Hiiraan Online

• Ethiopian forces launched hostile and offensive war against Somalia
• Ethiopian forces indiscriminately committed genocide against innocent civilians
• Ethiopian forces paralysed the former ICU peaceful reform, engagement and approach successfully taming Somalia’s over a decade long anarchy into some form of spiritual renaissance; plunging it again into debilitating chaos and bloody clashes.
• The TNG did not give the least consideration to the feelings of the Somali people,

It ignored warnings pertaining to the invitation of Ethiopian forces and acted as an accomplice to wreak havoc, death and destruction to its country and people.

• The ICU felt that gross and heinous crime has been committed against it and the Somali people by the TNG who came in upon the Ethiopian tanks, therefore they can not be in anyway considered a legal authority worth negotiations until the Ethiopian troops exit the country.

The Misconception of PEACE by its Oppositionists

In addition to the above said points, I am quite sure that rumours or talk of the town might take it to the negative analysis that the whole peace effort is a pre-planned plot to sow division between the ARS members. That it is a smart technique of unwittingly sieving and separating the moderates from the militants. The Ethiopian occupation unable to cope with the constant attacks of the armed resistance intends to buy time to readjust to the hit and run Iraqi street war style of the insurgency. With the entire above mentioned unequivocal and uncertain analysis in mind, it would be worthwhile for the oppositionists to challenge it. Yet it should be viewed that the relentless armed resistance prompted Ethiopia’s admission of defeat, hence in search for strategic exit. Giving it the benefit of the doubt and turning the tables on Ethiopia and the TNG. Accept peace according to the above verses of the Quran:

8:61 But if the enemy incline towards PEACE, do thou (also) incline towards PEACE, and trust in Allah. For He is One that heareth and knoweth (all things).

Yet taking the following into consideration too could be emphatically adding more weight to accepting the peace initiative:

• The battle ground is not, as it was in good old days, on the borders between Somalia and Ethiopia, it is now fought in the metropolitan city of Mogadishu (heart of Somalia).
• 90% of the total infrastructure is reduced to rubbles and ashes.
• Nearly half a million were displaced and tens of thousands were either killed or injured, the rest are plagued with malnutrition and drought.
• The country is suffering from pollution, worst environmental blunder and piracy.
• The Land and Sea became permeably soft target to international fisheries companies stealing our ocean resources day and night, factories using both our sea and land as landfills to undetectably dump their toxic waste material therein.

Now should not the oppositionists to peace clutch to any straw to rescue the country and people?!. I would earnestly beseech the ARS wing based in Eritrea and any other group opposing the peace deal to reconsider their stance in the current situation. The former should no allow Eritrea to disunite them in the same way Ethiopia has been masterminding the overall TNG political activities. Peace is central to all activities; war is inevitably waged to achieve peace. Prepare for war if you want peace is the evil necessary. If peace can be achieved without waging war, it is double victory. The armed groups should be proud, by accepting the terms of peace agreement, to have defeated the Ethiopian occupation forces. The armed resistance, by the leave of Allah, put the latter’s daring aggression to halt and subjugated it to leave within a set period of time. That is victory. The Djibouti based ARS signed the agreement with the TNG, not Ethiopia, despite the fact that the notorious general Gabre Heard was, mysteriously sighted during the talks, in Djibouti. His timed visit to the region might be a complementary attempt, to that of Eritrea, by Ethiopia to stage a dramatic diplomatic sensation to stir up the whole peace initiative. Some pessimistic analysts have already spotted main weaknesses of the accord:

1. It does not include an unequivocal commitment to the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces.
2. The signatories do not control the main armed resistance forces on the ground.
3. Its implementation hinges on the highly unlikely prospect of the timely deployment of a UN force.

But again in my opinion, it is still worthwhile to give it another chance; watch if Ethiopia would keep its promise to withdraw as per agreement within four months. Deployment of UN stabilization forces would follow suit in spirit same as in text. The ARS, having fulfilled their promise, should the TNG fail to implement it, the ARS and the armed resistance group might have proven their right to the world hence revoke all binding conditions in the peace treaty.

