Ominous January!

While most of the students had been on the school yard during the recess, suddenly, the school bell rung before the end of the break, all students rushed to their classes, when I and classmates returned hustling each other to class, one of our teachers who seemed perturbed told us to go back home with out giving reasons. I and my friends nipped out of the school and headed to our respective homes, on my way home I could see terrified people standing outside their houses, artillery gun shells could be heard across Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia where I was dwelling.

It was january 1991

When I came home, some of my family and my neighbors were assembled outside our house, they were effusively applauding and ululating to an armed clan faction called USC (united Somali congress) that was battling with Siyad Bare’s elite red helmeted troops in the city, some of them were chanting “death to big mouth”, “Let him vanish and we would live peace and prosperous life after him”. But my uncle was not enthusiastic to USC militias, he was an old man who lived under the different systems that reigned Somalia since independence, he was boisterously saying to them “who comes and who goes is a trivial matter, since USC has no clear agenda to rule this country and are dominated by one clan, I envisage a dark future”. All those who lived in our village similar to most of Somalis have been vociferously supporting the armed guerrilla fighters whose members emanated from Hawiye Clan, they contended and tried to convince him (my uncle) that the stark situation they live economically and politically would end if USC defeats Siyad Bare and his henchmen, but my uncle won’t budge.

Although I was a child, but I could understand most of what has been going on. A fierce fighting between the remnants of Somali’s military forces and USC militias has been going on in the downtown; the roar of heavy artillery shells echoed the whole city. The first time as a small kid, I heard a pullet was –I can’t recall the day and month-when soldiers guarding the house of ex-minister late General Adan Gabyow clashed with government soldiers, Gabyow’s residence, a two- story house was situated near to our house, we were terrified by the bullets exchanged by these two government soldiers one defending late General Gabyow and the other mandated to arrest him. Also I was aware of that Somalia and its archenemy Ethiopia fought in all-out war in 1977 that resulted many Somali soldiers to fall on the hands of Ethiopians and consequently being held captives for many years , I used to read “Xidigta Oktobar” newspaper published by the ministry of information where my Dad had been working, I recall one day a relative of mine came to our residence informing us that another relative who was a Somali war prisoner held by Ethiopia during 1977 war has been released, I found his name on the list of freed prisoners on "Xidigta Oktobar". I was told that Ethiopians held Somali prisoners in an underground prison.

I was also aware of that starting from 1989 many Somalis from northwestern Somalia had been fleeing from their houses and coming to Mogadishu, pupils from Northwestern Somalia were joining our school to pursue their studies since Mogadishu was safer at that time. I reminisce one of them joined our class at Dhame Yasin intermediate School, in Medina, Mogadishu. He was conversing to us a different dialect used by northwestern, he was a nice guy. During literature subject -one of the school subjects- he was an active participant. He used to sing Somali songs while I barely knew a single song. One day he sang “jammaaday, jammaaday ubax jacel aan mooda. Intu jilibka ii dhigay I jibaaxay anigee”

When the fighting intensified, our family decided to send us to the remote areas especially the countryside in Lower shabelle region where my distant family lived. We started our journey and took a circuitous route; we walked on foot 30km between Mogadishu and Afgoye. On the road, while we were traveling to Afgoye we come across several government troops taking positions in the bush, but none of them was harming the travelers, after little rest and gulped little water we continued our journey and traveled on bus to Merka town, 110 km south of Mogadishu.

Months later I returned to Mogadishu after siyad Barre has been toppled, every one was armed, even those of my age who we played together. after Siyad left Mogadishu residents rampaged to the military barracks and every one took arms and ammunition as much as he/she could, clans begun to fight each other. Before that, all people in our neighborhood regardless of Clan identity lived in unison, I and my fellow neighbors have been playing football together, attending Quran school together and shared bad and good alike, no one in our village menaced the other for clan identity.

