The Painful Rematch.

 

Rankling the Hideous Black Sunday!! (Dec 31, 1990)

Many of us recall dejectedly the hideous black Sunday. The day that the first bullet was triggered and fired in the sky of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, to whistle the beginning of what was unknown to many aardvarks who were exhorted to dig up the sparks of the hell-fire to tip them over onto the entire peaceful nation. A nation that had been drowned in tribal divisions, ignorance, and poverty.

Following that day, every thing changed. The low and order were savagely violated and trampled by both the regime and the so-called opposition groups—the caterpillars (diir-diir) and the aardvarks (faranfar) that disorderly dispersed in to the streets of Mogadishu and the entire Somali cities, towns, and villages—who had been driven and united only by one agenda, a blatant tribal political objectives. People with guns, knives, axes, spears, bows and arrows spouted out from every direction. Then what next?

The country turned in to a big abattoir or slaughterhouse if you wish. Many innocent civilians became victims of massacres and displacements for only they were from different tribes and regions. Long-time friends, relatives, in-lows, and neighbors became suddenly enemies to each other and hunted one another. Some mothers were killed because they were simply the wives of men from different tribes whom the killers at the first place granted them. Niece and nephews were repudiated for they were belonged to other tribes; even some reports indicate that some of these children were killed by their uncles—the brothers of their mothers; shame and inhuman acts that oppose Islamic teachings and Somali’s tradition and culture.

Surprisingly, it was the first time in the recent history that human being turned into caterpillars. Forget about other public and private properties on the surface of earth that were looted; even the wires in the ground were not save; they were dug out from the deep inside the wholes and then peeled off. At one event, the Somali National University was a chock-a-block with hundreds of looters; some were shouting each other; some were shooting each other inside the administrative offices of the university. They took every thing that their hands could scrabble—tables, chairs, files, folders, and the computers—and then chased each other endlessly in circled rooms until bigger aardvarks with bigger machine-guns came along the site and tackled them one by one.

As all these difficulties were happening, Somalia’s once pre-eminent military power in the Horn of Africa vanished from the scene. If one pays sanely a quick glance at the events of the last 30 years and recourse the truth not fabrications and lies our military bonded together these tribally divided Somali society and transformed them into one nation with one country. This military machine, as we all remember, fought fanatically and confidentially in every war to defend the country from any ferocious enemies both inside and outside the country. On one hand, they were acclaimed for their vigilance and attention day and night, working so hard in every abominable condition; they never allowed the enemy and its deceitful betrayers to impede the country and intimidate its citizens. On the other, they played indispensable role for the country’s economic, social, and educational development; some hospitals, factories, educational institutions, and other various community services were run by many well-trained military technocrats. This military contributed medical doctors, engineers, civil pilots, and some university professors.  And remarkably, no one can forget how they pioneered to save thousands of lives, both human and animals from the well-known drought of Daba-dheer in 1974.  

Gallivanting peacefully in the streets of the cities, villages, and even countryside, Somali citizens were happily indebted to their indispensable bravery army for the kind of protection they offered to them. They had never worried any kind of incursion from the Ethiopian army which is now deep inside the country, in the capital, committing war crimes against humanity day and night in the same slaughterhouse that we had been using against each other since the Hideous Black Sunday .

Unexpectedly, this praiseworthy army was gradually downfallen and lost its reputation to save the country after many years of transcending the enemy and its evil traitors—an event completely traumatized entire Somali nation and boosted the enemy’s ego.This was the result of misuse of power and misguidance from both the regime and the opposition groups. The government used the public resources to fight against its own people while the opposing betrayers on their turn used the enemy’s resources to fight their own country.

Conclusion

Excluding a decade or more of unbounded killings and a blood-curing situation from a cruel government and vengeful tribal opposition groups, seventeen years or more passed since the beginning of this ongoing turmoil and bloodshed in Somalia. And still, the caterpillars and aardvarks that ought to be blamed for this untidiness are the masters and the dominants in the Somali’s political theater. These are the warlords—the So-called TFG— who granted Ethiopia a golden opportunity to invade Somalia as a 'Retaliation for Conquest of Abyssinia.’ The painful rematch that Somali people have to regain.        

A/Rasaq Hashi, Columbus, OH

 Alldalka@Alldalka.com