Somaliland And The Political Wisdom Of It's past

[Qudhac]

article written to refflect Joyously Our National History At This

Independence Day Of The 26th Of June.

 

Ibrahim Ali Ismail (Odweyne)

July 2nd, 2006

 

This is just, I assure you, a mere composite page of a recollected memory from the long blood-ordained chapters of the Somaliland's history, particularly in it's modern reincarnation since it's independence from Britain in 1960; which on the face of it, may seem to those who are vaguely informed in regards to the Somaliland's existence, as a foreboding or incidentally a very painfully perusal note for one to reflect on deeply; but, I guarantee you, this particular account of recollections of our long mist of time since independence, is far from wallowing in tearful despair, or for that matter it's very far away from the sort of a rendition of our past; that may be akin to renting our cloths in an ashes of suitable melancholy on our part, to which we may be forced to engage in as the depiction of our history; particularly, if our history is inadvertently and un-seriously perceived it to be nothing more than that of a long-chain of an unmitigated tragedy.

 

No, indeed, it's none of that disheartening prognosis; but it's essentially a glad tribute or a festive rejoinder as to why, of all days, this 26th day of June, is an occasion to celebrate; not so much of the manner of the historically extreme misjudgement that we may have had made in the past; No, but more importantly, as to what we ought to cherish in this day, which is what we at this moment have in our hands.

 

Particularly, after all the blood and the toil and the tears of sacrifice to which we undertook for the sake and the salvation of our nation; whereby that heartfelt struggle of ours was essentially akin to the sort of historically-significant challenge, in which Mr. Churchill of England would of understood it instinctively in his own way, particularly in comparison to the monumentally-important struggle in which Britain that he had governed it, undertook to defend herself against the deliberate onslaught of the Nazi Germany during the early period of the second world war(WWII).

 

In other words, what this independent day of ours may remind of us; is something we, on the whole, should of hold aloft like beacon of beam from a towering lighthouse located on some sparsely-inhabited sea-island, intended to illuminate the deep-blue ocean of the unknowns in the hope of anchoring that ship on the high-seas to a safe harbour; namely the ship of our destiny to a shore of our choice.

 

Consequently, that aloft beacon that we have in our own hand, in which we are celebrating today because of it, is this simple fact, which is of our undeniable being of existence in today reality of now as "Nation-State" of our design; to which furthermore, for the first time in our recent history, we could say this simple fact of our current reality is allowing us to be sole authors of our tomorrow unimpeded by anybody else.

 

Subsequently, day like this one, will demand of us the need to reiterate, for what thus we are currently in-order to define, as to why we exist now as country and as a Nation-State of our own; as opposed to yesterday of 1960 when our original journey of legal and a sovereign "Nationhood" of Somaliland had began.

 

In short, what we are today and how we became that, is sufficient reason, I believe, as to why we could never be anything other than the manner and the form we exist as a nation and as people, in this glad morning at the midcourse of our journey of brighter future mornings.

 

For it need to said for the record, that our journey to this day, had began so fortuitously and so forgivingly on an early calm morning in almost 46 Years ago on June 26 of 1960.

 

However, it was thus ever, as always, that the bargain of fate and the design of grand sweeping history, that decreed and decided the fact which was that the former British Protectorate of Somaliland should became the first ever Somali territory to be free from foreign colonisation in that year; since later part of the 19th century when like most African countries on the continent, the Somali territories in the horn-of-Africa, by-and-large, also became dependent colonies to the then existing European's empires of those days.

 

In that year of 1960, was the year in which the "Wind-of-Change", as characterised by the then Tory British Prime-Minister of the time Mr. Harold Macmillan, blew through this African continent of ours; bringing forth a needed breeze of self-determination for the masses of Africa in it's wake; it also was the year in which most of African independent states rightfully discarded the stultifying banner of the European's colonialism and foreign dominations, that they have been made to live under it's vengeful yoke for a long indecent time; and as a consequent of that undeniable fact, so joined heedlessly headlong to the charmed circles of "Legal Statehood" and towards the welcoming perch of the "Comity of Nationhood".

 

Somaliland, was on the whole, the first ethnic Somali's inhabited territory in the horn-of-Africa to be independent, it had and got its freedom at a time when on the whole, the Somali people's dream of the desire for the formation of a Greater pan-Somali statehood under one unifying and united flag; could of been said it that still existed, in the breast of every Somali-born self-conscious male of that time.

 

This sort of unreasoning and emotive dream for the larger "Unity" of the Somali people of the horn-of-Africa had obviously blinded and impeded the clear-judgement of the people of Somaliland; from the cynical intrigues of the politicians of Somalia(i.e., The Former Italian colony that became UN Trust territory of Somalia between the years of 1950 till 1960).

 

Consequently, due to the fact that they were so blinded by a justifiable "Pan-Somali Nationalism" that was currently raging at the time, and the dream of Greater Pan-Somali's territorial union, in-terms of eventual "Statehood Unity" for all of the Somali people and their respective territories/states in the horn-of-Africa as a whole; they ended up having to handed over literally -- i.e., "Without-Any-Conditions" -- their particular long-awaited national freedom and the independence of their Somaliland statehood in a golden platter; to a country that would-be known as the "State of Somalia" when it achieve it's freedom, but had not yet got its independence.

 

In which furthermore, this country that they are intending to conjoined with them on a political union of "Two-State" kind was still under the trusteeship of the United Nations in-conjunction with the "Post-Fascist" semi-democratic Italian administrations in Rome; along with the Egyptian government and the authority of the then Philippine's government on behalf of the UN world body; in which case these three countries were acting as the "Secondarily-hired" institutional guardian over the UN trust territory of Somalia, till that would-be "State of Somalia" was ready to join the community of independent nations.

 

And not surprisingly, this would-be state of Somalia, was country whose independence was planned at the end of 1960, according to the formal agreements that had originally established the "Trusteeship" legal framework at the UN's head-quarter in New-York on 1949; whereby it was decided by the then four(4) victorious power of the Second world war(WWII), namely, the USA, USSR, Great Britain and France, that the would-be state of Somalia should be governed in that manner of being under the legal framework of a "Trust Territory" by the Post-fascist Italian's government at the behest of the UN for a duration of ten(10) years, starting in 1950, till prior to the day of it's independence at the end in 1960(December).

