KARISA POSTER WARS

While Karisa is already bleeding from poor containment of the dreaded black plastic bag that has become a nuisance everywhere and the plastic water bottle locally known as Gajacleey wrecking havoc on the environment, another dangerous scenario has evolved and that is the proliferation of political posters on billboards that have added insult to an already incurable existing injury.

Strewn everywhere by careless shoppers, for a long time, the common black shopping bag has been silently killing stray livestock that consume it on a wider scale. Known as Iskoris for their adeptness and survival tactics without owner's upkeep, cows, goats and sheep eventually suffer strangulation and instantaneous deaths.

Almost all of the commercial billboard advertisement messages have been replaced by political posters displaying photographic images and logos of potential candidates for the anticipated August general elections. With competition rising among competing political forces, a keen observation of poster displays reveal appalling political savagery never experienced before in this human forsaken town devastated by tribal sentiments since the introduction of multiparty democracy in Kenya.

Poster disfiguring, replacements by way of ripping off opponent posters, spray painting to taint images, or paste on top techniques have given hired hooligans a field day. This is sheer political hooliganism that is growing roots everywhere. Solar and electric light poles have not been immune either. Surprisingly, a poster that has been posted today, will not survive tomorrow. This form of jungle politics is contrary to modern democratic norms of political publicity.

Since we are vicegerents of the Creator Who entrusted with us a clean earth for our use, how dare we behave like animals having inferior faculties of thinking? No matter how many posters you display or destroy, one thing is clear: 8/8/2017 voters have already made up their minds and know who to vote for on that material day.

Genetically Modified Foods

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The democratic principles of freedom of speech, individualism, personal liberty, and equality have been shown to alleviate human suffering if effectively implemented with checks and balances and accountability in mind. In recent years, mainly in undemocratic countries where human life is given little value by top echelons of the state, the level of hunger that has been pervading through society has been mind boggling for philanthropists and donor nations alike. Shortage of rains resulting from changes in weather patterns, civil disobedience, protracted wars, and malfeasance by corrupt government officials have been tremendously affecting the living conditions of millions where resources are kept under lock and key by government officials wielding considerable power. In Mill’s utilitarianism, one is expected to assess individuals, institutions, and action "…by how well they promote human (or perhaps sentient) happiness” (Mill, 1860).

While hunger and general deprivation loom in a world grappling with food shortages, many countries in the third world feel oblivious to accepting humanitarian donations in the form of Genetically Modified Foods (GM Foods) from industrialized nations for fear of contamination or sudden death that could come with relief aid whose contents are unknown to them. Known for high crop yields, the Rockefeller Foundation funded the first Green Revolution in India and China in the 60s. Genetically engineered to resist drought and pests, GM crops have been found to be the correct answer to the looming food crisis in many impoverished nations scattered mainly in the Global South. African leaders who care little about the welfare of their people usually oppose the distribution of GM Foods for reasons best known to them. As reported by the GlobalPost (August 11, 2011), Levy Mwanawasa, then President of Zambia had this to say: “Just because people are hungry in Zambia, it does not mean we have to feed them with potentially dangerous food”. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adapted by the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN, 1948) states: (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property. The refusal by African leaders to allow African farmers to plant GM foods is contrary to the universally accepted Article 17 that is contained in the UNDHR.

The most recent food crisis that resulted in the deaths of thousands and the displacement of millions happened in the Horn Africa. Nations mostly affected by the 2011 devastating drought that vigorously ripped through vast tracts of land included Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya with Somalia being the most affected due to its statelessness. Many aid-dependent nations cite health concerns as the cause not to allow GM foods distribution. With the exception of the South African government that has given its citizen farmers the go-ahead on GM crops production, many countries in the developing world have yet to remove restrictions on GM food or feed food production (Paarlberg, 2002). The nations of Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique eventually allowed the distribution of GM seeds only after ensuring the seeds have been milled for fear of cross-breeding with local crops. However, in July of this year, Kenya became the fourth country in the African continent to allow importation of GM foods. The peculiar precautions sounded by Asian, African and Middle Eastern leaders concerning GM Foods are geared toward biological safety.

