Does Wardheernews Perpetuate Stereotyping?

I woke up early Tuesday (August 27) morning and was checking the latest news with my laptop when I saw a flashing headline in Wardheernews titled, “Midgaans and the Ethiopians are fighting for the last Place in Somaliland.” The article was written by Mark Hay and reprinted from Vice. My initial reaction was one of bewilderment. Is this a typo? The word “Midgaan” is a pejorative in Somalia. It is a word used by clannists and the ignorant to refer to a cluster of minority groups. The problem is more acute in the Somaliland region than any other part of Somalia.

The reporter from Vice himself mistakenly wrote that these minority people’s “actual name” is “Midgaan” and that the groups encompass “the Timal (sic), Yibir, Gaboye and other groups.” He also noted the name “double[s] as an insult.”  He added that some “Midgaans” still “see it as a connoting pseudo-slavery in Somali society, where they have traditionally been restricted to ‘unclean’ work like barbering, blacksmithing, infibulation, and leatherwork.”

I am disappointed that a major Somali website like WDN would reprint such a vulgar and tasteless article that demeans an entire community in the name of investigative journalism. It is one thing to cover the plight of a minority group, but insulting them by using the very name that they were given by their oppressors is abominable. A similar example would be writing about the lack of employment opportunities for many African-Americans in inner cities and then debasing them in an article that starts with the “N” word.

I believe that WDN should never have posted the article because of its racist and demeaning title. The piece did not add to our knowledge of what the minority groups face in terms of loss of job opportunities. Last year, WDN posted a TV news clip from the Universal channel that dealt with Daami, a neighborhood in Hargeisa that is inhabited by minority groups. That show was informative and analytical and not a single pejorative word was uttered. This kind of news coverage is what we need, not knee-jerk articles that perpetuate racist labels and symbols.

Each of the minority groups the article mentioned has a real name. The Tumal, the Yibir, and the Madhiban are proud of their names, but they feel insulted when they are called “Midgaan” a pejorative label that connotes a sense of superiority by its user. These minority groups have traditionally performed skills that other Somali nomads could not or did not want to perform. What the writer calls “unclean jobs” (barbering, blacksmithing and leatherwork) are what has sustained Somalia’s economy for hundreds of years. It is ironic that these so-called “menial jobs” are careers highly touted in many parts of the world. What is wrong with barbering, leatherwork, and blacksmithing? It is perhaps only the ignorant who do not appreciate such lines of work. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “There are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes.”

Is the Somali President in Cahoots with Al-Shabaab?

Recently, former prime minister of Somalia, Ali Khalif Galeyr, accused the Somali government under the leadership of President Hassan S. Mohamoud of having a secret working relationship with Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabaab, especially in regards to the tumultuous region of Jubaland.

In an interview with a Somali channel in Minneapolis, Galeyr claimed that the government has what he called “gacan-saar” (a secret handshake; an understanding between two parties) and that the subject has become a thorny issue between the Western powers such as the United States, the United Kingdom, neighboring countries, and Mogadishu. 

“These dealings between the federal government and Al-Shabaab is what led to the last minute cancellation of President Mohamoud’s invitation to attend the G-8 summit,” said Galeyr.

Galeyr, who is a member of the Somali parliament, lamented about the increasing violence in Mogadishu which he said was worse than the time of former President Shaikh Sharif Shaikh Ahmed. The spike in violence, said Galeyr, has manifested itself in street bombings, suicide missions, and political assassinations, and is due to the fact that the security forces are not organized and disciplined. The problem, he added, is due to the absence of civil service in tact when President Mohamoud came to power last fall. Unlike in other countries where politicians come and go, explained Galeyr, “Somalia has no permanent civil service.”

Galeyr reserved his harshest criticism to President Mohamoud himself for the latter’s incompetence and series of missteps.

“No Somali president has been received in the US and UK, the way this president was,” pointed Galeyr. “In the three days Mohamoud was in the U.S. for official visit, he met President Obama, members of the Congress, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).”  

Despite the world recognition accorded to the new Somali government, Galeyr blamed President Mohamoud for squandering such a golden opportunity. The president’s secret relations with Al-Shabaab, contends Galeyr, is the biggest concern some countries have about him. There are “other issues” of concern as well, said Galeyr, but he failed to name them.

Galeyr claimed that there have been secret telephone exchanges between certain figures of Al-Shabaab and government officials that led to some countries question of President Mohamoud’s true intentions of fighting the radical group.

Another problem with the current administration in Mogadishu, said Galeyr, is the absence of experience from the top echelon of the government. “The president, the prime minister, the minister of interior, and the state minister of presidency all have no government experience,” stated Galeyr. “They are there in the government because they have been friends for a long time.”

Galeyr stated that President Mohamoud met him, along with other politicians, long before the appointment of the current prime minister was announced last November. “I have chosen ‘Saacid’ [the nickname of the current prime minister, Abdi Farah Shirdon] because I have known him for a while, and I do not want to repeat the usual power struggle between the president and the prime minister,” the president told the group. Interestingly, Galeyr said, he had talked to PM Shirdon himself about the president’s encroachment of his duties, and the premier did not mind.

“The duty of the president is clearly delineated in the provincial constitution,” clarified Galeyr. “The executive powers are vested in the council of ministers headed by the prime minister but now it is in one hand.”

