Somalia Reconciliation Conference Opens, but Soon Stalls

[Juje]

Somalia Reconciliation Conference Opens, but Soon Stalls

Delegates gathered Saturday in Mogadishu, Somalia, on the eve of what was intended to be a national reconciliation conference. The conference was postponed when leading members of the opposition did not attend.

 

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 15 — A national reconciliation conference that diplomats have described as a make-or-break opportunity for Somalia’s troubled transitional government opened in Mogadishu on Sunday. But it barely got off the ground. Top opposition leaders did not show up, and the session was quickly postponed.

 

The conference organizer, Mohammed Ali Mahdi, a former warlord, greeted about 1,000 delegates who had gathered in an old police warehouse in Somalia’s bullet-pocked capital, saying, “I urge you to rise above your respective clan and sub-clan in order to bring normalcy to our country.”

 

But then he adjourned the meeting until Thursday, saying he wanted to wait for more people.

 

Somalia’s transitional government seems on the brink of disappearing into the same vortex of violence that has consumed 13 previous transitional governments. Even as the delegates were meeting on Sunday, mortar shells whooshed nearby.

 

“It’s true, we’re seeing another Baghdad in the making,” said a Western diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic protocol. “But if this conference produces a road map, albeit with a few simple priorities, there’s a little hope.”

 

Somalia desperately needs that hope. Since 1991, when the central government imploded, it has been a stateless mess of warring clans, blown-up buildings, starving people and no clear path forward.

 

The national reconciliation conference was supposed to bring the warring factions back together. The plan was to invite 1,325 elders from Somalia’s dozens of clans and sub-clans and have them meet for at least 45 days to discuss clan differences, disarmament and radical Islam, a growing issue since an Islamic government briefly took power last year.

 

“Our hope is that the tribes will forget all their wars from before,” said Abdi Haji Gobdon, a transitional government spokesman, before the conference.

 

But the Islamists and hard-core members of opposing clans, who are thought to be the backbone of the growing insurgency — are boycotting.

 

“The government doesn’t have a political vision for the country, they are not following a just process for the distribution of resources, and the president is using his militia as a clan militia,” said Mohammed Uluso, a former agricultural minister and leader of the *** clan, which remains mostly hostile to the government. “So, no, we don’t feel there’s any reason to attend this conference and lend it legitimacy.”

 

Ibrahim Hassan Addou, the former foreign minister of the Islamist movement that briefly controlled the country for part of past year, said that until the Ethiopian troops that returned power to the transitional government left Somalia, the Islamist leadership had no interest in attending a conference.

 

“Somalia is under occupation right now, and people are not free to express their views,” he said by telephone from Dubai. “So what’s the point?”

 

Ethiopia invaded in December, with covert American help, and ousted the Islamic movement, which had managed to pacify much of the country. Ethiopian and American officials had accused the Islamists of harboring terrorists.

 

Since then, the Ethiopian forces occupying Somalia have been struggling with an Iraq-style insurgency that has quickly progressed from drive-by shootings to suicide attacks and cellphone-detonated bombs. Mogadishu is so dangerous again that other nations hesitate to send peacekeepers. Despite pledges from African countries to send 8,000 soldiers, only 1,600 Ugandans have showed up so far.

 

Meanwhile, the transitional federal government, a United Nations creation that has never had much grass-roots support, seems stuck in a rut. Its job is to shepherd the country toward elections in 2009. But it has yet to register voters or even organize a census. Piracy off Somalia’s 1,880-mile coastline is a serious issue again, threatening to cut off crucial food deliveries to a population that is often just a few handfuls of grain away from famine.

 

Part of the problem is that the transitional government does not act like the multiclan outfit envisioned by the United Nations. Instead, many Somalis, especially in Mogadishu, see it as ***** clan revenge against the ****** for what happened in the early 1990s, when ****** warlords ran ***** clan members out of Mogadishu. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the transitional president, is a former ***** warlord. Tensions between the ***** and ******, two of Somalia’s biggest clans, have dominated modern Somali political history.

 

“Elders used to solve the problems among the tribes long ago,” said Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade, a ***** delegate. “So this conference may pave the way for a lasting solution among Somalis.”

