By Ahmed Khalif
Qeerroo is Alshabaab, and Alshabaab is Qeerroo.They are one and the same – “dameer iyo labadiisa daan,” says a Somali proverb.
Alshabaab and Qeerroo have much resemblances; both are terrorist organizations who tasked themselves with terrorizing the Somalis; In the case of Qeero, they also terrorize other Ethnic groups in Ethiopia. Also, both Alshabab and Qeerroo use same barbaric methods of killing and maiming their victims. Chopped-head dangling became their emblematic sign of killing and mutilation of their victims.
‘Qeerroo’ is the name of the militant Oromo youth group that has killed – in an on-going conflict between ethnic Oromo and ethnic Somali Ethiopians – hundreds of unarmed Somali civilians, including women, children, and elderly people in Tullo-Guled, Diri Dawa, Babille, Moyale, Walgo, Balbayti, Meso, and many more places in the Somali region and other parts of Ethiopia. The word ‘Qeerro’ in Oromo language means ‘the youth’: young and unmarried.
Alshabaab is another militant group that had been wreaking havoc in Somalia since the beginning of the year 2007. The word ‘Alshabaab’ also means in Arabic ‘the youth’: young and unmarried.
From their names, the cruelty in their actions and their methodically brute savagery, it can be clearly seen that those savages Qeerroo and Al Shabab are one and the same. They kill their victims in the most brutal ways: stoning, burning, and with knife/machetes. They mutilate their victims alive as well as the dead bodies; they sever the head and the limbs from the dead and they gorge the eyes from their victims while still alive. These savage way of killing bore deep seated cruelties, and are inhumane.
Is it coincidence that those two savage militants to have same names, same targets and same methods of killings ? This seems by design.
The main objective of the Oromo- Qeerroo killings is land grabbing; by taking the advantage of having a government lenient to them in power in Addis Ababa, they want to uproot Somalis from their lands in Ethiopia; they want Somalis to be out of their lands, dead or alive – to die or flee their lands.
The federal government of Ethiopia and its security apparatus failed, delinquently or deliberately, to protect unarmed civilians from persistent Qeerroo attacks. Besides there are increasing allegations that the Ethiopian federal army aided and abetted Qeerroo in their killings of the Somalis. They are said of even partaking the killing of the Somalis.
Alshabaab terrorist on the hand had laid waste Somalia since 2007. While purporting that they are fighting the occupying enemy armies off Somalia, viz. Ethiopian and Kenyan troops, they terrorize and kill the Somalis indiscriminately.
After Ethiopian invasion of Somalia and its army’s occupation of Mogadishu, the Somalia’s capital city, a faceless horrific militants called themselves Al Shabaab ‘the Youth’ rose up from the ruins of the United Islamic Courts (UICs) – aka Itihad al Mahakim al Islam in Arabic – which took Mogadishu six months before from the despised warlords. It was UICs who literally invited Ethiopians to Mogadishu as they rhetorically threatened capturing Addis Ababa overnight and ruling Ethiopia in Islamic shari’a. But that was a ploy. It is now, in hindsight, can be clearly seen it was a pure false flag operation cried out by American/Ethiopian sponsored members of UICs, the so-called modern Islamist, or the Asmara group. They were giving Ethiopian Army – with full American support – a pretext for invading Somalia. That is why the Asmara group were put to the power by their same American/Ethiopian sponsors after forcing Abdullahi Yusuf, the president of weak transitional federal government of Somalia, to resign.
From Somalian nomenclature of political factions or parties, before and in the civil war, it can be seen that English and Somali languages were being used: SYL USC, SNM, SSD, SNA, etc acronyms of English names. Why all of the sudden, that nomenclature has changed into Arabic names starting with ‘al’ such as al-Sababaab, al-Itihad, when after ‘al’Qaida attack of twin towers in New York in 2001, Americans were out hunting Arabic names starting with ‘al’ and Islamic extremists. Does this cause to raise eyebrows?
After the fall of Mogadishu into the Ethiopians in Dec 2006, UICs transmuted into Alshabaab which claimed that they will fight the Ethiopians off Somalia, but since has been terrorizing the Somalis; and smearing the Somali name in all over the world by claiming the responsibilities of the most horrendous terror attacks; befitting to the English saying: “Give a dog a bad name and hang him”.
Ethiopian invasion of Somalia and its army’s occupation of Mogadishu which resulted in the creation of Alshabaab begs these questions: was Alshabaab born out of the Ethiopian occupation of Mogadishu by genuine Somali youth patriots who as they claim wanted to free their country from the Ethiopian occupation? Was it created by the Ethiopians in Mogadishu themselves with their hidden agenda of ultimately conquering its historic enemy, Somalia? Just look at the analogy of how Israel created Hamas to weaken PLO with the Israel’s own terrorist organizations that it used to chase Palestinians out of Palestine , such as Irgun, Haganah, or Stern Gangs.The same could be true in the Ethio-AlShabaab case.
If it was created to fight the Ethiopians why they don’t fight Ethiopians? If they can’t put up fight to the Ethiopians why are they indiscriminately killing Somali civilians that they purport they are freeing from occupation? What do they want other than killing Somalis? Even if they dislike the governments in Mogadishu, what killing innocent people has to do with that? The answers of those questions are everybody’s guess?
Alshababaab is Ethiopian army without the coat of arms. Somalia had used these of tactics before, when in 1977 Western SomaliLiberation Front (WSLF), a rebel that was fighting to liberate Ogaden from Ethiopian occupation, was reinforced with battalions from Somalia National Army with no coat of arms. Alshabaab is Ethiopian version of that tactic.
