SOMALIA: ENTRENCHING
ETHIO-OCCUPATION, HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AND FARCE CONGRESS
By
Omar Salad
Email:
oselmi@hotmail.com
June
20,2007
As Ethiopian occupation
entrenches, Farce congress of reconciliation is talked as a
panacea for the grave insecurity created by such occupation
and deep socio-economic and political abyss Somalia is in
and exacerbated by humanitarian crisis rapidly going from
worse to worst. Meantime, international community directly
and indirectly blesses and supports the stifling, murderous
and destructive Ethiopian occupation and a farce
reconciliation congress designed by Ethiopia for the
approval of its colonial occupation.
I. ENTRENCHING ETHIOPIAN
OCCUPATION
Needless to remind Ethiopia
invaded and occupied Somalia from 24 December 2006 without
being provoked and in breach of the international law
specifically the UN Charter Article 1 paragraph 1 which
states ‘All members shall refrain in their international
relations from the threat or of use of force against the
territorial integrity or political independence of any
state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes
of the United States,’ and the UN Security
Council Resolution 1725 (December 2006) paragraph 3 in which
the same Council reiterated and insisted ‘that all Member
States, in particular those in the region, should refrain
from any action in contravention of the arms embargo and
related measures, and should take all actions necessary to
prevent such contraventions’.
But unfortunately the UN
and its Security Council totally failed to hold Ethiopia
accountable for its blatant violations of Article 1 of its
Charter and as well as the afore-said resolution to condemn
Ethiopia for its aggression against Somalia, order to
withdraw its troops and pay compensation for the massive
loss of life and property.
This is not only complete
failure of duty on the part of the UN to take the
appropriate steps on these violations but that has been
perceived by the Somali people and all good peoples and
states that the UN is in favour of Ethiopian invasion and
occupation which committed (still commits) mass genocide and
war crimes, robs, and loots public and private properties,
strips Somali Nation of its political independence,
sovereignty, freedoms and tears the country into shreds.
Sadly the UN Undersecretary General for Political Affairs,
Mr. B. Lynn Pascoe, after meeting Ethiopian Prime Minister
in Addis Ababa on 11 June stated ‘What many long-time
observers are telling me is that this is the best
opportunity for peace that Somalia has had in the past 16
years’(Media) and he lauded a ‘excellent job’ done AU
peacekeeping force – that understandably, since he did not
say Ugandan troops (the only AU or AMISOM troops there),
such his superlative praise extends to the Ethiopian troops’
occupation and brutalities.
Some, including certain UN
member States, may argue out of context that Ethiopia was
threatened by the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in Somalia by
calling a jihad against Ethiopia. But that is not true. The
ICU called Jihad against Ethiopia after its troops
penetrated deep into many Somali regions including Gedo,
Bakool, Bay, Hiran, Mudug, Galmudug and Galgadud and
according to Islam as well as Somali Islamic culture jihad
(struggle or defence) is a legitimate means one has to
resort to when ones country, people, family and property are
attacked by a foreigner.
As for the entrenching or
deepening Ethiopian colonialism in Somalia, there are plenty
of evidences.
1. At the time of the
invasion the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told the
world that he would withdraw his troops from Somalia in a
couple of weeks although most Somalis did not believe that.
That did not happen. Month after month, he re-reiterates
that he is going to bring back his troops just to mollify
Ethiopian, Somali and international public opinion. But in
reality his real policy is to maintain the colonial system
he created in Somalia.
2. The Ethiopians changed
the TFG from its original reconciliatory mission to
non-reconciliatory one and emptied its form and content
based on the notorious Four Point Five (4.5) clannish
power-sharing formula. About one third of the ‘Parliament’
(the patriots) either replaced illegally, intimidated,
humiliated, isolated, died or resigned. The hundred or so
ministers and vice ministers based on the Four Point Five
formula were sacked in august 2006 replaced with 31
pro-Ethiopian ones by the explicit and published order of
the Ethiopian foreign minister Seyoum Mesfin. Again that
reduced pro-Ethiopian cabinet was reshuffled and those who
spoke against the invasion and occupation or had a different
view have been sacked or relegated to unimportant portfolios
once more totally elimiting any residue left from the
political balance. The outcome of such sinister plan of
undermining the original TFG form and content, is a
pro-Ethiopian subservient trio: ‘President’ Abdullahi Yusuf,
Prime Minister Ali M. Gedi and speaker Sheikh Adan Madoobe
to lead the sham show of TFG devoid of any legitimacy and
power. Many of the remnant pro-Ethiopian ministers and MPs
themselves are constantly subjected to intimidation,
humiliation and confinement to Baidoa under order and guard.
Only the minister of interior and vice minister of defence
are seen or heard serving as spokesmen for the Ethiopian
Ruling military General through the TFG name as a cover in
addition to the above named top triumvirate.
3. On 5 May 2007 the
Ethiopian Foreign minister Seyoum Mesfin as usual came to
Mogadishu for a working tour and supervision of his
occupation troops in charge of Mogadishu and above all to
open own embassy in the capital which he did under Ethiopian
heavy military and tanks presence – a tank diplomacy
imitating the gunboat diplomacy existing in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Meantime, he accorded audience for his client
Somali ‘President’ and ‘Prime Minister’ ostensibly talking
with them about close relations between the two countries
while the real purpose of the meeting was to tell them the
decisive role the embassy will have and the similar roles
the 30 or so Ethiopian ‘expert advivers’, brought with him
and attached to Somali ministries and security organs, will
play as well as in the forthcoming farce national
reconciliation congress designed to approve their invasion
and occupation which has to perpetuate. Seyoum’s latest tour
of duty, were preceded by four, if not more, similar tours
to Baidoa and Mogadishu.
