Residents at the Ramaphosa informal settlement on Gauteng’s East Rand have come out in support of Somali shop owners who are being forced to close their businesses.
Foreign shop owners said they are being threatened and are blaming a small group of instigators.
Somali shop owner Siyat Sheik Ahmed said a group of around eight people came to his store on Wednesday morning and told him to close down. He said this was not the first time he was threatened.
But this time around he and other foreign shop owners have the support of Ramaphosa residents.
The community rallied behind them because they want them to stay in the informal settlement.
Speaking to Eyewitness News, one resident said foreign owned shops offer cheaper prices.
Police were monitoring the situation and no incidents of violence have been reported in the township.
(Edited by Dennis Georgiannis)
Source: The Eyewitness News
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Somalia bans trading in weapons
The minister also warned government soldiers against carrying their assaul
The interim federal government of Somalia on Tuesday banned trading in weapons.
While the government controls only half of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, the minister of interior and home security of the transitional government, Abshakur Sheikh Hassan Farah, said his government will take strict action against anyone seen trading in weapons.
“Right now, we [are] sending a warning message for all businessmen who are involved in weapon trade…The government would no longer tolerate harmful business. Our people are dying, injuring and displacing because of that,” Farah told reporters in a news conference.
The minister also warned government soldiers against carrying their assault rifles in the populated areas after returning from Mogadishu battle zones.
Farah noted that business sectors should register their weapons with the ministry of interior.
The trading ban comes on the heels of a deadly suicide attack on African Union peacekeepers and Somali forces in Mogadishu. Two African Union peacekeepers and a Somali soldier have been confirmed dead and four others injured Monday afternoon after Al Qaeda-inspired militants disguised as Somali soldiers attacked a military base in the capital.
It is not known how this ban from Somalia’s fragile government will take affect, as the government has failed to stamp its authority over the whole of Somalia.
In 1992 the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted resolution 733 imposing sanctions on Somalia in response to the deterioration of the conflict in Somalia, the heavy loss of life and the widespread damage resulting from the conflict. The sanctions have been modified and extended by a number of subsequent UNSC resolutions.
Somalis believe the UNSC weapons embargo is frequently violated and that is why fighting continues after 19 years.
Source: www.allheadlinenews.com
The interim federal government of Somalia on Tuesday banned trading in weapons.
While the government controls only half of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, the minister of interior and home security of the transitional government, Abshakur Sheikh Hassan Farah, said his government will take strict action against anyone seen trading in weapons.
“Right now, we [are] sending a warning message for all businessmen who are involved in weapon trade…The government would no longer tolerate harmful business. Our people are dying, injuring and displacing because of that,” Farah told reporters in a news conference.
The minister also warned government soldiers against carrying their assault rifles in the populated areas after returning from Mogadishu battle zones.
Farah noted that business sectors should register their weapons with the ministry of interior.
The trading ban comes on the heels of a deadly suicide attack on African Union peacekeepers and Somali forces in Mogadishu. Two African Union peacekeepers and a Somali soldier have been confirmed dead and four others injured Monday afternoon after Al Qaeda-inspired militants disguised as Somali soldiers attacked a military base in the capital.
It is not known how this ban from Somalia’s fragile government will take affect, as the government has failed to stamp its authority over the whole of Somalia.
In 1992 the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted resolution 733 imposing sanctions on Somalia in response to the deterioration of the conflict in Somalia, the heavy loss of life and the widespread damage resulting from the conflict. The sanctions have been modified and extended by a number of subsequent UNSC resolutions.
Somalis believe the UNSC weapons embargo is frequently violated and that is why fighting continues after 19 years.
Source: www.allheadlinenews.com
Power Sharing to Break Somali Impasse: UN .
The United Nations believes that a power-sharing deal might offer Somalia's feuding leaders a way to save face and solve the conflict in the Horn of African country.
"The bottom line is that they all want to cling to power,” Augustine Mahiga, the UN’s special envoy to Somalia, told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday, June 1.
