On May 6,
the Italian Institute for International Affairs- “Istituto Affari
Internazionali (IAI)” in Rome- held one day high level closed door seminar sponsored
by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Embassy
of Italy to Somalia. The Title of the Seminar was “Somali
Perspectives: Institutional and Political Challenges.”
President
Abdiweli Mohamed Ali of Puntland, Vice President Abdullahi Sheikh Ismail and Minister Abdighani Abdi Jama of Jubbaland, the Somali Ambassador
to Italy, Mussa Hassan Abdulle, the Somali Ambassador at Large Abdirashid A.
Sed, and Political Analyst Faisal A.
Roble attended the seminar. Marco Claudio Vozzi and Carlo Campanile represented
the foreign Ministry of Italy. IAI Officials and experts steered the seminar.
The report of
the seminar highlights the participants’ positions
and suggestions on Federalism and the nexus between security and development. It
suggests change of policy priority of Italy towards Somalia from “state to
state” relation to “state to regional federal states” relation. It also
proposes the mobilization of international support for the clan dominated
regional States at the expense of the Somali State which itself exists ostensibly.
The
suggested policy shift of Italy subverts the Somali priorities listed in the
2012 provisional constitution, then restated in the Somali Compact between the
Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) and the International donor Community
(Partners) agreed upon in Brussels, Belgium in September 2013, for the
promotion of peacebuilding and statebuilding in Somalia.
The
organizers of the seminar passed up the opportunity to get fair and balanced
Somali perspectives because they avoided to invite critical observers of the
current troubling reality in Somalia exacerbated by the implementation of
federalism without constitutional and legislative provisions. Therefore, the
recommendations of the report are based on incomplete or inaccurate assessment
of the reality in Somalia.
The
report reemphasizes the view of “clan” federalism as “the
most viable option to stabilize Somalia after 20 years of conflict and
fragmentation,” and as a fact on the ground. Two of the fallacious
reasons adduced in support of this view are “to
prevent the reimplementation of failed policies in centrally controlled system
of government in Mogadishu and “to
compensate the inability of the central government to maintain control over the
national territory.”
Those
fallacious reasons assume two things. First, every government in the capital
Mogadishu is prototype of the ousted military dictatorship regime. Second, a capable
central government based in Mogadishu failed to maintain control over the
national territory for incompetence. Both assumptions are false.
In
reality, the federal government lacks the legitimacy and ability to exercise control
over territory beyond Mogadishu. On the other hand, the return of dictatorship
is possible only when the Somali citizens tolerate the violations of the fundamental
democratic principles of the provisional constitution. No respect for the rule
of law and individual liberty is license for abuse of power, corruption, and anarchy.
Today, the
highest priority for Somalia is the unity of the people and integration of the territory
divided by the civil war and the re-establishment of legitimate and effective central
authority that strictly adheres to the constitution and the principles of good
governance. The critical challenge is not the division of competence between
central and local governments but it is the embracing of shared future through
reconciliation, common territorial and political ownership, and allegiance to
common citizenship.
The US
Secretary of State said in Mogadishu, “We all have a
stake in what happens here in Somalia. The world cannot afford to have places
on the map that are essentially ungoverned.” Today, Somalia is
practically no different from an ungoverned place.
Continued
disputes and hostilities among regional authorities prevent the effectiveness
of national central authority able to provide leadership, national
representation, justice, security, and socio-economic development to the Somali
citizens. Somalia will not be an independent and sovereign state without an effective
central authority protected by Somali national security and defense forces.
The participants
of the seminar recognized that the form or model of the Somali federalism is
yet to be defined and formalized in constitution. This fact defeats the argument
that clan federalism is a fact or necessity or the only option against disintegration.
Clan federalism
cannot heal the social ills caused by civil war. Contrary, it deepens national
disintegration and disharmony. The current “censure motion” of the federal
parliament against Jubbaland State, the exchange of accusations between Southwest
and Jubbaland leaders, and the vehement opposition of Puntland against the
formation of Mudug and Galgudud state and possible war over Galkaio control
substantiate the claim that clan federalism is an obstacle to Somali national solidarity
and progress. More worrying is that the syndrome of clan federalism in Somalia
has traversed into the Somali inhabited regions of Ethiopia and Kenya, and
fomented clan wars intended to impose the domination of clans supported by government
forces.
Ironically,
the people and political forces of Italy rejected federal system that divides
the country into north and south or into autonomous regions and metropolitans
spearheaded by the Lega Nord and Forza Italia. They supported political
and fiscal decentralization under a unitary system of governance. The main
reason for the rejection of federalism was to maintain national unity, equal
welfare, and citizenship. Therefore, Somalia should not be an experiment for
federalism that separates people by keeping alive civil war scars and grievances.
Undoubtedly,
the FGS bungled the opportunity offered by the New Deal Strategy by failing to
comply with the performance and policy prescriptions required or implied in the
Somali Compact. But more harmful, Italy works against the principles and goals of
the framework of the New Deal Strategy specifically developed to help the
fragile (failed) States like Somalia. The quick forsaking of the New Deal is a
disaster for the fragile States.
The
release of IAI report coincided with the publication of the research paper of
Professor Afyare Elmi in May 2015 under the title, “Decentralized
Unitary System: A Possible Middle Ground Model for Somalia.”
The research paper focused on the question for rebuilding a sustainable, independent,
sovereign, and democratic State of Somalia.
Professor
Afyare identified four major domestic grievances that are vexing the Somali
people: Trust deficit; Demand for democracy; Access to basic service; and Call
for equitable share of resources. The neighboring countries (Ethiopia and
Kenya), the international community, and Somali leaders used these grievances
to push for clan based federalism as a solution that keeps each clan in
separate traditional territories.
Through
objective analysis of the current literature on various forms of federalism and
the Somali history and culture, Professor Afyare has concluded that a
decentralized unitary system is the most suitable model of governance for
Somalia. He made the unity of the country as the central tenet for rebuilding the
Somali State without overlooking the necessity to address domestic grievances
and any legitimate external interest. The meltdown of clan federalism paves the
way for a decentralized unitary system
The clan
political entities and relative stabilities existing in certain areas of
Somalia are under grave threats by complex problems: poverty, unemployment, extremism,
political alienation, clan conflicts, rival interferences of foreign countries,
wars and instabilities in regional countries, and endemic corruption and
criminal activities. The political crisis bedeviling the Federal Government, Puntland,
Jubbaland, Southwest, and Somaliland are good examples.
Somalia
needs a central government that respects the democratic system of governance
and able to provide the functions of State.
The establishment of an effective central authority complemented by
subsidiary local authorities with powers, responsibilities, and adequate resources
to govern, is essential to leave behind the stigma of failed state.
Mr. Mohamud M Uluso
mohamuduluso@gmail.com
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