In
the 308 pages of your detailed book, you have dedicated less than twenty pages
to these six worst disasters that ever happened in Somali soil, whilst you emphasized
in more than 200 pages what you called “Clan Cleansing against Daarood”. In
covering the above six catastrophe, you narrated them like cameraman reporting
tiger chasing gazelle in animal zoo, not as human tragedy. If you had in mind
those who fled the civil war 1991-92, it is natural that every war causes
refuges, for instance defeated groups and minorities fled from their homes and
that is sort of clan cleansing.
 |
| Abdulkadir Osman “Aroma” |
Recently I have read and gave cursory look at
your book entitled “Clan cleansing in Somalia”, published 2013. As
you said you had travelled and visited places like: Addis Ababa, Jigjig,
Djibouti, Yemen, Nairobi, Netherlands as well as Rome & London, but never
travelled to Somalia. Really you have done extensive research, an important and
valuable work. Your book will be part of Somali history good or bad, true or
untrue, biased or fair, partial or impartial. As writer who likes history books
as well as literature and arts, I appreciated some parts of your book, but
disagreed on some inaccurate reports reflected in it.
It is common habit for a singer, or poet, writer
or artist to follow in the footsteps of his favourite fellow. It seems that you
have followed as role model ‘I.M.Lewis’ who wrote several books
about Somalia, but many Somalis dislike his distorted books and they nicknamed
him “clan spokesman or pay as you go cell phone scholar”. Whether you did it deliberately or just because of poor knowledge of
the root causes of Somalia debacle, you seem to saying little about the
mentioning in your writing about the worst disasters that have ever happened in
Somalia. This serious flaw makes your book incomplete. The below enumerated
disasters are well-documented to be ignored:
The military campaign
against Isaaq 1988-90 was the worst brutal act of genocide.
The Man-made famine with the
massacre against Rahanweyn civilians 1991-92 was the second brutal act of
genocide.
Unarmed minorities
(Banaadiri, Jareer & Galgalo) were victims of major clan confrontations and
suffered substantial loss of lives and properties.
The internecine warfare
between USC-Aideed and USC-Mahdi 1991-92 was another disaster which affected
the entire inhabitants of Banaadir Region.
The occupation of Ethiopian
troops which inflicted incalculable huge damage to Southern Regions 2007/9.
The on-going Shabaab
atrocities 2009-13 which caused chaos and instability in Southern Somalia is
another disaster.
In the 308 pages of your
detailed book, you have dedicated less than twenty pages to these six worst
disasters that ever happened in Somali soil, whilst you emphasised in more than
200 pages what you called “Clan Cleansing against Daarood”. In covering the
above six catastrophe, you narrated them like cameraman reporting tiger chasing
gazelle in animal zoo, not as human tragedy. If you had in mind those who fled
the civil war 1991-92, it is natural that every war causes refuges, for
instance defeated groups and minorities fled from their homes and that is sort
of clan cleansing.
It seems that, over 80% of
the bibliographies and individuals who are your primary source of information
or supported your research, are from one Somali clan whilst you ignored other
clans, who may be useful for your research. This should be a clear indication
of your biased work and lack of objectivity on your part. As I understand from
your book you obtained most oral accounts related to the Manifesto Group from
General Abdullahi Hoolif, but you never contacted Dr Ahmed Darman (former
Ambassador to China, not Iran) who was one of the senior founders of the
movement who had lived in Virginia before he passed away in December 2012. You
referred to many books written by one particular Somali clannish persons, but
ignoring other books written by other Somali clans, like: “Gelbiskii Geerida”
written by General Ahmed Jilicow, with long experience in Intelligence Service.
Myself I wrote 5 books printed in Malaysia (Sababihii Burburka Somaaliya,
Tiirka Colaadda, Hadimadii Gumeysiga, Sooyaal Somaaliya & Taangiga
Tigreega. Please visit www.gargaartrust.com) all available in every continent
and in every major library. In North America, interested readers can buy at
Somali shops in Minnesota, Washington-Seattle, Virginia, North Caroline,
Toronto & Ottawa.
