Asha Abdalla: Africa's first woman president?

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Asha Abdalla: Africa's first woman president?

 

By Cathy Majtenyi

 

 

When Asha Ahmed Abdalla was a teenager in her native country of Somalia, she used to daydream about what it would be like to be Somalia's first lady, and decided to set her sights on achieving that goal.

 

 

But Abdalla grew up, and so did her dream. After a lifetime of humanitarian and political activity, the 45-year-old mother of three has set her eyes on the ultimate prize: to become Africa's first woman president.

 

 

"Women should use their power," she says, a warn grin lighting up her youthful features. "I've always loved politics. I love to fight for people's freedoms. Also, I like equality, especially women's equality."

 

 

These days, Abdalla is campaigning for the presidency at the Somalia National Reconciliation Conference, a peace process that has been going on in Kenya for the past year. The conference, organized and facilitated by the seven-nation Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), brings together the country's warlords, traditional elders, and others to find a peaceful solution to the bitter war that has rocked Somalia since 1991.

 

 

Analysts say that the war in Somalia is primarily a struggle between 23 or so clan and sub-clan-based factions fighting with one another to maintain control of particular areas. Technically, the country is being led by the Transitional National Government (TNG), an interim government that was put together at Somalia's last peace conference, held in 2000 in Arta, Djibouti.

 

 

In reality, the TNG only controls sections of Somalia's capital Mogadishu and other small parts of the country.

 

 

Conference participants spent long months discussing and debating such subjects as conflict resolution and reconciliation, disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration, land and property rights, and economic recovery. They have put together a constitution and are now in the process of selecting a 351-member parliament that will ensure that all four of Somalia's clans and civil society will be represented.

 

 

The Members of Parliament, in turn, will elect a president who will lead the interim government for four years until an election can be held in Somalia. At the moment, observers say Somalia is still too unstable and volatile to be able to host elections.

 

 

According to the conditions of the Arta conference, the current TNG's term expires next month. Abdalla is currently the TNG's Minister of Demobilization, Disarmament, and Reintegration.

 

 

She has some stiff competition in her bid to become president. More than 40 big-name contenders are running for the position, including Hussein Aideed, son of former faction leader General Mohammed Farah Aideed, former International Football Federation official Farah Adow, and Dr. Najib Abdulkarim, a lecturer in a U.S. university.

 

 

But the energetic and enthusiastic Abdalla - whose campaign poster says "Give Somalia a Mother's Nurturing!" - is not worried about her heavyweight rivals or the fact that she's the only woman running in a society that has traditionally shunned her sex from the political arena.

 

 

"[The decision to run] came from my friends," she says, adding that during her term in office, she acquired the reputation of being tough but fair-minded and law-abiding. "If I become president, I will bring law and order back, and things will come back to normal."

 

 

She has come up with a "Twelve Point Agenda" that commits herself to taking action on issues including disarmament, rehabilitation, judicial reform, healthcare, regional governance, economic revival, universal education, employment creation, and, of course, women's empowerment.

 

 

Asha Abdalla was born in 1958 in Ergaro, a city on the tip of Somalia stretching into the Gulf of Aden. She spent her early childhood in Yemen and returned to Somalia in the late 1960s.

 

 

That was around the time that Abdalla's uncle was running for Member of Parliament. His young niece, who helped him manage his campaign, was impressed by the flurry of activity, attention, and discussions on issues. It was then that her political ambitions were born.

 

 

A decade later, while attending Latole University in Mogadishu, the student was caught up with the causes and effects of the ****** War, a bloody conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia. She saw her people suffering, and got into heated discussions and debates about how to stop the war and help its victims.

 

 

It was also during this time when Abdalla met her future husband. They married and immigrated to the United States. There, she led a life packed with educational and humanitarian achievements that included: a BSc from La Guardia College in New York; a Master's from the City University of New York; and the chairmanship of the Washington-based Somali Relief Agency, which also dealt with Somali refugees' welfare in the U.S.

 

 

In 2000, Abdalla - who by this time also had her American citizenship - was persuaded to attend the Arta conference where, because of her pivotal role, she was elected Member of Parliament in the TNG and then was later named minister. She hasn't looked back since, even though during the course of her work, she has received several death threats from those angry at her policies.

 

 

Abdalla credits her family - particularly her father, who died last year - for who she is today. "He taught me to be honest, to be straightforward, to believe what I believe, and to work with others for good things. [He taught me] never do what somebody else tells you to do if it's not right."

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An Old article!

 

She is really determined to run the gauntlet of Africa's traditional rigidities of gender distinctions. Many of us are very receptive to the subliminal message that women's place is at home, but her role in Somalia's politics led to an approval of 25% representation of women in the parliament by IGAD.

 

 

I hope she sees her dream. She is indeed very confident and energetically assertive.