When the Somali Youth comes to the forefront

Following the interview we had a few days ago with Mr. Abdillahi Ahmed, the Vice President of the World Somali Congress, we will publish an interview with a young American Somali, as full evidence of the great determination, the impressive resourcefulness and the remarkable experience the Somali Youth has got as consequence of its exposure to the unprecedented troubles of the Great East African Nation.

Today, the Somali Youth represents the greatest asset of the Somali Nation in its engagement on the Path of Peace and Unity. Their fortitude of purpose, clarity of ideas, and pre-eminence of values guarantee a great and augur future for the civil war-stricken country, and the ruined Somali province of Ogaden. We are most pleased to present you Sheikhnur Ali, and we are sure he will attract all your attention for the rightful Cause he fights for.

– Would you describe your family background, and your formation years in Somalia?

Sheikhnur Ali – I come from a big Somali family; my father left our village called Ceeldheer, and moved to Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, where he went to the Italian High School, and graduated with major in Economics - Accountancy.

My mother went to Italian High School too, and although she was great student, she didn’t have the chance to complete University studies. She is however a multilingual, fluent in Somali, Arabic, Italian, and English, and she ran a pharmacy store, worked in the Coca Cola Company in Somalia, and then became an agent for Alitalia airline. As a matter of fact, I have six brothers and four sisters.

Since my parents were working all time, most of my brothers and sisters were grown and educated by Grandmother Miriam - may Allah rest her in peace and bless her soul. I loved my grandmother because she was always there, for me and my rest of brother and sisters. My childhood in Somalia was great and memorable moment, as I enjoyed a good life due to my father wealth. I went to an English school where I had a female Pakistani teacher, Amal.

My worst time in Somalia was when the civil war started in 1990; we had to leave the capital and go to another city in search of safety. I didn’t like my stay there as I was missing the good life I had had in the capital. To give you an example, it was hard to find clean water or good meal. After the situation calmed down in Mogadishu, we returned home, but on the way back we risked being killed by some clan militia; those guys tried to rope us in the bus, but finally we managed to survive because my father and his brother had some common acquaintances with those guys, which did appease them.

Back in Mogadishu, life had changed. I remember once my elder brother wanted to go watch a soccer game in the stadium, and he ended up wounded because some guards of the then president Siad Bare opened fire on the crowd, and some civilians got killed.

After a while, the United Somali Congress (USC) took over Mogadishu, and then we left Somalia and moved to Egypt, taking refuge in Cairo. Thus, we started a new life in another country; we had hard time speaking Arabic, but the process was facilitated to some extent because my elder brothers had gone to an Arabic High School back in Somalia, and had learnt Arabic to some extent.

I went to the school in Cairo and I rapidly learned elementary Arabic; even more easily I adapted myself to the local society. After the agony in Mogadishu, I loved living there for eight years. In 1992, my father got shot in his leg, and this turned out to be a family tragedy because were depended on my father to send us money to Cairo.

The people who shot my father belonged to Warsangali Hartiabgal; as a matter of fact, these people were looking for another Somali to shoot, but they mistook my father, and finally the bullets went to the wrong leg. The place was too close to our home in Somalia. Somehow, my parents ended up in Kenya, then to UAE and finally in Germany where my father was successfully hospitalized. The long recovery took two years during which my father lived in the house of some Somali friends. Only then was he able to join us in Cairo where he spent some time, before finding a job in Italy.

Finally, in 1998 we moved to America, and Minnesota came home for us. My father didn’t like to move to America as he believed his kids would turn out to be bad guys; we had to convince my father to let us move to America but he kept refusing all time. Therefore, the only option was to call my grandfather in Somali to come to Cairo, which he did, and talked to my father who finally accepted to let us move to America.

Our journey to America was fine, and I ended up in Rochester, MN. At least, there were a lot of Somalis in Minnesota. Life in Rochester is just perfect, a real challenge in every sense, from the weather conditions and the (unknown in Somalia) snow to daily life and average culture. Before I came to America, I had studied American pop culture, and thus I was not affected, as I stick to my Somali identity.

– Would you give us an outline of your studies and career?

Sheikhnur Ali – I am a fulltime student and a full time employee. After terminating the High School, I attended classes in a pre-pharmacy curriculum, and then I changed my major to Political Science. In the Graduate School, I want to prepare a Master’s Degree in Economics with focus on Economic Development. I value Education greatly because it is the best tool to change the world. I also like to deep my personal search for and study of Islam. In brief, I want to dedicate myself to bringing all the Somalis together again, and that’s my dream. For the time being, I work for NWA.Com, as an online support.