That hand is the president’s.

Regarding the latest United Nations Monitoring Group report on Somalia, which accused the government of rampant corruption, Galeyr agreed with the findings. “It is the job of the parliament to investigate these allegations and question the finance minister and the governor of the central bank,” admitted Galeyr, “but so far nothing has been done.” The reason, according to Galeyr, is the fact that the presidency and the leadership of the parliament, under speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari, are in cahoots with each other. The parliament is being run from Villa Somalia, the seat of the presidency, added Galeyr.

Speaker Jawari and President Mohamoud long before they were elected, according to Galeyr, were against the ratification of the current provisional constitution. “Interestingly, the two were elected based on the very constitution that they are violating today.”

On Somaliland, Galeyr accused its president, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo, of orchestrating a campaign of repression and violence against the people of the Khatumo region. Galeyr extolled the accomplishments of the Khatumo state and said it had brought awareness to its people, young and old, from New Zealand to Minneapolis.

In the interview, Galeyr admitted that he had gotten most of his inside information about the Somali government in Nairobi than in Mogadishu.  Nairobi hosts hundreds of former Somali politicians, wannabe leaders, and amateur political speculators. Authentic news, rumors, and innuendos flow there like a stream of water.  

Galeyr was critical of the provincial constitution last year before it was ratified and the administration of then-President Sharif. However, in this interview, he portrayed Sharif’s administration as more equipped to better deal with the threat of Al-Shabaab. “The Al-Shabaab militants are now bombing Villa Somalia,” said Galeyr, something that the terror group did not do during Sharif’s regime on a regular basis.

 

Only two months ago, Galeyr was the nucleus of five politicians which included three former prime ministers who visited former President Sharif in his home in Uganda. The government in Mogadishu had accused the group of attempting to stage an anti-government coalition to topple the regime.  

Recently, Ali Mohamed Ghedi, another former prime minister, has lambasted at President Mohamoud for trampling on the provisional constitution, sowing discord among Somali clans and communities, failing to avert the continuous violence in Mogadishu, and creating unnecessary doubts about federalism. “The regime in Mogadishu has strayed from the correct path,” said Ghedi.

The reaction of Mogadishu to Galeyr’s recent allegations was swift. A spokesman for the Somali government condemned Galeyr for his “baseless” allegations of a government and Al-Shabaab alliance. “Galeyr has to bring clear evidence or he needs to apologize,” said the spokesman.

The link for the interview is here and it is in Somali

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aekYGBGkwPU

 

Naming and Shaming: The Latest UN Report on Somalia

The French were right.

As their adage goes, “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme change,” (The more things change, the more they stay the same).

Three weeks ago, the United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea released an exhaustive report that was reviled by some and lionized by others.  The main theme of the report is simple: Not much has changed in the way Somalia is governed.

The arms flow to Somalia continues as usual and is facilitated by almost everybody, from rogue states to countries in good standing with the UN.  The other major salient points of the report include:  Corruption is rampant and piracy is a lesser threat but former pirates have made a career change, radicalism is still a threat to the country but the menace is not exclusively from ideology, charcoal is a black gold that is illegally exported despite an international ban, and, of course, “spoilers” always erect obstacles to the pursuit of peace and stability.
 

President Hassan S. Mohamoud came to power last fall promising change, stability, and accountability. Many Somalis and the international community were relieved that finally Somalia had a new leadership that would, skillfully and honestly, tackle the plethora of problems the country faced. Maintaining security, eradicating the Al-Shabaab terrorist group, stopping piracy, and reconstructing the country after 22 years of civil war and anarchy were the main issues for the new administration. President Mohamoud’s government gained international recognition and many countries promised to help in his efforts. Persistently, the president talked about the need for foreign donors to fund his government directly instead of having the United Nations administer aid.

Corruption

The UN Monitoring Group report begins with a stark indictment of the new Somali government. “Despite the change in leadership in Mogadishu,” says the report, “the misappropriation of public resources continues in line with past practices.” Some of the manifestations of this corruption are the following:

a)      On average, about 80 percent of the withdrawals from the country’s Central Bank (CB) are made—not to run the government—but for private purposes.  The CB has become, in a way, an ATM for certain public officials, or as the report calls it a “slush fund” A case in point, of $16.9 million transferred to the CB for government use, $12 million cannot be accounted for. 

b)      The monthly revenue from the port of Mogadishu is about $3.8 million; however, from August 2012 to March 2013, only $2.7 million was deposited in the bank. The report further explains that “at present, at least 33 percent of the monthly port revenues cannot be accounted for.”

c)      The immigration services charge a lot of money to issue passports and visas, but rarely are all the proceeds deposited in the bank. There is a great deal of fraud and embezzlement. Needless to say, an individual may never know if his traveling documents are authentic or fraudulent.  

The UN report blames the country’s leaders for the widespread corruption, but it singles out Abdusalam Omer, the Somali-American governor of the Central Bank, for being “the key” to the bank’s irregularities. Omer, oddly, runs the bank without the benefit of a board. The report even adds a zinger when it brings up Omer’s checkered past. Once upon a time, Omer was the chief of staff of the mayor’s office in Washington, D.C.  The report claims that Omer was forced out from this high profile position.  The Central Bank has issued a preliminary response to these allegations.

