by Abdi-Noor Mohamed
Saturday, March 13, 2010
If you look at Somalia with a heart of peace, you will see beauty, you see plains and plateaus, you see hills and a chain of mountains. You see a variety of vegetation. You see game of many sorts. You see prosperity, the best beaches in the world, the best breed of livestock, a rivers and oceans, plenty of marine resources, a long coastline, a most fertile land, large mineral reserve and a vast oil deposit. If you look at its people you see people of same ethnic origins, sharing a common culture, language and religion, a most homogeneous nation in the world. Yet on the other side of the coin you see tragedy in its worst form. Wars raging inside wars, you see brothers killing brothers, you see blessing turning out to be a curse, you see similarity of a difference. You see death and destruction, you see dislocation and disorientation, you see dissociation and disintegration, you see hunger and disease, you see armed conflict and Islamic insurgents, you see Ethiopia and Eritrea boxing with gloves marked “TFG and Al-shabaab” you see people being used as a canon fodder, you see Arab league, you see Organization of Islamic Conference, you see suicide bombers, you see African Union soldiers, you see mortars finding their way to residential areas, you see the UN and the US, you see drones flying over dilapidated buildings, you see food aid diverted to warlords and insurgents, you see massive build up in the Somali seas to gear up measures to fight piracy, you see pirates pocketing millions of dollars in ransom, you see the whole world involved in the Somali war and yet you see no hope for this war to come to an end. Why? The answer is simple. It is WE. WE, WE and WE. To forge unity we depart from a point of disunity: TRIBE, which itself is abused in the power-sharing equation because parliament seats are based on 4.5 which means some are superior while others are inferior based on fake guesses and unfounded numerical statistics. Tribe is divide and rule. Tribe is slavery. We need to debate about how to eradicate tribe from our political system but that is too much a waste now to get embroiled into. Something Should Be Done though, but for now we need not squander our time and effort on that subject as we have a more pressing issue which demands our immediate attention --The headline-grabbing story of the W FP Somalia.
In September last year The World Food Programme has taken a decision to close feeding centers in Somalia on grounds of funding shortages but since there was no disruption in their operation, I guess the agency had struck some luck somewhere in the aid industry and has availed itself an opportunity to be on duty for the years to come. Last week the same scenario has repeated itself, though not from lack of funding but from threats of a most notorious Islamic insurgent of Alshabaab in Somalia. These threats mean that hundreds of thousands of children in the Al-shabaab controlled areas will not eat anymore despite spending millions of dollars each day in fighting to kill TFG soldiers along with a handful of innocent populations. How can we justify this? Is it fair to let factions be them political, tribal or religious to be armed to the teeth with weapons worth of millions of dollars while children are starving and dying from hunger due to lack of security? Is it fair that extremists kick out aid agencies while children are perishing in their hundreds as a result of disease and malnutrition?
In an attack against an Al-Qaeda suspected hideouts in Southern Somalia last year a high value terrorist of Kenyan origin has been killed by the Americans. We thought that the insurgents would crumble from lack of funding and coordination but what happened is the opposite of what many have anticipated. Al-shabab grew stronger and bolder.. They have carried out horrifying offensive against the TFG since the killing of their man, gaining more ground as large swathe of territory has fallen under their control, much to the horror of the Somali child who has become a victim to their expansion as they got rid of WFP from Al-shabab controlled zones.
Here I am not concerned who is right and who is wrong in the Al-shabaab/WFP tussle. Not am I concerned about the accusations of arms smugglers hired by WFP as contractors. I am concerned only about the child and what impact this quagmire will have on the already slim chances of the child’s survival. I am concerned about a child who has taken the last bite of his meal and waiting for another not knowing that food aid has been suspended. I am concerned about that child who only knows peace. I am concerned about who will bridge the gap while the game of accusations is played out and the dust is settled. I am concerned about the child who is waiting for food but only receiving bullets. Who can offer hope for this child? Who can guarantee that this child whom fate had put in Alshabab-controlled zones will be provided with some food until such time agencies start their work again? Where can we expect that hope to come from? I think it is time for the locals to engage themselves in serious humanitarian activities to fill the gap. Something should be done. We can’t eat and sleep in peace with our children in the Diaspora while millions of Somali children are perishing due to insecurity. Think.
Abdi-Noor Mohamed
Writer and Film maker
Växjö University ( Student)
Sweden
[email protected]