Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo in his MA Thesis entitled U.S. Strategic Interest in Somalia: From Cold War Era to War on Terror, submitted to Buffalo University, 2009; says in page 2: “the two smaller agricultural tribes Digil & Rahanweeyn make up only 20% of Somali population”. Then in page 6 Farmajo glorifies the Somali Youth League (SYL) and does not even mention the Hizbiya Dastur Mustaqil al-Somal (HDMS). In page 33 Farmajo calls Baidoa city as a small town; in page 53 he talks about the glorious
nomadic tribal Culture; then in page 62 & 64 he discusses the rivalry between President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Speaker of the Parliament without even mentioning the Speakers’ name! And finally in his bibliography and works cited he consulted with all known Darood scholars without mentioning a single Digil Mirifle scholar!
There is a Somali nomad saying which goes like this “Sinji waa maguuraan”. Meaning the behavior, character, manner and the ways that individuals acts hardly changes. In other wards, the nomadic tribal ethos of today’s Somalia remained the same as it was millenniums ago. Today, President Farmajo’s way of thinking is exactly as President Barre’s (1969-91) or President Shermarke’s (1967-69) all belong to the nomadic Darood tribe.
Here are some points to correct the wickedness of President Farmajo’s thinking and his lack of sensitivity and looking down to tribes other than his own.
- The tribes name is Digil & Mirifle NOT Digil and Rahanweeyn. The later terms that Farmajo is using is an euphemistic terms to diminish the culture and denigrate the heritage of Digil and Mirifle people.
- What data is he using to determine that Digil & Mirifle people make up 20% of Somali population? This type of generalization is unscientific and misleading, but very familiar in Somali studies. Are they smaller than Darood, Dir or Hawiye. How to proof that?
- President Farmajo says: SYL fought for Pan-Somalism, the unification of all Somalis in the Horn of Africa; and also it fought for the eradication of tribalism. This call indeed led to the dismemberment of the Somali Republic 1960-1991 safe the unification of all Somalis. Today, former Somali Republic is a patchwork of lawless self-declared regions or republics. Some are claiming that they are not even Somalis such as Somalilanders, or Kilinka Shanad in Ethiopia or NFD in Kenya, who are happy of being Somali Ethiopians and Somali Kenyans. When former French Somaliland, today Djibouti got its independence in 1977, they declared to be themselves and not amalgamated to the military regime of Mogadishu. Thus, Pan-Somalism was a total fiasco.
- With regard to SYL’s fight against tribalism. It became a jock. Tribalism remained a de-facto in Somali politics and governance, and nationalism has been used as an umbrella to satisfy the needs of nomadic tribes since independence. The power and wealth of the nation has been placed in the hands of the nomads. The Digil and Mirifle, the Banadiris and the minority clans were marginalized throughout the history of modern Somali Republic. Isn’t is telling that today, President Farmajo sent a nephew of his Abdulaziz Laftagareen to become the President of South West Somalia (SWS)? It has been reported that Farmajo shipped several armed cars on board of airplanes, selected forces from the Somali army for Laftagareen’s protection and some millions of dollars for his campaign. In the meantime, Farmajo blocked the candidacy of Mukhtar Robow who has the capacity and the intellect for the position. Laftagareen doesn’t even speak fluent Af-Maay the language of the people of Southwest regions.
- The HDMS’s vision to the wellbeing of Somali society was valid then and is valid today. The ‘H’ stands for Hasbiya, meaning Party. The ‘D’ stands for Dastur, meaning Constitution. The ‘M’ stands for Mustaqil, meaning Independence. And the ‘S’ stands for Somalia. Thus, the party’s complete name is: the Somali Independent Constitutional Party. The HDMS called for the necessity of a constitution before independence, which is indeed a pre-requisite for having a viable nation. It is the constitution that defines the people of the nation. It answers Questions like who is the Somali? It is the constitution that draws the boundaries of the nation. Until today Somalia’s International boundaries with its neighbors are provisional! It is the constitution that calls for a census to know the population of the nation, and answers questions like which is the majority tribe and which is not! The HDMS, for more than 20 years 1947-1969 was the sole opposition party, contesting all elections and second to the ruling SYL. For President Farmajo, all of these don’t count.
- When it comes to definition of sizes of cities and towns, for President Farmajo again has no data or scientific definition. Baidoa is not smaller than Garowe, Galkayo, Bossaso or Belet Weeyne, but in his mind set since it is predominantly inhabited by a Digil and Mirifle tribe which to him is a minority tribe, it is also small. During the Italian colonial administration, Baidoa was the second major city in Somalia second to Mogadishu.
- Throughout the Thesis which fall 77 pages, Farmajo discusses Somali political factions during the Civil War and their leaders such as the Somali National Movement (SNM), an Issaq faction, the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), a Majerteen faction, the Somali National Front (SNF), a Marehaan faction, and the United Somali Congress (USC) , a Hawiye faction, just as an example; Farmajo never mentioned the Digil and Mirifle factions and their leaders such as the Somali Democratic Movement (SDM) and the Reewin Resistance Army (RRA) just to mention some.
- To Farmajo, the Somali culture is all about nomadic culture, particularly the camel hearders’s culture. In page 53, he talks about their governance and peacemaking ethos:
- For the nomads, he says: “the winner takes all”. There are no compromise mechanisms in their peacemaking.
- The concept of minority rights and their protection is alien to the nomadic culture. They are oppressed and humiliated.
- Decisions are made by majority clans only. They have no regards to minority voices. That is why throughout the history of the republic, minority clans were deprived from any political participation or decision making even for themselves. Governors, district commissioners and even local police and municipality heads were decided in Mogadishu and mostly were appointed from the nomadic tribes. In fact the Dighil & Mirifle culture in peace and decision-making is the antithesis to the nomadic one. Their culture is governed by a Heer (customary Law), Fa’aad (clause’s of the Heer) and the Diin (Religious practices); based on the Qur’an and Hadith, which are more fare and inclusive. The Dighil and Mirifle culture even accommodates women’s right; which is unheard of it in the nomadic culture.
- In pages 62-64, Farmajo discusses the estrangement between the president of TFG and the speaker of the house. Strangely enough he writes the full name of President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed but shy’s to mention the name of the Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan. In Sana, Yemen, Farmajo mentions the full name of the Yemeni president Ali Abdalla Salah, who mediated between President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and the Speaker of the Somali Parliament, but not mentioned Sharif Hassan’s name again! Where are we from research objectivity? In more than several occasions, the word speaker comes back and forth and the readers wonder who is this speaker? Is he or she!
- Finally, in Farmajo’s bibliograohy and works cited that are close to 60 sources: books, journal articles, dissertations and websites. Somali authors that Farmajo used were only Darood authors and only one Abgaal. He did not use any Dighjil and Mirifle author and source in his theses, not even one. Here we are again. The post-independent Somalia that glorified nomadic culture, language, and history and destroyed or denigrated the history and culture of the Somali sedentary societies is back. Efforts to ignore and not even consult with sources that deal with these societies has been the case since independence. Scholars even foreign scholars were always discouraged to delve with the inter-riverine themes. The oral sources of non-nomadic Somalia were systematically ignored and their languages were not studied. So, Farmjo follows the footsteps of his predecessors, when Somalia was looking at him as a savior who will lead Somalia into the right directions.
Mohamed H. Mukhtar
