|
|
 |
|
| |
Somalia's Warlord President
Belongs In A Courtroom At The Hague Not At UN
Security Council
April,21,2008
Fairfax, Virginia, USA, 20 April 2008: An invitation
from South Africa, the holder of the rotating
presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC),
brings Mr.. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the President of
the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of
Somalia, to New York this week. Ostensibly, his
visit is part of an effort aimed at convincing the
UNSC to send peacekeeping troops to Somalia. The
country, which is currently under an illegal
occupation by neighboring Ethiopia, is in the abyss
of an acute humanitarian suffering. Aid and
humanitarian agencies are unanimous in their
designation of Somalia as the worst crisis on earth
today. Mr. Yusuf's stated goal of the visit is to
urge the UNSC to send a United Nations (UN)
peacekeeping force to help his teetering government.
A former military Colonel in the National Somali
Army, Mr. Yusuf has been on the Somali political
scene for nearly five decades. His arrival in
Mogadishu in January, 2007, as the unpopular
President of an even less popular, some would even
say imposed, government, ended a decades-long
absence from the capital. It also marked the
invasion and the start of an Ethiopian occupation of
Somalia that is now in its second year. Caught
between the indiscriminate use of force by Ethiopian
occupation forces and a growing insurgency opposed
to their presence, over 60% of Mogadishu's residents
of one million have been displaced and are now
living in the "worst humanitarian crisis in Africa",
according to the UN Special Representative to
Somalia, Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah.
The head of an unelected government, Mr. Yusuf
arrives in New York with a legitimacy bestowed upon
him by Ethiopian military might, financing by the
West and indifference by the rest of the world. This
feigned legitimacy, however, pales in comparison to
the contempt and distrust with which Mr. Yusuf and
his government are viewed by Somalis. Any benefit of
the doubt Mr. Yusuf and his TFG may have hoped to
garner has dissipated with the blanket shelling of
residential neighborhoods in Mogadishu by Ethiopian
forces. Shelling to which Mr. Yusuf arrogantly, and
accurately, predicted there will be more of in his
April 10th, 2007 interview on Voice of America
Radio. Whether Mr. Yusuf is aware of the
international laws governing war crimes and
violations of human rights is unclear, but what is
clear is that Mr. Yusuf and his ineffective
government brazenly continue the culture of impunity
that has plagued Somalia for the past 17 years. This
culture which continues to impede any progress
towards serious and long lasting efforts towards
peace has warlords, like Mr. Yusuf and others, as
its protagonists.
Since arriving at the UN, the divisive Mr. Yusuf
wasted little time before introducing new obstacles
to the mediation efforts recommended by the very UN
whose assistance he seeks to solicit. In a BBC Radio
interview on April 15, 2008, Mr. Yusuf insisted that
demands made by the opposition for withdrawal of
Ethiopian forces were not part of any negotiations.
He also insisted that senior government positions
such as the President, Speaker of the Parliament and
Prime Minister were also not negotiable. When asked
in the same interview what else could be the basis
of reconciliation and negotiation, Mr. Yusuf had no
response. These statements were made intentionally;
it seems, to disrupt the peace talks currently being
arranged by the UN special envoy to Somalia.
In describing the purpose of Mr. Yusuf's visit this
week, it is instructive to quote a recent report
released by Refugees International (RI) entitled
"Somalia: Proceed with Caution." In this report, RI
"urges members of the UN Security Council to
cautiously approach the authorization of a UN
peacekeeping operation, and to seriously consider
the UN's own political and financial capacities." RI
further warns that "before designing and authorizing
any UN force, the Security Council should assess the
scope and complexity of the conflict in Somalia, the
resources that will be necessary, and the ability to
provide it with the political, material and human
resources that it needs to succeed. A Security
Council mandate that amounts to no more than a
symbolic gesture would be one more betrayal in two
decades of missed opportunities and broken
promises."
In the spirit of Refugee International's recent
report, the Somali Diaspora Network warns against
providing what may inadvertently amount to a
replacement military force to keep Mr. Yusuf's weak
and unpopular government from collapsing when the
over-stretched Ethiopian occupation troops
eventually find it too costly to stay. Furthermore,
and as Refugee International has succinctly
indicated, "insecurity will continue to challenge
the delivery of aid; the UN in particular should
take a hard look at its mode of operation." RI
further decried the "UN's political role in Somalia"
and how it "has hampered [its] reputation as an
impartial humanitarian actor." RI concluded its
report by noting how the "UN's inability to
dissociate politics and aid [in Somalia] presents
the greatest obstacle."
And while Somalia is in the worst shape it has ever
been, continuing to legitimize and provide an
international platform for failed leaders such as
Mr. Yusuf only serves to further erode the Somali
people's trust in the United Nations while also
distancing any hope of recovery for this long
battered nation. In the eyes of the Somali people,
and not unlike Charles Taylor of Liberia, Mr.. Yusuf
belongs in a court room in The Hague rather than the
halls of the UN in New York. It devalues the
prestige and integrity of the Security Council to
host such a man.
To ensure the success of any efforts undertaken by
the UN to help Somalia, the Somali Diaspora Network
recommends that:
·The UN withdraws its support from the TFG as it
exists today. Comprehensive reconciliation is
necessary and an inclusive government must be in
place before the UN provides any support. Any
assistance to the current TFG amounts to supporting
the human rights violations visited upon the Somali
people.
· War crimes investigations commence immediately to
enable reconciliation and discourage those who may
not be interested in achieving peace.
· The UN condemns and investigates the Ethiopian
occupation and the violation of UNSC resolution 1725
(2006).
ABOUT SOMALI DIASPORA NETWORK (SDN) – SDN is a
grass-roots organization committed to advocate on
critical policy matters pertaining to
Somali-American interest and issues of concern
through communication and information sharing,
raising public awareness, and educating the public
and government officials. SDN is a member of Somali
Cause. Somali Cause is an umbrella of Somali
organizations united to: (a) Work to end the
Ethiopian occupation of Somalia and its replacement
with Muslim & non-frontline troops with a clear
mandate, (b) Educate the world about the plight of
the Somali people, (c) Provide humanitarian
assistance to the suffering people of Somalia, (d)
Provide an alternative to the clan and regional
based politics, and (e) Safeguard the sovereignty
and territorial integrity of Somalia.
Sadia Ali Aden <sadiaaden@gmail.com>
|
|
|
