Saxardiid Posted February 20, 2004 Statistically irresolvable: The Nairobi Conference Somalia remains to be ‘the only country in the world without central government' for over a decade. Attempts to cure the grassroots of the problem failed one after another, presumably for unknown reasons. Currently, a national reconciliation conference is undergoing in Nairobi , Kenya for over a year. For many, the result is already clear: failure . The key word failure, in my opinion is the product of accumulated three major factors: The growing number of warlords, the public's blind support to the warlords and the neglecting international community. The number of warlords is skyrocketing by the hour. A decade ago, when the first Somali reconciliation conference was held in neighboring Djibouti , major warlords were only handful. Little by little, the number kept increasing drastically as nearly every warlord trained even more brutal ex-deputy. Today, Nairobi is filled with former friends and current co-chairs of two-sectioned Somali-Something organization. Not only the warlords are increasing by the number, but also they are forming geographical fractions of the land they operate in – A fact that will further complicate the reconciliation process. And that is a major factor contributing to the continuation of the conference, despite its desperate level. For the public and the media, the name of a new self-nominated war mentor is to be learned. For IGAD administration, a substantial number of interpreters are to be hired to facilitate the communication between IGAD presidents and a new an alphabetic man. While the growing number of warlords is indeed disappointing, The Somali people are to be blamed for much of the failures of these conferences. Do you wonder why? Well, I'll narrate a story and you decide why. A month ago, one of the most merciless warlords decided to finally accept IGAD's appeal to have ‘his honor' in the conference. Dressing up in a western style, the warlord landed in Wilson Airport with handful of his future member of cabinet wanna-be's. Outside the airport, tens of Somalis were lined up, waving Somali flags to the warlord. Not only that, but they eventually lifted the heavy man for the ground. As I was glancing those images at one of the websites, I was questioning myself; why in the world an immigrant who is probably in Nairobi to make it to the west, would ever choose to jubilantly welcome the man who forced him/her out of their land? What is the ultimate price of showing warm desire to those merciless men? For a second, I thought about the possibility that those people were paid, but when I double-checked the line-up, the reality commenced to unfold in my mind; that those are ordinary Somalis with extra-ordinary tribe attachments. Thus, I came to the conclusion of labeling the public as part of the obstacle. The obstacle is not limited to the warlords and the public, but the international community is ought to be blamed significantly of the failure phenomenon. A phenomenon that started back in 1993, when over a dozen American soldiers were perished in the dusty streets of Mogadishu . And angry Somalis recklessly dragged one of them. Since then, the world's hegemony, the U.S. led the international community to ghost Somalia . From that day, Somali is missing in action from the international radar. One might wonder why the international community's attention is a factor contributing to the failures of the conferences, but its mathematically impossible to rebuild a nation with such a magnitude without the international community. Other conflicts in the world are good example of the vitality of the international community. Although the European community is said to be partially paying the daily costs of the Nairobi conference, their political role is almost invisible, with the exception of sending the locally corrupted Italian ambassador. Finally, Somalia is attempting to heal despite 14 national reconciliation conferences that resulted nothing but more jam for the ‘Black House' (Aqalka Madaxtooyada). The number of presidential wanna be's is also a record high. The people are still enthusiastic to blindly support warlords, even if they are in refugee camps. The International Community is busy with terrorists and WMD. Thus, it's statistically impossible to turn the one year-old Nairobi conference fruitful. In fact, future attempts are likely to also fail when those obstacles pre-exist. C/raxman Ceynte Minnesota click here for link Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