Targeting houses of fellow tribesmen and looting their propriety started, any one from targeted clan was either killed in a cold blood or escaped to his clan’s constituency. Words like Bililaqo(looting) and Isbaaro (checkpoint) preoccupied everyone’s mind. Young guys installed checkpoints on the streets and Forcefully take the belongs of Pedestrians ,they killed their preys if their demands are not met.

My school turned into a graveyard where innocent residents killed by marauding militias and their killers like notorious Yusuf Qadhob were buried alike before its refurbished years later.

Somali people’s ambitions to live in peace and coherence have been shattered by warlords, warmongers and clan strives and the country is plunged into anarchy and mayhem.

After 19years, the last Ethiopian soldier left Somalia and somali factions are jockeying for power, they are fractured and might engage in deadly confrontations. I call on all feuding parts and clans in Somalia to put their differences a side and come on the round table to salvage our country. Enough is enough…. Let us unite and rebuild our beloved country.

These are Somali news sites, shame!!!!

One of widely visited Somali news sites published today a breaking news titled "US supports a new Somali president to be elected in a national reconciliation conference in which all-inclusive government would be established” a press release from American embassy.

The body of the news which I roughly translated into English says ”US government said that the upcoming Somali president should be elected in the Djibouti conference. In a press release issued by the US embassy in Nairobi, has been declared the position of American government towards the peace process in Somalia. In the press release the US government welcomed the peace process in Djibouti and the formation of a national reconciliation government. In the press release US government also called upon the alliance for re-liberation of Somalia Djibouti wing to submit the list of the 275 new members of the parliament coming from the alliance, the deployment of the attending delegations to Djibouti conference would bee airlifted starting from tomorrow. The press release in English is here below:-"

Good morning-I’m looking to establish who among the Somali media outlets has correspondents in Djibouti. We’d like to be able to work with them when we’re in Djibouti, especially in the context of the TFG-ARS talks. If your outlet has anyone in Djibouti, I’d appreciate the person’s name, phone number and email address so I can be in touch with them.
Thanks and regards,
Mark
Mark Zimmer Somalia Affairs U.S. Embassy Nairobi http://somalia.usvpp.gov/ this message is UNCLASSIFIED based on the definitions provided in E.O. 12958

Firstly, no one can understand what the website under question really meant this news; they talk about the support of US to Djibouti conference. What is the conference? Is it the conference between the TFG and ARS that concluded in Djibouti? Or it’s a new conference? No one knows.

Secondly, if you read the statement mentioned above in which the news site says is the original statement from US embassy in Nairobi is a correspondence between some one called Mark Zimmer, from -as he claims- Somalia Affairs U.S. Embassy Nairobi, who asks a non identified person to help him find any one in Djibouti who can guide him during his stay in Djibouti, so where is the press release, or they think that Deception, and misleading news will crown them journalists.

So there is no press release from US embassy, I don’t know if American embassy’s press releases are written like this, good morning and hi. What a shame!!!

please read even if dont read Somali you will see and hopefully read the english words there, in wich they say is the press release from US Embassy in Nairobi

this is the link of the news in the Somali site

Somalia:Clan card played in Islamist showdown

When Islamic courts union has taken the control of large swathes in southern Somalia in June 2006, I was a virulent critic of these loosely allied Islamist factions, not that I was against their intentions of pacifying the country and restoring peace and order but that they have been less qualified and ill-prepared for reigning a country like Somalia in terms of the administrative experience of their leadership, lack of hierarchical authority and ideological differences that I thought could trigger future infighting, but many Somalis have been delusional to take my concerns seriously. Union of Islamic courts embodied many factions and personalities with different ideological back grounds. when the news of the fierce fighting between militias loyal to the defunct Islamic courts union and those of Alshabab Al-muajahid in Bal’ad in middle Shabelle region, reverberated across the country, it seems that many Somalis suddenly had a strong feeling of déjà vu.

