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| SOMALIA: SPIRALING TOWARD WAR. |
Somalia's serial catastrophes have consistently exceeded our
ability to imagine worst-case scenarios. That may be happening again. The
country is facing two inter-related crises — consolidation of power by Islamic
hardliners in Mogadishu, and the threat of war between Ethiopia and the
Islamists — which could plunge much of the Horn of Africa to new depths of
instability, violence, and radicalism.
Only a short time ago, hopes were high that moderate leadership would emerge in
the ascendant Islamist movement and negotiate a government of national unity
with the weak Transitional Federal Government (TFG). Most of the Somali public
were euphoric following the June 2006 victory of the Consultative Council of
Islamic Courts (CCIC) over a coalition of U.S.-backed militia leaders, and hoped
the Islamists' stunning rise to power would end Somalia's long era of warlordism
and state collapse.
There were reasons for optimism. The Courts' most visible leader, Sheikh Sharif,
was known as a moderate. The CCIC reassured the international community that it
sought peace, the rule of law, and democratic government. Its representatives
met with the TFG and agreed to a cessation of hostilities. Public security in
Mogadishu dramatically improved, allowing thousands in the Somali diaspora to
flock back home.
But hopes have been dashed by the rapid consolidation of power on the part of
hardline elements within the CCIC. Led by Hassan Dahir Aweys, the hardliners
control most of the sharia militias, the flow of weapons arriving via Eritrea,
and funds pouring in from both non-state and state sponsors of the CCIC,
including Iran. This virtual monopoly on coercive and financial assets has
allowed the hardliners to outmaneuver moderates and dictate policies. A series
of alarming edicts seems intended to systematically eliminate any potential
source of opposition. The CCIC has outlawed group meetings at which politics are
discussed, insisted on direct control of the flow of international humanitarian
aid, and increased morality policing against cinemas and social gatherings. It
has called for the abolition of civil society organizations and marginalized the
many business and civic leaders who lent the CCIC both moral and material
support in the past year.
Many Somali figures who initially voiced enthusiastic support for the courts in
June are now privately expressing deep anxiety; others are trying to organize
alliances of moderate Islamists, businessmen, civic leaders, and the diaspora to
counterbalance the hardliners. An impending power struggle inside Mogadishu
could turn bloody — jihadi cells in Mogadishu have in past years used political
assassination frequently against real or potential rivals.
Worse, Aweys and his allies have embarked on a series of acts designed to
provoke a war with Ethiopia. The CCIC has forged close relations with Ethiopia's
enemy Eritrea, hosting and channeling arms and funds to two armed insurgencies
targeting the Ethiopian government, the Oromo Liberation Front and the Ogaden
National Liberation Front. Aweys has invoked irredentist claims on
Somali-inhabited portions of Ethiopia (as well as declaring Kenya "an enemy of
the Somali people"); the sharia militias have made a number of provocative
forays toward border areas with Ethiopia; and Aweys passes no opportunity to
engage in inflammatory anti-Ethiopian rhetoric.
Baiting Ethiopia is not hard work — the Meles regime has always viewed Somali
Islamists, moderates and hardliners alike, as an unacceptable threat, and might
have targeted the CCIC regardless of the type of leadership it produced. But the
hardliners' actions since June have guaranteed escalating hostilities. One can
criticize Ethiopian policy toward Somalia on a number of counts, but Ethiopia
has every right to view current actions by the CCIC as tantamount to a
declaration of war.
There are powerful reasons why the hardliners want to provoke tensions and
perhaps even war with Ethiopia. War with Ethiopia would give the jihadis their
jihad, allowing hardliners to mobilize broad public support, conflate their
Islamist agenda with Somali nationalist sentiments, attract more outside
assistance from external Islamic patrons, and marginalize moderate voices within
the CCIC.
If war between Ethiopia and the Somali Islamists occurs on a significant scale —
and the two are now dangerously close to clashing — the result could be
disastrous for both countries. Most Somalis will react fiercely to Ethiopian
attacks on Somali soil and will mobilize in support of the CCIC. Ethiopia could
find itself bogged down in a war it cannot win, with few reliable local allies.
It would also face growing insurgencies in Oromo and Somali regional states.
Somalia today is increasingly susceptible to a dangerous cocktail of radical
Islamist, proto-nationalist, anti-Western, and anti-Ethiopian resentments which
Ethiopian intervention will only make far worse. For Somalia, war would again
make the country the site of widespread violence and population displacement.
Local governance structures could collapse and famine return. Spillover of both
refugees and radicalism would be likely in Kenya. The only winner in a war
scenario would be the jihadists.
The best the United States and Ethiopia can do now is to help create conditions
that deny the Somali hardliners what they most want — jihad against a
threatening external enemy — and force the Islamists instead to face the
difficult, mundane, and divisive policy questions of governance. Engaging in
everyday politics and administrative responsibilities in Mogadishu and
surrounding areas could force the CCIC to adopt more moderate and pragmatic
policies. If it refuses to adapt, its radicalism will be increasingly exposed,
and its local and external opposition will multiply.
U.S. policymakers will be tempted to invoke the formulaic call to "empower the
moderates" and "marginalize the radicals." There is little evidence that this
tactic works; in the past it has backfired, de-legitimizing and even endangering
Somali moderates. If normal politics in Mogadishu can be allowed to take its
course — a scenario which is only possible if war can be averted — that will do
far more to encourage moderation and pragmatism than anything else the outside
world can do. The external actors that may be in the best position to have a
moderating influence on the Islamists are those that currently support the CCIC.
