The reasons Behind Al-Shabaab attack at "Villa Somalia" the Presidential compound.(Part 1)



                  On 21/02/2014 was another Dark day for the history of the Somali (Federal) Republic. The terror/Jihadist  Group  #Alshabaab  attacked the presidential compound at “Villa Somalia”  with car bombs and nine fighters armed with Guns at  noon Friday when everybody was readying himself  for the Friday prayers and the President himself was supposed to attend the Mosque  at time Prayers at the Palace. The attack came at two of the entrances of the Compound close to the Mosque at the East side of the compound. The first question is “This was an assassination attempt directed to the President”?  While I was writing this article #Alshabaab spokesman said “It was an operation directed to kill the President”. “Or this was a spectacular attack by the Al-Shabaab“ Amniyat”( the Amniyat is the security and intelligence services who is made of the most prepared/trained and trusted of the Alshabab operatives and cadres and had always direct links with the Salafist Business Cartels  and Organized Crimes/Drug cartels who are closely  allied with the Ethiopian Intelligence) to show their capacity and strength”? “Or this was just part of the Alshabaab strategy of continuous destabilization (they don’t have a strong military presence in Mogadishu”?) to tell the Somalis, International community and some of the Salafist Business Cartels they are very powerful and can strike everybody?   I will try to answer to these questions relating them to the last acts by Al-Shabaab in the whole of Somalia linked to this last attack and especially in South- Central. There was Al-Shabaab Attack on the entrance of Mogadishu airport in which a UN convoy was attacked and the UN representative in Somalia of UNHCR escaped unhurt by almost a whisker. It was on 13 February. But innocent Somalis were killed. After that Al-Shabaab told the biggest Telekom company owned by Salafist Business Cartels “Hormud”, which is one of  the richest  and  one of the largest Conglomerates  in Somalia with Hawilad -Banking ,Real Estate, Telecommunication, Trade interests all over Somalia,  to stop all its Internet-Mobile  connections.( everybody uses mobile connections there are not land line connections) which they acquiesced to that criminal order. Then they also attacked and killed people at the main gate and parking of one of  that same Conglomerate  Hotels, the one Called “Al-Jazeera” close to the airport. The third act I would like to mention is the “assassination” of the Chief of Security-Intelligence of the Ras Kamboni group ruling Kismayo Town -Lower Jubba region in south Somalia. I am taking these last acts because these parts of Somalia-Central and South are the most important for Al-Shabaab for their concentration of population density and National resources plus hosting the biggest Salafist Business Cartels Companies, Organized crimes/Drug Cartels groups and being the political and commercial hubs/ heart of the country like Mogadishu. In Kismayo the Capital of the Jubba regions the port supplies the entire southern regions to include neighboring regions-Sovereign States and its high volume of business (including the illegal one of the export of Charcoal to Dubai the U.A.E) is one of the main sources of income for Al-Shabaab. All Somali ports including Mogadishu, Kismayo, Berbera, and Bosaso are commercially controlled by the Salafist Business cartels/Organized crimes/Drug-Cartels who uses them as entry points of illegal goods like the drug Heroin imported from Afghanistan/Pakistan. (Please read my blog “wardigley.blogspot.com” at the post titled “The criminal motives behind the car bombing in Kismayo of Ahmed Madobe…” and “Who are the business people of Somalia”).
        To understand all this acts and how these are interlinked let me make  a brief historical timeline of the President Hassan Presidency  and a description of the main domestic/Regional actors mainly Ethiopia –IGAD countries . What is their main “strategy” at this time after the formation of the last Council of Ministers and President Hassan “Political Agenda  about Somali Unity in a so- called Federal system vis-à-vis the “Ethiopian GRAND-GAME PLAN OF HAVING SOMALIA subdivided in Mini-Clan Enclaves which will be in a Confederation of SOMALI REGIONAL SOVEREIGN States”?.
