By Faisal A. Roble
Dear brother Mohamoud Abdullahi “Sangub”, allow me to title this personal letter “The Decimation of the Somali Nation – an Uncertain Future”
Dear brother,
Today you have taken the ultimate journey and millions of Somalis prayed respect to you and saw you to your destination.
Some cried in silence. Others recited poems thinking that this was your vernacular. Still, others worried about the struggle of your people for your departure creates a huge vacuum.
I consumed in the last two days dozens of your patriotic songs and plays to inspire me and give me badly needed resilience. Without exaggeration, I replayed one of your most patriotic songs, “Dhulka saw anigu malihi,” or, “the land belongs to me,” about 8 times. I cannot say whether the lyrics depressed or uplifted me. Nonetheless, I couldn’t resist but obsessively listen and reflect on your powerful words.
All your poetic words and the style with which you narrate them give me a deeper understanding of your essence as a person – you were an uncompromisingly staunch patriotic Somali who refused to give in.
Now that you are gone and you cannot speak for yourself, someone else made decisions on your behalf – that is human. But those of us who loved your words of resistance can always hang onto your words and make our own interpretations of how you would have decided for your eternal resting site.
Alas, the decision is made and that is final! To bury you in Jigjiga has created a national debate. Some would have appreciated if you were buried at the national General Daud cemetery in Mogadishu next to many Somali heroes such as Aden Abdulle Osman, Abdi Rashid, Xalane, Cabdirazak Haji Hussein, General Daud, and others.
But the administration in Jigjiga informed the world that your survivors have requested that your eternal resting place be in Jigjiga, and that we all respect despite that it is incongruent with the values that you stood for.
We are also saddened that leaders in Mogadishu did not treat you well in your final days. I was informed by two of your relative who had visited you in Mogadishu about a few months ago that you were not taken care of. You were living in a destitute condition without any care.
Therefore, the belated request of the Farmajo team to have you buried in Mogadishu was not only an insult but a disingenuous move and Villa Somalia’s brand of manipulative politics of photo ops.
Otherwise, how could those who handed Qalbi Dhagax to the enemy with the intent to cause him bodily and mental injury would turn around and make such a request within such a short period of time – the pains caused by Qalbi Dhagax’s case is still fresh.
Worse, as Villa Somalia was making such a request, PM Khyre was hugging in public one of the key architects of the Qalbi Dhagax fiasco – Sanbalooshe who admitted to me and to others in Nairobi last July 2018 that he was ordered on this matter by Villa Somalia.
Despite all that, some of the words used at the funeral site and in the media did not give me solace – the phrase of Somali speaking did not sit well with me.
Dear our preeminent Playwright, I was bothered by the phrase: Somali Speaking People,” or “Dadka Af-Soomaaliga ku hadla.” This is a highly politicized phrase.
Anyone can be a Somali speaker. An Oromo, Amhara, Afar, or even a Brit like the likes of I. M. Lewis, can be Somali speakers. This phraseology is a vicious design to create a new nomenclature to replace the Somali nation with Somali speaking people. Words matter!
This new vernacular is a political act aimed at diluting the Somali dream of one people seeking their nation-state, no matter when that comes to fruition.
Now we are being reduced to a group of people that don’t share a common religion, territorial continuity, culture, or even the same dream, but only a language! And that is but an attempt to minimize the long-standing Somali dream – to get our fair share in the Horn of Africa.
Until very recently, we all spoke of the Somali Nation, not the Somali Speaking People. Looking from a scientific point of view, Somalis are by any measure a solid nation that satisfies the criteria and conditions gauged for the qualification of a nationhood.
By looking at the history, geography, language, psychological makeup, family ties, the Somali nation is one of the rare nations that qualify for such a designation.
At the peak of the Balkan nationalism in the 1920s, for example, Somalis were the only African people to seek nationhood. In a bar with Europeans and some Arab nations like Libya, Somalis waged then their war of resistance. And they continue to do so.
Mohamed Abdille Hassan, never mind they derogatorily called him Mad Mullah in order to belittle the majestic cause for which he was fighting, dreamed in his own way to see the Somali nation under one flag. Unfortunately, despite his efforts, he died in exile after a defeat by allied forces of Great Britain and Ethiopia.
In the 1940s, when Ethiopia was in the process of swallowing swaths of Somaliland, Ernest Bevin of Great Britain in vain fought hard to give Somalis a chance to stay United. The Somali Youth League took its case all the way to the United Nations but to no avail.
Then came many efforts after the 1960s to realize that great vision of respecting the dreams of the Somali people. And, that is the period you, our great Playwright, began to be an advocate for Somali nationhood.
At your burial site, though, no single word was uttered to remind us of your legacy. Your long struggle to fight for freedom was censored so that the very power that you have been fighting would be appeased.
In sha Allah you will be led to the gates of heaven. I wish you were able to speak and let us know what feelings you could have towards your resting place and the commotion over you. Despite all that your body is buried, your words will never die or be distorted for they are so crisp clear and as patriotic as they come.
Goodbye for the last time and Rest in Peace.
Faisal A. Roble
Email: [email protected]
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Faisal Roble, a writer, political analyst and a former Editor-in-Chief of WardheerNews, is mainly interested in the Horn of Africa region. He is currently the Principal Planner for the City of Los Angeles in charge of Master Planning, Economic Development and Project Implementation Division
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