United we stand, Divided we fall

By Farah  Mohamoud Mohamed

Richmond; VA

Mmfaarax@aol.com

 

We are disturbed by the recent developments in Bossaso.  Any person with conscience will not tolerate or accept to take advantage of a peaceful political demonstration and transform it into a riot instigated by traitors and paid infiltrators.  Puntlanders have always heeded with numerous appeals that they tighten their belts in these harsh economic times. The hard times are clearly here and in a big way. There are several key lessons to be learned in this latest experience. Chief among these is the need for the Government to develop a more realistic approach to managing its commitment to its people. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

            Get this clear: There is little room for political posturing when you are poor, and corrupt to the boot.  In this instance, those likely to pay a heavy price are not Government potentates but the men and women in the street. It all begins and ends with how we manage ourselves and our resources. It is distressing that the interests of the greater majority should have been subsumed under the need to protect political types that have no interest in the well being of Puntland, but are selfish betrayers of their people and their land. The likes of Arta believers who betrayed the trust of the people for personal gains are sending money to incite people to fight against the existence of Puntland.  They should not succeed with their evil intentions.  On the other hand, the Puntland government should not forget that this State could be brought to its knees by mismanagement.  It may be painful to some but there is only one option open to the people of Puntland and that is to separate the reality from the illusions of the Arta believers who are playing with emotions of women and children and trying to take advantage of the good intentions of the Puntland society.  

            Yes, we are survivors and remember when the going get tough the tough get going. You don’t survive 30 years, (20 years persecuted by a dictatorial regime and 10 years of mayhem caused by Abdiqasim’s kith and kin) and a hostile environment without closing ranks. We are all human and we are prone to mistakes, but there's time for forgiveness and a time for accountability.  Before the victim is demanded to forgive and forget, ask the perpetrators of genocide to apologize of their crimes.  When we can’t bring ourselves to challenge even the most questionable actions of our own, something is wrong. When a community loses the capacity to be self-critical, it ceases to exist.

            I'm so disgusted at the people trying to evolve this situation into a clan conflict. The writing is on the wall, this is the work of our enemy as a whole and they are using every means necessary to discredit us, and are using the media to further their propaganda by writing complete lies and fabrications.  A simple question is, what is the alternative of Puntland?  Is it Abdiqasim and the so-called TNG that does not even exist?  Or to be controlled from Mogadishu, where every one of us has lost a family member, your life savings and properties, where thousands of innocent civilians has been massacred, and where many of your beloved sisters were raped by dirty moryans.  Can the instigators of violence return to the lion’s den (Mogadishu) and walk freely let alone demonstrate. Common sense should prevail in a situation when everything is crystal clear as this. It is completely understandable not to like the way the government is running the Puntland affairs, what is beyond anyone’s imagination is to break the pride of your own people and government, in exchange for a second class citizenship in a dreadful place where no one sleeps without fear.

            My brotherly advise to those who do not like the Puntland administration is to wait and democratically elect the leader you most prefer.  To Arta believers, as traitors you should have your day in court if you ever decide to come back.  As an advise to the Puntland government, please sentence the individuals found guilty to the most severe punishment, or send them into exile to Mogadishu, where they should be imprisoned and confined into hotels, where they have to watch people staying at their houses and yet cannot speak, where people are driving their vehicles yet cannot utter a word, where the people who murdered and raped their family member are the supreme rulers, where they will always see evil but cannot seek justice let alone revenge. That should serve the aim of the cruelest punishment a man can endure physically and mentally, and should save our taxpayer’s money.            

            What unite us as a people is more than what divide us.  We should strife to keep our fatherland peaceful and harmonious where we are free to pursue our hopes and dreams.  UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL.

( The writer, Farah Mohamoud Mohamed, lost his father during the Mogadishu upheavals of 1991.The name of his late murdered father is recorded as number 57 in the Genocide File).