Change in Strategy: Obama Hints at working with Somaliland

[ANTARA]

Shift in Strategy: President Obama suggests working with Somaliland

 

 

President Barack Obama hosted in the White House a unique summit for youth and civil leaders from Africa, as part of his administration efforts to reach out to the continent.

 

The meeting was in a town hall-style forum with more than 100 representatives of 45 Sub-Saharan nations, was also part of a series of events this week helping mark the 10th anniversary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, enacted in 2000 with the goal of boosting African exports to the United States.

 

In Q&A session after the president’s speech, the president was asked by Najma Ahmed Abdi, a young lady from Somalia about the crisis in her country and the role of the US government.

 

In his answer the president explained that the Somalia situation is one of the most desperate in the continent and yet of one of the most dangerous for the US and its allies in the regions. President Obama hinted out that his administration may start working with stable parts of the country to spread democracy and offer stability to the rest of the the country.

 

The Obama administration has supporting and funding the weak Transitional Somali Government and the African Union troops for the last three years. working with stable parts of the country will present a major shift in US policy in the country. And recently the U.S. has backed a push by African states to add troops to combat Somali militants. But many Somalia experts are warning that more troops will not bring peace, and will encounter fierce resistance from the dangerous militant group that claimed deadly twin bombings in Uganda last month.

 

Somaliland has been hailed as a beacon of stability in the troubled Horn of Africa region since declaring independence from Somalia in 1991 unilaterally. The recent peaceful transition of power between bitterly opposing sides have added to this testament. Also the region of Puntland in North East of the country has enjoyed great stability and peaceful elections.

 

Many Somali locals, academic and international experts have questioned US policy towards Somalia. Many experts have called for alternative strategy in Somalia. Regional reconciliation and other gradual method like development of economic interdependency of different regions and building Somali government from bottom-up instead of establishing a central government have not been fully pursued.

 

Historically, creating a national Somali government has been the goal of many failed reconciliation summit in the past 20 years. However, the pursuit of strong Somali government exclusively through a national reconciliation process has become an obstacle itself, as many experts testify. One reason reconciliation has become elusive is the focus of these attempts on political side of the crisis only and ignoring other possible channels.

 

Building bridges with already stable part of the country and building bottom-up government is more promising to solve the crisis in Somalia.

 

He said:

“In some cases, we may try to find a portion of the country that is relatively stable and start work there to create a model that the rest of the country can then look at and say, this is a different path than the one that we’re taking right now.”

 

Read more: Somalilandpress