Lifting Somalia’s Arms Embargo and a Renewed Political Conflict

[xiinfaniin]

By Faisal A. Roble

Feb 26, 2013

“More than 100 religious leaders and business executives, a doctor and other prominent residents of this Port city were hunted door to door and killed in three nights of terror that began on the eve of the Americans landing in Mogadishu...”

Jane Perlez, New York Times, Dec. 1992

 

“Someone’s looter/killer is another person’s hero.”

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud

 

This piece is the last of a three-part installment on the deteriorating political situation of the presidency of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. The crusade which his government is waging to have the world community lift the arms embargo comes at a time when political conflict is at its highest since the 1991 civil war. His zeal to go after arming his troops at this time in the country’s history and his unwavering sabotage of local efforts in Jubbaland are all the more troubling.

 

As a recent Garoweonline editorial opined, “Somalia needs a major disarmament and demobilization plan, but instead the country's new president is asking for more weapons.” Few days after this editorial was posted, about eleven people were killed in Kismayo in a serendipitous conflict that pits Mogadishu against Kismayo.

 

In December 1992, nearly about twenty years ago, the late General Aidid’s militia murdered about hundred civilians in a witch hunt that Jane Perez of the New York Times documented. Not to go back to those days where mass killings happened with impunity, the AMISOM forces are in a bid to find the culprits responsible for the Kismayo murders of February 23, 2013.

 

When History should be Lesson for Arms Embargo

 

This is not the first time Somalis smelled the coffee and felt the danger associated with weapons supplied to their beleaguered nation; they rightfully raised their voices and pleaded with Western nations in the past to exercise caution prior to supplying destructive weapons to Somali leaders.

In the late 1980s, for example, when the government of Siyad Barre was carrying its massive atrocities in Northern Somalia (Somaliland), one of the Somali National Movement’s (SNM) activists (Dr. Hussein Bulhan) wrote an op-ed piece on the New York Times. Under the heading of “No Arms to Somalia,” the activist argued that arms given to the dictatorial regime of the late Siyad Barre would most likely be used against its own civilians.

 

It so happened that, according to Africa Watch, the Barre regime was at the time “at war with its own people” in the North and eventually killed thousands of innocent civilians with the very weapons the US government and other western countries supplied to the late dictator, Mohamed Siyad Barre.

 

The critics on the government side at the time called the author of the op-ed piece, “unpatriotic,” and a “Somalia hater.” Many sought to silence him. In hindsight, we now know that the eclipse that blanketed Northern Somalia could have been averted, or its impacts possibly minimized, if the US did not jump the gun so quickly on arming Barre.

 

More importantly, the very same weapons of destruction that the US gave to Barre fell in the hands of Southern Somalia’s warlords and ended up being the weapons of mass destruction in the “Clan Cleansing in Somalia’s Ruinous Legacy” of the 1990s civil war.

 

Dr. Lidwien Kapteijin’s new book, “Clan Cleansing in Somalia: The Ruinous Legacy of 1991,” is a seminal work in the study and assessment of the effects of the massive carnage bestowed on Somalis in the 1991 civil war.

 

The existing arms embargo instruments on Somalia, as stipulated under resolutions UN 751 and 753, were imposed in 1992 by the world community mainly to slow down the carnage of the day in Southern Somalia.

 

Many forces were responsible to bring these instruments to fruition. Unlike the 1980s outcry, the world listened to the 1992 plea and imposed arms embargo on Somalia. The heavy lifting was done by hard working and fast lobbying diaspora groups. But the most influential work was carried out by the late Omar Moalin Hilawle, who served Somalia’s ambassador to the US in the 1960s. Ambassador Omar used his massive connections and relationships to put weighty pressure on Pateros Ghali, the then Egyptian-born UN General Secretary. Also, international aid groups in Kismayo, Bardheere and Baydhabo witnessed real atrocities against civilians and then helped push for embargo.

 

Prior to the arms embargo, the world watched silently (between 1990 and 1992) when thousands of Somalis, mainly from certain groups, were butchered in the infernos of Mogadishu, Galkayo, Kismayo, Baydhabo, Baardheere, and many other locations in South Somalia.

 

The 1990s was one of the darkest and most momentous in Somali history; it was a period when Somalia’s civil war was at its zenith, causing massive famine and wanton killings of civilians. It was also a period when the most powerful President and leader of the free world President Clinton did nothing to secure aid for starving Somali indigents? Neither did President Clinton help stave off the killing fields of Somalis in the hands of merciless warlords.

 

In the following years, America simply did not want to be reminded of Somalia due to its dismal performance in the Somalia political conflict; Somalia affairs got worse after18 rangers were killed and the ensuing humiliation of US power in the hands of Mogadishu-based militia. The Somali question was completely relegated to oblivion following the massive heart attack Les Aspen sustained as a result of stress induced by the Somalia crisis.

 

Read more:

 

http://www.wardheernews.com/public_html/Articles%202013/Feb/26_Arms_embargo_Faisal.html

[xiinfaniin]

Hear Hear

[Gheelle.T]

Indeed!

