Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Time for Professor Galaydh to go

By Osman Hassan

Welcome to a guided tour on Khatumo. And when I talk about present-day Khatumo, it all boils down to one-man show, namely Professor Ali Khalif Galaydh. So expect to him a lot of him for better or worse. For a start, he has a crown. Like the leaders of all the other nameless clan/regional States of Somalia, Professor Galaydh has been proudly donning until now the title of the president of Khatumo. Be that as it may, he runs no country – not that he cares. His nominal kingdom has all the trappings that a State should have: a cabinet, Parliament and a house of Traditional Leaders albeit sans army, police or judicial structures. Thanks to him, and to serve his own personal agenda, all these bodies exist today on paper and are dysfunctional. Some leaders pride themselves on what they have built. For him, it is what he has destroyed.

Cali Khalif
Ali Khalif

Despite his pompous claims to exercise the powers of the Khatumo State, nobody takes him seriously, least of all when everybody can see that his writ does not go beyond his dingy hotel room in Buhoodle. That is where he has been holed for months after secessionist Somaliland militia unceremoniously chased him from several places where he pitched his mobile tents. If he remains in this post any longer, he will be remembered in the SSC regions as the one who made it possible for secessionist Somaliland to extend its occupation to more SSC territory beyond its wildest dreams; and worse as the one who, through phoney treacherous peace talks, willingly legitimised the SSC regions to be part and parcel of the one-clan secessionist enclave.

If he has remained safe thus far from Somaliland militia in his hotel in Buhoodle, it is not because his one-man-show Khatumo State is protecting him, for it has no defence forces to its name. Love it or loathe it, that thankless job is reserved by default for the people of Buhoodle, for Somaliland, once badly mauled in that city and also at Kalshaale, is in no mood to repeat that reckless disastrous mistake again. Far from appreciating this protection and hospitality, this unpopular virtual president occupies himself, from the safety of his hotel bedroom (he has no office) to hatching intrigues for the demise of his own Khatumo State. Not only that but also to divide the inhabitants of the city and set one clan against another in tandem with Hargeisa’s obedient stooge, Suleiman Isse, aka Xagle Toosiye. The game is to unravel the unity of the city that has until now safeguarded its defence and his own. Only then, once that unity is undone, will it be possible, the duo reckon, to facilitate its capture by Somaliland in the same way it did to Lascanod. Too bad for them for the people of Buhoodle are no fools to fall for this trap.

Why then, you may ask, does Dr. Galaydh, who had known better times, should hang around in this underachieving occupation in Buhoodle? As the good doctor would respond, Khatumo is not for him an end in itself but only a staging post for a bigger prize to be won elsewhere when the right time comes. Having given up on Mogadishu and southern Somalia, the Professor who spends sleepless nights craving grandeur, has to stay put contemplating his next destination. Most people in Khatumo can only surmise what he has in mind: it is back to Somaliland and no where else. All the same, his hosts always worry what the mischievous professor is up to.

galeydh-iyo-culusow
Ali Khalif ( Left) and Hassan Sh. Mohamud

Dr. Galaydh is nothing else if not a typical Somali nomad not only in his upbringing but more so in his political propensities and pursuits. Like most other so-called Somali politicians, what drives him is not commitment to ideology nor political persuasion. Clan welfare might be given lip service but only to the extent that is subordinate to his own personal interests. In his own thinking, what serves him well also serves Khatumo, even when they are losers. Like a nomad, he would be on the move when the time has come to do so in search of greener pastures and better political fortunes elsewhere. And as an opportunist par excellence, he would jump at any coveted opportunity disregarding political correctness and decorum even if his approaches might raise disapproving eye brows.

Dr. Galaydh has not always been in the public domain but only came on the stage after the collapse of the Somali State when that offered opportunities for some and disaster for most. That was the time when the clan-based northern rebel insurgents (SNM), taking control of their own clan enclave as well as the Awdal unionist region, organised a meeting in Burco in May 1991 to decide the future of the northern regions of Somalia (former British Somaliland). Dr. Galaydh and few other participants from the SSC regions attended the meeting in their own personal capacities with no mandate from the people of the SSC regions. Needless to say, that meeting as we all recall declared the secession of the northern regions from Somalia.

Even if the SSC people, as traditional leaders, elites, eminent politicians and social groups, have all subsequently and repeatedly dissociated themselves from the decisions reached at Burco, the secessionists had always claimed that the secession declaration was binding on the SSC regions since Dr. Galaydh and others hailing from those regions were party to it – not that such vacuous reasoning makes any sense nor carries any legitimacy. But that is not the point. What matters which reflects on his integrity is that he signed up to the break-up of Somalia. Is that because he genuinely embraced the secession and the break-up of Somalia?

His answer to this question was affirmative while he was in the secessionist enclave. Or, to be charitable to him, was he still deep-down a unionist while in Burco who merely saw the secession as the only game in town, after the collapse of the Somali State, where he could possibly land a big post until order and stability returned to Somalia?. Hi answer again is affirmative once he left the secessionist enclave having failed to get the post he coveted. What this amounts to is that changing his colours like a chameleon to blend with his surrounding environment as fits the situation is the professor’s distinguishing trait. He would show the appropriate colour depending on his location and what audience he is addressing- Hargeisa or the SSC.

Once he failed to get his prize at the subsequent Borama conference, the nomad, the opportunist, quit and turned his back on the secession and Somaliland and try his luck elsewhere in conferences organised for Somalia. Having first identified with the secessionists, he had to put on the unionist colours next time when he had to attend the Arta conference in Djibouti where he landed the post of the Prime Ministerial in one of those transitional governments cobbled outside Somalia. That did not last long and for several years he was in the political wilderness focusing on his private business.

