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7. FAILURE AND IRRESPONSIBILITY OF SOMALI LEADERSHIP ELITES

Who is responsible for the endless conflict and suffering of our nation? Before answering this question let’s first let’s ask this question, who leads a country or nation-state in this modern world?  The answer is simple and straightforward. In this modern era a country or nation-state is led by its middle class people, in other words, the leadership elites – politicians, intellectuals, professionals, and business people. Normally in a collective and organised (in organisations and professional associations of national level with national vision) the middle class leadership elites guide, organise, serve, secure, defend and lead the nation-state or the country in the right way and direction.

But our leadership elites are neither organised in national political platforms equipped with common national vision and social values nor professional associations of common interests. These elites, who are supposed to have such organisations and social values and lead the nation seem to conform condescendingly to the low politics of the street flocks and related agnostic, clannish, irrational, emotional, fatalist, and defeatist views and world-views which shift the blame on God that He is punishing the nation as it strays from His way, or on individual narrow-minded and selfish political goons and brutal warlords, or on this or that clan, or on the older generation, and/or on foreigners. This is the low politics mentality and outlook of the yobsan (the crowd) or fadhi-ku-dirir (a term recently acquired from the civil war which means sitting or tea-shop political warriors of the crowd) of the above described petty politicking.

It is therefore pity that these supposed leadership elites should not realize that the myopic and selfish politicians and warlords, clans, and foreign intruders are not the kind of leaderships a nation-state needs or should lead it but they are destructive forces each contending to have a pound of flesh or bone from the body of our fallen state. So, Somali leadership elites should have risen above such little politics and little thinking or remaining passive critics.

Coming back to the question, who is responsible for the endless conflict and chaos of our nation? Answer is obviously quite clear.
It is the Somali leadership elites have become dismally failed to shoulder their social and national responsibility to guide, organise, serve, secure, defend and lead their nation in the right manner and direction, or to prevent such national disaster, in the first place, or resolve it afterwards.  Thus, we, the leadership elites are responsible for the endless conflict and chaos of our nation. The leadership of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts Union has shown some humanitarian concern and provided relief aid for many Somalis affected by drought, river floods or displaced and dispossessed by the violence in their brief six month rule in Mogadishu and adjacent regions.

All foreign observers and analysts of Somalia understood well this weakness and fiasco on the part of the Somali leadership elites but they are mostly either silent or uninterested to comment on this fact. Only man, i.e., Mr. Ahmed Ould-Abdullah, the Special Representative of he UN Secretary-General for Somalia has on several occasions shown honest and frank concern to tell privately and publicly the Somali leadership elites for their neglect and political failure to serve and uphold their people and country. On one occasion he appealed to them ‘I would like the parliamentarians to show their full support for the peace process and for their plight of the people of population’ because most of them were against the peace process he was leading (51). On another occasion he rebuked the Somali leadership elite for ‘Somalia is a victim of its political, business and military elite. They have taken the country hostage.’ (52) And on third one he addressed this blame on both the Somali leadership and the international community ‘The Somali leadership inside and abroad, as well as international community, have neglected Somalia for years’(53). for the conflict and misery in Somalia. Thus, every Somali knows well that, and if not he or she must know, that we, the political, intellectual/professional, military, and religio-political elites have been and are responsible for the prolonged conflict, prevailing crushing and widespread poverty and fragmentation of our nation, and that these remarks by Mr. Ould-Abdullah is just a further indisputable reconfirmation. Lastly, just only six days ago (1/5/2009) Thomas-Jensen of Project Enough pointed out in VOA that he believes ’17 years of failed (Somali) leadership’.

