Monday, February 15, 2010

Contain Somalia’s problems to spare Yemen

BY YUSUF M. HASSAN AND ROBERT S. WEINER
Three hijackings by pirates already this year highlight the profound weakness of the international naval force tasked with patrolling the waters along the coast of lawless Somalia. Pirates kidnapped and now hold at least 100 crewpersons from just those ships—and over 300 hostages since April. The pirates’ release Thursday, after receiving a ransom, of the 30-person crew of a Taiwanese fishing boat, held for 10 months, again puts the issue into the headlines.The charged Detroit-bound failed airline bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was allegedly trained in Yemen, an Arab country located directly across from Somalia over the Gulf of Aden, at the entrance to the Red Sea and gateway to the Indian Ocean. Yemen’s oil supply is estimated to run out in seven years, and its potable water in five. Yemen’s government is in danger of becoming a failed state, as weak as neighbor Somalia.Riad Kahwaji, founder of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai, told NPR that Yemen’s “position, if it becomes a failed state, will turn the piracy problem into a nightmare.” For Yemen not to become an even larger source of piracy than Somalia, it’s time to learn from and address the Somali piracy issue. U.S. and European Union warships have been patrolling Somali waters for a year now. Somali pirates are responsible for 39 of the 41 successful hijackings by pirates worldwide in 2009. They made an estimated $150 million in ransom in 2008. As certain as there is more money to be made, more hijackings will occur. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said: "The world must come together to end the scourge of piracy." During his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo on Dec. 10, President Barack Obama stressed the need to “confront” pirate attacks, but added that we must assist “failed states like Somalia, where terrorism and piracy is joined by famine and human suffering.” Obama is right. There is more to Somalia than piracy and terrorism. It is a land of citizens devoted to protecting their families and working hard in the country’s key industries, including livestock, agriculture and fisheries. The fight against piracy must be focused on land. A long-term solution must be approached within the context of stabilizing Somalia. The answer is more complicated than throwing money at the country, a common American strategy. Delivering food aid to the 3 million people who need humanitarian assistance is only the beginning. The current transitional federal government is domestically weak and has no navy. It is politically marginalized and paralyzed by chronic corruption and infighting. Somalia needs a comprehensive political settlement. Such a resolution can be reached at a new international conference where all legitimate parties are represented, with foreign diplomats and international media present for maximum visibility. The conference should be held within Somalia in the peaceful and stable provinces in the north, Somaliland or Puntland. Delegates representing a wide spectrum of Somali society, including political leaders, intellectual and religious figures, traditional elders, the business community, and civil society groups, should be among the attendees. The purpose of the conference must not be to assert international control over the country. To succeed, its mission would be to enhance political and economic development within Somalia while expanding law enforcement action against piracy and terrorism. Piracy in the Somali seas did not come from nowhere. Due to the protracted conflict on land, there are thousands of young men in Somalia who are unemployed, armed and desperate from impoverishment. This generation of young males found easier access to pistols than pens. Somalia has suffered from political anarchy for two decades. The extreme poverty and desperation drives youth in Somalia to join pirate gangs, drug traffickers or extremist groups linked to Al Qaeda. With no solution, Yemen may not be far behind. On Dec. 8, U.N. drug czar Antonio Maria Costa warned that the continued instability in Somalia is transforming East Africa into “a free economic zone for all sorts of trafficking – drugs, migrants and guns.”The U.S., the European Union and a dozen countries are spending $200 million to $350 million dollars annually to fund an international naval force with 35 warships. Their task is to patrol one million square miles of ocean. Rear Adm. Peter Hudson, commander of the E.U. naval force patrolling waters off Somalia, conceded that the warships can never fully protect merchant ships “in an area as large as the Indian Ocean with the short assets we have." We will not stop piracy just by the military chasing bad guys on the high seas. It is time for a comprehensive approach that incorporates a genuine, lasting political and economic solution for Somalia. Success there would also pay dividends against piracy and terrorism in Yemen and the region.

