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His
Excellency Ambassador Mahmoud
Dirir
Minister
of Culture & Tourism
Federal
Democratic Republic of
Ethiopia
A Life
in Politics and Diplomacy
 As
fascinating and challenging the world of
journalism is, it is also clear that,
especially in this era of globalization,
the rewards that could be reaped from a
proper and committed application of the
enormous powers of the profession are
indeed great and decisive. It was thus
only natural that the first step
Ambassador Mohammed Dirir took to
contribute his share to the salvation of
the traditionally disadvantaged - and
relegated - people of his home town in the
Somali Region of Ethiopia was to take
refuge behind the multifarious effects of
that noble instrument we call the
press.
Freshly
back home in the early 1990s from a
grueling refugee life in the Middle East
countries of Iraq, Turkey and later a
successful university education in Syria,
Ambassador Mahmoud Dirir's first strategic
measure to initiate his people to fight
for their democratic rights and social and
economic development, was to launch a
weekly Somali-language newspaper called
Waayaha Diri Dhabe or The Somali Times.
The timing, too, could not have been any
better for those were the years when a new
government replaced the Dergue regime and
the country was in a transition to a new
leadership and thus, by definition, set on
a new path of democracy, economic and
social development.
In
creating "the first Somali newspaper in
Ethiopia," in his home town of Dire Dawa ,
Ambassador Mahmoud Dirir, who was born to
a one time pastoralist and later seaman
father, thought of waging a bitter
educational and propaganda campaign that
would initiate the spirit of confidence,
democratic rights, and commitment to
economic and social development in the
people of the region. "Our targets were
the Somali community in Somalia, Dire
Dawa, Kabri Dahar and in the diaspora and
we thought out ways of focusing on the
democratic rights of the
[Ethiopian] Somali people with
their anticipated, equal participation in
the economic and social development of the
country together with their brethren in
the vast nations and nationalities of
Ethiopia.
The
Ambassador's spirit of commitment in the
struggle for the democratic rights of the
peoples of the region, however, dates back
to his childhood years, when he took
active part in Somali movements opposing
both the Haile Selassie and Dergue
governments. With a particularly painful
history of neglect and exploitation by the
two successive governments, the region of
Ethiopian Somalis had been then turned in
to a military garrison with no
infrastructure like schools and clinics
built for the people, and they were not
even considered Ethiopians. It was thus
natural, he says, that the Ambassador and
other compatriots had to launch a
determined struggle for the right to
self-determination of the Ethiopian Somali
people with the noble intention of
creating a unity based on the goodwill of
the people and the equal participation of
all the nations and nationalities of the
country. "In fact ", he says, "the
struggle of the Ethiopian Somalis was the
forerunner of the struggle or the national
question for Ethiopia in the era of both
the Emperor and the Dergue, with other
fronts in other parts of Ethiopia joining
the fray later."
But
even at these early ages the Ambassador,
who is now the new Minister of Culture
& Tourism of the FDRE, the sense of
depravation of the people of the region
was so strong that he had to consider
migrating to neighboring Somalia,
rebelling against the Derue regime, when
he joined the Western Somali Liberation
front where he soon becomes the Chairman
of the Western Somali Youth League. But
with a threat coming from Ziad Barre to
invade the Ethiopian Somali region at the
time, Ambassador Mohamoud Dirir, who was
temporarily working as a teacher in
Somalia had to flee that country and
migrate to Iraq and face a difficult
refugee life at that time when Iraq itself
was at war with neighboring Iran. He would
soon escape to Turkey and after sometime
there manage to make it to Syria where he
would get the chance to study in the
university of Damascus and graduate in
English and Arabic
Literature.
Back in
Dire Dawa in 1991, he joined and later
became chairman of the Issa-Grgura
Liberation Front, which was also one of
the various fronts in the country that
signed the Transitional Charter of
Post-Dergue Ethiopia. The Ambassador,
however, expresses his satisfaction that
he was also one of the personalities who
were instrumental in the creation of a
coalition of 13 different fronts in the
region to create the Ethiopian Somali
Democratic League (ESDL), which had Dr.
