Ethiopian Deception the Ignorance of the Somali Leaders

[Hagi]

Ethiopian Deception & The Ignorance of The Somali Leaders

 

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta-alaa Said:

"Sanction is given unto those who fight because they have been wronged: and Allah is indeed able to give them victory" Surah Al-HAJ, Verse 39. (Udina Li Ladiina Yuqaataluuna Bi'annahum Dulimuu Wa'inna Allah Calaa Nasrihim La Qadiiran ).

 

"Truly, Allâh defends those who believe. Verily! Allâh likes not any treacherous ingrate to Allâh [those who disobey Allâh but obey Shaitân (Satan)" Surah AL-HAJ, Verse 38. Amen. (Inna Allaha Yudaafico Canilladiina Aamanuu; Inna Allah Laa Yuxibbu Kulla Khawaanin Kafuurin.)

 

Unless and until there is a greater understanding of the Ethiopian policy by the Somalia leaders, the Horn of Africa will continue to be riven by strife with resulting suffering of our people, loss of life and exodus of refugees. Louis Fitzgibbon (1982)- a firm believer in the concept of justice and in the causes of oppressed or forgotten people- said: many of those who think about Somalia at all consider it a free country, for they recall that the Europeans left over years ago, they forget that there was an African co-colonialist -Abyssinia. This means those who think Somalia at all is a free independent country they forget that Ethiopia still colonize Somali people and occupy their land with the help of foreign powers.

 

For a considerable time the western powers had taken a keen interest in the affairs of Abyssinia, which they regarded as a Christian Island in a sea of Pagans, and for centuries Ethiopia had exploited this claim to Christianity for political reasons. She capitalized fully on the religious factor in order to obtain the active support of Europe and further her colonialist plans against Somalis and other peoples. This psychological deception worked the Ethiopians as they sought to separate themselves from Africa and place themselves firmly in the European camp to take its share of the European colonialism in Africa. Ethiopia had never been slow to use this chance to bolster their various claims over the years and now is trying again, unsurprisingly, to position herself in the American camp taking advantage of the purely American crusade in the name of the global terrorism. It was along this artery of communication that Ethiopia was able to mask its deceptions and mislead the international views to request for aid, and most particularly, arms to dominate and slave the Somali people and other nations in the Horn.

 

Ethiopia has already colonize Somali people and not only remained on what rightly Somali soil but they have bolstered their occupation with the help of Europeans in the 19th century and Russians, Cubans, Yemenis and Libya in the 1970s and 1980s. Ethiopia subjected all kinds of inhuman treatment to the Somali people. Constantly, Ethiopian police and the military have been driven off their animals, the boys and girls taken as slaves and elder people killed or mutilated. The deception and atrocities against Somali people by Abyssinia is not something new. For instance, Dr Donaldson Smith, an American, who visited the Horn of Africa in 1894 exclaimed: We earnestly wish the Abyssinians as savages bearing arms against other poor defenceless Africans, should have such a drubbing that they could not forget it and try to extend their sway further. Let these good people who take an interest in uncivilised nations cast a thought on the black neighbours of the Abyssinians who are in the worst plight.

 

Also, Sir Alfred Pease, who visited Somalia in 1897 said: We (British) have prevented Somalis from acquiring arms and ammunitions and having deprived them of all means of self-defence. We have left the Somalis at the mercy of raiding Abyssinians who have no other employment than that of making raids on Gallas and Somalis.

 

Nevertheless, the question we have to ask ourselves is why Ethiopia has this enormous appetite to the Somali affairs?. It is very simple to answer; let us see briefly the history of the region.

 

 

The People of Somalia and Their Land.

 

The Land of Somalia was controlled and ruled by the Somalis as many of ancient Greek and Roman chronicles describe. The best known work being The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea written about the year AD40 which attests to the independence of the cities visited by its author, and the democratic nature of Somali institutions. A century later Ptolemy (Egyptian astronomer and geographer who died 170AD) supported those views in his Geography. The Arab scholars such as the Al-Masudi (AD935), Al-Bakri (AD1067), Al-Idrissi (AD1154), Ibna-Batuta (AD1331) and Ibna-Khaldum (Late fourteenth century) all gave witness to a vigorous Somali culture; in particular Ibna Said (AD 1344), Ibna Batuta and Al- Idrissi all stressed that the Somalis were completely independent of foreign rule, and described their country as extending throughout the length of the Horn of Africa. The Annals of Oman, the Chronicles of Lamu and Pate, the anonymous authors of the Book of Zanj (Kitab al Zanji) and the Portuguese writer Joao de Barros had also mentioned the land and the independence of the Somali people. The effective rule of the Abyssinian kings was limited, ages up to the latter part of the nineteenth century, to the highlands areas of central Ethiopia, that is to say Amhara, Gojam, Northern Shoa and Southern Tigre. Thus before the 1880s, Shoa was the southern most province of Abyssinia- the now Ethiopia-, and illustration of this is contained in a letter dated 17 December 1878 from Johannes Meyer and Jacob Greiner, two German missionaries asked by King Menilik to solicit support for him amongst European Heads of States.

