SOMALIA’S MODERN DAY WARLORDS: PRESIDENT HASSAN SHEIKH AND PRIME MINISTER SAACID

SOMALIA’S MODERN DAY WARLORDS: PRESIDENT HASSAN SHEIKH AND PRIME MINISTER SAACID

BaidoaNews Editorial

One by one, Somalia’s notorious warlords have come and gone — household names and nightmares with a modern-day twist.  Instead of beards or uniforms, Somalia’s modern day warlords wear suits and implicitly plan for ethnic civil wars and with nicknames like Sheikh, Ustad, Sharif and most recently, Saacid.

Part tribal hero. Part rock star. Part clan legend. But eventually they all aim and work for the advancement of their clan first, the nation of Somalia second.  They surround themselves loyal clan militia and employee only members of their clan or associated clans.  They seek rival clans and antagonize and revoke other clans like the Digil Mirifle.

Like the ruthless warlords before, President Hassan Sheikh and Prime Minister Saacid are politically fighting other clans.  There recent victims are the Digil Mirifle clans.  There inability to deal with the rape by government solders against Digil Mirifle women right in front for their foreign gates and their exclusion of Digil Mirifle leaders from key ambassadorial and ministries is symptoms of ever increasing dissatisfaction and eroding relation.

Comprised of a former warlords and loyal tribesmen, both Prime Minister’s and President’s offices now serve waging war against other Somali clans.  Since their elections, Digil Mirifle communities and the rest of Somalis have seen what amounts to an assault by the Somali Federal Government against its Southern Digil Mirifle citizens, unprecedented in scale and pointing to institutional tribalism deep within the heart of President Hassan Sheikh and Prime Minister Saacid’s administration.

Just today, a joint press release and communique from world leaders in London conference guides President Hassan and the rest of the Somali Federal Government to work toward power-sharing.  Much that the international communities are missing and will soon notice is the massive power-sharing violations that President Hassan committed and his promotion of political exclusion against particular ethnic tribes like the Digil Mirifle. Hassan Sheikh and Saacid’s actions are creating massive political stalemate in the Somali parliament which is been working fine until President Hassan and Prime Saacid replaced all Digil Mirifle members in the Federal government with other rival tribes.  Just past Saturday before his trip to London, 61 Digil Mirifle MPs threaten to boycott his government and called for a motion for no confidence vote against the Somali President Hassan Sheikh and Prime Minister Saacid.  Digil Mirifle MPs and allies threaten to unseat him after he violated the Somalia’s power-sharing agreement brokered by the United Nations.

Digil Mirifle MPs are now calling for an audit and complete listing of all employees and staff in Somali President’s Office and the Prime Minister Saacid’s staff.  They are also requesting the qualifications of all of the current Somali representatives for Somali in the UN offices in Geneva, representatives in the Arab League, Islamic Bank, African Union and the UN.