4. Dependent on Ethiopia
since its formation in early 2003 and now on its troops, the
TFG has never been allowed to form its own security forces
(police and army) except three militia battalions which
‘President’ Abdullahi Yusuf recruited and brought from
Puntland which he calls national army. That was why the TFG,
after three years of existence, is still unable to stand on
its feet and is set to be under the mercy and protection of
Ethiopian troops for a long time to come.
5. on 5 May 2007, when
almost everything fell in place - the heavy fighting in
Mogadishu subsided (after the freedom fighters changed their
confrontational fighting to guerrilla tactics), embassy
opened and many Ethiopian ‘expert advisers’ took charge in
various Somali ministries and rudimentary security organs
(police and intelligence units), Ethiopian Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi paid a surprise visit to Mogadishu and he
accorded audience to his client Somali TFG president and
prime minister in one session, in another for
Governor-cum-mayor of Mogadishu and police commander, and in
still another session for selected Somali elders posing
himself as the supreme colonial ruler of Somalia and
instructing all these subjects the things he wanted them to
do. On 9 May after returning to his original country, Meles
declared that the ‘situation in Somalia is very encouraging’
which can only mean ‘Somalia is under my firm control with
international recognition and support’. As a lip-service and
public opinion consumption, he re-iterated his usual sham
promise that his troops would withdraw from Somalia with
condition if AU troops come, although come or not come, they
will not be able to challenge or reverse the Ethiopian
occupation and then they will have no other option but to
supplement the occupation unless the US or the UN Security
Council decides to order Ethiopia to leave Somalia. Any
withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops should not be left to be
a prerogative or the volition of the Prime Minister of
Ethiopia but it should be a clear and firm UN Security
Council decision. Otherwise there will not be a complete
withdrawal of Ethiopian troops.
II. WAR CRIMES AND
WORSENING HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
For the last 16 years of
civil war and international neglect the majority of Somali
people have been impoverished. Severe long droughts in
2005-6 and devastating riverine floods in 2006 made many
more people destitute and helpless. The concerted efforts of
the Islamic Courts Union and Somali philanthropic donors
helped alleviate the plight of hundreds of thousands people
in need in the late half of 2005 and in 2006 before the
invasion. For political reasons or lack of conscience, the
TFG showed no concern at all for the plight and suffering of
the millions of Somalis while it has been the recipient of
huge sums of international aid. The international community
(governments, UN agencies, international NGOs) also
neglected or hardly provided humanitarian and relief aid to
the people in need especially from 2006 to-date for
political reasons while making reasons of true and untrue
insecurity.
1. War Crimes and
worsening Humanitarian Crisis
In August 2006, six months
prior to the Ethiopian invasion, the UN Office for
Coordination of Humanitarian affairs (OCHA) estimated that
1.8 million Somalis were either in Acute Food and Livelihood
crisis or in humanitarian emergency situation. That figure
related to people stricken and made destitute by the
2005/2006 severe droughts, riverine alluvial floods plus
400,000 protracted internally displaced persons (IDPs)
during the 16 years civil war. But such dire humanitarian
situation turned much worse from 24 December 2006 when the
US-backed Ethiopian invasion and occupation in Somalia
started. Thereafter, the local welfare and relief networks
and the trickle of international humanitarian and relief aid
were intentionally disrupted and blocked by the invading and
occupying Ethiopian forces and their client TFG.
In addition to the already
1.8 million destitute and helpless people, the UN reported
that 400,000 civilians were displaced from Mogadishu by the
carpet and indiscriminate bombardments on civilian
residential areas in Mogadishu by the Ethiopian troops from
February to April 2007. But well-informed people and local
NGOs on the ground believe that the UN estimate is very
conservative and the real figure of these IDPs is over
500,000. Of these Mogadishu IDPs 84,000 went to Lower
Shabelle Region, 63,000 to Middle Shabelle Region, 109,000
to Galgaduud Region, and 40,000 to Galmudug (former South
Mudug). If you take the 400,000 for Mogadishu IDPs (the UN
figure) and add this to the August 2006 UN identified figure
of 1,800,000 as people in emergency need you get 2,200,000
people in desperate need. Out of this number how many people
died for hunger/famine and curable diseases since August
2006? If you take the lowest 3 per cent of this latest total
number of highly vulnerable people you get 66,000 perished
for lack of care caused by the Ethiopian occupation in
addition to those 3,586 killed and 7,3586 maimed and injured
deliberately by bombardments and bullets by the same
occupation troops. UN and media agencies reports say that
only 114,000 out of the 400,000 IDPs from Mogadishu IDPs
could be reached and provided some form of help in mid May
2007. It is also reported by these agencies that only 90,000
of the Mogadishu IDPs returned to the city. The TFG, in a
malicious attempt to minimise the war crimes it and their
Ethiopian controllers committed, dismissed the number of
IDPs from Mogadishu only to 40,000 and that all have
returned back to the city!!
