Waraysi ka baxay VOA oo ka hadlaya Suugaantii Cali Sugule

Abwaan Cali Sugulle ayaa sugaantiisi ay ahayd mid qota dheer, sida uu VOA-da ugu warramay Bashiir Sheekh Cumar Good oo ah aqoonyahan u kuur gala suugaanta Soomaaliyeed, qoraalna ka sameeyay sugaanta Cali Sugulle. Xuseen Barre ayaa khadka tilifoonka ee magaaladan Washington ku warreystay.

Halkan ka dhegeyso

Will Hiiraan Dare to Change the Damn Title? by Bashir Goth

As Hiiraan prepares to declare its own state, adding another episode to Somalia’s tragic story of disintegration into clan Bantustans, I wonder if Hiiraan would go down the same road of insanity towards destroying the country’s statehood or would it chart a new course and usher in a new dawn for Somali sovereignty and nationhood.

The choice will definitely be that of the people of Hiiraan and its leaders but I would like to take the liberty to remind them a few shining moments of their history. Hiiraan was the birth place of great men who played a pivotal role in the creation of the Somali nation. 

The generation of Somalis who grew up with the euphoria of independence,  have cherished memories of the legacy of men like Adan Abdullah Osman, Somalia’s first President and a man who gave Somalia the pride to be the first country in Africa where an elected civilian president handed over power to his successor in a democratic process in 1967. Osman could have followed suit of other African liberation leaders who held  on to power until they died or were overthrown by military dictators but he chose not to. And after leaving office, he lived as an ordinary citizen and a farmer without any involvement in the country’s politics until his death. This is a fact worth reminding the young generation who know Mandela as the only African leader who left the presidency after one term. Also Mandela was an elderly man of 81 when he left office which could have contributed to his decision not to run again but Osman was only 59.

Other remarkable independence figures of Hiiran included Abdillahi Iise Mahmoud, an SYL leader, Somalia’s Prime Minister under the Italian trusteeship period and first foreign minister after independence, and Sheikh Ali Jimaale, an independence leader who challenged Osman for the presidency and later served as a cabinet minister in the first post-Independence government. 

It is such history that obliges Hiiran to take the lead in stopping the current spiral towards the disintegration of the Somali state under the false and abused concept of federalism.

It was Winston Churchill who said: “If you have ten thousand regulations, you destroy all respect for the law”. And in today’s Somalia one can say that if you have half a dozen men, each one calling himself a president, then you definitely destroy the legitimacy and meaning of a President of a sovereign state. 

According to sources, there are about 25 federal states in the world and none of them has the title of president for other than the leader of the federal state. As an example in the USA you have state governors and in India and some Commonwealth countries you have the chief minister, as the elected head of government in the province or state, while in the UAE you have rulers in each of its seven Emirates and only one president for the whole country. As far as I know only Bosnia Herzegovina has three member presidencies, each member hailing from one of the three races in the country. But even there, only one of the three serves as chairman of the council for every eight months in a four-year term. Switzerland also comes to mind but it has a confederation and not a federation. It has a seven-member federal council who collectively act as head of a state but each member is elected as chairman of the body for one year in the council’s four-year term. 

Somalia, therefore, could be the only country in the world where the head of every clan-based state not only adorns himself with the title of President but indeed acts like one, literally negating the authority of the country’s president.  It has almost become a daily occurrence to see the so called “State Presidents” being summoned to foreign capitals, meeting foreign heads of state and signing agreements dictated to them including military agreements that allow foreign troops to be deployed to the areas they control. Here, one may argue that if the ruler of a certain area of the federal government can invite foreign troops and sign agreements that infringe on the authority and duties of the country’s President, then it is very hard to deny that such a country is indeed a divided country.

To make an end to this “federal” nonsense, it is my wish that the people of Hiiran show real leadership in ending the country’s free fall towards anarchy and disintegration. 

I know the temptation for the title could be too strong to resist in a tribal society where every clan reinforces its fences and raises its flag, but the existential question that faces every clan and every leader should be: What next? And what next should be quite obvious to every observer of the Somali political landscape today. A divided nation is easy prey to every scavenger. And the country is now literally divided into tribal fiefdoms calling themselves states. People who are homogeneous by race, language, skin color, and culture including religion are divided by walls erected by self-serving politicians whose main objective is to ingratiate themselves to their foreign masters as long as they can have the hollow title of “President” which can easily be replaced with the word “stooge” in the current Somali political context. 

