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Opinions expressed in this column are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of SW. IS ETHIOPIA A SCAPEGOAT...? By Burhan Alas E-mail: bnalas@yahoo.com
Is
Ethiopia
a scapegoat for the crime and hatred perpetuated by rapacious warlords
and their clan militias, or is it a real threat to the rehabilitation of
its war torn neighbour (Somalia)? History
is crucial to human intellect for engaging critical analysis of the
contemporary social crises, maintaining rational approach of the
controversial aspects, and foreseeing future prospects.
The abundance in which the holly Qur’an narrates the historical
epochs of the past civilizations is reminiscent to the significance of
the subject in this prospective. `”Therefore
relate the stories (of the past civilizations) that they may think
(reflect)” (Al-araaf :176). To
shed light on the current political upheavals in Somalia in the
limelight of the fervent accusations from the Mogadishu based press and
radio stations against Ethiopia’s involvement in the Somali politics,
historical context is indispensable. The
Somali people have had severe social and political crises in the past 30
plus years – 21 years of the most corrupt, brutal regime in the modern
history, followed by a decade of civil wars and social unrest
orchestrated by rapacious warlords.
The crime against humanity committed in those eras had left
serious social problems, which have in turn created the major obstacles
that have forced all collective peace processes to fail.
Subject to the nature of the atrocities, and the negative impact
those crimes had on the fabrics of the society, they can be classified
into two categories: 1)
Harsh government stipulated policies aimed to silence voices and subdue
forces suspected critical to the corrupt system of the military
dictatorship. Under the
auspices of those policies, government forces committed horrible crimes.
No particular clan (except individuals) can be accused of being
solely responsible for those crimes as they were carried out in the name
of the government, although in many occasions the atrocities were
inflicted upon or targeted against specific regions or clan. Despite the
severity of the damages caused by those dictatorial policies against the
Somali people, where in some regions cities were leveled to the ground
by government forces, there was no hatred or animosity on clan basis.
The system was the enemy of the people.
People were very optimistic that the corrupt system will perish
sooner or later. Unfortunately
the system perished unnaturally. The
collapse of the civic institutions was the most catastrophic phenomena
that paved the way for the rise of the voracious warlords and the horror
which was unfolding behind the horizons.
The nature of the atrocities experienced in those 21 years
exemplifies the characteristics of a typical tyrant regime. 2)
During the civil war era, the crimes committed were of different nature.
There were no orders from a ruthless dictator using a national
army to protect his dynasty against rebellious political insurgencies,
instead the destructive orders were from notorious warlords and clan
elders who vowed to commit hate crimes against innocent civilians.
The USC who claimed to be the strong faction that defeated the
remnants of the government forces and ousted the dictator Siad Barre
from the capital city was the faction introduced and practiced the
barbaric policy of ethnic cleansing.
Its leaders strongly promoted hatred and hate crimes
unprecedented neither in the Somali culture nor in the history of any
Islamic society. The
fatality was beyond physical destruction: killing, looting, robbing,
rape, dislocation of millions of people, etc.
The five basic Islamic rights known as “ Maqaasidu Al-sharee’ah”
(The fundamental rights protected by Islamic jurisprudence) were all
abused. After
a decade since the collapse of Somali’s central government, and still
the issues of unity, trust, and national sovereignty being more
problematic than ever before indicate the complexity of the malignancy
inherited from those hate crimes. Even
the religious communities who initially thought that such immoral act
could not invade their territories finally succumbed to it and let it
destroy their solidarity and the essence of their divine cause.
The evil motives have been politicised to gain momentum and
international support. Few
months back, Djibouti had the opportunity to sponsor a healthy, genuine
peace process that should have given the Somali people the freedom and
the compassion to undertake serious reconciliation process, a process
that should have laid down the foundation to build on the broken central
structure. Unfortunately, Djibouti turned to be a bias, conspirator
agent, which derailed the whole agenda from a peace process to a more
contentious, complicated, and antagonistic episode. The outcome attested
Djibouti’s ill-fated intentions as it tried to force the Somali people
to accept the same criminals who perpetuated the hate crimes as leaders.
The
rhetoric such as Ethiopia is in the move to invade Somalia; Ethiopia is
threat to Somali’s peace initiatives is all nonsense just to distort
history for political manipulations.
So far we don’t see any factual elements that support such
argument. It’s not
realistic to expect Ethiopia to be indifferent of the chaotic situation
in Somalia for a number of good reasons.
Ethiopia shares with Somalia its longest border (over 2000 km).
The dispute over the Western Somali Land (Ogaden region) and the
fate of more than 3 million Somalis under Ethiopia’s sovereignty
remain unresolved. These
are sensitive issues that Ethiopia has to be more concerned than the
hypocrite Arabs and Djibouti who already polluted the Somali peace
atmosphere by supporting one group against other.
Ethiopia cannot invade Somalia, and Somalis will not accept
foreign invasion. Since
1520’s (Ahmed Gurey era) Somalis had never accepted any foreign
aggression of any kind. They
courageously defended their sovereignty, identity, dignity, and moral
values. If they feel
threatened they will not hesitate to do the same.
Even
if Ethiopia is trying to be the local super power that is not our
concern now, because there is nothing we can do about it.
Our concern is the moral depraving hostility that drove the
nation into radical disintegration of fiefdoms based on clan
inhabitants. Our concern is the evil policy that resorts to hatred
rather common sense. Hundred
thousands of Somali refugees who entered into Ethiopia at any time point
during the crises have never experienced any hostility from the
Ethiopians. They still live peacefully in Addis Ababa, Nazareth, Dire-dawa,
etc. While thousands of orphans who lost their fathers in the hands of
the USC militias cannot go back to their homes in Mogadishu up to now.
What kind of peace process was it? What kind of nationalistic
fervour are we talking about?
Who is to trust? Who is the enemy and who is the friend?
Where is the brotherhood in Islam “Surely believers are but
brothers”? I’ m very optimistic that the Somali people will one day be able to bridge their differences, get rid off all these grudging hostilities, and bring back the unity. God knows how long it will take, but for sure it will not be under the leadership of the current criminals. They don’t possess the quality of such leadership, and to wait from them is just waste of time. ____________________ Previous Article: [SW Column]( Burhan Alas) Is There any Integrity Left to Fight for Justice & Honor |
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