You highlighted a
fabricated story ‘Daarood dominated other clans for one century’. In the line
of Somali history no clan ever dominated other clans and also Somali clans
never had central administration or powerful kingdom like Buganda of Uganda or
Axum Empire of Ethiopia. Historically, every tribe was independent from each
other and had their own mini state. Ugaas acted as head of state; nabaddoons
acted as ministers, youth acted as military and women acted as production and
child teaching institution for posterity. Ralph Brockman the author of “The
British Somaliland” published by Hurst & Blacket 1912 in London, said “Somalis
are independent by nurture and everyone is his own sultan”. Late 19th century
from North to South, 13 tribal chiefs signed protectorate agreement with
British and Italian colonial officers, see ‘Tiirka Colaadda’ page 18. There was
no clan dominance, but from 1950s betrayal, tribalism, nepotism, corruption
& maladministration was unleashed by the successive administrations. All
these malpractices have generated the collapse of Somali State. Among Somali community
there are irrational persons who suffer from severe clan schizophrenia and are
specialist in how to sell to foreigners their clan legends. They claim
shamefully their clan enjoys God-given leadership, that they are former rulers,
freedom fighters and founders of Somali state. This is plain clannish lie
contrary to Somali culture as well as the reality on the ground and Somali
history in the archives of colonial era.
After the First World War,
the European Colonial Powers adopted new policy in Somalia which led to two
contrasting results: “disadvantage & advantage”. Looking from the
disadvantage angle, they dismembered homogeneous Somali people into five
portions. The advantage was that, they introduced a system of unitary
government. For example, Governor De Vecchi, who ruled Southern Somalia for 5
years, arrested all notorious local Chiefs ‘similar to today’s warlords’ and
set up the first central administration with capital city Mogadishu. From this
evidence, I belief that Governor De Vecchi was father and founder of the Somali
State, “see his book “Orizzanti d’Impero, Cinque Anni in Somalia”.
Similarly, Sir Geoffrey
Archer, Governor of British Protectorate of Somaliland crashed the Dervish
movement and arrested arrogant chiefs and created what is called Somaliland
today. Again the European Powers inspired the Somali mind in pursuing the
scheme of “Greater Somalia”. Again, General Rodolfo Graziani was a strong
supporter of what he called “La Grande Somalia”. General Graziani commander of
southern front of Italian army, after occupying Addis Ababa in 1936, he sent a
telegraphic message to his boss Benito Mussolini proposing the creation of
united Somalia, (see the book entitled“Mussolini raped Ethiopia” and Grazian’s
book “Il Fronti Sud”). Again on 6th June 1946 Ernst Bevin British Foreign
Secretary proposed unification of Somali people, but his dream fell in vain. Hence
sane person can see here the creation of the Somali state was a colonial work,
not folk tale tellers lie.
Too much inaccurate reports:
You
wrote General Mohamed Noor Galaal was deputy commander of General Mohamed Ali
Samantar. This is not correct; General Abdalla Mohamed Fadil was deputy
commander of General Samantar. Again you wrote General Samantar with his
subordinate General Galaal killed in Jigjiga 82 officers. At the beginning of
the 1977 war, General Galaal was commander of Dirirdhabe Front. Due to
differences between Samantar and Galaal, the latter was sacked and immediately
was appointed Minster of Housing and general service. General Samantar along
with Colonel Osman Maye, chairman of the Military Tribunal, on 02/03/1978 at a
place named ‘Buurta Garabcase’ outskirt of Jigjiga, ordered the execution of
84 military personnel of different ranks. Again after 10 days, top 15 officers
(included: Ahmed Mohamed Anshuur ‘Habarjeclo’
& Yaasiin Noor Gurhan ‘Majeerteen’ & Abdi Farah Ali ‘Habargidir’
were executed in Hargeysa. Eye witness persons are still alive include General
Mohamed Warsame Arre, the commander of Jigjiga Front, currently residing in
London. That awful day I was in Hargeysa as civil-servant working northern
region. (more details see, Sababihii Burburka Somaaliya pages 65-68)
You
wrote early February 1991 General M.F. Aideed raided and dislodged Colonel M.
