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SOMALIA: COLONEL QAYBDID GIVEN BACK HIS FREEDOM October 20, 2005

Swedish court released Mr. Ali Awale from captivity due to lack of evidence today. As we predicted Monday, this case divided Somalis around the globe along clan lines.

Original report:

Former colonel in Somali military, Mr. Abdi Hassan Awale, know as Qaybdid was arrested today in Lund, Sweden for genocide crimes against his own Somali people in early 1990s when the Somalia's civil war was at its peak. Mr. Awale accompanied Somali parliament speaker to Sweden for a short visit last week.

Thousands of Somalis lost their lives in the civil war, especially in early 1990s. This arrest, first of its kind shows those wounds were not healed yet. Under a law passed in 1964, Swedish courts have universal jurisdiction to try a person for genocide committed abroad. The maximum sentence is life in prison.

Somalis who escaped the civil war and now live in Sweden told the police about Mr. Awale’s involvement in the alleged genocide provided video tapes they said will show the crimes he committed. In the early years of the civil war clan leaders were often video taped encouraging young armed men to kill and rob members of other tribes. Videos taken from that era showed women and children begging to get permission to bury decomposing bodies of their men who were killed in front of them. Many clan warriors thought denying proper burial for their victims was the ultimate victory. Group killings and gang-rape was all common in those days.

Only time will tell Whether Mr. Awale participated in human rights violations and to what extent. However, his arrest will surely divide Somalis more as members of his clan will standby and support him, even if he participated in heinous crimes against his own people. Somali clan system is like insurance and ordinary citizens are expected to help their clan members at any cost regardless of who is right and who’s wrong. So whatever the outcome of this arrest, Somalis will be divided as America was divided on OJ Simpson trial.