“So, around that fundamental issue, could there be a possibility of power-sharing? I don't know.
"Let them believe there is something for all of them, that there is a win-win situation," he said.
Somalia has sunk into deadly violence after militants from Al-Shabab and its Hizbul Islam allied militia launched a deadly offensive last year against the Western-backed government of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
The dispute between Sheikh Sharif and speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, once an ally of the Somali leader, on the adoption of a new constitution, further aggravated the situation in the war-torn country.
The Western powers who largely fund the UN-backed government and the African peacekeepers propping it up yield few sticks with which to encourage badly needed reforms to an administration riddled by corruption and infighting.
Mahiga said incentives should be brought to the negotiating table, referring to planned talks in Mogadishu later this month.
Those could include more funds to finance government projects, or handing the government more say in defining the reforms and rewarding good performance, Mahiga said.
The envoy hoped the talks would include regional leaders, local elders and women and move the debate beyond the row between president and speaker.
"This (inclusiveness) will create an atmosphere where the two protagonists can save face," he said.
Lawlessness
The UN envoy said that the payment of multi-million dollar ransoms for the release of hijacked vessels encouraged piracy and attracted the involvement of international criminal gangs.
"(Piracy) is getting linked up to the operators of other activities such as drugs, human trafficking and arms trafficking," he told Reuters.
"This is an area where there are specialized criminal actors on the international scene, (and) which is probably becoming more lucrative with fewer risks than even say drug-running."
While foreign powers have deployed warships to the strategic waterways linking Europe and Asia, not enough attention was being paid to the coastline of central Somalia and the Puntland region where the pirates are based, Mahiga said.
The Al-Shabaab rebels, who are on Washington's terrorist list, have demanded a cut of ransoms from pirates operating out of at least one coastal lair, though it is unclear whether any money is changing hands.
"You cannot openly say there is a link between piracy and international terrorism, but the potential is very great," Mahiga said.
Somalia has lacked an effective government since the ouster of former president Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
More than 14 attempts to restore a functional government have since failed.
Confident he would not join the diplomats assigned to the Somalia desk who end their mission with their head in their hands, Mahiga, in the job for a year, said he had yet to exhaust his energies but admitted the job was fraught with frustration.
"These are people who have perfected the art of deception and discouragement and making you feel that you are ready to give up."
Source: OnIslam.net
"The bottom line is that they all want to cling to power,” Augustine Mahiga, the UN’s special envoy to Somalia, told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday, June 1.
“So, around that fundamental issue, could there be a possibility of power-sharing? I don't know.
"Let them believe there is something for all of them, that there is a win-win situation," he said.
Somalia has sunk into deadly violence after militants from Al-Shabab and its Hizbul Islam allied militia launched a deadly offensive last year against the Western-backed government of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
The dispute between Sheikh Sharif and speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, once an ally of the Somali leader, on the adoption of a new constitution, further aggravated the situation in the war-torn country.
The Western powers who largely fund the UN-backed government and the African peacekeepers propping it up yield few sticks with which to encourage badly needed reforms to an administration riddled by corruption and infighting.
Mahiga said incentives should be brought to the negotiating table, referring to planned talks in Mogadishu later this month.
Those could include more funds to finance government projects, or handing the government more say in defining the reforms and rewarding good performance, Mahiga said.
The envoy hoped the talks would include regional leaders, local elders and women and move the debate beyond the row between president and speaker.
"This (inclusiveness) will create an atmosphere where the two protagonists can save face," he said.
Lawlessness
The UN envoy said that the payment of multi-million dollar ransoms for the release of hijacked vessels encouraged piracy and attracted the involvement of international criminal gangs.
"(Piracy) is getting linked up to the operators of other activities such as drugs, human trafficking and arms trafficking," he told Reuters.
"This is an area where there are specialized criminal actors on the international scene, (and) which is probably becoming more lucrative with fewer risks than even say drug-running."
While foreign powers have deployed warships to the strategic waterways linking Europe and Asia, not enough attention was being paid to the coastline of central Somalia and the Puntland region where the pirates are based, Mahiga said.
