Qudhac, what if this transpires to be true? There is no doubt that Ethiopia hold its Indirect sway in these regions, but it is realy sad that the so called leaders in PL and SL take orders from our main enemy. The mind retorts SSDF and SNM--the predecessors.

Duke, How does Christian coptic change the profile or the fundamental source of their conflict? You are implying that national interests of the two countries haven't eroded their old political and cultural ties. 70,000 people died in their border conflicts in several months, which caused the U.N to launch African peacekeeping troops. Afawerki is a dictator just like Zenawi, so sooner or later, one or both of them should go.

You right Sophist. Shariif Zaylici, do you know who built the roads in Hargeisa? (I heard it was Bille Rafle)After hundred years of rule and leaving the city without electricity and running water, you guys still tantalize that disrepute of British rule while you hold in contempt all that was good of our former governments before it collapsed due to an inevitable and indiscriminate tribal war. However, It is my firm conviction that North West Somalis have produced the most nationalist figures and poets. What saddens me is the perpetual ballyhoos of the secessionist to goad the young and the innocent into supporting nugatory goal.

What are you waiting U.S.A? Cut off Aid to Eritrea or offer some incentives ? I think Eritrea is trying to leverage things in Somalia and prevent a whole Somalia under the tutelage of Ethiopia. This is a mutual political interferance which entails a direct act of destablization. Since the two countries are marred by ceaseless conflict of border disputes, each country views Somalia a buffer zone. It is we who should realize the machinations of these enemies using our country a ball they can both score against each others' goal.

If they could have known the intricacies of these firms and their activities or how they make money, we won't have rushed into shady deals like that. The fact of the matter is most of our people don't read beyond Somali News headlines. We need educated groups of Finance and Law to embark on a program to educate the folks the intricacies of these firms and their historical operations, the nature of their operations, aspects of theories they employ in initiating venture capital, principle-agent relationship and how that might lead to a greed and self-aggrandizement while being indifferent to the society at large and environment. Good luck Sophist and Might you help your people.

Sophist, 20% is even higher due to population flight caused by the perpetration of clan chauvenism. So what you have in the formerly major towns of Somalia is concentration of one single clan or clans that share common bond. and there’s a perfectly solid reason for that: in the aftermath of the disintegration of Somalia’s central government, the Somali people reverted back to the next level of political unity: the clan. Mogadishu was once the most integrated Somali city in the Horn of Africa region. Today, it is dominated by a single Somali clan-family whose “claim†is grounded on the ideology of traditional land ownership. Under that same ideology, the SNM rebel movement “liberated†Waqooyi Galbeed [NW] regions of Somalia from the former military dictatorship and declared unilateral independenceâ€. Yasin R. Ali If i am not wrong, the last report by Berbera 's population size estimates to be around 2000. Today, the city that has the biggest population is Boosaaso but it is always underrated since majority of Somalis derive their traditional knowledge from memories and hearsays.

Guys, let us not take the collapse of SA out of context. There were many Somali clan based factions, and each fought within its territorial limits, and all were supported by Ethiopia--determined to destroy Somalia. The worst thing that can happen to any state is when it fights with its own people, the corollary of which is internal implosion. The war tactics that the SNM used was similar to the one used by USC, SPM, and SSDF in their respective towns. They invited severe reprisals and destruction to their own people, and the cummulative effect, convinced the whole population that it was time for a change.

Originally posted by me: Dear SOL’ers, I believe that you can see how this debate is unfolding and how these supporters of the secessionist mafia are trying to derail this whole debate by throwing mud and that they are resorting to vicious personal attacks that are uncalled for. Please remind them that this is an open forum that is intended for open minded debates rather than myopic clan chauvinism inspired slur. Oodweyne, Suldaanka, NGONGE and others I would urge you to come with evidence if you want to discredit my arguments. My arguments are sound and solid and the SNM was beaten. If you would like to claim anything other then that please provide the dear SOL public with evidence. ME, you are very rational person and a good debater. Again, you are objective and critical thnker and I applaud you for that. OOdwayne and others just say ,sleep better, sleep better. I sleep better every night and what has my sleeping condition got to do with the subject.

Paragon, this is a very sad development. We are all indebted to pursue the nature of these deals to expose the individuals behind it. We should raise conscience-awareness and instill people in the courage to overcome all aggressions against their willingness to protect their lands from being exploited.

Originally posted by me: With this tread I am trying to raise 3 issues. 1. The SNM betrayed the Somali Nation and the Somali people by collaborating with the enemy of Somalia. 2. The SNM sacrificed and made the people of Hargeysa and Burco suffer for their own selfish gains. 3. The SNM was beaten by the Somali National army and this can be proven by the fact that the day that Mogadisho fell to the USC not one single village was in SNM hands. The whole cult of SNM worship that surrounds the SNM is built on lies. They were not Mujaahidiins they were more like traitors . They never fought for the bettering of the lives of the people of the North West they fought for gaining power . They had taken a calculated cold blooded decision to sacrifice the people they want to make us believe they were trying to defend. The sole responsible for the death, destruction and the humiliation of the people of the North West are the SNM. They attacked the cities with a small group of rebels that never stood a chance . They also tried to prevent people from moving out of the city, so that when the Somali National Army tried to recapture the cities there would be maximum civilian casualties . They committed genocide among the Hargeysawi's that were not of the SNM clan , so that there would be reprisals when they left the cities. The only bit that seems to be true in the cult of SNM worshipping is the claim that they drank their own urine . But then again you can ask yourself if the SNM was as mighty militarily as they would like us to believe why drink urine while there are wells everywhere? Oodweyne tell us please is it that tasty that you would prefer it over water? Good points

Originally posted by Paragon: Kismaayo ma Kathmandu beey noqotey talow, Horn. Meeshu la maba gaaro miyaa iyada horta; waa tan in muda ah loo sii socdo jihada ay naga jirto e'. Mar nala yiraahdo Ciimdamada sida Raxxa u duula ayaa Beerxaani ka soo haadi doona oo Kismaayo qabsan doona iyo mar nalagu yiraahdo Barre dhankaa iyo Baar-dheere ayuu si xawaareysan rogaal-celis uga soo guuxaya ayey sheekadu ka badin la'dahay. War nimanyahow ama goobta soo kadaloobsada sidii dagaalyahanka lagu yiqiin, amba goodigan joogtada ah naga jooja, feejignaanta badan ee aad la geliseen ayaanba la ladi weynay e' . Paragon, You are funny

nuune, how can you be a part of the government's cabinet and speak against it. You should either join the opposition group or support the government. But you can't oppose the government and be part of it at the same time? That is a goofy thinking

Tuujiyee, Somalida just like other Africans need a cultural revolution.

Thanks ME for the documents.

Although the SNM did not drive the former national army from their regions, they still had an impact on the Somali army. the effect was that the NA was weakened by defections, corruption and illegal arms sale from file and rank officers to the rebel movements. The SNM as well as SSDF had weakened the former government

This is very informative study. There are many new materials in there that needs to be paid attention to.

Mansa and Soo Maal, thank you both. I sure liked it, but what surprises me is the e-mails the author got from his readers that they indeed censured him for his debasement of tribalism.

