Regime changes in the making in the African Horn

By Adan Makina
January 01 , 2008
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"A soldier without political knowledge is a virtual criminal."
Thomas Sankara, former President of Burkina Faso.

Somalia’s President, Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the world’s oldest surviving liver transplant patient, is in a London hospital and is said to be in bad health while the administration of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia is getting exceedingly nervous for fear that should president Yusuf expire, the entire occupation process will collapse and that his own government may well fall to pieces.

Ethiopian forces entered Somalia in December of 2006 to counter threats from the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and also at the invitation of Somalia’s fragile Transitional Federal Government (TFG). The UIC, a blend of 11 autonomous religious courts, routed the US funded warlords who held Somalia hostage since 1991. They brought six months of relative peace to Somalia in 2006 only to cave in at the invasion of Ethiopia.

Emerging information indicate that the Ethiopians were deceived by Yusuf in the initial master plan when he bragged to Meles in Addis Ababa that he had a well equipped force to fight along the Ethiopians to respond to the UIC Militia threat. Meles should not regret for he failed to read Yusuf’s unpredictable monodramatic leadership. Should Meles be ousted as the leader of Ethiopia, rest assured he will point fingers at Yusuf as the major cause of his downfall.

History is replete with Prophets and Messengers who brought divine scriptures and marvelous laws; it documents conquerors who left behind historical artifacts and golden mausoleums; it shades light on pioneers who shepherded the world from darkness to civilization through innovations; it has catalogued reprobates, philanderers, plunderers and barbarians in its dark pages as the worst the world has ever seen departing humiliated and crestfallen with nothing to their compliments except unmarked graves and paradoxical illustrations-the last category being where Somali warlords, Somali President, and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister belong.

Unfortunately, for the last sixteen years or so, the atmosphere in the Horn of Africa has been and is up till now, one immersed in implacable miasma and mendacity due to the emergence of a dozen avaricious, supercilious, coldhearted, clannish and discriminatory men who continue to hold close to a 100 million people hostage denying them the basic inalienable rights enshrined in their constitutions and that of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted in 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations. This is an assembly of cold-blooded hard core criminals who reside in fortified dwellings in complete primordial pomposity; they are men who evade the use of legally binding rationalistic approaches to expand the rule of law; they thrust aside scholarly and philosophical thoughts without justification; they borrow blasphemous and outdated dogmas aimed at intoxicating the feeble minds of their war-weakened subjects. They dine on French gourmet, wine on expensive champagne, and walk on red carpets in broad daylight surrounded by a retinue of barefaced dignitaries with 21 gun salutes to their honor.

Satan, the greatest perpetrator and harbinger of all wars, through his deceitful tactics and unmatched vigor, has definitely emerged the exclusive beneficiary of the Horn’s protracted instability. Heads collide at his command by surreptitiously irritating; weakening and impairing psychomotor activities of feeble minds leaving their cerebral arteries dissolve in an ocean of spontaneity leading to an overall cave-in of the brain’s hardware in time initiating eternal irreversibility.

To make matters worse for Ethiopia, PM Zenawi has horns locked with the UN over the deteriorating political and humanitarian situation in Somalia. The UN claims things are getting worse in Somalia due to the presence of Ethiopian forces while Meles claims the situation has been exaggerated and blown out of proportion. How dare he deceive a world full of hovering satellites relaying messages from the galaxies light years away?
Paradoxically, the African Union (AU) which is party to the anarchy in Somalia because of her reluctance and failure to provide the essential logistics and required peacekeeping force to stabilize the country, sensing how the situation is getting out of control and seeing the nature of death and destruction caused by opposing sides, has, as if abiding by the old adage “better late than never”, recently, after much deliberation, issued this concise mythical statement, saying:”(We) call on the Somalis and the international community to explore new avenues, to muster the required political will and resources to bring to a definite end the conflict that has afflicted Somalia and its people” Somalis should not anticipate anything good from the AU as long it has its headquarters in Addis Ababa. Is this not the same organization that had been beating the drums of war when Ethiopian Forces were pouring into Somalia to kill and maim innocent peace loving civilians?

