 |
 |
 |
 |
| |
|
|||||
|
||||||
|
There is also equally disturbing trend of crude negative campaign against anyone perceived of associated with SL’s public personae who are ironically well meaning Isaq groups. Much of the violent campaign is lead by one of the main opposition parties, and as a result, Somaliland entity teeters on the edges of dark abyss right now. In this note, I would like to raise few crucial issues with respect to the current political impasse including state of rampant public character assassination in some quarters, the root cause of the Parliament disruption in relation with the flawed registration process and mystery of the unsolved atrocity that took place few weeks in the Gabiley area. Full-blown Bigotry Machinations As we speak, there are full-blown bigotry propagandas and innuendos spread by a hell bent minority tribal fringes. The said campaign is against anyone who is suspected of associated with Somaliland’s civic life or perceived to be indifferent to the opposition’s myopic calls for violence. It is usually directed at non-Isaqs segments but also increasingly targets many level- headed Isaq groups and individuals. Unlike recent influx from the hinterland or other chronically urban vagabonds, targeted folks are mostly well qualified and legitimate citizens, to say nothing of having every right to belong any political entity or profession at will. It includes entire communities, first-rate politicians, MPs, civil servants and ordinary people, on top of the usual punching bag— Mr. Rayale. Casual usages of “faqash” epithets and other corrupted vocabulary along with veiled messages of “us vs. them” clannish undertones by determined zealots is making headways as if majority of the citizens became aliens in their own soil overnight. Such dehumanization smear campaign has no place in any civilized discourse in the world. It is not an exercise of freedom of expression, democratic rights or civility, as someone erroneously would argue but the opposite is true. The poisonous rhetoric is a serious assault on the fundamental rights of fellow citizens. For one thing, it could have serious impact on person’s social, business and public life in the short-term. And for another, it could lead to violent acts, murder, mayhem and new civil strife among brotherly people. I believe that any political entity implicated in should be accountable its action without exception, be they lost lives or incurred property damages. Note that even the so-called bastion of freedom expression nations like America do not tolerate such thing in their midst. In America, the First Amendment doesn’t protect if someone falsely shouts/ sets off fire alarm in a crowded theater or other similar public settings. The resulting death from the ensuing stampede constitutes a criminal act of no lesser weigh than a Mobster boss who orders his subordinates to trigger the gun and kill his prey. The whole purpose of the obnoxious campaign blitz is to desensitize the moral/rational behavior of the public psyche in order to condone of whatever criminal behavior and other mob acts justified in harming innocent people. The good news is that majority of citizens are puzzled by what they heard so far and rejected to turn onto their neighbors, relatives, clients and innocent by standards for groundless accusations. Nonetheless, many people are not taking any chance. They already started moving back to their own territories in case the tribal hell broke loose anytime (a scenario similar to killing orgies the of ‘90s in Mogadishu and Hargeisa cities), there by disrupting unnecessarily vast number of citizens’ livelihood and business routine. Left unabated the newly concocted demagogy minefield, it could lead something similar to the grotesques killing in Gabiley’s outskirts few weeks. The scene of Gabiley could be the snapshot of what future holds for Somaliland. Horyal Radio pop cast, aka Radio shock for its inherent substandard journalistic ethos, leads the role. For the record, I check it last week for the second time ever after riots in Hargeisa’s streets and I regret much of what I heard: to my horror they were falsely spreading, among other things that all riot police contingents in the city were from Awdal. In other words, these folks calling for open pogrom against certain groups in the streets and full-blown civil war among the communities. Heaven forbid! It goes without saying that much of the vitriol campaign to lead by the Kulmiye’s goon squads and other tribal absolutist veterans within the party. They never shied away from inciting violence against anyone with diverging political view from their myopic ambitions in the past. The scheme has been in place for sometime with limited success, but it is gaining some currency lately due to the frustration of the larger socio-political, diplomatic and economic stagnation of the enclave. These problems are hardly the current regime’s fault. Latest political contention that led to the Parliament closure brouhahas stems from the controversy surrounding on the faulty Voter Registration for the up-coming election, which was basically tainted process from the start. The Sham Process Regardless of whatever objectives were behind or however might be well intended, including fair reps of disfranchised regions in parliament, the process of Voter’s Registration in SL has become as much divisive and fraudulent exercise as it can be. Many folk would like to be thrown in the dustbin and forget the whole notion for multiple reasons, and