 

But somehow for some reason or other, the set-date for the final end of the trusteeship was later fixed to be 1st July 1960, as some had suspected by the contrived connivance of the late masters of that would-be state of Somalia, namely the Italian UN Trusteeship administration of Somalia, which was locally known in Mogadishu as "AFIS"; who wanted it naturally, for their progeny of would-be state of Somalia to take a quick and decisive political advantage of the hasty union with the State of Somaliland.

 

Many European papers, especially those published in the United Kingdom(UK) of Great Britain(GB) and Northern Ireland(NI), were totally shocked and surprised; by what the new Republic of Somaliland did.

It's worth remembering what one of these papers said; for example "THE DAILY HERALD" wrote on June 29 of 1960 a damning editorial as it's verdict in-terms of Somaliland's misguided policy towards her future, as well as the judgement of this editorial being a standing rebuke vis-à-vis the manner in which the then infant State of Somaliland had seen fit to mishandle her much-sought national destiny; particularly when it comes to her new-found independence of it's statehood.

 

What this paper wrote also reflects widely a similarly held considered political views, which was also apparent by the tone of the some of the "Political Editorials" of the other reputable papers in most of the other UK's mainstream broadsheet in that historical week.

 

And here is what that particular paper had said it in it's Editorial:

 

"....Somaliland, the new Republic in the Horn-of-Africa, have decided; as it seems now against her interests, not to join the nations of the commonwealth as a newly-independent nation-state of it's own right. Somaliland, this eastern gateway to the dark Africa, was hardly a worth of a sniff in the world press, until 3 days ago. Now, it has become an area of historical significance; and the reason is that its merger with the State of Somalia is unique, as the would-be republic of Somalia itself is not yet free as an independent nation-state of it's own...."

 

And it soberly concluded with a tone verging on a sheer incredulous of unbelievable proportion with this last historical remarks, and the concluding paragraph of that same "Editorial" had said it decisively:

 

"....3 Days ago, on a fateful independence day, it had gained its national freedom from Britain, and yet on Friday -- July 1 of 1960 -- it will finally give up it's hard-won independence again to something consequentially not yet defined...."

 

And sadly to our lasting regrets to this day, it seems that it did not had dawned on the people and the political leaders of Somaliland -- both the major opposition parties of the N.U.F and U.S.P as well as the then government of the S.N.L. party headed by late Mr. M. I. Egal, the then Chief-Minister or the Prime-Minister of the infant Somaliland's government -- to realise the political cost of the proposed political merger of the State of Somaliland with that of State of Somalia; would be a sort of venture that would take the State of Somaliland straight into an open fire of national immolation and a political "Unknown Territory" -- i.e. Terra Incognito -- at the behest of Somalia's political interest, particularly in the interests it's governing "Elites" of the time.

 

For such an upfront political cost, it has to be said, would of taken the Somaliland nation and her destiny from the proverbial frying pan of a sordid internal political intrigues within itself; into an unknown void of a new institutional political order called the "Union" of the "Two-State" between the state of Somaliland with that of the new state of Somalia; which was essentially a complete "Enigma" to everyone concern.

 

These internal national division within Somaliland's body-politic had originated from the deadly competition between the then existing parties in-terms of governmental posts within the Somaliland's state parliament, as well as the back-stabbing skulduggery between the parties and the personalities within the ruling Somaliland's institution itself; particular between the sole three political parties of the state, namely SNL, NUF, and USP; in which furthermore these "back-room" intrigues and political estrangement that was very much in evidence within Somaliland at the time had been borne-out as it was, by the then vicious internal "Tribal-Division" and the "Regional-Cleavages" as well as the "Winners-Take-All" political climate of the era; encouraged as it was mightily, by the then parliamentary British system of the "First-Past-The-Post" method of electing the members of the parliament(MPs) for the Legislative Council(LegCo) from each official constituency of the state.

 

However, this envisaged merger of a "Two-State" kind or the proposed political union, was essentially apparent even then, to be a sheer mind-numbingly "Political Gamble"; in whose final outcome the then national parties of Somaliland and the other Somaliland's stakeholders, whether they may be politicians in the parliament and other renown individuals of the society, will not have much of a say as to the eventual outcome of this decidedly one-way foolhardy political "Bet" that Somaliland as a whole decided to choose to take-on as a political burden; out of as it seems then by either -- a conscious design or a fitful of amnesia, or even perhaps out of an intentional malice of a certain aggrieved party/parties within Somaliland's polity itself .

 

Whatever the case may have been within Somaliland State itself, the constitutional requirements was that in any political merger of two new-states, one of the two highest posts -- namely, the Presidency or the Prime-Ministerial post -- should have been given to Somaliland State as of legal right, but that was not the case then.

Instead of being treated by the political peers of Somalia on equal terms, particularly the ruling SYL party of Somalia, Somaliland's political leaders and the members of all it's three parties were treated as simple tributary representatives that were only "Equal-in-Merit" to any legitimate elected parliamentarians that was from any one of the six(6) nominal regions in which the state of Somalia had consisted of in the eve of it's independence.

 

With the exception of the portfolio of the ministry of defence that went to the late president of modern Somaliland Mr. M I. Egal, who was then during the earlier version of Somaliland, the chief-Minister of the then SNL's government; and the Speaker of the new National Assembly of the Somali Republic, that went to late Mr. Sheikh Ali Ismail, who was a member of the ruling SNL party of the then Somaliland State; other key consequential ministerial posts within the new Somali Republic were even denied to be given to Somaliland political representatives in the new parliament, and all in all only four(4) ministerial post at the cabinet-level was all that the Somaliland State was perceived to be worthy of within the ruling-coalition government of the new Somali republic.

 

Due to this sort of unconditional merger, which some historian's might rightfully interpret as total surrender by the people and the legitimate institutions of the then Somaliland State; the people of the former Italian colony of Somalia nicknamed gleefully and arrogantly the firebrand super nationalist from Somaliland State as (Somali-Qaldan) -- i.e., "The Misguided Lot" -- and to be fair to the southerners or the then Somalia's new elites; indeed we seem to had inexplicably as well as misguidedly, as it's evident now, decided to "Hand deliver" our hard-won independence of a "Statehood" as un-requested "Total Gift" for the benefits of others in the state of Somalia.

