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HIIRAAN ONLINE
E D E T O R I A L
Monday, June 02, 2008
This week, a UN Security Council delegation is in Djibouti to assess the Somalia reconciliation efforts spearheaded by the Special Representative of the Secretary General. This is indeed a positive development for Somalia because this battered country has been below the UN radar for a long time. The Security Council team came to Djibouti to meet up-close and personal with the two principle antagonists in the Somali conflict – the leaders of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and that of the Alliance of the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS).
Many Somalis hoped the second phase of the reconciliation talks between the TFG and the Alliance would be a step in the right direction. The host country, Djibouti and its President as well as the UN mediator genuinely want peace to prevail in Somalia.
Unfortunately, the Alliance seems to be oblivious to these timely opportunities. Instead, they are openly displaying huge rift among them, when the world and the Somali people expected of them political maturity and seriousness in the quest for peace in Somalia.
It is worth remembering though that in the beginning, the international community attempted to ignore and shun the Alliance. The fact that the Security Council travels to Djibouti in order to meet with them and support the reconciliation efforts between the TFG and the ARS, demonstrates that the international community concluded that both sides are crucial to peacemaking efforts.
Instead of making use of this unprecedented international consensus to accommodate the main demands of Alliance –i.e. the withdrawal of the Ethiopian forces - the Alliance seems to opt for destructive bickering. Consequently, factions within the ARS are on the verge squandering a significant political opening. This is indeed a mind-boggling blunder of epic proportions, especially when one takes into account the pain and suffering of the Somali people and desperate need for peace and reconciliation.
In our April 14, 2008 editorial piece titled Prime Minister Nur "Adde" & Sheikh Sharif: Potential Somalia Peacemakers we heaped lot of praise on Sheikh Sharif, the leader of the Asmara-based Somali opposition. We, however, qualified our endorsement. We wrote then, “In spite of the positive steps towards peace and the commanding role apt leaders such as Sheikh Sharif, we must also highlight the existence of thorny challenges that could derail the ongoing peace efforts. Two of these challenges will however form the final litmus test of Sheikh Sharif's leadership competency… For one, if the ongoing mediation efforts bore fruit…How well the two sides leave behind their bloody past and forge a new governing body will thus be the ultimate test for all, and particularly for Sheikh Sharif. Another more ominous challenge that awaits the good Sheikh is the Al-Shabaab factor. The Al-Shabaab fighters are not happy with his recent reconciliation efforts with the TFG. Taming these battle-hardened, self-righteous and hypersensitive Islamic fighters will be a tall order for anyone. Convincing them to curb their rhetoric and cooperate in a compromise governance order will be the final test of the leadership skills of Sheikh Sharif.”
Instead of bringing the Al-shabaab in the fold of the Alliance, a segment of the Alliance based in Asmara are accusing Sheikh Sharif that he is operating outside of the charter of their organization. Hiiraan Online does not indulge in or take sides in the friction of the TFG or the current rift within the Alliance. We are only interested peace to prevail in Somalia.
What Sheikh Sharif needs to recognize therefore is that neither the TFG nor the International community particularly the Security Council care about him as a person. He is getting all the attention simply because as the leader of an armed opposition group, the world expects of him to help end the conflict in Somalia and to be and instrument for peace. Therefore, if Sheikh Sharif runs off without his group, he has no use / value for the TFG and the United Nations or for the Somali people for that matter. On the other hand, what the dissenting faction of opposition group need to understand is, as leader of the ARS, Sheikh Sharif should have the authority to negotiate, test the waters and engage all those who are actors in the Somalia drama.
Only after he submits memorandum of understandings should the central committee and the general assembly of the Alliance be able to agree or reject his peace plans. That is how the world works – from the US President to Unions – leaders negotiate and members or the legislators ratify or reject his plans. Crying wolf without seeing what the leader has negotiated is primitive politicking at best or pretext behavior of budding spoilers.
Somalia is at a crossroad. The international community wants to help. TFG shows a lot of resilience in keeping their factions within the big tent of the TFG. Neither the Somali masses (who gave the ARS huge latitude) nor the TFG who extended a reconciliation hand or the UN, which facilitated the current peace round, expected the 11th hour squabbling of the Alliance.
The Alliance must get their acts together and end their bickering – the Somali people are NOT impressed with this juvenile politicking. Alliance bickering is certainly another barrier to peace.
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