So how Hiiraan could break this trend? They can do it by rejecting the title of “President” for their highest executive and instead call him a “governor” or “Chief Minister” or whatever other title they could come up with. This may sound as trivial to some but it is indeed a serious matter and if adopted it could bring a monumental change to Somalia’s political landscape. Indeed one can argue that names really matter. They come loaded with ideologies, images, and perceptions. It was Confucius, the Chinese teacher and philosopher, who brought this concept home when he was asked what he would do first if he was a ruler. Confucius said the first thing he would do should be to rectify names. And when his confused friend asked him how that would change things, Confucius gave a him a long list of things that could be harmed including the structure of society and the dispensation of justice if names were not correct. 

Therefore, to rectify names is what we direly need today in Somalia and by changing the name of their “state” leader from president to Governor or Chief Minister or even Ruler, leaders of Hiiraan could bring a sea of change in the thinking of the people. And this could encourage the weak parliament in Mogadishu to initiate a bill to change all the titles of “state” rulers from “president” to governor and to rectify the names of the mushrooming and meaningless “Lands” to their proper descriptions such as regions or provinces. This will be a small step from Hiiraan but a giant leap for the Somali statehood to borrow Neil Armstrong’s famous quote.

So the question is: Will Hiiraan be bold enough to change this damn title? 

Daruuraha Dhuub Ku Xidho - A Somali poem by Bashir Goth

Maansadani waxa igu dhaliyey tix gaaban oo uu tiriyey ardday ku jira Jaamacadda Cammuud oo aniga igu soo hal qabsaday. Tixdaa oo uu ugu magac daray “Dushaad Bare Iiga Tahay “ oo warbaahinta lagu soo gudbiyey 7^th Nov. 2015 waxay igu dhalisay dareen weyn oo waxan u qaatay in uu wiilku iga codsanayo in aan waayaha caloolyowga badan ee dalka Soomaaliyeed ku jiro aan gabay kaga soo hadlo oo aan isaga iyo da’diisaba aan waayo aragnimo, talo, iyo dardaaranba u soo gudbiyo. Markaa waajib ayey noqotay in aan ka jawaabo tixdii uu baahiyey ardaygaa magaciisa la yidhaahdo Mustafa Barkhad Cabdillaahi “Dhibmiil”. 

(Listen the audio here - Halkan ka dhegeyso gabayga oo cod ah)

Daruuraha Dhuub Ku Xidho

Dhiimbiilow dararsigii

Adeer daandaansigii

Arartaad soo dirteed

Daalalaydiyo xadhkaha

Dawlaabta Awdalpress

Ku daabacday baan heloo

Dushaad bare iiga tahay

Dareen bay igu riddoo

Dacwad weeyaan abyoon.

Anna dooddayda hoo

Sidii oday doorranoo

Dooyeystay lagu yiqiin

Dabuub waayeel guddoon.

In uu dalku qaawan yahay

In uu dadku ooman yahay

In uu qarankii dalwaday

Ubadku daranyeysan yahay

Inaan duunyiyo dugaag

Deegaankii ciiri jiray

Dabaggaalana ku hadhin

Dubkii dhoobadu qalalay

Duufaanka inagu habsaday

Wixii dumay waan ogahay.

Ayaamuhu waa dumaal

Gugii dooggii la helay

Jiilaal daran baa ku xiga;

Labaatan gu’ waa dorraad

Taariikhaha duugmay iyo

Wixii duul hore rogmaday

Wixii dibindaabyo iyo

Dunbaaburo la isku dhigay

Wixii la dun gooyey reer

Wixii dhacay beri dureed

Qaar  baa diifteeda sida.

Duruufaha maanta jira

Dilka iyo dakharrada ku yaal

Dalkeena ka muuqda ceeb

Dunidu way soo martoo

Ma aha doog iyo xanuun

Aan cidi daawayn karayn.

