Militias From Majeerteenya On A Killing Spree

Majiyahan, Somaliland, April 15, 2006 – Lawless militias from Majeerteenya (Puntland) have been busy spilling Somali blood last week. It began with killing of several civilians in Majiyahan (Somaliland) by militias from Majeerteenya who claim the territory is theirs. As if that were not bad enough, militias from Majeerteenya also murdered a businessman further south in Wajid (Bakool region). Most recently, militias from Majeerteenya were engaged in a shootout in which a number of the indigenous militias in Baidoa were killed. The militias from Majeerteenya often give contradictory excuses for their murderous activities. For instance, they claim the reason for their incursion into Majiyahan is because the people who live there share the same clan identification (Harti) as themselves which gives them the right to be there. The facts on the ground say otherwise, however, and the local people have emphatically expressed their rejection of the claims that Majeerteenya has made on their territory which led to the bloody confrontations.

In Wajid and Baidoa, militias from Majeerteenya claim they are part of the national army of Somalia and are helping in bringing back security to that region. Again, the facts on the ground say otherwise. For one thing, Somalia’s national army disintegrated in 1991 and does not exist anymore. Secondly, the militias from Majeerteenya are a lawless and undisciplined bunch and have serious difficulties maintaining rudimentary stability in Majeerteenya let alone bringing law and order to someone else.

Whether in Majiyahan (Somaliland), Wajid, Baidoa or elsewhere, most Somalis can see through Majeerteenya’s deception. It does not take a rocket scientist to point out how untenable, or even ludicrous, is Majeerteenya’s clan-based logic (or lack of) which says that wherever a Harti man lives automatically belongs to Majeerteenya. Neither will most Somalis accept from a group of people with such an explicit and crude clan agenda as Majeerteenya to turn around and kill Somalis in as far away as Wajid and Baidoa in the name of a fake nationalism.

Source: Somaliland Times

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