WHO WON THE SOMALI CIVIL WAR?

One question Somali people shy away from remains, “Who won the Somali civil war?”

But at first, let us make note of the primitive nature of the Somali society, which is one that professes to believe in Islam, though unfaithfully, but in reality most Somalis are practicing pagan tribes. These tribes fought a bloody civil war which ended with the defeat of Hawiye tribe, and ended without a national reconciliation.

As the defeat of the Hawiye tribe evolved into an intra-Hawiye clan wars, Puntland State of Somalia was born and established in 1998. And the Hawiye clans continued fighting each other in Mogadishu and beyond.

As Puntland State of Somalia matured, it eventually became a model governance option for Somalia’s South-Central regions. Abdullahi Yusuf, the former Puntland President hailing from the Daarood clan then became the President of the Federal government of Somalia and was inaugurated in October 2004. President Abdullahi Yusuf replaced General Mohamed Siyaad Barre also of the Darood tribe at Villa Somalia after 13 years of statelessness in Somalia.

Meanwhile, the Northern Dir clans, allies of the Hawiye tribe, declared unilateral secession from Somalia in 1991, following the collapse of the First Somali Republic.

As Abdullahi Yusuf presided over Villa Somalia, disappointed of their defeat, the Hawiye tribe leaders campaigned to unseat the founder of Somalia’s Second Republic, President Abdullahi Yusuf. And for that sole purpose, Hawiye leaders created the Al-Shabab extremists, and joined hands with al-Qaeda. Hawiye intellectuals also organized and established three anti-unity and anti-peace centres, namely the Hawiye Action Group (HAG); the Somali Concern based in London, UK, and the United Somali Alliance based in North America. Almost all relatively high-profile Hawiye politicians belonged to these groups and in 2008 they succeeded to unseat President Abdullahi Yusuf.

As President Abdullahi Yusuf was unseated, in 2009 a compromise presidential candidate with the name Sheikh Sharif Ahmed (Hawiye) was agreed on. However, a Hawiye intra-clan infighting ensued leading to the selection of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in 2012 to carry out a unilateral plan to marginalize other Somali clans in order to turn the tide around their defeat in the Civil War.

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud failed them, and this led to the election of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo (Darood) in 2017.

Similar to their campaign against President Abdullahi Yusuf, Hawiye leaders under the failed leadership of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud once again started a tribal/political war against President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, but this time with the help of other Somali clans. They succeeded to unseat President Farmaajo, which then led to the 2012 re-election of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the sitting President of the Federal government of Somalia.

President Hassan Sheikh hasn’t changed one iota, still reeks of revenge, and is primitive in nature and indeed in politics. Because of defeat grievances against the Darood clans, President Hassan Sheikh is restless and seeks to re-ignite the Civil War. He is intentionally repeating his first term mistakes and he keeps failing, which makes him a spoiler of peace and a source of disunity. He is now bound to fail again because he is waging an unjust war against his own countrymen.

Interestingly and unknowingly for the average Somali, foreign powers have been historically putting fuel into the fire by meddling into Somalia’s internal affairs in order to plant disunity and disfunction in the country. And now, supposedly, Muslim countries of Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, the Emirates, and others are adding their names to the historical list of Ethiopia and Kenya to once again destabilise Somalia. But Somalia will stay and stand strong, and the new imperial middle powers should read former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s recent memoir that Somalis and Afghans have similar characteristics of expelling successfully all intruders and invaders, not matter how powerful they may be.

By Ismail Haji Warsame | Former Chief of Staff of Puntland State Presidency | Warsame Digital Media | X: @ismailwarsame