Enlightening article ---------------------------------- The Cult of Domesticity and True Womanhood The Cult of Domesticity & True Womanhood Defined: Between 1820 and the Civil War, the growth of new industries, businesses, and professions helped to create in America a new middle class. (The Middle class consisted of families whose husbands worked as lawyers, office workers, factory managers, merchants, teachers, physicians and others.) Although the new middle-class family had its roots in preindustrial society, it differed from the preindustrial family in three major ways: I) A nineteenth-century middle-class family did not have to make what it needed in order to survive. Men could work in jobs that produced goods or services while their wives and children stayed at home. 2) When husbands went off to work, they helped create the view that men alone should support the family. This belief held that the world of work, the public sphere, was a rough world, where a man did what he had to in order to succeed, that it was full of temptations, violence, and trouble. A woman who ventured out into such a world could easily fall prey to it, for women were weak and delicate creatures. A woman's place was therefore in the private sphere, in the home, where she took charge of all that went on. 3) The middle-class family came to look at itself, and at the nuclear family in general, as the backbone of society. Kin and community remained important, but not nearly so much as they had once been. A new ideal of womanhood and a new ideology about the home arose out of the new attitudes about work and family. Called the "cult of domesticity," it is found in women's magazines, advice books, religious journals, newspapers, fiction--everywhere in popular culture. This new ideal provided a new view of women's duty and role while cataloging the cardinal virtues of true womanhood for a new age. (For an example of this, see the Godey's Lady's Book Online.) This ideal of womanhood had essentially four parts--four characteristics any good and proper young woman should cultivate: piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness. Ideal Number One: Piety: Nineteenth-century Americans believed that women had a particular propensity for religion. The modern young woman of the 1820s and 1830s was thought of as a new Eve working with God to bring the world out of sin through her suffering, through her pure, and passionless love. Religion was thought to be a good thing in women, a salve for a potentially restless mind, an occupation which could be undertaken within woman's proper sphere--the home. The early women's seminaries and academies, which were under attack for leading women astray from their true purpose and task in life, promised that far from taking women away from religion, they would make of young women handmaidens of God, efficient auxilliaries in the great task of renovating the world. Irreligion in females was considered "the most revolting human characteristic." Indeed, it was said that "godless, no woman, mother tho she be." Ideal Number Two: Purity: Female purity was also highly reverred. Without sexual purity, a woman was no woman, but rather a lower form of being, a "fallen woman," unworthy of the love of her sex and unfit for their company. To contemplate the loss of one's purity brought tears and hysteria to young women. This made it a little difficult, and certainly a bit confusing, to contemplate one's marriage, for in popular literature, the marriage night was advertised as the greatest night in a woman's life, the night when she bestowed upon her husband her greatest treasure, her virginity. From thence onward, she was dependent upon him, an empty vessel without legal or emotional existence of her own. A woman must guard her treasure with her life. Despite any male attempt to assault her, she must remain pure and chaste. She must not give in, must not give her treasure into the wrong hands. The following is advice on how to protect oneself and one's treasure given by Mrs. Eliza Farrar, author of The Young Woman's Friend: "sit not with another in a place that is too narrow; read not out of the same book; let not your eagerness to see anything induce you to place your head close to another person's." To ignore such advice was to court disaster. The consequences could be terrible--usually, in popular literature, a woman who allowed herself to be seduced by a man attoned for her sin by dying, most often in poverty, depravity, or intemperance. There were numerous stories about unwed mothers punished by God for their sin by losing their babies and going mad. Female purity was also viewed as a weapon, to be used by good women to keep men in control of their sexual needs and desires, all for their own good. A woman's only power was seen as coming through her careful use of sexual virtue. Note the following quote from a popular ladies magazine: "the man bears rule over his wife's person and conduct. She bears rule over his inclinations: he governs by law; she by persuasion...The empire of women is the empire of softness, her commands are caresses, her menaces are tears." American culture of the early nineteenth century underwent a purity fetish, such that it touched even the language of the day, popular decorating, and myths. This is when Americans began to talk about limbs for legs (even when referring to the legs of chairs) and white meat instead of breast meat (in fowl)--this is the language of repression. This is when women began to decorate the limbs of chairs, pianos, tables, to cover them with fabric so that one would not be reminded of legs. Proper women were admonished to separate male and female authors on bookcases, unless, of course, they were married to each other. This is also when myth of stork bringing babies emerges, and that babies came from cabbage patches. Ideal Number Three: Submissiveness This was perhaps the most feminine of virtues. Men were supposed to be religious, although not generally. Men were supposed to be pure, although one could really not expect it. But men never supposed to be submissive. Men were to be movers, and doers--the actors in life. Women were to be passive bystanders, submitting to fate, to duty, to God, and to men. Women were warned that this was the order of things. The Young Ladies Book summarized for the unknowledgable, the passive virtues necessary in women: "It is certain that in whatever situation of life a woman is placed from her cradle to her grave, a spirit of obedience and submission, pliability of temper, and humility of mind are required of her." Just in case she might not get the point, female submissiveness and passivity were assured for the nineteenth century woman by the clothing she was required to wear. Tight corset lacing closed off her lungs and pinched her inner organs together. Large numbers of under garments and the weight of over dresses limited her physical mobility. A true woman knew her place, and knew what qualities were wanted in her opposite. Said George Burnap, in The Sphere and Duties of Woman: "She feels herself weak and timid. She needs a protector. She is in a measure dependent. She asks for wisdom, constancy, firmness, perseveredness, and she is willing to repay it all by the surrender of the full treasure of her affection. Women despise in men everything like themselves except a tender heart. It is enough that she is effeminate and weak; she does not want another like herself." Such views were commonplace. A number of popular sayings reiterated: "A really sensible woman feels her dependence. She does what she can, but she is conscious of her inferiority and therefore grateful for support." "A woman has a head almost too small for intellect but just big enough for love." "True feminine genius is ever timid, doubtful, and clingingly dependent; a perpetual childhood." Ideal Number Four: Domesticity: Woman's place was in the home. Woman's role was to be busy at those morally uplifting tasks aimed at maintaining and fulfilling her piety and purity. Housework was deemed such an uplifting task. Godey's Ladies Book argued, "There is more to be learned about pouring out tea and coffee than most young ladies are willing to believe." Needlework and crafts were also approved activities which kept women in the home, busy about her tasks of wifely duties and childcare, keeping the home a cheerful, peaceful place which would attract men away from the evils of the outer world. For the true woman, a woman's rights were as follows: The right to love whom others scorn, The right to comfort and to mourn, The right to shed new joy on earth, The right to feel the soul's high worth, Such woman's rights a God will bless And crown their champions with success. The Cult of Domesticity developed as family lost its function as economic unit. Many of links between family and community closed off as work left home. Emergence of market economy and the devaluation of women's work. Increasingly, then, home became a self-contained unit. Privacy was a crucial issue for nineteenth-century families, and can see this concern in the spatial development of suburbs in urban areas as families sought single family dwellings were they could be even more isolated from others. Women remained in the home, as a kind of cultural hostage. Women were expected to uphold the values of stability, morality, and democracy by making the home a special place, a refuge from the world where her husband could escape from the highly competitive, unstable, immoral world of business and industry. It was widely expected that in order to succeed in the work world, men had to adopt certain values and behaviors: materialism, aggression, vulgarity, hardness, rationality. But men also needed to develop another side to their nature, a human side, an anticompetitive side. The home was to be the place where they could do this. This was where they could express humanistic values, asthetic values, love, honor, loyalty and faithfulness. The home was no longer a unit valued for its function in the community (or its economic productiveness), but rather for its isolation from the community and its service to its members. Because the world of work was defined as male, the world of the home was defined as female. Part of its value lay in its leisurely aspects. Women increasingly became a complement to leisure, a kind of useless but beautiful object, set off by her special setting. The nineteenth-century household was cluttered with beautiful, ornate objects--elaborate patterns in cloth covering walls, ornate furniture, pianos, paintings, and brick-abrack. Colors were muted--dark and velvety--all to surround, darken, and deepen the quiet of the home, and to accentuate the softness, submissiveness, and leisure of the woman within it, the angel of the house. Scientific Sexism and Separate Spheres Ideology: The characteristics of true manhood and womanhood and the separate spheres of male and female activity were believed to have a biological basis. Female nurturance, intuitive morality, domesticity, passivity, and delicacy, and male rationality, aggressiveness, independence, and toughness were all due to their physical makeup. It was assumed that women were different from men, both physically and mentally inferior. Women's physical inferiority was based on three observations: 1) The visual evidence that women were generally physically smaller than men. 2) The belief that women had less physical stamina than men because they seemed to faint so much more (not necessarily an innate difference but one based on the clothing worn by the two sexes and the amount of exercise they got). 