References

Brink, D. (2007). Mill’s moral and political philosophy. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Spring 2010 ed.). Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mill-moral-political/

Karimjee, M. (August 11, 2011). Genetically Modified Foods and Famine. Retrieved from http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/global-pulse/GM-foods-famine-Africa

The United Nations (1948). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Paarlberg, R. L. (2002). The real threat to GM crops in poor countries: consumer and policy resistance to GM foods in rich countries. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919202000143

Somalia: Proliferation of Cantons and the Quest for Tribal ‘Lands’

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All of Somalia’s so-called leaders share one mindset: the dismemberment of the country into cantons ruled by ruthless tribal chieftains whose goal is to ensure the security and protection of their clans. Previously, it was Somaliland that seceded in 1992 though not recognized by the international community.

In 1998, Somalia’s former Eastern region, declared autonomy with established governing institutions in place headed by a president and seconded by a cabinet. During the colonial era, this part of Somalia currently called Puntland was known as Majertinia-a reference to the Majertein clan that is the dominant clan in the region. Now we have proliferation of cantons led by politically inexperienced former cabdrivers from the Diaspora-each drawing governing styles from Somaliland and Puntland.

The current transitional government of Somalia has no mandate over the rest of the country because it is surrounded by hostile Jihadi forces determined to enforce sharia law by sheer force. With his mandate restricted to an area the size of the Vatican, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the current transitional president, relies on African Union forces for protection. There has been mixed reactions among Somalis at the selection and endorsement of a Somali-American prime minister. With the mandate of the current transitional government ending eight months from now, one wonders how he can work miracles within such a short time.

The inhuman expulsion by the Puntland autonomous government of internally displaced persons from central and southern Somalia to the unforgiving city of Galkayo demonstrates the sadistic and appalling behavior of Somali tribal leaders and their total disregard for harmony and coexistence of Somali tribal groups. The subsequent arrest and marginalization of internally displaced families fleeing the unrest in the south by Somaliland and Puntland sets a bad precedent. Increased harassment of displaced families and the explosive territorial divisions currently visible in areas outside of the Islamists’ domain will set the stage for a future federal government based on tribal demarcations.

The current sorry state of Somalia is synonymous of an overflowing cooking pot being stirred by many unqualified chefs each struggling to set a nutritious meal on the table. Having too many cooks prepare one dish leads to poor results. Somalia has become a testing and breeding ground for a plethora of political theories and conflicting ideologies.

The boosting of AMISOM peacekeeping forces with an extra battalion from Burundi is to some, a way of accelerating peace and stability and the best approach to tranquilizing the powerful Islamists. To the contrary, more peacekeepers from African nations will open a can worms including escalation of hostilities, increased human displacements, and rapid dismemberment of the entire nation into ungovernable cantons.

Garissa: The Largest City Between Nairobi and Mogadishu

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The City of Garissa in Kenya’s North Eastern Province (NEP) has been on the top list of the most peaceful cities in East and Central Africa for over twenty years. It is the provincial headquarter of NEP as well as the administrative center for Garissa District. Named after a riverine local Pokomo elder or farmer called Karisa, Garissa became a recognized settlement in 1936. Majority of the inhabitants of Garissa are ethnic Somalis. Besides subsistence and small scale farming and local business initiatives by urbanites, livestock raring remains the major sustainer of the region’s economy. From 1963 when Kenya became a sovereign republic until the late eighties, the region suffered tremendous insecurity resulting from recurring banditry, poaching, and cattle-rustling.

However, according to Kenya government figures, Garissa District has continuously for years recorded the highest concentration of livestock in East and Central Africa. Traders in Garissa get their surplus livestock from Somalia’s southern regions consequently making Garissa a haven for livestock merchants primarily between the months of January and April when the volume of cattle substantially increases. Cattle trading in Garissa attract traders from as far as Machakos, Nairobi, Nyeri, Mombasa and other coastal towns during this time of the year consequently transforming the city into a beehive of activity. Despite generating enough revenue from the taxation of cattle sales, Garissa city has lagged behind other cities of Kenya in all aspects of development. The district’s markets in southern Somalia include Baidoa, Dinsor, Qorioley, Jowhar, Afgoi, Salagle, Bardhere and Afmadow, among others. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that 60-80% of livestock in Garissa originate from the Somali region in Ethiopia, Somalia, and other divisions with NEP.

