Does Awdal Community Ever Learn?

[Taleexi]

Does Awdal Community Ever Learn?

By Mohamed F. Yabarag

November 24, 2010

 

Following the appointment of seven “Somaliland envoys” (all from the same clan as has recently become a pattern for Silanyo’s government), communities from Awdal must have by now learned their lessons through the hard way, unless they are living in a fantasy world. I bet they are. Those in Awdal who are still in doubt about the direction to which Ahmed Silanyo’s government is heading should take a pause for a moment and consider what the future holds for them. Like it or not, Somaliland is for one clan. Despite the entire furor surrounding the formation of the earlier government that was exclusively made up of one clan, the SNM men on the driving seat of this one-clan administration in Hargeisa are not in the mood of heeding to anybody’s advice or protestation. End of the story. Cidna loo joojin maayo.

 

The public fallout between the minister of interior, Mohamed Abdi Gabboose and Awdal elders earlier last month in Rays hotel, Borama, seems now a distant memory. The minister’s pledge that President Ahmed Silanyo will address the situation as “a matter of urgency” has turned out to be an empty gesture. Everything has been swept under the carpet. Perhaps in the eyes of Hargeisa administration there are more important and pressing issues that need to be attended in the eastern parts of “Somaliland”, Sool to be precise. Awdal is now treated by Hargeisa-based authorities as a colonial outpost. The very mention of a planned demonstration against the government in Awdal usually brings about a few “armored technicals” being sent out to Borama. This is going to become a norm in the future. If you cannot support your words with actions, nobody could give a toss about what you may or may not do. This is exactly the case in Awdal communities and their elders. General Xudhuun has gone despite Awdal elders and their constituents making furious statements one after another that nobody could take him away from Awdal. Empty talks, isn’t it?

 

Here is a short list of events that could have acted as warning signs for Awdal communities:

Four innocent Awdal civilians were slaughtered and their bodies mutilated on a public road between Gabiley and Dilla by the Gabiley supporters of the Kulmiye party, and to add insult to injury, their violent death was blamed on the former government by the man in charge of the current Somaliland administration. Despite this incident taking place at the heart of Somaliland and in the public domain, perpetrates of this heinous crime are believed to be under the protection of Kulmiye government according to my local sources.

 

Three ministers under Rayaale’s cabinet who are of the same clan as of Ahmed Silanyo have resigned right at the death and on the eve of the presidential election to join their kinship.

 

The newly-formed government of Ahmed Silanyo has produced a lopsided government, choosing the main cabinet posts (including Finance, Interior, Foreign ministries, etc.) from one clan, hence the entire decision making fell into the hands of a few inner circle ministers of the same clan. The rest are simply there to make the numbers, or police their community as our representatives in the Silanyo cabinet do in Awdal.

All senior civil servants were dismissed on presidential decree and replaced with members from the same clan under the guise of riding the government off corrupt officials from previous administration. This move hurt Awdal as they lost some key posts in the treasury and other important civil servant posts.

 

General Xudhuun, the bulwark of Awdal security and a long time civil servant as well as his second in command, were relieved from their posts with immediate effect following the ONLF fiasco, and replaced with Silanyo’s clansmen despite some Awdal communities taking to the streets in protest. An army exclusively recruited from areas inhabited by the one-clan administration in Hargeisa, including a contingent of police force, was brought in and around Borama at the beginning of Silanyo’s reign to keep Awdal community under check. This is what prompted the former governor of Awdal to resign before his time.

 

Osman Jama aka Kalluun, one of the heavyweights of Somaliweyn politicians, was this month extended a hand of friendship and possibly the freedom of Hargeisa by none other than Silaanyo himself while Abdo Shoodhe, Sitiin Hussein (MPs from Sheikh Sharif government) were arrested in Borama and asked to leave the country or ask for pardon. Double standards, isn’t it? (Nin leh ayaa u doobiyey) While communities from Sool and eastern Sanaag have grabbed their destiny with their own hands, the Awdalities have simply chosen to become second class citizens and settled in to play a second fiddle to the one clan administration in Hargeisa. This is an undisputed fact despite some Awdal so-called politicians (mercenaries I would say) claiming otherwise. In fact, they should take stock of the bravery shown by their fellow Awdalite, Faisal Omer Guleed, who rightly turned down an opportunity to become the junior minister of education in Mohamed Abdillahi Farmajo’s government in Mogadishu, or follow the courage demonstrated by the venerable Sheikh Abdillahi Sheikh Ali Jowhar who said no to Silanyo’s advances when he appointed for him to head the Sakaat-gathering agency. Faisal stated in his resignation speech that the post nominated for him is an insult to his clan, particularly when Prime Minister Farmajo’s ministers are nominated on the basis of the notorious four point five. Refer to PM Farmajo’s interview with the BBC on this issue.