The other gross
humanitarian law violations which must not be forgotten or
be investigated into are the genocide and war crimes
committed by the Ethiopian troops and the TFG accomplices of
killing 3,586 civilians including women and children
wounding and maiming 7,344 other civilians including women
and children since 24 December 2006 (document issued by the
Diaspora Somali Standing Committee for the Somali crisis in
May 2007 London) and these crimes still continues on.
These included scores of armed civilian freedom fighters who
were exercising their inherent right to defend their own
country from foreign enemy invasion and occupation. Some may
say that is this not genocide. But if the definition of
genocide is deliberate extermination of a people or nation,
who can disprove that the Ethiopian invasion and
occupation of Somalia, as a traditional arch-enemy, is not a
premeditated and deliberate action to decimate and ruin
Somalia? which is exactly the reason why it came to Somalia
to do and is still doing this.
2. Onset of Economic
Collapse
On top of that the basic
livelihood means (properties, businesses, jobs, local relief
aid and welfare networks) of the most people in Mogadishu
have been disrupted, destroyed or blocked by indiscriminate
carpet bombardments by the Ethiopian troops, looting,
robbery and destruction of the shanty quarters and street
trade where poor mostly women who used to sell countless
petty goods (foods, fabrics, cigarettes, kat, etc., etc.) on
open ground bazaars, stalks, tea shops, etc. etc. to find
daily living for their children and extended families. This
massive destruction and disruption massive economic
activities created more armies of destitute people whose
basic livelihood entitlements have been so wiped out without
being provided alternative markets to make their
transactions or means to live on. The UN and other
humanitarian agencies have noticed the only 400,000
Mogadishu IDPs but may not yet noticed the massive
destruction and dislocation of the economic activities and
mass unemployment and destitution that created for hundreds
of thousands of people who are still in the capital city.
The whole economy of Mogadishu and nearby regions is on the
brink of complete collapse due to the stifling occupation
which makes almost everything impossible for trade and flow
of goods from one place to another, normal business
transactions and safe keeping of money exacerbated by
increasing compulsory lump sum advance payments imposed on
business people by the TFG as a form of tax, high port
tariffs, roadblocks, rampant sea pirates which hijack or
scare away commercial ships or those carrying humanitarian
aid, and extortion, rape, killing, looting and robbery of
money and valuables (by breaking into homes and businesses),
kidnapping businessmen and taking from them high rates of
ransom by TFG militias and Ethiopian troops, and armed thugs
and thieves everywhere in the city and roads leading to the
regions. Businessmen and ordinary people after being
disarmed become vulnerable to the robbery of Ethiopian
soldiers, TFG militias and armed thieves.
On the monetary side, the
TFG imports of printed valueless Somali paper money and pays
its militias, staff and services and at the same exchanges
dollars from the market. The devaluation and additional
negative economic impact of such dumping of valueless money
have on the already fragile and unprotected Somali shilling,
prices of goods and services and the economy as whole is not
yet known. But it is already publicly known that the price
of goods especially the food, medicines and basic
necessities sky-rocketed due to scarcity of goods and the
above enumerated multiple problems. Because of such highly
insecure environment many business people transferred their
money abroad and stopped trading in Mogadishu and nearby
regions and many others will of course follow suit unless
these above problems are tackled.
3. Ethiopian PM
Satisfaction about Accomplishment of his Colonial
Enterprise
This is the real current
social, security, economic and political situation obtaining
in Somalia which the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Meles Zenawi
hailed as ‘the situation in Somalia very encouraging’ after
his visit to Mogadishu on 9 June 2007 and five days before
him the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia John Holmes
cogently described as ‘In terms of numbers of displaced
people, and our access to them, Somalia is a worse crisis
than Darfur or Chad or anywhere else this year.’ Why for
Meles Zenawi the catastrophic situation in Somalia is so
‘very encouraging’? To discern his logic is simple.
Ethiopia, a traditional enemy country that came with
premeditated policy of revenge to decimate the Somalis and
ruin their country to the maximum, must have been happy for
the plight and suffering of the Somalis. You never heard
Ethiopian government officials or its ruling military
authority in Mogadishu speaking about the suffering of the
Somalis. The Somali saying Nin ku gowracay har kuuma
jiido (he who kills you does not drag your corps under a
shady tree) explains the Ethiopian troops’ actions and the
glee of their prime minister. Meantime, in an ostrich
tactics the Ethiopian military occupation authority shifts
the responsibility of the blame of their atrocities in
Mogadishu on the TFG. So is the responsibility for blocking
the humanitarian and relief aid from the millions perishing
of famine and diseases to dodge from internal and external
blame.
