HORNWATCH

Thursday, December 13, 2012

In-depth Somalia report analyses the evolving threat of al-Shabaab

11/12/2012

In-depth Country Risk Report - Somalia

Maplecroft’s Country Risk report on Somalia analyses the evolving threat posed by the al-Shabaab militant group in Somalia. The report evaluates the implications of al-Shabaab being pushed north by increasingly successful military operations in central and southern Somalia, and the risk that the comparatively stable autonomous regions of Somaliland and Puntland will be destabilised as a result.

The report assesses the dynamic threat posed to each region of Somalia by al-Shabaab, charts the group’s history (to inform analysis of its likely future strategies), and examines the government capacity to cope with the militant group in each region of the country. In addition, the report looks at the security and operational implications for companies with interests in Somaliland, Puntland and Mogadishu, before providing four key scenarios for the development of al-Shabaab and the implications for doing business in the country associated with each scenario.

Companies should be aware that al-Shabaab’s insurgency has evolved in scope and focus following significant military defeats during 2011 and 2012 in central and southern Somalia – an area that it once dominated – and the group poses increasing risks to business operations in northern Somalia.

Al-Shabaab’s loss of Kismayo – a key logistical hub and source of revenue for the insurgency – has contributed to elements of the group being pushed northwards towards the autonomous region of Puntland, and, to a lesser extent, Somaliland, in an attempt to regroup and consolidate. Of the two regions, it is likely that Puntland will become a new strategic base for al-Shabaab, given the region’s weak institutional capacity, high levels of corruption, and lack of the rule of law, which together contribute to a poor security environment in which militancy can prosper. Furthermore, Puntland provides an ideal harbouring territory for the group in the remote Golis Mountain region, which is conducive to the guerrilla-style warfare increasingly employed by the group.

Furthermore, the report states that it is likely that al-Shabaab will seek to draw a coastal region under its sphere of influence to replace the logistically important loss of Kismayo. Ports easily accessible from the Golis Mountains, and readily accessible to arms shipments from allied militant groups – such as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) – operating from ports across the Red Sea in Yemen are at particular risk. Al-Shabaab’s movement northwards could negatively affect foreign direct investment inflows to the region, which could contribute towards an even greater reduction in governmental resilience and capacity to combat the group.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Somalia: Is General Mohamed Ali Samantar partially responsible the State failure?

February 25th, 2011

By: Omar Mohamud Dholawaa

Who is Mohamed Ali Samantar? Mohamed Ali Samantar was a member of the politburo of the Somali Government from 1969 to 1991. General Samantar was the first vice-president from 1969 up to 1989. He was the longest serving Defense Minister of Somalia from 1970 up to 1987, then the Prime Minister of Somalia from 1987 to 1990 (1st of February 1987 to 3rd of September 1991). Mr. Samantar was a close friend of Mohamed Siad Barre, the former president of Somalia. Mohamed Ali Samantar heads and executed the biggest mission that Somalia ever embarked its history and that was the Ogaden war from 1977 to 1978. During his term, Ali Samantar headed several delegations destined to many foreign countries to sign national treaties or agreements between Somalia and other nations in the world. Ali Samantar’s authority and status had never been questioned. His social stratification had never been examined or overshadowed by any negatively-charged social clouds. His sanity and his personality have never been in doubt. Furthermore, many Somalis use to believe that he was in-charge of the entire nation because of his proximate to the ailing leader and his position as a Minister of Defense and briefly the Prime Minister.

General Samantar and his colleagues had been running the country, from tea boy to president. Late 1969 they took over, and further strengthened, one of the strongest military army in Africa and the most highly trained and highly disciplined police force in the continent. All judicial and other governmental institutions were well established and functional. The masses, the Somali citizens, were desperate to be led and they pose no challenge against this regime. From 1969 to late 1989, Somalia was the focus of the world superpowers and relatively rich Arab neighbours on other side of the red sea. These parts; the West, the East and the rich Arab neighbours, have heavily bombarded with money to the Somali treasury for geopolitical reasons. The Somali government of the time had enormously benefited from these readily available resources in money terms. Nevertheless, how they manage, run, guide and direct their subjects was entirely their choice. They could shape and form socially viable and competitive citizens or help them to head the highway to hell. I believe they choose the later option.

