Road to Muqdishu is paved with many Mishaps: Editorial

[NASSIR]

Road to Muqdishu is paved with many Mishaps: It is not too late to fix them.

 

March 30,2005

 

Since the establishment of the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in October 2004, headed by president Cabdullahi Yuusuf Ahmed (who was elected by a stunning75% of the parliament) and Prime Minister Geedi, the road to Muqdishu has been pretty tough, if not impossible. Moreover, the hope of sustaining the TFG for the coming five years is seriously in jeopardy.

 

A series of mounting pressures and missteps have contributed to the deterioration of the situation. First and foremost, the United States' position on the question of foreign troops as peackeepers in Somalia has totally undermined the TFG position. The Nairobi based U.S Ambassador's position that the fledgling TFG does not need any foreign troops, hence opposing any deployment of such troops by the African Union (AU) indeed had bolstered the confidence of Muqdishu based warlords. It was after this premature speculation on the part of the United States, which is secretly negotiating with the authorities in Hargeysa for the use of Berbera port, that Yalaxow and Caato, two unreconstructed warlords in collaboration with the so called Islamic courts militia, began a campaign of overt sabotage of the TFG.

 

 

The second factor that undermined the efforts of the TFG was the position that Matt Bryden of the International Crisis Group (ICG) took, which also painted an apocalyptic picture in the event that foreign troops enter Somalia. This too did not help Somalia's fragile conditions to the advantage of the TFG. By misusing the clout of a well funded western Non Governmental Organization (NGO), a non-elected western individual once again caused a serious tremor to a peace process that hundreds, if not thousands, of Somali elders, intellectuals and peace groups labored so hard for several years.

 

The ostensible lack of knowledge in parliamentary processes on the part of the speaker of the house of the transitional legislators, Shariif Hassan, obviously inflamed what could have otherwise been resolved in a civil manner. Irrespective of the shortcomings of the government's insistence on

 

 

bringing foreign troops to pacify Muqdishu, the nation and the world at large should never have heard the speaker of a parliament encouraging one combatant side against another in an open brawl as has the case been with this speaker. It is was the ultimate picture, as in a picture is worth of one thousand words, of a country so helplessly divided!

 

All these events have contributed to Muqdishu warlords to openly and violently challenge the TFG in its efforts to move not only to Muqdishu , but other neighboring cities. A case in point is the ongoing war in Baydhabo that is a proxy war between forces that would have accommodated the TFG or parts of it in that city and Muqdishu warlords as represented by their boldest client, warlord Indhacade and his bandits

 

The TFG must own some of the blame concerning the deterioration of the situation. First of all, the government has completely lost the propaganda war on the issue of the nature of the deployment of foreign troops. The leadership in the president's cabinet did not respond early on either to the Nairobi based US Ambassador's premature comment on what was the unified [official] position of the African Union (AU) or the self-promoting head of the Horn of Africa desk of the ICG. It in fact did not respond to either comment, up to the present day. To undermine the US comment, the government must have put out to the public that this very same Ambassador is spearheading the US effort to secretly negotiate with Hargaysa authorities for the right to use Barbera base. This would have created a credible doubt in minds of all as to the real intent of the US Ambassador's comment on the fragile peace in the rest of the country.

 

Prime Minster Geedi did not take timely, decisive and effective actions against those cabinet members who openly crossed him and his president. How else does he (or the president) expect to keep the flock in line when each and every one lashes against the administration without impunity? This represents a serious lack of leadership at the top, for a government that does not win the hearts and minds of its own cabinet is a far cry from wining those of the broad masses of the society that is often divided.

 

Furthermore, the TFG should have early on modified its initial commitment to the deployment of Ethiopian troops once it saw that the reality on the ground had changed. The Ethiopian factor has become a pretext for any group or warlord that wants to derail the TFG move back to Muqdishu. Knowing how Ethiopian troops deployment could be sensitive and the fact that the Somali National State under Ethiopian rule is currently subject to an unprecedented land grabbing policy (where Somalis are poised to loose one third of their land to the Oromos in a well orchestrated, yet sham plebiscite), the president and his prime Minister must have modified their position on the issue of frontline [Ethiopian] troops right away.

 

To arrest further deterioration of the situation and keep hope alive, Wardheernews recommends the following:

 

• Protest and forward a stern warning to the US Ambassador in Nairobi and advise him to refrain in the future from dipping his mouth in to the fragile affairs of their country without early consultation with the leaders of the TFG.

 

• Fire all those cabinet members who are not in line with the TFG policy, starting with the most notorious warlords.

 

• Modify the TFG position visa-vi frontline states troops deployment, particularly those from Ethiopia. It is time the leadership of the TFG appreciates the gravity of the Ethiopian factor and how it is used as a pretext for recalcitrant warlord's propaganda.

 

• The TFG must make its viewpoint on important issues known to the public at large and seek that very same coalition that gave the president the unprecedented wining votes of 75% of the parliament. This wining was tantamount to a total mandate given to the president by the parliament and the citizens inside the country at large and must not be wasted.

 

• The president and the prime Minister must surround themselves not with their kinsmen, as it appears now, but with professional advisors who can turn the current tide around.

 

The editorial board of Wardheernews takes the above position on the current affairs of the country with the full recognition that the peace process that has been hatched up in Kenya is more important than individual clan leaders and politicians. This process must therefore be fixed and rescued by any means necessary.

 

 

Wardheernews Editorial