War ravaged Somalis have been told by media outlets, and the leaders of Unity of elders of Mogadishu that the main reason that Somalia is an unstable nation is due to the lack of Abdulahi Yusuf’s leadership, his dictatorial approach to the political matter and the occupation of Ethiopian troops. After the Ethiopian troop withdrawal and Yusuf’s resignation from presidency, the Somali people expected that as elders preached, there will be a lasting peace in Mogadishu. The resident of Mogadishu cannot understand the underlining reason behind the new fighting.

Ahmed Diriye, the spokesman of the Mogadishu elders stated in an interview in Mogadishu that he regrets that he assured Mogadishu resident once Ethiopians leave, there will be peaceful solution and it will mark an end to the fighting. He added that he is saddened to find out those who were calling on Ethiopians to leave are now fighting among themselves.

Some commentators thought that when Yusuf Siyad ( Indhacede) joined the Hisbul Islam led by Sheikh Aweys, the fighting would be clan based similar to 1991 when Ali Mahdi and Mohamed Aiddid where fighting in Mogadishu. Within weeks, it became apparent that this fighting has nothing to do with clan, when Yusuf Siyad returned to join the government, stating that he realized the fighting is not based on whether the government is ruling with sharai law or not, but it is rather a conflict based on “self interest”.

Others assumed that it is based on religion where Al Shabaab want to rule the country with Sharia law. This assumption was refuted when the government led by sheikh Sharif adopted the same ruling where the country would be under Sharia Law. But the fighting is still raging. More analysts who are familiar with Somali politics now conclude that the fighting in Mogadishu has nothing to do with clanism, warlordism, and Islimism, but rather
Self-interested individuals who want to rule the country by force. These self interest individuals care less about the suffering of the residents of Mogadishu specially women and children, who hoped that once Ethiopians leaves they will resume to some normalcy.

Analysts who are familiar with internal politics of both groups warned that the government and the opposition groups are calling for peaceful negotiation, but it is clear that they do not understand the preconditions of the negotiation that each group is posing. The current government stated that they would welcome any opposition group who want to sit down with them; however, their existence is not negotiable since they were elected.

On the other hand, opposition group’s counter offered that they would come to the negotiation table provided that those who are claiming to be government leaders come to the negotiation table as factions - without precondition, and African Union troops must leave Mogadishu. People who are close to the opposition groups noted that the opposition leaders were expecting once the president is elected in Djibouti, Sheikh Sharif would come to Mogadishu and consult with them to form a unity government instead they claimed he rushed to form a government of unity which consisting of only ex-TFG and ARS (Djibouti group) members.

The opposition groups could not accept the formation of a government by Sheikh Sharif without their consultation. The opposition further took his remark as slap in the face when Sheikh Sharif stated that any opposition groups who are interested ruling the country should wait a proposed election to take place after the end of Sharif’s term. Opposition groups doubted that Sheikh Sharif who did not give them a chance to come to the negotiation table as equal partners would allow fair election in two years. This groups based their reason for opposing the government on the Somali proverb “ Hal Xaaraan ah, nirig xalaal ah ma dhasho”.

It is a tragedy that the government leaders who claimed they wanted to end Somalia's problems on the negotiation table are now seeing the only solution to be to oust the opposition groups. Even the Prime Minister, now realized that theories he was thought in the books in North America and practical experience in the streets of Mogadishu are far apart. Those who are familiar with Mr. Omer Abdirashid said that he believed that everything could be solved in the negotiation table and blamed previous leaders for not wanting to solve issues peacefully. Based on his statement, it can be concluded that he finally came to the realization that negotiations alone are not enough after meeting with over 500 elders in Mogadishu for the last four months.

When asked the solution moving forward, political analyst who familiar with Somali politics suggested that since the fighting is based on self interest, there should be a winner and they are waiting for the result of the ongoing battle in Mogadishu.

Others believe that a solution can be reached if the government puts forth a reasonable offer on the table, where they allow the opposition groups to come to the table to negotiate from scratch. To form bi-lateral committee to prepare for federal elections in two years, to respect the existing administrations, and to share faineances, allow representatives from parliament to be elected from the regions they represent, concentrate on forming regional administrations in Mogadishu and its surrounding areas.

The majority of the Somalis believe that as long as the leaders of this government are being told by Auld Ahmed Abdulla, the UN representative for Somalia, that they are legitimate government of Somalia, finding solution to this current problem is far from over.

Mohamed Hussein
Email:Mohabdhus@aol.com
_______________________________________________________________________________

We welcome the submission of all articles for possible publication on WardheerNews.com So please email your article today Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of WardheerNews
Maqaalkani wuxuu ka turjumayaa aragtida Qoraaga loomana fasiran karo tan WardheerNews 

Copyright © 2009 Wardheernews.com