During the regime’s era they have practiced the legitimacy to rule the country in their own terms from south to north. During this time many injustices had been done; many people were killed with no legal ground, many were denied the rights of employment, many citizens’ property or assets were either destroyed or confiscated. Many foreign businesses were nationalized without taking the proper channels. The people’s concern of injustice, the proliferation of tribalism and favoritism had been ignored and allowed to prosper. The freedom of expression had been denied. The basic education had been neglected and abandoned. The wrongs had replaced the rights and the Somali citizens frantically struggled to find alternatives, in most cases, violently.

Ultimately, after years of death and destruction coupled by torturous and traumatic experience and the continuous failure of the leadership in all areas of government, the Somali State automatically promoted itself from failed State to collapsed State in 1991. Then, all imaginable and unimaginable social ills and social evils had officially emerged in Somalia.

Now the Question is who should be held responsible for this State failure and its consequence? Is it Qanyare, Suudi Yallahow, Aideed, or Omar Finish and alike. No. None of these individuals are, in my view, responsible to what happened in Somalia and to the Somalians. Surely, one may argue that those people in the south are lacking the skills to rule and consequently failed to pick themselves up from the ashes and move on. But rationally they should not be blamed for the past failures and the social catastrophe that followed.

Now, to come to the point of the discussion, is General Samantar at least partially responsible to what happened to us and our land?

In short, Ali Samantar, as I said earlier, was a member of the Politburo (the sole decision makers of the nation), first vice-president, and the Minister of Defense. The Ministry of Defense was responsible for the execution of all illegal and evil actions that the Somali government has carried out against its people. Ali Samantar and his apparatus in the army had the implicit mandate to kill, destroy, arrest and carry out all the terrorizing acts that the Somali people had experienced during Samantar’s era in the Ministry. The military machine carried out all the summary executions that took place in Somalia from Hargeisa to Jassira beach and in between. Of course there are others, whether they are still alive or dead, who should share with him these responsibilities, but he is the only living person to answer and may be held responsible to what happened to the Somali people. This is purely because of his status and his position of the government that ruled Somalia from 1969 to 1991.
One may ask and argue about the difference between Ali Samantar and Yallahow, one of the notorious Somali warlords, who is now enjoying his new title, so-called the ‘Member of Parliament’. The simple answer is Ali Samantar was educated, trained, employed, crowned with the Somali flag, empowered and sworn in to serve the Somali people by a Somali Government. In other words, Samantar had statutory authority. In contrary, Suudi Yallahow has emerged from the dust and the debris that Ali Samantar and his colleagues had left behind, and he unskillfully struggled to survive in that mayhem. However, that will not absolve him (Yallahow) from any wrong doing, even though no one has entrusted him any responsibility and he never received a mandate or directive from anyone.

Therefore, legally and rationally General Mohamed Ali Samantar should be held responsible not only the crimes that his lieutenants committed in his Ministry but what happened to Somalia since then. In my view, all evils and human-devils that emerged after 22 years of corrupted, dictatorial, oppressive, aggressive, tyrannical, despotic and cruel regime should be held responsible to Samantar and his colleagues respectively. A Somali baby boy, who was born when Ali Samantar joined the leadership of the Somali Government turned 22 years in 1991 and he (the Somali boy) violently and madly chased the General out of the country. This boy simply took the path that the General and his colleagues had paved for him. Definitely, this boy could be, if he is guided to the right path, a law abiding citizen who can differentiate wrongs from rights and consequently respect and protect the General and his colleagues rather than chasing them.

Confusingly, despite all this empirical evidence, some people are defending Ali Samantar and helping him financially to challenge against the people whose loved ones he (Ali Samantar) has killed. If history has any significance in this context; Milosevic, Pol Pot, Hitler, and the Rwandese perpetrators have not pulled the trigger, but they were legally hunted down purely because of their statutory authority and what their lieutenants had committed in their respective countries. Is General Samantar different from them!!! Or are the defenders just victims of Stockholm syndrome1.
Sadly, this defense exercise, in favor of the General, will have colossal political and social dimensions in Somalia.

The political dimension concerns the facts that the union of the South and the North was based on brotherhood and common interest. If the southerners are so openly defending a man who is seen by the northerners the killer of their children, mums and dads unlawfully, then obviously the northerners will be left nothing but to conclude that this is a conspiracy against northern inhabitants. And it will definitely, in the long term, diminish the trust, if any, between the two parts.