        President Hassan was elected and inaugurated in September 2012 by a new parliament were the majority was Elite Clan Puppet Politicians -at least 175-who are closely allied to the ETHIOPIAN-Tigre regime and the big wigs/warlords were from the parliament of 2004 made in Mbaghati, Nairobi, Kenya. The parliament is made of 275 members subdivided in Clan communities from all over Somali (federal) Republic. (Please read my blog titled “For the New PM: Lessons from a recent Past”). The President Hassan said in his Manifesto and agenda that he was for a democracy, Rule of law and a country were ISLAM WAS THE RELIGION OF THE STATE as already stated in our constitution but with the promise to fight the JIHADIST Al-Shabaab group. In his first speech he stood for a United Somalia where the Federal system was a devolved system of governance based in regional administrative authorities. All that was well for the oppressed people- citizens of Somalia.  But this has brought him in a “collusion course” with the Elite Clan Puppet Leaders/Regional puppet  leaders who were following the Agenda of ETHIOPIA and IGAD to subdivide the SOMALI REPUBLIC in CLAN ENCLAVES for the last 23 years and were supported in their game plans now even by the #AMISOM forces. This was the real problems  in 2013 presidential governance of Hassan Sheik . He also came in disagreement with his PM Mr. Shirdoon who was more nationalist than his Ministers who were signing agreements against the “Sovereignty”,"Unity" and "Territorial integrity" of the Somali (federal) Republic. Those agreements with Kenya linked with the so- called maritime “dispute” over the Continental Shelf boundaries and the one on the Air Space with a Somali regional administration called Somaliland. All those agreements were disowned by the Council of Ministers but there were also the Addis Ababa agreement on the transitional administration for the Jubba regions and the so- called Kampala Communiqué who were in some parts an "appeasement" to the Tigre regime of Ethiopia and curtailing our Somali National “sovereignty” to have self rule in the internal affairs of the Somali m (Federal) Republic specially in matters of security.
          In few words during the last six /seven months of his Presidency he has chosen a policy of "compromise" with Ethiopia when it came to matters of security in  what I call “ limited military interference by Ethiopia like AMISOM participation ” but still with the Somali sovereignty and  the “direction  in general”   of the Somali national affairs as he thought in the hands of Somalis. Also by reappointing a new PM Mr. Abdiweli  Sheik Ahmed, who has yet to became still his "own Man " and think about his would be legacy in Somali political history( the last Shirdoon was totally disliked by the Ethiopians and the Salafist members of the Ministers of councils ).  Our President Hassan  has always  though that he was infallible as political thinker  and concentrated all powers in  himself , made a new council of Ministers with the PM and made of Salafist Business Cartels representative members to whom  he was linked politically , Elite Clan puppet politicians closely allied to Ethiopia  and a small number of honest politicians. With this kind of ministerial cabinet President Hassan was thinking he will navigate all waters and compromise with all “politically” interested groups in Somali affairs domestically and regionally. He was “absolutely Naïve” because he did not understand the “Real nature of Somali politics” which was totally controlled by “forces outside” the national interest of the Somali “People-citizens”. That Somali politics was controlled by Salafist Business cartels sitting in the back seat  with  Organized crimes and Ethiopia linked  Elite Clan Puppet Leaders at the front seat.The only group who tried to represent the Somali national interests was put in the oppositions-those I call the Clan Nationalist- and he “accepted’ as members of the cabinet those who represented Organized Crimes/Drug cartels as ministers. The security /Intelligence and Defense two portfolios were given to Salafist and “representatives” of the Ethiopian-Iranian interests in Somali politics.
(To be continued)