By their deeds and to whom their deeds benefit [ cui bono], Alshabaab was ab initio Ethiopian creation – even though Kenya has later joined in – with secret motives of rooting the Somalis out of Somali peninsula: in Ethiopia, Kenya and in Somalia. Alshabaab are not Somalis, but they are Somali-look-alike, most likely Ethiopians, who learned the Somali language; they are the proper proverbial wolf in the sheepskin. Of course, there are undeniably a handful Somali individuals who out of naiveté followed the cries wolf of Alshabaab –‘ Kuwo ha la rooro run moodey’.
In the Somalis, there are wide spread suspensions of the Ethiopian troops – who freely operate in Somalia, in the name of the fight against terrorism, Alshabaab as one in the Horn of Africa – provisioning Alshabaab with food, arms and medicines. There are reports of Ethiopian troops suddenly abandoning their posts with stocks of food and arms in the stores, at which Alshabaab immediately takes up; then only after few days when Alshabaab took care of what was in the stores, Ethiopians come back to their posts and Alshabaab takes to the woods. And in that hide and seek games, it is said, they finish their businesses.
Ugandans were caught red handed many times supplying Alshabaab with armies.
There is no known facts, to the Somalis, about fights between the Alshabaab and the enemy troops they profess fighting off Somalia; specifically Ethiopians and Kenyans who historically had animosities for Somalia. Infliction of losses on either side is hidden from the Somalis. We often hear from the media that American air strikes on Alshabaab posts, but we never know the facts of losses inflicted on them other than the death announcement of another nom de guerre – ghost names used by Alshabaab – from the media. Nevertheless the losses, in lives and in properties, inflicted upon the innocent Somalis can be clearly visible and can’t be hidden to anybody.
Now, this may sound a conspiracy theory but this is not! Every theory can be put into practice and Somalia had long time been evaluating this issue and came to the conclusion that other forces are behind Alshabaab.
Any Mohamed or Asha in the street can understand that Alshabaab are not for the Somalis. Nonetheless it is clearly visible that they are not only physically destructive to them but they are severe soil the Somali name.
TURNING TO CULPRIT FOR THE HELP:
It is ludicrous that some dangerously naïve Somalis, government officials and ordinary citizens, believe that Ethiopian army, that were in cahoots with Qeerrom, here after AlQeeroo, against unarmed civilians Somali-Ethiopian citizens, are in Somalia to protect Somalis from Alshabaab.
“Nin hooyadii ka guurey aayadii uma negaado” says a Somali proverb that can be simply translated as ‘He who left his mother in the cold wouldn’t let his mother-in-law in from the cold.’ Ethiopian troops that couldn’t protect Ethiopian citizens in Ethiopia from alQeerroo, simply because they were ethnically Somalis, would protect us [Somali citizens] from Alshabaab in Somalia. That is far away from the truth.
FINE AGE-OLD STRATEGY:
“To overcome others’ armies without fighting is the best of skills”—Sun Tzu, a Chinese general and military strategist, in more than 2500 years ago.
While employing that age-old strategy, nowadays Alshabaan terrorist pretentious surrenders managed to negotiate with the pat blind, gullible governments in Mogadishu to take up themselves highly vital security positions in the government such as commanders and deputy commanders of the Somali National Armies (SNA), CID in the Police force, and National Intelligence Service Agency (NISA) of which Fahad Yasin, ex-Alshabaab fighter was nominated a deputy commander.
Why on the earth, Alshabaab fights with an army that they can take its command, as they do it now, by walking to it holding hands up – pretending a surrenderer? No need of unnecessary confrontations.
No wonder the government could not win the war against Alshabaab and stand on its feet for twelve good years. How a government, whose metaphorically speaking, arms (the army), eyes (the police), and ears (the intelligence) are in its enemy’s hands, can fight?
But Alshabaab still mows down and weeds out the innocent Somalis, even after they secured the highest positions in the government for themselves, because they don’t need the people whose lands they came for.
SILENCE GIVES CONSENT:
Due to the weak central government in Somalia, clan divisions sown among them by internecine wars, and territorial divisions by the European colonialists in which they were divided into five territories – two united in Somalia, one potion into Ethiopia, one into Kenya, and Djibouti – Somalis are ‘the sick man’ in the Horn of Africa regional politics.
Somalis have been slaughtered by Alshabaab and alQeerroo, call it alDevils if you wish; they are killed, imprisoned, persecuted, marginalized, and extorted in their own lands. All the governments of which they consider themselves to be citizens failed to protect them or are desirous to get rid of them. United Nations of which Somalis believed to be their last saviour also failed to condemn the genocide being committed against Somalis by alQeerroo under the noise of Ethiopian government or Alshabaab under UN sponsored African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
The larger part of the Somalis however, especially the most able ones, the intellectuals, are keeping quite as they are islands and immune to the terrible happened to their brothers, being forgetful of the Somali wisdom: ‘Nin asaagii loo xiireyoow, soo qoyso adguna’, which means ‘ he whose peers’ heads were shaved bold must be ready his head be shaved.’ A Somali version of what goes around comes around. The calamities that befell the Somalis in Babile, or Tuliguul, Dire Dawa, or in Mogadishu could have happened to any Somali anywhere in the Horn.
Somalis by this time should realize that Somali lives matters to nobody other than themselves. We should leave our ugly past behind and should bring minds and muscles together for our collective survival, trust in Allah, and defend themselves from the beasts, alQeerroo, Alshabaab and their likes. We should break the silence and let voices heard loud and clear all over the whole world.
Enough is enough, no more time to be silent. Today we are facing enormous existential problems, but through our collective efforts and the Allah’s providence, we can prevail and we will.
Ahmed Khalif
Email: [email protected]
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Somali version
– ALQEERROO IYO ALSHABAAB MAXAY WADAAGAAN AMA ISU YIHIIN? W/Q Khaliif Axmed
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