Despite the great euphoria and endorsement that accompanied, both internally and internationally, the recent election of Mr. Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed as Somalia’s new President in neighboring Djibouti, I must confess I was disappointed by his choice. Why? Because I don’t think he is appropriately qualified to assume such a lofty position, and to run a modern state, in this very critical stage in the history of our unlucky county (unless belonging to one of Somalia’s four major clans is the only relevant qualification). Simply stated, Sheik Sharif is not qualified to lead a country, which has been in the midst of a devastating civil war in the past 18 years, both in terms of academic education and practical work experience. This gentleman has a degree in religious studies and has never run a small village or even a governmental department in his entire short life. He is relatively young (only 44 years), inexperienced and is very new to Somalia’s political scene. But the country needs today a sufficiently educated leader, who is well versed in political science, economics or law.

Sheik Sharif’s Background

To better understand Sheik Sharif Ahmed, let us briefly review his background. According to some people who know him very well, he started life as a low level religious scholar (wadaad yar or xer) in the shrine of Sheik Eli Omar at his hometown Warsheik (a small  coastal town about 85 km north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu). He then completed his Islamic studies in Sudan and Libya. In terms of practical experience, he had never worked neither for the civilian nor the military/socialist governments of Somalia of the 1960-1990 period, because he was either too young for that or he was engaged in his religious studies. Upon his return to Somalia, after the onslaught of the ruinous civil strife and the total collapse of its state, he worked as a simple teacher where he taught, as reported Islamic religion, Arabic language and geography in one of Mogadishu’s secondary schools. In other words, this man knows nothing, for all intents and purposes, about running a modern state or government.

Even his rise to prominence, both as a religious and political leader, was totally accidental (some may say it came with the pure help of divine providence). After he failed as the head of an Islamic Court in Jowhar city (about 90 km north of Mogadishu) and was chased out from there by Mr. Mohamed Omar Habeb (better known as Mohamed Dhere), the local warlord who was then ruling Jowhar, the Sheik ran away to the Somali capital, where he resumed his work as a schoolteacher, as indicated earlier. Then a 12-year old pupil of his was abducted in 2004 by one of Mogadishu’s criminal gangs. Sheik Sharif was so upset by this incident that he decided to do something about it. Consequently, he formed his own armed militia – derived mostly, as usual, from his own sub- sub-clan. Later on he made an alliance with the then dominant clan-based Islamic Courts Union (ICU), before they were routed out from Mogadishu by the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and its Ethiopian allies in Dec. 2006. Many experts believe that the terrible diplomatic blunders that ICU had committed and their foolish provocation was what gave the Ethiopians the pretext to invade Somalia and capture its capital.

According to some critics, another shortcoming of Sheik Sharif is that he has no firm, strong leadership qualities. He is a political novice and keeps on changing his mind for expedience. He is simply a flip-fop, they claim. To demonstrate this point, let’s review his recent record very briefly: He was initially associated with the hardliners of the ICU until it was easily removed from power by the TFG forces and their Ethiopian supporters, as stated earlier. He immediately fled to the jungles on the border between Somalia and Kenya and later handed himself over to the Kenyan authorities. The Kenyan Government in turn handed him over to the U.S. diplomats in Nairobi who were very kind to him, hosted him in one of its 5-star hotels and tried to mediate between him and the TFG. (Had they immediately turned him over to TFG or to Ethiopia, he would have disappeared or languished in Ethiopian prisons for years. He is, therefore, very lucky that he is still alive).

Although he tried to appear as conciliatory, he finally turned down the offer of the American diplomats and ran away, secretly, to Asmara, Eritrea – a Christian dominated country that has for years endeavored to wage a proxy war against its neighboring Ethiopia from Somalia. There he joined the ranks of the hard-line faction known as the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), who called for a total war against the legitimate TFG Government and its Ethiopian allies. But soon after, the ARS split into factions and Sheik Sharif joined its so-called moderate Djibouti wing (or ARS-D) that negotiated a self-serving reconciliation agreement with TFG. That way, the Sharif and his cohorts were able to secure for themselves around half the seats of Somalia’s parliament – something that quickly paved the way for his ascendancy to power. In this regard, to paraphrase a statement by a veteran Western politician, concerning the Palestinians and their long standing tragedy, one could say: present Somalis never miss an opportunity to miss every opportunity!

