Feb. 26, 2011
On February 21, 2011, about 114 Somalis residing in the Diaspora (including this author) sent a letter to the Somali public and to several international players in the Somalia affairs, including the United Nations General Secretary, Ban Ki-Moon, Ambassador Augustine Mahiga and US Undersecretary for Africa, Mr. Johnnie Carson. The letter urged all sides to reject the unilateral mandate to extend the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP) term for three more years 1. The letter specifically underscored the troubling role the Inter Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) has been playing in the Somalia affairs 2. IGAD’s overreaching hand in the political and social life of Somalia is at best troubling and at worst perpetuating by design the status quo.
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Sheikh Sherif & Sherif Hassan |
The unilateral extension of the TFP mandate, as matter of fact, had originated not from the corridors of the Somali hallways, but from the first session of IGAD’s January 30, 2011 session, under the Chairmanship of Prime Minster Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia. After that meeting, IGAD issued the following action regarding the Somali parliament: “That the Transitional period ends on August 20, 2011 and the Assembly reached a consensus on the urgent need to extend the term of the current Transitional Federal Parliament.”
Following IGAD resolution (Jan. 30, 2011), on February 3, 2011, the TFP leadership hastily drafted a motion (to extend its life for three more years) for which it selfishly and voted with overwhelming majority. This decision coupled with other events that had unfolded in Mogadishu precipitated President Sheikh Sharif’s visit (along with some of his cabinet members) to Addis Ababa to get more clarification of the nature of the TFP mandate extension.
However, reports coming from Addis Ababa unambiguously expressed the discord between the Somali side and the IGAD leadership; President Ahmed reportedly walked out of the IGAD meeting room twice. Reliable sources reported that the president reacted with raw emotions to the unruly role IGAD is playing in the affairs of Somalia. In particular, he was angered by IGAD’s insistence that his government must go and IGAD would not grantee similar extension to his administration.
It is at this vortex of events that one needs to assess whether IGAD‘s hand in the affairs of Somalia is detrimentally overreaching?
The IGADD grouping was established in 1984 (Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, and Uganda with the help of United Nations offices) mainly in reaction to the highly publicized famine, which devastated Northern Ethiopia. The overall objective of the grouping of the Horn of Africa nations at the time of its founding was to manage the infamous East African recurrent drought. The headquarters for these six nations was purposefully selected to be Djibouti, the smallest and least threatening city state in the region.
In the vision statement of IGADD, which is mainly to mange drought and disaster, plus the promotion of economic integration of the member states, there was nothing that expressed or authorized this body to fashion the political direction of any member state, let alone take prominent role in how each parliament or their respective national institutions be managed.
However, with Ethiopia’s ascendency to political and military prominence since the mid 1990s, the vision was expanded to include security and political integration as a long term goal. Ethiopia, owing to its recently acquired status as a populous landlocked country, worked hard through the AU and IGAD to utilize said vision statements for its dominance of the political space of the region. It is plausible to argue that Ethiopia under Meles Zenawi has been usurping IGAD authority in order to freely interfere in the affairs of its traditional rival nation - Somalia. As a matter of fact, Ethiopia invoked this part of the vision statement (security) when it invaded Somalia in whose aftermath thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of civilians were killed 3.
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However, with Ethiopia’s ascendency to political and military prominence since the mid 1990s, the vision was expanded to include security and political integration as a long term goal. Ethiopia, owing to its recently acquired status as a populous landlocked country, worked hard through the AU and IGAD to utilize said vision statements for its dominance of the political space of the region. It is plausible to argue that Ethiopia under Meles Zenawi has been usurping IGAD authority in order to freely interfere in the affairs of its traditional rival nation - Somalia. As a matter of fact, Ethiopia invoked this part of the vision statement (security) when it invaded Somalia in whose aftermath thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of civilians were killed 3.
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