Dadaal uun bay rabtaa

Dad foojigan bay rabtaa

Garaad dihin bay rabtaa

Geesiyo diriray rabtaa

Hoggaan daacaday rabtaa

Digtooni qabay rabtaa

Damiirku dhibay rabtaa

Cadawga dugsan rabtaa

Duddada seexin bay rabtaa

Dillaalin dhulkay rabtaa

Qabiil la dilay rabtaa

La daadihin bay rabtaa

Dirays xidhan bay rabtaa

Aqoon darartay rabtaa

Madhnaan duuban bay rabtaa

Fadhiidin dalkay rabtaa

Aragti durugtay rabtaa

Ummadda deeqday rabtaa

Dhallin dardarlay bay rabtaa

Dubaalad shidday rabtaa

Bilowda dal bay rabtaa

Hayaan dammaclay rabtaa

Dayaxa gaadhay rabtaa

Xukun daahiray rabtaa

Dadkoo siman bay rabtaa

Wadaag dawladay rabtaa

Samuhu daajiyey rabtaa;

Haweenkeenaa darbane

Wanaagga u duuban iyo

Dheemanteena la daday

Qof daaha ka qaada oo

Iftiin u duweey rabtaa.

Dhimbiilow dirirradiyo

Da'diinaan dhawrayaa

Inay garan daawadii

Wanaagga daryeeli layd

Dulliga baabiin lahayd

Qabiil dadafayn lahayd.

Dawgeeduna waa tacliin

Su'aal lagu doojiyoon

Ahayn sida dawliskii

Mid ceelkuun soo dartoo

Biyaha lagu daabuloo

Darkuun gaadhsiin taqaan.

Aqoonta la doonayaa

Dadkeenu u ooyayaa

Dalkeenu u ooman yahay

Maskax weeyaan digtoon

Caqligoon dayn la gelin

Dalluub oog looga shidin

Dabar geed loogu xidhin.

Diintoon sida duunyadii

Xero lagu dayran Karin

Qof gaari dareersan Karin,

Deeqdii loo wada sinaa

Dabuubtuu eebbe yidhi

Dambiil kelidii ku sidan

Garaadka dullaysan Karin

Dahaadh ku hagoogi Karin.

Damalkii lagu nastiyo

Darmadeenii wacnayd

Magacii Daa’imkeen

Daliilkaan wada jeclayn

Inaan mawd duulayiyo

Laga dhigan duub qarxoo

Maqalkiisaba la dido.

Fikirigaagoo dabrani

Darar laga maalo iyo

Ha filan inu dalag baxshaa

Ubax dildillaaciyaa

Qurux laga daawadaa.

Maskaxdu waa deeq ilaah

Haddaanay duuli Karin

Dareen xor ah sheegi Karin

Su'aal daran dhiibi Karin

Cilmigu waa kugu dambaab

Been aan nolol doorinayn

Wanaag dalandoolinayn.

Nin baa diidaya qabiil

Ku dooda inuu xun yahay

Yidhaa waa dacar qadhaadh

Markaan loo darin habeen!

Markuu diirtana dugsada

Dibnaha leefoo dikriya

Yidhaa waa dawlad tani

Allow reerkayow ku daa

Ninkii dulman yeelkadii.!

Tixdani dawankiyo warka ah

Waxaan dooddani ku xidhay

Waxan deeq kaaga dhigay  

Dardaaranna kaaga tegay;

Nin keli doolaalayaa

Dantiisa gorfaynayaa

Yaanu abidkaa ku diran,

Wuxuu caqli diiddan yahay

Yaanay cidi kugu dirqiyin

Xaqoo loo daakiriyo

Caddaaladoo loo dib jiro

Dadkoon kala sooc lahayn

Danyartaan kugu ogahay.

Markay wada doobiyaan

Markay duub wada xidhaan

Qabiil u dubaaxiyaan

Aduu damal dheer ka fuul

Intay dambas baadhayaan

Daruuraha dhuub  ku xidho.

Dulucdaan kuu akhriyey

Duruustaan kuu xaddilay

Duxdiyo dhuuxeeda garo

La deris saaxiibadaa

Dhammaan doobiga u dhiib

Guuxeegu ha sii dalwado

Ninkii duda yeelkadii.

Hadday kaa didisa oo

Arartu ku daalisana

Yaanay fool daabanine

Saaxiibkaygii durduro

Duqii gabaygiyo murtida

Xaddaa daadihin yaqaan

Markay duudaha gashoo

Yaqaan dabinkaan dhigee

Ha kala daadshee u gee.

