19 May 2007 04:28 SOMALIA WATCH |
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Opinions expressed in this column are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of SW.
Ending the conflict in the Somali inhabited territories of Horn of Africa
Samtalis
Hussein Haille - hail0029@umn.edu
Dear
Friends I would like to share with you some of my thoughts with regard
to the following questions: what can we do to contribute to the process
aimed at ending the conflict in the Somali inhabited territories of Horn
of Africa, this includes Somali west and former Republic of Somalia.
Your response to this thought is highly appreciated; however, for our
thought to be fruitful it is necessary that you put some thought in to
your response so that we may develop collectively.
Emotion based arguments are not progressive that is they hinder our tendencies to grow and achieve perfection, so, it is therefore a matter of necessity, that you suppress your feelings, and think about the subject of interest in profound way, in doing so, all of us will benefit, by consuming the product of our thoughts.
To
better answer this question I must classify people to different classes
and groups, I would start with bourgeoisie, that is the educated
masses, education here is not limited to the academy but it includes
acquired knowledge through experience or accumulated wisdom.
Bourgeoisie here is not meant in the classical Marxist sense, but
it symbolizes only the metropolitan character of this class compared to
other groups in the country such as Camel herders, (Geel jirayaal) or
peasants (Beeralay). Striking feature that captures the eye of the
casual observer with regard to bourgeoisie compared to other classes is
the opportunities that are available to them( such as education, chance to make
money, or the information that they can potentially access for personal
consumption) as well as the environment they find themselves.
In
the history of mankind bourgeoisie has always been the agent of change
and progress, however, the role taken by this class in different
countries and the realties that they have produced shows some remarkable
variation. What makes certain bourgeoisie class more successful than
others and what are the primary preconditions that are necessary for
this class to lead the society in to better life in light of complex
socioeconomic and political structure of the world would be subject of
our meditation.
To
answer this question we need to study the specific features of the
country under the scrutiny, given the relative success or the failure of
this class (bourgeoisie) generally determines the socioeconomic and
political destiny of the entire state, it will be noble cause for us to
delve in to the annals of history to better comprehend the basic
structures of the socioeconomic and political discourse of Somali
society. To achieve this end we will study the history of the region.
History
There
is historical evidence from reliable sources to suggest that the Somali
inhibited territory of horn of Africa was land of civilization, which
was populated since pre historic times. Starting from the Puntite
kingdom which flourished before the Common Era to Muslim sultanates that
dominated the Somali peninsula and adjacent Muslim states for the last
millennia. These city-states had produced tremendous wealth due to their
commercial ties with the outside world particularly Arabian Peninsula,
India and other Eastern societies.
We
were informed by both writings left by the ancient Egyptians
particularly those in the temple of Dayr-el-Bahari on the west bank of
the Nile, and the Perpilus
of the Erythrean sea that Puntites during ancient times and
Berbers (a name applied o
the people and the land inhibited by modern Somalis) during the Time of
Christ have used their own bouts to transport commercial goods to
Arabia, Egypt and possibly to the far East,to suggest that no coastal
cities flourished Pre-Islamic Horn of Africa is essentially ethnocentric
and biased reconstruction of history to the least.
Eastern
coast of Africa was center of commerce that has connection with eastern
societies since time immemorial. The oldest known material with regard
to the commerce was Palermo stone (the oldest written book in the
Egyptian history) which informs us that there was commercial
relationship between ancient Egypt and Eastern coast of Africa known at
that time as Punt or land of the gods. Some time around the Christ (May
Lord grant him peace) we are informed the existence of large Somali
Cities by the Peripilus of the Erthraean sea, this book is considered a
major reference book with regard to the ancient commerce of the eastern
nations. The name of the author is not known; probably he was Egyptian
of Greek origin. The Somali cities mentioned in this book are the
following Zaila( Avalites), Berbera(Malao),
Mosullon (Bandar Kasim, known also by the Somali as Bosaso, it is
260 miles east of Berbra)Bandar Hais (Mundus)
Ras Hafun(Opene, it is worth while to notice that this is a
corruption of Punt, as many historians believe, and this place is about
90 miles below the famous Cape Guardafui( known to the Somalis as Ras
Asayr) Mogadishu(Serapion) Brava(Nicon). It is interesting to note that
the author calls this area stretching from Zaila to
the entire Gulf of Berbera(Aden, it was only recently
when people started calling this Bay Gulf of Aden, in the
last two Millennia people have been calling this Bay gulf of Berbera, or
gulf of Zayla and therefore I chose to do so) as other Barber country,
it is not coincidence that we learn from the famous Muslim expoler Ibnu
Batuta who visited both Mogadishu and Zayla at 1300s mentions in his
famous book Rehala or travel , that the residents of the
Mogadisho were Beber origin
and spoke Beber language. He farther informs us that the city housed
large student population and the Sultan had writer who recorded all
secret information, there are important implications to this simple
assertion and they are the following.
