Abdullahi Ahmed Damur, one of the top aides of Chairman Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi ‘Irro’ of Waddani, sharply blamed the government of Musa Bihi Abdi for neglecting to solve the problem of deserters led by Lt. Colonel Arre.
Mr. Damur argued that the Kulmiye government could have easily stemmed a budding problem along with the rest of the El Afgwein conflict, but it did not.
“The Kulmiye government insisted that Lieutenant Arre’s desertion and active insubordination was a matter for the law to resolve,” he said.
Mr. Damur believes otherwise. “The Arre problem was part of the El Afwein conflict package, and it should have been treated as such,” he said.
Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Arre deserted the army as area deputy commander to join his clan fighting a related clan in the El Afwein area.
Not only the government but most of sane Somaliland argued that the government would set a bad, incorrigible example if it reinstated an army officer who callously left his command and objectivity in a civil conflict. He is accused of the horrible murder of an underage boy whom he pulled out of his mother’s protective lap and stabbed to death and a very old man – the last two killed in the name of his tribe.
Colonel Arre, since then, sought an operational base from Puntland which granted him in a place near Qardho – 240 miles southeast of Erigavo.
Mr. Damur chose not to chastise the Colonel for the treason he committed, instead, his words may further be construed as tacit encouragement.
Mr. Damur, on another level, called the residents of Erigavo, who happen to be Waddani’s supporters, not to compromise the country’s peace and stability by threatening active violence and insubordination.
“Peace and stability are the only reliable, marketable national commodities we have. I ask the people of Erigavo and adjacent areas not to put that in jeopardy,” he said.
