation of Africa. We were fed up with tin pot military dictators and military coup d’états that devastated the continent of Africa like pestilence and plague.

 

That was the turbulent seventies for my generation. We came to maturity in that decade and were immediately confronted with a nation in a crisis. We met head on a military dictatorship that was systematically destroying a nation. Ours was a political revolt, student movement, popular campaigns. We were determined to stand up to be counted. But we were crushed by the regime. To be brutally honest we failed miserably in the task we set up for ourselves. Our defeat and the victory of the short sighted selfish right set the stage for Somalia to become the prototypal land of statelessness , starving masses, well fed pirates, warlords and of course their social counterpart marauding ferocious machete wielding tribes.

 

Many of us ended as refugees in the four corners of the world. Few of the more dedicated, hardy, heroic types remained in the country and refused to go. Ali Aw Omar was one of the latter. He stayed with the people. He shared their lot, their wars, their peace, their hunger, their pain and their prosperity. I envied him then for his bravery. I think he knew of my envy, it was never mentioned. He was just too refined.

 

I sought refuge in the west and quickly got lost in its decadent capitalistic ways. I conformed to the locally prevalent creed of democracy, equality and free fair elections as the gentlest means of human progress. Ali Aw Omar having stayed home was caught up in the wave of Islamism that has swept over the new generations in Somalia. He also conformed to the locally prevailing political mood of a resurgent Islamic exuberance. He found safety in the Quran and sustenance in Hadith and Sunnah.

 

Ali and I witnessed the death of the ideology that dominated our childhood days as well as the death of the nation in whose bosom we grew. Like orphans in a ruthless world we had to evolve, adapt and improvise with all haste to survive. Like a football on the playground of fate, we were kicked around, cast, molded and ripened by the force of circumstances and times. At the end of it all here we were Ali, a Sheikh, and a pious man in Somaliland preaching to save my soul for the next world, I a Psychiatrist from Canada trying to understand my old friend in this present world.

 

By sharing with me this particular Hadith, with its beautifully written message of justice and our role in bringing it about, Ali Aw Omar peeled away the residue of time and space to reveal that we both remained true to our commitment to the timeless cause of human equality, fraternity and peace despite the differences in languages and terminologies we acquired over our lifetimes.

 

It is important that we draw the right conclusions from this national tragedy. What we are witnessing is not merely the murder of Ali Aw Omar, it is much broader and much deeper; it is nothing less than the last gasp of the Somaliland state which will surely collapse and die unless its heroic masses comes to its aid.

 

The central pillar of any society is law and order. The state has the obligation of protecting its citizens. The current administration failed the people of Somaliland. What has killed Ali Aw Omar is lawlessness, injustice, corruption, weakened judiciary and the mother of them all the muzzling of the free press. These have, unfortunately, all become the official trademark of those in power in Somaliland today.

 

Even worse it is clear that those who committed this most heinous act remain free and at large because the current administration of Rayaale has reached a cynical calculation that allowing the murderers to remain free is in the regime’s best political and electoral interest. What the leadership has not yet grasped is this: every single day these criminals remain free, rubbing their dirty nose on the face of the national psyche, bears witness to the moral bankruptcy and practical impotence of the regime. Every single day the murderers so openly challenge the state and get away with it constitutes one more nail in the coffin of Rayaale’s administration. It is time to change course, time to dismantle the politics of divide and rule, time to come together and find justice for Ali Aw Omar and for Somaliland.

 

But there is urgency in the matter, in these most dreadful of times. And I must now address those in my tribe who has become possessed by the demons of vengeance, who dream of basking in its blooded glory, I say to you give me few moments of your precious time, for I too belong to the tribe and I too feel the pain.

[Jacaylbaro]

By Dr. Abdishakur Jowhar

[Jacaylbaro]

Midnight Forever – Part III

 

 

On July 11, 2009 four prominent Somaliland citizens were kidnapped from a public highway and later on massacred in a tribal ritual. On August 6, 2009 Ali (Marshall) Gulaid died in a car accident on his way to Berbera.