Omar Jees from Afgooye. This is not correct; in October 1990 (Aideed of USC,
Abdirahman Tuur of SNM & Jees of SPM) signed a common military and
political agreement in Mustahil, Ethiopia. After that agreement, USC split into
2 wings (USC Mujaahid under Aideed, and USC Manifesto under Bood/Mahdi). It was
the USC militias under command of the Manifesto Group who attacked on
10/02/1991 Colonel Jees’s militias based in Afgooye, not Aideed. General
Aideed never planned any sinister plan against Jees, because Jees was sincere
ally and right hand of Aideed up-to last hour.
Regarding
Rahanweyn’s man-made disaster, unfortunately you wrote that Rahanweyn had
massacred Daarood escaping from Mogadishu; this is contrary to what actually
had happened and it is obvious that you were manipulated by your one-sided
interviewees. Between April 1991 – April 1992, SNF militias
loyal to Siyaad Barre harassed Rahanweyn civilians and conquered their regions
and vandalised their harvested crops and inevitably disastrous famine ensued
which resulted the death of thousands and thousands of civilians. John Drysdale
in his book “whatever happened to Somalia page 43, underlined the cause of that
disaster”.
Why Daarood fled from Southern Somalia?
It is an actual fact that a physician who
treats his patients according to their symptoms without laboratory diagnoses is
not good physician. You listed the current problems without tracing back the
real root causes. You relied heavily on the testimony of selected persons whom
you recognised as victims of civil war. All the responsibility of what happened
is squarely on Siyaad Barre’s shoulders and his close colleagues on the top
echelon of his tyrannical regime. His responsibility is evidenced by the following
examples:
·
In early January 1991 Siyaad
Barre assigned to his two son in-laws, General Morgan and General Dafle to arm
voluntary Daarood civilians so as to defend his regime. Many Daaroods were
armed and grouped in Wadajir Quarter as their head-quarter and they
participated fiercely in the war between USC fighters and forces loyal to
Siyaad Barre. It was Morgan/Dafle with the full orders from their father-in-law
and Daarood dye-hard fighters who changed the nature of the conflict into civil
war between two clans.
·
In April 1991 Siyaad Barre
mobilised all Daarood forces in southern regions ‘military &
civilians’ and planned to recapture Mogadishu. Forces loyal to Siyaad Barre
wearing T-shirt with Siyaad’s picture and slogans chanting “Ruugcadaagii soo rogaalceli = the
veteran fighters comeback victoriously”
reached outskirt of Mogadishu. As a result heavy battle, code-named “Duufaanta Beeraha” on 07/04/91 took place.
Victorious USC chanting “Ruugcadaagii raamsadaa helay = veteran’s forces were swallowed by dragons” drove
out SPM/SNF militias from Lower Shabeele Region and overwhelmingly defeated the
forces loyal to Siyaad. To mark this USC victory, a man by the name Geelle
Faruur, USC supporter, composed this poem “Ruugcadaa
isku sheegu soo rogaal celintiisu ma raqdiisa Afgooye tukuhu hayska riftaa =
the so-called veteran warriors who dreamed to
comeback, their corpses were eaten by scavengers in Afgooye”
·
Throughout April 1991- April
1992, forces loyal to Siyaad massacred Rahanweyn people; subsequently they
marched towards the capital city with the plan to recapture it. They were
stopped at 50 km west of Mogadishu. A big battle, code-named “Xadka iyo Xawaaraha” on 19/04/92 broke out. USC
forces again drove out Siyaad’s forces up to Kenya border, as result Siyaad
sought asylum in Kenya. Another USC sympathizer, by the name Tabantaabo said “Raggii isxambabooray xoog markii la muquushay, sowd xaduudka Wajeer
xowli kuma dhaafin =when the aggressors were
defeated by force, they escaped swiftly through Wajeer border”. The above three episode indicating that Darood fighters defended and
fought for Siyaad Barre were a political mistake which led them, unfortunately,
to end up in refugee camps in Kenya. Clan hostility never eased until Siyaad
died in Lagos January 1995. Siyaad Barre will be remembered for being the root
cause and creator of all disasters related to ‘yesterday’s disintegration, today’s crisis and tomorrow’s problem’ and his legacy will likely last for centuries.
