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by Daud Ed Osman
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
It took eighteen month - since the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia - for the “International Community” to recognize that the warlord-dominated Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and Autocratic Ethiopian Prime Minister Mele Zenawi’s agenda for Somalia was not intended for stabilization or institution building, but to destabilize Somalia by creating what United Nations Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affair John Holmes called “the worst humanitarian disaster in the world”, and in the process destroyed the economic, social, human, and democratic infrastructure, which are necessary for stabilization, and state reconstruction.
My previous analysis of Ethiopian invasion was prescient of the disastrous outcome of the whole experiment, and unfortunate rhetoric of “international community” and their narrative of the Somali crisis, including their reluctance to accept the incompetence of the TFG, as well as their naïve presentation of TFG as “the only hope” for Somalia to have government of national unity.
Further more, the strategy that the “international community” supported and financed in Somalia at the end of 2006 - for stabilization and state building - had become an exception to the conventional norms of peace building, institution building, and state building, which requires inclusive political process; competent, and qualified leaders that have identifiable constituents, and base their decisions to gain their approval; free press that exposes the corruption, mismanagement, and incompetence of public officials; and in the end create strong state that fulfill the aspirations of its citizens and grantee their demand for good governance, better quality of living, and predictable system that grantees employment, security, and create environment that motivates these citizens to reach their potential.
However, these qualities are not endowed with the leadership of the TFG, but one can find an exception with the new leadership of Prime Minister Noor Hassan Hussein. As soon as he was nominated in November 2007 he recognized the limited use of clan’s power sharing formula, in creating government of national unity, and called the opposition to be partners for lasting peace and stake holders of government of national unity.
The new Prime Minister shifted the TFG leader’s rhetoric of calling “terrorist” for every one who apposes their political views and clannish mentality. He introduced language of inclusion, reconciliation, tolerance and reached-out to the opposition to reverse the violent trajectory that the country undergone after the Ethiopian invasion.
With the help of the United Nations envoy in Somalia Ahmadou Ould Abdalla, the TFG and The Leadership of the Alliance of the Re-liberation of Somalia had singed the first phase of ambitious peace agreement in Djibouti in June 2008, that will lead to genuine national reconciliation – not one that recognizes the warlords as nation leaders, and confines political reconciliation to clan reconciliation per se – but, one that bring together different stake holders, such as Islamists who wants to participate in the political process, women’s groups, civil society, business, expatriates, intellectuals, and the youth who led the insurgency against Ethiopian invasion.
If we give chance, the Djibouti Peace Agreement has the potential to reverse course and achieve national unity government and simultaneously end Ethiopian invasion. The reason for his agreement is different, than previous agreement is that, it has the support of the United Nations, European Union, and United State. Symbolically, it is a departure from previous policy that treated the warlords as legitimate leaders for their clan’s interest. It is also recognition – of “the international community” - that warlords can’t be partners for stability, order, and good governance.
The Djibouti Agreement would not have been possible without the remarkable leaders of The Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS). The decision to sit with the leaders of TFG was not an easy decision, at a time when Ethiopian military engaged war crimes against unarmed civilians. But it is smart political move to establish relations with the “International Community” and end the myth that the ARS is a rough element, who shows no interest in political process, or democratic government. It is also the most rational approach to end the invasion, and to prevent the coming humanitarian catastrophe that will result from, combination of droughts, increase in global food and energy price, targeted assignation of humanitarian workers, and hyper-inflation.
By Daud Ed Osman
Rochester, MN
Email: [email protected]