Is The crisis in Somalia one stemmed

[Hagi]

I would like to thank all Nomads, particularly the Horn Afrique, Ayoub ,Liqaaye, Illmatic, Che-Guevara, Baashi for the time they give my article - Ethiopian Deception- and their valuable views and comments.

 

To come to my point, we the Somalis, not all of us, but many that I am one of them, always come short about to describe a problem and understand before we jump to find a solution. For this reason I am attempting today with your contribution and your help to change that and try to research the real problem of Somalia.

 

The title I would like to put on the table is : Is The crisis in Somalia one stemmed from external? Is it a problem of ethnicity? Is it a problem of faith and ideology? Or is it an economic problem “survival”. Saying to understand the problem before we seek a solution, I do believe if the international community and we the Somalis would have complete understanding about the crisis in Somalia I am sure we would find a lasting solution. But if we don’t know what the problem is how can we reach conclusion and make decisions. It is the same as a medical doctor trying to cure a patient while he hasn’t got any idea of the disease. You can not cure a disease that you can not diagnose.

 

thanks to all nomads who love and die for their country.

[Matkey]

It is very simple to identify the root cause of our political crisis. It does not reqiure theoretical framework, though sometimes it is essential to employ such theories and deep political analysis in attempt discover and understand the complexity of such social and political phenomena. And certainly, there is no such thing as ideological contention in which claims to have panacea to the existing problem. Because I doubted that we can find a looser form of group association primarily defined by shared theory or ideology. My main argument is that political conflict based on ideological differences can be contained or at least minimzed, reason being national interest will always supercedes these differences.

 

Yes, there will always be discontented segment of any nation, who forms a political movement (which can be based on different ideology or political stance) as way of challenging status quo. However, it is unlikely to see high level of destruction of the state(such as 1991...in somalis) in terms of both infrastructure and civilians duration of political insurgence.

 

Having said that, Somalis don’t have a national outlook, but they rather hold tribal affinity, which takes precedence over the nationhood. And as you know, we all witnessed what took place back home. Bro Hagi, that is my input.

[Baashi]

Is The crisis in Somalia one stemmed from external? Is it a problem of ethnicity? Is it a problem of faith and ideology? Or is it an economic problem “survival”.

It is neither an economic nor a survival nor an ethnicity problem. It is a culmination of many factors, the overaching one being the complete collapse of the Somali state and its institutions. The undercurrent force that brought the Somali state on its knees is the 'Mighty' incarnation of the devil known negative Tribalism.

 

It is what fueled the civil war. It is what gave legitimacy to all warlords. It is what u need to claim a seat on the table where Somali reconcilaition are discussed. It is what the 4.5 formula is all about. It is what angers some nomads in this SOL forum. Because the passions it invokes, it is why Admins/Mod. feel compelled to suspend its mere utterence. Because its ugliness, it is why the best minds and unbiased youth of diaspora become apolitical and disdain the mere mentiontining of our affairs. Because of it, many many nomads wouldn't take an opinion as 'an opinion' not untill they label u and put u in a box cuz without label u won't make sense to them.

 

There u have it Hagi.

[Waaq]

Tribalism/Clanism is blamed for all of Africa's problems. How often do you hear, "They have been fighting for a millenia!" Let us be careful with these words. While it is certainly a large factor in the Somali situation, and most definitely the initial source of support for the warlords. I believe economics is the root cause today. Warlords have enormous financial incentives to keep their positions. Lawlessness has made many rich, thus they have no desire for peace. While Somalia does not have the natural resources of other African nations (i.e. Congo). These thugs have been resourceful in finding new sources of revenue to support their appetites and organizations. They have even resorted to selling off the environment of Somalia contributed further to an environmental disaster. All this for money, not a clan, tribe, family, religion or any other reason beyond their own insatiable hunger.

 

my two cents

[Saxardiid]

Hagi

The title I would like to put on the table is : Is The crisis in Somalia one stemmed from external? Is it a problem of ethnicity? Is it a problem of faith and ideology? Or is it an economic problem “survival”.

if we knew the root causes of our problem and we agree then we would not have long arguements and disagreements. we should simply talk the solutions but the nature of the crises and imperfact knowledge of its root causes make us talk and disagree to find the possible, agreeable and move near the centre. having said that, if i put my thinking forward somalia's crisis are underpined by economic disparity because we live in very poor country interms of natural resource ie. scarce water and limited agricaltural land where most of our people live. we don't have gas, gold, diamond etc. that is why we kill each other for centures. limited resources also force people to belief their tribes. although we have large sea but it is insuficient and need more specialisation and skills. if you see the current troubles the people who live central somali migrated and overtaken the most fertile regions of the country and totally displaced the natural inhabitant of that area. The nature of the crisis are always the same "economic" but its expression always changes. there is also crisis of faith in our people as they couldn't figure out how islam and communist work together and if collided with each other which one to retain it. ignorance and bad leadership also take their position. so if we want to live together peacefully and develop then we should recognise the economic inequality in our country and learn how to share.

[Liqaye]

Good points all.

It heartens me to see this thread.

 

Haji sxb, the problems facing Somalia I believe are a consequence of the very structure of our society and its inability to function in this modern day and age.

 

Bro Baashi has made a very relevant statement when he says:

 

It is what fuelled the civil war. It is what gave legitimacy to all warlords. It is what u need to claim a seat on the table where Somali reconciliation are discussed.

