Professor Samatar: Demoralized nationalist or Opportunsitc Politician? | Somaliwave
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Professor Samatar: Demoralized nationalist or Opportunsitc Politician?

Kalaharie

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Dr Ahmed Ismail Samatar is one of the great Somali men of letters. After a long and distinguished career in the Academy the good professor returned to Somalia to lend his expertise and experience to the people of Somalia: in the capacity of public intellectual as well as seeking public office. He was, alongside his brother the formidable intellectual Dr Abdi Ismail, one of the founders of the patriotic Hiil Qaran party. Both men were ardent Greater Somalia nationalists who missed no opportunity to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia by deploying their eloquence and keen intellect in the service of Somali unity; their demolition of consecutive, pro-Somaliland ICG reports in 2003 and 2006 are notable examples of their work in this regard.

Dr Samatar unsuccessfully ran for the Presidency of Somalia in 2012. After a humiliating showing in the routinely corrupt parliamentary processes of Mogadishu, Dr Samatar denounced the entire political infrastructure and prevailing discourse of Southern Somalia as irredeemably corrupt and dominated by, and in thrall to, two Somali tribes (Daarood and Hawiye). Dr Samatar's denunciation of the system was somewhat merited but his indignation was a poor substitute for analysis and reasoned argumentation. It also lacked nuance, inasmuch as the interests of the vast majority of Daarood and Hawiye clans and subclans are as ill-represented in Mogadishu as those of his Awdalite constituency.

These harrowing experiences resulted in the Professor renouncing his hitherto rock-ribbed belief in (and defense of) Somali unity. Thereafter he became an ardent secessionist who deploys his learning and intellect in the cause of Somaliland. But where previously he was fluent and cogent when promoting Somali unity, now his arguments are faltering and disordered when championing the cause Somaliland. It is the very reason that caused the professor to have a gloriously epic meltdown in the Fagaaraha debate of 2015. The good doctor found no intelligent way to contradict the arguments he so long deployed against Somaliland secession. He resorted to obfuscation and became long-winded and cumbersome, to such an extent that his alloted time ran out. When Saadiq Warfaa, the officious moderator of the debate, cut him off after several failed attempts to draw Dr Samatar's attention, the good professor exploded in anger and subsequently left the venue.

In today's Somalia politicians and public intellectuals who change allegiance and discard their principles are too numerous and their flip flops are so frequent as to be queasy-making. Think of General Xaabsade and Dr.Cali Khaliif. Bashiir Goth (a Gadabuursi intellectual like Dr Samatar) whose fulminations against Somaliland at times bordered on the unhinged. He is now the representative of Somaliland in Washington. Xaglatoosiye is another one. Hurre Buubaa, onetime Somali Foreign Minister, is now firmly ensconsed in Hargeisa

Why shine a beam of light on the good professor? There are Several reasons why I abandoned my foregoing insouciance with regard to his defection and which prompted me to write this humble electronic missive:
  • His full-throated, and problematic, support for Somaliland's expansionist moves against my people, the Dhulbahante tribe of Northern Somalia.
  • His association and platform-sharing with the most retrograde Isaaq zealots and grievance mongers like Boobe Yuusuf Ducaale.
  • To compare his recent justifications for Somaliland with his copious academic writings where he argued the opposite.
  • To present arguments that show that Somaliland is truly a parochial Isaaq political project that aims to subordinate and exploit the other clans that live in the north.

We first need some background. In the aftermath of the recent Somaliland elections in which the impulsive Colonel Muuse Biihi was chosen by the Isaaq, he promised them he would extend Somaliland's jurisdiction to the defunct colonial border of British Somaliland. He set about implementing this ill-conceived plan by invading the small Customs post of Tukaraq, previously administered by Puntland. Colonel Biihi thus broke the modus vivendi that governed relations between the two entities since the capture of the important Dhulbahante town of Laascaanood.
 
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