There is a strange and odd Somali saying of recent origin stating “a truth teller is shame teller”. But strange as it may sound, sometimes telling the naked truth is uncomfortable to people. This story is one of those stories when stating the fact is uneasy to both the truth teller and the audience. The issue here is that the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has led a delegation of his own sub-clan to visit United States of America as official Somali state delegation. Although many members of his entourage of the same sub-clan have been denied US entry Visa, according to multiple independent sources, those junior officials who got through were Mohamud’s close aides, some of which are either distant relatives or his Damul-Jadid party associates, but still from same sub-clan.
I know the fact that many foreign officials dealing with Somalis since the failure of Somalia’s state in 1991 are weary of these clan nuances, and that there is no genuinely representive Somali person, but a clan member, according to them. Any foreigner, who had experienced Somalia’s mayhem, would ask you the question, “whose clan are you speaking for? You can’t speak for other Somalis or Somalia”. This is the tragedy of Somalia’s story.
Knowing this reality makes this story less scandalous and understandably less impressive as one could be tempted to ask, “what makes your story different from numerous other clanish bashing?” A vulnerability and Somalia’s weakness that foreign powers exploit to their advantage in handling Somali issues at personal, regional and national levels. This story is different because the facts are there in pictures and in substance that one cannot argue. This is unprecedented development in US-Somali relationships.
Whatever the issue here under debate, the purpose of this story-telling is not to create doubts in the minds of US policy-makers, but to help them engage better with Somalia and its government of the day. The intention here is also to expose malpractice in public services, and that US government and others should be weary of Somali clan politics, especially under the leadership of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
Amazingly, most of his meetings in the US are at ministerial level. Being a micromanger is the trademark of HSM in politics. Remember, we warned about that in several earlier WDM articles. HSM, keeping this in mind, picked up his party aide, Hamse Abdi Barre, as the prime minister of Somalia.
Postscript
You remember clan organizations during the Civil War?
- HAG
- Somali Concern
- United Somali Alliance
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