An eyewitness from Mogadishu, parliament buying and finally a bomb shell

[galbeedi]

Folks , first of all let me proclaim that I am just a messenger. There are plenty of people who visit back home for many different reasons. Some may say , what is so special about Galbeedi's so called witnesses since we all are familiar what is going on in Mogadishu these days?, well that is a good question. Usually I do not report the familiar narratives of most people who either give a rossy picture of boom or a place of chaos . I concentrate on anomalies , like small details that will give you the larger picture of things. I also think that most of you are capable of distinguishing my perceived bias opinion from the eye witnessed reports. There is a difference between opinion and real event.

 

Also I want to state that my report is a third hand account , which means I am passing the message from the person who interviewed the eye witness. The only reason I am eager to pass to SOL readers is that the man who passed the information is a trustworthy and honorable person . Also regardless of how some may see , we must pass the information.

 

The public and Al-shabaab

 

The witness said that " after visiting Mogadishu for many times , it was the first time I saw the tide is against Al-shabaab, while riding a bus throughout the city, you could hear radio announcements, reports and news stories that is totally against Al-shabaab by the privately owned media.", he continued " people inside the buses are openly sharing the evil's of Al-shabaab and their anti Somali behaviour". The witness said that a total hate , antipathy and contempt of Al-shabaab is widespread among the public. He says people do not afraid them as much as before. Finally , Al-shabaab are losing the support of the public.

 

Gerrymandering and vote buying by the parliament hopefuls.

 

Many of you have probably seen in the media about the so called candidates of the incoming parliament ( Waxaan ahay musharax u taagan baarlamaanka Somalia) even here in the diaspora. Big money is changing hands this time around. The United Nation mission in Somalia and those who are managing the road map , have increased the pool of those who should be selecting the parliament. Four years ago , it was about 135 elders who selected and nominated members who eventually became parliamentarians. In order to discourage and make it difficult to bribe , the selectors are increased and a caucus of 50 people will select every single member.

 

That means 13,750 people will be selecting the members. In order to get the nod you must get the majority of the 50 individuals from many different walks of life. . According to the eye witness , one businessman who is multi millionaire said that this time , he will be ready to spend half million dollars of his own money to get a seat. What will a rich individual would gain by joining the parliament is beyond my understanding. The biggest difference that would make a positive impact is the allocation of the 30% of the seats to women. It is a well known fact Somali women care more about the people and the land than men. It is also the women who bear most of the hardships of the war, so , personally I do welcome their participation.

 

As we speak , Damujaddiid have back tracked their Garoowe accord and now they are mobilizing the parliament and the people of Mogadishu to reject the same accord the pushed for everyone to swallow. That is why the security council is pushing the implementation of that accord.and holding the election without delay. After all said and done, their major motivation is the extension of the deadline to one more year. They are asking few more months of extensions through the parliament, but as Somali procrastination is any indication, Danujaddiid will have probably hold the election until next May, 2017.

 

.....Now the bombshell...

 

It must be verified by more people , but this eye witness have stated a shocking news from the Daallo Airline bombing few months ago. He said one of his own uncle who works at the airport has been among those arrested . He just took only $50 dollars and facilitated the boarding of the man who exploded with his laptop. He confessed and said, " they told me put that man on the plane directly without going through the probal channels of immigration and security check and he succeeded by just doing that". He was a small fish but, the investigation is focused by two men who received money wired through Somali Hawala's.

 

According to him, there is a verifiable evidence that the money was transferred from Hargeisa on behalf of the Somaliland intelligence . In my opinion, it could be a foreign intelligence sources operating in Hargeisa. My reasoning is business and money is very important in the intelligence community. Ethiopian Airline revenues have been declining for the last 12 months . Tens of thousand of diaspora who usually travel through Ethiopian Airline, have shifted to Turkish Airline and others. If this trend continues , there could big impact on that country's growth . He said that these investigation have touched a very sensitive issues. After these revelation of Somaliland involvement , General Gaafow, the immigration chief abruptly decided to cancel all flights from Somaliland , but he was overruled and told to keep quiet until the government verifies all those involved.

 

There was some discussion here in SOL about the invitation offered to C/raxman Faroole and Shiekh Shariif to Hargeisa. Many of us have speculated the motivations behind this new rapprochements of these leaders by Somaliland was the worsening relations between Siilaanyo and Hassan sheikh. I speculated that due to the unfruitfulness of the unity issues for almost four years that Culusow decided to shun Siilaanyo. I believe the reasons are much bigger and more serious. Turkey through Somalia has scrapped the dialogue between the leaders and py passed to engage the civil society. Even Omar gelle of Djibouti was informed about this involvements.

