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After four years of lies, distortions, half-truths and autocratic rule by the Farmaaja regime, it is now clear that our country is transitioning into a dictatorship rather than democracy or a peaceful transition of power. As I said before, the new dictatorship, like its predecessor, shall not be the so-called 'dictatorship of the proletariat' à la Marxist philosophy. It will be a clan dictatorship as long as Lewis's famous dictum remains supreme in Somalia - "the most all-pervasive element in politics remained the loyalty of the individual to his kin and clan."

We, in this campaign, were deeply saddened to learn of the deaths and injuries of innocent Somali people in yesterday's terrorist attack on Hotel Afrique near KM Four in Mogadishu. We strongly condemn their murder by al-Shabaab terrorists and offer sincere condolences to their families. General Mohamed Nur Galaal, a Somali military hero of great renown, and considered one of the SNA's old-time top-flight generals was among the casualties of this barbaric slaughter.

‘A government at war with its own people: testimonies about the killings and the conflict in the north' was a report published in 1990 by the then Africa Watch, later to become part of the bigger Human Rights Watch. Other significant reports current at the time included United States General Accounting Office Report to Congressional Requesters, entitled ‘Somalia: Observations Regarding the Northern Conflict and Resulting Conditions' published in May 1989; and ‘Why Somalis Flee: Synthesis of Accounts of Conflict Experience in Northern Somalia by Somali Refugees, Displaced Persons, and Others' by Robert Gersony, U.S. Department of State, August 1989.

This is the first of a series of essays aimed to warn off people about the impending peril of a new dictatorship and to put forth ideas for organizing strong resistance against the Farmaajo regime. When the issues at stake are fundamental, affecting principles of human freedom and democracy or the political and constitutional development of our country, negotiations do not provide a way of reaching a mutually satisfactory solution with a man intent on becoming a dictator.

The joint press statement issued by International Partners of Somalia yesterday reconfirms the principle of genuine democratic elections, the free (but currently indirect) expression of whose will provides the basis for the authority and legitimacy of government.