WHY DON’T (YOU) ETHIOPIA AND LIBYA UNITE?

This question may sound very strange and absurd to many until they find out that a Somali Northern Faction Leader dared to raise it in front of Mengistu Haile-Mariam of the DERG, Ethiopia, and Muamar Al-Qaddaffi of Libyan Jamahiriya. The context was in a response to a question directed by Qaddaffi to Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Yusuf Sheikh Ali Madar in Tripoli, Libya, circa 1983-4 in a meeting held between the four in a last attempt to try to unite the first Somali opposition forces against Siyad Barre Regime, and thus avoid a potential civil war in post-Barre Somalia. I was a witness and participant in these events.

Whatever sinister project on Somalia Mengistu Haile-Mariam had in mind at the time, there was no doubt that Qaddaffi was sincere in helping Somalia stay united and strong after the fall of Siyad Barre. Yusuf…