Washington: Quest for a viable solution for Somalia

[NASSIR]

Washington: Quest for a viable solution for Somalia

 

Finding creative ways that the large Somali-American Diaspora can invest in the reconciliation and the reconstruction of their nation was the main theme of a recently held conference at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC.

 

 

The event, organised by the Somali-American Peace Council, brought together well-respected Somali personalities from a wide spectrum of professions including members of civil society groups, medical professionals and former high ranking military officials. Attendees shared the common goal of establishing a solid partnership between the Somali Diaspora and the US Government and to strengthen and expand the role of Somali civil society inside and outside the country.

 

Somali-Americans attending the event spent several hours holding discussions and brainstorming with each other. Towards the latter part of the event they narrowed down the agenda to these three pertinent themes, which cover the role of the Somali Diaspora, namely: national security, US-Somali relations, and the role of civil society inside and outside the country.

 

 

Following the conclusion of the main session, a task force took over the proceedings, synthesizing and harmonizing the main findings of the conference and proposed the necessary recommendations for action. Some of the points that came out as a result of the sessions were that the Somali Diaspora should identify and invest in core issues that effect positive changes at home, they should press the TFG to engage in genuine reconciliation with opposition groups and strengthen the government’s capacity by providing them technocrats willing to serve their homeland, amongst others.

 

The main issues most attendees agreed upon were to find ways the Somali Diaspora can partner with the American Government in building bridges between the two nations and engage and empower the Somali Diaspora community. It was unanimously agreed that this block offers untapped resources and can amply contribute to the reconstruction of their country.

 

Some of the speakers pointed out that the civil society should strive to provide adequate humanitarian assistance such as food, shelter and basic health services, especially to the IDPs. Furthermore the Somali Diaspora organizations should unite and engage in a series of discussions and brainstorming sessions to find out about each other's work and ideas for a better Somalia, and find ways they can work together for the betterment of our country.

 

At the end, emphasis was put on the United States engaging the peaceful regions while refraining from the formation of any policy that could be interpreted as an empowerment to those who benefit from the fragmentation of the Somali state. Following the conference, Mohamed Ali Hassan, Chairman, Somali-American Peace Council and Dr. Mohamed Aden Ali were invited to meet with officials of the White House and the United States Department of State.

 

The meeting took place on October 12, 2010, at the White House.

 

Source

[Chimera]

I'm not sure anything they discuss there will have any positive effect on the ground, infact anything discussed in the security council will no have positive effect on the ground. There are two juggernaut cancers in the South, one is Al-Shabab and their Foreign supporters, the other is TFG and their foreign supporters, neither provide a viable solution. The conflict in Somalia has to many pros than cons for different domestic and foreign actors to compromise and actually come up with a solution:

 

- Regional countries feel comfortable with the current situation, a stable Somalia would throw the entire political landscape in East Africa on its head, many of these countries also use the Somali conflict as a way to hide the instability in their own countries.

- Piracy allows for an international presence in the busiest shiplanes in the world.

- Pirates are making a killing.

-Terrorist organisations believe they have found another region from where they can base their operations.

- War profiteering businesses would die out.

- Religious warlords are lining up their pockets with cash from oil-rich sympathisers.

- Somalia's weakness allows for the influence of a new extreme religious environment previously unknown to the country.

- Secular warlords are lining up their pockets with donor money, and are living the lifestyle of the 'Rich and the Famous' with a trip to a new exotic country every week or month.

- Fish consuming countries would lose the immense fish stocks they plunder from Somali waters annually.

- Instability allows economic predators to make shady oil & maritime deals with corrupt regional & transitional actors.

- A stable Somalia would see Somali businesses stop investing in neighbouring countries, and considerable flow of capital would be gone.

- Regional countries awashed with donor money and medical supplies intended for their refugee camps, would see that tap closed.

- A stable Somalia would make this region strategically safe and many regional countries would see themselves become irrelevant to the State Department and their military hardware donations shrink since the current patronism by the US would disappear.

 

Somalis with wealth, skills and patriotism made the mistake of waiting for the South to repair itself in the last two decades. If they had carved out only 35km in the South, somewhere in the Ras Kamboni area in the 1996 - 2005 period, they could have built a small stable state with a new planned city, that would have acted as a cure against the instability, this all-inclusive state would slowly expand and include more regions overtime.

 

They could have easily have done this since the original warlords were less regional, less powerful and more small fry compared to the current crop of secular and religious warlords who are exploiting every avenue from foreign troops/fighters to multi-million dollar funds to defeat one another, the conflict went from several hyenas fighting in a cage, to a group of Elephants fighting on a Somali grassfield, the civilians of course being the grass that is stomped flat.

 

This new state would have been a bulwark against the Al-Shabab, and its intellectuals and private sector could have put pressure on the corrupt TFG. The million civilians that are displaced would also have an alternative place to flee to, instead of in the arms of vultures, they would be in a stable environment. With the growth of this state eventually it would evolve into a powerhouse and all of the demonic actors holding the civilians hostage today would be forced to bow down and accept the new order.

 

Nothing unrealistic about this, the people who organised Galmudug succeeded, the people of Puntland succeeded, and the people of Somaliland succeeded in carving out their territory and bringing some sense of stability to their citizens. Sure, such a project in the South would face staunch opposition for the reasons I outlined in the above list, but in the 1996-2005 period the chance was there.