By Ismail Ahmed

Would a Majeerteen-ruled Somalia be better off or worse off than it was before the Ethiopian invasion?

Has Col. Abdillahi Yusuf yet reached his long cherished goal that one day he would bring the giant Hawiye and other Jubblanders under his military rule with help of foreign forces?

Would Ethiopia keep Somalia permanently as its satellite “client state” in collaboration with present Majeerteenians rulers?

Would Ethiopia’s policy to keep a tiny minority on top of other Majority Somalis bring peace and stability to that of east African country, where clan allegiance has become next to religion?

After all, what kind of a person is Col. Abdillahi Yusuf? Would he himself be in fact the problem, instead of being a peacemaker?

To conceive a scant idea about Col. Abdillahi Yusuf, just closely look at one of his latest refined portraits, or simply watch him on the TV while he is talking. The gesture of his portrait may indicate, deceit, uncertainty, exaggeration, and apprehension and dispirit. A diplomat who saw him in Addis Ababa at the recent AU Summit Meeting also described him with following phrases: inept and uncertain; empty arrogance; a liar to the backbone and deeply dispirited figure. I think these words would satisfy the decorum. All in all, most of African leaders, except Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia who has a hidden agenda, have realized that Col. Yusuf is a man who has no good side.

Furthermore, to back up the sightseeing trip that took us to look at his portrait, the following brief statement is taken from the interview that he gave to the daily Yemeni Saba newspaper on 10 February 2007:

“ First of all, I would like to bring to your attention that I belong to the Darood Jabarti whose ancestors came from Zubeydi district, in Yemen. The former president of Somalia, Mohamed Siyad Barre was also from Darood. We are purebred Yemenis by tribe. This kind of ancestral ties with our Yemenis must be known to all and sundry.”

To maintain his tenuous grip on power, Col. Yusuf has appealed to the Yemenis through Saba news paper in order that they should come to his side in case the situation gets worse, as he did in the past when he received last year all kinds of small and heavy weaponries from President Ali Abdalla Salih, which are now being used by Puntland militias against the innocent civilian population in Mogadishu.

In less than a week after that interview, Col. Abdillahi Yusuf has issued a secret circular in which he unilaterally appointed a number of Majeerteenis to key positions in his government without prior notification of the so called TFG’s parliament. Let us look at the biography of each one of the newly appointed officials by Col. Abdillahi Yusuf without the consent of other major clans. These are the newly minted Majeertenian top officials whose decisions the country’s future rests squarely on their shoulders, if they are not tethered in time, before it will be too late to stop them:

1. General Mahomed Said (Morgan), Majeertneen, Abdirahiim- National Security Advisor to the president-

As Barre’s son-in- law, he was given a sweeping power to carry out a genocide war against the Issaqs in 1988. And as a result of indiscriminate air and ground artillery bombardments in the heavily populated major cities in Somaliland personally directed by General Morgan himself, more than 75,000 innocent people were buried alive in their homes, while nearly a million civilians who fled their country crossed into the Ethiopian border where they lived as refugees until their country was librated by the gallant SNM fighters in1991, which led to the establishment of the present Somaliland Republic.

General Morgan was given a sweeping power to carry out immediately an annihilation campaign against the Issaqs to complete the job that his predecessor failed to implement successfully. Upon taking over the responsibility as the commander of the mighty northern army that consisted of four divisions supported by fifteen thousand Ogadenian militias, General Morgan began to drive out Issaq nomads from the countryside close to Ethiopian border. General Morgan had outlined clearly his military campaign in a letter (better known as the “ death letter”) that he sent to General Barre in which he put everything in black and white, as far as the military operations against the Issaq civilian were concerned.

In his genocide campaign against the Issaq’s civilian population, General Morgan, was assisted by the following Majeerteen military officers, who were all hand-picked up in person by himself with approval of Siyad Barre, in order not to leave nothing for chance: -

1. General Osman Mohamed Samanter (Fatiig), Operation Commandant of the 26 Sector of the army;

2. Flight Col. Khalif Isse Yusuf, Commandant of the air force of 26 Sector of the army;

3. Col. Abdirahman Jama Warsame (Mujrim), Commandant of the 1st Davison based in Borama;

4. Col. Mohamed Adeed Ali, Commandant of 3rd Davison, based in Burao,

5. Col. Musse Bigil, Commandant of the army brigade based in Berbera;

6. Col. Abdillahi Warsame (Aflhaare), Commandant of the police of NW regions;

7. Col. Ahmed Hassan Garasse, Commandant of the police of Togdheer region;

8. Col. Yassin Mohamed Warsame, Commandant of the whole northern regions’ revenues branches;

9. Col. Mohamed Abshir (General Falso) Commandant of Burao police station;

10. Col. Ibrahim Omar Musse (Ibrahim General), NSS Commandant of the northern regions; and

11. Col. Hareed Dahir Abdulle, Commnadant of the Custodian army of NW regions

Col. Abdillahi Yusuf’s appointment General Morgan as his national security advisor clearly reflects his ultimatum goal which is to repeat the Hargeysa’s massacres in Mogadishu.