4. TFG Leaders Blockage
of Humanitarian Aid Revealed
Under pressure of the
Somali people (both inside and outside he country), many
international NGOs such as Oxfam, MSF, UNICEF, Safe the
Children, ICRC, Care, etc. and concerned international
community members such EU commission, international
good-willed groups and individuals and individuals the UN
and some members of the ICG broke the silence about the
atrocities of the Ethiopian troops and TFG and that secret
was divulged that the TFG leaders officially blocked the
humanitarian agencies and aid from coming into the country
to these needy affected by famine and epidemic diseases
(cholera, watery severe watery diarrhoea, etc.) especially
the 400,000 or more Mogadishu IDPs who were languishing and
dying in open air camps without food, water, medicine, and
shelter and many more others who already destitute and
desperate. Then it has transpired that personally the prime
minister of the TFG wrote a letter to the UN and
humanitarian agencies that they could cannot come or bring
in humanitarian aid. The WFP local representative in
Mogadishu revealed that the Agency wanted to distribute 320
metric tones of food to the IDPs in the Afgooye area but TFG
militias blocked seizing the convoy carrying the food and
they put back into stores in the city under guard. At that
point when the minister of interior of the TFG was asked by
BBC reporter, he said ‘all humanitarian aid must be
authorised by the TFG and come through it to be distributed,
and we stopped this particular shipment of food for the
safety and health of our people lest they would not be
poisoned by these agencies’. This is not an answer of a
responsible minister whose people are dying for lack of food
but understandably he was forced to give such a ridiculous
reply by his Ethiopian superior authority.
As the row of accusation
and counter-accusation between the TFG and international
humanitarian agencies about the obstruction heated, on 23
April 2007 the TFG was forced to rescind its blockage order
on humanitarian aid and they declared that only civilian
airports open to humanitarian aid to come in words not
followed by deeds. To increase the pressure on them, on 28
April 2007 the Chief UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia
Mr. John Holmes sent ‘an open letter’ to’ Somali leaders,
military commanders, elders and community representatives
calling for unimpeded access for the delivery of assistance
to and provision of protection to Somalis’. To press TFG
even harder (and of course their Ethiopian controllers), Mr.
John Holmes visited Mogadishu and met ‘President’ Abdullahi
Yusuf and ‘Prime Minister’ Ali M. Gedi and on 14 May 14 May
2007. After returning to Nairobi, Mr. Holmes made this true
but alarming statement that ‘In terms of numbers and
access to them, Somalia is a worse displacement crisis than
Darfur or Chad or anywhere else this year.’ And the UN
Human Rights Council report on 12 June belatedly deplored
the ‘deteriorating human rights situation’ in Somalia
mentioning killing, mass displacement, robbery, rape, lack
of water, food, shelter, medical care, and intimidation and
threats to the population. Even so, up to now the
humanitarian agencies succeeded to reach and provide food
only 114,000 people out of the 400,000 IDPs from Mogadishu
(media. Yet, the international community especially the rich
countries are not responding to the humanitarian disaster in
a way commensurate to the magnitude humanitarian disaster
alarmingly acknowledged and urgently called repeatedly by
John Holmes, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator. Despite of
this, the UN OCHA Situation Report Ro. 40 of 25 May, informs
that only $10 million are available as Central Emergency
Response Fund for this massive humanitarian crisis which
surpasses Darfur tragedy and still continues to worsen
further because the rapacious occupation which is intent to
create as much catastrophic as possible.
III. THE SOMALI
PEOPLES’S LEGITIMATE
RESISTANCE AGAINST
ETHIOPIAN-OCCUPATION
The unprovoked, aggressive
and illegal US-based Ethiopian invasion and occupation of
Somalia from 24 December 2006 to-date has not been accepted
and will never be accepted by the Somali people. The false
pretexts of the invasion and occupation by Ethiopia and its
US sponsor such as presence of ‘Alqaida’, ‘extreme
Islamicists’ or ‘Islamic terrorists’ posing threat to
Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa and the world were and are
still baseless. The Islamic Courts Union (ICU) which in 2006
established peace and order in the southern and central
regions of Somalia never threatened or harmed any Ethiopian
and American or other countries’ interests. Only after
Ethiopian troops entered inside Somalia, namely, the Bakol,
Gedo, Bay, Hiran, Galgadud, north Mudug and Galmudug (the
former South Mudug), the ICU began to denounce this
intrusion and call for jihad to defend their country from
the ongoing foreign aggression. Then the US-sponsored
Ethiopian regime, which had its own sinister designs against
Somalia, stepped its fictitious accusation that the ICU
posed threat of jihad against Ethiopia. In actual fact, it
was the Ethiopian regime that provoked the ICU and the
Somali people to call and resort to jihad against its
invading forces. In Islam in general and the Somali Islamic
culture, jihad is a legitimate means to resort to if a
foreigner invades your country, people, family and property.
The jihad called by the ICU and supported by the majority of
the Somali people was in that context and not as distortedly
and conveniently interpreted and publicised by the Ethiopian
regime and their US sponsors and the western media as well.
Therefore, the Somali
insurgents or anti-Ethiopian occupation fighters, whether
they are members of the ICU or other Somali patriots are not
violence mongers, extremists, terrorists or Al-qaida members
and associates as wrongly accused by Ethiopia, its client
TFG, the Americans and the bulky of the western media, but
these fighters are freedom fighters. They did not start the
violence but it was Ethiopia which started such violence and
violently subjugates the Somali people, causing on them all
sorts atrocities and misery in their in their own country.
Who gave Ethiopia the right to occupy Somalia,
indiscriminate-ly kill Somalis en masse and destroy their
property and basic livelihoods, and declare Somali freedom
fighters as ‘terrorists and Alqaida to be hunted down’, and
export many Somalis like goods to the Ethiopian Guantanamo
Bay-style dungeons and exclude Somali freedom fighters and
politicians from in any political process?! The answer is
nobody. Therefore, anti-Ethiopian occupation Somali freedom
fighters have every inherent and legitimate right to respond
violence to the violence perpetrated on the Somali people
and land by the Ethiopian occupation troops and their Somali
hirelings and puppets.
