By Suleiman Egeh
Introduction: Again the IGAD despots made another blunder and formed another fictitious government in exile. African dictators never learn from their mistakes. They made career out of the misery of the suffering people of Somalia. They created another false hope for a people devastated by successive warlords, brutal Ethiopian invasion they blessed and now under the mercy of violent terrorists.
Top stories: 1. The Club of Despots gathering in Addis Abba, and the nomination of Gaddafi’s as its president.
2. Artha II: The selection of Sh. Shariff and the complete collapse of Mbagathi
“Foreign made outfits synthesized and cloned in foreign lands can not work”
The saying goes “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
This is something the chaotic and debating societies of IGAD/AU/UN complex, have been doing to the people of the Horn of Africa for the last 20 years. These secretive and non democratic organizations have been trampling on the civil and the human rights of the people of both Somaliland and Somalia. For the people of Somaliland who have reclaimed their inalienable rights and decided on their own future, these criminal enterprises have put them in a political limbo. Non of these despots have a real legitimacy on the eyes of their people.
In the name of the people of Somalia, IGAD were collecting funds from the world, under the pretext of creating a government for them. But that is not the case, they made a career out off making Somalia a bogeyman for milking few dollars from the world, under the guise of helping the people of that country, and forming a government for them. On the contrary, what they are doing is creating their own outfit, comprised from the worse of the worse. The reservoir they draw their fake leaders from is primarily full of warlords, failed and recycled leaders, unscrupulous personalities, international vagabonds and other throwaways.
That is why non of their outfits worked and will not work in the future. They have no sense of shame from their endless blunders and mistakes. They keep on repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Somalia needs indigenous and true reconciliation, and healing process that starts in their villages, towns and cities where they sit together, and ask themselves what their real problems are? IGAD/AU/UN complex have miserably failed to bring a scintilla of resolution to Somalia’s chronic problems.
These groups are vigorously resisting to confess their mistakes. In fact IGAD/UN conglomerate are part of the problem. These dictators have aggravated, stirred up, meddled, profited and perpetuated Somalia’s problems. They are neither sincere nor has the ability to resolve these problems. It is time for the people of Somalia to aggressively demand these despots to take their hands out of their affairs.
These knee jerk attempts are not designed to resolve the problem but will rather aggravate it. These draconian ideas created and will create more problems than it will resolve. The people of Somalia must realize that no solution will ever come from IGAD/AU/UN failure-complex. The Rwandan genocide, the morass in Congo, the debacle and human misery in Liberia, Sierra Leone and the on going genocide in Darfur, Sudan had all happened in their watch. They failed to resolve the 30 year war between Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Eritreans have resolved their problems the hard way by waging a 30 years arms struggle against Ethiopia, a country the AU made its head office in its capital Addis Abba. The AU for so long rejected to heed the cries for justice coming from the Eritrean people. Had they heeded those cries the devastating Eritrean struggle for independence would have been averted.
In conclusion the people of Somalia must not wait for the AU, the UN and its Mauritanian envoy, Abdulla Wallad, who instead of resolving his country’s failure of state institutions, slavery, governance and under development problems, who made a career of Somalia, a country he knows very little of. What had happened to Mbagathi will be awaiting any other IGAD/UN outfit, that did not come with popular support of the people of Somalia. As the saying goes “Easy come easy go.”
There is no reason to believe that any other IGAD engineered government can work. Through out the month of December, 2008, we watched the speedy disintegration process the Mbagathi group went through. It started with the abrupt departure of Abdillahi Yusuf the preeminent Mbagathi architect, and the exodus of its parliament from Baidawa. The day before Sh. Shariff was selected in Djibouti Baidawa fell to the terrorist group Al-Shabaab. There is no single so-called Mbagathi parliamentarian in Baidawa today. Mbagathi was a non existent entity without the Ethiopian troops. As the Ethiopian troops started withdrawing Mbagathi has fell. So in reality all the IGAD engineered outfits never existed, they only existed on paper, and on the minds of its IGAD engineers. Apparently non of them never took root on the ground.
I. In their meeting in Addis Abba the do nothing AU-den of despots selected Qaddafi as its president. This is the mother of all ironies. They didn’t mention Mugabe and the monumental challenges facing the continent. Qaddafi a left over from Africa’s failed 20th century presidents for life, is a leader who ran out of gas. He is no longer relevant as he overstayed his welcome both domestically and internationally. The lofty fantasies of his September revolution has failed, his dream to liberate Palestine, Unify the Arab world, and be united with Egypt, Sudan, Tunis and Chad have all went a bust.
Gadaffi miserably failed in realizing any his dreams in his hey day, when he was flying high and has the full backing of the then powerful Soviet Union. Now at the twilight of his rule, and his popularity in wane, both his idealism and energy are all but evaporated. His recent toying with the impossible task of unifying Africa, a disintegrating continent with monumental problems, much more serious and deeper than the problems of the Arab world is nothing, but a last gasp from a failed leader. Selecting such a failed leader as their president says volumes about the corruption, ineptness, and incompetence of the long failed African dictators.
