By Abdullahi Dool
Those who judge our people by the mayhem and the wrongdoings of the civil war era do not know our nation. There is nothing inherently wrong with our nation. We know for sure that our people are one of the best peoples in the world. They have an abundance of sterling qualities such as generosity and unmatched hospitality. We are resilient, industrious and brimming with energy. Unfortunately, that energy, which should have been used to develop the nation, has been diverted to unnecessary and consuming conflict within our ranks. The malfeasance of this sad era neither represents our past nor the future of our nation.
In the art of governing, it goes without saying that a good leadership brings out the best in people and a bad one brings out the worst. What we saw during the civil strife which tore Somalia does not represent the true nature and character of our people but the dark side of humanity at large. It is not what they are: it is something brought out of them. The future of our people can be very bright and the potential of our nation unlimited. There are no barriers to what our people can achieve when a government that knows what it is doing is established back home: order will return and the potential of our people will be met, not to mention the fact that the instatement of such a government will spearhead progress and prosperity.
Life, which is the most valuable and sacred thing on this earth, has been for sometime, since the beginning of the 1990s, the cheapest thing in Somalia. In the South the blood of our people is being spilled by the warlords on a daily basis. In February 2006, a number of warlords have combined forces, ostensibly to fight terrorism. The conflict consists of the combined effort of a number of warlords against religious groups in the South. In the capital Mogadishu, there are religious individuals and groups who, in the absence of a state, took the initiative to fill the vacuum left by state failure. But we do not believe that there are hardened international terrorists in Somalia. Many Somalis believe that the initiative to wage war was taken by the warlords themselves. It is also believed that the motivation of the warlords is to get as much money as they can out of the US war chest for the war on terror. Their cause is not one of safeguarding an existing state or even combating dangerous fanaticism for the common good. Unfortunately, the lives of many innocent Somalis are being lost because of the greed and ambition of the warlords. Our capital Mogadishu is the area hardest hit with civilian mortality and further destruction to the city. We urge the warlords to stop the killing of our people.
We know the concern the big nations have about Somalia. The concern is that stateless Somalia may become a breeding ground for terrorists and pose a serious threat to peace and security in the region and in other parts of the world. The best way to avert such danger is of course to help the Somali people form an effective government and reinstate our state. One thing the international community cannot help the Somali people is choose a leader for Somalia. That is the responsibility of the Somali people. As the saying goes, you can take a horse to the river but you can’t make it drink the water.
There are individual Somalis who do not know whether the warlords are heroes or villains. The warlords do what they do not for clan or nation but for opportunistic reasons. They care about no one other than themselves. There are no good atrocities in crimes committed against others because of their views or clan. The death of any Somali is a tragedy of which no one should rejoice. It is time for many of our people to move on from the unnecessary clan conflict that wasted Somalia and brought mayhem and statelessness to our nation.
Clannism has been the Achilles heel of Somali politics. Without favouring or discriminating against anyone, a system that serves and utilises all regardless of clan can be created. But how can that be possible if individuals are looking back and reflecting on the past? There is no point in moaning about the past. There is nothing we can do about the past but we can surely do something about the future. We can help shape a better future for our people: a future free from clannism and wrongdoing. National healing will start as soon as we have the government we deserve and our people will once again feel proud of our identity.
The news from Somaliland about the alleged persecution of the wife of the opposition leader is disturbing. The opposition leader’s spouse has every right to employment in the non governmental organisation (NGO) Care or in any other organisation in the country. The well-being of our people in Somaliland, including the welfare of the leader of the opposition and his family, is the responsibility of the government in Somaliland. The NGOs and other international organisations in Somaliland and in other parts of our country must enjoy the freedom to employ any person without fear or favour.
In less than fourteen years Somalia is once again in the international news for the wrong reasons. It was the famine during the early 1990s, which took the lives of 300,000 Somalis that led to the US intervention in December 1992. Once again when Somalia is still stateless, the rains have failed and brought about a disastrous famine – and still the bickering about the future of the country goes on to no purpose and without end. There are acts of piracy on the high seas carried out by Somalis while in the drought-stricken areas, our people are dying and the carcasses of their animals litter the fields.
The country is in need of massive reconstruction with a better system of governance, not only for the benefit of our people back home but also to reassure Somalis in the Diaspora. It will take a comprehensive system and a high level of care in place back home to persuade many Somalis in the Diaspora to one day move back to their homeland to take part in its redevelopment and progress.
Somalia was never a poor country but potentially a very rich nation. Only the intellect of the individuals who ran it into the ground proved inadequate and poor. We need to appeal to the better nature of our people in order to emerge from the situation we find ourselves in. We need to inspire our people to once again harness their good sense and turn from conflict instigated by clannish leaders and encouraged by divisive clannism, to once again take pride in our nationhood. The appropriate leadership is very much needed to steer the nation out of its troubles. Given the magnitude of our problems and the wide range of unattended issues, we need leaders who bear and feel the responsibility which comes with power: individuals who have the commitment as well as the ability to give their best to the service of our nation. Detached and inept leaders who waste time and fight over the meagre funds for reconstruction are not the answer to our problems.
Diversity is the beauty of life and it would be in our nation’s best interest to see Somalis from different communities man the affairs of state. That way we would build a nation with cohesive social fibre in which our people live side by side in peace and harmony. That is the only way to build a strong state with secure foundations, to serve generations to come, so that in future it would be impossible to destabilize the county and bring about state collapse. It will take the stewardship and leadership of a good government to help our people reconnect with their good nature, realise their potential and rebuild the nation from the ashes of civil strife. The question is, how long must our good people continue to suffer, leaderless?
Abdullahi Dool