#Somalia: Why the TIGRE ARMY is Back in SOMALIA?Wait and see...

#Somalia: Why the TIGRE ARMY is Back in SOMALIA?Wait and see...: By bringing back the Ethiopian-Tigre Army inside Somalia (they were already illegally from 2010) with a legal Mandate to Kill and tort...

Why the TIGRE ARMY is Back in SOMALIA?Wait and see.



By bringing back the Ethiopian-Tigre Army inside Somalia (they were already illegally from 2010) with a legal Mandate to Kill and torture Somalis is against the will and the future of the a Somalia which is democratic and has its own self-rule and at peace with neighbors and the World .The Ethiopians has been supported  in coming back I suspect by IGAD countries  and have  came with some kind of Agreement with the so- called international community. The Mandate as usual is they are fighting Al-Shabaab which is not true at all. Ethiopia is the country who has participated (the only African country) in he scramble for Africa of the Berlin Conference before the First World WAR. The went there to get the Somali inhabited Territories of the Somalis who were the neighbors to the AMHARA /and OROMO. Somalis Clan-Communities today  are part of  the citizens Ethiopia in the the so- called SOMALI REGION of ETHIOPIA. The Hawd area was given to them by the colonial British Empire. Today their Agenda is to exploit and control the resources-like OIL and GAS- and colonize indirectly the Clan- Communities of Somalia by dividing them in Regions who are fighting each other in so- called regional Sovereign States. Lately they started calling the SOMALIS as an integral part of the ETHIOPIAN EMPIRE which is inhibited by the SOMALI speaking Clan communities. I know and every body who follows Somali issues knows that the Tigre Regime of ETHIOPIA and some IGAD countries are part of the SOMALI problem from the 80".  THEY MADE AND SUPPORTED THE POLITICAL MOVEMENTS WHO WERE IN THE OPPOSITION IN THE 80" in Ethiopia and participated in the destruction of SOMALIA in the 90". Those opposition movements were allied with the Salafist Movements of the Al-Ittixad Al-Islamiya and in the same time were allied with the ETHIOPIANS( read my blog called “For the new PM of SOMALIA: Lessons from a recent Past”). Later  when the UN and the US came to SOMALIA in 1993 for the Restore HOPE intervention, the new ETHIOPIAN REGIME of MELES ZENAWI   sided with the  Clan-Warlords allied with the Salafist Movements - by giving them  ammunition and political support- who were fighting the UN and US intervention. When with the consent of the so- called international community ETHIOPIA came back to SOMALIA in 1996-1997 and 2006-2009 they massacred and tortured thousands of innocent SOMALIS who were not part of   Al-ITTIXAD in 1996 and in 2006.  Clans who were not part  of Al-Shabaab but just members of some Clans which they thought were against their re-Colonization of Somalia. How The Tigre regime of ETHIOPIA on one hand help Warlords allied with Salafist Movements and in the same time fight Jihadist like Al-Shabaab from the 90”? Why Al-Shabaab and its allies Salafist Business Cartels never Attack ETHIOPIA and instead concentrating all their JIHADISM-terrorism only in SOMALIA and East AFRICA?. Any way Ethiopia and some IGAD countries have meddled in the internal affairs of Somalia and destroyed Somalia for at least the last 23 years. IF we are to have a peaceful and stable SOMALIA the so- called front line states must not be permitted to bring their Armies to SOMALIA. President Hassan Sheik and his DAMU JADID pro-Salafist group and their Warlords./Elite puppet leaders/Organized crimes/Drug-Cartels allies who are the ones supporting the ETHIOPIANS will never subjugate the SOMALI people-citizens to the Tigre regime. Wait and see.
  




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#Somalia: The list of new Cabinet Ministers is made of: 30%a...

#Somalia: The list of new Cabinet Ministers is made of: 30%a...: Sidoo kale, golahan wasiirrada waxaa ka mid ah golahan wasiirrada xubno ku cusub siyaasadda Soomaaliya iyo kuwo horay uga tirsanaa xukuu...