 

And perhaps, by any account, if we are honest enough with ourselves in this moment of time, after all of the historical sweeping sagas that we had bare witness to in the last 46 years or so; we could say all-in-all, that irredeemable insults that was given to us by the new elites of Somalia during the birthing days of the old Somali Republic, in return for our nationalistic troubles, fitted us snugly to an exceptional degree at that time.

 

How we rue frightfully and Jaw-clenching manner the sheer unmitigated political short-sightedness, that we had exhibited in those early days of 1960; even to this very day of our new shining Somaliland Republic of our choice; also, one could say in all honesty, that what we had been afflicted with it in those crucial important period, was the sort of impaired vision that was essentially bordering-on-blindness, which was very much in evidence openly on our part as it was apparent to every one by then.

 

The first evidence of the reality emerged early on, particularly very soon after the political merger was consummated; in-terms of the balance-of-influence and the real political dispensation within the realm of the power of the new republic, and it had shown conclusively that the State of Somalia was still under Italian colonial authority, but in a different disguises this time around; and Somaliland State was essentially an inconsequential political "Appendage" to this "Settled" state-of-affairs, at least in so far as the economical equation of the new Somali State was concern; as was indeed observed by H.E. Hon. Mr. Ahmed Keyse -- The then Minister of Agriculture of the Somali Republic -- who was one of the four(4) members of the Somaliland state's delegation that were ministers in the new cabinet of the then coalition government of the new Somali Republic.

 

On his first visit to the Banana-growing plantations in southern Somalia, particularly in-and-around the riverine areas of the south, he saw that the Italians settlers community were living outside the Somali republic's jurisdiction, in the sense that the laws of the land did not apply to them, further more he also found out that the most of Italian local leaders in Mogadishu were a leading light within the higher echelons of the Italian's Mafia, or were associate members of the Italian's crime-families from the southern part of Italy.

 

Also, to his bewilderment, he find out more over, that the Italians were given a legally-speaking a blank-immunity and were allowed to live openly without fear of criminal prosecution against them within the new Somali Republic, by the political connivance of the Somali government of the time; and consequently he also noticed that the Italian still owned in almost totality the crop-growing agricultural-business enterprises, as well as all of the plantations with the exceptions of one or two that was in the hands of the SYL’s party-affiliated businessmen.

 

In that first visit of his, he saw that the human conditions of the local Somali inhabitants in the riverine areas who used to work for these Mafia-affiliated enterprises, particularly in the agricultural regions, were not better than that of the wholly-owned "Serfs" in the middle ages of Europe; or perhaps one could say their conditions was in every sense of the word comparable to the toiling serfs of the pre-emancipation era of Russia in early 19th century, that used to belaboured heavily in-order to cultivate the agricultural land for the economical benefits of the then ruling Aristocracy of the Tsarist Russia.

 

The shocked minister H.E. Mr. Ahmed Keyse on his return to the capital Mogadishu prepared and presented a ministerial motion to the cabinet; which essentially had concern with as to how to free the local Somali, and by way of finding a political will as well as policy root at the "Cabinet-Level" of nationalising the agricultural plantations in their entirety, in-order to reduced the influence of the Italian's Mafia and their tentacles that they had around the agricultural lifeline of the Somali Republic; and subsequently proceeding to distribute most of the farming land of those areas to the very local Somali people who are inhabitants of those concern regions.

 

The other handful few Somalilanders or "Northerners" as they were then known, who were "members-in-the-cabinet" and hence a members of the ruling-coalition-Somali-government of the time; who also collectively as a "Northerners" incidentally had nothing but a contemptible disdain for the sheer audacity and the effrontery of the Italian's settlers community, particularly the way in which their crime-families that used to own the much of the agricultural land of Somalia used to treat the local Somalis, proceeded to support him as well as his intended proposals of getting rid of these Mafia's enterprises.

 

Although their voices and collective voting-power within the cabinet didn't carry any weight against the rest of the SYL-appointed cabinet members; who were the majority in the cabinet, but nevertheless, the rest of the ministers from the former Italian's colony of Somalia were flabbergasted with such a conceited ideas that the Northerners(i.e., Somalilanders) were proposing, which could be to the detriment of their partners-in-corruption, namely the Mafia-influenced Italian settlers community in the agricultural south of Somalia.

 

They saw and reasoned from their rather narrower SYL's economically-driven political point-of-view, that their ministerial colleagues in the coalition government from Somaliland were an untrained goofs of simpleton in-terms of the "Ways-of-the-World"; and they perceived them to be essentially a political virgins when it comes to the artful dealings of a cynically-driven corrupted governance that the Somali Republic of that time needed according to them; particularly the sort of "Finessing Sophistry" in which the Italian's mafia-influenced "Settlers Community" in the agricultural heartland of Somalia(south) may be require of, in their engagements with the Somali officialdom of the new republic.

 

Subsequently, the Southern politicians -- or the new Elites of Somalia -- had seen the Somalilanders(i.e., Northerners), particularly their representatives both in the national parliament and in the cabinet of the then ruling coalition government, as bunch of political buffoons who have no idea as to how to "Worked" the system to their political advantage; and moreover who will earnestly, if left un-impeded to their own self-righteous tedious devices, would see fit to destroy, without hesitation, the smooth and "pre-agreed" agribusiness relationship, in which they, as the southern politicians of the new republic, with what amount to a "Four-Deep-Pockets" that needed to be filled constantly with an easy "Backhanded" soiled money, have had with their former Italian masters; particularly the mafia-influenced Italian settlers community in the farming riverine areas of Somalia(south); and hence to these southern political gentlemen and the rest of the Somalia's new elites, the Italians were in every sense of the word a "Politically Untouchable" even in the midst of the newly-independent Somali Republic.

 

And the sooner these new "Anglo-Saxon's trained" virgin politicians from Somaliland, -- i.e., The Northerners -- who had high regard for the rule of law, and it’s inoculating cultural "Political Ethos" of ethical values that it brings to bear onto the procedural conduct of the day-to-day national politics at the floor of the parliament, get to grips finally with these basic "Italian's designed" and "Politically-Fixed" corrupted-order of the new Somali's national realm, the better it will be for all concern in the new republic.

