The EU’s Warlordism

EDITORIAL

The European Commission’s announcement on last Wednesday of providing political support and 70 million Euros in aid for propping up the “Transitional Federal Government” of Somalia shows how the European Union’s policy for this region is completely estranged from the reality on ground.

There are at least three main solid reasons why the EU’s decision embracing the TFG, is a great misunderstanding of the situation in Somalia and a clear misjudgment of the remedies that Somalia actually needs.

First, the TFG hasn’t yet gained the trust of most Somalis who still view it as an entity crafted outside Somalia by foreign powers namely the EU and IGAD. That impression has been perpetuated by the consistent demands by Abdillahi Yusuf, the TNG president, for the deployment of foreign troops in the country to disarm the Somalis on his behalf (not to mention the notoriety Mr. Yusuf had earned among Somalis in the past as a power-thirsty dictatorial warlord).

With Abdillahi Yusuf and his premier Ali Mohamed Geedi spending much greater time on attending regional and international conferences abroad than on addressing the imperative domestic problems existing at home, the impression that the TFG was an externally-led enterprise stuck in the minds of the overwhelming majority of Somalis.

So how a government that has no credibility among its own people can be trusted with a multi-million aid package? Secondly, the TNG has since its formation on October 2004, been reluctant to initiate any reconciliation efforts whether at community, regional or national levels, claiming all the time that this issue was dealt with during the Nairobi peace talks.

People get slaughtered by the hundreds in Mogadishu and the TFG doesn’t make the slightest move to mediate even a short term truce. Parliamentarians are called to meet in Baidoa and no attempts are made to explore the ways and means for realizing an enduring peace through reconciliation.

By rewarding a government that obviously has no commitment whatsoever to make peace among its own people with € 70 million, the EU has in practical terms shown that it was interested only in a military solution of the crisis in Somalia through the deployment of foreign peace enforcers.

Thirdly the disbursement of direct EU aid for the TNG will be tantamount to an endorsement by Brussels of Abdillahi Yusuf’s claims on Somaliland territories in eastern Sanag and Sool.

By giving money and diplomatic support to a man who until now encourages his militiamen to make incursions into Somaliland and commit atrocities against its people, the EU has again chosen the option of siding with bellicosity rather than peace and democracy.

No wonder that in Mogadishu, the EU has already earned itself the new name of “Somalia’s White Warlord”.

Source: Somaliland Times

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