The fighting started early in the morning on Saturday in the town of Bal’ad just 30 km north of Mogadishu when militias loyal to Al-Shabab and union of Islamic courts union clashed in one of the deadliest infighting between former Islamists allies Al-shabab and UIC, at the beginning Al-shabab fighters have been dislodged from the town and it fall on the hands of UIC, but later in the day al-Shabab fighters after getting reinforcement managed to regain the control of the town, 2 people were reportedly injured and 4 others sustained injuries.

This infighting came a day after, when sheik Abdirahman Janaqow- a top leader of Islamic courts union and the secretary general of the alliance for re-liberation of Somalia Djibouti wing, accused Al-shabab of attacking and destabilizing the peaceful areas of Somalia like Ceel-Garas,Guraceel,dhuusa mareeb and beledweyn in center Somalia, he said while addressing to a congregation in a mosque near Lafaweyn Hotel in Mogadish that Al-shabab militia are attacking towns and regions with a local authority set up by the elders of these areas as they(Al-shabab militia) solely have the writ to rule. He also vehemently dismissed accusations levied on his group that they derailed the struggle to liberate the country from Ethiopian occupation and allied with what Al-Shabab call the enemy of Allah.

Janaqow alleged that Al-shabab are not interested in Ethiopian forces to quit Somalia as they claim, he said “while Ethiopians are leaving they attack their barracks to disrupt their imminent withdrawal by saying we let them quit Somalia by force, why they force them withdraw while they are leaving Somalia” .He said the presence of Ethiopian Troops inside Somalia is their raison d’etre

Janaqow also for the first time -since Al-Shabab declared their secession from the mainstream Islamic courts union when the later allied with opposition members of Somali parliament who resigned their posts and formed the alliance for re-liberation of Somalia in Asmara Eritrea-accused Al-Shabab of venality when he said they take photos of those of killed in the confrontations between Ethiopian troops and put on the websites to get funds from others whom he did not mention.

Janaqow also outlined that Al-Shabab are camouflaging under the banner of Islam by quoting verses from the Quran with out depth knowledge for ulterior agenda

Janaqow literally said “their leaders came from other regions while they escaped their respective regions and could not dare to return, they have been welcomed by the people of Mogadishu but unfortunately they kill the people with out reason”.

The spiritual leader of Al-Shabab labeled Sheikh Sharif’s Group renegades in an audio speech published on the site of Al-shabab on the World Wide Web after he said they allied with the transitional federal government and collaborated with the international community in which he accused of fueling the internecine in Somalia.

In the long term, the two main Islamist factions and their affiliates would jockey fro power after Ethiopian withdrawal if happens, both groups already started to wage a propaganda and military war against their rivals.

In these propaganda and military war, the rumps of Islamic courts union led by Sheikh Sharif will fight on these levels;

-At clan level; the top leaders of Al-shabab emanated for Somaliland, bay &Bakol region and Putland, and those who paid and still pay the highest price of the deadly confrontations between Ethiopian troops and Islamic insurgents are from Hawiye -one of the four main clans of Somalia, many quasi-liberal Hawiye leaders both in the country and in Diaspora made unsuccessful attempt to convince Hawiye members financing and giving ammunition to Al-shabab to stop their support since their innocent tribesmen are paying the price of these fighting while other regions where Al-shabab leader originate have a relative peace as long as Al-shabab are not active there. Hawiye traditional leaders like the spokesman of Hawiye traditional elders Ahmed Diriye made such allegations but the blatant allegation made by Abdurrahman Janaqow about Al-Shabab’s lack of empathy to Hawiye population in rebuffing all suggestions to stop fighting, flabbergasted many Somalis especially those of Hawiye who effusively supported Al-shabab as freedom fighters dedicated to liberate their country form Ethiopia but Janaqow resorted such well documented clan rhetoric to lure his kinsmen to support Djibouti peace process spearheaded by sheikh Sharif and stop their support to Al-shabab.

