SOMALILAND: Building a Mesh Network in Rural Somaliland

 By: Daniel Hastings

Abaarso, (SM) -I had heard about mesh networking before I arrived in Somaliland, but had never been in the position to actually build a mesh network. When I accepted the position as ICT instructor at Abaarso School of Science and Technology in Abaarso, Somaliland, I figured this may be my chance.

I knew that the Open Technology Institute (OTI) had been developing a mesh firmware called Commotion, suitable for remote locations. Upon arriving in Somaliland I decided that building a mesh network using Commotion would be one of my top priorities.

It seemed like building a mesh network could be a difficult process. I experimented in the past with other firmware on a variety of routers, but found the configuration to be too time-consuming and difficult to set up.

I knew Commotion ran on Ubiquti hardware, designed for rough outdoor environments like Somaliland. Unfortunately, finding Ubiquti routers in Somaliland -- for that matter, getting anything into Somaliland -- is no easy task.

Somaliland is an independent autonomous region of Somalia, and is an area that is safe compared to the southern regions of Somalia.

While not internationally recognized as a country, Somaliland has its own currency, government, and military.

The analogy I like to use when it comes to traveling to Somaliland is no different than that of getting to Hogwarts. Instead of running head first into an imaginary platform at the train station, you have to land in Dubai, catch a flight that leaves only once a week and then travel across a desert on one of the worst-built roads you can imagine.

While back in the US this past summer I contacted OTI and found that they would be able to provide me with the proper equipment to run and set up a mesh network using Commotion. I was so excited about the possibility of actually getting all of the equipment into Somaliland that I carefully packed everything into my carry-on.

Before I go any further, I should explain my level of experience with building networks. My only experience with networking had been taking a class at a community college in San Francisco and spending the last year troubleshooting our Internet problems at school. However, Commotion is built in such a way that little if any advanced configuration is necessary to set up a mesh network.

I first began building my network by identifying where I wanted access points on campus and mapping out distances between each spot. Having a good line of sight between each node was extremely important. Luckily we have a lot of high guard and water towers on campus so placing nodes was not an issue.

One minor problem with placing nodes in towers was that I had to ensure a reliable power source was within range of the node. If all my nodes were solar-powered, I would not have had to worry about running any cable at all!

I next had to "flash" each router, which means loading the Commotion firmware on to each Ubiquti device. I had experience flashing firmware onto routers before but had never "meshed" wireless nodes together. To help with this I referred to the configuration examples on Commotion's website, which I found extremely helpful. Open source software has been known to be tricky to configure and maintain but it certainly does not have to be. Commotion has proved this to be more than true.

While building the network, I made sure to include students as much as I could. I assembled together a computer club of my top ICT students to discuss and teach the basics of mesh networking, how to flash firmware onto routers, and how to add a node to the network. Together we ran cable and climbed water towers to place the nodes in their proper places. We also had to place some nodes in the guard towers which often times, the guards would unplug accidentally. Students trained the guards on the difference between the LAN and PoE ports as well as the importance of keeping the PoE cable plugged in at all times. A few weeks after school we put up the last two nodes for the girls' dorms and the boys' dorms.

Local Applications and Limited Bandwidth

Somaliland is currently the only country in Africa that lacks fiber optic access -- cables are laid but access is not predicted to be available until 2014. Somaliland receives its Internet connection via microwaves across the desert from Djibouti. All of the IP address ranges in Somaliland will tell you that you are in Djibouti. The distant gateway connectivity, not to mention unreliable ISPs, equates to some seriously slow Internet.

A lack of consistent access to the Internet is an ICT instructor's nightmare. Not being able to teach the most current technologies can be frustrating, and it also hampers sharing files with students.

Mesh networking is described as a "peer to peer network:" I wanted to use the full sense of the term and make file sharing among my students easy and manageable. In order to solve this communication problem I decided to rely less on the outside Internet and rely more on local applications installed on our servers.

I found the solution to our inconsistent and slow Internet by installing OwnCloud, an open source alternative to Dropbox, on our local server. Now students could share homework assignments with me and other teachers without having to rely on the Internet at all.

Creating a Self-Sufficient Network

As well as the network worked and as much fun as setting it up was, I cannot call this project successful until I can come back to Somaliland a year from now and see the same nodes in place running the same network.