In the past, the district experienced remarkable government involvement after health concerns related to the epidemiological outbreaks of Rinderpest (cattle plague or steppe murrain) and other devastating foot and mouth diseases necessitated in the enforcement of veterinary regulations, consequently and at times, leading to closure of cattle markets.

Despite being the major supplier of beef to major cities in Kenya and to as far as Tanzania and despite being the largest city between Nairobi and Mogadishu, Garissa greets its visitors with grim reality. With the exception of a teachers’ training college and one Islamic school founded by mindful businessmen and overseas-based organizations, the city has no university; it has no feasible infrastructure; the only visible tarmac located in the city center measures a few kilometers; its dusty potholed streets transform into lakes during rainy seasons; the municipality and the city council have no refuse collection systems in place thus making inhabitants susceptible to waterborne and airborne diseases; it has no manufacturing industries; unemployment is rife; drug addiction among the youth continues to skyrocket; poverty, beggary, and street children remain an eyesore and a social menace, and worst of all poor land allocation strategies riddled with corruption has been the major cause of civil skirmishes among the tribal-minded inhabitants resulting in government application of emergency laws such as extended curfews and deployment of the dreaded General Service Unit (GSU) together with the rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) to quell disturbances.

The city has a long history of election rigging; harassment of electors and opposition groups is common-dirty tricks and techniques inherited from past fallen autocratic regimes. Just like their cousins across the border, Somalis in Garissa and other parts of NEP have over and over again championed clan domineering approaches by unconventional means especially by rampant warring and ethnic animosities. Reminiscent of Somalia’s “Guulwadeyaasha” or revolutionary youth during the military junta, Kenyatta and Moi era governments relied on a force that recklessly represented the Kenya African National Union (KANU) Party-a consortium of embellished, underfunded youth wingers whose arguments rested on the just war doctrine of “kill or be killed”. Such political plunders ensured the uninterrupted reclamation of political structure and extension of inheritance for the old guards.

The trouncing of Moi’s single-party regime and the birth of multiparty democracy in 1992 did little to alter the pervasiveness of past odious events. In fact it exacerbated the political scenario when new contestants found their ambitions obstructed by the same old guards who jumped on the bandwagon using the same old tricks inherited from their past masters of deception.

The district has suffered poor county and parliamentary representation since Kenya’s attainment of independence in 1963. The reason the region is underperforming is due to the government's discriminatory practices of allocating resources, unfair distribution of wealth, outright marginalization of the people who inhabit the land, and diversion of funds earmarked for the region to other more prosperous regions.

Ironically, because of their adroitness at accumulating wealth, majority of the region’s uneducated councilors and parliamentarians have promoted their self-esteem and thus harbor elitist mentality such that even those who bowed out of politics remain a force to reckon with. These men have the power to imprison, kill or regain one’s freedom. While the poor suffer dental decay due to unhygienic eating habits coupled with shortage of dentists, the uneducated honorable parliamentarian or councilor displays sparkling white teeth because of abundance of money at his disposal. For a long time, stealing from state treasury has been a hallmark of African politics and Kenya, because of its corruption ranking profile, is no exception.

The Offspring of a Snake is a Snake
The above phrase is a translation of the Kiswahili saying “mtoto wa nyoka ni nyoka”. It has been used by corrupt Kenya leaders as a rallying cry to provoke non-Somalis to hate and oppress Kenya-Somalis. The saying inspired Kenya leaders after the succession of past Somali governments instigated political irredentism and supported the repossession of what used to be the Northern Frontier District (NFD) from the Republic of Kenya. This idiomatic expression and phraseologically provocative aphorism applied to almost every Kenyan-Somali and that its widespread use slackened only after the collapse of the Somali central government in 1991. The bitter territorial dispute that kicked-off between Kenya and Somalia in the 60s has gone down in history as the “Shifta War”. The word Shifta (or “shufta”) implies a bandit, outlaw, or rebel. The name became an allusion and nom de guerre for every Kenyan-Somali regardless of whether one was a law-abiding citizen or a contextually sadistic law-breaking criminal.
Thus, Kenya-Somalis saw themselves wedged between two diametrically opposed forces with profound conflicting ideologies-one a civilian authoritarian government (Kenya) with western inclinations and a dictatorial regime (Somalia) -espousing a plethora of political dimensions.