The armed wing of the Islamists, Al-shabab, has flexed its muscles and is in full swing gaining ground day after day. So far they have captured large swathes of land by claiming victory in areas previously occupied by the Ethiopians and forces of the TFG. Their latest victory is the capture of Galgaduud region.

Many important TFG figures have been executed by Al-shabab, others have gone into hiding, and others are holed up in Baidoa, while others have left the country either to seek asylum or join the opposition in Asmara, giving Isaiah Affewerki of Eritrea a big burst of political laughter from a far distance.

For now, Al-shabab is eyeing near victory as the Ethiopian forces in Somalia have been bogged down disgracefully and PM Meles Zenawi is contemplating a quick exit. Meles has sought to down play the death of his soldiers as if they are made of steel though the contents of refrigerated trucks and transport planes leaving Somalia for Ethiopia reveal the contrary. Thus, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia and the TPLF regime of Ethiopia are both on the verge of collapse and that regime changes are in the making which may surprise many in the West and those nations with a stake in the Horn of Africa. For now, the fate of Somalia and Ethiopia will depend on how quickly Al-shabab of Somalia and the opposition in Ethiopia make gargantuan leaps into the international political arena. For PM Meles Zenawi, the closure of the precipitous border with Eritrea, the subsequent drought that has hit his homeland and the weakening state of the economy must be deeply worrying and a hard pill to swallow. While he denies the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Somalia, many wonder how he will respond to the unfolding devastation in his landlocked birthplace. Eritrean soldiers on the other side of the border have less to worry knowing they have an outlet to the sea. Despite sanctions, President Isaiah Affewerki of Eritrea will have to overcome all odds to ensure the survival of his people and stand up to Ethiopia over the disputed border.

Ironically, for Somalia, the recuperation and return of President Yusuf to the helm will pioneer nothing new to the political landscape but rather incite more violence for he is an inexperienced octogenarian whose desired goal is to revenge against entities and tribes opposed to his fiefdom. Should he expire and be succeeded by someone in this current TFG administration, presumably, the bloodshed will still continue unabated.

Ethiopia is fighting proxy wars almost everywhere in the Horn of Africa. Besides the conflicts in Somalia and the border dispute with Eritrea, factors that may bring down the current regime in Ethiopia include: the willingness of the opposition to open old wounds to counter the irregularities and rigging of the elections in 2005 by the ruling party under PM Meles Zenawi, international outcry at the detention without trial of opposition heavyweights, and the accelerated armed struggle of the liberation movements in several regions occupied by ethnic groups seeking to break away from the rest of Ethiopia.
The arrival of African Union peacekeepers will bring no change except renewed war, new humanitarian crises, and shoddy peace deals that will not hold long. The 1,500 Uganda People’s Defense Force has not been immune from attacks by Al-shabab and for now their movements in Mogadishu are restricted to a few defined areas. Leaders of Al-shabab had earlier warned that the Uganda Forces and any other alien army that sets camp in Somalia without their backing will be targeted and treated like any other occupying force.

Burundians who wrapped up refresher courses and interdisciplinary counterterrorism procedures continue to pour in to the Somali capital to replace the weakened and cruel Ethiopians who have failed to restore peace and order for a complete year. Captain Paddy Akunda, a spokesman for the AU and a member of the Uganda Armed Force had this to say upon the arrival of the Burundi dispatch:” One hundred peacekeepers from Burundi have just landed here”. In Bujumbura, Colonel Adolphe Manirakiza told Reuters that “the team went to prepare the ground for the rest of the troops”.

The ethnic composition of the Burundian Army and the way civil strife is dealt with between the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi pre-and-post independence may be a leaf to borrow for warring Somalis. The current President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, a Hutu, one of Africa’s youngest leaders, is a born-again Christian, was born in Ngozi province in 1964, trained as a sports teacher before plunging into politics to head the Force for the Defense of Democracy (FDD). His father, a former Member of Parliament, was killed in ethnic violence in 1972.

