Yeey's interview with BBC

[OLOL]

President A.Yusuf Gave An Emotional Interview To The BBC

 

Friday, August 26, 2005

 

On 24 August 2005, President A. Yusuf gave an emotional interview to the BBC Somali Service covering the current political and social affairs of Somalia. In the interview, the president condemned and belittled his political opponents and accused them of pursuing social anarchy and lawlessness.

 

In the interview, the president lashed out at the chairman of the Somali parliament Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, calling him an '***** ' (waxba makala oga). The president also attacked the personal integrity of Somali MP Omer Hashi Aden and even threatened him with consequences simply because Omar Hashi questioned the wisdom of president A. Yusuf visiting the Ethiopian ruled towns of Godey and Mustaxiil recently where the president ,it was claimed, was organising militia recruitment of his own clan in order to strengthen his political position.

 

In that political interview, the president claimed that Mogadishu warlords were on the run and members of his government were in Mogadishu implementing government policies and strategies. During the interview, the president showed his unhappiness and technique of asking questions by BBC's Abdi-salaam Hareri who was interviewing the president with reasonable and relevant questions but obviously the president didn't like the journalist's confident mood of putting him on the spot, in other words, making him answer all necessary and relevant questions.

 

Conclusions

 

In that interview, the president appeared agitated, very angry and as usual wholly undiplomatic.The president, can be argued, had done more political and social damage to himself than good. His issuance of threats on the airwaves to certain political opponents was unjustified and perhaps reflects the president's frustration and serious challenges faced by him in Somalia.

 

The president's claim that national reconciliation was over, is another nail in the coffin of his political judgement. Perhaps he unwittingly closed all doors to national reconciliation and solving all differences through peaceful means rather than resorting to violence and threats.

 

Now, if the current TFG led by Abdullahi Yusuf and Ali M. Ghedi had any chance of survival, the two respectable men must come down from the high mountain of illusions and delusions, and play a practical policy based on purely Somali national interests in terms of national reconciliation, national institutions building and strictly following the ethics of political consensus. However, the irony here is, since President A. Yusuf had sabotaged previous Somali regimes, he may be facing the same music right now.

Nonetheless, Somalia is bleeding all around and needs mature political solutions and not bad tempered endless confrontations.

 

H.S.A. Shirwa