The Moment of Reckoning
In times of great upheavals and
uncertainties, when familiar surroundings disappear, when calm
is replaced by chaos; fear takes the place of safety; physical
harm and violence become the norm; when surrounded by death and
destruction; conquered by madness and insanity; people turn to
their leaders for guidance and safety. Unfortunately, today in
Somalia, it seems the leaders are the very ones sawing the seeds
of discord and propagating the violence by resorting to
incitement, poisonous rhetoric and by an outright accusatory
lies and rumors against their opponents whenever a political
logjam is encountered.
An honest and philosophical
disagreement on weighty political issues is a sign of progress.
If carried out in a civil manner even under heated exchanges and
thru consultations, chances are that the disputes will be
resolved peacefully and the resulting consensus will at the end
serve the public better. However, if callously pursued in
complete disregard to the natural difference in opinion and in
pursuit of self aggrandizement driven by personal interest, as
is happening at present with our national leaders, it is doomed
to fail and worse, prolong the agony of our already suffering
people.
The division in the Transitional
Federal Government (TFG) on the relocation of the capital city
and the invitation of troops from front line states is having a
debilitating impact on its viability and raises serious doubts
on its ability to rescue the country from spiraling into further
violence. The resulting polarization is also tearing apart the
fabric of the society, once again exposing seismic communal
fault lines by inflaming healed wounds and subsequently dashing
hopeful dreams. It is beyond comprehension to rationalize how
these leaders, who can not tackle such minor issues, would sail
safely on the troubled waters of the country’s anarchic
political landscape and bring Somalia back into the fold of the
community of nations.
On the subject of the temporary
relocation of the capital city, the president’s position is that
Mogadishu is unsafe and not suitable in its present state of
lawlessness to host the federal government. And because of the
prevalent insecurity in the capital City, foreign forces are
needed to assist and protect this nascent administration take a
foot hold in the country to fulfill its duties.
The opposition claims that no
foreign troops, particularly, those from frontline states and
especially Ethiopia, are necessary in pacifying the country let
alone Mogadishu. They pledge to remove all road blocks and
guarantee the security of the city until a national police or
military force is established. They also promise to disarm their
militias and remove them to former military bases in the
outskirts of the city.
Objectively but rigorously
examining the issue of inviting foreign troops, one comes to the
conclusion that in present day Somalia, there is no justifiable
need to bring foreign armies into the country for the following
reasons:
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First and foremost, there
exists no widespread indiscriminate
violence or an ongoing blood letting against defenseless
civilians in the country which would warrant the need for
foreign intervention force.
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Secondly, there is no mass
starvation or an unfolding humanitarian disaster which would
justify their need. Yes! If the conditions of the 90s exist,
when thousands perished daily under starvation due
persistent insecurity which prevented the safe delivery of
life sustaining food donations to the most needy, this
author would be the first proponent of foreign
intervention.
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Furthermore, the function of
peace keepers is to maintain and act as observers to a
pre-agreed peace accords and to report violations. In
Somalia today, there is no such an agreement, and the
introduction of foreign troops will do more harm than good.
Notwithstanding their unwarranted presence, if brought, they
will come prejudiced against one party and aligned with the
other, hence precluding any contribution to peace and will
certainly become catalysts for more bloodshed and renewed
hostility.
Therefore, the president’s
position is at best untenable if not impossible to justify.
Never in the history of nations, has any organization, regional
or international, militarily assisted a democratically elected
government to establish itself in its own sovereign country.
Equally indefensible is the
insistence on the part of the executive branch to include
Ethiopia in these so called intervention forces, for it
unequivocally qualifies as the greatest proliferator of small
arms and weapons into Somalia. No other nation has hampered the
prospects of peace or fuelled the ongoing civil strife and
anarchy more than Ethiopia. To excuse or whitewash this fact is
an insult on the intelligence of the people and to suggest that
the current regime in Ethiopia sincerely seeks peace and
stability in Somalia is ridiculous.
Ostensibly, relocating the capital
has recently become a thorny issue in the minds of some sectors
of the general public. The premises behind moving the capital
city temporarily to another town or towns lies in its perceived
insecurity and thus unsuitability to house members of the newly
formed TFG. Definitely, there is an element of truth in the
prevailing lawlessness of Mogadishu, nonetheless; the
alternatives put forward by the president and his prime minister
are impractical if not impossible to implement. Here, the
following facts could only lead to no other conclusion:
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The proposed seats of the
government in Baidoa and in Jowhar would present a
nightmarish logistical problem which is far beyond the
capacity of this infant government to remotely deal with,
let alone expect to succeed without massive infusion of
foreign capital and manpower of which none is at hand at the
present time.
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Baidoa and Jowhar are more
than 200 Km apart without major paved highways connecting
the two towns. Separating the functionaries of the
government in such great distances would tremendously tax
and possibly cripple its efficiency.
