| |
|
|
Who is to blame for Mogadishu’s Killing fields?
|
 |
|
A continued and prolonged Ethiopian troops presence inside Mogadishu will only aggravate larger sections of the society and would worsen the current tenuous conditions. In the long term, Ethiopian occupation would complicate and widen the conflict beyond Mogadishu, as seen in the recent suicide car bombing in Mogadishu, or the killing of 75 people, including nine Chinese workers at an oil exploration project in Obolle, near Dhagahur in the Somali region of Ethiopia.
If not contained, the Mogadishu conflict may also lead to desperate measures by Ethiopian troops. Residents of the city have already suffered un-proportional casualties (1,600 deaths and over 350,000 displaced persons). According to a UN report released in April, 27, 2007, Mogadishu has experienced the highest refugee displacement within a short span than anywhere else in the world.
A new voice added to those pressuring Ethiopia for its massacre of Somalis, besides that of the EU, is that of Congressman Payne, who on April 27, 2007 called for Ethiopia’s swift withdraw from Somalia.
US policy makers are seriously at odds with the masses of this troubled nation. For almost 14 years, policy makers in three consecutive administrations have supported and armed warlords of all stripes (religious warlords like Musa Yalaxaw, illiterate, gangster-style warlords like Mohamed Dheere, the ever-elusive opportunist, Mohamed Qanyare, and others) for their own strategic and hegemonic goals. We all recall that the United States government, under the first Bush, stayed firmly on the side of the decayed Barre regime in the midst of the massacre of the people of the North and Mudug regions. In the eyes of many Somalis, the United States has been part of the problem, and not part of the solution.
Given the wanton killings and destruction underway in Mogadishu under the watch of the United States, we call upon human rights groups to be vigilant and see if there could be ways to investigate what role and responsibility, if any, the United States government shoulders regarding crimes against humanity, as the EU dubbed the killing fields of Mogadishu. For example, some of the worst casualties were suffered by civilians in Mogadishu when Jandayi Frazer, Under Secretary for African Affairs, was visiting the region. In that visit, the Undersecretary, meeting President Abdullahi Yusuf and his Prime Minister, Mohamed Gedi in Baydhaba, promised monies to the war effort in Somalia and never condemned the casualties or pressured Ethiopia and Abdullahi Yusuf to exercise caution.
The third, but main culprit in the prevailing massacre in Mogadishu obviously lies in the inability of the leaders of the TFG and the so-called UIC religious factions to come to a sensible political solution. The lack of any political imagination for 15 years on the part of Somalis, further complicated by the so-called religious fundamentalists, is despicable, immoral and unforgivable. None of the parties responsible for the protracted misery of Somalia is a saint or deserves an iota of our collective support. At best, they all are the agents of one or another foreign interest and not that of their own nation. At worst, their hands are stained with blood that refuses to go away.
For example, Mr. Abdullahi Yusuf, before he went to Kenya in the year 2002 to lobby (of course with the backing of the Ethiopian government) for the top ticket (president) at the Mbagathi reconciliation conference, had set the stage for what came close to being the worst and bloodiest intra-clan war in his home region of Puntland. In that conflict, which pitted Mr. Abdullahi Yusuf against the current leader of the regional administration of Puntland, General Cadde Muse, the Puntland community was gravely torn apart and almost lost its otherwise cohesive fabric.
This tainted personal history of Mr. Abdullahi Yusuf, who also owns the enviable [dis]honor of being the first Somali to seek help from Ethiopia as a dissident group leader, seemed to be forgivable, especially when he appealed to all Somali clans and politicians at Mbagathi for a second chance and a new start. In his acceptance speech, Mr. Abdullahi Yusuf asked for forgiveness for his past actions in contributing to the destruction of the nation. “Had I known the nation would be destroyed to such an irreparable degree, I would never had picked up a gun,”or in Somali, “Hadaan sidaan moodaayo in sidan loo baabii, qori maqaadeen,” said a humbled and sham-stricken, yet power hungry dictator-in-the-making. In the same speech, he also uttered his most meaningless and utterly discredited verbose. “From here after, I will never pick up a gun to resolve a conflict,” or, “Qori dib u qaadi maayo,” retorted Mr. Abdullahi Yusuf as millions of peace-hungry audience listened to his speech aired by the BBC Somali language.
But, Abdullahi Yusuf gave back to the Somali nation a damaging war, both psychological and physical, in which Ethiopia humiliated the Somali people!
The TFG and its supporters arguably invited Ethiopia to fend off against the UIC militia advancing to Baydhaba, the seat of the TFG at the time. But that argument does not justify the cruel and destructively overwhelming fire power which Ethiopia unleashed in the heavily populated city of Mogadishu. And how does one justify the Ethiopian invasion of the nation’s inner sanctum and pride? (And that is what Mogadishu stands for most Somalis.)
There is no other way to put it except to say the Ethio-TFG plan for Somalia has damaged, if not fatally destroyed, any sense of Somali pride and unity. This action indeed enabled Ethiopia, or Meles Zenawi and his rule, to finally make Emperors Minelik’s and Haile Selassis’ dreams (to touch the warm waters of the Indian Ocean) a real thing.
 |
| Ethiopian Soldiers in Mugadisho |
We could feel the agony and pain of the only surviving pre-Bare leader (former Prime Minster,AbdulRazak Haji Hussein) who is confronted with living through these humiliating days experienced by the nation state and its people he helped create. Who ever thought that the seat of President Aden Abdullah Osman,the first African President who stepped down after loosing an election and perhaps Africa's genuine democrat,would be claimed with brute force by Zenawi of Ethiopia? In the Absence of the visionary patriots from the political scene, Somalia is left at mercy of scrupulous warlords, clan politicians and an opportunistic, yet cunning neighbor.
Equally devastating is the madness with which the fanatic and fringe group, extremists introduced into the body politic of Somalia. Al-Qaida style terrorism, which kills innocent civilians more often than not, is even scarier than any problem and devastation so far experienced in Somalia. These apocalyptic forces from hell, camouflaging their ignorance with religion, are in our opinion, potent enemies of the country and must be combated strategically and with a united and concerted effort.
One does hope, just a hope, that the pain and humiliation exacted against the collective national psyche of the Somalis by its long time enemy could easily be turned into a powerful and positive national rage to help reclaim their country.
