The Somali Ambassador to Rwanda: "I Love Kagame."

Recently, Somalia’s ambassador to Rwanda, Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed, made a public confession.

The envoy, in an interview with the Great Lakes Voice, http://greatlakesvoice.com/i-love-kagame-more-than-my-president-somalia-ambassador/, said he loves Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame more than he does his own boss, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud.  Abdullahi wishes Kagame were Somalia’s president.

Why does the ambassador love Kagame?

Simple.

Kagame, according to Abdullahi, is a role model for the entire continent of Africa. He is a man of vision and a dynamic leader.

 

It is fine for an ambassador to show admiration and affection for the president at host country. What is unethical—and perhaps beyond the norm of diplomacy—is for an ambassador to disrespect his own president and country.

Why did the ambassador come out publicly in support of Kagame?

There are rumors that President Mohamoud wants to replace the envoy. Abdullahi, however, dismissed such talk as baseless. He is very confident that he will stay in his job to the point of presumption. “These are rumors; nobody can dare fire me,” he boasted.

Abdullahi likes what he sees in Rwanda under the leadership of Kagame. It is a stable country with a good infrastructure; all the Somalis who live there are content, and, most of all, Somali-owned businesses such as Hass energy and Olympic energy, supply 70 percent of Rwanda’s oil needs.

Ambassador Abdullahi wants to do something special for Rwanda: He wants Somalia to supply fish to Rwanda, a land-locked country.

There is another reason why Abdullahi is flaunting his unbridled love for Kagame. The envoy has been having problems with the man he replaced, a former honorary consul. The discord between the two men is about business transactions. In other words, it is all about money.

President Kagame has been successful in transforming Rwanda. The economy there is strong; peace prevails, and there is no endemic corruption. The streets of Kigali, the capital, are immaculate--no garbage, no homeless people sleeping on the streets, and no sign of the pesky plastic bags that normally float around in many African cities. Kagame, though, has been accused of being a dictator who does not tolerate dissent. Some prominent opposition figures have been assassinated abroad by allegedly Rwanda’s secretive and formidable intelligence services. Kagame himself did not admit to these crimes, but he made it clear, in so many words, that Rwanda’s “enemies” deserve to die.

However, there is one thing the honorable Somali Ambassador should know about the man he admires most. According to Jeffrey Gettleman, east Africa bureau chief for the New York Times, Kagame has a habit of actually spanking his underlings when they do not live up to his expectations. When Gettleman asked Kagame about these beatings, the president did not directly admit to them, instead, he mentioned that he once got so angry with a subordinate that he shoved him so hard that the subordinate fell on the floor.

“It is my nature,” Kagame sheepishly said. “I can be tough. I make mistakes.”

The Somali president may be weak and indecisive, but, he is allegedly not given to spanking or shoving his own subordinates.

While Ambassador Abdullahi is a sad story of the state of Somalia’s incompetent Foreign Service, it is an opportune time for President Mohamoud to take decisive action in recalling him. This envoy is an embarrassment to Somalia and to himself.  After his termination, Abdullahi can retire happily in Rwanda, where his beloved leader is at the helm.

  

Kenyan Somalis: Caught Between Power and Profiling

The ongoing Kenyan government security sweep against Somalis has generated reactions both serious and comical. In May, the visiting Chinese Prime Minister, Le Keqiang, vowed to help Kenya in its efforts to repatriate illegal Somalis back to their country. Beijing’s offer was an attempt to curry favor with the Kenyan government, with which it then signed a trade agreement worth several billion dollars. The premier reiterated what his hosts wanted to hear: illegal Somalis and those suspected of having ties with Al-Shabaab must be deported from Kenya.

