Dr. Ahmed Omar Hashi’s article in Awdalnews is only one among others he recently published in various Somali websites. These are invariably on the same theme, namely the struggle against the Ethiopian invaders of our country. If his message was not contaminated, his deep hostility to Ethiopia’s occupation of Southern Somalia and the incalculable suffering it inflicted on the Somali people would have struck a deep chord among all Somali patriots. Unfortunately, he is bound to alienate many readers with his channel vision that sees the struggle purely through his narrow, clannish glasses.  

Throughout his articles, Dr. Omar repeats and glorifies ad nauseam the struggle being waged by the Hawiye and the final victory awaiting them to take over Somalia. It sounds as if they alone embody Somalia and its destiny, and as if all other clans were insignificant extras. His loathing for Ethiopia and his unbridled hatred for what he calls its Darood collaborators are singled out for for frustrating the “resurrection of a Somali state under the determined Hawiye”. As he makes it clear throughout his article, his crude trumpeting of the Hawiye cause is merely a Trojan horse for a Habar Gidir hegemony over Southern Somalia. 

Dr Omar’s clannish mindset, though sadly endemic in Southern Somalis, is something one would not have associated with a learned doctor as he claims. Alas, the transmission of the virus of clan hatred in Somalia, and more so Southern Somalia, is a top-down process, afflicting those at the top of the clan pyramid and trickling down to the ordinary masses at the bottom. With his gloves out, Dr. Omar does not pull his punches as he goes on the attack against the Darood; and to a lesser extent the Abgaal (Hawiye) who are deemed to be an obstacle to the Habar Gidir aspirations 

Dr. Omar’s diatribe can best be responded to by asking and answering the following questions: Who was responsible for the collapse of the Somali State, the failure to revive it to the present time and the consequent displacement and disintegration of its people?; who was responsible for the Ethiopian invasion?; who are the Ethiopian collaborators against whom he inveighs?; and, finally, what kind of Somalia does one foresee after the Ethiopians leave, by force or on their own accord?. These are the issues I will address in the following sections. 

1. Who is responsible for the collapse and continued failure of the Somali State?

While Dr. Omar stridently lashes out at all and sundry, except the Habar Gedir, he said nothing, for obvious reasons, of who was responsible for the collapse of the Somali State in 1991 and why it remained moribund ever since despite all the 14 or so international initiatives? 

Siyad Barre might be responsible for the fall of his government but not for the collapse of the Somali State. For better historical comparative analysis, nothing is more instructive than the contrasting fortunes reaped by Somalia and Ethiopia subsequent to the fall of the two dictators that ruled them until 1991.These differing fortunes- where the state completely collapsed in the case of Somalia, and where in Ethiopia there was merely a regime change and the country moved on forward thereafter from strength to strength- can only be explained by the driving missions of the leaderships that grabbed power from the equally detested dictators ruling the ancient regimes in the two countries.  

For Ethiopia’s insurgents under Meles Zenewa, upholding the national interest and maintaining law and order and the state were their predominant priorities. And so in their case mission was accomplished. For General Aideed and his USC cohorts, dislodging Siyad Barre and grabbing his crown were the sole considerations uppermost in their minds. Unfortunately for him, he was not alone in chasing this prize and was beaten in the race by Ali Mahdi’s timely move, though some would say indecent haste, leaving Aideed to vent his frustration on Somalia to the point of its destruction. As much as General Aideed can rightly be blamed for much of the mayhem in Somalaia, yet Ali Mahdi’s action represents the genesis of the fall of the Somali State. Without his action, we might have been spared all the subsequent human and material disasters not to mention the secession of the North. 

Unlike other deprived and oppressed clans, the Hawiye were the main beneficiaries of Siyad Barren’s economic largesse and also held more than their share in his government. But in the end, nothing short of total economic and political power in their hands was good enough for General Aideed, something now echoed by Dr. Omar in his articles. Towards this end, General Aideed and his USC spearheaded the anti Darood hysteria among the Hawiye masses as a weapon to topple Siyad Barree and chase and dispossess the Darood residents in Mogadishu and in the end sparing no one else from other non Hawiye clans.  

The bestial crimes committed in the process could have been associated with the Hutu of Rwanda or primitive tribes in the Congo, but not with Muslim Somalia. The systematic ransacking and cannibalising of state property; the mindless mob killings, the indiscriminate gang rapes (sometimes inside mosques); and the ruthless ethnic cleansing of the Daroods first and subsequently all non-Hawiye, all these and more could never convey the full picture of the terrible horrors of the period. These were the actions that were responsible for the collapse of the Somali State of which the Darood and all other clans were its victims and not sponsors. Dr Omar seems to have no recollections or regrets. 

Once General Aideed and his USC let the genie of clan hatred out of its bottle, it was impossible to put it back. As they run out of other victims, the Hawiye in Mogadishu turned their guns on themselves in a bitter internecine sub-clan war. The old antipathies towards the Darood were to be replaced by an implacable enmity among the Hawiye clans. Mogadishu has not been destroyed by Siyad Barre unlike Hargeisa, but the Hawiye themselves. The question is no longer peace between the Hawiye and Darood (that enmity is only embedded in few people’s minds like Dr Omar) but how to restore peace among the Hawiye clans.  

