Part I:

The New Midgaan
Date of Birth: May 13, 2005

There are days that come to define the life of a nation. Some instantly mark out their nature in glory or infamy. Others are days of trial and tribulation that manifest their decisive nature only with the passage of time, in retrospect. May 13, 2005 is such a day in the history of all Somalis in general and in that of Somaliland in particular.

On that day in the year 2005 hundreds of Gabooye demonstrators stood up to be counted, in a most peaceful demonstration, in Hargaysa, the Capital of Somaliland. The Midgaan and Gabooye are members of minority Somali tribes, indistinguishable in any way from the rest of society, who have been subjected to discrimination, humiliation and dehumanization at the hands of their fellow Somali brethren simply because they belong to a particular tribal subgroup of Somali society.

It was the first time such a massive revolt against the disgusting tyranny of senseless discrimination has occurred anywhere in Somali experience. And Somaliland should stand proud and tall for it is becoming the birthplace of new sense of equality and citizenship. The peace, stability, social reconstruction and the adoption of the principles of democracy and freedom has extended to the Gabooye and Midgaan citizens of Somaliland as well and for the first time in the modern history of Somali society anywhere (Somalis live in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Somaliland and Kenya). Somalis everywhere should take note the liberation of the Midgaan has started; the great city of Hargaysa is its birthplace

Already the names Midgaan, Gabooye, Madhibaan and Somali-Six has been re-appropriated and reclaimed as words of honor and as battle cry of emancipation. The literature of the struggle is finding its way through books and websites with remarkable titles and impressive content; Midgaan.com, Somali-Six.com, “The Yibir of Las Burgavo by Gaildon.” Young, educated, impatient, empowered and angry generation is introducing new imperatives and vocabulary to the Somali discourse.

In Hargaysa, Somaliland, on May 13, 2005 the Gabooye and the Midgaan spoke their name aloud and shattered the silence and ignorance of a vicious cultural tyranny. The demonstrators forced Somaliland society to look into the mirror and behold the ugly face of injustice. And to their credit Somaliland society is listening and is intent on ushering the era of the emancipation of all citizens of Somaliland from the old archaic and moribund belief system and a decaying way of life.

The Hargaysa demonstrations were accompanied by sporadic and relatively tame confrontations with the security forces of the incipient nation-state. The protestors kept their eyes on the goal; Justice, Dignity and Freedom. Many of them ended up in nasty overcrowded prisons that night. In an interview with BBC Somali Service, Somaliland’s “articulate” Minster of Interior denied and also admitted that there was a demonstration. And he denied and also admitted that people were imprisoned as a result.

The spark that set this fire was the fatal shooting of Khadar Aden Osman Dhabar in the early hours of May 12, 2005 by a Somaliland police officer and his death on May 13, 2005 of his injuries.

The circumstances surrounding Khadar’s death are as controversial as they come. Word on the street has it that the man was killed because he was an uppity Midgaan who dared to talk back to a cop. The Minster of the Police talked about alcohol and a drunken youth attacking the police, though no one was drunk and no alcohol was found. This was a restatement of Steve Biko hitting his head against the wall.

Because of the discrepancy I quote Amnesty International. “On 13 May, Khadar Osman Dhabar died in Hargaysa hospital of numerous bullet wounds after being shot on the night of 11 May in the street by a police officer. Details of the incident are still unclear but it seems that the shooting incident occurred when two police officers approached Khadar Osman Dhabar and his two friends in the Hawl Wadag area of Hargaysa. One of the police shot him, knowing the three were members of the discriminated Gabooye minority, against whom human rights abuses are frequently perpetrated with impunity.”

Khadar Aden Osman Dhabar was a 28-year-old Somali, a native of Hargaysa who was raised mostly in Kuwait and who worked in that country for all of his adult life. Like many of us Diaspora Somalis, he left his wife and his three children in Kuwait and he went back for a short visit to his hometown Hargaysa. He went there to quench his thirst for the familiar scenes, sights and smells of his childhood. He has planned and saved for the trip. He prepared himself for the joy and rapture that accompanies reconnection with one’s own roots. But that was not to be. Instead hatred and a killer’s bullet awaited him in the streets of his own city, streets that were safe for every one else but not for him. Khadar was born on that soil and he was murdered on it, his blood quenching its perpetual thirst for human sacrifice. The police version however is more confused and it seems deliberately so.

This much is obvious. Khadar died because his path crossed that of an evil man, who doubled as a rotten apple within the Somaliland Police force. He died in the hands of discrimination, bigotry and socially sanctioned injustice. He was murdered by the same evil that lynched innocent men here in the United States and that gassed millions in Germany in WWII, the same evil that massacred thousands in Hargaysa in the late 80ies and hundred of thousands in Rwanda in the 90ies. Khadar fell a victim to Hatred. Hatred that Somaliland is poised to defeat today with the help of Allah and the determination of all of its citizens.

May 13, 2005 is the day we, Somalilanders, found our own Rosa Parks. Amazing it is the simple steps that matter the most in changing the course of nations. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and unleashed the civil rights movement here in the US. In Hargaysa Khadar Osman refused to give up a cigarette and became a martyr of a nation and a hero for all those who suffer injustice everywhere in the world. Brothers and sisters of Somaliland as we struggle to achieve justice and equality for our entire nation, we must learn to remember those who paid the ultimate price in the struggle. It is incumbent upon us who survive to make this a day of Justice that is blind to tribal affiliation, justice for every one of every tribe. Let this day mark the moral rebirth of our nation.

Khadar is dead. I say he should not die in vain. I say his death and our silence will speak volumes to generations to come. I say we have a chance to come clean, to redeem our selves, to take a stand.

I say we repeat Khadar’s name, lest we forget. Khadar Aden Osman Dhabar. A native of Hargaysa. He is Khadar of the Idoo clan of the Talaabe Cade people, of the Haruun people of the Muuse Dhariyo tribe. He is Khadar Osman Dhabar. Our hero. Our martyr.

Part II: An Introspective of Identity ( Will be posted July 2, 2005)

Abdishakur Jowhar MD, FRCP(C), DABPN
E-mail: [email protected]