Yusuf Uses Office To Arm Himself: The Threat To Somaliland And Somalia
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By Guled Ismail
Ever since Abdillahi Yusuf Ahmed was elected in Nairobi as president of the Transitional Federal Government in IGAD-sponsored marathon talks in Nairobi in 2004, he has been criss-crossing the region meeting Presidents, Kings and to the dismay of his handlers and the embarrassment of Somalis everywhere, the odd lowly foreign ministry official when Mr. Yusuf turned up in countries where he was uninvited and unwanted.
He attended a mind-boggling array of international meetings from the UN to the Arab League, the Islamic Conference to the African Union. He could not make the one on veterinary health of cows in Paris so he sent his deputy instead. He was reportedly distraught when he could not get into a meeting by one of those talking shop UN sub-committees on the environment in Brazil.
This is all the more surprising because this is a leader who will not set foot in his own capital. Many Somali observers say the President has a taste for the pomp and ceremony which accompanies head of state visits even when in his case; these are often subdued affairs reflecting his weak status. They add that he will soon have his fill of flying around the world aimlessly and give more attention to the country’s dire situation.
But it was clear from the outset that Mr. Yusuf had one other goal in mind apart from playing president by goose-stepping on foreign red carpets: he was seeking money and arms.
It appears he might be getting both in large quantities. According to the latest report issued by the four-member United Nations panel tasked with monitoring the arms embargo on Somalia, President Yusuf is receiving a veritable flood of arms from an array of nations in the region most notably Yemen and Ethiopia. The latter country is also providing vital training to his regional militias now gathering in Middle Shabelle valley. Yemen openly admitted flouting UN Security Council Resolution 733 by giving Mr. Yusuf’s forces what it described as `5,000 personal arms’. But is well-known he acquired a lot more than hand guns from San’aa. The same report suggests RPGs, heavy-machine guns and anti-tank mines might have been given or bought from the Arab nation.
The UN panel are so concerned that they recommended banning illegal fishing on the Somali Coast and charcoal exports because presumably, they suspect Mr. Yusuf is using the proceeds from these activities to purchase weapons in the region. This is naïve to say the least. It is true that Mr. Yusuf has extensive contracts with mainly South East Asian fishing companies who gain exclusive rights to fish in the waters of his Puntland fief. (his administration is actively seeking to sell similar contracts for the whole of Somalia waters which it now claims to represent). There is also some evidence that he is involved in the environmentally destructive activity of charcoal burning. But neither of these can generate enough money to arm and run an army capable of taking over a whole country or in this case two(Somalia and Somaliland). The bulk of the money comes from both the Arab League and individual Arab countries. The driving force behind this Arab support is Egypt which is once again the dominant force in Arab politics since the demise of Saddam Hussein and the isolation of Syria. Cairo initially saw Mr. Yusuf as Ethiopia’s man but has come round to aiding him because it believes he can re-establish a strong and united Somalia that can serve as a counterweight to Ethiopia, a country it suspects of flexing its muscles and threatening the flow of the blue Nile. What changed its mind is unclear but we know it arm-twisted the Arab League (many Arabs want the league rid of Somalia, a country they rightly consider not to be Arab at all) to establish a $26 million Somalia Support Fund. It also gave nods and winks to rich Gulf states to bung Mr. Yusuf’s Transitional Federal Government few million dollars every time he pays them one of his flying visits.
The Arab money trickle is now turning into a steady stream and Yusuf is buying planeloads of arms from Albania, the Ukraine and Belarus among other countries. Soviet-made Antonovs have been landing in Puntland’s numerous airstrips with increasing frequency over the last six months or so. Bosaso, his enclave’s port city is now among the busiest in Somalia with dozens and of ships and boats being suspiciously unloaded at night under heavy guard and their cargo transferred into waiting lorries bound for Jowhar, the provincial town that serves as Mr. Yusuf’s temporary headquarters. And there is evidence that men and arms are pouring into Puntland and Shabelle valley from Ethiopia too. The President has been making overland visits to obscure Ethiopian garrison towns and disappearing for days. Convoys of Ethiopian army transporters crisscross the border at Mustahil in Hiran region allegedly ferrying both men and weapons.