Even more absurd was the statement by Somalia’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Buri Hamza, in its dangling of the khat card (a mild stimulant plant known in Kenya as miraa). In an interview with the Standard on June 1st, Hamza alluded to the possibility of a trade war between Mogadishu and Nairobi. “If we stop importing miraa,” the minister stated, “so much the better.” Many in Somalia are addicted to khat, and it would be a herculean task—not to mention political suicide for the Mogadishu regime—to ban its importation from Kenya.

On a more serious note, the security sweep exposed fissures in Kenyan society and added controversy to the ongoing debate about the role and position of Kenyan Somalis in the country. The Somali factor in Kenyan politics is paradoxical. On the one hand, Somali Kenyans have been gaining increasing power in politics and business, but they have also become victims of periodic profiling and mistrust.

In the 1960s, Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta, became increasingly frustrated with the persistence of the Shifta fighters in the predominantly Somali-inhabited region of the Northern Frontier District—now the North Eastern Province—who were agitating to secede from Kenya and join their brethren in Somalia. Kenyatta saw no difference between the Shifta and ordinary Kenyan Somalis – he was known to repeat the aphorism: “mtoto wa nyoka ni nyoka” (a child of a snake is still a snake). Kenyatta came up with his own solution to the problem when he told them plainly: “Pack up and go, but leave us the land.”  The Somalis understandably shunned this directive and stayed.

Five decades later, Kenyatta’s son, President Uhuru Kenyatta, has cast a dragnet aimed at Somalis which directly and indirectly affects not only the country’s large contingency of refugees and immigrants but also Kenyan Somalis.

Kenyan Somalis inhabit a vast north eastern territory which is one of the poorest and least-developed regions in Kenya and are also concentrated in the Eastleigh district of Nairobi. The Somali Kenyan population has grown from several hundred thousand in the 1960s to approximately 2.3 million now, but still represents a minority among the country’s 43 million people.

In 1989, two years before the onslaught of Somali refugees in Kenya, the Kenyan government singled out Somali Kenyans to carry a pink ID card in addition to the identity document issued to all Kenyan citizens. This pink card, which highlighted the government’s discriminatory stance toward Somalis, was declared unconstitutional in 2003, but, even so, Somalis still remain the target of harassment and extortion. In Eastleigh, police officers, whether assigned there or not, routinely make money by stopping and harassing Somalis, legal or illegal. Somalis in Nairobi call themselves “Human ATMs.”

The label gained credibility when a large number of Somalis, briefly detained in the security sweep, secured their release by bribing police officers. Oddly, some elected Somali officials in the Kenyan parliament were themselves stopped and briefly detained, even though they had shown the police their Kenyan and parliamentary IDs. Ali Abdi Bule, a Tana River senator, was stopped and detained for half an hour because police officers said his papers were false. The police then released him. In another incident, Senator Billow Kerrow’s house was searched in clear contravention of his parliamentary immunity.

On the flip-side, Somali Kenyans are experiencing a golden age in terms of their high representation in the corridors of political power. They have solid representation in Uhuru’s Jubilee Coalition Government, with three cabinet portfolios—foreign affairs, industrialization, sports/culture and arts—which are headed by Somalis.  A Somali is serving as the chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and two are sitting judges in the country’s highest courts: One in the Supreme Court and the other in the Appeals Court. President Uhuru’s legal advisor is also Somali.

In the past, ethnic Somalis have held important positions, including Minister of Defense, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, National Chief of Police and Head of the Election Commission. The number of Somali parliamentarians on the legislative branch has increased from 13 a year ago to 32 today. Aden Bare Duale, a politician known for his bombastic rhetoric, holds the post of the National Assembly majority leader.  He told a Somali audience in Eastleigh in April that elected Somali officials were, for all practical purposes, in control of the government. “We know how to unlock this government,” he boasted.

In business, Eastleigh has become a residential haven and a booming business hub for Somalis. The district is the umbilical cord and the economic center of the Somali community and Duale asserts that Somalis manage most of the real estate developments in the country and 80 percent of the fuel trade; they own 80% of all of Kenya’s imported goods, and one of every five cars. Many Somalis from the diaspora have also invested heavily in Kenya, particularly in real estate.