The man who would have been behind the bars in The Hague for the crimes he committed against humanity is now Col. Abdillahi Yusuf’s security advisor. Col. Abdillahi Yusuf is a man who took oath to his clan. He did not take oath to the nation of Somalia.

2. Yusuf Omer Azhari, Omar Mahomud, Majeerteen- Foreign Policy Advisor to the President-

He is an extremist Majeerteen who puts his clan’s interest above everything else. His appointment as the Col. Yusuf’s advisor on foreign policy has not become a surprise for many Somalis who knew him during the genocide campaigns against the Issaqs.

As a high school dropout, he arrived in Mogadishu from Ethiopia right after the country achieved its independence. Without losing much time he immediately married to the daughter of late President Abdirashid Sharhmarke that immediately catapulted him to be Somalia’s ambassador to USA, the highest and the most prestigious diplomatic post for which he was not educationally qualified. His appointment as Somalia’s ambassador to USA culminated at the height of the Majeerteenian rule in Somalia. After failing to carry out his diplomatic duties effectively as a Somali ambassador, he was called back to Mogadishu where he was appointed by his father-in-law as the director general of the Ministry of Information a post he held until 1969, when General Barre overthrew the civilian government. He was wounded during the popular uprising that brought the end of Barre dictatorial regime. He was once quoted by his Majeerteenian colleagues as saying that he would have gassed both Issaq and Hawiye if he had the power to do so.

3. Abdirashiid Aden Seed, Omer Mohamud, Majeerteen – Somali ambassador to United Kingdom-

His appointment as Somalia’s ambassador to UK was something that many Somalis predicted ever since Col. Abdillahi Yusuf was elected by Somali warlords in a scandalous national conference held in the Kenyan capital in 2004.He is an old right-hand man who served Col. Abdillahi Yusuf through thick and thin. He served as SSDF’s information officer when Col. Abdillahi Yusuf launched a crack down campaign against his opponents within SSDF which led to the assassination of well-known intellectuals including, Abdirahman Aydid (Dhulbahante) formerly the head of the ideology department of Barre’s Revolutionary Socialist Party, Abdillahi Mohamed Hassan (Majeereteen) a former minister of information and Ikar H.Hussein, a Somali journalist whose father was one of the founders of Somali Youth League (SYL).

4. Ismail Beriberi, Osman Mohamud, Majeerteen- Somali Ambassador to European Union-

A littler known figure who emerged recently as one of Abdillahi Yusuf’s diehard loyal supporters during and after the national conference in Kenya. He became Abdillahi Yusuf’s spokesperson when TFG relocated itself from Nairobi to the town of Jowhar. He was one of lower office clerks during the Mohamud Suleiman regime of 1960s.The fact that he was appointed as the ambassador to the EU is an indication that he proved himself to be a confidante and a trustworthy errand of Col. Abdillahi Yusuf.

4. Koshen Mohamed, Omer Mohamud, Majeerteen (Abdillahi Yusuf’s nephew) - Somali Ambassador to USA-

He is a 28-year old grocery owner in the American city of Seattle. His appointment as the newly appointed Somali ambassador to USA has been recently covered by Seattle Weekly, which become a house held discussions among both Somali intellectuals and former USA diplomats in east Africa. One of the former top diplomats who negatively reacted to the appointment of Koshin Mohamed as Somali ambassador to USA was David Shinn, a former senior State Department official and ambassador to Ethiopia who teaches now Africans affairs at George Washington University. “There’s a diplomatic protocol that doesn’t jibe with Mohamed’s peculiar appointment.” Said Ambassador David Shinn,

But Mohamed states his rare qualification in his own words:

“I have a long standing promise .My uncle has promised me that he would appoint me as a Somali ambassador when he resumed the presidency; he is a man who does not break his word; my father used to talk about him; it is time that I should serve my uncle patiently; his promise serves me as my credential letter.”

4. Hassan Mahomed Mohamud, Osman Mohamud, Majeerteen- Presidential Spokesman-

A playboy type who has not yet mastered the art of diplomacy is one of the Majeerteenian debutants to the administration of Abdillahi Yusuf. He replaced Ismail Berberi. Speaking to the local press on the recent serge of violence in Mogadishu, which resulted in the killing of hundreds of innocent civilians by joint Ethiopian and Puntland soldiers, he warned that the insurgency group supported by Hawiye would face total eradication very soon. “Our patience is running thin.” Hassan said with pouting expression.

5. Ahmed Omer Azhari, Omer Mahomud, Maajeerteen- Presidential Advisor on Arab Affairs-

Based in Abu Dubai, UAR, he is engaged in a relentless press campaign to secure political and economic support to Abdillahi Yusuf’s regime. Ahmed Omer Azhari, who is notoriously known as Arab pleaser in the cause of fun, during the Barre’s era, has been drawn into the newly minted Majeerteenian ruling class recently, following the Ethiopian invasion, which culminated in the ousting of the Islamic Court.

