IRIN interview with Husein Aideed
marqaan
Is he brave, naive or wicked ?
On the last question about the seven million somalis living under the
rule of Kenya and Ethiopia looks like Hussein Aideed is breaking a
taboo here, he's telling a truth other warlords have lately been too
timid to tell about NFD in Kenya and Zone 5 in Ethiopia (there is no
Ogadenia just as there is no Majertenia, there are also other Somali
clans living in this region too, if the land is going to be for the
Ogaden clan alone, then its not worth the struggle by all Somalis and
we should let the Ogadens to strugle for it all by themselves).
Some may say he is too naive or politically too imature to say such
things under these circumstancies, and these remarks may indeed cost
him politically, but I for one give him credit for his apparent
political and moral stand and courage on this particualar issue, and I
mean only on this particular issue about NFD and Zone 5.
He is correct in arguing a peaceful solution for this problem, we
should all insist on a long term and peaceful solution for this stupid
and deadly mistake we inherited from the past, and I just hope the
Kenyans and the Ethiopians will one day put the future of our
societies ahead of the artificial colonial maps.
I wonder what would Abdullahi Yusuf's answer be on this issue, I
suspect he's an opportunist coward who would have denied the existance
of such places all together for an Ethipian song.
(end of my comments)
________________________________________________________________________
The Interview:
SOMALIA: IRIN Interview with Hussein Aideed
ADDIS ABABA, 1 Feb 2002 (IRIN) - IRIN interviewed Hussein Aideed,
leader of the Somali National Alliance, at the Ghion Hotel in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia. Aideed, a member of the Hawiye clan, is co-chairman
of the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), a
grouping opposed to Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG).
He speaks of his opposition to the TNG, reasons for establishing the
SRRC, and his relationship with Ethiopia.
© IRIN
QUESTION: Why was the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council
set up and why do you not support the Transitional National Government
(TNG) of Somalia?
ANSWER: We saw the country going downhill so we said we are not
fighting any more and joined together in March. All the five [main]
clans are represented in the SRRC, that is why we have five
co-chairmen. Our main enemy is Islamism, fundamentalism. This is our
main enemy. The TNG has some clans who are mixed but they are not
political parties who control the country. Basically they are just a
new faction, but their platform is al-Ittihad, their platform is
Islamism because they are not from the tribes, they are imported from
outside and funded from outside. There is fighting in Puntland, there
is fighting in Mogadishu, so this group is creating civil war. We have
been in power for 11 years and this group came in by airplane. We are
completely against the TNG. It is a platform for fundamentalism. They
are backed financially by the Arabs and fundamentalist states.
Q: Why should the international community listen to the SRRC when it
is the TNG which is in power?
A: They are not in power. We have control of Mogadishu, they
don’t have the state houses, and they don’t control the
port and airport. They don’t control the land. They want to
control Somalia through Islamic rule, not democracy, and we are
pro-democracy. The SRRC is in power now...
Q: Will you continue fighting against the TNG as long as they are in
government?
A: We will remove them by fighting with them. Where is their 20,000
strong army? It is finished. There is still going to be a year of
fighting but we have seen the worst. After I came back to Somalia in
1995 I was branded a warlord – a few weeks earlier I had been
living in California. It doesn’t cause offence; it is an
inherited word, jargon. But yes we have an army, we have an armed
struggle, we are not [just] talking...
Q: What role do you see for yourself in a future Somali government?
A: If I do not get the presidency I will contest the prime minister
– not less than that. If I do not get those I will stay out of
the government and wait. For me I want unity first and I want a
constitution. Once I get the constitution I will get the election
because I am young and I have support on the ground, so I have enough
people on the ground if one man one vote counts.
If anyone from the five clans became president, I would support them
as long as they were of the same platform as the SRRC because we have
a power sharing agreement.
Q: What are your hopes for Somalia?
A: My hope for Somalia is to have democracy and equality among the
tribes. We will be a pan-African nation very close to Kenya, Ethiopia
and Djibouti. And we want to be very friendly to the West. We want a
strong government in Somalia, representative democracy with each tribe
to control a region. And then to come together under a federal
government. We want regional autonomy, local elections and a federal
state. This is the best way because it will give all the tribes
equality. We are a society in transition and that means we have to get
rid of tribalism, we have to get rid of clans, we have to get rid of
one tribe ruling the rest and allow everybody to rule their region.
Q: What is the full extent of your relationship with Ethiopia and why
have you been here for the last two to three months?
A: With Ethiopia we have a political alliance. They are not funding us
or giving us military help – we have our own people. Ethiopia
and I have an African interest together. We want the same things in
the long run and have changed our policies of being enemies. We want
Ethiopia to be our first political partner, security partner and
change the suspicion from both sides to trade. While I have been here
we have been holding talks with the Ethiopians and members of the
international community, diplomats, and passing on information.
Q: What are your ambitions for the seven million Somalis living in
both Ethiopia and Kenya?
A: ... We want to bring back the Ethiopian and Kenyan Somalis
otherwise you have a divided population who are in the same family.
You will have a situation like East and West Germany, like North and
South Korea. It doesn’t matter how much economic development you
want, how many political alliances we make with Ethiopia and Kenya -
at a certain point we will say seven million are missing. We
don’t want to return to the old ways of militarism. But we
don’t want these areas to be an independent country to us. I
want Zone Five [in Ethiopia] to be part of Somalia but it is how to
negotiate that – maybe not in our generation but the next.
Ethiopia has a problem keeping Zone Five. But after a long period of
trade, and long confidence, Ethiopia might say - like they did with
Eritrea - that they want to live with the rest of the original
Ethiopian tribes ... But this has to be done through peaceful means.
[ENDS]
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Affairs 2001
Majnoun
> My comments:
>
His father killed thousands of poor innocent refugees because they
simply happened to belong to a different clan and to day he is talking
about being a "family". He must be crazy!
marqaan
> mar...@hotmail.com (marqaan) wrote in message news:<2ad197f2.02020...@posting.google.com>...
> > My comments:
> >
>
>
> His father killed thousands of poor innocent refugees because they
> simply happened to belong to a different clan and to day he is talking
> about being a "family". He must be crazy!
>
Dear Majnoun,
Like you've said, it was "his father" who killed all those people, not
him.
Of course I don't like neither the father's nor the son's politics in
any particular way, but I believe in fairness undiscriminated.
Lets judge the guy according to his actions, not according to the
crimes of his father or his clan.