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| Last Updated: Apr 3, 2012 - 2:47:55 AM |
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Somalia: IGAD’s confused response to TFG Mandate
31 Jan 31, 2011 - 7:36:41 AM
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By: Liban Ahmad
On 26 January 2011 the United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) issued a press release about the mandate of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia.
“There was unanimous agreement,both inside and outside Somalia, that the transitional period has to end in August as envisaged under the Djibouti Peace Agreement. In the meantime, consultations are underway to develop a consensus on how to end the transition and on the nature of post-transition political arrangements,” said Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General, Dr. Augustine P. Mahiga. “It is critical that the consensus-building process ensures that the gains made so far are sustained and entrenched beyond the end of the transition.”
UNPOS’s choice of the date for the press release is apt: it was twenty years ago on that date when former military regime led by Major Gneral Siad Barre was overthrown by clan-based opposition groups who had shared the objective to change the regime but not to change the country for better. Somalia has been through twenty years of tribulations in the form of statelessness, religious extremism, piracy, famine and clan warfare, to mention few of the trends with which Somalis are still grappling.
Clan-based opposition groups sought regime change for change’s sake and dealt a blow to the faith Somalis had in shared political institutions in a post-colonial Somalia. Member states of the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) are now making the same mistake in relation to Somalia. In a communiqué from the 17th Extra-ordinary Session of the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government on Sudan, Somalia and Kenya, member states note: “that the transitional period ends on 20 August 2011 and the Assembly reached a consensus on the urgent need to extend the term of the current Transitional Federal Parliament while the remaining political dispensation be handled by the people of Somalia” and call upon “IGAD, AU and UN to provide the necessary support and assistance to the Transitional Federal Institutions as they embark upon the process to end the transition period.”
IGAD is proposing mandate extension for the TFG parliament but at the same time recommends assistance to the Transitional Federal Institutions “as they embark upon the process to end the transition period.” Does this mean the TFG institutions will metamorphose into a non-transitional parliament and government or does it mean the transitional parliament will elect a new president to continue the transitional period? Does the “transitional period” mean the same to IGAD and the United Nations Political Office for Somalia?
The IGAD proposal undermines the consensus principle as a basis for addressing the issues pertaining to end of the TFG mandate. Why was Omar Hassan Al Bashir, the Sudanese president indicted by the International Criminal Court, consulted on Somalia? Reuters reports “African leaders backed Kenya's plan to defer the cases of key suspects accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of masterminding post-election violence.” Kenya is an IGAD member state.
IGAD “reiterates its earlier calls to the international community to provide adequate financial as well as military support to the TFG and AMISOM forces to enable them provide protection to the civilian population, the TFG institutions and government installations.” The international community particularly Britain and the United States ought to have a role in meetings on Somalia at both African and international levels. Both countries have large Somali communities.More than one-third of money remittances sent from Europe to Somalia is from the UK-based Somali community. American has a large Somali community in many states that send almost half of money remittances the Somali Diaspora in the West send to Somalia. In addition, Britain and USA contribute financially to the African peace-keeping mission (AMISOM) and developments projects in Somalia. British and American presence in meetings on Somalia will help striking a balance between the need for a “government forces” that, along with AMISOM, fight Al Shabab, and the need to build durable political institutions for Somalis. IGAD proposal does not provide a basis for reconciliation and institution-building efforts for Somalis who do not deserve to push toward repeating the same disastrous mistakes that leaders of opposition groups made twenty years ago.
Liban Ahmad
Libahm@gmail.com
Liban Ahmad is the editor of Somalia Research Report
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