Obviously, Ethiopians will pack up and leave Somalia sooner or later. What to expect from the hypocritical and untested AU is not easy to prognosticate. Also, the position of the West towards the Horn of Africa is hard to decipher. The role of Ethiopia in Somalia and the policy of Somalia towards Ethiopia after Yusuf is gone will depend on the succeeding Somali administration. PM Meles’ regime will face stiff internal and external hostility when his forces return home, when his parliament debates the fate of soldiers missing in action (MIA), and when unaccounted for body bags emerge from the mortuaries. For Al-shabab, the flight of enemy number one (Ethiopia), the collapse of the TFG and the presence of a less hostile uninvited guest (AU Forces) should open a path for dialogue.

Adan Makina
E-Mail:amakina@kc.rr.com

Too many strategic exits with uncertain futures in the Horn of Africa

It is better to have a bad government-however brutal it may be-than be without one. Somalia may not be the first country in the world to experience two decades of devastatation caused by brutal wars culminating in the death of thousands if not millions of innocent civilians and the displacement of an equal number scattered the world over either as refugees or as internally displaced within its own borders compounded by disease, hunger, and poor sanitation. Of course, the world has been through many heinous wars most notably in Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Mozambique, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Angola, and the list could be endless. Most African wars have been described as 'tribal wars'-where one tribe or clan feels 'enough is enough'-and that time is ripe to take power by force from the clan that dominated politics for so long. In Europe, it is called 'ethnic wars'-where two races compete for dominance as happened after the break up of the former Yugoslavia that pitied Christians against Muslims or Serbs (Christians) against Bosniacs (Muslims).

Somalia is a sparsely populated country bordering the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean yet its roughly 10 million inhabitants are relatively poor besides the thousands who fled to Western Europe, North America, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. It is a Less Developed Country (LDC); it has incredibly low Natural Increase Rate (NIR); its Crude Birth Rate (CBR) is not something to worry about though its Crude Death Rate (CDR) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) are of concern for demographers, international Aid Agencies, and the World Bank. Four decades of misrule has left Somalia a laughing stork, yet, the abundance of natural resources it has could sustain not only her citizens, but many outside her borders. Despite having untapped oil and natural gas, unexploited minerals, and a wealth of fisheries and agricultural lands, the people of Somalia remain a burden to the world donor nations because, a succession of civil disorbedience and negative political practices have continually torn apart this homogeneous race in to enormous tribal segmentations and unparalleled clan rivalries.

For twenty-one years, many in the West saw the rule of President Mohamed Siyad Barre of Somalia as having dictatorial credentials while Somali tribes opposed to his rule felt marginalized despite having ripe grapes in their baskets. Poor governance coupled with tribal mindedness, illiterate governors, mismanagement of the economy, bad ideology like Communism and Socialism and other factors led to the sudden fall of a once powerful nation that was the envy of many in Africa-especially neighboring countries that had a long standing border dispute with Somalia. Today, the same countries that opted for the collapse of Somalia, have become the ears and eyes for a succession of merciless warlords and shadowy transitional governments which they direct at will because they are the providers of the bulk of arms and money needed to advance their modus operandi which include territorial dismemberments, tribal divisions, and unstoppable atrocities.

After sixteen years of bloodshed by anarchic warlords, an otiose Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was born in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2004, with the blessings of the international community. For almost a year, the TFG was unable to relocate to Somalia for fear of reprisals from the Union of Islamic Courts hereafter referred to as UIC. Born out of the amalgamation of eleven minor tribal courts, the UIC routed the West-funded warlords in a matter of months. Poor political strategies, ideological affiliation of some cadres with the dreaded Al-Qaeda, and religious rhetorics at the US, Kenya, and Ethiopia, did not go down well with the poweful forces of democracy and enforcers of 'World Order'.

The President of the TFG, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, a former Army Colonel, was and is too inexperienced to tackle the Somali political debackle-a mess he was party to even prior to the collapse of Siyad Barre's Junta. Since his inauguration as President of Somalia, life has gone from the better to worse for the people of Somalia especially after the incursion of the Ethiopian Army in to Somali soil where the level of violence has doubled since. Many of his previous supporters have joined the ranks of the newly-founded reliberation movements fighting to oust him and repel the Ethiopian occupation. Hussein Farah Aideed, a former U.S. Marines Sergeant and son of General Farah Aideed-the man behind the re-enactment of Hollywood's acclaimed movie "Black Hawk Down"-was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Interior for the TFG before joining the rebel Asmara Group hosted in Eritrea. The former Speaker of the TFG and a group of rebel Parliamentarians thought to constitute a good forty, are also thought to have established base there. Unfortunately, these former members of the TFG, are guests for President Afewerki who is at loggerheads with the regime in Addis Ababa-a regime headed by his maternal cousin, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia.