-Religion level: sheikh sharif’s group are employing a new strategy to counterattack Al-shabab which usually use Islam and religion card to win the hearts and minds of Somalis and alienate Sheiksh sharif’s group, they started to part take talks hosted by local media and deliver speeches to audience by using religious perspective to argue or challenge Al-shabab, because most Somalis understand most leaders who speak to them religious language more than they understand political language. So, they started to justify their political agenda on religious point of view, like labeling their rivals (Khawarij) or accusing Al-shabab of venality and heresy.

-The support Seikh Sharif’s group get from the international community will give them boast, many Somalis in a civil war crippled country might join them or support them since they have the support the international community and consequently could put an end the suffering of Somalis

In the side of Al-shabb they will play the cards of Security, religion and their formidable force to overpower their rivals

-Al-shabab use security card, as they usually market them selves to sustain their current record in terms of the support they get from Somali folks especially those in Mogadishu and its vicinity, they have a tested record of pacifying towns and regions under their control, Merka and Kismayo are a clear evidence for their lead in security matters when you compare with their rivals.

-Al-shabab will also beef up their propaganda war against sheikh Sharif’s group by using Islam and religion as their lethal weapon to defeat their foe.

-Al-shabab will also use their militia and formidable force in the battle field to get the upper hand as long as they maintain recruitment tactics currently used.

Warlord baptized Islamist

Clan militias loyal to Bare Adan shire Hiiraale-former defense minister of TFG, a warlord and a colonel of ex-Somali national army- are now regaining some ground in Gedo and Bay region in Somalia and are heading to the port city of Kismayo, their former stronghold before they lose this economically and politically strategic town roughly a year ago in favor of Raskamboni camp, one of Al-Shabab affiliated Islamists militias. this come back and resilience comes after they secured the support of Ethiopian military who ushered them to Beled Xawo, Burdhubo, Baardhere towns in Gedo region..

Many Somalis might reacted sarcastically to a cartoon published on the website of the great and veteran Somali cartoonist Amin Amir, but it was the best creative way to predict the coming days and months of Somalia, this political cartoon has depicted the filthy and autocratic prime minister of Abyssinia Melas zenawi having a meeting with some former warlords of Somalia like the loathed Muse sudi Yalahow and Mohamed Qanyare among others, during the meeting Meles addressing to them and Ak 47 rifles on the the round table, said “ you should incept factions with Islamic names, such factions currently have publicly in Somalia” Muse Sudi abruptly with overwhelming enthusiasm responded to this prudent suggestion, by saying “From now on I have Al-yalahow”. His opted name has the suffix (Al), a popular Arabic word that comes before the names like Al-shabab and Al-mahakim. Malas zenawi has put forward this heartfelt and generous suggestion to his former allies to re-operate in the political scene of Somalia because factions with Islamic names could easily win the hearts and minds of Somalis in terms of recruitment and financial support.

Muse Sudi seems to be insular and amateur when you precipitously compare with Bare Biraale, he (Muse Sudi) is hitherto using his last name (yalahow) that symbolizes clan favoritism and subsequently could not win the support of All Somalis but Bare Hiiraale scored a new record in putting Melas’s suggestions in to action. While addressing to the people of Bardheere in Gedo region after his militias propped up by Ethiopian forces have taken the control of the town, he outlined that he knitted to Ahlu-suna wal Jamai, a traditionally non violent group which is archetypal suffi sect of Islam that most of Somalis adhered before wahabist clerics schooled in Saudi Arabia in 80s and 90s dominated the religious life of Somalis. Its worth mentioning that local and international media speculated that Ahl-usuna group confronted with Al-Shabab in Guri’el town in central Somalia but the reality is that who has battled with Al-Shabab were not Ah-lu suna but have been clan militias belonging to Habargidir sub clan dwelling in that town.