The list of new Cabinet Ministers is made of: 30%are DAMU JADID memebers, 60% are Elite Clan PUppet Leaders,Warlords/Organized Crimes memebers,10% are individuals used for Window dressing.Wait and See

Sidoo kale, golahan wasiirrada waxaa ka mid ah golahan wasiirrada xubno ku cusub siyaasadda Soomaaliya iyo kuwo horay uga tirsanaa xukuumadihii KMG ahaa ee Soomaaliya soo maray.
HADDABA, HALKAN KA AKHRISO LIISKA WASIIRADA CUSUB:Maxamed X. Xuseen, Hiiraan Onlinemaxuseen@hiiraan.com
Muqdisho, Soomaaliya

#Somalia: Did the Election of Dr.Abdiweli Ali Gaas bring "Ch...

#Somalia: Did the Election of Dr.Abdiweli Ali Gaas bring "Ch...:             The words of Mr. Nicholas Kay- UN representative for Somalia and Head of the United Mission for Somalia- after the Election...

Did the Election of Dr.Abdiweli Ali Gaas bring "Change" to Puntland regions and Somalia? Wait and see



            The words of Mr. Nicholas Kay- UN representative for Somalia and Head of the United Mission for Somalia- after the Election of MR.Dr. Abdiweli  M.Ali Gaas as new Elect- president of the Regional state of Puntland were the best to illustrate the mood, anxiety and relief of  the members of the Puntland Parliament, politicians representing Clan communities,Clan community Elders  and in general the population at large of the entire region and of Somalis of the Somali Republic in general wherever they live or were at that particular moment. Mr. Kay post election remarks included the words like “You will sleep well tonight……. Now you are part of the process to develop Somalia etc”. This is my shortening of quotes of the entire speech. There was relief, hope for a well done election in which all the political and social forces including the Salafist Business cartels- all Clan based- of the regions of Puntland were involved and was sometime on the brink to collapse and  in part civil war  was averted after the annulment of the direct  elections prepared and organized by the incumbent President MR. Abirahman Mohamed “Farole” of July 2013. There was at that time  a popular uprising of the cities of Qardho,Bosaso and Galkayo who represented  the major Clans and the Kaleidoscope of Salafist groups and Sunna-waljamaca,Clan nationalist,Organized crimes groups etc..
            This regional Election was watched carefully by all Somalis and specially  by  the Leadership of Somaliland regions, the Federal government in Mogadishu, the so-called Khatuma regional state and the regional powers like ETHIOPIA and IGAD countries, foreign powers like CHINA, IRAN, ITALY,  AUSTRALIA, FRANCE  and the big OIL & GAS  Companies of this world and  the minnows companies in OIL  like Africa OIL Co. with  which “Mr.Farole” the incumbent made illegal  concessional Rights  deals. And also  Big US companies who owns  the OIL and GAS concessional  rights of the regions from the  60” and have for the last time been   renewed by the Siad Barre  government in 1989. Also there were the keen interests of the US,EU  the UK and the Arab/Muslim world like Saudi Arabia,Qatar and Turkey.The UN ,IGAD-AU and the international community were all represented at the Election venue. These were all the  Regional and Global actors involved indirectly in this contest. But the domestic Actors were those who were taking and playing a political game that was sometimes so brutal, emotional that all the tricks of the Somali Politics were used.
        Let me make a short timeline of the basic events of the existence of the state of PUNTLAND regions of Somalia. In that way we can understand better the so-called social and political forces at play in this last political contest which are  in general the real Power-Brokers in those regions.
        Puntland was established in 1998 by former members of the SSDF an opposition Clan-based (like all the Somali opposition Clan based political movements sponsored by Ethiopia  like SNM, USC and SPM) movement sponsored/ based in Ethiopia between 1979-1986. Mr. Abdulllahi Yusuf one of the founders of the movement and Chairman was arrested by the Ethiopians around 1984-1986 times and was released from jail in Ethiopia in 1991. He restarted the Political Clan based movement in 1991 in the Puntland regions and he self-proclaimed himself as Leader with the acknowledgement/ support of the Elders of the regions . In 1992 he fought a Salafist insurgency in the one of the first Al-Ittixad Militias-(there was a compromise agreement between the SSDF and the Salafist who were supported by some local Clan Leaders to administer the PORT of Bosaso ) who took over the Port of Bosaso and defeated them in a bloody battle which was one of the first civil wars between Somalis with a  Religious divide( the others were in middle Juba ,Lower Shabelle  regions between the USC of Gen. Aided  and other Salafist in as early as 1991 but later Aidid will revert  to his strategic  alliance with the Salafist militants to fight the UN/US mission in Somalia). This was one of the main phases of the political Struggle for power between the Salafist and the so-called Clan Nationalist-Ahlu-Sunna (Sufi  Islam groups) of the Regions State of PUNTLAND. In that battle the members of the Salafist Militia were from all regions of Puntland and other parts of Somalia and they were led by the man  who later will become their National leader with the ISLAMIC COURTS UNION in 2006.