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Communications facilities
between the two towns or with the outside world are at best
non-existent if not unreliable.
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Transportation, financial,
commercial, banking, health infrastructure or governmental
institutions and adequate residential facilities are
virtually nonexistent in both towns.
On the other hand, Mogadishu
offers the exact opposite of those towns. Most of the former
government institutions are for the most part intact and need
only minor modifications. Others need to be condemned and
rebuilt from the ground up. The communications industry is rated
among the best in the continent. Health facilities are abundant
and housing is flourishing. Mogadishu, despite hard times in the
last 14 years and few months, never lost its sparkle and
remained the hub and nerve center of the nation. The nation’s
capital is a premier city with a long history, modern and
comparable with other capital cities in the world. It is an
urbanized, dynamic metropolis with a population of over 1
million and second to none in the country.
On the contentious issue of its
insecurity, it has overcome formidable obstacles and its
inhabitants continue to strive to improve its safety. Almost all
armed militias have been removed into remote bases outside city
limits. The campaign for dismantling barriers and roadblocks
from major arterials in the city is progressing. It is a
Herculean task which could easily overwhelm the best intentions
and sincere efforts of the community. It requires substantial
financial assistance, expert advice, effective management and
delicate handling. It is deplorable and disheartening that the
only remaining roadblocks belong to the closest political ally
of the president. It is also more hurtful to see the president
and the prime minister ridicule those commendable activities
while they remain comfortable in their Nairobi hotel suites
doing absolutely nothing tangible contributing to the betterment
on the lives of their fellow citizens. Wouldn’t a peaceful
Mogadishu make the president’s job go easier? Shouldn’t he
applaud and encourage the poor mothers selling their jewelry and
meager belongings for a chance to walk to the market safely, for
their child to go to the school with no fear?
In all fairness, the president’s
hesitation to rush to Mogadishu is understandable but what is
incomprehensible is his willingness to take the risk of allowing
the government to falter even before it sets foot in the
country. Is it personal safety that weighs so heavily in the
mind of the president which is preventing him from moving to
Mogadishu or is it the fear of the strong men in the capital
city diminishing his powers? In a democratically elected federal
government, there really should not be so much concern or worry
on the erosion of presidential powers by opposition members.
There are constitutional guidelines which crystal-clearly define
the authority and bounds of each and every legislative and
executive position in the government. If it is personal safety,
then this author poses the question to the public to come up
with an answer that is acceptable to the president.
Nevertheless, the president must at least have known the anarchy
and lawlessness of the country which he voluntarily opted to be
its president. After all, he did not run to head a peaceful
nation such as Kenya, France or Great Britain. He ran to be the
president of a war torn society called Somalia. Then what is
with the obsession of moving the government into a more peaceful
city?
It is the president’s divine duty
to win the hearts and minds of the public, to build trust and
bridge across communities and to steer the country in its
entirety to a greener pasture and to a more promising future.
Seeking foreign forces and more military hardware to bring the
people to their knees and to terrorize them into submission
would lead to no where except to doom and more tears. History,
if heeded, has ample warning signs going in that path. Mahatma
Gandhi was quoted as saying, “It passes my comprehension
how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can
delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right”.
Regretfully, the division in the
TFG has once again left its bloody stain on the peoples of
Baidoa. No people or community has suffered under the civil war
more than the Bay and Bakol residents. No people in any part of
the country were inflicted with pain and loss as severe as they
were dealt with. Painful memories still haunt many of us of
vultures lining punctually in every morning for the emaciated
corpses of infants, women and the elderly in front of feeding
centers. It is unconscionable, morally repugnant and criminal to
subject these innocent citizens to another cycle of violence or
to manipulate them take arms against each other for political
objectives. Unfortunately, the cycle has already begun. The
distinctively familiar clamor prior to the outbreak of the civil
war is evident in this heavenly town. The ghosts of distrust,
the hush-hush, the ominous whispers and rumors about the
intentions of the other, are once again unearthed and are
menacingly resurfacing from their grave yards. There is a slow
but certain unease and alarm creeping in the psyche of the
people. The dark clouds have gathered, the blood letting started
and the flight in terror has commenced. There are shadows of
older people, women and children in the fringes of the town
fleeing in haste after sunset and just before dawn.
We are in a race against time. It
is said that “Allah finds a low branch for the bird that
can not fly”. This is the moment of reckoning. The
Somali people, demand, plead and urge the president to
reconsider his options and to weigh the gravity of the situation
accordingly, before it is too late. They call him to re-examine
the futility of his positions and not to plunge this suffering
country and its helpless people into further violence and
disintegration. This is also a defining moment in the history
of our nation and for this president, and the choice is his
whether to be remembered as the savior of Somalia or goes down
in the realms of history as the butcher of a dying nation once
called Somalia.
Rashid Ali
Baltimore, Maryland
Rashid_Ali_66@hotmail.com
