The Somali Federal Govt is a House on Fire with No Exit Part I

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Dr. Mohamed Abbas Omar

My heart expands with great sorrow as I wonder if Somalia will ever again be able to pull itself back up from its abyss and primal chaos. I wonder too if Mogadishu – once called the ‘pearl of the Indian ocean’ – will ever get back its cosmopolitan taste and national image rather than its present clan character. Gone are the days when Somalia was once considered to be one of Africa’s great success stories and the envy of its neighbours.

Today as never before, there are dark clouds on the horizon as the security situation is getting out of hand in Mogadishu and it has already reached its boiling point. Suicide attacks and the assassinations of government officials have become the order of the day in the city. This chaos is not just out of the blue, but it is the result of a massive corruption, clan nepotism and the violation of the country’s Provisional Federal Constitution, which have become a system of governance practiced by the Federal Government of Somalia.

Just three years ago when President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud came to power in September 20012, the people of Somalia were full of hope. They were expecting that the new leader’s victory will turn out as a break from the past – a dark past in which Somalia has become known as a land of despair and bloodshed – to a new beginning of hope and fresh leadership. But unfortunately, their dreams and hopes were doomed instantly. The moment President Hassan took office, all the darkness that have been haunting the people of Somalia for more than two decades – whether it is insecurity, corruption or clan nepotism – have re-emerged once again in a different brand. The initial popular support for the Somali Federal Government was wobbled and dropped significantly and the President’s victory has become a miscarriage of justice.

Security Failure

The late US President Ronald Reagan once said: “a nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.” In the case of Somalia today, the Mogadishu-based Federal government cannot even control the capital city! Instead, it remains and operates under the protection of the African Union troops. The situation is even far worse and more disgraceful that the country’s leader himself entrusts his life to the hands of the African Union peacekeepers for close body guard protection. He dares not to walk among his people without having these African Union peacekeepers as a shield!

Are Somali security forces not capable of protecting the country’s leader? Or the President doesn’t have faith in them? Are they really ‘national army’ or just ‘clan militia’ in military uniform?

It is indeed a total embarrassment that this is happening to a country that just celebrated its 55th birthday a month ago as a sovereign nation. What a shame!

Remember when Somalia once had one of the most powerful armies in Africa. Those were the days when some African countries still under the colonial powers used to appeal to Somalia for military support. A case in point was in 1975 when Somalia sent some of its highly trained forces to assist the government of Mozambique led by President Samora Machel against the Portuguese forces. Somalia also issued a warning statement to the white ruler of Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe) Prime Minister Ian Smith. The content of the warning was that Somalia’s tanks will roll into the streets of Harare to crush Ian Smith’s forces if he continues to oppress the majority black people of Zimbabwe.

Those were the glorious days of Somalia’s previous government and its armed forces. Oh, how times have changed.

In February 2015, Somalia’s deputy Prime Minister Mohamed Omar Arte was badly wounded when two explosions rocked the Central Hotel in Mogadishu where many senior government officials were holding the Friday prayer. The attack also killed dozens and severely wounded many others. In a different attack in late June this year, six civilians were killed and more than two dozen were wounded in deadly coordinated suicide attacks on two hotels in Mogadishu during the fasting month of Ramadan in 1436 (the Islamic Calendar).

Just few weeks ago while I was sitting in a community library, I logged into a number of Somali websites expecting that some good news may come out from this ill-fated nation. But sadly, my anticipation was doomed. The screen of my iPad greeted me with some bad news: Abdullahi Hussein Bantu, a lawmaker from Federal Parliament was shot dead multiple times in broad daylight in Mogadishu! Hours later, a senior government official from the Prime Minister’s office was assassinated on a shooting spree that put his life to an end!

On the following day and as never before, Jazeera Hotel which is the most luxuries hotel, located in the most secure and heavily guarded areas in Mogadishu was hit by a deadly truck bomb, killing more than 15 innocent people including a Chinese embassy staff and injuring about 40 others. Immediately China has announced that it may put a halt to all the emergency assistance it extends to Somalia.

As the magnitudes of these simultaneous attacks were unprecedented, one may wonder what was the government response?
Instead of coming up with practical strategies to prevent these tragedies from happening or at least minimizing its deadly effects, the Somali Federal government’s answer was as usual as always: a condemnation and condolence to the bereaved families!

All these deadly incidents are happening within 48 hours in the Somali capital and right under the nose of President Hassan Sheikh and his failed government.

In the past, Alshabab terrorists have carried out successful attacks on the Presidential Palace, the Parliament building and the country’s Supreme Court, bringing the three main components of the government to its knees. Security experts in Somali affairs believe that recent attacks do not reflect a stronger more powerful Alshabab, but it exposes a massive corruption in the security sector in Mogadishu.

AMISOM is trying its best to stabilize southern Somalia but its efforts will not bear fruits that will last as long as the Somali Federal government is corrupt, feeble, faction-led, and incompetent and still continue to violate the country’s Provisional Federal Constitution.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s inability to secure the country’s capital city is just one of many areas where his administration has significantly failed.