a question of sovereignty

[Caano Geel]

hello guys and gals

 

I'm ashamed to admit that for a Somali I'm woefully ill informed on politics, but would like to raise a question on the sovereignty of Somali state.

 

Essentially from a philosophical point of view -

To what extent do you think Somalia can be regarded as a sovereign state?

 

I put forwars that because of the power vacuum we cannot call Somalia a state but only refer to the Somali's as an ethnic group - a STATE by definition is something along the lines of:

 

In international law and international relations, a state is a geographic political entity possessing political sovereignty, i.e. not being subject to any higher political authority

(http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/State)

 

Now this definition does not say anything about ethnicity and suggests that a state is independent of ethnicity.

 

As such the action of the AU in wanting to place peace keepers in Somalia can be seen as nation building in the old fashioned sense of invade and civilise -- therefore when Museveni-(without going too in much detail of his own problems ) says:

 

"We have to deploy whether they (warlords) agree or not. They are holding nine million people hostage, how many years have we lost in Somalia? It is either 14 0r 15 and this must stop,"

the AU is the imperialist wanting to tame the savages (possibly without the undertones of exploitation and may even be ultiristically)

 

Because of this reason, do the AU need any authority from the the leaders of Somali factions to place troops in Somalia. Further, without the consensus of popular majority can any group stand up and say we represent Somalia (as a state).

 

Thus the possibly altruistic 'free for all' resulting from the actions of the AU creates intersting questions as to the division of responsability, authority and accountability between a micro and macro state. Essentially to whom do we delegate authority and under what circumstances can they then be held accountable?

[General Duke]

Good points made , interesting.

[Caano Geel]

p.s.

what are you comments on this,

 

mahadsanid

[General Duke]

I don’t believe the AU can grand designs on Somalia. For the AU is formed from various nation states with their own separate interest, thus this provides a check and balance effect.

 

For example Ethiopia and Egypt hold polar opposite opinions regarding Somalia and thus would have to compromise on their positions when making joint decisions, this is further diluted when other nations far and near the state have their say in the decision making process.

 

It shows a maturity on behalf of African nations in that they must take responsibility for the affairs of the continent and not rely too heavily on the support on external powers such as EU and US.

 

As for the issue of sovereignty raised, I apologise I am in position to make any comments as I have not done the research with regards to international law.