Of all the crimes committed in Southern Somalia, however, there is nothing to compare with the famine and oppression brought upon the defenceless Rahanweyn people by General Aideed and his son Hussein. If it was not for “Operation Restore Hope”, initiated by the first President Bush, we would have had our version of a Rahanweyn holocaust. And yet, rather than hold his head in shame and remorse, Dr. Omar maligns President Bush’s humanitarian response as an imperialist venture motivated by the desire to get his hands on unproven oil deposits in Somalia. How much more petulant and frivolous can you get! 

To the best of my knowledge, there has not been a single Hawiye politician or intellectual who publicly came forward and acknowledged their collective responsibility for what they did to Somalia since they overthrew Siyad Barre. On the contrary, just as Mugabe continues to blame the British for his own destruction of Zimbabwe, Dr Omar and his likeminded compatriots would never miss an opportunity to blame others.  

II. Who was responsible for the Ethiopian invasion?

Whether one likes it or not, it was indisputably the TFG which requested and endorsed Ethiopia’s military intervention. Ethiopia, of course, would have intervened anyway with or without TFG invitation. For Ethiopia, a TFG defeat at the hands of the UIC would not only have meant the loss of its hegemony over Somalia but far more damaging would have been its adverse repercussions on its tenuous hold over the Ogaden and other suppressed Muslim nationalities in its empire. Given its weaker military position and the advancing UIC forces towards Baidowa, its seat and the only place under its control in the country, the TFG under threat for its survival was left no other choice other than seek protection from its protégé, Meles Zenew. The UIC did Ethiopia a big favour by providing it the pretext it was eagerly waiting for.  

Rather than choosing total war to a finish with the TFG, the UIC could have continued instead with the negotiations and no doubt an amicable agreement would have been possible that gave them their fair share in the government. The TFG had at the time two years to go, giving way to elections, a new government and a new era for Somalia. Initially, the UIC leadership under Sheikh Sharif Ahmed were receptive to reason and compromise. But after some quick stunning victories and the conquest of large swathes of territory, their mood changed and the temptation to go the whole hog was irresistible. Once hotheads masquerading as Sheikhs, like Yusuf Indhacade, were at the helm, it was only a matter of time before they all went overboard as they did. All this is now history but tell that to Dr Omar and his company who continue to put the blame squarely on the shoulders of their pet hate- President Abdullahi Yusuf  

III Who are the Ethiopian Collaborators?’

Dr. Omar unfairly singles out the Daroods in the TFG as if they were the only Ethiopian collaborators in its invasion, occupation and sole accomplices in the war crimes it committed in Somalia. Admittedly, there is some truth in his assertions, but he goes over the top with his sweeping charges. Far from coming up with earth-shaking revelations to substantiate his thunderous accusations, all he could name is President Abdullahi Yusuf, a target his uses as punch bag to vent his anti Darood venom. His personal attacks with no holds barred will no doubt please some of his simple-minded and like-minded admirers, but it adds nothing to analysing or searching solutions for Somalia’s enduring malaise 

President Yusuf, much as he can rightly be portrayed as a long-standing Ethiopian collaborator, is nonetheless only a figure head in the TFG hierarchy and enjoys limited powers. It is the Prime Minister and his government who constitutionally wield much power, though they too are today nothing more than Ethiopian puppets.  

But if finger pointing is permissible, the” Who is Who” list of Ethiopian collaborators in the TFG, and in regional administrations, like Puntland and Somaliland, clearly knows no clan bounds. In the league table of collaborators among the clans, however, the Hawiye in the TFG and beyond enjoy for better or worse an unrivalled numerical superiority. 

Since the collapse of the government of Mohamed Siyad Barre, Ethiopia’s collaborators were first and foremost from the Mogadishu Hawiye warlords. Almost all of them are presently in the TFG and they still remain active collaborators of Ethiopia. Apart from the warlords, no one could have been more slavishly pro Ethiopian than the former Prime Minister, Professor Gedi.  

Prof Gedi’s s successor, Nur Cadde, another Hawiye (Abgaal), is more refined and likable than Gedi, but he is no fire-brand nationalist by a long chalk. He remains an Abgaal to the bone and his vision may not extend beyond the limits of Benaadir. The rest of Southern Somalia is out of his radar. Forget about Northern Somalia which might be in the North Pole as far as he is concerned. Security and survival have always been the overriding considerations among Somali clans since the collapse of the Somali state but more so the Abgaal. Their psyche is conditioned -and not without reason- by the fear of the Habar Gedir’s predatory and hegemonic aspirations. Under the circumstances, collaborating with Ethiopian has been the best way to keep the Habar Gedir at bay rather jump on Dr. Omar’s Hawiya band wagon and ultimately fall prey to Habar Gedir empire-building 

Going beyond the TFG, there are of course countless collaborators from every clan and region. Cadde Muse in Puntland and Dahir Riyahe in Somaliland are always in a ceaseless race for Meles Zenewi’s favours. Both have gone to the extent of handing to the Ethiopians innocent Ogadeni residents, a sordid trade they copied from the Mogadishu warlords who were contracted by the Americans to abduct for them alleged Al Qeda operators.  

