“Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for upon it, all others depend.” (Winston Churchill)
We are deeply saddened by the news of Elmi Roble passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with him. Prayers and fond memories are what we have to remember our great leader and may Allah and the love of his people comfort him in heaven…..
The truth is there as we cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it. However, our goal is not to live forever, the goal is to create something that will stay, by leaving a trail for others.
People like Elmi that departs from this earth never truly leaves, for they are still alive in our hearts and minds. Through us, they live on in all generations as we learn from them and follow their legacy. In his place , may Allah give us an angel in heaven that watches over …. that he , too, to have an angel to take care.
Elmi will be remembered as a great public leader, with vision. He always had clear ideas for where he was going, what he was doing and what he was attempting to accomplish. Courage and commitment made him a special person as he took the risks in the achievement of his goals in ensuring success.
Bravery can be defined as to standing up for our rights and for having the courage to stay true to ourselves, to our convictions and to our morals. Elmi never hesitated in doing what he believed to be the right thing to do. Never stopped voicing the wrongs and the rights.
In addition to leadership qualities, Elmi was a competent law enforcement professional. Some of the more obvious qualities in his daily field work included–integrity, honesty, calm under pressure, refined and rational communication with public and unwavering commitment. Elmi had all the qualities which are required in order to provide effective and efficient law enforcement services.
Those who knew him, like myself, characterize him with commitment to the proper principles and values as guides to action and to the rule of law. His pursuit of ethical behaviour never ended in any situation and time…. although difficult to achieve, particularly, in our people, he strived for perfection in this regard. This involved self-control or self-discipline and it required an abundance of competence, confidence, and emotional maturity.
I had a closer understanding of Elmi in1982 in Hargeisa when he was the regional police commander. During the period, he worked in between the delicate balance of a repressive regime and an oppressed civil society. In those difficult prevailing circumstances, he worked with strong qualities of leadership, professional competence and courage.
In my recent book, THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF NORTHERN SOMALIA, I presented how Elmi chose courage against cowardice and professianalism against bootlicking. Parts quoted below:;
Situation Four
“ …The head of the Hargeisa police was Elmi Roble, Elmi Kabaal. His sympathy and his practical support for the people in Hargeisa very well represented the stance of his Awdalian people. In Hargeisa, there were conspiracies aimed to justify the government’s oppressive military actions against the civilians. At night, cahoots close to the ruling groups used to fire guns in the northern parts of the city, Radio Hargeisa area. Most of the business people lived in that part and it was also my area of residence. The purpose was to stamp the business community in the area as dissidents, point finger at them and detain them for money ransom. Using a reason for the night guns, fully armored military trucks were dispatched to the civilian population in most afternoons. Military often frightened the public, including women and children while conducting door to door search atmidnight waking up everybody. Women, elderly people and men were indiscriminately snatched from their homes, loaded them on military trucks and detained in BirJeex, the notorious military campus. My wife never forgot the frightening experience when, in her ninth month of pregnancy, was forced to climb meters high military truck. While still struggling to go up, she was rescued when a commander incidentally stepped in and ordered the soldiers to stop the loading. Few days after that, I met Elmi in one of the Hargeisa Banks and raised the problem in our section of the city. We talked for few minutes about what the military were doing and what were the causes. He told me that he knew who was doing it and the reason for doing it. He added that he was not happy about it and he was working on how to stop it in anyway. Elmi revealed the conspirators and pointed his finger to groups who were part of the ruling gang. He was well aware that the night gunners were not from the peaceful public but were from other molds whose sole aim was to punish the people. Elmi also knew that the people at work were closer than him to the rulers but that didn’t stop him from doing the right thing. He boldly confronted them and disclosed the facts by presenting his police work. He knew that confrontation would have serious consequences in his career. However, he was ready for whatever face it might take. That was when he decided to choose the highway of courage against cowardice, professionalism against bootlicking and justice against injustice.
Situation Five
About six months, after our last meeting in Hargeisa, Elmi was in a second floor room in Shabelle Hotel in Mogadishu. He was transferred from Hargeisa because he tried to defend the rights of the people. He was on his way to Kismayo, the other corner of the country where he had never dreamed to see or go. In an unexpected coincidence, I was staying in a nearby room in the same floor. He is a naturally conservative type of man with very selective social circles. We were not socially very close but we knew each other at fair distance and were comfortable to talk to each other. In one afternoon, while I was sitting in the saloon for tea, Elmi also came out from his room and handed me a printed material of few pages. On the cover page, there were two cartoons with the names of ‘Heeliyo and Haruun, standing for the country’s leader and his wife. The two cartoons in the form of old monkeys were on top of a tree blaming each other for their mistakes. There was also other curses and critique about the governing system in a poem by the popular poet, Hadrawi. Some of the verses, not in their order, are as follows:
Marka hebel la sheegana Nin hinaasayaad tahay
Abaartii Hawaariyo Harga cuna mar baad tahay
Hanfi iyo kul baad tahay Habaar biiray baad tahay
Intaasoo Hal baasoo Is Hareer socdaad tahay
Elmi explained to me that the paper was one of a large package as part of the SNM campaign and the aim was to drop in the streets of Hargeisa. Police informants reported the details of the plan including the model and the make of the car, the location and the names of the people. He decided not to arrest anyone and, without involving anyone else, he resolved the issue in his own way. He did his own surveillance, followed the group at midnight and stopped them. Elmi assured the men that they will go free if they surrender the papers. They, of course, accepted the deal and he let them go free. Elmi did it that way for two reasons. First, he wanted to keep the peace as the police chief and secondly, he wanted to protect the men from the ruling team who would torture them in dark torture holes…………”
……I LAAHAY NAXARIIS JANNO HA SIIYO CILMI ROBLE FURRE……AAMMIIN
Musa Elmi Ali