Eritrean rebels fought Ethiopia for over thirty years before reclaiming their soverignty in the early ninties. Since reclaiming independence from Ethiopia, Eritrea has fought Yemen over tiny Islands in the Red Sea; almost a million died in a bloody war with Ethiopia over disputed territories; it has made incursions in to Djibouti territory over the last few weeks; and lastly but not least, it is engaged in the Somali turmoil unrestrained.

Ironically, President Afewerki is not only host to the Somali Asmara rebel group, but to a variety of liberation movements fighting to break away from Ethiopia most notably the Ogaden National Liberation Front, the Oromo Liberation Front, and a group that represents the Amhara-an ancient tribe that ruled Ethiopia for centuries before the emergence of Colonel Mengistu Haile Miriam in a bloody coup in the mid-seventies. Known for his terror brigade that annihilated millions of innocent Ethiopians and the atrocious and forceful relocation of enemy tribes to environmentally hostile lands, Colonel Mengistu murdered the "Star of Christianity"-His Royal Highness, Emperor Haile Selasie, an Amhara and had him buried in his grandiose palace where his footstool lay. The remains of the Emperor have been reburied in a golden mausoleum in the heart of Addis Ababa by the current regime of Meles to appease the aggrieved Amhara. An ardent supporter of Communism, Mengistu went to war with Somalia in 1977-78 over the disputed Ethiopia-occupied Ogaden region claimed by Somalia. With reinforcements from the former U.S.S.R, Cuba, Yemen, and other Eastern European countries that constituted the Warsaw Pact Forces, Somalia's unaided army withdrew from the vast territories it had earlier reclaimed or captured from Ethiopia. Somalia's withdrawal gave rise to the creation of the current TFG President of Somalia, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, and to Meles Zenawi, the sitting PM of Ethiopia, who found safe havens at the clash of these two antagonistic forces. Yusuf crossed border to Ethiopia after his failed coup attempt against strongman Siyad Barre while Meles and Afewerki sought refuge in Somalia where they were hosted by Siyad Barre.

Somalia's TFG is in a dilemma as it has never ruled a portion of the country with the exception of the City of Baidoa that serves as its headquarter. Smaller than the Vatican, the City of Baidoa has of late become a target for the well-armed guerilla forces of Al-shabab-the armed-wing of the resistance movement against the TFG and the Ethiopian occupation. Parliamentary members of the TFG have voiced their deepest concerns at the increasing level of violence gripping the city and the rampant increase of Al-shabab incursions in to the heavily fortified city guarded by the Ethiopian and TFG forces. Thus, many of these parliamentarians may pretty soon be left with no other alternative but to seek refuge either in Kenya, Eritrea, or Ethiopia where their safety can be guaranteed until the violence subsides.

Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia's Prime Minister and mastermind of the Somali occupation, feels his Somali project is a fiasco and that he is contemplating a strategic exit sooner or later. Likewise, he is to exit Ethiopia's political scene as his re-run for the his nation's Premiership is almost impossible because it would contradict Ethiopia's constitution and also anger the opposition who are bitter at his previous political mismanagement and adulteration of the laws of the land that he swore to uphold when he came to power. Unless he opts to use force to cling to power and quell civil disturbances, the Ethiopian constitution has no room for him come what may 2009.

Likewise, Somalia's President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, is to pack up and leave office in 2009 unless re-elected by parliament for a second-term. Until then, regardless of reconciliation successes between his administration and the many forces with diverse opinions opposed to his rule, what Somalis pray to see, is a strong government that will enforce law and order and reunite Somalia. Whether it will be a refurbished TFG with an all-inclusive government, or the militant al-shabab, or a new administration with multi-faceted ideological foundations, what the future holds for this tattered nation, is in real essence, hard to predict. But what had been predicted by one educated Somali academic about the future of Somalia is clearly emerging in piecemeal: so many poor Ethiopians are settling in the autonomous region of Puntland and and in the breakaway state of Somaliland; the country has become so ungovernable such that it is only the Ethiopian directional compass that can give it a true bearing and heading no matter how deviant that direction might lead; division of mind and conflict of ideology tends to favor Ethiopia's wrong dimensions; every single income from the port, airport, and other tax revenues is being collected for Ethiopian coffers; Somalia has become part and parcel of Ethiopia with administrative dictations coming from the headquarters in Addis Ababa; and that its governor is General Gabre-the Tigreyan General in charge of overseeing the TFG's social activities and political measures.

