NSPU

The Somali National Movement (SNM) has acquired in its Isaaq heartland certain adulations; one would say an exaggerated glorification of its feats almost bordering on canonization. It would be a cardinal mistake, an unforgivable gaffe, for anyone who happens to be in the Isaaq heartland in the North, and who may not be privileged to belong to that dominant clan, to raise awkward questions about the SNM that could be seen as challenging the accepted folklore among its supporters of its heroic and saint-like struggle against the regime of Siyad Barre and against the rest of the Somalis, the non-Isaaqs, who are collectively dubbed as “Faqash”-whatever that means.

Such is the reputation of the SNM among the Isaaqs that almost everyone you meet in the Isaaq heartland has come to be a Mujaahid, even if most of them had never seen any military action in their whole lives or even if they happen to be recent returnees from the Diaspora living abroad. Just as any male would correctly claim automatic right to be called Mister .by virtue of his gender, so is the title Mujaahid come to be appropriated by almost every male amongst the Isaaqs, from the street boys to the political elites. If ever you were to be indiscreet enough and ask any self-styled Mujaahid how they came to acquire that title, the instant, almost reproachful answer is that they had given their utmost sacrifice for the liberation struggle to the extent that they had to “drink from their urine” i.e “Kaadidayada ayaanu usoo cabney”. Once that crude response is given, it is a signal that your questioning has crossed a red line and that no more impudence would be tolerated especially if you happen to belong to those clans they contemptuously call “Faqash”. Say no more!!!

The SNM was not the only armed militia that waged an armed struggle against the regime of Siyad Barre. There were others whose names do not easily come back to memory with the passage of time. But the warlords who headed them are unforgettable not because of any good they did but for the doom and destruction they had visited on Somalia and its people. When it comes to the champion among the armed militias and their warlords, surely General Mohamed Farah Aideed and his USC are unchallengeable. No objective person will disagree that it was General Aideed who drove Mohamed Siyad and his regime from Mogadishu and hence who brought about the end of that regime, the collapse of government institutions, the most important of which was the army. Once the army had disintegrated and vanished away from everywhere, the SNM had simply came out from its hiding places in the bush and mountains and took over Hargeisa and other principal towns in the Isaaq heartland without firing a single shot. That was the sweetest of victories. But much of the credit for the defeat of their enemy is reserved for General Aideed as he also has most of the blame for the collapse of the Somali State and its subsequent absence for the last 14 years.

But if all the other militias have disappeared from the scene, why does the SNM continue to maintain its sway over the Isaaqs in the North? After all, it is not the first body to struggle for the independence of the North. Does anyone remember the SNL political party which led British Somaliland to independence? Unfortunately, the SNL was synonymous with its leader and benefactor, Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, and once unity with the South was enacted in July 1960, almost all the members of Parliament from the North subsequently joined the SYL. That was the first manifestation of the venality and opportunism of Somali parliamentarians which had continued to plague Somalia until the overthrow of the Egal government in 1969 and which has once again reared its ugly head among the new members of Parliament selected at the recent Somali Peace Conference in Nairobi . The Isaaqs have always pointed their finger at the South, bemoaning their union with what they saw as corrupt and unprincipled Southerners who allegedly were corrupted by their Italian masters. Hardly any of them would admit the fact that when it comes to corruption, there is no difference between North and South. We are all together in this shit. You only have to read in the Somali websites the chorus of complaints and outcry against the pervasive corruption of the Somaliland government.

The demise of the SNL political party did nothing to boost the barren political heritage of the North which does not go beyond the early years of independence. And the years after independence up to the rise of the SNM have only deepened the sense of bitterness and negation of all political development and rights. Who do you turn to? Not the defunct SNL. There was widespread disenchantment with the regime but there was no organized institutions .to mobilize such discontent. It is against this background that the SNM emerged like a messiah from heaven.

But it is almost close to 15years since the SNM accomplished its goal of “liberating” the Isaaq heartland. Given this long passage of time, why then does it continue to hold the unswerving loyalties among its Isaaq adherents? The answer is simple: There have been no other heroes and only villains in the person of the Somaliland government. More than anything else, the “liberation” struggle was one in which its members were not politicians but dedicated partisans who sacrificed their time and lives not for any personal gains but for genuine, idealistic reasons. Such nostalgic attachments to the SNM are greater as ordinary people come to moan the shortcomings of venal, ignorant and corrupt politicians, many of them former apparatchiks from the regime of Siyad Barre.

