Xudeedi Posted December 29, 2007 Dr. Beileh's cry of concern: A follow-up By Bashir Ahmed Gardaad December 24, 2007 I would not be able to forgive myself if I don’t scribble a few lines about Dr. Abdirahman Beileh’s Dialogue with the Somali Flag (WardheerNews.com, December 08, 2007). I have known Dr. Beileh as a colleague and a friend for the past twenty years. There were many times during those two decades when we exchanged views on the plight of our people and wondered what we could possibly do to contribute to the salvation of our country. We were both development agents at the service of an international institution (the African Development Bank) primarily established for the economic and social development of the African Continent. We used to wonder the irony of it all. On the one hand, we lacked neither the will nor the desire to serve our country within the regulatory limitations imposed by our status as international civil servants. On the other, the rampant corruption and the worsening governance situation back home widened the credibility gap between ourselves and the institutions there that we decided not to give any advice or guidance to their management staff whenever they visited the Bank’s Headquarters in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. Dr. Beileh’s poem does justice to his preoccupation with his country’s destiny but also reflects his undying hobby of composing poems and collecting the works of well known Somali poets and writers. To me it brings closer to home a long lost day; the day when the blue flag was hoisted for the first time on Somali soil on October 12, 1954. I was just a kid then, but although I did not have the necessary maturity to understand what the flag really was about, I was equipped with the kids view of the world as black or white, and of people and things as good or bad and I therefore decided that the flag was a good thing to have. The young of those days had role models in their elders who inspired them. We lived for an ideal. We were told time and again that we are the leaders of tomorrow, that we are all Somalis, that we are equal and that we should acquire as much knowledge as we can to prepare ourselves for the task of nation building. From that October day fifty plus years ago, the blue flag is a rallying ground for millions of Somalis in their moments of patriotic fervor and joy. If, however, some see the flag not dancing to the wind as it used to, it is because its needs have not been taken care of properly. Just as human beings and animals are kept alive and active by food, so is the flag in need of nutrients of its own: institutions which sustain it and people who respect it. We must admit that these ingredients have been in short supply in the Somali society in recent years. There are those who would perhaps describe the Somali flag as a “blue Rag” in the style of Bernard Landry, the former separatist Premier of the Canadian Province of Quebec who called the Canadian flag a “Chiffon Rouge” (1) and there are those who would commit the ultimate sacrilege of burning it as did some irresponsible elements in Burao and Hargeisa some time ago. We Somalis have differences that seem intractable, but burning the flag is not an option, for it negates our past history, belittles the sacrifices of tens of thousands of our sons and daughters who paid the ultimate price in its defense and offends millions of Somalis who are still alive. The unenviable status of the blue flag which Dr. Beileh so eloquently described reflects the unflattering general comments that we expatriate Somalis have been hearing ever since the early1990s. I remember one particular comment which left a bitter taste in my mouth. Some ten years ago, a group of African Development Bank staff members, including myself, were having a casual conversation on development challenges facing Africa. The issue number one that absorbed most of our attention was governance. We reached a consensus that the prerequisites for a minimum degree of economic and social development were: (a) the existence of a government; and (b) such a government should derive its mandate to govern from the people through a free and fair electoral process. At that point, one of the participants in the casual conversation said “but the Somalis have challenged the classical definition of governance by proving that people can survive without a government and even undertake some development activities. “In fact”, he continued, “I consider that an original