By: Dr Yusuf Ali Dirir
Somalilandsun – More than 50,000 Somaliland civilians were murdered in cold blood by the brutal Somalia dominated army in less than a week. That was in 1988, when Siad Barre army opened the floodgates of hell in Somaliland and used all kinds of military arsenal that was ever made to destroy humanity with the exception of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, which he did not possess.
I am sure he would not have had a second thought to use unconventional weapons of mass destruction against Somaliland civilians, but fortunately the Soviets and after that the USA, who were the main weapons suppliers to Siad Barre did only generously furnish him with conventional weapons. And not to forget, there were also some Arab countries that paid Siad Barre to buy bombers and hire South African pilots to bombard Somaliland cities, towns and villages to ashes.
Apart from those 50,000 civilians that were indiscriminately killed in less than a week, there were also more civilians, who were randomly arrested and then executed in broad day lights from 1984-1988, Simply because the regime decided that they did not deserve to live – they were Somalilanders and for that reason they had to pay the ultimate price.
Siad Barre’s regime borrowed a chapter from the holocaust concept of Adolf Hitler’s regime and tailored his own version based on his military capabilities in Somaliland. Therefore, Somalilanders were slaughtered in the most inhumane methods. Some where heartlessly burned alive, some were thrown in great numbers into deep dry water wells and then buried alive and others including children, women and elderly were pusillanimously taken from their homes in the middle of the night and were summarily executed with no questions asked. There are 226 mass graves that were discovered in seven Somaliland cities. Additionally, there is at least one known mass grave in Jazziera beach in Mogadishu, where several dozens of innocent Somaliland civilians are known to have been buried after they were summarily executed by solders under the command of Masslah Mohamed Siad Barre, who comfortably lives in Nairobi, Kenya and is frequently received with open arms in Mogadishu.
Those gruesome statics do not include the hundreds of thousands of Somaliland civilians, mainly elderly, children and women, who died of starvation and communicable diseases secondary to poor sanitation after they sought refuge in makeshift camps in Ethiopia and as consequence of Somalia’s genocide war.
Following that brutal experience, Somalilanders decided to unilaterally dissolve the Somaliland and Somalia union on May 18th, 2001. All they wanted was to live their lives in their own country peacefully and without further Somalia oppression and genocide. On the contrary, Mr. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Somalia’s appointed president, who came to power through undemocratic and clannish selection system, proudly and publicly states that he will bring Somaliland back to the union with Somalia, no matter what that cost will be. He frequently justifies his absurd decisions on his childish ‘three Ds’ motto, representing “Dhulka” (country), “Dadka” (people) and “Diinta” (his religious believes). He totally forgets that Islam, which he claims to follow states: “no completion in religion” let alone other man-made dictatorial rules. This is the kind of Somalia regime that the independent, democratic and peace-loving Somaliland is up against.
Mr. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud cowardly described Somaliland’s 22nd independence anniversary as emotionally-driven and inconsiderately threatened Somalilanders with even more destruction far worst than that of the 1980s, unless they submit to the wishes of his Somalia’s clan based regime. He selectively forgets that the strongest black African army and under the command of his predecessor was humiliated and destroyed in Somaliland, when Somaliland did not even have a regular army.
The Mogadishu regime did not respect and in many occasions bridged the internationally sponsored agreements with Somaliland in London and Ankara. Mr. Hassan Sheikh’s regime has over and over again taken offensive actions to provoke Somaliland to pull out of the 2nd Somaliland and Somalia conference that is scheduled to be held in Ankara, Turkey. This shows that Somalia regime only recognizes intimidation, brutal force and oppression as the only tools of settling international disputes and is incapable to envision solving discords through peaceful and amicable agreements.
To Somalilanders this is very alarming and brings the déjà vu situations of the 1980s back to their memories. This is a stunning indication that the regime of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is sworn in to Tyrannize Somalilanders and not to fight piracy, terrorism and to rebuild its civil war ravaged country.
Contrary to all his glowing smiles, this man – Hassan Sheikh Mohamud exhibits all the revealing signs of a new Saddam Hussein in the Horn of Africa. Therefore, the people of Somaliland and the International community must prepare themselves and expect nothing but the most evil measures from this Mogadishu regime.
Yusuf Dirir Ali
