Friday, March 8, 2013

Somalia:A look back at What Has Gone Wrong in Jubbaland.-Goobaale Delegation: An Insult to People of Jubbaland

The Somali government’s recent delegation led by former Jubba Valley Alliance Leader, Goobaale,a seasoned warlord who headed the now defunct Jubba Valley militia, which had caused immense suffering and bloodshed in Jubbaland not so long ago and in the days before Shabab control, accompanied by the AMISOM spokesman, the Djiboutian colonnel, Ali Hamud, whose country is strongly opposed to the creation of Jubbaland administration among other officials, was an insult to the peace loving

people of Jubbaland.

The Somali presidency is following the misguided path of allowing outsiders to meddle in the affairs of Jubbland where they do not hail from and in which they committed crimes against the local people. If it goes on,this blatant interference of internal matters in contradiction of Somalia’s federal constitution is sure to kill the pacification effort of the country and the good will of the local population towards the new Somali government.

Crimes Against Humanity

The interim Jubbaland authority made a wise decision in refusing warlord Goobaale’s entourage access to Kismanyo city. Had they allowed them in, they would have denied justice to the hundreds of thousands of victims of warlord Goobaale’s marauding militia from Gulgudud region in central Somalia, which occupied Jubbaland in the years before the terrorist takeover. Jubbaland under warlord Goobaale, the late warlord Seerar and his ally Barre Hirale,another warlord from central Somalia, was the scene of daily killing of innocent civilians, rape of women and girls, kidnapping for ransom, looting of property and torching of buildings belonging to the local people.
The notorious Jubba Valley Alliance militia set fire to residential buildings and business premises in Dhobley, Taabto,Qooqaani,Diif, Hagar,Gadudey and Afmadow towns, to name but a few, when the local people opposed their criminal activities.In the same fashion, they expropriated land and extorted money and produce from peaceful farmers whose land they invaded in Jilib,Marerey,Kabsuma,Moganbow, Sanguni and Jamame towns all situated on the Mogadishu Kismanyo HighWay. Many people perished in the process and many more fled their homes and are refugees in neighboring Kenya.This is the man the Federal Somali goverment sent to Kismanyo to represent it at the Jubbaland Conference aimed at creating an all inclusive regional administration that caters for the interests of all the residents of the province under the

new Federal Constitution dispensation.

Why send Goobaale of all people at this crucial period when the injuries and scars his militia inflicted have not yet healed? Why not send more appealing Somali officials of high calibre and dignity including those from Goobaale’s own clan whose past is not tarnished by criminal record? Surely, there are hundreds of more qualified citizens of our country from across the political spectrum who could have represented the Federal Goverment at the Kismanyo Meeting. This action has only one name. It is a desire to abort the peace initiative taking hold in the region, prevent the residents from rebuilding their homes and perpetuate the suffering of the innocent masses of Jubbaland who are so eager to quench their thirst for peace and stabilty in their home province in particular and their country in general.This decision by the Somali government was an affront to the decent people of Lower and Middle Jubba areas and as such the regime in Mogadishu owes an apology to the local population if it needs to win back their trust.

Growing Drugs

One of the legacies of the militia occupying Jubbaland is the planting of illicit drugs and running drug exporting ventures. It is an open secret that the Jubba valley Alliance militia of warlord Goobaale and his predecessor warlord Osman Ali Atto dealt in the growing of cannabis and other drugs to finance their armed adventures. They did so on land they confiscated from the local riverine people who mainly rely on it to produce their own food. This caused widespread suffering among the affected rural communities who had no any other sources of livelihood. The result was widespread movement of hungry people from Jubbaland to refugee camps across the border in Kenya in which they are exposed to the elements and live on a poor unhealthy diet.
Jubbaland has seen the worst ever form of land expansion and misuse in Somalia by militias of Goobaale which visited unprecedented destruction and chaos on the local way of life and social cohesion. They divided people on clan background and created mythical ethnic boundaries which were allien to the residents before their arrival from south central Somalia.They established ethnic fiefdoms for those who shared in the pillage of minority property, inviting and rewarding more warlords to consolidate their hegemony. In a nutshell,they plunged the region into a deep gorge from which it is yet to come out.

