Dec, 20. 2007
The charade finally came to an end yesterday. After months of chest beating and bellicose promises to bring back Laaska into Puntland fold come hell or high water, Adde Muse admitted finally what everybody knew: there is a secret agreement between Puntland and Somaliland conceding to the latter full administrative and political over the entire Sool region.
In retrospect, all the Puntland so-called military exercises to recaptures were merely deceptive posturing and by in all fairness Cadde Musse gave plenty of times to the naïve and gullible Pro Puntland Lascanooders in order to understand that his administration did not include the SSC region. For the record, let’s revisit some of these earlier signs.
Upon Abdillay Yusuf resignation from Puntland presidency in July 2004, Adde Musse went on to the record by claiming that SSC citizen Abdi Hassi was not entitled to lead Puntland because he hailed from a peripheral region. He threatened to take up arms if Hashi was allowed to even add one day to Yusuf presidential term even if the regional government was in a state of military stalemate with Somaliland over Lascanood.
Cadde Muse failed to attend the late Garaad burial in Lascanood ostensibly citing urgent meeting with Abdillahi Yusuf. Even if a mere couple months earlier, all Sool Garaad showed respect to a deceased Islaan in Garowe. Even Puntland VP, Lascanooders Afqudhac was prevented to attend whereas all elders from Burco and Erigavo respectfully convened in Lascanood. My fellow Lascanooders did not forget this utmost humiliation and the subsequent visit of Adde was met with fierce popular uprising.
Cadde Muse failed to stand up for SSC people human right when two of my fellow Lascanooders were killed unarmed and shackled inside a Garowe jail. This unprecedented act of savagery, a command of Hassan Abshir (a would Puntland president) went completely unpunished. Ironically enough, the murderers of a SSC officer were released by force from the same Garowe jail by Hassan Abshir clansmen. The message sent wouldn’t be clearer: the life of a Garowe citizen is much more valuable that those of a couple SSC men.
After the bloody fight in Addi Caddey in October 2004, Cadde Muse commander in chief, without consulting any SSC elder, decided to put and end to the military standoff with Somaliland. And to add insult to injury, Cadhays went to say that SSC is not worth fighting for.
Cadde Musse systematically maintained a strict discrimination against SSC officers inside the military. No SSC man was allowed to have full authority on any given brigade as Lascanooders were routinely cantoned to deputy commander positions. SSC officers has their loyalty constantly questioned and their military actions symmetrically denied. Case in point, during the last Puntland military blowout, only two officers, both from SSC, distinguished themselves on the filed: General Saciid Shoodhe and Coloned Jaamac Yare.
In reward, Cadde Musse put the blame of Lascanood defeat squarely on Shoodhe shoulders, he was subsequently removed from any leadership position and transferred to Garowe. Jaamac Yare, who was until recently viewed as the most able to take on Puntland military leadership, was unexpectedly removed from the new Puntland military hierarchy put forward by Cadde Musse earlier this month. Therefore, it is not surprising that another mythical SSC officer, Yusuf Quuje, chose to abandon the apartheid minded Puntland army and to add his contribution to the development of his hometown Lascanood.
Undoubtedly, Cadde Musse give SSC people numerous heads up when it comes to his views on Puntland composition. What he said yesterday inside Puntland parliament is hardly a surprise. As the old Somali adage, doqonto adkeega ku dhufo hadii kalee iyada ku dhufo, Pro Puntland Lascanooders have chosen deaf and dumb in the face of a mounting evidence. The only reason adde Muuse let the charade “Lascanood is part of Puntland” go unchecked is that he needed to sell out Sool natural resources to foreign interest.
If Cadde Muuse can today afford a multimillion house in Dubai, and if Garowe can today aspire to become the Dubai of East Africa (Cadde own words), it is clearly because upfront payment from Range resources has been used to that effects. There was a time when I was a child when trucks traveling the Lascanood- Galcayo corridor did not stop in Garowe because the Nugaal capital region was deemed too small. Before leaving Laaska, children were frequently asked to visit the washrooms because the next stop would be Galkayo.
Mohamed Sougal
Email: mohamedsougal@yahoo.com
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