Dr. Jowhar accounts the First Genocide in Mogadisho.
Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 3:12 am
Dr. Bashir who is born of the Gadabursi accounts how Daarod who had been residents of Mogadisho for more than 100 years were cleaned out of the city.
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The First Genocide
This is not the first genocide that has happened in this cursed city, nor is it the first time that innocent Somalis faced murder and mayhem in its streets simply because they belonged to the wrong tribe at the wrong place. The first genocide unfolded in its ruthless streets in 1991 right after the fall of the Siyad Barre regime. In that year Hawiye militia burned, raped and killed any person of Darood origin regardless of age, regardless of gender and regardless of their role in the defunct regime. It was enough to be Darood to be massacred in Mogadishu’s first days of infamy. The Darood who has lived in the city for hundreds of years were totally cleansed out of it, their property confiscated and their blood spilled. This is a horrible tragedy of Somali political life that has deeply wounded the self identity of the broken nation. This first genocide has become the driving force and the central reason for the intractable failure of the Somali state. It is not much spoken about in polite circles but it is the poisonous undertones of any dialogue between the members of the Hawiye and Darood tribes. Somalis who belong to other tribes find it convenient to ignore and forget this first tragedy because the curse of the blood they allowed to flow without protest has haunted them all these years. And because each tribe has its own horror stories to tell, horror stories that blind them to the blight that has visited all of them and that could only be confronted together. The current genocide, the second in this city, is still going strong. And just like the one before it Somalis other than the victim tribe members are conveniently oblivious to it. This one too will haunt the Somali race everywhere for generations to come. It will be one more nail in the coffin of a dead nation.
-------------------------------------------
The First Genocide
This is not the first genocide that has happened in this cursed city, nor is it the first time that innocent Somalis faced murder and mayhem in its streets simply because they belonged to the wrong tribe at the wrong place. The first genocide unfolded in its ruthless streets in 1991 right after the fall of the Siyad Barre regime. In that year Hawiye militia burned, raped and killed any person of Darood origin regardless of age, regardless of gender and regardless of their role in the defunct regime. It was enough to be Darood to be massacred in Mogadishu’s first days of infamy. The Darood who has lived in the city for hundreds of years were totally cleansed out of it, their property confiscated and their blood spilled. This is a horrible tragedy of Somali political life that has deeply wounded the self identity of the broken nation. This first genocide has become the driving force and the central reason for the intractable failure of the Somali state. It is not much spoken about in polite circles but it is the poisonous undertones of any dialogue between the members of the Hawiye and Darood tribes. Somalis who belong to other tribes find it convenient to ignore and forget this first tragedy because the curse of the blood they allowed to flow without protest has haunted them all these years. And because each tribe has its own horror stories to tell, horror stories that blind them to the blight that has visited all of them and that could only be confronted together. The current genocide, the second in this city, is still going strong. And just like the one before it Somalis other than the victim tribe members are conveniently oblivious to it. This one too will haunt the Somali race everywhere for generations to come. It will be one more nail in the coffin of a dead nation.