 

And consequently H.E. Hon. Mr. Ahmed Keyse -- the Minister of Agriculture -- of the new Somali republic had as a result of that lesson of politically-motivated "Cynical Expediency" to which he was taught unforgettably; as it seemed then, at the hand of the southern politicians that was with him in the ruling-coalition cabinet of the country, decided to resign and relinquished, effective-immediately, his ministerial post and proceeded to retire as a normal back-bencher in the then national parliament.

 

The late President of Somaliland H.E Hon. Mr. Mohamed Ibrahim Egal had also resigned from the defence Ministry of that same coalition government in 1963, due to a similar-set of blindingly obvious shenanigans in which the political leaders of the Somalia(south) had by then mastered effortlessly, at the expense of the Somaliland and it's citizens; without even them having the good decency of grace in denying themselves the use of such a dubious art of political misadministration towards the Somaliland's regions, at least if nothing else, but in-order not to abuse the delicate balance of political power within the new union; particularly it's rather fragile constitutional parliamentary democracy, to which such a "National Unity" was based on.

 

The rigging of the votes in the constitutional referendum in July of 1961 was sufficient example of the kind of a serious fraudulent administrative shambles that the Somaliland nation had become a prey to, even at early years of the political union with the state of Somalia.

The majority of Somalilanders boycotted theconstitutional referendum in-order to demonstrate their unwillingness to continue to exist within the "Heavily One-Sided" political union that openly-favoured the political interests and the state of Somalia's institution of the time, at the expense of the Somaliland State.

But what should have gone to "The Guinness Book of Record of wonders, particularly in the Chapters that concerns with the manners of Political Mendacity" was when a small village by the name of "Wanla-Weyn" in a region of Somalia whose population did not far exceed more than 4000 people in total; was announced by the then referendum commission that more than 200,000 people voted in that same village alone in Somalia for an affirmative "YES" vote to the newly-minted constitution of this republic.

 

In 2nd December 1961, the legitimate political grievance of the people of Somaliland was demonstrated by the elite-officers from Sandhurst Military Academy in the UK, led by the late Captain Hassan Keyd when he led courageously a failed military coup de'tat in Somaliland's territories; in-order to restore in full the legal sovereignty to Somaliland State that was inherited from the Brits in the eve of the Somaliland's independence on the 26 of June 1960.

 

The coup de'tat and military moves of his and his lieutenants in the Somaliland's army was somehow premature for many in the rest of the then existing Somaliland army, such as the Somaliland's Scout Regiment(SSR), and they were not aware of the likely evil and tragedy that had awaited the people of Somaliland, with this new political dispensation arising from that-much-regretted wayward union with the state of Somalia.

 

In 1964, the keenly-need attempt for the educational integration of Somaliland with the English-speaking developed world received a heavy deathblow, because even though the educational system of Somaliland was of limited scope when it comes to it's breath, but it was thought that such an excellent educational foundation that the British had established it and left behind could of have been developed further by independent Somaliland State that really care for it's citizens.

However unfortunately the then government of the Somali Republic decidedly stopped the Commonwealth Scholarship that the secondary graduate students from Somaliland used to received from the various Commonwealth countries, in-order to study further higher education, particularly at the University-level in these countries; by way of cutting all official and diplomatic treaties and the bilateral understanding with the British government as well perniciously revoking all educational students-exchanges agreements with the other Commonwealth countries that Somaliland State as a legal "Entity" of it's own had with these countries, prior to it's political union with that state of Somalia.

 

This calculated grievous blow towards the educational foundations of the Somaliland state and the deliberate denial of the educational opportunities towards the Citizens of Somaliland was done insultingly solely based on the flimsy charges of the NFD issue, in which Somali Republic failed entirely to convinced the newly-independent republic of Kenya for the need and the right of the Somali people of the NFD region of Kenya to join with their brethren in the Somali Republic.

 

And because of that singular unexpected collapse of the new Somali Republic's entire foreign policy initiative vis-à-vis with the republic of Kenya; as well as with the rest of the African countries through the newly-invented "OAU" –- i.e., The Organisation of the African Unity -- in-terms of the then "Somali Irredentism Agenda" that was intellectually in fashion in those days; in which furthermore the rest of African continent was not interesting to seriously entertained the reson de'tre of the "Somali's Irredentism" at the expense of the neighbouring countries in the region; the government of the Somali Republic decided to take her revenge and frustrations out onto the educational springboard of the Somaliland's citizens by cutting all links of educational kind with the then Commonwealth nations; due to the wrong perception that was current at the time within the Somali Republic, that said the scheming "Brits", evidently, had hand in that debacle of the Somali republic's political agenda.

 

The military coup de'tat in October of 1969 headed by that murderous despot, namely that late dictator Gen. Siad Barre of the then Somali Republic; of whom, as it so happens evidently, from our point-of-view, will not be much lamented, in our side of the argument, for his passing hopefully to the deeper annals of a deserving hell; had the consequence of taking Somalilanders further away from decision-making bodies and the original institutional councils of the then union.

Particularly the then existing parliament and the coalition-cabinet, to which Somalilanders had nominally thought -- however ineffectively it may have seem to a casual observer -- that they still had a voice and something to say in it's recess and the four-walls of those same organs of "Constitutional Authority" in which the union of the "Two-States" was originally based-on; in regards to the institutional affairs of this new "Cobbled" together nation known as the Somali Republic; in which fateful historical destiny, not that long ago had made them as a citizen of Somaliland's State an extremely "Reluctant" partners to the state of Somalia, under that political union umbrella of the then Somali Republic.

 

The rather longish droughts of 1974 - 1975 locally known as the (Abaartii Daba-Dheer) was a sufficient example as to what kind of help Somalilanders by-and-large can be expected to receive from their new military rulers in Mogadishu. Instead of offering a helping hand to the devastated nomadic communities in their territories in Somaliland, or perhaps moving them, if they must move at all, from their locales to a more fertile areas, but still within Somaliland itself; they were on the whole transported en-masse by massively-build large cargo aeroplanes borrowed from the then Soviet Union's military into the deep south of Somalia.