These include U.S. friends Egypt and Yemen, as well as Eritrea. They should be
worried and alarmed by the CCIC's ever more extreme policies.
There are many other "light footprint" policy initiatives the United States can
and should consider that can help prevent a disastrous war and reduce
radicalization in Somalia. First, the United States and other countries must
press the CCIC leadership to clarify its positions on key issues, ranging from
respect for the borders of neighboring states to women's rights and the status
of proportional clan representation in the CCIC's governing bodies. The Courts
have hedged on these issues or made contradictory statements for too long. The
West should also more vigorously insist on the accountability that comes with
the CCIC's claim of authority over most of south-central Somalia, including
responsibility for insuring that no terrorist activities emanate from Somalia.
The United States must continue to press Ethiopia for restraint in the face of
the real threats to Ethiopian interests posed by the CCIC, lest conflict
escalate. And though odds of success are remote, the United States should
continue to promote dialogue between the Courts and the TFG to negotiate a
government of national unity.
The Somali diaspora and media must do their part too, holding the Courts
accountable for their reckless inclination to pursue unnecessary confrontation
with a powerful neighboring state and insisting the CCIC devote its energy to
providing the Somali people with the good governance they so desperately want.
In the long run, real peace and state revival will only be achieved in Somalia
when the two principal antagonists — Ethiopia and the Mogadishu-based, Hawiye
clan dominated, Islamist movement — reach an agreement to co-exist. That deal
will require a level of pragmatism and compromise that neither side has shown
any sign of possessing.
Ken Menkhaus is professor of political science at Davidson
College and author of Somalia: State Collapse and the Threat of Terrorism
THE BRUTAL OCCUPATION
IN THE SOUTH: A LITMUS TEST TO THE SOMALI ISLAMISTS By: Dr. Ali Said
Faqi.
By:
Dr Ali Faqi 6/8/2006
In Somalia where there is no foreseeable future for millions of people because of the inexorable madness, any new change is perceived as very positive. Somalis inside and those in diaspora are debating the implication of the recent victory of the ICU in Mogadishu and in Somalia as a whole and are forming up their own mind carefully. Despite the fact that the major base for the ICU supporters is the same as the one that supported the Mogadishu warlords for the last 16 years, nevertheless; ICU has gained some genuine followers across Somali clans. To their credit, ICU will be remembered as a political group that succeeded to bring peace and security in Mogadishu, a city which most analysts would admit to have been a very dangerous place.
On the other hand, the ICU failed miserably by deliberately sidestepping to disarm Mr. Yusuf Indha Adde and his cronies, who have been illegally occupying the land and the resources of the natives of the Lower Shabelle and Jubba. As a testimony to my statement, I would like to remind the readers on a very particular episode. A couple of weeks ago when ICU militia left Mogadishu to institute an Islamic Court in Burhakaba they did not bother to disarm Mr. Hussein Cirfo, and Mr. Sharuub who illegally occupy Afgoye and Wanleweyn, respectively. For those of you who are not familiar with Somalia or who were very young to remember, let me orient you a little bit about what I am talking about.
There is only one main road that connects Mogadishu to Burhakaba and that road goes through Afgoye and Wanlaweyn. These two cities and many other cities in the Lower Shabelle and Jubba are ruled by warlords who are not different in terms of brutality from the rest of the warlords recently ousted by the ICU. So the big question is why were these individuals left untouched? I will leave this to be answered by those who are calling themselves the SHURA of Islam.
Allah says in his Quran “O ye who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be against rich or poor: For Allah can best protect both. Follow not the lusts (of your hearts); lest ye swerve, and if ye distort (justice) or decline to do justice, verily Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do. (The Noble Quran, 4:135)". This very basic principle of Islam is what a true believer would like to see implemented and practiced.
In several interviews Mr. Sheikh Dahir Aweys, the leader of ICU indicated unmistakably that ICU has no plans to remove from the power the warlords forcefully ruling the Lower Shabelle and Jubba. He emphatically insisted that there is no need for change describing these regions as peaceful. In contrary Mr. Aweys while addressing the people of Cadaado (his native region) on the occasion of the opening ceremony of an Islamic court said “We came here by the wishes of the locals not by force".
This clearly means that he does not believe the will of the locals in Benadir, Lower Shabelle and Jubba is crucial? This is utterly ridiculous, and his contradicting statements are nothing but clan bigotry and should be fully rejected. It is this kind of rhetoric that makes people wonder whether there will ever be peace.
Any decent human being would question why someone who claim to have submitted himself to the will of Allah; would discriminate against others based on a tribe affiliation? Is this ignorance or a calculated political hypocrisy? For me ICU seems to be picking and choosing its friends and foes merely on a clan basis. Unfortunately, tribal allegiance will always be stronger than the faith for Allah in Somalia, an ideology which clearly contradicts to Islam.
The barbaric rule in the Lower Shaballe region for example collects illegal taxes including a 40,000 Somali Shillings a month per house from residents of most districts of the Lower Shabelle who do not have jobs and sources of income. Anyone who does not pay these fees either goes to jail or loses his property.
The revenue generated from illegal taxation, chopping trees for charcoal and over fishing is used as a financial source for acquiring military arsenals to maintain the illegal occupation. Let me remind you again that these are the only places in Somalia where outside clans abuse the locals and impose rigid rules. It is a religious and moral responsibility to speak out against injustice and evildoers and this is what I am doing.