I used a few methods to make sure this would be the case. I was careful to document every aspect of the project and create detailed guides for teachers and future network administrators on everything from how to find your IP address on the network to how to ping a node, which is important for isolating a potential problem on the network. Even though mesh networks are "self-healing", they are not perfect and still have their quirks.

Having all of the knowledge centered in one place with one staff member will only set an organization up for failure, so I've made sure to give a series of small trainings to the entire staff.

The more transparent you are about how the network works, the more likely the technology will last.

I repeatedly told my students that some of the greatest makers and technologists of our time were self-taught. The excellent support community centered around open source software makes projects such as Commotion sustainable.

There is a good chance that if a problem arises, someone else already had that issue or someone in another community across the globe is working on a solution to that problem.

I would like to give my sincere gratitude to the Commotion Wireless Project for the support they gave me along with providing me with necessary tools to build this network. Not only did the students at Abaarso School get extremely enthused about mesh networking and learn the meaning of community technology, but now another small part of a country that, technically, does not even exist is more connected to the rest of the world.

Source: New America Foundation

Hogaanka Sare ee Ciidanka Booliska Somaliland oo Eedo Culus u Jeediyay Wargeyska HUBAAL "Wuxuu Caadeystay Baahinta Warar Khatar Ku Ah Nabadgelyada Dalka Oo Been-Abuura

"Wargeyska HUBAAL waxa uu noqday boog umadda ku dhex jirta, oo aad moodo inay qaranimada Somaliland ay dhan ka tahay, oo fadeexado iyo ceebo aanu dalkani lahayn ayey u baahinaysa caalamka,"Taliye Kuxigeenka Ciidaanka Booliska Somaliland Cabdiraxmaan Liibaan Axmed (Fooxle)

Hargeysa - Taliyaha Ciidaanka Booliska Somaliland Sareeye Guuto Cabdilaahi Fadal Iimaan Iyo Taliye Kuxigeenka Ciidaanka Booliska Cabdiraxmaan Liibaan Axmed (Foole) ayaa si wada-jira u beeniyey war uu daabacay Wargeyska Hubaal,kaas oo sheegayey inuu khilaaf soo kala dhexgalay hogaanka bileyska,isla markaana waxay si isku mida ugu eedeeyeen Wargeyska HUBAAL inuu caadeystay baahinta warar khatar ku ah nabadgelyadda Somaliland oo been-abuura oo aan sal iyo raad-toona lahayn.

Taliye Fadal iyo kuxigeen Fooxle waxay sidaa ku sheegeen Shirjaraa´id oo ay maanta si wada-jira ugu qabteen Xarunta taliska

Ugu horeyn, Taliye Kuxigeenka Ciidaanka Booliska Somaliland Cabdiraxmaan Liibaan Axmed (Fooxle) oo halkaasi ka hadlay ayaa waxa uu yidhi "Waxaan doonayaa inaan halkan ka cadeeyo Wargeyska Hubaal caddadii maanta ee 362 oo ciwaankiisu ahaa "Khilaaf Is-bahaysi u qeybiyey hoggaanka Booliska",warkaas waa war aan sal iyo raad-toona lahayn,Cabdilaahi Fadal Iimaan oo ah Taliyaha Ciidaanka booliska Somaliland aniguna (Fooxle) aan ahay Taliye kuxigeenka,waxa nagga dhaxeeya saaxibtinimo, walaaltinimo iyo taliyenimo,waanan u mideysanahay hawsha qaranka,gebigayaguba waxaanu nahay toban hogaan, oo tobankayaga hoggaan-ba ma nihin dad kala qeybsamaya ee waxaanu nahay inta isugu jecel ee wada socota ee isugu midka ayaanu nahay".

"Hoggaanka hawlaha, hoggaanka Saadka,hoggaanka birmadka,hoggaanka Ciidaanka,hoggaanka qorsheynta,hoggaanka wacyigelinta, mid aan laabtayada ku jirin ma jirro oo waxaanu nahay dad isku duuban,warkaas uu qorey Wargeyska Hubaalna waxba kama jiraan,Wargeyska Hubaal waxa uu noqday boog umadda ku dhex jirta, oo aad moodo inay qaranimada Somaliland ay dhan ka tahay, oo fadeexado iyo ceebo aanu dalkani lahayn ayey u baahinaysa caalamka,laakin wixii nagga dhaxeeya waa sharci, oo sharciga ciddina nagga furfuri-meyso oo sharciga ayaanu horkeenaynaa oo aanu ku xisaabtamaynaa". Ayuu yidhi Taliye Kuxigeenka Ciidaanka Booliska Somaliland Fooxle.

