I. ENTRENCHING ETHIOPIAN OCCUPATION
Needless to remind Ethiopia invaded and occupied Somalia from 24 December 2006 without being provoked and in breach of the international law specifically the UN Charter Article 1 paragraph 1 which states ‘All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or of use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United States,’ and the UN Security Council Resolution 1725 (December 2006) paragraph 3 in which the same Council reiterated and insisted ‘that all Member States, in particular those in the region, should refrain from any action in contravention of the arms embargo and related measures, and should take all actions necessary to prevent such contraventions’.
But unfortunately the UN and its Security Council totally failed to hold Ethiopia accountable for its blatant violations of Article 1 of its Charter and as well as the afore-said resolution to condemn Ethiopia for its aggression against Somalia, order to withdraw its troops and pay compensation for the massive loss of life and property.
This is not only complete failure of duty on the part of the UN to take the appropriate steps on these violations but that has been perceived by the Somali people and all good peoples and states that the UN is in favour of Ethiopian invasion and occupation which committed (still commits) mass genocide and war crimes, robs, and loots public and private properties, strips Somali Nation of its political independence, sovereignty, freedoms and tears the country into shreds. Sadly the UN Undersecretary General for Political Affairs, Mr. B. Lynn Pascoe, after meeting Ethiopian Prime Minister in Addis Ababa on 11 June stated ‘What many long-time observers are telling me is that this is the best opportunity for peace that Somalia has had in the past 16 years’(Media) and he lauded a ‘excellent job’ done AU peacekeeping force – that understandably, since he did not say Ugandan troops (the only AU or AMISOM troops there), such his superlative praise extends to the Ethiopian troops’ occupation and brutalities.
Some, including certain UN member States, may argue out of context that
As for the entrenching or deepening Ethiopian colonialism in
1. At the time of the invasion the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told the world that he would withdraw his troops from Somalia in a couple of weeks although most Somalis did not believe that. That did not happen. Month after month, he re-reiterates that he is going to bring back his troops just to mollify Ethiopian, Somali and international public opinion. But in reality his real policy is to maintain the colonial system he created in
2. The Ethiopians changed the TFG from its original reconciliatory mission to non-reconciliatory one and emptied its form and content based on the notorious Four Point Five (4.5) clannish power-sharing formula. About one third of the ‘Parliament’ (the patriots) either replaced illegally, intimidated, humiliated, isolated, died or resigned. The hundred or so ministers and vice ministers based on the Four Point Five formula were sacked in august 2006 replaced with 31 pro-Ethiopian ones by the explicit and published order of the Ethiopian foreign minister Seyoum Mesfin. Again that reduced pro-Ethiopian cabinet was reshuffled and those who spoke against the invasion and occupation or had a different view have been sacked or relegated to unimportant portfolios once more totally elimiting any residue left from the political balance. The outcome of such sinister plan of undermining the original TFG form and content, is a pro-Ethiopian subservient trio: ‘President’ Abdullahi Yusuf, Prime Minister Ali M. Gedi and speaker Sheikh Adan Madoobe to lead the sham show of TFG devoid of any legitimacy and power. Many of the remnant pro-Ethiopian ministers and MPs themselves are constantly subjected to intimidation, humiliation and confinement to Baidoa under order and guard. Only the minister of interior and vice minister of defence are seen or heard serving as spokesmen for the Ethiopian Ruling military General through the TFG name as a cover in addition to the above named top triumvirate.