 

Some would argue that Rayaale, the former president of Somaliland, who hails from Awdal, was in power for eight long years and as such Awdalities should not feel alienated. Well, that may be the case, but the distribution of power among Somaliland clans always remained the same even under him: one clan taking all the most important seats and leaving the leftovers and the insignificant posts for the rest was never the case. Rayaale was only presiding over what was pre-determined. Waa lagu awr-kacsanayey. Neither the previous administration led by Rayaale himself nor the current one Abdirahman Saylici who is second in command did anything meaningful for their own people. Waad baahan tahay looma bahalo cuno.

 

While the very few Awdal politicians who benefited from this Silanyo’s lopsided administration may be rejoicing, the fact remains that the majorities of Awdal community know for certainty that they had been short changed. Sool and Eastern Sanaag communities are not even in the equation; they have been left out before, or they opted out from the secessionist project in Somaliland.

 

For years Awdal community was following obediently or rather blindly (depending on one’s view) decisions made elsewhere which had little or no bearing on their day to day lives. Even our politicians could not foresee the demise of the last Somali government when everyone else could predict its imminent collapse with their minds fixated elsewhere. Everyone knows how Somaliland had come to being in early 1991. It was concocted in Burao and forced down the throats of communities whose acceptance or rejection of the secession would have made no difference at the time, as the venue of the meeting was deliberately chosen and gun totting SNM fighters were everywhere.

 

It is obvious now that the hidden agenda behind carving up “Somaliland” from the mother country by the SNM tribal militia who played a major role in bringing down the last Somali government alongside USC in the south was to create its fiefdom i.e. an administration run and owned by one clan. Why the guy from Sool, Awdal or eastern Sanaag should abide by the rules set out by the SNM militia. Who gave them the mandate to form an administration in the northern regions of Somalia without fully consulting the local communities in the former British Somaliland? If referendum is conducted today in non-***** inhabited regions, I bet the outcome will be an absolute rejection to “Somaliland’ administration in Hargeisa. In an era where Somalia is further disintegrating into tribal regional administrations coupled with 19 years of one-clan administration in Hargeisa, Awdal politicians and elites could not yet make up their own minds where the interest of their people lies. I believe the time is ripe for Awdal community to determine their destiny instead of relying on others for everything. Will Awdal ever learn?

 

Mohamed F Yabarag

E-Mail:Myabarag@yahoo.co.uk

 

Source: WDN

[Che -Guevara]

I don't think these people were complaining when Riyaale was in power, why start now? You accepted the secessionist project in the beginning, live with it!

[Taleexi]

Is it me or something is brewing in that part of the country?

[Taleexi]

Some were naive idealists, others gullible and the rest malaa waa ugu jirtey and couldn't see trees from the forest.

 

War Che, haday ragu hadda kulka arkeen, ha cabudhin?

[Saalax]

Che -Guevara. I don't usually agree with you but i agree with you on this 1.

[NGONGE]

Originally posted by Che -Guevara:

I don't think these people were complaining when Riyaale was in power, why start now? You accepted the secessionist project in the beginning, live with it!

Not "these people" say "this man".

 

And he was not a great fan of Riyaale either.

 

 

By Mohamed F Yabarag, London, UK

 

Here we go again. Another illegal incarceration from Rayale’s desperate regime; this time the recipients are Qaran leaders, Somaliland’s new political party. The writing was on the wall for Dr Gaboose, the party’s founding chairman and his deputy, Engineer Mohamed Hashi Elmi, a man dubbed by many as the “Mr clean of Somaliland politics” ever since they declared their intention of forming a political organization in Somaliland with the aim of competing for the forthcoming local government elections. In an attempt to cling on to power, Rayale’s government has been fighting tooth and nail with the help of all government apparatus against anyone they presume may threaten their grip on power in the forthcoming local and presidential elections.

 

A man who initially came to the highest office in the land by default to the surprise of almost everyone and consequently won it by the thinnest of margins ever recorded anywhere in a hotly contested presidential election is now on the rampage to destroy this nascent country by using strong-arm tactics that are all too familiar for those who had witnessed Siyad Barre’s dictatorial regime in its dying days. This is blatant and abhorrent abuse of power at its ugliest level by Rayale’s pathetic government. What we are witnessing today in Somaliland is nothing short of dictatorship in full swing. Under this government we are in democracy only by name. This government have no ears to listen to the desperate voices of its citizens who are yearning for a genuine leadership. It has dismally failed time and again to work with members of the elected House of Representatives as well as civil society organizations. With the arrest of QARAN leadership, our much vaunted democracy lies in tatters and the people who would have saved us from this pathetic government through the ballot box are now languishing in the notorious Mandhera jail.

