Somaliland: Life in chains: the plight of Somalia's mentally ill

Living in a tin shack by the roadside, Abdullahi is isolated, barely washed and poorly fed. For the last 17 years he has been chained up by his own family in Hargeisa, Somaliland.

Jamal Osman Reporter

 

Living in a tin shack by the roadside, Abdullahi is isolated, barely washed and poorly fed. For the last 17 years he has been chained up by his own family in Hargeisa, Somaliland.

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Somalia film credits: Director/producer - Teresa Smith: Picture editor - Agnieszka Ligget: Camerman - Ahmed Farah: Field producer - Yassin Jama

He spends most of his days watching the world moving before him - placing his chest on a cemented floor, his elbows supporting his hands under his chin.

In all those years he's been there, Abdullahi watched children who were born during his chained-life become adults. The whole neighbourhood is built up. The sun rises and sets over him. His best companions are family-owned goats, who are free to move around.

'Evil spirits'

In Somalia, thousands of people who are mentally ill like Abdullahi face a similar fate. According to the UN, one in three Somalis suffers from some form of mental illness.

We can't trust him. For me the biggest worry is that he could go missing or be killed by the children. Yusuf Jama

Decades of war, poverty and unemployment are some of the reasons. There aren't enough doctors and nurses to treat such patients. Aid organisations are all over the country but there is very little interest in this sector.

Abdullahi's childhood was just like any other Somali boy growing up. He attended school and started working as a builder in his teens. He was dreaming of becoming a businessman until his life was put on hold at the age of 26.

"He used to love school," Abdullahi's mother, Nimo Yusuf, told me. "He loved and respected his parents. He'd call us 'Mummy and Daddy'. He still does, even now. He never swore or cursed."
Nimo remembers vividly the day he fell ill. She said: "One morning he left for work and came home in the evening saying he felt unwell. Then I recalled that people used to say that evil spirits could do this. And I thought they have done it to him. Since that day he's never been the same."

Traditional healers

Nimo is the family's breadwinner. She leaves in the morning to sell fruit and vegetables at the local market and comes back in the evening with some food for the family.

This very poor family tried to treat him – not through medical doctors but through traditional healers, known as Cilaaj. It is the most popular treatment for the mentally ill in Somalia.

Abdullahi was once taken to Sheikh Boon's Cilaaj in Hargeisa. This centre is moderate compared to others that use electrocution, beatings and other forms of practices as part of the treatment. Some patients die. It's a thriving industry, yet unregulated.

Abdullahi, if we unchain you, what do you think about that? Are you going to come with us? Maryan Hassan

The sheikh claims that many of his clients are from the diaspora community. Some travel to see him but also he regularly holds sessions through Skype.

A former maths teacher, he prescribes verses from the Quran for patients. They go into a room nearby where a group of men read the Quran loudly through cardboard tubes. Patients sniff foul smelling herbs to force the evil spirit or Jinn out of the patient's body.

"When we realise Jinn is inside the body of the patient we read the Quran until it runs away from the body of the patient," said, Sheikh Boon.

'Mad man'

But it didn't work on Abdullahi. He is still in his tin hut in all weathers. There is no protection whether it's hot, rainy or windy. His father Yusuf Jama, who is 83 years old, looks after him for most of the time.

"He's chained up all the time," Mr Jama told me. "We alternate the leg that will be chained: first, this leg and then the other. Also we have to tighten the screw because he can break the lock.
"We can't trust him. For me the biggest worry is that he could go missing or be killed by the children."

Children from the neighbourhood shout "the mad man" as they pass by Abdullahi. Sometimes they throw rocks at him. His father is, at least, protecting him from these children. Abdullahi's brothers are around occasionally.

He asked his younger brother Abdulkarim if he could borrow his mobile phone so he could listen to music and the song Bulshayahay ma nabadbaa came on.

It is about a man who is returning to his country after being in exile. It brought tears to Abdullahi's eyes especially these lines (translated into English):

We have been apart for a while
I have longed for you like dry scalp craves for oil
Greetings O, people, greetings!

It was as if he was craving to be given the chance to come back into society.

We told Maryan Hassan, who is one of 20 psychiatric nurses in the whole country, about Abdullahi's desperate situation. She works at Macruuf Relief Organisation, a private mental health clinic.

'Free man'

Maryan agreed to assess Abdullahi and if possible offer him a free place for three months. We took her to Abdullahi's little hut. After greeting the family and asking about Abdullahi, she told him the good news.

"Abdullahi, if we unchain you, what do you think about that? Are you going to come with us?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm going to come with you," replied, Abdullahi.