3) The knowledge that women menstruated, and therefore were believed physically incapacitated every month. Menstruation was regarded as a periodic illness inflicted upon women. It was believed that menstruation could bring on temporary insanity in women. Clearly women were inferior to men who were not interrupted or incapacitated every month by illness. 4) Women were deemed more delicate and weak than men because the female nervous system was finer, more irritable, and more prone to overstimulation and fatigue than the male nervous system, because of the "unpredictable nature" of the female reproductive system. Physicians saw women as both the product and the prisoner of her reproductive system. The female uterus and ovaries provided the basis for her social role and her behavioral characteristics. One doctor argued that, "It was as if the Almighty, in creating the female sex, had taken the uterus and built up a woman around it." According to these doctors, the female reproductive system was also responsible for all of the many ailments which attacked women. The current model of disease followed by physicans was called "reflex irritation," and assumed that any imbalance, any infection, any disorder or fatigue would cause a reaction elsewhere in the body. If one, therefore, had a headache or stomachache, or became irritable or faint, it was assumed that the problem was with the reproductive system. Women were subject to only one disease, then. The male reproductive system had no parallel degree of control over the male body. Men had headaches; women had "female complaints." Women were deemed intellectually inferior to men as well as physically inferior. Again, this was based on two kinds of observations. 1) Women had smaller brains than men. Natural scientists measured cranial capacity, and brain weight and correlated these with intelligence. At first scientists developed ratios based on size of brain to body weight. But they discovered that female brain size to female body weight yielded a higher ratio that did male brain size to male body weight. So they changed the correlation, and related brain weight to body height. This time they found that the male brain produced .73 ounces of weight for each inch of height, while the female brain produced only .70 ounces of weight for each inch of height. There are two obvious problems with these asssumptions: in humans, brain size does not appear to correlate with either body weight or height. Over time, the human brain has become smaller although people are both taller and weigh more than in early times. And secondly, there is no evidence that size, either relative or absolute correlates with intelligence. (By the way, the same type of study was used in the nineteenth century to show racial superiority and inferiority. One world's foremost authorities, Carl Vogt, professor of natural history at University of Geneva said: "The grown up Negro partakes, as regards his intellectual faculties, of the nature of the child, the female, and the senile white.") 2) It was also said that the female brain was of an inferior and more primitive type than the male brain. Much of this kind of interpretation came out of a pseudo science called phrenology. Phrenology was the art of reading the bumps and curves and shape of the skull. It was thought that the skull provided evidence of personality and character, because different parts of the skull housed different characteristics. It was clear to phrenologists who studied cranium that "woman is a constantly growing child, and in the brain, as in so many other parts of her body, she conforms to her childish type." In addition to beliefs about physical and mental inferiority, were certain "scientific" views of human sexuality which governed nineteenth century men and women. These come down to essentially three ideas: 1) The human body has only a limited amount of energy. It is a closed system. The expenditure of energy must, therefore, be closely regulated, because one activity would drain energy from another. 2) The sexual instinct is the most primitive instinct. Phrenologists located it at the base of the brain. 3) Sexual feelings were strong in men, but absent in women (certainly in ladies). Actually was conflicted opinion about female sexuality--passion in women was feared, because the demands it would make on men were insatiable and like a vampire, it was feared she would drain him of his life force). Men were seen in continual struggle with their passions. In the interests of their own health, they must control them--but not expected always to succeed. Given attitudes about sexuality, puberty was considered critical period for both men and women, and therefore the subject of much advice. This was the time that men became strong and vigorous and women became timid and weak. The period was critical for women and the future of the human race, because if women did not develop some equilibrium in their body, they would not only damage themselves, causing untold pain, cancer, disease, a difficult menopause, and early death, but they would also damage their children. For the nineteenth century believed that the traits of a child were inherited from his or her parents, but the laws of heredity differed from those we now recognize. They believed that men passed on to their children their outer frame, their musculature, and their intellect. Women passed on the condition of their internal organs, and their emotional stability or instability. It was assumed that women had a lesser amount of energy, or "life force" than men. Bodily fluids like blood were one measure of "life forces." Because the female reproductive system was more complex than the male, it was considered important for women to channel all their energies into reproduction. Therefore, women were discouraged from intellectual activity because blood was needed for the development of the reproductive organs. This was particularly important at puberty, when menstruation began and physical development hastened. Woamen who diverted t heir energy would become weak, nervous, sterile, or capable only of bearing sickly and neurotic children. It was estimated that education took away about 20% of a woman's vital energy. Pregnant women too must not strain their brains, because intellectual activity would divert blood from the fetus, and result in the physical degeneration of the child, or their insanity. Doctors advised women, from puberty to menopause, to direct their attention toward healthy reproduction. Women must avoid strong emotions, like anger, because they might damage their organs. Motherhood was a woman's normal function. Those who thwarted nature's plan must expect to suffer for their action. Spinsters and celebates were thus fated to experience a greater incidence of physical and emotional disease, a shorter life span, and a reproductive system under constant pressure and therefore prone to cancer and digenerative ills. A woman's reproductive organs must be bathed occasionally with a man's vital force if she was to remain healthy. Puberty was just as critical a time for men. This was the era of the self-made man, and men must concentrate their energies, their life force on getting ahead in the world. Men must, in particular, reserve their sexual energies, because semen was believed the most potent of life forces. It was estimated that one ounce of semen carried as much energy as four ounces of blood. There was some concern about too much continence, that is, too little sexual expression in men, but for the most part, the concern was for excessive sexual activity. Particularly at puberty, masturbation or frequent intercourse would result in premature decay, and the exposure of the male to disease and early death. Women's indifference to sex was upheld as a guard on men, helping them to protect themselves, and prevent over-expenditure of their life force. One reason why Freud so quickly accepted in America was that the idea of the sublimation of sexual energies in work or play was deeply ingrained in American culture. Dr. Frederick Hollic wrote: "I am fully persuaded that there is no case of precocious or excessive sexual propensity, unless caused by disease, that cannot be easily subdued by muscular exercise. No matter how vigorously the seminal glands may act, in a state of leisure, they must become less active if the body be exhausted by active exertion, and to this rule there is scarcely any limit." The nineteenth century developed a whole vocabulary which demonstrates how closely sexual and economic metaphors overlapped in their minds. Mining, railroad building, canal digging, all held sexual overtones of male mastery over female nature. Economic development was valued as an outlet for sexual needs. "ejaculation" = "expenditure", "semen" = "thrift", "intercourse" = "connubial commerce", "womb" = "treasure" "child birth" = "labor". A man's work duplicated women's reproductive power. These were the central factors in male/female identity and social role. The separate spheres of men and women were determined by men's and women's different physical and mental makeup. Source: CSI Library