 

But the conference cannot succeed if representatives of major groups do not attend. Another possible reason that they stayed away is that the conference was to be limited mostly to clan issues, and not political ones. Had the government opened the possibility of picking a new prime minister or discussing more equitable ways of sharing revenues from Mogadishu’s port, about the only source of tax income right now, more opposition members might have come.

 

While the transitional government is billing the conference as a historic, one-of-a-kind meeting, it is not much different from the transitional Parliament, which is made up of representatives of all major clans in a formula that reflects Somalia’s demographics. The Parliament has been essentially neutered, though, and recently more than 50 members made a formal statement demanding that they be consulted on important decisions, not ignored.

 

Most foreign diplomats assigned to help piece Somalia back together seem worn out — and pessimistic. European diplomats who had promised to attend the conference canceled their flight at the last minute because the pilots refused to fly into Mogadishu.

 

“I don’t think this could be opening in any worse conditions,” another Western diplomat said, also speaking on condition of anonymity because of diplomatic protocol.

 

One of the most radical ideas about governing Somalia came from a recent letter to the editor of a Nairobi newspaper: split the country into clan-based fiefs and rotate the president every few years.

 

“The status quo can’t go on,” the first diplomat said. “Something’s going to change. For better or worse, I don’t know.”

[NGONGE]

So is it on or is it off? All these reports are pretty confusing! Clear it up for me, saaxib. Do you expect them to meet on Thursday with an acceptable number of delegates?

 

I needn't ask if you think this conference is going to be successful. Since the so-called insurgents are still happily firing away at anything that moves, we'll more or less stay exactly where we were before the commencement of this conference, right?

[Juje]

Originally posted by NGONGE:

we'll more or less stay exactly where we were before the commencement of this conference, right?

Indeed! Purely because it aint reconciling conflicting parties. This is designed to picture that the TFG is holding a conference and confince the International community that they are doing their part - but the insurgents, however much one may despise their conduct of practice - are making sure to prove that all is not 'inclusive'.

So my friend it is 'jug-jug meshada joog'.

[Xargaga]

Lool Jug Jug Meeshaada Joog.

 

Jeffrey Gettleman

Monday, July 16, 2007

 

 

 

NAIROBI (New York Times) - A national reconciliation conference that diplomats have described as a make-or-break opportunity for Somalia's troubled transitional government has opened in Mogadishu. But it barely got off the ground. Top opposition leaders did not show up, and the session was quickly postponed.

 

The conference organizer, Mohammed Ali Mahdi, a former warlord, greeted about 1,000 delegates who had gathered in an old police warehouse in Somalia's bullet-pocked capital Sunday, saying: "I urge you to rise above your respective clan and subclan in order to bring normalcy to our country."

 

But then he adjourned the meeting until Thursday, saying he wanted to wait for more people.

 

Somalia's transitional government seems on the brink of disappearing into the same vortex of violence that has consumed 13 previous transitional governments. Even as the delegates were meeting on Sunday, mortars could be heard nearby.

 

"It's true, we're seeing another Baghdad in the making," said a Western diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic protocols. "But if this conference produces a road map, albeit with a few simple priorities, there's a little hope."

 

Somalia desperately needs that hope. Since 1991, when the central government imploded, it has been a stateless mess of warring clans, blown-up buildings, starving people, and no clear path forward.

 

The national reconciliation conference was supposed to bring the warring factions back together. The plan was to invite 1,325 elders from Somalia's dozens of clans and subclans and have them meet for at least 45 days to discuss clan differences, disarmament and radical Islam, a growing issue since an Islamic government briefly took power last year.

 

"Our hope is that the tribes will forget all their wars from before," said Abdi Haji Gobdon, a transitional government spokesman, before the conference.

 

But the Islamists and hard-core members of opposing clans, who are thought to be the backbone of the growing insurgency - are boycotting.

 

"The government doesn't have a political vision for the country, they are not following a just process for the distribution of resources, and the president is using his militia as a clan militia," said Mohammed Uluso, a former agricultural minister and leader of the *** clan, which remains mostly hostile to the government. "So, no, we don't feel there's any reason to attend this conference and lend it legitimacy."

 

Ibrahim Hassan Addou, the former foreign minister of the Islamist movement that briefly controlled the country for part of the past year, said that until the Ethiopian troops that returned power to the transitional government left Somalia, the Islamist leadership had no interest in attending a conference.