ICU established Islamic courts some hundreds of kilometers north of Mogadishu empowering the natives of each city to be in charge of the administration by physically removing the warlords, while cities just thirty to seventy kilometers south of Mogadishu were left deliberately to the very same people who been abusing them over a decade to be the ICU commissioners. It appears that the criteria posed by the ICU to qualify for self-rule would not make these residents eligible as they are either considered inferiors or carrying no great weight in the eyes of the ICU leadership.
Islam calls for peaceful coexistence and harmony between communities. Tribalism is an enemy of Islam and civilization because it calls for the systemic killing of rival clan members. A general consensus is that tribes are unruly and thus pose a threat to the society and to peace as a whole.
Let us examine the current scenario that has been put in place by the ICU to some residents of Mogadishu including Hamar Weyne and to Lower Shabelle and Jubba and explore whether it makes any sense. Everyone would agree with me that the clan militia in Hamar Weyne, lower Shabelle and Jubba are now part of the official militias of the ICU. Imagine then this, an individual who have been harassing your neighborhood for years and all of a sudden you find him representing a religious authority. Also imagine the person who have looted your farm or property, molested your daughter or sister, killed your neighbors is suddenly calling your head to be chopped if you don’t show up in the mosque.
These are very scary thoughts, unfortunately are real facts in Benadir, Lower Shabelle and Jubba. The natives of these areas have waked up to realize that ICU spokespersons in their respective districts are no one else, but the very same individuals who they badly wished and prayed for to be kept away from the society for years. Little knowledge and hatred against anything different, clan in this case is the basis for extremism. I am appalled and extremely saddened about the abuse of Islamic basic principles in Somalia.
A raw model for our lovely religion should not be a criminal element of the society; we ought to have respect to the religion that we dearly care and worship. ICU’s tolerance on the illegal administrations in Lower Shabelle and Jubba is nothing, but clan chauvinism.
We must remind ourselves that Islam is the only thing that Somalis share and cherish together; everything else has been already tarnished and tossed to the trash and it wholeheartedly saddens me to see it abused.
Somalia is a country that went to a brutal civil war, where the only sin to cost people’s life was to belong to a rival or unarmed clan. If peace has to prevail reconciliation is the best way to proceed. Changing names and shirts will only extend the chaos and may win time for those who are not interested in peace. Rhetoric must stop and dialogue between rival communities should be honestly encouraged. True issues should be debated and the natives of Southern Somalia should be allowed their rights for self-determination.
The Land grabbing policy is the main issue of conflict in Somalia and neither the ICU leaders nor TFG will be willing to admit and face it and it is this issue that makes both institutions morally corrupt. The ICU will not be different from the other failed political organizations as long as they are ignoring the facts in the south. Islam is a religious that has no dual face of worshipping and I am quite sure that it does not call for a tribal loyalty.
Manmade constitutions call for establishments of justice in the society, insure domestic tranquility, and promote general welfare of the communities as the basis to coexist as a nation. I believe Islam calls for more than that, therefore, let us face the Somali issues seriously and stop the hypocrisy once for all. I am for peace and justice and for the full integrity of Somalia.
Dr. Ali Said Faqi EMail:Alifaqi@yahoo.com
* Ahmed M.I. Egal - On the New era in Somalia
The collapse of the state in the erstwhile Somali Republic in 1991 ushered an era of anarchy, warlord hegemony, sporadic famines and a regression to a pre-modern socio-political structure in that unhappy country. Indeed, some journalists and aid workers which have visited the country comment upon its resemblance to the post-apocalyptic vision of life depicted in the Mad Max movies of the 1980s. That this situation has persisted for some 15 years is due in large part to factors indigenous to Somali political history, and the legacy of the Siyad Barre dictatorship which maintained itself in power through a carefully orchestrated policy of constantly shifting clan alliances.
However, a significant factor in maintaining this situation of statelessness and the ascendancy of warlord hegemony is the support (material and political) and succour given to the warlords by regional governments in the pursuit of their own political ends. It is the aim of this paper to expose the cynical machinations of these foreign governments in prolonging the Somali crisis for their own political aims, to the detriment of the interests and wishes of the Somali people. History and future generations of Somalis will judge these governments harshly for their actions today and yesterday, and it is important to bring their actions into the light of day, if for no other reason than to put them on record for the accounting that is to come.
The three principal foreign governments actively engaged in the internal politics of Somalia are Ethiopia, Egypt and Italy, each in pursuit of its own specific agenda, with Djibouti and Yemen playing smaller, supporting roles. It is worth examining each country’s specific goals with respect to its Somalia adventures in order to clearly understand how they interplay in the Somali political arena. Ethiopia, as Somalia’s principal neighbour to the West and traditional enemy with whom Somalia had fought two border wars in 1964 and 1987, has a clear agenda. Ethiopia seeks a government in Somalia that will not pose a security threat to its borders and which will not encourage and support either the guerrilla fighters of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) or the jihadists of Al Ittihad Al Islamiya (Al Ittihad). Since the EPRDF government came to power, it has instituted a federal system in Ethiopia with significant autonomy granted to the regional governments – indeed the federal constitution permits the secession of any region that votes to do so by a two thirds majority. It was under this formula that Eritrea won its independence in 1990.