Sylvia Pankhurst who wrote “Ex-Italian
Somaliland in 1951” when writing on 1936 Italian invasion of Ethiopia, owing to
her ardent support of Ethiopian cause and antagonism towards the Italians, she
was nicknamed “Ethiopian advocate”. Similarly your book sounds
that you are advocate of certain Somali clan and against other clans.
Furthermore, your book seems that there is personal animosity between you and
late Halima Khalif Magool. Magool was a well-known singer who devoted all her
life to the national cause. She will be remembered as fervent popular
nationalist, with sweet voice, strong in her feeling against Abyssinian
imperialism, which she displayed especially in 1977 Ogaaden war. Magool was the
first female singer who sang beside with male singer on open concert platform
stage and was courageous to say‘man and woman are
equal’. A woman hugging male colleague and singing
shoulder to shoulder with him was a new phenomenon to Somali culture, thus the
concert viewers thought what they were watching was unbelievable, and they
chanted a famous slogan “Sida Halima Khaliif qalabada hayska qaadin = don’t be shameless like Halima Khaliif”. I
would like to introduce to you another Somali female activist, well-known hero
Mrs. Hawo Yarey.
Hawo Yarey was the first Somali female who run
as a candidate in the general elections of 1969. She won the seat gaining
landslide victory, in Ceelbuur district but male dominated society denied her
deserved seat in the Parliament, (electoral fraud, see the Soviet Union in
the Horn of Africa by Robert Patman page 97). May Allah have mercy both of
them for championing women’s rights. “Hawo Yarey & Magool” were two
feminist pioneers who endured long struggle so as to secure women rights.
However without evidence of Magool’s image carrying gun or
recorded voice, and accusing her only on hearsay, is extremely unfair to
tarnish someone’s reputation and good image of someone who is regarded as national hero
and it is against the ethics of writing. If you want to find an active female
warlord betting civil war drums today there are plenty of them in Somalia.
Usual humans have two eyes and two ears, please use both your eyes and ears,
and also be fair and impartial. Please take a piece of paper and pen then write
short article about notorious old woman like Halima Soofe who daily incites
tribal hatred which could lead to a new civil war, please see below links:
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dae00I_qtQ
You praised whole heartily singer Saado Ali
Warsame and believed boosting up rumours saying that Saado is brave singer who
sang the famous “Land cruiser song” composed by Abdi Muhumud Amiin. It is true
that in the troubled years of the 90s Saada was courageous and had sung anti
regime songs, but she later changed her struggle to become tribal minded.
Traditionally, Somalis are ardent supporters to their linage tribes rightly or
wrongly, and Saada was one of them despite her fame, talent, & sweet voice.
Saado unfortunately played her role in the civil war and supported her tribe
particularly the battle of ‘Kalshaale’
between Dhulbahante and Habarjeclo tribes. Currently she composed new song “dhiigshiil hadhigan = don’t deposit your savings in Dahabshiil” in order to destroy Dahbshiil’s reputations as a Company,
owned by Habarjeclo businessmen, please see the below link:
Her tireless efforts and her financial
injection, through her own NGO “Gurmad”, in favour of her tribe, she secured a
seat in the national parliament as a reward from her tribe, without contest. In
the political dispute between Somaliland & Puntland, critics say that Saado
always supports Puntland purely on tribal grounds. Instead of visiting her
native town Las’anod she prefers to stay in Growe, because Las’anod
is under administration of Somaliland. This reflects Saado’s
true dual personality.
Without deviating further from the main point,
it seems that you are highly partisan in your writings about the
clan competition in Somalia. Rumours circulating inside Somalia suggest that Ms
Lidwien Kapteijns is roommate partner of a Somali man from Puntland regions and
that all her writings are coached in bedroom as stereotype record. Since I am
living in Mogadishu I can’t verify whether this rumour is true or
fabricated. If these rumours turn out to be genuine story, then dear sister
in-law, with all due respect, I request you to use, in the future, when
writing, a room with full bright light and be fair among Somali clans, not ‘qaraabo waa qaar dambe =
intimacy is affinity’. Kindly tell the truth even if it hurts your
beloved ones.
Abdulkadir Osman “Aroma”
Shirwac55@hotmail.com
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