Is the increasing prominence of Somalis in politics and business the reason law enforcement is profiling and targeting them?  Somali politicians and opposition figures have argued that the security campaign is an attempt to disenfranchise Somalis as a group. The Secretary General of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) opposition party, Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o, suggested that the security crackdown was  a case of ethnic profiling with the goal of winning back the trust of the West and flushing successful Somali businesses out of the country.

Somali Senator Billow Kerrow also questioned the real motive behind the government’s campaign. Somalis, stated Kerrow, are known globally for their business acumen, and the current security dragnet is “an economic war and not a fight against terror.” After almost three months of the campaign, the government has yet to arrest any suspected terrorist or dismantle a cell. In addition, Uhuru’s government has been dragging its feet to appoint an independent commission to investigate the Westgate Mall terrorist bombing.

While human rights organizations have condemned the campaign, the dragnet has also shown the political divide among Somali leaders in Kenya and their ambivalent approach to security issues bedeviling the country. While all these leaders condemn terrorists, some have issued statements that further aggravated the situation and made some Kenyans question how committed Somali leaders are in the fight against terrorism.

In a televised speech, Duale told an audience in Eastleigh that those responsible for the bombings in that district should bomb elsewhere. Then, he oddly mentioned Machakos, a town and major urban center 64 kilometers southeast of Nairobi, as an alternative target. “Had the bombers targeted Machakos,” Duale added, “Eastleigh would not have been harassed.” Duale later denied making the statement.

The former deputy speaker of the Kenyan Parliament, Farah Moalim, has alleged in the media that the government, not Al-Shabaab, is behind the bombings in Kenya.  Moalim subscribes to the conspiracy theory that the United States Government actually finances Al-Shabaab.

But not all Somali politicians in Kenya have spoken against the security sweep. For instance, the Somali cabinet ministers in the government and the former Minister of Defense, Senator Yusuf Haji, have yet to issue a statement about the crackdown.

Somali Kenyans exist in a precarious position. As a group they are prominently represented in politics and business, but they have also become a football, frequently kicked by the country’s president, his deputy, and the security establishment. Some Kenyans still view Somalis as aliens who are business rivals and a security liability. The dragnet is creating a climate of fear in the Somali community but we do not know yet whether this is a long-term trend or a consequence of the enduring success of Al Shabaab in Somalia and increasingly Kenya.

 (Written by Hassan M. Abukar. Reprinted with permission from African Arguments, June 23, 2013).

Courtship and Marriage: The Somali Experience in America (Part 4)

This article is the fourth of a 10-part series of true stories of Somali women and men and their blunt assessments of their relationships. The first six parts deal with Somali marriages in America and the last four with issues of courtship. The names and locations of these individuals have been changed to ensure their privacy.

***

The Workaholic

I was living in Virginia on the East Coast when I met my wife. I met her during a visit to Minneapolis to attend a political event. I was attracted to her bubbly personality, infectious smile, suave demeanor, and beautiful fashion style. We took a liking to one another. We talked as hundreds of Somalis surrounded us with their clamor and rendition of national songs. It seemed the two of us were on an island even though we were in the midst of more than a thousand people. Simply, we clicked.

When I returned to Virginia, I was a 40-year-old man in love. I lost a taste for food, neglected my friends, and became glued to my cell phone. In other words, I became mesmerized by my new friend in Minneapolis. I missed no opportunity to talk to her. I would call her three or four times a day to ask about her, her two children from a previous marriage, and her parents. I was into her and she was into me. We wanted to get married, the sooner the better.  She had a professional job and, on top of that, was running a small business. This bionic woman was amazing. I asked her how she juggled her parenting responsibilities, her job, and her business. Her response was smart and measured: “I prioritize what is important in my life.”

