by Ahmed Raghe Hassan
“An Eye for an Eye Will Make the Whole World Blind, “Mahatma Ghandi; who he was pressed by his followers to react violently to Muslim insurgents who killed many Hindus.
The situation in Mogadishu has been worsening since the recent TFG and Ethiopian take over. Armed groups opposing the Ethiopian flagrant occupation of Somalia have started hit and run guerrilla attacks and ambushes. Such groups maintain that the occupation must end and that an inclusive administration formed to accommodate wronged stakeholders in Somalia.
In their quest to force Ethiopian pull out, the insurgents in Mogadishu have waged a string of raids against TFG and Ethiopian positions in the capital, killing dozens of soldiers and arresting government troops in their barracks. The Imbagathi government is therefore pinned down in its strongholds, just like the Arte administration before it.
Faced the above scenario, president Yusuf`s government is reduced to waging indiscriminate and wanton bombardment of residential areas in Mogadishu killing innocent civilians, children and women, see, (last week´s civilian toll by government shelling). The TFG´s behaviour of murdering school kids is very telling- it is an instrument of the occupying foreign enemy, rather than a national government.
What the government is doing is tantamount to massacre of vulnerable groups and will probably push Somalia into the dark days of the 1991. No credible government behalves this way and claim it was defending itself from guerrilla insurgency. The TFG must devise another way to deal with the problem and stop the madness.
Admittedly, taming Mogadishu is a feat, a daunting task which requires bravery and prudence. But the ousted Islamic courts union, a ragtag paramilitary organization, with several thousand militia army; has succeeded to pacify Mogadishu, with no collateral damage to the civilian society. The main difference is that the latter enjoyed popular support and moral authority. Killing kids will not buy this kind of support!
The international community must react before it is too late. President Yusuf and his Ethiopian patrons should be restrained. Failure to do this could spell another disaster in Somalia and tarnish the reputation of the international community, especially the USA, whose support has propelled Yusuf into Villa Somalia.
An eye for an eye, makes the whole world blind. The government must act responsibly and should not indulge in a brutal tit for tat atrocities.
Ahmed Raghe Hassan
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