The Al-Shabaab rebels, who are on Washington's terrorist list, have demanded a cut of ransoms from pirates operating out of at least one coastal lair, though it is unclear whether any money is changing hands.
"You cannot openly say there is a link between piracy and international terrorism, but the potential is very great," Mahiga said.
Somalia has lacked an effective government since the ouster of former president Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
More than 14 attempts to restore a functional government have since failed.
Confident he would not join the diplomats assigned to the Somalia desk who end their mission with their head in their hands, Mahiga, in the job for a year, said he had yet to exhaust his energies but admitted the job was fraught with frustration.
"These are people who have perfected the art of deception and discouragement and making you feel that you are ready to give up."
Source: OnIslam.net
Defense gains access to recorder in Oregon bomb case
Prosecutors must give defense lawyers a tape recorder at the center of the case against a Somali-born teen charged with plotting to blow up a Christmas-tree lighting event in Portland, a judge ruled on Wednesday.
The decision came during a pre-trial hearing for 19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud, who was charged in November with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction at the annual tree lighting ceremony in downtown Portland.
Prosecutors say the Mohamud tried to detonate what he believed was a van packed with explosives at the crowded event -- actually a fake bomb provided to him by undercover agents posing as terrorists.
Mohamud, who attended the hearing, shackled at the ankles and wearing a blue jail uniform, is scheduled for trial beginning on April 10, 2012.
Defense attorneys sought to examine the tape recorder after prosecutors said that it failed during a key July 30 conversation between Mohamud and undercover operatives who he allegedly believed to be co-conspirators.
"The government has to be as forthcoming as possible" in providing materials gathered during the investigation, U.S. District Judge Garr King said during the hearing, which was dedicated in large part to discovery matters.
But King also urged defense attorneys to "be as specific as possible" in their requests.
Mohamud's lawyers, who are expected to mount an entrapment defense, have asked for a broad array of materials from the undercover sting operation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight told the judge that the government had provided 95 to 98 percent of the materials in its possession, including more than 70 computer disks, more than 6,000 pages of written materials, hundreds of hours of video and three hard drives from Mohamud's computers.
King told Mohamud's lawyers they could not have polygraph materials from an unrelated criminal investigation of Mohamud or information on the training of the law enforcement agents involved in the investigation.
(Editing by Dan Whitcomb)
Source: Reuters
The decision came during a pre-trial hearing for 19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud, who was charged in November with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction at the annual tree lighting ceremony in downtown Portland.
Prosecutors say the Mohamud tried to detonate what he believed was a van packed with explosives at the crowded event -- actually a fake bomb provided to him by undercover agents posing as terrorists.
Mohamud, who attended the hearing, shackled at the ankles and wearing a blue jail uniform, is scheduled for trial beginning on April 10, 2012.
Defense attorneys sought to examine the tape recorder after prosecutors said that it failed during a key July 30 conversation between Mohamud and undercover operatives who he allegedly believed to be co-conspirators.
"The government has to be as forthcoming as possible" in providing materials gathered during the investigation, U.S. District Judge Garr King said during the hearing, which was dedicated in large part to discovery matters.
But King also urged defense attorneys to "be as specific as possible" in their requests.
Mohamud's lawyers, who are expected to mount an entrapment defense, have asked for a broad array of materials from the undercover sting operation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight told the judge that the government had provided 95 to 98 percent of the materials in its possession, including more than 70 computer disks, more than 6,000 pages of written materials, hundreds of hours of video and three hard drives from Mohamud's computers.
King told Mohamud's lawyers they could not have polygraph materials from an unrelated criminal investigation of Mohamud or information on the training of the law enforcement agents involved in the investigation.
(Editing by Dan Whitcomb)
Source: Reuters
South Korea jails Somali pirate for 15 years
A Somali pirate was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday after he was found guilty of hijacking a South Korean-operated ship in the Arabian Sea.