 

http://www.somalilandtimes.net/sl/2007/289/04.shtml

Riyale’s government knows fully well that when the day of reckoning comes (Election Day) barring another delay of course, it will lose heavily against the opposition. Even the hard core supporters of the government could not comprehend as to why their beloved government is dithering and scared of the opposition. If the government is doing things right as it often boasts, why is it giving ammunition to the opposition? The further the election is delayed, the more Somaliland voters will smell a rat and leave government’s fold in droves.

 

This government, plagued by corruption, cronyism, nepotism, embezzlement, media harassment, stifling competition, etc, knows its time is up. This is the sole reason why it is dragging its feet and shying away from holding presidential election and others in their allotted time. It was in power for almost a decade without undertaking a single meaningful development project. Not a single road in the capital or elsewhere was paved or repaired during this period, let alone built. Even the main road from Egal airport to the city center is littered with potholes that motorists have to weave and negotiate through.

 

The excuse always given by the government is that its budget is so small that it is lucky if it feeds its huge military and police forces. Fair enough. But if you spare a few minutes and go through its 2009 budget as thoroughly and brilliantly analyzed by Ali Guled, a CPA from California and a critic of this government, you can see who this government has put its priorities wrong again and again. Wrong allocations have been given to wrong ministries (presidential ministry being one of them as in the earlier budgets), while the most important ones have been given peanuts.

 

You need to look no further than the lifestyles of the top echelons of Somaliland government, the most impoverished country on earth, to see how this group has amassed a fortune while the rest of the nation is living in abject poverty.

 

In conclusion, the continuation in office by this government will mean no future developments in the country and more divisions among Somaliland populace, often along tribal lines. The seeds for hatred have already been sown by this government when it curved six more tribal regions from the existing six regions in a country of roughly no more than two million people. A tribal division in Somaliland is rampant and more visible today than when this government had arrived in the scene seven years ago. Somaliland people deserve better administration than Riyale’s inept, inefficient and corruption-plagued government if their aspiration for nationhood is to be realized.

 

http://www.somalilandtimes.net/sl/2009/375/36.shtml

And the one to top it all (on the 13th of June this year):

 

In Somaliland, people got stuck with a government that did little or nothing for nearly a decade. A decade is too long a time to waste. People cannot afford another half a decade to waste. There is no sound reason for Somaliland people to stick with this government. All they need to do is to have a hard and long look at their lives if any improvements were made under Rayaale and his government. It is time for change. It is time to give a chance the opposition. It is time to give Ahmed Mohamed Silaanyo and his party the benefit of the doubt. It is time to kick Rayaale's government in the teeth. I urge Somaliland people not waste their valuable votes in vain.

Mohamed F Yabarag

myabarag@yahoo.co.uk

 

http://samotalis.blogspot.com/2010/06/somaliland-election-choice-between.html

What was it he said in that other article of his about "reinventing the wheel of Somali history"?

 

Stuff and nonsense.

[Che -Guevara]

^Not just him, the Goth brothers and others who claim to represent "the clan" interest.

 

 

Taleexi....His type complicates conflicts unnecessarily.

[General Duke]

^^These are major headaches for the secessionists, not only SSC but now their very backyard of Awdal is not so pro lets break from Somalia.

 

No wonder the Guru of the phantom state has left..

[The Zack]

It was the best interest of the triangle clan to keep Riyaale on the top post. Now they have to deal with dual nays; one from the west and the other from the east.

[Mayaani]

let every clan call thier own bugcad a country so we can see and realize that one tribe can't become a nation.

[Beer-Gaal]

Originally posted by Libaahe*:

Che -Guevara. I don't usually agree with you but i agree with you on this 1.

you better diagree with him lad!! can three habroos make up your so called republic ? Alla maxaa qabyaalad bilaa caqli ah kugu jirta !!

[Saalax]

Beer-Gaal don't be naive do you even know which part i agreed with him? I agreed with him with the fact they accepted Somaliland in the beginning they shouldn't complain like little girls now Riyaale lost the elections fair & square.

 

 

"You accepted the secessionist project in the beginning, live with it!"

[Qodax Qorax]

Borama is the only Somali city where there never has been war, destruction or fighting. Its the most beautifull Somali city,it has the most educated number of people, its residents never had to flee and become mass refugees.

 

So, lets assume for one second that the people living in Awdal know where their interest lies and they dont need refugees living abroad who's cities are destroyed, dont need to tell them whats good for them and whats peace is all about.

 

I advice you guys to visit Borama and ask for their advice, how to establish peace.

[Jacaylbaro]

Anarchists what a chaos in every town in the world except where they live ,,,,