 

This was partly a socialist's doctrine going back to then Mr. Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, who as it so happens used as an excuse the heavy famine of 1930s in the Caucasus and in Southern Russia of the then Soviet Union, to transport en-masse the troublesome Ingushetis ethnic community and the Chechens ethnic people from their homeland of southern Russia and in Chechnya into the deep-valleys and into the snow-capped mountainous regions of Siberia; in-order to be rid off them once and for all with all their nationalistic troubles that they have caused him and his authoritarian regime in Moscow.

 

Similarly that late dictator of the Somali Republic, namely Gen. Siad Barre had seen fit to borrow a useful leaf from the chapters of the book of Mr. Joe Stalin's mendacious brutality, by seeing strictly from his megalomaniac point-of-view, the need to transport the stricken and desperate nomadic communities of Somaliland, into the deep-valleys of the riverine areas of the southern Somalia; in the vain hope of getting rid off consciously the idea of being a somalilanders or "Northerners" as they were then known, that still existed it, without needing it to be articulated it intellectually, in the breast of every citizens of our land.

 

Because, as he reasoned with himself, with what amount to a lucidity of logic on his part, he had seen the implications that arises from the fact, that if you decisively break the historical link between people and their land, by way of taken them away from their original abode of residence and their familiar habitual landscape; then, you've likely have ended in the long run, the humane and the conscious feel of the "Unspoken" attachment that people have for their regions of origin regardless of their ethnicity.

And incidentally it took forty(40) odd years for the Chechen people to came back from mountainous regions of Siberia to Chechnya, which was only after the collapsed of the then Soviet Union, and hence the reason they are currently determine to liberate their land from any sort of Russian oppression, as well as in the hope of making sure that they, as the people of Chechnya, do not run the risk of a future tyrant of Russia, such as the murderous Stalin or some new president of Russia of the future, who is also a deep believer of a similar notions of despotic mendacity, seeing perhaps as his institutional right, as the president of the Federation of Russia's republics, to take them away from their Chechen lands and into the unknown void of a different regions of the "Continental-size" mother Russia.

 

Also, partly he, the late dictator Gen. Siad Barre, had a hope of transforming the way of life of Somalilanders from been a nomadic pastoral society in their original region of Somaliland, into a land-cultivating agriculturist or fishing-based societies in the deep-south of Somalia; but nevertheless this wholesale episode of attempting to transport the nomadic Somalilanders was also a first-tentative political prelude of a sheer mind-numbingly institutional agenda, in which the late dictator Gen. Siad Barre had always thought through in it's implication as well as it's implementations.

 

Which was as to how to find a way of replacing the people of Somaliland by alien refugees (from Zone-5 region of Ethiopia, namely the people known as ****** ethnic Somalis); or at least if not to replace the citizens of Somaliland in their entirety with new breed of alien refugees from the Somali-inhabited region of Ethiopia, then perhaps see to it, to have sufficient numbers of those alien refugees in their midst, in-order to dilute the sheer "Political" conformity of the Somalilanders in their state of origin.

This later plan of "Resettlement" of alien refugees into the urban heart and the cities of Somaliland, was similarly akin to the Israeli's likudniks-inspired "Jewish Settlement" into the occupied territories of Palestine, which was what had been witness as a fact on the ground in Somaliland after the 1977 - 1978 Somali Republic's war of aggrandisement with Ethiopia; whereby as a deliberate consequences of that war a large unmanageable numbers of alien refugees from the Zone-5 region of Ethiopia, namely the ethnic Somali ******, suddenly arrived in the cities and the towns of Somaliland, in which furthermore the government of late dictator Gen. Siad Barre proceeded as a considered state's policy to "Settled" them in the urban areas of Somaliland, in the vain hope of diluting the density and the pureness of the "socio-tribal homogeneity" of much of the major cities in Somaliland.

 

Also, the massacre of the Somaliland-born military officers in the city of Jig-Jiga of Ethiopia, when it became necessary for the then Somali's republic dictator Gen. Siad Barre to have reached the decision for the Somali army to pull back from it's war with Ethiopia in that year of 1977 - 1978, in-order to save himself from a crushing and humiliating defeat from Ethiopia; in which as a subsequent of that decision the then Somali's dictator, Gen. Siad Barre, had secretly ordered the killing of these officers with the pretext of disobeying military orders, to which they were accused of, was a clear proof that this was the easiest way, in so far as he was concern, of getting rid off them and removing them from senior posts in the army of the then Somali Republic; particularly within it's highest ranking and commanding positions, that they had held hitherto till that time; whereby because of their position within the army, they happen to be perceived as likely obstacle in the foreseeable future, particularly to what the ruling clique in-and-around the late dictator Gen. Siad Barre had in store for Somaliland and its people.

 

The deliberate burning of historical documents and artefacts, particularly the documents detailing the dealings of the then Somaliland nomadic communities with the British imperial crown in the later part of the 19th century, and most importantly in the early decades of the 20th century; when the mad mullah's campaign of aggression against the Somaliland nomadic communities was at it's fiercest, was another sign of the political agenda of that dictatorship headed by late Gen. Said Bare.

 

As well as the mind-numbing audacity and the deliberate ransacking of the few well-stocked and well-regarded public libraries inherited, as it was from Britain's colonial administration illustrated, for all to bare witness to; an indication, on the whole, of the sheer single-mindedness of the new breed of Somalia's super colonialists in which Somaliland sadly had become a prey to, ever since that much regretted union was conceived in 1960, particularly when it comes to their open attempt to wipe the socio-cultural and historical background of Somaliland.

 

Of course one has to remember Mr. Winston Churchill's pitiful remarks in regard to history, when he said "History" is a lady of easy virtue, for her hand is always at the mercy of who ever happen to be her latest escort, for her veracity is always in dispute, and her judgement is always a bone of contention.

 

Similarly, if you, as the nominally-ruling megalomaniac despot of a given country, in which late Gen. Siad Barre undoubtedly was, at the tragic expense of the Somaliland and it's citizens, had been successful in destroying or burning the original historical documents and the other artefacts of original transcript that details as to the existence and to the institutional legality of something called "Somaliland State" from the old Somali's bibliographical record; that one day could of perform the useful service of informing the posterity about the true "History" of the ethnic Somali people from the Horn-of-Africa as a whole; then in that situation and eventuality you've -- as the concern despot -- what amount to an empty "Blank Page of Record" to which to write your own version of what "History" ought to be about according to your "Tyrannical Taste" and "Despotic Ideology".