If Ethiopia wants peace and
friendship with the Somali people as it alleges, it must
withdraw its troops completely from Somalia without further
delay and conditionality. Ethiopian occupation troops have
no right whatsoever to stay in or rule Somalia let alone
hold ‘a reconciliation congress’ for Somali people under
their guns and boots. That is a gross insult added to the
painful injury of the invasion and occupation. The
international community should have moral qualms not to
support, condone or apologise for this ugly and brutal
occupation of Somalia by its arch-enemy and it must take
clear-cut stand and decision on how this occupation should
be ended soon. The international community also ought to
reject the unfounded and far-fetched accusations labelled on
the Somali freedom fighters as ‘al-qaida’, ‘terrorists’ and
‘extremists’. These immoral, unjust and brazen lies
concocted for political convenience by Ethiopia and by its
backers to pursue their own geopolitical ends in Somalia at
the cost of the independence and welfare of the Somali
people should stop. Because such baseless accusations
will not only be counter-productive as regards the
realisation of such aims or even resolving Somali crisis but
alienate most Somalis and harden their attitudes towards the
accusers even more.
III. THE FARCE NATIONAL
RECONCILIATION CONGRESS
Since the Ethiopian troops
have given a lift to it to Mogadishu, the TFG has neither
gained any political and military power nor legitimacy. It
is living under the Ethiopian protection from the Somali
people as it was six months ago when it was in Baidoa. On
the contrary the political and military powers, legitimacy,
and authority fictitiously claimed by the TFG went from the
worse level they were to the worst one due to the high
treason act for accepting Ethiopian invasion and occupation
of Somalia and for being accomplice of the above described
gross war crimes this inimical occupation committed in its
name. The TFG talk about holding a national reconciliation
process and relevant congress can only be understood and
scorned off as a complete farce. Such a sham apolitical and
clannish national reconciliation congress has been planned
by the Ethiopians in the name of the TFG for three reasons:
a)to hoodwink the internal and international public opinion;
b)to approve the Ethiopian invasion and its continued
occupation, c)to keep the TFG in its puppet nature and high
state of dependency on Ethiopia; and d) to exclude civil
society including the freedom fighters of diverse political
and religious persuasions.
Therefore, with such
sinister intentions behind it, this bogus national
reconciliation congress organised by the TFG and their
Ethiopian controllers, if at all it takes places, because it
has been postponed for three times and lastly scheduled for
15 July 2007, can neither bring legitimacy to the TFG nor
peace and security in Somalia. For the following reasons
this so-called reconciliation congress is devoid of any
credibility and legitimacy let alone to bring peace,
security and lasting political settlement:-
1. The brutal and total
Ethiopian occupation and control - a situation which is very
far from being conducive to hold a genuine national
reconciliation congress.
2. The apolitical nature
and sinister intentions the Ethiopians and the TFG have in
holding this so-called congress which are to approve the
Ethiopian invasion and its continued occupation and keep the
TFG in its current powerless client form;
3. The members of the
organising committee of the congress are far from being
neutral and independent as they were selected and appointed
by the TFG president and approved by the Ethiopians. Prior
to his nomination the chairman of the organising committee
was invited to Addis Ababa by the Ethiopian Prime Minister
to be told what he would do and after that the TFG
‘president’ nominated him and other members who similarly
have no integrity and credibility whatsoever. So there is no
independent and neutral organising committee.
3. The current leadership
of Ethiopia and TFG leaders are notoriously famous for
intolerance to dissenting views, political opposition and
scorn for any democratic principles and genuine political
participation and settlement. They are totalitarian regimes,
which care of only maximising their total grip on power
using mediocre, ignorant and corrupt individuals and every
trick in the book.
4. The Ethiopia and TFG
leadership have not made even only one concession or
acceptance of the demands and proposals for solution of the
crisis contained in the two petitions to these authorities
by the Mogadishu opposition Elders sent these leaders to
take steps to stop the war crimes of deliberate mass
massacres and destructions and a host of gross
transgressions on the dignity, freedom and property of the
people of Mogadishu and nearby regions. These demands and
proposals were completely belittled and ignored.
5. And more importantly,
the people of Mogadishu especially the opposition Council of
elders, the politicians, the anti-occupation freedom
fighters, and civil society have zero relations and zero
trust with the TFG and their Ethiopian-controllers which
make impossible to have a genuine national reconciliation
congress and have meaningful and lasting political
settlement under Ethiopian occupation and the TFG through
the afore-said dependent and partial Organising committee.