When Somaliland (the erstwhile British Somaliland Protectorate) reasserted its independence and broke away from Somalia in 1991, Ethiopia welcomed its peaceful overtures and wish for cooperation, trade and good neighbourliness. Somaliland, for its part, renounced any claims to the eastern, Somali-populated region of Ethiopia in recognition that under Ethiopia’s federal constitution, their brethren across the border had gained self determination, which after all was the basis of the original dispute with Ethiopia. The two countries signed agreements on security and trade to facilitate cross-border movement of people and goods and to deter attacks on one country mounted from the other’s territory.
Somaliland made good on its security pledges by arresting and handing over ONLF guerrillas that sought to attack Ethiopia from its territory. Ethiopia, for its part, included Hargeisa in the destinations of Ethiopian Airlines (the flag carrier), opened the border to free movement of goods and people and signed an agreement to use Berbera Port in Somaliland for imports and exports. Both countries opened offices in each others’ capital with full (if unofficial) diplomatic status. Thus, did Ethiopia become the first country to recognise Somaliland, albeit unofficially, and the first state sponsor of international recognition of this re-emergent country.
Ethiopia also welcomed the overtures of Col. Abdullahi Yusuf of the autonomous region of Puntland, particularly since it was his fellow Darod kinsmen of the Ogaden clan from which the ONLF drew its members and fighters. While Ethiopia hoped that its support of Yusuf would mitigate the ONLF insurgency, if for no other reason than removing Yusuf as a supporter and arms supplier of the ONLF, Yusuf wanted Ethiopian support in order to realise his long held dream to accede to the Presidency of Somalia. With no power base in Mogadishu, and no alliances with the Hawiyeh warlords which held sway throughout most of Somalia, Yusuf realised that he needed the support of a neighbouring state with the capability to provide him with the funds and arms he needed to mount a credible campaign for the Presidency of Somalia.
Ethiopia, for its part, was threatened by the alliance of Djibouti and Egypt in establishing the Transitional National Government (TNG) of Abdul Salat Qassim in Arta in 1995. Djibouti carefully excluded Ethiopia from the organisation and decision-making process of the Arta Conference and the creation of the TNG government while cultivating Egyptian and Arab League input and support. The TNG thus became an Arab construct hostile to Ethiopia precisely as Egypt had intended and it was no surprise that Qassim’s cabinet included Al Ittihad ministers which had sworn jihad against Ethiopia. Djibouti and Egypt also connived to cold shoulder Somaliland and ensure that the Arab League did not seriously entertain any of Somaliland repeated appeals for some form of de facto recognition, assistance and support. Indeed Egypt went so far as to persuade the Saudi Arabia and the Arab Gulf states to stop imports of livestock from Somaliland, the country’s principal export, on the pretext of Rift Valley Fever (RVF). When FAO and WHO both definitively pronounced that Somaliland’s livestock was free of RVF and offered to issue health certificates for each shipment, but Saudi Arabia still refused to lift the ban, the real motivation of the ban became clear – namely to bring Somaliland to its knees economically so that it would accept the TNG government established in Arta by Djibouti and Egypt.
Egypt’s objectives in this sad saga are equally clear and arise out of one if it’s central national security concerns, perhaps its key national security concern – namely the sharing of the Nile waters. Ethiopia has made clear its intention to build dams in its northern mountains where the Nile rises, in order to generate hydro-electric power which it desperately needs. Egypt, meanwhile, has embarked upon an ambitious plan to build a man made river fed by Nile waters several thousand kilometres into its western desert in order to create arable farmland to feed its rapidly growing population, and views Ethiopia’s dam building plans with great trepidation. The agreement imposed at the end of the last century by imperial Britain upon Ethiopia for sharing the Nile waters with Sudan and Egypt, clearly needs to be revised and renegotiated by the three countries to take account of the new realities of the 21st century. Egypt has decided that a united Somalia friendly to it, while hostile to Ethiopia, would be an important bargaining chip in its negotiations with Addis Ababa.
Thus, Egypt has connived to ensure that the Arab League spurns all efforts by Somaliland’s to secure its support for the remarkable and success it has achieved in establishing peace, security and democratic government. Further, Egypt has prevailed upon Somaliland’s traditional trading partners in the Arabian Gulf (principally Saudi Arabia) to ban its exports of livestock, thereby further impoverishing a country already ravaged by civil war and genocide. Egypt has also provided political and material support to the Mogadishu warlords opposed to Ethiopia, and through these intermediaries, to Al Ittihad. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks upon the USA, Egypt was unable to secure Western support for the TNG government formed in Arta, despite actively and avidly sponsoring it at Arab League meetings and forums. The prominent role played by Al Ittihad in the TNG government (Al Ittihad initially held six ministries), effectively negated any possible US and European support that may have been forthcoming for Egypt and Djibouti’s illegitimate offspring, while Ethiopian hostility to the TNG, and the TNG’s own pronounced preference for Arab backing over African support, ensured that African support for it was lukewarm at best.
When the tenure of the TNG ended in 2002, and in the light of the “War on Terror” wherein stateless countries such as Somalia are considered potential havens for terrorist organisations, the international community initiated a new process to establish a government in Somalia. Kenya was chosen as the host of this new effort and a conference was convened in Embagathi with the support of the US, EU and the AU to select a parliament which would, in turn, elect a President who would appoint a government. Having been excluded from the last government established for Somalia by an Egyptian/Djibouti alliance, Ethiopia was determined to play a major role in the establishment of this new government. Abdullahi Yusuf, the warlord ruler of the relatively peaceful, autonomous region of Puntland, saw a golden opportunity to realise his dream of becoming President of Somalia at the new conference with the disarray of his warlord competitors.
