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Of late there have been discussions and debates among Somalis, some of them coming out of the woodwork to denounce or support the concept of bringing peace keeping troops to Somalia , so that the recently formed government may take root in the militia ridden capital, Mogadishu . One may wonder, are these intellectuals and ordinary people alike missing the point, are we ignoring the elephant in the room? If history serves us correctly: “the pandemonium that is looming in the capital Mogadishu is the creation of warlords,” as Prof Said Samatar referred to them in his article Unhappy Masses “ yesterday's mass murderers and the day-before-yesterday's thuggish looters of the nation's resources put themselves forward as today's leaders of the Somali people's destiny”. These warlords that control Mogadishu today who have contributed to the killings, pillaging and the overall disorder of Southern Somalia have yet to learn from their past misdeads. They have unfortunately become part of the rhetoric and debate and are being treated like career politicians who actually hold the interest of the masses they have destroyed at heart, instead of being held responsible as the delinquents that have created this anarchy. They obviously have become the obstacle to any efforts to stabalize Somalia . If each and every one of these warlords was held responsible for his part of the chaos they have created, then Mogadishu would have returned to normalcy and some sort of government could have taken root in the capital.
It is no surprise these warlords who are morally corrupt have not delivered their part of the bargain, after all the very reason they were given ministerial position they do not qualify for was precisely so they would support the TFG government and end the disorder in their respective areas . Regretably, once again, they are missing the opportunity to go beyond their egos to help bring peace and security to the capital Mogadishu in particular and to set an environment for civilian life to return. These warlords are unpredictable. They change their minds as the weather conditions of Alaska and their effort is only to hinder any hope for the Somalis to re-join the family of nations. They all of a sudden do not want Ethiopia as part of the peacekeeping troops in Somalia . Is this not the same Ethiopia that was betting them against each other and was funding and arming them to teeth? Do these warlords all of a sudden care more about their brethren in Jigjiga and Goday of the Somali Region in Ethiopia than those in Mogadishu ? Are not these people from Jigjga and Goday the very same people they threw out of their refugee nests to the predator of Mangistu Haile Mariam at the out break of the nasty Somalia civil war in 1990? What these warlords and their advocates are doing is to “have their cake and eat it!” However, in today's Somalia , with the open press everywhere, they must be accountable to their actions and deeds throughout their career of warlordism . Enough has been said about Ethiopian influence in Puntland, Somaliland and Mogadishu warlords. But the reality is that we may not have ever needed frontline or foreign troops in the first place if it were not for these Mogadishu warlords who are not sincere in their transformation to support peace and security in Somalia . After all Somaliland and Puntland were able to establish their administration without outside help. The more this debate of African union peace mission goes on, the further these warlords are derailing the process to establish peace in the country. Having stability and a functioning government would not serve their purpose; they rather delay the process and further cause more damage to the poor people who have been without a functioning government for the past 14 years. They do not care for the average Somali that has paid the brunt of the destruction to finally be part of the human society and have some stability in their lives. Flipping the coin as to whether peacekeeping troops should or should not be brought to Somalia is not the issue. The real issue at hand is:
It's about time we challenge these warlords and demand first and foremost to bring peace and sense of human face to Mogadishu . Otherwise as the saying goes “the empty can rattles the most,” and it will be proven that they are just using foreign troops as a scapegoat so they could continue their destruction and indiscriminate mass murders. Hopefully fate will catch up with these warlords who had held hostage the fate of the Somali nation. In the meantime the Somali populace should hasten the completion of peace process and should finally have a say in their future and say to these warlords, “enough is enough”. Let justice prevail and permit these criminals to meet their fate just as Melosovich , Pinochet and Sadam Hussein did in the recent past. Abdelkarim A Hassan San Diego, Ca
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