Friday, March 29, 2024
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DEFENDING SOMALIA: THEN AND NOW

By Adan Makina & Faisal Roble

Editor’s note: About 96 years ago (December 20, 1920), Sayid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan lost his war of liberation against multiple imperialists, and succumbed to illness due to malaria and eventually died somewhere in Iimay.  But his war did not end in vain.  Almost 40 years after he died, Somalia became an independent country ending one form of colonialism thereby uniting two of its protectorates. Regrettably, Somalia has gone back in time and once again fall into a soft trusteeship where its affairs are run by foreign powers.  Following is an article that travels in time but at the same time looks forward in the struggle to defend Somalia.

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Yesteryears’ Defense Plan

The defense of Somali territories from imperial foreign aggression had been in progression for centuries mainly by courageous Somali men and women who were committed to safeguarding the dignity of their people, their faith and their pride regardless of the mighty firepower of the invading forces. In oral and recorded history, Somalis have always been in the forefront of deterring all sorts of foreign instigated belligerence on their lands. A case in point is the revered and Herculean Somali Imam Ahmad Ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, better known to Somalis as Ahmed Gurey (Ahmed the left-handed) who, in the 16th century, ferociously fought against the powerful Abyssinian antagonistic forces and subjugated the only African Kingdom that had never been colonized by European imperial powers before and after the Scramble for Africa. Abyssinia, as Ethiopia was called at that time, was ruled by a powerful king whose name was called Galawdewos (Claudius).

ahmed_gurey_mogadishu_monument
Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi

The meritorious Imam Ahmad who was a ruler over the State of Adal, conquered the central and southern regions and even further up to the highlands of Abyssinia, thereafter,  leaving behind a trail of destruction in his onslaught against the Solomonic dynasty that had been a thorn in the eye of the volatile and combative Somalis. To add insult to injury, Imam Ahmad succeeded in his efforts of converting many of Galawdewos’ subjects to the Islamic faith.

Another legendary Somali figure who stood up for Somali national integrity was Sayid Muhammad Abdullah Hassan—a man who was pejoratively named ‘Mad Mullah’ by the British colonial government in northern Somalia. Arriving in Berbera after performing the Islamic pilgrimage in Mecca in 1895, the Sayid, feeling displeasure at the sight of foreign occupation forces in his motherland, took to preaching fellow Somalis on the significance of a unified Muslim brotherhood devoid of clan affiliation. In 1899, the Sayid created a formidable force that he named the Dervishes. Fighting vigorously for two complete decades against a combination of Ethiopian, Italian, and British forces, the Sayid’s invincibility came to an end when British jet fighters that had just returned from World War I operations catapulted from Yemen on December 19, 1919 and carried out aerial bombardments that caused great destruction to his military prowess and political ambition for united Somali territories.

Once the Dervishes were defeated mainly because of both internal sabotage by reactionary forces as well as by a tripartite force including Ethiopia, Great Brian, and Italy, Somalis never stopped defending their land through armed means.  Cases in point are the post-Sayid resistances put up by Olol Diinle, Garaad Ali Garaad Kooshin, Hassan Barsame, Hawo Tako, Sheikh Bashir, Farah Omar, and Garaad Makhtal.  In short, the history of the Somali people are more than anything­ and that is the struggle of defending their territories from outside invasions.

Between 19940s and1960s, the struggle for defending Somali territories moved into a more organized systemic struggle.  A case in point is the political struggle waged by organized political parties that included the Somali Youth League, Somali National League and Somali National Front.  These groups had one common goal: to protect the Somali territories and deliver on the promises enshrined in Africa’s decolonization objective.  That was then; but our present day challenges are more complex and require a concerted national conversation.

Does Somalia need a National Defense Plan (NDP)? 

With the destruction of Somalia’s central government due to one of the most destructive civil wars, the country is for all intents and purpose under a form of an international mandate.  Its politics, economy and governance both globally and locally are managed, or manipulated, by a Faustian group of nations most of whom do not have the country’s interest at heart.  From England, that had never done Somalis right since the19th century to neighboring countries that have their own strategic interests, Somalia is defenseless in the hand of what is euphemistically  called “Somalia’s international partners” that dominate every facet of  the country’s life today.

Owing to a complex document called the “New Deal” drafted by these countries and several other active EU members, Somalia’s affairs are run as a protectorate, where every facet of her civic, economic and military affairs is financed, managed and manipulated by non-Somali agents. United Nations country representative, Mr. Michael Keating, along with several Western Ambassadors, and a host of operatives representing frontline countries are key players. Most of important decisions, especially when Somalis fail to make decisions, matters are mediated by a joint session of these entities.  Just like colonial days, most of important decisions for Somalis are made not in Villa Somalia but in foreign capitals some of which have historically been hostile to Somalia.

There is a widely shared sense among Somalis that their country’s resources are being looted, the oceans are being exploited, and their territorial boundaries are being violated.  These are the same political issues/resources that led foreigners to invade Somalia – to subjugate Somalis or pillage their resources.

In the past, the method Somalis opted for to defend their country was through a time tested armed struggle.  From Ahmad al-Ghazi to Sayid Muhammad Abdullah Hassan to several regional resistances, Somalis died in defense of their land.

Of course, today we have Al-shabab claiming to defend the country. But its ideology, preferred radical religious method that sanctions the beheading of innocent civilians of all nationalities, or the  political affiliation it has with international terror networks such as Al-Qaeda are wrong, criminal by design and hurtful to Somalis most often than not.  The question remains whether any form of defending Somalia is, if not at hand, in the horizon.

As we have seen repeatedly, neither the current executive branch nor the clan-based legislative body that is so tainted before it is seated, not to mention its subservience to foreign interest agents, seems to be the right prescription in the defense of Somalia. To make matters worse, the nation has yet to produce a unified national voice to conceive workable and practical National Defense Plan (NDP).

Without any reservations, without any fear or favoritism to any group, we cannot say that there is a tangible force in defense of Somalia and its collective interests; we can say that a national conversation is underway albeit embryonic to identify the best strategy to win back Somalia, its institutions, restructure a unified national army and secure its borders.  The current course travelled thus far does not work.  It is time to find out what works for this nation in order to defend its interests as has been done for centuries.

Adan Makina
Email: [email protected]

Faisal Roble
Email: [email protected]

 

 


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