The New Crisis in Somalia Victory of the Union of Islamist Courts (UIC) Over the faction leaders By Prof.Kinfe Abraham* October 13, 2006 Overview The conflict which erupted in the months of May to June 2006, between the Somali faction leaders and a grouping of leaders of eleven Islamic (Sharia) Courts which controlled different parts of Mogadishu that resulted in more than 400 causalities and over 2000 wounded civilians, has heightened international concern about Somalia’s political future. This source of alarm and anxiety was exacerbated when the Islamists defeated the warlords and assumed full control of the Somali capital. The concern was felt very widely in various circles including among member states of IGAD, the UN, United States, and the Arab League which convened different meetings to review the new developments in Somalia. Similar concerns were expressed by the AU, EU, other organizations and individual states. Following these developments, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia led by President Abdulahi Yusuf had appealed for international involvement and the support of the AU and IGAD in dealing with the crisis which seems to threaten its legitimacy and survival as an elected government. As a result, IGAD countries met in Nairobi in early June to review the situation and look at options on the way forward. Likewise, an Arab League meeting between the TFG and leaders of the sharia courts had taken place in Kahartoum on June 20, 2006 leading to the signing of an accord in which the Islamists accepted the legitimacy of the TFG and the TFG recognized the reality of the existence of the Islamists. US Concerns about Somalia Meanwhile, the Bush administration had convened an international meeting on political developments in Somalia, marking an abrupt shift in its policy after Islamists seized control of the Somalia capital from the allegedly US-backed warlords-led militias. This was followed by the formation of a “Somalia Contact Group†by the State Department. According to the Washington Post of June 10, 2006, the announcement of the State Department was made on June 9, 2006. The State Department had earlier expressed concern about the danger of a US policy largely restricted to counter-terrorism priorities which it saw as counterproductive. Further, according to the Washington Post of June 10, 2006 in the days which followed, the US administration indicated that “it was open to discussions with the Islamists as long as they were prepared to seek a peaceful resolution and pledge not to allow Somalia to become an Al-Qaeda safehaven.†According to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, the goal of the group’s meeting, which was held in New York, is “to promote concerted action and coordination to support the Somalia transitional federal institutions.†In this connection he said, “we are going to be working with other interested states and international organizations on this matter.†The decision to launch a multinational diplomatic initiative reflects the lack of immediately viable options in Somalia short of overt military engagement. It also appears to indicate a further resurgence of the State Department’s voice in the foreign policymaking of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. McCormack said the contact group will be open to “interested parties†from governments and international organizations and suggested that “the UN would want to participate in this.†Meanwhile, the United Nations expressed its willingness to participate, especially as the timing coincided with the return from Somalia of Francois Lonseny Fall, the UN representative who had met with different faction leaders. In the same vein, representatives from the European Union which also expressed interest in talks with the Islamists attended the meeting. The US delegation was headed by the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Jendayi E. Frazer Re-thinking the Policy on Somalia A re-thinking of the policy of the US, EU, UN, AU and the IGAD member states was provoked by the unraveling of fast-moving events over the months which followed June, 2006 when the faction leaders were defeated by the UIC in Mogadishu. This has opened up a new Pandora’s Box of many unknowns in Somalia which has been afflicted by a civil war and inter- and intra-clan conflicts over the last sixteen years. Without a coherent government since 1991, and left largely to its own devices since the 1994 withdrawal of a US-dominated UN military force, Somalia has been driven by turf wars among clan warlords and their well-armed militias. A transitional government established under UN auspices two years ago has proved incapable of control and was forced to retreat several months ago from Mogadishu, the capital, to Baidoa, 150 miles away from it. U.S. interest in Somalia has long focused on the presumed presence thereof a group of al-Qaeda operatives, believed to be led by Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Kenyan citizen also known as Harun Fazul. Indicted in absentia in the United States in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Fazul was on the U.S. “Most Wanted Terrorists†list issued immediately after the attacks of Sep. 11, 2001. The concern of the US Government grew over the past year with the expanding power of the Islamic Courts Union, a coalition of 11 autonomous, clan-based courts that have sought to bring order to southern Somalia through the imposition of Islamic law. As the court-backed militias gradually became the country’s most powerful fighting force, secular warlords who fashioned their own “anti-terror†coalition in opposition found that the Bush administration—while officially backing the transition government in Baidoa—was willing to provide clandestine financial support. Although those in the Defense Department and the CIA favoring aid to the warlords prevailed, other administration officials argued that putting all U.S. support behind the warlords was unwise. According to one senior official who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, the relationship between the Al-Qaeda cell led by Fazul and the Islamic courts has always been unclear. He said, “we think that there are elements within this Islamist group that are providing refuge and support to this Al-Qaeda leadership, but not the Islamic courts as a whole.†Concerns over the Union of Islamist Courts (UIC) The takeover of Mogadishu by the forces of the Islamist Courts has brought the internal and external debate over Somalia to a head. The Islamist Courts Union leadership issued an open letter to the international community “categorically denying and rejecting all accusations that it is harboring terrorists,†and declared its desire to establish peace and “a friendly relationship†with the outside world. As a result, the US administration decided to extend “a tentative olive branchâ€. The US administration then hoped a new multinational contact group could shepherd an accommodation between the Islamists and the Transitional Federal Government. Awad Ashara, a member of the Somalia parliament, had then told Reuters News Agency that a meeting between the two is in the works. According to Ashara, the government was then preparing to send cabinet members, lawmakers as well as influential traditional elders to Mogadishu. They were expected to achieve reconciliation between the Islamic courts and other groups. The TFG had also hoped to work out voluntary disarmament between the Islamists and the warlord-led militias. According to reports from outside the capital, the warlords had then given up attempts of trying to retake Mogadishu. Meanwhile, two Arab League sponsored conferences which brought together the TFG and the Union of Sharia Courts were convened in Khartoum towards the end of June and September, 2006. A third one is also scheduled to be held on October 30, 2006. The two meetings led to the signing of accords. According to these agreements, the Union of Sharia Courts recognized the legitimacy of the TFG, while the TFG did the same by accepting the existence of the Sharia Courts as a force in Somalia. They also agreed to observe a cease-fire. The Involvement of Neighboring Countries The situation in Somalia is of particular concern to the Horn of African countries, in that the stability or lack of it has direct bearing on the latter. Despite the effort of the international community which wants to support the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia to assume power and bring law and order to the country, various players from within and outside the country have been impeding the process. As a result, the situation in Somalia still poses a threat to sub regional and regional peace and stability. Illegal arms trade is flourishing and many of these weapons are being used inside Somalia, and continue to find their way into the neighbouring countries. The lack of a central government has also made Somalia a breeding ground for criminal activities including