Thousands of families lacking guidance or controlling force or influence crossed the border into Somalia to escape rampant hostilities on the Kenya side. Leaders of the Northern Province People’s Progressive Party (NPPP) incorporated Somalis of diverse clans, Borana, Rendille, and others.

For decades, Garissa had been under the radar of Kenya security and intelligence agencies primarily because the region was under martial law decreed immediately after Kenya’s proclamation of independence. Besides the insecurity that came with the shifta menace, widespread illegal poaching by Somalis scavenging for better living conditions decimated-if not-drastically reduced wildlife concentration in Kenya’s internationally-acclaimed national parks and game reserves. Besides the hazards of wildlife plundering, poachers stealthily brought with them dangerous small arms that endangered the lives of government game wardens whose task implied the protection of wild game and the preservation of Kenya’s vigorous tourist industry. Since independence and till this day, tourism has been a cornerstone and sustainer of Kenya’s economy. The best the Kenya government can do for the moment and in the future is to fully integrate Kenya-Somalis and give them a share of the national cake.

Atomically-Charged Sheikh Atom and Faroole’s Violation of Refugee Protocol

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Somalia's Puntland regional state under Abdirahman Faroole is in flagrant violation of the international refugee protocol for forcefully repatriating refugees from central and southern Somalia to the city of Galkayo. To avenge the escalation of violence and assassination of political figures perpetuated by unknown factions in towns and cities across the autonomous state of Puntland, President Faroole's administration has embarked on a sweeping security swoop that target innocent refugees from southern and central Somalia.

According to a UNHCR report carried by AFP news service, approximately 900 refugees have been forcefully repatriated to the city of Galkayo so far and the figure could be rising. After being uprooted from their homes in Puntland and after being subjected to brutal punishment and harsh treatment by the police in Puntland, these poor displaced persons have been left abandoned in a city where conditions remain unforgiving. A clear explanation of the area of conflict and the politics behind is best explained by Ali H. Abdulla in his article The Galgala conflict and its misleading Association with Islamic Extremism.

Having been a refugee himself in Australia-in fact a PhD Candidate at La Trobe University, Australia-Faroole should have known better how to preserve the sanctity of human life. Anyone with an iota of mercy should be perturbed at how a man who has been a refugee himself in the past in a foreign country living-off on taxpayers money, becomes an enemy unto his fellow needy countrymen and countrywomen who have settled in his canton in search of peace and prosperity and the pursuit of justice.

In a recent interview with a Somali news service, a spokesman for GalMudug confided that those who were evicted from Puntland have been law-abiding citizens. These mass deportations have not escaped international media scrutiny and human rights organizations. Some television stations continuously rebroadcast the same event for days. Faroole’s inhuman actions are in par with the harsh conditions subjected to poor Somali refugees living in Saudi Arabia who often become victims of repatriations by the dreaded cane-wielding Saudi police.

Faroole’s administration is in violation of international journalism and freedom of press. The arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of Abdifatah Jama Mire, Director of Horseed Media, has been strongly condemned by the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ). “Today press freedom was buried in broad day light in Puntland and indeed it is a black day for independent journalism in Puntland and all across Somalia,” said a statement from NUSOJ. The statement by Omar Faruk Osman titled NUSOJ Condemns 6-year jail sentence against media Director in Puntland, states that Abdifatah was caged for six years simply for interviewing Sheikh Atom.

Undoubtedly, Puntland under Faroole has had its share of regional instability and more violence is expected to follow soon. The sighting of heavy military hardware destined for Sheikh Atom’s forces in the northern Galgala Mountains must be a source of concern for Faroole's poor state. Reports that the Sheikh’s tribesmen are pouring into Galgala must not be taken lightly in any way and that's why the area is constantly becoming atomically charged day after day. Having incited international maritime piracy in his region and having abetted human trafficking across the Gulf of Aden, the administration in Puntland feels it has no other alternative left in the eyes of the international community other than opening a new political inferno.

In the Galgala Mountains, Sheikh Atom is mobilizing a die-hard army of religiously motivated youth whose goal is to unite with the Islamist forces in the south. In Mogadishu and in the south and central Somalia, the forces of Hizb al-Islam and al-Shabab are more than determined to overthrow Puntland State as soon as they are done with the current bitter struggles they are engaged in with the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), Ahlu Sunna wal-Jama'a and AMISOM forces respectively.

