Hiiraan Online

by Abdirahman Omar Osman (Eng. Yarisow)
Wednesday, October 09, 2013

World leaders spoke out very loud and clear with one voice and sent their sincere condolences and their full support to the government and people of Kenya. To maintain international peace and security is the responsibility of all of us, and this heinous attack in Nairobi should unite us all, in order to ensure that the world is peaceful and stable.

For the last 23 years Somalia has been suffering from chaos, warlordism, piracy, exterimism, terrorists and poverty, which are global problems that require global solution. Somalis know very well that these terrorists are against civilization, and all they want is to terrorize people. We shouldn’t allow them to destroy our unity, our conviction and our humanity to make progress and prosperity to this universe.

Kenya knows that terrorists need to be confronted and defeated. Kenya sent its soldiers to Somalia to confront Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda Associates group in Somalia. Kenya’s sacrifices and decision to confront these terrorists shows they are true brothers of Somalia. It is the people of Somalia that suffered too long under these thugs that destroyed the image of the people of Somalia and the country.

Our thoughts are with victims and families that lost loved ones and all we can do now is to see the best ways to handle the situation and we must unite in eliminating the threat from extremism.

The world should be more pro-active in helping Kenya and Somalia till we get rid of the threat posed by terrorists. We should not waste time on a blame game, which is exactly the kind of media arguments terrorists would like to enjoy.

Terrorist breath through the media and it is how they survive, so we need to come up holistic approaches in dealing with them, we need to fight with them through social media, through streets, through newspapers, online and all kind of media. It is the media who believe in two sides of stories, which tries to listen and air the pathetic excuses of terrorists, such as recent Al-Shabaab demand for Kenya troops to pull out of Somalia. This helps terrorists to carry out more attacks, so they enjoy watching and listening in the media. Let us not fall for their childish, boastful propaganda. I must thank Kenya media who really showed a leadership on the Westgate incident, by rallying support of the people and understanding the sensitivity of the situation and re-assuring Kenyans and world citizens that the terrorists will not win.

Our brave Somali forces and those of the African forces, need help to fight our enemies. We do not have a single helicopter in a country the size of Afghanistan. That is simply not good enough. In Somalia we are winning the war against extremism. The truth is Al Shabaab are weaker than ever. They have lost men, they have lost territory, they have lost financial support and they have completely lost popular support. They are on their last legs. This disgusting attack against innocents shows how extremists entirely lost their way.

The main problem of terrorists is their ideology which gives them motivation to recruit young people to become suicide bombers. This is an area we all need innovative ways to confront. In Somalia, the government early September held five days of national reconciliation on how to combat extremism. Religious leaders and scholars attended and after 5 days debate and discussion they issued a fatwa to confront all kind of violence and extremism. The first day of the conference, Al-Shabaab carried out one of the worst attack in Mogadishu where a car with explosives exploded in a cafeteria with full of people. And when young people attempted to rescue the injured a suicide bomber detonated himself and caused maximum destruction. Their aim was to share the headline news on that day. Guess what? Most international media used the attack story instead of talking about the purpose of the conference.

To overcome the ideological of these terrorists we need to come up innovative ways to deal with illiteracy, poverty, chaos and hunger. All these factors contribute the terrorists’ aim and objectives. We need to educate our people, we need a huge public education and awareness programs to prevent innocent Somalis from being contaminated by the poison of extremism.

People may ask why Somalia matters at this time but there is a huge amount at stake right now: the future of our country, the security of the region and the wider world, in particular the war against Al-Qaeda group in Somalia and the removal of the piracy stranglehold on the Gulf of Aden. Nairobi is another wake-up call that we must not ignore.

Somalia is now ready to offer the world a legitimate trustworthy partner, hard at work to deliver an integrated national security plan; economic reform and new financial management systems; rule of law and judicial reform; and an environment conducive to commercial growth. We are rebuilding our armed forces. We are restructuring and developing our police force. We are reforming our justice sector. And we are revolutionizing our public finance management systems. We are driving Somalia from emergency to recovery; and from recovery to development and reconstruction. We are achieving real progress week by week, month by month. But challenges do remain.

The President of Somalia talking at the UN General Assembly said “The progress that has been made in Somalia over the past three years would not have been possible without the courageous support of IGAD, the African Union and our brothers and sisters in AMISOM, Ethiopia and the ultimate sacrifice paid by many brave African soldiers. We pay tribute to them from the bottom of our hearts and we owe to it their memory to ensure that we do not take one single step backwards.”

Winning the war in Somalia has been proved. Winning the peace in Somalia will take patience and great skill. We are at a critical junction. The time is now.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and President Uhuru Kenyatta both are African leaders that have full potential to lead Africa to the right direction. The level of commitment from both leaders shows how two great nations are working on the same page. Terrorists don’t want to see Kenya and Somalia having excellent partnership working on many fronts, so we need to unite to help our both leaders to successfully achieve peace and stability not only in Somalia but to the region. Our collective desire and unity is what matters on these difficult times to overcome all the challenges lay ahead.

Human Rights Watch on 27 September issued statement where they emphasized Kenyan authorities should take all necessary measures to protect vulnerable communities from potential retaliation. Despite the sensitivity of the situation a lot of people in particular Somalis in Kenya worried about reprisals. We have full confident on Kenya authorities who have well experience in dealing with diverse communities to uphold the rule of law with cautious on avoiding discrimination against people’s background or culture. Kenyans are peace loving citizens whom we owe too much of respect of people’s rights. We Somalis need to learn from Kenya on peaceful co-existence with diverse people that have different religious or faiths.

Somalis where ever they are spoke out loudly and clearly that they do not associate with these terrorists who committed one of the worse attack in Nairobi. Somalia ambassador to Kenya and other Somalis gave blood to injured people. Furthermore, the people killed in this heinous attack and those injured were among Somalis.

I have no doubt that this kind of attacks will unite us more, and all our efforts, and energy should be contributed to finding those responsible to bring them to justice wherever they are. These kinds of atrocities are global problem which needs global solution. International community should stand shoulder to shoulder with Kenya and Somalia and to find a lasting solution to eradicate the threats posed by extremism.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, his government and the people of Kenya has shown a real leadership in dealing with the aftermath of the Westgate attack. Let us all work together and show the world that our unity is forever, and regardless of what terrorists does to our people, they will not win. They will always be losers. We will go after them wherever they are, and we will defeat them not only militarily but also ideologically. 

I would like to end my writing with a quote from President Kenyatta’s Stern statement following the heinous attack on Westgate which reads “The despicable perpetrators of this cowardly act hoped to intimidate, divide and cause despondency among Kenyans. They would like us to retreat into a closed, fearful and fractured society where trust, unity and enterprise are difficult to muster.  An open and united country is a threat to evil doers everywhere.  With our values of solidarity and love for our homeland, we fought proudly and bravely to secure the freedom to lead our lives as we choose.  Our choice is codified in our Constitution.”