Even with the exit of Meles and Yusuf and most probably Afewerki in 2009 and beyond, a bleak future awaits the beautiful people of the Horn of Africa. How to bury the hatchet, pick up the pieces, and embark on a new collective strategy will be hard to accomplish. Suspicion, hatred, and gerrymandering will prevail for generations to come.

SOMALI VULGAR LANGUAGE IN ITS TRUE COLORS

What the heck is wrong with Somalis whenever they disagree on any subject they hurl expletives and other despicable conversational language at each other devoid of brainpower and comprehension? Perhaps, the first contaminated and impertinent language ever to spew out from the mouths of our forefathers is the ineffective and bashful overtone 'awowgaa lagub' and 'waran hele' which, at present, is left to a few surviving culturally inclined men and women bent on preserving our unique prestige and heritage. For the youth of Mogadishu and those of the southern regions, 'jinoole aa tahay' and 'habartaa buufkeed' still captures the limelight of joking relationship.

From an anthropological viewpoint, joking relationship may be defined as behavior common among certain people of close proximity in kin who display a sense of hilarity involving shared mockery, wit, and liveliness often sliding into romantic apprehension and sexual insinuation. In contrast, avoidance relationships imply the evasion of certain negative behaviors amongst sets of kin in order to enhance social harmony. Joking relationship often dissipates in societies afflicted by conflict. In the case of Somalia where civil strife is a daily occurrence, avoidance relationships is a common tool used to create substantial barricade so as to keep warring factions poles apart or else it could lead to senseless conflagration of political uncertainty and death. Intimidations and insinuations against adversaries using arrogant expressions like “ma anoo reer hebel ah” can be found among all peoples including clans.

The mention of the word 'clan' rents many hearts asunder as it reminds them of several decades of misrule by tyrannical regimes who callously diluted the dignified status and good name of Somalia’s fragile communities leading them into an abyss of social disgrace and continuous exodus of political refugees to every corner of the earth.

Clans are a group of people related by blood who are uninformed whether they have authentic affiliation. Whether one is 'laan gaab' or 'laan dheere', among Somalis, the decayed slattern and the highly educated all share a common blatant for introduction purposes: anigu waxaan ahay reer hebel.

'War waxu af dheeraa' signified the severity and abhorrence the Somali people had for the use of aggravating language. Now that the hellish war between the warlords competing over drugs, money, and power and the Jihadists all out to enforce law and order in Mogadishu and its environs is over, it is quite comprehensible that the battleground is rife with immoral, ravenous, and contemptible acts slowly filtering disparaging language into our formerly uncontaminated traditions and mutually supporting society-a tough assignment for our future forces that will combat decadence in our midst when peace finally prevails.
For the haggardly loxoox-munching, qaad-chewing, mentally hallucinated, and dyspepsia- afflicted ragamuffins who dedicated their lives to doing dastardly acts to enforce the peculiar laws of the insatiable loquacious warlord san-ka-dhuus, rest assured you will be judged by your actions for ignorance of the law is no excuse and that the only option open for your future repentance is to undergo psychiatric therapy to cleanse your blood-stained hands and eroded cannibalistic mental faculties.

The era when society harmonically admonished criminals 'war Allahaaga ka cabso' is no longer of vital importance as it now belongs to ancient verbal expressions. It is the rule of the 'labo-xiniinyood' whose daggers are drawn in cut-throat positions with each side willing to sacrifice entire 'qoys', 'jilib' and 'qabiil'. Opposing forces launch callous vituperations assisted by blasphemous imprecations: including 'Allaah ha idiin dabargooyo', 'Rabbiyoow kuwani naga gacansareysii'-a stupendous malcontent of duplicitous and sacrilegious declaration that is not consistent with Islamic values but rather a commoditization of excessive satanic religiosity and absolute display of immoral values. The saying by some: 'Soomaali waxaa lagu xukumi karaa qori caaradiisa' seems to hold some water. An endless cycle of violence has been dragging on for fifteen years with no solution in sight even with the intervention of the mightiest powers. A famous Somali Poet exclaimed that the return of Siyad Barre (deceased former president) could tilt the scale of anarchy and have all warlords in dungeon- an impossible undertaking indeed.

