The
Somali National Movement (SNM) has acquired in its
Isaaq heartland certain adulations; one would say
an exaggerated glorification of its feats almost
bordering on canonization. It would be a cardinal
mistake, an unforgivable gaffe, for anyone who happens
to be in the Isaaq heartland in the North, and who
may not be privileged to belong to that dominant
clan, to raise awkward questions about the SNM that
could be seen as challenging the accepted folklore
among its supporters of its heroic and saint-like
struggle against the regime of Siyad Barre and against
the rest of the Somalis, the non-Isaaqs, who are
collectively dubbed as “Faqash”-whatever that means.
Such
is the reputation of the SNM among the Isaaqs that
almost everyone you meet in the Isaaq heartland
has come to be a Mujaahid, even if most of them
had never seen any military action in their whole
lives or even if they happen to be recent returnees
from the Diaspora living abroad. Just as any male
would correctly claim automatic right to be called
Mister .by virtue of his gender, so is the title
Mujaahid come to be appropriated by almost every
male amongst the Isaaqs, from the street boys to
the political elites. If ever you were to be indiscreet
enough and ask any self-styled Mujaahid how they
came to acquire that title, the instant, almost
reproachful answer is that they had given their
utmost sacrifice for the liberation struggle to
the extent that they had to “drink from their urine”
i.e “Kaadidayada ayaanu usoo cabney”. Once that
crude response is given, it is a signal that your
questioning has crossed a red line and that no more
impudence would be tolerated especially if you happen
to belong to those clans they contemptuously call
“Faqash”. Say no more!!!
The
SNM was not the only armed militia that waged an
armed struggle against the regime of Siyad Barre.
There were others whose names do not easily come
back to memory with the passage of time. But the
warlords who headed them are unforgettable not because
of any good they did but for the doom and destruction
they had visited on Somalia and its people. When
it comes to the champion among the armed militias
and their warlords, surely General Mohamed Farah
Aideed and his USC are unchallengeable. No objective
person will disagree that it was General Aideed
who drove Mohamed Siyad and his regime from Mogadishu
and hence who brought about the end of that regime,
the collapse of government institutions, the most
important of which was the army. Once the army had
disintegrated and vanished away from
everywhere, the SNM had simply came out from its
hiding places in the bush and mountains and took
over Hargeisa and other principal towns in the Isaaq
heartland without firing a single shot. That was
the sweetest of victories. But much of the credit
for the defeat of their enemy is reserved for General
Aideed as he also has most of the blame for the
collapse of the Somali State and its subsequent
absence for the last 14 years.
But
if all the other militias have disappeared from
the scene, why does the SNM continue to maintain
its sway over the Isaaqs in the North? After all,
it is not the first body to struggle for the independence
of the North. Does anyone remember the SNL political
party which led British Somaliland to independence?
Unfortunately, the SNL was synonymous with its leader
and benefactor, Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, and once
unity with the South was enacted in July 1960, almost
all the members of Parliament from the North subsequently
joined the SYL. That was the first manifestation
of the venality and opportunism of Somali parliamentarians
which had continued to plague Somalia until the
overthrow of the Egal government in 1969 and which
has once again reared its ugly head among the new
members of Parliament selected at the recent Somali
Peace Conference in Nairobi. The Isaaqs have always
pointed their finger at the South, bemoaning their
union with what they saw as corrupt and unprincipled
Southerners who allegedly were corrupted by their
Italian masters. Hardly any of them would admit
the fact that when it comes to corruption, there
is no difference between North and South. We are
all together in this shit. You only have to read
in the Somali websites the chorus of complaints
and outcry against the pervasive corruption of the
Somaliland government.
The
demise of the SNL political party did nothing to
boost the barren political heritage of the North
which does not go beyond the early years of independence.
And the years after independence up to the rise
of the SNM have only deepened the sense of bitterness
and negation of all political development and rights.
Who do you turn to? Not the defunct SNL. There was
widespread disenchantment with the regime but
there was no organized institutions .to mobilize
such discontent. It is against this background that
the SNM emerged like a messiah from heaven.
But
it is almost close to 15years since the SNM accomplished
its goal of “liberating” the Isaaq heartland. Given
this long passage of time, why then does it continue
to hold the unswerving loyalties among its Isaaq
adherents? The answer is simple: There have been
no other heroes and only villains in the person
of the Somaliland government. More than anything
else, the “liberation” struggle was one in which
its members were not politicians but dedicated partisans
who sacrificed their time and lives not for any
personal gains but for genuine, idealistic reasons.
Such nostalgic attachments to the SNM are greater
as ordinary people come to moan the shortcomings
of venal, ignorant and corrupt politicians, many
of them former apparatchiks from the regime of Siyad
Barre.