On the other hand, according to some people who know him well, one of Sheik Sharif’s redeeming traits is that he is a very devout Muslim and a very clean, honest man. It is, therefore, unlikely that he would abuse his position and embezzle the country’s public funds, as some notorious Somali politicians/warlords had done before him. (Remember the former Prime Minister, Mr. Ali Mohamed Ghedi, who is reported to have bought the late John Garang’s luxurious villa in Nairobi, Kenya, worth over US $1 million? Where did this former obscure veterinarian turned politician get all this money from? Of course, from the financial resources that the friendly countries and international community at large had donated to the poor, hapless Somali people). Some other people assert that Sheik Sharif is endowed with great natural intelligence, but intelligence alone is not enough to re-constitute and run the worst failed state in the entire world – Somalia.

The Enormous Challenges Facing Him

Although his religious credentials give Sheik Sharif great popularity and his previous leadership of ICU, which brought unprecedented peace and stability to Mogadishu and large swathes of south/central Somalia for 6 months in 2006, is highly appreciated, the fact remains that things have drastically changed and that outfit is now split into several factions — some moderates and some extremists. It is their armed extremist/fundamentalist Al-Shabab (or the Youth in Arabic) that is currently the most powerful one. They have recently captured Baidoa city, the seat of the TFG’s Parliament until recently, and other parts of the south. And they have vowed they will continue their fight against the internationally recognized TFG and its institutions indefinitely; this is so despite the fact that the Ethiopian troops – the main justification of their armed struggle – have already withdrawn from Somalia. They also don’t recognize Sheik Sharif as a president of a legitimate government. How is he going to deal with them, and how will he be able to let them stop the daily killings and mayhem that Al-Shabab is causing in Mogadishu and other parts of the country?  This is the most difficult challenge that faces the Sheik and I don’t believe he has the wherewithal to accomplish this extremely important task any time soon. Al-Shabab want to monopolize power and privilege and to establish their own version of fundamentalist Islamic state (i.e., a Taliban-type), and they won’t listen to a person like Sheik Sharif whom they regard as a turncoat or a traitor.

His Competitor: Nur Adde

In my humble opinion and in the view of some experts on Somali affairs – both national and foreign - Somalia’s most recent Prime Minister, Mr. Nur Hassan Hussein (a.k.a. Nur Adde) was better qualified to be its next president. Nur Adde (who is in his late 60s) is a man with a long career in government service, spanning over decades, and has a deep knowledge of law. (Remember how he easily defeated on legal/constitutional grounds ex-President, Mr. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahemd, who wanted to sack him?). However, Nur Adde and his circle of advisers, led by another political novice by the name of Mr. Ahmed Abdisalan (who used to live in Canada as a simple refugee) made a terrible mistake or miscalculation when they had agreed to accord 200 new parliamentary seats to ARS-D alone. This is what enabled the Sheik to subsequently win the position of the president very easily.

Concluding Remarks

Finally, the above analysis clearly shows that Sheik Sharif is not adequately qualified in terms of both educational background as well as political experience to lead a country that has been tearing itself to shreds in almost two decades, and whose state institutions have all been totally destroyed. But today the reality on the ground is that, despite these rather serious deficiencies, he has been elected as the new President of Somalia and we should all try to offer him whatever help we can. In this connection, I would like to suggest to the Sheik to take his time and nominate a highly qualified Prime Minister with relevant governmental experience. Besides, Sheik Sharif should attempt to surround himself with advisors (both men and women, if his religious conservatism allows it) with real professional experience in proper governance and dealing with the international communities (particularly Somalia’s neighbors who have for decades been meddling in our country’s internal affairs). This is the kind of rational approach that has essentially been adopted by the new President of America, Mr. Barack Obama, who is almost of the same age like the Sheik and woefully inexperienced like him.

Mahamud M. Yahya, PhD
e-mail: mm44yahya@hotmail.com

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