terrorism. While the neighbouring countries and the international community have their vested interests in the political stability of Somalia, Eritrea's involvement however is unique in that it is fuelling the unrest in Somalia. Eritrea is said to be doing this in the hope that the spillover will have a destabilizing effect on Ethiopia with whom it has an unresolved boundary dispute. To this end, Eritrea has been arming and supporting insurgent groups such as the ****** National Liberation Front (ONLF) and the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) which are waging war against the government of Ethiopia. According to a report submitted to the UN Security Council (USC), it is also dealing with Islamist terrorist groups such as Al-Itihad extensively. According to the report of the Arms Embargo Violation Monitoring Group, reference is made to "another State in the region" which has committed arms embargo violations. The Monitoring Group does not identify the State by name because, at the time the report was prepared, the investigation had not been completed. The Monitoring Group now believes that it has obtained sufficient additional information to warrant naming the State as Eritrea. For the sake of presenting a more complete picture that suggests a pattern of activities involving arms embargo violations by Eritrea, the Monitoring Group has reproduced below the relevant paragraphs from that report, followed by new information. It states that Eritrea has provided support to Ethiopian opposition groups such as the ONLF, OLF and others “in the form of armsâ€. Eritrea has also provided support of arms to opposition allies “including Sheik Yusuf Indohaadde (Governor of Lower Shabelle), Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys (an Al-Itihad leader and newly elected chairman of the Union of Sharia Courts) and others for the purpose of countering support allegedly provided to the TFG by Ethiopia.†Credible intelligence sources also have it that, approximately from the beginning of February to the end of the second week of May 2005, Eritrea is said to have supplied “arms on eight different occasions to Hassan Dahir Aweys and elements of ONLF which at the time were located in the Dhusamareeb area of the Galgaduud region. The arms were transported on aircrafts that flew from Eritrea to an airfield located in the Dhusamareeb area.†This, of course, does not include subsequent shipments which took place between mid May and the month of August, 2006. Besides, Hassan Dahir Aweys had traveled to that central Somali location “to establish sharia courts and provide military training to his militia (Al-Itihad) and set up military training programmes.â€5 While there, he is also said to have met with representatives of “OLF and ONLF.†According to the report, some of the people whom Dahr Aweys met were, “militia leaders who arrived in Dhusamareeb by aircraft from Eritrea.†This happened in April 2005 and subsequent months in 2005 and 2006. Again, during the last week of April and the end of the second week of May 2005, approximately three flights transporting 270 trained and equipped ONLF militia are said “to have arrived in Dhusamareb†from Eritera. The report adds, “most of the shipments of arms provided during the first part of the period mentioned above went to Hassan Dahir Aweys, with the smaller portion given to ONLF.†The Monitoring Group also received credible information that Eritrea provided a member of the UIC, “Sheik Yusuf Indohaadde, with arms by transporting them to two locations in Middle Shabelle i.e. by aircraft to Baledogle Airport, near Mogadishu, and by Ship to the port of Marka.†Both shipments arrived between March 25 and April 10, 2005. The shipments of arms were said to have included, “anti-aircraft guns and mines.†The Monitoring Group also noted that Sheik Indohaadde and other opposition leaders from Mogadishu had provided arms “to Habsade, opposition leader in charge of Baidoa, for potential use against TFG forces in the fight for control of that city.†This happened on May 30, 2005. Following the battle over the control of Mogadishu, the Monitoring Group had also obtained credible evidence about two metal ammunition containers and photographs of other ammunition containers that were alleged by the Monitoring Group sources to have been provided by the State in question which is now widely established to be Eritrea. Further, the Monitoring Group learned that an opposition leader and TFG dissident from Mogadishu had traveled to Eritrea during the said period to make arrangements with the authorities there for arms shipments. Eritrea is then said to have promised, “to give arms only to the opposition and in quantities that equaled what TFG President Abdulahi Yusuf received from other countries.†The Monitoring Group sent a letter to the Government of Eritrea on 27 March 2006 requesting its response concerning the arms shipments reported to have taken place around 3 and 5 March 2006. In reply to the Monitoring Group's letter, the Government of Eritrea denied responsibility for the shipments of arms and characterized the Monitoring Group's information as "outrageousâ€. The 7 and 14 March 2006 information was not however included in the March 3 and 5 letter as the Monitoring Group received the information after the dispatch of its letter. Subsequent shipments of arms were also reported in the months of June, July and August. Further, some three thousand Eritrean soldiers were said to have been dispatched to Somalia to reinforce the militia of the Union of Islamist Courts (UIC). Further details on the contacts between the UIC and Eritrea is provided in the annex at the end of this paper. Profile of Somalia's Islamist Courts The Islamist group that now controls Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, has emerged out of a judicial system funded by the powerful business community to try and bring some law and order to a country without a government. But over the last two to three years (2004-2006), the Union of Islamic Courts has become Somalia's strongest army - forcing the warlords who had controlled the capital for the past 15 years into retreat. According to the BBC Somali Service editor, Yusuf Garaad Omar, they are currently (the most popular political force in southern Somalia). There are 11 autonomous courts in Mogadishu, some of which have periodically tried to clamp down on robbery, drugs and pornographic films which are shown in local video houses. At first, they concentrated on petty crimes, but by the mid 1990s they had progressed towards dealing with major crimes in north Mogadishu. Thieves had their limbs amputated and murderers were executed. This has happened in spite of protests from human rights organizations. Yet, it is said that the residents of north Mogadishu were pleased to enjoy law and order - in stark contrast to south Mogadishu, where crime was rampant. The system has since further expanded and the Islamic courts are said to have validated transactions of the purchase of houses and cars. They also oversee weddings and divorces and have expanded their authority across most of the capital, while staying out of politics until recently. As a result, they were trusted by the people, who had no other institutions to refer to. Most of the Islamic courts have expressed a clear desire to promote Islamic law rather than clan allegiance, which has divided Somalis over the past 15 years. Nevertheless, all but one of the 11 courts is associated with just one clan - the ******, who dominate the capital, but they are divided into sub-clans. In order to avoid accusations of clan bias, each court tries members of its sub-clan, wherever alleged crimes are committed. Some clan elders in north Mogadishu have now set up their own court, independent of the union. Until recently, the union's public face was chairman Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate who sought to assure Somalis and the international community that the Islamic Courts were no a threat to international peace and that they only wanted order. Mr. Ahmed, 32, is a law graduate from Libya and former secondary school geography teacher. Nevertheless, it is widely believed that the union contains radical elements such as Sheikh Dahir Aweys who recently replaced Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as chairman. The new chairman is clearly radical and close to Eritrea which is promoting a proxy war on Ethiopia from Somalia. In fact, it is as a result of his close connection with the Eritrean leadership that he recently declared Jihad on Ethiopia. Sheikh Aweys and his associates are also said to have an uneasy relationship with Kenya on which they recently launched a vitriolic allegation. For details on the political and religious position of Sheir Dahir Aways, please see his pronouncements in annex II. Two of the 11 courts are seen as militant and one of them is led by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys. He is on the list of US terrorism