Piracy

Somalia, once a bastion for piracy, has experienced a decline in ship hijackings. You might wonder what happened to most of the pirate leaders.  The UN report has the answer: “To date, neither Mogadishu nor Puntland has seriously prosecuted and jailed any senior pirate leaders, financiers, negotiators, or facilitators.” Some former pirates have become security guards for the unlicensed foreign ships illegally fishing on Somali waters. Pirates have always blamed these foreign ships for their own criminal acts of piracy. Now, the pirates have undergone a career change and are joining their arch enemies. Security protection in the high seas has become a booming business in Puntland validating the notion, “if you can’t beat them, join them.”

Al-Shabaab

“At present,” the report states, “Al-Shabaab remains the principal threat to peace and security in Somalia.” The Al-Qaeda affiliate has not abated its suicide attacks in Mogadishu. The group has been weakened by internal discord among its leaders, but is still a force to reckon with. Why? It is because the terror group has not engaged in a direct battle with the forces of the African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and, hence, has retained its core fighters. This enables the group to easily recapture the towns that Ethiopian forces had withdrawn from or abandoned. “These takeovers,” the report argues, “illustrates not only the inability of the Federal Government of Somalia and its associated militias to control any ground without international support, but also the capacity of Al-Shabaab to readily recover lost territory.” Moreover, the terror group has infiltrated the government and especially the intelligence services. Warlords and politicians enable the militant group to wreak havoc in Mogadishu.  These enablers are not necessarily religious figures but instead are either persons tribally tied to Al-Shabaab leaders or pure mercenaries.   

A good example is what happened in Mogadishu last week when Al-Shabaab suicide bombers attacked the Turkish embassy annex. The Turkish ambassador to Somalia said that the attack was “outsourced” to Al-Shabaab. “The Al-Shabaab organization may have been used as ‘subcontractor’ in this attack,” he told the Turkish news agency Anadolu. Mogadishu Mayor, Mohamed Ahmed Nur “Tarzan” also railed about “some politicians” for aiding and abetting the radical group in the commission of its heinous crimes. At times, in Somalia, it is difficult to tell where religious radicalism begins and clan loyalty ends.

The Al-Shabaab the terror group is not the only entity responsible for most of the political assassinations in Mogadishu. The UN report said that some warlords and even a senior government official like General Gaafow—head of the immigration services—run hit squads. The going rate is $200 per head and $25 for conducting surveillance. This explains why these crimes are never prosecuted. At least, Al-Shabaab takes full responsibility for its killings. But then, how does one know if the job was “outsourced” to the terror group or not?

Charcoal

The UN Security Council had banned the exportation of charcoal from Somalia primarily because Al-Shabaab was then in control of Kismayo, Somalia’s third largest port city, and was profiting from its sale. No one cared about the devastating impact the related deforestation was having on the country. In 2012, Kenyan forces captured Kismayo, along with a Somali militia group. However, the transport of charcoal not only continued but increased 147 percent. Al-Shabaab, which controls the port city of Barawe, is also exporting the black gold. “About 1 million sacks of charcoal are exported from Kismayo each month,” the report says. If the current rate continues, warns the report, “charcoal exports in 2012-2013 will consume some 10.5 million trees and the area of deforestation will cover 1,750 square kilometers, which is larger than the city of Houston, Texas, in the United States.”

For the record, the Somali government has denounced the UN Monitoring Group report as being based on rumors and innuendos. “It is clear that the report is increasingly dependent upon gossip, guilty-by-association, and hearsay,” declared the government spokesman.

The most biting critique of the report, so far, has come from the maligned Governor of the Central Bank, Abdusalam Omer, who called the allegations, “completely unfounded, unsubstantiated, defamatory, and reckless.”  Omer questioned the methodology on which the report was based and the expertise of some members of its panel. Despite the fact that Omer’s name was mentioned 27 times in the report, no one, he claimed, interviewed him or asked him to see the books. In addition, Omer argued that the two designated as “financial experts” on the panel held degrees in anything but finance or economics. One was a police officer in Minneapolis and the other a foreign affairs journalist with Reuters. In essence, none of them has “any relevant training or experience in forensic accounting.”

Criticism of the Report

In a nutshell, the UN Monitoring group makes numerous allegations. It might be a gargantuan task to collect reliable data from Somalia and especially Mogadishu because the city has its share of double-dealing and back-stabbing, not to mention, a vortex of gossip. For instance, several years ago, the UN Monitoring Group made a harebrained allegation that Al-Shabaab, a Sunni jihadist group, had sent 720 fighters to Hezbollah, a Shiite jihadi group in Lebanon, to fight Israel.  However the current report does have some merit, rampant corruption in the country has been well-documented. For instance, a World Bank report in May 2012 found $131 million unaccounted for in then the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) revenues in 2009-2010. If history is a reliable guide, this is a case of attitudinal and cultural perversions. “Somalis did not consider looting national assets in customary law terms as stealing,” the report says and, hence, among many officials, the “pursuit of power and profit became indistinguishable.”

Mogadishu is unique because power interfaces with corruption, religion with clan, jihadism with opportunism, warlordism with legitimacy, and public service with personal enrichment. It is, indeed, a wild and dizzying world.

Hassan M. Abukar is a writer and political analyst.

