Mudug

“Somaliland has a system and order. Shabaab has a system and order.” – Abdirisak Terra In a stunning display of moral bankruptcy, Fahad Yasin's protégé, Abdirisak Terra , a man who yesterday dismissed Somaliland as an "Ethiopian project", compares Somaliland's hard-earned system of governance to Al-Shabaab. His argument amounts to this: Somaliland's governance & institutions & Al-Shabaab's terrorist apparatus both possess a successful "system and order." He speaks approvingly of Al-Shabaab's finances, organizational structures, recruitment networks, & social controls. He discusses the forced indoctrination of children & even cites what he claims is one of the largest prostitution networks in the Horn of Africa as part of the organization's praiseworthy infrastructure. Let that sink in. Child indoctrination. Terrorist administration. Organized criminal enterprise. Prostitution networks. These are not signs of governance. They are symptoms of societal decay. Yet Terra presents them as evidence of institutional success. Al-Shabaab is not a government. It is not a state. It is not a model. It is a violent extremist enterprise sustained by murder, extortion, coercion, indoctrination, & debauchery. Ultimately, Terra is a small tool in the toolbox of those seeking to destabilize this region. His comments reveal a broader ideological network. The region has already witnessed the consequences of the foreign funded N&N era & the political ecosystem created using figures like Fahad Yasin. Wherever these cult-like political currents gain influence, the pattern is disturbingly familiar: institutional erosion, economic sabotage, political intimidation, targeted violence, & eventually the expansion of extremist networks. The faces may change, but the underlying project remains the same. It is no coincidence that many of the loudest defenders, apologists, or rationalizers of Al-Shabaab emerge from the same ideological circles. They may not wear the uniform, but they perform a vital service: laundering extremism into the language of governance & presenting terror as merely another political option. Such rhetoric represents a major security concern for the entire Horn of Africa. Somalilanders should remember the warning of General Galaal. Al-Shabaab's long-term objective has always been expansion northward toward the strategic Berbera to access the Red Sea. Men like General Galaal & those who fought beside him built a fortress of resistance that blocked that expansion & prevented them from advancing northward. Somalia began to breathe again when the public rejected dubious political forces that had enabled these networks to flourish, like N&N. All Somalis would be foolish to ignore the lessons of recent history. The greatest danger is not always the terrorist carrying a rifle. Sometimes it is the suit-and-tie advocate who sanitizes terrorism, praises its efficiency, & invites society to view it as a viable alternative. Any ideology that promotes or facilitates Al-Shabaab's expansion or circulates narratives that suggest that it is a blessing is not merely mistaken. It is abhorrent. And every attempt to normalize it must be confronted before it is allowed to take deeper root.

Year, 2018. N&N's president dismissed Somalia's Chief Justice & replaced him with a little-known, novice lawyer who, at the time, was interestingly an active member of the Somaliland’s then opposition party Waddani, led by the current president, Cirro. Curious, isn't it? As the years pass, the overlap & connections between N&N and Waddani becomes increasingly difficult to ignore. The steady exchange & recruitment of each other's members is a pattern worth noting. For political movements that are supposedly operating within separate political frameworks, the level of intermingling is striking. One struggles to find a comparable example elsewhere in other parties. The article below, published in 2018, highlights the controversy surrounding Bashe's appointment at the time. Ironically, the same man who attracted controversy yesterday for accepting the dismissal of his predecessor is attracting controversy today for refusing to accept his own dismissal. As the article noted: "The dismissal was immediately followed by the appointment of little-known Baashe Yusuf Ahmed as the new Chief Justice. Farmaajo's decision was part of a plan to improve the justice system." It continued: "Ahmed's appointment was received with mixed reactions in Somalia, as some questioned whether the young lawyer was qualified to serve as Chief Justice, given that the Constitution requires a minimum of seven years of work experience as a lawyer or in a senior judicial position." What was defended as reform in 2018 is now being portrayed as an assault on judicial independence by the same characters. The contradiction is glaring. 😎 #MeritMatters #CV Matters! ismailakwei.com/2018/05/28/a…