Dr_Osman Posted May 17, 2014 FULL TRANSCRIPT OF DR. FAROLE’S SPEECH AT ROME 3 UNIVERSITY IN ITALY All Praise and Thanks be to Allah. I am very pleased to address Università Roma Tre for a second time. My first time was in March 2011, as the President of Puntland on an official visit to Italy. I wish to share my appreciation with the organizers of this event and with Roma University for hosting us. I also wish to thank the Government of Italy and the European Union for continuing to support recovery in Somalia. Today, addressing the question of why did we adopt a federal system, I will speak about the elusive matter of governance in Somalia, its viability, historMangnifico Chancellor, Professors, Excellences, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. Good afternoon.ic lessons, and prospects for the future. To understand today’s reality in Somalia, we must first conceptualize the country’s contemporary history. In 1960, the former British Protectorate of Somaliland united with the former Italian Somaliland, to form the Somali Republic. The new country held democratic elections and H.E.Aden Abdulle Osman, its first president, became the first African Head of State in 1967 to concede defeat after an election and transfer power democratically to a new President. Unlike many post-colonial African countries endemic with tribal struggles, the world recognized the new Somali Republic’s unique homogeneity, in terms of a common religion, language and culture. So it is a paradox that today’s Somalia is plagued by civil war, national disintegration, political instability, piracy and terrorism, leading to famine, poverty and exodus. This unfortunate reality has eroded our people’s historic coherence and their ability to agree on a comprehensive political settlement. The three main factors contributing to the present reality in Somalia are: 1) the military regime; 2) the creation of a city-state; and 3) the belligerent rebel groups who took up arms against the then-central government. In 1969, a military junta seized power by force in Somalia, introducing a 21-year dictatorship. During this time, the country underwent a major transformation and its democratic foundations deteriorated and decayed. The former military regime is credited for building or expanding some socio-economic infrastructure, but is faulted for instituting a highly centralized system of governance, policies that aided corruption and nepotism, disproportionately concentrating its efforts in the capital Mogadishu, and neglecting the socio-economic development of entire regions of Somalia. According to a mid-1950s census conducted by the Trusteeship Italian Administration of Somalia (AFIS), Mogadishu constituted approximately less than 2% of Somalia’s population and had two parliamentary seats out of 123 MPs of the Somali Republic. By 1990, however, Mogadishu expanded exponentially to a metropolitan city that was home to about 25% of an estimated Somali population of 8 million. As Mr. Andrea Romani, an Italian scholar who was also my instructor, observed Mogadishu’s rapid urbanization: “Una grande testa sopra un corpo rachitico”, which literally means, “A big head over a rachitic body”; the head being Mogadishu, and the rachitic body is the rest of Somalia. The highly centralized government created a city-state in Mogadishu, while depriving many regions of economic development and service delivery. This compelled and entrenched a trend of migration of manpower and capital from the regions to Mogadishu, as Somali citizens pursued education and healthcare services, as well as opportunities in employment, investment in real estate and other businesses, and even travels documents. A combination of the draconian rule of the military regime, political repression, and economic deprivation led to the general frustration and public support for armed rebels, who violently overthrew the central government in 1991. By then, the military regime had destroyed major urban centers in northwestern Somalia (present-day “Somaliland”), whose population fled the country as exodus to the neighboring Ethiopia in 1988 and the destruction of Mogadishu in 1991 equated practically the total destruction of Somalia and the political collapse of the Somali state, because Mogadishu was Somalia and Somalia was Mogadishu. There was no other place in Somalia that could host the influx of people fleeing the violence. Mogadishu was not only the capital of Somalia, but it was the city of all Somalis. The rebels who seized Mogadishu in 1991 lacked political vision and leadership caliber, and so, the situation quickly spiraled out of control. Entire clans were persecuted, uprooted and massacred in rampages spanning a distance of 1,300-km, from Galkayo in north-central Somalia to Kismayo in the country’s deep south. Victimized clans fled out of Mogadishu to the regions and others escaped as exodus to neighboring countries, primarily Kenya and Ethiopia, but the violence could no longer be contained. The same rebels in Mogadishu turned on each other, fought over what remained of the destroyed capital, and violent clan struggles over land, power and resources characterized the conflict in south-central Somalia, including human rights abuses, war crimes, crimes against humanity, uprooting entire communities, and the misappropriation of community lands, private and public properties. I do believe that the Somali people cannot recover from this catastrophic event, which totally destroyed the national