Guban View: “Ismail Omar Guelleh, the Djibouti Dictator, Is No Ally to Somaliland
Lewis Center, Ohio-The little dictator of the tiny African state Djibouti, Ismail Omar Guelleh, also known as IOG, is hosting this week the newly elected president of Somaliland, Abdirahman Cirro. IOG and his surrogates were behind a blatant intervention in the 2024 Somaliland presidential election. His effort and money have paid off, as the Manchurian candidate, Cirro, won the election after defeating the Ultra-nationalist Colonel Muse Bihi.
The Djibouti dictator has a vested interest in the political outcome of Somalia’s conflict. He deployed his own troops in Somalia, under the auspices of the African Union Mission (AMISOM), to back one faction or clan of that perpetual war, just for one reason: to recreate Somalia, including Somaliland as a part of it.
Doing so, he believes, would benefit the economic and political interests of his police state. He is scared of a free, democratic, and debt-free Somaliland becoming the economic and logistical hub of the Horn of Africa.
IOG has been misruling the impoverished country since 1999 through security state apparatuses, government-run propaganda, and restricting or shutting down the media. IOG uses the police, the revenue agency, and the courts as a vehicle to racketeer and extort money from business communities and to eliminate or even shut down those whom he deems enemies of the state.
Nowadays, in overt and subtle ways, OIG has succeeded in having influence in Somaliland. He’s using extortion to lure greedy merchants, unscrupulous politicians, and dishonest clan elders to undermine Somaliland’s independence. He’s also using access to banking services, a passport, and now even broadband internet services as leverage against Somaliland. Some of the Djibouti Banks have become a haven for the corrupt Somali politicians and rapacious merchants to launder their ill-gotten money. Many Somaliland faith, business, and political leaders are traveling with a Djibouti passport.
For instance, he appointed Mohamed Aw-said, a used cloth vendor turned communication operator, as his internet provider for Somaliland. But there are reports that they went their separate ways because of conflict over how to share the spoils of the internet profit, or disputes over different transactions. By some estimates, IOG and his wife receive a whopping profit from Somaliland internet services alone.
Right away, IOG has recruited the greedy merchant, Dhiigshiil Group, which opened a bank a few years in Djibouti, to replace Mr. Aw-Said as the agent of the internet provider for Somaliland. IOG is treating Somaliland and its leaders like a region of Djibouti because Somaliland’s corrupt politicians and shady merchants are doing his bidding.
Why is our government relying on our vital communications link with a small country led by a despot that considers Somaliland a region of unstable Somalia?
We are so fed up with the endless catering to this belligerent, greedy bully. What is wrong with the Somaliland leadership?
It is obvious our leaders are putting the profit of the greedy merchants over our national security. This is very troubling.
Some Somaliland people, especially young generations, who were born after 1991, did not know the shady background of IOG .
But here are some of the facts that we want to share with them: Djibouti, a former French Somaliland, has only had two presidents since its independence in 1977 from France. In fact, IOG, a former intelligence officer, was a handpicked successor of his uncle, Hassan Guleid Aptidon, the first president of Djibouti. Hassan Aptidon was born in the hot coastal Guban region of Somaliland.
The Djibouti regime had hosted numerous peace conferences for Somalia’s rival factions after the fall of the authoritarian Somali military regime in 1991. None of those conferences produced any tangible results, except for more division, more conflicts, and terrorism. Peace and stability in Somalia still are elusive because all of those peace talks were a sham.
IOG and his uncle had also collaborated with Siad Barre’s violent campaign to crush the Isaaq people yearning for freedom in northern Somalia, in a quid pro quo deal involving cash and promises of economic support from the Siad Barre regime. There was an agreement between Siad Barre and Djibouti to develop oil and Gas wells in the Salel region, near Ceel-Gaal village, and to export it through the Djibouti port in the 1980s.
Part of that quid pro quo—the Somali Commercial Bank Branch in Djibouti provided IOG and his henchmen with millions of loans to open businesses and to build luxury villas along the beach. In fact, in 1988, IOG alone got a 700 million Djibouti franc ( $5 million) loan in which he used to build the presidential villa that he’s living in now, in the ‘Haramous’ neighborhood.
None of the millions that were looted from the Somali bank were accounted for or recovered
In 1988, IOG, as the head of Security police, allegedly denied refugees, including Djibouti citizens, fleeing from slaughter of Siad Barre troop in northern Somalia, for a safe haven because they were of the Issaq clan. .IOG’s malice actions, the lives of many innocent people were cut short.
After the fall of the Somali despot, Siad Barre, the Djibouti regime waged a campaign to undermine the peace and reconciliation initiatives led by the victorious Somali National Movement (SNM). He organized Issa clan militias and the remnants of Siad Barre troops to destabilize Salel region, for the purpose to control the Chevron oil wells.
Moreover, on March 1995, there were credible allegations that IOG operatives were responsible for the assassination of Somaliland Justice Minister, Abdillahi Giire Robleh aka “Jeex” (Issa), in Hargeisa, who was supporting President Egal’s efforts to restore peace and stability in Salel region.
For the record, most of Issa traditional elders and communities inside Somaliland were supportive and provided sanctuary for SNM fighters during the civil war. But after the victory over the tyrant, our leaders have abandoned them to pander to Gada-Buursi votes. As a result, they lost their ancestral homeland—-Salel region because of the land grab orchestrated by Vice President Zaylici. This is unacceptable, and we must reverse it
We should also understand the person that we’re dealing with in the first place: IOG is a greedy, arrogant bully, and hoarding money by any means is his passion. All of his relationships are based on transactions. He is in debt to communist China, which is taking over the crown jewel of his port, the Doralah Container Terminal.
Most of the media in Somaliland that promulgate the IOG’s propaganda have become so corrupt to report his horrendous record or to write any report critical of him.
But we have concluded that the little Djibouti dictator, IOG, is not Somaliland’s friend. He has no decency or respect for his fellow countrymen or his neighbors.
The only way to stop the extortion of OIG in Somaliland is to hold our corrupt politicians and to boycott greedy merchants, who are doing his bidding. It is also time for our leaders to put our national interest before profit, and to defend and protect our hard-fought freedom and independence from the blatant assault and interference by IOG and his apologists
Ali-Guban Mohamed
Editor, Gubanmedia.com
Covering the Horn of Africa Region