 

According to this eye witness , there is a conclusion that Somaliland is hurting the South and must be confronted. He said in the coming months a campaign will start to weaken Somaliland and instead of using the carrot , the time has come for tough approach. I do not know if is this the case, but this week the foreign minister of Somalia C/saaaam Hadliye started a campaign to make Somaliland venerable. He gave interview with VOA proclaiming that " if they refuse peace and union, they will not stay in peace". He even went further and in May 20, 2016, he gave speech in London School of Business, a prestigious British university and accused Somalialnd of undermining the security of the south. Furthermore , the new parliament selectors from Somalialnd will be almost 3000 elders and individuals who are coming directly from Somalialnd. As we speak, there are clandestine skirmishes between Somaliland authorities and Al-shabaab sympathizers in Hargeisa this week. I do not know if that confrontations was just local ganks or extremists.

 

It has been just the last few days that discussing the future of Somaliland , I did mention the gathering of the storm if new idea's are not implemented for the future. I hope these issues would be resolved without importing Al-shabaab to the north. That scenario is something no Somali wishes for his brother.

 

Again I am just a messenger passing relevant issues of the day.

[Saalax]

Interesting analysis. I fail to see how Al shabab can survive

in the north though unless disgruntled corner communities

like Khaatumo try to support it.

[maakhiri1]

very interesting, Thanks

[Barwaaqo]

Ha karaamo seegina

Habaar laygu kari waaye

[Tillamook]

Galbeedi, enough with the overdramatization!

 

No harm shall come to our beloved Habros; however, expect the unexpected with regards to the Silanyo administration in the coming months.

[Dhagax-Tuur]

Ha karaamo seegina

Habaar laygu kari waaye

 

Habaar maaha, gacan qaad bay maraysee, waa haddii warbixinta Geedi sax tahay. Aniga aragtidayda, 'stick' wax un bey haleyneysaa maahine, wax hagaajin meyso. Maybe, try and isolate the groups that want the 'un-attainable' dream and bring in those who would support 'unity'. Maybe show symbolic moves of brotherhood with the North, rather than a threat of violence. Don't we ever learn from our recent past? Violence will only breed violence.

 

Tan shacabka iyo Dhalinta, it is only a case of 'whoever is going out with Mommy is my uncle'. It's true that people are tired of the mindless violence, but they would praise whoever is in charge.

 

Wallaahi, this country is let down by its educated young. With oomph this group can change the narrative, and pick the baton where SYL left it. P

[galbeedi]

Tilamook, waa runtaa ma rabno wax dhibaato ahi in ay in ay ku yimaadaan Habraha iyo kooxaha la socda.

 

Dhagax-Tuur, uma malaynayo gacan ka hadal in ay gaadhayso, sida Oodweyne sheegayna , maba lulatee maxay leeftaa.

 

OOdweyne , I thought about suppressing the news about the allegations until further information comes forward, but I thought that it will be unfair to selectively choose the news and suppress the rest. You said "So from that perspective, both Somalia and Somaliland will have the “chance” to update their “diplomatic strategy” for the political reality that is likely to be facing them. I believe that it is someone else's reality.

 

In terms of terrorism and Al-shabaab , I am just releasing the tip of the iceberg. We have more information about mechanics of these false sovereignty on one side and the chaos plus soverignity on the other side.

 

My only regret in this article is, this morning I did listen the entire podcast of Dr.C/salaam Omer from London School of economics and his approach and statements were all conciliatory and were based on logic and reality. There wasn't any threat or stick. He said " if Somalia is unstable Somaliland would not remain peaceful, using the Iraq and Syria analogy.

 

I do not know extensively , but the chaos theory could be applied here. Things that appear to be random are probably calculated for the purpose of chaos or false instability.

[galbeedi]

Here is the entire podcast.

 

http://media.rawvoice.com/lse_publiclecturesandevents/richmedia.lse.ac.uk/publiclecturesandevents/20160520_1300_somaliasForeignPolicyPriorities.mp3

[galbeedi]

He really spoke more about the threat coming from the disgruntled diaspora youth. Their technological know how is creating danger to the country. Just few months ago a local Somali organization hosted some scholars about the future of the diaspora and it's contributions. one of the professors addressed the threat of religious extremism and how today's' Ulema contributed to the internal conflict.

 

Suddenly , a young man in his late twenties wearing a white " Khamiis" jumbed and said , " sidee nin koodh iyo karabaat xidhani uu diinta uga hadli karaa", we all looked at him and I said to myself ," waar ma xagkirayaashii ayaa godka inoogu soo galay". I thought this one could be a future extremist. It is winter and he is wearing light khamiis.

[maakhiri1]

THanks for the podcast, I believe he makes a lot sense,

 

There is something comes way before international investment, i.e security, security, security.

 

As for the youth, the worse and most dangerous thing for youth, even I believe way more dangerous than tribalism of 1990s, is extremism, and completely caqiidada oo kaa khaldanta, Dhalintaas isaga oo qosli buu hooyadii gawrici, masajidada dadka ku gumaadi, hadana isagoo oo isla saxsan, janona u socda!

 

The answer is not fighting them only but re-radicalisation program, Wadaada waaweeyn, sida Umal, oo aan aaminsanahay in kaalintoodii gabeen, waayo wax badan bay u seeta dheereeyeen, expected the good will come out of them at the end.