3. On 5 May 2007 the Ethiopian Foreign minister Seyoum Mesfin as usual came to Mogadishu for a working tour and supervision of his occupation troops in charge of Mogadishu and above all to open own embassy in the capital which he did under Ethiopian heavy military and tanks presence – a tank diplomacy imitating the gunboat diplomacy existing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meantime, he accorded audience for his client Somali ‘President’ and ‘Prime Minister’ ostensibly talking with them about close relations between the two countries while the real purpose of the meeting was to tell them the decisive role the embassy will have and the similar roles the 30 or so Ethiopian ‘expert advivers’, brought with him and attached to Somali ministries and security organs, will play as well as in the forthcoming farce national reconciliation congress designed to approve their invasion and occupation which has to perpetuate. Seyoum’s latest tour of duty, were preceded by four, if not more, similar tours to Baidoa and
4. Dependent on Ethiopia since its formation in early 2003 and now on its troops, the TFG has never been allowed to form its own security forces (police and army) except three militia battalions which ‘President’ Abdullahi Yusuf recruited and brought from Puntland which he calls national army. That was why the TFG, after three years of existence, is still unable to on its feet and is set to be under the mercy and protection of Ethiopian troops for a long time to come.
5. on 5 May 2007, when almost everything fell in place - the heavy fighting in Mogadishu subsided (after the freedom fighters changed their confrontational fighting to guerrilla tactics), embassy opened and many Ethiopian ‘expert advisers’ took charge in various Somali ministries and rudimentary security organs (police and intelligence units), Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi paid a surprise visit to Mogadishu and he accorded audience to his client Somali TFG president and prime minister in one session, in another for Governor-cum-mayor of Mogadishu and police commander, and in still another session for selected Somali elders posing himself as the supreme colonial ruler of Somalia and instructing all these subjects the things he wanted them to do. On 9 May after returning to his original country, Meles declared that the ‘situation in
II. WAR CRIMES AND WORSENING HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
For the last 16 years of civil war and international neglect the majority of Somali people have been impoverished. Severe long droughts in 2005-6 and devastating riverine floods in 2006 made many more people destitute and helpless. The concerted efforts of the Islamic Courts Union and Somali philanthropic donors helped alleviate the plight of hundreds of thousands people in need in the late half of 2005 and in 2006 before the invasion. For political reasons or lack of conscience, the TFG showed no concern at all for the plight and suffering of the millions of Somalis while it has been the recipient of huge sums of international aid. The international community (governments, UN agencies, international NGOs) also neglected or hardly provided humanitarian and relief aid to the people in need especially from 2006 to-date for political reasons while making reasons of true and untrue insecurity.
1. War Crimes and worsening Humanitarian Crisis
In August 2006, six months prior to the Ethiopian invasion, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian affairs (OCHA) estimated that 1.8 million Somalis were either in Acute Food and Livelihood crisis or in humanitarian emergency situation. That figure related to people stricken and made destitute by the 2005/2006 severe droughts, riverine alluvial floods plus 400,000 protracted internally displaced persons (IDPs) during the 16 years civil war. But such dire humanitarian situation turned much worse from 24 December 2006 when the US-backed Ethiopian invasion and occupation in
In addition to the already 1.8 million destitute and helpless people, the UN reported that 400,000 civilians were displaced from
The other gross humanitarian law violations which must not be forgotten or be investigated into are the genocide and war crimes committed by the Ethiopian troops and the TFG accomplices of killing 3,586 civilians including women and children wounding and maiming 7,344 other civilians including women and children since 24 December 2006 (document issued by the Diaspora Somali Standing Committee for the Somali crisis in May 2007 London) and these crimes still continues on. These included scores of armed civilian freedom fighters who were exercising their inherent right to defend their own country from foreign enemy invasion and occupation. Some may say that is this not genocide. But if the definition of genocide is deliberate extermination of a people or nation, who can disprove that the Ethiopian invasion and occupation of
2. Onset of Economic Collapse
On top of that the basic livelihood means (properties, businesses, jobs, local relief aid and welfare networks) of the most people in Mogadishu have been disrupted, destroyed or blocked by indiscriminate carpet bombardments by the Ethiopian troops, looting, robbery and destruction of the shanty quarters and street trade where poor mostly women who used to sell countless petty goods (foods, fabrics, cigarettes, kat, etc., etc.) on open ground bazaars, stalks, tea shops, etc. etc. to find daily living for their children and extended families. This massive destruction and disruption massive economic activities created more armies of destitute people whose basic livelihood entitlements have been so wiped out without being provided alternative markets to make their transactions or means to live on. The UN and other humanitarian agencies have noticed the only 400,000 Mogadishu IDPs but may not yet noticed the massive destruction and dislocation of the economic activities and mass unemployment and destitution it created for hundreds of thousands of people who are still in the capital city. The whole economy of Mogadishu and nearby regions is on the brink of complete collapse due to the stifling occupation which makes almost everything impossible for trade and flow of goods from one place to another, normal business transactions and safe keeping of money exacerbated by increasing compulsory lump sum advance payments imposed on business people by the TFG as a form of tax, high port tariffs, roadblocks, rampant sea pirates which hijack or scare commercial ships or those carrying humanitarian aid, and extortion, rape, killing, looting and robbery of money and valuables (by breaking into homes and businesses), kidnapping businessmen and taking from high rates of ransom by TFG militias and Ethiopian troops, and armed thugs and thieves everywhere in the city and roads leading to the regions. Businessmen and ordinary people after being disarmed become vulnerable to the robbery of Ethiopian soldiers, TFG militias and armed thieves.
