A two day
meeting aimed to discuss problems facing the natives of the southern Somalia and establish
strategies to alleviate the pain and the suffering exposed to the unarmed communities
hailing from Benadir, lower Shabelle, Jubba and Gedo was held in Columbus, Ohio on
December 24-25, 2005. Between 200 and 250 delegates from across the US and Canada attended
the meeting and many others have joined from overseas by phone. As a result of the
meeting, an organization named “Southern Somali Union (SSU)” was
founded. This organization is expected to unite and mobilize the natives of the
Southern regions of Somalia, who are under inhumane occupation. The membership of this
organization is open to anyone who is either a native of southern Somalia or who strongly
opposes slavery and clan occupation regardless of tribe, and ethnic background.
The participants are also
pleased to announce the successful completion of the 1st Annual Conference of
the "Southern Somalia Union – (SSU)” of North America and we sincerely hope
that the resolutions adapted here today will go a long way to resolve the conflict in our
homeland in general and southern Somalia in particular.
In this press release, we, the
SSU would like to make clear our position regarding the current situation in Southern
Somalia and other issues that have been recently in the news, which we consider to be
detrimental to the natives of the Southern Somalia.
We categorically reject the
number of seats allocated to the Banadiri community in the newly formed administration of
Mogadishu and strongly condemn all the warlords and politicians who are united together to
oppress and refute the rights of our people.
We consider the illegal
administration of Lower Shabelle created by Abdi Qassim and now led by Yussuf Inda Cadde
and the “The Juba Valley Alliance” led Barre Hiiraale and Yussuf Seeraar, as
enslavers who use force and other acts of intimidation and barbarism to control these
regions. These “administrations” have imposed political and economic slavery on
the regions and have ethnically cleansed vast areas of Benadir, Lower Shabelle, Jubba and
Gedo.
We request all governments,
international organizations, and individuals who fund the NGOs presently operating in the
occupied territories to immediately suspend their financial assistance and support to
those NGOs. We believe that these NGOs are directly and indirectly providing financial
resources used to perpetuate the occupation and slavery of the indigenous peoples of
southern Somalia.
We request the United Nations
and international Human Right organizations to investigate all kinds of abuses and other
human rights violations occurring in southern Somalia.
We call upon the Transitional
Federal Government of Somalia to immediately halt all forms of contacts and negotiations
with the warlords in the occupied territories. We consider these contacts as unhelpful to
the Somali reconciliation process and a tacit recognition of their illegal
administrations.
We call upon all countries,
companies and individuals who trade with the warlords in southern Somalia to immediately
halt all their business relations, co-operations and transactions with the said warlords
and their henchmen.
We urge all the international
environmental organizations to intervene and help us to stop the environmental devastation
occurring in the occupied territories due to the indiscriminate chopping of trees for
charcoal and the insensitivity of the Middle Eastern countries who import charcoal from
Somalia. We also condemn the dumping of toxic wastes in the coastal areas of Somalia.
We urge all peace loving
Somalis to join our peaceful struggle to liberate the people of southern Somalia and to
help us foster peace and democracy in our homeland.
We declare our opposition and
strongly condemn the recent dialogue and the conspiracy agreement between Mohamed Dheere
and Indha Cadde, the two warlords who control Middle Shabelle and Lower Shabelle,
respectively. We consider the dialogue and the subsequent agreements between these two
warlords as a grand conspiracy hatched against the natives of southern Somalia.
We strongly condemn the acts
of barbarism committed against the people of Gedo, especially the recent destruction of
“Ceelwaaq” and the displacement of its residents by “Jubba Valley Alliance”.
We hereby voice our
opposition to the mechanics of implementing the recently proposed “Joint Needs
Assessment” for Somalia. We believe that its implementation according to the
announced designs is another way through which the international donor funds are being
used to perpetuate domination of certain groups by others. We call upon the UN and the
World Bank to immediately suspend the implementation of the JNA project pending
that it stays transparent, inclusive and its main objectives remains unchanged.
We call upon all the natives
of Southern Somalia and other peace loving Somalis to join the SSU and campaign against
the ferocious occupation and slavery in the south.
Secretary General of SSU
Eng. Abdulkadir Khalif
Khalif8888@hotmail.com
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