By Omar Mohamoud Mohamed
Abdirisak
Haji Hussein Hassan Atosh was born in the Ethiopian-Occupied Haud area
of Somalia c. 1924. He came to Mogadishu, then the capital of Fascist
colony of Italian Somaliland, in 1939. He attended a night elementary
school and worked for a living during the day. He joined the British
army in 1942 following the British Military occupation in Italian
Somaliland after the war. In 1947 he left the British Army at the rank
of corporal and joined the Somali Youth League – a political
organization fighting for the Freedom, Independence and Unity of all the
Somali lands. On the assumption of the Italian Trusteeship in 1950, he
was detained as a political prisoner because he was opposed to the
return of Italy in Somaliland. After his release from prison he was
elected to the President of the Somali Youth League. In 1957 Abdirisak
H. Hussein become the first president of the newly established Somali
University Institute in Mogadishu a position he held up until 1959 when
he was elected a member of the Somali National Assembly. At the Somali
Republic’s independence he was appointed Interior Minister; and then
following the Government reshuffle in November 1962 he became Minister
of Public Works and Communications. Abdirisak was again elected member
of the National Assembly in the 1964 General Election. The President of
the Republic Aden Abdulle Osman appointed Honarable Abdirisak Haji
Hussein Prime Minister and invited him to form a government.
In
a press conference, the new Prime Minister accepting the invitation
said, “ I will make an attempt, and if it goes the way I want, very
well; otherwise I will resign and give back the honour and the
responsibility invested in me…”
Mr. Hussein was always opposed to
the policy of tribal balance inherent in the minds of the Somali public.
He selected a cabinet based, in his view, on merit but not on clan
balance.
He addressed the cabinet and justified his actions: “I
chose and appoint you as members of the cabinet to run this country on
the basis of the ability, qualifications and merits of each one of you,
since these are the conditions required for the government to function
and prove its capabilities to the Somali nation…. It is, I believe,
notorious throughout the Somali Republic that once a man becomes a
minister, he works for self-interest and ambitions, and for his clan,
relatives or constituents. This is irrefutable and all Somalis are
aware that there is tribalism in the Somali Republic today, deeply
entrenched tribalism fomented by men working for their own interests.
Our duty today is to show to all Somalis how we shall stomp out
tribalism…”
The law and regulations must be above us, since the
government – and everyman, no matter what position he holds – must
respect and work under the law. If we do this, then there is no doubt
that we shall succeed and become a good government and men popular with
the masses.
I ask you to declare to me personally and in writing all the property
you own before you assume office. This measure would give the public
confidence that the government is not working for self-interest, nor
that the ministers are disposing of public funds for their own interests
or ambitions, but that they are loyal men working for the nation.”
In
the 1967 Presidential Election a new President was elected. President
Abdiraship Ali Sharmarke appointed a new Prime Minister – Mohamed Haji
Ibrahim Egal. TheNew Government took a policy of détente with its Kenyan neighbour and
signed the Arusha Declaration. Abdirizak felt that the Somali Youth
League policy of “Freedom, Independence and Unity of all the Somali
lands” was betrayed. He left the Somali Youth League and formed a
Political Party popularly known as DABKA. He was elected in the 1969
General Elections as member of the National Assembly for the third time.
He remained an opposition throughout the Abdirashid-Egal
administration.
The Military Government that overthrew the Egal
Government in October 1969 imprisoned him together with the civilian
government members for three years. In 1973 he was released and
appointed Somali Ambassador to the United Nations in New York. He fell
out with the policy of the Revolutionary Government’s leanings to the
Eastern Block and defected. He joined the different opposition groups to
the Military Regime in the 1980’s and 1990’s. He returned to Somalia
after the fall of Siyad Barre in 1991 to broker a peace between the
fighting factions. He attended and co-chaired the Djibouti Peace
Conference of 1991. Abdirisak H. Hussein as always opposed to tribal
power sharing because he warned, and rightly, that tribalism led Somalis
by subtle dissensions to distrust one another. The Peace Conference
failed and so were many more.
In his last speech at the gathering
of the Somali Elders in Istanbul, Turkey in the summer of 2012,
Abdirizak Haji Hussein stressed the view that “the interests of the
Nation is more higher than those of the tribe or clan; that Nationality
is more than the petty concerns of the Region or Regional Government.”
ALLAH, we beg you to bless Abdirisak Haji Hussein Hassan Atosh
Omar Mohamoud Mohamed
Email:omoha@hotmail.com
Email:omoha@hotmail.com
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