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Opinions expressed in this column are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of SW. Infantile
happiness—The tale of Riyale’s visit
to London. by Shirwa Jama, Law Faculty, University of Cambridge, England.
The
festive smiles descended those who
were demonstrating on the 17th of March; most seemed as
though they expected this to be the D Day; the day they will make their
mark on the world stage. The “state visit” as some
dubbed it was indeed reduced something of a second rate musician
paying visit to his meager fans in the House of Commons. If such a visit
was nearly to be anything “semi-official” (as many supporters would
like us to believe) then it would indeed be inapt for the ministers
concerned not to show up for symbolic photo shoots with Mr Riyaale;
perhaps Mr Benn and Mr Straw were occupied with more noteworthy
matters—I was told the Honourable Gentleman Mr Benn: the Secretary
State of overseas development (or some such) was off to Wilshire
hunting; whereas Mr Straw attended his Oxonian son’s birthday at that
exclusive restaurant the Ivy. Surely the delights of seeing an
“exotic” Head of State would have spared them from such trivial
enjoyment of hunting and good food. With assurance they would indeed
spare time to see him if they regarded Mr Riyaale any such but truth of
the matter is that such regard has never been thought of my fellow
countryman Mr Riyale who was indeed traveling with Somali passport—the
ironic politicking of our fellow Hargeisa politicians is staggering to
say the least- where some of his colleagues were in hold of foreign
passports ranging from Danish to American; some would undoubtedly say
this is an international government. Triviality
aside, to add an insult to injury our fellow Somaliland (SL) supports
would like us to belief that the inconsequential backbench MPs whose
diaries had been empty for donkeys of years are men who would deliver
them to glory. What a pity. The gentlemen of Banbury and Hardgate, Clydebank Mr Tony Baldry and Tony Worthington respectively.
The first having dubious personality of which one can safely say is
ominous than that of his party colleague the disgraced Lord Archer (well
admired writer and socialite net worker; he should have stuck with what
he knows best). The other not so shady but indeed gloom had beset him
since he was demoted from his last post Minster of Ireland—where he
did a very poor job. When I last spoke to him weeks ago, he struck me
like an old lion tired of peaceful life and hungry for an adventure. He
pretends to be some sort of blue blood having acquired thick husky
accent that reminds you of Boris Johnson MP of Henley and editor of
Telegraph but not as clever or as pure blooded as him. I was awestruck
when he answered a question I have asked him. His response was one that
oozed with self-assurance that artful man can detect it to be a false
attire that men naked of self-confidence would wear. He assumed his most
posh accent like I would run sheepishly; “Sir, I care the plight of
Somaliland people because I happen to believe in liberty and political
self-determination”. Of course as you can guess my question was ;What
prompted him to go to Hargeisa only; why did he not visit Sool and
Sanaag which of course the Hargeisa administration claims to be part of
Somaliland. After
reading The Political Animal written by that self-assured man Mr Paxman
of the BBC; I was equipped to deal with this self-haughtiness. My retort
of course was one that lasted nearly half an hour; I shan’t bore you
my dear reader to the exact sentences we exchanged. But my meagre
trained mind was predisposed to unearth why these two men would indeed
be much interested in “Somaliland”. The first man is known to be a
clever merchant. He has his claws in many troubled countries in Africa.
The chap is just trying to get on the game as it were. Where the other
less insidious chap is perhaps influenced by Trollope’s writings and
those adventures which men like Richard Burton speak of (of course
largely most of his writings on Somalis is at bare minimum a heresy). He
is getting on, age is creeping in and the sunny environment he had seen
in the Horn would spare him the pain of living dreary England (only if
We Somalis valued our land as this chap has done; during our
conversation, he spoke highly about the climate, the people and how
terrible it is to loose all these to lawlessness); of course any man
with their right mind would exchange cold with warm weather. Anyhow,
what has come of those celebratory smiles I first opened in my lines? I
tell you my reader. They faded into the thin air never to be re-lived if
the smilees can gain experience from this bitter incident. The
organisers has so artlessly, unselfconsciously sold the demonstration
that I even nearly believed them. I think they may even believed it
themselves. The cavalier convention ended with Riyaale being given a
shoddy platform to plead his inauspicious plea which of course fall into
the satiated men who will just retell the stories in their luxuriant
dinner parties—I wish those Somalis would know the life style of the
middle-classes; this whole thing is a jolly well spend time to them;
something they shall come up with to impress their friends when they sip
Earl Grey tea in places like Savoy, Dorchester or other such coffee
houses they congregate in. What
would have become of this lot-Somaliland (clan entity). It is like those
infamously contemptible Somali “models” who conjure up fantastic
tales to bemuse those foreigner; but worst still these lot don’t
confine their fantasy on their old masters; but the fantasy had become
unceasing they themselves become faithful to it—like those
women who created the concept of love to beguile men; only later
to become victims of it. It is sadly for them their arguments are
absorbingly amusing for the objective reader. Anyone who have read about
the report of the Commons would agree to it; where those two plead on
behalf of their potential clients in front of their colleagues; they say
these men had fought with us in wars against the Europeans. This is
classic haughtiness and the utter superiority of the upper echelons of
this society; they are far removed from reality to utter such
politically archaic remarks. They heed
none to political connotations so far as they feel happy about its
delivery. “It is the delivery that matters not message” said their
greatest of all. My Allah have been embarrassed to hear such arguments.
Even worse the SL supporters give credence to this as some sort of
gleaming historical significance; it ties them with the old masters said
one while back while we enjoying-ly speculated about the arrival of Mr
Riyale in London. This man who have significance erudition is so blinded
he can not see how inane this whole thing is. Wrapping up, the trip most SL supporters expected them to deliver that ships of honey are docked empty where the rust eats away in that threadbare place they all sipping what had left of fizzing drinks. |
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