(Reprinted with permission from African Arguments, August 7, 2013)

  

Somali Diaspora Stories of Marriage Gone Wrong, Part 2

The stories below, of a husband who suddenly abandoned his family, another whose marriage came to an end because he run out of stories, and a woman who decided not to tell the man she was seeing of her impending marriage to another man, are few examples of how prevalent aborted or short term marriages are in the Somali communities in the U.S.

The common denominator in these odd and short-lived marriage stories is that greed, infidelity, self-absorption and mistrust do not mix with a healthy marriage

The $20,000 Dowry that Never Was

“Guled” is one of many elderly people who are still mystified by the Americanized young Somalis. He laughed when he said that back home, marriage ceremonies were simple and less complicated. Here in the States, he has heard of some newly-weds even renting helicopters. “Where are they flying to?” he mused. Furthermore, there are raucous festivities, showers for the bride, and endless fun gatherings associated with these weddings.

Guled was once a witness to the marriage ceremony of a young couple. The cleric asked the groom if the $20,000 proposed dowry was acceptable. The groom was unfazed and nodded his head in approval. However the cleric and the father of the bride were alarmed at the astronomical sum.

“This is not good,” the cleric declared timidly.

“I agree with you,” replied the father, with implacable honesty.

The father of the bride talked to his daughter and begged her to lower her dowry amount, but she refused. The cleric warned about the futility of putting an undue financial burden on the groom. Then, said Guled, to the chagrin of some of those present, the bride reminded her father about a young lady who had gotten married a week earlier.

“What does that marriage have to do with yours? The father asked in annoyance.

“Well, if that girl’s dowry was $15,000, then mine has to be $20, 000,” said the bride. “She is no better than I am.”

Guled was perplexed by what was transpiring before his eyes. “The good thing about that marriage ceremony,” he stated, “it was completed successfully, albeit with a price tag of $20,000.”

That, however, was just a warm-up for what came next.

After three years of what Guled termed a ‘happy’ marriage, the couple separated. Divorce papers were officially filed.

Did the husband pay the dowry?

“A young man once told me that the majority of those getting married never bother to pay their dowries,” opined Guled. “Many times, it is just for show.”

The $20,000 groom was not the exception.  But then, this is the type of unpaid bill that never goes to a collection agency or ruins your credit worthiness in this world. However, in the Hereafter, as Guled cautioned, it is a different story.

Mary Me Pronto or Adios!

 “Salaad” is an educated man in his early forties.  He was once married to a non-Somali woman who obsessed with Googling him.

“I would go home and my wife would say, ‘So, you gave a speech at the [so-and-so] company function’.” He shared with her many things about his job, news of his relatives, and his friends. Of course, occasionally, he would forget—not out of malice—to tell her other things. When that happened, she got upset and accused him of hiding part of his life from her. Today, many corporations put their activities online. Salaad’s ex feasted on that pool of information, he complained, and used it negatively. At any rate, the couple ended up getting divorced.

Four months after the divorce, Salaad met a Somali woman. She was smart, funny, vivacious, and a dazzling beauty with an exceptional work ethic. For a month, that wonderful woman brought dinner to his office every day.

“I shoveled down more fish in that short period,” he joked, “than a seal can consume in an entire month.” She made Salaad appreciate fish, chicken, and vegetables to the point that his friends teased him, saying he was a traitor to that carnivorous species called Somali men.

Two problems appeared, however, in their relationship. She wanted to get married within a month of their meeting. No, that couldn’t happen, he thought. He was practically on the rebound.  It was too soon for him. She said he was just Americanized. The other problem was that she would constantly call him, like twice every hour, simply to check on him. She wanted to know where he was and who he was meeting. If another woman asked him a question, she was irritated. “That woman is interested in you,” she would say to him. “Look at the way she is staring at you. You are naïve.”

One Tuesday night, she called Salaad and they talked like any couple engaged in “shukaansi” (flirtation). Four days later, he went to the store where her brother worked. Of course, the brother did not know Salaad was talking to his only sister. The brother seemed jovial and chatty, so Salaad asked him what was new.

“My sister is getting married today!” He beamed a big smile.

“Your sister is getting married?” Salaad inquired, hoping this news was some kind of joke.

“Yes, she is.”

Salaad was dumbfounded. Was her brother serious?

“Am I the first Somali man who was getting married and not even invited to his own wedding?” Salaad asked himself.

Salaad was speechless. Then, he composed himself and sheepishly asked who the lucky man was.

“It is Omar Shiino,” said the brother. “They have known each other for two years.”

Salaad was still in a state of shock, but now he was also incensed about his friend’s elaborate and duplicitous actions.  How come she never told him about her other man?  Then, Salaad became petty and also jealous. This Omar Shiino guy was a truck driver and Salaad was a nurse. “This shouldn’t happen,” he thought. 

Of course, Salaad’s friend got married that night, exactly four nights after their memorable banter.  “It was the biggest Somali wedding in the history of Nashville or maybe even in the state of Tennessee,” lamented Salaad.

Two years later, Salaad saw his friend in a cafe. He curiously asked her why she had done what she did to him.

“You were my first choice to marry,” she said, “but you were not ready.”

A year later, her marriage came to an end.                       