The social dimension, applies the rights of the citizen and what someone can or cannot do in Somalia. Unfortunately, the main argument of General Samantar’s supporters is there are so many other criminals who are not incriminated yet. That may be true, but it is extremely difficulty to comprehend how your neighbor can challenge against you if you want to take to court the man who you believe to be responsible for the death of your loved ones, because some one on the other side of road was not incriminated by his/her victim. What kind of message will this send to the Somali society? I wonder why northerners (Somaliland) are so adamant to secede once and for all. I also wonder why many people are killed by Somalians and no one is held accountable!!!

In conclusion, I sincerely believe, that anyone who has been victimized should have the opportunity to take his alleged villain to the court without any obstruction, where the defendant has the right to respond to the raised allegations. Anything different from this process will surely make us a jungle-society that should apply the law of the jungle.

Omar Mohamud Farah (Dhollawaa)
Dhollawaa@yahoo.com.au

Short URL: http://waaheen.com/?p=10047

NO COMMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A jolt to the penis may cure impotence

When our penis hydraulics fail, we’ll swallow our pride and the magic pills, and if they fail, we’ll vacuum pump it, tie it up with rubber bands, use a needle and syringe to shoot drugs into it, and, if none of that works, we’ll have the poor guy reamed out and stuffed with plastic tubes we can fill with salt water for woodies on demand.

Now some Israeli doctors have tried yet another technique: shocking the poor thing. Using something they call “low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy,” a team from the Rambam Healthcare Campus in Haifa actually succeeded in giving recalcitrant penises a boost.

A year ago, they announced that a study using both tissue in culture dishes and actual humanerectile dysfunction patients appeared to indicate that applying shockwaves to the tissue sparked the growth of new blood vessels. That’s important because erections are caused by blood rushing into the penile vasculature. Often, as men age, we accumulate vasculature damage. Sometimes as a result of diabetes or cardiovascular disease, the penile blood vessels degrade. E.D. pills like Viagra boost blood flow into the penis to compensate.

Last time, the team tested the idea on patients who responded to PD-5 inhibitors like Viagra. This time, they selected patients, many with complicating diseases like diabetes, who did not, or were no longer, responding to the pills.

In each treatment session, men were given 300 shocks over a period of three minutes, on five points along the shaft of the penis. There were two sessions per week for three weeks, then three weeks off, and then another three-week treatment period. The shocks were tiny, really, and the men didn’t complain of any pain or discomfort.

The goal was to see if the therapy would make the pills any more effective.

Two months after the treatments concluded, erection scores — yes, erections get scores just like Olympic divers — improved in 75 percent of the 29 men in the study. Eight men, nearly 30 percent, had erections in the normal range when they used an E.D. pill. Blood flow improved in all the men. That’s pretty impressive considering seven of the men were already using the injections and two of the men were considering a penile implant — a drastic last resort.

The study authors stress that this was not a placebo-controlled trial of the technique and they plan more tests. Still, it’s pretty big news if this shock therapy really can spark new vessel growth. If so, shocking your boy may well become standard. If, that is, our abused penises don’t rebel first.

- msnbc.com

Difaacayaasha Xuquuqal iinsaanka Oo Carrooga Ku Afuufay Tacadiyadda Musuqmaasuq Iyo Bani-aadaminimo Ee Xukuumadda, Dibad-baxna Ku Baaqay

December 11th, 2012 |

“Waxaynu Ka War-qabnaa In Sanadkii Boqolaal Kun Oo Doolar Oo Tv-ga Qaranka Ka Soo Baxa uu Wiilka Madaxwaynuhu Sodogga U Yahay….”Saleebaan Xuquuq

Hargeysa (Waaheen) Dallada Isku xidhka ururadda xuquuqal sIisaanka Somaliland oo maanta si gaar ah u xusay maalinta caalamiga ah ee xuquuqda aadamaha oo adduunka oo dhan laga xusay, ayaa soo bandhigay gabood-fallada lidka ku ah xuquuqda aadamaha ee dalka ka dhacay intii xukuumadda Siilaanyo tallada dalka haysay.

Difaacayaasha xuquuqal Iisaanku, sidoo kale waxay ka hadleen musuqmaasuqa dalka ka jira oo ay sheegeen inuu marayo heer qoyska Madaxtooyaddu ku lug leeyahay in boqolaal kun oo doolar sanad walba la lunsado.