The expulsion of southern and central Somali refugees from Puntland has put Abdirahman Faroole in a political dilemma. For now, his administration remains besieged from all sides by remorseless forces. Meanwhile, al-Shabab's black flag is flying high in the mountains of Galgala despite Puntland forces claiming to have routed Sheikh Atom’s forces. Even if Atom’s were to be dispersed and defeated, one thing is clear: they will regroup and resort to guerilla warfare-the same tactics employed by the Union of Islamic Courts when Ethiopia’s occupation forces poured into Somalia.

During the Vietnam War, the “men in black pajamas” caused great havoc for the world’s strongest army and for today in Somalia, it will be a headache for any force to defeat the “men in green pajamas”. Consequently, Faroole's recent inhuman expulsions will further incite violence and endanger the lives of millions of Puntlanders. Perhaps, instead of repatriating these displaced people, it was best they were left in peace to assimilate for the good of Puntland’s economy.

Increased IGAD Troops will not Stabilize Somalia

In a hastily convened meeting in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa last week, Somalia’s president called for the immediate deployment of extra troops from IGAD member states to confront the threat of al-Shabab that has been battling Somalia’s fragile government. Attending the meeting were leaders from IGAD member-states. They included Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed of Somalia, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, and Kenya’s Mwai Kibaki. After lengthy hours of deliberation, IGAD member-states agreed to the deployment of 2,000 extra troops to be drawn from states neighboring Somalia so as to boost the 4,500 overstretched and exhausted AMISOM troops from Uganda and Burundi who remain besieged on all sides by opposition armed groups who are battling Sheikh Sharif’s otiose government in Mogadishu.

Formerly the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development (IGADD), IGAD, which stands for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development was founded in 1984 and incoprporates the Horn of Africa nations of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda. IGAD works in concert with international organizations, has a secretariat headquartered in Addis Ababa, and routinely convenes consultative meetings to discuss issues affecting member-states. Almost every IGAD member-state is confounded by insecurity. Ethiopia, a country synonymous with starvation also remains unstable because of the several armed liberation movements that are fighting for separation. Ethiopia's hotly contested 2005 presidential and parliamentary election became a subject of international condemnation after the ruling party indiscriminately jailed or killed many members of the opposition. Ethiopia has gone to war with neighboring Eritrea twice over a stretch of dusty land where an estimated one million people perished. Djibouti, a tiny former French colony bordering Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia has been emroiled in a bitter war with FURD-a rebel faction dominated by the Afar tribe who feel marginalized by the ruling Issa clan of president Ismail Gelle.

Somalia has been described as a "failed-state" for it has been without a central government since 1991 when the last military government fell to a ragtag milia commanded by the notorious General Mohamed Farah Aidid. Uganda has been in the midst of armed struggle with Joseph Kony-a rebel commander who is thought to be hiding in the tropical forests of the Democratic Republuc of Congo (DRC). On the other hand, Uganda has its own restive Karamoja region populated by the wretched Karamojong tribe. Sudan has been a victim of military coups for decades; the north of the country is occupied by Arabs and the south by black Africans. The SPLA, a rebel movement that operated in the south of the country has now laid down arms after the guarantee of some form of autonomy. Currently, it enjoys relative peace Salva Kiir as Vice President of Sudan as well as president of autonomous southern Sudan. A referendum is expected to be held soon to determine the fate of the southerners. On the western corner of Sudan is the restive Darfur region whose inhabitants have been subjected to years of torture by the dreaded Arab Janjaweed militia. Kenya can explode anytime because of the hatred that exist between the president's Kikuyu clan and the Prime Minister's Luo. A disputed presidential election in 2008 left over a thousand dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Upon IGAD releasing a hastily-crafted communiqué about its decision to send more troops to Somalia, demonstrators in several towns inside Somalia took to the streets to protest at what they termed as “IGAD’s bad intentions”. In separate strongly-worded messages aimed at dissuading IGAD member states from interfering in Somali internal affairs, the spiritual leaders of Al-Shabab and Hizb-al-Islam-the two major factions leading the onslaught against the fragile Somali government-decried IGAD’s ill-intentions toward Somalia. A former interim president of Somalia, Abdiqasin Salad Hassan, speaking to a local radio station in Mogadishu, voiced his objection at IGAD’s troop increase. Likewise, some members of Somalia’s parliament voiced similar sentiments.

