Different perspectives on Somalia. Part VI
DEPARTURE OF SOVIET EMBASSY'S COUNSELLOR!
Once we used to have diplomatic warriors…. This is part VI 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 (FAM) and during his diplomatic career.
My Friend Hussein* told me the following… in his own words. Also, note I added a brief historical note at the end for the record to support the point he raised.
On one occasion in March 1983 while I was attending a reception, The Permanent Secretary, the Late Hashi A. Farah who was conversing with the Counsellor of the Embassy of the U.S.S.R. beckoned me and communicated in Somali asking me to be at the airport and help when the senior Soviet diplomat who was at the end of his tenure was leaving the country. I asked what the problem was, and then he explained what the issue was.
Apparently, the Soviet Counsellor was a bit wary that some security personnel may make his departure uneasy or unpleasant, as he himself once witnessed before a security officer asking bags belonging to a departing Russian diplomat be opened. According to the Soviet envoy, that diplomat stood his ground in that incident, but the fact that it happened was sufficient that there were officers operating in violation of Vienna convention acts and completely ignorant of their work responsibilities.
Of course, to ask an accredited diplomat to open and check his belongings is a matter which was not permitted by the Convention on diplomatic relations, and I, for one, never imagined it could happen here – in my own country - Somalia, nor did I ever hear or received a complaint to that effect before.
So, the FAM Permanent Secretary wanted to verify if such a situation actually exists in the airport terminal. The only authority we know who were in charge of checking the contents of passenger’s bags were customs officers, and they know and respect the diplomatic identity card of accredited diplomats very well.
When the time for his departure came, the Soviet Embassy informed me and I arrived separately at the terminal standing aside waiting in a corner. Embassy Local staff brought the bags to the desk of a customs officer, showing Counsellor’s diplomatic ID. The customs officer accepted, making ok marks on the bags. I was taken by surprise then after two plain clothes men who were allegedly from the security service, approached the customs desk, and asked to check the contents of the diplomat’s bags. I immediately intervened, produced my FAM ID card, saying I was protocol officer, and authoritatively told them that they have no right to do that as he has diplomatic immunity. They looked at each other surprised and astonished, perhaps didn’t expect me there and let his bags go, retreating from the scene, and the porter took the unopened bags to the Aeroflot airline counter and then through the bagging machine, while I was standing and the soviet diplomat with some of his colleagues were watching. When he got his boarding pass, I went to him, shook his hand, and said goodbye.
When I left the terminal, on my way back to the car, they followed and identified themselves to be from a section of the National Security of Somalia called in Somali ( Waaxda Lid-Xuuraanka). Then they began saying: Don’t you know this guy was from the Soviet Union Embassy? Don’t you know how badly they treat our diplomats in Moscow? Don’t you know how low our relations are with them now? Don’t you know the effort we are putting in daily to keep an eye on their movements outside, monitoring their contacts and whom they meet? Why on earth do you come and interfere in our work?
I responded that as far as we are concerned this man was an accredited diplomat and was entitled to diplomatic immunity. He represents a superpower country, he respects our national laws and he is not doing any activity which is incompatible with his diplomatic status, and for your information, our diplomats in Moscow are treated far better and we have no complaints whatsoever, inquiring how could they come to know our diplomat’s treatment in Moscow – do they work in the foreign office and received such a report themselves?
And finally, I touched where it hurts most, saying this Soviet Embassy could in fact complain about an incident like this if it ever happened - making a big deal and the consequences will no doubt be very severe for themselves or whoever sent them. And I left the airport after finishing my mission. When I returned back to the FAM building, I went straight to the then Permanent Secretary Mr. Hashi Abdalla, and related what happened at the airport. He thanked me, confirming I acted correctly and will inform the Minister of the incident itself to take immediate appropriate action and I resumed my protocol duties.
This incident clearly shows that even by this time, some government agencies were engaging in unlawful and unsolicited activities which could have far-reaching consequences to the country’s reputation as a whole. Why recruit such people to be security officers and why assign such sensitive duty without letting them know their boundaries. I am talking about early 1983, and no doubt one can sense the dire and difficult situation the country was in when on daylight, security personnel were openly asking diplomats, mind my words, accredited diplomats – to open their bags and check their personal effects. What will happen then to law-abiding ordinary citizens? Arrogance and ignorance of the security situation unquestionably existed in Somalia at that time, but the existence of diplomatic warriors who stood their ground, defending national dignity was a source of great joy and pride.
A brief historical note follows:
30 years ago Siad Barre left Mogadishu
I was in Wajid attending primary school when a thin mustached military captain walked into our shop and hit the table with his short army stick, shouting at my dad to close the shop immediately. It was in 1976, this arrogant captain was not only the military commander but was also the town commissioner and of course a member of the ruling tribal elite of those days.
That was my first lesson of power, its abuse, and the seeds of its mistrust were planted in my mind in my formative years. It was the same military commander who will lead the attack on a Somali city in the North many years later. How the Siad Barre military regime destroyed what the civilian government achieved from 1960-1969 is well documented and I have no interest in revisiting here. We live and learn and must move on. More on this will be covered in a book that will be published in late 2022
It has been 30 years ago since Siad Barre left Villa Somalia in a very complicated process that is hard to explain, suffice to say, the outcome of which in a long-winded way led Farmajo to be the Somali president. More on this soon.
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
Remarkable work!