Yasima Posted October 24, 2003 Meddling mars Somalia peace talks Canada must lead effort to keep Kenya and Ethiopia from dictating terms of deal The peace conference in Kenya neither reconciles Somali factions nor does it re-establish a Somali state. Rather, it surrenders Somalia's national interests to those of its hostile neighbours. This peace conference violates two major conflict resolution tenets: a lack of a credible and neutral third party, and the need for the conflicting parties to own the peace process. Ethiopia and Kenya are manipulating Somalia's peace process. They control the agenda and the forum and have given absolute power to the criminal warlords who have committed human rights atrocities against the Somali people. They have marginalized traditional and civil society leaders. They have forced on Somalia a charter that leads the way to the permanent partition of the country. They have also accepted delegates appointed by warlords as representatives of the Somali people. The warlords (most of them created and supported by Ethiopia) agreed to select the 351 parliamentarians and to establish an undefined and obscure form of federalism. While Kenya hosted it, IGAD (Inter-Governmental Authority on Development), the regional organization of East African countries, sponsored the talks. However, Ethiopia, an avowed hostile neighbour, has controlled the peace process since its inception. Because it was not happy with the outcome of a previous civil society-led Somali reconciliation meeting held in Djibouti in 2000, Ethiopia — at the 2001 IGAD conference in Khartoum — insisted it was necessary to hold another conference. The Addis Ababa regime argued that some pro-Ethiopian regional administrations and warlords had been left out. Ethiopia has a history of meddling in the conflict. It helped Somali warlords to wage, and then perpetuate, the civil war. It has also undermined peace initiatives in 1997 and 2000. Ethiopia prolongs Somalia's civil war in order to eliminate a traditional enemy, get access to a sea corridor and distract its people from their own internal problems. Kenya, the country hosting the conference, is not oblivious to Ethiopia's manipulations. Since there are political, economic and military ties between Kenya and Ethiopia against Somalia, Kenyan mediator Bethuel Kiplagat has deliberately chosen to facilitate Ethiopia's insatiable demands. Speaking at the American Defence University in Washington in September, Kenya's former president, Daniel Arap Moi, openly stated that a strong and prosperous Somalia would be a threat to its neighbours. As a result of their neighbours' meddling at the conference, Somalis do not own the peace process in which their future is being decided. Respected Somali figures, including former Prime Minister Abdirizak Haji Hussein, have publicly raised concerns over the way the peace process is being handled. Traditional elders and many intellectuals condemned IGAD and Ethiopia's handling of the conference. The international community must intervene as a neutral third party if it is serious about helping to end the Somali civil war. It must understand that Ethiopia and Kenya have strategic and economic interests in perpetuating the Somali conflict and recognize that IGAD is an incompetent organization controlled by Ethiopia. The European Union, which paid the bills of this long reconciliation conference, must intervene before it wastes more money in the IGAD-sponsored reconciliation process. The whole exercise is about securing the interests of Somalia's neighbours while using the international community's credibility and resources. Perhaps the EU and the international community should support a grassroots peace initiative. That will surely be a better investment than the funding of the current reconciliation conference in Nairobi. As Barbara F. Walter, a professor of political science at the University of California at San Diego rightly pointed out, when the different groups of a civil war get the assistance of a committed and credible third party, they will sign and implement a peace accord they agree on. Without serious mediation efforts, Somali groups cannot be expected to reconcile by themselves, especially when they are under the influence of hostile neighbours. Asking Ethiopia and Kenya to mediate Somali groups is like "putting the fox in charge of the henhouse." Canada hosts the largest Somali immigrants in the diaspora, and it is a member of IGAD Partners' Forum. It should play a leadership role in advocating the international community to pressure Somalia's neighbours to stop meddling in the country's peace-building efforts. Supporting the IGAD-sponsored talks in Nairobi will, unwittingly, help perpetuate the very conflict the world intends to help solve. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afyare Abdi Elmi is a member of the Star's community editorial board. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Liqaye Posted October 24, 2003 Ethiopia helping to reconcile somalis is like , Indians trying to reconcile pakistanis. Who in their right mind would think it is even remotely possible? Ethiopia has got it's intreasts but somalis are the redicoulous ones if they allow ethiopian goverment with in 20 miles of a "peace confrence". :mad: But the problem as oft stated is not the Habashi's it is the somali lakeys they nourish to destroy their own nation. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yasima Posted October 24, 2003 i agree with u, the blame is on our part - they just taken the advantage of it. (properply somalia would have done the same if ethiopia was in mess like us at the moment) No suprise i guess then!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
General Duke Posted October 24, 2003 I agree with both of you. But if we have failed to make peace with each other then even our enemies must be comended for trying what ever their intention. How ever CANAD and other rich powers have ignored Somalia for so long why should they even have the right to criticise Ethiopia and Kenya for making a peace conference. It seems that some people want the status quo no matter what the truth. I for one suppoert the peace process, because the alternative is no hope. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gabbal Posted October 24, 2003 I for one suppoert the peace process, because the alternative is no hope. I too bro. If there is no hope, then what else should there be? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