Cutting the rusty chain took a long time but his brothers eventually managed to release him.
On arrival, he was quickly washed, given clean clothes, his nails cut and his head shaved. With kindness and a proper medical examination, Abdullahi looked different. He was given medication to treat psychosis.

As we were leaving, Maryan told Abdullahi: "Now you are a free man. When you wake up in the morning you have to brush your teeth, go to the toilet, you'll watch TV and take your medicine. Things have changed for you."

Abdullahi was lucky, but there are hundreds of thousands of mentally ill Somalis who are in desperate need of help. Abdullahi will be in the clinic for at least three months. We hope to see him well.

Credits:
Director/Producer: Teresa Smith
Picture Editor: Agnieszka Ligget
Cameraman: Ahmed Farah
Field producer: Yassin Jama
Commissioning editors: Nevine Mabro and Job Rabkin

Ra'iisalwasaarihii Liibiya oo la afduubay

Ra'iisalwasaarihii Liibiya ee la afduubay

Ra'iisalwasaarihii Liibiya Cali Seydaan ayaa saaka laga afduubay hudheel ku yaalla magaalada madaxda Daraabulus amma Tripoli ee dalka Liibiya, waxana la sheegay inay halkaasi ka kaxaysteen ra'iisalwasaaraha koox dabley ah oo hubaysani saaka saacadihii hore. 

Afduubkaasi waxa sheegtay koox ka mid ah kooxaha hubaysan ee dalkaasi oo la baxday 'Cutubka la-dagaallanka denbiyada', waxayna sheegeen inay fulinayeen amar ka soo baxay xeer ilaaliyaha guud ee dalkaas oo ahaa in la soo qabto ra'iisalwasaaraha. Hasse ahatee wasiirka caddaaladda ee dalka Liibiya, Saalax al-Marqaani, iyo xeer ilaaliyaha laftisa, labaduba waxay beeniyeen arrintani, waxayna sheegeen in aanu jirin wax amar ah amma waaran ah oo ku saabsan xidhitaanka ra'iisalwasaaraha.

Afduubkani waxa uu ku soo beegmay iyada oo ay jirto cadho kooxaha Liibiya qaarkood ay ka qaadeen xidhitaankii Maraykanku ay kula kaceen Sabtidii nin la yidhaa Abu Anas al-Liibi oo la rumaysan yahay in uu ka mid yahay hoggaamiyayaasha sarsare ee al-Qaacida, horena loogu haystey in uu ka danbeeyey falal argagixisnnimo.

Dawladda dalkan Ingiriisku waxay si weyn u cambaaraysay afduubkaasi ra'iisalwasaarihii Liibiya, waxayna ku baaqday in si dhakhso ah loo sii daayo.

Cali Seydaan waxa uu dalkaasi ra'iisalwasaare ka ahaa muddo ilaa hal sano ah.

Dawladda Liibiya waxay sheegtay in ilaa hadda aan la ogeyn meesha lala aadey ee lagu hayo, waxayna shir degdeg ah iskugu yeedhay golaha wasiirada, si arrintani looga hadlo, loogana talo bixiyo.

Madaxda sharikadaha mobile-lada Kenya oo la baadhayo

Madaxda sharikadaha moobillada ee Kenya

Madaxda iyo maamulayaasha sharikadaha telifoonnada moobillada ee dalka Kenya ayaa wax laga weydiinayaa sababaha Keenay inay jiraan in ka badan 1.5 malyuun oo ah kaadhadhka loo yaqaan SIM cards oo aan la diiwaangelin, hasse ahaatee lagu isticmaalo dalka Kenya gudihiisa. 

Arrintani waxay walaac gelisay hey'adaha nabadsugidda oo sheegay inay dhici karto in moobillada noocaas ah loo adeegsado wada xidhiidhka falalka argagixisnnimada, sidaasi awgeedna ay khatar ku yihiin nabadgelyada. Booliska Kenya waxay shirar iyo wax weydiin la yeesheen madaxda sharikadaha isgaadhsiinta afar ka tirsan oo ah kuwa telifoonnada moobillada.

Arrintani waxay ka danbaysay warbixinno lagu xusay in moobillo aan diiwaabgashanayn loo adeegsaday weerarradii xarunta Wesgate oo ay adeegsadeen islaamiyiintii weerarkaas geystey.

Waxana boolisku ugu hanjabay maareeyayaashaasi afarta sharikadood inay dhici karto in loo soo jaro waaran xidhitaan ah, hase ahaatee iyagu waxa ay ku gacansaydheen eedaymahaasi.