 

"Somalia is under occupation right now, and people are not free to express their views," he said by telephone from Dubai. "So what's the point?"

 

Ethiopia invaded in December, with covert American help, and ousted the Islamic movement, which had managed to pacify much of the country.

 

Ethiopian and American officials had accused the Islamists of harboring terrorists.

 

Since then, the Ethiopian forces occupying Somalia have been struggling with an Iraq-style insurgency that has quickly progressed from drive-by shootings to suicide attacks and cellphone-detonated bombs. Mogadishu is so dangerous again that other nations hesitate to send peacekeepers. Despite pledges from African countries to send 8,000 soldiers, only 1,600 Ugandans have shown up so far.

 

The transitional federal government, a UN creation that has never had much grass-roots support, seems stuck in a rut. Its job is to shepherd the country toward elections in 2009. But it has yet to register voters or even organize a census. Piracy off Somalia's 1,880-mile coastline is a serious issue again, threatening to cut off crucial food deliveries to a population that is often just a few handfuls of grain away from famine.

 

Part of the problem is that the transitional government does not act like the multiclan outfit envisioned by the United Nations.

 

Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the transitional president, is a former warlord with one of the two biggest clans in Somalia, and many Somalis, especially in Mogadishu, see the transitional government as revenge for the early 1990s, when warlords from the rival ****** clan ran members of Yusuf's ***** clan out of Mogadishu.

 

Tensions between the two large clans ave dominated modern Somali politics.

 

"Elders used to solve the problems among the tribes long ago," said Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade, a ***** delegate. "So this conference may pave the way for a lasting solution among Somalis."

 

But the conference cannot succeed if representatives of major groups do not attend. Another possible reason that they stayed away is that the conference was to be limited mostly to clan issues and not political ones. Had the government opened the possibility of picking a new prime minister or discussing more equitable ways of sharing revenues from Mogadishu's port, more opposition members might have come.

 

Source: NY Times, July 16, 2007

[Xargaga]

Mr. duke today came out extra ordinarily and with alot of hopeless hopes. What is really goin on here.

[Juje]

Somali peace talks adjourned after rebels attack venue

Xan Rice, East Africa correspondent

Monday July 16, 2007

The Guardian

 

 

Mortar attacks and the absence of key delegates yesterday marred the start of a reconciliation congress in Somalia designed to help end 16 years of strife. Amid tight security, hundreds of clan leaders, former warlords and politicians gathered inside a former police warehouse in Mogadishu to hear the twice-postponed conference being opened by the country's president, Abdullahi Yusuf.

The talks are seen as the last chance for his weak transitional federal government to gain legitimacy with the Somali people by engaging with political opponents. But with only about half of the 1,300 delegates turning up, the conference was quickly adjourned until Thursday.

 

Western diplomats and UN officials had stayed away because of security fears, a caution that appeared justified when insurgents' mortar bombs yesterday exploded near the conference. The insurgency against the government has already claimed thousands of lives, with daily attacks often involving remotely controlled bombs.

With its Ethiopian military ally, government troops had, in January, ousted from Mogadishu the hardline Islamic movement known as the Somali Council of Islamic Courts. The move was deeply unpopular among ordinary Somalis, whose antipathy towards their underachieving government has only been surpassed by a disdain for Ethiopia.

 

The subsequent insurgency by remnants of the SCIC and Ethiopian reprisals have been deadly, and mass arrests and heavy-handed weapons searches have engendered deep resentment. Many leaders in Mogadishu's dominant ****** clan, which backed the Islamic movement and which has considerable influence over the insurgents, refuse to talk to the government until the Ethiopian forces, said to number between 20,000 and 30,000, leave. But this would leave the government, whose army is little more than ministers' personal militias, highly vulnerable.

 

For their part, Mr Yusuf and his prime minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi, have been criticised for refusing to talk to moderate leaders of the SCIC, many of whose members now live in Eritrea, Ethiopia's arch-foe. The Asmara group, which includes more than 30 disaffected MPs, plans its own reconciliation congress, and has talked about setting up a government in exile.

 

According to Roland Marchal, a Somalia expert at the Centre for International Studies and Research in Paris, the absence from the talks of people close to the insurgents means the congress will fail.

Source

[Juje]

 

This is priceless indeed..