Somali
coastal cities were not founded By Arabs or the Persians
Mogadisho
and other coastal cities in the Somali peninsula were there since time
immemorial as we were informed by the Peripilus, even if we were to
grant that that the foreigners once dominated the city, this was not the
case certainly at 1300 AD. The claim by some locals that the city of
Mogadisho was a walled city and that the local natives were not allowed
to sleep at night is fabricated fantasy that has no historical evidence.
But one might say that why some authors say that Somali coastal cities
were founded by middle Easterners, I would answer that some authors have
also propagated that the Somalis were not African indigenous but
immigrants from southern Arabia, to this day Some encyclopedia (among
them Colombia encyclopedia, search the word Hamites, they have version
on the web) claim that that the Somalis are Caucasian decent that is
they are the same racial stock that dominates continental Europe. So it is fair to say that there is
underlining tendency in many authors to credit others than the native
people when it comes to the history and civilization, although, they may
have their own reasons which is different than ours, however, we must
grant to them the benefit of doubt, thus affording to them, to present
historical evidences not biased historical speculations.
.
Somalis
are not oral society
The
first scholar to study the Somali language was Sheikh Yusuf al kownayn,
Known as Aw Barkhadle in northern Somalia (or modern republic of
Somaliland), and his tomp is visited by many Somalis to this modern day and he was relative to the ruling family of Adal
kingdom.
Starting
from the time Islam has arrived Horn of Africa, Somalis and other
Muslims in the region have contributed to the production and
preservation of Muslim and local literature, it is not surprising then
to learn that the major reference book (which has numerous volumes) of
the Hanafi school of law (Muslim school of law, dominant in the Asian
subcontinent), is written by Imam Zaili’e, his proper name was
Jamal Muhammad Yusuf Mohammed Ayub born and grew up in Northern Somalia,
particularly in the legendary city as well as the imperial seat of the
celebrated Adal Sultanate, the magnitude of the works produced by the
Somalis is another subject, which I will cover in subsequent paper,
however, it might be enough to note that there are entire sections
in the modern Egyptian house of books and medieval Mosque of
Umayyad Dynasty in Damascus
dedicated to the works published by the local Muslim scholars as well
rooms that housed students from this region (horn of Africa).
The
subjects covered in this works extend from jurisprudence ( fiqi),
mystics, poetry, law and history to the prevailing social and political
conditions. Some of these works could also be found in private libraries
in Somalia as well as public libraries around the world, particularly in
Europe and Middle East. Large portion of these works were published in
Arabic although some of these works were also written in Somali with
Arabic alphabet. It is interesting to note that Europe which is land of
civilization with considerable intellectual history was employing Latin
as medium of expression for science and philosophical discourses as late
as two hundred years ago. In fact, the great German philosopher Emanuel
kant wrote his dissertation paper in Latin about two hundred years ago.
Therefore, the use of vernacular languages, or put it differently, the
linguistic nationalism or the pride one takes in his own language and
its use as medium of literary works is recent phenomena, although there
are exceptions to this assertion.
Therefore,
it is not surprising to contend that the Somalis were producing their
scholarly works in Arabic prior 19th century; however, this
has changed due to the socioeconomic and political changes as well as
the growth of the population and the compelling desire of the scholars
to communicate with masses so as to diffuse knowledge and create greater
sense of community.
Sheik
Uways Muhammad Barawi who lived between
1847-1909, was born in Brava, he went to Iraq and studied in
Baghdad between (1870-188), and visited numerous places in the Islamic
world, upon his return to
Somalia he visited Mogadishu and met with prominent Muslim scholars and
then he left to the south particularly areas between the two rivers,
where he was recognized as leader of the Qadiriya order( tariiqa).