What is interesting to note is that he had all along shown no interest in the SSC liberation struggle against the occupiers and if anything distanced himself from it. He jumped on the bandwagon belatedly when the struggle was already in full wing under the banners of the twin organisations, the NSUM and the SSC Hogaan. Due to the Professor’s opportunist manoeuvrings, both organisations had to be folded up to give way to his six-member group, better known as G6, who led the formation of Khatumo State of Somalia at Taleex in January 2012.

As he planned all along, he ended up as the president of Khatumo in August 2014. Most people belief that the outcome of the struggle against the occupation would have been a different story today if the NSUM/SSC Hogaan strategy was followed, namely focusing on unity and liberation rather than pursuing the professor’s fruitless and distracting approach – calling for deepening and extending his administration when it controlled no territory. The NSUM SSC strategy and approach are as valid and necessary today as at anytime before. It is never too late to adopt them but not possible while the professor is around.

The State of Khatumo rested on three institutional pillars: the executive branch, Parliament and the Traditional Elders Chamber. The liberation of the occupied SSC regions through the unity and resources of its people was the raison d’etre for the formational of Khatumo. Unity, resources and liberation in that order are critically interdependent to end the occupation and sustain Khatumo. But the Professor has ensured in words and actions that none is optimally realised if not negated. The main casualty has been the goal itself, namely the liberation. Explanation of the Professor’s perverse conduct has been aplenty.

For one thing, aversion to any challenge to his whims is said to be ingrained in the Professors autocratic streaks. Others would add a more sinister motive and say that the Professor had deliberately created the present moribund state of Khatumo to establish the necessary environment in which the will to resist the occupation and secession would be dissipated. Having more or less achieved this prerequisite, the professor has unilaterally accepted unconditional talks with Somaliland, by-passing all the other Khatumo institutions and even key members of his government.

The Professor justifies the talks by claiming ludicrously that Somaliland had agreed to meet Khatumo at the negotiating table as equals (more often than not, they talk of the eastern regions at last surrendering). But his much-vaunted, lip-service, equality, which is only meant to make us swallow the bitter bill, is meaningless and empty when in reality there is no equality between the victor and the vanquished. No matter how cleverly he packages it, he cannot pull wool over the eyes of our people and betray all the sacrifices they made all these years at Kalshaale and elsewhere. Does anyone seriously expect the victors to give away their hard-won achievements at the talks? Of course not.

What abut the fundamental substantive issue which is the occupation? This is where the good professor is often non-committal and perhaps for good reason. The point of departure for everything, which needs to be settled prior to any talks, is that Somaliland, a part of Somalia, is illegally occupying another part – Khatumo regions. Their withdrawal therefore is obligatory and non-negotiable before we can talk about bilateral relations between two parts of Somalia within the framework of Somalia (and no relations outside Somalia unless we are joining the secession). That should have been the condition to the talks: withdrawal first. What we have agreed to instead is the opposite which is to make our freedom (from occupation) subject to negotiation when it should be non-negotiable. Once we agree to that, we are expected by outsiders (above all the international community) to give ground in order to reach a compromise. The professor says disingenuously that we can always leave the talks if we don’t get our way. But we won’t get our way because we know where they stand and that won’t change. Agreeing to the talks therefore is a loss for us and the first gain for Somaliland.

A second loss for us, and a gain for Somaliland, is the possible adverse change to the perception of the international community who might see our problem with Somaliland as one of minor grievances as Somaliland always portrays it, and not an existential fundamental one regarding our existence and freedom from other’s illegal occupation. The third loss for us, and again a gain for Somaliland, is all the inevitable disarray and division that would result from these lopsided talks, a process already underway since the Ainabo talks.

The Professor will say let us test their readiness to withdraw from our lands at the talks. By doing that we have nothing to lose, he would add. We have been asking them to withdraw all these years since they occupied Lascanod and all they did was to extend and deepen the occupation. What makes him think that they would change their mind at the negotiating table and withdraw their forces, unless of course we agree to join them and secede? Is this the undeclared understanding between him and them? The intellectual arrogance of the Professor that his people are either stupid or gullible to take in all this nonsense is simply mind-boggling.

Cynics and conspiracy theorists abound among Khatumites, and there are many who claim that Professor Galaydh has always been Somaliland’s man. All those chase after him in the bush, some will cite, were merely theatrical shows meant to make him look, in Hargeisa’s parlance, like a Mujaahid, in order to enhance his electablity as president. And indeed that is what happened. Whether true or false is a moot point, but the important underlying question is how little confidence or credibility his people have in him which can give rise to all sorts of mistrust. Any other leader in such a situation would have quit for the sake of his people and make way for any another to sort out the mess. That would be asking too much from Dr. Galaydh who puts his interest above anything else. His certainly very unpopular in the SSC regions but he can take heart to know that he is popular in Hargeisa where they can hardly suppress their glee about his expected return, openly hailing him as one of their founding fathers coming back again to the fold. Hallelujah!!

Khatumo might be weak now, thanks to Dr Galaydh’s perfidy. But with a different leader, it will spring back to life and revive and resume the liberation struggle, this time with a momentum that should drive away the occupiers. In the meantime, the people of Buhoodle are going through a bad draught and normally would ask Allah for rain. This time, they are praying Allah for Dr Galaydh’s departure from the SSC regions. They reckon they can survive the draught but not Dr Galaydh’s continued stay in their midst. All I can say is that may the Merciful answer their prayers. Amin.

Osman Hassan

Spokesperson, the Occupied SSC Regions
Osman Hassan
email: osman.hassan2 @gmail.com
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Osman Hassan is a seasoned journalist and a former UN staff member. Mr Hassan is also a regular contributor to WardheerNews.


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