suspects. One reason for this is that he was the former leader of al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, which is linked to al-Qaeda. According to Mr Aweys says al-Itihaad al-Islamiya no longer exists, but this is seriously contested by Somalia analysts. He also denies accusations by some western diplomats and observers that there are training grounds for Islamic fighters in Somalia. Further, He is strongly critical of the United States and its "war on terror". Western diplomats are also concerned by Afghanistan-trained militia commander Adan Hashi Ayro, whose militiamen have been implicated in numerous killings of Somali nationals, as well as five foreign aid workers and a BBC producer, Kate Peyton. It is alleged that the extremist leaders derive their support from rank and file Somalis who had increasingly turned to their faith for some sort of solace and comfort. One visible evidence of this is that before the civil war began in the 1980s, very few women wore headscarves in Mogadishu, but at present almost every woman wears a headscarf and an increasing number are wearing veils covering their faces, with just narrow slits for the eyes. Even those Mogadishu residents who are wary of Islamic extremism may welcome a single group being in control of the capital for the first time in 15 years, hoping that there would at least be some form of authority and control. This does not however mean they wouldn’t look for a democratic alternative government such as an empowered TFG and an eventual elected government. Nevertheless, there is no doubting the fact that they were avers to the warlords who looted the city since 1991 and rendered it anarchic. As a result, according to Yusuf Garaad Omar, the warlords were hated even more because of the widespread belief that they were being backed by the United States to fight the Union of Sharia Courts. This is so because most Somalis in Mogadishu are suspicious of the US because of the legacy of the humanitarian intervention which went disastrously wrong leading to the death of about 1,000 Somalis and 18 US troops in 1993. Conclusion The conflict which still afflicts Somalia remains a serious challenge to the region as well as African and global security. As noted earlier, the situation has been exacerbated by the defeat of the faction leaders or warlords by the Union of Islamists Courts (UIC) on June 7, 2006, in Mogadishu. The changed situation has precipitated a new crisis in Somalia. The meetings held on July 7 and September 2-4, 2006, between the TFG and UIC in Khartoum under the auspices of the Arab League in an attempt to narrow the gap between the two have resulted in a number of important agreements. These include the agreement to maintain the truce of June 7, 2006, form joint police and armed forces and a decision to hold another meeting on October 30th, 2006 to address the issue of power sharing and political settlement. The above accords augur well for an eventual resolution of the current conflict peacefully. Nevertheless, these would still require a lot of lobbying and persuasion on the part of the international community including the UN, Arab League, African Union, EU, the US and IGAD countries which are key interlocutors in the Somalia crisis. The above should be seen against the backdrop of all previous peace efforts, from Sodere (Ethiopia, 1996-98), Arta (Djibouti, 2000) through Eldoret and Mbagathi (Kenya, 2002-2004) plus several other initiatives, including those of some Arab states like Egypt and Yemen which did not fully succeed in restoring peace and statehood to Somalia. The new crisis in Southern Somalia, particularly in Mogadishu, is also an indirect consequence of the poor leadership provided by the warlords of Mogadishu which resulted in their humiliating defeat in the hands of the UIC. Unfortunately, the absence of unity of purpose among the Somali faction leaders was also reflected in the lack of interest witnessed among some of the external players or interlocutors. At times, the absence of some Frontline IGAD States and other important interlocutors had a divisive effect on the pursuit of peace. Nonetheless, the 5th IGAD Ministerial Facilitation Committee Meeting, held on May 6, 2004 in Nairobi, and attended by Ministers from all the IGAD countries had made a significant headway byway of fostering cohesion. This active engagement of IGAD countries should also be continued in the context of the new crisis which faces Somalia. In the above connection, Ethiopia, Kenya and the other IGAD countries, the US as well as the IGAD Partners’ Forum (IPF), League of Arab States (LAS) and the international community at large that have been trying to assist Somalia achieve peace and statehood, should continue to be griped in the pursuit of a peaceful settlement to the conflict between the TFG and the UIC. The above failing, the international community should adopt a multi-pronged strategy of alternating carrots and sticks as appropriate. Further, in the context of power sharing the political clout, social base and capacity of the different political actors to cause damage which can have adverse effect on the future of Somalia should be given serious consideration. This would call for a strategy of damage control. A mechanism of preventing an assault coming from the UIC should also be given due consideration by extending all necessary financial and military support to the TFG in order to maintain a balance of power which would make it possible to mediate between the two adversarial forces currently operational in Somalia. This is important in view of the negative impact of the prevailing insecurity partly caused by the proliferation of arms in the country which has dire consequences on the social fabric of the Somali society and the daily livelihood of ordinary people. This has recently been compounded by the interference of external players such as Eritrea which the United Nations arms monitoring group has accused of making large shipment of personnel and weapons to Somalia adding to the current state of instability in the country. Given the above, the international community, the AU, IGAD member states, League of Arab states, the UN, United States, EU and others should remain seized with finding a durable solution to the current problem with which Somalia is embattled because of the confrontation between the TFG and the UIC. Concerted efforts should also be made in the upcoming meetings of the UIC and TFG including the one scheduled for October 30, 2006. This should include talking to the two groups separately in an attempt to persuade them to make all necessary concessions in order to narrow the gap and bring them together in the interest of Somalia and the Somali people at large. Here, the role which the League of Arab States can play together with the AU and IGAD member states need not be over emphasized. Annex I Excerpts from the Report of the Arms Embargo Violation Monitoring Group, submitted to the United Nations Security Council Sheik Yusuf Indohaadde arrived in Asmara on or about 14 November 2005 from Saudi Arabia. Indohaadde went to Eritrea to obtain assurances that arms would be supplied by the Eritrean authorities to the Al-Itihad leadership in Mogadishu. Indohaadde returned to Somalia, arriving in Mogadishu on or about 21 November 2005. Also, on or about 14 November 2005, officials from the Eritrean Foreign Office who were posing as businessmen arrived in Mogadishu. The team met with Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys. The same delegation also met with the spokesman of the members of the transitional federal institutions in Mogadishu, Colonel Omar Hashi Adan briefed them on the situation in Somalia and thereafter appealed for extensive Eritrean support to match the continuous assistance allegedly given to the TFG by Ethiopian. The Eritrean officials told Colonel Hashi to put his request to the Eritrean representative in Mogadishu. The delegation also expressed a keen interest in supporting the militant fundamentalists for the purpose of using them as a platform to mobilize and support an anti-Ethiopia agenda, also directed at the Ethiopian opposition elements (insurgent groups). The Eritrean envoy in Mogadishu is Elias Habteselassie. As his ability to move freely around Mogadishu is limited, he operates through an informal local network of people, including a number of local assistants. The envoy's activities are dominated by dealings with dissident Ethiopian ethnic groups who are concentrated in Banaadir and the Lower Shabelle regions. Accordingly, he has been instrumental in developing good cooperation between the militants and the dissident ethnic groups. During the aforesaid periods, the Government of Eritrea provided at least four separate consignments of arms, ammunitions and military equipment. This was directly sent from Asmara to Baledogle airport (Lower Shabelle region). The types of weapons and equipment sent are given below: Source: Agia Agia Forum --Wardheernews

