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ARTICLES & OPINIONS
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Somalia: 'The World's Hidden Shame'
April 11, 2007
While Western countries are desperate to find a solution for Somalia
following the latest fighting, it's worth remembering that it was the West that
destroyed the tribal arrangements which used to hold Somalia together,
writer Hugh Graham says in the Toronto Star.
Even the current divisions between Somalia's peaceful north and restive south
are due to western involvement. The British were wise enough to leave the tribal
governing structures intact in the northern part of the country. The Italians,
on the other hand, attempted to impose a centrist government in the south,
dismissing the existing tribal system in the process, Graham explains. The U.S.
followed the Italian example in the 1990s and the result is a failed state. It's
also important to understand that most of the support for the Islamic Courts, a
group of sharia-based courts which temporarily ruled the country last year,
comes from the southern Hawiye tribe. But don't be fooled into thinking that
this means the Hawiye are Islamist hardliners, Graham warns. The Hawiye's main
fear is being governed by the current president of the transitional federal
government (TFG), Yusuf Ahmed - a member of the northern Darood clan. The
example of Somaliland, a peaceful territory occupying part of northern Somalia,
shows how traditional tribal structures can help reconciliation, Africa analyst
Dr Timothy Othieno writes in Business Day. Othieno of South Africa's Institute
for Global Dialogue echoes Graham's thoughts by suggesting that the rest of
Somalia should do the same as Somaliland where traditional processes of conflict
resolution enabled clan elders to sort out their differences in 1993 after years
of fighting.
The Economist says making concessions to the Hawiye tribe could go a long way in
securing peace. The Hawiye would in turn be more ready to control their gunmen
and detach themselves from the Islamist hardliners.
The Washington Post holds foreign powers responsible for some of the failures in
securing a more peaceful Somalia.
It blames Eritrea for backing the Somali Islamists and African countries, such
as Nigeria and South Africa, for failing to send promised peacekeepers. It also
blames the United States and Europe for not increasing pressure on African
countries to provide peacekeepers and for not pressing the Somali transitional
government to strike deals with under-represented tribes, such as the Hawiye.
The opportunity for peace in Somalia may have already been missed, the paper
says. Late last year, Ethiopian soldiers entered Somalia to help the government
kick out the Islamists. Replacing them with African peacekeepers sounds like a
good idea and "makes political sense", says Kenya's Nation.
But Somalis may not view it that way. The move could be seen as a means of
strengthening the unpopular transitional government. The international community
better rethink its strategy for Somalia, the paper warns. Otherwise, the mortar
fire that greeted the first batch of Ugandan peacekeepers may not be a one-off.
The Washington Times is similarly pessimistic about Somalia's prospects. There
was a window of opportunity when the Islamists were booted out of Mogadishu, the
paper says. Had they been prevented from reorganising, Somalia may not be in the
mess it now finds itself in, it concludes.
A national reconciliation conference planned for April 16 may offer some hope,
but don't hold your breath, says Michael Weinstein, an analyst at the Power and
Interest News Report, cited by the Guardian columnist Simon Tisdall.
He lays the blame on President Yusuf and factions within the government who,
according to Weinstein, would be reluctant to hand over power. So, why not put
pressure on Yusuf? It's more complicated than that, argues Weinstein. "If (the
international community presses) the TFG into open reconciliation talks, they
risk its implosion; if they stand back and let Yusuf proceed with his approach
to reconciliation, they risk increasing instability." So, Somalia - "the hidden
shame of the world" as Tisdall calls it - looks set for yet another "descent
into the inferno".
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Source: Toronto Star
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