My message to all Somalilanders on May 18 Commemoration and celebrations:

Ibrahim Mead
Political analyst
Ottawa, Canada

 

Introduction

First let me first congratulate all Somalilanders, where ever they are.
Let me particularly send my gratitude, respect and remembrance to the founders of this 2nd Republic of Somaliland. Let me ask this question:
Are we commemorating the day, or the people, who made that day to be remembered and honoured?
Many of us commemorate the day; some of us don’t even commemorate anything, few of us commemorate the people who made the day special in the hearts of Somalilanders!

Who are those people we ought to pay respect and honour? They are the SNM Martyrs and the Mujahedeen. They are the SNM Veterans. They are the ones who found the lost (in 1960) Republic. They are the ones who founded this 2nd Republic. They are the ones established every thing and any thing Somaliland is proud of and the international communities praised her for. Let us, Respect, Remember and Revere the SNM veterans.

The character of a people or a nation is determined how they treat their deceased
the integrity or the decadence of a people or a nation is determined how they respect, remember and recognize their veterans and the Martyrs who sacrificed for them and their country or how they not!
Where is Somaliland in this? I believe that Somaliland has failed in this front!
“Is there any reward for Good-other than Good?” (Alraxmaan) No, there is no reward for good other than good as Allah stipulated in his Book, but did we abide by that?
I don’t think so either, at least so far!

Self-sacrifice enables the courageous and the willing to sacrifice for the collective good, for the society with out blushing, and that was what the Martyrs and the Mujahedeen of SNM have done for Somaliland, for justice and for decency. For that they earned to be respected, honoured and recognized. Instead Somaliland people became cats! Cats close their eyes when given their sustenance, i.e. food! Legend says that in the day of judgement cats claim that no one helped them! When ask how come? They say “we did not see any one for our eyes were closed!” Somaliland governments already embraced that cat behavior. Somaliland better change this attitude and behavior! It is ingratitude in its highest order! If Somaliland doesn’t change this thanklessness, curse will descend on them if not already at work! (Walciyaadu Billaah)
We better not close our eyes as to deny the gratitude we collectively owe the SNM veterans. Let us not become cats which close their eyes when their needs are provided!

victorious SNM (over Siyad Barre’s genocidal regime) called the people of Somaliland the for and against the said movement for a national conference of:
1-Conflict Resolution
2- unity of common purpose
3- forget and forgiveness
4- Restoration of trust and confidence and NOT Retributions
5- The veterans willingly with out any one contested to take power from them, handed over the power to a civilian government and joined the rest of society as ordinary citizens.
In that way they established the foundations of:
A-Democracy.
B-peace
C- and Stability
for all of us who are well-off to day may not be so with out them. In good faith and with out any prejudice Dahab shiil would have been Dheeg shiil and Ina Omaar would have been in Djibouti selling the ‘coast Milk’. Riyaale wouldn’t have been president so Siilanyo, etc, etc!
They established most of the aspects and reasons we are different from our neighbour; sister Somalia! Therefore, not to Recognize, Respect and Remember the Veterans are an example of anomalous and ingratitude!
It is a bite so nigh! It is the unkindest cut of all! It is sharper than a serpent’s teeth!

There is hoopla on coming May 18th (Somaliland) memorial day for those forgotten veterans who sacrificed their lives for Somaliland! What are we remembering? That date or the men and women who made that date special? Most of us are remembering the date that they take off from work, and for some, make some money of this!
Since when have we really commemorated, memorialized, recognized and prayed for the brave men and women who made Somaliland what she is now; peaceful and democratic Republic, different from her neighbour-Somalia !
When faith is lost, when honour dies morality is dead! How poor fools we are!

We either betrayed the Martyrs and the Mujahedeen, the veterans we are supposed to remember and pay homage to, or we are ungrateful poor fools! Neither is a good place to be! Somaliland leadership has to do better for our veterans, those who sacrificed for their lives and wealth, and all they had to save Somaliland from distinct!

Bear in mind the successive Somaliland governments were mainly remnants of Dictator Siyad Bare followed by the absentees (Alqaaibeen!) who don’t have the history, psychological, emotional and gut connections with the struggle that found and founded this 2nd Republic! Absence of understanding and feeling of the effect of the long struggle against the dictator and his evil deeds is also another factor why we did not give the veterans their due! That is why we don’t respect or recognize or pay homage to the Martyrs and the vets! That is why we don’t help the widows and the orphans they left behind! That is why we are ungrateful collection of fools!

When the threats in our existence are past, shall our gratefulness, appreciation and gratitude slumber and not to be seen any more any where?
Indeed yes, that is what has happened in Somaliland!
What a shame and ingratitude the Somaliland people dwell!
What contravention and ingratitude Somaliland leaders had committed.
What a sin Somaliland leaders swam and Somaliland people watched with no finger raised, with no voices heard!

My Allah forgives them, and for gives us all! But only when they find the courage to confess and correct the wrongs done, then seek forgiveness. That is how things work!
That is to give back the dues owed to the Mujahedeen, and respect and remember the martyrs, which means helping their families, the widows and the orphans and the maimed.
Respecting them is like respecting your self. Forgetting them is like forgetting your self!