In the event, after two long years of unseemly haggling and manoeuvrings by the warlord participants, a parliament drawn from representatives of the Somali clans was established and sworn in. Abdullahi Yusuf, who had secured the backing of Ethiopia for his Presidential bid, started his campaign among the parliamentarians with cash inducements, appeals to kinship, promises of position and threats of force. His campaign, financed by Ethiopian largesse, succeeded and he was duly sworn in as the President of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the latest government of Somalia hatched in a foreign country, after buying more parliamentarians than any other candidate. However, the Mogadishu warlords, realising that they had been out manoeuvred by Yusuf and his Ethiopian paymasters, and fearing for their survival should he succeed in establishing state authority with Ethiopian help, promptly sought to sabotage his ambitions by demanding that the TFG immediately locate to Mogadishu.
Transferring the TFG to Somalia and re-establishing state authority was a basic and essential requirement of the international community (represented by the AU, EU, UN and US), for the TFG to secure aid, financial support and full recognition. Upon accession as President, Yusuf immediately went to Addis Ababa and while there, requested a 20,000 strong African peacekeeping force funded by the international community in order to relocate the TFG to Mogadishu. The Mogadishu warlords responded by threatening to unite and wage war on any foreign troops that were sent to Somalia and objected, in particular, to any inclusion of Ethiopian troops in any AU peacekeeping forces that may be sent to Somalia. After a fruitless period shuttling between various capitals in east Africa, USA, Europe and Yemen, Yusuf realised that he had to transfer the TFG to Somalia to maintain any vestige of credibility. After much negotiation with various warlords, involving his Hawiyeh Premier, Mohammed Geedi, agreement was reached with the warlord in control of Jowhar, a provincial capital some 150 kilometres south of Mogadishu, and the TFG was relocated there.
The Mogadishu warlords continued to insist that the government come to Mogadishu which is, after all, the capital of the country. They controlled Mogadishu and they knew that if Yusuf and the TFG came there, Yusuf and his government would come under their control. Of course, Yusuf knew this as well and there was no love lost between him and his Mogadishu counterparts – indeed Yusuf feared for his very life if he went to Mogadishu with very good reason. Thus, a situation developed in which the TFG and the parliament were split into two opposing factions – the Jowhar faction lead by Yusuf and Geedi, and the Mogadishu faction lead by the Speaker of the Parliament Sharif Hasan Sheikh Adan and Hussein Aideed, Deputy Premier & Minister of Defence. Ethiopia provided arms and military training to a “national” army established by Yusuf in Jowhar with several thousand of his Puntland militia, while Geedi tried to broker a settlement with his Hawiyeh kinsmen in Mogadishu. Geedi’s efforts ceased abruptly when he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt on a trip to Mogadishu, and the stand-off and acrimonious rhetoric between the factions continued.
Egypt, sensing an opportunity to counter Ethiopian influence in the TFG, promptly began providing political support and weapons to the Mogadishu faction. Italy joined Egypt in strengthening the position of the Mogadishu faction because of its historic links with southern Somalia, specifically the majority Hawiyeh community therein. In addition to this colonial affinity and linkage, Italy was also anxious to retain some influence on developments in Somalia and was not willing to surrender its position to regional players like Egypt, Ethiopia and Yemen. Yemen supported Egypt’s position in the TFG dispute, despite its friendly relations with Yusuf to whom it had supplied arms while he was the ruler of Puntland – clearly Arab solidarity trumped its previously warm relations with Yusuf.
Thus did regional, African-Arab rivalry arm competing warlords against each other in their doomed pursuit of power, while sidelining the unprecedented, grass roots achievements of Somaliland, and so prolong the misery of the Somali people. The only country that emerges from this saga with a modicum of integrity and relatively minimal malevolence to the Somali people is Ethiopia. It is true that Yusuf is tyrant-warlord of the worst kind with the blood of untold innocent Somali civilians on his hands, and Ethiopia was remiss in choosing him as its champion. This choice reflects the ignorance of the EPRDF government of internal Somali politics and Somali political history – something they will have to correct if they are to achieve the peaceful co-existence with their eastern and south eastern neighbours that they want so much. However, Ethiopia’s machinations have been principally defensive to counter the mischief concocted by Djibouti and Egypt at Arta with the establishment of the TNG. In addition, Ethiopia has supported and promoted the stability, democracy and accountability achieved by Somaliland and prevailed upon Yusuf and the TFG to focus upon establishing a similar situation in Somalia instead of seeking to drag Somaliland into their sphere of anarchy.
The same cannot be said of Egypt and Italy however. Their myopic and single minded pursuit of their own selfish interests at the direct expense and misery of the Somali people is breathtaking in its malevolence. It is an evil that the Somali people will never forget and something for which both Egypt and Italy will be called to account by future generations of Somalis. Equally, the Gulf Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia as the major player in the GCC as well as Somaliland’s historic trading partner, have squandered the fraternity and goodwill of centuries of friendship, commerce and Muslim solidarity on altar of Egyptian paranoia over the Nile waters and Egyptian dreams of regional hegemony in the Horn of Africa. Italy, for its part, is caught in a false time warp of past imperial grandeur. It seems to have forgotten that even at the height of European imperial conquest, it was a second-rate imperial power and that its imperial history is characterised not by grandeur, but by marginality and fascist failure.