 

The Betrayal and the Partition.

 

The Berlin conference in 1884 known as the "Scramble for Africa" was the beginning of the Ethiopian deception and the betrayal of the Somalis. The scramble is generally thought of as being entirely European operation; but Ethiopia joined in the rush to create larger empires signing an alliance treaty with Britain. In 1886, the Britain entered into treaties with the Somali clans to protect their land. This treaty which is later been betrayed by the British Government, contained of three supplementary articles of the previous 1884-5 treaties. The treaty was signed for the Somalis by the Somali Clan elders and Major Frederick Mercer Hunter- the political agent for the Somali coast- representing the British Government.

 

Unfortunately, the British Government did not keep its promise to protect the Somaliland, but it has rather betrayed and gave away our land to our Ethiopian enemy. The British negotiations were carried out by Mr Rodd (later Lord Rennel of Rodd) as head of the British Mission to Menelik. On 14 May 1897 Britain concluded an agreement with Ethiopia, despite the treaties of protection of the Somaliland signed in 1884-5 and 1886, giving away parts of Somalia which had never hitherto been under Abyssinia control. But not everyone at the time agreed with what was going on, and Sir Alfred Pease, who visited Somalia in 1896-1897 commented on the agreement between Mr Rodd and Menilik …..to the consternation of all interested in Somaliland, Mr Rodd handed over to Abyssinia a large area of Somaliland including some of the tribes with whom we had entered into solemn obligation for their protection.

 

Again in 1904, Mr H. R. Fox Bourne, author of Civilization of Congoland, in a pamphlet entitled: The Story Of Somaliland referred to the 1897 Britain-Abyssinian treaty as: The scandalous betrayal of the Somalis who, having accepted British protection, were left the mercilessly dealt with by their Abyssinian enemies.

 

In February 1955 the British Minister of State for the Colonies admitted in the House of Commons, London: I think that in many ways the 1897 Treaty with Ethiopia was unfortunate, but it suffered from our limited knowledge of the Somaliland at the time and we must see it against a background of that knowledge and the expansionist tendencies of Ethiopia in 1897.

 

Thus, no wonder that history repeating itself as Ethiopia hijacked the Somali affairs in the peace conference in Kenya imposing its will and deceptions using Somali leaders loyal to her and benefiting the current situation of Somalia in the light of the campaign against international terrorism. Once again, the plight of Somalia and its people were left at the mercy of Abyssinia. It is not doubtful that Ethiopian survival depends on the Somalia's destruction because this is the only means that Ethiopia can have access and control our resources such as: our ports, minerals and livestock. Furthermore, Ethiopia has seen itself as the master of the Eastern and Central African countries in the New World Order Policy. As a representative of this policy in the region, Ethiopia can not accept a strong Somalia in fear of a challenge. It is not only Ethiopia will lose all that privileges, but as well she will lose the land, the Somali people and the other nations they seized and colonize if there is a strong united Somalia. This is abundantly clear in our minds and it is very obvious that a weak Somalia is the only shield that protects Ethiopian empire from a disintegration and major disasters. We have already seen the periodic famines, starvation and the upheavals inside the Ethiopian empire -the last and the only empire in this cotemporary world-. It is therefore nothing else can inspire Ethiopia's policies other than rotten imperial mentality, based on divide and rule, in order to survive,

 

What is the Solution

 

There is only one solution of our problem and can save our land and its people. To unite against evils. To unite against all those, internal and external, who benefit and prosper under the destruction of our country. To go back to our minds and revive our senses to understand deeply the deceptions and the betrayals we have been subjected since the Scramble of Africa by different countries. There are already signs of hope and understanding in between some of our leaders in Eldoret, Kenya. It seems they have been awakened up by the ever changing agendas, the disagreement and the different interests of those hosting or involved the peace conference, particularly the Ethiopians. In one hand Ethiopia is acting as an active member of IGAD who is honest about the Somali affairs, and the other hand supplying weapons and mines to some power-hungry murders to kill and maim our children, our fathers and mothers everyday.

 

To know more about the causes and solutions of the Somali crisis, please read my other article "Alternative Development In Somalia". In request I can e-mail to you.

 

Mohamed Ali-Nur Hagi

MSc Development Studies.

e-mail: mohamedhagi@hotmail.com

[QUANTUM LEAP]

I couldnt agree more....here is what would describe our predicament

 

Apoem (not sure who)

 

A PLEA FOR PEACE

Can we begin to understand

The cry of the innocents in foreign lands

Or the anguish shared on our own soil

When death and destruction take its toll,

When peace interrupted is commonplace,

When retaliation occurs at a rapid pace?

"Vengeance is mine," saith the Lord,

But at the lamb the lion has roared,

Suicide missions perceived as valor,

Signs of compromise keep growing paler.

The guns, the bombs, the loss of lives--

Where is peace when no one survives?

Where is righteousness in each barren region?

Bands of rebels form separate legions.

Why can't leaders together agree?

Constant bloodshed does not make people free.

Why can't life be serene once more?

Case and desist the horrors of war!