The future of Somali national army, who will they be serving

[galbeedi]

 

First of all, this is a real and honest debate by the Somali parliament. I am really impressed about the young members who expressed their view in a well organized manner. Further more , both of those who oppose and those who agreed with motion explained their position with conviction and reason, yet their political inclination is visible.

 

In any political motion, there are two opposing sides where each group is trying to impose their view or exaggerate the merits of their case while undermining the viability of the other case. In any case , after watching this civil debate, there could be a middle ground that could satisfy both groups.

 

While this motion is a legitimate motion that should be debated and adopted eventually, it needs more time and amendments to reach a consensus that satisfies both the regional representation of the recruits , while avoiding of the sectarian character of regional army. One issue that we all agree is that conscripts must come from the whole country and from different walks of life.

 

Here are some of my points regarding the national army.

 

1- Despite it's large numbers, the current members of the Somali army could not defend the nation from Al-shabaab insurgents and could not defend the borders of the country, yet you can not disband them all. Those who showed , duty , loyalty and discipline should be kept. Many Somali soldiers had paid the ultimate price in Mogadishu and surrounding regions while on duty. Almost every minister or member of government is guarded by these soldiers, and more than often , they are the ones who take the first bullet from the terrorists. Those who are good soldiers must be kept . That does not mean incorporating the tribal militia of Mogadishu who masquerade as the national army.

 

2- Recruiting the national army from the regions is a good step to accommodate national representations from every corner of the country, yet , it is recipe for disaster to keep them, train them and allow them to operate from their own regions as stated by the " National Security policy". They would be more loyal to their regions or tribes than the nation. So in order to fulfill the national representation requirements , and form a national army, the recruits must be mixed in and trained as brothers in arms in different regions. The army camps or barracks based in the regions must be managed by the national army. The command and control of these bases should be under the national defense. In most modern constitutions, the national army should not fight and engage it's local communities, except for national emergency or unforeseen calamities. Do not overextend these bases, the logistical night mare of supplying all would be a difficult task, just select four major bases for the moment. Balidoogle, Carmo (Puntland), Dhanaane (Jowhar) and Mogadishu could accommodate the 16,000 soldiers recruited from towns and villages across the regions.

 

3-The federal states do not even have the capacity to deliver the basic services that should be their primary duties. Education, health care, policing, registry and regulation, tax collection and other public services should be their duties. Some of us were asking that how would these dead beat states who could not build a simple school are demanding the most difficult job of training a national army?. Well, it is simple. They just want to get some of the pie (money). For years, they have been watching the Mogadishu based gang pocket millions of dollars from the military budget with no tangible results. They have seen the Turks, Gulf Sheikhs, Americans, Italians, The British , The EU and others pour money in Mogadishu for the benefit of the local oligarchs, so they want to get some of that money in their regions. These Somali regions are broke. They do not have any viable internal revenue or transparent tax income, so the foreign pushed cash cow is the only means for them to make a buck. Just like the Ugandan, Djiboutians and others, they want to make some real money for themselves and their soldiers. I really would not want to deny the Somali regions to pocket some of the resources that others have been getting for the last few years under their name ( Soomaalidu in ay waxoogaa cashayso in loo diido ma ha haboona). If you look things in that logic, it could be beneficial for Somalis to have little bit of the pie among the Billions spend on others. Since money is always the root causes of problems, the regions and others might overlook the future implications. The best way to get some of the pie is to demand the training , salary and equipment of the regional police including "THe Daraawiish" who would intervene any armed conflicts.

 

The best idea that comes from this policy is the forming of the National federal police. They should not be large numbers , but small well trained and equipped force that is en tuned on law enforcement and crime investigation. Small contingent of this force could be placed in major centers and towns. There are a lot of crimes of power abuse , misappropriation of funds and corruption going in those regions and there is no one to make them accountable. As we have seen in many regions, Somali tribes do not investigate or enforce the law against their kin. Few years ago, there were prisoners released from jails in Garoowe and in Burco after locals refused to keep them inside. In fact it is well known phenomena in towns like Garoowe where the natives always claim to be their town (Magaalada reer hebel baa leh, ma oga miyaa in ay caasimad u tahay Puntland oodhan). A well educated and organized federal police could create a real climate of law and order. " Dadka dawlada boorsooyinka ku sita sida Shariif Hassan oo kale ayey la xisaabtamayaan

 

4- Former aviation minister Jammac Jangali had exposed the weakness of his former government and their inability to build 10,000 soldiers. He said that " we could not find money to pay them", yet, they all found money for their pet projects in Mogadishu. He concluded by saying the world are building army for us (ciidan ayaa la inoo dhisaya). Only in SOmalia you would see people saying , " the world will be feeding us, the world will be supervising, the world will be devising our constitution, and the world will be building us a national security force. These things follow the same pattern of the billions of foreign aid poured in Africa and other places with no visible and tangible results.

 

A 10,000 Somali army will cost less than 20% of the budget. In 2016, They did claim a budget of $250 million. Everyone wonders what is more important than the army and police.

 

10,000 x200 = 2,000,000

2,000,000 x12 = 24,000,000

 

If you add some logistics and other equipment it does not exceed the $50 million mark. Amisom is spending $1.2 billion in every three years. " Waxaan maqli jiray muraadka Muqdishu muraayad baa kaa xigta.

