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Abdullahi Dahir Moge
moogedahas2008@yahoo.com
Feb 13, 2008
‘Whatever
goes upon four legs or has wings is a
friend.’
The second commandment in
George Orwell’s
Animal Farm
I am writing to you from
Nusdariq triangle, sitting under the neem
tree in my family’s compound. I wish to send
the message in this letter with no less
urgency than that Hanuniye demanded
of the Shimbir when he implored it to
get across his feelings to the far-off
Deeqa. If you find it as a palaver or
sort of, bear with me; for us still in the
homeland, in perpetual anguish and agony- we
find solace in talking endlessly in
hush-hush dialogues or in restless
monologues. Consequently, we just can’t be
brief when presented with this unfamiliar
occasion. I am also entrusted with the
burden of telling you, all that the
oppressed people in the homeland feel.
I hear a lot, here. I hear
the Diaspora are angry and depressed over
the killings, rape, food blockades and
deprival of water to home community. I was
told the literati among you discuss about
the famine here, at least once a week over a
dinner. Yes, over the sizzling pepper steak
and vanilla Dessert- swapping gossips. I
distressfully heard some of you wish to
believe the palpable untruth about ‘people
killed by ONLF in Dobowein, Danot, Gunagado,
Garbo etc.’ I am saddened by the gullibility
of you people! I wryly laugh at the supreme
naivety of some of you; who would not blink
an eye to mourn the death of the walking
sticks of Meles’s messengers in the region.
I get mad at the inordinate
fascination of you with ‘peace via
submission’; as if to mock the Somali maxim
‘he who does not feel the pain of your
spear would never listen to your words’.
Even more, I am sickened by the perceived
ambiguity of ONLF on what they are fighting
for, and the flurry of speculations in the
western media on its vision. Not to mention,
the mockery that what has hitherto been sold
as ‘The Obole massacre’ by the enemy, should
have to be cleared up by Human Right Watch’s
January Report - and not by the more
knowledgeable ONLF!
Let me tell you what is going
on here, dear all. If you heard Meles has
sealed off entire zones of the region, and
denied people access to buy food or sell
their livestock, - you heard it right. But
have you dissected why? Or you still, in
your usual credulity, think it is just part
of the multiple means he is fighting the
freedom-fighters? No, brothers/sisters, it
is an end by itself; not a means. For a
colonizer, what is more efficient than to
impoverish an entire people and reduce them
to begging hordes-dependent on food aid-, to
firmly stamp his boot on their hungry faces?
What is more revelling than the callous
pleasure of looking down on the mouth of the
defeated, perhaps bellicosely declaring
itself unconquered-but from well under the
jackboot of the ‘victor’?
But again, if that was what
the midget Meles hoped for, it utterly
failed. It is hopeless times two! The
tyrant’s calculations were based on the
cruel logic that a beggar is not a chooser;
and therefore it can safely be deduced that
freedom, right and dignity are invariably
alien to him. For all his shrewdness, Meles
is a man who deals with the same cards for
different games, in a Poker played by
maestros.
Presumably, just because when
that same strategy was played against his
Tigre tribes by the Derg it nearly worked;
he thought it just might work with the
Somali’s as well. Unfortunately for him,
what works for Hagos doesn’t necessarily
work for the industrious Macallin Abdullahi.
Not surprisingly, the people have coped very
well; if at all, it has galvanized the
struggle. But, the look in the eyes of the
emaciated children and mothers in Gode
‘Hospital’- a sarcastic misnomer for empty
building-drops a critical hint to the life
the Tigrean demagogue wished for our people.
On the story of the ‘people
killed by ONLF’, may I take the liberty of
classifying the dead in Garbo, Gunagao,
Dobowein and elsewhere into three? The first
group were the ‘willing’ traitors-maamulka
and bogus ‘clan leaders’-who
sucked the blood of their brethren in
exchange for the bones thrown to them by
their Tigre masters. No need to name the
dead-out of courtesy for their innocent
children and widows (and not for them) - but
if I were to write an epitaph on their
graves, it would have read: Traitors-may
your soul never rest in peace!
Don’t listen to the cant of
the hypocrites who would call them ‘one of
our own’ in consonance with the second
commandment in the Animal Farm. Tell
them the story of the vulture and the
dove-who both subscribe to the label of
friends if we follow the commandment in the
fable. Yet, the vulture preys upon the dove.
Tell them in poem or prose-whichever they
understand- that the struggle is between
ideals not
individuals: freedom against oppression. It
is which of the conflicting ideals you opt
for, that ultimately defines whose ‘own’ you
are. Not your name- Wolde-Giorgis or Adan
Dheere!!
And as much as the line ‘the
necessary murder’ in Auden’s poem is not to
be condoned, these ones died fighting for
whatever they believed in; put inelegantly,
to fill their pot bellies. It is wise to
have mercy on the dead, but if that were to
be the case for all, then Hitler and
Fircoon’s legacy should have been
romanticised. So, don’t allow your decency
to give way to their lies. Blow away their
‘myth of humanity’-which is selectively
applied; never ever for the raped ‘Ridwans’
and compatriots whose corpses lie in the
middle of Qabridahar as I am writing this
letter.
The second group were hapless
youth and elderly pushed from behind the
edge by the ‘peasant colonisers’ who wanted
to measure an unknown depth through a human
pebble. To this group did my late nephew
belong-his truck hit by a land mine- while
carrying, forced at gun point, dozens of
Tigre militias. The last group are the
unfortunate products of war-the collateral
damage; to whom our love and heart goes out.
On a different note, why does
the human rights watch report, after nearly
a year, has to clarify the confusion on the
casualties in Obole? Yes, the ONLF had
stated in its military communiqué, it had
killed armed military in that fruitful
operation. But, why did it not say, that
apart from the 28 Somali’s (who were
unfortunately caught up in the crossfire),
and the 9 Chinese (who were recklessly
daring to ignore repeated warnings) - the
rest were combatants. I am glad HRW finally
unravelled Meles’s lies and misinformation,
but would certainly like more work from the
freedom fighters and their sympathetic media
in the future. It is correct that Meles’
propaganda is much akin to ‘war is peace,
freedom is slavery, and ignorance is
strength’ slogans; but the other version
must to be told, anyway. Lest ‘a sluggish
truth might not catch up with a sprinting
falsehood’!
More vital stuff. What
exactly is the ONLF fighting for? A recent
report by a western journalist speculated
that the front is fighting for more rights
within Ethiopia, for an independent state or
to join a greater Somalia. The community
here in Nusdariq are unfazed by the
speculations but are bothered by the haze on
this issue. This is the message they wanted
the ONLF to give to the press on that
particular question:
‘Ladies
and gentlemen- the ONLF, as a front has no
right to impose any of that choice on its
people. It understands that the ultimate
binding decision will have to be made by
free citizens in an internationally accepted
referendum. What to choose is the sole
prerogative of the people. The leadership of
the front and the rank and file- is
obligated to secure that choice to its
people. Our people had been under the yoke
of colonialism-a barbaric and primitive one.
They have never breathed an air of freedom,
and choice has never been part of their
vocabulary. In this 21st century,
notwithstanding all the fanfare over MDGs
(millennium development goals) and the
luxury of liberty, fraternity, and equality
for others; for this people, life is a
privilege -taken away at will by their
illegitimate rulers. The ONLF is desirous to
install the inalienable right of this
people: choice and self-determination. For
now, though, it is fighting to put tyranny
and the massacre of its people to an end. It
affirms its faith in and loyalty to the
people and whatever they decide.’
In the likely event the
pathetic question ‘why don’t you seek your
rights in a peaceful manner, and stop the
armed resistance’ resurfaces, - with the
natural undertone of ‘the pen is mightier
than the sword’- I would have added the
qualifying line that is conveniently omitted
from Bulwer Lytton’s famous epigraph: ‘the
pen is mightier than the sword, But, only
beneath the rule of men entirely great.’
Not under tiny kleptocrats like Meles! Give
me a sound brake!
My dear brothers, in
Maraykanka, Yurub and elsewhere- the
story of Maori’s in New Zealand and the
Aborigines in Australia is a textbook
example of the differing fate of people
under the talons of colonialism due to
different approaches they took in
confronting it. And although both later
succumbed to British imperialism- the noble
birth of what Niall Ferguson calls the ‘new
empire in all but name’, i.e., the USA in
his controversial book empire – the
combative Maori’s have fared better in
preserving their identity and land, than the
docile Aborigines.
The relevance of this analogy
might be, rightly, questioned; but with a
closer inspection, it is not entirely
misplaced. The ‘subservient’ Afars have
recently woken up to the reality in what
they so fondly referred to their ‘region’:
the gruelling reality that the Afars account
for only 45-50% of the population in their
land! As if that is not enough, they are now
faced with the resettlement of 100, 000
highlanders on the banks of Awash River;
ostensibly to enhance food security to poor
‘farmers’ through intensive irrigation. An
expert in the World Bank confided to me,
that in many ways, the rebellious Somali’s
are by far better off than the tame Afars. I
quote him, ‘You have not yet seen the worst
face of Abyssinian colonization’, he said.
I am not being xenophobic
here; nor do I nurse a pathological dislike
to any nation or nationality. But the fact
is, a stranger in your house can only be
considered ‘a guest,’ if the owner had
consented to his presence! If he hadn’t,
then he is an intruder and hence is not
welcomed. To argue that people in the US and
Europe are from all over the world and
therefore it is alright for X’s to occupy
the land of Y’s; is an illegitimate
reasoning by way of analogy. True, all kinds
of human race are in the US; but with the
permission of a sovereign state. If with a
bit of stretch, we liken the current
situation in our homeland to the very
creation of America, and treat the
Abyssinian aggression as preserving ‘its
empire’, much the same way the whites did to
the red Indians-it will only reinforce our
conviction why we have to stand up to it and
stop it. Not, why we have to accept it!
I am tired and want to stop,
but the community asked me to convoy pieces
of advice on many fronts to the freedom
fighters:
-
Militarily:- aim for the
figure of 20,000;resources and logistics
permitting. It is the optimal size that
would transform the struggle to its
second stage of freeing urban areas.
Work together with other freedom loving
fronts- mainly the Oromo’s. Lending your
military muscle to them would yield
great returns. So, don’t shy away from
it. Expand the territories of ‘military
engagements’ to Hararge mountains.
-
Diplomatically:-sell your
agenda to all; and never tire from
telling the same message to even those
who don’t wish to listen. Engage the
powers that be, but rely on your
strength. Seldom had Sympathy shaped
anybody’s policy towards a needy people.
-
Politically:-organise
meetings for all the people in the
region and don’t treat any subject as a
taboo. Let all rise in unity-and by all
we mean all that could come together. We
are aware that some would go astray. We
understand that there is no foolproof
way to derive complete and transitive
social preference-by aggregating
individual aspirations. Kenneth Arrow’s
impossibility theorem rules out such a
thing. But, we are glad that the
overwhelming majority are focused and in
line.
-
Never compromise on the
wish of your people. Be pragmatic- but
always principled. The least you aim for
has to be the south Sudan achievement.
Let it be known to you that changing
strategies and adapting to the dynamics
of the environs is strength not a
weakness.
Last, I salute all of you-my
compatriots; and after the long gloomy tale,
wish to give you a piece of good news.
Despite the pain of hunger and horror of
death, here, we all are defiantly singing in
tremendous unison Arliga iyo ciidaydaa
xaq iigu leh (I owe this to my land and
soil). Here, we know the regime is
hanging innocent children and raping women;
not out of victory but from the desperation
of its weakness. We understand it is the
twilight of colonialism and in much the same
way as a thirsty infant expects a drop from
a milky breast; we see and await the dawn of
freedom from the horizon. Yes, we feel it
-it is near!! The young girls, the
gashaantimo here, have even begun
rehearsing for that day:
Hadii la helay gobanimada
laxaadka leh
Hadii la helay caafimaad iyo doog
Waxa lumay oo liicay oo la waayay- waa
nacabkii
Hadii la helay dadkoo wada
lilaahi ah
Hadii la helay xornimo loo riyaaqay
Waxa lumay oo liicay oo la waayay- waa
nacabkii
Hadii la helay kuwa ku
dhaanteeyaa Hidihii
Hadii la helay kuwaan cadow u loogahayn
Waxa lumay oo liicay oo la waayay- waa
nacabkii
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