Al-Hudeybiyah Peace Treaty

There is an obvious religious trend that is involved in the current rift between the secular inclined TNG and ARS dominated by the former ICU members. When Quraish saw the firm determination of the Muslims to shed the last drop of blood for the defence of their Faith, they came to their senses and realized that Muhammad’s followers could not be cowed down by these tactics. After some further interchange of messages they agreed to conclude a treaty of reconciliation and peace with the Muslims. The clauses of the said treaty go as follows:                     The Muslims shall return this time and come back next year, but they shall not stay in Makkah for more than three days.

1. They shall not come back armed but can bring with them swords only sheathed in scabbards and these shall be kept in bags.
2. War activities shall be suspended for ten years, during which both parties will live in full security and neither will raise sword against the other.
3. If anyone from Quraish goes over to Muhammad [pbuh] without his guardian’s permission, he should be sent back to Quraish, but should any of Muhammad’s followers return to Quraish, he shall not be sent back.
4. Whosoever wishes to join Muhammad [pbuh], or enter into treaty with him, should have the liberty to do so; and likewise whosoever wishes to join Quraish, or enter into treaty with them, should be allowed to do so.

The above peace treaty can be viewed as an unfair and unjust exploitation towards the Muslims. Most of the terms and articles in the treaty seemed to be backlash against the Muslims. Yet, the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam accepted it for a wisdom which Allah called manifest victory. 48:1 Verily, We have given you (O Muhammad [pbuh]) a manifest victory."  A series of events confirmed the profound wisdom and splendid results of the peace treaty which Allah called "a manifest victory". How could it be otherwise when Quraish had recognized the legitimate Muslims’ existence on the scene of political life in Arabia, and began to deal with the believers on equal terms. Quraish in the light of the articles of the treaty, had indirectly relinquished its claim to religious leadership, and admitted that they were no longer interested in people other than Quraish, and washed their hands of any sort of intervention in the religious future of the Arabian Peninsula. The Muslims did not have in mind to seize people’s property or kill them through bloody wars, nor did they ever think of pursuing any coercive approaches in their endeavours to propagate Islam, on the contrary, their sole target was to provide an atmosphere of freedom as regards ideology or religion. The Muslims, on the other hand, had the opportunity to spread Islam over areas not then explored. When there was armistice, war was abolished, and men met and consulted together, none talked about Islam intelligently without entering it; within the two years following the conclusion of the treaty double as many entered Islam as ever before. This is supported by the fact that the Prophet [pbuh] went out to Al-Hudaibiyah with only 1,400 men, but when he set out to liberate Makkah, two years later, he had 10,000 men with him. The article of the treaty pertaining to cessation of hostilities for ten years points directly to the utter failure of political haughtiness exercised by Quraish and its allies, and functions as evidence of the collapse and impotence of the war instigator. This peace-loving tradition of the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam and his companion should inspire the rest of the ARS and other groups to accept to safe withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops within 120 days, cessation of hostilities during that period, compromise and be flexible towards settlement and peace.       2:193 and fight them on until there is no more Tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah. BUT IF THEY CEASE, Let there be no hostility except to those who practise oppression. As peace is naturally another meaning of the root word of Islam (SALAMA), only the exceptional and odd psychology of war need be defined here. The whole concept of war is to stop tumult and oppression, justice prevails and faith of Allah is freely practised. Therefore, if the oppressive adversary opts to cease and leave there shall not be any hostility and an environment of peace prevails. I would kindly request of the oppositionists to the peace treaty to widen the spectrum of their prospect whereby they would include in their calculations the suffering vulnerable citizens for whom Ethiopian mercenaries shall not have mercy. There are times when an enemy can be challenged in a duel, but special consideration should definitely be made for those at risk in between. Let they be the stronger who accepted compromise for the sake of the innocent weak, indeed that itself is a victory.