SomalilandTimes Editorial: By Defending War Criminal Somalia’s Government Exposes Its Ugly Face And Embarrasses Its Western Supporters

Western powers, especially the US and the UK have been going out of their way to convince the world that Somalia’s current government is different from its predecessors, that it was elected democratically and that it deserves support.

Somalis and those who are knowledgeable about Somali affairs of course know that much of this is exaggeration, that the current president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, used money he received from the Qatari government to buy votes from Somalia’s parliamentarians-for-sale, that most Somalis are opposed to this government, and the only thing that really changed is that western powers seem to have decided to upgrade their support for the dysfunctional government in Mogadishu in order to thwart the security threat that al-Shabaab poses for the west.


Somalia’s government of course welcomed this embrace by the west and the free public relations bonanza that came with it, especially from the US and the UK. Somalia’s government probably could not even believe that the Obama administration would go all the way and try to convince the international community to lift the ban on weapons and allow its rag-tag militias many of whom were until recently members of al-Shabaab terrorists, and some of whom still maintain allegiance to al-Shabaab, as evidenced by the recent suicide bombing at the entrance to the presidential palace which was attributed to one of these al-Shabaab members who had said he left the organization but it was found later, after he blew himself up, that he was still a member of al-Shabaab. Now with the temporary lifting of the weapons ban on Somalia as a result of efforts by the Obama administration at the Security Council, weapons that are supposedly destined for Somalia’s government are likely to fall in the hands of al-Shabaab and a Benghazi type of situation might develop in Somalia.

And just to dispel any doubts about what kind of government it is, Somalia’s government decided to take off its mask and showed to all and sundry that, indeed, it is not much interested in democracy or governing or the thousands of tasks awaiting it, and instead made it its top priority to help war criminals escape justice, and toward that end, Somalia’s prime minister, Abdi Farah Shirdon, wrote a letter to the newly-appointed US foreign minister, John Kerry , in which he asked the US government to grant immunity to Gen. Mohammed Ali Samatar who was tried in the US and found liable for atrocities he committed when he was in charge of Somalia’s military.

So now we have a situation where: 

1. by allowing the flow of weapons to Somalia, the Obama administration has laid the seeds of possible future Benghazi type of scenario where Somali militants attack Americans or westerners with weapons that fell into their hands as a result of US policy; and,

1. while the Obama administration is trying to convince the world that Somalia’s government is serious about governing and will respect human rights, the words and actions of Somalia’s government prove otherwise and show that it is neither interested in governing nor in human rights but in making a quick buck off the back of suffering Somalis and protecting convicted war criminals. 

What makes Abdi Farah Shirdon’s letter even more outrageous is that he shamelessly pimps the issue of Somali reconciliation by claiming that the granting of immunity to the war criminal Mohammed Ali Samatar would help in achieving peace and reconciliation among Somalis when, in fact, nothing could be farther from the truth; and on the contrary, it is his interference in the course of justice that has added to the hurt and anger of the families and relatives of the victims of Mohammed Ali Samatar’s atrocities.

To its credit, the Obama administration did take an honorable position in the trial of Mohammed Ali Samatar by making a “statement of interest” saying that he is not entitled to immunity.

Let us see whether it will stick with its original position, or whether it will flip-flop and erase one of the rare bright spots in its stands toward Somali-related issues.