 

I dedicate this article to the loving memory of the 4 victims of the Somaliland’s 7/11 whose murder will unite a nation to defeat lawlessness

 

Cali Maxamuud Nuur AKA Cali Bagaashle (Businessman)

Daauud Xaashi Jaamac (Engineer)

Mawliid Xasan Omar (Businessman)

Cali Aw Omar Barre(Educator)

 

And in loving Memory of Ali Gulaid (Marshal)

 

Revenge for the murder

 

Ugly Revenge is the nomad’s mantra. For him an eye for an eye is insufficient, too little, too late. He wants two, three, four eyes for the one his kin lost. He wants it today before the dead is cold. He wants it done in much more excruciating pain, in much more disgustingly inhumane manner as those eyes “taken” from his own. This is what I call the hyperinflation of hate that turns the hearts of men and women dark, hard and cold. This is the raw emotional material that hate groups of all societies mold into genocide and mass murder. It is explosively volcanic with the added potential of viral spread. It is here that the process of dehumanization of the “other” finds a fertile soil and grows to its nightmarish potential. The vector that carries this raw material is the ugly tribal revenge seeker.

 

It is with this background in mind that I first address this most extreme fringes of my people who has become possessed by the demons of vengeance and who dream of basking in its blooded glory. I speak directly to those who murdered Ali Aw Omar and those who plan to murder other Ali’s in the never ending cycle of tribal revenge and counter revenge.

 

To these hate mongering tribal fringe I say: if your heart is already taken, and your soul is a prisoner to the master of darkness (Shaitan), if he has already locked up your ears and my words feel remote, inaudible, naïve, simpleminded and cowardly, in this case pray with me the two Rak’at of Salaat al Al-Istakhara (the prayers and supplication for guidance and counsel). Allah (SWT) is the most strong, the most wise and the most powerful, He will deliver you from the clutches of the demon. He will open your ears to me and soften your heart to my words.

 

And now that you have purified your soul think with me:

 

When you murder a traveler who is an innocent non-combatant, when you orphan the children of a farmer tilling the dry parched land for few grains to sustain his family, when your spear of vengeance pierces the heart of a man who has never done anything wrong to you or to any human or to any of God’s creatures….. When you engage in such a dastardly act knowingly, willing and deliberately do you still remain a Muslim? Read with me these ayaat (Quranic verses) before you answer:

“4:93 (Asad) But whoever deliberately slays another be¬liever, his requital shall be hell, therein to abide; and God will condemn him, and will reject him, and will prepare for him awesome suffering.” Sadaqa Allahu Al Cadiim.

 

And I ask: When you torture a man, when the screams of pain of those who has fallen prey to your tribal frenzy pleases your heart, in that most awful of times are you really human or an animal in the shape of a human?

 

When you seek out and ambush the old, the weak and the unarmed in your despicable frenzy of tribal sacrifice do you feel brave like a lion? or are you merely a despicable scavenger?

 

To the scribes of tribal vengeance, to those who whisper death in the silence of the night, to those who preach and incite hate, to those who organize gangs of psychopaths to spread murder and mayhem upon the earth, to those high priests of the Gods of Vengeance I say: Do you think distance will absolve you from the crimes that you conceive, encourage and perpetuate? Do you realize that your tribal ancestors are Mengele, Hitler, Pol Pot and most emphatically not Sh Issa, Sh ********, Sh. *****, or Sh ******. Do you realize that you are a stain on the good name of all human kind?

 

Psychopathy is a disease that exists in all human societies. And everywhere the murdering psychopath is hunted down and brought to justice. Except in our own society where we turn a blind eye to them. We give them shelter. We feed them. We incite and encourage them to “kill the other”. We secretly celebrate “their manhood” and on we openly support them by denying that these crimes even took place; just like holocaust and genocide deniers everywhere. We give these murderers and psychopaths the power of life and death in our society. Consequently we condemn ourselves to eternal misery in this world, and eternal hell on the other. And then we wonder why are we so far behind the rest of mankind in all areas of man’s endeavors. Think about this the next you hear in Gabilay “ Walee waa nin rag ah” (that is a man’s man).