Abdulahi Husseen Maxamuud was the fifth and final gang member to be sentenced after four others were given long jail terms last Friday.
They were seized when South Korean navy commandos recaptured the chemical carrier Samho Jewelry in a daring raid on January 21, six days after it was hijacked.
Lawyers said earlier that Maxamuud would be tried separately because he would plead guilty.
But on Wednesday he denied major involvement in the hijack, Yonhap news agency reported from the southern port city of Busan.
"I sincerely apologise for what happened... I was not involved in the crime because I was just the cook," the agency quoted him as telling judges, adding he had tried to restrain the other Somalis.
The court cleared him of the attempted murder of the ship's captain but convicted him of maritime robbery and other charges. It said he deserved a heavy penalty because he was involved in piracy and showed little repentance.
Prosecutors had demanded life imprisonment.
The trials were the country's first attempt to punish foreign pirates.
Eight pirates were killed in the commando raid and five arrested.
All 21 crew -- eight South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 from Myanmar -- were freed unhurt apart from Captain Seok Hae-Kyun, 58, who is still recovering in hospital after multiple operations.
The court last Friday jailed Mahomed Araye for life for trying to murder the captain by shooting him with his AK rifle. Prosecutors had sought the death sentence for him.
Aul Brallat, said to have fired at the commandos during an initial unsuccessful raid on January 18, was jailed for 15 years, while two other pirates were each sentenced to 13 years.
Araye and Brallat have lodged an appeal against the ruling while two other convicted pirates are also expected to appeal, Yonhap said, adding prosecutors would seek heavier sentences on appeal.
Piracy has surged in recent years off Somalia, a lawless, war-torn country that sits alongside one of the world's most important shipping routes.
Investigators say some of the pirates involved in the January raid had taken part in the hijacking last year of a South Korean supertanker operated by the same firm as the Samho Jewelry.
The 300,000-tonne Samho Dream and its 24 crew were released after a reported $9 million ransom payment was made.
Source: AFP
Abdulahi Husseen Maxamuud was the fifth and final gang member to be sentenced after four others were given long jail terms last Friday.
They were seized when South Korean navy commandos recaptured the chemical carrier Samho Jewelry in a daring raid on January 21, six days after it was hijacked.
Lawyers said earlier that Maxamuud would be tried separately because he would plead guilty.
But on Wednesday he denied major involvement in the hijack, Yonhap news agency reported from the southern port city of Busan.
"I sincerely apologise for what happened... I was not involved in the crime because I was just the cook," the agency quoted him as telling judges, adding he had tried to restrain the other Somalis.
The court cleared him of the attempted murder of the ship's captain but convicted him of maritime robbery and other charges. It said he deserved a heavy penalty because he was involved in piracy and showed little repentance.
Prosecutors had demanded life imprisonment.
The trials were the country's first attempt to punish foreign pirates.
Eight pirates were killed in the commando raid and five arrested.
All 21 crew -- eight South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 from Myanmar -- were freed unhurt apart from Captain Seok Hae-Kyun, 58, who is still recovering in hospital after multiple operations.
The court last Friday jailed Mahomed Araye for life for trying to murder the captain by shooting him with his AK rifle. Prosecutors had sought the death sentence for him.
Aul Brallat, said to have fired at the commandos during an initial unsuccessful raid on January 18, was jailed for 15 years, while two other pirates were each sentenced to 13 years.
Araye and Brallat have lodged an appeal against the ruling while two other convicted pirates are also expected to appeal, Yonhap said, adding prosecutors would seek heavier sentences on appeal.
Piracy has surged in recent years off Somalia, a lawless, war-torn country that sits alongside one of the world's most important shipping routes.
Investigators say some of the pirates involved in the January raid had taken part in the hijacking last year of a South Korean supertanker operated by the same firm as the Samho Jewelry.
The 300,000-tonne Samho Dream and its 24 crew were released after a reported $9 million ransom payment was made.
Source: AFP
Gunmen arrested over Norwegian youth murder
UK police have arrested three people on suspicion of carrying out last week’s double killing of a Norwegian-Somali teenager and his friend in Milton Keynes.
Gunmen attacked 19-year-old Norwegian Mohamed Abdi Farah and Amin Ahmed Ismail, 18, shortly after 10pm on Thursday evening, killing Mr Farah instantly with a single shot to the head.
The other victim died in hospital the next following day after being shot twice in the head.
Detectives at Thames Valley Police have ruled out the murders were gang-related, and there is little reason for why the murders occurred. However, Sky News reports the Norwegian-Somali had been a victim of crimes in the area.
His concerned mother had moved him to Coventry near Birmingham, and the shooting occurred whilst he was on what was believed to be a trip to visit friends.
According to The Daily Mirror the three men, all in their early 20s, were seized today following armed raids on three different addresses and are now in police custody.
Two other men aged 21 and 33, as well as a 13-year-old boy, have been released on bail pending further inquiries.
Meanwhile, families have paid tribute to the two dead teenagers. In a public statement released by Mr. Farah’s family, they express their sadness of losing their 19 year old.
"We, Mohamed's family, are deeply saddened and shocked at what can only be described as the tragic and senseless death of our son, brother, nephew and grandson.
"We cannot put into words the pain we are feeling, only to say that he did not deserve to die in this way. Mohamed will always be in our hearts and will never be forgotten."
The Norwegian teenager leaves behind four sisters, one stepbrother, and a stepsister.
Source: the foreigner.no
Gunmen attacked 19-year-old Norwegian Mohamed Abdi Farah and Amin Ahmed Ismail, 18, shortly after 10pm on Thursday evening, killing Mr Farah instantly with a single shot to the head.
The other victim died in hospital the next following day after being shot twice in the head.
Detectives at Thames Valley Police have ruled out the murders were gang-related, and there is little reason for why the murders occurred. However, Sky News reports the Norwegian-Somali had been a victim of crimes in the area.
His concerned mother had moved him to Coventry near Birmingham, and the shooting occurred whilst he was on what was believed to be a trip to visit friends.
According to The Daily Mirror the three men, all in their early 20s, were seized today following armed raids on three different addresses and are now in police custody.
Two other men aged 21 and 33, as well as a 13-year-old boy, have been released on bail pending further inquiries.
Meanwhile, families have paid tribute to the two dead teenagers. In a public statement released by Mr. Farah’s family, they express their sadness of losing their 19 year old.
"We, Mohamed's family, are deeply saddened and shocked at what can only be described as the tragic and senseless death of our son, brother, nephew and grandson.
"We cannot put into words the pain we are feeling, only to say that he did not deserve to die in this way. Mohamed will always be in our hearts and will never be forgotten."
The Norwegian teenager leaves behind four sisters, one stepbrother, and a stepsister.
Source: the foreigner.no
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Somalia’s problems need economic solutions
By Liban A. Ahmad
“Since my appointment, I have done a little bit of reading about the situation in Somalia and come to the conclusion it needs a homegrown solution” Jerry Rawlings, Africa Union’s High Representative to Somalia
Somalia’s political problems continue to confound those working to help Somalia become a country with an effective government. This paper discusses barriers to achieving that goal and puts forward an approach from micro-economic theory to solve political problems gradually. Since 1991, when the central government collapsed after military dictatorship was ousted, organising reconciliation conferences for Somalia’s political actors was the handy approach favoured by Somalia neighbouring countries and the international community. Why have all conferences failed to produce an effective government? The short answer to this questions is: the same approach has been used to expect a different result. Somali politicians’ failures have created reliance on Somalia’s partners collectively known as the international community in a bid to facilitate a political outcome favourable to all political actors. The presence in Somalia of religious extremists the international community considers a threat to regional and world security is what is partly driving the international community’s renewed commitment to helping Somalis form durable political institutions. That goal has not been achieved so far. Twenty years ago the political struggles in Somalia took the form of clan wars. Now non-extremist political actors are in less violent but no less divisive political struggles in Nairobi, the seat of many international organisations working in Somalia, in Addis Ababa, the seat African Union and in Cairo, the seat of the Arab League.
