“The belief in a supernatural source of evil is no necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.” -Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness.

This missive is to the memory of the four Awdalite victims of 11/7/209 Massacre in Somaliland. Killers are still free and thriving in the society and public institutions alike.

1. Ali Mahamud Nur (interpreneur)

Folks, I would like to remind once more the sad old news. It is the news about premeditated and horrific killing of four innocent men from Awdal, who were brutally murdered and then reportedly cannibalized on the road between Gabiley and Hargaisa towns last year. History will show that July 11/2009 as being a dark moment and rude awakening for many conscioble Awdalites living in around the world. It may also go down the death of “Somaliland” regional entity as a viable and trustworthy place as we knew it. The administration ‘s backward clannish institutions, which are based on little else but hypocrisy and ugly nepotism- cracked wide-open all to see. The fallout from that fateful event falls squarely on the shoulders of perpetrators, co-conspirators and official accomplices of the crime.

‘The Horror! The Horror!’

As it turned out, an SNM clan militia clad with regular uniforms and using official vehicles from Hargaisa abducted the suspecting victims from public highway in middle of the night and later butchered them in a gruesome manner. The unprovoked and barbaric attach amounted to nothing short of savagery instinct– something reminiscent from Joseph Conrad’s accounts of ” The horror! The horror!” in the Dark Continent century ago. The alleged crime? One may ask. Belonging to a different clan (Gadabursi clan) was the only known crime at the time. The motive, the method of slaughter and subsequent cover up of the crime were chilling and unprecedented in the region. You don’t have to be rocket scientist to figure out blatant criminality and injustice behind the multiple homicides
Sure, one could point out countless mass killings and other rampant injustice that took place in this cursed part of the world in the best part of past few decades and there is no shortage grime of reminders. But that is beside the point. The point here is the nature of the crime, which was like no other in terms brutality, purpose and colluded officials in it.

Connecting the Dots

Much speculation and hearsay been cited about who did what, who co-conspired with whom and so on in the case, but connecting few bits and bites of info and background checks show the obvious pattern.

For the start, the noted multi-homicide incident was both politically and tribally orchestrated one – something to do with the ongoing toxic tribal pseudo-elections at the time, combined with old tribal grudges /expansionist ambitions from Hargaisa’s elites. On top of the actual triggers in the scene, current regional faux-leadership, militia commanders and other sycophant politicians in the region were implicated, according to reliable sources. Thus, these people either directly instigated or abated the bloody incident on purpose. All hard evidences and other hindsight political pandering, including repeated nightly visits of local districts by Silanyo himself to mobilize local agitators in which he allegedly got into car accident at one point, support those facts.

Secondly, the intrigues and deception against families of the victims and larger community on the part of the Hargaisa’s current leaders were shocking, to say the least. The so-called current leadership of the enclave, Mr. Silanyo, not only scoffed the unjustifiable death of fellow human beings but he also blamed victims for being at the wrong place, if not belonging to the wrong clan. He even outrageously accused the death to Rayale’s former inept adminitration, which had nothing to gain from the blooshed at the time. For his credit, the leader of the other main party Faisal Warabe admirably condemned the mass killing while conveying heartfelt condolences and peace for all sides as any politician worth of his salt would have done in crises. kudos for him and the like-minded!

Predictably, none of the known killers or co-conspirators were ever questioned, much less of facing token justice and there is no indication doing so in the future. On the contrary, all valuable leads and witness of the crime identifies the ex-regime were dismissed without merit. Leadership of the tribal enclave and its apologist pretends as if nothing serious had happened yet. To them, it meant nothing short of sending unmistakable message to the recalcitrant awdalite masses and any other one perceived as being factor against supremacist status quo in the region.

Thirdly, there have been credible explicit threats of violence for years even before the mass killing took place. These threats were issued not only against disgraceful Rayale and his minions per se , but also against innocent Awdal natives by default – for the simple reason of Mr. Rayale being one of them. It did not made any different whether majority of them disinterested to be associated with his regime or personal role. There has been constant posturing for bloodshed of lay dooray ama daadku idinqaad on the part of Silanyo & com militants for sometime. Every political tension, every argument and every inconvenient local whether in the land used to generate death warnings and impending earthquake against certain groups. Alas! Such incitements turned out to be prophetic with lethal consequence in the end.

Connecting all these dots clearly show the killing was neither accidental nor local inter-clan skirmish as some would us make believe, but rather a calculated act and officially sanctioned savage crime in the highest order. Let us not be deluded our ourselves with trivial scenarios. It does not take Lieutanent Columbo’s detective work of Hollwood persona to find the clues The real butchers, planners and co-conspirators of the crime are two sides of the same coin in every way you cut it. Their culpability and bloody mindset are inseparable and so are due acountibility hereafter.

Hard Lessons

What lessons can be learned from this horrific incident? One may wonder. If nothing, the noted incident was wake up call for everyone concerned, especially for the less informed non-isaqs population in the region. There is a hard experience to be drawn from and among other things

Let it be clear that peace and co-existent are the best interest of all sides. It is not a revolving door or rather a convenient instrument in which one can ignore at will. Binding peace accord is not something one or the other side of the stakeholders can exit whenever going gets tough and resort into brute violence.

Let it be known from day one that our murdered brothers will never be forgotten in our community. The killers, accomplices of the crime and their bosses will never be forgiven unless the killers come clean out of the grizzely homcide and ask public forgiveness for relatives of the deceased.

Let it be clear to every Awdalite (or any Somali national) that what happened to our innocent brothers could happen to anyone, and it will at some point in the future, regardless of whether someone is deemed to be innocent, “useful idiot”, SNM apologist or ” Dr. Strangelove” among us. Anyone who believes otherwise must be living in fantasy world.

Let it be known to the rest of the world, regional powers and international human rights the severity of this crime and other rampant injustices committed against non-isaqs are increasingly becoming the norm in the area and the official sponsors behind the violence Hargaisa.

Let it be known to the UN, AU and world community that the inhabitants of Awdal region decided to take matters into their own hands and citizen no longer interested in to be part of sham unity with any regional entity such as “Somaliland”, be they security, administrative or developmental issues. The safety and welfare its population can no longer remain in risky business of abusive partnership. The said injustice was among main precursores in the recent declaration of Awdal State and there is no turning back.

Prayers Please, Prayers

In the meantime, our prayers and sympathy go with the victims of July 11, 2009 and their loved ones while strongly condemning cowardly murderers. We argue people with modest means in everywhere to help the affected families in any way they can. Some of these hard-working men were the sole bread winners of large households. It is even more apropriete to do so now since we are in the middle of the holy Ramadan. It is a regretable thing to mention such horrific case during the holy month , but two factors that prompted me to act are (1) I wrote the comment before the Ramadan and (2) Sinners with human blood in their hands and others who condone crule injustice deserve little respects of islamic ethos.

We wish you all wonderful holy Ramadan!

Mohamed Awale

[email protected]