Somali Politicians and Free Thinkers Invalidate Donald Kipkorir's Anti-Somali Paroxysm

By: Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

[ Posted On: 2008-10-15 ]

Among the plethora of publications of denunciation and indignation against the lawless Kenyan lawyer Donald Kipkorir, I select today two articles that reflect different Somali approaches to Kipkorir’s militaristic proposals.

The Honourable Sharma'arke Mohamed Hashi Gaani of the Somali People's Party highlights the international implications of the hazardous back thoughts of the Kenyan paramilitary.

On the other hand, Mohamoud Abdi, an astute Somali analyst and free thinker, demonstrates why Kipkorir’s proposals will simply remain useless hallucinations.

Somali People's Party Condemns Mr. Donald Kipkorir

(Amongst others: www.gedonet.com/index.php?news=3714 and in cachedL
http://tinyurl.com/5ajl8m)

Dear Readers, Asalamu Aleykum Warahmatulahi Wabarakatuhu!

The Somali People's Party condemns and rejects the statements made by Mr. Donald Kipkorir someone who is Kenyan and who is dreaming Annexing in Somalia.

Mr. Donald Kipkorir with your conspirators are dreaming only. Therefore Somalia will prevail at its best soon.

The Somali People's Party calls on the international community to support the Transitional Federal Institutions of Somalia as it works to consolidate its democracy and capacity to govern justly its entire territory. The Somali People's Party opposes all those who seek to foment instability in Somali Republic.

The Nairobi, Kenya Agreement and the Djibouti Communique remain the only true viable framework to bring stability to Somalia. The signatories should respect their commitments and implement them swiftly.

All concerned parties should also respect the current cease fire and move quickly to disengage their forces in accordance with the AMISOM Mission in Somali Republic Global Disengagement Plan. The Somali People's Party applauds Mr. Kipkorir and his conspirators for their efforts to stabilize Somali Republic and calls on all parties to cooperate with those efforts. Conflict between the Federal Institutions and the Oppositions only detracts attention from resolving the root problem causing instability in the country.

The Somali People's Party remains committed to supporting the people of the Somalia to ensure a strong, democratic state, free from all illegal armed groups.

The Somali People's Party condemned statements made by Mr. Kipkorir and called for the improvement of AMISOM capabilities to better carry out its mandate. The Somali People's Party will continue to work with the People of Somalia and the Regional countries both bilaterally and through the Tripartite Plus process to strengthen regional cooperation and build a stable and prosperous region.

The Somali People's Party will work to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Somalia.

Somalia's war criminal's can run but they cannot hide.

The Somali People's Party will insure those criminals to be brought to justice in Somalia.

Yours Sincerely,

Hon: Sharma'arke Mohamed Hashi Gaani
Email:sgaani@gmail.com

Annexation of Somalia: An Imperialist Pipe-Dream
By Mohamoud Abdi

(Amongst others: http://www.ayyaantuu.com/Oromiyaa/Default.aspx?tabid=36&EntryID=3430)

Donald Kipkorir’s arrogant and provocative argument on the dismemberment of Somalia and its annexation by Kenya and Ethiopia (The Nation, 4 October 2008) must be taken seriously. History is littered with the disastrous consequences of crazy ideas of the type this lawyer advocates and we live in dangerous times in which powerful countries violate the rights of weak nations.

The proposal to wipe Somalia off the map comes at a time when some IGAD countries and their European backers are said to be organizing the dislocation of the entire Transitional Federal Government of Somalia from Mogadishu to Nairobi for what is described as another round of “reconciliation and power-sharing” conference before the term of the TGF ends in 2009. May be Kipkorir knows something that the Somali people do not know.

Mr Kipkorir needs to be reminded that Kenya and Ethiopia have already annexed parts of Somali territories with the help of Britain, the colonial power that controlled these territories. The illegal annexation of the Northern Frontier District (NFD) by Kenya in 1963 and Western Somalia (Ogaden) by Ethiopia in 1954 are dark spots in the history of this part of Africa. These regions are as dear to the heart of the Somali people as are Mogadishu or Baidoa. The lawyer might think that with the passage of time issues that were once clear would become foggy and eventually wiped out of the collective memory of the Somali people.

But here is something that should clear the lawyer’s foggy mind. In 1962, the then Somali Prime Minister (later President) Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, while addressing a huge rally in Mogadishu demonstrating against the decision of the British government to give NFD to Kenya, said:

“I have to point out that when we ask for reunification of the Somali nation we ask for something which belongs to us and which has been unjustly taken away from us, and which by right must be given back to us”.