Meanwhile, the Somali general leading the fight against the Islamists has come-up with a fighting strategy that will limit the degree of harm inflicted on innocent civilians. He was quoted saying that in the future forces under his command will be required to confront the opposition in their hideouts and away from civilian populations. For many war strategists, how to implement the general’s new approach to war may seem impervious to reasoning. What the Somali general fails to grasp is that even distinctive surveillance and special reconnaissance applied by advanced armies in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, and Kosovo have failed to preserve civilian lives.

As a regional bloc IGAD has preposterously failed in its Somalia operations. For the moment, the best it can do is to open direct negotiations with the opposition-a proposition that will obviously end in disarray-because the ultimate goal of the Islamists is to impose Islamic sharia in Somalia. For Sheikh Sharif, because all your good intentions of establishing an all-inclusive government have been out-rightly rejected by the opposition, the best option you can do is relinquish power so as to allow fresh blood take over the helm.

The Torchbearers of the Seeds of Doom

All aspects of the beautiful life created by Allah meant to nourish and nurture all living things have been turned into catastrophic phenomena by a group of presumptuous and lame-brained men who possess insufficient, unpersuasive, or substandard principles and judgments. The exceptional, authentic, and original religion of Islam has been deliberately infused with irrational and innovative practices and beliefs that are tantamount to hypocrisy. In the absence of law and order, those who depend on these types of avaricious misfits preaching hatred and distorted ideologies, become victims of misrule or turn sadistic and vainglorious in the long run.

The torchbearers of these seeds of doom may be identified by how they behave towards their subjects for they portray the tendency to kill, maim, or dislocate every living thing and rape innocent unarmed women and girls. They continue to annihilate innumerable innocent mothers so as to inherit and indoctrinate their children and bring them into their fold. The same children will be transformed into armies of irritated and unforgiving suicide bombers, mine-layers, assassins, gunners, and poorly-trained riflemen who kill by impulse at any given time leaving death and destruction in their wake. To these children and their psychotic leaders, everyone else except them, is branded kaffir (disbeliever).

Superficial religious misinterpretations spearheaded by shallow-minded religious fanatics in regions like Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan have been the cause of incivility and intolerance leading to unprecedented internal strife, terrorism, and piracy. The aftermath of these religious squabbles open numerous doors for mass exodus of refugees, proliferation of weapons and arms smuggling, impoverishment, water shortages, sewage breakdown, prostitution, disease, cross-border raids, armed banditry, poaching, desertization due to environmental degradation, internally displaced persons (IDPs), homelessness, brain-drain, infrastructural decay, economic stagnation, and statelessness.

Somalia remained a stable governable state from the time it attained independence in 1960 until the collapse of the central government in 1991 when all of a sudden it transformed into a ludicrously unsteady, ungovernable, and ultimately a failed state altogether. The nation’s insalubrious political arena catapulted to greater heights immediately after the military junta fell apart. The rise of tribal hegemony and the craving for territorial expansion led to the escalation of irredentist mentality. Entire communities were forcefully disbanded from their original locations and made to live in squalid conditions while new arrivals rejoiced at the newly-grabbed lands and homes.

The rise of cold-blooded, desultory, ignominious, and gluttonous warlords who emerged after the demise of General Aidid brought about an era of prolonged national self-destruction. The defeat of the warlords in 2006 by the Union of Islamic Courts (ICU), the coronation of Abdullahi Yusuf as president of the Somali transitional federal government and the subsequent defeat of the ICU by Ethiopia’s occupation forces laid ground for the explosion of religious extremism and malevolent ideological fragmentation along clan lines.

Above all, Al-Ittihad Al-Islam, a religious group that has thus far ceased to exist after being routed by Ethiopia’s mechanized army, was the precursor of all religious fomentation in the early part of the 90s. Remnants of Al-Ittihad leaders conscientiously and clandestinely pilfered into various religious assemblages with the crucial aim of carrying out onslaughts against the formation of every conceivable and internationally recognized legitimate Somali transitional government with ideological and political leanings toward Ethiopia, Kenya, and the West.

