United Nations: a help or hindrance for Somalia?

[Taleexi]

United Nations: a help or hindrance for Somalia?

By Mohsin Mahad

November 27, 2005

 

Since the last government of Somalia was toppled in 1991 and the warlords and their clan supporters rendered the country a failed state without a functioning government to the present day, the United Nations (UN) has been acting, for better or worse, as its adopted guardian. Needless to say, the UN’s track record in helping Somalia to overcome its political, social, economic and humanitarian needs is a mixed one. No one can deny the immense help given to Somalia by the international community through the United Nations without which millions of Somalis would have perished from hunger and disease.

 

Notwithstanding this indispensable help, there are nonetheless times when the UN’s political and technical operations in the country have been anything but a blessing, times when it has become willy-nilly part of the problem- a meddling, divisive force that tends to deepen our internal strife rather than heal it. We have become so used to be sheparded by everyone, from our neighbours to the United Nations, that we have become inured to be a voiceless basket case in the world. It is true that most Africa countries are also in a mess brought on them by their own disastrous leaders. But they all take great consolation in the fact that they are at least not as bad as Somalia- obviously considered as the lowest of the low in the world. Be that as it may, our helplessness and desperate needs are no reason for us to remain meekily acquiescent for ever to the UN’s overbearing and sometimes insidious guardianship.

 

While the stated overall mission goals of the UN agencies dealing with Somalia are benevolent, at least on paper, it is also true that their practices on the ground are not always in line with their professed goals. Unlike anywhere else in the world, these agencies have been operating for nearly 15 years in a country with no functioning government. Seen from their perspectives, the absence of a national Somali government may not have been all that tragic; indeed it may have been a blessing in disquise. For one thing, it brought them immense unsolicited empowerment. When there is no government for such a long period, it means that these agencies have come to assume the government’s role by default, unfettered on how they run their respective domain of operations and how they spend their resources-which technically is ours. They may be accountable to their own headquarters in New York or Geneva but not to a non-existent Somali government. After operating under this stateless environment for so many years, some agencies have come at times to disregard or ride roughshod over the needs and aspirations of their Somali stake holders and operate as though they are a law unto themselves. When it comes to culprits In this regard, UNDP Somalia Office would take the first place.

 

The resources entrusted to these agencies for the benefit of Somalia are what matters above all to Somalis at all levels. Sadly, a large junk of these resources is eaten up by the costly overhead costs incurred by these agencies which arise from their dual presences in Kenya and in some parts of Somalia. But it is Nairobi that soaks up most of the resources. Apart from their high salaries, international staff based in the Kenya capital is paid daily per diem for months when they are new in Kenya and thereafter are given daily substance and hazard allowances every time they go on mission to Somalia. Apart from the overhead costs, a lot of money must also go to the frequent expensive use of chartered airplanes by head of agencies and other internationals whenever they undertake one of their occasional brief missions to selected parts or regions of Somalia.

 

No doubt these internationals are happy to lead their la dolce vitae in Kenya (good swinging life) and not in warlord-ridden Somalia where they could endure deprivations and hardships. Some of them might even wish Somalia to remain for ever in its moribund, hopeless situation. So long as Somalia continues to be without a government, so long then that a good life in Kenya is guaranteed for UN internationals and the warlords in Somalia. Does that mean that there is common interest between the internationals and the warlords, or subterfuge collaboration? Perhaps common interest but not cooperation as some Somalis might suspect.

 

No one can altogether blame the UN agencies for operating from their bases in Kenya or for incurring a lot of overhead and travel costs. If they are forced to remain in Kenya through no fault of their own, then the blame is ours and no one else. Once a Somali government establishes itself in the country and restores law and order, you can expect the UN agencies to relocate themselves to the country and for foreign countries to recognize the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and establish diplomatic missions in Mogadishu or any alternative location chosen by the government.