The Husband Who Mysteriously Disappeared

 “Anab” was once married to a man who was a great father but a lousy husband.  She tolerated him because he doted on their seven children. One day, Anab and her children woke up and found her husband and their father inexplicably gone. He had abandoned them. Her father-in-law called and told her that her husband had gone to Nairobi, Kenya. “He got tired of you,” he added.

Anab was hurt and became bitter. What kind of prudent man, she wondered, would abandon his own family?  Her husband had no relatives in Kenya. In Nairobi, he stayed in a hotel, ate, prayed, slept, and consumed large quantities of khat, a mild stimulant plant which is legal in some countries but illegal in others like the U.S.  His large family in America sent him several hundred dollars every month, but they did not support Anab and her children.

“My husband led an idyllic life,” she said. “He did not work, support us, or even check on us.” Anab knew her husband had an appetite for the finer things in life, but she never thought he would be so callous and irresponsible.

“I believe his emotional development was arrested at a young age because, at times, he acted like a nine-year-old boy, not a grown man,” she remarked.

She waited for him to return or contact her but nothing happened. After three years, she decided to move on and annulled their marriage on the grounds of neglect, abandonment and a lack of financial support.

Several months later, Anab met another Somali man. Her parents were not happy that she was getting married again so soon. They pleaded with her to wait another year. “It is not good for the children to have in their midst a man who has never married before,” her mother warned her, but she got married anyway.

Her new husband was madly in love with her, and she felt the same way toward him. Everything seemed to be falling into place. She felt happy and her children began to adjust to their stepfather.

However, trouble always begins when things are unusually calm.

Guess who came out of the woods when he heard that Anab had married again? Of course, it was her ex. He had immediately returned to the U.S. and launched into a threatening tirade. “How dare you bring another man to my house?” he screamed at her. His family also threw gasoline on the fire. They heaped indignities on Anab and called her every name in the book. No one asked her ex what he had been doing in Kenya for three years. What had he done for his family during that period? Anab was painted as an irresponsible spouse, a loose woman who couldn’t even wait for her husband.

Her ex went into battle and waged an all-out campaign to ruin her new marriage. He used their children and instilled in them hatred toward their step-father. The campaign was successful. Her new husband left her. The poor man couldn’t take it anymore. 

“In essence, I went through two divorces in a span of six months,” she said.

That was many years ago.

“Did I tell you that I am back with my first husband?” she said as though she were a broadcaster delivering breaking news. Her parents pressured her to take him back. This time, she listened to them and remarried him.

“We have been happily married ever since,” declared Anab triumphantly.

Then, she was quiet a moment and then said reluctantly, “Strike that last sentence. We are still married.”

The Man Who Ran Out of Stories

When “Abdiqani” was courting his ex-wife, he was full of life. He remembered talking to her over the phone for hour after hour. One Saturday, the two broke the record and talked for nine straight hours. They got married and had two children.

Then, Abdiqani ran out of conversation.

“I would come home from work, eat, and relax in the living room. I found myself never talking to her,” he said. Before, he was the one who initiated most of their talks, and she was the great listener. He asked her why they were not talking like they had before. His wife had a terse reply for him.  “You are a man incapable of self-insight,” she told Abdiqani. She also accused him of being self-absorbed and very high maintenance.

In a nutshell, their searing family drama came to an end. The couple got divorced.

But Abdiqani believes he made a big mistake. Suddenly, he became a single man, a status the loquacious man was not used to. “Now, I am lonely, as I do not have anyone to talk to anymore,” he said sadly.

Like a student who did not learn from his past mistakes, Abdiqani asked rhetorically, “Am I egotistical?” Then he floated an odd idea that, perhaps, he should check the Guinness Book of Records. “I think I am, maybe, the first man who was divorced because he ran out of conversation,” he declared.

Hassan M. Abukar is a writer and political analyst.

 

(Reprinted with permission from Sahan Journal, August 3, 2013)

 

 

Somali Diaspora Stories of Marriages Gone Wrong

Editor's Note: This is the first article of a two-part series.

                                     ***

I have lived and worked in the U.S. for a long time now, but just when I think I have seen enough of the life of Somalis in the diaspora, something new comes up.

I was driving through the large state of Texas on my way to California when a phone call from a friend interrupted my train of thought.

“Hassan, I will never talk to you again,” she said.

“What did I do?”

“Two years ago, you wrote about my brief marriage.”

“No, I did not.”

“In your piece, ‘Spouses in Crisis,’ you called it a ‘blink-and-you –missed-it’ marriage.”

“Did I mention your name and your former husband’s?”

“No.”

“Then it was not you. It was about a woman who was married to a control freak. Your ex was not a control freak.”

“Never mind, just forget about it,” she said and then changed the topic.

The example of my friend is by no means the exception. There are plenty of examples of similar incidents which I recount below. The following are true stories that have happened in the diaspora. The characters in these tales are neither friends nor foes. The stories have been relayed to me by reliable sources. To further protect their privacy, the names and locations are changed.

                          

I Object

 “Abdi” is a cleric based in Oregon. He has conducted a lot of marriages and is frequently called to travel to other states. He has a sense of humor and is quick to remind you that he is a man of religion. “Would you mind if I name-drop and mention God?” he inquired.

I asked him if he had ever conducted a marriage ceremony in which someone objected. He looked at me smiling and paused for a few seconds.