– People allover the world are being brainwashed with the assumption that Somalia is a failed state; you as Somali, do you consider this interpretation accurate or not? Are the Somalis the sole responsible for the 16 years long instable situation or has there been foreign involvement too?

Sheikhnur Ali – Yes, Somalia is failed state, but at the same time it proved to everybody that Somalia can be the only country in world to live without a government. I believe Somalia is the sole responsible for these 16 years of Civil Strife because our people one way or another chose dump, criminal leaders, unworthily dedicated to self-interest only, to speak for all of us. There is no public sector in Somalia, but the private sector took care of that. Sectors like telecom and IT have been developed in Somalia faster than in several other African countries that live in peace. As a matter of fact, the absence of regulation and licensing has allowed the private Somali telecom companies to flourish, while free market competition forces operators to keep prices low. Telecoms in Somalia offer the lowest international call rates allover the world. Staying connected with the rest of the world is crucial, because remittances from the Somali Diaspora run in millions of dollars.

On other hand, I blame the foreign involvement because some countries don’t want to see Somalia to have stable government. This is due to the fact that the Somali people under a strong and popular government will progress fast and bring overwhelming positive changes in the wider region of Eastern Africa. For this reason, this perspective is ominous for several countries that for the purpose of further fratricide strife in Somalia provide the local warlords with weapons and cash; Ethiopia and Libya are two examples.

Furthermore, Saudi Arabia too does not want Somalia to have a strong and united government because they fear that the Somali Oil will be finally exploited, thus tremendously minimizing the importance and the grip of Saudi Arabia on Oil prices. In addition, Saudi Arabia, losing some of its main costumers to an Oil producing Somalia, will face a severe blow, and become practically useless to Americans.

Ethiopia does not want to see a strong government in Somalia because a Somali elected government would immediately try to liberate the subjugated Somalis of Ogaden, the tyrannized part of Somalia that was given to Haile Selassie by the British in the late 40s and the 50s. Moreover, Ethiopia as a deadlocked country wants to use Somali ports for their exports and imports. As the Ethiopian intentions have been to use Somali ports free of charge, a good idea will be to impose economic sanctions against Ethiopia. The future elected Somali parliament should pass a bill to impose sanctions against Ethiopia for having so long used Somali ports, and to severe commercial ties with Ethiopia.

– Where lies the epicenter of the present problems of Somalia?

Sheikhnur Ali – The present problems of Somalia do not evolve around the word ‘clan’ anymore; they hinge on an ensuing ‘clanism’ which has disastrously replaced nationalism in the minds of most of today’s Somalis.

The work of Somali Youth League and the legacy of Sayid Maxamed Cabdille Xasan have been destroyed by some criminal leaders who care exclusively about the self-interest, and value money more than the national interest.

Furthermore, there is clash due to the prevailing ignorance, as every person has been affected by the ‘clan cancer’ - something hard to cure. So, a Consultation and Dialogue are the solution of the Somalia problem.

Another way to solve the problem is a Revolution to change the average mind and bring unity among us. My idea about how to bring about this change is the launching of an Institute of Centralized Leadership - exclusively based on Somali National Interest; focused on modern approaches to Public Administration and using the experience of the famous Paris-based ENA (Ecole Nationale d’ Administration) it would produce generations of well qualified Somali administrators, statesmen, diplomats and cadres in general who will place the Somali National Interest above all the rest.

Somalis should gather and elaborate a new Constitution, and the first amendment should be separation of the clan from politics and the state administration; the reason is that the clans have been used as a tool by some people in order to gain importance at political level. This practiced has been abused over the past fifteen (15) years. Most clan leaders need to stay away from the political scene. The new Somali Parliament should be an assembly of elected deputies whose loyalty is expressed first to the Nation and second to the political party with which they have been voted by the people. In addition, in the Constitution, it should stated that all Somalis are equal and have the same rights, irrespective of their eventual participation and position within a clan.

Mr. Sheikhnur Ali’s second part of the interview will be published in a forthcoming article.

Note
Picture: Even in the worst hardship, Somalia preserves a unique beauty and an exemplary tolerance of behaviour - in striking opposition to the ruthless, merciless, totalitarian society of the Amhara and Tigray Abyssinian terrorists.