Adna daabkeeda qabo

Gaadhsii dirirkiyo laxaha

Dadaal baan kugu ogahay

Ducana waan kuugu daray.

-          Bashir Goth, 13^th Nov. 2015

Maansadii Dushaad Bare  Iiga Tahay by Abwaan Mustafe Dhimbiil

Waxan ka mid ahay ardayda dhigata Jaamacadda Camuud ee Gobolka Awdal. Waxan halkan ku soo gudbinayaa maanso la magac baxday Dushaad Bare Iiga Tahay oo aan u tiriyey Abwaan Bashiir Sheekh Cumar Goth (7th Nov. 2015 –Awdalpress)

Iga Guddoon Maansada:

Dareen baa igu jiroo

Waxan dirayaa hadyade

Abwaan lagu soo daydiyo

Ma ihi gabayaa da’ weyn

Ha yeeshee waxaa dirqiya

Inaan geeraar daldalo

Dabaylaha wada socdiyo

Duruufaha maanta jira

Markaan daba dhoon u ahay

Bashiirow gabay duxloo

Soomaalidu daawatoo

Taariikh daabkiisu yahay

Aqoon dabarkiisu yahay

Arar laga daalin iyo

Halhays duubkiisu yahay

Adaa noo soo diroo

Waxan kaa daalacdaa

Tiifiiyada dananayoo

Tixraac aan daba socdoo

Murtida kala soo degoo

Maansda ku dalllaandalshiyo

Dushaad bare iiga tahay

Dubaaqa ku hay adeer

Intaad nooshahay dunida

Darajaan kugu ogahay

Suugaantana noo daryeel

            -Mustafe Barkhad Cabdillaahi (Dhimbiil).

It is time for a woman to lead the UN

By Bashir Goth, Special to Gulf News

Recently when I read that Kenya was lobbying for its extremely capable and first woman foreign minister Ameenah Mohammad to fill the UN Secretary General post after Ban Ki-moon exits at the end of 2016, I immediately thought of Angela Merkel and her distinguished leadership of the recent Syrian refugee crisis. I thought how apt it would be to see a woman leading the UN for the first time on its 70th anniversary and a woman succeeding Barack Obama as US President. It would be a different world indeed.
READ MORE

Somalia’s Strategic Depth and Investment Opportunities for GCC Countries

By Bashir Goth

It is almost a quarter of a century since Somalia lost its statehood and status as a relevant member of the international community. Since then Somalia’s name has become synonymous with a failed state and the word Somalization the 21^st century’s new term for Balkanization. Tribal civil wars stoked by local and international terrorism and human-made famines have devastated the country, causing one of the 21^st century’s biggest refugee crisis in Africa. The Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp, has become a symbol of the misery and misfortune of the Somali nation. Tens of thousands of other Somalis were also sheltered in other neighboring countries such as Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Yemen; while around 1.1 million internally displaced people live under sub-human conditions in squalid make shift camps inside the country. 

This was the story of Somalia over two decades but not anymore. There is a new story coming out of Somalia these days; a story of a promising future, a story of a country that could be the 21^st century’s Rotterdam, Singapore, and Dubai all together; a country that is destined to redraw the map of world trade and tourism business. If one asks where this change comes from? The answer is simple: piracy windfall.  

Throughout its long years of self-destruction and suffering, the world neglected Somalia. Even when foreign booty hunters robbed its fish stock in tons in an unprecedented illegal fishing and others dumped hazardous industrial waste in its waters; the world looked the other way. World powers lacked the foresight to envision the danger that stateless Somalia could pose to world peace and economy. Not until the genie of piracy was out of Somalia’s unguarded and crime infested coast.

After a few years of the piracy activity, the world suddenly woke up to the vital strategic location of Somalia to global trade when pirates paralyzed the shipping lanes of one of the world’s busiest marine trade routes and their reach stretched to 1000 miles from Somalia’s coast. 

According to a study carried out by One Earth Future (OEF) Foundation the total cost of piracy off the coast of Somalia stood at US$7–US$12 billion at its peak in 2010. 

“While over 80 per cent of these costs were estimated to be borne by the shipping industry, 20 per cent were estimated to be borne by governments,” the study said.

