Editorial
Somalia: A popular uprising in Kismayo
By
Aug 24, 2008 - 3:01:05 PM

SUNDAY EDITORIAL | Frankly, in Somalia, there is no politics without clans.

Make no mistake: the swift, righteous takeover of Kismayo port in southern Somalia by Islamist fighters is no ‘al Qaeda’ plot. Undoubtedly, many people will feed the Americans and the Ethiopians with misinformation linking Kismayo’s liberators to international terror groups and cavemen like Osama bin Laden. This has been the mantra since 2006, when the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) first liberated the Somali capital Mogadishu from American-financed, Ethiopian-armed warlords renowned for 16 years of brutality. The strategy of backing despised warlords backfired and provided the catalyst for the popular rise of the ICU, whose fighters soon seized most of south-central Somalia and were welcomed by the cheering thousands.

In Kismayo, local clans lived under the oppressive rule of armed clans from the central regions since 1999. Hundreds of local families were displaced from their Kismayo homes and forced to live in refugee camps in Kenya, while the invading clans from central Somalia (Marehan and Habar Gedir) illegally and immorally lived off the land, the port and the airport. Frankly, in Somalia, there is no politics without clans. While the Marehan are part of the Darod clan-family, the Habar Gedir belong to the Hawiye clan that dominates the central regions and Mogadishu. But their alliance was based on common political and economic interests. This point can be easily explained.

In September 2006, Col. Barre Hirale, a Marehan warlord, refused to join the Habar Gedir-led ICU agenda aimed at destroying Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG), led by President Abdullahi Yusuf (Darod-Majerteen). Hirale’s Habar Gedir ally in Kismayo, Mr. Yusuf Mire Serar, switched alliances to the ICU, magically transforming from a bloody warlord to a dedicated, religious man overnight. Hirale and his Marehan militias, who thrived in Kismayo with Habar Gedir backing, fled the port town and rushed to President Yusuf’s home base in Baidoa. Not surprising, when the Marehan militias failed to tow the Habar Gedir agenda, they were easily dismantled from power in Kismayo and forced to live under Yusuf’s shadow.

In January 2007, Ethiopian-backed Somali government troops invaded Kismayo and the ICU scattered – splintering into radicals and moderates, clans and sub-clans. As a bloody insurgency erupted in Mogadishu, Ethiopian forces withdrew from Kismayo in March that year, leaving the town under the control of Darod-dominated government troops. A month later, the government troops – which an easily be substituted for ‘clan militias’ – divided along clans; namely, Marehan soldiers versus Majerteen soldiers. The Marehan troops captured Kismayo, forcing soldiers and TFG-appointed regional administrators belonging to other Darod clans to flee to safety. Consequently, flagrant violations of human rights were well-documented by local organizations who reported acts of indiscriminate killings, rape and robbery of property belonging to non-Marehan civilians.

In Kismayo, an alliance of local clans fought for their God-given right to live free in the land of their fathers' fathers. They bravely liberated Kismayo so their children can walk and play in peace, and their women's honor and dignity is respected. That local clans sought Islamist support is no surprise; the TFG, preoccupied by the insurgency, neglected Kismayo and allowed brutal militias to suppress the local population. Simply, what happened in Kismayo is a popular uprising, not against the UN-recognized TFG, but against illegal militias who arrogantly refused to recognize the very TFG the world has spent so much resources defending.

The days of warlord-rule are over! The international community, namely the U.S. Government, should not be misled by 'al Qaeda' allegations and drawn into another quagmire, which would spread the insurgency like a wildfire across Somalia's deep south. Today, Islamist fighters control most of south-central Somalia; recently, it took Ethiopian troops eight days to travel the 250km-road linking Mogadishu to Baidoa, because they were repeatedly ambushed.

If the TFG, or its Ethiopian military backers, attempt to retake Kismayo by force, the insurgency will gain many supporters in regions like Puntland, the TFG's main domestic backer and President Yusuf's stronghold.

A wise policy would avoid such a predictable catastrophy.

Garowe Online Editorial, editorial@garoweonline.com