The deceptive and fallacious allegations made by Bare Hirale that he is fighting under the name of Ahlusuna wal jamia is a well-organized strategy architected by circles with in Addis Ababa aiming at rejuvenating the notorious and ruthless warlords like Barre Hirale to counter Al-shabab Islamists after their imminent departure. By having a more acceptable title with Islamic features, Bare Hirale is replicating the tactics of A-lshabab which is to recruit fighters on the name of God and Islam. In his address to the people of Bardhere, he called upon the people to gather in Sharkole base in the town to register by uttering “ The responsibility shouldered by Ahlusuna wal jama followers is that every one of us old, famous cleric or youth should go to the suggested location to join our militia, we, Ahlusuna wa jamia our flag is hovering over us, symbolizing both our Somali republic and our group Ahlu sunna wa al jama, every one should know that Ahlusuna Wal jamia is from now on in control of this town”.Bare also commented that they arrived at the town to dislodge Al-shabab Islamists.

Bare, has been controlling Kismayo in lower Jubba region, 500 km south of Mogdishu before his militias have been routed out by the gruesome and well organized militias of Al-Shabab particularly Raskamboni Brigade, he never alleged that he is Islamist albeit he is Muslim as the rest of Somalis but his untenable new tactic to forward an Islamist agenda will botch the image of Islam and Muslims in Somalia and sends a blatant message to the people of Somalia that their sacred religion has been misused by these Perfidious Pseudo-leaders like Barre Hirale to reach political gains and disastrously causes death and havoc to hundreds of Somalis already overwhelmed by hunger and diseases. Ethiopia is now remote controlling these Ignominious warlords to adorn its Twilight in Somalia

Another warlord who is unabashedly re-branding his vicious rule is the former governor of Hiiraan region adjacent to the Ethiopian border, reminiscing his days in Balatweyne the capital of Hiiraan region before he is ousted by Islamist, Mr. Adan Abdi ise ( Garaso) fervently said to the local media that he is well prepared to retake Hiiraan region and fight with Islamists currently reigning the town. He claimed that he is operating under the helm of Ahlusuna group that he recently joined.by saying “if god’s name is being politicized and religious men are targeted or Ahlusua waljamia’s supporters are attacked we have no option but to fight on the name of Ahlusuna waljamia since it is the widely followed sect in Somalia. If the name of religion is to be used for personal agenda (pointing a finger of suspicion to Al-shabab) we have joined Ahlu suna group and fight under their mandate”.

Pondering to the comments of both abovementioned so-called leaders of Barre Hiiraale and Adan Garaso some one might see;

· These former warlords are making their comeback under their new corporate name (Ahlusuna waljamia) to market them selves since under their real brand name (warlord) and logo “we thrive for the blood of innocent folks in Somalia” they can not sell their products; murder, mass killing, checkpoints manned by marauding militias and instigating clan hatred, their products are designed in Adis Ababa and its raw materials are imported from America, they are stored in giant warehouses in Godey, Feerfeer and Luuq, supervised by vicious Ethiopian army generals. these raw meterials are later manufactured and sold in Somalia by unpaid manpower (Somali youth recruited by the warlords).

· The whole re-branding project is supervised by America under the name of 5GW (fifth generation warfare) after their lack of acumen strategies resulted the radicalization of Somali society. Firstly, the Pentagon and CIA supported and financed former warlords like Mohamed Qanyare and Muse Sudi to capture and handover the alleged Al-Qacida members in Somalia, secondly, after their puppets were defeated by Islamic courts union they shifted their support to spur Ethiopia directly send troops to Somalia and the consequence has been the deterioration of the situation is Somalia from bad to worse. Although America changed its policy towards Somalia due to the impracticality of their strategy to contain Islamists in Somalia. Thanks to the ingenious recommendations from think tanks like (the Senlis council) who published a report summarizing the failure of American's covert war in Somalia and suggested to the decision making bodies in Washington to change their policy towards Somalia but unfortunately America is still reluctant to pressure Ethiopia not to repeat its past mistake by taking to account its ramifications to the region as a whole.

