Ibrahim Elmi Warsame who was a lifelong human rights advocate was born on 1936 in Eil – the oldest city of the Nugal region of Puntland which also was one of the strongest fortresses of Sayid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan’s gallant Dervishes. That time was only a year before the colonial troops of General Graziani of the fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia from Walwal frontier (Eastern corner of Hawd and Reserved Area) on Feb. 22, 1935.The inhabitants of Eil refused to take part in that aggression. It was also 11 years after the Fascist Italian Navy bombarded Eil and ruined to ashes on April 24, 1925.Ibrahim completed his Quranic and primary
education in Eil of the then Majertenia Sultanate (Nugal region of today) and he later moved to Kismayo of southern Somalia where he joined the Vanguards of Somali Youth League on 1952. He was detained, tortured and then extradited to Bosaso of then Majertenia Sultanate’s seat (Bari of today) after participating most of the famous battles of Kismayo independence movements that were waged by SYL against the brutality of the colonial rule.After some of the leading figures of SYL betrayed the objectives of independence principles founded for SYL and it became infested and infiltrated with anti-independence opportunists, Ibrahim left SYL and joined Somali Greater League (Somalis known as Gareed), which later transformed to be the Somali Democratic Union (SDU). He continued his struggle for the noble cause of freeing Somalia and took part in its numerous and multifold demonstrations and peaceful protests against the UN-Trusteeship but disguised colonial rule.After Somalia attained its independence on mid 1960, Ibrahim joined the movement of Somali Labor Unions (Syndicates) and he had tirelessly fought for the rights of Somalia’s young workforce for achieving an equal opportunity and social justice for all during those 9 years of the then nascent civilian but corrupted administration of Somalia (1960-69).After the Somalia’s armed forces overthrew the civilian government, Ibrahim became among the benevolent supporters of the new rule. Of course he didn’t have enough experience of military rule and he was sad about how the corrupted civilian government disappointed the aspirations of those who fought for the independence. He took his higher education and leadership courses at both inside Somalia and abroad in the yrs (1970-75).He then held many leadership positions in Somalia’s Interior Ministry on the years 1975-90 such as: Deputy Mayor of Kismayo(1975-76), Mayor of Gabiley – a district of the northwest region of Somalia (1976-83), Regional Governor of Sanag – northeastern tip of Somalia (1983-86) and the Regional Governor of Lower Shabelle (1986-91) since the collapse of Somalia’s central government on January 26, 1991.Ibrahim was a great husband and caring father, and was loved by his colleagues of the work place and the people of the districts and regions he served, but since he was against all kinds of violence, corruption, nepotism, tribalism and partiality as well as the newly spreading Islamic Fundamentalist Extremists (the neo-fascists disguised in Islam) who were and still are the enemies of social justice and gender equality, the falsifiers of Islam and anti-Islam manslaughters ( because Islam is a religion of peaceful co-existence, harmony, tolerance, forgiveness and it values the lives of human being), the invaders of human rights, manipulators or misleaders of women and children, the social chauvinists of our era, the anarchists and inhumane marauders who had devastated Somalia and other countries, so of course, he might have enemies in his country where Al-Qa’eda runs most of Somalia’s money laundering mafia network, drugs and weapons/ammunitions smuggling chains and warlords led blood sucking companies. These anti-Islam bloodthirsty anarchists kill thousands of Somalia’s medical doctors, engineers, educators, human rights activists, university students and all other dignified and civic leaders.Ibrahim had been once kidnapped from Gabiley by a dissident militia group on May 1978 and was freed by the then Somalia’s strong Commandos after 4 days of a bloody and fearsome snipping captivity. That was only of his personal opinion against wars.A younger brother of Ibrahim – a Navy captain Abdisalam Elmi Warsame was hanged by the dictatorial regime of Somalia onOct. 26, 1978 with other 16 highly educated intellectuals and young army officers after they tried to lead an aborted social uprising for a democratic change of Somalia held on April 9, 1978 ..Another younger brother of Ibrahim – a Navy Lieutenant Omar Elmi Warsame was heinously murdered by the tribal militia thugs of the infamous and warmonger General Mohamed Farah Aideed on July 1992 in Kismanyo of Southern Somalia.A third younger brother of his – Mohamed Elmi Warsame was savagely beheaded by the Islamist villains who were terrorizing Somalia on 2004 in the middle regions of the war ravaged Somalia. Over 23 male relatives of Ibrahim were assassinated by either Al-Shabab or Hizbul Islam terrorist organizations who both are affiliated in Al-Qa’ida during the last 6 years. At there, people are executed because of their personal opinions and those who are affiliated in the