Taliyaha Ciidaanka Booliska Sareeye Guuto Cabdilaahi Fadal Ii moo isna halkaasi ka hadlay ayaa waxa uu yidhi "Waxaan saaka idinku yeedhay Beryahan-ba waxa uu Wargeyska Hubaal qorayey warar been abuura oo aan sal iyo raad-toona lahayn, oo arrimaha Ciidaanka booliska Somaliland ku saabsan,isla markaana nabadgelyada khal-khalgelin kara,waxaan idiin bayaaminayaa inuu Wargeyska Hubaal caado ka dhigtay arrin khatar ku ah nabadgelyada oo been ah,isla markaana uu warar beena uu bileyska kaga sheegayo ay jiraan,"

Isaga oo hadalkiisa sii watana waxa uu yidhi "Tusaale hadaan u soo qaado caddadkii 321 ku soo baxay Wargeyska Hubaal 26/10/2013 ee ciwaankiisu ahaa "Taliyaha Ciidaanka Booliska iyo hay´ada UNDP waxay isku khilaafeen sarkaal tuhun argagixiso loo xidhay oo uu yidhi Taliyuhu ku celiya hay´ada", warkaas wax allaaliyo wax ka jirey muujirin,ee waxa uu ahaa been abuur sal iyo raad toona lahayn,waana arrimaha ka mamnuuca inay saxaafaddu ka hadasho arrimaha Ciidaanka,

Sidoo kale,Wax ka jiraa ma jiro, waa war been abuura oo sal iyo raad-toona lahayn warkii ku soo baxay caddadkii 357 ee Wargeyska Hubaal,kaas oo ciwaankiisu ahaa"Rag laga shakiyey oo xabsiga loo taxaabay iyo Sarkaal SPU-da ka tirsan oo lagu magacaabo Maxamed Cabdi Aadan oo lagu toogtay Xaafada Siinay", waxaanan aaminsanay inuu u-jeedo gaara ka lahaa oo uu khal-khal ku gelinayo nabadgelyada,isla markaana bulshada reer Somaliland ugu sheegayo wax aan jirin".

Taliyaha Ciidaanka Booliska Somaliland Sareeya Guuto Cabdilaahi Fadal Iimaan waxa uu been abuur aan sal iyo raad-toona lahayn ku tilmaamay inuu khilaaf soo kala dhexgalay isaga iyo Taliye kuxigeenka,waxaanu yidhi   "Wargeyska Hubaal caddadkii maanta ee 362 oo ciwaankiisu ahaa "Khilaaf Is-bahaysi u qeybiyey hoggaanka Booliska",kaas oo uu ku sheegay inuu Taliyaha iyo Taliye kuxigeenka uu khilaaf u dhaxeeyo, taas oo ah war been abuura oo sal iyo raad-toona lahayn, waayo Taliye kuxigeenku waakan dhinacayga fadhiya ee idiin waramay".

"Bileysku waa sharci ku nool, waxaanan nahay ciidan oo Ciidaankuna waxa uu leeyahay Taliye oo taliyuhuna ma kala qeybsami karo,waxa uu socday ilaa saldhigyada,waxa kale oo caadeystay inuu yidhaahdo isaga oo ku gabanaya waxaan ka soo xigtay Website hebel oo waxa uu maanta yidhi waxaan ka soo xigtay Website la yidhaahdo Dhameys,taas isaga ayaa looga fadhiya haddii uu Dhameys ka soo xigtay iyo haddi uu sameystayba arrimahaasi waxay noqdeen arrimo khatar ku ah nabadgelyada, maadama uu Ciidaankii nabadgelyada wax ka sheegayo,waxaas uu ka sheegayana waa wax aan sal iyo raad-toona lahayn. Joornaalada kale arrimaha Ciidaanka,haday yihiin bileys iyo haday yihiin military, haday yihiin asluub waxba kama sheegaan,laakin hubaal caado ayey ka dhigatay inay wax aan jirin ka sheegaan Ciidaanka booliska,arrintaasina sharciga ayaan la tiigsan doona".Ayuu yidhi Taliye Cabdilaahi Fadal Iimaan.

