Barre Hagi Elmi Ahmed: Tribute To An Unknown Martyr

Jama Musse Jama, Pisa, Italy

Barre Hagi Elmi Ahmed, nicknamed Badho, was the son of known merchant in Hargeisa who owned a corner shop in downtown Hargeisa. Barre lost his mother when he was a child. He attended the Biyodhacay Elementary and Intermediate School in Hargeisa, although, from time to time, he took some classes at the Qalax Boarding School in Gabiley. He then started his secondary school education at Halane (Hargeisa). After he completed the first school year, he transferred to the 26th June secondary school in Hargeisa, and six months later he again transferred to Ga’an Libah secondary school in Hargeisa. Barre was thin and tall, and a handsome teenager. He had long black and straight hair. A young man with bright future, Barre was cheerful and lively. He was seventeen when on the first day of the "Dhagaxtuur"(1) students’ protest against the arrest of "My Teachers’s Group"(2), on the 20th February 1982, around 12:45 a.m., he received the deadly bullet on his chest from the Dictator Siad Barre’s army. His short and promising life ended under the Jirde Hussein Building in front of Hindgiii Jaantilaal’s corner shop, while his classmates and friends were rushing him to the hospital. Barre was buried at Xawaadleh cemetery in Hargeisa around 6:00 p.m. the same day.

People who knew Barre told me that he was lovable and a very brave man, and he had a wonderful sense of humour. He was a good role model for the young and possessed a leadership spirit. His friend, Yussuf Isse, who was jailed by the Somali regime after that eventful day, said "we missed Barre for his sense of friendship, his sense of fearlessness and bravery, and for his sense of laughter". Barre died for a cause that he believed was right. He left this world as he lived in it, conscious of the danger, fearless of death, and sure that the students’ struggle against the military regime could carry us a long away. People like him never expected repayment for their deeds, for no one can repay what Barre offered to us; his young life. Their reward is acknowledging that they did the right thing, and to let the younger generation know of the sacrifices they made.

Barre and I did not know each other, even though our paths may have crossed during the school years and during the "Dhagaxtuur" event on that dreadful day. I pay this tribute to him as a young hero who has given so much to us in his short lifetime and who continues to do so even after his passing, as he will be remembered as a symbol of my generation - a generation that paid much for freedom and had survived the cruel treatment of the military dictatorship of Somalia. I extend to his family members, who I do not know personally, my deepest sympathy and condolence, after almost twenty years from his untimely departure from this world. May Allah rest his soul in peace. Aamiin.

Notes:
"Dhagaxtuur" in somali means "stone throwing", and it’s the first protest of the students of Hargeisa and other cities in the then Northern Somalia against the militery Government of Somalia for the release of Hargeisa Selfhelp Group.

"My Teachers’ Group" is the name the author called the Hargeisa Self-help Group.

Comments and corrections are well appreciated. Write to jamamusse@tin.it. The author thanks Yussuf Isse and Hassan Haji Yaaxeen, both members of the Somaliland Forum, for their kind responses to his call of "who knows Barre Hagi?"

Jama Musse Jama is the author of "A note on ‘My Teachers’ Group’: news report on injustice" (http://www.redsea-online.com/books/mtg). A book about the story of "Hargeisa Self-help Group" or "UFFO Group" and their jailing. This article is a collage of excerpts from that book.

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