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Ahmed Hussein Kahin
This week was of great significance in the daunting attempts at restoring peace to Somalia as the well acclaimed Somali poet and lyricist, Mr. Hadraawi, arrived in Mogadishu, his first stop on a mission named the peace march, and it is reported that Mr. Hadraawi came close to tears as he was given a heroes welcome by well wishers chanting "Muqdisho ku soo dhawoow, wiilki magaac dheerayoo." And ‘’Nin lagu seexdow ha seexan, xilbaad sidaayee ha seexan." This respected poet is to the Somalis what Shakespeare was to the English and his poems and literary works reflect on all aspects of life such as social ills, politics, love, peace and the agony of the Somali people. Hadraawi who had last seen Mogadishu 21 years ago when it was a beautiful city and one of the most peaceful capitals in sub Saharan Africa, must have been profoundly shocked to see how it was been reduced to rubble by more than a decade of factional fighting.
Like his compatriots, Hadrawi also suffered the hardships of the past turmoil and he was imprisoned by the former dictatorship of Siad Barre from 1973 to 1978 because his literary works were deemed to be anti-government by the regime. He had refused to tow the line of a dictatorship that forced all poets to compose poems and songs in praise of the regime and its leader. After his release from the infamous Qansax Dheere prison Hadraawi was again constantly harassed by the Barre’s dictatorship and in 1982 Mr. Hadraawi went into exile in Ethiopia but his expectations of a quick return to his homeland after the overthrow of Siad’s dictatorship suffered a set back as the country descended into factional conflict amongst the myriad number of groups all vying for power. It was only in 1999 that the prevailing peace in Somaliland permitted Hadraawi to return back to his homeland where he settled in the town of Burao. But Hadraawi’s noble instincts told him that he could not just sit back in the relative calm of Somaliland while Somalis in other regions continued to live in anarchy. As a fellow Somalilander, I share Hadraawis concerns, and strongly believe that we Somalilanders have a moral obligation to assist our fellow Somalis in the path to peace and the best method of trekking on this road is by restoring people to people contact and it is undeniable that no matter how much stability we have in Somaliland it is also a loss for us everyday a Somali dies of fighting in Mogadishu or other areas. The past record of the factional leaders shows that they cannot be relied on to make the peace and what we need is peace from the people, by the people, for the people.
In this context, Hadraawis mission got off to a flying start and during his first few days in Mogadishu, the first stop of the peace march, there were many ceremonies held in honour of Hadraawi and his peace activists. These activities took place across all the divide lines of the city irrespective of the controlling faction and it is reported that Hadraawi and his peace entourage even ventured into some of the most lawless areas of Mogadishu that are controlled by freelance bandits. The warm reception that the peace movement has received in Mogadishu, a city whose residents have been deprived of the right to live in peace for the past 12 yrs, is a remarkable testimony to the fact that the people of Somalia are craving for a return to peace. Already many people from all walks of life in Mogadishu have joined Hadraawi’s peace march and although vehicles traveling between most towns in the south require armed escort, Hadraawi and his entourage have made it clear that they will travel without any armed protection as they deliver their message of peace from to all towns and villages along the way. All members of this peace movement deserve praise for their display of courage in undertaking a mission that is full of challenges and danger but surely a noble task.
It is highly hoped that this nascent peace movement will quickly gather momentum and play a pivotal role in the quest for peace, which has seemed so elusive for quite so long. For the past decade the international community’s efforts on bringing peace to Somalia have concentrated solely on convening conferences abroad for the innumerable faction leaders. Unfortunately, past experience shows that the faction leaders were able to break whatever ceasefire agreements they had signed because they had under their control fighters who had been brainwashed into thinking that their survival and that of their sub-clan was based on their ability to kill and weaken other sub-clans. As Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "Peace, like charity, begins at home," and with a peace movement on the ground the desire for peace will get the grass roots support that is so essential and as more people embrace the idea of peace it is certain that a breeze of peace will sweep through Somalia. Once the peace movement inspires in the minds of people that 12 yrs of conflict has left all of us as losers and that as Mahatma Gandhi once said, "An eye for an eye leaves us all blind," I am sure that even the faction leaders will be forced to make peace with their rivals when they see that the tide is against them and that the people they once used to carry out their violent agendas and hypnotized have regained their consciousness.
Amidst the mayhem of the past 12 yrs the peace march that began this week in Mogadishu is indeed a positive development and an encouraging sigh that we may again see the light of peace. Let us hope and pray that the long extinguished light of peace, which Hadraawi and his peace activists have illuminated through the peace march, will herald the first steps towards the dawn of peace in Somalia.
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