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by Muuse Yuusuf
Monday, August 11, 2008
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Two moderate men with reconciliatory tones and attitudes |
The decision by the Prime Minister to sack the Mayor of Mogadishu has caused diverse political opinions among Somalis in particular those interested in finding a lasting peace in Somalia. You only need to skim through news headlines and editorials by the numerous Somali websites – an ingenious technological tool that Somalis have excelled well in using it to report their country’s problems, a point well articulated by Abdirahman Ceynte of Hiiraan.com in his article the Somali Websites: A Competitive Alternative Media and a Force to reckon with.
The first opinion is held by those groups who support the decision taken by the Prime Minister. These groups believe that the former Mayor belongs to an old guard who took part in the bloodshed during the Ethiopian invasion, which caused the killing and displacement of thousands of Mogadishu residents. Some of these residents still live in the outskirts of Mogadishu, having been forced out of their homes by the indiscriminate shelling by the fighting sides. These groups-represented by the thousands of the displaced people-did not waste time to show their support for the decision. They immediately held demonstrations to lend a political hand to the Prime Minister. This is because for these innocent civilians, the former mayor represents a sad and painful time in Mogadishu’s recent events in which they lost their livelihoods and homes for no reason others than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
For these innocent civilians, the old guard include, among others, former Prime Minister, ex-Vice Minister of Defence, ex-Interior Minister – a group that is now history after losing their jobs – either sacked or forced to leave. For these poor people, the Prime Minister’s action was right, in other words it is time to move away from the past to the future – and if you want to get those displaced people back to their homes at least one has to try to remove some of the obstacles in the way for example getting rid of those elements that were associated with the recent past. So if ex-Prime Minister and his ministers lost their jobs and the decision to sack them was right, then the decision to remove the ex-Mayor was right, because he belongs to the past. For them, to give peace a chance the old guard should go now and the Mayor’s time was up, hence the Prime Minister action justified and right.
However, these innocent displaced people are aware that the old guard has not yet been completely eliminated from the political spectrum because some powerful constituents and individuals, e.g. the president, heads of security, intelligence and police force, the Ethiopian forces are lurking around and are still in power. These groups think that although these elements cannot yet be removed for different political, security reasons and realities the sacking of the Mayor sends a powerful signal to the rest that they are running out of time and the sooner they go with their Ethiopian allies the better!
For the displaced people, the old guard and their supporters or constituents are hardliners who are getting in the way of the peace process, and a decisive action was required to remove the obstruction. The Prime Minister clearly articulated these groups’ fear when he said the resignation was meant to obstruct the peace process. Some of his ministers such as the current Interior Minister et al supported their boss, accusing those leaving the government of political plot and sabotage against the peace process.
For innocent residents, he President to side with the Mayor was a calculated political intrigue to undermine the Prime Minister, something that cannot be entertained or accepted. This is because for these innocent displaced people, Nuur Cadde heralds a new face of hope, peace and reconciliations particularly after the peace agreement with opposition groups led by two peace-loving men, the honourable Sheikh Sharif and Sharif Ahmed who epitomise the language of moderation even if it means engaging the enemy in a diplomatic language if that would facilitate enemy’s withdrawal from the country. For these groups, so far the Djibouti peace agreement is the best chance and hope for peace and reconciliation in Somalia, and any one who tries to sabotage it should be dealt with swiftly.
For them, the decision also strengthens the Prime Minister’s political clout and leadership. His action shows that he is his own man who does not have to operate under the shadow and patronage of a president. A strong leader always has to move with the time and has got to break off the past, and for them the president, some elements in the government and their constituents symbolise the past: a militaristic mindset and an aversion to peace. However, for the displaced people, things have changed now and the present mindset is making peace, peace, peace and no more wars, and any one who is not in tune with this will be left out of the peace bus.