Qoraal wadajir ah oo ay soo saareen madaxda afartaasi sharikadood, oo kala ah Safaricom, Bharti Airtel, Orange Kenya iyo Yu Essar, waxay sheegeen inay caddeemo u gudbiyeen booliska markii ay saldhigga tegeen. Waxayna ku doodeen in sharikadahoodu ay u hoggaansamaan qawaaniinta iyo xeerarka caalamiga ah ee u yaalla cadeegyada noocan ah iyo dhawrista waxyaabaha saamaynaya nabadgelyada iyo deganaansha.

Dalka Kenya waxa ka jira ilaa 29 malyuun oo ah kaadhadhka loo yaqaan SIM cards ee moobillada oo si sharci ah u diiwaangashan, iyo in ka badan 1.5 malyuun oo aan diiwaangashanayn. Sharikadda loo yaqaanno Safaricom ayaa ah tan ugu weyn ee adeegyada moobillada dalka Kenya.

Fowziyo oo tiri Soomaaliya Xor ma ahan!

Fowsiyo Yousuf Haji Aden, Wasiirka Arimaha Dibada DFS

London  - Wasiiradda Arrimaha Dibadda Soomaaliya, Fowziyo Yuusuf Xaaji Aadan ayaa ka hadashay Weerarkii Ciidamadeeda Mareykanka ay ku qaadeen Xeebta Degmada Baraawe ee Gobolka Shabeellada Hoose.

Fowziyo Yuusuf ayaa markii ugu horeysay ka hadashay Weerarkii uu Mareykanku maalmo ka hor ku qaaday Guri ku yaalla xeebta Baraawe oo ay ku sugnaayeen xubno ka tirsan Al-shabaab.

Fowziyo oo Wareysi siinaysay Telefishinka CNN ayey sheegtay in ay ku faraxsantahay Tilaabada ay qaadeen Ciidamada Mareykanka ee Navy SEALs.

“Aad baan usoo dhaweyneynaa Weerarkii Mareykanka uu ku beegsaday Al-shabaab, waa tilaabo lagu caawinayo Soomaaliya,  waana arin u baahan in lasii wado" Ayay tiri Fowziyo.

Wasiirada ayaa sheegtay in Dowaldda Mareykanku aysan u baahneyn Fasax ama in ay dowladda Soomaaliya weydiisto ogolaasho Weerarrada kale ee ay la beegsanayaan Al-shabaab.

"Umana baahna (Mareykanka) inay ogolaasho na weydiistaan, waayo waxaan dagaal kula jirnaa cadow guud”

“We are welcoming more if this will help us get rid of al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab (...) We have a cooperation, and they don’t have to ask us, because we are fighting a common enemy.”

Wasiiradda Arrimaha dibadda ayaa iska dhigtay in Dowladeeda la weydiistay Fasax ama Ogolaasho, Weerarkii Toddobaadkan billowgiisii lagu qaaday Baraawe iyo midka Diyaaradaha Droneska ay geestaan.

Fowziyo oo tiri Soomaaliya Xor ma ahan!

Wariyaha Keydmedia Online ee London ayaa Wareysigaan kala hadlay Wariye Soomaali ah oo u shaqeeya mid kamid ah Wakaaladaha Wararka, Wariyhaan oo Codsaday in aan Magaciisa la Shaacin ayaa hadalka Wasiirada ku tilmaamay mid Qof Mas'uul ah uusan ku hadlin.

"Fowziya waxey Qiratay oo si Cad u sheegtay in aysan Soomaaliya aheyn Dal Xor ah, Dowlad Soomaaliyeed oo ka talisana aysan ka jirin (...)

Hadalkeeda waa hadal Daciif ah oo Qofka uu kasoo yeeray uusan Mas'uuliyada saaran aan fahmin.

Waa Qof fudud oo aysan Siyaasaddu u bilowneyn" Asagoo hadalkiisa sii wata ayuu yiri: "Hada kahor Shirkii lagu qabtay London II, saas oo kale waxey Jaaliyadda Soomaaliyeed ee London hortooda ka sheegtay in Calanka Ingriiska laga taagay Magaalao Madaxda Muqdisho, ayna ku faraxsantahay, Goobtee hadalkaas ka leedahay waxaa fadhiyay Madaxweyne Xasan Sh. waana sacbiyeen, hadaba hadalkaas Diplomaasi ahaan hadii loo fiiriyo waa Qalad (...) Kawaran hadii Wasiirka Arimaha Dibada UK uu yiraahdo: Waaan ku Faraxsanahay in Calanka Mareykanka laga taagay London? Soo looma qaadanayo in Dalkaasi la maamulo?"

Ciidamada gaarka ah ee Mareykanka Navy SEALs ayaa Toddobaadkan billowgiisii Weerar gaadmo ah ku qaaday Guri ku yaalla xeebta degmada Baraawe, inkastoo weerarkaas uu noqday mid fashilmay oo aan hadafkii laga lahaa laga gaarin.

Saraakiil ka tirsan Wasaarada Gaashaandhiga Mareykanka oo la hadlay Wakaalada Wararka ayaa sheegay ay raadinayeen Nin Kenyaan ah, oo lagu magacaabo Cikrama oo kamid ah Kooxda Al-Shabaab.

Somalis star in a Hollywood film

Barkhad Abdi, Mahat Ali, Tom Hanks and Faysal Ahmed

By Somalicurrent 
 
Barkhad Abdi, a young Somali man from Minneapolis, Minnesota and three other Somalis, Feysal, Mahad and Abdirahman are starring in the film ‘ Captain Philips’ that is going to be watched on Friday in the US.

The film is based on a true story about the American Ship Maersk Alabama hijacked by four Somali pirates in 2009. Tom Hanks plays Richard Phillips, the ship’s commanding officer. Abdi plays Muse, leader of the hijackers who held him hostage for five days.

Abduwali Muse pled guilty in February 2011 to being part of an armed group that stormed the Maersk Alabama in the Indian Ocean in April 2009 and took its captain, Richard Phillips, hostage. He was sentenced 34 years and 9 months in jail.

“Barkhad came in the United Sates when he was 17. He schooled here and finished it” Abdirizak Ali Boss, one his closest friend told Somalicurrent.com.

“He liked films, directed videos, but he was not expecting to star in a Hollywood film,” Ali added.
Tom Hanks, the actor of the film told hollywoodreporter.com that his knowledge of Somalia was no longer based on what he read in the media, but rather, “what I learned from the guys like Barkhad and Faysal. Outside the language barrier and the fact that they probably weight 80 pounds less than I do, their concerns are my concerns.”

“It is good opportunity for young Somali men like Barkhad to act in Hollywood and at the same time the film shows the world the bad actions of piracy that needs to be eradicated” Osman Hersi, chairman of Shanta, an education Development Organization based in Minnesota told Somali current.

Black Hawk Down was the first Hollywood film that portrayed Somalis since the eruption of the civil war in Somalia in 1991.  The 20^th anniversary of Black Hawk Down was commemorated in Somalia and in the United Sates last week.

“I can’t wait for Friday to watch Captain Phillips because I want to see how the Somalis are acting in the film,” said Amina Jama, a resident in the twin cities.

Resolution on Press Freedom in Established Democracies

The Board of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), meeting on 6 October 2013 in Berlin, Germany during the World Publishing Expo, expresses its growing concern over a rise in press freedom violations in established democracies and calls on all governments to recognise that freedom of the press is essential to good governance and indispensible to democratic society.

The Board of WAN-IFRA notes:

• In May 2013, the Associated Press learned that the US Department of Justice made an unauthorized seizure of records of its telephone calls, potentially revealing communications between its journalists and their sources.
• Also in May, a French court ordered the news organisations Le Point and Mediapart to remove all copies and transcriptions of recordings made at the home L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, and forbade future publication, effectively creating judicial censorship of material in the public interest.
• In August 2013, the threat of legal action by the United Kingdom government led the staff of The Guardian newspaper to destroy computer equipment in relation to leaked files supplied by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden. In a separate but related incident, the partner of the Guardian journalist responsible for breaking the NSA story was held without charge for nine hours under British anti-terrorism legislation and had his computer and other personal belongings seized.
• Also in August 2013, authorities in Switzerland searched the private residence of award-winning journalist Ludovic Rocchi, confiscating computer equipment and notebooks after the journalist exposed alleged plagiarism at the University of Neuchâtel – a search that a court subsequently ruled was illegal.

The Board of WAN-IFRA calls on democratic governments to protect the freedom of the press and to recognise that acts of intimidation and surveillance risk undermining the fabric of transparent, accountable governance.

Furthermore, the Board notes that such actions by democratic governments embolden oppressive regimes to use such practices to silence independent voices or those critical of government.
The Board of WAN-IFRA therefore calls on all governments to actively uphold the fundamental human right of freedom of expression, to preserve the freedom of the press, and to be vigilant in protecting it now and for future generations.

Somaliland Vows to Improve Safety After Genel Halts Operations

 

By Benjamin Harvey

Somaliland’s government hired private security experts to help improve safety after Genel Energy Plc (GENL) suspended operations in the semi-autonomous region citing growing instability, Foreign Minister Mohamed Bihi Yonis said.

A team including John Holmes, a former commander in the U.K. special forces, will deliver a report this week in the capital, Hargeisa, on security in the region, Yonis said in a phone interview on Oct. 4. Genel, the London-based company run by former BP Plc (BP/) Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward, said Sept. 8 it temporarily suspended its search for oil in five blocks in Somaliland “in the face of a deteriorating security situation.”

The report by the team of experts will identify the “security gap that needs to be sorted out,” Yonis said. “We’ll fill the gaps that are of concern.”

Somaliland, a former British colony, declared independence from Somalia in 1991, following the ouster of former Somali dictator Mohammed Siad Barre. No country has officially recognized it as a sovereign state. Previous attempts to encourage exploration in the region foundered because of perceptions among investors that Somaliland has the same security concerns as neighboring Somalia, where Islamist militants have been seeking to establish an Islamic state since at least 2006.

The U.K. Foreign Office advises against all travel in Somaliland because of the “high threat” that westerners face from terrorism and kidnapping, according to its website. The U.S. State Department warns its citizens to obtain kidnap and recovery insurance when traveling in the region.

Suicide Bombers

The government has taken measures to prevent attacks by al-Shabaab, the Islamist militia in Somalia, Yonis said. Somaliland was targeted by suicide bombers in October 2008, when explosives were detonated at Somaliland’s presidential palace, the Ethiopian Embassy and a United Nations Development Programme compound in Hargeisa. At least 23 people died in the attacks, which also hit the neighboring breakaway region of Puntland.

“Somaliland is on the frontline when it comes to terrorism and we are doing what we can, and so far so good,” he said.
Yonis last week accompanied President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud to Turkey, where the government is mediating talks about Somaliland’s insistence on breaking away from Somalia. Further discussions will be held next month, Yonis said.

“We made our position very clear that the independence of Somaliland is non-negotiable,” he said. “We don’t want to be part of Somalia. We are willing to be neighbors and friends and brothers who can cooperate.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Benjamin Harvey in Istanbul at bharvey11@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net.

 

Somalia takes teaching to the extreme

by Ahmed Osman

MUKHATAR Jama has been teaching at a secondary school in Mogadishu for the past decade. Religious education is part and parcel of the curriculum of all schools in Somalia, but he says most parents are unaware of exactly what their children are being taught – a radical form of Islam. Islamic studies curriculum in Somalia’s schools is a radical form of Islam that analysts say is contributing to the growing militancy of the country’s youth. Credit: Ahmed Osman/IPS

“The Islamic studies curriculum you hear is the pure Wahhabism, exported from Saudi Arabia, that teaches children that all those who are not Wahhabi are non-believers, including the children’s parents, and that it is ok to kill non-Muslims,” Jama told IPS. While there are no statistics on how many schools there are in Somalia, most here follow the Saudi curriculum, which advocates and inculcates Wahhabism. This is a far more radical interpretation of Islam than the moderate Sufi school that older generation of Somalis follows.

The radicalisation of Somalia’s youth has already started spilling over the war-torn country’s borders to its neighbours, influencing the region’s fragile security situation.3 It has taken root not only in Somalia and Kenya, but in the whole sub-region, Omar Yusuf, an analyst in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, told IPS.

“The event of Westgate is perhaps one of many wake-up calls for governments in the region to tackle the growing radicalisation and the logical next step of deadly militancy in the youth of the region,” Yusuf said. The Sep. 21 attack on the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi by the Somali Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab left more than 70 dead and dozens injured.

The Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab had repeatedly vowed to target Kenya after the country’s troops crossed over the border into Somalia in 2011 and ousted the radical group’s fighters from key areas in southern Somalia, including Kismayo. Al-Shabaab advocates the establishment of an Islamic State not only in Somalia, but in East Africa. It adheres to the fundamentalist Wahhabi school of Islam. The extremist group’s ideology seems to be gaining ground in Somalia due to a number of factors.

“Think about it, schools in Somalia provide Al-Shabaab with the radical ideological teaching for the youth and when they graduate what they just need is to give military training and there you have a qualified Al-Shabaab fighter,” Yusuf said. Both teachers and parents seem divided over what is being taught at Somali schools, with some accepting it as part of the children’s religious education, and others expressing concern that their children are being indoctrinated to be Wahhabists without their consent.