The victims of this illegal use of Somali land still languish in man-made poverty and mayhem in which thousands lost their lives. It is a bleeding wound still fresh on the minds of the Jubbaland people. The only way to compensate for it is delivering justice to the victims. It starts with allowing them to steer the destiny of their battered and abused homeland in accordance with Somalia’s constitution, letting them elect their own local representatives in a regional assembly whose seat should be Kismanyo city, the capital, and enforcing the rule of law strictly and consistently so that there is never a repeat of what the region’s residents went through over the last two decades.

New Economic Reality

Conversely,thwarting the ambition of Jubbaland civilians to affect change in their home province will only make matters worse for Somalia as a whole. It directly goes against the new economic reality that a unitary government that concentrates resources in Mogadishu cannot effectively govern Somalia again-not since the debacle of the military regime of President Siad Barre, which made Mogadishu a heaven on earth and neglected the rest of the country, much to the chagrin of the Somali people, the spark that ignited the Somali conflagration in the first place.We categorically say no to that even if it puts the unity of Somalia in jeopardy, for there is no greater potential for fragmentation of the nation than the absence of equity and fairness in the sharing of the national cake.
Federalism in Somalia is an idea whose time has come. It is in line with the new world governance trend of devolving power and resources to the grass roots communities so that an equitable distribution of the national wealth is achieved. Anyone who tries to impede its progress in Somalia is bound for failure since local communities are more aware of their rights and determined to find local solutions to their social woes. People are fed up with outsiders trying to impose themselves on the managment of their home regions dynamics.They do not care if you build world class roads and hospitals in Mogadishu or renovate airports and schools elsewhere as long as they are not in their home towns and villages. It is a matter of bread and butter and not one big man show nationalist idealogy.

The Djibouti Factor

To be fair to the AMISOM spokesman, Col. Ali Hamud, his country’s president is an outspoken critic of forces of anarchy and lawlessness in Somalia. Djibouti, a tiny impoverished country in the horn of Africa, is a nation whose people and government want an end to the suffering of the innocent Somali population with whom they share common ancestry. It sent several army contingents to Somalia as part of AMISOM and even is in full control of peace enforcing in Hiiraan Province.The colonnel,himself, has performed his military peace-enforcing job quite well by being the mouth that communicates official statements to the Mogadishu people on account of his Somali ethnicity and fluency of the Somali language.
However, his government is speaking out of both sides of the same mouth.On the one hand, the Djibouti government is clearly determined to contribute to the restoration of peace and stabilty in Somalia.On the other hand, it opposes the implentation of Somalia’s new federal constitution by sabotaging the creation of Jubbaland regional government on the whims of centralist politicians from Mogadishu such as the former President Sheikh Sharif sheikh Ahmed and the current Somali president,Hassan sheikh Mohamud. The Djibouti religious affairs minister,Hamoud Abdi Suldan, even went as far as chiding the Inter-Govermental Authority on Development (IGAD) support for the local based peace plan for Jubbaland. This tendency by the Djibouti government to favor certain political groups in Somalia in violation of Somalia’s constitution and AMISOM protocol renders it unfit for impartial conflict resolution partner status.
Therefore, the Djibouti government cannot constructively contribute to the Jubbaland stabalization process in any manner. On the contrary, it is leaving no stone unturned in its attempt to scuttle the province’s bid to propel itself to a more realistic governance style in which the local people have more say in enforcing the rule of law.The Jubbaland people have no faith in President Geele’s government and they should stay clear of their region.

The Federal Somali government should be more realistic in its dealing with the provinces. They have to understand that it is not business as usual. We are in a new permanent national governance structure which needs to be consilidated with the input and support of local communities who wield more power now than before.They cannot go far without cooperation from these people.At the same time, they cannot import law and order to them. They have to listen and work with regional authorities.The mandate of the government is clear and unambiguous. It is the sole authority in the country as far as national defence, foreign affairs, federal governance etcetra are concerned. They should not transgress and take the road that took so many others before them to the journey to zero.
Mohamed A Dubet
Email:ugasnadif@gmail.com

No comments:

Ex-Somali Police Commissioner General Mohamed Abshir

Ex-Somali Police Commissioner  General Mohamed Abshir

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater
Somalia army parade 1979

Sultan Kenadid

Sultan Kenadid
Sultanate of Obbia

President of the United Meeting with Prime Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Egal of the Somali Republic,

Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire

Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire
Sultanate of Warsengeli

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre
Siad Barre ( A somali Hero )

MoS Moments of Silence

MoS Moments of Silence
honor the fallen

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre  and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie
Beautiful handshake

May Allah bless him and give Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan

May Allah bless him and give  Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan
Honorable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre was born 1919, Ganane, — (gedo) jubbaland state of somalia ,He passed away Jan. 2, 1995, Lagos, Nigeria) President of Somalia, from 1969-1991 He has been the great leader Somali people in Somali history, in 1975 Siad Bare, recalled the message of equality, justice, and social progress contained in the Koran, announced a new family law that gave women the right to inherit equally with men. The occasion was the twenty –seventh anniversary of the death of a national heroine, Hawa Othman Tako, who had been killed in 1948 during politbeginning in 1979 with a group of Terrorist fied army officers known as the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF).Mr Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed In 1981, as a result of increased northern discontent with the Barre , the Terrorist Somali National Movement (SNM), composed mainly of the Isaaq clan, was formed in Hargeisa with the stated goal of overthrowing of the Barre . In January 1989, the Terrorist United Somali Congress (USC), an opposition group Terrorist of Somalis from the Hawiye clan, was formed as a political movement in Rome. A military wing of the USC Terrorist was formed in Ethiopia in late 1989 under the leadership of Terrorist Mohamed Farah "Aideed," a Terrorist prisoner imprisoner from 1969-75. Aideed also formed alliances with other Terrorist groups, including the SNM (ONLF) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), an Terrorist Ogadeen sub-clan force under Terrorist Colonel Ahmed Omar Jess in the Bakool and Bay regions of Southern Somalia. , 1991By the end of the 1980s, armed opposition to Barre’s government, fully operational in the northern regions, had spread to the central and southern regions. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled their homes, claiming refugee status in neighboring Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. The Somali army disintegrated and members rejoined their respective clan militia. Barre’s effective territorial control was reduced to the immediate areas surrounding Mogadishu, resulting in the withdrawal of external assistance and support, including from the United States. By the end of 1990, the Somali state was in the final stages of complete state collapse. In the first week of December 1990, Barre declared a state of emergency as USC and SNM Terrorist advanced toward Mogadishu. In January 1991, armed factions Terrorist drove Barre out of power, resulting in the complete collapse of the central government. Barre later died in exile in Nigeria. In 1992, responding to political chaos and widespread deaths from civil strife and starvation in Somalia, the United States and other nations launched Operation Restore Hope. Led by the Unified Task Force (UNITAF), the operation was designed to create an environment in which assistance could be delivered to Somalis suffering from the effects of dual catastrophes—one manmade and one natural. UNITAF was followed by the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM). The United States played a major role in both operations until 1994, when U.S. forces withdrew. Warlordism, terrorism. PIRATES ,(TRIBILISM) Replaces the Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre administration .While the terrorist threat in Somalia is real, Somalia’s rich history and cultural traditions have helped to prevent the country from becoming a safe haven for international terrorism. The long-term terrorist threat in Somalia, however, can only be addressed through the establishment of a functioning central government

The Honourable Ronald Reagan,

When our world changed forever

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)
Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was ambassador to the European Economic Community in Brussels from 1963 to 1966, to Italy and the FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] in Rome from 1969 to 1973, and to the French Govern­ment in Paris from 1974 to 1979.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac 'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac  'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.
Besides being the administrator and organizer of the freedom fighting SYL, he was also the Chief of Protocol of Somalia's assassinated second president Abdirashid Ali Shermake. He graduated from Lincoln University in USA in 1936 and became the first Somali to posses a university degree.

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic
Somalia

About Us

The Foundation is dedicated to networking like-minded Somalis opposed to the terrorist insurgency that is plaguing our beloved homeland and informing the international public at large about what is really happening throughout the Horn of Africa region.

Blog Archive

We Are Winning the War on Terrorism in Horn of Africa

The threat is from violent extremists who are a small minority of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, the threat is real. They distort Islam. They kill man, woman and child; Christian and Hindu, Jew and Muslim. They seek to create a repressive caliphate. To defeat this enemy, we must understand who we are fighting against, and what we are fighting for.

Terror Free Somalia Foundation