If Qaybdiid is culpable of crimes of genocide, So are Yusuf and all other Somali Warlords!
BY : Shaacir Mataan
October 19, 2005
In as much as it is very important for Somalis in Sweden and elsewhere in the civilized world to seek justice by asking their host nations to prosecute the notoriously known Somali warlords and hate mongers who did awful acts of war crimes during our regrettable civil war times, so must it be even more important for all Somalis to be fair in their pursuit of justice and thus should demand the extradition and persecution of all warlords regardless of their clan allegiance.
If the detention of Abdi Qaybdiid who was recently arrested for such allegations of war crimes in Sweden is so much motivated by not clannish sentiments and animosity but for genuine search of justice, so is it analogous that Abdullahi Yusuf and his cohort warlords, who now hold important positions of leadership and who are threat to the security and stability of Somalia, should also be brought to justice and be persecuted for the already recognized heinous acts of crime that they committed against the innocent people of Somalia.
Some may ask why all the fuss over the arrest of Qaybdiid? It may be a factual thing that Qaybdiid took part the power struggle between Somali clans like every other Somali Official and was probably on the conquering side of the clannish warfare that ensued after USC rebels drove out Siad Barre’s regime out of the country. Did he commit atrocities or gave orders to kill innocent civilians or belligerent rival combatants? That is not the argument here, as Swedish courts and the public will be looking into this alleged act of violence. The fuss is about because the way the arrest was done and the fact that the individuals who sought Qaybdiid’s arrest were doing it for a clannish reasons. These are individuals blinded by Somalia’s clannish loathing and extreme aversion for others who hail from a rival clan. The fuss us about that the biased clannish accusers of Qaybdiid are dedicated supporters of our current warlord-president whose record is as ugly if not even worse as that of the accused Somali police chief. It is simply because of the clannish hypocrisy behind these accusations that is problematic and worrying. This kind of clannish attitude and behavior has become the norm and expectation for certain warlord cheerleaders in the Diaspora. And it must be reigned in before it gets out of hand and creates more division and hatred in our exiled communities around the world.
If people in the Diaspora can go after those who committed atrocities and bring them to justice, then it is a recommendable undertaking that we all should applaud but we must be careful of not being so selective. We must not absolve some perpetrators of crime of guiltiness, as was the case of General Ali Samatar, The Ex –Somali Defense Minister, who had ordered the bombings of Hargeisa and killings of innocent Somalis in the North. It was ironically these same Yusuf Cheerleaders who were rallying for his defense in Minnesota, organizing meetings in support of a branded war criminal when other Somalis who lost loved ones were accusing him in Virginia because of his genocidal orders.
These Somalis who are cheering for one warlord or the other, should seriously ask themselves, is the harboring of warlords like say the ilk of Yusuf and his cohort warlord criminals really in their benefit? What would they gain from such duplicitous backing? Doesn’t their clannish lobbying send an insensitive message to other Somalis? Must clannish hypocrisy be the rule rather than something to be ashamed of? What makes the crimes of one warlord president any different from those of other warlords? These are just questions but one thing is for sure; those who support clannish warmongers are also as guilty as those they go after. If tribal ties in seeking justice are more important then there will never be any justice. Somalis hate to admit the fact that they are clannish biased punch of people, sick with tribal disease. It is now time for all clannish cheerleaders to realize ways to get rid of that disease.
No matter who lobbies for Samatar or Yusuf or Qaybdiid or Morgan or any other warlord per se, the challenge for all war criminals that participated in Somalia’s destruction is what to do after knowing that their brutal image will not simply fade away. The image of a warlord cannot go away simply by propping him up into position of leadership at the expense of the nation. A warlord is always a warlord and will remain warlord. Those who suffered cannot join in a chorus of praise of the warlords as their redeemers as some cheerleaders are doing now. All war criminals must be held accountable regardless of clannish allegiance. And for the clannish cheerleaders, they must also be despised with contempt by the rest of us who are revolted by the prolongation of our misery. The pursuit of justice is obviously thwarted here by our default clannish backwardness in Somalia. The warlords back home are free to continue their savagery with no impunity. We haven’t only given them the green light to do as they wish but we recognize them as our leaders, defenders and heroes.
True and genuine justice can come if we collectively admit our faults, respect the rights of others and respond to the impartial call to repair whatever damage we may have inflicted on ourselves and renounce our negative clannish associations. Justice is admitting of one’s faults and seeking forgiveness, of deeply apologizing of our failings. But when there is a culture of impunity, a culture of arrogance, a culture of disregard for sincerity, we will never have justice. It is a fallacy to believe that we could be tribally prejudiced and discriminate of who we should bring to justice and not. Are we surprised then that we as individuals and as a nation still find it difficult to be reconciled when we are so deliberately clannish in everything we do? How can that be when the search for justice that was supposed to unite us is thwarted by our inherent clannish ignorance in meting out justice to one another?
We must do away with being the clannish accomplices of warlords since it makes all our clannish enterprise as criminal as those warlords we harbor, even if the intention is to let the bygones be bygones in the spirit of reconciliation and peace. To persecute and bring justice to those who expelled us of our homes, killed our people, destroyed our nation, a change not founded by tribalism, but with new mentality based on social change must take place and it must start within the Somali Diaspora communities. This new change must be free in its conduct of our primitive clannish malevolence and must emulate the civil and enlightened ways of our host nations.
Somalis in the Diaspora are presented with a golden chance to help shape our country’s future positively. That is why after these tumultuous years of death, refuge, anxiety, horror and carnage, we should work out seeking a better Somalia. We must turn a blind eye to those clannish divisions that make us predisposed to repeating the gaffes of yesterday. Gaining or losing one’s voice in transitional warlord government’s support or opposition shouldn’t be based on matters of clannish blind loyalty but on principles and ideologies. Indeed, we have to transcend the boundaries of personal attacks, smear campaigns or clannish distractions. We must transcend the warlords and their divisive schemes. It is time especially for all educated Somalis to throw out this rotten bunch of clannish cheerleaders who perpetuate the politics of division and hate amongst us and replace them with nationalistic youthful and educated individuals.
