Remembering Abdirisak H. Hussein

February 2, 2014

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