The recent clashes between the Islamic Courts and the warlords, two war-hardened rivals brought a sigh of relief to Somalis wherever they may be as the warlords themselves have either conceded defeat or cried 'cagteey malabeey meel igee' feverishly running faster than 'xiin finiin' to their hideouts while retorting: 'Libaaxii alamtarana soo dhaaf'. Even with 'maromugeed' of dollars and their promise that they will pursue some members of the Islamic Courts in the most impenetrable 'futo jiir', in the long run, the extended hands of the world powers will take the warlords into custody so they may be handed over to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, to be tried for crimes against humanity, just like Charles Taylor of Liberia.

The circumambulation of the graves of the holier-than-thou and virtuous religious figures and throwing of stones at Lucifer in specially selected localities in the hope of receiving blessings in order to have an upper hand in war continues to this day in many parts of Somalia-undeniably a religious innovation of the worst kind. The cry of sheikh hebelow which was a way of overcoming hardships has been hampered by the shortage of cambuulo, a good recipe for congregational purposes, however; gone are the days when its abundance made many sing: 'cambuulo galleey ka ciilbeelayeey'. At the present time, the training of our youth for future warfare against other tribes is antagonistically in the making. 'Waar dameeryahow abtirka toosi' is homework for every under-age Somali child.


Lately, a few prominent curses have disappeared from Somali vocabulary. Up till now, 'Caloosha kuwareegtay' and 'xaarkaaga xero loo ood' need not create unease for anyone due to abundance of abdominal medications. But there is cause for apprehension for a few in the use of appalling soubriquets like 'fool midgaanle', for such epithets malign the good name and reputation of an exemplary community known for centuries-old artwork, creativity, and manifest beauty.

Furthermore, the use of offensive language by major tribes catapulted to wider depth and stretch after the ouster of the former regime consequently creating a frightful atmosphere for the weaker tribes and minorities who have been victims of abuse and marginalization for centuries. For the major clans, references like 'war hooy aan kala xishoonno' assisted the warring parties calm their belligerence and advocate a temporary ceasefire until an amicable solution could be reached. When one is unable to control his mouth, he is apt to exclaim: 'kaalay afka iga sharootee' -for such individuals are said to be disturbed by excruciatingly painful unnoticeable tumors which can be traced to devastating worms twirling in their intestinal organs and so passionately Somalis query: 'war waxa ma dixri baa walaaqaya'?

Presumably, each of the warlords may have seven intestines and that is why they are referred to as 'xaaraan ku naax', 'calool barmiile' and 'xiidmo geelle', nevertheless; braggadocios the likes of those waging wars in Somalia, despite remaining indefatigable doyens of Somali jungle politics and having absolute influence over the communities they led, in the long run; they were reduced to 'digo iyo dambas'.

In conclusion, it is time for habarkuuleey to rest in peace undisturbed; a time to display a sign on her door handle that reads: 'wejigaa Alla manuuree buuqa iga daa'. Frowning disgusted, and perturbed, Mooryaans and their cohorts disconsolately walk away in disbelief saying: 'lee ilaha'- apostasy punishable by death under Islamic sheria. Let’s wait and see if derogatory language ceases to exist in our midst.