There are strategic, environmental, and financial flaws of these deals. Dr. Salah Fatah and Omar M. Abdi write, "we strongly believe that the approach and leadership with which Puntland administration has handled this agreement was debilitated by ineptitude, greed, lack of vision, and was beset with arrogance and inflated egos. We identified three major flaws of the deal." In their article, now available at Dhahar.com has some corroborating documentation supporting their assesment. [elipsis in original]

Amazing

Tribalism: The cancer in our midst Part 2 Mahamud M. Yahye, PhD Dugsi ma leh qayaaladi waxay dumiso mooyaane (Tribalism has no benefit except destruction) - Abdillahi Suldan I. Introduction A few months ago, I wrote an article, titled “Tribalism: the Cancer in Our Midstâ€, in which I tried to show, with strong evidence from our nation’s history, how tribalism has always been the root cause of our problems; how it has led to the total destruction of our state; and how it has thus far prevented the real success of all peace and national reconciliation efforts. I also pointed out that as many scholars have shown in the past, the main problem lies with the “segmentary lineage†system of our clan affiliations which often leads to disunity, strife and perpetual instability. The feedback that I have received from the Somali readers, both at home and in the Diaspora, has been in its totality very positive and the overwhelming majority of them agreed with my analysis. However, there was the usual dissenting voice. For instance, a man who wrote to me from Alberta, Canada, said: “Let us not kid ourselves, and let us put the blame where it belongs. I, Mohamud, am proud Somali who isn’t afraid to say who is my clanâ€. Another one e-mailed me to oppose the thrust of my argument – perhaps just for the sake of opposition, as is now common in highly polarized Somali society – and he wrote: “Tribe is an asset not a liability for Somalia. But unfortunately some people have failed [to] see it as such.†He then continued claiming without providing sufficient evidence: “Tribe is what feeds, protects and allows the locals on the ground level to communicate at amicable and frank level.†Some Positive Tribal Aspects The arguments of these two gentlemen reminds me of a recent article written by Mr. I. M. Lewis, the renowned Somali scholar and emeritus professor of anthropology at London School of Economics, titled “Visible and Invisible Differences: the Somali Paradox“ in which he attempted to show several positive aspects of tribal affiliations in the Somali nation. One of the examples that he gives to support his thesis is the fact that, after the collapse of the state in Somalia and the disappearance of most sources for decent jobs in a modern society, many Somalis inside the country survive through the generous remittances of their tribesmen in the Diaspora; and one of the easiest ways to reach them – in a country that lacks such basic services as post office or banking - to deliver these cash remittances is to use the names of their clan and sub-clan affiliations. But with all due respect to the views of Prof. Lewis and the two other gentlemen, the negative aspects of tribalism and its destructive nature outweigh its benefits. (Mind you, like nepotism, favoritism, chauvinism, imperialism, etc., tribalism or any other thing that ends with –ism normally indicates something negative). In this regard, when we had a functioning Somali state, we did not need a tribe to protect us or to offer us the numerous social services that we used to take for granted. Furthermore, even in the Islamic faith, tribe affiliations are not supposed to be a source of discord, animosity and oppression. The holy Qura’n says: “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and we made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you.†(The noble Qur’an: 49:13). In other words, Allah almighty made us different tribes or clans to know each other and not to kill each other like animals, as we Somalis have been doing in the past 15 years. Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) also declared that it is totally forbidden for a Muslim to shed the blood of another Muslim, to take over his property or to damage his family-honor. In the Somali nomadic setting, there was a clear delineation of leadership by traditional elders, like Sultaan, Garaad, Islaan, Malaakh, Boqor, Isin, etc., whose decisions were obeyed without questioning. The clans also had a traditional law of governance in the form of “xeer†that regulated the relations between neighboring tribes, often competing over very limited resources (i.e., water and pasture). That is how they were able to coexist in harmony for centuries, despite the eruption of the occasional deadly fights. However, when urbanization was introduced to our social life, the positive aspects of tribal affiliations disappeared and only the negative elements seem to have been preserved. Add to this the fact that an ordinary Somali normally has greater allegiance to his clan rather than his Islamic faith. Moreover, our understanding of modern Western culture of democracy, human rights and the rule of law are very tenuous. As such, it is evident that we, Somalis, have abandoned the good aspects of our nomadic culture and have not been able to absorb either the lofty tenets of Islamic religion or the rational principles of modern Western culture. In the view of many experts of Somali affairs, tribalism and clan-based rivalry is what led to the collapse of the state in Somalia in January 1991 and to the inability of Somalis to end their ruinous civil war. This is so despite the fact that 14 peace and national reconciliation conferences have so far been held for that purpose with the help of the international community, and particularly Somalia’s neighboring countries, both morally and materially. All reconciliation efforts have failed because certain individuals – most of them semi-illiterate ex-truck drivers, messengers or ex-police sergeants who have not even run a small governmental office or unit in their entire life – have been playing the tribal card to become presidents/prime ministers in Somalia by any means in order to monopolize power and privilege and, thus, marginalize other clans. In this connection, these covetous and misguided warlords – who were comprehensively defeated recently but are still there– used tribalism as a tool to gain both political and economic power, and not to serve their nation. But even when they gained power, they have never attempted to help their own tribesmen in return. None of them has set up a one classroom elementary school or a small dispensary or a single borehole in their own villages to serve the needy inhabitants of their clan areas who have no state to serve or protect them. This is despite the fact that some of these unscrupulous warlords used to earn hundreds of thousands of US dollars from the air and sea-ports that they illegally took over and the sale of qat and other illegal drugs that they were engaged in. Even the new religious force called Islamic Courts Union (ICU), who have lately been expanding their military conquest, would, according to some experts on Somali affairs, only prolong the conflict in Somalia, because they are self-appointed, clan-based militias, some of whose extremist leaders are included in the US list of international terrorists. [see Prof. Lewis, Prof. Said Samatar and Abdalla Hirad as listed below in the references]. Besides, nobody knows what is the real political programme of this amalgam of religious courts, some of whom seem to aim for establishing a Taliban-type regime in Somalia? How are they going to deal with the myriad of hot button issues that face Somalia today, such as securing real peace and stability in the whole country? And how they would carry out and finance the revival of the country’s ruined economy, and the rebuilding of its destroyed infrastructure in terms of education, health, water and power services, roads, etc.? Still, none of ICU’s top leaders has, as reported, any relevant experience in running a government? III. Lessons from Recent Somali History In my previous article, I have indicated that the old leaders of our previous generations