On the monetary side, the TFG imports of printed valueless Somali paper money and pays its militias, staff and services and at the same exchanges dollars from the market. The devaluation and additional negative economic impact such dumping of valueless money have on the already fragile and unprotected Somali shilling, prices of goods and services and the economy as whole is not yet known. But it is already publicly known that the price of goods especially the food, medicines and basic necessities sky-rejected due to scarcity of goods and the above enumerated multiple problems. Because of such highly insecure environment many business people transferred their money abroad and stopped trading in
3. Ethiopian PM Satisfaction about
Accomplishment of his Colonial
This is the real current social, security, economic and political situation obtaining in Somalia which the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Meles Zenawi hailed as ‘the situation in Somalia very encouraging’ after his visit to Mogadishu on 9 June 2007 and five days before him the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia John Holmes cogently described as ‘In terms of numbers of displaced people, and our access to them, Somalia is a worse crisis than Darfur or Chad or anywhere else this year.’ Why for Meles Zenawi the catastrophic situation in
4. TFG Leaders Blockage of
Humanitarian Aid Revealed
Under pressure of the Somali people (both inside and outside he country), many international NGOs such as Oxfam, MSF, UNICEF, Safe the Children, ICRC, Care, etc. and concerned international community members such EU commission, international good-willed groups and individuals and individuals the UN and some members of the ICG broke the silence about the atrocities of the Ethiopian troops and TFG and that secret was divulged that the TFG leaders officially blocked the humanitarian agencies and aid from coming into the country to these needy affected by famine and epidemic diseases (cholera, watery severe watery diarrhoea, etc.) especially the 400,000 or more Mogadishu IDPs who were languishing and dying in open air camps without food, water, medicine, and shelter and many more others who already destitute and desperate. Then it has transpired that personally the prime minister of the TFG wrote a letter to the UN and humanitarian agencies that they could cannot come or bring in humanitarian aid. The WFP local representative in
As the row of accusation and counter-accusation between the TFG and international humanitarian agencies about the obstruction heated, on 23 April 2007 the TFG was forced to rescind its blockage order on humanitarian aid and they declared that only civilian airports open to humanitarian aid to come in words not followed by deeds. To increase the pressure on them, on 28 April 2007 the Chief UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia Mr. John Holmes sent ‘an open letter’ to’ Somali leaders, military commanders, elders and community representatives calling for unimpeded access for the delivery of assistance to and provision of protection to Somalis’. To press TFG even harder (and of course their Ethiopian controllers), Mr. John Holmes visited
III. THE SOMALI PEOPLES’S LEGITIMATE
RESISTANCE AGAINST ETHIOPIAN-OCCUPATION
The unprovoked, aggressive and illegal US-based Ethiopian invasion and occupation of
Therefore, the Somali insurgents or anti-Ethiopian occupation fighters, whether they are members of the ICU or other Somali patriots are not violence mongers, extremists, terrorists or Al-qaida members and associates as wrongly accused by Ethiopia, its client TFG, the Americans and the bulky of the western media, but these fighters are freedom fighters. They did not start the violence but it was
If
III. THE FARCE NATIONAL RECONCILIATION CONGRESS
Since the Ethiopian troops have given a lift to it to
Therefore, with such sinister intentions behind it, this bogus national reconciliation congress organised by the TFG and their Ethiopian controllers, if at all it takes places, because it has been postponed for three times and lastly scheduled for 15 July 2007, can neither bring legitimacy to the TFG nor peace and security in Somalia. For the following reasons this so-called reconciliation congress is devoid of any credibility and legitimacy let alone to bring peace, security and lasting political settlement:-
1. The brutal and total Ethiopian occupation and control - a situation which is very far from being conducive to hold a genuine national reconciliation congress.
