03/28/06
SSU Executive Committee - Southern Somali Union    

For the last few months, as the Somali Nation prayed for rain and peace, and as the elected representatives of the Somali people congregated in the City of Baydhabo for the historic session of parliament (the first on Somali soil), outlaws like IndhaCadde and his ally in crime Barre Hiiraale have been consolidating their grip on the powerless farmers of the Shabelle and Jubba rivers. As the rest of the Nation celebrated the reconciliation of top leaders in Baydhabo, thugs masquerading as religious leaders have been working overtime to tear the country further apart so that their looting of the natural resources of the country can be extended. But their tactics of hiding behind fake allegations and scapegoating can only get them so far. The Somali people have found them for what they really are: thieves and murderers.

The northern regions of Somalia, Somaliland and Puntland are areas where we can say that legal and democratic institutions are trying to take root with varying degree of success. The central regions of the country are a basically depopulated open space whose inhabitants have gone down south in search of “greener pastures” and a more bountiful loot. Some of the most famous off-springs of that region who have found new homes in Mogadishu, Marka or Kismanyu are the likes of the two men I mentioned earlier. They are planning and scheming everyday for their illegal administrations to last a little longer so that they can complete their rape of the southern regions. How much more time do they want? How much more loot is enough for them? How many more people must they kill before they can say “enough?” How many more farms do they have to confiscate? How many more trees do they need to chop down for charcoal? How much more taxes do they need to collect to send their children to better schools while the other kids die of starvation? How much longer do they think they can keep the people of southern Somalia hostage or bonded in slavery? And lastly, when will the hostages free themselves finally? These are pertinent questions that must be answered sooner rather than later.

The Somali parliament now meeting in Baydhabo has wasted more than one year of its lifetime. It cannot waste anymore time without becoming irrelevant. The members of that parliament must address the following issues without any further delay and come clean on the issues mentioned.

• There are cabinet ministers who have again boycotted a well attended session of parliament and who have also failed to turn up for the subsequent cabinet meetings. Since some of them have not yet taken the oath of office anyway why should they not be replaced so that the country can move on? Both the speaker and the prime minister must come clean on this issue.
• Many regions of southern Somalia are still under the occupation of warlords who are brutalizing the inhabitants of those regions. The most notorious of those warlords are IndhaCadde, the butcher of Mark and Barre Hiiraale, the rapist of Jubba Valley. They have usurped powers they do not deserve and for which they will never be recognized. They have switched sides in the political games in order to position themselves for recognition and acceptance. The people of those regions expect the government in Baydhabo to come to their rescue or at the minimum to condemn the occupation and slavery. Keeping quiet about it is tantamount to accepting and legitimizing the occupation, and that is not acceptable.
• IndhaCadde has now gone a step further and quarantined the entire population of Lower Shabelle province without anybody voicing any form of opposition or displeasure with what he has done. He is neither an elected governor nor an appointed viceroy of Lower Shabelle. Any action he therefore takes for whatever reason is both illegal and criminal. Any body who deals with him both locally and internationally will be considered a collaborator and an accomplice to the crimes he is committing against the people of Lower Shabelle. We expect, at a minimum, that the government of Somalia will sanction these outlaws and seek help from the international community for their incarceration. Their economic lifeline should be disrupted and local insurgencies fighting them should be empowered and their capacities built.
• The government should appoint provincial governors for all the regions currently under the occupation of warlords from the central regions. Those governors should be appointed from amongst the indigenous peoples of those regions, whether they are currently based inside the country or not. Those governors should then be assigned local paramilitaries who should be trained and armed by the government so that they may free the hostage populations and give power back to the people.
• There are certain areas of the southern provinces whose people are currently languishing in refugee camps across the border in Kenya. These are not people who were displaced when civil order broke down in the whole country 15 years ago. They are people who were displaced by militias loyal to the warlords I mentioned above and who were displaced after the establishment of the current government in Kenya. I should also add very quickly here that the militia that displaced those civilians are led by and are loyal to some cabinet ministers in the current government. The present government therefore has a direct responsibility for the displacement of those people. A good example is the district of Ceelwaaq which Barre Hiiraale invaded and occupied about nine months ago as he carried around and used his position as a cabinet minister. If the rule of collective responsibility is to be followed, then both the President Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed and the Prime Minister Ali Geedi Mohamed, together with the rest of the government is responsible for the crimes committed against the peoples of Southern Somalia. If that is not the case, then they should exonerate themselves from blame and take action against the perpetrators of that crime. 
  
• We are all aware that there is a curfew in effect against the entire population of Lower Shabelle as announced by the illegal administration based in Marka. This was as a result of the popular uprising currently underway in that region and which is bound to escalate whether the outlaws like it or not. We in the Southern Somali Union (SSU) hereby declare our support for the resistance against occupation and slavery and urge all peace loving Somalis to join us in this endeavor. We wholeheartedly condemn the curfew and urge all the peoples of Lower Shabelle to disobey it en-mass and choose to go to prison instead. IndhaCadde does not have enough prisons for all of you, and in any case he would want people to continue paying taxes to him. REBEL. You have nothing to loose but your chains.

Finally, I would like to appeal to all indigenous peoples of Southern Somalia who are currently in the Diaspora to pull their resources together and support the Freedom Fighters who are currently keeping the enemy on their toes. These are brave warriors who have decided that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. We Love you and will join you Insha Allah.