Twenty years on, Malaysian sacrifices in Somalia still remembered

Muqdisho battle 1993

BY TAN YI LIANG

PETALING JAYA: It has been twenty years, and the United States still remembers the Malaysian Armed Forces' role in helping the US Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment, 10th Mountain Regiment and 160th Special Operations Air Regiment escape from the First Battle of Mogadishu.

In a statement issued after visiting the Malaysian Peacekeeping Centre at Telok Kemang near Port Dickson to mark its successful achievement of full training capability, Tom Kelly, the acting assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, said the United States owed a debt of honour to the Malaysian Armed Forces for putting their lives on the line to rescue their soldiers.

"The deeds of Malaysia will be remembered forever and the United States offers a million thank-yous for the brave actions of the Malaysian Armed Forces to rescue our soldiers in the incident twenty years ago. One Malaysian was killed and nine were wounded during the rescue operation in Mogadishu,” said Kelly.

The battle, immortalised in Ridley Scott’s movie Black Hawk Down and Mark Bowden’s book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War saw a Malaysian, Corporal Mat Aznan Awang killed when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his Condor armoured personnel carrier during the fighting which ran from Oct 3 to Oct 4, 1993.

Aznan was awarded the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa medal and promoted to Corporal posthumously.

Nine other Malaysians were wounded during the fighting in which the Royal Malay Regiment were involved.

The omission of these losses in the movie caused outrage in Malaysia when it was released in local cinemas in January 2002.

The commander of the Malaysian forces in the 1993 incident, Brigadier-General Abdul Latif Ahmad commented that Scott’s movie depicted the Malaysians involved as “mere bus drivers to ferry them out.”

Aside from the Malaysian casualties, one one Pakistani soldier was killed and two were wounded.

Both nations were part of the United Nations Operation in Somalia II, which was in Mogadishu during the battle which began as an American operation to capture the leaders of the Habr Gidr clan, led by warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.

The operation, led by Major General William F. Garrison ended up as the US Army’s bloodiest battle since the Vietnam War at that time, with 18 killed, 73 wounded and one captured by Somali militia.

It is estimated that 800 members of the Somali militia were killed during the battle.

Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed, a Somali-Canadian economist, named Prime Minister of Somalia

Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed, New Somali PM

By Stewart Bell

A Somali-Canadian economist was named prime minister of Somalia on Thursday, a key position in a government under pressure to rebuild, curb corruption and subdue armed Islamists.

Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed, 54, studied economics at the University of Ottawa and worked at the Bank of Canada but left a decade ago and has been at the Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia since 2010.

Although he has no political experience, Mr. Ahmed was chosen for the position by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. He must still be confirmed by a parliament plagued by infighting.

“I hope that I will fulfill the duties I am entrusted with, and if parliament approves my nomination, I will swiftly name a high calibre cabinet,” Mr. Ahmed said, according to the AFP wire service.

“I hope that I will fulfill the duties I am entrusted with Mr. Ahmed is not the country’s first Somali-Canadian prime minister. Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, a Carleton University graduate, held the post from 2009 to 2010, when he resigned. The notoriously fractious country has had six prime ministers in six years.

The current, internationally backed government that was formed in August, 2012, faces some major challenges, notably the need for order and economic development in a nation that has been lawless and isolated for two decades.

In addition to confronting Al-Shabab, an armed Islamist group aligned with al-Qaeda that wants to impose its authoritarian version of Islamic law on Somalis, the government has a significant corruption problem.

“I’m hoping that the naming of a new prime minister will herald the beginning of real work by this government,” said Toronto lawyer Ahmed Hussen, who heads the Canadian Somali Congress.

He said corruption and impunity had to end and human rights abuses needed to be addressed, particularly the country’s rape epidemic. The arrest of women who complain of rape also continued, he said.

“So those are the issues that we hope this new prime minister will deal with but I am skeptical. I don’t have a lot of faith in this administration,” he said. “I don’t think a new prime minister will really do much.”

According to a resumé posted on the Somali news website mareeg.com, Mr. Ahmed served as director-general of the livestock marketing and health agencies in Somalia before the previous regime collapsed in 1991.

He arrived in Canada in 1998 and earned a Master’s degree in economics from the U of O, as well as a computer programming diploma from Algonquin College. He worked as an international trade and development analyst before leaving in 2003 to work for the African Union in Nairobi.