2. The apolitical nature and sinister intentions the Ethiopians and the TFG have in holding this so-called congress which are to approve the Ethiopian invasion and its continued occupation and keep the TFG in its current powerless client form;
3. The members of the organising committee of the congress are far from being neutral and independent as they were selected and appointed by the TFG president and approved by the Ethiopians. Prior to his nomination the chairman of the organising committee was invited to Addis Ababa by the Ethiopian Prime Minister to be told what he would do and after that the TFG ‘president’ nominated him and other members who similarly have no integrity and credibility whatsoever. So there is no independent and neutral organising committee.
3. The current leadership of
4. The Ethiopia and TFG leadership have not made even only one concession or acceptance of the demands and proposals for solution of the crisis contained in the two petitions to these authorities by the Mogadishu opposition Elders sent to take steps to stop the war crimes of deliberate mass massacres and destructions and a host of gross transgressions on the dignity, freedom and property on the people of Mogadishu and nearby regions. These demands and proposals were completely belittled and ignored.
5. And more importantly, the people of Mogadishu especially the opposition Council of elders, the politicians, the anti-occupation freedom fighters, and civil society have zero relations and zero trust with the TFG and their Ethiopian-controllers which make impossible to have a genuine national reconciliation congress and have meaningful and lasting political settlement under Ethiopian occupation and the TFG through the afore-said dependent and partial Organising committee.
6. The real dictatorial and brutal behaviour of the Ethiopian and the TFG have been graphically evinced by:-
a) The mass genocide and other war crimes they committed and still commit to the people of
c) Continuous of arrests and disappearances of countless innocent people, the intimidation and terrorisation, large and widespread looting and robbing of the wealth of the people (businesses, families, individuals);
d) Terrorising raids on the homes, intimidation, harassment, manhandling and detentions of members of the opposition elders of Mogadishu especially the detention of their chairman Haji Abdi Imam, similarly respectable politicians like former president Mr. Abdikasim Salad Hassan (whose residence was raided and ransacked), and arrest of Dr. Mohamud Mohamed Uluso, Mr. Ali Iman the head and partner of Hornarfik radio, and many others. Mr. Haji Abdi Iman and these politicians were detained in a filthy and dreadful underground dungeons already cramming to the brink with innocent people without the least conditions for human living and without due legal process or justice. These dignitaries were lastly were thanks to internal and international criticisms and pressure. All these terrorising acts and arrests followed the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s tour of duty in
e) Close-down of the local media such as Hornafrik Radio, Furan Radio, Shabelle radio, etc. following the visit of Mr. Meles Zenawi not to report the atrocities going on in
Such infringements on individual liberties and political freedoms of these dignitaries, the entire population of Mogadishu and the freedom of the media plus the grave war crimes committed and still being committed illustrate clear picture that there are not the minimum security and freedom requirements needed by a genuine national reconciliation congress. That is why this hoax congress has been postponed for the third time and is boycotted by the most apolitical delegates selected by the TFG let alone the unarmed opposition and anti-occupation freedom fighters.
