Golden Opportunity to End the Conflict in Somalia

[ANWAR]

A dialogue between the UIC and TFG would be the most positive way forward. If the two sides agree on a framework for cooperation and collective responsibility, Somalia will be redeemed and a bright future is for the taking. If, however, they ignore the long-term interest of Somalia and decide to follow parallel lines or, worse still, set themselves in a collision course, the result would be renewed conflict with the possibility of foreign occupation of Somalia. The latter will be precipitated in the name of fighting Islamic fundamentalism. It is a make or break time for Somalia as it has never been before.

 

To complicate the matter a little bit, external forces are in action to speed up the disintegration of Somalia into small clan-states. The wading of the International Crisis Group (ICG) into this thorny issue could be seen in this context. The ICG’s lengthy report on Somaliland (published 23 May 2006) urged the African Union to take an active role the resolution of the problem between Somalia and Somaliland. The putting of Somaliland on equal footing as Somalia was not an accident, but a deliberate attempt to create the notion that these are two separate countries rather than Somaliland being but three of the eighteen regions of Somalia. The ICG also wants to give Somaliland a pseudo-legal position through its recommendation that the AU grants these regions of Somalia observer status so that “both sides can attend sessions on Somali issuesâ€. In shirt, the ICG is trying to influence the redrawing of the future political map of Somalia, ignoring completely the rights of the Somali people to have a say in the future of their country. It is high time for the leaders of Somaliland to realise that a clan cannot be a nation and that they should take up their legitimate position in the shaping of the future of Somalia as a democratic country where rights and responsibilities are shared on equal terms among its citizens. There must be a complete reversal of the absurd notion of recreating Somalia as a clan-state where power is shared by the clans on a ludicrous arithmetic of “four-point-fiveâ€.

 

After the events of the past twenty four hours in Mogadishu, all the forces in Somalia have a golden opportunity to end the conflict in Somalia and restore a national government. Will they seize the moment?

 

long live somalia unity

[-Lily-]

I think south Somalia has bigger problems right now than Somaliland. External forces will always be present, it's the order of politics and has been so for centuries.