MY SINCERE APOLOGY TO THE SOMALILAND CID

[LANDER]

MY SINCERE APOLOGY TO THE SOMALILAND CID

Farah Ali Jama — Ottawa , ON Canada — 16 December, 2004

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MY SINCERE APOLOGY TO THE

SOMALILAND CID

 

 

I would like to take this opportunity to set the records straight, right a wrong, and to sincerely

apologise to the Somaliland Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for unfairly lambasting them in regards to my article titled, Who is the Somaliland CID?, which was dated on October 17, 2004. Also, I would like to state here that I have decided to distribute this apology to the various Somaliland and Somalia websites, which initially posted the above stated article on their websites and hope that they will post my apology too.

 

 

According to the above stated article, I regret to have unnecessarily used an inappropriate language and tone in which I unfairly assailed our ever vigilant security forces who did nothing other than carrying out their duties and maintaining law and order as usual in order to keep the peace in our cities and country. Moreover, when eventually the dust and the brouhaha sorounding the alleged rape and torture against Ms. Samsam settled down, it turned out, that these security forces have done nothing wrong and that they had all along been conducting themselves in an honest, professional, and responsible manner in the handling of the alleged victim in person and her case. But the problem in this case occurred when the Police or the CID bungled up in countering or clearing the

damaging rumours that have permeated the atmosphere and kept on building up from within and without the country in relation to the fate of the alleged victim.

 

 

As a result, the authorities shot themselves in the foot because they failed to nip the issue in the bud as they kept the public in the dark thereby allowing for this malicious rumours to drag on and on. It is this lack of information, transparency, and the silence that existed that fueled a kind of a mystery that shrouded the entire case and allowed for people to jump into unfound conclusions in order to explain what has happened. And this is what later mushroomed into a colossal national and international criticism and condemnation. I think the government got burnt in this case and hope that they will learn something out of their colossal mistakes and failures in the handling of the case and that they will avoid similar ineptness, recklessness, and embarrassments in the future.

 

 

On the other hand, I must state that my intentions and involvement in the Samsam’s saga was not to simply pick a fight with the Police or the CID or just criticize or condemn them for no reason or to merely oppose the current administration for the sake of tarnishing their reputations and good deeds, but one that genuinely arose from the need to come forward strongly in order to criticize and discourage such a horrendous crime to ever take place in our peaceful country. That is why I called for a swift accountability and some harsh measures including the death penalty against those who may be implicated for committing the would be barbaric atrocities that clearly falls under the categories of Gross Violations of Human Rights, and Crime Against Humanity against Ms. Samsam who was, at the time, widely reported as being an innocent minor or an under aged girl.

 

 

As you are aware, we were all disgusted by the alleged crime against a young girl in Hargeisa, the capital of the peaceful and democratic Somaliland. The alleged crime alarmed us all and seemed, at the time, as the first of its kind since no such crime have ever taken place in our country since the restoration of our independence in May 1991. These kinds of crimes were crimes of the past that seized to exist following our independence. In fact, this kind of horrendous crime has never surfaced in our country since the humiliating defeat and expulsion of the fascist regime of Somalia led by Dictator Siad Bare.

 

 

For this reason, the recent incident in which Ms. Samsam was alleged to have suffered had tremendously shocked the people and nation of Somaliland for these were the kind of crimes, which the toppled fascist regime committed against our people during the period 1980 to 1990. It was the norm for this fascist regime to commit gross violations of Human Rights, Crimes against Humanity, War Crimes, genocide, and had the culture of targeting young girls, women, mothers, grandmothers for gang rape, torture, and other forms of physical and psychological humiliation. And that is why others and I were all abhorred and disgusted when we heard of or read about the alleged rape and torture of Ms. Samsam.

 

 

Whatever the case, we now know that the whole allegation was a concocted malicious lie, a fabrication, and a callous propaganda exercise that were intended to cover-up for the bungled espionage and terrorist operations against the peaceful and democratic Somaliland. And the floating of this disgusting accusations of rape and torture against the Vice President’s Guards and the CID officers occurred immediately after Ms. Samsam who, in this case, was the main espionage and terrorism related agent was caught red handed by the Somaliland authorities.

 

 

We also know that the source of this allegation originated from an article by www.puntlandpost.com website. And that the malicious allegation of rape and torture was indeed an act of desperation on the part of the terrorists in order to divert the attention of the public and deflect blame from the source of terrorism and to cover for the terrorists themselves. But now we know that these terrorism operation originated and was mounted from Bosaso city,Puntland ,Somalia ; where some of the terrorist mastermind and others have been identified be residing and named by Ms. Samsam, the agent in custody. Also, this terrible allegation had also another value, that is, to unfairly tarnish the reputation and international standing of the Republic of Somaliland .

 

 

Furthermore, we also know that the four different medical sources that the government referred to Ms. Samsam Ahmed Duale, the alleged victim of rape and torture have after conducting thorough medical examination found no trace of rape, torture, and other forms of physical harm that were committed against the alleged victim and have further certified of her overall physical wellbeing. Also, during the early part of this week, Mr. Abdisalaan Mohamed Said, MP; Mr. Abdi Farah Duale, MP; Mr. Abdrashid Sheikh Abdullahi Adan, MP; and Mr. Mohamed Hersi Muslin, MP; all of whom are Members of Parliament (House of the Representatives, and the Guuti (Senate)) and the kin of the alleged victim came forward to publicly refute the allegation of rape and torture against the girl by holding a press conference in which they publicly declared that, “Ms. Samsam has certified to them that the Vice President’s Guards and Officers of the Vice President have not caused her any problem or harm.†There were also earlier reports in which the mother of the alleged victim was allowed to visit her daughter and examine her. And that the mother also confirmed that her daughter was neither raped nor tortured and confirmed that she is physically sound.

