Is “Somaliland” Whistling Past the Graveyard?

[miles-militis]

Kat-induced bravado will not grant the misguided ‘Landers’ their secession dreamboat; a scheme that is conceived for the sole purpose of forging a territory where clan hegemony holds sway. Unbeknownst to them, though, theirs is an idea, which its time has long since passed. Today in Somalia, the veritable lesson taught by the civil war is this: no clan can dominate another. So the sooner they understand this fact the better for all Somalis. For that is when the society as a whole will shift gears and mobilize its resources (human, knowledge base and natural) to build the nation for the benefit of all in an environment of justice and fraternity.

 

........

 

If history is any guide, the kat-crazed political elite of “Somaliland”—ever so reliant as they are on the handouts of their foreign enablers, whose aim is nothing more than to wreck Somalia, once and for all—will be probably whistling past the graveyard before they come to their senses and stop being such a destructive force in society. I hope I am wrong on this. But, as the saying goes, time will tell!

 

.........

 

Here, it is important to make an important distinction between the decent Somali citizens living throughout the Northwestern region and their self-seeking politicians. The people have the same hopes and aspirations as their fellow Somalis in other parts of the country. They want peace and a chance to rebuild their communities without rampant corruption and the study diet fear-mongering that is dished out to them by their cunning politicians. Hence the tragedy of a community that is held hostage to the whims of a group of craven political hacks hell-bent on a campaign of self-aggrandizement.

 

Read along ...

[ElPunto]

^I dislike it when people can't simply argue their points without baseless crap like 'qat-crazed'. It's clear that Somalilanders have no monopoly on qat. Having that in the first sentence makes me not want to bother with the rest at all.

[A.J. Timacadeh]

The Point has mad the made only point that can be be made here

[RedSea]

Dad dugaag ah oo qabiil hatred uu lafaha ka galay, ayaa waxay yimadeen qurbaha kabacdi barteen sida English wax loogu qoro. The only difference is that this is in English phrases rather than somali, but the author is still full of BS and a qabilst and hater to the core, the usual from Geeljire who came to abroad yesterday and learned how to put down words in the English language that is all.

 

The POINT, great point there saaxib. It would be effective if he didnt' go into name calling such he did.

[NASSIR]

First to Oodwayne, time and again, leveraging your illusive competencies to give a preferential access to your clan-based militia wreaking havoc on a peaceful territory is a new phenomenon that is as excessive as factors that serve to erode the values of the so called stability the secessionist region has ever achieved.

 

Having said, the SL militia has dared to enter Dhahar with the blessing of some unfortunate stooges, thus creating endless circumambulations of thousands of your militia all stranded in strange land and surrounded by rugged and heavily armed contingents of Puntland troops triggering a war on such a grand scale. However, albeit the cumbersome costs, this is a new conflict that rests on a collective decision by the officials of Puntland that would necessitate the shift at the expense of human scale unheard of. We will even take it to Burco since the "Somaliland" militia has been pathetically trying to send idiotic and unpretentious war signal.

 

Our problem is that we are too smart for our own good, and for that matter, this unintelligent move by the ''S-land'' militia commanders conditionally disabled by the kat-crazed mindset is an attempt to psychologically reopen a new war frontier. They have been desperate to maintain belief in unlimited, uncharted vistas within our territory(Sanaag and Sool), our borders. The backlashes is yet too early to predict, but it is one that will find out how spurious this freedom of State you claim is and how that illusive state is one that is possessed of arrogance, deliberate fatuity, greed, hate, jealousy, treachery, and the impulse to revenge, all of which may erupt spontaneously.

 

 

To Badacas, saxib you are too naive to know what you write. If plain fatuity is typically your quickest means to enter a discussion, I feel pity for you. The man you are talking about and the author of the article have been to the states before your father was even born. He is also a very successful and influential person at Washington, being CEO of the DC GIS division.

[RedSea]

^He has been to the states longer before I was born, sure doesn't cover up his idiocy does it. He can be the wealthiest man alive, however I am judging based on what he wrote, he is pure qabalist to the core, even him staying in civilized world where qabiil doesn't dominate the everyday life like back home hasn't done anything for him. He still sounds like uncivilized geeljire with the collective name calling. What school has dude been educated?

 

I thought education shapes people' behavior, I gues that isn't the story for this fellow.

 

BTW....you are still refering me as Muj. SNM, somalidu wax ma marato wallahi kawaran.

