Why Clan and Clannishness are not the Key Impediments to the

[Taleexi]

Why Clan and Clannishness are not the Key Impediments to the Formation of a Functioning State in Somalia

Muktar M. Omer

Nov 23, 2010

 

 

Is the proposition that clan, clannishness and clannish elites are the main impediments to the reconstruction of the

State in Somalia a false proposition? The compelling answer to this question of the moment which some may find

outlandish is a resounding yes. This dominant story which has been impetuously ingested and regurgitated by Somali

intellectuals needs to be unpacked, examined and subjected to logical and empirical interrogation to assess its

validity.

 

And this has to be done now and urgently. For there is nothing more damaging to Somalia and Somalis’ effort to

reconstruct their failed State than thoughts, ideas, assumptions, and models unscrutinised, untested, but touted with

the ease of presumed impeccability. Wrong diagnosis of Somalia’s chronic ailment led to fatal policy prescriptions in

the past and will underwrite failure of ongoing and future efforts to bring back the Somali State.

 

Read more

[NGONGE]

Mr Mukhtar is very readable and I found myself agreeing with many of the points he made. However, he lets such a brilliant article down by not providing any evidence or proof for his accusations. It is all suppositions and guesswork.

 

 

Of course, I now expect A&T or Xiin to come and assure me that it is all true. One will do it with lots of winks and nudges, and the other will bring his (much abused) crystal ball out.

[xiinfaniin]

Ironically it was Mohamed Qanyare Afrah’s political behavior and the invariable support he garnered from his clan that gave definitive answer to the questions good Mukhtar is asking now: Maxay Soomaali isku haysaa ? And the answer was: hoggaan xumo.

 

Clannish fervors flare our every now and then, but they are not the reason Somalia is down.

 

In a less than a years time Qanyare was able to be Ali Mahdi’s spokes person (orya tiiba la;aan usoo ridoohooyaa) to an Aydid supporter (he was the man who broke the news of Aydid’s dramatic Baydhabo invasion). His base went wherever Qanyare, the leader, went. His clan was not the problem. Thier leader, Qanyare, failed them, and it was so sadly observable.

 

Even good NGONGE is realizing now that clan is not everything. Notice how he recently begun to qualify the use of the phrase he so liberally employed before .

 

ps. The talk of crystal balls is so passé now, NGONGE. It was fun when one person was abusing it, as you put it, and not when even born-agains are able to bring much larger crystal balls

[Abtigiis]

Ngonge, tuugyahoow tuugu uuna dhalin,

 

Which accusations? I read it twice and didn't see any accusations, but only opinions. Of course, you can disregard the opinions there, but unless you are upset about the Somaliland bit, there are no other accusations. Or are you saying he didn't provide evidence for Ethiopia's hand in Somalia? Does that need evidence to be honest? And would you have read if 37 pages of that evidence is included in an already lengthy article!

[Jacaylbaro]

Somaliland: Welcome to the land of clans. There is no other region in the entire mass of the land So malIs call home where clan is worshipped and clannishness  is glorified more than  it  is  in Somaliland.  People  in this part of Somalia 

eat,  drink,  inhale  and  exhale  clan.  One  needs  to  have  a  lot  of  ‘blood’  [tribal  fire],  not  to  be  confused  with 

hypertension by the way, to be socially deemed acceptable and normal. 

Hatred at its best ..... and he still calls it a "paper" ,,,,

[NGONGE]

^^ War he exaggerated a bit there but the point he makes is valid. A state can be created when clans are in agreement.

 

No, Xiin, my position regarding clans remains the same. It is everything.

 

A&T,

Yes, it is an opinion masquerading as a well thought and well researched essay. It is obvious and clear that Ethiopia is actively involved in Somali affairs, what is neither obvious nor clear is why it is involved. Many people talk about it wanting a weak Somalia. Others talk about proxy wars with Eritrea and some would swear it is all to do with the ONLF. Mukhtar there leaves all of that and presents (as fact, in the way the article is written) the argument that Ethiopia only meddles in Somali affairs because the weak and outnumbered gang that rules it (Ethiopia not Somalia) wants to hold on to power! So, yes yaa pristine Xaaji, I would like some evidence before I take his words seriously.

[Abtigiis]

4. Why Ethiopia Needs Instability in Somalia – the Misunderstood Aspect

Although Somali intellectuals identify Ethiopia as the main spoiler of peace and stability in Somalia, they fail to

correctly explain the why side of the story. They cite past Ethio‐Somali wars, old hostilities and territorial disputes as

the reason why Ethiopia doesn’t want to see a stable Somalia. They are right, but they forget another dimension

which guides the policy of Meles Zenawi’s Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) towards Somalia. TPLF’s policy

evolved from time to time since 1991. But its current policy towards Somalia has much to do with self‐preservation

and Tigrayan avarice than historical Ethio‐Somali enmity or active territorial dispute.

 

Starting from the days of Al‐Itxaad, the TPLF shrewdly presented itself to the West as the bulwark against Islamic

extremism in the Horn of Africa. The traditional belief that Ethiopia is a Christian island surrounded by Islamic

countries helped the TPLF in marketing its worth to the conductors of the ‘War on Terror’.

 

Two factors heavily impacted the policy of Ethiopia towards Somalia more than anything: the Ethio‐Eritrea war

(1998‐2000) and the 2005 elections in Ethiopia.

Ethio‐Eritrea war (1998‐2000): After the end of this war, the latter attempted to use Somalia as an entry point to

overthrow the Meles regime. This created some genuine security concerns for the TPLF, who are led by a very

paranoid and highly‐insecure group of men. The regime characteristically overreacted in dealing with this threat.

