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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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11 Apr 2007 13:20:00 GMT
the West is funding the Ethiopian regime to massacre civilians in Mogadishu in disguise of war on terror. the TFG led by warlord Yusuf was created by IGAD and Ethiopia for Somalia. this so called Transitional Federal Government has no population to govern and its forces are trible militias from Yusuf's hometown Bosaso. Ethiopians are illegaly occuping Somalia and add insult to the injury the powerful government are pleased with this aggression. with Ethiopia as a friend somalia has no foe. please stop this insanity and leave Somalis alone to solve their problems.
11 Apr 2007 13:20:26 GMT
Islamic courts were the best chance that somalis had in having a united and peaceful goverment. The US, Ethiopia and the warlord TFG goverment are responsable the deaths, displacements and destructions occuring in somalia. We somalis will never accept a puppett goverment and ethiopian occupation. The only solution is immediate (now) withdrawal of ethiopian army from somalia and convening a proper reconcialiation conference attended by TFG (inluding the opposition MPs), ICU, bussiness people, intellectuals and somalis from diaspora. The somali issue is a political not clan one as most of the TFG are former warlords and ethiopian spies who have dictatorial and lack of political will. while most of the opposition are somali nationalists and people who are genuene in serving their people.
11 Apr 2007 15:31:38 GMT
Somalis don't seem to be solving their own problems. Neither do the Ethiopians, Americans or African Union troops. All are acting in their own interests. Every nation and every clan is thinking only of itself and how it can gain power. Until all these parties stop thinking with their guns and start thinking with their brains, there can be no improvement.
Southern Somalis can look to the north as they think about political processes; Somalilanders have been living in peace for more than a decade. That's because they sat down with each other, engaged in a discussion that didn't involve troop numbers or guns and worked out their own style of government - not one imposed by non-Somalis or a particular interpretation of Islam.11 Apr 2007 16:17:43 GMT
Ethiopia has the right to intervene militarily in somalia, they have right to defend itself from invasions and acts of terror. after all who wants to have next door telaban regime.
What the world does not know is the fact that, The Hawiye family sub-clan (Cayr) is the so call islamic court who has links with alkaida, spearheading the upheaval have already been in control of a large junk of the country between Mogadishu and Kismayo, 500 km. South. Locals of the area in their control are already complaining that the Cayr militia have conscribed their youth for the war, against the will of the people, and in the name of Islam. Alternatively, these kids, poor and impoverished, see an opportunity in the bandwagon to feed themselves, at a minimum. Hardly do they have any idea of what they are into.11 Apr 2007 16:18:57 GMT
Western hypocracy in relation to Somali affairs is manifest in the fact that most Western governments are not calling for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops occupying Somalia. The same is true for the so-called international community and the West-dominated UN.
Somalia will even be more unstable and will haunt western interests unless Ethiopian troops are withdrawn and Ethiopian intervention in Somalia affairs is harnessed. Ethiopia created the current situation by its manipulation and divide and rule tactics. It used Somali clan affiliation weakness to make sure that no Somali independent state stands on its feet. Like it or not, the Islamic courts represented the Somali aspirations for independence and self-determination. Islam transcends clan allegiance and it is the only force that, together with Somali nationalism, can unite Somalis. It is about time that Wetern governments and their Ethiopian proxy understand that Somalis cannot be forced to accept outside control. It is better for everyone, Ethiopia included to leave Somalis alone to decide their future.12 Apr 2007 08:59:00 GMT
THE SOMALI fragmentation however, was the beginning of Somalis plight and later loss of the Somali national sate as was predicted by Lord Curzon before ALMOST TWO decades. In his POIGNANT ANTICIPASION on consequential costs of artificial boundaries and handover of Somali territories to Ethiopia by the British Empire he noted that (the Ogaden) as being â`the razorâs edge on which hang suspended on modern issues of war or peace, of death or life to nationsâ(Asiwaju, 1993, in Waldron and Hasci, 1994: p.4). However, this statement was more than a century ago, yet it became a fulfilled prophecy.
