Applying for demonstrations in the Capital of Somaliland in the name of a clan is a new, very alarming development that needs to be emphatically stopped on its tracks now! It is a very brazen violation of all of our more noble values, as it is a foreboding harbinger of successful enemy encroachment to our very sovereignty and integrity.
First, it was a hall-full of young people that heeded the drum-beats of destabilizers not united by patriotic ideals but by a common hatred to Somaliland unity and stability. None of the eight-thinking, the sage elders, the business people, the true politicians condoned it. In the name of a larger, respectable Subeer Awal, a few foamed and frothed at the mouth fanning hatred against the leadership and other clans. They claimed they were Kulmiye supporters when, in fact, the organizers were never so. They were brought together on a tune that they supported the incumbent Chairman of the Ruling party, Kulmiye, Mr. Musa Behi Abdi, when, again, the underlying agenda is anything but of Kulmiye or Musa Behi.
That beginning, same as all ill-fated beginnings since the Nazis, was followed by another the same elements organized for women waving the same clan standard. That was followed by the last one held at Crown Hotel, where the only notable figure was Engineer Mohamed Hashi who is an avowed Kulmiye detractor – a shocking image that will remain indelibly in the memories of many for a very long time.
This last submission of an application to demonstrate ‘peacefully’ in Hargeisa, the Capital of the Republic of Somaliland, is the hardest slap on the face of the unity the leaders of all three political parties and the leaders of the bicameral parliament pledged to the nation and its President on Monday, June 16, at the Presidency.
The sad fact remains that the clan whose name these people are dragging in the mud is one of the most stalwart supporters of Somaliland sovereignty and a clan that was known for its civilized outlook, business acumen, intellectual base and far-sightedness.
The fact that one clan (or at least people who had taken over its good name) calls for demonstrations means that there is nothing national in its cause. In fact, it can only mean one thing: it is targeting one or more of the other clans in the Somaliland fold – itself a chink in our up till now impregnable armor. By straying away from the union, no clan can champion a national cause. Thus, it is, in essence, a betrayal of the Constitution and the trust the rest of the clans of Somaliland placed in a united Somaliland. None of us want a replay of 1994 and earlier. We are all still hurting.
This last development lays bare what most people had always suspected: that there is a foreign hand and funds involved, and that these youngsters are playing to the tune of hired war mongers about to sprint for the kill: Somaliland itself.
On June 15, two items on the Universal TV newscast further bear testimony to the fact above. One echoed the elements that never believed in the sovereignty, unity, achievements and unique capability to mend its own fences. It gave ample space to the Vice President of Puntland regional administration who, himself, is one of the elements used to kindle fire in his home country to save his immigrant job in Garowe. The second was a re-phrasal of a so-called statement that the Secretary General of Somaliland Journalists Association (SOLJA) recently sent out far and wide and published on some websites, claiming that, in effect, the government of Somaliland had no right to limit the damage done by elements bent on fermenting hatred among society and/or using their press coverage for personal gains in the form of bribes and blackmail. What the so-called secretary general of Somalia’s NUSOJ says here is enough to raise the hackles of any true Somalilander without bidding. It is so insulting to Somaliland sovereignty. But then, again, it is only echoing SOLJA’s claims and what the bulk of an uninitiated Somaliland media is spouting out by the minute.
Both clips are attached herewith. Listen to both. Flabbergasting, indeed.
Another fact that is emerging is the bulk of these so-called Subeer demonstrators that are going the rounds had never supported either the SNM or Kulmiye, and are, irrefutably, elements that have failed in society in a variety of ways: politically, socially, educationally, etc. Anybody who knows ten of them can come up with the same conclusion.
It is quite apparent, therefore, that Musa Behi, has if anything a minimal influence on these mercenaries. It is more likely that they are being unflatteringly used by the hitherto latent enemies of Somaliland who have decided to lie low no more but, instead, use Somaliland against Somaliland. You can name a few that have been preaching the language of violence of late yourself. I leave the rest to you.
My only advice is: Somaliland should wise up to the invasion from without pitting a Lander against another from within!
Abdiaziz M Abdirahman
Hargeysa, Somaliland
