Somalia: a country of warriors without leaders.
by Abdisamad Ghelle

Introduction:

I am a counsellor, group worker and community development worker. I am not a politician but am writing this article to provoke critical thinking amongst Somali educators and non-Somalis who invest their interest in the well-being of the Somali people and the Somali nation. I am and always have been anti-violence; physical or emotional and am therefore opposed to the atrocities that the warlords commit against Somali people. The Muslim religion promotes peaceful coexistence between different peoples and my mentor in politics and in life is the man who built a nation no less than a third the size of the entire world population; the prophet Mohamed peace and blessings be upon him. Forgiveness is at the forefront of my thoughts; therefore I encourage people to contribute to this debate without fear of revenge or persecution.

The aim of this article is to encourage reform of the Somali leadership and change the perception of Somalis of their government. The present state of the Somali leadership is not one that we can trust nor does it have the capacity to lead a nation in need of rescue. Somalis say that a man who left his mother under the hot sun will not take his stepmother to the shadow of the tree. I wonder how the warlords who killed, divided and incited hatred within their own sub-clans could lead the entire Somali nation to a peaceful and prosperous future.

This debate should be an ongoing one in which we exchange useful, mature and rational points of views. I invite people to contribute their thoughts and ideas with a feeling that there is a place for different ideas and ideologies. This is a space for those who would like to see a Somali state, which is respected in the international community and protective of its people. Somalia is not a poor country, nor were we born to beg. Isn’t it shameful that our leaders have become international beggars? Don’t you hate being a beggar!!!

To enable those who are not familiar with Somali history and geography to understand the Somali people and their psyche, I will give here a brief background of the country and its history.

Where is Somalia?

Somalia is situated in the Horn of Africa. Estimates of the Somali population vary from 6-10 million. Somalia is steeped in thousands of years of history. Somalians had a nomadic, pastoral life, placing great importance in their Islamic faith. Somalis share a common language (Somali), common outlook and common religion (Islam) but are divided along clan lineage. Somalia has an area of 637,540 square kilometres and the second longest coastline in Africa, 3025 kilometres.

During the colonial period (1891-1960) the British, French and Italians split Somalia into five small protectorates. In 1960 Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland were merged into an independent state, the Somali Republic. During this time there were territorial disputes with Ethiopia and Kenya and in 1969 Major General Mahammad Siad Barre seized power during a coup. For the following 21 years Siad Barre established a military dictatorship, which divided and oppressed Somalis. Since the 1980s Somalia has been engaged in civil war conflict, clan against clan, which has lead to huge population movement. Siad Barre’s regime ended in 1991 with a collapse of the Somali state. Armed clan militias fighting one another for political power followed this. For further detail see Kahin, 1997; Lewis, 1993 2002; The CIA World Fact Book- Somalia 2002.

The legacy of the colonialism
As in much of Africa, the first and second world wars led to the recruitment of many soldiers by the colonial powers. This resulted in the creation of warriors in Somalia.

The independence movements were lead by warriors who had little formal education and depended on the colonial powers for training and for administrating and governing the country. The Somali Youth League (formerly Somali Youth Club) was created by a group of young clerks, students and a small minority of graduates. An independent Somalia was achieved by these strong-headed warriors.

The Italians created the country’s first Constitution, which mirrored the Italian constitution. The culture, Islamic values, and traditions of the Somali Muslim people were not considered, nor did the politicians consult the Somali people. The same is happening today at the Somali peace conference in Kenya, where the constitution of the future Somali state was written and approved by the warlords without consulting the Somali people. The only contact that Somali people have with their government is to pay their taxes. Strangely, the Somali psyche seems to be one that is aware of its obligations towards the government but not of their rights.

By nature every human being must have role models, mentors or someone who inspires them. As was seen in much of Africa, early Somali leaders were inspired by and emulated the life of the representatives of the former colonial powers and their governments. They enforced their authority accordingly. The clerk’s role model was his boss and their commanders inspired the soldier’s. Therefore the government offices, the election polls, and every part of the institution were corrupt. In their mind the office you held was your property, and someone would be judged on how favourably they treated their clansmen, how many houses they built for themselves, and how much money they had stolen from the nation. This is how Somalia has been governed and ruled from 1960 to this present day. I wondered who inspires the current Somali leaders?

The Somali Civil war

The civil war was the outcome of the continuous abuse of power, injustice, corruption and bad government throughout the country. The people who were directly responsible for the suffering of the Somali people were the ones who participated in the so-called peace conferences. Their attitude and actions were greedy in every sense, they took control of the wealth of the nation, they wanted to be the only one to make decisions, they wanted power and control and advantages for themselves and their current clans people (often changing).