· Somali people are still cheated through the usage of fraudulent entities like among others; Al-Shabab and Ahlusuna Al-maxakim and clan to perpetuate their predicament, so they should take sound but peaceful actions to challenge the so-called opportunist leaders and put and end to their captivity.

Ethiopian pull-out will not bring positive change

Somalia, already plagued by rampant insecurity, clan strife and foreign interventions is now plunging into a new era of uncertainty as Ethiopian troops pack up to leave, many observers foretell that Somalia is heading to blurry future at a time that arrays of Somali factions scramble to fill the vacuum which could result anew round of bloodshed in the country. The pessimistic reaction from Somali analysts inexorably reverberated by many Somalis is a challenge to those who believed that Ethiopian presence is the root cause of Somali problems and Somalis will live in prosperity provided Ethiopians vacate.

Colossal challenges are emerging in a country designated to “the worst of the worse” after Somalia ranked number one in foreign policy magazine’s failed states index, Somalia topped the list after scoring the worst record in; Social Indicators, Economic Indicators, Political Indicators. To ferret out the allegations made by many Somali politicians and Islamist opportunists as a rallying cry to recruit fighters or sabotage the transitional federal government, let us analyze these facts;

-Somalis are clan based societies who fight on the relatively scarce resources of their country. Lack of all inclusive government representing all Somalis to run the country through rule of law and allocate the national resources to the various regions and communities of Somalia triggered clan disputes to infiltrate in the government bodies during late 60s till early 1990s, which latter spawned secessionist factions fighting each other after the collapse of the central government 1991.

-Foreign intervention in Somalia has been correlated with factional and clan rifts where every clan or faction resorts to the neighboring countries like Ethiopia when ever it feels its clan agenda has been hamstrung by their rivals to rebalance the equation. According to the records of the past 17 year, many Somali factions or clans have been emboldened to foreign intervention when the belligerence from their fellow Somali clans or factions reached at a level that their basic human rights has been violated and could hardly manage to dislodge the marauding militias of the other faction or clan. Ethiopian backing whether direct or indirect became inevitable to their point of view as long as they are denied to live decent life in their neighborhoods, So, Ethiopian intervention is the effect of internal Somali dispute and Ethiopian presence in Somalia would not exist if there is unison between all Somalis to run their country peacefully.

-All regional and international efforts to install a viable and functioning government to Somalia has been mainly foiled by some Somali clans both in the north east and southern Somali whose members flourished during the years of anarchy, they emplaced strong clan-based financial and military capabilities through at least unethical manner. They became cordon ahead of any international and regional effort towards stabilizing Somalia, because they are preoccupied by the notion that they can survive with out government.

-Every clan or faction in Somalia spares no effort to thwart any political break through spearheaded by other rival clan or faction because of the trepidation that its victory will pave the way for forming clan dominated system that might oppress other clans or factions. What happened to Abdulqasim Salad and Abdullahi Yusuf’s presidency are clear evidence for such behavior.

I do believe that Ethiopian withdrawal will not change the critical situation positively in Somalia because there are factors that existed before the incursion of Ethiopian troops to Somalia and would influence decision made by Somalia politicians and factions after the imminent Ethiopian pull-out. These factors are;

· Few virulent and feuding Somali clans have been fighting each other in Somalia through either direct deadly confrontations or through proxy war by supporting rival clans to undermine their counterparts.

· Somalia Islamists’ threats to the neighboring countries and the world might result Ethiopians and other western powers to forge hostile policies against Somalia in a pretext to hunt down Al-Qaeda groups although American administrations’ shock and awe policy failed in Somalia.

In order the political change ushered by the resignation of Abdullah Yusuf and Ethiopian pull out- to be fruitful in Somalia, these steps should be taken into account;

- Rival Somali clans should renounce reciprocated blots and sabotages and compromise each other for the sake of peace and rule of law to blossom in Somalia as well as to put and end the odious debacle in Somalia. If such mischievous behavior does not halt and Somalis did not truly reconcile, Ethiopian pull-out would change nothing on the ground.