Somalia severed its diplomatic relations with Britain over this issue. Five years later, in 1967, President Aden Abdulle Osman, in his farewell speech to the Somali people at the end of his term in office having lost the presidential election to Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke (the first African president to be leave office by the ballot) said:

“My greetings go out to our brothers who still suffer under a foreign domination and I promise them that Somalia and all free Somalis have not forgotten them. We believe in the justice of their cause and in the mercy of Allah; their aspirations to liberty are sacrosanct. May God protect Somalia”.

The words of President Aden Abdulle Osman and Prime Minister Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke are as clear and valid today as they were forty years ago and the Somali people’s quest for freedom and self-determination would never die.

But the dark thoughts of the lawyer should be welcomed as a warning bell for the Somali people. They should understand that while they are squabbling over trivial issues, their enemies are scheming to slice their country into bite-sizes to be swallowed at the convenient time.

The poor judgment of the lawyer is amazing. He should know that Kenya has profiteered from the Somali predicament for far too long. Nairobi became the de facto capital of Somalia. The Kenyan economy has experienced a boom it has never known due to the influx of capital as a direct result of the Somali problem. Once the Somali people resolve their problem and the international agencies relocate to Somalia, the Kenyan economy would feel the effect. Therefore, the lawlessness in Somalia is in Kenya’s interest despite some minor security problems that the country experiences from time to time as a result of what is going on in Somalia.

Unfortunately, the Somali people can be trusted to maintain the lawlessness in their countries.

It is also worth mentioning that one of the highly profitable cash-crop in Kenya is the narcotic Qat which is exported to Somalia. The per capita income of $600 to which the writer refers is the remittance that the Somali refugees around the world send to their relatives in Somalia to keep them alive. A significant proportion of this remittance goes to the Kenyan economy in the form of the trade in Qat, a drug that is used almost exclusively by the Somali people. The day the Somali people come to their senses and wean themselves off this disastrous drug, Kenya will feel a gaping hole in its economy. Therefore, it seems logical – albeit perverse – that what is bad for Somalia is good for Kenya.

Mr Kipkorir overestimated the disunity of the Somali people. It must be admitted that Somalia has reached a level of social and political disunity that no one ever imagined it could reach. They are the architects of their downfall and a solution to their problem evades them. One would hope that when their very existence is threatened, these “semi-naked” people – as the lawyer describes them – could be counted on to stand up to the occasion and defend their territory.

The lawyer must be also aware that the cohesiveness of the Kenyan society is a myth. The last presidential election in Kenya has demonstrated beyond any doubt of the fragility of the Kenyan society. The mayhem and bloodshed that followed the disputed presidential election would pale into insignificance to what would happen in the event that Kenya adventures into Somalia. The disintegration of Kenya will be assured. Despite everything that happened in the past twenty years, the bondage that holds the Somali people together is much stronger than that which holds the Kenyans or Ethiopians together– especially when faced by crisis masterminded by an external aggressive power.

Successive Kenyan governments have shown a reluctance to interfere directly in the conflicts in neighbouring counties. Unfortunately, this notion has to be reviewed in light of the Kenyan government’s hand in the importation of large quantity of arms into the conflict zones in the region. The government’s claim that the weapons on board the Ukrainian ship that was hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia were meant for its army did not fool anyone. Kenya could not have been the end-user of those weapons. It is an accepted fact that the weapons were meant for rebels in Southern Sudan or Darfur, where an attempt is being made to unravel the peace agreement signed between the Sudanese government and the SPLA rebel. Kenya is being used as conduit for the arms to the SPLA. One would hope that the countries in the region would cooperate to end conflicts rather than fuel them.

Finally, the current situation in Somalia might tempt people like Kipkorir to think that Somalia is ripe for black colonialism. The words of President Aden Abdulle Osman and Prime Minister Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke should serve him as a warning for what might be.

Mohamoud Abdi
Email mohamoud2004@hotmail.com

Note: One picture explains all the reasons of the common Anti-Somali Hysteria shared by Colonial English, Liberal America, Racist Abyssinia, and Lawless Kenya: the Map of Islam in Africa.

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

About The Author: Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis - is Orientalist, Assyriologist, Egyptologist, Iranologist, Islamologist, Historian and Political Scientist. Dr. Megalommatis, 51, is the author of 12 books, dozens of scholarly articles, hundreds of encyclopedia entries, and thousands of articles. He speaks, reads and writes more than 15, modern and ancient, languages.

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