Political Mudslinging Campaign Against Rayale

It is common knowledge that the false charges of 'war crimes' being leveled against President Rayale by supporters of Silaanyo are nothing more than political mudslinging of the basest kind. It is a well known, if rather dirty, fact of political life that when a certain kind of candidate cannot find any positive factor with which to enhance his electoral prospects, he or she will resort to mud-slinging in desperation. This is the politics of "win by any means, fair or foul".

This is precisely what the Silaanyo camp is doing and the electorate will judge them by it at the polls, to their cost. An interesting fact is that the ringleader of this particular circus of name-calling clowns is Mr. Muse Bixi. I seem to remember that when Silaanyo was Chairman of the SNM, during the Liberation War, a certain Mr. Bixi accused him of the 'war crime' of summarily executing brave, SNM officers & cadres who were opposed to Silaanyo's despotic rule over the SNM. Isn't this the same Mr. Bixi who is now using his name calling skills in the service of the same 'war criminal' Silaanyo? As they say, politics makes for strange bedfellows indeed!

Mr. Bixi should remember that the people of Somaliland are not children and that they remember his rantings & ravings of yesterday, as they will remember in the future his present fits of madness. Enough cries of 'wolf', Mr. Bixi, either engage in reasoned debate or keep your silence and your self-respect.

Finally, there has to be some integrity to political discourse if it is not to be debased to the level of braying animals. Somaliland is a country that has suffered state sponsored genocide and other crimes against humanity, while the perpetrators of these crimes proudly parade at international conferences as the self appointed rulers of their present victims in Somalia. We must, therefore reserve for these vampires their true label of 'war criminal', if we are not to rob the phrase of its true meaning and ourselves of the legitimacy to bring them to account for their deeds.

For us Somalilanders, the term 'war criminal' has a very clear meaning and we also know who the criminals are. It is not a term to bandy about 'willy nilly' in the heat (desperation?) of the political ‘rough and tumble.’

Regards,
Ahmed M.I. Egal

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