6. The real dictatorial and
brutal behaviour of the Ethiopian and the TFG have been
graphically evinced by:-
a) The mass genocide and
other war crimes they committed and still commit to the
people of Mogadishu;
c) Continuous arrests and
disappearances of countless innocent people, the
intimidation and terrorisation, large and widespread looting
and robbing of the wealth of the people (businesses,
families, individuals);
d) Terrorising raids on the
homes, intimidation, harassment, manhandling and detentions
of members of the opposition elders of Mogadishu especially
the detention of their chairman Haji Abdi Imam, similarly
respectable politicians like former president Mr. Abdikasim
Salad Hassan (whose residence was raided and ransacked), and
arrest of Dr. Mohamud Mohamed Uluso, Mr. Ali Iman the head
and partner of Hornarfik radio, and many others. Mr. Haji
Abdi Iman and these politicians were detained in a filthy
and dreadful underground dungeons already cramming to the
brink with innocent people without the least conditions for
human living and without due legal process or justice. These
dignitaries were lastly released thanks to internal and
international criticisms and pressure. All these terrorising
acts and arrests followed the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s
tour of duty in Mogadishu as a stern warning message to the
opposition like ‘this is a foretaste of what I can do to you
and nobody can stop me from doing this. You must change your
opposition to the occupation, submit yourselves and attend
the coming reconciliation congress we are holding soon to
approve my colonial enterprise’. The local media, though
reopened, are forbidden to speak about the atrocities
committed by the Ethiopian troops and TFG unruly militias or
misery and humanitarian catastrophe prevailing in the city.
e) Close-down of the local
media such as Hornafrik Radio, Furan Radio, Shabelle radio,
etc. following the visit of Mr. Meles Zenawi not to report
the atrocities going on in Mogadishu.
Such infringements on
individual liberties and political freedoms of these
dignitaries, the entire population of Mogadishu and the
freedom of the media plus the grave war crimes committed and
still being committed illustrate clear picture that there
are not the minimum security and freedom requirements needed
by a genuine national reconciliation congress. That is why
this hoax congress has been postponed for the third time and
is boycotted by the most apolitical delegates selected by
the TFG let alone the unarmed opposition and anti-occupation
freedom fighters.
In a word, as noted above,
the forthcoming hoax congress is just a sinister project
intended to mislead the international community and approve
the Ethiopian invasion and its continued occupation and
keeping dysfunctional and much hated client TFG in place so
that it will always be heavily dependent on Ethiopia and its
manipulation.
6. First Somali
President Buried under Occupation
Since the black December
2006 when the Ethiopian occupation started in Somalia, it is
the most depressing and painful moment for the Somalis that
the body of their beloved first President Adan Abdulle
Osman, who passed away in Nairobi on 8 June 2007, was
returned and buried in Mogadishu on the 11th of
the same at a gloomy moment when his beloved country, of
which freedom he struggled and become its first president,
was under the occupation of its traditional arch-enemy of
Ethiopia. Neither Somalis nor President Adan Abdulle Osman
have ever imagined that this could happen to their
motherland. Tens of thousands of Somalis attended his
funeral to pay him the respects he deserved while in deep
grieve and consternation not only for his death but also for
the humiliating situation the death and funeral of their
beloved first president coincided. Many Millions of Somalis
inside and outside the country have had similar movements of
double grieve. The death of President Adan Abdulle Osman and
the sad occupation, under which he was buried, will
strengthen the will and resolve of many Somalis to liberate
their motherland from the colonial occupation of Ethiopia
and restore their statehood.
7. Unwanted and
Misplaced Amnesty
On 16 June the TFG prime
minister held a meeting for his ministers to talk about
amnesty for the Somali ICU members and other anti-Ethiopian
Somali freedom fighters and suggested to the TFG president
to grant amnesty for these fighters and for those hundreds
of innocent people illegally detained in Mogadishu. In his
turn, on the 17 June 2007 the president signed a decree for
such amnesty. This is absolutely not the idea of the
Ethiopians or the TFG but clearly they yielded to pressure
of the international community which has been suggesting to
the TFG that it should enter dialogue and reconciliation
with the opposition including members of the ICU and other
resistance fighters and supporters. But the question is who
committed crime, the freedom fighters or the TFG itself
which invited, accepted and collaborated the Ethiopian
inimical invasion and occupation in committing such grave
war crimes? The obvious answer is that the freedom fighters
did commit any crime in defending their country from foreign
invasion and domination but it is the TFG leaders who
committed crimes of high national treason and are the real
culprits to be prosecuted or offered amnesty. Mr. Sheikh
Sharif Ahmed Chairman of the Executive Committee of the ICU
dismissed this amnesty as unwanted and misplaced one because
ICU and other anti-occupation fighters did not commit any
crime but did heroic national duty. Mr. Haji Abdi Imam the
Chairman of the opposition Mogadishu Elders had expressed a
similar view about this amnesty. But both men welcomed the
release of hundreds of innocent civilians detained by the
Ethiopian troops and TFG militias without offence and
without any due legal process and justice.
IV. ROLE OF THE
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
Since the invasion six
months ago, views and positions of the members of the
international community dealing with Somalia have in general
been disconcerted, contradictory and inconsistent. Some have
been supportive of the Ethiopian occupation and their puppet
TFG(E.g. The US, AU, UN, Britain, Kenya)in various degrees
and some have been critical of the occupation and the
irresponsible behaviour of the TFG (EU Commission, Germany,
Italy, Norway, Arab League) also in varying degrees. As for
the mass genocide and other war crimes committed by and
ensuing humanitarian catastrophe, the EU representative
based in Nairobi alone showed prompt concern and reported
the seriousness of the matter to his superiors, and the UN
belatedly showed some concern about humanitarian disaster
and announced that it would make a probe if there were war
crimes. But the progress and findings the EU and UN made on
these issues, or whether there will be a real investigation
is not yet unknown to the Somalis. But there is high
expectation that some justice will be done some day.
