SHASNA MediaWatch department follows news analysis, commentaries, trends, news reports and press releases of the week. We pay special attention to Somali news in general, and to Arab financed, Djibouti bankrolled and UN-sponsored ‘ARTA TERROR CELLS’ in particular. We analyze, digest and separate facts from fiction. With so many news outlets and so many groups, each one vying for your attention, we will try our very best to fairly analyze what you have read or missed reading.

I M Lewis – Rome (April 2002) – “Somalis are perfectly capable of negotiating agreements if and when they really want to. Foreigners should in general stay outside Somali negotiations. Consider the pathetic record of UN involvement: it is a sad warning to the ignorant and innocent.”

Restoration of Puntland & Rejuvenation of the Recovery Zones

The Defeat of the unholy alliance of radical Arab states, al-Itihaad, UN’s UNPOS, Djibouti and mafia cartel, and the new and old Italian hand of Somali centralism:  A new Era for Federalism in Somalia

More than any other conference or any other so-called peace process, the Djibouti manufactured, UN-sponsored and al-Itihad and al-Islah dominated Arta, Djibouti conference has resulted more deaths and debilitations for Somalis than any other conference in the history of Somali reconciliations. It has revived and returned to Somalia what Somalis have been attempting to get rid of in the last three decades. But you will never hear any hint of this from New York or Nairobi based UN officials.

The UN-sponsored Arta conference, pushed from behind by the Djibouti based international drug money laundering cartel, has dusted off, dressed up and returned to Mogadishu the same clan superiority-oriented men who destroyed our deep love for each other, and who dismantled our beloved land. They have appointed as the head of this group none other than the interior minister of Siad Barre. A former socialist educated in Moscow and a recent convert to al-Islah brand of fundamentalism. This man, Abdiqasim Salad Hassan, Siad Barre’s interior minister has never said no to any portfolio offered to him by the socialist regime, and with the help of al-Itihad and radical Arab states, has tried, by hook or crook, but in vain, to reinstate and again re-impose his sub-clan and that of his mentor on Somalia. Fortunately, the Somalia he came back to was not the Somalia he knew!

Somalia and Somalis have matured. We have learned from our mistakes; we have learned to rely on each other; we have become productive and at the same time profitable. The welfare state of Siad Barre was no more. We have built autonomous regions; the Recovery Zones have prospered and are peaceful. Ismail Omar Ghelle, the Djibouti despot, has even admitted the development and stability of the northern Recovery Zones. Even Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the UN, has encouraged other regions to emulate the northerners and on his August 1999 Report, described them as pillars of Somalia (Para 17, "…with Puntland joining hands with Somaliland, the first step could be taken towards the resuscitation of Somalia.")

But recovery, development, justice, legal system, one man one vote, autonomy and federalism was never in Mr. Ghelle’s vernacular. He never understood those terms; it will never serve his narrow interests; and he will never comprehend their significance.

But since time is of the essence, the Recovery Zones began to function smoothly and to slowly fill out the vacuum. And as all wheels got greased, the corrupt Nairobi based UN bureaucrats were getting restless and nervous of the new calls for accountability. The autonomous administrations, their grassroots support and respected rule of law were intimidating radical Arab states and al-Qaeda supported al-Itihad organization. The Italians, with their intentions for southern Somalia farmlands and sites for toxic waste dumping, never liked the new accountability advocacy by the newly setup autonomous administrations. And the Recovery Zones were cornered!

With so many enemies, who needs any friends? As the Recovery Zones got cornered, the unholy alliance began intimidating and accusing any friends expressing any form of support for the Recovery Zones of being against peace and unity in Somalia. Ismail Omar Ghelle, the biggest despot in Horn, and his minions from Siad Barre era led their so-called peace process. Their newly imported battlewagons supplied by Saudi Arabia and Qatar supported their Arta export, thinking it would provide much needed muscle. The UN’s UNPOS led by David Stephens and Lieutenant Randolph Kent took care of fundraising, and were diligently performing their new tasks as the spokesmen for the gang. Their northern Somalia based UN offices and NGOs were tacitly used to dismantle the same administrations they were purporting to support. In one scoop, the Arabs provided $14 million dollars [SHASNA MediaWatch or RadioGalkayo.com] intended, for once and for all, to buy off and dismantle the autonomous regions. The BBC Somali desk and the UN’s IRIN information agency spearheaded the Joseph Goebel like propaganda to paint the northern leaders as undemocratic and against peace and unity in Somalia.

