By Abdullahi A. Nor
The deafness of the president of the Somali Region, Mustafe Omer, to the real issues of my community, the Geri Kombe, dictates that I unveil my true feelings about my community. This is the case of the Geri Kombe clan, for which Mustafa has deliberately sought a policy of marginalization.
The Geri community occupies the most fertile, economically more productive, and wheat-producing farmland between Baabile and Jigjiga. Also the Geri resides in the Wardheer region, known for livestock raising . It is a community that does not depend on stolen government resources, but in peacetime works with its hand on its farms, and never loots another community’s resources or livestock. Without going into old history, it has been a feature on the trade route between Zela/Berbera and Harar.
Historically, the Geri community has left a positive influence in the region, whether in ancient times, as described in Fatuhul-Habash, or in the 1950s and beyond. Its contribution spans trade corridors, agricultural zones, pastoral lands, and key population centers in Jigjiga, Harar, Dire Dawa, and Wardheer.
Numerically, it is one of the largest clans in the most populous zone of the Somali Regional State of the Faafan zone. The community has also served as an impenetrable wall for the protection of the Somali region historically and in recent years. Long before Mustafe Omer came to office, the community had played a positive role in sociopolitical affairs. But since Mustafe came to office, he targeted them and drastically reduced their role in the region’s affairs. Today, many in the community believe that Geri community’s political share is being systematically dismantled under his administration.
Across the region, many will agree that President Mustafe has deliberately weakened my community politically to appease political interests outside the region and sideline communities that he views outside his clan orbit. Sometimes, he has shown open hostility to the elders, business community, and the educated class. denying them opportunities. He also ceded some of its important territories to outsiders, which had been recorded in many articles. The Marar Marar Valley, which he legitimized to the neighboring regional state of Oromia, was the site of the historical water wells. Also, for over 250 years, it has been the seat where the Geri Garads have accepted traditional throning. What he did here is not anti-Geri community alone, but also a crime he committed against the Somali region in Ethiopia. He exchanged our land for his seat. I am told he does not care about history. History will never forgive him, the clan that supports him, and those on his corner. His ease in shrinking the Geri speaks to a deep-seated vendetta he has. There are other somalia clans on the same boat as the Geri.
Historically, the Geri also maintained deep involvement in governance long before the current federal arrangement existed. Let me share briefly where Geri stood until recently. During the reign of Haile Selassie, the first Somali ever elected to represent the people of Fafaan zone was Xaji Abib Siye, a towering political figure who served four consecutive parliamentary terms spanning 16 years. At a time when Ethiopia’s Somali territories were largely neglected, he became instrumental in bringing some of the earliest development projects to the region during the 1960s, including schools, agricultural initiatives, and administrative infrastructure.
For many elders, Xaji Abib represented an era when the Geri were viewed not simply as a clan, but as a foundational pillar in the political evolution of the Somali Region. During the turbulent 1970s, Suldan Maxamed Xasan Sheekh Wacdi served as District Commissioner of Jigjiga Zone until the outbreak of the 1977 Somalia-Ethiopia war. His role further reinforced Geri’s long-standing administrative presence within the state structure. Following the fall of the Dergi, the Geri again emerged within the new federal political order. From 1991 to 1994, Abubakar Samatar became one of only five federal parliamentarians representing the Somali Region in Ethiopia’s Federal Parliament.
Hassan Abdirahman H. Hassan was a key figure in the early days state-building process of the Somali Region, following the fall of the Dergi regime. At a critical moment in the region’s political transformation, Hassan emerged as one of the pioneering fearless leaders who championed the identity, recognition, and political future of the Somali people within Ethiopia’s federal structure. He was among the key architects behind the naming and establishment of the “Dowlad Deegaanka Soomaalida” (Somali Regional State), helping lay the political and institutional foundations of the region during a highly uncertain transitional era. His contributions reflected a broader vision of self-administration, representation, and regional empowerment for the Somali people after decades of political marginalization. Add to that the late Mohamoud Tukale composed the lyrics of the song for the identity of the region (heesta calanka).
Members of the community also twice occupied the Executive office; once as an acting President and another time as vice presidency before the rise of Mustafe Cagjar. Ibrahim Haji Abdi Buux and later Ahmed M. Jaanyer, commonly known as Ina Qabyo, respectively. Both held the powerful regional post, symbolizing the clan’s significant role in the region’s political hierarchy. For many within my community, that history makes the current political decline alarming. It could only have happened by design. And the designer is Mustafe Omer. He has succeeded in pitting one community against another. He effectively brought in a very reactionary political culture to the region, and because no one in Addis holds him accountable, he has been doing things as he wishes.
What is sad is that Mustafe’s even actively sought to block the political rise of influential Geri figures capable of mobilizing broad public support. Currently, he is attempting to obstruct Muxiyadiin Xaji Abibi’s candidacy out of fear that independent political influence could challenge the current balance of power. He even tried to stop Muxiyadin Xaji Abiib Siye from receiving the candidacy card. The candidate received his card with the help of the election commission, restraining Mustafe’s naked interference in the process. There is a fear that even if Muxiyadin wins, Mustafa will cheat and reverse the results. He has done the same as in the past election.
Among the most frequently cited examples is Muxiyadiin Haji Abiib, a politician said to represent one of the largest constituencies in Jigjiga and the wider Faafan zone. “This is no longer about appointments,” one political analyst noted. “It is about controlling who is allowed to rise politically and who must remain excluded.”
The frustration in the community appears to be worsening quietly but steadily. There are even pockets in the community that entertain asking the federal government for direct administration from Addis Ababa, as long as Mustafe is targeting their community. I don’t subscribe to that, but it may force all of us to do that.
For many intellectuals, elders, and political figures from my community, the issue has evolved beyond government posts or symbolic representation. It is increasingly viewed as a question of political survival, historical dignity, and whether the Somali Regional State is moving toward inclusive governance or toward a centralized system in which political diversity is increasingly suffocated. The growing sense of exclusion is particularly sensitive because the Somali Region has historically depended on a delicate clan balance and negotiated power-sharing to maintain stability. Marginalizing historically influential communities, risks reopening old grievances and deepening mistrust across the region.
As political tensions continue to simmer beneath the surface, many now fear that the steady erosion of Geri representation may become emblematic of a larger political crisis unfolding within the Somali Regional State, one where consolidation of power is increasingly replacing inclusion, and where communities that once shaped the region now fear becoming strangers within it.
Abdullahi A. Nor
Email: abdulahinor231@gmail.com