[Odey]

I may not agree with all the points raised and it seemed like an attack on the individual, but the Arms embargo should stay in my view because of the following reasons

 

1- We do not have a Professional army that can be trusted with such heavy weapons, nor do they have a Nationalistic View/Mindset or have a wider appeal in its make up that people trust. Their moral compass is questionable still and have a long way to go.

 

2- We are in the phase of winding down a Civil War and until peace takes hold and we are in a position to move away from talking with a barrel pointing at each other, I strongly believe more weapons isn't going to help

 

3- We are a poor nation and we shouldn't be purchasing weapons, but instead should be purchasing medical equipment, building roads and investing in other assorted infrastructure.

 

4- Rebuilding a huge army will immediately make our neighbors uneasy, particularly since our politics hasn't evolved beyond the gun.

 

5- There is a great danger that these weapons will be sold to the highest bidder as they have done for a long time now and cause yet more bloodshed.

 

I think the embargo should stand and even tightened for the exception of Defense capability, coupled with a wider professional training of our security services. They should all be taught Citizenship from a military standpoint and their duties instilled in them so they don't differentiate between the citizens they have been sworn to protect.

 

Their powers and involvement should be made clear and jurisdictions defined, particularly when operating inside the country. a lot has to be done before arms embargo is lifted.

[Abwaan]

This photo makes the baroordiiq and attack above look too late.

[Odey]

The photo above is of Foreign ambassadors who have just handed in their Credentials and walking with the leader of the nation they will be based in. This is something that started happening since the end of 2011 and will continue each time a new ambassador needs to hand in his/her credentials. The two subjects are not linked brother and the subject above is actually quite serious and has consequences for the entire nation.

 

Please don't take it lightly!

[Abwaan]

Odey and others here supported the arms embargo to be lifted between 2004 and 2012 but they disagree with it now. There has NOT been ethnic conflicts and massacres between August 2012 and now. What is wrong here?

[oba hiloowlow]

Abwaan;921886 wrote:

Odey and others here supported the arms embargo to be lifted between 2004 and 2012 but they disagree with it now. There has NOT been ethnic conflicts and massacres between August 2012 and now. What is wrong here?

looool

[suleeymaan]

Reerki caruurtoodi iyo ciroolahoodiba waxeey udhaqmayaan sidi ilmo yar oo chocoleetada loodiiday!!!! War sida isku dhaama!!!!

[Odey]

Abwaan;921886 wrote:

Odey and others here supported the arms embargo to be lifted between 2004 and 2012 but they disagree with it now. There has NOT been ethnic conflicts and massacres between August 2012 and now. What is wrong here?

I never commented on such a subject last year or any other year and for the record I always supported the strengthening of the embargo. 5 months of peace guaranteed by foreign forces is not peace brother. I believe you are not in the business of serious discussions. When you are done barring your big teeth like a five year old, then come back to me for more mature discussions. Till then, caruurta la so ciyaar

[xiinfaniin]

LOL@caruurta la so ciyaar

 

This is a very serious subject indeed. I am bit flexible and see the need for lifting the embargo. But Hassan's leadership leaves a lot to be desired. If he cant handle a simple case like Kismayo, if he does not believe federalism is an agreed political settlement and no room for walking back on it in his term, then there is a legitimate argument to be made that current national leadership are not ready for moving the country forward.

[xiinfaniin]

Odey;921874 wrote:

I may not agree with all the points raised and it seemed like an attack on the individual, but the Arms embargo should stay in my view because of the following reasons

 

1- We do not have a Professional army that can be trusted with such heavy weapons, nor do they have a Nationalistic View/Mindset or have a wider appeal in its make up that people trust. Their moral compass is questionable still and have a long way to go.

 

2- We are in the phase of winding down a Civil War and until peace takes hold and we are in a position to move away from talking with a barrel pointing at each other, I strongly believe more weapons isn't going to help

 

3- We are a poor nation and we shouldn't be purchasing weapons, but instead should be purchasing medical equipment, building roads and investing in other assorted infrastructure.

 

4- Rebuilding a huge army will immediately make our neighbors uneasy, particularly since our politics hasn't evolved beyond the gun.

 

5- There is a great danger that these weapons will be sold to the highest bidder as they have done for a long time now and cause yet more bloodshed.

 

I think the embargo should stand and even tightened for the exception of Defense capability, coupled with a wider professional training of our security services. They should all be taught Citizenship from a military standpoint and their duties instilled in them so they don't differentiate between the citizens they have been sworn to protect.

 

Their powers and involvement should be made clear and jurisdictions defined, particularly when operating inside the country. a lot has to be done before arms embargo is lifted.

This is what reasoning looks like. Ciyaalka xaafada need to learn from this fellow.

[Abwaan]

Xiin cuno-qabatayna inuu ku heeso bay kaga dhegtey nothing much.

[xiinfaniin]

^^when everything else fails, it is xiin that is at fault ---a familiar strategy from you Abwaan

[Carafaat]

xiinfaniin;921839 wrote:

By Faisal A. Roble

Feb 26, 2013

“More than 100 religious leaders and business executives, a doctor and other prominent residents of this Port city were hunted door to door and killed in three nights of terror that began on the eve of the Americans landing in Mogadishu...”