“If you go to Rome, do as the Romans do”: How to Perfect our Nomadic Way of Life

Do you pick your nose in places frequented by the public? Do you floss your teeth with toothpick in public and then spit in piecemeal? Do you place the same toothpick closer to your nose in order to assess the devastation of the smell from tartar known to attract hungry house flies in waiting? Do you brush your teeth with ‘Cadey’ (Salvadora persica), in public places thinking that it is a hygienic practice that is okay anywhere and everywhere with everyone? Do you cough up phlegm in full view of a foreign person? Do you munch ‘Miraa’, ‘Nakhwa’ ‘Qaad’ or ‘jaad’ like the only cow you owned in your homeland-the only ‘xil iyo xoolo’ you owned in your lifetime and are your rotten teeth and greenish ‘daaqsin’ visible to eyewitnesses? When eating food, have you noticed how ‘suugada’ decorates your lips? Do you disgorge ‘dhuusada’ in public and in private transportation believing ‘waa iska caadi no’ such that passengers look at you with curious eyes and feel like getting you by the throat? Do you swear day and night thinking that it is ethical and part of human way of life? After eating with your hands, do you massage your palms, arms, and face with the sticky traces of ‘dufan’? Do you say ‘uf’ to others because you feel they emit bad smell?

Also, in the process of chewing ‘Qaad’ and after depression (also known as ‘qaadiro stage’), do the sheer looks of your eyeballs threaten young kids because of your menacing characteristics? Do you eat food with your mouth wide open exposing all the cavities housed therein? In the process of chewing ‘Qaad’, after your semen transform in to ‘caano barax ah’, do you grasp your genitals at the sight of a female assuming that you are signaling desirability? Do you use your clothes to wipe off mucus and sputum instead of handkerchiefs or napkins? Are you sensitive and hypervigilant? Do you urinate in public assuming you are safe from the eyes of onlookers? Do you chatter like apes and conduct business in the ‘monkey business’ styles? Do you sit comfortably in public transportations while the feeble and elderly hold on to the guardrails in standing positions? Do you avoid sitting on toilets for fear water may splash on to your buttocks and do you prefer the ‘kadaloobsi’ technique until you break the toilet to pieces? Do you beat wives and children senselessly in the course of ‘Qaadiro stage’ thinking that you are disciplining them?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above questions, then you better watch your polluted and repulsive behaviors because you are psychologically a sick person belonging to the Sanitarium. The old wise saying, ‘if you go to Rome, do as the Romans do’ is pretty much the same as our own Somali proverb that says ‘haddaad tagto meel il laga la’yahay, il baa laystiraa’. What I have posed above are crises that need crisis intervention.

“Often, people in crisis are in a state of acute turmoil and feel overwhelmed and incapable of dealing with the stress by themselves. They do not have time to wait for the customary initial therapy appointment, nor are they usually in a position to continue therapy over a sustained period of time. They need immediate assistance. Crisis intervention has emerged in response to a widespread need for immediate help for individuals and families confronted with especially stressful situations-be they disasters or family situations that have become intolerable (Butcher and Dunn, 1989; Everly, 1995; Greenfield, Hetchman, and Temblay, 1995; Morgan, 1995)”.
A crisis may include a traumatic divorce, an injury or disease, and a natural hazard such as a deluge that make social readjustments almost impossible. Lack of minor resources and social prop up fade a person’s ability to survive a crisis. Responsible nations put much interest in how their citizens behave. That is why we have a line-up of sciences dealing with human behaviors and treatment.

Unfortunately, in governments run by dictators, there is absolutely no remedy and that dependable child rearing is almost ambiguous as there are no institutions to educate the mass on how best to live and interact with others. Educating children in early stages, showing them what is good and bad helps polish their transition to adult life. If our leaders are busy bickering in ‘fadhi-kudirir’ and are unable to get to the bottom of the long-running civil disorder that is running to almost two decades, who do you think will come to our rescue? The genesis of such negative behaviors developed from the many years of neglect by heads of households causing long-standing biological consequences of distress and irregular physiological changes in our family members.