Guddoomiyaha difaacayaasha xuquuqal Iisaanka Somaliland Saleebaan Ismaaciil Bullaale (Saleebaan Xuquuq) oo Munaasibadan ugu horeyn ka hadlay ayaa faahfaahiyey gabood-fallada xuquuqda aadamaha ku xun ee Somaliland ka dhacay mudada uu Madaxwayne Siilaanyo xilka hayo, waxaanu yidhi “Tan iyo intii tallada dalka ay qabsatay xukuumadda Madaxwayne Siilaanyo waxaad moodaa in xad-gudubyadda xuquuqal Iisaanku ay aad u sii kordhayeen, xadhiga sharci darada ah ee muwaadiniinta, iyadda oo aan loo marin Maxkamada wuxuu noqday mid aad u badan, waxaana imika xabsiga Madheera ku jira 16 qof oo ciidamadda qaranku ka soo qabteen Lawyacado, maxkamad lama gaynin, waxaasi ayaa la idinku haystaana lama odhan, dhowr jeer oo hore waanu ka hadalnay, waxaanu xukuumadda leenahay haddii ay dambi leeyihiin maxkamad hala geeyo, haddii kalena hala siidaayo. Xad-gudubyadda waaweyn ee dalka ka dhacay waxa ka mid ah saxaafadda Madaxa-banaan oo inta la xidhay ama la jidh-dilay waxay kor u dhaaftay 86 Wariye (inta xukuumaddani tallada haysay)”

Saleebaan Xuquuq, waxa kale oo uu kak hadlay Musuqmaasuq uu sheegay inuu Tv-ga qaranka ka gaysto nin uu Madaxwayne Siilaanyo sodog u yahay “Musuqmaasuqa oo kale, hay’adda caalamiga ah ee Transparency International war-bixinteedii ugu dambaysay waxay inagu dartay waddamada ugu musuqmaasuqa badan, difaacayaasha xuquuqal Iisaanku waxay xog-ogaal u noqdeen in heerka musuqmaasuqu uu ka gaadhsiisan yahay Somaliland ay ku lug leeyihiin xitaa qoyska Madaxwaynuhu” ayuu yidhi waxaanu intaa ku daray in difaacayaasha xuquuqal Iisaanku ay Boobe Yuusuf Ducaalle u aqoonsadeen muwaadin daah furay xogo shacabka ka qarsoonaa “Difaacayaasha xuquuqal Iisaanku waxay sanadkan Boobe Yuusuf Ducaale u aqoonsan yihiin inuu daah furay xog ka qarsoonayd bulshada Somaliland iyo dadkii ay doorteen sida ay hawlaha u wadaan xaqiiqada uu ka sheegay, waxaynu ka war-qabnaa in sanadkii boqolaal kun oo doolar oo ka soo baxa Tv-ga qaranka ay Mushahar u qaataan dhowr iyo toban qof oo London jooga oo shakhsi loo dhiibo oo aan qaan-sheeg laga soo celin (Receipt), oo Inanka Madaxwaynuhu sodogga u yahay ku lug leeyahay, waana wax cad, waxaanu u aqoonsanahay Boobe Yuusuf Ducaalle inuu yahay qof u qalma in la siiyo shahaadada xoriyadda hadalka oo u dhaqdhaqaaqa inay dadku xog helaan”

Saleebaan Xuquuq, waxa kale oo uu ka hadlay “Waxa kale oo ka mid ah gabood-falada dhacay aar-goosiga siyaasiga ah, hal-doorkii dalka iyo dadkii aqoonta lahaa ee Somaliland u shaqeyn jiray dawladda waa laga xaaqay, taasi waxay keentay in Imtixaanaadkii fashilmo, waxa kale oo ka mid ah doorashaddan la isku haysto, oo wixii intaasi oo sanadood dadku wax walba u soo hureen ay maanta tacab khasaar u eg-tahay”ayuu yidhi waxaanu intaa ku darau “Xuquuqal Iisaanka Somaliland, maanta waxa uu marayaa heer laga war-waro”ayuu yidhi.

Guddoomiyihii hore ee komiishanka xuquuqal Iisaanka Qaranka Somaliland Axmed Yuusuf Cismaan oo isna halkaa ka hadlay ayaa si aad ah Komiishanka ugu dhaliilay go’aanka ah in dib loo tiriyo codadkii laga dhiibtay degmooyinka Hargeysa, waxaanu sheegay in taasi keenayso in dadka la isku dillo.