The international community has to accept the simple and obvious fact that the solution to the collapse of the Somali state lies with the Somali people and nowhere, and with no one, else. After much brow beating and threats of withdrawal of aid, not to mention shaming their respective foreign supporters, the opposing factions of the TFG have agreed to convene a meeting of the Parliament in Baidoa in February 2006. It is very unlikely that anything of substance will emerge from this meeting since the interests of the opposing factions are so divergent, as are the aims of their foreign supporters and sponsors. The simple, undeniable truth is that the warlords do not want a government in Somalia to succeed unless they can use such government to establish their dominance over the other warlords. Thus, a government of warlords is doomed to failure by the very nature of its being.
We have addressed the crucial question of how to institute a credible government in Somalia that will win the support of the people of that troubled country elsewhere (see “Reintegrating Somaliland & Somalia into the Community of Nations”). The aim of this paper is to highlight the malignant and evil role of the foreign, regional state players in Somalia’s tragedy, and to serve them notice that their actions are on record and that they will be called to account for them. The responsibility for every unnecessary death of each Somali child, the continued destitution of Somali people and the complete destruction of an entire nation lies, in the first instance, at the feet of the warlords who prey on their own people for their personal aggrandizement. Equally, however, a significant measure of this responsibility also lies at the feet of their cynical and callous foreign paymasters and sponsors, and a day of reckoning will come.
THE ICU CEREMONY
IN AFGOYE: A GREAT FARCE
By Ali Said Faqi
I followed with
great interest the publicized ceremony of the handover of the lower Shabelle to
the ICU that was held in Afgoye on September 30, 2006. The ceremony was well
organized and seems to be well attended. I was personally touched by the Speech
of Mr. Indha Adde, particularly when he asked the public to be judged on his
actions and requested for forgiveness. I believe that was a sincere statement
and I applauded for his courage. Though he commended himself of doing a great
job and to have provided financial support to ICU, money he unveiled to have
been collected from the poor people of Lower Shabelle; however, he never
discussed or admitted that his administration was from its inception an illegal
one that exploited the locals as well as the resources of the region.
I had the
impression also that the participants of the ceremony deliberately ignored the
quandary of the natives of the region and the pain they endured for the last 16
years. In fact no one addressed the abuses and the humiliations inflicted to the
indigenous people of the region. Instead every one who spoke rather chose to
heavily condemn the public uproar that was directed towards the special
treatment of the illegal administration of Lower Shabelle and called the
criticism unwarranted maintaining the illegal administration of Mr. Indha Adde
to have granted safety to the region. It must however, be stressed out that even
the illegal administration of JVA was able to provide a relative safety to
Kismayu, but yet the ICU still decided to go ahead and take over the city by
force. This double standard approach of dealing with identical issues and lack
of empathy from the ICU leaders really contradicts to the Islamic basic
principles and raises a great deal of misgivings.
Regardless of all these incongruities the show seemed to be going well as
planned until Mr. Sheikh Shariif came to the podium. The spokesperson of the ICU
has created a paradox when he officially called for a moratorium to the handover
of the region. As usual Mr. Sheikh Shariif is a man of nice words; he likes
preaching before he gets to the real point to find ways to confuse his
listeners. But this time we were very smart to read not only his lips, but also
understand his maneuver. It was a very disappointing moment for many of us who
are really committed to see a positive change in Somalia in general and in
particular, the Lower Shabelle. Indeed, we were obligated to give the benefit of
doubt to the ICU until we realized that it was a sham ceremony intended to blind
and fool the public. In the last 3-4 months the ICU instituted Islamic
administrations led by the locals in many districts outside of Mogadishu
including Balad, Jowhar, Bulo- Burte, and Beledweyne. I honestly question why
the handover of the lower Shabelle to its native should go through three phases
as stated in the speech of Sheikh Shariif. It is my gut feeling that at the end
nothing will ever change. I wish history to prove me wrong.
If the brutal exploitation of unarmed clans in the South is not an urgent issue
for the ICU, I greatly doubt their seriousness to resolve Somali crises. As I
alluded in one of my previous articles, the illegal occupation in the lower
Shabelle is a cancer for the ICU and unfortunately it failed for the third time
to grasp the golden opportunity to be a trusted religious organization committed
to the justice of Somalia. I will still insist until proven wrong that clan
allegiance has once again superseded the faith.
The wishy-washy attitude of the ICU towards the Lower Shabelle region is a clear
sign of the ICU’s weakness towards distinguishing between faith and clan
loyalty. The lower Shabelle is known to have the highest religious scholars in
any region of Somalia. For those of you who are not aware, I like to jog your
memory that SHEIKH AWEYS AL-QADIRI- the father of Islam in Somalia was born and
raised in Lower Shabelle. Cities like Merca and Barawe in the Lower Shabelle
used to be or are still the Mecca of Islam in Somalia. It is very clear that the
natives of this region are not atheist or unbelievers, but their misery lies to
the fact that they live in one of the finest area of Somalia. The discrimination
of the natives of the South is a matter of survival for the occupiers and I
doubt that they will ever release the region. Let us remind ourselves that this
is Somalia, a country consumed by vicious wind of hatred and clan ideology based
on domination of others.