Those dictators have dashed the dreams and the promise of African independence. More than ever before, the continent has left behind the rest of the world, became saddled with astronomical problems, economic decline, rampant unemployment, poor governance, astronomical problems, negative consequences emanating from failing and failed states, poor health care, hopelessness, lack of education and unprecedented migration of its people.
II. Artha sub II: In Djibouti Sh Shariff Ahmed was selected as the president of Somalia (Mogadishu and its region). The selection of Sh. Shariff in Djibouti is welcome news for the people of Mogadishu and Somalia. But what had happened in Djibouti is the same thing that was happening to the people of Somalia for the last 20 years. This is the fifth outfit made overseas, and called the government for all the former Somalia. That is an utter mirage and non sense. The reality on the ground and the architects of Somalia’s outfits are so far apart. Apparently reality and the actions of the engineers of the failed and fictitious outfits are so far apart as Mars and Jupiter.
Daunting challenges are awaiting Sh. Shariff. Besides Somaliland who were never part of the IGAD-UN organized conferences, this time around, Puntland, the Northern part of the former Italian Somaliland declared, it is not part of the Djibouti conference. Therefore, in reality what Sh. Shariff may be left with is the area between South Galkayo and Kismayo. In those areas themselves, Baidawa, Merka, Kismayo and some parts of Mogadishu are in the hands of the terrorist group Al-Shabaab. In real terms Sh. Shariffs Somalia will be parts of Mogadishu and some towns in central Somalia.
Despite the fanfare in the despot den-the AU conference in Addis Abba, there are very few patches of land that may come under Sh Shariff’s control. If the recent past is a guide, the same fate is awaiting Sh. Shariff. The problem nobody wants to address, is the huge disconnect between the perennial conferences goers and the reality on the ground. Forming unpopular by IGAD dictators never worked and will not work this time.
There is no realism and pragmatism in these free warlord, and failed leader parties. There is also an immense disconnect between the reality on the ground, and the IGAD despots and the UN’s corrupt bureaucrat’s myopic mentality. Unless the bitter reality is faced IGAD/UN failed and corrupt enterprises will keep forming unpresentative outfits, led by unpopular, corrupt, and inept charlatans who do not repress anybody, and the cycle of failure, morass and mayhem will indefinitely continue. On paper at least, the just collapsed Mbagathi outfit has the greatest chance of succeeding than Sh. Shariff’s new outfit.
Despite being mostly on either a comma or life support through out of its short life span, the bombastic Mbagathi warlords never shrank from snipping and threatening the people of Somaliland. That outfit never anchored its feet on the ground. Through out its short life span, they were feuding, flying from one despot capital to the other, finger pointing and urging. For all practically purposes they never had any control over Mogadishu let alone Somalia. Mbagathi like the other outfits before it denied the rights and self-determination for the people Somaliland.
Somaliland is a power in its own right, and can be dictated by neither IGAD/UN corrupt complex nor their fictitious outfits. The failure will continue and the suffering of innocent people of Mogadishu, Baidawa, Merka and Kismayo will continue. For the IGAD despots, Somalia became the bogey man through which they can milk few dollars from the world. But clearly those few dollars are drying up, because there are good results to show for the dollars they already wasted on a half a dozen failed outfits.
I would like to tell the suffering people of Somalia, It is time for you to take things into their hands. They must know there is nobody out there looking out for them. I am saying to you people of Mogadishu, “Ceelna Idiinma Qodna, Cidna Idiin Ma Maqna.” Sidaa ogaada and Good Luck.
Never trust your faith on warlords, charlatans, Siyad Barre’s remnants, terrorist groups, IGAD and the UN. Remember it was IGAD and the UN who brought in your erstwhile enemy-Ethiopia, the failing state that mercilessly shelled your neighborhoods, killed you and your children. Wake up! And take charge of your destiny. IGAD can not and will not bring peace and stability to you. Your peace and tranquility must come from you and not foreign lands.
The Disconnect
There is huge disconnect between the IGAD dictators, the United Nations and the reality on the ground in the former Somalia. Though not yet got a dejure recognition due to fierce resistance from IGAD dictatorships and Egypt, Somaliland a major part of the former Somalia has declared its independence, from the rest of Somalia almost 20 years ago. Somaliland was never part of the overseas created, artificial, and so-called reconciliation conferences for Somalia. Somaliland is already enjoying a defacto recognition by its people and many countries.
Currently Somaliland has political offices in most European countries, a number of African countries and the United States. Moreover, for the last 20 years the people of Somaliland has been focusing all their energy on Somaliland. Somaliland diaspora has helped building Universities, medical clinics and other development projects in the mother land. Somaliland educated class has focused all their brain energy on Somaliland. For all practical purposes, the separation of Somaliland and Somalia is complete.
Despite all that Politicians from Somalia (former Italian Somaliland) and especially the perennial participants in the endless IGAD and UN initiated conferences, act as if Somaliland as part of a non existent state called Somalia. But practically the two countries are completely separate. Somaliland controls all the territory of the former British Somaliland. The country has successfully gone through several elections. It has a bicameral parliament, three political parties, a robust civil society and numerous indigenous non governmental groups. In March 2009, a municipal and presidential election will be held in the country..
Email: soleimoneg@yahoo.com







 

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