[NASSIR]

He highlighted the facts that the entity called "Somaliland" is a clan based movement whose platform is to secure recognition as a result of a claim that they were marginalized historically in Somalia. Thus, the author does not mask or drowns out the subtle and vital information that the real "Somaliland" is, not to mimic the fallacious rhetoric that you love to hear. Yet, you resist acknowledging the truth that is beaming like the sunlight and which on your attempt to do so proves his point. The "somaliland" project is reluctant to give up its never-ending victim cards and cries and its hit and run tactics.

[RedSea]

Mr. Caamir,

 

Do you seriously think I have problem when someone disgrees with Somaliland' agenda, NO. It's every human being right to disagree with that they don't believe.

 

However, read the first lines as pointed out by mr. The POINT, about the Khat crazed that he speaks of.

 

What truth is there, we can all see this individual is qabiil motivated and doesn't speak for the interest of the people. Since you are also defending his points, you have forgotten your political stance which you owe your loyalt to the puppet regime of the TFG. I don't expect much from you that being said.

[NASSIR]

Unless you hold an oversimplified concept of kat, the author only applied the term to describe the bravado as an adjunct. In my understanding, he is not refering to a clan or group but hinting concise description of the bravado exhibited by the intruding militia.

 

---------------------------------

"Kat-induced bravado will not grant the misguided ‘Landers’ their secession dreamboat; a scheme that is conceived for the sole purpose of forging a territory where clan hegemony holds sway. Unbeknownst to them, though, theirs is an idea, which its time has long since passed. Today in Somalia, the veritable lesson taught by the civil war is this: no clan can dominate another. So the sooner they understand this fact the better for all Somalis. For that is when the society as a whole will shift gears and mobilize its resources (human, knowledge base and natural) to build the nation for the benefit of all in an environment of justice and fraternity.

--------------------------------------

 

I will rather post the whole article since many people are confused of the crucial message and the scholarly depth with which the article was written.

 

 

Is “Somaliland” Whistling

Past the Graveyard?

By Ali A. Fatah

April 13, 2007

 

 

After seventeen (17) long years of existing in the margins as nonentity and with no hope of ever receiving international recognition, the bottom seems to be falling out of rebel-held territory in northwestern Somalia, calling itself “Somaliland”. The signs supporting this sensible observation are many. Suffice to say few irrational actions taken by the splinter group in Hargeisa, of late, reveal how deeply distressed and anxious the ring leaders there must be feeling just about now. Consider the foolishness of their unprovoked cross border raids against Sanaag, Sool and Cayn jurisdictions in the past few days.

 

On the evening of Monday, April 9, 2007, a caravan of at least ten (10) technicals armed to the hilt, have descended on the peaceful town of Dhahar located in Sanaag region, Northeastern Somalia. Dhahar is a city populated by good natured people and it’s known for its hospitality. In their daily interactions, residents do not brandish weapons. Only the security forces of the autonomous Puntland state, with which the region is affiliated, are authorized to carry fire arms.

 

The intruding force was sent many hundreds of miles by the secessionist regime in Hargeisa. They arrived at the town center in the dead of night. Residents reached by phone indicated that the “Somaliland” force came uninvited and that it exhibited menacing behavior. Furthermore, they refused to heed the request of the community leaders to leave town peacefully before sunrise. Instead they proceeded to issue threats and repeated their nonsensical claim that the region is part of their fictitious state; a state that lacks historical legitimacy, legality and is recognized by no country on earth.

 

The secessionists have done this before. After the collapse of the Somali national government in 1991, their clan-based militia, the so-called SNM, had attempted to invade both the Sanaag and Sool regions as well as Cayn District. They have massacred non-combatants in all three jurisdictions. In the eastern part of Sanaag alone they have killed in cold-blood upwards of 600 people (602 to be exact), most of whom where unarmed civilians.

 

Despite their overwhelmingly superior armaments and the use of militia that acted as a standing army, however, the secessionist forces were roundly defeated. And they left many, if not most, of the war dead behind.

 

In the current situation, after invading a peaceful neighbor, secessionists rebuffed the pleas of the elders and community leaders of Dhahar City to cease and desist from their aggressive posture. At that point, the community adopted defensive measures to protect their families. In the ensuing battle, secessionists suffered one fatality and two of their militia conscripts were wounded. The citizens of Dhahar have not suffered any casualties. Nor did they sustain significant property damage.

 

The fleeing secessionist force was briefly detained in Xingalool town in Sanaag along the road to Ceerigaabo. When the town’s folk learned that the fleeing force has not caused much damage in Dhahar, they allowed them to proceed to their final destination—back to rebel-held territory.

 

The secessionists have recently made similar incursions into Sool region and Cayn District, all of which were repulsed.

 

So why are the rebels, from far away Hargeisa, who are up to their eyeballs with internal problems making these foolish forays (that are doomed to failure) into the territories of neighboring communities that have demonstrated, time and again, keenness for peaceful coexistence?