Axmed Yuusuf Cismaan oo arimahaa ka hadlayaana waxa uu yidhi “Waxaan idiin sheegayaa in doorashadii Somaliland ka dhacday ay u dhowdahay inay saqiirto ayna u sabab u yihiin taariikhduna ay xusi doonto komiishanka maanta xilka haya, waa nasiib daro in komiishankii doorashaddu isticmaalo ciidamada qaranka oo loo dhiibo sanaaduuqdii oo la yidhaahdo ku gura, in rag komiishanka ahaa oo ay ahayd inay ilaaliyaan garba-duub loo xidho, in sanaaduuqdii Saylac taalay meel lagu xidho”

Axmed Yuusuf Cismaan, waxa kale oo uu dhaliilay go’aanka dib loogu tirinayo codadkii Hargeysa laga dhiibtay “Waxa la tiriyey 431 sanaaduuq oo degmooyinka Hargeysa ah, tiradii la tiriyey ee la shaaciyey ayaa haddana la yidhi waa laga noqonayaa, tusbaxaana waxa furay komiishanka doorashooyinka, ma dowbaa , ma xaqbaa, ma garbaa, ma wax la qaadan karayaa”ayuu yidhi waxaanu intaa ku daray “Waxa dhacay waxa uu bar madow ku yahay hogaanka dalka haddii uu waxba ka qaban waayo waxa dhacay, ceebtan maanta komiishankaa leh oo dawladdu lama laha, haddiise uu waxba ka qabban waayo dawladdu way la yeelanaysaa”

Guddoomiyihii hore ee komiishanka xuquuqal Iisaanka Somaliland uu ka hadlay 14 jir ay ku dhacday rasaastii ciidamadda boolisku u addeegsadeen dadkii ka cabanayey natiijadda doorashadda ee Hargeysa “Waar Gabood-falbaa dhacay, inan yar oo 14 jir ah ayaa xabbadi ku dhacday, anigu booliska eeda saari maayo, laakiin ninka amarkaa siiyay ee meesha u diray-baa dambigaa qaadanaya, bulshada Somaliland-na waxaan ugu baaqayaa askarigu waa wallaalkeen ee dhagaxa ka daaya, Arintani arin Xaqsoor ama reer Fadhida maaha, arin Kulmiye, Rays iyo Waddani midna fadhida maaha ee waa arin qaran”ayuu yidhi waxaanu intaa ku daray isaga oo ku baaqaya dibad-baxa shacabku sameeyaan Arbacada “Maalinta Arbacadda ah difaacayaasha Xuquuqal iisaanku waxay idinku baaqayaan in la isku soo baxo oo banaan-bax weyn la sameeyo oo lagaga cabanayo waxa ay komiishanku wadaan ee dadka isku dilaya, isku soo baxa Arbacada dhacayaana waa Salmi aan cidna lagu dhibaynin”

Somaliland: RRU agents Apprehend an American Somali female Suspected of Being a Top Al Shabaab Operative

Somaliland security forces have arrested an alleged top female Al Shabaab operative a fortnight ago during a raid in a house in Borama town.

Reports indicated that a five people were caught in a night time raid among them an American /Somali female that is thought to be a high ranking Al Shabaab operative and her three companions, 2 females and 1 male.

It is still uncertain the reasons which prompted the raid on the house but unconfirmed reports suggest that the RRU operatives conducted the raid after an international arrest warrant was issued for the alleged top female operative by unknown foreign power.

A reporter with a Somali language newspaper who visited some relatives of one of the detained women spoke to a Miss Mariam Hashi Ugaas who told him that the 9:00pm night raid was conducted by RRU operatives saw the apprehension Ayan Hirsi Diriye, Siraad Omar Hashi, Layla Hirsi and their house maid who goes by the name of Nimco.

The RRU operatives ransacked the house although it is not clear what they were searching for during raid said Miss Marian.

Miss Marian added that unnamed security officials had confirmed to them that the arrested relatives are currently been held in Hargeisa intelligence headquarters.