“Well, it happened to me not once, but twice,” he said. “In my line of work, I guess, it is an occasional occupational hazard.”

On those two occasions, Abdi was conducting a marriage ceremony and someone in the audience shouted at him to stop the proceedings. It is not part of Somali culture for an officiating cleric to ask if any of the attendees of a marriage ceremony have an objection, that famous “speak now or forever hold your peace” is unknown.

It turns out the brides were already married and about to make the cleric to commit a sin of betrothing them to someone else.

“In one case, a man said his brother in Kenya was still married to the would-be bride,” stated the cleric. This was an embarrassing moment, of course, he added, and he had no choice but to confer with the marrying couple in private to clarify the matter.

Unfortunately, in that specific instance, no marriage was performed.

Dowry Blues

“Ali,” a young man in his late twenties, lives in Columbus, Ohio. He has attended many weddings, he said. Columbus, after all, has the second largest Somali population in the U.S., after Minneapolis. One marriage ceremony however left a bad taste in his mouth.

“It was the weirdest marriage ceremony that I ever attended,” he said.

Ali explained that it was for a young couple in their twenties, and more than a hundred people were present when the ceremony commenced. The food was ready to be served and he could smell the aroma of the lamb, rice, and samosas. The officiating cleric asked the groom if the agreed-upon dowry of $10,000 was fine.

“$10,000?” the groom screamed.

“Yes, that is how much the bride is asking for,” clarified the cleric.

“No way, I can’t pay $10,000.”

“The dowry can be paid now or at a later date. It is a matter between you and the bride.”

“No, I can’t pay it now or later.”

The audience was shocked. Hadn’t these two young people already discussed how much money the groom would give to the bride?  A dowry is the money or the property the bride is entitled to before a marriage can be properly conducted. It can be a little money (sometimes even something symbolic) or a hefty sum, depending on what the bride wants. The groom has the option to decline the offer of course, but then there won’t be a marriage.

 In this case, the groom refused to budge, and the bride insisted on the $10,000.

“What happened next was disappointing and heartbreaking,” remarked Ali. “There was no marriage that day or later between the couple.”

Needless to say, according to Ali, nobody ate at that failed ceremony. One man was heard muttering, “What a waste.” Oddly, when asked what he meant, he mentioned the huge pile of food that was left untouched. The guests were so disgusted with the outcome that they declined to take any of the food.  

Ali has a piece advice for those who are planning to get married.

“Do everyone a favor and decide what your dowry will be before you drag us to an event where we will end up not enjoying the ceremony or the food.”

                         

Qudbo-Sireed or Secret Marriage

For “Shamso,” a woman in her forties, it was a different experience. She has four children from two previous marriages. A Somali man approached her and asked her to marry him. She had known him before in her town, and she said he was a respected man who handled himself well.

“The chemistry was instant and powerful,” she said smiling. “In fact, I succumbed to his magnetic personality.”

However, there was a stipulation in the man’s proposed union: It would be what the Somalis call “qudbo-sireed” (a secret marriage). He wanted to continue living in his place and Shamso would live in hers until they were ready to officially publicize their marriage and live together. Only five people would know about their matrimony. Shamso agreed.

“I have the benefit of hindsight now, and in hindsight, I realize this was a huge mistake,” she said with irony.

He brought three other men with him, a cleric and two witnesses. The marriage ceremony was short and afterward, Shamso simply drove home. After she reached her house and parked her car, however, she received a call from the officiating cleric. He was in a panic, she said.

“You know, I forgot to ask you about your dowry. How much is it?”

“$10,000,” she replied.

There was an awkward silence.

The cleric asked her if she could lower the amount because the groom was not well-off. She told him she had her reasons for asking for such an exorbitant amount.

“Let me ask the groom,” the cleric replied.

She could hear her new husband mumbling in the background. The cleric kept asking the husband if the sum was fine. The groom finally, and reluctantly, accepted it.

Shamso sensed that both the cleric and her husband were not happy with her.

“The blessed marriage is the one with a reasonable and less cumbersome dowry,” the cleric admonished her.

Well, after a year, Shamso’s new husband told her he wanted to get out of what he wryly called their “chaotic relationship.” It seemed fate had thrown her a real curve ball.

“I did have a premonition, from day one, that our union would be short-lived even though I cared a lot about the man,” she admitted.

She received no spousal support from him in that year.

Oh, and that controversial dowry?

Shamso did not collect a single dollar. She had a good job, and her husband simply wanted her to take care of herself financially while he collected all the fringe benefits that came with the institution of marriage.

“Unfortunately, I allowed him to do that,” said Shamso. “

Ten thousand dollars is not small change. Shamso confessed that it is a tidy sum “that can send any woman on a shopping spree.” However, she had a different reason for requesting that amount.

“I was sending him a message that marriage is a big responsibility and not child’s play,” she remarked.

Shamso is not the type of a woman that lets bygones be bygones. She decided that her husband had to pay a non-monetary price for his frivolous and laissez- faire attitude toward marriage. In what she would call “the most deranged vengeful action” she had ever taken, she told all the people in her town that she was married to him. He was so furious that he moved away to Wisconsin.  It turned out there were two other victims, just like her, and they also dumped him.

Hassan M. Abukar is a writer and political analyst. 

