As a heavily guarded Prof Galayd attends the burial in which Somaliland government and political leaders failed to attend
By: Yusuf M Hasan
Somalilandsun- Bali’ad town in Sool region of Somaliland was the scene of a state burial for departed traditional leader late Garaad Abshir Salah Mohamed on Monday 11th July 2016.
The body of the late Garaad Abshir who who died in Sweden on the first of July arrived in Bali’ad town for burial aboard a high private jet that was received at the local airstrip by high ranking traditional leaders from the Dulbahante clan and senior officials of the Khatumo secession movement.
A twenty one gun salute in honor of the late traditional leader was made at the airstrip by militias aligned to the Khatumo secession movement that aspires to creation of a Somalia administrative region presumably to be curved off areas with Sool and Eastern Sanaag regions of Somaliland.
Conspicuously absent from the function were Somaliland government officials and political leaders despite having been involved in burial preparations for the late Garaad Abshir Salah whom the president of Somaliland Ahmed Mahmud Silanyo termed as one of the most experienced and people safety conscious leader not only in Sool region but the whole country as well.
The absence of any officials government or political representing Somaliland came as a surprise in lieu of the much publicized fact that the central authorities in Hargeisa were in-charge of the state burial for the departed traditional leader.
In a statement issued in Hargeisa by information minister Osman Sahardiid who also doubles as government spokesperson, it was revealed that members of the Khatumo secession movement who are all from the same Dulbahante clan as the deceased Garaad shall be allowed to attend the planned state burial.
In his statement Minister Sahaardiid said “Prof Ali Khalif Galayd can also attend the burial of the late Sool region traditional leader on condition that his entourage shall be unarmed” adding that the Sool regional and Somaliland central governments which are organizers of the state burial are and shall be solely responsible for security.
Prof Ali Khalif Galayd who holds U.S citizenship is a native of Sool region, a member of the Somalia parliament in Mogadishu and the leader of the Khatumoist secession movement whose militias are in regular skirmishes with Somaliland security forces.
The irony of the matter revolves around the fact that the fire-breathing Somaliland authorities not only failed in facilitating the promised state burial for Late Garaad Abshir Salah Mohamed but found it unworthy of attendance even by lowly officials.
This ironic absence by Somaliland officials is perturbing considering the importance regularly attached to the observation of final rites for departed leaders be it from the administration, political or religious.
Or is the absence related to the ultimate scene of the Gaarad’s burial, Bali’ad a town claimed by the secessionists as capital of their mythical!!! Khatumo State of Somalia? If so is it proper to now acknowledge that Khatumo really exists thus no longer mythical.
What irks most is to observe Prof Ali Khalif attend the burial accompanied by a detail of heavily armed bodyguards supplied by his secessionist militias who remained hawk-eyes during the entire burial function organized by the Khatumo government.
Whatever reasons resulted in a Khatumo state burial for Garaad Abshir rather than a Somaliland one the non participation of government authorities from Hargeisa which would have ensued in the first ever mingling publicly of Khatumoist secessionists and state officials peace in the east of the country was denied a golden chance.
Despite the politics involved in the Garaad’s burial that makes one discern the might of Khatumoists we at Somalilandsun wish him eternal peace