Meanwhile, according to a preset plan, the unholy alliance’s shamelessly put-together al-Itihad organized conference proceeded and began timely. Al-Itihad asylees with UK temporary residences, with asylum applications pending and families taken care of by the “local council accommodation in London boroughs”, began arriving to claim leadership status. The jig was on and up all at once! Selected Issims were called on for a gathering. Out of Puntland’s 63 Issims, 11 (or 17%) showed up! And bingo, again with the help of the BBC Somali section and the UN’s IRIN information agency, it was reported that a new President has been elected; or so they wished!

Everything was thought to be in place, and the champagne corks were flying off in blush and luxurious Nairobi hotels and bars. It almost worked; they almost pulled it off! But no…no…there was the grassroots support that stood for the leadership; stood up against foreign interests; stood against the rich and the powerful! They couldn’t crash the masses; they couldn’t buy off the hungry mothers; no, they couldn’t bribe the true and time-tested leaders of the Recovery Zones! They badly underestimated the power of the people. They have truly overestimated their power of the purse. Their mission has failed; their Arta has failed; their officials where nowhere to be found.

Failure is truly a miserable companion!

And again the Recovery Zones stood tall, and the rest is for textbooks!

Now that the Recovery Zones are back in action, politically united, restored and truly rejuvenated, will the unholy alliance implode? Will they still continue to support the Arta sub-clan? Will they help the helpless and the aggrieved or will they help the aggressors, looters, and the pillaging hordes and invaders of southern Somalia? Whose side are they on anyway?

Will Messrs Winston Tubman and Maxwell Gaylard learn from the previous mistakes of Messrs David Stephen and Randolph Kent? Will UN warlord, Wayne Long, continue to freely run stealth fiefdoms in Somalia and in Nairobi? Since he is running out of real estate, will Wayne Long now make a new one, or administration, as he calls it, in Southern Mudug? Since Galkayo is no longer a divided city, will he achieve to divide it again? Will the sub-clan militia and their hordes of bandits who, by night, continuously and mercilessly kidnap hardworking, kind and decent UN employees for ransom be called ‘TNG police’ during daytime by Mr. Wayne Long? Will Wayne Long ever figure out that there had been no UN casualties in the Recovery Zones, and that therefore, his so-called Zone Security Officers (ZSO) are no longer needed in the northern zones? Will Wayne long ever be capable of being even-handed and leave Somali politics to Somalis? Will Wayne Long now finally be capable of recognizing that his ‘divide and rule’ jig is up!

Will the UN bureaucrats ever learn from their mistakes, or will they be repeating the same mistakes in perpetuity? Will the UN officials ever dismantle the revolving door of perpetual instability?

But no matter what, we will be united; we will stand tall; we will be firm; we will not relent; we will recoup and recover; we will fight for federalism in Somalia. We will fight for peace and prosperity.

Keep hope alive and keep standing tall!

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William Shakespeare (1564-1616) – “True hope is swift, and flies with swallow’s wings; Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.”

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TO ALL OUR SUPPORTERS AND CONCERNED SOMALIS:

Thank you very much for your support in the ARENA OF IDEAS in these trying times. The true and tested hardworking and devoted Somalis need leadership and unbiased information. We will try our very best to provide that. To other Somalis on the fence: the days of one clan forcefully dominating others are over. If each one of us doesn’t clean his/her own house, nobody, we repeat nobody, neither the innocent staff of the UN nor the highly arrogant and power hungry NGOs, will clean it for us! For all the young men and women: don’t waste your time in this clan rubbish. Stay in school; we may need you someday. For the few who disagree, please be specific in where we err, if we do at all!

SHASNA* Editorial Board 

cc: SHASNA Members 

*SHASNA is an advocacy group based in Boston, Massachusetts. It stands for the unity and peaceful coexistence of Somali people. It supports the creation of a federal system of governance to safeguard the emerging free markets of the Recovery Zones. SHASNA encourages corporate and individual investments in the Recovery Zones. It has presences in both Puntland (Boosaaso, Garoowe, Buurtinle, Bacaadweyn and Galkayo) and Somaliland (Hargeysa, Berbera and Burco).