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Features
Better die defending your rights than accept slavery
Fatuma Lamungu Nur
2012-07-19, Issue 594
http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83743
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Everyone who remembers the genocide of the Wagosha people in 1991-1993 will be in shock when he realizes that the same killers have been appointed to become judges or rulers who will maintain law and order.
Without shame the international community is buying the lies of Kenyan clan minded politicians, Mohamed Yusuf Haji (Kenyan state defence minister) and Mahbub Moalim (IGAD Secretary General), both from Ogaden clan, and have a common goal of establishing an Ogadeni entity in southern Somalia that will have strong links with ONLF and Kenyan North Eastern Province.
The blood of the thousands of Wagosha people killed in the operation “eliminate non-Darod people from Jubbaland” is still wet, and the relatives of the survivors will not be happy at all if the same perpetrators are given a fresh mandate to complete their campaign of exterminating the Wagosha people from their land.
How come a meeting to decide the fate of Jubba regions is being attended by few groups who have the backing of the big players in the region, while the others are branded names as minorities etc, while we know that the Wagosha people are the majority of these regions?
About 500 displaced Wagosha people have been killed in Puntland by Puntland security forces. Today the fate of the Wagosha people on their land is being decided by the same perpetrators of Ogaden and Majerten in Jubbaland. This is a nightmare.
Is the international community telling us who is majority and who is not in Jubbaland? The funny thing is the few Majerten clan members who have been living in some localities of Kismaayo have been recognized as majority, while the Wagosha who live in Lower Jubba and Middle Jubba are being called minority. The Ogaden only live in Afmadow district and they are recognized by IGAD, AU, UN and Kenya that they are among the major powers in Jubbaland
The only thing the killers of Jubbaland are keen to obtain is the fertile land that belonged to Wagosha community Swahili speakers in Jubbaland, so that they can continue the persecution of the Bantu people by grabbing their land and using them as slaves in their farms.
Allowing Mohamed Abdi Gandi, a refugee from Ethiopia, to attend a meeting about Jubbaland while leaving out the people who are originally from Jubbaland is also absurd.
The international community is really trying to help the Somali people, but the problem of listening to one side of the story and ignoring the other made the situation to remain the same as in 1991 when the civil war erupted in Somalia.
The Wagosha people are peaceful people, who always sought to live in harmony with other clans in Jubba region, but if someone is there to provoke and kill you, then you have every right to defend yourself.
We agree that the ongoing Somalia conflict affects the entire East and Horn of Africa region, but to tackle this problem with this approach seems to be displeasing.
Kenya claims to be sending its forces to Somalia to secure its borders, but the fact is different. Thousands from the Ogaden clan from Kenya’s North East Province have been recruited to liberate what is called the land of Jubbaland from the enemy clans, including the Wagosha Swahili speaking community. This is a dream that many Ogaden officials have been waiting to happen. In 1991, former Kenya military commander under General Mohamud Mohamed pursued the same dream by deploying Kenyan forces of the Ogaden clan to southern Somalia to fight along General Morgan forces in their ethnic cleansing campaigns.
The bigger picture of this policy is to pursue the dream of the Greater Somalia. In Garisa, the provincial town of North Eastern Province, you can easily spot the house of Dekow Moalim Sambul, the former leader of the outlawed Shifta group, which caused mayhem to Kenya and its people. He came back from Somalia in 1991, when General Siyad Barre, who supported the Shifta war, was toppled. Until today Dekow believes that the Greater Somalia dream will eventually come true.
He was recently involved in campaigning for the so called Azania state led by Mohamed Abdi Gandi; both hail from the same sub clan of Ogaden called Tolomoge.
Every year the number of residents in North Eastern Province raises, because of Somali refugees from Ethiopia and Somalia, who illegally acquire Kenyan citizenship with the support of Kenyan Somali politicians.
One of the comments on the Facebook social network posted after Garisa church attacks (on 1 July 2012) backs this argument:
“Farah Maalim as usual would want to settle scores with Government officials that he maliciously targeted for removal from NEP as they refuse to sing to his political songs. It’s so unfortunate that he now wants to use this sad tragedy of cold blood killing as a platform to fight his perceived nemesis by demanding for their removal. Mr. Deputy Speaker, if you are sincere, demand the relocation of refugees who were issued with identity cards in your constituency to Somalia. Terrorist should not be retained as voters come election.”
Shaykh Hasan Turki, one of the key Al-Shabab leaders, is among those with Kenyan ID cards. After the 1998 bombings in Kenya and Tanzania he peacefully passed through Garisa to Somalia using the Kenyan ID card issued to him by Kenyan Somalis. His family was also given the same identification cards before they relocated to foreign countries, with the help of Kenyan Somali politicians.
This is a lesson to all East and Horn of African countries that their security will be compromised if they use an unworkable approach to tackle the Somalia crisis.
The regional countries should work on teaching the Somalis the meaning of nationality and the boundaries they should live. Today in the new Somali draft constitution, the citizenship is open to everyone who speaks Somali, even if he/she was born in Kenya or Ethiopia. This should end because it’s not harming only Somalia, but the whole region.
Jubbaland has witnessed many wars, and it really needs a solution that reflects justice, so that people can live together in harmony, peace and stability.
I urge the youth, elders, men, women and girls to stand up for their rights, even by forces if they are pushed to that extent. Do not be afraid. Enough is enough. All the freedom and sovereignty you see people are enjoying did not just come in an easy way. It’s all through sacrifice. The only thing the enemy will use to threaten you is death. They have already killed your beloved ones, looted your property, and raped your sisters, daughters and mothers. You better die defending your rights, rather than accepting slavery and persecution in your land.
No matter how long it will take, do not be caught idle again as in 1991, you learnt a lot about your rights, so don’t hesitate to use your experience in defending your rights.
In one of his great speeches the former Tanzanian leader, Mwalimu Nyerere said, “We have the reason, we have the ability and the will to fight against Uganda’s Iddi Amin”. The same applies to the people of Gosha; you have the reason, the ability and the will to defend your rights in a world that is dominated by material interests, rather than morale and humanity values.
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* This article was first published by horn.so.
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