A World Bank report in 2013 exposed a more serious situation by concluding that the yearly cost of piracy to world economy was in the tune of US$18 billion. This was a global economic menace that demanded an urgent action. But although navy warships of several industrial nations were deployed to the Somali coast, it soon became clear that fighting Somali piracy required not only military might, but also fixing a broken country for the interest of global trade.

This came in the revealing title of the World Bank report: “The Pirates of Somalia: Ending the Threat, Rebuilding a Nation.” 

The report went further to call for action, emphasizing that “The costs imposed by Somali pirates on the global economy are so high that international mobilization to eradicate piracy off the Horn of Africa not only has global security benefits, it also makes ample economic sense.” 

Therefore, it is only when Somalia’s lawlessness played havoc to world economy that the world decided to act. In September 2012, Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud was elected as Somalia’s President in an internationally sponsored conference of clan appointed parliament in Mogadishu. 

The importance of this was not lost on the western media as the Time magazine included Hassan in its 100 most influential people in 2013. Shedding the spot light on the significance of the event, Ruwandan President Paul Kagame who wrote the new leader’s profile for the magazine said: “The leader of Somalia’s first constitutional government in 20 years, President Mohamud symbolizes an increasingly confident Africa that is shedding its long history of strife and moving toward greater stability and prosperity.”

The first leader to break the undeclared international diplomatic ban on Somalia was Recep Tayyip Erdogan who became the first foreign leader outside Africa to land in Mogadishu more than 20 years. Somalia was at the time suffering from one of its worst famines in 60 years amid the country’s worst security situation where the militant Al Shabab had large parts of the country under its grip. Arriving in Mogadishu in August 2011 with his wife and a large delegation of Turkish officials on his side, Erdogan toured the bullet riddled streets of war-torn Mogadishu and announced that Turkey was opening an embassy in Somalia.

Since then Turkey launched huge development projects in Mogadishu. And Erdogan returned to Somalia as a President in January 2015 and was welcomed by his Somali counterpart at the new Turkish-renovated airport.

 

Irked by Turkey’s ventures in Somalia and with piracy being at its height, the UK government called for an international donor conference on Somalia in London in May 2013. The UK and other donors pledged some $130m (£84m) in aid for Somalia. 

The US also recognized the Somali new government for the first times in 20 years when President Barack Obama met President Mahmoud at the White House and later Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the United States’ recognition of the Somali government since the American Black Hawk battle in Mogadishu in 1994.

Today, Somalia has come a long way, Al Shabab has almost been defeated as a military force and nearly all areas under their control have been liberated. And with piracy losing its onshore support and its fleet and manpower destroyed by world navies offshore, it succumbed to its death.

This was celebrated by US Secretary of State John Kerry in his first visit to the Somali capital, recently as the first American Secretary of State to visit Mogadishu. 

"I visited Somalia today because your country is turning around", he said at a meeting with the Somali President,  adding there was "determined international effort" to put virtually all of Somalia's pirates out of business.

The Arab Gulf countries whose trade interest was harmed by Somali piracy as an estimated 7% of the world's oil consumption passed through the Gulf of Aden had also become active in engaging with Somali leaders to find a solution on the ground. The UAE initiated a yearly anti-piracy conference with the aim of re-establishing Somali security institutions as its core purpose. 

The war in Yemen again re-awakened the Gulf Arabs to Somalia’s strategic importance which prompted Qatar and UAE Foreign Ministers to visit Mogadishu and hold talks with Somali leaders. 

One can therefore conclude that apart from its untapped mineral resources and it’s underused arable land that if properly invested can easily be a bread basket for GCC countries, Somalia can provide a badly needed strategic depth to the GCC States due to its long coast which is the second busiest international trade route with approximately 23,000 ships amounting to nearly one trillion dollars of trade transiting its waters.

Developing Somalia’s coast line for tourism, fishing, and prime real estate as well as building modern ports and exploiting the country’s ready atmosphere for renewable energy can also change the Horn of African country into a summer resort, a successful investment venture, and a gateway for GCC business to Africa’s growing consumer market. Turkey has already taken the lead and China is waiting on the flanks with its ready cash but only time will tell if the GCC countries with their proximity, their open markets, and their historical relations with this Arab League member and Horn of African country can score better results in the scramble for Somalia’s lucrative trade and strategic geopolitical position.