Referred to as jihadists in contemporary global politics, Somalia’s religious movements have become internationalized, institutionalized, and politicized as they have made great strides in subscribing to the global jihadist consortium waging wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and other hotspots interconnected by globalization and cyberspace communication. The rise of Hizb-Islam, Al-shabab, and Ahlu-Sunna Waljama’a (ASWJ) all developed after the collapse of the ICU and for the most part after the departure of Ethiopian occupation army from Somali soil. With the exception of ASWJ, the former two embody strict religious traditions never before experienced by the people of Somalia.

The presence of African Union peacekeeping troops (AMISOM) from Burundi and Uganda has further aggravated the security situation in the country. Al-shabab and Hizb-Islam’s daily altercations with AMISOM troops make life unbearable for the few remaining residents of Mogadishu. Heavy shelling by AMISOM troops stationed in the presidential palace, Mogadishu harbor, and the international airport has resulted in uncountable civilian deaths and casualties. The stable autonomous province of Puntland and the unrecognized breakaway region of Somaliland have not been immune from extremist attacks either. The death toll from suicide bombings and assassination of political and religious figures continue to grow exponentially. Unless Somalis unite on a dynamic common political ground and rally behind an acceptable religious path, the current horrendous state of affairs resembling vestiges of Calvinism will prevail. Allah forbid.

The global war between the bearded and the clean-shaven

There is a silent war being waged in every corner of the world between the bearded Jihadists who want to prevent the spread of what they refer to as “materialist western influences” in the areas they control or intend to liberate and the clean-shaven Western leaders bent on democratizing the world. Jihadists refer to clean shaven men, regardless of their faith, as womanish, irreligious, satanic, pagans, and selfish disbelievers. On the other hand, the clean-shaven western leaders see the bearded Jihadists as fundamentalists, uncompromising tyrants and terrorists, retrogressive and oppressive, retarded, and religious addicts. When western powers arrest suspected Jihadists or terrorists, their first course of action is to shave the suspect’s beards ad infinitum before initiating any interrogations while the Jihadists force their western prisoners to grow beards, trim their moustaches, and if applicable, convert them to their faith. Today’s men are divided into the bearded, clean-shaven, bewhiskered, mustached, and balding and those with mutton-chops, side burns, facial plumage, dreadlocks, and other types of facial hair styles. In historical antiquity, unshaven men came to be regarded as ‘barbarians” which implied the “unbarbered” or appearing untidy.

The history of shaving stretches back to thousands of years when copper was first discovered by early man. Ancient Egyptians shaved their beards and heads-a fashion adopted by the Greeks and Romans and applied by their armies as a deterrent aimed at discouraging the enemy from grabbing their hair during hand-to-hand combat. Even to this day, modern armies supply the bulk of shaving razors to the men and women in uniform as dishevelment is a betrayal of the military code of ethics and good conduct. A serviceman or servicewoman who is not in the right military fatigues may be described as “improperly dressed” and could be subject to harsher penalties. Scipio Africanus Major (236-183 B.C.), the conqueror of Hannibal in 202 B.C, was highly regarded and copied in the region of Rome for establishing innovative approaches to being clean-shaven. Around 50 B.C., Julius Caesar (101-44 B.C.) used tweezers to remove body hair on a daily basis. And in the 4th century B.C., Alexander the Great encouraged the shaving of facial hair. Aztec Indians of North and Central America and some Central African tribes shaved with razors made from the volcanic glass obsidian. Between 1096 and 1270, Europe opened its eyes to the luxuries of Middle Eastern life with novel costumes, traditions, and toiletries greatly impacting the crusades.

Men have been bearded since time immemorial. Egyptian Pharaohs wore fake goatees as a sign of holiness, nobility, and kingship. One explanation for the goatees worn by the pharaohs was that pharaohs were in charge of or responsible for leading the flock (the people) to the right directions. The idea of the Pharaohs wearing fake goatees may have its roots in the male goat popular in the Egyptian landscape those days. Because the leading goat known as the “He-goat” or “Billy-goat” is as you would expect accountable for leading the rest of the goats or flock, likewise, pharaohs symbolized the “Billy-goat” role by wearing goatees for the sake of leading the flock spiritually, politically, and economically. Even the female Pharaoh, Hatshepsut, is represented wearing a false beard. Most Pharaonic statues and sarcophaguses display drawings or carvings of Pharaohs with fake beards.