 

5-Another fallacy is that the governor of the provinces were always responsible for the security of the province. That might be true technically , but the job of recruiting training and logistics was always the duty of the central government and the army. There were always coordination and cooperation, yet the army barracks were off limits for the civilian leaders. Armies operate under the federal jurisdiction and is governed by a different laws. As I stated earlier , many years of squander and abuse of power in Mogadishu has resulted a huge distrust of the capital by the federal states and they are finally aiming high and are going for the kill.

 

 

6--The foreign trained and paid army does not serve the Somalis. if you travel to Gaalkacayo on the Galmudug side and Boosaaso , Puntland, you would see the foreign trained anti terror forces who do not answer either to Puntland or Galmudug. in 2009, C/raxman Foaroole went to America and asked the state department to deal with his government directly on the issues of security in Puntland rather than these unaccountable forces . When he tried to fire the commander after the "PIS" General Osman Dayaano, he refused to step down . The Puntland intelligence service are paid a monthly salary of $1500. These are the people who cleaned Al-shabaab from Puntland and the Galgala mountains. They are really effective , but they are owned and paid by a foreign government.

 

 

-Somali tribes see regional armies and the backing of foreign powers a recipe for power and influence. So far ,we do not know the authors of the so called national security police document signed by Hassan Sheikh Mohamuud and others. The idea of creating a tribal army were always the projects of the European powers who had colonized the world, but it took center stage in the 21st century when the American forces who were occupying Iraq build a sectarian Sunni tribal army in order to sideline the deadly attacks of Al-Qaeda. Since Al-Qaeda was a multinational terrorist organization, who were murdering everyone, the Americans created a Sunni army and called them the " Sons of Iraq". That Sunni army eventually overcome the terrorists of Al-qeada and became influential force.

 

After the Americans left Iraq in 2011, the Shia dominated government targeted them and abused them which eventually created the modern day ISIS. The Somali regional army might have a similar scope of using them to defeat Al-shabaab in the tribal homelands. If Every tribe cleanse it's own terrorists in their territory , why you need a national army, so goes the plan. In other words, the whole country will be militarized. There could be some blow backs from these armies controlled by governors. For starters, they will become more authoritarian ;they will be less inclined for national cohesiveness and would eventually curve their own country.

 

These suggestions might seem to be dramatic for many of you, but sometimes there has to be a legitimate force and strong will to keep people together. If there is no legitimate , moral and legal force to keep nations together, believe me every ethnic, tribe or group would have it's own cake and eat it. Another un foreseen issue is these forces will be trained on the scope of just killing and defeating Somalis. They could be a force that fights only Somalis without the scope of national sovereignty , which is the defense of the nation from foreign enemies.

 

Make no mistake, Somalia is not the only country in the world inhabited by quarreling tribes who went through a civil war. Look at Iraq, despite the daily killings and other issues, the national government is not abandoning it's moral duty to save guard it's sovereignty. In neighboring Ethiopia no one is allowed to have paramilitary forces or any thing similar of nation army except the Somali Regional State, why?. The Oromo , Ahmara,Affar and others have small civic police to do community policing. The Somali para military Liyu Police is created to crush the Somali rebellion in the region and keep both the Ethiopian and local dictators in an absolute power. who knows, the whole issue of regional armies could be the product of the neighbors.

 

Even in Somaliland, the armed forces of that region never fired one bullet against outside forces who might pose a threat. The Liyu police and others enter in Somaliland without permission and rob and murder people at will, yet , the local army never confronts them , because they were trained to fight other Somalis. The Somali regional forces will take that idea even further. The same story is happening in central Somalia. The paramilitary Liyu police might cross to Galmudug and murder people at will, but the well armed Gamudug militia would prefer to fight their brothers in Puntland than the Ethiopian force. This is a fact that is well known among Somalis every where.

 

I do not think the Somali regional states insisted on this, because they were always the ones who used to complain about the interference of the federal government while insisting about following the constitution. It is a foreign idea that came from those who finance the "Somali trust ship". The southern Somalis were familiar with these kind of " administrative over-cite" by the colonial powers. From 1950-1960, they were under the Italian trustship while having parliament, premier and other titles.

 

If the new president want to wish to be another overseer of the provisional Somali government financed and controlled by others, he will be doomed just like the one before him. If he thinks others will be building armies for him , he is dreaming. Former prime minister C/rashiid Sharmaarke visited Washington in 1963 and met president John Kennedy. The Americans did help Somalia in so many ways, but were very reluctant to provide weapons for the nascent Somali army. By late 1963, Emperor Haile Salaase threaten to invade the country. While president Aadan Cadde was in Italy , Sharmaarke made secret deal with Moscow and saved Somalia to be invaded and occupied by the king. My friends , in order to survive , you must be willing to do the necessary sacrifices that lift nations from demise ( Dadkani ma waxay rabaan in dad kale ceelka u qodo biyahana u dhaamiyo?".

 

Someone , in early nineties, said that in these parts of the world , leaders are always worse than their predecessors ( Aadan Cadde ka soo billow midba midka ka dambeeya wuu ka sii liitaa,, Soomaaliland Cigaal baa diyaariyey, haddana waxa ina hor fadhiya oday la baxnaaninayo o xanuunsan. Ma laga yaabaa in midka Ahmed Siilaanyo ka dambeeyaa in uu ka sii darnaado).

 

We are all aware of the difficult position this president finds himself, and we hope when the time comes , he will be ready to confront these issues head. Making tough decisions means inconveniencing others and doing the un thinkable which is taking the burden of nation building by Somalis themselves.