Why Kenya and Ethiopia ought to annex and divide
Somalia
By DONALD KIPKORIR, dkipkorir@ktk.co.ke (email the
author)
Posted Friday, October 3 2008 at 19:36
- In Summary
Since 1960, the country has been a lawless state that is
a haven for terrorists and pirates.
Annexing Somalia is thus in our strategic interest and
we must do it now as the financial meltdown continues.
Last month, Lehmans Brothers and Merrill Lynch, the
world’s foremost investment banks, went bankrupt and we
witnessed the financial chaos in the western capitals.
In the fog of international headlines on finding a
financial bail-out in Washington, a rag-tag army of 50
semi-naked men on rickety boats captured a ship carrying
33 T-72 tanks, rocket-propelled grenades and
anti-aircraft guns off the coast of Somalia.
The capture of mv Faina and the stalemated talks amid
the surrounding American and Russian warships made me
think that maybe this is the time to find a final
solution to the Somali problem.
Since 1960, the country has been a lawless state that is
a haven for terrorists and pirates. The pirates have
told us the destination of the captured weaponry causing
tension and panic in Washington, Nairobi and Khartoum.
If it is true that the final consignee was the
government of Southern Sudan, as they allege, I will be
on the same page with the Kibaki government for the
first time.
I am a fervent supporter of a strategic foreign policy
even if it attracts us enemies of such malevolent and
despotic regimes as that of Khartoum.
Supporting the Southern Sudan government is in our
long-term strategic interest and we should not shy from
it. The truth of the matter is that as a Western ally,
Kenya is an existential enemy of Arab countries, Sudan
included.
Annexing Somalia is thus in our strategic interest and
we must do it now as the financial meltdown continues to
take away the attention of the world.
Somalia as a state exists only in world maps. It is a
classic case of a failed state. It is a state
dismembered into as many independent units as there are
sub-clans. Its 90-strong cabinet is emblematic of the
actual number of units.
The Horn of Africa country has no functioning
government. The so-called transitional federal
government, led by Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, is confined to
a shell-shocked presidential compound.
There is no standing or even sitting army or judicial
systems. By all accounts, Somalia is a black hole in
international law. Together with Afghanistan and
Pakistan they are known as the training grounds and
refuge for international terrorism.
Kenya has been a victim of such terrorism, leading to
near-destruction of its tourism industry. We cannot
afford another such attack. We have the potential to
develop our tourism to compete with, if not outpace,
Egypt and South Africa. But we cannot do so if Somalia
continues to be a non-state.
Somalia neighbours Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti. Of
these, it is only Ethiopia and Kenya that have strategic
interest in Somalia. Djibouti is a primitive entrepot
that can’t even supply water to its 600,000 people, who
are forced to drink that imported from France or Coca
Cola. Therefore, Djibouti is out in the quest for the
final solution to the Somali puzzle.
Kenya and Ethiopia must and ought to dismember Somalia
and divide it between themselves along the 4 degrees
latitude, each taking all the land below and above the
line.
The division will make both countries extend their
territories by roughly 300,000sq km and additional
populations of about five million.
Once Kenya and Ethiopia have sent their combined army to
Somalia and declared the annexation, we will present to
the world a fait accompli.
In 1845, America annexed Texas from Mexico and forced
the Texan legislature to pass a specific legislation
stating that it accepted the annexation. The annexation
has stood to date and, for good measure, President
George W. Bush is a proud American Texan.
For Kenya and Ethiopia, having the Somali legislature to
endorse the annexation will be cake-walk. At any given
time, most, if not all, Somali legislators are in
Nairobi.
We will have them convene in one of our hotels and to
pass the appropriate statutes dividing their country.
When the allied forces liberated Germany from Fuhrer
Adolf Hitler, they sent the bill to Berlin.
Our cost of annexing Somalia will be settled by
Mogadishu. Somalia is known to have huge deposits of
oil, natural gas, uranium and iron ore. Immediately
after the annexation, we will invite our strategic
foreign friends (not China please) to come and exploit
the resources for us.
Kenyans ought to know that although Somalia is a failed
state, its positive statistics are impressive. Without a
structured economy, its gross national income per capita
is US$600 (Sh40,000), when ours is $550 (Sh36,800). Of
its universities that operate without budgets and with
armed militia guarding them, three are in Africa’s top
100.
International law forbids the use of force by states
against the territorial integrity and political
independence of others. Somalia doesn’t have either.
But the law also recognises irreversible processes like
the extinction of states such as in the USSR, emergence
of new states from former USSR and Yugoslavia, and
annexations like that of Texas. International order
hates reversing completed processes, more so if the
world is a better place.
If we do not annex Somalia and now, we will be a victim
of its failed status and pulled down by it. We will not
be able to achieve our strategic foreign policy in the
region, or attain the Vision 2030 goal.
The time to annex and dismember Somalia is now;
Washington and Moscow will be grateful.
Source:
http://www.nation.co.ke
- October 3 2008
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