We, the Somali leadership elites,  must therefore critically  re-examine ourselves by putting aside the petty tribal and selfish mentality, allegiances and interests and as an alternative rise to organise ourselves into political platforms and social associations of national level and vision rallying around social peaceful and moderate political and social methods based on our best social values and finest global social values applicable to our context while making use of and putting into practice the available reservoir resources of our knowledge, experience, skills, intellectual capacity, honest and goodwill in order to reconstruct, lead, guide, serve, defend, and develop our nation to be secure, peaceful and prosperous nation-state which positively contributes to its neighbours and the rest of the world. Moreover, it is very urgent matter to take into account and pay attention on those millions whose lives are threatened by the grinding poverty either or are fleeing out of the country every month, just to die in the desperate journey on the high seas, or on known foreign land routes or end up in brutal dungeons around the world. They are expecting merciful exigent plans of their salvation from Somali Transitional Unity Government and leadership elites to speak on their behalf and launch urgent and proactive campaigns of raising awareness of the dangerous extent of the poverty and appealing to the conscience and goodwill of those Somalis who are better-off and the international community to do more to draw up urgent rescue plans and raise extra funds to save their lives from the real and imminent peril

 

 

7.1 NEGLECT AND FAILURE OF THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL AND DONOR COUNTRIES

The UN and other humanitarian agencies have been doing their best to feed the starving millions of Somalis for many years. But now given that the people in acute food and livelihood crisis and humanitarian emergency have exponentially increased from 1.8 millions at the start of 2007 to 3.2 millions in 2008 and that still the numbers of the population in dire need tend to increase and overwhelm the humanitarian agencies and shrink their resources, that situation can not absolutely be business as usual. So, something urgent and different must be done.

Meantime, the community international, particularly the UN Security Council and main donor countries and organisations which have been politically and humanitarian wise involved in Somalia such as USA, EU member countries, Norway,  and Arab countries, besides failing to stop the illegal Ethiopian invasion and occupation of Somalia and hold accountable its war crimes and gross humanitarian rights violations which led to this latest unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Somalia, are dragging their feet to response to and recognise this dramatic increase of huge population in acute food and livelihood crisis and humanitarian emergency and provide them prompt and adequate humanitarian, and economic development aid so as to ward off further massive famine, and simultaneously address the burning security and political issues to enable Somalia to stand on its feet again.

 

7.2 Shortfall of Humanitarian Funding

This is a gross neglect and failure in the past 18 years or so on the part of the international community as regards Somalia’s gloomy situation which has been accumulated all these years. For example, while the Somali population in dire in 2008 rose to 77% in 2009 (I believe more) there has not been matching funding for that. Instead there is shortfall of funds and slow flow of them as indicated by the following results of the UN Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP) for funds for 2009 and as UN agencies themselves admit.

The ‘the humanitarian community faces a shortfall in humanitarian funding for Somalia. Three months into 2009, the US$918 humanitarian appeal has raised only US$251 million or 26% of requirements. Education, Shelter and Safety & Security sectors have received no funding’ and ‘this is considerably lower compared to the funding level the same time last year of 35 percent. Of the $251 million received, 54 percent, or $136 million is carry over from late.’ (54)  This means that the number of needy people almost doubled and funding decreased greatly proportionally. The same UN report says that other countries for which the humanitarian appeal was launched alongside Somalia, such as Sudan, Central African Republic and Chad, received 33%, 31% and 31% of their funding respectively and that shows Somalia is the lowest of the on list of international humanitarian attention and funding although the UN itself recognised Somalia humanitarian situation as ‘the worst in the world.’

This shortage of funds will have the following severe impacts on the humanitarian aid provision for the Somali needy millions, as the UN concedes: ‘The funding levels continue to reflect a pronounced imbalance between sectors. Food aid, which is 33 percent funded, accounts for 79 percent of funding received, with WFP receiving 40 percent of its total 2009 requirements. Education, Shelter and Safety & Security sectors have so far received no funding. Considering the deepening water crisis in many parts of Somalia, it is a major concern that Water & Sanitation has so far received only 2 percent of its funding requirement. The sector needs $37 million to urgently improve access to emergency water and sanitation services for drought-affected people in all parts of Somalia. The Health and Nutrition sector (15 percent funded) is another critical sector with limited funding availability, as the health part of the cluster has only received some 3.3 percent of its requirements, or $1.5 million. Up to 330,000 children under the age of five face acute malnutrition and possible death unless aid agencies are able to access $22 million over the coming months to provide emergency nutritional supplies.’ (55)

Because of this shortfall of funds, ‘the Cluster (is the all humanitarian agencies in Somalia taken together) is determined to reach at least 50 percent of the 3.2 million people in need of assistance, with a particular emphasis on marginalised populations, women and female headed households.’ (56)

 

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