Abdul Mejid Hussein (the let Ethiopian
ambassador to the UN who passed away in
2004) as its chairman and Ambassador
Mahmoud as its secretary. Not only this
but they also manage to form another
coalition between the ESDL and the Ogaden
Natonal Liberation Front and create the
larger Somali People's Democratic Party,
of which he became chairman. "The
formation of the coalition of political
parties and groups was particularly
important in that it helped avoid
contradictions between the groups that
would have obviously obstructed the chance
of the Somali people to properly utilize
the economic opportunities and the
democratization process," he says.
Ambassador Mahmoud, who considers himself
as, "a federalist to the bones" says that
the SPDP works towards enhancing the
philosophy of unity of the Ethiopian
People in diversity, the prevalence of the
rule of law, democratization and genuine
commitments for poverty reduction and
alleviation."
His
efforts in the party and the region also
gets rewarded in the fact that he later
became a member of parliament representing
the constituency of his people in the
Somali region of Ethiopia. He also began
actively participating in the affairs of
the government and was later appointed as
the Ethiopian Ambassador to Zimbabwe,
Zambia and Malawi, with his seat in
Harare. His tenure in the region helped
him to closely observe the economic
recovery of Zambia and the expectations
and ambitions of the people of Zimbabwe
for full fledged democracy - experiences
that acquainted him with useful lessons
worth considering in the reconstruction
efforts of his native county,
Ethiopia.
His
Ambassadorial post in Zimbabwe, however,
would end after two and a half years with
his desire to come back to his native town
of Dire Dawa in Ethiopia and further play
decisive roles to foster and strengthen
the unity of Somali political parties in
the country. The government, however, soon
appointed him as an acting Minister of
Transport and Communications, a now
defunct institution included in the newly
created Ministry of Infrastructure and
Minister of Mines of the FDRE, And on a
recent reshuffle in the government
structures and ministries, he has been
once again appointed as the Minister of
Culture & Tourism of the Federal
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia - a
position that no doubt would test the
strength of the career diplomat with the
need to revamp the immense potential of
the Culture and Tourism industry to the
economic development of the
country.
Meeting
for the first time with Ambassador Mahmoud
Dirir, one cannot help it but get surprise
with the Minister's easy approach and
simple manners to all people alike. He, in
fact, keeps repeating that he doesn't have
the characters of a bureaucrat or a
pompous personality, but that of a simple
man with a sense of humor and the urge to
communicate ably with all sections of
people. No wonder then that the gifted
linguist already speaks a complex array of
national and international languages such
as Amharic, Simali, Oromiffa, Harari, as
well as Arabic, English and French. He is
also at present practicing to speak
Tigrigna.
These
qualities of the Ambassador may at first
seem as mere natural features of the
"transcendentalist' minded minister. On
second thought, however, we might think it
possible that his versatility in character
and mastery of languages may also have to
do with the fact that the Ambassador is
also a man of an artistic and
philosophical bent. He, of course,
attributes it to a means to "to ease the
burden of daily" work, but the Ambassador
also has remarkable skills in painting and
spends a portion of his leisure hours in
the application of his artistic skills.
And though he cannot be described as a
professional painter because the only
training he had in the art was those of
his elementary school days, Ambassador
Mahmoud also plans to stage an exhibition
of his artistic woks in future. It is also
fair to note here that, an avid reader,
the Ambassador has also at present started
writing a novel in the English language
and which features a "massacre", which he
says was inflicted on the [Ethio]
Somali people by the army of Emperor
Haile- Selasie in a district named Aisha
in the Shinnile Zone of Somali Regional
State.
Ambassador
Mahmoud Dirir's main focus is the need for
commitment by all Ethiopians to work hard
for their country and to strengthen the
roots of a democratic system for the
country. He notes that with a recent
history of feudalism and later communism,
this country carries the burden of a
"hangover" of those undermining political
systems. "We thus need to be magnanimous,
tolerant, and transparent and take prudent
measures to back up our infantile
democracy with the appropriate and
full-fledged institutions, one of which is
the expansion of a responsible and
committed press," he says. " The press
should serve as a watchdog of
democracy".
A
family man, Ambassador Mahmoud Dirir lives
with his wife, who he describes as "the
backbone of my success," and two
daughters.
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