“I came to know that my son gets indoctrinated with extremist views at school. He had to change schools a number of times but all schools in Mogadishu use the same Wahhabi books that we took from Saudi Arabia. The whole country will covert to Wahhabism in no time,” one parent, who sought anonymity for fear of reprisals, told IPS. Another parent, Omar Kulmiye, disagreed that his children were being radicalised by this teaching. “I don’t much about religion but I think since they are learning Islam it is ok with me and I have not sensed anything different in my children since they started school five years ago,” he told IPS. Zakia Hussen, a researcher with the Mogadishu-based Heritage Institute for Policy Studies (HIPS), explained “there’s no one root cause but several factors that have led to Somali youth being recruited into militancy.” Hussen said three factors have contributed to radicalisation and militancy among Somali youths. Lack of political participation, and of employment and education opportunities draws youth to militant groups, she said.

“The search for a ‘second family’ and a sense of belonging offered by militant groups…has attracted many youths,” Hussen said. “Young recruits are offered a group to belong to, a job with salary as well as marriage – things that are otherwise hard for them to obtain in Somali society.” The unemployment rate for youth aged 14 to 29 is 67 percent — one of the highest in the world. According to the United Nations Development Programme’s “Somalia Human Development Report 2012”, 70 percent of Somalia’s 10.2 million people are under the age of 30. The attack on the Westgate Shopping Mall comes as no surprise as Al-Shabaab has been spreading its radicalising tentacles in the region, local security expert Muhumed Abdi told IPS.

SOMALIA: “I Hate Puntland”

By Mohamud M Uluso

As usual, before and during the Brussels conference, the government of Ethiopia engaged diplomatic ambushes against the sovereign leadership of the FGS to demonstrate its supreme authority over Somalia in collusion with Dr. Abdurahman Mohamed Farole, president of the regional state of Puntland. Against the protocol of the conference published in advance, the Ethiopian foreign minister arranged a publicized photo-op between president Farole and Baroness Catherine Ashton, EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, co-chair of the conference. He also lobbied to get president Farole be seated at the front row of the conference table rather than being seated behind the president of Somalia and to deliver a polemic speech, later expunged from the official record for violating the spirit of the conference and probably infuriating EU leaders. In strong disapproval, the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel D. Barroso said in his closing remarks that “a country cannot live with two presidents. A country needs rule of law, of course in democracy, with inclusiveness, integrating all the parts in the federal structure of your country.”

After one year of consultations, planning sessions, and international conferences, representatives of the International Community (Development Partners) and High level delegation led by President Hassan Sh. Mohamud of the Federal Republic of Somalia (FRS) met at the headquarter of the European Union (EU) Brussels, Belgium on September 16, 2013 for a conference on a “New Deal for Somalia”,   and jointly endorsed the Somali Compact (SC) based on the “New Deal Strategy for Engagement in Fragile States” adopted in Bussan, South Korea in November 2011. On the basis of the new partnership, the Development Partners (Donors) pledged 2.421 billion dollars to Somalia to implement fifty eight (58) statebuilding milestones detailed in the SC over the next three years (2014-2016). EU, UK, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, USA, Switzerland, Ireland, Finland, Netherlands, African Development Bank and World Bank contributed 98.72 % of the pledges. Except Turkey, Arab and Asian countries didn’t make pledges, while Italy’s contribution was 12.47 million dollars.

Although the new partnership is better than the former abusive international relationship devised after the collapse of the Somali State, it is not free from fatal flaws and booby-traps that could cancel its promising prospect. Professor Michael Weinstein has highlighted some of the major flaws of the SC in his analysis titled “Somalia: the political poisoning of the FGS by Belgian Waffles” of September 21, 2013. Similarly, Mary Harper of the BBC cautioned in her report titled “another conference on Somalia” that “with so many challenges, it is possible that the Brussels meeting will simply be the latest in the long list of expensive conferences on Somalia that end with ambitious communiqués but have little or no impact on the development of the country.”

Somalia has been put on a peace and statebuilding path designed, directed and managed by the international community in concert with distrusted Somali Partners. Reestablishment of State institutions and authorities at all levels, the holding of constitutional referendum in 2015, and a political election in 2016 throughout Somalia have been the central mission of the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS). It is not clear if the Development Partners, the Somali elite and people are on the same page and commit and deploy the efforts and cooperation needed to accomplish these ambitious but existential goals.

Shameful diplomatic ambushes 

As usual, before and during the Brussels conference, the government of Ethiopia engaged diplomatic ambushes against the sovereign leadership of the FGS to demonstrate its supreme authority over Somalia in collusion with Dr. Abdurahman Mohamed Farole, president of the regional state of Puntland.