contribution of the Somalis to the concept of governance”. I detected a sarcastic undertone in his remark. To conceal my wounded pride, I sought solace in bravado by saying that our people have always shown resilience and initiative at times of adversity. I uttered those words unconvincingly as a defensive reaction to my colleague’s remarks at the time. Events have proven since, however, that I wasn’t totally wrong. Incidentally, the gentleman I referred to above was from Nigeria, a country of 130 million people with a multitude of ethnic groups speaking over 200 different languages and many indigenous religions in addition to Islam and Christianity. If such a country can hold together and be proud to do so, there must be something fundamentally wrong with a country of 10 million people essentially speaking the same language, adhering to the same faith, pursuing the same way of life and sharing similar cultural characteristics, who cannot agree on anything. Just to take one example, the fundamental difference between us and the Nigerians is that they see unity in their diversity whereas we see diversity in our unity. A flag is light in physical weight and the least costly of all institutional symbols. It requires no maintenance with the exception of periodic replacements for normal wear and tear. It is, however, weighty in terms of significance as a symbol of a country and its people. Today that symbol is abused in so many ways. It is abused when it is left unrepresented in international gatherings; it is abused when someone without proper credentials sits in these same gatherings and claims that he/she represents the Somali state; and it is abused when rival groups squabble over who represents what government; but the quintessential insult is to burn it altogether in the name of, God knows, what cause. If we Somalis are incapable of having a serious dialogue aimed at reconciling and burying our differences, why take our frustration on the flag which is the only symbol left of our nation? Remember Cassius’s words to Brutus: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves” (2). No words can express more the plight of the Somali flag than Dr. Beileh’s lines: Qudhu ha iga Socotoo Maruun aan qarsoomee Qarka ma iska tuuraa Translation: Just to embrace death And so disappear Should I throw myself down the hill I am not a poet, but given the importance of the subject under discussion, I cannot resist the temptation of dropping a few words in support of Dr. Beileh’s intervention: O blue flag Do not despair Do not be ashamed Of your sad state of affairs For it is your stakeholders Who let you down Who threw you to the wolves Who abandoned you in the wilderness It is us who are The breeders of your malaise The architects of your solitude The origins of your misery Forgive us O blue flag For dragging you on the sand For feeding you to the flames For forgetting that you represent A cherished ideal that Our past generations died for Our present generations live for Our future generations aspire to Forgive us O blue flag For condemning you to solitude In international fora And letting others wonder If you ever had a country Forgive us O blue flag For our irresponsible attitude And our inexplicable ingratitude O blue flag Don’t give up hope For one of these days We shall resurrect And when we do so Help will be on the way Bashir Ahmed Gardaad gardaadx10@yahoo.ca -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Red Rag In William Shakespeare’s Play “Julius Caesar” Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Xudeedi Posted December 29, 2007 Qaylo Dhaan: A dialogue between the Somali Flag and Dr. Abdirahman Beileh By Abdirahman Beileh December 08, 2007 Dear Folks, I would like to share with you this short note as a preamble to the song attached below called Qaylo Dhaan. Qaylo Dhaan is a culmination of a long dialogue, over a period of about 14-15 years, between the Somali flag (the Blue one with the white star in the middle) and Dr. Abdirahman Beileh (myself). This dialogue was taking place, intermittently, during occasions of important international/regional meetings, conferences, and summits where high level national representatives from Africa and from relevant institutions, seated gracefully behind their national flags, debated national issues and promoted their own respective interests. The dialogue took place in these meetings when the two of us met representing two different entities, the Flag representing the Somali Republic and me representing