By Dr. Mohamed-Rashid Sh. Hassan - Part Eleventh (XI)

This is the eleventh article of a series of articles that Dr. Mohamed-Rashid analyses the military coup and its legacy

The Regime’s Foreign Policy (Core Countries) continued ...

Somalia and the Arab World

The relationship between Somalia with Arab world stemmed at least from four main premises. Firstly, having a common Islamic faith, Islam reached the Somali coast before it reached Egypt. Secondly, the geographical proximity between Somalia and the Middle East is close. Thirdly, trade between the Somali coast and the Arab world existed for a long time and fourthly, the birth of Somalia’s nationalism and liberation struggle was very much linked to the Arab world, particularly Egypt.

The Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, have been the recipients of Somali livestock, and there have always been many Somalis workers in these countries, whose remittances back home played a significant role in the local economy.

Somalia became a member of the Arab league 1974 to uphold all these relationships. On the whole the military regime did not make much use of this important relationship. Economic and financial assistance from Arab countries during the military regime went into the pockets of Siyad Barre’s family and cronies.

Egypt, which was involved heavily in Somalia since the 1950s, maintained a close relationship with the military regime. Boutros-Boutros Ghali the former Egyptian Minister for Foreign Affairs who later became the General Secretary of the UN was a consistent supporter of the military regime. His ill advice played a significant role in the Somali crisis during the so-called "Operation Restore Hope". Arab countries were unreservedly on the side of the military regime. For instance, while Siyad Barre's forces were bombarding the Somaliland towns, such as Hargeysa and Burao in 1988 and western human rights organizations were critical of these atrocities not a single Arab country withdrew its support from the regime. The fact is the Arab countries are by majority undemocratic and violations of human rights are common in their countries. Introducing these core countries gives us a picture not only of the foreign policy of the regime but also the degree of involvement of these countries in Somali affairs and their diverse interests.

Undermining the Previous Achievements

The military regime in Somalia inherited a capitalist state or at least a state which was molded in the capitalist western fashion. Instead of improving its functioning and modality the new regime took political actions designed to undermine and destroy all previous state institutions and the political ideas associated with them. Immediately in the aftermath of their coup, the military banned the constitution, institutions of all civil liberties with intention of replacing them with a military structure with a socialist face. By using Gramsci's political strategy, Siyad Barre created forces within the society whose aim was to prepare a cadre to eventually take over the state machinery. However, the Somali situation was profoundly different from Gramsci's Italy for the following reasons: (a) there was no capitalist bourgeoisie state in power to fight against and the political power was already won by the military junta. (b) There was no working class movement demanding a socialist alternative or an organized socialist force within society as way the case in Italy. Gramsci produced set of analytical tools: among them were coercion, consent, war of movement and war of positioning.

Gramsci's analysis of one class's domination over another through coercion and consent is useful here, but it was used for rather different motives. Consent was sustained here through soliciting support for certain clans and individuals or groups from the wider population, and coercion was exercised by special "organization” called "Guardians of the Revolution" Guudwadayaal. This organization was only accountable to Siyad Barre, by using this group he also used the other Gramscian concepts of "war of movement" and "war of position". Strategically, he wanted to put in place a new power base before he dismantled the old one.

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