Online petition to establish Garxajis armed clan militia gains traction and collects funds

On 27 December 2022, a day after an alleged Somaliland security forces assisted assassin killed Abdifatah Abdullahi Hadraawi in Laascaanood, a long simmering Blue Revolution led by the local youth finally broke out in the city. In subsequent months, Laascaanood Blue revolution turned into a full fledged armed struggle to expel Somaliland forces out of SSC-Khatumo territories.

As the war heated up and Somaliland forces were routed out of Laascaanood, Muse Bihi, the Somaliland President, turned to his Isaaq clanmen to help and contribute men and material to his war efforts against the people of SSC. Most of the Isaaq clan groupings responded positively to President Bihi’s call; however, on 19 February 2023, the Garxajis clan, the most dominant of the Isaaq group of clans, rejected President Bihi’s call and instead called for him to take his forces out of SSC clan territories. It was a watershed moment, and some even refer to that decision combined with that of SSC, as the beginning of the end of a 32 year old Somaliland.

Meanwhile, President Muse Bihi responded to the Garxajis clan call by now his infamous naming of the Garxajis clan as Somaliland’s “internal enemy” and SSC-Khatumo as the “external enemy.”

Five months since President Muse Bihi called them “the internal enemy,” the Garxajis clan has been busy organizing for an uprising in combination of two ways. Every member of the clan was encouraged to register to vote, so on election day, they can vote Muse Bihi out of the presidency. And if Muse refuses to hold presidential elections, the clan, similar to SSC-Khatumo, will commit to forcefully liberate the Garxajis land, which includes Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland.

With Somaliland presidential election once again postponed by the Ministry of Interior, and no solution from the independent electoral commission in sight, and to boot the Garxajis youth daily facing the wrath of Somaliland security forces, an online petition to collect funds for a Garxajis armed clan militia is in full swing. Liban Hussein of the online ‘Samatalis Alcadala Radio’ is now daily running the online petition to collect funds for a clan army. He is also seemingly preparing the public for an expected showdown between the Garxajis clan militia and Muse Bihi’s security forces.

Thousands of Garxajis clansmen have now fully registered to sponsor and pay a monthly stipend of $100 per armed clan member, as long as the struggle to dislodge Muse Bihi’s forces from the Garxajis clan territories is in full force. Some individual sponsors are sponsoring as many as 5 to 10 armed men at a go and as little as $50 per month for half of a stipend.

In addition to the collection of funds, thousands of locals have called the online platform and registered and fight against the occupation of Muse Bihi’s forces in Garxajis territories.

This is a developing story, stay tuned to Daljir Media.

Daljir Media | Contributed to by Daljir staff in Hargeisa and Laascaanood

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