The Sougal-Haboon Duo and their mudslinging tactics    
 

People who sling mud at others usually rely on the hope that some of the mud they throw would cling to their unsuspecting targets. The hope is based on the fact that the targets of mud slinging spend most of their energy trying to wash off that mud from their shirts instead of addressing the core issues. . Therefore I will not fall in the same trap being laid out by our dear sister Haboon who seems to have disappeared from the Somaliland debate lately.

The allegations she leveled at some Unionists are based, as she candidly admits, on flimsy circumstantial evidence that has no credible basis. As we all know it is difficult to indict someone on such evidence in properly set-up courts of law. Therefore, I will leave it to the jury represented by Awdalnews readers to pass the final judgment on such admittedly flawed evidence.

I hope that the following facts will aid the jury in its deliberations.

1. I do not recall writing any article supporting the TFG or its current leader. In fact most of my articles are unfavorable to the TFG and I even labeled them as a Karzi-Style government. I even painted their current leader as the first Somali traitor who defected to the Abyssinian enemy. Haboon makes the wrong assumption that Unionists from Sool and Sanaag support the TFG because they share the same clan with its leader.

    

2. Lady Haboon is a phenomenon that appears whenever an apparition known as Sougal appears on the debate scene. This gives me the impression that Sougal and Haboon are the same coin but with two different faces. We got to know her through Awdalness a few months ago when she came out in defense of Sougal who is fond of distorting historical facts. She disappeared after I exchanged a few articles with her in this forum. Here she comes back again in sync with a barrage of articles released by our theatrical fellow Sougal who wrongly claims to represent the people of Sool.

    

3. Sougal is an interesting person who knows very little about the area he tries to identify with. Most of us remember how he tried to distort facts by asserting that Ahmed Mohamed Adam (Qaybe) attended the Burao conference in the company of 9 Sool Garads. We all know that Qaybe never attended the conference and Sool had 3 Garads at the time of the conference.

    

4. There is reliable information that Sougal was born in Gabiley and knows very little about Sool and the city he is fond of calling home. One of his latest articles attempts to put a wedge between the people of Awdal and Sool who share a lot through their historic USP partnership. He argues that some people in Sool call Awdalites Huuno, a laughable statement responded to by some Awdalites as being baseless since Hunno is not a derogatory name but a term of endearment such as "Boowe".

    

5. Sougal and Haboon, who may be the same person but wearing different hats or probably inspired by misguided pro-secession elements to sling mud at Unionists, are guilty of the same allegations they throw at Unionists. Assuming that the Sougal Character is for real and his ancestors migrated to the Gabiley area centuries ago, his only link to Sool is clan affiliation and that makes him guilty of playing the clan card he tries to sling at Unionists. He should call Gabiley home instead of the Las.

Having presented these few facts to the Jury, I would like clarify that most of the names Haboon tries to sling mud at are people who care about Somaliland and are not anti Somaliland in any way or form. We basically differ with our fellow Somali- Landers on the issue of secession and are proud to be Northerners. I personally believe that Somaliland should build its democratic institutions and negotiate with the South on the future of the country when the latter emerges from the chaos it is going through.

It happens that most of the vocal Unionists are from Sool and Sanaag or have deep roots in other parts of Somaliland. They are no different from the silent Unionist majority who elected to keep quiet on the issue of secession. Fellow Somali- Landers should not be fooled by the cheap mudslinging of some misguided individuals who would like to portray those who speak-up against the secession as clan-motivated.

It is interesting to note that Unionists from other areas of Somaliland such as the Samatar brothers, Jaamac Yare, Cisman Kaluun and others are not labeled as clan motivated while those from Sool and Sanaag are labeled as such.

As people who are fond of portraying themselves as democrats, let us steer the debate on secession to a more constructive level and rise above name-calling and mud-slinging. The debate should focus on the pros and cons of Secession for the Somali people.

Ali H. Abdulla
aliegeh@gmail.com

source: awdalnews.com