The United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) based in Nairobi and headed by the UN Special Representative Ambassador Augustine Mahiga was established on 15 April 1995, “to … advance the cause of peace and reconciliation through contacts with Somali leaders, civic organisations and the states and organisations concerned.”
The UNPOS adjusts its policies to the new realities in Somalia as the following three points from its mandate based on Security Council Resolution 1863 (2009) show:
As the end of transitional period for Somalia’s transitional federal institutions draws near, the president and speaker of the parliament, Sharif Hassan, have disagreed on the extension of the transitional period and time-frame for holding a parliamentary session to select a president before the end of August 2011. In the Security Council meeting held in Nairobi in May, the president and the parliamentary speaker were urged to “ engage immediately and constructively with SRSG Mahiga who has the full support of the UN Secretary-General and the whole of the Security Council in the consultative process he is facilitating.”
Before the expansion of the transitional federal parliament in 2009 to include parliamentarians from the Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia wing that signed the Djibouti agreement, ex-warlords, Puntland regional administration and clans representatives were the main players but now new political actors— Alliance for Reliberation of Somalia faction led by president Sharif Ahmed and the parliamentary speaker, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a and a small faction from now-defunct Hisbul Islam led by Sheikh Yusuf Mohamud Indha’adde— have joined the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFI). The International community is trying to strike a balance among three goals—supporting nascent political institutions, nurturing existing regional administrations and countering the threat of Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen. Fully-functioning state in Somalia will be the bulwark against terrorism and piracy. Achieving this goal was made harder by Somali political actors’ lack of commitment to peace-making and national reconstruction.
An economic approach
Solutions to Somalia’s persistent political problems have been sought in such diverse disciplines as political science, political geography and social anthropology. The search for approaches from other social science disciplines such as economics will help not only clarify the nature of political problems but will help researchers and policy-makers see how Somali political actors’ responses affect international community’s Somalia policies.
The international community on which any post-1991 Somali government has depended for finance and capacity-building allocates resources for services and projects conducted by organisations such as United Nations and its local and international partners. In this context ideas expounded in The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism, a classic paper by George Akerlof an American economist and Nobel Laureate, is relevant to our discussion. Professor Akerlof’s paper is about a market situation in a which a buyer wants to buy a good quality second-hand car but finds two second-hand cars—one with defects and one without defects— on sale in the market. Each seller knows the quality of his/her car but the potential buyer doesn’t. In such a market situation a seller of poor quality second-hand car will drive the seller of good quality car out of the market. In Somalia moderate political actors ( representatives of clans, leaders of regional administrations, Transitional Federal Government and parliament members) are sellers. Somali people and the international community are buyers: Somalis are expected to buy any political outcome the international community endorses; the international community funds projects and gives credibility to political actors it seems to be genuinely pro-peace. The international community plays the role of a buyer but it is also a seller to the Somali people who are expected by put their weight behind any effort the international community considers to have transformative potential to reconstitute the Somali state.
The role the international community is mandated to play is to support politically inclusive initiatives; it shares the seller’s characteristics with Somalia’s political actors . Professor Akerlof argued that asymmetric information characterises many markets: “actors on one side of the market have much better information than those on the other.” More than 20 years ago Somalis expected a positive outcome from a regime change after 21 years of military dictatorship. The agents of change (armed opposition groups) shared “change goal” but had opposing political agendas. They had one thing in common with the regime they toppled : each wanted to impose on Somalis non-inclusive political intuitions far more degrading than the military dictatorship’s reign of terror. This fact was not known to Somalis yearning for a regime change. Having a goal to reconstitute the Somali state is as important as toppling a dictatorship but in Somalia’s case neither goal has produced the desired effect to change the situation for better. The process of helping Somalis to rebuild their political institutions ought not to look like a market situation affected by asymmetric information in which buyers buy wrong political outcome(“ adverse selection”). There are different political and economic realities in Somalia. Using the tools of micro-economic theory to address Somalia’s problems may not lead to favouring a politician or a constituency in Somalia over another on the basis of concrete political achievements. The international community will be more realistic about the abilities and integrity of its local partners and will look like an impartial body interested in helping Somalia recover from more than two decades of statelessness. Finding home-grown solution to Somalia’s problems begins with understating how Somalis make sense of political realities. Donor countries would be glad to see that their assistance is making difference politically and economically in Somalia. The main indicator for such a progress is Somalis putting their trust in political institutions headed by leaders with no credibility gap between what they are saying and what they are doing.