The original clan system has been usurped by the men of the times who used it first of all to support an immoral dictatorship, or un-imaginatively and with 20/20 hindsight dangerously to fight the dictatorship, where statesmanship was called for they used clan affiliations to remove siad from power, and finally as WAAQ had said to profit by the suffering of Somalis, their own clans usually foremost.

 

Beyond the other social issues such what the 21 years of dictatorship had done to destroy the Somali social fabric, there is a central myth that needs to die before there is any hope of peace in Somalia, a myth that is the trade of all the warlords and politicians, a myth that directly appeals to the innate power hunger, the weakness seen in compromise and selfishness that is inherent in Somalis, namely that the presidency will be given to their own clan, by vote or more preferably by force.

 

12 years of civil war where factions have fought each other to a standstill, amid the rubble and the starving masses, has not been sufficient proof to dissuade the people who think this way.

 

I also believe that it is in the interest of many countries, neighbouring and not so near to keep Somalia as it is, with their too close attention designed to prop up the warlords, or in there utter disinterest in Somalia and its present predicament.

 

Concerning the economic situation, not only the warlords, but the overwhelming majority in the business community have benefited from either the dictatorship or the continued lawlessness of Somalia.

After the failed attempt to set up a central government in Somalia, the conventional wisdom among them is very simply; it is much easier and more profitable to do business in a vacuum.

No matter how blood stained the money

[Hagi]

Lenin said, once a society is ripe for a revolution, if the agents who can carryout this revolution successfully are not there or if they miss the opportunity to do so, such society can enter into a process of social decay (Martin Doornbos, 1992, p.219).

 

 

There are enormous literature and information, from different sources, about the crisis in Somalia since 1990 which all give different assumptions, theories and hypotheses. Some of them have gone even far saying the problem is international or external. For instance, Ankie Hoogvelt says, as many others also believe, in many African countries, the imposition of the neo-liberal orthodoxy, including privatization of the state apparatus and the insistence on electoral reform, has directly contributed to the descent into anarchy and civil wars.

 

As I always say and believe, it will be short enough to find a lasting solution to the crisis and the human terror in Somalia –our country- if we must not be careful to distinguish the real crisis from the assumptions. To establish an strategy we need to find out and distinguish the causes from the symptoms.

 

I totally agree with all above arguments from my nomad friends. But to my view, the problem of Somalia has very little to do with ethnicity, Ideology or even faith. First, when we look the crisis in Somalia, the whole focus of the problem is the STATE. Any clan or clan-family or individuals who are in a position to dominate the state are the target. Secondly, for the decade of the civil war in Somalia there had never been an ethnic cleansing and genocide compared to what has happened in Rwanda, Bosnia and some other places in the world. The clan or clanism in Somalia is only a tool used for to dominate and have access to the national wealth and resources as there is no other political philosophy. Clanism is an easy way to mobilize the Somali society in which the war-lords learned from the colonial administrations and the two post-colonial-administrations.

 

Thus, the crisis in Somalia is, therefore, not a problem of ethnicity –see the ever changing alliance of the clans and war-lords- nor a political ideology or faith; but it is a problem of resources resulted when the vast majority of the population lost their endowments (property resources) and entitlements (means to survive) due to bad government polices compounded with recurrent draughts and natural disasters. For the three decades Somalia was sovereign independent country, the state of Somalia had failed the fundamentals of getting right the tasks lie at the core of every government's duty that is: a) Establishing a foundation of law; b) Maintaining macroeconomic stability; c) Investing in basic social services and infrastructure; d) Protecting the civil society and environment. The state of Somalia was a source of income and wealth which is polarized along the ethnic and clan lines. This is the only reason that clanism and kinships are dominant in every aspect of the crises in Somalia; because every clan –QABIIL- strives to attain this dynasty – the national wealth. .

 

As this is typical not to only Somalia but most of the LDCs, government policies towards the economic and social development was characterized three features that undermined the capacity of the state to maintain sustainability and provide the basic needs of human life for the society. First, very poor and ill fated domestic economic development which resulted an inefficient public sector which expanded faster than the economic growth. Secondly, huge capital movement “foreign aid” not related to domestic production growth which caused a severe hyper stagflation lashing down the real wages of the public sector that have affected the living standard of the civil society as a whole. Thirdly, developmental programmes that have been fully funded by external sources that substituted, instead supplementing, the domestic production. The consequences are, an accelerated rural/urban migration, public sector that are less productive and less efficient, civil services larger than the capacity of the real economy to support.

 

All these have led to long periods of chronic hunger and political isolation of the population; long periods of living in scarcity at times of huge inflow of external capital and financial aid that, hence, produced an impoverished society which in turn developed into a society who are morally and physically deprived. A civil society of chronic moral bankruptcy that had virtually impaired the physical and intellectual motivation of the population. The outcome is a loyalty that is not exceeded beyond the clan borders which may also figure in any future administrations to a very fragile point if that government fail to distribute the national wealth equally. The clanism and kinship took the advantage of the weak STATE that failed to deliver the human basic needs of life; but it is not the root cause of the crisis.

[Dhimbil]

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In my humble opinion, I think our situation stems from power, the pursuit of power and the perks that

come along with it. Every warlord/leader is after the coveted crown and will do anything to achieve it,

they are in it for themselves, we have the most selfish/creed man lead us, and they are leading us to extinction.

We believe in this perceived notion that warlords represent their clan/tribe or want what’s best for them,

when in reality they do not and if it was otherwise, we would not have been in this situation this loooooooong. :mad: