Somalia: Inclusivity, Acrimony and the Pressing National Priority

[xiinfaniin]

http://wardheernews.com/Articles_12/October/Muktar/24_Inclusivity_acrimony_&_national_priority.html

 

 

There are three deceptive narratives that have emerged since the takeover of Kismaayo which need to be demystified. First, if President Hassan is not intervening in the formation of a local administration for Baidoa and Beletweyne, but is concerned about the one for Kismaayo, he is not necessarily involved in duplicitous scheming. Baidoa is different to Kismaayo. There is harmony in Baidoa, there is acrimony in Kismaayo.

 

Secondly, President Hassan can and should ask IGADD and Kenya to get their hands off the politics of Jubbaland. He is closer to Kismaayo by mandate, by law, by commonsense, than Faarax Macallin and Yusuf Haji, much as the latter may feel close to Kismaayo through kinship association. Kismaayo is part and parcel of Somalia, the same Somalia he is supposed to be its lawful President.

 

Thirdly, the role Kenya Defence Forces are playing in Kismaayo is not the same as the one AMISOM is playing in Mogadishu. AMISOM is not involved in the governance of Mogadishu; its role is limited to security. The President’s argument that Kenya should not get involved in the governance of Kismaayo, but should help on the security front, is therefore not inconsistent with his approval of AMISOM presence in Mogadishu.

 

Therefore, President Hassan’s fixation with inclusivity with regard to any future Jubbaland administration is sensible and legitimate. His concerns are valid. His attempt to thwart inter-clan conflict in Kismaayo is far-sighted. But while the President is clear about inclusivity, he is less so about the composition of the administration he considers inclusive. Inclusivity is not the problem. The new administration by Ahmed Madoobe also reflects nominal inclusivity.

 

The problem is that ****** and ***** clans in the Jubba suspect that the President is driving a clan agenda and is hostile towards them. So far, the only indication that the President is pushing an anti-****** and anti-***** agenda comes from the alleged – I repeat alleged, backdoor statements of some of his key advisors, mainly the Feerfer clique. Members of the Feerfer clique in the President’s office are said to have expressed views which are unsympathetic to the claims of the ****** and the ***** over Kismaayo, particularly the ******. But rather than oppose the President’s legitimate interest in the governance of Kismaayo on the basis of speculation and guesswork, it would have been better to wait and see what the President actually means by inclusivity, and oppose it if his proposal comes out as unfair.

De-Hawiya-izing Mogadishu

 

The foregoing statements notwithstanding, the President must understand the political context and reality he is working under. Where Mogadishu is not de-Hawiya-ized, Kismaayo cannot be de-*****-ized. De-Hawiya-izing in this sense is politically, not demographically. Where Mogadishu is not a national capital by spirit and symbolism, Kismaayo cannot become an all-embracing chartered city. Nor can Garowe become one. The same way Haregisa isn’t. The same way Baidoa isn’t. By virtue of this logic, the argument that it is only those who own Kismaayo who can talk about governance of Kismaayo gets currency.

 

 

Therefore, the President needs to focus on the pressing national priority of giving the national capital a veneer of national ownership. As at today, the capital city is not for all. The President must take concrete steps to give Mogadishu a political facelift before focusing on the regions. That is the first thing to do. The Hawiya-ization of Mogadishu is the casus belli for the proliferation of clan-based regionalism, which is dangerous to Somalia. The horrors of 1990s carnage in Mogadishu have not been forgotten, which means people from other regions will not invest in the reconstruction of the national capital, if Mogadishu remains a bastion of powerful clan elders who can depose any non-****** politician with the snap of their fingers.

 

Silence about past crimes is not going to solve Somalia’s enduring clan hostilities. The President must speak out against the atrocities of the 1990s, the same way he acknowledged and implicitly apologized for the clan cleansing in Somaliland. He must condemn the philosophy that underpinned the clan wars that destroyed Somalia. And this includes the United Somali Congress’s (USC) national vandalism.

 

Although all clan-based armed groups committed atrocities, the USC’s war tactics were particularly shocking. It openly embraced a policy of clan cleansing from the national capital, the same national capital that should have been a safe heaven to all Somalis. Therefore, it is not entirely misplaced to call the USC Somalia’s Interhamwe – if not for the scale of its atrocities, for its intentions. Its leader, General Aideed, was a hooligan politician, for bravery bereft of responsibility is nothing but hooliganism. The President must reassure people those horrors and the excesses and abuses of Siyad Barre’s dictatorial regime are gone forever. That will go a long way in reassuring the traumatized citizenry.