In this day and age, prominent Somalis at every level have only distinguished themselves in their servile loyalty for Ethiopia rather than devote themselves to nation building. When it comes to specific unpardonable actions, some disgraced personalities stand shoulder-high above others: Hussein Aideed’s outlandish call for the elimination of the common border and the adoption of one common passport will go down in Somalia’s history books as our equivalent of Norway’s notorious Quisling. If it was worthwhile being part of an empire, why leave the better British one in the first place; or why did Eritrea has to fight 30 years to seceded from Ethiopia and why are the Ogadenis are now fighting for their liberty paying an unbearable cost in human and material terms?. 

Close to the heels of Hussein Aideed is Professor Gedi, the former Prime Minister. Not one to be upstaged by other pro Ethiopian sycophants, he earned Somalia and its people the ignominy of singing ululations for the raising of the Ethiopia flag on  the occasion of the opening of their embassy in Mogadishu. For an equally Ethiopian admirer and Somali hater (i.e non Isaaks of course), one has to go to northern Somalia and recall Faisal Ali Warabe’s xenophobic outburst that an Amhara boy in Addis Ababa is closer to him than a Hawiye one in Mogadishu.  

So much for collaborators. Nothing is more fruitless than indulging in clan name calling, or trying to score points against rival clans. One has to give the devil his due and acknowledge that Meles Zenawi was right when he recently said that the Somalis can never rise above their clan obsessions- deficiencies that were responsible, he said, for the collapse of their state and the failure to revive it–though of course he is major part of the problem. You don’t need to look further for proof than read Dr.Omar’s articles. 

We are all Somalis and we have collectively much to be ashamed of. What unpatriotic actions in favour of the enemy are committed by any Somali, whatever his/her clan, is a common Somali shame. What Dr. Omar and his types fail to understand is that we have no separate accounts for shame. For Meles Zenewi, the clan card is something useful to him in so far as he is able to divide and dominate the Somalis whom he otherwise sees as easily manipulated, despicable puppets (Soomali qushaash).  

IV What next after the Ethiopian are out?

What ever the misgivings about t the past, Somalis are a very versatile and resilient people who are not given to turn back but look forward. It is their main asset if they have to prevail over their hostile environment. Most have forgiven, though certainly not altogether forgotten, the horrors they experienced at the hands of the Hawiye since the early 1990s. Most hope for a revived, peaceful, democratic Somalia where its people can embrace a spirit of live and let live. All patriotic Somalis also hope that our gallant freedom fighters (Dr. Omar only sees them as Hawiye, though they come from every corner of the Somali inhabited territories) will defeat the Ethiopians and teach them a lesson that will discourage them from venturing into Somali territory ever again (the only sentiment I share with Dr. Omar). These are the silver linings in the cloud. But are they enough to pull us through the Hawiye syndrome that denied us a government and state since Siyad Barre was toppled? The prospects sadly are not promising. 

After 17 years, there does not seem to be much change within the Hawiye mentality at every level. While the rest of Somalis have forgiven them, and went out of their way to accommodate them by giving them the lion’s share in government, parliament and resources, yet for all this good will, there is hardly any quid pro quo from the Hawiye or any readiness to express regret or remorse for what they did to others. On the contrary, as personified by Dr.Omar, it is others who are the bad guys. The recent statement by the Hawiye elders that Mogadishu is theirs alone, meaning the rest of us are aliens in our own capital and have little or no rights, represents a regression from where we were in 1991. It is a slap in the face for the rest of the Somalis who had been desperately and patiently waiting for a positive change forward. 

Even if the Ethiopians are kicked out and the TFG dies its inevitable natural death, the road ahead still remains as perilous as ever. Dr. Omar is envisioning a” resurrection of a Somali state under the determined Hawiye”. That is a common goal of the Habar Gidir and not one confined to Dr. Osman. Where does that leave the rest of us? Quite clearly, no other major Somali clan would accept second fiddle in this kind of Somalia under Hawiye hegemony. The inevitable outcome will be that other clans and regions will be forced to establish their independent regions/countries and that will be the end of Somalia as we know it. For better or worse, Somaliland will have company though that might dissuade the international community from recognizing any one of them (Ironically, it is in the interest of Somaliland’s recognition that the rest of Somalia are together).  

While the rest of Somalia might go their different ways and fend for themselves, the Hawiye will be left to themselves. We wish them luck. But I have a foreboding that their internecine fighting will start from where they left it last time. That is inevitable as long as the Habar Gedir is bent on empire building and others are determined to resist them. God has mercy on them all.  

Mohsin Mahad

Email: mohsinmahad@yahoo.co.uk

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