A Nation’s Hope May Ultimately Persevere

[Xudeedi]

A Nation’s Hope May Ultimately Persevere

WardheerNews Editorial

December 30, 2007

 

"The Miserable have no other medicine, but only hope”

by William Shakespeare

 

Given all the misery that has befallen Somalis, WardheerNews editorial board’s Year -end review for the year 2007 is extraordinarily arduous. Without a doubt, it has been an eventful year and WE HOPE THAT SOMALIS WOULD PERSEVERE THEIR MISERY!

 

In 2007, Mogadishu city that once championed the cause of all the oppressed peoples in the Horn of Africa (Oromos, Afars, Sidamas, Somalis, Tigreans, even Pan-African exiles belonging to ANC) had fallen to and collapsed under Abyssinian invasion; the very Abyssinian who for centuries enslaved other lowlanders in the Horn of Africa. National symbols (Sayid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, Hawo Tako, General Daud, Daljirka Dahsoon,) which symbolized Somali defiance to adversity have been brutally tamed; mosques and Museums have been desecrated and obliterated by the Tigrean Militia, most of who hail from the cradle of the Aksum province.

 

Forty seven years after Somalia gained its independence, Year 2007 represents, if not a full blown colonization, the subjugation of the Somali Republic by a harshly savage Ethiopian occupation, bequeathing the civilian population in Mogadishu with mayhem, unprecedented colossal destruction of private properties, foisted on them by a callous traditional enemy pursuing an old imperialistic strategy of hegemony and conquest.

 

The City of Mogadishu that once articulated the hopes and aspirations of all Somalis regardless of geography, genealogy, gender, or generation loudly expresses today the unveiled collective misery of a nation, thanks to the tripartite pact of Yusuf’s love of power, Meles’ innate dictatorial instinct to subjugate and Bush’s “war on terror.” This is a deadly pact that Somalis could not muster a challenge.

 

Some would falsely argue that the Ethiopians have been invited by the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) presided by the ailing Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and his corrupt extraordinaire and former Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi. But there are no facts to authenticate any action the fledgling TFG parliament adopted to permit Ethiopian invasion. On the contrary, Ethiopia has been itching to go into Somalia as far back as Feb., 2005. Consequently, on November 29, 2006, the Ethiopian parliament in Addis Ababa endorsed a hastily concocted motion to declare war on Somalia. That hardly represents an invitation!

 

No doubt that the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) had failed to become a true partner in a negotiated settlement and finding a way out of the protracted conflict that dragged Somalia to the gutters. Notwithstanding its primitive and puritanical outlook, it is equally true that the ICU and its infantile behavior as well as the dangers boasted by its adventurous military wing, the Al Shabbab, were not the right dose to Somalia’s crisis. Apart from Al Qaeda securing a foothold in Somalia, all these, however, pale compared to Ethiopia’s invasion of a sovereign nation and the ensued wanton destruction, killings and decimation of an entire nation.

 

Nothing can justify the death of 6,000 innocent civilians, the displacement of over 1.5 million civilians from their homes, or the disproportionate starvation of over 600,000 helpless refugees/displaced persons. Worse, the indiscriminate killings of children and women, the madness sponsored by the US “war on terror” executed by Ethiopian ill-disciplined soldiers is best expressed by none other than the UNICEF representative for Somalia, Christian Balslev-Olesen, who said that "things are now getting absolutely worse…" "There is dirtiness to this war. Children are a real target....”

 

The Bush administration’s answer to the 2007 misery of the Somalis, despite the unprecedented proportion of human disaster unfolded, in some accounts worse than the Darfur crisis, is all the more cruel and irresponsible: “Any government that provides Somalis with assistance we support, including Ethiopia, …I am unaware of specific allegations regarding the conduct of the Ethiopian troops." a senior defense official said. This gauges the extent to which America is oblivious to the plight of Somalis.

 

One clear sentiment to the otherwise good-natured Americans that we have been hearing from our readers throughout 2007 is this: America, it is pity that two consecutive Christmases have elapsed during which time innocent children and non-combat Somali women are killed indiscriminately in Mogadishu and elsewhere under the rubric of your national security!

 

In the words of Noam Chomsky,

 

“The crisis in Somalia may be regarded partly as collateral damage from…’war on terror’ and the geopolitical concerns reframed in these terms. If poor Somalia collapses in starvation and misery that is merely a sideshow of grand geopolitical designs and of little moment.”

 

Elsewhere, in the aftermath of the fall of Las Anod into Hargeisa, clouds of war are hovering over the skies of northern Somalia, aka “Somaliland.” As several analysts have observed, the Year 2007 may mark the end of peace and stability that region has enjoyed to the envy of the rest of the country. The search for recognition, it seems, is finally in a stark conflict with the resolve for unity and comprehensive solution to the Somalia crisis.

 

In politics, Year 2007 witnessed the resignation of one of Somalia’s worst, most inept and greedily corrupt Prime Ministers in history. One would not know how to evaluate this Prime Minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi – a man whose penchant for corruption, self-indulgence and pettiness is unsurpassed; who profiteered from today’s misery of Somalia (bal adba qiimee ninka irsiq ka dayey Soomaali oo maanta Isha ay leedahay aynu ognahay!) was welcome news. As we greet the New Year, we wish the Somalis never to ever see a Prime Minister like Gedi and hope that his replacement so far laid back and ineffective would take a different and more robust course.

 

The Kenyan parliamentary and presidential elections of 2007 and the role played by Somalis in the northeastern districts are encouraging signs of social democracy. Although some of the candidates WardheerNews endorsed did not make it, we congratulate all those who took part in this great democratic endeavor.

 

In Hargeisa, the arrest of Qaran party leaders and their subsequent release only days before the closure of Year 2007 represents a significant gain for the Somali people, thanks to the resolve and stick-to-it attitude of its leaders. To the east, the near-destruction of the once thriving autonomous region of Puntland under the watch of Colonel Cade Musse is one of the most disappointing episodes for its people in 2007.

 

Year 2007 was particularly difficult for the resident in the Somali National State in Ethiopia. Civilians there have been subjected to massive blockage of food and fuel officially implemented by the Meles government; gross human rights abuses, accompanied by systemic collective punishment, once again disproportionate in the history of the region, have finally gave the Western world an unexpected bird’s eye view to the plight of the Somalis in that region, thanks mainly to the New York Times Journalist, Jeffry Gentleman.

 

Year 2007 has seen the permanent dismemberment of Somalia deliberated by the powers that be. Another Berlin Conference may have been countenanced in the corridors of powerful palaces while, divided and oblivious, Somalis continue to mercilessly mutilate their mother country. What forty seven years can do to a cohesive nation!

It is our measured fear; call it pessimism, to say Year 2007 may represent the year that the Bush administration embarked on a debate to “partition” Somalia into two states. If that is the case, a long misery may be in store, but Somalis would only have one medicine; to hope for the better.

 

After all, “the Miserable have no other medicine, but only hope,” and that hope alone may carry this downtrodden society beyond 2007.

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

moqdishu "had fallen to and collapsed"

an observation nearly two decades behind if you ask me. say a stupidh shidh like that just doesn't make me want to read the rest but a good title.