Is the Somalia Federal Government Showing Regional Preferences?

A map of the Horn of Africa nation of Somalia on the east coast of the continent. The state has undergone tremendous upheaval over the last three decades or more., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Sunday, April 21st, 2013 at 05:02 am

SOMALIA: Is the SFG showing preference to some regional administrations over the others?

Is the SFG showing preference to some regional administrations over the others?

Cawrala Qoricuud
Qoricuud@gmail.com
Galdogob Somalia
April 21 2013

OPINION

Somalia has been going through civil war since the former regime was deposed by armed rebel groups that had no coordinated plans or common vision on what to do next.

The ousting of the dictator by the rebel groups created a widespread chaos that’s still going on.

The unrest and violent had centered in south and central Somalia especially the capital Mogadishu. It became home to warlords with varying interests and agendas and fiercely fought over the city’s control.

With no side of the warring parties overpowering the other, the city’s neighborhoods had to be partitioned and green lines had to be drawn to divide them.

The city’s main seaport and airport had also to be closed. In a very short time the city’s down town turned into ghost village.

Following the collapse of the central government, North Western provinces of the country declared an independent state called Somaliland a name originates from former British colonials. They burnt the Somali flag in public and devised a new flag. Although no country has so far recognized them as a sovereign state they are still lobbying for it and unwilling to comprise the so called self-determination.

Several reconciliation conferences have been held for Somali factions between 1991 and 1998 to try and solve the problem but since Mogadishu warlords were fiercely divided; they were all fruitless.

As a result of failed attempts to resolve the political quagmire in Somalia, the north eastern provinces of the country announced the establishment of semi-autonomous state in 1998. They named it as Puntland and is relatively calm and stable.

Unlike Somaliland, the Puntland administration did not declare secession from Somalia nor did they seek recognition from international community; instead they played major role in stabilizing the south and central Somalia and hosted large number of IDPs fleeing from the wars that plagued south and central Somalia.

After reconciliation conference held in Arta Djibouti 1999 Somalia has got its first interim government since 1991 and since then the country has had three successive interim governments. However, the charter of the last two of them was federal based constitution. It’s done so to decentralize the government and empower regional administrations.

Nonetheless the transition era has come to an end in late last year with the ratification of new charter by Somali elders and selection of the current parliament and president.

People were very keen and hopeful about
the change. Messages of congratulations were sent to the new parliament and government wishing them to succeed in the challenges ahead. Everyone believed that with the restoration of a recognized government it would end years of war, famine and unjust.

The support that the government has from the people was like 100% in the beginning.

However how did the government make use of the enormous support it has locally? Let’s see what happened next and still going on.

Kismaayo and Mogadishu

From the first beginning the president’s remarks on the newly liberated city of Kismaayo were very controversial and seemed to have been favoring some regions/groups over the others. It’s rumored that the president opposes the federal constitutions and instead seeking to do some amendments.

Further to that, he strongly opposed to the establishment of Jubbaland and the conference that had been organized afterwards by communities residing there.

Although several attempts have been made to convince the president he insisted on not respecting the will of the people gathering there.

The government has made several attempts to disrupt the conference using every resource available to them. They funded militias to create chaos in the city, they tried to lure elders and politicians to boycott the conference and finally they sent some ministerial delegations to try to stop it but none of these have worked so far.

In their last meeting, the Kismayo administration and the government agreed on the continuation of the dialogue but apparently they are going to disagree again.

Puntland and Somali Federal Government
Despite playing major in ending the transition, Puntland has not been respected as it deserves. The government has ignored the role of Puntland which was founding member of the current administration and the only legitimate state that exists on Somali soil.

With recognition from the US government and easing of arms embargo, the president and his colleagues seem to be acting like if they don’t care about anything but themselves and turning blind eye to the local stakeholders.

The government is showing too much interest in talks it’s engaged with Somaliland while playing down the importance of Puntland. Knowing how much contributions Puntland has made to the establishment of Somali Federal Government.

The government’s decision to alienate administrations like Puntland and Kismayo who are calling for the unity of Somalia while endeavoring to attract Somaliland which is running away from Somalia is major concern to many Somali’s.

There have been several calls coming from Somali elders on the government to reconsider their internal policy toward exercising constitutional rights. So will the government learn from its past and do start a new beginning?