Against the protocol of the conference published in advance, the Ethiopian foreign minister arranged a publicized photo-op between president Farole and Baroness Catherine Ashton, EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, co-chair of the conference. He also lobbied to get president Farole be seated at the front row of the conference table rather than being seated behind the president of Somalia and to deliver a polemic speech, later expunged from the official record for violating the spirit of the conference and probably infuriating EU leaders. In strong disapproval, the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel D. Barroso said in his closing remarks that “a country cannot live with two presidents. A country needs rule of law, of course in democracy, with inclusiveness, integrating all the parts in the federal structure of your country.”
The Pillars of the SC
The pillars of the SC include a binding and respected social contract among the Somali people through the Provisional Constitution,  the existence of national (federal) representative government recognized by the international community, and the consensus that the international relations (foreign policy) of Somalia is an exclusive realm of the national (federal) government. Parallel or competitive local governments in international arenas are incompatible with the New Deal for Somalia.

While the communiqué of the conference reaffirmed the unity, territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Somalia, the SC concedes that the northern regions of Somalia (Somaliland) enjoy advanced level of peace, democratic process, development and governance not achieved by the rest of Somalia. However, Somaliland has agreed to seek international development assistance as part of Somalia but with separate implementation mechanism until national integration is completed. Also, Puntland declared its commitment to contribute to the peaceful, just and productive life for “the whole of Somalia.” The South Central Somalia, the seat of the national body responsible for the representation and protection of the unity and sovereignty of Somalia, is under the stabilization plan authorized by the UN Security Council.

The content of the Somali Compact

The SC focuses on three issues: Peace and statebuilding goals in line with the five goals of the New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States (the inclusive politics, security, justice, economic foundations, and revenue and services); the principles of partnership and the establishment of Somali Development and Reconstruction Facility (SDRF); and the Architecture and Monitoring Arrangement for mutual accountability and transparency. The SC lists nine principles of partnership for international assistance. The principles of Somali ownership and leadership, transparent and predictable aid, sound Public Financial Management (PFM) systems, and support of institutional development capacity offer a promising prospect.

Timelines and Constraints

The provisional constitution, the vision 2016, the national stabilization plan, and the SC, all are setting timelines for the implementation of overlapping priorities. The federal government agreed to develop an integrated plan which meets the requirements of an Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy (IPRS) with financial cost figures before January 2014.  It has also agreed to identify limited number of top priority flagship programmers in December 2013. In consideration of the very weak human resource capacity of the FGS, the preparation and implementation of these multiple plans could take time and protracted or haphazard negotiations that will quickly dash the expectation of the Somali people.

Other constraints to the fulfillment of these deadlines include halted progress in fighting against Al Shabab, general insecurity, resisted national integration, lack of domestic financial resources, delayed aid disbursement, weak central leadership, and corruption. The Federal Government expects to collect less than 50 million dollars per year as revenue while it needs at least one billion dollars per year to establish a functioning institutional structure at national, regional and district levels.
The SC underscores the formation of core public sector capacities as a precondition for the FGS efforts to support the functioning authorities at all levels of government. The injection of foreign advisors without capable and conscious Somali counterparts at all levels will lead to public discontent and failure.

Fatal flaws in the SC

One major fatal flaw in the SC is the contradictory positions of the Development Partners. On one hand, they emphasize the sovereign leadership of the FGS over the Somali affairs while on the other hand, they practically deal with FGS as a faction that must negotiate with militias, regions, and self organized opponents, or as a faction required executing dictated conflicting tasks without strong diplomatic and financial backup. An urgent resolution of these contradictory positions is critical.

A second fatal flaw could come from the misinterpretation of claim made in the SC that the “Somaliland Special Arrangement (SSA) represents an important element of a larger shift in approach to development partners’ engagement” and of the claim that “the people in Somaliland are citizens of Somaliland” or from the use of the distinct names-Somalia and Somaliland- without qualification. On September 16, the Foreign Minister of Somaliland, Mohamed Behi Yonis published a carefully crafted letter in which he supported the conference and explained Somaliland’s absence. In the same context, the separate security arrangement of US and UK with Somaliland without link to the overall national security structure and strategy of Somalia could trigger new grievances.

A third fatal flaw is related to the confusion surrounding the question of federalism and the tainted legacy of the UN led constitution making process. The international community is fully aware that the issue of the form of federalism in Somalia has not been settled among the Somali people and therefore, the UN has the responsibility to dispel immediately the false claims made on the basis of the provisional constitution in order to avoid protracted controversies. Territory owned/controlled in the name and spirit of clan is unconstitutional.

The Federal government must operate within the limits of the provisional constitution and should not be used as a backdoor to settle, without legitimate process, issues that have been left unresolved during the constitutional negotiation between the stakeholders of the Somali National Constituent Assembly (NCA). The legitimate scrutiny of the FGS actions under and through the agreed conditions and institutions is different from political manipulations and accusations under false claims. Somalia needs a strong democratic developmental central authority with well defined decentralized and accountable system of governance.