- Current Islamists factions should refrain from any negative acts that could fuel further fragmentations with in the Islamists in Somalia

-The time frame of the proposed independent commission of inquiry to investigate the allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity by all sides-as mentioned on the last report of international crisis group- should not be restricted to the post Islamic courts union era but should inquiry crimes committed during 18 years of Anarchy.

Somalia: problems of leadership and irredentism

“Any one can manage for the short term- just keep squeezing the lemon. And any one can manage for the long-just keep dreaming, you are made a leader because someone believed you can squeeze and dream at the same time”

Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, in his book Winning

If you contemplate current Tumultuous situation in Somalia you will see that lack of prudent and responsible leadership is one of the main root causes of current political impasse in this war torn country.

in the post civil war era, Somali leaders are characterized by lack of clear political strategy to effectively run the country and manage the conflicting interest of all Somalia stakeholders. It seems that most of Somali leaders both traditional and political, don’t know what they want when they call them selves leaders, that is to say they don’t figure out exactly where they are going to (political vision). No one of them can portray the political system he envisages and if there is any, he/she does not have behaviors and traits to reach his/her visualized style of governance.

Leadership is not to exchange hatred and abusive comments on the media or display muscles, it has beyond meaning. A leader is responsible of the lives of his subordinates, but in Somalia, the most successful leader is the one who prospers on the predicament of his people and trades on their blood. When you heard Somali leaders both Islamists and non Islamists like Abdullahi Yusuf, Sheikh Hassan Dahir, Mohamed Dheere and Hassan Turki, giving media interviews or attending political talks , you might ask your self if they really have the basics of people management and governance.

They dominated the political scene, preoccupied by clan driven disputes while their militias kill innocent people and lastly ended up in a humiliating defeat like; the experience of Abdullahi Yusuf or behind bars like Mohamed Dheere who has been arrested by Ethiopian forces in Mogadishu after they raided his head out in KM 4 junction, Mohamed Dheere, the Cantankerous former Mayor of Mogadishu was held by Ethiopians after years in Somali politics as a militia leader in 1990s to a warlord and governor of middle Shabelle region and eventually the mayor of Mogadishu. But many analysts believe his arrest is politically motivated masterminded by his foe with in Nur Ade’s government.

One might say recklessly I want a political system based on democracy but if you contemplate his behaviors are stained with clan favoritism, Grandiosity, lack of integrity and oppression that contradict his claims about democracy. Other might utter that he is determined to impose Islamic rule in Somalia but unfortunately he and his group have dim knowledge about Islam that qualify them to be tolerant and read well the socio-political situation of Somalia as well as world policy.

In a letter to the diaspora, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative, said that there is an “emerging consensus that ultimately your country’s problems stem from the absence of accountable and committed national leadership, I am confident that progress is being made towards a situation where responsible leadership will have friendly relations with its neighbors, and smooth integration into the international community.”

This testimony from this veteran diplomat echoes similar confessions made by most of Somalis that their destiny is hijacked and held hostage by these notorious leaders who some times tacitly collude with foreign powers to destroy the country. One of the most absurd behaviors they show is the provocative and inattentive comments they make against neighboring countries that backfire the country, especially irredentist claims over Somali inhabited regions in Kenya and Ethiopia and threats against these countries. Somalis under Ethiopia and Kenya administration- though they suffer oppression and marginalization –live in relative peace, and Somali irredentism will only exacerbate the debacle in Somalia.

Peace to prosper in Somalia current Somali leaders should show patriotism, dedication and political commitment or retire to be replaced by young and educated leaders before they end up in disgrace or on foreign jails, also Somali irredentism remarks should be stopped at this critical moment at least at the official level, not to give our enemy a chance to perpetuate our suffering.