The second opinion is held by those groups that did not like the decision. For some reasons, since the decision, there is yet to be any public support or sympathy for the ex-Mayor - at least in Mogadishu. And this may well prove the point that the decision if examined or judged under the current political mood was the right thing to do and most people would support it. The only group that openly opposed the decision are the president and some ministers who resigned from the government for dubious reasons, ranging from lack of consultation, failure to produce budget, mismanagement of public funds etc. But from the open sources, it is obvious that their resignation was prompted by the decision, and their decisions may well have been influenced by the president who clearly sided with the ex-Mayor of Mogadishu.
For these groups, the ex-Mayor embodies the need for a strong man, a militaristic mindset that has an aversion to peace, which advocates, in order crushing the insurgency and to keep law and order in an anarchic society, you need a strong and bogeyman, and the ex-Mayor was one of those strongmen. For them, he was one of them who stood up against the Islamist movement during the height of the hostilities. For them, he represents the hardliner elements within the government and in some constituents who believe in the total annihilation or surrender of the insurgency as the Asmara wing characterises the hardliner elements within the opposition groups that are adamant to removing the Ethiopian force and its puppet government by force only.
For them, the decision to sack the Mayor is an insult to their intelligence because after all the hard work that he has done in dislodging the Islamist structure the last thing you need is to demote an influential strong man who did so such for the TFG. Furthermore, and now that the insurgency movement seems to be gaining momentum and to be more belligerent than ever it is not the right time to get rid of strongmen but to recruit more of them! For them the decision by the Prime Minister was a stabbing in the back because his action may well help the lions “Islamists” to escape/come out of their dens thus threatening the very survival of the TFG structure.
For these groups, to move away from the past is a painful experience and may well induce the atmosphere that will lead to their fall from the grace. In other words, the Prime Minister’s decisive action was a threatening political manoeuvre in dangerous and untested waters in which these groups do not feel safe and are not happy with. For them, the Prime Minister‘s tone of reconciliation, his readiness to relinquish power for the sake of peace, his efforts to get those displaced people back to their homes, his talks with the opposition groups are all clear signs, which indicate their time and the days for a strongman mindset are numbered, and that they need to go now before it is too late. In fact some of those threatened by this action left the government immediately – they felt though having sacked the Mayor Nuur Cadde was out to get them soon. The Prime Minister was quick to point out that those elements that left the government were in for dismissal. Others in the parliament and in government and their constituents who hold similar views are pondering their future.
In conclusion, I agree with the opinion expressed by those innocent displaced people and I say it is high time for making love and peace, and no more wars. I am also with the moderate and reconciliatory tones and attitude adopted by the brave, strong and peace loving men and women, particularly those I have mentioned earlier.
As every one’s eyes is now fixated with the implementation of the Djibouti peace agreement, may I suggest to those thousands of brave men and women - be it the Diaspora or back home - who have decided to give peace a chance that the best way to implement a peace agreement is by exercising your powers whether theological or otherwise in order to reign in those young folks that are running with deadly weapons. In my view, you do not have to go all the way to Makka or even to the UN in New York to give a peace agreement a boost or a political clout, in my view to implement a piece treaty all you need is sincere hearts followed by concrete actions. Say for example, if every 100 peace loving men and women, using whatever powers they have, work very hard to educate, lead and control those constituents they can influence, there won’t be any need for any foreign troops to come or stay in Somalia. This may well be a simplistic view but it is the most common sense that every one of us should be embracing if we are to come out of the mess we are in.
As now Members of Parliaments are congregating at Baidao for a political showdown, I call upon all of them to exercise sound political judgement in view of keeping the peace process alive ... Let me make it clear today the issue is not about a quarrel or in-fighting between factions: President vs. Prime Minister and who can do what ...but the issue is deeper than that. The decision you will be taking will be affecting the very survival of our beloved nation and its long suffering people. Please use wisdom in whatever you do for the sake of our people.
Muuse Yuusuf
London, UK
E-mail: [email protected]