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Mr. Mohamud M Uluso mohamuduluso@gmail.com

Somalia raid target plotted attack on UN’s Nairobi HQ, report says, as man nabbed in Libya aboard U.S. warship

The man whom U.S. Navy SEALs tried to take down in Somalia over the weekend was a Kenyan who had plotted to attack his country’s parliament building and the United Nations headquarters in Nairobi, according to a Kenyan government intelligence report

NAIROBI, Kenya — The man whom U.S. Navy SEALs tried to take down in Somalia over the weekend was a Kenyan who had plotted to attack his country’s parliament building and the United Nations headquarters in Nairobi, according to a Kenyan government intelligence report.

The pre-dawn, seaside SEAL raid on Saturday targeted Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, who is also known as Ikrima, a U.S. official told The Associated Press. The U.S. troops are not believed to have captured or killed their target. The official insisted on anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the information

In the internal report by Kenya’s National Intelligence Service, Abdulkadir is listed as the lead planner of a plot sanctioned by al-Qaeda’s core leadership in Pakistan to carry out multiple attacks in Kenya in late 2011 and early 2012. The AP has previously reported that those attacks, linked to the Somali Islamic extremist group Al-Shabab, were disrupted.

The report, which was leaked to AP and other media in the wake of the Sept. 21 terror attack on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall that killed more than 60 people, lists Samantha Lewthwaite — a Briton known in British media as the “White Widow” — as one of several “key actors” in the plot to attack Parliament buildings, the UN Office in Nairobi, Kenyan Defence Forces camps and other targets. The plotters also intended to assassinate top Kenyan political and security officials, the report said.

Police disrupted that plot. Lewthwaite, who was married to one of the suicide bombers in the 2005 attack on London’s transit system, escaped capture when she produced a fraudulently obtained South African passport in another person’s name. Late last month Interpol, acting on a request from Kenya, issued an arrest notice for Lewthwaite.

The National Intelligence Service report, in an entry dated exactly one year before the Sept. 21 mall attack, said Al-Shabab operatives were in Nairobi “and are planning to mount suicide attacks on undisclosed date, targeting Westgate Mall and Holy Family Basilica.” Two suspects were believed in possession of suicide vests, grenades and AK-47 assault rifles, the report said

The men who attacked the Westgate Mall last month and held off besieging Kenyan troops for several days were armed with grenades and AK-47s, but apparently had no suicide vests. It was unclear if one planned attack on the mall was foiled and then carried out again or if it was merely postponed for a year by Al-Shabab, which claimed responsibility for the carnage.

The internal document shows that Kenyan intelligence officers have detailed information about plots and individuals tasked with carrying them out, and that the spy handlers face a continuous threat. Other targeted sites included the Hilton Hotel, the Yaya shopping mall, the office of the prime minister, and possibly the embassies of the United States — which was blown up by al-Qaeda in 1998 — and of Britain and Israel.

The SEAL raid in Somalia was only one of two anti-terror missions by U.S. forces in Africa over the weekend. In Libya on Saturday, the U.S. Army’s Delta Force captured Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, known by his alias Anas al-Libi, an al-Qaeda leader linked to the 1998 American Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

That raid prompted a warning Monday from a group of Libyan Islamic extremists who vowed to avenge al-Libi’s capture.

In a statement posted on a militant website Monday, “The Revolutionaries of Benghazi, al-Bayda and Darna” denounced the kidnapping, saying “this shameful act will cost the Libyan government a lot.”

FBI - Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, known 
as Abu Anas al-Liby, who was indicted 
in 2000 in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. 
 embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The cities of Benghazi, Bayda and Darna are strongholds of Islamic extremists who are carrying out political assassinations targeting political activists, judges and members of security agencies.

“We owe it to God to fight whoever betrayed his country and involved in this conspiracy,” the group said.

U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said Sunday that al-Libi was in U.S. custody. A U.S. official familiar with the case said later that al-Libi was taken aboard a U.S. warship for questioning. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release details.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday defended the capture of al-Libi, saying complaints about the operation from Libya and others are unfounded. Kerry said the suspect was a “legal and appropriate target” for the U.S. military and will face justice in a court of law. Kerry added it was important not to “sympathize” with wanted terrorists.

“I hope the perception is in the world that people who commit acts of terror and who have been appropriately indicted by courts of law, by the legal process, will know that United States of America is going to do anything in its power that is legal and appropriate in order to enforce the law and to protect our security,” Kerry told reporters after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific economic conference in Bali, Indonesia.

“Members of al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations literally can run but they can’t hide,” he added.