Hypocritical praise: Response to Mr. Goth's comments on Somaliland

Hypocritical praise: Response to Mr. Goth's comments on Somaliland

by Mohamud Ahmed Wednesday, March 24, 2010 "History gets thicker as it approaches recent times" [A.J.P. Taylor English History 1914-45] Let me begin by asserting that the intent of this article is not to undermine or damage Mr. Goth's credibility. I personally enjoy reading Mr. Goth's  conflicting stories. But what puzzles me most is his tendency to treachery and dishonest. Time and again, it has been difficult to comprehend his reasoning when it comes to the fundamental issue: 'the Somali Unity." In his most recent controversial piece titled:Somaliland: America's underestimated friend, Mr. Goth unapologetically bashed Somalia and stamped it as a nonexistent entity, while he depicted the North-Western part of the same country an exceptional place of oasis and progress. To contemplate the author's past, in retrospect, in May 1991, Mr. Goth was quoted number of times in an editorial magazine which I have possession of it. In the MIDEEYE Magazine, issue No. 002, Mr. Goth describes SNM (Somali National Movement), a historical perspective as it puts it. Segments of his book 'Awdal Phenomenon' appeared in the magazine. "The unity of Somalia is one which is based on people having one culture, one language, one religion and one national integrity. And no single clan however powerful they assume themselves to be will never be able to nudge let alone move the mountain of Somali Nationalism," Bashir Omar Goth. Apparently Mr. Goth changed his relative place after his uncle Dahir Riyaale Kaahin became the president of the enclave he has been obsessed with lately. Likewise the magazine cited Mr. Goth's past clan animus. When the secessionist's (SNM) embarked to declare independent state in the Northern Somalia, Mr. Goth was in the front to combat secessionist's agenda. He manifested a thorough hostility to the SNM and their proponents. Mr. Goth wrote:"Today, the civil war ragging on in the North of Somalia is an Issaq monitored war aimed at annihilating all the other Somali clans existing in the area, so that the Issaq cherished dream of creating an IssaqIndependent State, could be achieved. I am sure, many foreign people who were misled by the false propaganda published by the SNM would reconsider their positions towards the SNM." He went on and explained how North Westerners opposed The Dervish Patriotic Movement and SYL. Further, he wrote:"As Somalis strived towards the idea of nationhood, it has been the Issaq clan that stood alone in resisting the unity of the Somali people. Like ...who throws a tantrum when he does not get his own way, the Issaq clan has repeatedly displayed the selfish shortsightedness and violence of such ...outbursts but with dire consequences." Mr. Goth also emphasized in his essay that the people of the Northern Somalia willfully joined their brethren Southern Somalia in July 01, 1960. Right! However, according to MIDEEYE, in his book he wrote: "When the Northern part of Somalia won independence on 26 June, 1960, the United Somali Party (USP) which had the Gadabursi and the Dhulbahante clans behind it called for an immediate reunion with the South which was under the Italian rule. Again it was the Issaq of the SNL who with instructions from the British government severely fought the idea of unification. And against their will the two Somali parts united to form a single state on 1st of July 1960." In 2010 Mr. Goth tells us the opposite: "... Somaliland, a country that gained its independence from Britain in 1960 and has become a full member of the United Nations before it joined the Italian colonized South in a union that brought them only destruction and misery." Amazingly, Mr. Goth rather underestimated his audience and perhaps aimed his whim to lure the younger unsuspecting minds. In addition, let alone the peace and stability Mr. Goth proclaimed exists in Somaliland, the Riyaale administration which he supports has no mandate. Secondly, the conflict in Laascaanood looms on despite the torture and harassment of ordinary civilians. Indeed, it has been troublesome for the occupying forces to exert law and order on the people of Laascaanood. Recently, detainees from Laascaanood Prison were shipped to Berbera for security reasons; the leader of the SSC Resistance Forces, Suleiman Haglo Toosiye entered the region via Bandiiradley Airport in Central Mudug; Puntland military leaders also conferred with the clan chiefs to devise a plan that will free Laascaanood from the occupying Somaliland militia. To conclude, Mr. Goth's diversion of the facts and his ever changing stand on the 'Somali Unity' is a clear indication of yet another hypocritical learned man who forfeited his own believes. The heedlessness of some of the Somali scholars and their whimsical nature bewilders the minds of the innocent. But thanks to the technology and research materials available to examine the perplexing arguments. Mohamud Ahmed E-mail: Email: maash68@gmail.com