 

For these reasons and many more, I would like to state here that I have taken back the entire content of my article title, “ Who is the Somaliland CID?, which was dated on October 17, 2004. It is evident that I have unnecessarily used inappropriate language and tone and have unfairly lambasted and wronged the Somaliland CID as well as the Vice President’s Guards. It is neither a shame or a defeat to realize one’s wrongs and to rectify and to apologise for it. I believe that it is the right thing to do. Therefore, I would once again take this opportunity to sincerely apologise to these security officers and their institutions for the pains, shame, and inconvenience I have caused them and would encourage others who have wronged them to come forward and do the same. And that is the right thing to do.

 

 

Farah Ali Jama,

 

Ottawa , ON Canada .

 

http://www.somaliland.org/opinions.asp?ID=04121604

 

 

hmm...what to make of this now? Farah Ali Jama is indeed the character that was trumpeted by the Puntland websites and other somali sites as being a "forthcoming" Somalilander, I wonder if they will also post his apology? These opinions are by no means mine, but some of the statements speak for themselves specially the ones related to ZamZam's mother and family members. Do any of you have any other statements related to Zamzam's family and there response to this incident? post them if you find any such information. Mister Jama seems to be flip floping faster than John Forbes Kerry and I don't know what his statements are worth anymore

[Che -Guevara]

Lander- Articles posted on SLand or Pland sites can't be taken seriously or accepted at a face value. The sites are propoganda machines for the die hards of the either end, and the people who post articles are the least objective.They are hardcore tribalist ( Worst Kind) masquerading as intellectuals. So, I guess any word that these characters say/write couldn't be accepted as fact.

 

What I would believe is an actual audio/video by the girl, her kin or honest third party that would refute the alleged abuses that this girl endured. As for this moment, all I see a young Somali girl imprisoned by a regime who first did everything to deny this girl's existence, then once exposed totally mishandled the situation, and now is trying to present the victim as the agent of Sland's enemy.

 

 

P.S. I doubt other sites would post his apology. Lets just they are very selective!

[LANDER]

Che,

First things first, the above article is opinion based. If you go to the website itself you will not find it as an editorial created by the site Somaliland.org itself and there is no attempt for it to be confused as such. Matter fact it’s clearly marked in the opinion section of the website. Secondly, it seems the view of one individual and doesn't necessarily reflect the views of either the particular site or the broader Somaliland media. If you would like to paint all sources of media concerning Somaliland or Puntland with the same brush than feel free to do so. But examining sources on a case-by-case merit would be more equitable. For example the author Farah Jama in my book had very little credibility for day one when Samurai and others were trumpeting him here because he was making many presumptions before obtaining any clear facts, mind you he is likely doing the same with this follow up article that seemingly takes a 180 degree turn. You gotta wonder sometimes what information these people actually have, given they live abroad, that the rest of us are not clearly privileged to obtain. Could it be hear say? Probably, since hear say seems to make credible news for many a Somali people. If we do agree on a matter, it's that none of this is factual. Given the tendencies in somali media, your 100% right Che an audio interview with parties related to or representing the girl would go a long way in clearifying all this.

[AYOUB]

Originally posted by Che-Guevara:

What I would believe is an actual audio/video by the girl, her kin or honest third party that would refute the alleged abuses that this girl endured.

That makes two of us. I've seen and heard lots of contradictions in this story from both sides but I believe the truth will soon come out.

 

Here's a Radio HorseedNet interview that comments on doctors who are supposed to have examined her.

[wind.talker]

Apologizing to rapists is a fashion statement..? This Farah Ali Jama character - a die-hard Somaliland nationalist (apparently, in wrong or right) - has been known to write some of the filthiest political dirt this side of Hargeisa. He's the same dude that authored a magical article about Reer Waqooyi girls being raped in Boosaaso. On the propaganda spectrum, he's up on par with AllPuntland.com site - the current record-holder.

 

So, how does he expect people to believe his garbage? Or is he relying on like-minded individuals from Somaliland? Odd..

 

P.S. Boosaaso is a "terrorist" haven? :eek: He doesn't even try to hide his hatred for a single clan. Shame, shame, shame!

[Guul8]

At first it seemed the CID was not carrying justice his style. Since Farah Ali Jama is known an extremist slander, I think it made sense at the time for him to care for the man, the somalilander driver beaten by the CID along with samsam. Being as die hard, that earlier article served a smoke screen for the release of the man and the arrest of the girl. The release of the man and the 5 years guilty of the girl prompted the apology. I think the later article serves true to his character and the former was a bad qat session induced rant. :confused:

[Che -Guevara]

Lander, I do know the article is one man's opinion on the case, but I still feel the majority Somali sites solely exist to promote a particular agenda, not so much to serve the public and tell the truth. Sland/Pland sites are examples of agenda oriented sites where truth matters little, or it is simply distorted to fit one's view. Pland sites from the very begining did nothing to corroborate the allaged abuses suffered by Zamzam at the hands of CID.All they depended was on hearsay, then initiated smear campaign. The Sland sites on the other hand were on the snooze, and did little fact finding. They only jumped to the bandwagon once the story get out of hand,and even then many Sland sites did little fact finding. All they did repeat the goverment's story line.