There is evidence that this glut of weapons and money is already being distributed to his supporters in Puntland, President Yusuf’s Northeastern stronghold which is embroiled in a border conflict with neighboring Somaliland. When Somaliland authorities tried to hold elections in the disputed regions of Sool and Sanag last month, one of Mr. Yusuf’ top representatives in the area Osman Dalmar boasted of his new muscle “ We have the money, we have the weapons, we have the forces and we have all the other resources…anyone who brings [Somaliland] elections here will die..” . The boast was only half empty as one of the would-be Somaliland lawmakers found out. Abdirahman Talyanle, a candidate from the Solidarity opposition was about to start campaigning in the Awrbogeys village when two trucks mounted with heavy-machineguns turned up and chased him out of town. In another incident a Somaliland police unit escorting lorries carrying election paraphernalia were attacked by two `technicals’ in the Sanag region. The coppers noted that unlike on previous skirmishes when Puntland forces rode on clapped out wagons, both the vehicles and the machineguns were gleaming new this time.
No wonder that Mr. Dalmar, the Puntland Leader of Parliament is in a fighting mood. He warned Somaliland that an all out attack on its territory is being planned by Puntland. In a radio interview he gave on the 16the September 05, he gloated “ A date has been set[for attack] but I am not getting into the details”.
It is worthwhile to remember that Puntland although nominally under new a ruler is de facto run by Mr. Yusuf by a mobile phone from Jowhar. Note how Puntland issued strong law against people-smuggling few days after Abdillahi Yusuf returned from yet another successful trip to Sana’a. Yemen has been complaining about the thousands of Somali and Ethiopian `boat people’ who land on its shores every year. Most of them traditionally left Puntland ports. Not anymore it appears.
Somaliland is not the only `enemy’ in Mr. Yusuf’s sights. In fact his sole interest in the Puntland/Somaliland conflict is to keep the local clans in the disputed regions on his side in order to use them in any wider struggle for power in Somalia. Abdillahi Yusuf has a deserved reputation for being loyal only to himself and his insatiable quest to become Somalia’s ruler. The first victims of his newly-acquired weaponry, apart from Somaliland’s nascent democrats is likely to be the hated Mogadishu warlords who are all supposed to be in his government. In normal circumstances no Somali will shed any tears for this collection of thugs, murderers and assorted scumbags but there has been nothing normal about Somalia’s circumstances for the last 15 years. The warlords, only one or two of whom have mellowed into almost reasonable politicians(Osman Atto is an example), have genuine fears about Abdillahi Yusuf’s dictatorial bent and his almost psychopathic obsession with power. Their demand for him to lead the country from its official capital is not wholly unreasonable although they know any national leader in Mogadishu will be beholden to them for protection and patronage. He refuses to go claiming that they want to do him in as soon as he steps off the airport. The warlords are armed too and it is this Mexican stand-off that Mr. Yusuf is now arming himself to break.
The Lower Jubba region is yet another front which his weapons are likely to be deployed over the next few months. Here Mr. Yusuf might have strategic clan interests at heart rather than personal gain which is usually the only driving force behind his political and military schemes. The region is home to thousands of his Mijertein clansmen who settled there from the 1930s but has recently been marginalized and on occasion brutalized by other clans allied under the an umbrella known as the Jubba Valley alliance. Ironically most of this lot are `migrants’ to the area themselves since the local natives are traditionally docile and disorganized farmers and artisans. Yusuf’s weapons could tip the balance here in favor of General Saeed `Morgan’s forces. He currently pretends to be against Abdillahi Yusuf but observers say this is a deliberate charade designed to hoodwink Mogadishu warlords. What is without any doubt is that men and weapons have been moving to and from Morgan’s Bakol and Gedo foxholes and Jowhar. Planes hired by Puntland fly provisions to Morgan’s forces and bring back volunteers to boost Abdillahi’s forces in Shabelle. These are now garrisoned in Wajid town being trained by Ethiopian officers.
So it is likely that the weapons, money and training given to Mr. Yusuf by countries like Ethiopia, Egypt and Yemen will start at least three civil wars in a blighted country that has known nothing but civil wars, famines and death for nearly twenty years. We remind those countries that the blood of our people will be on their hands and we and history, will hold them responsible for it. They will also fail in their plans because the only thing Abdillahi Yusuf can bring is more discord and more death. They are backing the wrong warhorse.
halyey@btopenworld.com
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