| Front Page |
EDITORIAL
Somalia’s factions attending the Mbagathi talks are going to share
political power on the basis of a 4.5 clan system. IGAD mediators of
the talks, some of whom are Somalis themselves, along with Somali
warlords have come up with a new Somali tribal map which says that
Somalis are divided into four and half clans called Hawiye, Darood,
Dir, Digil/Mirifle and a nameless 1/2 clan. According to this newly
invented formula, the first four clans shall be allocated 61 seats in
the parliament to be formed at Mbagathi, with 31 seats going to the
remaining nameless ˝ clan. On the basis of this 4.5 formula,
Somaliland’s Isaak, Gadabursi and Issa clans would be grouped
together with the former Italian Somalia’s Dir clan under a new
confederacy to be called “Dir”. However, leaders and delegates
representing the Dir clan of former Italian Somalia at the Mbagathi
talks have rightly refused to be grouped with clans from Somaliland.
They insist that Italian Somalia’s Dir clan deserves to be allocated
61 seats as much as the Hawiye, Darood or Digil and Mirifle.
The idea of cobbling Somaliland’s Isaak, Issa and Gadabursi clans
together with Somalia’s Dir was conceived by a number of Majerteen
politicians and was put forward for implementation for the first time
at the ill-fated reconciliation meeting held for Somalia’s warlords
at Sodere, Ethiopia, in 1994. Majerteen politicians were
concerned over the political future of their own clan in the
aftermath of Barre’s downfall, and saw the victory of the SNM as a
formidable challenge. That is why they came up with the idea of a
northern Dir that combined the Isak, Gadabursi and Isa as a way to
weaken Somaliland, and more specifically the Isak's position in any
future negotiations. The idea was then sold to a number of Hawiye
politicians such as Abdiqasim Salad Hasan.
The assumption of new identities and discarding of old ones when it
serves their purpose is an age-old tactic among the warlords and
politicians of Italian Somalia. A recent case in point is how
Majeerteenya changed its name to Puntland. But it seems that the
warlords and politicians of Italian Somalia are not content with
changing their own identities but are also determined to impose new
identities on others. Thus their fabrication of a new Dir confederacy
as well as a nameless Somali 1/2 clan. Similarly, Siyad Barre changed
the name of the Somali Republic to the Somali Democratic Republic, a
name which was recently changed one more time, in Mbagathi, to
reflect the federal orientation of a future government.
In addition to serving their long-term objective of weakening
Somaliland, the idea of a new Dir confederacy had another purpose: to
be a conduit through which fake delegates could be introduced in the
Embagathi conference as representatives of Somaliland. Although the
warlords failed in their efforts to weaken Somaliland, they did finally manage to impose fake delegates with the connivance of some IGAD countries.
The concoction of a new Dir confederacy has exposed, yet again, the incredible extent to which many of the warlords and politicians of Italian Somalia are willing to go in their anti-Somaliland quest. It has also shown to Somalilanders just what type of people are the fake delegates who claim to represent Somaliland. Most Somalilanders already knew that these fake delegates were politicians who went to Mbagathi after failing in Somaliland's open and competitive political system. Now Somalilanders have found out that besides being fake and failed politicians, they are so devoid of self-respect they allowed southern warlords to invent a new identity for them. What a disgrace!
Home | Contact us | Links | Archives