Source :Waheen news

Dallada xuquuqul-insaanka S/land oo iftiimisay musumaasuq xadhkaha goostay oo qoyska madaxtooyadu

Dec 10, 2012 at 11:32 PM

S.Xaquuq wuxuu daaha ka feyday inay ogaadeen in Baashe Cawil X.Cumar (Moorgan) oo M.siilanyo Sodog u yahay si weyn ugu lug leeyahay musuqmaasuq baahsan oo ka jira

Dallada xuquuqul-insaanka S/land oo iftiimisay musumaasuq xadhkaha goostay oo qoyska madaxtooyadu ku lug leeyahay

Xoghayaha Dallada Ururada Xuquuqul-Insaanka Saleebaan Ismaaciil (Saleebaan Xaquuq)ayaa daboolka ka qaadey in musumaasuq baahsani oo xadhkaha goostay ka jiro Somaliland,Qoyska Madaxtooyaduna si weyn ugu milmay oo qeyb ka noqday musuq-maasuqaas.

Saleebaan Xaquuq wuxuu ku nuuxnuuxsadey in intii Xukumada Siilanyo talada dalka haysay ay si xawliya u kordhayaan xad-gudubyada iyo gabood fallada is-dabajooga ah ee lagula kaco Muwaadiniinta iyo dadka taagta daran oo Xabsiyada layskaga guro iyagan Maxakamadaha la marin.

Saleebaan Xaquuq wuxuu daaha ka feyday in Dallada Xuquuqul –insaanku ogaatey in Baashe Cawil Xaaji Cumar (Moorgan) oo madaxweyne siilanyo Sodog u yahay si weyn ugu lug leeyahay musuqmaasuq baahsan iyo lunsasho hanti qaran oo ka jira TV-ga Qaranka (Tv ku hadla Afka Qoyska Madaxtooyada ),musuqaas oo uu sheegay Saleebaan Xuquuq inay soo bandhigtay Hayada Transparent International.

Dhinaca kale Saleebaan Xaquuq wuxuu saluugay oo farta ku go’day Komishinka Doorashooyinka Somaliland iyo Natiijada doorashada Degaanka oo uu sheegay in lagu hungoobay oo mid lagu khasaarey u e’eg tahay maadababa buu yidhi tacab badan la geliyey,waqi dheerna la ga dhursugaayey balse natiijadeedii laysku haysto oo muran weyn xukumadu gelisay.

Sidoo kale Gudoomiyaha Dallada xuquuqul-Insaanka Somaliland Axmed Yuusuf Xuseen ayaa ugu baaqey Bulshoweynta reer Somaliland iyo difaacayaasha Xuquuqul Insaanka inay maalinta Arbacada isagu soo baxaan Banaanbax balaadhan oo lagu diidan yahay Cadaaladarada iyo Tacadiyada ay Komishinka Doorashooyinka Somaliland ku kaceen.Gudoomiyuhu wuxuu ku ceceliyey in natiijada doorashada degaanku sababtay dhimasho iyo dhaawac Caruur da’doodu ka yaryar tahay 14 sano masuuliyadeedana Komishanku leeyihiin.

Hargeisa

://www.qarannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15151&Itemid=62

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Difaacayaasha Madaxa Banaan ee Xuquuqa Aadamiga Somaliland oo Carrooga Ku Afuufay Tacadiyadda Musuqmaasuq Iyo Bani-aadaminimo Ee Xukuumadda, Dibad-baxna Ku Baaqay

Suleiman Ismail Bulaleh (Saleban Xuquuq)

December 11th, 2012 |

“Waxaynu Ka War-qabnaa In Sanadkii Boqolaal Kun Oo Doolar Oo Tv-ga Qaranka Ka Soo Baxa uu Wiilka Madaxwaynuhu Sodogga U Yahay….”Saleebaan Xuquuq

WAR CRIME CASES AGAINST TOP THREE SIYAAD BARE DICTATOR GOVERNMENT IN UNITED STATES

BACKGROUND ON SOMALIA

From 1969 to 1990, president and military dictator Siad Barre oversaw a campaign of widespread atrocities that decimated Somali civil society. To quash separatist movements in the 1980s, the Somali Armed Forces targeted civilians in the northwest, culminating in the bloody 1988 siege of the regional capital Hargeisa, which claimed 5,000 civilian lives. [1] When Barre’s regime finally collapsed in 1991, Somalia was plunged into a chaotic internal conflict from which it has never recovered. Today, Somalia is universally cited as a 'failed state.'

CJA’s cases against three former members of Siad Barre’s regime—former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Mohamed Ali Samantar, notorious war criminal Colonel Yusuf Abdi Ali (aka Tukeh), and former Chief of Investigations of the infamous National Security Service Abdi Aden Magan—represent the first international effort to gain justice for the victims of the Barre regime and to end impunity for those responsible for this dark chapter of Somalia’s history.

