The Showdown On Gal-kayo

EDITORIAL

The dusty town of Gal-kayo about 600km north of Mogadishu has suddenly become the focus of the current tug of war between Somalia’s two major factions – the Islamic Courts Union and the Transitional Federal Government. Inhabited by two rival subclans, Gal-kayo has been split into two halves.

The northern part of the town has traditionally been a Majerteen domain while the southern portion has essentially remained a Sa’ad territory. While the Majerteen hail from the Darood/Harti clan, the Sa’ad are a sublet of the Hawiye/Habar Gidir clan family.

As the Islamic Courts advanced to the southern gate of Gal-kayo two weeks ago, the TFG scrambled for action in order to stop the Islamists influence from being extended to the town. First it instigated Puntland to deploy a band of armed militia at the southern entrance of Gal-kayo.

To polarize the Sa’ad and hence gain some support within residents of southern Gal-kayo, the TFG supplied arms and money to warlord Abdi Qaybdiid himself a Sa’ad and chased from Mogadishu in July by the Islamic courts.

In a apparent attempt at preventing an internecine fighting between Qaybdiid’s militia and supporters of the Islamic Courts in the area, Sa’ad leaders living in the diaspora also arrived in southern Gal-kayo to proclaim from there during last week the formation of the regional autonomous state of Galgaduud. Though ICU officials insisted that they have been requested by local residents to establish an Islamic Court, however they were later persuaded by the leaders of the newly founded Galgaduud administration to halt the advance of their militia at Galin-soor, some 65km south of Gal-kayo. The situation seemed to have been diffused until earlier this week when a contingent of Ethiopian troops surfaced in Gal-kayo.

The leader of Puntland Adde Muse admitted on Thursday that the Ethiopians were invited by him to train his militia in the face of the increasing threats to his territory from the Islamists.

The arrival of the Ethiopian troops in Gal-kayo drew anger from the Hawiye, including leaders of the new Galgaduud administration whom the courts viewed as TFG puppets, as well as from many other Somalis. While boasting of his Ethiopian connection, Adde Muse even implied that Ethiopia has historically been allied to his tribe. Feeling the heat, the ICU militia withdrew from Galin-soor heading down south.

Meanwhile further south in Mogadishu, the ICU’s top leader Hassan Dahir Aweys was preaching a holly war against Ethiopia. And by all indications, the situation in the central regions of the former Somalia seemed to be moving to the brink of a disastrous war. Nobody can deny credit to the ICU for the crucial role it has played in ending the reign of terror and chaos imposed on people in southern Somalia particularly Mogadishu for the last 15 years by the ruthless warlords. But the popular uprising led by the Courts has been usurped by a group of power maniacs like Aweys who pride themselves of having ties with Al-Qaida.

One of the first things that Aweys did following the ICU’s takeover of Mogadishu was to show his bellicosity toward Ethiopia. He knew well in advance that his irredentist statements, not to mention his past involvement in terrorist activities inside a number of Ethiopian towns, were going to elicit a reaction from the Ethiopians.

By staying unnecessarily provocative, Aweys seemed to be serving a non-Somali agenda. It will therefore be unfortunate if the Hawiye community failed to grasp the consequences of being led by a man like Aweys who has not until now shown a single sign of remorse for masterminding the killings of innocent aid workers in Somaliland.

In fact there is hardly a key political figure in the former Italian Somalia who in the course of his efforts to gain power hasn’t sought the help of a foreign sponsor.

Needless to say that Ethiopia has every right to protect its security from dangerous threats. It is however important that the Ethiopian government realizes the need to explain the legitimacy of its military actions to its own people and the Somalis as well.

Ethiopian policy-makers ought to give a political as well as moral meaning for their actions in order to deny zealots like Aweys the chance to misinterpret or distort them.

It is also dangerously counter-productive for the Ethiopian government to be seen as trying to tip the balance of power in favor of one particular clan against the rest. Addis Ababa’s blind support for Abdillahi Yusuf has already created such an impression among many Somalis. It is therefore imperative that Ethiopia exercises caution in dealing with the current showdown over Gal-kayo.

Source: Somaliland Times

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