The Somali Peninsula

Hassan Keynan Stories of inter- and intra-clan clashes abound in the SRS. The dispute is over territory and land. And often the dispute quickly metamorphoses into a bloody conflict, resulting in deaths and serious injuries. And the SRS’s security forces are routinely called to intervene and sort out the bloody mess. However, there is one specific clan which is taking over the whole region. It is the largest, most powerful and deadliest expansionist force in the SRS. The name of this clan is GARANWAA in Somali, which roughly means UNKNOWN. GRANWAA is aggressive, invasive, insidious, intrusive and inherently brutal. This colonial monster does not respect boundaries, regulations, environmental ethos, and customary traditions. It does not care about laws of war and Geneva Convention. It does not take prisoners. It extensively uses torture and enhanced and extreme interrogation and occupation techniques. No clan dares challenge the Garanwaa aggressor. And the Government is till fig...

Hassan Keynan For nearly thirty years, Somalia has existed in a suspended dystopian space outside the state-based system that defines and governs existing global order, earning it the notorious but well-deserved reputation of being the first and most enduring failed state. The reasons for this calamitous state of affairs are multiple, complex, and immensely variegated. However, none has probably been more potent and more consequential than what can be described as Mutually Assured Delusion (MAD). Simply stated, MAD refers to a deliberate and inherently duplicitous strategy to base all political negotiations and power-sharing formulas on clan affiliation and at the same time vehemently deny and denounce even the mere mentioning of clan identity in national politics. Everyone does it. Everyone knows it.   Yet all deny its existence and efficacy. Hence the phrase Mutually Assured Delusion (MAD). MAD is madness in the form of a cynical strategy invented and effectively deploy...

By Prof. Hassan Keynan The Ogaden Question (OQ) has been a constant and powerful dynamic in the complex historical processes that convulsed Abyssinia and its successor, Ethiopia. It has occupied this sensitive and inherently radioactive space in the turbulent geopolitical equation in the Horn of Africa for six centuries, with remarkable persistence and tenacity. It has informed and underpinned the nature and evolution of the Abyssinian/Ethiopian state, profoundly shaped the character and political culture of its architects and ruling class, and heavily influenced its external relations.   The Somali region in Ethiopia has been a heavily consequential factor in the epic struggles that convulsed the long history of the Horn Africa and profoundly influenced its convoluted and turbulent evolutionary trajectory since the 15 th century. It had played a pivotal role in the colossal confrontations between the formidable Adal State - anchored in the two ancient cities of...