 

Although Mogadishu is unequalled as a capital, given the right conditions, and much as we all of us would love to see it’s restoration to its constitutional role, yet the government is within its right to choose anywhere else as its provisional seat if Mogadishu is disqualified on security grounds for the time being. Mogadishu is not Mecca that must always be the seat of the government even when it is impossible to safeguard the security of the government let alone that of the wretched inhabitants of the city. Those warlords and company who clamour for the government to relocate to the capital are doing so not because they care about Mog -it is them after all who destroyed it and denied it to be a capital since 1991- but because that is a cover up for their well known agenda to strangulate and destroy the government once it is under their mercy as they did to that of Abdulkasim Salaad Hassan. But that is another subject and I should not digress too much!

 

 

Where the UN agencies can be faulted, however, are on two counts: firstly, how they use whatever is left from their overall resources; and secondly, the extent to which they support directly on indirectly the secession of Somaliland.

 

On the question of aid distribution in Somalia, these are allocated on an arbitrary and inequitable basis. One region above all has become the favourite of the UN agencies (and other international NGOs who follow their footsteps) Needless to say, the enclaves run by secessionists around Hargiesa/Burco/Berbera tend to get the lion’s share while little, if ever, trickles down to those regions on the periphery that have less clout with the UN such as Sool,Sanaag, Cayn or to other forgotten parts of Somalia. The blatant unfair distribution of resources among regions in Somalia has widened the development gulf between these regions in terms of education, health, and infrastructural development. The much-vaunted UN guidelines of transparency, accountability and effectiveness have little credibility in the Somali context.

 

The UN agencies are not only dispersing aid in an unfair manner but they are also meddling in our internal affairs. In particular, they confer de facto sovereignty on the secessionist entity in Somaliland. For example, the secessionist administration in Hargeisa has been allowed until now to wield a veto over any UN aid that might go to Sool, Eastern Sanag and Cayn, either directly to these regions or through the Puntland regional administration of which they are a part. If any aid has to be given to these regions, it has to be first proposed and endorsed by the secessionists and then only if it is implemented or supervised by the relevant ministries in Hargeisa. This is what UNDP and other agencies have often tacitly agreed to. Clearly, it amounts to not only recognizing Somaliland de facto as a separate country on bar with Somalia but that it has legal claim and control over Sool and Sanaag. These regions have never been associated with the secession in any way and have repeatedly reaffirmed their membership of Somalia. Somaliland is thus imposing economic sanctions on Sool and Sanaag with the help of the UN agencies and its intention is quite clear: that these recalcitrant regions would have to join the secession, like it or not or else it has to suffer the economic consequences. In aiding or abetting this economic sanction in any form, the UN agencies (and international NGOs where they are culpable) are by implication supporting the break-up of Somalia. This is a blatant assault on Somalia’s territorial integrity.

 

The fact that the UNDP has bowed to unwarranted demands from Somaliland is not only a denial of the inalienable rights of the people of Sool and Sanaag to their fair share of international aid. It is also a total disregard of the position of the wider international community and in particular that of the highest organ of United Nations – the Security Council- who yearly reaffirm Somalia’s unity and territorial integrity.

 

Other UN agencies have followed the footsteps of UNDP’s stand on Somaliland’s claim to Sool and Sanaag. An example is the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). On Tuesday, 22 November, Wardheernews.com website has posted two fact sheet reports by OCHA on Somaliland and Puntland. OCHA is mandated to deal purely with humanitarian cordination and is enjoined together with other agencies not to involve itself with the internal politics of the countries it serves. However, OCHA has taken a political position in favour of Somaliland in regard to Sool and Sanaag regions. This is clear not only from the population size it cites for Somaliland (3 million-which is the figure given by Somaliland for the whole area it claims including Sool and Sanaag) but also its reference to what it calls the dispute with Puntalnd over Somaliland’s “eastern regions of Sool and Sanaag….†It is also clear from the fact sheet report on Puntland where it mentions its major towns such as Bossaso,Galkayo, Garawe, Gardho but none from Sool and Sanaag. No mention of the fact that Sool, Sanaag and Cayn have equitable representation in the government and parliament of Puntland and that the Vice president (now acting president) is from Sool. It is clear that OCHA t considers what it calls the “disputed regions†as part of Somaliland. God help the poor people of Sool and Sanaag. They have no say in the matter as their destiny is sealed by rebels in league, of all people, with their UN guardians entrusted to maintain or respect Somalia’s unity.