References
Akerlof, G (1970) “The Market for ‘Lemons’”: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 84: 353–374.
Source Horseed Media
“Since my appointment, I have done a little bit of reading about the situation in Somalia and come to the conclusion it needs a homegrown solution” Jerry Rawlings, Africa Union’s High Representative to Somalia
Somalia’s political problems continue to confound those working to help Somalia become a country with an effective government. This paper discusses barriers to achieving that goal and puts forward an approach from micro-economic theory to solve political problems gradually. Since 1991, when the central government collapsed after military dictatorship was ousted, organising reconciliation conferences for Somalia’s political actors was the handy approach favoured by Somalia neighbouring countries and the international community. Why have all conferences failed to produce an effective government? The short answer to this questions is: the same approach has been used to expect a different result. Somali politicians’ failures have created reliance on Somalia’s partners collectively known as the international community in a bid to facilitate a political outcome favourable to all political actors. The presence in Somalia of religious extremists the international community considers a threat to regional and world security is what is partly driving the international community’s renewed commitment to helping Somalis form durable political institutions. That goal has not been achieved so far. Twenty years ago the political struggles in Somalia took the form of clan wars. Now non-extremist political actors are in less violent but no less divisive political struggles in Nairobi, the seat of many international organisations working in Somalia, in Addis Ababa, the seat African Union and in Cairo, the seat of the Arab League.
The United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) based in Nairobi and headed by the UN Special Representative Ambassador Augustine Mahiga was established on 15 April 1995, “to … advance the cause of peace and reconciliation through contacts with Somali leaders, civic organisations and the states and organisations concerned.”
The UNPOS adjusts its policies to the new realities in Somalia as the following three points from its mandate based on Security Council Resolution 1863 (2009) show:
a) UNPOS and the UNCT shall continue to promote a lasting peace and stability in Somalia through the implementation of the Djibouti Peace Agreement and to facilitate coordination of international support to the efforts.The United Nations is better placed to coordinate humanitarian activities and facilitate communication among various political actors in Somalia because several United Nations organisations are operating in the country. It was only after 2009 when the UNPOS exerted more effort in helping Somalia implement the United Nations sponsored Djibouti peace process. In 2010 when a power struggle caused the Somali president Sharif Ahmed to sack his former prime minister, Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke , Ambassador Mahiga’s predecessor, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, supported the president on his decision to sack the prime minister. President Sharif had to reinstate the prime minister who argued president Sharif “has” violated the transitional charter. The power struggle resurfaced and resulted in resignation of prime minister Sharmarke. The power struggle was not unique to the administration of president Sharif and prime minister Sharmarke; their predecessors had similar power struggles.
b) to assist, in conjunction with regional and international donors partners and other inter ested parties, in supporting the effective re-establishment, training and retention of inclusive Somali security forces, including military, police and judiciary, to hold donor conference to solicit contributions to establish a trust fund in support to these activities.
c) to coordinate all activities of the United Nations System in Somalia, to provide good offices and political support for the efforts to establish lasting peace and stability in Somalia and to mobilise resources and support from the international community for both immediate reco- ery and long-term economic development.
As the end of transitional period for Somalia’s transitional federal institutions draws near, the president and speaker of the parliament, Sharif Hassan, have disagreed on the extension of the transitional period and time-frame for holding a parliamentary session to select a president before the end of August 2011. In the Security Council meeting held in Nairobi in May, the president and the parliamentary speaker were urged to “ engage immediately and constructively with SRSG Mahiga who has the full support of the UN Secretary-General and the whole of the Security Council in the consultative process he is facilitating.”