Context: Understanding Clan Violence

In 1991, Somalia was described by the US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance as "the worst humanitarian disaster in the world."[2] In 2009, Foreign Policy Magazine called it “the most dangerous place in the world.”[3] In the intervening 18 years, the violence in Somalia was portrayed in the Western media as a regression to a primordial, even timeless conflict based on eternal tribal hatreds. In 1992, the New York Times wrote: “Instead of fighting with traditional spears and shields, the clans have more recently conducted their feuds with mortars and machine guns.” One UN official even opined: "We could end up with Africa the way it was before the colonialists came, divided up into tribal enclaves." [4] But the history of political violence in Somalia is not given to such oversimplification.

The root causes of the Somali crisis are more modern in origin. They can be traced to at least three 20th century phenomena: colonialism, Cold War international relations, and the Barre dictatorship. The interaction of these modern forces in the post-colonial state ushered in the clan conflict of the 1980s and the chaos of the 1990s-2000s. Thus, to understand the present crisis we should look to what preceded it.

The Legacy of Colonialism

Ethnic Somalis have lived for centuries throughout the Horn of Africa, practicing nomadic pastoralism in the north and agricultural pastoralism in the south. However, Somalia’s political borders were imposed by European colonial powers who partitioned ethnic Somali enclaves into parts of modern day Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. [5] Parts of the north were administered as British Somaliland, while much of the South became Italian Somalia. When these two former colonies merged to form the independent United Republic of Somalia in 1960, the contrasting colonial, political and economic traditions became a source of divisive tension in the fledgling republic.[6]

The Barre Dictatorship Begins: 1969-1975

Somalia’s 9-year experiment in post-colonial democracy ended in October 1969, when Major General Siad Barre seized power in a bloodless coup. Barre formed the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) and declared an end to "tribalism, nepotism, corruption, and misrule." The SRC aligned itself with the Soviet Union and denounced U.S. African policy as imperialist. [7]

At the same time, Barre set out to radically transform Somali society through “scientific socialism”: an ideology that fused Marxism with Quranic interpretation. Publicly, Barre claimed to stamp out the clan system. Yet in practice, the regime ultimately did the opposite. Barre elevated members of his family’s clans to the regime’s inner circle, a practice that earned his government the code-name M.O.D.—an acronym of the Mareehaan, Ogaden and Dulbahante clans. [7] In the 1970s, Barre formed a new intelligence agency comprised of members of his clan called the National Security Service (NSS). Ostensibly responsible for intelligence and internal security, including monitoring security "offenses," the NSS became known as the "Black SS": a secret police force that used torture and arbitrary detention to suppress dissidents and curtail civil liberties.

Turning Point: The Ogaden War with Ethiopia: 1977-1978

Conquering the ethnic Somali regions of Ethiopia had long been one of Barre’s policies. The moment seemed ripe with the fall of Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Sellasie in 1974. Three years later, the Somali National Army invaded and attempted to annex the Somali enclave in the Ogaden region. This proved to be a fatal miscalculation. The Soviet Union and Cuba backed the new Marxist government of Ethiopia and withdrew support from Barre. Soviet aid—once the life-blood of the regime—was cut off.

A column of refugees soon flowed from the Ogaden war and from drought stricken regions in the Horn. The regime systematically resettled Ogaden refugees in camps and settlements in the northwest region and supplied them with weapons to help suppress the Isaaq and seize their economic assets.

Uprising in the Northwest: 1978-1982

In 1978, military officers from the Majeerteen clan launched a coup attempt. The Red Berets, military special forces, responded by destroying water reservoirs in Majeerteen areas. As a result, an estimated 2,000 Majeerteen died of thirst. Paramilitaries also waged a campaign of sexual violence against Majeerteen women. [4]

The rebellion spread. In 1979, a group of Isaaq expatriates formed the Somali National Movement (SNM), with the goal of overthrowing Barre. By 1982, the SNM were ready to launch an invasion of northern Somalia from their base in Ethiopia. [6]

Although the withdrawal of Soviet aid dealt a blow to Barre’s military strength, a new foreign partner soon stepped into the breach. With the 1979 Iranian revolution, the U.S. lost a key ally in the Middle East. The proximity of the Horn of Africa to Gulf oil shipping routes gave Somalia a new strategic importance. In order to maintain military bases there, the U.S. government gave Barre’s regime $163.5 million in military technology, and four times as much in economic aid from 1980-1988. With U.S. support, Barre’s army swelled to number some 120,000 troops. [6] [9]This formidable war-machine would be turned against its own civilians.