 

The UN agencies’ submissive tendencies to bow to the dictates of Hargeisa extend to other areas. One can recall how Somalis coming from other regions to attend seminars or workshops organized by UNDP or other agencies in Hargeisa were detained, humiliated and then deported as aliens entering Somaliland illegally! And these UN organizations have pathetically done nothing about it.

 

There are good reason for inviting participants from all parts of Somalia, whenever possible, to attend workshops at selected venues, whether Hargeisa or anywhere else in Somalia. Apart from the economies of scale to be made, participants are likely to be officials who have not seen each other for a long while and who would be happy not only to renew contacts and friendships but also share experiences they may bring from their different regions. If the Hargeisa administration is going to hassle Somali citizens in their own country, then it is time the UN agencies put down its foot and took a firm stand on the issue.

 

Until now, the Somaliland government has exploited to the maximum the fact that it is the most stable part of Somalia, apart from Puntland, and fully aware of the fear of UN agencies that if they were to be thrown out of Somaliland, then a forced idle retreat to Nairobi, enjoyable as it is, would mean an eventual return to New York and Geneva or wherever their headquarters happen to be. The Somaliland government has on occasions threatened to throw out UNDP and other agencies unless it gets its way on any particular dispute. Invariably, the agencies buckled and deferred to Somaliland.

 

In future, the UN agencies should pull Somaliland’s bluff and refuse to compromise on important issues touching on their mandate or on Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. No more seminars should be held in Hargeisa unless all invited Somali participants are allowed to attend it without any hassle and are accepted as citizens in their own country. In the meantime, the Minister for International Cooperation in the Federal Transitional Government should ensure that these agencies are not undermining Somalia’s unity and territorial integrity.

 

Defending Somalia’s unity however would not be convincing in the eyes of the UN agencies or the international community when its own Prime Minister has recently came out on the BBC Somali Service in support of Somaliland’s recognition-not in so many words but all the same the message was quite clear to Somali listeners everywhere. And it must have been sweet music to the ears of the secessionists for whom it was like manna from heaven from the most unexpected quarters. Imagine your Prime Minister acting like this when the rest of the world has refused to recognize the rebels!

 

What the P.M did is so unbelievable. Decades ago, it would have been considered by previous presidents, prime ministers, parliamentarians and Somali public as punishable treason. Not so in present-day Somalia where warlords are kings and the public cannot see beyond their clan noses.

 

Mohsin Mahad

Email: Mohsinmahad@yahoo.co.uk

[Xudeedi]

Muhsin observes the U.N objectively and he has put forth a legitimate concern for our people in SSHC.

 

 

Mansa Muna, i think MP Asha Ahmed, a year ago, wrote an open letter to the U.N, IGAD, U.S to raise awareness of humanatarian needs in those regions and lack of consistent undertaking by UN aid agencies. Her letter indeed helped raise the awareness and as a result the U.N sent a team of U.N experts to cities in Sanag and Sool.

 

They reconfirmed Asha's appeal and affirmation that the regions boast of stability contrary to how Hargeisa portrayed them to be in an attempt to divert humanatarian responses or be a liaison to the proceeding.

 

 

Local NGO's like Horn Relief and other local NGO's whose main purpose is "facilitate and promote sustainable improvement in the social and economic conditions of the Sanaag and Sool regions", have so far worked and benefitted the community.

[Taleexi]

Mr. Maakhir. SSHC people are some what in dormant state and negligent running their own affairs in Somali political arena, no question about that however, the likes of Marwo Asha and Muhsin are indicators of reawakening movement amongst these people, and at the end of their passiveness.

 

The Hargeisa authority of misleading the international donors by bombarding misinformation and distorted facts are about to fade away by the day, this is a reaction between the truth and falsehood and obviously once the truth is exposed falsehood has no an ideal habitat to survive in.

 

I try to be less critique on my opponents than myself therefore SSHC people ought to go into self-correction mode and become ready the challenges ahead.

[Xudeedi]

^^But they seem to have woken up right?

[Taleexi]

Some what!