chief among. (1) Nearly non-existent ID data base of all regions before, not to mention the open and non-existent de facto border. (2) Lugging professional and technical expertise of the people who conducted the task such as the lack of computerized finger prints and biometric identification that led to multiple identity fraud. (3) Authenticity of the project and the policy objectives behind are murky as ever. In any case, an overriding clan interest thwarted any sense of fairness and professional ethos requires for such important undertaking. It started with the EC selection and subsequent manipulation by the opposition parties, though regime has also its share of the blame by delaying the process till the end of its term in office. Though the Commission supposed to be neutral the reality goes in the opposite: members were heavily imbedded in tribal interest of particular groups. Results? An outcome of instant “million magic numbers” in some regions that misleadingly put the demographic growth trends of others in a negative order. Now, you would assume as if people in some areas were breading like rodents while their neighbors were ravaged by cholera epidemic in past few years which is neither true. Obviously clan lenses blinded EC members’ rational instinct. They ignore the fact that in democratic system the best of interest of particular constituents to lie with their respective MPs than far removed, sitting President or in-coming ones. In the midst of such mess and without addressing single democratic principle and fair electoral representation came the parliamentarian brawl mainly instigated by Kulmiye in the pretext of power vacuum. I heard they agreed to extend the President’s term whatever that means, but this does address none of the fundamental, front-burning issues regarding in fair election, semblance of democratic culture and security in any meaningful way. Mockery of Justice The grotesque political killings of four innocent businessmen from Awdal region and the lingering questions on the apparent mockery of justice manifestation after the fact is yet another issue as far as current crises is concerned. These victims were cowardly slaughtered in mid-night attack without warning and on the sole bases of clan affiliation motives. What’s even more disturbing is the cover up or indifference to the tragedy by the political leadership, regime and the Upper House. It is now over two months and plus since the incident occurred with no one accountable to the heinous crime. In other words, the wheels of justice are still grinding to halt for mysterious reasons. The very least Parliament or Guurti could do is to launch a formal investigation to reach the bottom of the case. One would have hoped serious efforts of probe ups in motion since the said incident is a major security breach of Somaliland’s inter-communal peace accord. No such things on the radar screen so far. On the contrary, prominent figures in both Houses seem to be at the center of the sinister conspiracy work. Reliable sources point to Kulmilye’s hardcore and other tribal chauvinists at large. These groups were never shied away from inciting all sorts of violence against anyone suspected of having diverging political view or being obstacle to their narrow-minded clan ambitions. Any notion that authority is some how involved appears convoluted logic since there is no obvious political incentive to do so. Still, it is not too late for the regime and Houses to do the right thing. It will take duty-bound, genuine efforts of all concerned sides to apprehend the criminals and bring some closure to the victims’ families thereby sparing masses from laws of the tribal jungle. One more problem in tandem with the killing is the poor record of SL’s human rights advocates and civic organizations. Public has yet to find a single word referring to the atrocityy issue, let alone condemning the criminal act. “Missing in action” is the only phrase that could describe the deafening silence of these entities. Whatever happened to the advocacy for the liberty and human life mantra we accustomed to hear over the years? Aren’t these organizations supposed to be non-tribal and apolitical bodies all the time? Aren’t they supposed to be voices of the voiceless, instead of pressing convenient political hot bottoms? One cannot help but wonder if there is double standard at work here. To sum up, quasi harmonious co-existent and peace initiatives at grassroots level spared SL from much of the bloodbath situations prevalent in the South. But these good fortunes may be at end and unsettled waters head as political temper tantrum and clannish bigotry spill over in the streets. The general instability of the region reaches unprecedented new level since early ‘90s, on the top the palpable frustration and anger over the lack of true institutional representation and socio-economic equity among communities over the years. There are also intense clan skirmishes and other recent atrocities in Awdal while eastern regions remained no-man’s land over decades. It appears now that both regime and the bunch of greedy tribal parliament to be oblivious to the said injustice and looming disasters. All they care are about non-existent democracy, impeachment, token measures and alien elections. Talks about hypocrisy in its highest order! Mohamed A. Awale E-Mail: moe-awale@hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________________________ We welcome the submission of all articles for possible publication on WardheerNews.com |
