by Abdullahi Nur 

When, in 2006, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed came to power as one of the leaders of the Union Islamic Courts (UIC), he was part of a group that controlled most of central and southern Somalia for six months. It was an extraordinary moment to the Somali people. The city of Mogadishu became a very peaceful place and the Somali Diaspora began to go back home. Somalis hope to regain a peaceful and prosperous country died when the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), backed by Ethiopian troops, and sponsored by the international community, invaded the country and clashed with the UIC. Sharif, and his Islamic Courts forces, was defeated by the Ethiopians; and when the Ethiopians occupied the country, another disaster then befell the Somali people.

After two years, the Ethiopian troops decided to leave, knowing that they could not achieved a military victory. They left behind both psychological and physical damage to the Somali people - without deciding a single issue between the warring factions and the TFG. The international community decided again to sponsor a new reconciliation process, known as the “Djibouti Process�, where Sharif became the president of Somalia. The Somali people hoped once again that their country was on a track toward peace, but that hope became paralyzed when Sharif’s former alliance partners - Aweys and Al Shabaab - teamed up to opposed the formation of his government. It was clear once more that the peace Somalis had yearned for over the years was again elusive. Sharif’s government was dead practically before it even arrived.

Last week, President Sharif arrived in New York to attend the annual United Nations summit. After finishing his meeting, he came to Minneapolis where he talked to the local Somali community. A huge preparation for a welcoming the president was put in place. I spent several hours outside the University of Minnesota asking people what Sharif’s government had achieved so far. Unfortunately, no one knew what I was talking about.

Since the President came to power: fighting has increased in the country; the government has lost most of the country to Hisbul Islam and Al Shabaab; there is an increase in death and destruction; and more people have fled the capital. The people of Somalia need ever more aid than before. The Somali people need aid and support in order to get people to work and give them hope. No wonder why the people that I talked to could not pinpoint what the President has achieved. So the question is, Mr. President what have you tangibly achieved since taking over as the leader of Somalia?

The question is what are we (Somali people) waiting for? Are we waiting for the international community to solve our own problems? If we are thinking of that, Somalia is finished, as there is no chance international community is going to seriously help, because the United States, who is the leader of Western interests in Somalia is suffering itself because of the financial crisis; and President Obama cannot do any more than what President Bush did to Africa. So it seems to me that the Obama Administration’s focus on Africa will be public relations only. So are we waiting for Sharif, who is a typical faction leader, and cannot even say a word against the Ugandan AMISOM troops why they bomb markets and residential areas of Mogadishu City, where the average death is 15-20 a day; or, are waiting for the Shabaab and Hisbul Islam, who are both abusing the Somali people and the image of Islam

Please, Somalis, let us understand the world in which we live, and be realistic about the situation in our country, and build the nation from a realistic base, and not dreams.

What Can we tell This Child?

by Abdi-Noor Mohamed
Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Over the past two years it is estimated that tens of thousands of people have been killed in Somalia particularly its capital city, Mogadishu in a mortar exchange by TFG and its supporters on one side and Islamic insurgents on the other, while more than 3 million inhabitants were either wounded or displaced in the outskirts of the city. It is hard to imagine a government slamming rockets on the residential areas and market places of its own city. On the other hand there is the horror of insurgent retaliation against government forces who shoot around with heavy weapons murdering not their enemy but innocent and defenceless populations who happen to be caught in the these insane cross fires. Besides that, there are suicide bombers who aim to blow up an AU peacekeeper but bother not if they murder someone else in the explosion so long as the incident grabs a media attention.  What kind of war are they fighting when one supplies mortar fire to the city and hides behind the people while the other responds disproportionately with a much heavier weaponry? What kind of war is this when one uses people as a human shield and the other indiscriminately attacks residential areas claiming that they are destroying Alshabaab hideouts or strongholds? What else can we call this war other than Madness? It is an act of genocide perpetrated by both parties in the name of politics or religion. What else? Stop supporting the TFG and the blood-thirsty religious zealots .

This is a war game with no referee and no rules to observe. In one explosion that happened in Mogadishu last month, a mortar took the life of eight persons, all in the same house, and all in the same family. There is blood running everywhere in the streets as people are burning inside this man-made hell. Those who escape the bombs do not necessarily escape death. They might face death in another form, probably in a more torturous way of dying - starvation - as humanitarian aid is being blocked by gunmen loyal to different Islamic and tribal factions or even belong to the government as it is too weak and excessively bankrupt to pay for its soldiers. They habitually loot supplies or kill the aid workers to scare them away thereby making it impossible for people to survive.
 
Air freighting of food supplies is not an option as the airport is banged with rockets from time to time denying agencies to use it for a large-scale humanitarian intervention. Sea freight is not possible either. Pirates use speedboats to hijack ships carrying food aid and often demand extortion before they release the consignment. It seems that every attempt to deliver services in Somalia is blocked. And a more painful part of the story is the fact that the whole nation depends on food donations coming from abroad.  It is extremely depressing to have such a scenario on the ground and more disappointing than that is the fact that the shelling and explosions are increasing by the day. What do you think will happen to the people when the land routes are closed and roadblocks mounted, when air space is closed and the airport is targeted, when the sea is closed and vessels are attacked, when everywhere is closed and every hope is killed, when every effort to stop the war ends in disaster! This must be an image of horror reflected in the mirror of terror.
 
What is going on in Somalia is a real catastrophe and it is absolutely impractical to sit back and watch a whole nation drowning in a lake of flame. We cannot understand why the world is not waking up to this tragedy of genocide proportions or the world has other priorities far more important than human life being wasted in such a senseless way.

Somalia is left in the hands of a government who exists only by name and so-called insurgents who hide behind religion but have an agenda far beyond than what we see on the surface. These groups have killed and terrified the people and forced them to run away from their houses. They widowed mothers and made children orphans while they relocated their families to safer areas or have even taken them out of the country. 
Apart from the grisly scenes portrayed on the papers and websites on daily basis, I have seen today on the internet the picture of a child who is waiting for his mother to bring food but unaware that she was hit by a rocket at Isgoyska Bakaaraha. I tried to speak to that child in a poetic telepathy in an effort to soothe his soul but I ran short of words to fully express the tragedy that had descended on his life. The challenge of all concerned who love peace and care of their country is how and what to tell this child. Will it assuage his pain if we tell him that there will be peace soon? Will it bring his tempers to a normal balance if we sing for him a lullaby that says: Hubaaya hubaa, hooyadaa ma joogto? Will it help if we tell him that vessels carrying food-aid shall make safely to the shores of Mogadishu? Will it stop him from crying if we tell him that the European Union is gearing up a new defence measures to combat piracy in the Somalis seas? Will it lend a comforting palm to clean his tears if we tell him that the AlShabaab insurgents want to rule the country by Sharia Law and that is why they have killed your mother? Will it fare better if we tell him that the President is visiting the United States and will come up with a new solution for the problem? What can we tell this child who does not even know what death means but keep waiting for his beloved Mom to come back and bring food though she is lying in a pool of blood? Unless we get united for an answer to this child we shall ever remain divided and disunited. Do not look who the child is and which land his mother was killed? Just look at him a Somali child and share the pain with other Somali fellows. Let us know what you say and how it touches you.