The US led International
Contact Group (ICG) on Somalia which also includes, Britain,
Kenya, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Tanzania, IGAD (with only
Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda actively attending), AU, UN and
Arab League, has taken the liberty to name itself to get
involved in the Somali crisis but has not taken concrete
steps about the invasion and occupation of Ethiopia;
building Somali national security forces; influencing the
TFG in the right and preventing it from political
fragmentation and deterioration; and war crimes and the
escalation of the humanitarian catastrophe and prolonged
suffering of millions of Somalis prior to and during the
occupation. The ICG behaviour seems to support, and/or
condone and play delaying tactics to give the Ethiopian
occupation more time to take its course and implement its
sinister mission. The ICG holds occasional meetings and
issue confusing and non-committal statements as opposed to
coming up with clear, concrete and concerted policy about
resolving the Somali protracted and deteriorating crisis and
putting in place pertinent decisive action plans. Its latest
meeting is a case in point.
1) The Latest UN ICG
Meeting
The communiqué issued by
the last IGC meeting held in London on 6-7 June 2007 was as
confusing and indecisive as ever except supporting the TFG
and condoning to the Ethiopian occupation and its continuing
war crimes. The communiqué issued by the ICG included the
usual stereo-type general political phrases such as ‘genuine
inclusive reconciliation, fair and equitable representation,
comprehensive and meaningful political process, process
leading to permanents and peace and stability, continue to
work all parties to ensure that all humanitarian needs of
the Somali people are addressed, etc.). But the real meat of
the ICG Communiqué was the following points which are
supportive of the apolitical hoax congress planned by
Ethiopia and its client TFG:
a) ‘The Contact Group
welcomes . . . the assurances given by the Transitional
federal Government that the reconciliation Congress will be
fully inclusive and that no clan or sub clan’, ’or
individual members of them who renounce violence and are
selected by their clans’;
c) ‘The Contact Group
agrees to funding the Congress’
b)‘The Contact group
strongly condemns actions of extremists and terrorists and
those looking to under undermine the political and
reconciliation process’ an unfortunate misnomer and
reference to the Anti-Ethiopian occupation freedom fighters
whether they belong to the ICU or are other patriots.
The language of the ICG as
‘actions of violence’, ‘extremists’ and ‘terrorists’ that
‘undermine the political and reconciliation process’ that it
‘strongly condemns’ clearly refer to the Somali Ethiopian
anti-occupation insurgents or freedom fighters struggling to
liberate their country from the Ethiopian occupation. If
these freedom fighters are labelled or called ‘extremists’,
‘terrorists’ and ‘Alqaida’ and their demands are so
offhandedly dismissed or ignored, a question begs: with whom
the TFG reconciles and what kind of reconciliation the ICG
supports? All these terms and phrases of the ICG seem to be
supportive of the real agenda of the Ethiopian and their
client TFG which is exclusive and not conducive to any
peace, reconciliation and stability in Somalia.
The other big folly of the
ICG is that they avoid the mention of or do something about
the war crimes and brutalities of the Ethiopian troops,
their continuing predatory actions, and setting a timetable
of ending this brutal occupation. For six months now, the
ICG or the international community has been talking about AU
troops deployment which are not forthcoming because either
they are not deliberately funded by those rich countries
which would pay the bill or that the would-be troop
contributing African countries are reluctant to send their
troops to Ethiopian occupied Somalia least their troops
would not be a supplementary to such occupation or that
their troops would not killed by furious Somali freedom
fighters in futile mission. The second AU peacekeeping
contribution is expected from Burundi and according to
reports these troops are destined to Kismayo, a volatile
city second to Mogadishu, instead of the latter. But the
big question is: can 1,700 Burundi troops make a difference
in Kismayo without meaningful political dialogue and
reconciliation with the various rival communities and
factions as well. The diversion of the Burundi troops to
Lower Jubba Region is indicative that the Ethiopian troops
are not withdrawing from Somali but to stay while the six
month term AU mission is almost over to give way to the
proposed pending UN mission.
.2) The Commendable
Ugandan position and peacekeeping role
Only Uganda timely deployed
its own quota of AU peacekeeping troops to Somalia and
distanced its troops from participating in the mass carnage
and destruction in Mogadishu by Ethiopian troops. Ugandan
troops who are doing peacekeeping work at Mogadishu Port and
Airport and at other public installations already earned
respect and trust from the Somali people. Also, the Ugandan
government took an objective, honest, and courageous
independent decision to contact and negotiate with the
Somali anti-Ethiopian occupation fighters in Mogadishu and
aboard convincing them that Uganda is neutral and has no
vested interest in Somalia but to help restore peace abd
stability, unlike Ethiopia and other self-interested foreign
countries which regard and call the Somali anti-occupation
fighters as ‘extremists, terrorists, and Alqaida’. This
astute policy and independent approach worked well for
Uganda not only earning respect but safety of its troops in
Mogadishu. The six Ugandan soldiers killed in Mogadishu were
killed either by their mistake of being in the wrong place
or by accident and that fact was acknowledged by the Ugandan
government. Also the AU Ugandan command and Ugandan
government take open and accountable approach in reporting
what happens to their troops such as death, injury and how
that happened, etc. and kind humane policy for their
soldiers serving in Somalia. For example, the six Ugandan
soldiers killed in Somalia have not only been acknowledged
but also compensated their families handsomely with $100,000
for each of the fallen soldiers – perhaps the biggest ever
compensation for an African soldier. Ethiopia is quite the
opposite – no openness or accountability of crimes and
atrocities its soldiers commit in Somalia or about
disclosing the large numbers of soldiers it lost in Somalia
(many hundreds, if not thousands, killed or wounded)let
alone paying compensation to their families like those of
Uganda.