In revisiting the SNM and its past, there is need for a sense of proportion. Seen from their blinkered perspective, there is no denying the fact that the Isaaqs have much to be proud of. It has “liberated” their homeland. It was well-organized and well-led. It did not destroy that many towns in the North although it did burn some villages, killing many defenceless civilians. In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is the king and so is the SNM when you compare it with the murderous militias and their warlords in Mogadishu whose only trade was and continues to be mindless destruction. But the SNM is not the saint that its Isaaq worshipers would like us to believe. The fact of the matter is that the SNM had killed many innocent people, not of course as many as other militias and warlords had killed in the South, but all the same many innocent, defenceless civilians had been killed for no reason other than that they belonged to recalcitrant clans who were not supportive of the SNM struggle . It would be a rare exception to see any Isaaq person who can dispassionately look into the SNM's record and admit to its incontestable atrocities. How do you explain this psyche in a society which otherwise is open and democratic?

A common denominator among the Isaaqs in the North-West region of Somalia is their deep-rooted self-pity, a hang-over from their undoubtedly brutal experience with the regime of Siyad Barre. They see themselves as the only victims of that e regime. To them, what happened to other clans who were equally victims of that regime, or to victims of the SNM itself in the North-West Region, are brushed aside as irrelevant. All that matters is their suffering because they are special. In their self-righteous, holier than thou posturing, they cannot see their beloved SNM committing atrocities. All they can see through their tainted glasses is the crimes others committed against them but not the ones they themselves carried out. Their apparent collective amnesia was understandable soon after “liberation” when there was need to let sleeping dogs lie and not stir up the painful memories that were stiff fresh in the minds of many Isaaqs. Be that as it may, it is culpable and intolerable to continue in this delusion after 15 years. When will this wall of silence crack? When will the SNM supporters have the humility to admit to their past?

Recently, one writer had raised in one of the Somali internet websites the question regarding the crimes committed by the SNM against civilians and the need for that SNM to admit to the fact that they had indeed committed some crimes. This rare questioning has predictably provoked hysterical outbursts from some of the SNM supporters. One such protester had an article in one Somali website. Not only did he deny any such atrocities but he was gratuitously offensive to its victims whom he referred to as the “Faqash”. As he says, asking the SNM to seek forgiveness from its victims is like asking the Afrikaners in South Africa to forgive the Africans or asking the Nazis to forgive the Jews!!!

For the record, the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission had to hear all allegations of all crimes committed by all those who were involved in the struggle , whether whites or blacks, and the ANC were no exception . Indeed, members of the ANC, who were alleged to have committed crimes against non-combatants, have admitted to their crimes at the Commission's hearings and have unreservedly expressed their deep remorse to the families of their victims who were of course white Afrikaans.

Rather than expressing sorrow for the victims of the SNM, its supporters invariably add insult to injury by calling all such victims “Faqash” who deserved to be liquidated. Such name calling is widespread in the Isaaq homeland, irrespective of whether it is held by the man in the street, or top intellectuals and politicians in the administration of so-called “ Somaliland ”.

I speak as one from the North–West of Somalia who lost many innocent relatives to the barbarity of the SNM. And when its supporters call our innocent, beloved victims “Faqash”, who deserved to be liquidated, these unthinking, inhuman gestures can only deepen our already bleeding wounds. This will certainly win them no minds and hearts among the non-Isaaqs in the North, in which case Somaliland will continue to be nothing more than Isaaqland despite all the pretences to the contrary. On the contrary, it will further alienate the none Isaaqs, ensuring that they were right in the first place to keep their distance from the secessionists and remain in their regions as proud and patriotic Somalis who belong to Somalia

It is the hope of most Somalis that there will come a time in the near future when those who committed crimes against the public, whether they belong to “liberation” movements or simply are despicable warlords, will have to answer for their crimes. At best, they may have to be taken to the International Criminal Court in The Hague . As an alternative, they could be tried in special courts in Somalia . As a minimum, they have to appear at Truth Commission held in our country and seek forgiveness from those they had violated their fundamental human rights. In the meantime, is it too much to ask the SNM adherents and supporters to look themselves in the mirror and admit that they have blood of innocent victims on their hands?

By Mohsin Mahad
UK
Email: mohsinmahad@yahoo.co.uk