By Roobdoon Forum
As is known, in mid 1970s, Saudi Arabia had the ambition of regime change in Mogadishu, as an antidote to the Soviet (USSR) influence and communism/ socialism represented by Siyaad Barre. Considering themselves as an ally and partner in spreading of “democracy”, the Saudis requested from the United States to diminish the Soviet influence in Somalia.
Seeing itself as a regional power of balance and the guardian of all Muslims, mischief-making Saudis adopted a new design, more sinister than the previous plan. They sought hard to bring Somalia into chaos through any possible means. By late 1970s, Saudi Arabia was already abetting various Somali factions and this was partly derived from the American wish.
One of the armed rebel groups that buffeted throughout northern Somalia, the Somali National Movement (SNM), was in fact midwifed by Saudi Arabia. One of the founders of this movement was Somalia’s former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Hassan Adan Wadaadiid, one of Saudi Arabia’s errand boys.
Despite its name, the Somali National Movement has been led by clannish elites and chiefs of the Isaaq clan and they were trying to prove their ownership of what was then the British Somaliland, the whole northern regions of Somalia.
The Mujahidin of the Horn of Africa
Securing that the Saudi petrodollar is in the pipeline, the SNM rebels based their military operations in Ethiopia, which has a disputed border that stretches of one thousand miles with Somalia – i.e. the rebels were able to buy cheap Ethiopian weapons arsenal with Saudi money.
In early 1980s, the rebels began their hit and run campaign against main towns in northern Somalia, destroying villages and their water wells. These clan-based rebels emulated the Afghan guerillas of the 1980s, who were fighting against the Soviets. They called themselves the “Mujahidin of the Horn of Africa”.
In most of their press statements, the Mujahidin of Horn of Africa have never missed the opportunity to express condemnation to what they called “the treacherous plots of the Zionist Israel”, the archenemy of the Arabs. And after such statement, the Mujahidin would conclude their press briefings with a strong deep appreciation to the governments (mainly Saudi Arabia) who have extended a helping hand to their armed struggle and hoped that the Saudis will not just continue to send money but increase it.
Moreover, in these statements, the SNM leaders used to address of themselves as Mujahidin, liberators, and keepers of the Sharia (Islamic Law) – a distinct combination that marks to themselves as true Muslims under the banner of Islam. Beside their core principle (declaring other Somalis as Munaafiqiin), the Mujahidin also referred to other Somali factions as evil-doers.
After a decade of warfare, an entire region of Somalia was laid to waste, followed by the fall of Siyaad Barre regime in 1991.
As soon as they took over Hargeisa and its environs, the rebels announced that they seceded from the rest of Somalia and introduced the Sharia (Islamic Law) in the areas under their control. They swiftly adopted a flag for their enclave. The flag is the merger of two flags – that of Saudi Arabia and Iran. A weekly-published paper, al-Mujaahid, became Hargeisa’s most circulated paper. It seems now that the clannish rebels designed this theological statement just to appease Saudi Arabia and to depict themselves as of having a Wahhabiya-enthusiast outlook.
The proclamation of adopting the Sharia and having a flag that is featuring in the Shahada would be a potent force to attract the support of other Gulf regimes. After all, the House of Saud has long ago crafted a plan to take advantage of the pre-existing clan disputes in Somalia to spread their political and religious understanding, which is a Hanbali-based Wahhabiya – in a region where the majority of the people are the followers of Shafi’i (Shaafici) school of Islam.
Read more: Once Upon a Mujahidin
Roobdoon Forum
Email: roobdoon2000@yahoo.ca
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