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by Abdirashid Elmi, Ph.D
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The tragic situation in Somalia has attracted a renewed global attention. And as a concerned Somali citizen, I share my people’s desire for the restoration of peace and stability in their home country. This short note is intended to encourage opposing sides of Somali conflict currently in Djibouti to show a reasonable level of national responsibility in a time of grave crisis and become serious to bring about a peaceful settlement.
Peace is the essence of life; the key to development and dignified life. Somali people generally, south in particular, have been deprived of this basic right for the better part of the last 18 years with the exception of the few months in 2006 under UIC. Everyone knows whom were (still are though not readily visible) the root cause of this national tragedy; dark and evil forces of warlords, who erected all kinds of stumbling blocks towards reconciliation and commitment to peaceful settlement. And as a direct consequence, Somalia today is under virtual occupation. Globally, Somalia, once a proud nation, has earned an unenviable image of being a place of human degradation. Conditions have further deteriorated significantly since the invasion of Ethiopian forces. In addition to bullets, people are dying for easily treatable diseases like malaria, diarrhea, etc. More people will definitely suffer from malnutrition as a result of abject poverty exacerbated by global food crisis.
To emerge from such a disastrous situation, there must be wise men and women who can get their act together to formulate Somali-owned conflict resolution approach. There is a growing consensus among Somali affairs commentators that while international community can, to some extent, act as facilitators; it will not be able to solve our tragic situation. Somalis alone can solve their problems. We should not be wasting our time and limited resources to blame others, including our neighbors namely Ethiopia. What is needed is a genuine attempt to device strategy (ies) to solve our internal conflict and tribal or ideological divisions.
Dear participants, regardless of your position or political views, ask yourselves and reflect upon the following questions:- Why in the first place international community did not rush to try and safe Somalia from faltering following the collapse of the central government, the same way they did with our neighboring Ethiopia? Why prominent people like Kofi Anan have not been sent to bolster this seemingly important peace conference in Djibouti, the same way he was sent to Kenya to help resolve recent political conflict? Why Ms. Frazer and Ms. Rice are not endorsing it? More importantly, why Eritrea is reportedly amassing her troops at the Djibouti border? Is it to intimidate that small nation because they host potential Somali peace conference? More relevant perhaps is the unexpected position of Asmara group; that they did not come to Djibouti to meet the so-called TFG but to meet international community.
These are all critical questions and in the quest for suitable answers perhaps lies understanding the nature of our problems in relation to regional and international dimensions. We, Somalis, should realize that the constant interferences (political or militarily) of regional governments with obvious conflicting interests will only protract our people’s suffering.
The Djibouti conference presents yet another unique opportunity to study possible ways to achieve a peaceful settlement. There is a sense of optimism that the meeting could help end the violent conflict that gripped our nation. We strongly encourage all the concerned parties not to miss this opportunity, however remote the chances of success may appear. Asmara alliance must drop their key demand of not meeting with TFG delegate until Ethiopian troops leave Somali soil. Such a precondition is not helpful at all. It is not practical either. Dialogue is the only way we can get out of our present mess. If and when we Somalis put our house in order, Ethiopia will certainly not be able to sustain its troops in Somalia even one more day.
The author is a Somali-Canadian, a former graduate of McGill University, Montreal. He now teaches at Kuwait University and can be reached at E-mail: [email protected]