News
Author vs warlord: Jubaland’s ‘governor-in-waiting’
Posted Sunday, October 30 2011 at 18:20
If the Kenyan military incursion succeeds and the port of Kismayu is captured, the next item on the agenda will be choosing a man to put in charge of the liberated area that is likely to become the semi-automous state of Jubaland.
Will it be the prolific author and French educated PhD Dr Mohammed Abdi Gandi or the former warlord Sheikh Ahmed Mohammed Islam, known also as Sheikh Ahmed Madobe?
It is widely held within the intelligence community in the region that the choice of either is of great interest to two regional powers, Kenya and Ethiopia.
Gandi, who is a former minister of defence of Somalia, and the current “president of Azania” (Jubaland) is said to be the candidate favoured by the Kenyan intelligence establishment. He is based in Kenya and is also said to be a favourite with the French.
Nicknamed “Gandi,” Mohammed hails from the Ogaden sub-clan of the Darod, which is prevalent in Kenya and Ethiopia.
The choice of Gandi is said to make Addis Ababa uncomfortable, largely because of the notion that he could harbour the territorial ambitions of his people to carve out an Oromia super-state that unites the Oromo population in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.
Ethiopia’s ambassador to Kenya Shemsudin Ahmed however, says that his people know Gandi well and they have a good working relationship. Ethiopia also supports Kenya’s military incursion.
He said that Ethiopia’s worry is foreign powers such as Eritrea that have in the past supported Oromo insurgents.
Gandi holds PhD degrees in geology and anthropology and history.
A former research scientist at the IRD in Paris, Gandi was awarded an International Baccalaureate Diploma. He also served as a senior programme advisor of UNDP Somalia in disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR).
An active participant in the Somali peace process, Gandi was lead consultant in an initiative called “Mapping the Somali Civil Society.” He also chaired the Technical Committee at the Arta Somali Peace process that took place in Arta, Djibouti, as well as being a member of the Somali civil society at the Somali Peace and Reconciliation Conference that was held in Kenya.
An accomplished author, Gandi has published eight books in addition to more than 40 scientific articles in various academic journals.
In February 2009, Gandi was appointed Somalia’s minister of defense by the nation’s then head of government, prime minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke. He held the position until November 2010.
In April 2011, the new autonomous region in southern Somalia referred to as Azania (formerly Jubaland), was formed and Gandi took over as its first president. Gandi’s first stated policy initiative is to remove the Al Shabaab group of militants from the territory.
Ras Kamboni
Sheikh Ahmed Madobe is the chairman of the Ras Kamboni movement. As a member of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) he was governor of Kismayu in 2006.
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Really?abdirisak1.And each clan would field its own candidate and if he(it can never be a she). loses,the losers declare themselves warlods and the civil war begins(again).
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This is why most of us oppose to any foreign intervention either through peacekeeping or through perusing Shabab, the hidden hand is quite clear to us and we know what Kenya wants to achieve this incursion is to further divide the somali people and rule them as minor autonomous states. this in not gonna work, whoever is to rule kismayo has to be selected by our people and elders through our tribal means.
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