On another note, I like to extend my support and admiration to the most beloved
Somali cartoonist, Amin Amir who has done a stunning job educating the public
with his political cartoons. Amin is well known to draw cartoons related to the
most current issues of Somalia and his cartoons does not portray only the ICU’s
flawed process, but also the TFG. A quick review of Mr. Amin’s cartoons would
show that he has exposed cartoons related to pertinent issues in Somaliland and
Puntland as well. The curse of Sheikh Shariif to Amin Amir will not intimidate
us as we live in countries where the freedom of expression is the basic rights
of every citizen. Sheikh Shariif must realize that he is no more a public school
teacher in Mogadishu, but a national figure and he will be criticized or praised
based on his political actions and performance.
I am appalled by his continuous
attempt to silence his critics. In a previous occasion he called the public to
refrain themselves from passing judgments to the illegal administration in Lower
Shabelle. Mr. Sharif’s latest attempt to silence Mr. Amir raises a lot of
questions about his real personality. His words are those of an inexperienced
politician, I am quite sure under his authority; the public might not be allowed
to express their personal views. Finally, I like to remind him that Somalia is
not a property of a specific community, but it is a country belonging to all of
us including him. If you hate to be publicly criticized, the best choice for you
will be to stay away from politics. Yesterday’s show in Afgoye was nothing, but
a farce. I believe Amin Amir would have been the best man to express yesterday’s
event in one simple cartoon than what I did in these two pages, but that is his
talent which I greatly admire.
Dr. Ali Said Faqi
Alifaqi@yahoo.com
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Maay Population freedom movements
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF SOMALI MAAY POPULATION AND MAHATIRI NOMADIC FROM CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST PART OF SOMALIA. HOVER THE MOUSE OVER THE TORCH Throughout the centuries of their history The Maay Population and Mahatiri in Somalia lived as two separate entities. The Great Digil Somalis and the Nomadic from the central and northeast part of Somalia were divided by defensive system set by Digil population. Even though they pass through each other one time or another, they remained distinct entities, with their distinct functions. Their relationship was nothing more than meet and yet each remained separate from the other one, because of their nature or behavioral that placed a "barrier or partition" between them.
In fact these people from central Somalia whose lives dictates by water and pasture for their camels, were also loose similar to their beasts kept attacking parts of Digil territories for years and could not succeed taking over. But when the colonial powers landed in Somalia, handed the power over the nomadic, the balance of power lost it's weight, and land expanding started right after the independent. People with a double-edged knife, sharpened by their environment, with no religion, no manners, no borders, following the clapping sound of the horizon or wherever a downpour may be or unarmed flock passing they can raid have taken over the country, drawn into a war with Ethiopia twice. When they couldn't win they started claiming all southern Somalia belongs to them, the same kind of assertion Ethiopia trying to avoid and helping Mr. Yusuf and Darod Group settle Hinterland as substitute for Ogadenia. They spend 3 months in the east and 3 in the west. The Mahatiris were always unstable people by nature: that includes both the Hawiyes and The Daaroods who are traditionally enemies. Again even though their enmities were naturally based over the scarce of pasture and few water-wells in the midst of barren land they shared in Central Somalia and northeast Somalia, today it will not be surprise to Maay Population if war or plunder sharing of Hinterland regions makes their enemies bedfellows, as they have been in the past administrations. As they say: "there is an honor among thieves." The Ethiopian interference and threats also helping them by uniting share the Southern Somalia plunder and forget ever land claims in Ogadenia and NFD. The Darods accommodated the deal, but the other self-centered Hawiye may reject it as their Islam game may not allow them and could cost them losing their popularity being better Islamists. These are people with racist personas, as An English observer once wrote, “Somalis are not considered themselves to be Negroes” even if they are as black as coffins. Yet their beliefs arise from ideas that they are from the highest race known to mankind. They trace their lineage and pedigree from the finest Camels, and thus remember and commemorate a long line of ancestors, their fake names goes back to some 40 or 50 names that ends either a Camel lover, red cow or white cow or Camel-patriarch , or for some even Prophet Abraham, Ishmael or Adam who ever comes first. No real history of Somalia is ever been written down, it was always from mouth to mouth fiction stories with lots of raids, bloodshed and imitating glory endings. Their only forms of national sport were raiding one’s neighbor’s camels, seizing his water supplies, and emasculating his males. And today their practice is no more sophisticated games; in the name of leadership, peace, and having rights to rule over the other so-called unarmed tribes are their common contest for land expansion. These resulted 16 years with no central government. The very well known wars and lawlessness were common throughout the history of their lives, they were never accustomed to any kind of settlement nor taxation, with no exception these past 16 years, the destruction they've perpetrated in Somalia reflects only the kind of lifestyle they lead. These anarchists from central and northeastern Somalia are expanding themselves to a lands whom they never had a chance to see it if it wasn’t the colonial power who handed them over the rule of the country.
