The duo Walad Abdalla and Nur Cadde in London: A day of
agony, disillusion and deceptions
- Warsan Cismaan Saalax
warsan2001@hotmail.com
I was invited to attend a conference on Saturday 11 April
2009, which was promoted as special event about Somalia and
engaging with the Somali Diaspora. Considering the serious
issues at stake for Somalia, I thought everyone involved will
act with earnestness. Both the audience and the speakers though
turned up about two and a half hours later than scheduled. When
I inquired about the whereabouts of everyone, a young man
responded giggling “these are Somalis, they are always late”. I
could not see the humour in this; at least someone else did.
The meeting was public yet opened only to assortment of the
obedient and the same interest groups. Perceived trouble makers
were tiptoed following heaps of counter-accusations and
mediations between them and the organisers. Generally, there
was an aura of too much anger caused by fear against each other,
which drained me of energy even before the conference
commenced.
The main actors were Ould Abdulla, the United Nations Special
Representative for Somalia, and Nur Cadde, the former Prime
Minister of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia. I
desperately wished the two men would tell us something new. All
confronted audience that not only giggled at them but also with
them.
We heard from older members of the Somali Diaspora. It was
desperately heart-breaking to see them weak, frail, and above
all broken, as though they have given up the prospect of growing
old and dying graciously in Somalia. Two men specifically
caught my ears, Cismaan Jaamac (Kalluun) and Mohamed Jeylani,
former high officials in Siyad’s regime. Cismaan addressed us
by first apologising for the crimes committed by the former
regime. A proud and spirited man, who has never in anyway, form
or shape hurt anyone, yet stood facing a giggling audience
apologising for crimes he has never been party to. He hoped
that next time he lands in a Somali city, he will be considered
a Somali, not a clan member who is a guest on another clan. As
much as I admired his courage, my heart sunk for his sorrows and
the tragedy embedded in his message. Ironically, we all laughed
again.
Mr Jeylani, another gutsy, witty and admirable man took the
stage. He embarked on translating the preposterous undertakings
of the nineties against the Banadiris and the Bravanese using
light hearted descriptions. He explained it as the war of the
rural against the urban. Of course it was not a comical story,
however as we did not know how else to react, we tittered, he
himself laughed nervously throughout his speech, perhaps to make
the truth bearable.
Another member of the Diaspora, stood up making public his
dissension with the Social Services in Britain, and the
indifference of the Somali Community Organisations, which he
indicted of moral corruption. Yet he went on braising Nur cadde
for breaking the laws of his government and pursuing his goals
by any means. Now, this for me summarises our, the modern
Somali’s dilemma, demanding justice yet unable to wrong the
wrongs of those we like or relate to. I questioned the
expectations placed upon the governed if their leaders fail to
adhere to the laws and the constitutions of the land. Surely
chaos should be the customary order of the day.
Then Nur Cadde took the stage. He talked about a number of
things relating to what he was engaged in the recent past.
Towards the end of his talk, he claimed that the civil war, that
cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people and
displaced millions internally and externally and destroyed whole
cities, was quite misunderstood. This distasteful comments to an
externally displaced Somali audience, crowned him as callous.
Mr Abdulla, on the other hand, claimed expertise and he came
across as if he was talking down on us rather than to us. He
even mocked the current government and their inability to lead
and not to be led. He emphasised the need for tolerance, still
was himself intolerant of opposition declaring that no Somali
should have the right to veto!. Usually saying something and
its opposite is a recipe for inaction. How can anyone work with
“be tolerant but don’t be tolerant”. Moreover, he claimed that
the current government was what we wanted, indubitably this
flimsy claim should have been better left unsaid. As if what
we heard was not enough, he commented on Mr Jeyalni’s remarks by
claiming that the rural people’s war was due to the
disappointment with the educated. Now Banadiris and the
Bravanese were held responsible for their own predicament with
the blessing of the UN. As outrageous as it may sound, the
audience clubbed and sniggered. Unable to see the state of the
Somali Diaspora, Mr Abdulla urged us to help the country. The
problem growing in status is that perhaps somehow we lose touch
with reality. Placing such a demand on our shoulders while we
struggle with broken families, lost youth and parents to crime
and substance misuse, barely being able to make ends meet while
living at the verge of our adapted societies is very illusory.
By the end of the day, I was distraught, angry, furious and
disgusted with the insensitivity shown. The anger was building
up amongst the audience too, and if the time was not cut short,
I am sure the whole thing may have exploded. Important issues,
such as justice and human rights, piracy and the underlying
social deprivation, the claims of toxic waste and illegal
fishing that provided piracy with moral framework, the thousands
refugees stranded in Kenya, Ethiopia, internally-displaced
persons (IDPS), reversed migration and of course the
intimidating presence of the so called international community
in our shores were not raised .
I was given a chance to speak, by then I could hardly contain
my anger. The situation was too ugly to salvage and the people
were too traumatised and confused to even begin to reason with.
At that moment I realised that Somalia is lost between the
self-absorbed leaders, a traumatised and confused population and
an agonisingly indifferent world. Ignorance and hunger
compounded by the two evils, tribalism and religious extremism,
Somalia seems to be heading towards an apocalyptic end, not as a
nation state only, but as a race.
Although I have been a community activist since 1996, I have
never felt as much anguish, torture, deception and as much
disillusionment as I did on Saturday. The audience were
misinformed about the purpose of the conference. They were
invited under pretext of engaging the Somali Diaspora, but,
unfortunately, it turned out to be all about Nur Cadde’s and
Ould Abdullas egos. They wanted to reward each other for their
achievements. It was so obvious that they were not so keen on
other than themselves, not certainly in Somalia, the new
government, or Somali destitution. Even some friends I met
after this painful conference believed that the only solution is
bringing Somalia under Trusteeship. This brought the images of
Black Hawk Down back to my mind, and the pain I experienced when
I was asked to review the movie:
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=11476 .
Fifty years after the liberation of Africa, sadly some sections
of the Somali society are warming up to the idea that
Trusteeship is the solution. The sheer thought of this, is to
me, the biggest defeat to the Somali spirit, so I wept, moaned
and wailed for Somalia.
The solution for Somalia does not lie in foreign tanks and
take-over. Perhaps, what Oulad Abdulla and Nur Cadde need to do
next is maybe look into our eyes and hear our cries. Nation
building and morale building efforts must go hand in hand.
Conceivably the first place that they may need to start from is
to open and foster an honest dialogue between the Somalis, to
help us to confront our past deeds and provide us with a space
to grieve our multiple losses, with the intention to mend our
broken trust and relationships.
Warsan Cismaan Saalax
warsan2001@hotmail.com
Daabaco
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