archives (the entire documentation of the Somali state) and other assets, in addition to massive loss of human lives and exodus. The former President of Djibouti H.E. Al Haji Hassan Guled Abtidon hosted the first Somali Peace Conference, during the early months of the civil war, bringing together major Somali rebel factions with the aim of signing a peace pact, witnessed by the presidents of Kenya and Uganda, and diplomats from Italy, U.S.A., China, France, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Germany, and Nigeria. The Conference Communiqué, dated 15-21 July 1991, was signed by rebel leaders, as well as four former Somali statesmen, who represented the country’s various constituencies, namely: H.E. Aden Abdulle Osman, Somalia’s first president; H.E. Abdirizak Haji Hussein, the country’s second Prime Minister; H.E. Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, the third Prime Minister of Somalia and late President of Somaliland; and Hon. Sheikh Mukhtar Mohamed Hussein, the country’s former Speaker of Parliament abolished by the military junta. Most interestingly, Clause 2 of the Communiqué called for an immediate ceasefire, Clause 4, Section C said: “The Conference agrees to implement Regional Autonomy system in the country and to write this in the Constitution”. What is remarkable about this conference is the acknowledgement by former Somali statesmen recognizing, early in 1991 when the state collapsed, that Somalia needs a decentralized system of government. It is clear that rebel factions and the international community agreed that a new Somali government needs devolution of power, which still subsequent leaders in Mogadishu are resisting to accept and implement in today’s federal system. This was a remarkable insight to the most viable solution of governance, echoing the campaign for federalism by then-leaders of Hisbia Digil Mirifle (HDM Party) in the 1950s that was silenced by the wave of Somali nationalism propagated by then-dominant party, Somali Youth League (SYL). In 2004, however, at the end of a two-year process under the auspices of IGAD regional bloc, supported by the international community, Somali political leaders signed an agreement adopting a federal system of government, establishing the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) that is predecessor to today’s Federal Government of Somalia in Mogadishu. Since its inception in 1998, my native State of Puntland became the embodiment that transformed the federalism rhetoric into reality. Puntland adopted federalism to: a) advance reconciliation and self-government model for Somali communities to overcome hostilities and mistrust of the civil war; b) achieve political balance between the centralist (Mogadishu) and the secessionist (Somaliland) positions in Somali political space, implementing self-rule while retaining national cohesion; and c) empower regional communities with political decision-making, resource management, and adequate public goods delivery at State-level. I do believe that federalism is good for Somalia, as it offers the only viable model to reunite the fragmented regions and territories, promotes reconciliation, prevents abuse of power at the center, allows inclusivity, and permits power to be exercised close to the people. The federal arrangement is still under development. The way forward requires Somali political leaders to adhere to the provisions of the Federal Constitution and to establish the Upper House of Parliament that represents the Federated States. The Transitional Federal Constitution must be reviewed and finalized, but the formation of Federated States by regional communities should be completed first and the States and Federal authorities should enter into a negotiated agreement regarding the constitutional distribution of power and resources. In its final form, the Federal Constitution must satisfactorily address autonomy for the States, whilst ensuring a Federal Government that upholds the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and unity of Somalia. Until that final stage is achieved, however, the political decision-making of Somalia should be shared between the Federal Institutions and the Federated States, for the benefit of the Somali people. Somalia needs holistic socio-economic development based on benefiting from local resources responsibly, to overcome conflict, poverty, and unemployment, and this should run parallel with progress on political settlement and stability. This will give Somalia the opportunity to grow economically together with the sub-region. My national vision is the rebirth of a new Somalia that enjoys full peace, is a respected member of the community of nations, self-reliant, respects human rights and gender equality, that brings hope to its citizens and attracts the voluntary repatriation of Somali refugees. I envisage Somalia moving towards regional security and economic integration and attracting investment for economic growth. As the former President of Puntland, a veteran of Somali national peace processes since 1991, and a prominent member of the Roadmap Signatories to End the Transition, I make myself available to contribute my goodwill and experience in assisting the Somali people, legitimate political entities, regional actors, and international partners in efforts to peacefully reunite the fragmented Somali nation-state in a fully-fledged federal system. Thank you and God bless. Puntlandi Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
