Hiiraan Online

Abdulkadir K. Dirie
Sunday, September 14, 2008

The Americans and Ethiopians worked together to topple the TNG (Transitional National Government) led by Abdilqasim Salad Hassan.  Somali opposition factions, such as the SRRC (Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council) in the south-central and those in Somaliland lined up against “Al Qaeda-infected” national government in Mogadishu. Of course, it was a mere pretext to topple Abdilqasim’s government, to invade Somalia, and to replace his government with a surrogate one that could serve as a Trojan horse for invasion.  It was taking revenge proven to be sweet by tripartite axis of evil: the Americans, the Ethiopians, and SRRC led by Abdullahi Yusuf.  Revenge is a strong motivator, valid as any other.  Let us not forget the lust for revenge by some officials in the pentagon who are still bitter about the brutal treatment of dead American bodies in Mogadishu in 1993.

Without a drop of shame, the president and the former Prime Minister, Ali Gedi, took a disgraceful historical initiative to act as surrogates for invasion and to allow Ethiopian soldiers to briskly and ceremoniously display the Ethiopian Flag on the most memorable places in Mogadishu and elsewhere.  Most Somalis see this deed as TREASON beyond imagination.  The two men (Abdullaahi Yusuf and Ali Gedi) felt a little less irritated and a lot more empowered with the presence of their Tigre Masters. 

The hostilities forced upon our people inflamed a human tragedy on a massive scale, with thousands of civilians killed, thousands injured and hundreds of thousands displaced. The shelling of civilian targets in Mogadishu and Beledweyne by a foreign army is a horror without parallel in the history of Somalia.  If the world looked on with horror the atrocities committed in Srebrenica and Darfur and made indictments, then what the Somali government condoned should also be considered war crimes.  The government should not get away with it without impunity. 

The hypocrisy is that the atrocities would be okay as long as it suits the needs of the Americans, the Ethiopians, and the puppet government in Mogadishu.  The evidence of mass killing is overwhelming.  These are not sporadic events, but are government policy of a wide practice.  General Gabre, who is the dark doppelganger of Meles Zenawi, plays a role similar to the role played by Mr. Bremer in Iraq. What Mr. Gabre does not understand is that the Somali people will not respond to his diktats.  Both Gabre and Mr. Yusuf are missing the pitfalls of revenge. The “chip on their shoulder” might backfire on them and they end up in international war crimes tribunals  for crimes against humanity.

It is imperative upon the Somali government to create a political initiative to achieve a sustainable peace and set in motion processes to begin to rebuild Somalia’s capacities for self-governance and economic revival. Without peace that gets the opposition to stop fighting, neither the Ethiopians nor the Somali Government will be able to provide durable security and a better life for the Somali people.  A good example is Mozambique which, against many odds, made extraordinary progress on the path to peace and reconciliation.  The warring parties (the governing FRELIMO and the former RENAMO insurgents) have hold on to the negotiated peace agreement that ended a long and destructive civil war. Revenge may be "sweet," but it's short-lived and ultimately only leaves you ill-fated.