As a nation the Somali psyche must have been affected by these historical events and at an unconscious level, Somalis are still feeling non-competent, paranoid and low in self-esteem. These problems make them lose faith in Allah and feel that every body is potentially their enemy. The warlords feel that they would not survive without armed bodyguards protecting them. Therefore to this day warlords create a defence shield for themselves and instil fear in the hearts of their current clans people (their followers), so that the clan feels the need to be protected by the warlord and his militia. This they do by telling their people that the neighbouring clans hate them and would have attacked and massacred without the warlord’s militia to protect them. In my opinion however, since 1993 warlords and their militias have not been fighting to protect one clan from another but rather in order to loot properties, abuse and stay in power. I would also argue that clan allegiances are inconsistent and ever-changing.

For example I had conversation with one of the warlord’s supporters who told me that the opponent of his warlord was a heartless fool who came to die and take many others with him. Then the two warlords made peace between them in order to put their militias together. It was decided by the warlord that my friend’s support would be recognised by the warlord of that area. Some time later I had an opportunity to meet my friend again who voluntarily told me that the opponent of his warlord showed integrity, honesty, wisdom and that he is from a royal family and also showed his royalty.

I wondered if my friend remembered any of his previous conversations with me, or whether he was displaying selective memory and forgetting these in order not to contradict his present ones. Therefore I would encourage people to own their minds and thinking so that they can make a decision as to who they would support and why. It is also a waste of Somali taxpayer’s money if Somali educators loose the ability to own their political opinions and their capacity to think.

Somali Peace Talks in Kenya

I do not think that these peace talks are any different from the previous ones. I wish the conference to succeed and for peace to follow, however it is important for people to look at the facts before them, before they judge the value of these talks. The warlords involved hold onto a power that they never had prior to the civil war. They control areas where people give them taxes or royalty. They feel they are important because there would not be a positive result without their support, and they come to the meeting to get something that they had promised to their people. They would say to them that they will come home with this or that position, or they will not endorse the outcome of the meeting. These positions depend on the size of the area in their control and how close they are to Ethiopian leaders and other countries in the region. In addition it is essential for them to show that they are actively participating the so-called war against terrorism, which in turn gives them the blessing of the American leadership through the current administration of Ethiopia.

Another important question that someone might ask himself is whether the peace talks consider the values, culture and civilisation of the Somali people. If these are not thought through, how would it be possible for the Somali people to put pressure on these warlords to end their actions of killing, looting, raping, and dividing the Somali people? How could someone be acceptable to all Somalis when he has built his reputation within his own clan on the belief that he is the shield holding all other clans back, showing his merciless killings of other clans to prove this to his clansmen? In addition, how could someone be able to move from being protector to a small group against his fellow Somalis to a newborn nationalist on a practical level?

I wondered if the nearly thirteen years of continuous civil war, hatred, and the inability to agree on any thing has proved the qualities of the warlords and their lack of leadership skills and that this nation is a nation of warriors without leaders.

For about two decades the Somali people have failed to reflect upon and learn from the continuous misery and suffering they have endured. Somalis will not be good leaders until they stop denying their human weaknesses and begin considering lost interests of all Somali people rather than simply prioritising their local and personal interests. A good Somali leader would need to be a hero who fights for justice, equality, and high quality of life and would be remembered for his kindness, humbleness and humanity, rather than he who shows his cruelty towards the weak and unarmed, as has been the case for more than a decade in Somalia.

Despite my pessimism and anxieties about the process of forming an effective government for all Somalia, on an emotional level I hope and pray for a good outcome of these talks.

In the hope that a positive outcome is reached in this peace conference, there is a need for a new government to prioritise improvement in public health. This is even more important than the potential for new troops and armies from other parts of the world and the continent of Africa to bring diseases into Somalia. Any Somali government has to bear in mind that many of those troops are coming from countries where HIV and AIDS are epidemic and may pass this to Somalia where public health and particularly awareness on HIV and AIDS are not in place. We, the Somalis, should accept the reality that HIV and AIDS virus has killed many people in the world including in Somalia though it has not yet reached the levels as in other African countries. Therefore Somali people should be protect from political abuse of power as well as sexual exploitation, particularly voiceless women and young girls who should be safeguarded from such exploitations.

I would like to end my argument asking you the reader what Somalis should expect from their politicians, or as a Somali what are you expecting from your leaders?

How would you like them to rule the country?

What advise would you give them if they had to listen?

Written by Abdisamad Ghelle
Email: Ghelle@aol.com