 

And hence, the sole reason that we had in the former Somali republic a wilful perversion of the "True History" of the Somali people; and instead had a concoction of fantasy and fabrication that was masquerading itself as the historical veracity that could of tell with honesty, the genuine records of the past of the Somali people in the horn-of-Africa, as well as their historical dealings with the European's Metropolitan Empires of the old world.

 

Given that much of those works that was officially approved within the Somali Republic as the "Correct" version of history, was written on behalf of that socially-malignant tyrant, namely late Gen. Siad Barre; of whom, it had to be said, that those hired-authors of his regime thought naturally, that it would be to their best interests to find a way of tickling and validating his warped delusion-induced sense of historical "Greatness", or perhaps the "Larger-than-Life" figure that he fancy himself to be; and consequently these authors took pen-to-paper in-order to humour him with mendaciously dense-prose of a nonsensical fiction on stilts; purporting to be the historical scholarship of the ethnic Somali people in the horn-of-Africa, as well as claiming shamelessly and outrageously a central casting role for him, in the eventual would-be redemption of the manifest destiny of the ethnic Somali people from the horn-of-Africa's region.

 

What is also, particularly a worthy of note to bear in mind in this vein of revealing those who have committed nothing less than a wilful and a calculated grand rape on the "Historical Scholarship" of the Somali's record of the past, is the way in which the past was essentially perverted and distorted on the ground of "Tribal Ideology"; by various poet-literati and the other artistic-cognoscenti of that regime in the early-to-mid 1970s.

 

These variously hired-pen of the late dictatorship regime of the Somali republic of the time, took apart with a sharp knife the recorded history of the Somali people and proceeded to construct from the ashes of the old oral tradition of the people a whole new set of fabricated historical references for the Somali people, that just happen to suit precisely the ideological bend of that dictator; particularly his Tribally-minded view of the Somali's history.

 

Such task of historical invention were performed by, men like the Late poet Mr. Afqarshe -- who was the dictator's favourite tribally-motivated propagandistic poet --, and the "currently-very-much-a-life" Broadcaster Mr. Ahmed Ali Idaja of the BBC Somali Section in Bush-House, here in England; who was essentially even then, as much as he is now evidently, a so singularly ill-educated and shameless "Psuedo Historian" of the Somali people, at the behest and on behalf of the then Gen. Siad Barre's despotic dictatorial misrule.

 

These two gentlemen -- Mr. Ahmed Idaja and the late Mr. Afqarshe -- had tried collectively in vain and in earnest to glorified the "Murderous Jihadist" military campaign of the "Dervishes Movement" and their megalomaniac bloodthirsty leader, namely a certain "very-much-mentally-disturb" wayward gentleman by the name of "Mad Mullah"; against the people and the communities of the British Somaliland Protectorate in the early decades of the 20th century; and they did these act of glorification of "Murder and Plunder" in which that murderous mad mullah was the chief unrepentant author of it all, solely on the account of the then ruling ideology of the late dictator Gen. Siad Barre of the Somali Republic, which was based openly on a "Tribal Calculation".

 

All in all, the barbarity of the black colonialists of Somalia and their dictator the late Gen. Siad Barre reached its peak, when the air-force and ground artillery that should of have protected Somaliland's regions from outside aggression came to bombarded instead it's cities in Hargeisa and others across the country; naturally, what follow from that point onwards was a litany of woes, starting with the denial of a basic human rights, the wilful oppression, the looting and the rape by the then Somali Republic's dictatorial regime; and as a consequence of those facts, some of these crimes formed the main bedrock and the historical background reasons for the popular uprising of the people of Somaliland, that was led from the front by the SNM's armed struggle in 1980s.

 

A western-based Journalists who visited the cities in Somaliland in the early 1990s -- i.e., after the liberation and the second independence of Somaliland was won decisively on the battlefield in early January 1991 -- described the sheer panoramic similarity of the much of Hargeisa's devastation and other Somaliland's cities, to those cities that had been twined-by-tragedy, namely that of Hiroshima and Nagasaki of Japan, in which the Truman's administration of America had hit them with an atomic bombs in the wee tail-end of the second world war(WWII).

 

What the current politicians and even some of the warlords of Somalia are doing at the moment, when they avail themselves for the call of the brotherhood of the Somali people; particularly the so-called the legality and sacrosanct-ness of the "Statehood Unity" between Somaliland State and State of Somalia under the framework of the "Union Of The Old Somali Republic", is similar to what the vainglorious "Nero" -- i.e., One Of The Most Venal Emperor Of The Roman Empire in Antiquity -- have done.

 

The emperor was reputedly said to have been party to the burning of Rome -- i.e., the then Capital of the Roman Empire -- but he was still cynic enough to have had the audacity to drop two(2) tiny droplets of tears as the mark of his unremitting grieve, and as a consolation for the devastation that had befell onto his capital.

 

The so-called leaders or in reality the murderous ruling-warlord of Mogadishu do have nothing more than a mere one tiny droplets of tear; for the grieve they never fail to tell us, that they have in their heart for crimes against humanity that was committed against the people and the institutions of Somaliland; particularly the genocide and mass murders in Somaliland. History and the people of Somaliland will never forgive the international community(IC), especially donors and regional countries for their silence to all the atrocities and crimes committed by those in Somalia.

 

War-criminals and those who committed crimes against the people of Somaliland are still free. They should have been hunted as those of Rwanda, Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. They are even protected in their hotel compound in Mbagathi-kenya, and it seems to us amazingly that they are supported handsomely by the international community(IC); and are even given many more opportunities, in the vain hope of them leading once again their wretched country of Somalia, into an un-chartered waters of social-peace and institutional statehood, as well as establishing a decent governance structures for their benighted people; to which, although it need not be said it repeatedly, such heavy undertaken these murderous lot never had vocation for it, let alone shown any sort of decent aptitude for such a task to begin with.

