Somaliland: the making of a Dictator

Somaliland: the making of a Dictator

Somaliland: the making of a Dictator
In the twentieth century the world has witnessed some of the most ruthless dictators, men like Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Francisco Franco, Mao, Fidel Castro, Kim Il Sung, and many others in the third world in the second half of the past century. The many things they all have in common include Megalomania, Psychopathic, Personality cult, Paranoia, disregard for and violation of others rights and intimidation of opponents. These character traits show early in life, as a teenager the Dictator is unruly and in constant war with other kids. When he rises to power he eliminates anyone that opposes him, or is the slightest threat to his power. Purges and prosecutions were common place in places like Stalin?s Soviet Union, Mao?s China, North Korea and of course Siyad Barre?s Socialist Somalia.
While in Europe and Asia (Stalin, Mao or Kim IL Sung) the dictators were in the pursuit of global dominance, power and prestige and were mostly ideology driven, in Africa dictators are driven by ineptitude, greed and corruption. Many of these African countries are very poor and there are fewer spoils to go around. Post-Colonial Dictators, like Idi Amin and Siyad Barre, have worked under their colonial masters and witnessed the lavish life style those Europeans were indulging themselves. They owe their rapid rise to higher positions to them and most of them believed it is their right to live and rule like their former colonial masters. Many gained power by military coup and through violence followed by mass mobilizations, revolutionary rhetoric, nationalistic propaganda and slogans. They told their subjects to tighten their belts while they loosen theirs, they told them to go out and work in the fields or participate hours long rallies in supports of the revolutionary cause under the searing sun while they retreated to their air conditioned villas and palaces. In Somaliland now the meager revenue collected from taxes goes straight to the presidential palace where the man at the top takes a lion?s share and distributes the leftover to the government institutions where his ministers skim it further.
African Dictators, when they are hurting, believe they are healing, when they are destroying they believe they are building. The road to dictatorships starts with nationalistic slogans and the creation of common enemy to rally against, real or hoax. Rivals are branded as traitors and agents of the enemy of the state or the revolution. Opponents are constantly harassed and intimidated. Legislative and judiciary branches of the state, if they exist at all, are rendered powerless or rubber stamps. Elections are first postponed then either cancelled due to non-existent security reason or the opposition parties are declared illegal and banned. State of emergency and curfews are the norm. The enemy number one is the independent media, opposition parties? leaders/individuals and those who tell the truth. They arrest them and prosecute them publicly. When they succeed in that first test, the next stage is banning political parties and independent social groups altogether, nationalize all private enterprises and rule by decree. Once fear and terror are subjected to the intelligentsia, the masses voluntarily surrender and start singing the praise of the dictator. Next is the establishment of a fast network of secret prison system where those who are lucky enough to not be send to the gallows are condemned for life. In the final stage of achieving absolute Dictatorship a new cadre of leaders are handpicked not because of their ability and skills but because of their loyalty to the dictator and they start showering the dictator with praise, and they order the masses to hang his pictures everywhere. New songs are composed in praise of the leader. Those who surround around him compete for his attention like children and they always tell him what they think he likes to hear but not the reality in the country. They start spying among each other to win the confidence of the leader. They hold trumped-up presidential election where the leader is elected for life. He is declared the all knowing, the wisest, and the father of the nation. Now he does not let others make any decisions because he feels he is the most qualified, experienced and the wisest. He does not recognize the knowledge of others and ignores their contribution. This is the last stage and the mental state of the dictator is not stable, he is lonely, he mistrusts those who surround him and paranoia and psychosis set in.
In Somaliland we have witnessed as one of Riyale?s ministers suggested that they change the constitution so he can run a third term referring to how the people of tiny Djibouti wanted the constitution changed so that their president can run for a thirds time. . They already believed that they won the second term even before an election is held. They believe that there is no better leader then him and Somaliland under Riyale will prosper. That is the mental state of dictators and how those who surround him think and manipulate the masses.
The difference between African and other dictators is that dictators like Stalin and Mao although they condemned thousands to death they contributed the development of their countries. They both took their countries from backward feudal states to nuclear power states. In Africa they condemn thousands to death and they bankrupt and destroy their countries. Many African countries where better off during the colonial era.
If one closely looks those who surround Riyale and checks their background, most of them have one of three skills. They are ex-NSS members, Livestock brokers or Kat dealers. Riyale?s career included all those three skills, but the most interesting one is the ex-NSS members who are in his cabinet. This is said to be an emulation of Vladimir Putin and his ex-KGB comrades. Well Putin is a nationalist and he wants to bring back the old glory days and the power of Russia back. He is not stealing from the poor.
In Somaliland we are in a mix of the first and the second stage, that is, indiscriminate arrest of journalists and political opponents (Like the founders of Qaran), the eviction of Interpeace, the postponement of the election and the trashing of the constitution.
This is not what those who, for ten years, fought and sacrificed live and wealth, and of course the majority of the people of Somaliland, expected. The leaders of SNM, in spite of their heroic sacrifices by delivering their people from the tutelage of a tyranny and dictatorship yet made another mistake by handing, the hard earned victory to Siyad Barre?s quislings. Many of these men are now leading the opposition parties. I wonder why they are shedding tears when they repeated the same mistake of another generation before them, that is, those who gave away blindly an independent four day old Somaliland.
Today, the game is crystal clear; Riyale has tested us and found us impotent. But the good news is, Riyale is a different Dictator, that is, he is week, does not have a vision for the future of the country, does not have ideology to rally the people behind. He lacks wisdom, because he alienated his own people, the international community and the friends of Somaliland. And most important of all we are in a different era, 21stCentury. Today tyrants face international sanctions, travel ban and worse the people of Somaliland are not standing by and watch this time. But if he is a Wiseman he must have learnt from the events in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Iran. It is time for the people of Somaliland to draw the line on the sand. Mass rallies and peaceful civil disobedience should be organized if Riyale should not back off from his decision of holding the election without the voter registration process. The Somaliland police force should maintain order but not hinder peaceful rallies nor shoot people. The police should stop intimidation of elected officials in the parliament building. If this injustice and tyranny is not stopped today, we will be heading to a costly disaster, one that we have never imagined before.
Somaliland has many enemies. We have seen the despicable terror actions of Alshabab and other fundamentalists from Somalia. Recently in a UN organized conference at the heart of the oldest democracy in the world, Siyad Barre?s Ex-Generals headed by Ali Samater have handed a grand plan to UN special envoy to Somalia. The plan calls for the training of a 36000 men strong army. The plan has some daring proposals such as the main trust of such army should start from Lowdyo-Ado at border with Djibouti. The plan does not even start with first securing Mogadishu. Although this plan is the wishful thinking of a bunch of losers and war criminals, yet its intent and the fact that it was held in Washington and has the blessing of the UN is very disturbing. There are people out there who still believe that have Siyad Barre listened them and adopted their war plan in the 80s Somaliland will still have been under their yoke. Riyale and his cronies they all believed in the 80s that SNM will never defeat the mighty army of Siyad Barre but that has been proven wrong, therefore should understand that this time if they continue their suicidal path they will be meeting the same fate their master has met. This time around it is going to be a ZERO SUM GAME. If you steal the election and stay you will be forced to leave and face justice. If you leave voluntarily you and your cronies will still be held accountable for your actions for the past seven years, which we all know what they are.
By:
M.A. Jama