(Reprinted with permission from Sahan Journal, July 30, 2013) 

The Godane Coup and the Unraveling of Al-Shabaab

The week of June 19^th was a bloody milestone for the course of jihad in Somalia. Al-Shabaab leaders clashed in Barawe, a coastal city in the south. That conflict led to the killing of some of the top echelon of the terror group and the escape of others. What this violent encounter portends for the future, however, is far more serious than it appears at first glance.

In a single stroke, Ahmed Abdi Godane, the emir of Al-Shabaab who goes by the nom de guerre of “Abu Zubeir,” managed to re-align the radical group’s leadership dynamics and further consolidated his power by getting rid of his major detractors. His loyalists killed two co-founders of Al-Shabaab, including his former deputy and longtime friend, Ibrahim Al-Afghani, and chased away Hassan Dahir Aweys and Mukhtar Robow, the former spokesman for the terror group. Aweys is now in custody in Mogadishu, as the government decides his fate. Robow, on the other hand, is believed to have fled to the Bay and Bakol region where his Rahanweyn clan is based. Al-Afghani, Aweys, and Robow have complained about Godane’s authoritarian tendencies and the heavy-handed approach in dealing with foreign jihadists. On April 26^th, an Al-Shabaab assassin loyal to Godane attempted to kill the American jihadist and Alabama native, Omar Hammami, after the latter had gone public in criticizing Al-Shabaab.

Godane’s latest attempt to finish off his rivals in the movement has paved the way for his sole leadership of Al-Shabaab which has historically been ruled instead through collective leadership.  The clash offers a blunt assessment of what went wrong in the jihadi group leadership and how conflicts are resolved. Godane has opted for a violent method of conflict resolution which will likely lead to questions about his legitimacy as the supreme leader of jihad in Somalia. However, it is too early to gauge the impact this conflict may have on the young fighters of the militant group. At least currently, Godane has the support of Shaikh Hassan Hussein Adam, an influential young cleric based in Kenya and a sympathetic supporter of Al-Shabaab.  A month ago, “Shaikh Hassan,” as he is popularly known, issued a fatwa (religious edict) that permitted the extermination of Godane’s rivals because they were sowing discord and dissension in the ranks of the mujahidin in Somalia. 

The escape of Mukhtar Robow also poses a serious problem for Godane. Most of Al-Shabaab’s foot soldiers belong to the Rahanweyn clan. In a country where clan loyalty sometimes supersedes religious loyalty, it is not clear what Robow’s influence will be on his fellow Rahanweyn fighters. Hassan Dahir Aweys’ surrender to the Somali government is not likely to cause any ripple effects for the Al-Shabaab fighters because the septuagenarian radical leader and his group, Hizbul Islam, only joined Al-Shabaab in 2009. Robow, however, has been a major leader of Al-Shabaab since its formation a decade ago and, hence, his loyalty remains unquestioned.  

The recent clash is likely to dampen and perhaps even rupture Godane’s ties with Al-Qaeda central and further cements the perception in some Al-Qaeda circles that Al-Shabaab is interested in a local jihad rather than a global one. Two months ago, Ibrahim Al-Afghani wrote an open letter to Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the leader of Al-Qaeda, in which he criticized Godane for targeting foreign jihadists, imprisoning them in secret detention centers in the areas the terror group controls, and even killing them. For the last several weeks, reports that are critical of the course of jihad in Somalia have appeared on websites sympathetic to Al-Qaeda. The American jihadist, Hammami, was most vociferous in his lashing out at Godane and publicly requested that Al-Qaeda intervene. There were even unconfirmed reports that Al-Qaeda had asked Al-Shabaab to appoint Ibrahim Al-Afghani as its emir but Godane maneuvered to block that al-Qaeda instruction. At any rate, the recent upheavals in the Somali branch and the purging of some of its leaders will not endear Godane to Al-Qaeda central. In addition, the marginalization and hunting down of foreign fighters, such as Omar Hammami, will also soil the reputation of Al-Shabaab as the main attraction for global jihad.

For the last few weeks, Al-Shabaab has increased its attacks in Mogadishu delivering the perception that the militant group is still a force that can destabilize the nascent government of President Hassan Mohamoud. To the contrary, the recent spike of violence in the capital is an indicator that the group is far weaker than it was thought to be earlier. The group has been successful in attacking soft targets, such as the UN compound, perhaps to distract its fighters from debilitating fragmentation among its leaders. It is unlikely that this terror group will vanish from the political scene in Somalia in the near future, Godane and his followers will continue to exploit the government’s inability to exert its control outside Mogadishu. Godane’s coup, while in essence, a movement that is eating its own children, may, indeed, pave the way for the fragmentation of the militant group along clan lines. The nagging question then will be to what extent Godane, a northerner operating in the deep south of Somalia, is able to remain head of what is generally a southern jihadi phenomenon? Moreover, the influx of foreign jihadists into Somalia has, for all practical purposes, decreased and further eroded the place of that country in the annals of global jihad.

Hassan M. Abukar is a Somali writer and a political analyst.

(Reprinted with permission from African Arguments, 7/2/2013) 

Shiikhaal

“What I have done in the past is history, what I am going to do in the future is a mystery.”− Mike Tyson.