the institution I work for (the African Development Bank). In these meetings, I often delivered statements and/or participated in discussions on behalf of the Bank. During the deliberations of each of these conferences, we would, once in a while, have eye contacts with the occasional nod or two signifying recognition of each other’s presence. The Flag would always be sitting there quietly and desolately, squeezed and barely noticeable, between the Rwandan delegation on the left, and that of South Africa on the right. You have to look hard to recognize its existence, especially as the seat is always empty. During the earlier years, say 1994 to just about 1999, various groups would show up, each one claiming the right to occupy the seat, with sometimes a scuffle or two between them over the seat, and in the process violently damaging both the flag and the chair. The organizers would then arrive, with security personnel, and decidedly order all groups to leave the premises. The flag would then be folded up and put away with the chair moved to a remote corner somewhere outside the debate area. This normally happened when such important meetings took place somewhere in the Horn. More recently, however, the look on the face of the flag and the eye contact have appeared noticeably much more hostile towards me than before, to an extent that it made me nervous at the podium delivering a prepared statement or during my participation in discussions. He often frowned at me with visible anger and disdain towards me. I first noticed this in the Food Security conference held by the African Ministers of Agriculture and Water in Libreville Gabon on November 28-29 2006. In this conference, I spoke about what the African Development can do to assist African countries in their efforts towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals on Food and Poverty reduction. The flag’s gaze at me was so intense that I had to disguise my discomfort by taking frequent sips of water with short coughs! I succeeded to restrain myself and the meeting was concluded without any physical contact between us. I occasionally concluded that this was harassment and that I should perhaps draw it to the attention of the organizers. But then, the better part of me commanded that I gave more credence to our blood ties, and thus I should refrain from taking any action against Him. After the conclusion of this meeting, all delegations participating in the Libreville Conference moved to Abuja Nigeria, where Heads of State Summit was convened on December 4th and 5th 2006 to deliberate on and endorse the outcome of the Libreville Ministerial meeting. There we met again! But this time, because of the expectation of a Head of State, the Flag was mightier in size and more imposing. In addition, the Somali delegation (supposedly led by the head of state) was seated very close to the podium and the high table. As I took a position at the high table, I immediately faced the all-imposing blue flag with the big white, and very bright star, right on my left shoulder looking at me as more disdainful to me as ever. This session was not a very productive one for me but, at least, I made an effort to concentrate on what I had to say. Within this session, I decided that as soon the session broke for coffee, I would politely approach Him and ask him what sort of problems He had with me! So I did! as soon as the Chairman, adjourned the session, I got up and directly walked up to Him, very nervously, not knowing what His reaction would be towards me. I quietly shook his hand and hastened to assure Him that I was not there to fight Him like the others in the past, but simply came to say hello! As I sat down with him, we were joined by two ladies who later on told us they were refugees living in Abuja but recruited temporarily to assist in the organization of the meeting. We all talked and confirmed our origins to each other all speaking in the language: iska warrama? Waa nabade idinkuna? Alla mahaddii and so on and so forth.. I then said “ But, Flag, we have been meeting over the years without talking to each other”…” I am happy that we now started talking to each other”…. “Let me just ask you…” And this song then started expressing these feelings. The ladies also took part in the song!! QAYLO-DHAAN Beydkii koobaad Dr. Beileh (1) Calanyohow qanddoodaa Sida qaanso roobaad Amma kaynta qadawgoo Inta uu qayood helay illimuhu qulqulayaan quruxdaadu badanaa maxaa qiimo kugu ladhan in aad qaayo leedahay