Without the great efforts of past successive Persian Empires recorded in history books, the fields of human sciences from Greek civilizations and from other ancient powers that we so much cherish in the world today would never have been possible. The Persians observed, memorized, and translated whatever transpired in Ancient Greece in to their mother tongues and preserved tons of knowledge that would otherwise have been lost had they been left to others. Even in the most overwhelming wars, the Persians prudently hid their manuscripts from all sorts of damage.
Let’s borrow a leaf from one of Plato’s analogies and see where our leaders belong.
“Imagine, then, that something like the following happens on a ship or on many ships. The shipowner is bigger and stronger than everyone else on board, but he’s hard of hearing, a bit short-sighted, and his knowledge of seafaring is equally deficient. The sailors are quarreling with one another about steering the ship, each of them thinking that he should be the captain, even though he’s never learned the art of navigation, cannot point to anyone who taught it to him, or to a time when he learned it. Indeed, they claim that it isn’t teachable and are ready to cut to pieces anyone who says that it is. They’re always crowding around the ship-owner, begging him and doing everything possible to get him to turn the rudder over to them. And sometimes, if they don’t succeed in persuading him, they execute the ones who do succeed or throw them overboard, and then, having stupefied their noble shipowner with drugs, wine, or in some other way, they rule the ship, using up what’s in it and sailing in the way that people like that are prone to do. Moreover, they call the person who is clever at persuading or forcing the shipowner to let them rule a “navigator”, a “captain”, and “one who knows ships,” and dismiss anyone else as useless. They don’t understand that a true captain must pay attention to the seasons of the year, the sky, the stars, the winds, and all that pertains to his craft, if he’s really to be a ruler of a ship. And they don’t understand there is any craft that would enable him to determine where he should steer the ship to, independently of whether the others want to go there or not, or any possibility of mastering this alleged craft or of practicing it at the same time as the craft of navigation. Don’t you think that the true captain will be called a real stargazer, a babbler, and a good-for-nothing by those who sail in ships governed in that way, in which such things happen? I certainly do. I don’t think that you need to study the simile in detail to see that the ships resemble cities and their attitude towards the philosophers, but you already understand what I mean” (R 488a-489a).

Decades of misrule and power wrangling has left us in the lurch such that we have become a laughing stork in the eyes of the world. Some writers have called for Somalia to be placed under a United Nations Trusteeship because of the incompetence of her leadership. The analogy above presupposes that there is a body of understanding on hand to the statesman parallel to that applied by the navigator. We lack leaders with strong political power, tough philosophical foundations, and sound educational arrangements-leaders, who, regardless of censorship, propaganda, and indoctrination, will uphold the banner of persuasion, moderation, and rational willpower and discard irrational ideologies from internal and external meddlers.
If most fathers remain a nuisance, then, what do you expect from a presumably steatopygous, overweight, or embellished and desolate Mama who has been a victim of deliberate wife beatings for many years? Obviously, such negative results and overwhelmingly unmanageable stress add up to the predicament of a mother already under pressure leaving her irritated and dejected in the initial end. It takes a sober mind to raise healthy and disciplined children. Recurrent or concurrent wars, famine, social turmoil, and floods have been found to cause human behavioral changes exacerbating long-drawn-out and complicated conditions beyond parental control and expectations.

The tone of aggression and hatred from pathological responses to death increase instantaneously triggering impasses in children as well as in adults regardless of gender. Scars from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) intentionally inflicted in childhood leave behind trails of persistent indicators like exaggerated startle response, brief psychotic mayhem, periodic illustrations, flashback experiences, and false impressions. Senseless beating of children exhibits a gloomy future with unstable adjustments that time and again exude flashbacks and future contemplation of vengeance in their path to adulthood.

Lack of age-group persuasion that would instill confidence, mass media and molding plans that would deglamorize negative aspects of alcohol and drug use, and programs to raise self admiration, seem to be missing in war-torn nations of the world.
Tragically, it has come to the attention of many Somalis in the Diaspora that raising children in a foreign country is not the right thing to do. The agony is that, these children are unable to kill two birds with one stone: their desire to stick to the cultural values of their parents and their want to assimilate in to a new environment has caused cultural variations. “An object of striking appearance catches one’s attention” (anonymous). If you were to observe heavy traffic on a highway, obviously, your attention would be focused on to one vehicle or to someone of the opposite sex because of color, model, or shape acceptable to what your inner soul covets regardless of the condition of the car or the shape of your preferred partner. Children learn from adults and often practice meticulously what they see. A good child is the one who had a good upbringing with solid foundation in his or her early stages in life either raised by an affectionate biological or caring surrogate parent whose desired goal entails ensuring the child becomes accountable, subservient, inspiring, and tranquil. An adult who picks nose in public, defecates in abandoned structures, has no shame in whatever negative act he/she does must have had a poor rearing.