He founded the farming communities called Jama’at literally means communities that have celebrated Muslim cultural heritage through the production of poetry (mainly in the form of Sufi poetry that were designed to celebrate the personalities of Prophet Mohammed may Lord grant him peace and other prominent Muslim saints both locally and internationally) thus creating the sprit of brotherhood among Somali communities. It is worth while to mention that he was among the first people to produce major literary works in Somali based Arabic alphabet, a major portion of his work are currently in my possession and can also be found in both private Somali libraries and some libraries around the world.
Significant
figure related to the Somali writing history was Osman Keenidid, being
religious man with high degree of political consciousness, he produced
the first Somali alphabet known initially as Osmania and later it was
named far Soomaali, (or called in Somali
,
taken form recently published article in the Somalinet )
or Somali writing. This script had been used to record literature and
numerous books were written in this script, it was also used in school
as late as 1972, as matter of fact Syl, the Somali nationalist political
movement of 1940s had used it as official language until it was
dominated by Pro Arab groups led by Haji Mohammed Hussein who was the
president of the S.y.l from 1948-1952 and 1957-58. He advocated Somalia
not to participate in the European Economic Community, he also
campaigned for the use of the Arabic alphabet in order to narrow the gab
between the Somalis and Muslim world. Cotemporary to Osman kenideed was
Abdurrahman Sheikh Nur, Judge Qadi
of Boreme, who also devised Boreme script in 1933, which
was later used by the merchants as well as local people. He used the
script to record his own works. Prior the invention of Boreme script he
used Arabic alphabet to transcribe important things, however, this
script never achieved national recognition in the same way as the
‘Somali writing’ did” The
Somali alphabet was used until the military took over the country and
introduced the Latin alphabet, there are also numerous people who
devised scripts late 1940s, and 50s
including Dr Hussein sheik Ahmed Kadere, the great Philosopher and many
others. Therefore, it is baseless and biased judgment of
history to say that Somali was oral language before 1972, it is also
disrespect and lack of appreciation to the great works of the Somali
scholars who dedicated their life to the advancement of Somali language.
As matter of fact we can find to day( 2002) many books written in the
indigenous scripts both in private libraries and public libraries around
the world, by the way some of them are currently in my possessions.
It
is interesting to note that the pro Somali scripts are not entirely
dead, in fact, one of the great champions of the ‘Somali alphabet’
Dr Hirsi Magan, the former student of anthropology is currently (2002)
visiting Europe, to accelerate the production of software that can be
used to write the Somali alphabet. Nevertheless the pro Arab movements
are also very powerful to day, in fact there are two groups, the first
group who was represented by the Dr. Ibrahim Hashi, who actively
participated the glorious struggle to liberate the western Somalia. He
has produced books in Somali based on Arabic alphabet, he used to say
let us use the language of the Quran glorifying the use of the
Arabic alphabet; however, with high degree of confidence we can say that
this movements is dead. The second movements in the pro Arab comp
campaigned the use of Arabic language as the official language and
school language, this movement is currently powerful and in fact they
have benefited from the lawlessness by creating schools that not only
use Arabic as the medium of instruction but also borrow entire
curriculum from Arab states. This is particularly true in southern and
northeastern Somalia. Pro
Somali groups believed the use of the Somali language regardless the
alphabet used, this group was dominant until 1972-1991, however, it
seems their influence is decreasing due to their focus and preoccupation
of socioeconomic and political problems of the country, so they are not
bothered by the kind of education that their children are getting,
believing that these schools are better than none. There is
psychological dimension to this reality, from 1980s the institutions of
the state was deteriorating and education was not an exception
particularly the public schools, and note that the schools both in
primary and secondary schools used Somali as medium of instruction,
there were also some schools which used Arabic as the medium of
instruction, for both pragmatic and exaggerated reasons the Somali
public had perceived that the quality of the Arabic schools were much
better than the Somali schools, as matter of fact the joke of the day
was ( ma Alaahida ayaad dhigataa, waad
fiicantihiin idinku) you study in Arabic you are good than others. This
psychological climate have given the pro Arab groups an advantage than
the Somali groups. There is also an economic advantage, most of the
Arab/Muslim organizations have greater tendency to support the schools
that use the Arabic as medium of instruction than the once that use
Somali as medium of instruction. These
factors combined allow the rapid growth of schools that use Arabic
language as well as the rapid decline of the schools that use the Somali
as medium of instruction. Profound analysis to this social phenomena and
elaboration of my understanding to this social development should be
expressed in another treatise. Let
us now move to the question that we asked at the beginning, which was
what can we do to end the conflict.
