David Shinn is not a Somali
citizen, but his recent remarks on the official involvement of Ethiopia
in the African Union’s peace-keeping mission in Somalia make him sound
as though he was speaking for diehard Somali nationalists. In an
interview with the Voice of America the former American ambassador to
Ethiopia said:
“I think this is a mistake particularly if Ethiopian forces are expected to go beyond the immediate Ethiopia/Somalia border area. Everyone knows that they have been crossing the border into Somalia for some time now confronting al-Shabaab forces or any hostile forces for that matter…. But by joining AMISOM, this I think is going to revive the Ethiopian intervention more broadly in Somalia that they engaged in from the very beginning of 2007 through January of 2009, particularly their engagement in Mogadishu. And that did not end well…My fear is that it is going to revive those kind of concerns and the historical enmity between Somalia and Ethiopia and give another sort of rallying cry to Al Shabaab for recruitment purposes…..”
Anyone
who reads his statements regardless of whether they are qualified
historians on Somali history or committed nationalists can clearly see
how the American diplomat grasps the fundamental flaw in allowing
Ethiopian forces to join AMISOM. This mistake,
as he describes it, is deeply embedded in the history of the two
nations, which is marked by centuries’ old animosity and bloodshed due
to religious differences and territorial grievances. The history often
hurts Somalis more than Ethiopians.
Indeed, after two wars, Somali nationalists have yet to come to terms with the loss
of the Ogaden region, one of the missing territories as envisioned by
Somali nationalist. Those Somalis old enough to remember know how Somali
nationalists were proud of their efforts in liberating their brethren
from the Ethiopian colonialism, which effectively took place under
Emperor Menelik’s reign with the support of European colonial powers.
They also know that their dream of liberating the region was denied by
the intervention of a powerful superpower, the former Soviet Union and
its allies in the 1977 war. Indeed,
it was not Ethiopian or even African forces, which defeated the Somali
National Army, but the combined forces of the former Warsaw military
power.
The
above recount of the 1977 war and its humiliating defeat stirs strong
emotional tantrum to most Somalis who were 15 years of age before the
collapse of the central government in 1991. Despite their current deep
divisions and their narrow political ambitions, “old” Somalis, if I am
allowed to use that term, would always remember how their country was
proud to at least have tried to liberate their brethren from the
clutches of an historical enemy, although the campaign did not succeed.
It was, among other causes, the loss of national pride
suffered by a proud nation which ultimately led to entrenched and
oppressive dictatorship and finally to the collapse of the central
government in 1991 and subsequent murderous civil wars.
Although
Ethiopia has never shied away from intervening in Somalia’s internal
affairs by manipulating different stakeholders, it was in 2006 when
Ethiopian forces invaded Somalia under the flimsy pretext of president George Bush’s global “war on terror”.
The military adventure deeply divided Somalis who felt humiliated by the experience. For
the first time in history, Ethiopian forces erected an Ethiopian flag
on the broken Republic’s capital city by the barrel of the gun. Some
analysts even interpreted the invasion as part of Ethiopia’s
determination to annex Somalia to its multi-ethnic empire.
Somali
nationalists and intellectuals across clan spectrum inside and outside
the country opposed the invasion and established their own political and
media organisations. As far away as Europe and
North America, they stepped up their campaign against the occupation,
expressing their anger through poems, songs, and of course by the barrel
of the gun for those inside the country.
Atrocities
and war crimes committed by the invading forces are written in history
books and in the reports of international human rights organisations.
Therefore, there is no need to repeat them here.
The
ill-advised military intervention has failed to dismantle all terrorism
structures, and in contrast has created newly invigorated and
formidable national resistance movements in which Al Shabaab became the
elephant in the room! Ironically, right now Ethiopian forces are being
sent again to Somalia to fight the same monster they helped create in
2007! What a fallacy!!
It
is only appropriate and right to mention here how Abdirazak Hagi
Hussein, former prime minister, who passed away in this month, opposed
the invasion at the time. He spoke for nationalists just as the American
diplomat seems to speak for Somali nationalists at this moment in time.
As an icon of Somali nationalism, he must have felt humiliated and
angry by seeing historical enemy, which he fought against it, to occupy
the country he once led.
Indeed, it was just after a few months of the
invasion that Aden Abdulle Osman, the first Somali president, another
nationalist hero passed away. Exactly
as the former president died just after the 2006 invasion, the former
prime minister passed away in this month just after the announcement of
Ethiopia’s official involvement in AMISOM.
Although
old age and ill-health must have contributed to the death of these
great nationalists, mixed feelings of humiliation, anger, sadness and
betrayal triggered by Ethiopia’s never ending military interventions in
their country might have rendered the two leaders heart-broken men who
were fed up of seeing the same scenario played in their beloved country
again and again. And who would not have felt the same when the nation
you have created is being invaded and broken up by a ruthless enemy,
which would do any thing to further its national interest.
In conclusion, the UN Security Council resolution number 1725
adopted in 2006 has made it clear that front-lime states, including
Ethiopia and Kenya, should not be included in any peace-keeping forces
in Somalia. This is the wisdom that the international community should
adopt as its guidelines when attempting to end Somalia’s ugly civil
wars.
by: Muuse Yuusuf
Sunday, February 16, 2014
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