by Abdi-Noor Mohamed
Thursday, July 15, 2010
In the wake of the Kampala twin attacks on 11 June 2010, Mogadishu came under intese fire possibly as a retaliation to what the terrorists have done in Uganda since Al-Shabaab, the Al-qaeda affiliate of Islamic insurgents have claimed responsibility of the Kampala explosions. The paradox is that in both attacks, the Kampala massacre and the Mogadishu rockets, innocent civilians were murdered. Those who have the fight between them are safe. The people of the two nations, Uganda and Somalia are paying the price of their greed for money and power. We live in a crazy world ruled by crazy leaders. I wonder if Africa has the people with a power to change.
We look things from a perspective of race, religion, fake ideology etc and not from an angle of humanity in the wider context of African and global solidarity. Terrorism as we know is a breath of fire which is blown from the depths of hell. Counter terrorism could be employed as a measure to tackle the spreading terror network in the world but that noble initiative should not be used as a pretext to take revenge from defenseless civilians. If a terrorist attacks and you respond with a similar attack then both of you are terrorists, no matter under whose command you are acting. I seldom ask myself: Is this a war on terror or a war of terror. Please share this with me:
Terrorists and counter-terrorists
They are sworn enemies to each other
Each one plots the other in the dark
But no one wants the other to exit
Each one wants to eliminate the other
But without one the other can’t exist
In the shallow river of war on terror
They both wield swords to fight a war
Above the water they shoot each other
But under the water they create each other
The best way tackle this problem is to change the mind of the would-be terrorist, the teenager who was born in the war and who has no future other than war. But before we embark on how to change the mind of this teenager, let us first look at how his mind works.
2. A Stateless Teenager turning a Terrorist
Avoiding to identify himself as a tribe
He goes to a self searching expedition
Departing from the confines of religion
He ends up on the precincts of tribe
Back from tribe he retraces his footsteps
Rising with the waves of illusive dreams
But ending up at the shores of extremism
Between religion and tribe he is torn apart
He has no guts to break chains with them
As he is loyal to both of them fairly equally
Unable to reconcile them to live in peace
He takes sanctuary in a dark chaotic shell
Where opposing forces hold him hostage
Till he frees himself with the bombs of terror
The solution of this problem is to get a state not the kind of TFG which is dictated from outside but one which has the authority and confidence to rule the nation with the power of the people.
Abdi-Noor Mohamed
Writer and Film maker
Sweden
[email protected]