They decided to rule Somalia, when all they should have done was to augment security measures along the border

they share with Somalia.

 

Ethiopian army commanders and intelligence officials, who were sharing looted money, luxury cars and other

privileges with Somali warlords even before the Ethio‐Eritrean War, fed hyped fears and lies to their leadership in

Addis Ababa, which compounded the problem.

2005 Ethiopian elections: Meles lost this election but stole it, in the process killing over 200 mostly student

demonstrators. His sponsors, the USA and Europe, started to condemn and admonish the regime. Then, a lottery

named ICU (Union of Islamic Courts) started to appear from the Eastern horizon. Ethiopia’s occupation of Somalia

followed.

 

The main point is that Meles sees Alshabab as his saviours, not as his nemesis. His regime will never allow the

reconstruction of credible Somalia State, mainly not because they care about the territorial integrity of Ethiopia, not,because they fear ONLF, and not even because they hate Somalis. They know that without a ‘terrorist’ Somalia, they

will become dispensable to their sponsors and they cannot rule Ethiopia. They will be pressed by Western funders to

undertake democratic changes and the TPLF will not do that; for that would mean the end of their minority rule.

 

To avoid such fate, Somalia must remain in mess. That is why they need stooges and lackeys in any Somali

government. Most Somali intellectuals fail to recognize this fact and therefore think policy statements from Somalia

affirming the territorial integrity of Ethiopia will calm TPLF nerves.

 

Speaking of Ethiopian operatives in Somalia, there are rumours that Sharif ‘the razor’ Hassen is the new man of Addis

Ababa. After simulating nationalism few years ago and joining the Alliance for the Re‐liberation of Somalia (ARS), for

him to become an agent of Ethiopia now, makes one wonder if the‘re‐liberation’ he set out to achieve was the reliberation

of the chair of the Speaker of Parliament, which he regained.

Again, these are rumours, but persistent ones; not like the short‐lived ‘Muse Sudi Yalaxow is on Facebook’ fibs, which

one hears from time to time and disregards with a chuckle.

I think he didn't rule out other possibilities, but states that according to him the main reason is to stay on power. Evidence? What kind of evidence will please you? How do you get an evidence when you are judging somebodies intentions? One can only provide plausible explanations, not exhibits as if this is a criminal case.

[NGONGE]

^^ It is either I am reading it wrong or you are letting your bias get the better of you. I am not rejecting his opinion. I am rejecting the way he is presenting it as a fact. Wax fahan.

 

"To avoid such fate, Somalia must remain in mess. That is why they need stooges and lackeys in any Somali

government. Most Somali intellectuals fail to recognize this fact and therefore think policy statements from Somalia

affirming the territorial integrity of Ethiopia will calm TPLF nerves."

 

-------

This is as shabby as Xiin's crystal ball, saaxib. For a man having a pop at "Somali intellectuals" this is a faux pas of the highest order. Wax fahan.

[Jacaylbaro]

There is no other region in the entire mass of the land Somalis call home where clan is worshipped and clannishness is glorified more than it is in Somaliland

He must be talking about Muqdisho here ... that is the problem when you judge things upside down. I'm sure he never set a foot on Somaliland soil.

[Abtigiis]

Ngonge, how you have to great length to prove yourself? !! Anyway, that could be an unfortunate word choice, but you are right, he could have said "this matter". It doesn't prove he is saying this is a researched fact though?

[NGONGE]

^^ No, it does not. But it also does not encourage any objective reader to take him seriously. It comes across as lazy propaganda (of which we have plenty) and that, because of his ability and readability, is a real shame.

[Abtigiis]

I don't think there is any pretense that the paper is an objective ( a term which itself is subjective in many ways)paper. In the introduction it clearly says the intention is to redirect the focus of Somali Intellectuals against Ethiopia, and it is conculsion is a belligerent 'let us return its divide-and distablise tactics in kind'.

 

Calling Abdullahi Yusuf a stooge is not an objective fact too. It is a matter up for debate.

 

It is clearly a propaganda,(and propaganda is key to achieve some objectives) but with good dose of objective facts and plausibile reasonings.

 

Would it have helped if the writer attach interviews and questionnaires of a group of people, of whom 70-80% of them think Ethiopia;s main objective to destablise Somalia is Meles's self-preservation need? That is how objectivity is discussed in Social Science and I don't know about the author, but me, I don't take that as objective as well. In social science, you only have opinions and interpretations, no provable facts !

 

But if Ngonge's taste is to read objective and emotion-free articles only, I understand his displeasure.

[NGONGE]

^^ Soo man odhan winks and nudges ayaad la iman doonta?

 

Al-Haji Abtigiis & Tolka has told us that he went to Xaj. We suspect he is telling the truth because he has been missing for the past three weeks. However, Mr. Jacaylbaro from Hargeisa, has mocked the idea and stated clearly that the disputed Xaji is not a Xaaji at all. When questioned further, he scornfully informed us that Mr. Abtigiis & Tolka often goes missing for weeks on end and that because he is a proven attention seeker he chose to take advantage of Xaj coinciding with his current absence.

 

Mr. Jacaylbaro huffily insists that for people who claim to be normal (or should that be intellectual) we are bila caqli. "The fact is that A&T has been frolicking in Nairobi for the past two weeks” he tells us.

 

Markaan xooga objectivity isticmaalay oo in yar subjectivity ku walaaqay oo talada A&T na ku daray...een..waan dawakhay dee.

[Abtigiis]

Xajka markaanu tagina ma Somaliland oo dhan inaan kala tashanaa?

[NGONGE]

^^ Hada ma Malez ayaa Somali oo dhan u sheega waxa uurkiisa ku yaal?