The commotion and ecstasy by cheerleaders of dissent and division last month was deafening; and all this, over the visit of a certain bespectacled man, with big eyes, broad smile and the swagger of an aging horse to North America. Certainly, one would have been forgiven for thinking the Ogaden nation has got a new saviour – a sort of Obama, from the cheerful parading of this new acquisition.
This Ogadeni ‘Obama’ has arrived with new parameters, new ideas, new vision, and new strategies and is all new. He will throw the bad policies of the atrophied ‘mainstream’ ONLF leadership into the sewer. Hope is rekindling and this is a cause for jubilation. And in case you doubt how one single man could turn around our fate so dramatically, you need not worry. He is joined by a mysterious ‘battle-hardened fighter’, whom no-one is yet able to trace the trenches he raided in the heartlands of Ogaden. A name that I first saw on a website, which I was then reminded, was a site owned by the man for the man. There, the ‘Halgame’ was interviewing himself some seasons back. In Minnesota, the visiting men didn't disappoint: posing for pictures with diplomats, no-bodies and few ululating women.
But beyond this character analysis, the question is what does this self-styled ‘splinter group’ offer, that can be of substance. One indication of where they look to differ from the leadership they pillory can be discerned from their mouth-piece website. Xaajo.com broke the news that the new ‘shoulder’ – garab they call it in Somali, is off to a good start with a daring joint military operation with the UWSLF against the Ethiopian Army. So, this is where the ‘new group’ differs than the 'sectarian' mainstream ONLF?! The follow-up question that comes to mind would then be: why did he have to lobby David Shinn (an American Diplomat)? What exactly does he think he will achieve with this duplicity? Is this not going to validate the otherwise chauvinist Professor Mesfin Woldermariam who called Somali’s, ‘a misguided people who mistake deceit for diplomacy’ in his rather insulting book ‘Somalia: The problem Child of Africa’. Does the said Engineer Salahudiin think the US intelligence, stationed as close as Djibouti and DireDhabe, will miss his association with what they regard as 'Islamic Terrorists'? Or if his main concern is the unity of the Ogaden fighters, regardless of which front they belong to and not the sentiments of the west, is that the new ‘thinking’ we are offered here whose worth we should weigh up?
If this is the case, then perhaps, he should have followed the audacious Hassen Turki, who hailed his addition to the terrorist list of the US ‘as a great recognition of his tireless struggle to ensure the reign of his religion over his land’. Perhaps, Salahudin and his enterprise should be brave enough to go the same route, instead of obfuscating and trying to eat from two entirely different plates at once. Or is this a re-make of Jerry Brown’s oxymoronic ‘we are going to move left and right at the same time’?!
Another question will be whether Salahadiin will follow the path of the fearless Dr. Mohamed Sirad Dollal. The martyred Doctor had his moments of controversy, but was an avowed lover of his people and their aspiration for freedom. Indeed, he died for his country as he promised to do. All indications are that the late hero’s grace and appeal to the common Ogaden men is being misused by opportunistic crop of self-serving 'fighters', who in reality do not wish to fight. By making references to his name when they are not prepared to do what he did, they are defiling the beloved martyr’s legacy.
I challenge the so-called ‘new garab’ and their cohorts to come forward and explain what is new about their new ‘ways’ and what value they think they will add to the struggle. What is their position on negotiations with Ethiopia? What is their stance on the issue of self-determination? What is their take on the ways of executing the armed struggle? So far, the only difference we note from their manifestos is that they will like to form a common front against Ethiopia with whoever is interested; regardless of the costs in the political and diplomatic front. So far, what we see in this group is the budding of inevitable characters who aspire to deftly milk a political ‘livelihood’ shorn of people and larger purposes.
It is, therefore, time the confusion is stopped. Flag bearers of division and factionalism, need to repent and join the mass in the furtherance of our cause.
I write this, not because I am in any way worried by these latest scarecrows, but to unknot the shallowness of their made.
The writer, Abdi-nur Saleeye, can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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written by Samaale Omar, July 05, 2009
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written by Abdi Mohamed, July 09, 2009
I conclude my comments from the "Gabay" liness (Isku dirida) from Halan's book.
"Deyrtiyo diraacduu dhaloo, deex u soodegaye"
"Dekenooyin badan buu qabaa, daafka kuu yimide"
"Bal car didi kaluun lama dabtee, waa la diriraaye"
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I would like to thank very much this author. The truth is that Salahdiin & Co. are part of the terrorist agenda in east africa. Salahdiin & Co. do not hid the fact that they work hand in hand with the so-called UWSLF which is nothing more than a group of extremist angry with the ONLF. These people want to remove the ONLF from Ogaden and replace it with a terrorist organization like Shabab using the name UWSLF.
Ogadenians will not allow this. Our cause is ours and we will not allow our cause to be taken over by people who take orders from the mountains of Afghanistan.
No matter how much Salahdiin & Co. try to wear the shirt of a "faction of ONLF" we all know he and his few weak friends are agents for terrorists.
Samaale O.