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“The occasion of the independence of Djibouti nearly fifty years ago will always be an important and memorable chapter in my life.”
@ruun-sheg
An Ordinary School Day
26th June 1977 was just an ordinary school day like any other day. Events happening in the other Somali parts of the region were reverberating in NFD too and within the compound of Wajir Secondary School.
The Ogaden war was raging on and it was reported from Radio Mogadishu that Somali forces had smashed Ethiopian defenses and have liberated the whole occupied Ogaden region. Somali forces were reported to be on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. It was common to see Wajir people gathered around to listen to Radio Mogadishu at peak hours and keenly following the regular updates from the frontline and the progress of the war. The unique, powerful booming voice of the late renowned reporter Ahmed Hassan Cawke was giving a step by step reportage of the war that was a must listen.
Equally alluring was the acerbic commentary of the blood curdling regime and many other colorful and negative choice attributes that the legendary Cawke used to describe the Mengistu regime. This commentary was keenly followed in town and of course at WSS. A sense of interest pervaded the whole town, WSS students included, and experienced with searing intensity fuelled by youthful hormonal surge among the students of Wajir Secondary School.
Preparing to Celebrate History
On this material day, while following the progress of the war, a small core group of senior students planned they should mark the historic occasion of lowering of the hated French colonialist flag and the hoisting of the independent Republic of Djibouti flag.
At that time, Wajir was literary cut off from the rest of the country, the region and the world. There was no telephone connection, power, regular bus services, newspapers or television not to mention airtravel. The radio was the only window available to us. And not many people listened to Kenya Broadcasting Station. Wajir was indeed in a time warp just as the last British colonial administration of District Commissioner Brown left.
On this memorable Monday however, there was an important event taking place in another part of the expansive Somali territories—the independence of the French occupied Somali territories of Djibouti set for the following day of 27th June 1977. And a coterie of senior students were determined to celebrate the occasion.
The Plan
The plan was simple, straightforward and dictated by the reality of their students life. They had held a preliminary planning meeting a week earlier and agreed on the following to mark the auspicious occasion:
- To stay awake upto midnight to follow the event live on the radio.
- They agreed that since the flag raising event was scheduled for midnight, which was past the 10pm turning off of the power supply in the school, we agreed we should hold our event on the top of Yellow House dormitory which had a smooth concrete roofing.
- A member offered to provide the radio from home.
- Few among them were wise in the ways of the world and were smokers and consumers of miraa. That was agreed as the major indulgence to mark the momentous occasion.
- To raise the funds for the occasion, they agreed that they each contribute their soap allocations for the week; this was a satchet of OMO soap and a bar of Rexona soap. The lot was handed over to the member who had the right connections to trade them for some cash.
- The plan was to get the following: three bundles of Mira/lare, a packet of Sportsman Cigarettes, 9 bottles of sodas dependent on individual tastes and a match box.
The Midnight Celebration
That was the grand scheme on the eve of that night. And it was with such a scheme that our group hurriedly gathered on top of Yellow House after the 8pm preps. We ensured that the volume of the radio was kept to the minimal level.
Seated on top of the dormitory, it was amazing to see that the school appeared to be a distant bright star in the blackness of the surrounding area and the wider spread out town. The feeling became dramatic once the generator was turned off and the darkness took real hold.
As the midnight hour approached and the live commentary of Radio Mogadishu from Djibouti continued with a detailed description of the long and storied multi centuries long struggles of freedom and independence of the Somali people, our group was caught up in the moment and without realizing, we suddenly started clapping, hollering and jumping up and down the moment the hated French flag was lowered to the ground and the Djibouti flag was foisted on the flag pole.
An Unexpected Encounter
Unbeknownst to us at the precise moment the headmaster has returned with his army friends and concerned with the noise coming from the dormitories, decided to drive to the cause of the noise and check out. Seeing the approaching vehicle we promptly scampered to our beds and waited. Once the headmaster was assured all was normal and left, we resumed our celebrations which continued to the wee hours of the morning.
The Investigation
It just happened that a letter had been sent around the same time to the Daily Nation letters section that claimed to be from members of the NFD liberation movement who were launching again the liberation of NFD. This was a highly treasonous and sensitive case. The letter was passed to the local intelligence office for immediate action.
Five classmates were promptly picked and taken to the Special Branch offices. We were interrogated repeatedly for hours. We were asked about our leaders, supporters and financiers. Copy of contents of the letter sent was given to each one of us and were instructed to fill the whole exercise book. All the while we were urged to say who wrote the letter. We were told if we don’t cooperate we could forget our future and be prepared for long prison sentences and will definitely not sit for the final exams.
We endured these heavy interrogations for a number of days and suddenly we were informed that we were free to go but will be called back if needed. It was therefore quite perplexing to learn that a classmate of Arab extraction has confessed to the crime and was sentenced to a lengthy prison term at the Kamiti Maximum Prison.
Looking Back After Nearly Fifty Years
The occasion of the independence of Djibouti nearly fifty years ago will always be an important and memorable chapter in my life. Of course I have visited Djibouti several times. I have also visited Ogadenia and Somalia proper the mother country.
And every time I visit any part of the Somali territories, I always have an inate overwhelming feeling of belonging. I feel relaxed and can relate to the people. That is the essence of what being a Somali means. Go to any continent in the world and you will notice that the Somali is a unique species of humanity, totally different to all.
“The occasion of the independence of Djibouti nearly fifty years ago will always be an important and memorable chapter in my life.”