Plague of Disease. These Anarchists are a curse hanging over the Hinterland- the multiethnic groups Äw-Digil Wiine". or the great Digil, are more urbanized, and settle the southern part of Somalia, unlike their Mahatiri counterpart believe in hard working and earn for a living, will soon fight for their rights and eradicate the anarchist nomadic roaming around freely with their newly American and European passports with mischievous attitude hoping to rule over this part of the country. Begging, tricking the International community and stealing the resources of the country to bankruptcy should end. Unfortunately it is also clear from the International Community not having the luxury to see things as Black and White, and always fall for the information provide by the nomadic people! saying; we are constituted a homogenous people with one language, culture and religion. Don't a good judge or Information collector need to visit here inside Hinterland, in order to sense the truthfulness of the claim, or its meaning, otherwise they intentionally don't care the authenticity of the information they gather, whether it is serving the purpose of the punch of professional murderers who wants to lead the country, while cleansing innocent women, children and elderly simply because they want to occupy their lands. And those who sell the victims blood for their interest should not be honored as their representatives and not forgotten who really they are or who they work for? and definitely the answer is not going to be the Maay Population. The world shouldn't be calling a
genocide committing by land-expansionists or describe their ethnic cleansing
to a civil war among the
Somalis. It is not simply right. if you are not certain what's going on,
then you should remember that there is nothing certain in life, but this naked
aggression in Somalia is real! And certainly got to be stopped and
treated like any other similar cases taking place in the world. omitting
the rights of
Therefore resistance is vital, and we are ready to sacrifice our lives for our children to standup against these nomadic people from central Somalia whether they be Hawiye or Darood. It is about time we should be closing the chapter of one Somali-weyn, one language and one religion claim. They cannot keep passing out these amusement fairy-tales and we keep obeying it forever that our rulers to be the same ones who disregard us as an existing people or consider our needs irrelevant, and whatever we say as unimportant. Unending dilemma for Hinterland Population! But for the International community is only 16 years witnessing the enigma, but for us we have to live with it, and as the past 46 years was an anguish kaput in our lives. what is really astonish is the International Community who keeps dealing only with the gang leaders while we the real Somalis is been set aside as if we don’t exist. Those who represent our people were always nominated by the Warlords from Central Somalia, and they always handpicked the worst among the mankind. A wretched ones walking behind their nomadic bosses with zero-effectiveness and carrying a shoe shining toolbox for them. The time is up, all known Digil
Population Intellectuals should gather together and unite their people
to get back together and prevail over the invaders who are denying their
God-given rights, and get hold of everything they own but don’t control
it. It is worth fighting for it, as what’s stake in here is Somali
Hinterland, their lives and their territories. The real Somali Digil
Population’s children are the only ones misplaced, went off track and
got no education, no material possessions and no say whatsoever about
their future. They were in power in the past, abused us, denied our rights and still paid their bills in return, again they are still in control and dictating how our fate should be dealt with in the forums of The United Nations, AU, Arab League, and E. Union. It has become a customary that everything to go either according to liking of Abdullahi Yusuf’ Son of Majerteen, or Barre Hiiraale Son of Mareihan or Aideed and AbdiQasim Salaad Hassan Sons of Hawiye, otherwise we should be worrying to follow the footsteps of Ustad Usman, Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim, Abdallah Deerow Isaq and tens other leading men who lost their lives for their nation. Just as recently the Constitution
and Federalism Minister, was killed as he left Friday prayers in his own
home-town of Baidoa , Broad day light by a stranger gun men, and
Abdullahi Yusuf’'s men couldn't bring them to justice! Why? because they
were from the same group with the same cause. Men from the President's
sub-clan group officers that was trained by the Ethiopian and protecting
their interim Somali government in Baidoa, the appropriated city from
Mirifle People. For them it was impossible to sell out their own people's lands. A land that belongs to God, and given to Somali Maay people, Mirifle, Digil and Associates, and every other peace loving Somali whose intentions are not haughtiness, land grabbing and power. Their biggest mistake was to invite the most dangerous enemy within their own territory and be imprudent enough to agree becoming the first ones to be disarmed and likely to face the Darood-Ethiopian destruction. Under a ruthless leader, an incompetent mad man who sat in Ethiopia since 1978, hoping one day he may become A President. "You can't just trust a Hyena, no matter how you feed! On day It will bite off a piece of the hand that fed him". For God's sake! 'He shoots to disperse the Somali-Maay protesters in Baidoa'. to keep them what calls under the leash. they can't shoot a single Habargidir even in Galkaio where he could potentially be a Roast for few days with the help of Ethiopia. Well, the faceless man is The President of Baidoa now, and he is trying to hide his lacking ability to lead, and show some trustworthiness he couldn't show in the past, now He is in Baidoa this time to create fear and hatred among the Somalis.Political Assassinations, inviting Ethiopia with lack of vision, killing innocent relief workers, using nomadic unsophisticated blaming tactics, accusing one another to justify each ones action is right and legitimate. As Ethiopia also should be held responsible any mishaps commits by their protected 'SRRC' or their new name says; Somali Interim Government, and fully investigated the death of Sister leonella. As certain unpleasant actions could keep escalating to happen against innocent people, especially foreigners in order the criminals justify to attain their impossible aim of ceasing the power from the rival beasts, and relocating their own nomadic Darood-Ethiopians, and their cousins from central and northeastern part of Somalia into Somali Hinterland. a job that couldn't finish by the great tyranny in 1974 with the Soviets help. Sister Leonella's death has to do
more the work of the Somali interim government 's plot than to the not
so less evil-doers so-called Islamists in Mogadishu, who are here for
the stake not for any religion. As for Both Hawiye and Darood, one must
always give his loyalty to his tribe not to his Religion, God, country
or flag. They fight and die for the clan or cash these days, not for
God, these new revelations in Somalia about Islamists is something new
and baseless claim and motivated only by financial gains from outside or
handing out a new play game with a new Islamist deck on the table. or
'You can also say; a wolf wearing a sheep's skin'.
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Now,
two years later, my prediction has come to pass. However, what
worries me, and I hope other realists too, is why the
international community, Africa and the rest of mankind cannot
see that backing Abdullahi Yusuf to bring peace and stability to
Somalia is like asking a goat to negotiate with a crocodile. 