qalbigaygu kula jiro anaa kuu qiraayoo naftu kuu qushuucdee bal qabsoo ha yeeshee qambaruursigaagiyo isha qoodha daymada igu soo qallocdiyo qoolaabnidaadaa qulub igu abuurtoo igu dhalisay qarowgee anaa kuu qareen ehe maxaan ku qabtaa sheeg Calanka (1) waxan qoomameeyaa weli quuddarreeyaa qun-u-dhalasadaydii ballantii ad qaaddiyo qorshahaan samaynniyo hilbahaygan kala qalan quruxdiyo hankaygii qolqollada magaalada waxan qoorta fidinjiray xiddigaha ku qaydnnaa qarinjiray daruuraha hadba laanta qawlka ah qoollaalligaygii debintoon qaniiniyo ma qaxootibay xigay maxaad haatan ii qaban ma adaan ikala qubin qudhu ha’iga socotoo maruun aan qarsoomee qarka ma’iska tuuraa Hoorintii Hablaha calankan qaayaha lahoow qudhada badhkeediyoow waxaan kuu qabo jacayl qiyaas kuma koobi karo hadday caanuhu qubtaan illayn dabadood la qabay waxaan diray qaylo-dhaan saadaal wacan baan qabaa sidaa ku-calool qabow Beytkii Labaad Dr. Beileh (2) shirkan qaabka loo wacay qasdigiisu uu yahay quruumaha adduunyadu danahooda qaaska ah in ay wada qorsheeyaan qaadaa-dhigaan talo arrimo isla qaataan qaran jira in aad tahay hadday kugu qiyaaseen sidaa kugu qadariyeen madal kugu qotomiyeen haddaad qaawantahay weli qaladkooda maahee waxa guuldarrada qaba qoolkuna dulsudhanyahay qoonkaad u dhalatee qaybsani ka doorbiday qarannimada wadareed garoo qoontu waa taa maxaan kuu qabtaa sheeg Calankii (2) Qaran jabay miyaan ahay! Waxaan beero qodanjiray Quudinjiray adduunyada Qaddarkay* ma liicoo Qayrkay ma tuugsaday Qaraamaad ma urursady Qacda waranka feedaha Qaniinyada halka I mudan Weli maan qandhaysnahay! Sida qaanso oo kale Ma u soo qallocasamay Qufac ioy xanuun iyo miyaan qaaxo weheshaday ma qaxootigiibaa bahaluhu ku quutaan! maxaad haatan ii qaban ma adaan ikala qubin qudhu ha’iga socotoo maruun aaan qarsoomee qarka ma’iska tuuraa Hoorintii habalaha calankan qaayaha lahoow qudhada badhkeediyoow waxaan kuu qabo jacayl qiyaas kuma koobi karo hadday caanuhu qubtaan illayn dabadood la qabay waxaan diray qaylo-dhaan saadaal wacan baan qabaa sidaa ku-calool qabow Beytkii 3aad Dr.Beileh (3) wax la yidhi qiyaamuhu marka uu qariib yahay qaab lagu gartaa jira hadal aad ku qanacdiyo qiso aan ku siiyoon kuu qaboojo laabtee qun-u-dhalashadaadii nimankii ku qaabbilay qalbigooga kuu furay kuwii dhiigga kuu qubay kuu qaaday heesaha qof hadduu ka noolyahay sedan uma qatalanteen qaawanaan ma mudateen ilmo kaama qubateen qawyada majebiseen qandho iyo xanuun iyo jirro kuma qardoofteen anaa kuu qareen ehe mxaan kuu qabtaa sheeg Calankii (3) qoran weeyi geeridu qofna waari maayee qabri lama huraayee haddii qaamudkood galay qiso ma aha yeeblee maxaa qaatay ubixii? qalinkiyo tawaaddii? qorijirey ummuuraha qarankiyo dadkisii qarada iyo laxaadkii quwaddiyo itaalkii la’igu wada qaddarinjiray qoomiyad jacaylkii Qarshe iyo dirkiisii qasiidooyinkoodii qawlkii halyeygii qammaammuurtii waberi qabanqaabadoodii maxa qaatay ee helay? miyay iga qatoobeen? Hoorintii habalaha calankan qaayaha lahoow qudhada badhkeediyoow waxaan kuu qabo jacayl qiyaas kuma koobi karo hadday caanuhu qubtaan illayn dabadood la qabay waxaan diray qaylo-dhaan saadaal wacan baan qabaa sidaa ku-calool qab Beytkii afraad Dr. Beileh (4) Talo wey qallibantoo waxa qaatay beledkii qasnadihii la oogsaday qawleysataa timid yamyam iyo qadaad weyn quraafaadka beenta ah qaybqaybta maahda ah qalbiyada daciifka ah ku qadhaabanaysoo qofna aan canyn iyo ilma qaabaqowsyeyn qisadeennu waa taas waxan kugu qancinayaa qiil kaaga dhigayaa in kastooy qadhaadhahay Qadder weeye eebbee inaad qaadataa furan anaa kuu qareenoo kula qaadi heestii maxaan ku qabytaa sheeg Calankii (4) waxaan quudhsanjirey beri, ka qashaafijiray hore qasab ma igu noqotoo dani ma igu qabatoo dullinimo ma qaayibay ! qayrkay ma tuugsaday! ma hantiyay cad* (hilib) quudheed Qacda waranka feedaha Qaniinyada halka i mudan Weli maan qandhaysnahay! Waabay qadhaadh iyo ma qantuugay jahanama wakhtigaa is qallibayee anay qoontu igu taal maxaad haatan ii qaban ma adaan ikala qubin qudhu ha’iga socotoo maruun aaan qarsoomee qarka ma’iska tuuraa Hoorintii habalaha calankan qaayaha lahoow qudheyda badhkeediyoow intaan kuu qabo jacayl qiyaas kuma koobi karo hadday caanuhu qubtaan illayn dabadood la qabay waxxa diray qaylo dhaan aadaal waxcan baan qabaa sidaa ku-calool qabow Dr. Abdirahman Beileh Email: a.beileh@afdh.org ----------------------------------------------- *Qaddar: hadhuudhka beerta ku yaal ee laqanka ah ee aan weli bislaan *CAD: Hilib and CAD (caddaan) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
