The Somali Peninsula

Hassan Keynan Becoming an American citizen through naturalization requires taking the Oath of Allegiance, loudly. The first part of the Oath of Allegiance reads, “ I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen. ” Mr. Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo did exactly that when he took the  Oath of Allegiance  and became a US citizen some 30 years ago. On 8 February 2017, he was elected President of the Federal Republic of Somalia. President Farmaajo is not alone. His administration is packed with diaspora Somalis holding dual citizenship, who returned from Europe, North America, and Australia. Diaspora Somalis from these continents represent less than 30 percent of the estimated 2 million Somali immigrants abroad; and about 5 percent of the total Somali population.  However, politically they dispropor...

Your Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, I write to you to deliver a message from the besieged people of Jubbaland, Somalia. Have you heard about the brutal blockade imposed on the people of Jubaland by the rogue Mogadishu-based government that misgoverns my country with your backing and blessing? Has the news of the human tragedy unfolding in the Jubbaland State of Somalia reached you? What have the poor and vulnerable people of Jubaland done to you and your country to deserve such savage and egregious assault on their humanity and dignity in the hands of the proxies of the Al-Thani ruling family in Mogadishu? Your Highness, Since the imposition of the blockade on your country by your Arab neighbors and former allies two years ago, you and your envoys have been going around the world to protest against the decision by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt to punish and isolate your country. You have even spent a fortune to procure the servic...

A beautiful tyranny misnamed partnership The relationship To which we are wedded Is a beautiful tyranny Misnamed partnership. Our partnership Is a partnership of unequal partners Of unequal powers and unequal   opportunities A partnership honeycombed With labyrinths of genteel deception, division and exclusion. In our partnership One party represents An imperial order of unprecedented sway   and intrigue Into whose hegemonic bosom The other is conveniently entombed. In our partnership One party is the source, centre and   symbol Of all knowledge, civilisation and salvation The other a mere consumer Of   high culture and QUIPs [1] . We are stakeholders in a bizarre covenant That folds enslavement In intoxicating benevolence and grace Our partnership is afflicted with saintly inhumanity. In the cold mathematics of our   partnership Our par...