It was a fifteen day revolution that shook Somaliland to the core and to what many are calling the end of its 32 years existence as a self-governing state. It was two weeks that ushered Somaliland into irrelevance. It was two weeks that culminated the Garxajis clan uprising against Muse Bihi and Somaliland. It was a revolution led by Liban Hussein, Liban Samatalis of al-Cadala online radio.
With Somaliland, for all intents and purposes, militarily defeated in Sool by SSC-Khatumo civil defense forces, it was just a matter of time for the remaining Isaaq clans in Somaliland, who were forcefully and through intimidation kept in what many clans call an ‘open container,’ to rise up and come out of the ‘container’ shell and into a full fledged uprising. The Garxajis clan, the largest and the most dominant of Isaaq group of clans, were the first to breakout, and within a period of 15 days organize and arm a clan militia of over 1,500 men. They set base on Gacan Libaax mountain range just 100 KM east of Hargeisa, a strategic location that at a moments notice can cut off the main tarmac that connects Berbera to Hargeisa and Hargeisa to Burco.
With the Garxajis clan in a full armed clan uprising, Hargeisa all of sudden entered a new era of powerlessness, clan division, irrelevance, and has lost its authority and monopoly on violence in most of the state.
On Goojacadde and the Laascaanood front, an intra Isaaq clan division and confrontation is a daily event with many killed as they try to desert and escape from sleeplessness or the daily shelling of SSC-Khatumo civil defense forces. Many Garxajis soldiers in Goojacadde have already deserted and have joined forces with their brethren in Gacan Libaax.
But who is Liban Samatalis, who within a short period of time turned Muse Bihi and the name and flag of Somaliland into a pariah that has to be purged out of Somali body politic?
Liban Hussein is a young man of the Garxajis clan, or as he calls it a member of G36. He ardently believes the right of his clan, the Garxajis clan – the largest and the most dominant of Isaaq group of clients, to administer the clan territories as a federal member state of Somalia (FMS), similar to SSC-Khatumo. He supports SSC-Khatumo struggle to dislodge Somaliland from the clan territories, and expects the same from SSC. He doesn’t believe in Somaliland. He believes that Somaliland is a Habar Awal clan project aided and abetted by Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti. He believes in Somali unity, but believes in the right of every Somali clan to determine its destiny.
In intra Isaaq clan politics, Liban believes that Muse Bihi’s Habar Awal led ‘Baha Iidoor’ group of Isaaq clans (jeegaanta Habar Awal/Habar Jeclo) had their plans set on kneecapping his Garxajis clan, but because of SSC uprising, the full plan had to be postponed, but elimination of youth leaders, he said, continued discreetly under Muse Bihi’s secret service led by his Son, Col. Ahmed Muse Bihi.
Liban recounts hundreds of Garxajis young men in Hargeisa jails, and hundreds who are wounded and hospitalized in India, Ethiopia and Turkey. He tells his clansmen that the kneecapping of the clan never blinked a day during Muse Bihi’s reign.
In the earlier days of the uprising, Liban Hussein was a quiet leader of the Garxajis revolution to liberate the clan territories from forces loyal to Somaliland, but in this past week Liban has fully taken control of the revolution. As the claimed ‘Dictator’ of the revolution, he has accused both the Garxajis clan elders and Garxajis opposition political parties of selling out to Muse Bihi.
“I will not allow Cadde Gude (Garxajis traditional leader) to sell Garxajis children. I will not allow Abdirahman Cirro and Waddani party who submitted to Muse Bihi and Baha Iidoor plans to discredit and dishonor the Garxajis clan. And I will not join Faisal Ali Waraabe in his crazy rants against the honorable people of Majeerteen. I advise both Cirro and Faisal to go back to Finland and seek medical help,” said Liban Samatalis in his highly followed daily broadcasts from an unknown location.
On the goals of the armed struggle against Somaliland, Liban claims that this struggle isn’t one to reconstitute Somaliland, but it is a one to disband it altogether. On his daily broadcasts, Liban often and loudly announces, “this is a liberation struggle of the dominant and the powerful Garxajis clan to be finally free from the control of Baha Iidoor and from fake Isaaqism.” He continues, “if Muse Bihi can sleep in Ismail Omar Guelleh House, who can refuse me to have Puntland and SSC as my allies? Who can refuse me to sleep in Villa Somalia?”
“We are coming for you Muse Bihi. You have two options, either run to Djibouti and Ismail Omar Guelleh or run to Xarshin (town in Somali region of Ethiopia, where Muse Bihi was born). The choice is yours,” are the warning words Liban forcefully and fiercely announces on his online broadcasts.
Liban reminds his audiences that with thousands of supporters daily joining the armed struggle against Muse Bihi and Somaliland, it is just a matter of time before the full collapse of Somaliland. He tells his people, “be faithful, be patient, and believe in my leadership. Believe in my dictatorship style of leadership, because without me single handedly dictating Muse Bihi the terms of his surrender, believe me Cadde Gude, Cirro and Faisal Ali Waraabe will be dictating our clan surrender terms to Muse Bihi. We will not surrender to Muse Bihi, so we will not heed what Cadde Gude, Cirro and Faisal have to say. We will fight and protect the dignity of the Garxajis clan.”
Daljir Media | Somalia
Related News
32 Years old Somaliland on deathbed and what an end to an era!
Online petition to establish Garxajis armed clan militia gains traction and collects funds
COMMENTS