In a word, as noted above, the forthcoming hoax congress is just a sinister project intended to mislead the international community and approve the Ethiopian invasion and its continued occupation and keeping dysfunctional and much hated client TFG in place so that it will always be heavily dependent on Ethiopia and its manipulation.
6. First Somali President
Buried under Occupation
Since the black December 2006 when the Ethiopian occupation started in Somalia, it is the most depressing and painful moment for the Somalis that the body of their beloved first President Adan Abdulle Osman, who passed away in Nairobi on 8 June 2007, was returned and buried in Mogadishu on the 11th of the same at a gloomy moment when his beloved country, of which freedom he struggled and become its first president, was under the occupation of its traditional arch-enemy of Ethiopia. Neither Somalis nor President Adan Abdulle Osman have ever imagined that this could happen to their motherland. Tens of thousands of Somalis attended his funeral to pay him the respects he deserved while in deep grieve and consternation not only for his death but also for humiliating situation the death and funeral of their beloved first president coincided. Many Millions of Somalis inside and outside the country have had similar movements of double grieve. The death of President Adan Abdulle Osman and the sad occupation under which he was buried, will strengthen the will and resolve of many Somalis to liberate their motherland from the colonial occupation of
7. Unwanted and Misplaced Amnesty
On 16 June the TFG prime minister held a meeting for his ministers to talk about amnesty for the Somali ICU members and other anti-Ethiopian Somali freedom fighters and suggested to the TFG president to grant amnesty for these fighters and for those hundreds of innocent people illegally detained in
IV. ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
Since the invasion six months ago, views and positions of the members of the international community dealing with
The US led International Contact Group (ICG) on Somalia which also includes, Britain, Kenya, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Tanzania, IGAD (with only Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda actively attending), AU, UN and Arab League, has taken the liberty to name itself to get involved in the Somali crisis but has not taken concrete steps about the invasion and occupation of Ethiopia; building Somali national security forces; influencing the TFG in the right and preventing it from political fragmentation and deterioration; and war crimes and the escalation of the humanitarian catastrophe and prolonged suffering of millions of Somalis prior to and during the occupation. The ICG behaviour seems to support, and/or condone and play delaying tactics to give the Ethiopian occupation more time to take its course and implement its sinister mission. The ICG holds occasional meetings and issue confusing and non-committal statements as opposed to coming up with clear, concrete and concerted policy about resolving the Somali protracted and deteriorating crisis and putting in place pertinent decisive action plans. Its latest meeting is case in point.
1) The Latest UN ICG Meeting
The communiqué issued by the last IGC held in
a) ‘The Contact Group welcomes . . . the assurances given by the Transitional federal Government that the reconciliation Congress will be fully inclusive and that no clan or sub clan’, ’or individual members of them who renounce violence and are selected by their clans’;
c) ‘The Contact Group agrees to funding the Congress’
b)‘The Contact group strongly condemns actions of extremists and terrorists and those looking to under undermine the political and reconciliation process’ an unfortunate misnomer and reference to the Anti-Ethiopian occupation freedom fighters whether they belong to the ICU or are other patriots.