3. The Proposed UN
Mission for Somalia
There are a lot of
questions what will the UN mission be like? From which
countries troops are to be drawn? Will the frontline or
other controversial countries participate in this UN
mission? What is the mandatory power of this mission - to
administer Somalia or to help and supplement the
dysfunctional and hated TFG? Or will it be one of ‘a
coalition of the willing’ which the UN Secretary General
mentioned a couple of months ago that ‘Somalia may need’?
Will the mission be different from the ill-advised, biased
and failed UNISOM one of 1992-1995? How long will the term
be? The answers of these questions especially how neutral
the contributing countries are, role, mandate and term and
in relation to the TFG of the UN mission have great
significance and importance for the success or failure of
the proposed UN mission.
Such mission to be
successful, the UN Security Council needs that it critically
learn lessons from the past: the failed 1992-1995, the
irreparable nature of the TFG, the destructive Ethiopian
invasion and occupation and the havoc of its continued
presence can play with Somalia, the notion of ‘coalition of
the willing’ as mentioned earlier by the UN Secretary
General if it means voluntary interested countries pursuing
their own objectives or doing what they deem fit (which
reminds one the disaster in Iraq) and can spell similar
catastrophe in Somalia, the counter-productive effects the
politically motivated slogans and labels of ‘Islamic
terrorists’ and ‘Alqaida presence’, etc., the deliberate
exclusion of the civil society (especially
intellectual/professionals, civilian politicians old and
new, titled legitimate traditional and religious elders,
women and youth groups).
4) Need to recognise and
address root-causes of violence and extremism
It should be borne in mind
by the International community or specifically by the ICG
that the violence that has been going on in Somalia
for the last two decades or so has not been chosen by the
Somalis but that it is caused by a combination of factors
such as poverty, ignorance and foreign negative foreign
involvement especially the long time constant Ethiopian
direct negative interventions (e.g. taking sides and
supply of arms and other resources to favoured factions,
etc.) which boiled down to their current rapacious and
degrading occupation in Somalia.
Any genuine Somali
political leadership or movement and the international
community should understand, recognise and address these
root-causes (e.g. grinding poverty, ignorance, interested
negative foreign interventions and the present occupation)
instead of putting the blame on the Somali people for
tribalism or lack of national consciousness and demonising
various factions or groups like the ICU for ‘extremism’
and/or terrorism’, and the most wild accusation as ‘Al-qaida
connections’ or depicting Somalia as a ‘haven for
terrorism’. These assessments and characterisations of the
Somalis and their social and political behaviours are either
stemming from hopeless misconceptions or ideologically and
politically driven intentions that can only help weaken
Somalia and push it to continued violence and ruination
V. SOME RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
1. Need for change of
perception and review of Somali Politics and Crisis
First and foremost the
international community, UN, ICG, EU, AU, Arab League Arab,
etc. must review their perception and appraisal of Somali
social, economic and political crisis by looking at the
following critical issues:-
a) review its support,
condoning or evasive approach of the Ethiopian invasion and
occupation in Somalia and its enormous damages and dire
consequences;
b) review the unconditional
support to the TFG and its irreparable nature especially
after being deeply fragmented and become even more
dysfunctional TFG since its formation rather than developing
and gaining strengthening itself;
c) the prevailing
humanitarian disaster and the impending complete collapse of
the economy of Mogadishu city and the whole country because
of the devastating effects of the occupation which still go
on;
d) the root-causes of
violence and extremism or ‘terrorism’ as widespread grinding
poverty, ignorance and negative and interested foreign
interventions and not the Islamic religion;
2. Steps to be taken
a) first and foremost to
address the speedy and complete (repeat complete) withdrawal
of Ethiopian troops from Somalia which are and, if
continued, will be the main source of violence and misery in
Somalia;
b) address proactively,
promptly and effectively the humanitarian catastrophic of
the Mogadishu IDPs, their return and the wider needy
population everywhere in Somalia;
c) take urgent steps to
tackle the quickly collapsing economy in Mogadishu and
possibly countrywide because Mogadishu economy has been the
largest mainstay of the weak, fragile and unprotected Somali
economy;
d) speed up the deployment
of more neutral AU forces (like Uganda ones) or UN whichever
now is on the UN Security Council agenda to have early
complete withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops;
e) then begin a genuine
national reconciliation congress participated by all
stakeholders including TFG, ICU members, old and new
politicians, professionals and NGO leaders, titled and
formal traditional and religious leaders, women and youth
groups under safe and free environment in Somalia under
neutral and fair mediation and facilitation of the
international community or ICG with a projected outcome of
genuine and workable political settlement.
By Omar Salad E-mail:
oselmi@hotmail.com
18 June 2007
Disclaimer: Openinion
expressed here are those of the authors and does not
necessarly reflect the opions of this website