 

The matter is simple. A crime has been committed. A most terrible crime. The perpetrators of this crime are known. They must be brought to justice now. This is how you tame wild tribes and force them to make peace not war. We must disown these murderers. We must ensure that they don’t literally get away with murder.

 

And on the other hand those who hear whispers in the dark about future attacks of terror should denounce them and warn the nation about it. This is how we gain back our humanity and our pride in ourselves. This how we become a good Muslims. This how we could build a nation. And this is how we can defend ourselves collectively from the criminal fringes of our nation.

 

A psychological Fracture

 

The murder of Ali Aw Omar and his colleagues pose an existential question for all of us who like him travel that vital road to be part of the nation that we are helping to build. Can we be safe in our own country? Should we be resorting to traveling in armed conveys in our own backyard? Should we be looking for alternative ways of survival. These are surely rational questions that demand honest answers. This murder has caused a psychological and physical fracture in the this young nation of Somaliland. It would be no exaggeration to conclude that the impact of this murder and the impact of the response to it by the current administration and those that follow it will determine to a great degree the fate of Somaliland as a viable state.

 

But at this point in time the people of Awdal find themselves in the unenviable position of finding a rational answer to an irrational proposition. A Somali proverb maintains “nin aan waran kaagu gelin, weedhaadu ma gashu” (those who have not felt the pain of your spear, cannot grasp the wisdom of your words). It is a proverb like many other Somali proverbs that has a tribal cutting edge to it. It defines the “us” and “them” and in the raw terms of violence and volatility. And so the default course of action of a tribal group in defending its members has always been to resort either to tribal murder revenge or to build up tribal militia and prepare for tribal wars.

 

The times are different though. And by now we should all realize that there are no tribal solutions to the issue of the security and safety of the citizens of a state, none whatsoever.

 

We have already considered and debunked tribal revenge murder as a rational option for achieving the safety of a tribe. Indeed just the opposite is always true. We have shown, to those who have been blinded by the emotions of the moment, the immoral nature of this most horrible of all options. Let this be clear to all and sundry. Anyone who participates in tribal murder in any shape or form has forfeited his faith, and his humanity in the service of the ancestral god-the tribe. He is not one of us. He is the enemy of all of us.

 

Raising tribal militia and waging tribal war “to save the tribe” has been the more commonly accepted and often preferred option of a nomadic society in defending its own. Once again we must understand that it is an illusory option; a non starter in today’s world.

 

Tribal wars are financed by the feeble mechanism of donations, not by robust taxes. It is fought by amateurish militia who left their farms, sheep and camel to wage war for a day or two not by a standing army. These logistical and ideological constraints make tribal wars short, nasty and brutal.

 

Tribal wars have only a time limited tactical goal of killing many of the “other” and looting their property. The purpose is primarily to gain an ephemeral psychological boost to the self esteem of the aggressor tribe. This lasts only long enough until the “other tribe” regroups itself for a day or two of a vengeful blood bath and recaptures its own injured self image. Tribal war uses the tactics of a guerilla warfare of hit and run. But unlike guerilla wars it has no strategic objective of holding land, creating a state or taking power over an existing state. The end result of tribal militia wars is therefore one of constant, circular, short, nasty, battles that go on and on intermittently for generations in a devastating manner that keeps the whole region in perpetual poverty as trade, farming and animal husbandry come to a stop and as the resources of the tribes involved are depleted by a mini arms race.

 

Now if a thousand years of Somali history has not convinced you that tribal militia and tribal wars cannot serve the safety and security of any one, if 30 years of war in Somalia that has succeeded only in wiping out the Somali people has not convinced you of the futility and ridiculousness of this option then there is something seriously wrong with your mind and your thinking process. You need to seek remedy for your intellectual blindness. And if your are happy with your blindness you must ensure to take all necessary precautions to prevent it from infecting others around you for it could be lethal to those you love.