Jane Perlez, New York Times, Dec. 1992

 

“Someone’s looter/killer is another person’s hero.”

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud

 

This piece is the last of a three-part installment on the deteriorating political situation of the presidency of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. The crusade which his government is waging to have the world community lift the arms embargo comes at a time when political conflict is at its highest since the 1991 civil war. His zeal to go after arming his troops at this time in the country’s history and his unwavering sabotage of local efforts in Jubbaland are all the more troubling.

 

As a recent Garoweonline editorial opined, “Somalia needs a major disarmament and demobilization plan, but instead the country's new president is asking for more weapons.” Few days after this editorial was posted, about eleven people were killed in Kismayo in a serendipitous conflict that pits Mogadishu against Kismayo.

 

In December 1992, nearly about twenty years ago, the late General Aidid’s militia murdered about hundred civilians in a witch hunt that Jane Perez of the New York Times documented. Not to go back to those days where mass killings happened with impunity, the AMISOM forces are in a bid to find the culprits responsible for the Kismayo murders of February 23, 2013.

 

When History should be Lesson for Arms Embargo

 

This is not the first time Somalis smelled the coffee and felt the danger associated with weapons supplied to their beleaguered nation; they rightfully raised their voices and pleaded with Western nations in the past to exercise caution prior to supplying destructive weapons to Somali leaders.

In the late 1980s, for example, when the government of Siyad Barre was carrying its massive atrocities in Northern Somalia (Somaliland), one of the Somali National Movement’s (SNM) activists (Dr. Hussein Bulhan) wrote an op-ed piece on the New York Times. Under the heading of “No Arms to Somalia,” the activist argued that arms given to the dictatorial regime of the late Siyad Barre would most likely be used against its own civilians.

 

It so happened that, according to Africa Watch, the Barre regime was at the time “at war with its own people” in the North and eventually killed thousands of innocent civilians with the very weapons the US government and other western countries supplied to the late dictator, Mohamed Siyad Barre.

 

The critics on the government side at the time called the author of the op-ed piece, “unpatriotic,” and a “Somalia hater.” Many sought to silence him. In hindsight, we now know that the eclipse that blanketed Northern Somalia could have been averted, or its impacts possibly minimized, if the US did not jump the gun so quickly on arming Barre.

 

More importantly, the very same weapons of destruction that the US gave to Barre fell in the hands of Southern Somalia’s warlords and ended up being the weapons of mass destruction in the “Clan Cleansing in Somalia’s Ruinous Legacy” of the 1990s civil war.

 

Dr. Lidwien Kapteijin’s new book, “Clan Cleansing in Somalia: The Ruinous Legacy of 1991,” is a seminal work in the study and assessment of the effects of the massive carnage bestowed on Somalis in the 1991 civil war.

 

The existing arms embargo instruments on Somalia, as stipulated under resolutions UN 751 and 753, were imposed in 1992 by the world community mainly to slow down the carnage of the day in Southern Somalia.

 

Many forces were responsible to bring these instruments to fruition. Unlike the 1980s outcry, the world listened to the 1992 plea and imposed arms embargo on Somalia. The heavy lifting was done by hard working and fast lobbying diaspora groups. But the most influential work was carried out by the late Omar Moalin Hilawle, who served Somalia’s ambassador to the US in the 1960s. Ambassador Omar used his massive connections and relationships to put weighty pressure on Pateros Ghali, the then Egyptian-born UN General Secretary. Also, international aid groups in Kismayo, Bardheere and Baydhabo witnessed real atrocities against civilians and then helped push for embargo.

 

Prior to the arms embargo, the world watched silently (between 1990 and 1992) when thousands of Somalis, mainly from certain groups, were butchered in the infernos of Mogadishu, Galkayo, Kismayo, Baydhabo, Baardheere, and many other locations in South Somalia.

 

The 1990s was one of the darkest and most momentous in Somali history; it was a period when Somalia’s civil war was at its zenith, causing massive famine and wanton killings of civilians. It was also a period when the most powerful President and leader of the free world President Clinton did nothing to secure aid for starving Somali indigents? Neither did President Clinton help stave off the killing fields of Somalis in the hands of merciless warlords.

 

In the following years, America simply did not want to be reminded of Somalia due to its dismal performance in the Somalia political conflict; Somalia affairs got worse after18 rangers were killed and the ensuing humiliation of US power in the hands of Mogadishu-based militia. The Somali question was completely relegated to oblivion following the massive heart attack Les Aspen sustained as a result of stress induced by the Somalia crisis.

 

Read more:

 

http://www.wardheernews.com/public_html/Articles%202013/Feb/26_Arms_embargo_Faisal.html

 

The author is delussional by comparing Siad Barre regime to the recently installed goverment of Somalia. From the 1980's on the regime used weapens on mass scale against its own citizens, therefor it was logic to campaign for a embargo. But there is no single proof, evidence nor reason to think the goverment based in Moqdishu would do the same.

 

Waxani waa teydii ayaa laga so horjeestay, tan aan kasoo horjeesto. eye for an eye. waxaasi xal maha, caqlina maha.