Before the expansion of the transitional federal parliament in 2009 to include parliamentarians from the Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia wing that signed the Djibouti agreement, ex-warlords, Puntland regional administration and clans representatives were the main players but now new political actors— Alliance for Reliberation of Somalia faction led by president Sharif Ahmed and the parliamentary speaker, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a and a small faction from now-defunct Hisbul Islam led by Sheikh Yusuf Mohamud Indha’adde— have joined the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFI). The International community is trying to strike a balance among three goals—supporting nascent political institutions, nurturing existing regional administrations and countering the threat of Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen. Fully-functioning state in Somalia will be the bulwark against terrorism and piracy. Achieving this goal was made harder by Somali political actors’ lack of commitment to peace-making and national reconstruction.
An economic approach
Solutions to Somalia’s persistent political problems have been sought in such diverse disciplines as political science, political geography and social anthropology. The search for approaches from other social science disciplines such as economics will help not only clarify the nature of political problems but will help researchers and policy-makers see how Somali political actors’ responses affect international community’s Somalia policies.
The international community on which any post-1991 Somali government has depended for finance and capacity-building allocates resources for services and projects conducted by organisations such as United Nations and its local and international partners. In this context ideas expounded in The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism, a classic paper by George Akerlof an American economist and Nobel Laureate, is relevant to our discussion. Professor Akerlof’s paper is about a market situation in a which a buyer wants to buy a good quality second-hand car but finds two second-hand cars—one with defects and one without defects— on sale in the market. Each seller knows the quality of his/her car but the potential buyer doesn’t. In such a market situation a seller of poor quality second-hand car will drive the seller of good quality car out of the market. In Somalia moderate political actors ( representatives of clans, leaders of regional administrations, Transitional Federal Government and parliament members) are sellers. Somali people and the international community are buyers: Somalis are expected to buy any political outcome the international community endorses; the international community funds projects and gives credibility to political actors it seems to be genuinely pro-peace. The international community plays the role of a buyer but it is also a seller to the Somali people who are expected by put their weight behind any effort the international community considers to have transformative potential to reconstitute the Somali state.
The role the international community is mandated to play is to support politically inclusive initiatives; it shares the seller’s characteristics with Somalia’s political actors . Professor Akerlof argued that asymmetric information characterises many markets: “actors on one side of the market have much better information than those on the other.” More than 20 years ago Somalis expected a positive outcome from a regime change after 21 years of military dictatorship. The agents of change (armed opposition groups) shared “change goal” but had opposing political agendas. They had one thing in common with the regime they toppled : each wanted to impose on Somalis non-inclusive political intuitions far more degrading than the military dictatorship’s reign of terror. This fact was not known to Somalis yearning for a regime change. Having a goal to reconstitute the Somali state is as important as toppling a dictatorship but in Somalia’s case neither goal has produced the desired effect to change the situation for better. The process of helping Somalis to rebuild their political institutions ought not to look like a market situation affected by asymmetric information in which buyers buy wrong political outcome(“ adverse selection”). There are different political and economic realities in Somalia. Using the tools of micro-economic theory to address Somalia’s problems may not lead to favouring a politician or a constituency in Somalia over another on the basis of concrete political achievements. The international community will be more realistic about the abilities and integrity of its local partners and will look like an impartial body interested in helping Somalia recover from more than two decades of statelessness. Finding home-grown solution to Somalia’s problems begins with understating how Somalis make sense of political realities. Donor countries would be glad to see that their assistance is making difference politically and economically in Somalia. The main indicator for such a progress is Somalis putting their trust in political institutions headed by leaders with no credibility gap between what they are saying and what they are doing.
References
Akerlof, G (1970) “The Market for ‘Lemons’”: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 84: 353–374.
Source Horseed Media
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)