SOMALIA : THE NATION BEYOND TRIBAL CONFLICTS

Happy New Year for all the Somali People.
I imagined a situation of a third world war , enflamed in the world and how the world drama would be . A situation that only the militarily powerful and political alliance would decide the fate of many nations. Those big nations which are defeated or failed to defeat others would turn to the less powerful and small countries for troops , manpower , military base and any interest that help them win the war.
The weaker has no choice but to comply with the requirement of the stronger.
it would be lucky enough if it has got one of the strong powers as its alliance then a protection would be provided.
Those countries that get enough guts to stand up to the strong man , the result is a naked invasion.
These are nations under stable governments with national military, united people and one commanding president. I felt sad deep inside my heart when I visualized the situation about countries torn apart by civil war and are divided into smaller regions. What would be their fate in the middle of lunatic battle when highly advanced armaments knocking down humans and destroying buildings from far away distance.
When it is an all out war that the powerful does not care any reaction from the world community to limit the number of forces used to invade unlike the current world situation.
I realized that my fear was emanating from the fact that my inner feelings were automatically visualizing the status of my country in such kind of wardrama. Somalia under this anarchy situation in a World Wide War.
As usual foreigners would compete to buy off the regional faction leaders and base their forces in the regions of Somalia. The rivaling forces might go into war from these regions inside Somalia and the nation might turn outto be the worst battlefield with heavy loss of valuable lives and money.Somalia's historical allies like Egypt, Italy, Djibouti & Sudan would not be in a position to offer any helping hand for they are struggling for their necks..
Traditional enemy countries, which a strong and united Somali nation always irritates them, would be highly tempted to collaborate with strong nations to grab large parts of Somali lands and include into their national territories. We end up with only few miles of land that remains to be called as Somalia after the war.
The unlucky Somali children in the future would inherit from us the duty of starting from scratch and fighting for the return of all Somali lands and unite them into the united Somalia instead of putting their energy onto progressive ambitions.
I have thought of many progressive political and economical plans that would lift the living standards of many African nations in general and our beloved nation in particular but any dreamer can launch his realistic ambitions only from the platform of his house. Similarly many Somali thinkers in the world waste their valuable ideologies that could have helped bring a stable Somali nation up to the highest ranking advanced nations in the world.
One thing I like to imitate with the Britons is that while the majority in the world are concentrating on the visible danger of any event, they foresee the reflections and drawbacks it might make or the invisible danger that is more lethal than all . When the coalition axis countries were fighting the German –Japan –Italy powers and the Nazis were on their last leg , the British was closely monitoring the rise of Communism in the former USSR and its effects in the world.
They warned the danger to all their allies and the fight against communism in the friendly USSR started. Now that all the Somali politicians , religious leaders , tribal elders, scholars and non Somali players in the Somali politics are concentrating on the political events in Somalia , the lagging peace conference in Kenya andinter clan fighting in the country , I would wail for the creation of a group of Somali thinkers to be called Somali think tank group that concentrate on the following:
The revelation to the Somali public about the danger of the disintegration of the Somali people and territories and how the Somali national enemies take advantage of it.
The calculation of the price of the civil war, the tribal fighting and the 14 year old anarchy and thus informing the same and the great value of the loss to the public. What could have been reached under stability and sovereign government of an administration based on justice and cooperation.
The creation of a network of Somali intellectuals Association from each region and with in each tribe and with in each sub tribe and within each sub sub tribe in order to have one language that will command the choice of the Somali people every where towards peace and cooperation among the people and total NO to the rule of the gun.
The proper demonstration of the urgent need of world community attention towards the problems in Somalia and how a good government could be put up with the financial and moral support of the UNO.
The creation of the board of security guarantee arrangement committee : since every faction or region in Somalia lost the total confidence and trust of any new government that could provide the guarantee that its people and land will not be exploited , the progress of its region will not be blocked and its rights to rule its turn will not be denied, a new board that consists of key members from the tribal elders , military commanders, political leaders , intellectual scholars from each and every tribe in Somalia should agree on the following:a) every region will have its own local police force and military units.b) the number of police force will depend on the size and security of infrastructure of the region but the number of military personnel will be equal in all regions and will be reserved for the national defense.c) There is a board of military commanders from each region that must approve the deployment of and any use of the regional military units for any national defense or security protection purposes.d) There will be the minister of defense who will be from communities that are outside the dominant tribes of the Somali political crisis for the first 5 years till the total trust of the nation will be built. ( OOPS It is not true that only candidates from the 4 major tribes are capable to rule with wisdom and have leadership qualities )e) If any region or tribe violates any article in the agreed internal security arrangements and inter regional security cooperation agreements, i.e. attacks another region , intervenes the internal affairs of other regions , avoids to implement the agreed measures that orient the society towards peace loving community then the board of security guarantee will join hands to stop the offence and convict the transgressor.f) If a region is shared by two or three communities , equal ratio of distribution of power , military units and local government administrationwill be implemented and which should be monitored by the board.g) No regional government or its members can make any military or political alignment with any foreign country and cooperation with a foreign country should be with the total approval of the president's office and parliament.h) People from other communities who are residents of the region will remain to live in peace in that region and the regional government will take full responsibility for their security and rights as national citizens.
Education is the best tool that gives human being the freedom from the curse of hatred and enmity . Educating the public comes not only through building more schools and universities but also brainwashing the public through the media . TV programs , radios , drama theatres, cinemas all act as a source of education for the people.
Through this campaign a new society can be created. A Somali society that use tribe as mere address and like clothes but not as a tool to get a career position , official favour , undeserved financial support and security protection from other tribes.
I imagine of a situation when the whole Somali community were only one tribe . What would be the situation of tribalism and tribal fighting situation we are now entrapped? If you are expecting the nation would enjoy total peace and love among the people and there would be no two groups fighting over INA AYO AND INA ABTI, REER HEBEL AND REER HEBEL , then I would say that you are beating around the bush. The situation would be that the one tribe Somali communitywould be divided into so called groups & sub groups - either on the bases of following the lineage of the brothers of the old ancestor or those that originate from the ancestor that drunk from a certain well and those who do not , those whose ancestor participated in the burial of certain old ancestral sheikh and those whose ancestor did not , those whose ancestor once refused to pay the " QAARAAN' payment to the community and those whose ancestor paid on time and with honour and so on.
It is a crazy world with crazy beliefs and if the superstitious beliefs hurdle the progress and prosperity of the society, it should be eradicated.
It is a superstition that even the good principles of Islam could not eradicate from our society . We have a hell of a task ahead of us and we have to show the spirit to perform well with out tiring and despair.
I pray to Allah for permanent peace , progress and prosperity for our nation and people and that the new year 2004 will make a difference for all…
Amen

Awes A.Osman
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