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Washington,
August 15, 2009 (SL Times) – General Muhammad Nur Galaal, a high ranking
member of the now defunct Somali military, revealed to the press what
went on in a meeting in Washington that brought together several top
officials of Somalia’s former military dictatorship. Gen. Galaal who was
one of the invitees to the congress said many of those attending the
conference had committed massacres when they were in the military, and
had he known that they were going to be in there, he would not have
participated in the meeting.
Describing his impression of the meeting, Gen. Galaal said that these
remnants of the former regime are still dreaming of the good old days
when they lorded it over Somalis and are scheming to get back in power.
Towards that end, they proposed a plan for the reconstitution of the
Somali army by creating 9 battalions in 6 months. The plan also involves
the invasion of Somaliland beginning at Lughaya and working their way
southward until they takeover Mogadishu.
Gen. Galaal has only confirmed a view that is widely held among Somalis
which is that despite the UN and US rhetoric about democracy and human
rights, the UN and US often push aside considerations of democracy and
human rights if they get in the way of achieving their interests. In
this case, it so happens that the UN and the US see the former head of
the terrorist Islamic Courts, Sheikh Sharif, who is now the head of the
feeble Transitional Federal Government (TFG) as the right instrument to
advance their interests, and that is why they are busy trying to devise
ways to prop him up. Apparently they think the former military
commanders, who were responsible for the collapse of Somalia in the
first place can help them achieve their goals. But they are wrong.
An increasing number of Somalis have condemned the meeting as a last
ditch attempt to bring war criminals back to power in Somalia. The most
recent person to add his voice in protest was KULMIYE party’s first Vice
chairman, Muse Bihi. In order to counter the growing anger among Somalis
regarding UN and US actions of promoting war criminals, the UN Political
Office for Somalia (UNPOS) released a communiqué in which it whitewashed
the real intent of the meeting and what went on in its proceedings.
Oddly enough, the US has not addressed the issue even though its
fingerprints are all over the meeting, and representatives from the US
Defense Department were present.
These military men are criminals and mass murderers and do not belong in
a conference hall, but rather belong in courts and jail. Their head
honcho, Gen. Muhammad Ali Samatar is by his own admission, the person
who gave the orders for the destruction of the cities of Hargeysa and
Buroa in 1988 and the killing of thousands of innocent civilians. Shame
on the UN. Shame on the US.
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