A Moment in History-Interview with Prime Minister Ibrahim Egal in 1967

[Che -Guevara]

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[Haatu]

Allow kuu naxariiso oo gefafkaadiina ha kaa tirtiro. Si nin xilkas ah ayuu u hadley.

[QansaxMeygaag]

Not good to speak ill of the dead but isn't he the same one who signed off NFD to Kenyatta?

[Haatu]

QansaxMeygaag;913068 wrote:

Not good to speak ill of the dead but isn't he the same one who signed off NFD to Kenyatta?

Allow kuu naxariiso

oo gefafkaadiina ha kaa tirtiro.

Si nin xilkas ah ayuu u hadley.

Let bygones be bygones.

[Che -Guevara]

QansaxMeygaag;913068 wrote:

Not good to speak ill of the dead but isn't he the same one who signed off NFD to Kenyatta?

lool, where in this sentence have you actually spoken ill of the dead?

[QansaxMeygaag]

Che -Guevara;913074 wrote:

lool, where in this sentence have you actually spoken ill of the dead?

I said something bad of him bro, even if it is true and a known fact that he did sign off NFD to Kenyatta...in our culture, we let bygones be bygones and leave the dead alone as Haatu points out...

 

May Allah have mercy on him and forgive him for everything. Ameen.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

 

Xamartaan oo sawir kontonmeyadii la qaaday ah probably iyo Xamarta maanta jirto. Maxaa dib u socod dheer aadnay.

 

Sawirkaan wareysiga ku dhex jiraa. Markaa arkay ayaaba qiirooday.

[QansaxMeygaag]

Oodweyne;913109 wrote:

QansaxMeygaag

,

 

The late M. I Egal did not signed away NFD to Kenya, but, he accepted that Somali Republic will no longer use force to win that territory and therefore he in effect accepted the British agenda of handing over NFD issue to Kenya's decision. As opposed this NFD issue been one that is between Somali Republic on one hand and that of the British's colonial office in London on the other hand. Again, let me go back and show you how that history have played out in real sequence.

 

1

- The British promised a referendum to the NFD before they give Kenya their independence. And the assumption was that the British will honor the verdict of that outcome without Kenya's government as a successor to the British colonial government in Nairobi having any input where the destiny of the NFD is concern.

 

2

- The British, as their usual politics of

"perfidy"

will always indicate, did a nasty betrayal on the Somali government in 1963, and in effect, turn down to honor the outcome of that NFD referendum.

 

3

- And, following from that, the Tory government of Harold Macmillan in 1963 in London, told a large delegation of Somali government in which they have met in Rome, that from now on, the issue of NFD is Kenya-Somali affair, since Kenya will be independent state, and they, as a British, have decided to take themselves out of the fight between Somali Republic and Kenya.

 

And, at that point the Somali government who were meeting the British government's delegation in Rome (and that Somali delegation was led by the same Mr. M. I .Egal as a minister of that Somali government) retorted that NFD is a region colonized by the British and therefore you can't simply handed over to a new government call Kenya that you have created to run the territories in East Africa you used to rule.

 

But, the British as usual weren't willing to deal with us straight, and, they said, we out of East Africa's problem, and if you Somalis have a problem about the NFD and whatnot, go deal with your new neighbor call Kenya Republic.

 

And that time, the Somali government decided to cut all diplomatic relation with Britain because of that betrayal (it was I believe in 1964). And furthermore, the Somali government vowed not to recognized Kenya's government right to rule this NFD region as well as reserving the right to liberate this territory by force.This is where things stood when late Mr. M. I. Egal became a prime-minister in 1967.

 

4

- When he became PM, he realized that Somali republic has two well-armed neighboring states that will not allow her to fulfill Somalis long-standing policy of

"Irredentism"

, and therefore, cool diplomacy of engaging them may stand the better chance of persuading them. Of course, we both now, that he was wrong in assuming Kenya or Ethiopia will play a compromise game with him in these issues.

 

But, still, it has to be understood, that he signed an agreement that said the Somali Republic and Kenya recognized each other as a sovereign states and furthermore have established a

"joint platform"

to discuss the future of NFD, as opposed to the previous stand of the Somali republic that said there is nothing to discuss with Kenya. Because her rule of NFD is

"illegitimate"

, and since NFD was a British-governed territory and if Britain left the area, then Somali Republic in turn is free to

"decide"

how to reclaim that territory irrespective of what Kenya may or may say about it.

 

This is the

"crucial argument"

he conceded, not accepting that Kenya

"owns"

NFD, but, that Kenya is a

"partner"

that one must negotiate with it. Because, previously the Somali government's position was that Kenya was essentially irrelevant for NFD's destiny and since Brits did a runner on us from this problem, in which they, themselves, have created it, then, we in Mogadishu, as a Somali government, will decide how to win and get back our

"missing territory"

by force if it comes to it. And Kenya, in that agenda of us, is not even part of anything, other than be a state we must go to war with in-order to get back our

"stolen territory"

from them.

 

Hence, one hope you understand the political and diplomatic hand he was playing in here, particularly in his

"Arusha's understanding"

with the then

Jomo Kenyata

in so far as NFD is concern.

I should not have re-opened this Pandora's box in honor of the dead man who was by all standards a Somali statesman. Your summary is on point. After it because obvious that Kenyatta was not going to cede an inch of NFD (he said pack your camels and move to Somalia if you want to join them), there was an armed insurrection for self-determination which was aided and abetted by the Somali government - with funds, technical assistance, training and logistics. The Shifta movement.

 

Suffice it to say that after the Arusha accord, the Somali government wanted nothing to do with the resistance movement, arms and money dried up and the Shifta were defeated. I will leave it at that.

 

I don't blame him. The issues were (and still are) very complex and he was a man of his times, not ours and it is very easy to judge him in the luxury of hindsight.

 

May he rest in peace. Ameen.

[Haatu]

Oodka, let's not go there.

[QansaxMeygaag]

Oodweyne;913180 wrote:

^^Well,

Haatu

, since we already there, why don't you come out for a bit of a

"political swimming"

with the rest of us, and tell us straight the local version of this NFD issue. Or at any rate, tell us how the late Mr. M. I. Egal has

"abandoned"

the folks in your neck-of-the-wood to the small tender mercy of the Kenyans!

I think Pandora is playing with a dangerous box; don't go there Oodweyne...it ain't pretty.

[Haatu]

Oodka, lets just say every animal on it's way to Kenya from Somalia goes through Garissa

[Haatu]

War rag haddii laa qayiilo, what else is left for them but to do the same? They (my lot) made the right choice considering the situation at the time.

[Dhagax-Tuur]

Austerity = is nuug. Beautiful.

 

Wallaahi, the answer to the first question should printed and passed on to dear George, Osborne that is. Everyone is telling him waar austerity ain't working. Austerity waa is nuug ee wax dhaqaalaha kobciya doono. But to no avail.

 

Soomaalidii hore dad genuine ah bey ahaayeen, unlike the current lot.