Somalia’s Flying-Government‎ And The International ‎Community

EDITORIAL

Every society has individuals who are not satisfied with staying in one location and who like to move from one place to another. Being nomads, or of nomadic background, many Somalis should have no problem understanding that kind of behavior. It is however a different matter when such peripatetic behavior is exhibited by people who claim to be a government, as is the case of the so-called government of Somalia. At any given moment, several members of this “government” are flying somewhere. Almost every day, you will hear that someone who belongs to one of its various factions, is on an “official” visit to this or that country. Sometimes, you would hear so-and-so just flew out of the country and so-and-so is on his way back, with little or no signs of coordination even among members of the same faction, as happened this week when Ali Gedi “the prime minister” flew to Addis Ababa as warlord Abdillahi Yusuf “the president” was departing Djibouti.

You would also hear that these flying-addicted officials, had signed a treaty with such and such country. Sometimes they sign new treaties with countries that they had already signed treaties with not long ago. For example, Abdillahi Sheikh Ismail “the foreign minister” was reported, on Thursday, to have signed a treaty with the Yemeni government, barely a month after similar treaties were supposed to have been signed with the Yemeni government by other members of Somalia’s “government”.

Most Somalis know the reason behind all of this flying and signing of treaties. It is to collect funds and weapons in the name of the people of Somalia, which are, in reality, appropriated by whoever collects them. Somalia’s “government ministers”, “parliamentarians”, and warlords also know this, and that is why everyone of them tries very hard to be the one who collects the foreign handout, or be part of a delegation, or go on his own and solicit independently. Furthermore, the expenses for this record-breaking air travel is usually paid either by the UN or the host country. Hence the proliferation of “delegations” representing Somalia’s government. It’s a racket. But Somalis are not the only culprits. The international community, too, especially countries in the region, know what is going on, but they choose to keep the racket going for their own reasons.

This system is working rather well for Somalia’s hustler-politicians and warlords, therefore, they are in no hurry to change it. The same is true of the international community. No wonder Somalia is doomed to have a flying-government which, actually, means no government.

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