 

Our old deadly ways

 

With this knowledge in mind it is disheartening and unfortunately expected even if strange that both sides of the Kalabaydh divide have decided precisely that a tribal solution is the only option available to them. The demonization process is in full swing. Objective analysts on both sides of the divide are feeling the heat of being marginalized. Tribal scribes are busy yarning new conspiracy theories, new psychic injuries, new lists of grievances and injustices. Old symbols are being resurrected and recruited for the tribal cause. In Gabilay the SNM flag has surpassed in status and affection the Somaliland flag. It is everywhere. On the Awdal side the blue flag of Somalia appeared out of nowhere after two decades of absence. The naïve may consider these newly dusted symbols as a manifestation of Somali Nationalism and Somaliland Nationalism battling it out in the plains of Kalabaydh. Nothing could be further from the truth. The symbols may be different but they are meant to say the same things: “I am of this tribe and I am seeking out allies that can help me best you and exterminate you in the battles that are to come.” Both symbols are a dagger pointed at the newly minted Somaliland identity for they take the nation backward a thousand years into the filthy swamps of tribal immorality and death.

 

There are three ideologically related solutions to the problems of insecurity created by tribal warriors, all involve the building of a state that can claim sole monopoly on violence like all states do: A reinvigorated Somaliland State, a reborn Somalia State or a de novo Moslem State of Somalia are the only three options on the table. Choose your pick. Any one from Somaliland has the democratic right to choose any of these options. It is clearly immoral, and manifestly dangerous, to advocate for tribal solutions at this point in the history of the nation and that of mankind.

 

The people of Somaliland has rejected religious fundamentalism outright. And in 1993 the vast majority opted for a Somaliland State. Most unfortunately the Somaliland state has been weakened by inept administration. The legitimacy of the state has been undermined when the government of the day failed to uphold the laws of the land, as it was sworn to do, when they embarked on naked corruption and open pilfering of the public purse, when they decided that to simply ignore the national consensus and the national constitution, to outlaw the free press, to delay or cancel the electoral process unless they could be assured victory beforehand.

 

The result of this decay of the Somaliland state is the strengthening of tribal identity and tribal wars with all their gore and blood. This is the problem that lead to the death of Ali Aw Omar and his colleagues. This is the problem that needs a solution that is non tribal and non religious- a political solution.

 

Making Sense of the Senseless

 

We need to stop here and make one critical observation. The last time that there was this level of violence in Kalabaydh was in the dark days of 1988-1991. Then, as is the case now, a president was trying to hold on to power illegally by all means necessary. Then, as is the case now, those who were in power thought it was in their best interest to create a deadly vacuum of tribal rivalry and tribal allegiances to find for themselves a space to maneuver. Then, as is the case now, the survival of the nation did not matter in the least to those in power.

It is because of these considerations that I came to believe that the most imminent risk to the life of any ********** today is the current administration of Somaliland and its pursuit of absolute power. Just as this administration is the most imminent danger to the life of every Somalilander. The massive extent of injustice, corruption and hatred this regime has created is sufficient to lead to the implosion of the state and the death and destruction of the people who live in. The hope of the ********** and that of rest of Somaliland today rests on the victory of Saylici or the victory of Mohamed Rashid.

 

A Call to Action

 

And so my fellow Somalilanders, men and women of all political persuasions, in this darkest moment, when murderers are on the brawl, when the regime failed to provide even the most basic law and order, when available meager resources are being diverted to arm tribal militia just as the drought stricken and hungry dye in isolated huts and in street corners, in this darkest moment when all seems lost, there is one more battle to be waged.

 

One more stand against tyranny, against the slaughter of innocence. Let the streets of our cities and villages swell with thousands of peaceful marches and calls for change. Let seven days of every week be the Glorious Thursdays of revolt. Let us break the death grip of Rayaale, Cawil and Cabdillahi around our necks before they reduce us all to a crumbling dirt of primitive tribes massacring each other. Let there be a glorious people’s revolution. We will die anyways as we must. Let us choose to fall fighting this good war, for this just cause. Let this be our revenge for Ali Aw Omar.

 

 

Dr. Abdishakur Jowhar

(abdijowhar@yahoo.co m)

Saturday, August 29, 2009