and the founders of the Somali state, i.e., men and women who started the national struggle for freedom in the early 1940s or assumed political leadership after independence in 1960, knew the destructive nature of tribalism. That is why they shunned it and endeavored, as much as possible, not to use it as a guide and a principle for running the new Somali state. Consequently, they did their level best to select for leadership the most suitable, experienced and capable among them, irrespective of their tribal or regional origins. That is why a man like H.E. Aden Abdulle Osman – arguably the best head of state that Somalia has ever had - who hails from one of the smallest and least influential Somali clans, was elected as the first President of the new Somali Republic that united both the ex-British Somaliland and ex-Italian Somalia in 1960. (Isn’t it ironical, as well as a reflection of our current lop-sided political culture, that in the last two transitional governments, set up in Djibouti and Kenya in 2000 and 2004, respectively, his son, Abdulqadir, could not get a ministerial position or even that of a simple member of parliament, just because he doesn’t come from a big clan, according to the infamous 4.5 formula of tribal power sharing currently in force. Mind you, Abdulqadir Aden Abdulle, is a highly qualified engineer who graduated from a fine Italian university and who had assumed an important ministerial position in Somalia’s previous governments). In these previous Somali administrations, though they were far from being perfect, at least such universally accepted standards as education and work experience were the main qualifications for selecting officials for high positions in government – and not his tribal background or the strength of his armed militia. I still remember with great admiration that, during the tenure of one our previous Prime Ministers of the mid 1960s, i.e., that of Mr. Abdirizak Haji Huseen, two words, i.e., karti iyo hufnaan (competence and cleanliness) identified the basic philosophy of his government, as well as the prerequisites for appointing civil servants in the high echelons of his administration. But this is now, unfortunately, replaced by the blatant tribal system of power sharing which has taken hold of Somalia’s political life and which became the main impediment against peace, stability and a functioning central government in the past 16 years. Due to our unfortunate return to the out-dated, irrational and disastrous system of tribalism, every Dick and Harry wants to be a minister or MP, and no educational and relevant work experience are necessary for assuming high ministerial portfolios. That is why until its recent reshuffle, Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government had a cabinet of over 90 ministers and deputy ministers (America has only 15 federal ministers). This was so, not because a penniless and economically ruined country like Somalia needs this excessively bloated cabinet, but because every clan and sub-clan had to be rewarded – I dare say bribed - by allocating at least one ministerial position to them. And, as I alluded to earlier, it is really Somalia’s great misfortune that some semi-literate men, none of whom had ever run even a small district or government department, have the audacity to insist nowadays on leading a whole nation, simply because they belong to a certain clan or they possess a few guns. IV. Tribalism is Destructive In one of his famous poems, the well-known Somali poet, the late Mr. Abdillahi Suldan “Tima-addeâ€, summarized the totally negative nature of tribalism in that poem’s refrain: “Dugsi ma leh qabyaaladi waxay dumiso mooyaane†(Tribalism has no benefit except destruction). He then elaborated his argument by chanting with his very beautiful and moving poetic voice: Docda bari, dareeriga baddiyo, Seylac dariskeeda Dusha koonfureed iyo ilaa wabiga daaciisa Degmadeenna oo idil haddan deyey abwaagteeda Nimaan duubiyadu naafo noqon deelka laga waaye Dulmi iyo dhac waa waxa kharibay dagalladeenniiye Dul iyo hoosba waan ugu dhigay ee waa dix dhagaxeede Anun baa damqanayee dhaguhu uma daloolaane Dadkaan la hadlayaa baan lahayn dix iyo iimaane Bal inay dalfoof tahay, caqliga doonni laga saaray Wixii horay u soo daashaday bay dagashanaysaaye Dugsi ma leh qabyaaladi waxay dumiso mooyaane If I try to give the gist of these few lines of Tima-adde’s longer historic gabay (poem), not in a literary but rather a more literal translation, it could roughly be rendered as follows: Towards the east, the sea channels and Seyla’ neighborhood Beyond the southern parts and the river fountains When I looked at the records of our region A person not injured severely could not be found Looting and injustice are what has corrupted our nation I’ve told them plainly, but they’re as hard as rocks I’m the one who is being agitated, but they are deaf and dumb Those I’m talking to, have no sense or faith They have gone stray and their mind has been shipped away And they are hankering after what has already harmed them Tribalism has no benefit except destruction V. Concluding Remarks In conclusion, if we don’t find an appropriate and lasting remedy to the devastating disease of tribalism which has plagued our nation in the past 16 years, destroyed all its state institutions and kept our people in perpetual insecurity, abject poverty and misery, we will suffer even more. And our country may become prey for the disruptive interference – or even total takeover – of its hostile neighbors who have always sought to dismember and dominate the Somali nation. Finally, our present, and the more serious dangers looming on the horizon, could best be summarized in what the US magazine Newsweek has recently written about this unlucky country of ours when it said: “ It might seem that Somalis were put on this earth to suffer. For the past 15 years, they’ve had civil war. For most of the past decade, there’s been drought. The few times the drought has eased, there have been floods. The state has collapsed so totally there are not public services whatever. Potholed roads have been replaced by tracks in the bush. Water is sold by private entrepreneurs. Hospitals tell patients to bring their own mattresses, even their own beds, and enough money to fuel the generator if, for instance, they need the use of an X-ray machine.†(Add to this the fact that today Somalia has the lowest level of primary school enrollment in the whole world [around 20% only], according to the UN). What a bleak picture for a nation essentially ruined by tribalism and its horrendous consequences! May God almighty save Somalia, and protect her from her own sons. Mahamud M. Yahye, PhD Jeddah, Saudi Arabia e-mail: mm2yahya@yahoo.com Source: Wardheernews

Originally posted by General Duke: quote:I wouldn't call such article demeaning words, for, you will make an asinine out of yourself. You have a point there. I will try to choose better words next time.. As for dividion, one is that many see the courts as beholden to the clan of Inda Cade and that has caused most of their set backs. For example the case of A/qaybdeed in South Mudug in which he has the support of the population. The North Mogadishu clan also belives it lost allot of influance and gained little, apart from the Caadani company the perception is they have lost much power, the governor/mayor Gaabow who supported the courts has been sidelined and many belive it is because of clan. There is a lot of internal tension and contradiction within the clans that the courts represent. The author should have included this and the workings, structure. lol I don't think the North Mogadisho clan feels left out. Abdiqabydid is a defeated warlord.

Well said, Mansa, the government should do more to win the hearts of the people. Our people are hardly educated and can be easily deceived. The enemy that is ingrained in our hearts and minds is Ethiopia and the government needs a better method to convince the masses the desired intention of these foreign forces. Also, the BBC is playing a big role in further confusing the public with platitudes. It does not provide enough coverage for the TFG leaders to directly speak to the people. I have to go brother.

Xiinfanin, you made good points.