Unlike his young brother, Ahmed Omer Azhari is a kind of person who does his malicious campaign against the non-Daroods behind the close doors. He is a salient killer. Ahmed, who was trained as a religious preacher in late 1950s, served as the director of the press department of the Ministry of Information, besides being Barre’s advisor on Arab affairs that catapulted him to be a member of the so called Somali parliament, whose all members were selected by the government. He was one of the few officials who breathed on Barre’s ears when it came to analyzing Somalia’s relationship with Arab countries. He hosted expensive private dinners for Arab diplomats at his scandalous ‘yellow saloon’ at the expense of the National Security service (NSS). Local pressmen named his private villa, near the National Theatre as “ Somalia’s Watergate Scandal.” It was a place where all kinds of morally disgusting entrainments were held.

The Azhari’s family has a history of sycophancy and deceit. The Azhari brothers’ father, Sheikh Omer Azhari, had closely worked with late Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, thus contributing much to the king’s ‘divide and rule policy’, at the time when the fresh winds of independence was blowing across the territories inhabited by Somalis in east Africa, including Ethiopia. It was Sheikh Omer Azhari who first coined the name of Ogadenia, which Emperor Haile Selassie readily accepted in 1948, shortly before the annexation of Jijiga and its surrounding districts. In return, Emperor Haile Selassie rewarded him by building a large brick house in the Lagahare quarter of Dire Dawa, near the old textile factory. His scribble, loosely written in Arabic under the title of “Al-Calam” is still available at the National Library in Addis Ababa.

Following the emergence of the newly minted powerful Majeerteenian officials who are now surrounded Abdillahi Yusuf; one person who particularly found himself between a rock and a hard place is Ismail Hurre (Buubaa). He suddenly found himself as a powerless fellow who is being strictly controlled by idiot charlatans. Buuba, who has been disowned by his own family for waging his tail for an aging octogenarian senescent colonel, is miserably muffling himself with shame. With no one apparently to sooth him, he helplessly giggles and juggles there. Such churlish, bossy domineering Majeerteen officers have already left a bitter taste in the mouths of Hawiye and Rahawein law makers in the so called TFG.

The current Majeerteenian strife to rule Somalia by hook or by crook with help of foreign forces goes back to 1960s when it was an all-Mohamud Suleiman family affair. The man who was much lionized by Samater professors in USA as the father of the nation and the founder of SYL, Abdirassak H.Hussein, has laid down the road map for Majeerteenian policy in whose stint as Somalia’s prime minister, Somalis were divided down in the middle, along the clan-lineage. Herein lies the present problem.

An Abgal comedian who utterly disappointed by the succession of power among the Majeerteen leaders in 1960s, said in a short poem (shirib), that later became a house-held discussion:

Marna waa Rashiid

Marna waa Rizaaq,

Inta kale ma rootiyaa?

Once it was Rashid and

Once again it was Rizaq,

Is the rest just toast?

It was a government entirely dominated by the Majeerteens.

Now, that ten thousand national army exclusively consisting of Puntlanders and few hundred Abgal auxiliary militias at their deposal, the Majeerteens have officially started the war of attrition in Mogadishu under the umbrella of heavily armed Ethiopian occupation forces. Abdillahi Yusuf has missed no chance to seize this opportunity to bring the mighty Hawiyes to their knees, although many believe that will never knuckle down easily.

In the eyes of Col. Abdillahi Yusuf, an old Majeerteenian witch stirring a bubbling caldron in Galkayo has more humane respect than the whole Mogadishu’s residents. He is committed to cling on power under the barrel of gun counting much on Ethiopian military assistance. His own son once quoted him as saying that he would even wear the black Yarmulke if it could help him rule the country. To this effect, a tenure elongation bill is on the table. No doubt, that the tenure elongation bill will be pushed through without opposition as his nemesis in the parliament, including the influential speaker, Shereif Hassan and other 40 law makers are now in exile in Eritrea. What we are seeing to day in Mogadishu is the repeat of artillery bombardments of Hargeisa in 1988.Abdullahi Yusuf is following the footprints of Siyad Barre. So long Col. Abdillahi Yusuf is in Mogadishu directing the indiscriminate shelling of innocent civilians, many things will exist in the polity to remind Somalis of the despotic days of military ruler of General Barre which was replete with assassinations, intimidations, arbitrary arrests and detentions.

In conclusion, while our hearts go out to the defenseless women and children who are being massacred mercilessly in Mogadishu by combined forces of Puntland and Ethiopia, at the same time, we have no doubt in our minds that Hawiye’s gallant warriors will soon achieve a historical victory over the enemy that came to rule them for ever. At last, the sons of the soil have spoken. History is on the side of the Hawiye. While standing on the wrong side of history, the Majeerteenes are living in state of dream.

In the meantime, let freedom ring in Somaliland!

Ismail Ahmed, (Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.) E-Mail: xarshin22@hotmail.com

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