Bravo Wardheernews

[Taleexi]

Here is informative and interesting piece to read..

 

Bravo WARDHEERNEWS!

The leading light of the Emergent Somali Internet Portals

By: A. Duale Sii'arag

November 19, 2006

 

In reading the history of nations, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculiarities; their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do… We see one nation suddenly seized, from its highest to its lowest members, with a fierce desire of military glory; another as suddenly becoming crazed upon a religious scruple, and nether of them recovering its senses until it has shed rivers of blood and sowed a harvest of groans and tears, to be reaped by its posterity…

 

Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841)

 

Congrats from Maan-hadal Qaad salon! Flanked on both sides by stacks of thick Arabian pillows covered with a finely embroidered fabric and furnished with a stock of assorted soft drinks and water and some of the state-of-the-art gadgets - cellular phones and laptops - the entire chewing crowd of Maan-hadal are pleased to wish a Happy Second Anniversary to WardheerNews - the august and most venerated of all the Somali websites.

 

At a time when Somali nationalism has helplessly tumbled; disunity had become increasingly fashionable and moral consciousness has receded to the lowest possible ebb; when communal cohesion had plummeted downwards and fragmentized and a plethora of emergent, miserably disillusioned, twaddle clanocentric Somali internet portals have mushroomed; WardheerNews provided a convenient venue for an inventory of ideas.

 

My chewing-mates are not entirely composed of avid supporters of WardheerNews. Likewise, they are neither unanimous in the quest for secession nor in the desire to revive the battered Somali unity. Their views towards the Islamic Courts are evenly divided. Some may disagree or dislike the opinions and contents of the provocative editorials of WardheerNews and its daring deadly assault on the seemingly fashionable politics of delusion, warlordism and monster-breeding. However, all applaud the unwavering commitment of WardheerNews to established journalistic standards and its conformity to traditional values and ethos identified with the fine arts of journalism.

 

In Maan-hadal, WardheerNews is acclaimed for being a reliable medium for objective reporting, balanced with a commitment to objectively reporting news on all Somali-inhabited regions. Its fearless, unbiased and balanced editorial page, often received with controversy, is a unique attribute that never misses the weary eyes of Maan-hadal. It is identified with well-written, informative and analytical reports and reviews on prevailing political developments in Somalia. Moreover, it has emerged as the most potent portal for intellectual discourse, as evidenced by the exclusive articles written by some of Somalia’s best and brightest. It transcends region, clan or sectarian oriented motives.

 

In the past two years, WardheerNews has vigorously highlighted the leadership failures and political setbacks that beset the Somali inhabited regions in the Horn of Africa; human rights violations and unabated power abuse perpetuated by corrupt and rogue politicians. WardheerNews has been courageous in debunking political junkies, exposing vicious human trafficking and hatemongering political upstarts and always displayed the highest standards of professional journalism in the face of many daunting challenges. Hence, Wardheernews has become an important contribution to the lively debate in Maan-hadal.

 

Maan-hadal is currently bracing for the seeming unstoppable sweeping tide of the Islamist forces that have already forcefully engulfed much of southern Somalia. A gathering tropical storm breeding forth a contagious Moga-virus that originated from the Banadir coastline is causing consternation here. With every sneeze of the Mullahs in Mogadishu, an unsettling paranoia is evolving in the immediate environment of Maan-hadal.

 

Becoming increasingly fearful and edgy of the galloping forces of the victorious Mullahs of the South and wanting to mollify the homegrown, overambitious Islamists, Rayaale Kahin has recently publicly declared “Somaliland will be governed by the tenets of the Islamic Sharia Law”. From Galkacyo to Borama, the quest for Sharia has echoed largely due to a pathological fear of Islamists – indicative of the symptoms of the malaise which engulfed much of the Somali inhabited regions in the Horn that are yet to fall under the rule of the Islamists. The blowing wind of Shariah seems inescapable, at this moment in time.