             Mr. Abdullahi Yusuf became president of the Somali Republic with the first transitional Charter which envisioned the Federal System in 2004 in Nairobi, Kenya with the support of ETHIOPIA and IGAD countries but recognized by the UN and international community. In Puntland the new Leader was Mr. General Cadde Musse  who was elected in 2005 by MPs selected by Elders . For the first time  the Salafist groups  and Organized crimes who were controlling the Trade/Hawilad-remittances/Telecom / education /Health   and had surplus cash, came back in the scene by financing the “ the criminal menace” of the “Piracy” based in that regions in which almost 300 to 400 millions of US dollars was paid as Ransom between 2005 and 2011 by the Owners of hijacked ships( UN report 2013). Part of that money( its an open secret)  in 2009  will be part of the finances   given to  Mr. Farole to be elected as the next President of Puntland by the Organized crimes groups and the Salafist Business Cartels. But there was also another factor which came into play in Puntland politics at that time which will bring “into the open” the game –Plan of Ethiopia- to Subdivide the Somalis of the Somali Republic in territorial Clan-Enclaves which will call themselves “sovereign” Regional States”. There was already the self-proclaimed- secessionist Agenda of the Ruling SNM Elites  in the regions of Somaliland but in the North east of Puntland that was a novelty.
            What brought in that new  factor was the OIL and GAS concessions to Petroleum Companies for the drilling of OIL in the Dharoor Valley( later Mr. Farole also will include the Nugal Valley where Conoco Philips had rights from 1989) by Mr. Cadde Musse. To Drill for the Oil the regional state of  PUNTLAD  will require being a “Sovereign State” under  INTERNATIONAL LAW  and therefore will renegade even on the “transitional Charter” of the new Somali Federal government of 2004.   That is what MR. Farole will try by making a new Constitution for Puntland and “bringing in the new concept of a Confederate Somalia” in which all regional states are “sovereign” in 2010 after just one year after his election but without any legal backing and legal  adoption by the federal government  or any acceptance by all Somali Clan-communities-people-citizens  of the Somali Republic by a Referendum . The subsequent political ‘matching” between him and  the so-called leaders of the federal  government in Mogadishu  was all a charade to give Mr. Farole “ the legal precedent’ and reasons to start drilling for OIL in contravention of all Somali Laws and International Laws which did not  recognize  a new Somali state called Puntland in the North east regions of the Somali Republic.
          The recent history is Mr. Farole failed with his ambitions to divide the Somalis because in the meantime in 2012 there was a new constitution in which the Somali Clan Community Elders agreed to have a federal system of governance after it was pushed under their throats by the UN and the So- called international community under  the  influence of ETHIOPIA and IGAD countries. Till today we don’t know what means a federal system in a clear way in the constitution.
          The Election of MR. Abdiweli M.Ali Gaas as president of the regional state of Puntland  will bring to the fore all the problems of the so- called Somali Federal State and the internal dynamics of the power struggle of domestic actors within Somalia in general and in particular the regions of Puntland.
          When I said the domestic actors I mean the Clan Based groups in all of Somalia be them Salafist Business Cartels ,Ahlu-Sunna waljameca, Puppet Elite  leaders politicians  allied  to Ethiopia-IGAD, Clan -Nationalist  Elite-Leaders Elders and politicians , Organized crimes groups in Business  which were part and parcel of the last election in Puntland and the main actors in all of Somali Republic including the regions of Somaliland.The only group which was not influential in the Election were the Jihadist groups of Al-Shabaab  but which have an ideological connections with some of the  Salafist Cartels  and a business connections with the Organized crimes groups in Business and Piracy in Puntland regions.It was printed in some internet sites and rumored by political pundits that one of the main contenders was an ex-fighter of the Salafist Movement of 1992 in Puntland and now he was a well know- respectable businessman  and there was also  another Salafist businessman, All in all the contenders were eleven(11) and the three main contenders who succeeded to reach the second round were Mr. Dr. Abdiweli M.Ali Gaas who represented  the Clan based Ahlu-Sunna-Waljameeca,Clan nationalist Elites but  he is in  good  relationship  with the Ethiopia-IGAD countries.Mr. Abdirahman "Farole" who represented the interests of the Elite Puppet leaders allied to Ethiopia-IGAD, Salafist business cartels who were allied with Ethiopia who wonted the economic and political  the Status Quo and  Organized crimes groups.The other third group was Clan based Salafist Business cartels who for the first time had their own  candidate openly and were proposing their Own Agenda.They were represented by Mr. Ali Hagi Warsame. In the last round for "political reasons" he  gave Mr. Abdiweli  the Chance to win. by adding his votes to Dr.Abdiweli..Did Abdiweli made horse trading politically? Did the Salafist Business cartels group divided themselves in different groups with different agendas? We will wait for sometime to know the real game-plan.