In Islam, according to the Sunnah (traditions), the mustache is to be trimmed and the beard left untouched though the beard has become a symbol to be scoffed at. Muslims are divided whether it is Haraam (prohibited) to shave the beard or Mustahabb (a good act), not to shave. Besides the beards, Muslims are encouraged to shave or trim pubic hair every 40 days as an act of hygiene. Muslim Sheikhs, Hindu Gurus, Sages, some Christian priests (depending on denomination), and Hasidic Rabbis keep beards as a sign of religious devotion and leadership. In Judaism, it is strictly forbidden to shave with a razor. The use of scissors which is double-bladed is preferred. The Book of Leviticus and the Book of Ezekiel have regulations on the shaving of the beard for priests. In some Jewish sects, there is a prohibition on the shaving of the corners of the head with particular emphasis on the tarnishing of the corners of the beard for the priests. A practice known as tonsure, which is the cutting of hair from the scalp of clerics, devotees or holy people as an act of reproof of worldly sparkle and admiration, is common among Buddhist monks and novices, some Hindu temples, mystics and Christian churches.

The patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church is bearded. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has full-blown beard. The founder of the Sikhism, Guru Nanak, was bearded and is revered by millions of followers. Sikh men are prohibited from shaving their beards. The head of the Egyptian Coptic Church, Bishop Shenouda III, the 117th, Pope and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, is bearded. Some former Communist leaders like Karl Max, Vladimir I. Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro, and Che Guevara, were all bearded. So was the Iranian revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. Popular African leaders who were bearded include the former President of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, and Ethiopia’s former Emperor, Haile Selassie.

Of the 44 Presidents of the United States, the current President-elect included, only five were fully bearded. They were Abraham Lincoln (though he was clean-shaven one time), Rutherford Hayes, General Ulysses Grant, James Garfield, and Benjamin Harrison. Statistically, 90 % or 94 million of American men over the age of 15 will shave 275 times per year or 20,000 times between the ages of 15 and 75.

With the advancement of razor technology, it is easier to trim and shave today than never before. The discovery of modern razors marshaled the era of the Wilkinson razor founded in London in 1772, and Gillette, founded in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A, by King C. Gillette in 1901. Besides, the fabrication of these obsolete razors into modern hand-held electric and battery operated machines that rotate thousands of times a minute and the marvelous demonstration of some razors that sense and avoid cutting into skin, have, in the course of history, become a source of jubilation for women and men shavers and trimmers alike.

Paradoxically, materialism and the fervent inclination towards the clean-shaven cheeks philosophy has altered the profile of the beard and reduced it to a symbol of fear and ridicule. Nonetheless, since the 9/11 incident of 2001 that shook the United States and the simultaneous bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, security at major world airports have been tightened with much scrutiny and heightened focal points shifting to bearded men exhibiting suspicious activities and unintelligible languages. On the other hand, the Bali bombings of Indonesia, the recent 2008 Mumbai bombings in India and other subsequent terrorist activities in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and Pakistan, have, succinctly, created so many twists and turns in global security such that so many legal amendments aimed at curbing the spread of fanaticism and other forms of narcissistic tendencies that undermine peace, security, and democracy have been formulated by nations united in the fight against terrorism.

Despite global beard phobia, mustache and beard competitions draw great crowds every two years with the last attraction held in Brighton, England, on September 1, 2007-a prime example of how facial hair is grabbing international headlines. The next event will be hosted by the South Central Alaska Beard and Moustache Board and is scheduled to be held in Anchorage, Alaska, on May 23, 2009 with the Anchorage Convention and Visitors Board being in the list of major sponsors. Perhaps, every man who participates in this event will have one thing in mind: win a fabulous prize or trophy and emerge a world champion in the Guinness Book of Records.

Despite the splendor and glamor of the forthcoming Anchorage Beard and Moustache Competition, the war between the clean-shaven democratic leader and the bearded Jihadist will continue for an infinite period until the moment when the conqueror and vanquished emerge for historical determination after a lot of innocent blood had been shed. History has its eyes on when the Jihadist conqueror will in the closing stages force the vanquished clean-shaven western leader to grow beards afresh or when the victorious clean-shaven western leader will clean-shave the subdued bearded Jihadist. This brings us to the conclusion that the war being fought between the Jihadist and the clean-shaven leader is nothing but ideological. It is a war of minds and a bitter struggle for the world’s dwindling resources.

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