She told me I had paid so much attention to her by calling her daily and asking about her well-being. One thing was clear: To marry her, I had to move to Minneapolis. I had been to Minneapolis many times and, I must admit, it was one city I couldn’t stand. Its problem is simple: too many Somalis. Some say there are 40,000 Somalis, and some estimate as many as 70,000. I am not used to such a large concentration of my fellow countrymen in one major city. I prefer cities where Somalis have a smaller presence—say 5,000—to bigger cities like Minneapolis, Columbus, Seattle, San Diego, and Atlanta.

After seven months of courtship, I got married and moved to Minneapolis. The marriage ceremony was small and conducted in front of an intimate group of relatives. The bride, uncharacteristically, did not attend the ceremony because she was working. The marriage contract was done by proxy through her father as her official representative. In our religion, it is acceptable for marriage ceremonies to be conducted by proxy.  The guests feasted on rice and lamb and, after three hours, dispersed. I gave her the benefit of the doubt and let the matter slide because I was totally enthralled with her. After five hours, near midnight, the bride came home from work.

Love alone, it is said, is not sufficient. Although I clicked well with my two stepchildren, I realized what a big mistake I had made in marrying their mother. She immersed herself in her work as though nothing had changed in her life. My new wife worked seven days a week; the workload included her regular job and, on top of that, managing her business. The two boys were in high school and, in essence, took care of themselves. They had busy lives attending school and spending time with their friends. I had never before felt so lonely and marginalized. As a recent transplant to Minneapolis, I had no friends and no relatives. Most of all, I worked at home. By the time my wife came home at 6 PM, I was exhausted and she was exhausted. Four days a week, we lived on food purchased from Somali restaurants. I am a health-conscious man, and I do not like to eat restaurant food. My wife and I talked about setting aside some time to spend alone, but to no avail. There were always new things popping up to take care of.  Saving our marriage was never the priority.

Then, I saw a side of my wife that I had not known: She was a micromanager. She wanted me to wear this shirt or that shirt, cut my hair in a certain way, and she insisted on going with me to the store to purchase the clothes she liked. I protested, but she was not listening. I became resentful and acted immaturely by becoming withdrawn and distant. Suddenly, I felt unhappy and my relationship with my wife started to fizzle. It was a melancholy period of isolation and loneliness.

One day, I did something stupid: I packed all my belongings, put them in the trunk of my car, visited briefly my wife at her business, and drove off to Virginia. I was not bold enough to tell her that I was leaving her. The petulance I had demonstrated did hurt her and my stepchildren. I was a jerk and acted foolishly. When my wife returned home that evening, she was shocked to find my stuff gone. Interestingly, she immediately called me and left me an odd message: “You forgot one of your suits.”

My return to Virginia was not easy. I lost weight and became depressed. I was also wracked with remorse and blamed myself for my hurtful actions toward my wife and step-children. My wife understandably asked for a divorce, and I granted her wish. However, I did one thing during that tumultuous period: I kept in contact with my ex-wife. I apologized to her profusely and implored her to forgive me. Hope, not resentment, is the predominant feeling in our relationship today.

 Do you know something?

 I am getting remarried to my ex-wife. She no longer works seven days a week or owns a small business. Most of all, she has forgiven me and has vowed to work harder to maintain our marriage. We will be living alone, as my two step-children have become adults and they have their own careers.

The Equalizer

I am a professional woman. I was once married to another Somali professional who treated me like a maid. After we were married, he asked me to stay home and cook and clean for him. I love my career as a counselor, and I will not quit. My first husband and I split because our differences in regard to household duties diverged so badly.

 I believe partners should equally share household responsibilities, including the finances. I do not like my husband paying for everything. My first husband took my monthly contribution to household expenses, and on top of that money, he wanted me to take on extra duties like cooking and cleaning. No, no, no. We both worked, so why should I carry an extra load of work? No, I can’t accept that rule. I made the difficult decision to end that marriage. Of course, the divorce was clearly acrimonious. What else would you expect?