Once and for all this has to be eradicated

Canada is home to the world’s largest ethnic Somali diaspora. Encouraged by a new sense of security in the capital Mogadishu, many have returned to start businesses, work for humanitarian agencies or serve in government.

But while African Union forces have beaten back Al-Shabab, some believe the government has backed off in recent months, allowing the Islamists to regroup.

The resurgence has been underscored by several bombings, including one on Nov. 8 that injured a Somali-Canadian member of the Somali parliament, Sooyaan Abdi Warsame. Four gunmen stormed the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi on Sept. 21 and massacred 67 people. A Canada Border Services Agency officer posted in Kenya was among the dead.

“We feel a little bit now that we are more secure than before,” Abdurahman Adan Ibrahim, a Somali MP and former Deputy Prime Minister, told the National Post in a recent interview. “In a sense, yes, they have been defeated but at the same time it looks like they are coming back .… Once and for all this has to be eradicated.”

A New York Police Department report on the Westgate attack said Al-Shabab had recruited “radicalized” members of the Somali diaspora from the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia and Sweden. “The fear is that these trained individuals could also be used to conduct attacks on U.S. soil or against U.S. interests overseas,” it said.

Source: National Post

Political parties announce date for vote on Catalonia independence

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Referendum is set for November 9, 2014, pro-independence parties say
• "The vote will not be held," Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon responds
• Madrid says nation's constitution doesn't allow regions to unilaterally break away
• There have been mass demonstrations in favor of self-determinatio

Spokesman for Catalan regional president Artur Mas speaks during a press conference on December 12, 2014 in Barcelona.

By Al Goodman, CNN

Madrid (CNN) -- Pro-independence parties in Catalonia defied the Spanish government Thursday by announcing in Barcelona that they plan to hold a referendum in November on whether the wealthy northeast region should be independent.

Madrid staunchly opposes the referendum and Catalan independence, and a Spanish government official rejected the announcement.

"The vote will not be held," Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon told reporters Thursday in the hallways of Spain's parliament.

Even supporters admit that there is much to be done before the vote can take place on November 9, 2014.

"We expect to open negotiations with Madrid. The Spanish state can't be blind about it," said Joan Maria Pique, a top aide and spokesman for Catalan regional president Artur Mas, who had a prominent role Thursday when his Convergence and Union party announced the plan with three other parties.

They had previously said only that the vote would be sometime in late 2014. And they also announced the two-part referendum question:

Do you want Catalonia to become a state? And if the voter answers yes, then comes this: Do you want that state to be independent?

That's a different formula from the single question that Scottish voters are due to get on September 18: Should Scotland be an independent country?"

Pique said the two-part question in Catalonia was the result of negotiations among the four pro-independence parties, but he noted that Great Britain has agreed to allow the Scottish vote on self-determination, while Spain has not followed suit yet for Catalonia.

The Spanish government says that Catalonia, with 7.5 million people, already has broad home-rule powers, including its own parliament, police force and control over education and health.

And Madrid insists that the Spanish Constitution does not allow any of Spain's 17 regions to unilaterally break away, even one like Catalonia that has its own flag and language.

The four pro-independence Catalan parties hold a majority in the Catalan regional parliament. There have been mass demonstrations in favor of self-determination on the past two Catalan national days on September 11. This year, hundreds of thousands of people formed a human chain -- from northern Catalonia, at the French border, to its southern border with the Valencia region -- to drive home the point.

Last year on September 11, an estimated 1.5 million people demonstrated in Barcelona, the regional capital and Spain's second-largest city, for self-determination.

Various opinion polls show a very large majority of Catalans want the right of self-determination. But if independence makes it to the ballot, polls show the result could be tighter, with some predicting a victory in the 50% range.

READ: September 2013: Catalans to link up in human chain today in their call for secession from Spain

DJIBOUTI: Ganacsade Jama Omar oo lagu Maxkamaddaynayo Djibouti

Warkan hoos ku qoran waxa daabacay Wargeyska Afka Dheer ee Indian Ocean Newsletter oo ka soo baxa magaalo madaxda Faransiiska ee Paris 

The businessman from Somaliland Djama Omar Saïd, who was arrested in Djibouti for “cigarette smuggling” on 4 November and then released a few days later on the 10th of November (>LOI nº1367), is due to appear in court on 15 December.  (...)

PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE:

Djama Omar Saïd | Etablissements Djama Omar Saïd | Kadra Mahamoud Haïd | Abdourahman Mahamoud Boreh | Ismaïl Omar Guelleh | Ominco | Group



or visit here: http://www.africaintelligence.com/ION/alert-ion/2013/12/12/djama-omar-said-in-court%2C107999185-ART?did=85897581&eid=192676

Kenya police in deadly ambush near Somalia border

Gunmen kill eight Kenyans, including five policemen, after ambushing a police patrol near the border with Somalia, police say.

Several people were also wounded in the attack close to the north-eastern town of Liboi, police added.

Liboi is used by Kenya to send supplies to its troops fighting the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group in Somalia as part of an African Union (AU) force.

There are regular attacks along the border from bandits and militants.

It is not clear who carried out the attack.

Al-Shabab has carried out a string of attacks in Kenya - including the siege at the Westgate shopping centre in the capital, Nairobi, in September.

At least 61 people were killed in the attack and some 200 wounded.

'Regional stability'

Kenya's deputy police inspector, Samuel Arachi, said the security forces had been mobilised to track down the gunmen who carried out the attack near Liboi, about 550km (340 miles) north-east of Nairobi.

Mr Arachi did not give casualty figures, but Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper and the AFP news agency quote unnamed police officers as saying that eight people were shot dead.

"Five [policemen] were killed on the spot when they were ambushed out on patrol, and we are told many bullets were fired on their vehicle," an officer told AFP.

"Three civilians were also killed in the attack."

In May last year, four police officers were wounded in an ambush in the same area.

Kenya sent troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight al-Shabab, saying it threatened regional stability.

The troops were later incorporated into an AU force which now numbers about 18,000.

The force has captured key cities and towns from al-Shabab but the group still controls large swathes of territory in southern Somalia.

OPINION -Somalia: Spectre of political meltdown

Which political system can end Somalia's vicious cycle of political crises?

A stable executive authority still remains elusive for Somalia. On December 2, Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon's government collapsed after the parliament passed a motion of "No Confidence".

The latest rancorous drama between President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and his sacked prime minister is nothing new. Since 2000, practically every pair of leaders appointed or elected has gone through similar challenges. At the end of each round, significant crucial time was lost, institutions were damaged and the profound structural problem - the real impetus causing periodical disharmony - was never addressed.

The often-employed process for a quick fix was to sack the prime minister by using members of the parliament; often by corrupt means or by way of external political pressure. Ordinarily, such processes are long and highly contentious as it requires a significant number of the parliamentarians to rally to pass a "no confidence" motion. At the success of this endeavour, yet another long process of appointing "the right" prime minister, negotiating the make-up of the new council of ministers, and then securing a confidence motion for him and his ministers, gets under way.

Endless cycle

This tooth-pulling process not only demoralises and disharmonises, but it causes critical priorities to haphazardly shift. For all sides, surviving a real, or perceived, political mortal combat becomes first priority and everything else a far second. For each of the past episodes, the president has gotten his wish and appointed a prime minister of his choice only to face the same outcome within a year or so.

"The cyclical political dilemma is simplified and individualised - thus treating the symptom and not the root cause. As a result of this erroneous approach, in a period of 13 years, Somalia has had four presidents and ten prime ministers."

Moreover, the already weak institutions take a devastating and irrecoverable hit. The council of ministers is overrun; the president comes out with bruised eyes; the judiciary is kept in the periphery; and the parliament is further corrupted. 

Almost always, the struggle has been over the demarcation of the executive authority. The underpinning argument has always been "the country cannot have two presidents or two offices competing for executive authority". 

The cyclical political dilemma is simplified and individualised - thus treating the symptom and not the root cause. As a result of this erroneous approach, in a period of 13 years, Somalia has had four presidents and ten prime ministers. 

Genesis of a dysfunction

The root cause of the government's short lifespan is a systemic dysfunction deeply embedded within the constitutional structure and political culture of the elite.

In 1960, immediately after independence, the newly formed state of Somalia adopted a constitution inspired by the Italian one. This was anticipated since Italy was not only the colonial power that ruled Somalia, but also the trustee under which soon-to-be-independent Somalia was administered and its political elite was trained during the decade of UN trusteeship. According to E A Bayne, Italian academic Professor Giuseppe A Costanzo drafted the constitution and Somalis revised it through an inclusive process.  

