Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2014 22:29:03 +0100
Somalis balk at plans for Ethiopian troops
Thousands of Ethiopians will be deployed as part of an African Union
peacekeeping mission, worrying many in Somalia.
<http://www.aljazeera.com/profile/malkhadir-muhumed.html> Malkhadir Muhumed
Last updated: 03 Feb 2014 12:42
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Nairobi, Kenya - Many Somalis are alarmed at a recent decision to include
Ethiopian troops in the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), a
peacekeeping force in the war-ravaged country.
Somali analysts opposing the decision have called it "a mistake", a
"political and military miscalculation" that has the potential to "change
the body politic of Somalia". After decades of bad feelings between
Mogadishu and Addis Ababa, many Somalis see their western neighbour as a
Christian arch-foe that should have no role in the affairs of a Muslim
country.
Ali Mohamud Rage - a spokesman for al-Shabab, an armed anti-state group in
Somalia - urged his countrymen to rise up against the Ethiopians to defend
their country or "suffer regret when it's too late".
"The AMISOM shirt legitimates the spilling of the blood of the Somali people
and the occupation of the Muslim land of Somalia and the elimination of
their religion... We say: 'Wake up from your slumber.'"
The addition of 4,395 Ethiopian troops will bring the total number of
African peacekeeping forces in Somalia to 22,126. Most of the soldiers
currently there come from Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Djibouti.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud welcomed the African Union decision
to have Ethiopians on board, saying they will add "energy" and boost efforts
to defeat al-Shabab, whose stated aim is to topple his government and
establish an Islamic state in its place. As a result of 22 years of civil
war and chaos, Somalia lacks a strong and reliable army that can take on
al-Shabab, making the presence of foreign peacekeepers in the country all
the more necessary.
"One should positively look at the whole picture, especially those of us who
are concerned about regional peace and security," said Ibrahim Farah, a
lecturer at the University of Nairobi.
But many others fear that history may repeat itself, and that the presence
of Ethiopian forces may add to already existing anti-Ethiopian sentiments in
Somalia, and energise anti-government groups. David Shinn, a former US
ambassador to Ethiopia, told Voice of America that he thought the decision
was "a mistake" and that Ethiopia's involvement could be a "rallying cry"
for al-Shabab.
Ethiopia's invasion
After Ethiopia's military invasion of Somalia in 2006, local and
international human rights groups accused Ethiopian troops of killing
civilians and committing atrocities, with Amnesty International citing
throat-slitting, the gang-raping of women, and reports of Somalis being
"slaughter[ed] like goats", in the words of witnesses. The Ethiopian
government has denied these allegations.
EU continues training Somali troops
Although the governments of Ethiopia and Somalia currently claim to have a
good working relationship, the two countries also went to war in 1977 over
the Ogaden region, which is located in eastern Ethiopia but claimed by
Somalia. Many Somalis still harbour a grudge against Addis Ababa, which they
believe is occupying Somali territory.
Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers were sent to Somalia in 2007 to replace
the Ethiopian forces, who had invaded the country to oust Islamists who had
seized control of much of central and southern Somalia. The Ethiopian
invasion has become a battle cry for Somali nationalists and Islamists who
eventually forced Ethiopia to withdraw its troops from Somalia in 2009.
An AMISOM spokesman, Colonel Ali Houmed, told Al Jazeera that Ethiopian
forces deployed to Somalia will have to "comply with" the peacekeeping
force's standard operating procedures. He said the aim of adding Ethiopians
to AMISOM was to bolster the push to get rid of al-Shabab fighters.
Since the implosion of Somalia's central government in 1991, Ethiopia has
taken a keen interest in the affairs of its eastern neighbour, keeping
closer tabs on its security and political developments in a bid to prevent a
takeover by anti-Ethiopian Islamist forces.
Somali opposition
"To include Ethiopian forces in AMISOM is a dangerous decision that will not
in any way help the stability of Somalia and the region in the long term,"
said Zakariye Haji Mohamud, a Somali member of parliament and a former
chairman of the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, a group formed in
2007 to remove Ethiopian troops from Somalia.
Mohamud said Ethiopian forces are not the "ideal force" to stabilise
Somalia, "because there is historical hostility between Somalia and
Ethiopia, and that Addis Ababa was never interested in bringing about peace
in Somalia... In 2006, they invaded a relatively peaceful country, and when
they pulled out they left behind chaos in every corner of southern and
central regions."
There is no need to have foreign forces in Somalia, be it AMISOM or others
from Africa. Somalia has to administer itself and rebuild its army.
- Abdiqasim Salad Hassan, former Somali president
Faisal Roble, a Horn of Africa analyst and director of research at the
US-based Institute for Horn of Africa Studies and Affairs, said the
inclusion of Ethiopian troops "could politically destabilise Somalia,
galvanise Islamists and may even revive genuine pan-Somali opposition to the
presence of Ethiopian and Kenyan forces in the country".
Some Somalis suspect that their country is taking the shape of what its
rivals, especially Kenya and Ethiopia, want it to be: a militarily weak
nation that is split up into clan-based mini-states, which are unable to
mount any effective resistance.
Somalia is already fragmented: Somaliland, in the country's northwest, broke
away from Mogadishu in 1991, and northeastern Puntland claims autonomy.
Meanwhile, the Kismayo-based Juba Administration, made up of three southern
regions, presents itself as the second viable regional administration after
Puntland.
Efforts are also under way to form a third state for southwestern regions of
Somalia, with little input from the national government in Mogadishu.
Realpolitik?
"Kenya and Ethiopia would rather have a weak Somalia as a neighbour. This is
realpolitik," said Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad, a Horn of Africa specialist
who teaches history and political science at Kenyatta University in Nairobi,
Kenya. "The reason is that Somalia has not officially renounced its dream of
a greater Somalia," which would include Somali-inhabited regions in
northeastern Kenya and the Ogaden region in eastern Ethiopia.
Ethiopia's move to join AMISOM follows the example of Kenya, which invaded
Somalia in 2011, and the following year joined the peacekeeping mission in
the country.
Abdisamad said it is hard to find a country in sub-Saharan Africa that has
successfully helped its neighbour recover from armed conflict, while history
is replete with examples of countries taking advantage of their neighbours'
weaknesses - most notably in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Although Somalia's army and parliament did not mount much resistance to
Ethiopian and Kenyan troops joining the AU force, that hasn't stopped other
Somalis from protesting. "There is no need to have foreign forces in
Somalia, be it AMISOM or others from Africa. Somalia has to administer
itself and rebuild its army," said Somalia's former president, Abdiqasim
Salad Hassan, in an interview with a local radio station.
Hassan, a staunch critic of Ethiopian interference in Somali affairs, called
on the central government to ask AMISOM donors to help rebuild Somalia's
army instead.
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