                                                            ***

The great Somali poet Abdullahi Suldan Timacadde said, “Clannism provides no shelter; it only causes destruction.” That is only partially true. What is left unsaid is that members of one clan can go out of their way to help each other, and their common bond can bring some good things to the table.

Like a nice free meal in a top-rated eatery.

Did you hear that?

OK, let me first indulge in an exercise of name-dropping.

You know Attorney Abdurahman Hosh Jibril, former Somali Minister of Constitution, Federal Affairs, and Reconciliation? He is a longtime friend, but this Hosh guy told me in 2010, after reading my Mogadishu Memoir, that he always thought I was Shiikhaal. Hosh was not the only one who believed that; many of my friends thought so even though I never claimed to be Shiikhaal.

How did it happen that so many people thought I was Shiikhaal when they never heard me say so?

That is simple—not through Facebook or Twitter but through the old fashioned way: word of mouth.

I miss those good old days though because I innocently and unwittingly received certain tangible benefits. I was received well in certain Shiikhaal corners and was even well-fed under the impression I was one of them. Unfortunately, the truth has an unceremonious way of exposing itself.

Get that imposter. He is Digil. He was born in Afgooye. Get him.

Now that many of my friends know who I am, I get no free meals.

Once, a young wife of Warlord Hussein Mohamed Farah Aidid extolled my virtues and gave my colleague (Habar Gidir-Cayr) and me a powerful motivational speech. My colleague and I were running a nonprofit foundation that received government grants to serve Somali refugees.  “Keep on the good job, boys,” she told us. My colleague, who did not correct her, kept on doing what he was doing. He was probably basking in her praise and forgot about me and my Shiikhaal-ness. For me, my jaw dropped. I did not, oddly, correct her. Of course, someone must have told the young woman that I was Shiikhaal.

At any rate, let me go back to my days as a ‘Shiikhaal.’

The first time I realized I was suspected as a Shiikhaal was in 1979 while in Cairo.  I was working for Somali Airlines. A young Shiikhaal man whom I barely knew invited me to lunch. He took me to a fancy restaurant in downtown Cairo that tourists frequented. The meal was elaborate and delicious, and it lasted about an hour and half. Dessert and tea followed.

Then, my host started talking seriously as though he were preparing to make an official announcement.

“OK, Hassan, so what is your sub-clan?”

“Sub-clan of what?”

 “You are a Shiikhaal, aren’t you?”

“Shiikhaal?”

I rolled my eyes in bewilderment searching for words, but unfortunately none was forthcoming. I had no escape! It was not the time to weave and wind around the truth. I immediately figured the source of the problem. It was my turn to become serious and address the issue head-on.

I told the young man that I had good news and bad news.

“Go ahead.”

“The good news is; I really enjoyed and loved the food. It is, in my humble opinion, one of the best meals I ever had,” I said.

The young man nodded in approval.

“But the bad news is—are you ready for this? − I am not Shiikhaal.”

“What?

“No, I am not.”

Then, the young man raised a resonant, logical question.

“OK, but aren’t you the brother-in-law of so and so [he mentioned the name of a government official in the Barre regime]?  “

“Yes, I am,” I replied.

“So, what is the problem? “, he asked.

“What problem?” I retorted.

Then, I had to clarify the matter.

“Again, I have good news and bad news.”

“Now, what is it?”

“Well, yes, I am indeed the in-law of that official all right, but the bad news, to you my friend, is I am the brother of the “Bahda Yar” (“the younger wife”).

The first wife is incidentally Shiikhaal. The couple has since divorced.

Initially, I thought the man took the ‘bad’ news in stride, but I was wrong. He appeared perplexed, and then he mumbled something inaudibly. I thought he was secretly wailing a string of expletives in my direction. Perhaps, what he really wanted to say was, “You miserable creature, you wasted all the money I had spent on this sumptuous lunch, and you are not even freaking Shiikhaal. Just go.”

To alleviate the financial toll I had inflicted on this good-natured man, I offered to give him money to defray the cost of the meal, but he politely declined.

Somehow, I realized the futility of placing too much emphasis on clan affiliation. Look at this tortured soul. Minutes earlier, he had been happy, gregarious, and engaging and now he was huffing and puffing.

I hate clannism and its pernicious ways!

This kind of story could have had a bad ending in which the two people concerned would go to their separate ways when they found they were from different clans. But, the story had a happy ending. Oddly, after that incident, the young man and I became good friends.  Both of us, in a way, felt guilty in using the concept of clan as a convenience to produce an elusive favorable outcome. To him, it was an alluring prospect having a fellow “Shiikhaal” in the branch of Somali Airlines in Egypt. I could help him transmit news and packages from his family in Somalia without going through aviation red tape. At the restaurant, I was unaware of his good intentions and, shall I say, his grand design. But still I willing benefited from his largesse.

Now that I have been fully exposed, can I still get another cup of tea, please? My throat is parched.

On one trip to Mogadishu, the young man asked me to meet his father and retrieve for him all his educational documents. I did. Both the father and the young man were grateful for this small favor.

Afterward, the young man and I realized that our newfound friendship was more important and stronger than our supposedly ‘mutual’ clan membership. It was a small emotional victory that we savored, but a victory nonetheless.

Then, one day, the young man added a twist to our friendship when he introduced me in front of his kith and kin as his brother.

Now, that was touching.

I guess Poet Timacadde rested his case.