 

Rayaale’s perplexing declaration made on the occasion of the Eid holiday come short of announcing the establishment of an Islamic Court in Hargeisa. The declaration coincided with the return of Sheikh Ali Warsame from an extended visit to Mogadishu, at a time when both Puntland and Somaliland administrations have sought Ethiopian military support against the Islamic courts. Sheikh Ali Warsame, the Burao based founder of Al-Ittihad Al-Islami movement and brother-in-law of Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aways, the leader of the Islamic forces in southern Somalia, was greeted by thousands of supporters at the Berbera airport upon his return from Mogadishu. Sheikh Warsame traveled to Mogadishu in September after Sheikh Aways called him for consultations on Islamists inevitable move towards the territories currently under the jurisdiction of the Puntland and Somaliland administrations.

 

At Maan-hadal, the marriage relationship between the two sheikhs made all the more interesting the political twist and turns that can only be made by a bunch of half-sane half-qaad-crazed Maan-hadalites. Does this relationship signify a genuine religious alliance? Did the sheikhs chalk out the road map for the future of Somalia and the Islamic revolution in the Horn of Africa? Are these devout visionaries or zealots pursuing political authority? Hasn’t both Sheikhs been through something like this before? Until the inevitable, divinely constituted Islamic theocracy takes root, Maan-hadal will continue lending receptive ears to the sophisticated, tape-recorded sermons of Sheikh Mustafe – the influential and foremost Islamic ideologue and Islamists’ president-designate (the wannabe Imam or Ameer-ul-Mumineen) for a united Islamic State of Somalia.

 

Maan-hadal has learned that Ismael Omar Guelleh has initiated clandestine mediation efforts between the Islamists in Mogadishu and Rayaale Kaahin with a view of obviating agitation by Islamic Courts of their burgeoning members and supporters in Burao, Hargeisa and Borama. Rayaale has also dispatched several prominent Sultans - traditional leaders - to Mogadishu, for the same purpose. Is Rayaale likely to find a middle ground with the Islamists? Can he weather the storm? Political pundits and leading analysts of Maan-hadal are of the view that appeasement and conciliation efforts geared towards the euphoric Sheikhs is unlikely to yield mutual settlement, compromise or cohabitation. The consequences are all too predictable.

 

The gathering political upheaval in Galkacyo - the current center of the swirling storm, is obviously unnerving many of the shaky and unstable regimes in the region. A tumultuous political seismic has already jolted the edifices of the governing palaces in conflict-ridden Horn of Africa Region – the eternal abode of war. From Nairobi to Addis Ababa and Djibouti, the chattering ruling classes are mumbling voices of fear and confusion. An imprudent intrusive Ethiopian policy towards Somalia is positively contributing to Islamists resuscitation efforts of the dilapidated Somali nationalism and unity. Jihad has been proclaimed against the infidels; militant holy warriors have been unleashed and fatwa issued against adversaries, apostates and non-Islamist apologists. Likewise, the sermons in the Christian churches in Ethiopia and Kenya are inundated with Islamophobic and belligerent literature. The beat of the war-drums is in perfect tone with the confrontational rhetoric of the belligerent leaders of the warring sides. As it seems, war clouds are about to burst with blood. This state-of-affairs presupposes that tolerance and sanity is desperately scarce in the Horn of Africa, presently.

 

The tremor is being felt even in the most stable of all places – the cozy and stress-free Maan-hadal Qaad salon. (Of course, all of these presage the irrelevance of the ill-fated and disgraced Embagthi government and its ever-dwindling prospects, if not its eventual demise).

 

Neither the saber rattling of the Mullahs nor the opportunistic overtures of Rayaale and Adde Muse would allay the growing public unease and trepidation in the face of the looming Islamist threats. Nothing other than the leafy Awaday would moisten the jaded palate of the chewing classes in Maan-hadal and associated salons that are already at the mercy of secretive, impersonal forces of the resurrected and recycled operatives of the former National Security Service (NSS). Until Maan-hadal reassembles its ritual gathering and chew over the vastly changing scenarios in the Horn, we wish WardheerNews all the best and salute its crew with a greeting from the Abadir of Harar who has blessed the Awaday qode that brightens the four corners of our topical mafrash.

 

Bravo WardheerNews!

 

By A. Du'ale Sii’arag,

E-Mail: baxaal@yahoo.com

WardheerNews Contributor at Large

[Qudhac]

have we not heard this drivel before

[Ahmed_Guree]

^^^

great piece of work but lacks substance.

 

their is some expression of biase towards efforts of a given community.