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Congressman
Donald Payne is at it again. He is doing what he has been doing for
quite some time: misleading US congress about Somali affairs. This time
he has submitted a congressional resolution that he wants the US
congress to discuss and adopt. We have not seen the original draft but
we have come across a version of it that was published by the Voice of
America’s Somali service. The resolution has these main points:
1. To urge the US government to open an embassy in Mogadishu, to allow
the Sheikh Sharif government to open an embassy in Washington, and to
extend full diplomatic recognition to Sheik Sharif’s government by the
US.
2. To support what Donald Payne described as Sheikh Sharif’s peace
efforts.
3. To thank the African Union troops (AMISOM) for protecting the
government of Somalia.
4. To thank the government of Djibouti and the UN Secretary General’s
Representative to Somalia, Ahmed Ould Abdallah, for contributing to
peace to Somalia
5. To condemn the terrorist organization al-Shabaab.
6. To urge Somaliland and Puntland to peacefully resolve the problems
between them and to work together against the terrorists who are
subverting those two administrations as well as the Sheikh Sharif
government.
7. To condemn the 2006 Ethiopian military intervention in Somalia and to
make it clear that the intervention resulted in a lot of destruction and
made the situation worse.
As it stands now, the resolution is misleading on many counts. First, it
whitewashes Sheikh Sharif’s government and paints it as a real
government that is worth supporting when in fact it is a government in
name only and controls 2 or 3 blocks in Mogadishu. When you add to this
the security risks and the financial costs of opening an American
embassy in Mogadishu, it is easy to see how unrealistic is Mr. Payne’s
idea.
Ironically, as Donald Payne showers praise on Djibouti, Ahmed Ould
Abdallah, and the paper-government of Somalia, all of whom have no
achievements worth mentioning when it comes to bringing democracy, peace
or security to Somalia, he neither mentions Somaliland’s democratic
achievements nor Somaliland’s contribution to peace and security in the
Horn of Africa. However, Payne does take the time to lecture Somaliland
on how it should deal with Puntland.
Donald Payne also does take the time to chastise Ethiopia for its 2006
invasion of Somalia (an invasion, by the way, which Somaliland opposed
and the Bush administration endorsed) but he fails to mention that the
al-Shabaab terrorists which he condemns today were at the time the armed
wing of the Islamic Courts which were headed by his current protégé,
Sheikh Sharif. In other words, the Sheikh Sharif that Donald Payne is
trying to sell to the world these days, was the head of a terrorist
outfit. The fact that Sheikh Sharif later defected or was bought off by
the US does not change the fact that he was a terrorist in 2006 (it also
means that since he switched sides once, he could switch sides again;
therefore, prudence dictates caution in dealing with such a shifty
character).
Some might ask why did Donald Payne think it fit to criticize Ethiopia
in this resolution although Ethiopia had already withdrawn its troops
from Somalia. There is a simple explanation for this. By scolding
Ethiopia, Payne is implicitly taking a dig at one of his favorite
targets, the Bush administration (which had endorsed the Ethiopian
invasion), even though the Bush administration is no longer in office.
As we pointed out earlier, we do not have the original draft of the
resolution, and our comments are based on the VOA’s Somali translation.
Furthermore, this may not be the final version in which the resolution
emerges from Congress’s deliberations. Still, in its current form it is
a misleading and partisan resolution, particularly when it comes to
Somaliland. Congress, has one of two choices: either it should leave
Somaliland out of this resolution and deal with Somaliland separately,
or it should deal with Somaliland at a level commensurate with its role
in ensuring peace, democracy and stability in a dangerous part of the
world. Anything less than that would mean that Mr Payne has succeeded in
hoodwinking the US congress.
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