Two years later, I met a wonderful Somali man who is a true partner. We have what is now called “an egalitarian marriage.” We share responsibilities and decision-making. We both work, but we equally share the responsibilities. When I cook, he cleans, and vice versa. We are not only partners, but great friends. He is not secretive, and I share a lot with him. He has been accused of being “Nin daciif ah” (a weak man) by my fellow Somalis, and I am accused of being a control freak, a man-eater. So what? I am happy and my husband is too.  Got any questions?

Mama’s Boy

My husband is what the Italians would call a “mamoni” (mama’s boy). We were happily married until his mother came into the picture. The family dynamics changed once she started living with us.  In so many ways, she is a home-wrecker and her son, my husband, is the most disloyal human being I have ever known. Every day, she would deliver a laundry list of gripes. She criticized everything I did. I did not cook well or clean thoroughly or take good care of her pampered son and beloved grandchildren. Simply put, I was no good for her son.

My husband, the mamoni, listened only to his mother when she directed her vitriol against me. You would think his loyalty would be with his wife, but he simply said nothing and stood like a Hawo Taako statue. I was always good to this woman, so I did not understand why she was so hostile toward me. Even my children have asked me why Ayeyo (Grandma) hates me so much.

I asked my husband to rent his mother an apartment close to our house. He became enraged and stormed out of the house screaming at me for being difficult.

Suddenly, after being the first lady in my home, I was relegated to secondary status. My marriage hit the skids. My husband left home and took his mother to a hotel, where they both stayed for a week. When he came back and started harassing me again, I couldn’t take it anymore.  The children and I moved out.  He went to court, filed for divorce and full custody of the children. It is odd that a Somali man would ask for full custody of children under the age of 10. However, he wanted his mother to raise my children and thus render me irrelevant. That was only wishful thinking. I still have my children.

 

Courtship and Marriage: The Somali Experience in America (Part 3)

This article is the third of a 10-part series of true stories of Somali women and men and their blunt assessments of their relationships. The first six parts deal with Somali marriages in America and the last four with issues of courtship. The names and locations of these individuals have been changed to ensure their privacy.

***      
The Snob
He is an intellectual. That is my husband, a former college professor in Somalia. Here in Atlanta, he is a high school teacher.

I am an intellectual too, but a gentler and kinder one.

My husband is egotistical, arrogant, inflexible, and antisocial. He has an inflated view of his own intelligence and sees himself as the most knowledgeable man about Somali politics. It seems he has a sign on his face that reads, “Look at me. I am a genius.” He has an unpleasant habit of putting others down. He views Somalis as “qashin” (trash). “They don’t know anything,” he says. When you meet him, you can see his haughty attitude and uneasiness in dealing with his fellow countrymen. Yes, Somalis have destroyed their country, but that does not mean all Somalis are evil. Many were victims. Try telling that to my husband, however. His response is always negative. He simply declares, “Somalis are ignorant.”

Many of my relatives and friends have asked me why I am married to this jerk. I am a sociable, caring, and outgoing woman. I am always smiling and welcoming people to my house. It is my husband who receives my friends, and even his own relatives, with blatant contempt. He has no manners. He even treats me like one of his students. I am supposed to kowtow to him, stroke his ego, and never overshadow him. For all practical purposes, he wants me to feel like I was put on this planet to serve him. 

Oh, yes, we have been to therapy, too!

That did not work because the therapist, according to my husband, was an “idiot” who did not graduate from a prestigious university. After three sessions, I realized the futility of the meetings and ended them.

Recently, I found a good job as a university academic advisor. The pay and benefits are great. There is only one problem: My husband is displaying a streak of jealousy and pettiness. He is not happy because my salary is more than his. He has begun making demeaning remarks about the students I advise. “They are unmotivated, rude, and losers in the making,” he will quip. Suddenly, he is floating the bizarre idea that I quit my job and stay home with our children. He has even threatened to divorce me if I stay employed and continue “wrecking” our family life. My parents, unfortunately, agree with him.