From 1960 to 1969, the nascent state of Somalia adopted a parliamentary system. Like other parliamentary systems, the president was to be the head of state and to be elected by the parliamentarians. On the other hand, the leader of the winning political party would be appointed as prime minister, assuming that the party is disciplined enough to keep the government in office.

To their credit, the first two presidents selected their respective prime ministers from the Somali Youth League which won the election, albeit, on each occasion, the leaders of the party were bypassed for clan-based politics. Nevertheless, with sporadic hiccups, the system worked.

Fast forward two decades later to post-civil war. The charter that was drafted and signed as part of the Arta Peace Accord in Djibouti kept the 1960 constitution with some modifications. For instance, in the new charter, the president's power was to include the right to appoint a prime minister but was modified to exclude the right to dismiss the prime minister as mandated by the 1960 constitution. Somali experts who drafted the charter clearly understood that these were substantive powers which the president could exercise.

Moreover, in contravention with the conventional parliamentary systems, Somali presidents appointed the prime minister of their choice. This contradiction has, inadvertently, created and sustained a political culture that is profoundly at odds with the parliamentary system. In practice, Somali presidents acted as though the country had a presidential system.

Under the current arrangement the political culture far outweighs the constitution: The prime minister is a political paradox - an unelected official, who, upon being appointed by the president, becomes more powerful than the head of state. 

Overhauling the system  

What Somalia needs is a total overhaul of its current political system. A great opportunity was missed during the preparation of the draft constitution in 2012. The UN offices that led the constitutional process, chose to ignore the many voices that called for a debate on governance and other political issues.

"Somalia's political class must come to terms with the type of system that they want to use in regulating political conflicts among groups, individuals and institutions."

That said, the latest political setback could be the tipping point for mobilisation and building consensus for an authentic constitutional overhaul. However, this would lead to a faulty outcome unless it is preceded by genuine political debate on a number of contentious issues.

Somalia's political class must come to terms with the type of system that they want to use in regulating political conflicts among groups, individuals and institutions. The prevalent political culture of the elite suggests that Somalia, without any debate and without enshrining it in the constitution, has adopted a presidential system. It is widely accepted to find a would-be president campaigning publicly and negotiating with parliamentarians and clan leaders on political deals; and, at times, on purchasing votes in the open political market and promising cabinet positions to supporters.

What are the options?

In order to prevent perpetual bickering and political meltdown, there are two practical suggestions: Either change the aforementioned political culture by strictly following the parliamentary system that the constitution prescribes, or change the parliamentary system and create one that is consistent with the prevailing political culture that embraces a presidential system.

Of course, each of the systems has its own advantages and disadvantages. Adopting a presidential system would guarantee the direly needed executive stability and the continuity that has been elusive in Somali politics. On the other hand, the parliamentary system has the advantage of emphasising accountability.

We believe that the parliament should put a moratorium on the parliamentary system and embrace a presidential system. Even though the current constitution does not conceive a popularly-elected president, we think it is necessary to include this in the constitution.

We propose adopting a presidential system for four reasons. First, creating the political culture necessary to sustain a parliamentary system will take a long time. Organised and disciplined political parties are practically non-existent. Looking back, almost all of the 10 prime ministers were diaspora Somalis without any organisational backing.

Second, instability of the executive authority is one of the main factors that is behind the perpetual dysfunction. Power struggles and zero sum tribal politics dominate the system. We consider the value of stability in the system as a whole, and that of the executive in particular, as the paramount value to which other important governance issues should be subordinate.

Third, the lessons learned from other places such as Liberia, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Mozambique and South Africa, convince us that the presidential system is worth trying. While some of these countries are struggling, none of them are caught in the cycle of getting a new government every six months or so.

Finally, the fear of the president becoming a dictator is legitimate. We think such a fear can be mitigated by empowering the parliament, the judiciary branches, civil society and the media.

In doing so, Somalia would be able to steer away from the systemic political volatility that has been crippling the government for at least 13 years, and it would help promote civic-based competitive politics.  

Afyare Elmi is a political scientist who teaches at Qatar University. He is the author of Understanding the Somalia Conflagration.

Ambassador Abukar Arman is the former Somalia envoy to the United States. He is a writer and analyst.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

Source: Al Jazeera