Somali Government in Exile

Abdulkadir Osman “Aroma” - In 1960s, soon after independence, Somalia was dubbed “The graveyard of foreign aid” because the country lacked enough resources to fully meet the needs of the public administration. Owing to its meager resources the country depended mainly on foreign aid.

Article Keydmedia Online
27 September 2013

To add insult to the injury, Somali politicians and administrative technocratic competed each other in how to accumulate huge wealth, in order to build luxury villas, to own  big farms “azienda”, to marry beautiful women and to open accounts and deposed lamp-sum money in foreign banks. The top echelons of that era became super elite, the vehicles of ministers and members of national assembly were special with plate number “A.N = Assemblea Nazionale” but the public dubbed this abbreviation “A.N =Annagaa Nool” roughly translation is “we had lavish life”.

It is narrated that a Somali deputy, member of a parliamentary delegation visiting the United states of America, before leaving  Mogadishu he wrapped his right hand with bandage. Upon landing at US soil, he was asked by pressman about what happened to his hand. His reply was that he was not suffering any kind of injuries; but I wrapped in order to shake only American Millionaire Rockefeller so as to get from him a good shopping. In 1960s Rockefeller was, in terms of wealth, comparable to Bill Gate of today. It was common culture for some Somali politicians to travel abroad so as to secure donations in money from foreign leaders or tender interested companies. Local Newspaper DALKA nr 2, vol 1 of 01/08/1965 wrote an impressive headline “Somali government in exile”. That leading attractive article went on to underlines that all ministers are routing abroad for pasturing and tips, specially they stay vacation in Italy, because Roman proverb said “all roads leads to Rome”.   

If we look into the current situation of Somalia, it seems that there is no much different from what it was in the 1960s. We are back to square one. A poet said “gaajada ka baxbaan guntiga u xidhee, ma haddaan galay geerashkeedii, roughly meaning “I fastened the belt in order to get out of poverty, but my expectations ended in vain”. The current President of Somalia, together with a number of the Cabinet are touring the  USA, his first leg is to listen the hearsay of Somali Diaspora in America and second leg is to attend UN General Assembly Annual Session.

At the same time, the Prime Minster, accompanied by some Ministers of his cabinet are visiting Europe in order to participate discussions organized by the Human Right Organization in Geneva. On strict Protocol standard, it was more appropriate to send senior government officials and members of Civil Society to attend this kind of meeting, not fit to high dignitary like Prime Minister. Furthermore, the Speaker of the Parliament is currently outside the capital, on unclear mission to Baydhabo; Somali media reported that the Speaker of the Parliament is masterminding the creation of South West Federal State, composed of six regions, a move, which if it happens, runs counter to the recent Addis Ababa agreement with Ahmed Madobe.

The current Prime Minister of Somalia is generally described by his clan family specially Puntlanders as very cool elegant handsome man without initiative as poet Hadrawi once said “Faras qaayihiisii qurux buu ku doorsaday”, but his current political maneuvers indicate that he is waking up with good intention to flex his muscle. Prime Minister’s tour in Europe and Parliament Speaker’s engagement in Baydhabo clearly indicate that there is big rift between the three top leaders.        

From 2000 the Conference held in Arta, Djibouti, international stake holders organized what they called “Somali Reconciliation Conference”, it is an endless process designed to confuse Somali people. Every conference they organized had produced what they called government without power and not controlling the entire country. The President of Djibouti, Ismail Omar Gelleh collected remnants of Siyaad’s Regime, headed by Abdiqasim Salad Hassan and again in 2009 Ala-Sheikh Group headed by Sharif Sh. Ahmed. In 2004 the Conferences held in Nairobi, Ethiopia and Kenya have generated TFG headed by notorious warlord Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. In 2012 the UN envoy, Agustine Mahiga has created NGO-lords from so-called civil society, headed by Hassan Sh. Mohamud.

As usual, the foreigners always impose upon Somali necks unknown aliens imported from overseas based on their geopolitical interest. Abdiqasim and Yusuf’s groups were more experienced compared to the other two groups with no experience of government administration. The Ala-Sheikh group and NGO-lords have come up with a new life style and culture, First and foremost, they like tourism travelling with first class VIP seat on airlines, and secondly, they lack knowledge of the minimum protocol norms. For instance, a recently Piracy Conference held in Dubai, the participants of others countries were Ministers and Expertise but Somali President Hassan Sh. Mohamud attended, a clear indication of how little they the NGO-lords know about protocol.

In conclusion, the question is if the three top state authority figures are not in Mogadishu, who is running the daily business of the country? From Sharif’s tenure, the Villa Somalia or Presidential Palace, is renamed “Villa Abgal” because 90% of the staff of the Villa belongs to one clan family. Therefore it seems that the Villa is under administration of Abgal Elders, but who is running the rest of the country? NB: Villa Abgal notion was invented by former President not by current President, but his attempt to replace these clan Militias with elements of his party of Islax “Dam-jadiid” is met with strong resistance by his own clan.

Abdulkadir Osman “Aroma” - Shirwac55@hotmail.com