            What next for Abdiweli  in Puntland? The main Challenges for his administration and also for Somalia is what Type of Federalism we need? A question which has never been answered at national level and at regional level in a democratic manner. How to solve the Clan-communities of Buhodle,Las-Canod and Taleh self-proclamation that they are part of a  regional government called Khatuma state?How to solve the intricate web of dominance of the economy by a group of Salafist which would not like a national central-federal  government like the  puppet leaders allied to Ethiopia? How to fight the Jihadist groups in the midst of the regions of Puntland like Mr. "Atom" Al-Shabaab linked group which is stationed at Galgalo mountains and can attack the main town of Bosaso when they like? How to stop the extra-judicial killings organized by the Ethiopian Intelligence but executed by Puntland forces and bring justice to the people-citizens of Galkayo and Bosaso? How to reorganize the quasi-criminal intelligence services trained by the Ethiopian intelligence under the  control of Ethiopian intelligence officers based in Garowe? How to have a professional security services not sub-clan based who are part of the federal  national Army of Somalia?
             There are other main issues like the  youth unemployment, reorganization of the civil servants and mostly importantly  a new the political and cultural narrative which stands for the national interests  of the all Somali people-citizens.Dr. Abdiweli must link with the Clan nationalist elites of all of Somalia to sell his own vision of a federal Somalia and not be partisan like Mr. Farole who liked to represent only some Clans within the large Somali clans. In that way he stood for a Clan-Based vision of Confederate Somalia in which just like in the Jubba regions some Clans were more  "equal than others"A Confederate system in which Somalis are divided in Clan enclaves and have borders between them.Where he will stand  Dr. Abdiweli? He will stand for Somali Nation-Hood and STATE-HOOD in a United State but with  a devolved Federal system or as propagated by the "Somali puppet Leaders" he will be for the subdivision of Somalia in a new Confederate Somalia under the Hegemony of Ethiopia and IGAD countries? Wait and see.
       
       

#Somalia: WHY Dr abiy AHMED WENT TO MOGADISHU? FOR OIL & GAS...

#Somalia: WHY Dr abiy AHMED WENT TO MOGADISHU? FOR OIL & GAS... : INTRODUCTION:            On 16 June MR. Abiy  Ahmed PM of Ethiopia ...