Neutrality
In
order for you to deal with Somali problems or problems with Somali
character, you need to establish a character of neutrality so as to
start the process of ending the conflict. The first step in my opinion
is to be neutral.
I
am not telling you to be absolutely neutral, because you could not
expect perfect character from imperfect entity; perfection is the
hallmark of God not a characteristic of members of human species. There
are monumental implications to this simple logical statement and they
are the following.
1-
Never expect someone to behave non-clanstic way in all the
time, however, expect him/her to behave in non-Clanistic way most
of the time. Mistakes should be forgiven, although sometimes they should
be punished if proper institutions or conditions are in place.
2-
Eliminate if possible or otherwise make the accumulated
prejudices inactive, by considering the following steps.
a-
Subconsciously tell your self that others are not necessarily
wrong all the time, you must convince yourself also that some times you
could be wrong, given this conviction you might proceed to the next
step.
b-
Appreciate the power of the situations, that is imagine what is
like to be 15 year old gunmen who was not properly nourished nor have
sufficient means to feed himself, imagine also Uncle Bidaar(
modern Somali politician) who is preoccupied with local politics
and he is supported by internal and external forces, in this realm he
losses his rationality because he behaves in manner not consistent to
the behavior of ordinary human being.
c-
Consider the supporters of all contending groups in Somali
peninsula as your brothers and sisters, when in contact with them, defy
their expectations, that is show them friendly attitude, and sincere
desire to recreate the sprit of the brotherhood, even if the person’s
behavior is motivated by prejudice or clanisitc stereotypes, see them as
a prey of prevailing political conditions, refrain by using your utmost
power to confirm their expectations. If you were to behave as they
expected, both of you will be an instrument to historical end that will
not favor your welfare.
d-
Try to understand more objectively the various arguments employed
by all groups as well as the emotions that are supplemented to make
their case. Understand the limited scope as well as the simplistic
nature of their argument, given the complexity of the time and the world
that they are living in.
e-
By assuming the role of neutrality the challenges are great, so
always moderate your emotions, and show great tolerance.
f-
Whenever you make an unnecessary mistake correct it, it is very
painful to correct mistakes when in fact you are not the one who
initiated the mistake; however, this is the burden of the conscious
man/women during difficult times.
g-
Never pursue power, fame, at the expanse of the other, and in
simple arguments never try always to win, be the listener in most cases,
unless the circumstance necessitates otherwise.
h-
Be fair to all even if you do not like their position.
i-
Humans are dignified species and they treasure to be dignified,
so dignify them too
j-
Be creative, there are infinite ways to get to the same end, if
one way does not work try other ways, do not be fixated in one way,
humans have tendency to view things from one perspective, defy this
tendency other wise unnecessary consequence is eminent.
3-
Your fundamental need to live as free man/women both in your
region as well as in your clan is pragmatic and therefore granted, and
under no circumstances could it be compromised. However, it is necessary
to find sophisticated means to meet this end, in other words we need to
explore ways that we can produce neutral experts who can propose more
realistic plan and create the necessary condition for the plan to be
implemented. For example, we need some experts who solve the Kismayo/Mogadisho
question, by figuring out ways that Darod, hawiye Dir, Digil/Mirifle,
jareer the Great, Banadiri,Barawe, Midhiban, Bajuun and entire Somali
speaking nations could coexist together, and I am convinced that there
are ways that we can pursue collectively that can make this objective a
reality. However, I am afraid we no longer have the pleasure to remain
indifferent to the political evolution of horn of Africa. History is
very harsh to the spectators, who do not take part the painful process
of making history. Our current course of history in Somali peninsula is
very familiar when you look to the bloody history of mankind, the
history is full of groups who fought against each other to the point of
exhaustion, when this point is reached the painful chapter of the
history starts to unfold, that is the time when contending groups become
defenseless prey in the face of uncompromising predator who have
infinite reasons to determine their destiny. When this time arrives
history cannot be reversed. It is therefore necessary more than ever to
take the Somali crisis seriously, particularly those of us who are in
the Diaspora, because we are less burdened by the desire to survive
compared to the people who live in the Somali mainland.
Part
2 would be published shortly
Please
feel free to divide it in two parts, if that works for you the best
The
material would also be published in Somali shortly.
MY Email is hail0029@umn.edu