minority sub-clans of Somalia like that of Ibrahim’s are the most vulnerable, because no revenge is feared. Their extermination is planned.These gruesome situations compelled Ibrahim’s sons and most of his male relatives to escape to the neighboring countries of Somalia such as: Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania because of their fear of being executed or barbarically beheaded by the terrorist murderers who are roaming in every district of the civil war crippled Somalia.Ibrahim’s former wife and their children left Somalia on 1986 before the collapse of Somalia’s despotic central government, but Ibrahim was denied to get a passport to travel with his family and was left behind, so, he later married Laila Hersi Qalinle onMarch 1987. Laila gave birth to her first daughter on early 1988. She went back to Gabiley (her birth place) on May 1989 intending to visit her family while she was pregnant of her second child.Somali National Movement “SNM”, a dissident armed organization that fought against that regime invaded the northern part of Somalia on 27th of May 1988. A year later, Gabiley (where Laila went) was then mercilessly bombarded and ruined to debris by the then dictatorial armed thugs and mercenary aircrafts. Laila and her daughter were among the lucky survivors who fled to their neighboring Ethiopia. She gave birth to her second child (a boy) under an acacia tree of Dibile village (on the eastern edge of Ethiopia) without being assisted by any human attendance, while many of her family members, close relatives and friends were either mass raped (including her while pregnant), abducted for molesting and mutilating females and males were appallingly massacred in their presence, some of the exodus fleeing people starved to death on their exhausted run for safety or were gruesomely devoured by carnivorous animals.Then, Ibrahim began searching for Laila and kids and his former wife and their children for four months but forgave at last where he thought that Laila and kids (he only knew of the daughter) were either buried under the rubbles of the devastated Gabiley, or were among those collected in concentration like camps and murdered by the genocidal villains of the military regime. He returned back to Somalia in vain and bare handed.On January 26, 1991, the central government of Somalia’s dictatorial regime collapsed and a clan based sort of social animosity began in the southern part of the country. That unexpected social animosity and civil strife was perpetrated by the infamous war monger General Mohamed Farah Aideed and his clannish oriented militia marauders (USC). So, Ibrahim left again Mogadishu and escaped to the further south where he reached into the Refugee Camps of Kenya without knowing the whereabouts and state of life of neither his former wife and her children, nor the new one (Laila) and her two infants.With the help of the International Red Cross, Ibrahim left Kenya and returned back to the northeast regions of Somalia (Puntland of today) on Dec. 1993. He stayed there alone for several years distressed. Then he married Faduma Farah Adenon mid 1995.At the end of 1996, Laila and her two children unexpectedly appeared alive or say it -were found in one of the Ethiopian refugee camps. They were moved to the Northeast region of Somalia (Puntland State of Somalia today) where Ibrahim was resettled. It is a common practice and religiously lawful to have such polygamy in Islam, so Ibrahim began to sustain on that circumstances obligated kind of life and raised his 12 kids from both Laila with 7 and Faduma with 5. Most of his grown up children migrated into the neighboring East African states. I know Saida Ibrahim Elmi Warsame had made to enter United States of America and now live in Las Vegas with her husband.Ibrahim became a co-founder of Puntland State of Somalia on August 1, 1998. He was chosen as a member of its 66 parliament body. He is remembered of his unreserved compassion to the needy and being a peace maker, mediator of tribal based conflicts or people says it – an anchor for conflicts resolution, a role model and real leader of the Puntland Parliament where the position he vacated will never be filled, a guru of good governance, a civic leader of the community, a human rights activist, an advocate for social justice and a resourceful figure of the political and socio-cultural processes that Puntland underwent during its existence. He was beloved by all sectors of the society except the bloodthirsty terrorist ruffians and their brain washed killing squads of the cursed Somalia.Ibrahim was cold-bloodedly assassinated on Nov.5, 2009 by Al- Shabab contactors as the President of Puntland State of Somalia Dr. Abdirahman Sheik Mohamed stated in his press conference on that episode. Among the next targets of the Al-Shabab International Terrorists are his bereaved children and widowed wives who are still moaning there helplessly. So, an International effort of saving the lives of these humans is inevitable before it becomes too late. We do request from the USA and UN to extend a life saving hand to the bereaved wives and children of Ibrahim Elmi Warsame.
Professor Abdulwali Sheik Abdullahi
Somali historian,
Somali scholar
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