The language of the ICG as ‘actions of violence’, ‘extremists’ and ‘terrorists’ that ‘undermine the political and reconciliation process’ that it ‘strongly condemns’ clearly refer to the Somali Ethiopian anti-occupation insurgents or freedom fighters struggling to liberate their country from the Ethiopian occupation. If these freedom fighters are labelled or called ‘extremists’, ‘terrorists’ and ‘Alqaida’ and their demands are so offhandedly dismissed or ignored, a question begs: with whom the TFG reconciles and what kind of reconciliation the ICG supports? All these terms and phrases of the ICG seem to be supportive of the real agenda of the Ethiopian and their client TFG which are exclusive and not conducive to any peace, reconciliation and stability in
The other big folly of the ICG is that they avoid the mention of or do something about the war crimes and brutalities of the Ethiopian troops, their continuing predatory actions, and setting a timetable of ending this brutal occupation. For six months now, the ICG or the international community has been talking about AU troops deployment which are not forthcoming because either they are not deliberately funded by those rich countries which would pay the bill or that the would-be troop contributing African countries are reluctant to send their troops to Ethiopian occupied Somalia least their troops would not be a supplementary to such occupation or that their troops would not killed by furious Somali freedom fighters in futile mission. The second AU peacekeeping contribution is expected to be
.2) The Commendable Ugandan position and peacekeeping role
Only
3. The Proposed UN Mission for
There are a lot of questions what will the UN mission be like? From which countries troops are to be drawn? Will the frontline or other controversial countries participate in this UN mission? What is the mandatory power of this mission - to administer
Such mission to be successful, the UN Security Council needs that it critically learn lessons from the past: the failed 1992-1995, the irreparable nature of the TFG, the destructive Ethiopian invasion and occupation and the havoc its continued presence can play with Somalia, the notion of ‘coalition of the willing’ as mentioned earlier by the UN Secretary General if it means voluntary interested countries pursuing their own objectives or doing what they deem fit (which reminds one the disaster in Iraq) and can spell similar catastrophe in Somalia, the counter-productive effects the politically motivated slogans and labels of ‘Islamic terrorists’ and ‘Alqaida presence’, etc., the deliberate exclusion of the civil society (especially intellectual/professionals, civilian politicians old and new, titled legitimate traditional and religious elders, women and youth groups).
4) Need to recognise and address
root-causes of violence and extremism
It should be borne in mind by the International community or specifically by the ICG that the violence that has been going on in Somalia for the last two decades or so has not been chosen by the Somalis but that it is caused by a combination of factors such as poverty, ignorance and foreign negative foreign involvement especially the long time constant Ethiopian direct negative interventions (e.g. taking sides and supply of arms and other resources to favoured factions, etc.) which boiled down to their current rapacious and degrading occupation in Somalia.
Any genuine Somali political leadership or movement and the international community should understand, recognise and address these root-causes (e.g. grinding poverty, ignorance, interested negative foreign interventions and the present occupation) instead of putting the blame on the Somali people for tribalism or lack of national consciousness and demonising various factions or groups like the ICU for ‘extremism’ and/or terrorism’, and the most wild accusation as ‘Al-qaida connections’ or depicting Somalia as a ‘haven for terrorism’. These are assessment and characterisation of the Somalis and their social and political behaviours are either stemming from hopeless misconceptions or ideologically and politically driven intentions that can only help weaken
V. SOME RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
1. Need for change of perception and
review of Somali Politics and Crisis
First and foremost the international community, UN, ICG, EU, AU, Arab League Arab, etc. must review their perception and appraisal of Somali social, economic and political crisis by looking at the following critical issues:-
a) review its support, condoning or evasive approach of the Ethiopian invasion and occupation in
b) review the unconditional support to the TFG and its irreparable nature especially after being deeply fragmented and become even more dysfunctional TFG since its formation rather than developing and gaining strengthening itself;
c) the prevailing humanitarian disaster and the impending complete collapse of the economy of Mogadishu city and the whole country because of the devastating effects of the occupation which still go on;
d) the root-causes of violence and extremism or ‘terrorism’ as widespread grinding poverty, ignorance and negative and interested foreign interventions and not the Islamic religion;
2. Steps to be taken
a) first and foremost to address the speedy and complete (repeat complete) withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from
b) address proactively, promptly and effectively the humanitarian catastrophic of the Mogadishu IDPs, their return and the wider needy population everywhere in
c) take urgent steps to tackle the quickly collapsing economy in
d) speed up the deployment of more neutral AU forces (like Uganda ones) or UN whichever now is on the UN Security Council agenda to have early complete withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops;
e) then begin a genuine national reconciliation congress participated by all stakeholders including TFG, ICU members, old and new politicians, professionals and NGO leaders, titled and formal traditional and religious leaders, women and youth groups under safe and free environment in Somalia under neutral and fair mediation and facilitation of the international community or ICG with a projected outcome of genuine and workable political settlement.
By Omar Salad
E-mail: [email protected]