is it true? read this article

[sayfulaah-almasluul]

Abdulkadir Khalif

Nairobi - The East African

 

Little Maimuna, eight years old, was wounded by multiple fragments from a shell that

landed on their family house at Medina district in Mogadishu. Together with other victims,

she was rushed to Medina hospital for life-saving treatment.

 

Maimuna was lucky to have found herself on a surgeon's bench and skilled hands removed

metal pieces from her abdomen, but her right leg could not be saved from amputation. A

metre away, Maimuna's grandmother had an almost similar amputation. They were victims

of a savagery that had recently taken place in one of the southernmost suburbs of

Mogadishu following a bitter confrontation between forces loyal to warlords Musse Sudi

Yalahow and Omar Mohamed Mohamud (alias Finish).

 

The merciless battle in Medina district is but a microcosm of what has been happening in

many parts of Somalia, including Mogadishu, where killings, mutilation, rape and

displacement have become the people's permanent companions. Power-motivated

confrontations are usually followed by equally devilish acts from opportunists who loot and

inculcate fear. Social services and trading (except arms sales) are paralysed, limiting

people's incomes.

 

Leaders who once shared not only political affiliation but also close kinship have become

bitter enemies. Struggle for supremacy in the Bay and Bakol regions (to the southwest of

Mogadishu) broke the bonds of brotherhood and initiated armed confrontations that sent

entire populations on the move in search of safety.

 

Hunger for leadership of Jowhar district, Puntland region or Medina suburb is the driving

force pushing warlords to mobilise all their resources against each other. They certainly

believe that victory in the battlefields would boost their bargaining power at the ongoing

Somali reconciliation conference in Kenya.

 

That is why they are threatening to quit the process, convinced that without them peace

agreements cannot be implemented nor lasting peace realised.

 

The cessation of hostilities agreement signed at the end of the first phase of he Somali

peace conference in Eldoret, Kenya in October 2002 was largely welcomed by the Somali

public. It was particularly exciting that a galaxy of diplomats from the international

community witnessed and co-signed the document, a clear indication that the warlords

were offered no chance to exercise their notorious tricks.

 

It is shocking that faction leaders, the very signatories of the cessation of hostilities

agreement, are finding loopholes to deceive the international community to breach the

agreed terms. Their mercilessness is given a green light by lack of authority to ensure the

terms are enforced, and they are getting away with crimes, some of which have gone

unpunished for 12 years.

 

As if all these killings, maiming and violations of the signed agreement mean nothing, the

so-called political leaders are boycotting the conference, the very event meant to revive the

hopes of the Somali people to restore their statehood.

 

To justify boycotting the talks, the factions have given various reasons. That Ethiopia was

not sincere about its mediation role, especially about the long-term stability, unity and

territorial integrity of Somalia. That Somali delegates have been denied the right to lead the

conference proceedings instead of the Igad committee, or that Djibouti and Ethiopia were

siding with their own favourites, compromising their neutrality. Others said that they could

not stand the sight of warthogs roaming the venue, having trespassed from a nearby game

park.

 

Even the president of the Transitional National Government, Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, has

repeatedly discredited the peace conference, saying that Somalis "would get nothing" from

it and that his "government" was already organising a substitute conference to be held

inside Somalia should the one in Kenya fail.

 

This power-driven conflict has created conditions for freelance gangs to take advantage of

the confusion and inflict further harm. How can one justify the crime of kidnapping a

citizen, torturing, and then killing him before the body is taken to a remote suburb and

thrown into a cactus bush, only to be found later putrefying? Many people wonder why the

international community pretends not to know what is going on.

 

The world is getting tough on rogue authorities such as Saddam Hussein's Iraq and North

Korea, by force in the case of Iraq. Why not get equally tough with Somali warlords and

faction leaders?

 

It is good to call on the groups to stop atrocities, but it is better to establish mechanisms to

force them to do so. Action needs to be taken against those breaking the arms embargo on

Somalia. The people of Somalia expect more than mere sympathy from the international

community.

 

The international community can force the implementation of the outcome of the first phase

and facilitate the conclusion of the remaining phases of the Somali conference. Events in

the Middle East should not be allowed to overshadow the only conference that could

liberate Somalis from the ruthless clutch of warlords.

 

As the war in Iraq raged, people in Mogadishu and elsewhere in Somalia flocked to the

mosques to pray for the people of Iraq for being subjected to attacks by non-Muslim

forces. But the plight of Somali victims like little Maimuna and her grandmum seem to have

sunk into oblivion.

___________________________________________________

Abdulkadir Khalif Sh. Yusuf

former assistant production manager at Mogadishu Milk Factory

 

 

 

 

 

 

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