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The Aging Colonel Now Seeks To Win Over Majority Vote By Wooing Splinter Groups From The Hawiye, Dir And Rahanweyn
Mbagathi, Kenya, June 5, 2004 (SL Times) – Darood delegates at the Somalia peace talks being held at Mbagathi, Kenya, have opted to unite behind the candidacy of Puntland’s Col Abdillahi Yusuf for president of Somalia.
Having recently secured the full support of Darood clan delegates attending the IGAD sponsored Somalia peace talks, scheduled to resume soon in Kenya, Mr. Abdillahi Yusuf is now seeking to woo rival delegates representing various subgroups within the Hawiye, Dir and Rahanweyn clans with the aim of winning over a sufficient majority in the conference.
Mr. Yusuf’s efforts to secure all the Darood vote gained a breakthrough last week when his long arch-rival and fellow Darood, Ahmed Omer Jees, also pledged his support.
According to observers of the Mbagathi process, Abdillahi Yusuf’s chances for becoming a potential candidate has substantially improved following reports circulating in Nairobi since last month that the US government has indicated to regional governments and some Somali leaders of its strong reservations against Abdiqasim Salad Hasan being picked as president of the government to be formed by the Kenya talks. The US displeasure with Abdiqasim Salad Hasan is not new. The former TNG president has long been suspected by American officials of having ties with fundamentalist groups operating from Somalia. Both the governments of Ethiopia and Somaliland have also in the past, accused Abdiqasim Salad Hasan of harboring extremist Islamic groups that were believed to have carried out terrorist operations in the two countries. Abdiqasim Salad has constantly held that there were no terrorist elements in Somalia.
Irrespective of whether the Americans actively sought to stop Abdiqasim Salad Hasan or not, Abddillahi Yusuf's camp was quick to use the allegations as though they were true, portraying the former TNG president to the delegates as a lame duck. According to one observer, Abdillahi Yusuf has already begun targeting the internally divided Rahanweyn, Hawiye and Dir delegations to gain their support. So far he has made little progress. Only Qanyare Afrah, a Hawiye faction leader, has come forward in support of the Puntland dictator’s bid for Somalia’s presidency. Mohamed Adou, a Hawiye and a former diplomat who was related to Siyad Barre through marriage, has until now shown lukewarm support. Adan Madoobe, a leader of one of the many Rahanweyn factions has endorsed Mr. Yusuf.
However there were setbacks as well. Mohamed Dheere, the Hawiye Abgal warlord, has withdrawn his support for Abdillahi Yusuf. Mr. Omer Jees’s declaration of allegiance to Abdillahi Yusuf has sparked calls among the Hawiye to burry subclan differences. Mohamed Dheere whose militia was only last week involved in heavy fighting against a rival Abgal militia group led by Mussa Sudi Yalahow, has reportedly agreed to work for the emergence of a single Hawiye candidate for president.
Most observers predict an even more catastrophic picture for Somalia if Abdillahi Yusuf is elected president. “He has the reputation of being the most loathed warlord in Somalia and his election would automatically mean the resumption of a full-scale civil war in Somalia,” warned one observer last week.
The Somaliland Times has also learned that Abdiqasim Salad Hasan had recently told a number of Hawiye leaders that he will run for president unless prevented physically from doing so. Legal experts at the Mbagathi conference say there is nothing in the procedures that can bar Abdiqasim Salad Hasan from participating in the election for president of Somalia.
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