Omar M. Farah, MA (International
Development)
Melbourne, Australia
First and foremost it is appropriate
to note that the tragedy that unfolds on a daily basis in Somalia and
Mogadishu in particular is unfortunate and any casualties regardless
of the causes are regrettable and every Somali casualty is minus from
Somali populace. Mogadishu’s inhabitants are entitled to sleep and
wake-up in peace and hope like any other human being on the face of
the earth. Mothers in Mogadishu don’t deserve to continue to shed
tears after tears and lose their beloved ones without real motives.
To focus my point on the discourse,
before I jump to any conclusions it may be wise and appropriate to question
analytically if the Ethiopian forces were actually the real focal point
of the dispute – a dispute that causes enormous death and destruction
of whatever is left in Mogadishu both human and material.
As I explained in my previous
article
(Somalia: Was
it legitimate for Ethiopia to go to Mogadishu?)
Somalia
and Ethiopia have a territorial dispute. However, as the developments
of events have shown, the current insurgency against Ethiopian forces
in Somalia has nothing to do with that history, and highlighting Ethiopian
presence was just used as a political tool to justify the rejection
of the peace keepers. In reality, the main reasons, six out of seven
reasons, was the mere rejection of the government regardless the nation
that supports them.
Who are opposing the Somali
government and why?
The opponents of the Somali
government are fragmented and they have different agendas but yet they
have cynical similarities which unite them for the time being until
probably they reach the cross road. These elements are included but
not confined to:
-
One sub-sub clan
militia insurgents that are so determined to protect the system that
supports them during the high-days of the civil war (from 1991 to 2006)
which allowed them to acquire what the Somalis dubbed triple-M, the
money, militia and media. These items could be added to the houses that
they moved in after the legitimate inhabitants were displaced by the
civil war.
-
An Islamist group
who have a paternal working relationship with the first group who want
to rule Somalia under the cover of Islamic Sharea. In this group, according
to a reliable source some are more sincere than the others when it comes
to the religion.
-
Few, but noisy,
former sacked ministers and MPs who defected to Asmara to secure future
title after they lost their position in the interim government.
-
Innocent, narrow-minded,
wrongly indoctrinated, and distortedly persuaded, mainly, young men
who are led to believe that killing Ethiopian forces, Somali Government
forces and government supporters will provide them a short cut to paradise.
-
Few elements who
believe that the Somali civil war and scoring territorial gains is not
yet over, like Kismayo occupiers who themselves agree to disagree how
to share the booty.
-
A few number of
people, mainly traditionalist and old former government officials who
defiantly oppose the Ethiopian entry into the Somali territory, despite
every thing else, and
-
Finally, external
forces, mainly some Arab countries and Eritrea. The Arab countries opposes
the active Ethiopian role in Somalia for geopolitical reasons, where
Eritrea believes it is their best chance to wage a proxy war to revenge
from Ethiopian forces by providing military support and temporary residential
status to the Somali insurgents, as long as they are doing the dirty
job for them.
The cynical similarities of
the referred fragmented coalition that opposes the government’s objectives
could be summed up: working towards defeating the Somali government,
hiding behind the slogan of the so-called “Ethiopian invasion” and
using Somali teenagers to commit suicide, so they (the opponents) would
achieve their political agendas. Additionally, many of these opponents
do believe that they are better off without a government, as any government
and governance will end the continuation of the present Somali saga
– a condition that is profitable to some of them.
Therefore, it is unlikely for
the insurgents to reconcile with any peace keepers no matter their nationality
and the religion they follow. I wonder if the insurgents know
that, as a result of their actions, many Somalians are suffering and
dying almost every where around the world in the most demeaning way,
many of them in search of peace and hope, the two most expensive items
in Somalia.
If this is the reality, will
the international community walk away from Somali people and let them
go into the hands of the merciless interest-groups? Will the neighbouring
countries tolerate the chaotic and internally burning territory in their
backyard, or will they unite to distinguish the fire before it destroys
their fence and threatens their household. Will the African Union watch
the desperation of their brothers and sisters, as they did many times
in the past in many countries of the continent? I don’t think so.
Omar Mohamud Farah (Dhollawaa)
Dhollawaa@yahoo.com.au