 

The people of Somaliland has only one message to the current butchering-warlords of Somalia, the European's donor-countries, the IGAD's member-states, the international community(IC), and the self-interested perpetual Somali peace conference-goers, as well as with the other well-intentioned-but-misguided citizens of Somalia; and that massage is simple one as much as is clear like a daylight, and it's that a more blood and tears than so far hitherto witnessed in both countries of Somaliland and Somalia will inevitably follow, if any sort of political reunion is enforced upon on Somaliland Republic through the sheer connivance of an illegitimate backdoor, that consist of a sheer flimsy arguments of the so-called "Sacrosanct legality For The Territorial Integrity" of the old defunct Somali Republic; that was concocted in that recently concluded peace talks in Mbagathi-Kenya, which gave birth to the defunct and seriously toothless C ol. Abdilahi Yusuf Ahmed’s TFG, which dare not show it’s illigitimate face, in it’s constitutional capital of Mugadisho; particularly, given that such a toothless and illigitimate government by the name of TFG, seemed to be solely for the political benefits of the warlords-infested state of Somalia, at the expense of the Somaliland Republic and it's people.

 

However, although we seem to drift from our original intention of reflecting what this day may mean to us on the whole, let us conclude briskly by saying that; all in all, perhaps, it's suitable or appropriate at this juncture to pronounce as the mark of respect of this day the final epigram in which this day, of all days, may signify to us in the present-day Somaliland, and with that; it would be fitting, like that tired-but-gallant soldier in the old mythology of "Heroism", who have seen more valleys of dearth than he needed to bare witness to in several lifetime, and after he ascended to the top of a very-steep mountain of "Blood-Ordained Liberty", by the token of his unceasing struggle and the toils of his manly hand, and declared to the heavens above him:

“….Free at last, free at last, by god almighty we are free at last….â€

 

And, for those of us in this bright morning, who are privilege, as it seems now; to live the land in which the fallen SNM heroes of our yesterdays liberated second time for us, after we have originally thrown away the precious liberty, to which we have prized gingerly from the grasping hand of the British in 1960; it's most solemnly sweet to conclude at this juncture, that nothing is more humanly dearer to us in this morning, than that of the "Twice-Purchased-By-Blood" liberty of our nation; and nothing is more precious to us than that of which we are so determine to stand guard over it, which is that of our independence of "Statehood".

 

In short, we shall gather purposefully in this morning where ever we are in the far-corners of the world, in-order that we must decently salute our national freedom and it's liberty; conscious as we are, always in the back-of-our-mind, the heavy human prize that we had paid for it; and so consequently we steel and stiffen ourselves with a fortitude of righteous conviction, in-terms of our existence as a "Nation-State" of our choice and out of our design, and for the journey of our tomorrow; as well as for the anticipation of the glad days of "Our-Yet-To-Had-Manifest-Destiny" that lay ahead of us.

 

Mr. I. Ali Ismail

London, England, United Kingdom(UK).

[me]

Delusions.

 

No matter how many lies or half truths come from those who want division. Things on the ground will not change, today in Somalia we have a clan stand off. That’s all, no “Nation-State†has emerged anywhere.

 

Plus blaming Siad Barre for everything is becoming ridiculous, take responsibilities for your actions will ya!

 

If Siad Barre was so bad why were the current leaders of the secessionists so eager to work for him?

 

Mr. Ahmed Idaja and the late Mr. Afqarshe -- had tried collectively in vain and in earnest to glorified the "Murderous Jihadist" military campaign of the "Dervishes Movement" and their megalomaniac bloodthirsty leader, namely a certain "very-much-mentally-disturb" wayward gentleman by the name of "Mad Mullah"

 

Statements like these do not do any cause any good, not participating in one of the greater greatest National Liberation Movements in Africa is one thing, but to demonize it and even ridicule those who fought for our freedom is sick. Our nation’s history is written in blood, in the blood of the martyrs who defended the honour of the Somali nation and Islam in the Horn of Africa.

 

The Sayd and the Daraawiish where hero’s of the Somali cause, quoting the evil propaganda of the British colonialist while renouncing the Somali Nationalists that gave their lives by the thousands for the glory of our nation can only be described as the act of desperation of a group that is truly lost.

 

It is one thing to have political aspirations that are different then others, but it’s another thing to deny or demonise the history of the Somali people.

 

The Sayd did not fight for clan, he fought for Somali freedom.

 

It is unbelievable that you are justifying the tyranny of the colonialists, while renouncing the bravery of the Somali freedom fighters.

 

It’s sad, I hope this cuqdad leaves you one day, you are a man just like me, do not feel less.

[me]

Oodweyne,

 

Naacnaacda waa lagugu yagaanaa. Nin rag ah oo isku kalsoon hadii aad tahay, cadkaaga waad la goosan lahayd raga. Sidaasba ha ahaatee, taad tahay waad tustay dadka.

 

Cay iyo af xumo un ayaad meesha ka wadaa. Meel walba oo hadalkani ka soco, orad ayaad oga baxdaa. In aadan difaaci karin arintan ah kala goynta qaranka Soomaaliyeed ayaan anigu u arkaa.

 

Marka cayda caruurta u daa, hadii aad tahay nin rag ah, kaalay oo difaac waxa ay ku dhisantahay kalagoyntan aad qaranka Soomaaliyeed la rabtid.

 

Ingiriis hadii uu yahay kii ku rartay, ha nicin ragii iska dhiciyay. Imisa buug ayuu ingriis dabadhilifyadiisa ka qoray, imisuuna ragii la dagaalamay ka qoray?

 

Ragu rag wuu gartaa. Marka si kastaba isagu dhaji gaalkii cadawgaaga ahaa. Kolay anaga un ayaa isu hadhayna.

 

Cadawtinimadan aad wadid waxaad ku talaali doonta jiilasha dambana, marka fahan in aan weligeen kala hadhayn, waligeenna sidan ayaan isu haysanaynaa hadii aad ka shaqayn weydid sidii xal loogu heli lahaa arimahan na haysta.

 

Maskaxdaada u isticmaal sidii xal loogu heli lahaa arimahan iyo sidii wada noolaansho loo heli lahaa, intii aad u isticmaali lahayd kala fogaynta umada Soomaaliyeed.

[me]

Oodweyna ilaahay waxaan kaaga baryayaa in uu cuqdada kaa saaro. Maalin maalmahan ka mid ah waxaan jeclaan lahaa, in aan arko adoo isku kalsoon.

 

 

To those who would like to read up on the Daraawiish resistance, there is good article on Mudugonline by Abdisalam M. Issa-Salwe

 

search in google, keywords: mudugonline, Abdisalam M. Issa-Salwe daraawiish.