 

Some believe that these are desperate moves designed to distract and further mislead the population of the Northwest enclave, under the control of the ruling secession-obsessed clique in Hargeisa. Other knowledgeable observers have indicated that the rebels must have miscalculated, overestimating their strength and underestimating that of their opponents. This, it must be pointed, is a characteristic haste on the part of the secessionists.

 

The great military strategist, SUN-TZU, wrote in his book “The Art of War”, more than two thousand years ago, the following lines that would have been instructive for the Hargeisa-based rebels had they possessed the presence of mind to appreciate its wisdom:

 

Armaments are instruments of ill omen, war is a dangerous affair. It is imperative to prevent disastrous defeat, so it will not do to mobilize an army for petty reasons—arms are only to be used when there is no choice but to do so. Chapter 12, “The Incendiary Attack”.

 

There is clearly an identifiable element of self delusion in the affairs of this sad enclave in Northwestern Somalia that calls itself “the Republic of Somaliland”. The land is Somali alright, but there is nothing Republican about the dealings of the clan oligarchy that operates there. That is why the people of much of Sanaag, Sool and Cayn would need to associate with that group’s treasonous, secessionist project the way one would need a hole in the head.

 

Kat-induced bravado will not grant the misguided ‘Landers’ their secession dreamboat; a scheme that is conceived for the sole purpose of forging a territory where clan hegemony holds sway. Unbeknownst to them, though, theirs is an idea, which its time has long since passed. Today in Somalia, the veritable lesson taught by the civil war is this: no clan can dominate another. So the sooner they understand this fact the better for all Somalis. For that is when the society as a whole will shift gears and mobilize its resources (human, knowledge base and natural) to build the nation for the benefit of all in an environment of justice and fraternity.

 

Here, it is important to make an important distinction between the decent Somali citizens living throughout the Northwestern region and their self-seeking politicians. The people have the same hopes and aspirations as their fellow Somalis in other parts of the country. They want peace and a chance to rebuild their communities without rampant corruption and the study diet fear-mongering that is dished out to them by their cunning politicians. Hence the tragedy of a community that is held hostage to the whims of a group of craven political hacks hell-bent on a campaign of self-aggrandizement.

 

If history is any guide, the kat-crazed political elite of “Somaliland”—ever so reliant as they are on the handouts of their foreign enablers, whose aim is nothing more than to wreck Somalia, once and for all—will be probably whistling past the graveyard before they come to their senses and stop being such a destructive force in society. I hope I am wrong on this. But, as the saying goes, time will tell!

 

Ali A. Fatah

E-Mail:amakhiri@aol.com

[RedSea]

Well although I dont really know where people got the idea that folks in Hargeysa chew Qat more than people who are few miles to the East, however it's something not only I heard from this author but numerous other folks even including some SOLers who hold same views.

 

In additon, more of the author's writing is dominated by emotional outburst, a reasonable reader would find this article more of qabiil motivated and would convince nor fool anyone except offcourse few loyal readers.

 

P.S...you are still refering me as Muj. SNM, I see.....'nacaska usha agteeda ku dhufo, haday garanwaydana, goga ugali' I am suprised you haven't been told to stop distorting members' nicks.

[ElPunto]

Adeer Caamir - the man may have valid points but when the first sentence is 'kat-induced bravado' - it leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. The implications of such a sentence leave one to surmise only clannish BS and I'm not from SL. It would be good of you to distance yourself from such statements clearly while highlighting what you believe to be the valid points. I think that would be the most reasonable thing.

[NASSIR]

Kat-induced bravado, not kat-induced people.

 

You should be able to differentiate their implications.

 

The Point, Since you are not from the North Western Somalia, it is understandable that you steered the connotation of the word as clannish

. lol.

 

[edit]

[RedSea]

^What that didn't make any sense at all.....everyone sees what is wrong with that statement you don't have to defend it blindly mr. Caamir.

[ElPunto]

Caamir - the repetition of 'qat' this and 'qat' that fosters a sense that Somalilanders have a special attachement to it. Does anyone know whether their 'bravado' is qat induced? No I think not. Can anyone make the blanket statement that their political elite is 'qat-crazed'? No - I don't think so. If it does - then it applies to all of Somalia's political elite.

 

And I did not understand your last paragraph

[Xoogsade]

People earn respect by their conduct not by a job they have. It is that simple.

 

Oodweyne

 

Don't you think the war between Somaliland and Puntland is a disadvantage to the somalis caught in the crossfire? Deviding them politically(each side claims they have the support of the locals) and displacing them by bringing the war to them is wrong. Both Puntland and Somaliland adminstrations are opportunist entities.