Different perspectives on Somalia. Part III.

Director, Why is my name in the middle of the list?

In front of Ministry's main entrance: from L to R-front row: 2nd Amb. A.F.Ismail,3rd PS Amb. A.M.Adan Qaybe,4th Minister of State Dr. M.A.Hamud, 5th Minister Dr. Jama Barre,6th Deputy Minister H.E. K.M.Samantar,7th Amb. F.I.Bihi.

Once we used to have diplomatic warriors….  

This is part III of the reflections of a former diplomat and a friend of mine who after many years decided to share with me some of the interesting experiences he encountered while working for the Somali Foreign Affairs Ministry (FAM) and during his diplomatic career.

My Friend Hussein* told me that… in his own words

Misunderstandings and different perspectives in the workplace are possibilities that are bound to occur among employees one way or the other. If such a situation happens, then work-related issues between colleagues should be resolved frankly and respectfully, taking into consideration each person’s position, rank, and area of responsibility. This following event happened while I was engaged in the preparation for the program of the forthcoming visit of the delegation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Djibouti the late Mumin Bahdon Farah to Somalia in the early eighties.   

When a Foreign dignitary whose title reaches Foreign Minister or higher than that, like a prime minister, president, or king is about to pay an official visit to Somalia, it was customary for the Protocol Office to prepare a written program beforehand. Drafting the itinerary for the guest, names of the welcoming officials to be written in order of importance, list of formal meetings and activities of the delegation during their stay, destinations to be visited and so on so forth is an important function that requires attention to details. And then finally printing it to become a documented book written in at least three languages was not an easy job, considering the manpower and facilities that were at our disposal at the time. 

The chief of Protocol who asked me to prepare the program for the Djiboutian Minister handed me a handwritten letter showing the names of the welcoming officials of our FAM,  he wrote this himself by hand. Beginning at the top of the list was the late Minister- H.E. Abdirahman J.Barre, followed by Minister of State H.E. Mohamed A. Hamud, then the late Permanent Secretary - Ambassador Hashi A. Farah, then the late Director of Arab Department who was  Ambassador Abdirahman F. Ismail, Chief of Protocol  Ambassador Abdilhamid A.Yusuf, Director of African Department Mrs.Faduma Issac Bihi, Director of Economic Department Mr. Mohamed Sh. Hassan, the late Director of Europe & American Department, Mr. Hussein M. Bullaleh, the late Director of International Organizations, Mr. Maye M.Dhere, Director of Asia & Socialist countries Department, Mr. Said H.Mohamud Farah,  Director of Information & Public Relations Department, the late Mr.  Abdi Awale, Deputy Chief of Protocol: the Late Mr. Ismail J. Hayow, Deputy Director of Arab Department: Mr.  Abdulkadir Amin, and so on and so forth. 

After preparing the complete draft of the Program in Somali and English which I personally did, I took a copy to the Arab Department to let them translate it into Arabic before sending it to the Printing Agency to finally publish the book. But apparently, the Director of the African Department, whose office was located just opposite the Arab Department, saw the draft and thought that her name should have come forward in the list of welcoming officials since the guest was coming from the continent of Africa, & she was the head of African desk in the FAM after all, which might be in a sense rightly so. 

Now let me take a moment here first before we proceed because this may seem to a lot of people it doesn’t make sense for anyone to question or even argue about where a name should appear on a list, whether that be at the top, in the middle or at the bottom. But the protocol is protocol and one should not be surprised about these matters, however, trifling it may seem to others. 

But instead of taking the matter appropriately with the Chief of Protocol, she raised the issue directly with me ( a Junior Officer ) while I was collecting the translated draft from Arab Affairs Department, demanding why I put her name where it shouldn’t be. I strongly protested and told her that I was only doing my duty and if she did not agree with the way the program is written, then she should rightly speak with her colleague and my superior – the Chief of Protocol, which was the proper way to solve the issue. 

When I returned back to my desk and realizing of the absence of Chief of Protocol from his office, I at once told a colleague of mine Mrs. Dahabo Omar Mohamed and the Deputy Chief of Protocol of the situation, and he immediately informed the Permanent Secretary about the African Director’s opposition to the orderly list of the Somali FAM for the welcoming of the Djiboutian Minister, seeking the Permanent Secretary’s input and guidance before sending the draft program to be printed. 

The Permanent Secretary, may his soul rest in peace, confirmed that Protocol Department was in fact in charge of this or any other program that has to do with welcoming delegations to the country, clarifying each Department has its responsibilities and duties, and no interferences should be allowed. And we proceeded with printing the booklet for the Djiboutian delegation. This is really another testament of how the conduct of some government offices was in the eighties and it’s gratifying to know that once there was at least a functioning system in place in Somalia. 

Hussein M Mohamed and I went to Casa Popolare Primary School, Hodan, Mogadishu in the 1970s. And later on, we were the first and second students who were admitted to the faculty of Journalism where he graduated and joined the Somali FAM. He continued to serve the country as a diplomat, but I left and continued my studies at Monash University in Australia and may rapidly add not on a Somali government scholarship! We are now working on a book about Somali Foreign Affairs, stay tuned.

Hussein M Mohamed can be contacted via hmm@somaliaaway.com