In
revisiting the SNM and its past, there is need for
a sense of proportion. Seen from their blinkered
perspective, there is no denying the fact that the
Isaaqs have much to be proud of. It has “liberated”
their homeland. It was well-organized and well-led.
It did not destroy that many towns in the North
although it did burn some villages, killing many
defenceless civilians. In the country of the blind,
the one-eyed man is the king and so is the SNM when
you compare it with the murderous militias and their
warlords in Mogadishu whose only trade was and continues
to be mindless destruction. But the SNM is not the
saint that its Isaaq worshipers would like us to
believe. The fact of the matter is that the SNM
had killed many innocent people, not of course as
many as other militias and warlords had killed in
the South, but all the same many innocent, defenceless
civilians had been killed for no reason other than
that they belonged to recalcitrant clans who were
not supportive of the SNM struggle . It would be
a rare exception to see any Isaaq person who can
dispassionately look into the SNM’s record and admit
to its incontestable atrocities. How do you explain
this psyche in a society which otherwise is open
and democratic?
A
common denominator among the Isaaqs in the North-West
region of Somalia is their deep-rooted self-pity,
a hang-over from their undoubtedly brutal experience
with the regime of Siyad Barre. They see themselves
as the only victims of that e regime. To them, what
happened to other clans who were equally victims
of that regime, or to victims of the SNM itself
in the North-West Region, are brushed aside as irrelevant.
All that matters is their suffering because they
are special. In their self-righteous, holier than
thou posturing, they cannot see their beloved SNM
committing atrocities. All they can see through
their tainted glasses is the crimes others committed
against them but not the ones they themselves carried
out. Their apparent collective amnesia was understandable
soon after “liberation” when there was need to let
sleeping dogs lie and not stir up the painful memories
that were stiff fresh in the minds of many Isaaqs.
Be that as it may, it is culpable and intolerable
to continue in this delusion after 15 years. When
will this wall of silence crack? When will the SNM
supporters have the humility to admit to their past?
Recently,
one writer had raised in one of the Somali internet
websites the question regarding the crimes committed
by the SNM against civilians and the need for that
SNM to admit to the fact that they had indeed committed
some crimes. This rare questioning has predictably
provoked hysterical outbursts from some of the SNM
supporters. One such protester had an article in
one Somali website. Not only did he deny any such
atrocities but he was gratuitously offensive to
its victims whom he referred to as the “Faqash”.
As he says, asking the SNM to seek forgiveness from
its victims is like asking the Afrikaners in South
Africa to forgive the Africans or asking the Nazis
to forgive the Jews!!!
For
the record, the South African Truth and Reconciliation
Commission had to hear all allegations of all crimes
committed by all those who were involved in the
struggle, whether whites or blacks, and the ANC
were no exception. Indeed, members of the ANC, who
were alleged to have committed crimes against non-combatants,
have admitted to their crimes at the Commission’s
hearings and have unreservedly
expressed their deep remorse to the families of
their victims who were of course white Afrikaans.
Rather
than expressing sorrow for the victims of the SNM,
its supporters invariably add insult to injury by
calling all such victims “Faqash” who deserved to
be liquidated. Such name calling is widespread in
the Isaaq homeland, irrespective of whether it is
held by the man in the street, or top intellectuals
and politicians in the administration of so-called
“Somaliland”.
I
speak as one from the North–West of Somalia who
lost many innocent relatives to the barbarity of
the SNM. And when its supporters call our innocent,
beloved victims “Faqash”, who deserved to be liquidated,
these unthinking, inhuman gestures can only deepen
our already bleeding wounds. This will certainly
win them no minds and hearts among the non-Isaaqs
in the North, in which case Somaliland will continue
to be nothing more than Isaaqland despite all the
pretences to the contrary. On the contrary, it will
further alienate the none Isaaqs, ensuring that
they were right in the first place to keep their
distance from the secessionists and remain in their
regions as proud and patriotic Somalis who belong
to Somalia
It
is the hope of most Somalis that there will come
a time in the near future when those who committed
crimes against the public, whether they belong to
“liberation” movements or simply are despicable
warlords, will have to answer for their crimes.
At best, they may have to be taken to the International
Criminal Court in The Hague. As an alternative,
they could be tried in special courts in Somalia.
As a minimum, they have to appear at Truth Commission
held in our country and seek forgiveness from those
they had violated their fundamental human rights.
In the meantime, is it too much to ask the SNM adherents
and supporters to look themselves in the mirror
and admit that they have blood of innocent victims
on their hands?
By
Mohsin Mahad
mohsinmahad@yahoo.co.uk
UK