Widespread Atrocities: 1978-1991

Throughout the early 1980s, the Barre regime used increasingly repressive tactics to suppress dissidents from all clans, with particular brutality in the northwest. The Isaaq-majority SNM prosecuted a low-intensity guerilla war against the government throughout this period. Though the SNM also committed human rights violations, the overwhelming number of atrocities were committed by Somali government soldiers.[1]

By 1983, as many as 1.3 million refugees had arrived in Somalia. [8] The military defeat against Ethiopia and the refugee crisis strained the Somali economy, particularly in the northern areas dominated by the Isaaq clan, where Barre favored Ogaden refugees over the Isaaq in regional government posts.

By 1987, a segment of the Ogaden clan broke from the government to launch its own opposition group (the Somali Patriotic Movement, or SPM), and leaders of the Hawiye clan formed the Somali National Alliance (SNA). The regime had lost control of most of the country.

After the Ethiopia-Somalia peace agreement in May 1988, the SNM, fearing the collapse of its long insurgency, attacked the major northern towns of Hargeisa and Burao. In what Human Rights Watch characterized as “savage counterinsurgency tactics”, the regime responded with the aerial bombing and strafing of northern towns and villages, including the pursuit and slaughter of civilians fleeing on foot. The assault focused on Hargeisa—the second-largest city in Somalia—where bombing sorties flown by Somali pilots and by South African and ex-Rhodesian mercenaries destroyed an estimated 70% of the city. The attack struck residential neighborhoods the hardest and leveled most of the city; over 5,000 civilians were killed. Nearly half a million Somalis fled to Ethiopia, where they remained for years in refugee camps. At least another half million internally displaced persons streamed to other regions within Somalia. [1] [6] [10]

The Collapse of the Somali State: 1991-2012

In 1989, a group of Somali exiles from the Hawiye clan formed the United Somali Congress (USC) in Rome. Fatefully, Barre responded by ordering the Red Berets to carry out a renewed wave of violence against the Hawiye and Isaaq populations. USC militias eventually struck back, and, on January 27, 1991, drove Barre out of Mogadishu. At the same time, the SNM seized power in the northwest and declared independence as the Republic of Somaliland. Barre fled the country and, four years later, died a natural death in exile. [7]

Meanwhile, Mogadishu was plunged into chaos as rival militia leaders battled for control of the city. The conflagration spread across Somalia, sparking a dire food crisis and eventually an ill-fated international humanitarian intervention. More than twenty years later, Mogadishu remains a lawless zone with no effective government. In 2006, an Islamist insurgency threatened to topple the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). In response, Ethiopia staged a large-scale military intervention. Although many have accused the Islamist insurgency, the TFG, and Ethiopia’s counterinsurgency of carrying out widespread human rights abuses against civilians, evidence of the full scale and scope of these violations has been slow to emerge.

By 2009, some 3.2 million Somalis are dependent on humanitarian assistance for their survival.[11] At the same time, piracy along Somalia’s coasts had become a source of international tension, capturing the media's attention and even obscuring the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.

By 2011, the TFG was still confined to only a part of Mogadishu. Weak and worn out by political squabbles, it remained dependent on troops of the African Union (AU) mission (AMISOM) for its very existence. Regions to the north still refused to recognize its legitimacy, and much of southern and central Somalia was controlled by the Islamist insurgency known as Al-Shabaab, a terrorist group bent on imposing its extreme version of Islam on the entire country, if not the entire region. [13] [14] [15] By 2010, about 1.5 million people had been internally displaced within Somalia, and more than half a million Somali refugees had sought shelter in neighboring countries. [15] [16] Adding to the crisis, Somalia was struck by famine in 2011 and early 2012. At its height, the famine raised the number of people entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance in Somalia to 4 million. [17]

One oasis in Somalia’s devastated social landscape is the self-proclaimed republic of Somaliland. Built on the ashes of Hargeisa and the devastated northwest region, Somaliland—while still unrecognized by the international community—has undertaken a transitional justice effort to re-establish the rule of law and effective governance. While the Somaliland experiment in democracy remains fragile, it offers a glimmer of hope in a region that has not seen peace in three decades.[12]

Hargeisa Under Siege

»Learn more about the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland and efforts at transitional justice there.