 

or Abdi Sheikh-Abdi, Divine Madness: Mohammed Abdulle Hassan (1856-1920) (London: Zed Books Ltd., 1992)

 

Book review on Divine Madness

 

Book Review

 

Abdi Sheikh-Abdi, Divine Madness: Mohammed Abdulle Hassan (1856-1920) (London: Zed Books Ltd., 1992)

 

by Abdisalam Issa-Salwe

 

 

Many books have been written about Mohammed Abdulle Hassan, the man who led the Somali resistance in the early twentieth century, yet he and the movement he led (the Dervish) continue to be a subject of study a long time after the fall of the movement. Known by his followers as Sayid (master), by the colonial literature as Mad Mullah, Mohammed Abdulle Hassan remains a controversial figure. Dr Abdi Sheikh-Abdi now adds his work on the subject which took him more than ten years to complete.

 

This book examines ─── in a social and historical perspective ─── the rise of Mohammed Abdulle Hassan and his movement. It consists of an introduction and six chapters. As Euro-colonialists were usually of another faith, the Somalis felt that the colonialists were trying to Christianise their children. The resistance led by Mohammed Abdulle Hassan was in response to this belief.

 

The introduction attempts to examine the literary historical of Mohammed Abdulle Hassan (known as Sayid Mohammed) who was one of the greatest Somali poets of this century. Chapter 1 presents the people of the country. Chapter 2 deals with the historical setting of the event which led to the Somali resistance led by Mohammed Abdulle Hassan in early part of this century. Chapter 3 covers the life of the man, his background and the influence which reflected the struggle which he spearheaded. Chapter 4 explores the armed resistance to colonialism. Chapter 5 focuses on the ideology, characteristics and organisation of the Somali Dervish movement. Chapter 6, which is also the conclusion, examines the implications and the ideological influences which the Dervish movement left on Somali nationalism which was to start shortly after the annihilation of the movement.

 

By forwarding a rich and in-depth analysis of literary materials, historical and social evidence, the author challenges both the interpretation and the early publications of Mohammed Abdulle Hassan's personality and leadership. He maintains that Mohammed Abdulle Hassan was not "an ambitious chieftain of a militant Muslim sect [salihiya] bent on wrestling power from the tradition-bound Muslim brotherhoods [Qadiriya, Dandarawiya, etc.] of the Somaliland", but a true nationalist whose aim "transcended both religious considerations and clan based affiliations." Consequently, the ideology behind the struggle was to arouse and stimulate the rise of modern Somali nationalism two decades later in the Somali peninsula.

 

The author's approach differs from the style of contemporary scholars as he emphasises the social context of the Dervish movement rather than literary, spiritual or other aspects. Through his research, Dr Sheikh-Abdi gives attention to the oral tradition of the Somalis as it is an important element in the historical research into a predominantly oral society.

 

One important contribution forwarded by Dr Sheikh-Abdi is the atrocity committed by the British colonial forces against the followers of the Dervish movement. Previous works were written mostly by colonial officials who focused only on the fierce way Mohammed Abdulle Hassan deal with those Somali clans who opposed him.

 

Before the arrival of colonialism in the Somaliland, the Somali society led a decentralised way of life. The colonial powers demanded a way of life contrary to their traditional one. Subsequently, Somalis responded violently in reaction to this interfer­ence. However because of the lack of leadership, as the author maintains, this resistance was futile. Only with the appearance of Mohammed Abdulle Hassan did the Somalis became organized, under his leadership.

 

By knowing that the colonialists could not be defeated only by force, Mohammed Abdulle Hassan, use words as arms. As words, spoken or written, have been the most powerful means of communication in all mankind's society, he consummately and skilfully used the communica­tive functions of Somali verse. He repeatedly sought to gain in verse what he had not succeeded in acquiring with arms. He designed his verse to enhance his cause, to encour­age his followers or scorn and discredit his enemies. However, by scorning his enemies, he sometimes used to preach the pastoral ethos excessively as Said Samatar writes, like an "epigram that borders on the obscene." It is here that Dr Abdi-Sheikh explores the dual poetic exchange between Mohammed Abdulle Hassan and his opponents, namely Ali Jama Habil and Ali Adan "Ali Dhuh", as this throws light on the social dynamics of that period.

 

It is in the conclusion and the reason behind the disintegration of the Dervish movement that Dr Sheikh-Abdi's work falters. The reason that Mohammed Abdulle Hassan was such a controversial figure was that his indiscriminate raiding, seizing and plundering of the property of the Somali clans he suspected, were not favourable to his cause. This behaviour poisoned his relations with the Somali clans and crippled his movement as, consequently, it alienated him from the clans who traditionally considered all crime against an individual as a crime against the clan to which the person belonged. It also estranged him from other religious orders such as Qadiriya and Dandarawiya. The conflict stretched to such an extreme that the Dervish eventually killed Sheikh Awees Biyooley (Sheikh Uways bin Mohammed al-Baraawa) in Biyooley, the Qadiriya representative in the southern Somaliland in 1909. The veteran Dervish Ismail Mire believed that what led to the collapse of the movement was the indiscriminate killing of holy men.

 

Despite the lack of emphasis on the gravity of the collapse of the Dervish, we cannot deny the invaluable contribution of Dr Sheikh-Abdi in the form of this inestimable scholarly work.

[Qudhac]

And, for those of us in this bright morning, who are privilege, as it seems now; to live the land in which the fallen SNM heroes of our yesterdays liberated second time for us, after we have originally thrown away the precious liberty, to which we have prized gingerly from the grasping hand of the British in 1960;

 

 

it's most solemnly sweet to conclude at this juncture, that nothing is more humanly dearer to us in this morning, than that of the "Twice-Purchased-By-Blood" liberty of our nation; and nothing is more precious to us than that of which we are so determine to stand guard over it, which is that of our independence of "Statehood".

 

 

OODWEYNE

 

this is moving statement of unparalleled emotional weight, but brother why was this fine peace of work not submited elsewhere. or have i not been looking at the right places.

 

indeed genius at work.

[Oda_Nobunaga]

indeed what was purchased by blood is much dearer to us and cannot be given away as a

"gift"a second time.