I think I know what I will do, and it will surprise my husband. I am going to leave him this summer when the schools are closed. He will never change, and if I quit my job, he will have total control over my life.

The Two-Faced One

My community loves my husband of eight years. He is one of its top leaders, and the people always consult him, especially the newly arrived refugees. We attend social functions and community events, and I am always impressed with the respect and adulation given to him at these gatherings. He is full of fun with other people and regales them with interesting stories and anecdotes. We are constantly invited to lunch or dinner.

At home, my husband is a totally different person. He is detached, distant, cold, and aloof. He does not joke with me or the children. He comes home from work, settles on the couch, eats his meal, and watches TV. When the children talk to him, he mostly admonishes them not to bother him. When I try to talk to him, he is absent-minded and gives me perfunctory responses. The only time he utters loving words is when we are intimate.

Two months ago, I complained to three elders in my community about my husband’s abusive behavior. In hindsight, I see it was a big mistake. Two of the elders cursed at me and accused me of engaging in what they called “been-abuurasho” (making up stories). They kept defending my husband. “Anybody but Abdirashid,” bellowed one of them. One elder, however, did reprimand the other two for not being impartial. “This woman came to us to solve a problem,” he complained, “and you have already issued a verdict.”

Then, my husband heard about the incident. He was furious and accused me of soiling his reputation in the community.  All of a sudden, I became an instigator, an ungrateful and disloyal wife. My husband wanted to divorce me and, to his chagrin, I was not opposed to the idea. “Go ahead,” I told him. He was even more furious that I would actually be content being out of his life. Then, one day he came home and told me that he had changed his mind about the divorce.

You know why, don’t you?

He is protecting his image and his reputation in the community. This man does not care about his children and his wife. His only concern is his standing in the community. I think I am now empowered, and I am going to use that power to my advantage.

The Altruist

My wife is an angel. She is the kindest and most caring person I have ever met. She is not selfish and always puts her family ahead of everything else.  I guess you can’t teach kindness to anyone, can you? I can confidently say that I have a happy marriage. On a scale of 1 to 10, it is an 11. It is not due to my doing but rather the great efforts of my wife. I do little at home with the children, and she is the one who is involved in their homework and activities. I honestly do not know much about our household matters. In fact, I am lazy when it comes to housework. I do hire people who help clean our big house, but I am talking about the nitty-gritty of the household needs.

My relationship with my wife is based on respect and love. It is a unique relationship that bounces back quickly from any conflict that may arise.  We never argue in front of the children and never go to bed angry at each other. I spend two hours every night talking to my wife. We never run out of conversation. There is always something to talk about and share. I believe, in addition to being married, that we are best friends. I give her all the credit for making our marriage great.

Although I am blessed with a good marriage, I am confounded by how many jealous people there are in the community. Our close relationship is common knowledge. My in-laws, for instance, have a habit of constantly trying to come between my wife and me. She says that she has been accused of everything from “worshipping” her husband to “marginalizing” her relatives. Our community members cause problems too. Because my wife does not participate in weddings, she has been labeled as a weakling who “listens” to her husband. I do not like Somali weddings because they last until the wee hours, but I never prevented my wife from attending. I encourage her to go with her female friends for outings and have fun, but she rarely does.

I have been accused of keeping my wife from attending weddings. My wife is the one to blame. Some women had asked once about going to a wedding and she made a relatively innocuous comment—or maybe jokingly said: “My husband does not allow me to go to weddings.” The rumor mill began to churn.  Now, everybody in our community thinks I am a dictator and wife oppressor. My wife and I laugh about the incident when we are by ourselves. This is, perhaps, one issue I have no intention of correcting. Do you know why? Women in our community have stopped asking my wife to join them in their all-female late parties and weddings.