Randomly stumbled upon the wiki of Aden Abdulle the first somali president and found out he died in Kenya 2007. Makes me wonder how he saw the collapse of the Somali state he was one of the founders of.
View attachment 295009
Addan Cadde sent the 1990 manifesto to Siad Barre when things were going south
To: General Mohamed Siyaad Barre
President of the Somali Democratic Republic
Mogadishu
Subject: Recommendation Aimed at Bringing About National Reconciliation and
Salvation
We, the undersigned elders, who took part in the national struggle for
independence โ sultans and chiefs of the Somali Communities from the various
regions, religious leaders, businessmen, intellectuals and others โ strongly and
unanimously feel that we can no longer remain passive spectators, nor ignore the
duties and responsibilities that we owe to our people and our country, both from
Somali and Islamic points of view, given the sufferings, the bloodshed and the
incalculable loss of life and property that our people have suffered for so long; as
well as all the consequent unforeseeable and negative repercussion and risks
that these may result vis-ร -vis our national integrity and security.
Among others things, we are deeply disturbed by:
THE CIVIL WAR:
A The civil war ranging between the government forces and the opposition
movements which has caused unlimited disaster to our motherland, not
only militarily but also politically, economically, socially, morally, and
materially- to the point of making us feel ashamed of ourselves as Somalis
as well as being made pessimistic about our future.
B The killings of tens of thousands of innocent civilians including: the aged,
women and children as well as the destruction and looting of their
properties.
C The fleeing of hundreds of thousands of people from their homes because
of fear for their lives which compelled to seek refuge in other countries like
Ethiopia and Kenya.
The destruction and looting of major cities and towns including: Hargeisa, Burao,
Shiekh, Erigavo, Buhodle, Galkaio, Galdogob, Do'ol, Wargalo, Hilmo and its
surrounding hamlets, Afmadow, Liboya and Bada'de. To our shock and dismay,
most of the wells and water reservoirs on which, because of the and nature of
our land, the very existence and the life of the nomads and their livestock so
much depend were deliberately destroyed as punitive measures.
LACK OF SECURITY AND RESPECT FOR LAW
The lack of security and respect for the law in the country have reached such
proportions that there is hardly any Somali citizen, or a foreigner who sleeps at
his house at present without fear for the safety of his own life, his family and
property.
In addition, as a result of the regime, divide and rule policy, a widespread tribal
feuds and hooliganism have taken and are taking an unlimited toll in almost
every region throughout the country, causing great losses to life and property,
and the disruption of trade, transport and communication as well as the sawing
the seeds of disharmony among brotherly communities- thus endangering the
peaceful co-existence of Somali communities.
VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
In its twenty years' rule, the present regime has succeeded in monopolizing
power in the domains of politics, economy and security. In the process, the
people lost all their basic freedoms and role in the participation of the affairs of
their own country. What is well known to all is the regime's arbitrary practice of
throwing thousands of innocent citizens to prisons simply because they
'happened to comment on certain government policies or decisions which
seemed to them unjust; worse still, others were jailed for the mere suspicion of
being members or sympathizers of the opposition. Thousands of citizens have
suffered years of imprisonment under cruel living conditions without proper food,
water, light, health care, bedding etc. for periods up to 17 years. Many were
tortured and others died while still in detention without any formal charges
against them or due process of law. We cannot help but note, hereby, in a
combination of shame and irony, that under the European colonial rule, the
ordinary Somali enjoyed the right to Habeas Corpus whereas he has been
arbitrarily deprived of such rights as a citizen by the regime as early as October,
1969 with Decree Law No. 64. In this case, comparing the record of the present
regime to that of the British and Italian colonialism, doesn't independence mean
less freedom to the ordinary Somali citizen? We must say, that in light of the kind
of treatment the present regime has normally subjected to the Somali people for
the past twenty years, many Somalis cannot help but sadly say that: "things were
better under colonialism!"
No one can deny the fact that the present regime's human rights violation against
the Somali citizen has become so notorious for so long to have reached such a
point whereby Somalia has been listed as one of the four or five countries worse
violators of human rights in the whole world by Amnesty International, African
Watch and other human rights Organization.
GOVERNMENTAL MALADMINISTRATION
All Somalis as well as foreigners interested in Somali affairs are fully aware of the
fact that government mismanagement and public maladministration have
reached such a low and shameful point that the present regime is normally
characterized with unconstrained corruption โ from top to bottom โ tribalism,
nepotism, tyranny, injustice and inefficiency to the point where one cannot help
but ask whether there is any national sense of responsibility in those who are
supposed to govern the Somali people.
Public administration, from the center to the regional and district levels, and all
public services that were intended to provide the basic foundations for the life of the people throughout the land, such as maintenance of law and order, protection
of life and property, public health, basic education, water and electricity, transport
and communication and the economic system, have practically ceased to
function.
The Somali Commercial and Savings Bank, practically the only bank in the
country, as a result of the monopoly introduced by the regime, now refuses or is
unable to cash, strangely as this may sound, the very circular cheques and other
credit papers that it previously issued to its customers with savings and bank
accounts. This adds to the painful misery of poor citizens who now cannot get
their own little savings so badly needed for the daily survival of their children.
In addition, the far-reaching serious economic losses suffered by the Somali
traders and business community with a large deposits who cannot get their
capital out of the bank in order to conduct their normal business transactions.
This is bound to consequently have negative ill-effects and incalculable losses to
the whole national economy, which Somalia can ill-afford.
The Somali Commercial and Savings Bank has practically closed its doors to all
customers for the past eight weeks as of March 15, 1990. It is now widely
believed that the bank is totally bankrupt and in fact is thirty billion shillings in the
red. This has resulted from political, tribal interference and unbearable pressures
on the management of the bank from the highest circles of the government who
facilitated easy credit to the tune of hundreds of millions of shillings to the wives,
sons, daughters, brothers and other relatives, as well as tribesmen and other
political favorites of the governing echelon. Most of these loans are irrecoverable,
since they were guaranteed by any assets or equities.
Another issue that is of particular concern to us and so deeply distresses us is
the case of the National Army and the extent to which it has been reduced to an
instrument to monopolize power and serve the political and tribal interests of the
regime. It has also been used as an instrument of oppression of the Somali
people.
The high purpose for which the National Army was created by the fast freely
elected government was to defend our national sovereignty and to serve our
national interest as a professional body, above political, tribal and personal
interests. The Somali people had very high hopes in the National Army and gave
their limited resources, paid a high price by giving its creation a top priority over
badly needed social and economic developments.
Contrary to any sense of justice, the regime has placed its own political power
and tribal interest above that of the whole nation by corrupting the army and
involving it in party politics and tribal interests and promoting the officer corps on
the basis of political and tribal loyalty as opposed to the traditional promotional
system based on "professional merits" as it used to be in the past, under the
command of the late General Da'ud Abdulle Hersi during the democratic civilian
government prior to October, 1969.
The irresponsible, egoistic and power hungry instrumentalization of the National
Army in order to maintain dictatorial power and tribal interest has reduced the
National Army to the point where it has lost all inspect and credibility in the eyes
of the Somali people. It has now practically disintegrated into tribal factions, sadly
and painfully as this may sound to all sensible Somalis.
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