I wonder how the worl can not take this simple facts which is the only solusion to somali problem is that their terotories that has been annexed to keynaya and ethiopai is given back to them. Further, let the ethiopians stay out of somalia, if that is not the case. the possible outcame of the ethiopian occupasion is that as somali peotet says: When I think carefully of the world while people sleep, When I observe constellations and portents, When I take the telescope and look on all sides, The clouds are running against the moon and the world is unsettled, Our land were sold to aliens by aliens, and this has been done without any justice, And the Somalis are denied the land where they should have enjoyed fresh milk, The only thing that remains for them is to take all of us togetherâ¦. The people of the world are amazed today, and are looking at us to see whether we will react. Unless we work hard and all go to war, Unless men and women all wear the band of mourning and revenge, Unless we watch out and protect our interest and fight, Our land will be inherited by others, Other nations have enclosed their countries with defensive walls, But the Somalis are robbed because they are lulled, ⦠You have made it your faith to enjoy pleasure and bars. Strolling along the sea shores and going to the Lido Many-storied and luxurious houses and comfortable beds Will, I swear in the name of my religion, become as bitter as aloes12 Apr 2007 09:01:03 GMT
US, Ethiopia and TFG President Abdullahi Yusuf are the parties to the undoing of Somalia. The US is after the oil for which US companies have been surveying in Somalia since 1952. Ethiopia's long term plan is to gradually annex what remains of Somalia, having already taken the Ogaden land and the lands of the other Somali clans, while President Yusuf's goal is to make use of Ethiopian military force in order to destroy all non-Darood clans, especially the Hawiye, Dir/Isak (now Somali land) the Rahanweyni. Yusuf's several public speeches to his Majeerteen clans and his present action in Mogadishu are evidence of his desire. He has effectively sold Somali sovereignty to Ethiopia in exchange for its military might in order to forcibly capture and subjugate Rahanweyni and Hawiye, then turn to Somali Land and use the unity of Somalia to bring the Dir/Isak under his darood clan rule. He is not known for any sense of nationalism, since he! has been serving the interest of Ethiopia. Without the backing of Ethiopia, President Yusuf has no chance to play any political roll in his own Somalia. See when Puntland elected Mr. Jama Ali Jama to replace Yusuf as the President of his own clan, he sought and got Ethiopian military who killed 200 Majeerteen miltia in order to oust the elected President and his cabinet. Do you believe Yusuf and his Ethiopian supporters will allow Somalia to replace Abdullahi as President?
12 Apr 2007 09:04:11 GMT
The US and the EU see the current TFG as the only way to go, when it comes a peaceful Somalia. therefore they are backing the TFG no matter what they do: massacring the civilians or committing genocide. Security matters occupy the number priorities of the US.The recent visit of Sec. Frazer to Somali where she held public and secret meetings with the ethiopian militay officials as well as the TFG leaders.In these meetings she prized the Ethiopans and the TFG for their massacre of the civilians in Mogadishu that took place (29 March-02 April)and pledged for additional funding, rewarding and giving them incentive to do commit more genocide in Mog. under the pretext of securing Americans from a percieved threat. As if American citizens security could be achieved by killing defendless civilians in southern Mogadishu. One would wonder if Americans know that their security is in killing civilians and their is used to kill innocent people.
We, in the recieving end of the American forieng policy, are dismayed and utterly appalled by the silence of the American public on what their government is doing around the world on their behalf. You Americans, wake up and let your vioce be heard! your security is not more important than the security and well being of the people of MOgadishu. We are all human beings and need to sleep well and eat well. But your government does not let us live in peace our country. The US government has destabilisized, attacked and killed our people, supported, and still does, our enemy, Ethiopia, to invade our country and commit genocide. All these are done in the name of assuring your security. So, please do something before your security cause innoucent lives!12 Apr 2007 09:09:51 GMT
the reason why ethiopia invaded somalia is obviously because america forced it to. otherwise they would have used human rights card, accusing reverand meles zenawi being a dictator and a violator of human rights. meles being as cunning as he is realised very quickly that serving americans by attacking somalia takes him off-the-hook. it had evidently nothing to do with self-defense.
12 Apr 2007 12:40:50 GMT
"Please note that comments should not be regarded as the views of Reuters."
You are liers. "Allowed" comments represent your views because you publish only comments in line with your views.12 Apr 2007 16:18:43 GMT
Fuqi, You're right that we vet comments before we publish them, but this is only to ensure that we do not publish anything libellous, racist or abusive. We also do not publish comments that would not make sense to the general reader.
13 Apr 2007 14:42:26 GMT
Unfortunately have to agree with Fugi!!! fuqi says: 12 Apr 2007 12:40:50 GMT "Please note that comments should not be regarded as the views of Reuters."
You are liers. "Allowed" comments represent your views because you publish only comments in line with your views13 Apr 2007 14:42:39 GMT
The southern somalis,esspecially the major hawiye clan are defending themselves from ethiopia and its puppets the TFG.The Tfg was created in kenya by ethiopia and it saw to it thats its puppets would get the "power to rule" somalia while taking their orders directly from ethiopia.The Islamic courts brought peace and a semblence of order to somalia which isn't what ethiopia has in mind for somalia and the lies started flying thick that the islamic courts were terrorists.The americans got into the act because to bush ISLAM=TERRORISM and the rest is what we see happening in somalia.
16 Apr 2007 06:44:24 GMT
Hawiye happens to be a Somalia Clan in Mogadishu that is fighting the invasion of the Ethiopian Archenemy that wants to take advantage of the Somali siutation now. The TGF puppet govt of Ethiopia is responsible of ethnic cleansing as it sponsors rudless enemy to massacre Woman & children and the western world is watching 'Shamefuly' because they have no intrest in the country as they always do where they have nho intrest.
23 Apr 2007 21:18:20 GMT
Thank you for reporting on the terrible tradegy, that is occuring in Somalia, right now. This is being done, because Bush is willing to sacriface, tens of thousands of people and the future of a whole country, rather than having Somalis select who rules them. The Ethiopians are co-consipirators, they get money and arms, as long as the killings go on. None of this can happen, without their political cover and financial support that America gives it.
How can this man, justify that he is a christian and allow thousands of people to lose to die like this.