 

Along with banishing the demons of the past, he must take concrete steps to instill a mentality of inclusivity when it comes to ownership of territories. And that can only start from Mogadishu. He must appoint people from other regions as governors and local administrators in Mogadishu. The start will not be easy. But, the long-run benefits of such moves will outweigh the short-term political hiccups. He must not shirk confrontation with these resilient realities, if we are to transcend the politics of clan that continues to be the bane of our nation.

[oba hiloowlow]

war i thought i got banned or something

[xiinfaniin]

Professor's Abtigiis's enlightening article, which I posted in an earlier thread of mine on SOL, have been taken down. Perhaps I made a mistake; failing to procure the title of the post to pass the rigorous clan name restrictions the forum imposed.

 

Read on ya SOL jamaacah.

 

ps. I do not take the article as an indictment to any clan. Rather it is the preamble of the type of conversations Somalis need to have post transitional period.

[xiinfaniin]

Apo, and Oba,

 

I think someone who is unfortunately more interested in semantics than the substance of the article removed it. But I also understand rules no matter how illogical are there to be followed.

[Somali philosopher]

i had to go to the source to find out what qabils this ****** and ****** that stand for

[oba hiloowlow]

I think the president is doing the right thing the jubba's is very complex so it need a temporary regional admin appointed by the government, look at hiiraan for example there is a regional admin appointed by the government same in Bay, no need for the D-block members to feel targeted you guys are the majority in the jubbas and you shall rule your lands.

[Tillamook]

As I wrote earlier on the thread that was taken down, what the author calls for is wishful thinking. Mogadishu for better or worse is now effectively a one clan city and having the President nominate folks from other clans to govern in Mogadishu, yet not have the power to do the same in Hargaysa, bosaaso, etc is firstly naive, and secondly just not fair.

 

I personally believe Somalis should accept that Mogadishu of today will never return to the multi clan cosmopolitan Mogadishu of yesteryears.

However, that being said, I think a rather more productive conversation we ought to be having is the capital status of the city.

[oba hiloowlow]

Tillamook your wrong soon everyone of us will re-claim our properties however things wont be like it was before now we are gonna develop regions like gedo,shabelles,jubbas,hiiraan everyone is going to develop its regions and thats better we cant invest everything in xamar we need to invest in the whole country the same way we are invested in xamar back in the days

[Tillamook]

^

There's that naivety I was talking about....

 

Oba, brother, with whose army will folks 'reclaim' their properties. Surely u don't expect unaka dominated Mogadishu will kick themselves out of other people's properties. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

[oba hiloowlow]

war we have a government dont you think they will address the problem when right time comes? Most people has already been kicked out from the government buildings next step is the private houses, my family has occupied properties and we're waiting for the right moment to re-claim it and so are many other somalis.

[xiinfaniin]

I really don't think the alleged focus/fixation of the president on Kismayo reflects Somalia's national priority. There will be a conference that will be held in Kismayo come December, and composition of the conference participants will tell the full story of the Jubbooyinka initiative. But by insisting the involvement of the federal government in the current deliberation of this initiative by the president is both premature and ineffective. The government in Mogadishu has no teeth to positively influence on what is going in Kismayo ---one can always inject negativity into anything and exacerbate the conflict. It is bad politics from his side for it makes him look small and tribal.

[oba hiloowlow]

xiin cabsida joojiya this guy is harmless

[Tillamook]

^

The president indeed seems to have misplaced priorities. He's main focus should be on building strong effective government institutions and should not involve himself in taking sides amongst the d sub clans that are vying for control in Kismayu. I believe kismayu folks will reach an amicable settlement if let alone, that being said, the Kenyans should butt out as well.

[Abwaan]

xiinfaniin;884390 wrote:

Apo, and Oba,

 

I think someone who is unfortunately more interested in semantics than the substance of the article removed it. But I also understand rules no matter how illogical are there to be followed.

Xiin mucaaradnimadiisa meel ay ka baxday baan la yaabay. Waryaa dadka 1990 haku celin:D

[xiinfaniin]

Come again Abwaan

 

I am out of the loop these days, but from what I heard it is Somalia's current leadership that is dwelling on past politics. An admin in Kismayo should not cause such a fuss ...

 

But once again you are Abwaan