Las-Anod and its significance for Somali Unity

[SOO MAAL]

Las-Anod and its significance for Somali Unity

 

Las-Anod is the regional capital of Sool, a region that has a lot of significance, along with other towns in Sanaag, for the unity of the Somali nation. Sool stretches from Ainaba to the West until the outskirts of the city of Garowe, the regional capital of Nugal. When the area became a region under the military regime, its inhabitants resented the fact that their region lost the coveted name of Nugal to their neighbors in the east; after all, the Nugal-Valley is the historic cradle of the famous Dervish movement and their famous horses. The town is a natural fortress that is surrounded by bare hills that create two outlets making it easy to defend against aggressors. Many believe that the Sayed chose it as his initial base when he launched his campaign to oust the colonial invaders from Somalia. It also has natural defenses in the form of deep ravines known as Xargaga a few kilometers to the west of the town.

 

 

Las-Anod is a small town that suffered from neglect under the British government as a punishment against its people for joining the Dervish resistance. It did not fare any better under the civilian and military governments that succeeded the British. The only institutions of significance in the town are a small clinic, an elementary school and an intermediate school built by the British before independence. The late teacher, Musa Yusuf, who lost his life along with Pofessr Abyan when they tried to leave Mogadishu after the collapse of the government, built the only secondary school in the town.

 

The funds used to build the school came from expatriates working in the Arabian Gulf. Like most towns in Somalia, the town lacks running water and electricity. Were it not for the tarmac road linking Mogadishu with Burao, the town would have drifted into oblivion. Some expatriates who left the town in search of better lives in other places jokingly call it Los Angeles. The only thing that the town shares with the city of Los Angeles is its acronym and a dangerous gun-culture that claimed the lives of dozens of innocent people in revenge killings brought about by the lack of a strong local administration and a proper court system.

 

 

Disputes are still settled by traditional leaders and modern courts are unheard of. Neither Somaliland nor Puntland added any value to the town and they have both been ineffective in improving the quality of life for the inhabitants. Luckily the traditional leaders play an important role in preventing wide scale conflict and most incidents are confined to revenge killings that are prevented from escalating into wider conflict. The recent campaign by Punltand to ban guns in public has helped a lot in reducing these types of incidents. The town entered the history books on 3 occasions.

 

 

 

The first occasion was the sad assassination of President Sharmarke in 1969, an assassination that triggered the military coup that brought a group of military officers to power in Somalia. The second occasion is the unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the president of Somaliland when he was duped by some members of his government into visiting the town after Somaliland traditional leaders spent more than 3 months in the town helping to bring a peaceful end to local clan conflicts. The third occasion is the most significant for Somali unity in the form of the coronation of a new, young, educated and unionist Garad. The coronation brought together many influential people from the North and the South for the first time in 15 years.

 

The coronation of the Garad brought hope to many people in the area who long for getting rid of the divisions brought about by an inflationary number of Garads, Sultans, Ugas and boqors in the wake of the collapse of the government. This has led to divided loyalties that put the region and the town in the midst of a potentially devastating conflict between two administrations that both lay claim to the area. The people of the area have found themselves in a difficult spot. They share many important cultural and social bonds with their brothers to the west and share the cursed “tol†bondage with their brothers in the east. This tug of war has led to bad decisions that ultimately brought the region to the edge of the abyss. Luckily, sanity has prevailed and the area has so far escaped a potentially devastating war.

 

 

 

 

The father of the new Garad is famous for his objections to a hasty union with the South when the North gained its independence from the British. For his visionary stand, the Garad was rewarded with the famous words “Laa yaa Garaadâ€, No, O Garad. The visionary Garad saw the potential problems that an unconditional union with the South would bring. As a result, the hasty union led to the subsequent discontent of the North and the call by many Northerners for an again hasty withdrawal from the union. It is worth noting that an elder from Sanag joked with his compatriots from the Northwest in the Burao conference by reprimanding them of their historic call for a hasty union and their current desire for a hasty withdrawal from the union. He jokingly advised that perhaps the Northwest should defer to their brothers in the Northeast when the next opportunity for dealing with the south had presented itself again.

 

 

 

It seems that the opportunity predicted by the wise elder has presented itself now. There is a need for a wise leadership to salvage the unity of the country and this leadership seems to have presented itself in the form of a new Garad for Sool. The speech of the Garad has portrayed him as a man of peace and new ideas. He vowed to bring all the traditional leaders of Somalia together and to seek a peaceful resolution to the impasse that has characterized the Somali problem for the last 15 years.

 

His first job will off course be uniting his own backyard and bringing the numerous chiefs under one roof, a task that requires a lot of effort and farsighted leadership. Guided by his father's wisdom the new Garad will most probably achieve the proper unity that his father desired in the first place. A unity based on justice and equal footing.

 

The north will not settle for less than an equal partnership in the new union; a partnership that is based on a well-researched model that prevents the injustice that the people of the North suffered from under the civilian and military regimes; a partnership that prevents the killing of innocent civilians and the practice of collective punishment; a partnership that compensates those who had suffered from the excesses of repressive and cruel regimes. The list is long and the new Garad will no doubt have a lot on his plate to contend with.

 

 

 

The important thing is that he brings new hope for the people of Somalia many of whom are looking forward to rebuild their country, to rejoin the world community, and to escape from the cycle of violence that prompts thousands of people to flee their country to foreign lands where they lose their dignity, pride and honor, and sometimes even their lives. The recent emotional and heart-rending BBC interview with a Somali lady who lost her children in a dangerous sea journey in their attempt to immigrate to Italy is a painful reminder that Somalis need to put their house in order. The people of the North do not hate their brothers in the South.

 

 

They are the ones who opted to unite with their brothers unconditionally and they are the ones who show the world today that Somalis can achieve peace and development without foreign interference. The people of the North will rise up to the occasion again and help bring unity to Somalia despite all the odds stacked up against such unity. The new Garad and the town of Las-Anod will no doubt play an important role in bringing their Northern brothers back into the fold of the union. It is their turn to broker such a union.

 

Ali H Abdulla.

E-Mail: aliegeh@gmail.com