With Puntland turning 22 in just a couple days, we must remember the reason our people created this state in the first place.

This first thread is dedicated to the state sponsored clan massacres of the Majeerteen clan by Siad Barre in 1978-1982.
#Puntland22 #PuntlandTurns22

Siad Barre's persecution against Majeerteen started when he came to power in 1969 with seizures of shops, job dismissals, withholding trading licenses, scholarships, & passports, as well as imprisonment, torture, & execution on trumped up charges or no charges at all. #Puntland22

From the Majeerteen & Hobyo Sultanates, to the creation of the SYL achieving Somali independence, to dominance of the short-lived democratic government that came after, throughout history, Majeerteen have been politically preeminent and were the clan Siad feared most.
#Puntland22

After being humiliated by Ethiopia in 1978, Siad Barre ordered the execution of 82 senior military officers for their opposition to his strategic blunders. A month later, a group of military officers attempted a coup. #Puntland22 #PuntlandTurns22

Rather than take on the entire military leadership, Siad Barre presented this as a "Majeerteen coup". 16 out of the 17 people executed were Majeerteen. The other 55 conspirators from other clans were quietly separated and imprisoned or acquitted.
#Puntland22 #PuntlandTurns22

In response to the "Majeerteen coup" that he himself had conjured, Siad Barre ordered the first state sponsored clan massacres in Majeerteen civilian centres.
#Puntland22 #PuntlandTurns22

The massacres were preceded by a speech in Gaalkacyo in which Ahmed Saleebaan Dafle, the head of the NSS and a Dhulbahante clansman, declared all Majeerteen as apostates and that it was halaal to loot, rape, and murder them.
#Puntland22 #PuntlandTurns22

The massacres of Majeerteen in 1978-1982 were directly orchestrated by Somaliland's current interior minister Mohamed Kaahin, Somaliland's current chief general Mohamed Nuuh Taani, as well as Dhagaweyne, Hassan Tanzania, and Ahmed Mire - all members of the Isaaq clan. #Puntland22

The massacres of Majeerteen civilians led to the formation of the first armed resistance group against Siad Barre's tyranny: the SSDF. However, the crackdown against Majeerteen only intensified.
#Puntland22 #PuntlandTurns22

Hundreds of Majeerteen military officers, civil servants, politicians, elders, scholars, students, businessmen, wadaads, & even women were sent to torture chambers, in Labaataan Jirow in Bay & Laanta Buur near Marka, or simply executed. #Puntland22 #PuntlandTurns22

Based off of information from undercover NSS agents, soldiers would go to suspected Majeerteen households at night in Mogadishu and arrest all of the men. This led to the first mass exodus of Somalis and is the reason why Majeerteen are among the oldest diaspora.
#Puntland22

Colonel Jama Ali Jama and Lawyer Bar-da'ad, both of the Majeerteen clan, were the longest serving political prisoners in Somali history and were recognized by Amnesty International as prisoners of conscience.
#Puntland22 #PuntlandTurns22

Siad Barre's torture was conducted by the NSS (National Security Service) and involved the tying of prisoners into a backbreaking position known as the "Mig", in addition to drowning, being tied in a sack, electrocution, rape, and squeezing of testicles with pliers. #Puntland22

In the "Accursed Days" of May-June 1979, Siad Barre's Red Berets carried out mass killings & rape in Mudug and Nugaal. They poisoned and destroyed water wells killing over 2,000 Majeerteen nomads. They looted 50,000 camels, 10,000 cattle, and 100,000 sheep and goats.
#Puntland22

Siad Barre used units of Jareerweyne Red Berets to rape Majeerteen women. They rounded up women and girls in trucks to rape them at their military camps.
#Puntland22 #PuntlandTurns22

Jama Mohamed Ghalib, commander of police in 1970-1984 admitted that non-combatant civilians were targeted. His quote, which I have attached, describes a sense of resentment against Majeerteen that is attributed to their preeminence in Somali history and politics. #Puntland22

In 1981, 25 students were arrested in Garowe on accusations of distributing anti-regime pamphlets. 10 were sentenced to death while the rest were given life imprisonment.
#Puntland22 #PuntlandTurns22

In Bari, Siad Barre's regime seized 20 commercial boats and banned all trade bringing the centuries old trade of Bari with the Arabian Peninsula to its knees. This caused a massive exodus from Majeerteen cities leaving them as ghost towns.
#Puntland22 #PuntlandTurns22

Schools and hospitals in Gaalkacyo, Garowe, Qardho, Iskushuban, Bosaso, Alula, Qandala, Bandar Beyla, Galdogob, Burtinle, Jariban and other districts were razed to the ground to deprive the people of basic services.
#Puntland22 #PuntlandTurns22

Entire communities fled their homes to escape persecution, especially in urban centres like Gaalkacyo and Garowe. Siad Barre vigorously enforced a decree that no Majeerteen was allowed to hold a position of authority in Mudug.
#Puntland22 #PuntlandTurns22

In June 1982, the SSDF retaliated by capturing Galdogob and Balanbale, Galgaduud. Siad Barre responded with a massive onslaught against civilians in Mudug, Nugaal, and Bari.
#Puntland22 #PuntlandTurns22

Siad Barre burned down 18 villages including Bacadweyn, Balibusle, Tuulo Jalam, Xarfo, Beyra, Gambarey, and Riig-oomane, planted land mines around main towns (many of which are in place today) and stole thousands more livestock.
#Puntland22 #PuntlandTurns22

Sources:
The Collapse of the Somali State: The Impact of the Colonial Legacy;
Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, 1994

Clan Cleansing in Somalia: The Ruinous Legacy of 1991;
Lidwien Kapteijns, 2012

Amnesty International Report 1979

Somalia: A Human Rights Disaster; Amnesty Int'l., 1992

This is the reason why Puntland is adamant on its autonomy and federalism. We have already lived through the nightmare of clan dominated centralization. Never again will we be controlled from Mogadishu.
#Puntland22 #PuntlandTurns22