Traditional leaders, business people, ‘intellectuals’ and other Somaliland community members currently living in Mogadishu, the capital city of Federal Somalia, strongly condemned the systematic assassinations that target their members in Somalia.
At a press conference the Somaliland Diaspora community held in that city, speakers decried the continued harassment, blackmail, and assassinations specifically targeting prominent members of the community, the majority of whom holding responsible positions in government.
Speakers at the press conference pointed out that conspicuously evident in all of the killings was a glaring absence of sincere attempts in the part of reigning administrations to bring perpetrators to justice. Resident clans and so-called civil society and human rights organizations have neither shown any kind of sympathy to bereaved families, either, making it appear as if the assassinations were a product of shared views.
The latest outrage came in the form of the attempted massacre of 11 members belonging to the family of Hassan A Awad, Dahabshiil South-Central Manager on August 15. A 15-year old son died on the spot, and 5 others sustained gunshot wounds in varying degrees, 3 of whom still in a critical stage. This happened in broad daylight, and the culprits have yet to be identified let alone apprehended.
Others who had been gunned down in similar assassination operations include:
- General Yussuf Tallan Alili
- MP Timir
- MP Heyd
- MP Saado Ali Warsame
- MP Yuusuf Dirir
- MP Mohamed Ahmed Gurhan
- MP Hussein Abdisalaan
- MP Abdullahi Abdi Siyaad
Compounding the agony for Somalilanders living in or holding government positions in Mogadishu is the fact they are viewed as traitors to the sovereignty cause in the reborn Republic of Somaliland since they have gone intentionally against the express wishes of their fellow compatriots.
