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WHEN TWO DOGS FIGHT OVER A BONE …

By Ahmed Khalif 

Somalia’s current contentious political trend and its troubled past history – the bad blood history it had with its immediate neighbors, and the unjust and cruel way that the European powers had dealt it with – arises a question of whether Somalia will stay any longer on the map of the world or not?

Hassan Sheik UlusowPreposterously, always, few days after a prime minster (who usually has no previous political office experiences) is appointed by the President of Somalia, there comes out the word of their disputes over, mostly, the appointment of the ministers – the first step of the prime minister’s job. Instead of working together to come up with a plan to rescue Somalia from extinction, they get busy on knocking each other down – as if they are professional prize fighters thrown in a ring – while their ministers take sides with them along their tribal lines or personal material advantages; they stay at loggerheads for over a year, until one of them – usually the President – buys off the parliament to get rid off the other.

The continuous civil strife in the Somalis, specifically the squabbling of the Somali politicians in both legislative and executive government branches – while the judicial branch is complete dysfunctional – compounded with foreign interferences, rendered the average lifetime of any “Somali Government” to be less than 1½ years – just little over a year for the last one. Consequently, since 2001, Somalia has had four “Presidents” and ten “Prime Ministers”.

On the surface, Somalia’s problem looks like purely indigenous, but underneath, there are multitudes of foreign meddling and conflicting interests.  It is undeniable that the Somalis had destroyed their country, but often they were simply an instrumental in destructive foreign schemes. It is, however, true that the very existence of Somalia is in real danger today and its survival is in question, if not avoided prudently by the Somalis themselves.

A future of a nation depends a lot – as the wise man once said: “a nation that has no history; has no future”- on how that nation learns from its past. It is also said that, “a nation that forgets its past, functions no better than an individual who is suffering from amnesia”; Somalia, without a doubt, suffers that mental disease since it forgot its history. However, in order for us to clearly understand the Somalia’s conundrum, we ought to glimpse back where the root of it lies: the history of the country.

In the late nineteenth century, in the scramble for Africa, Somalia had been carved up into five parts by the European colonialists: the Britain, France, and Italy. The Britain carved out two parts for itself: the British Somaliland (now Northwestern Region of Somalia) and the NFD (now Northeastern Region of Kenya). Italy snatched the Italian Somaliland (now South and Northeastern of Somalia); and France ran away with the French Somali Coast (now Djibouti). And the biggest portion – Ogaden (now Somali Region) and Reserve Area – was immediately given to their foundling newly invented Ethiopian kingdom as an ex gratia.

Heile S.After the second world war (circa April 1946), when the foreign ministers and secretaries of the winners of the war – known as the Four Powers: Britain, France, Russia, and USA – were selected to dispose the territories which the losers of the war- Germany and Italy – had lost in Africa, Secretary Bevin of Britain proposed that to let all the Somali lands be united under Britain, to later be led to independence by British Government. This proposal – kwon as Bevin proposal – was rejected by all other three powers for the same reason that Somalis ware divided from the beginning. That may was a pleasing in disguise, for nobody knows what agendas were hidden for the Britain -the Perfidious Albion- whose sincerity was always in doubt. Two years after, on 23rd Sept 1948, the Britain that was purporting to be the Somalis’ benefactor handed over Ogaden to Ethiopia. Again after six years, on November 27th, 1954, another peace of Somali land – known Haud and Reserve Area – was handed over to Ethiopia by Britain. It was also the same Britain that, later in 1963, gave another peace of Somali land known NFD gave to Kenya.

When (circa 1957), the wind of the reunification of two of the four parts – the Italian Somaliland and the British Somaliland which united and formed The Republic of Somalia in 1960  – came out, the Ethiopian emperor Tafara Makonan – known for his moniker Haile Selassie which means the power of the trinity but Tafara Makonan; a product of loot; born in Harar, five years after his father stole from the Somalis – had knocked every door that he could to forestall their reunion; he even took his complaints to the both Popes of the Catholic and the Orthodox. He saw Somalia as an existential threat to his newly European molded kingdom and sought its eradication. He argued that Christian Ethiopia and Muslim Somalia couldn’t co-exist peacefully whatsoever – he declared that, not with any prescience, but simply from the ill-will that he had for Somalia. However, from his endeavors he achieved, inter alia, these assurances:  a) that reunification of any other part of Somalia will never happen. b) That Somalia will be kept under arms embargo and economically week – in other words, week Somalia and strong Ethiopia. Those promises are upheld to this day. That tells a lot.

Read More: WHEN TWO DOGS FIGHT OVER A BONE 

Ahmed Khalif
Email: [email protected]


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