Let us remember the martyrs and the Mujahedeen for what they have done for us
Our may 18th Veteran’s Day, commemorates the eighth day of the fifth month of 1991.
This commemorates the struggle for our survival and the restoration of our dignity that our veterans signed and answered that call. They were the Mujahedeen of SNM.
This magnificent Remembrance Day is a reminder to reflect upon all who have martyred and all the Mujahedeen who have answered the call of conscience thus served honorably in the liberation of Somaliland from a genocidal regime of no bounds
No words could begin to convey the gratitude I personally and many of us feel for the blood, sweat, suffering, and sacrifice of lives lost, lives maimed, and treasure lost which on the other hand gave all Somalilanders the freedoms they all enjoy as citizens of Somaliland.
We must bear in mind and never forget that many who sacrificed for their lives and treasure in the liberation of Somaliland never lived to be called SNM veterans to day.
We must remember many who had their lives changed forever by experiences or the debilitating injuries of combat. All veterans are examples of ultimate sacrifice and citizenship for each and every Somalilander to remember and to salute with deep thanks and gratitude for what they did for Mother Somaliland.
Frustration, anger, disloyal betrayal and unappreciative, All of these words could describe the possible feelings and thoughts that went through me and probably through the minds of these individuals who have the physical, moral, psychological and gut connections to the struggle and the result of that struggle we are remembering on May 18th. Those who fought and died for the lives of the men and women, for Somaliland only to be diminished and worse yet demeaned and make jocks for their experiences is what we see in the land they liberated and died for it! It is not the people however; it was the successive governments which govern the Mother who are mainly to blame!

Thousands fought for Somaliland. Thousands lost their lives, and other thousands were wounded in action. What did we do for them? We forgot them, we marginalized them and we even mock and belittle the-live- and death’’ situations they experienced during the fighting-like using and rationing their own urine to cling life, to live as to fight another day for Somaliland! The disconnected and the ignorant must grow up! They must learn how to appreciate when a favour is done for them, when they are saved from annihilation in this case!
Politics and disconnection of the struggle for Somaliland as well as out-right ignorance played a key role in the lack of respect to these Mujahedeen; the dead and the living!
Those who were not part of the great struggle for survival of the people of Somaliland and the liberation of Somaliland did not support the Mujahedeen-those who martyred and those who were maimed but survived, those who gave them the country they are proud of
Shamelessly they were telling the people they really do! But what did those who were the leaders of the struggle for the liberation of Somaliland did when they were in positions of power? Like the disconnected remnants of Siyad Bare they did not do any thing for the survivors and the families of the martyrs! Who were they? They were Mr. Siilanyo who was one of the SNM chairmen,who was the Minister of Finance in Egale’s administration and later became the chairman of Kulmiye party,and now is the president of Somaliland! Others were Mr. Abdirahman Awo Ali and Mr. Musa Bihi. They were the vice president and the minister of interior in Egale’s administration respectively! They were in positions of influence and power in which they could help the widows and the orphans and respect those who are not with us any more. Mr. Silanyo who was one of the SNM chairmen is the president of Somaliland now but we already know that like his predecessor he avoided the veterans With the exception of few and Instead assembled a collection of ‘absentees’ with no gut and psychological connections with the 2nd Republic
There is still a chance to repair the wrongs done to those Somaliland liberators, the Mujahedeen. The governments of Somaliland MUST finally pay the respect own for them. Not in words but in deeds. They must help the survivors and the families of the martyrs. They must commemorate and remember them. Let us not be cats!
The cities and regions of Somaliland have events planned for this Remembrance Day.
We must all take this day seriously and give our appreciation to our Mujahedeen veterans in side the home land and in the Diaspora communities.
Oh, Allah, forgive us, for we forgot those who died for us and those who were maimed for our cause. Indeed we even mocked them! Oh, Allah, spare us your curse for we did not appreciate what our veterans did for us, those who sacrificed their lives and spent their treasure for us. What an ungrateful (successive Somaliland leadership) people we are!
What Is A Mujahed?

Some Mujahedeen bear visible scars of their sacrifice for the collective ‘we’ the Somalilanders:
a missing limb, an apparent scar of here and there, a different look in the eye etc.
Others may carry all the substantiations inside them:
a piece of wood holding a leg together. Multiple shrapnel in the leg or in the hand or in the head-
or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's
supporter forged in the refinery of harsh conditions.

Except in a date called 18 May, however, the men and women who
found the lost Somaliland, liberated her and kept her safe, receive no real true honor, nor those they left behind, widows and orphans receive No help and recognition!!.
What kind of people are we?
I would like to say to every one of us. Please remember their achievements and recognize that, each time you see a Mujahed who has served our country and saved us from annihilation, just stop and say “Thank You Mujahed. I wouldn’t be here to day if not your sacrifice for us.” Help where help is warranted. That’s all most people may need! Two little (kind) words, here and there means a lot, "THANK YOU Mujahed." It is Recognition and that is what the veteran Mujahedeen deserve from us. My Allah bless them all, the Martyrs and the Mujahedeen of SNM.

However peace and prayers