Friday,
July 04, 2008 -
If
you subtract from the years of the civil war, and
warlord based conflicts, and from the last two
years of the brutal occupation of the Ethiopian
forces, which has put the country and its people
into another dark situation, I am not sure if
anyone can count it as a complete years of
independence from the European colonies in 26th of
June 1960 for the Southern Somalia, and July 1st
of the same year for the North. However, despite
the current grievances that can not be ignored;
despite the sorrows and gloomy nightmares that
many mothers have suffered from by losing their
sons, let’s turn our memories back, and reflect
how the situation was forty eight years from these
days. Let’s remember the patriot Somalis who
have fought for that precious independence.
Moreover, let us refresh our reminiscences and
think back that this country, which is now
occupied for political and resource reasons, had
once celebrated its liberty from such powerful
colonies!
Nevertheless, the truth is that situations change
from time to time, and what you had yesterday may
not be available to you today. By the same token,
individuals can not share the same personal
qualities. One may sell his country while another
prefer to die for it. One just wants to be in the
chair of power without thinking who is going to be
under his ruling. One is greedy and selfish while
another one may want to share. For instance, from
these different characters, you can imagine the
character of the thirteen young men and their
colleagues who brought this liberty and freedom to
their country, and fully celebrated it in the
streets of Mogadishu in 1960! In addition, what
result would you get if you compare these men to
the ones that claim “leadership” now? I guess
there is nothing comparable here, but the fact is
that every Somali individual is indebt to these
brave men and women for their struggle to achieve
their dreams of founding a country known Somalia
in July 1st, 1960!
There is no question that there are many lessons
to learn from these five decades that part of it,
Somalis enjoyed a relative peace and stability
until the total destruction of the country in
1991. For instance, what were the main causes of
the total destruction needs to be addressed. There
are two main important issues that have not been
paid attention to them, and these two issues are
luck of justice and vision that those who claimed
the “leadership” position have totally
ignored!
Injustice and its impact on destroying nations is
the number one lesson that can be learned from
where Somalia is today. Not only did this
injustice start after the civil war, but it has
been in place before the civil war erupted in
1991. Many Somalis witnessed in mid 1970s when the
late regime put a number of scholars on the
execution tree, and fired bullets at them. What a
sin have they committed to be executed for? These
scholars simply rejected Marxism ideas, which
rejected the teachings of the revelation, and
specifically, they spoke out against the ruler’s
unjust decree that disregarded the Islamic
perspective of inheritance. Those scholars, may
Allah have mercy on them refused any humiliation
against the consecrated revelation that they have
learned, practiced and taught in their life time,
and eventually preferred to die for it. Some
thinkers within the Somali community believe that
all the catastrophe and destruction that are faced
by Somalis is the outcome of the injustice
execution of those innocent scholars, because the
rest of the society has kept silent, and could not
dare to speak out against what they have observed
from the ruling party.
Another injustice action was taken out in the late
1980s when the entire city of Hargeysa was
bombarded from the air and land respectively. For
instance, the perpetrators of this massacre have
totally taken out their minds that patriot
grandfathers of the sons and daughters of the city
of Hargeysa were those who recognized the
importance of the unity and carefully thought that
this country can only be one, and handed their
liberty to their brethren in the south. The result
of this bloodshed is what has led those in the
northern region to secession from the rest of the
country. In fact, no one else can imagine how the
painful of this bombardment was to the dwellers of
the second largest city of Somalia, and its people
except those who have tested it. And this is one
of the reasons that are behind the whole idea of
separating this region from the rest of Somalia,
and calling it as “Somaliland State.” However,
what strikes people is that some of those who were
behind the bombardment of the city of Hargeysa,
who were supposed to be trailed for the crimes
they have committed against innocent civilians,
are now holding “leadership” position in the
so-called TFG!
Lack of strategic plan and not even examining what
the future may hold is another lesson that needs
to be taken into consideration. This can be seen
as the most serious situation that Somalis did not
care about. However, Somalis have witnessed
so-called “revolutions" that could not come
up with a vision and plan of what they were trying
to accomplish. This problem started from those who
were leading the opposition groups against the
ruling system that was in power from 1969 to the
beginning of 1991. The so-called “leadership”,
who later on turned to a cluster of warlords,
could not even think about what comes after the
ousting of the regime, and failed to prepare for
good governance that can overcome oppressions and
injustices, and replace it with peace and justice.
Despite the fact of their failure, none of them
have admitted any failure.
The same failure and luck of vision came two years
ago when a militant cleric from the ICU, needless
to mention his name, claimed that he will conquer
and pray in Addis Ababa without even evaluating
his capacity to make that possible, and what
consequences that will lead to Somalis. In fact,
this imprudent rhetoric has given a green light to
the one that was looking for an excuse for
invasion of this country.
These are the two ills that Somalis were not able
to heal from them, and find the best way possible
to get out of it. Without justice and clear
vision, Somalis have seen all kinds of suffer;
without justice and forward thinking were the
reasons of the total destruction, and eventually,
that's what led the occupiers occupy this country,
but let’s not despair from the future, and keep
in mind that it’s not too late to reclaim them
back!
Abukar Sanei
Abukar12@yahoo.com
