by A M Nur (Dhaashane)
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Abdullahi Yusuf passed away late last month in Dubai; he is currently in his grave and needs neither praise nor slander as he departed to his final destination. Neither do I want to backbite a deceased person nor to discuss deeply about his brutality (May Allah forgive him), Instead, I would like to point out some profound mistakes from the senior Somali leaders since his death. They may consider it to be a political tolerance; rather it is humiliation and disrespect for the many that their love ones were wounded, annihilated or even disappeared during his rule.
Disturbing matters to many Somalis are; the level of coverage and pride given during his funeral, an official announcement of the flag’s half-mast for 3 days; Radio muqdisho’s program cancellations, red carpet at the airport, salutation from the army, janazah congregation led by the president and above all, worldwide media coverage from most of the Somali TV networks and others were observed.
One may ask, why all this attention to such a man? What has he done for his country? What would he be remembered for? Does he deserve such a heroic funeral service? Is it because he was once awarded the title “president”? Why was the flag flying half-mast?
To answer these questions, you don’t have go far back. It is enough to say that he was the first man to start the calamity, trial and tribulations that many Somalis are suffering across the globe, as he was the founder of SSDF. He invaded his country with the Ethiopian army, the N0-1 enemy to Somalis (Only the ignorant can turn a blind eye on this) and he made Haile Salasa’s dream come true. He will be remembered for the killings of thousands of civilians at the hands of the Ethiopians during and before the invasion. If he was a president at one time, he surely would have been the first president in the modern history to invade his own land with foreign troops. The flag issue is irrelevant here, simply because it was devalued and put down by him and flew the Ethiopian flag on every possible national land mark, i.e., the presidential palace, the ministry of defence and the airport. Many innocent and honourable females were killed, raped or disrespected in their homeland by the Ethiopian army.
However, giving such high profile courtesy resulted in the national price being offered for his head and for his fellow warlords and taking their wrongdoings out of the public eye. Neglect and disrespect to the dignity of those wounded or killed. As for the current president, Sheikh Sharif (who was, at some point running for his life from Abdullahi Yusuf’s Somali government) merely disagreed with the now deceased for power and not anything else as he referred to Abdullahi Yusuf as a national hero. Judging by his national betrayal, I believe that Abdullahi Yusuf for the Somali was the equivalent of Guy Fawkes for British people or Nicolae Ceausescu for Romanians, but on a more destructive and brutal scale.
Finally, I send my condolences to the families of those killed during his rule, in particular during the Ethiopian invasion, the deceased might have left the world without being put into justice but Allah almighty remembers everything and your love ones are not forgotten, may Allah give you patience and give them jannah.
A M Nur (Dhaashane)
Email: [email protected]