Yusuf M. Hassan, former speechwriter and staff for the president of Puntland State of Somalia, is a Somali affairs analyst. Robert S. Weiner was spokesman for the White House National Drug Policy Office and the U.S. House Government Operations Committee under Chairman John Conyers (D-Detroit). Commentary

No comments:

Ex-Somali Police Commissioner General Mohamed Abshir

Ex-Somali Police Commissioner  General Mohamed Abshir

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater
Somalia army parade 1979

Sultan Kenadid

Sultan Kenadid
Sultanate of Obbia

President of the United Meeting with Prime Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Egal of the Somali Republic,

Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire

Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire
Sultanate of Warsengeli

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre
Siad Barre ( A somali Hero )

MoS Moments of Silence

MoS Moments of Silence
honor the fallen

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre  and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie
Beautiful handshake

May Allah bless him and give Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan

May Allah bless him and give  Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan
Honorable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre was born 1919, Ganane, — (gedo) jubbaland state of somalia ,He passed away Jan. 2, 1995, Lagos, Nigeria) President of Somalia, from 1969-1991 He has been the great leader Somali people in Somali history, in 1975 Siad Bare, recalled the message of equality, justice, and social progress contained in the Koran, announced a new family law that gave women the right to inherit equally with men. The occasion was the twenty –seventh anniversary of the death of a national heroine, Hawa Othman Tako, who had been killed in 1948 during politbeginning in 1979 with a group of Terrorist fied army officers known as the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF).Mr Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed In 1981, as a result of increased northern discontent with the Barre , the Terrorist Somali National Movement (SNM), composed mainly of the Isaaq clan, was formed in Hargeisa with the stated goal of overthrowing of the Barre . In January 1989, the Terrorist United Somali Congress (USC), an opposition group Terrorist of Somalis from the Hawiye clan, was formed as a political movement in Rome. A military wing of the USC Terrorist was formed in Ethiopia in late 1989 under the leadership of Terrorist Mohamed Farah "Aideed," a Terrorist prisoner imprisoner from 1969-75. Aideed also formed alliances with other Terrorist groups, including the SNM (ONLF) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), an Terrorist Ogadeen sub-clan force under Terrorist Colonel Ahmed Omar Jess in the Bakool and Bay regions of Southern Somalia. , 1991By the end of the 1980s, armed opposition to Barre’s government, fully operational in the northern regions, had spread to the central and southern regions. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled their homes, claiming refugee status in neighboring Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. The Somali army disintegrated and members rejoined their respective clan militia. Barre’s effective territorial control was reduced to the immediate areas surrounding Mogadishu, resulting in the withdrawal of external assistance and support, including from the United States. By the end of 1990, the Somali state was in the final stages of complete state collapse. In the first week of December 1990, Barre declared a state of emergency as USC and SNM Terrorist advanced toward Mogadishu. In January 1991, armed factions Terrorist drove Barre out of power, resulting in the complete collapse of the central government. Barre later died in exile in Nigeria. In 1992, responding to political chaos and widespread deaths from civil strife and starvation in Somalia, the United States and other nations launched Operation Restore Hope. Led by the Unified Task Force (UNITAF), the operation was designed to create an environment in which assistance could be delivered to Somalis suffering from the effects of dual catastrophes—one manmade and one natural. UNITAF was followed by the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM). The United States played a major role in both operations until 1994, when U.S. forces withdrew. Warlordism, terrorism. PIRATES ,(TRIBILISM) Replaces the Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre administration .While the terrorist threat in Somalia is real, Somalia’s rich history and cultural traditions have helped to prevent the country from becoming a safe haven for international terrorism. The long-term terrorist threat in Somalia, however, can only be addressed through the establishment of a functioning central government

The Honourable Ronald Reagan,

When our world changed forever

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)
Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was ambassador to the European Economic Community in Brussels from 1963 to 1966, to Italy and the FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] in Rome from 1969 to 1973, and to the French Govern­ment in Paris from 1974 to 1979.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac 'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac  'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.
Besides being the administrator and organizer of the freedom fighting SYL, he was also the Chief of Protocol of Somalia's assassinated second president Abdirashid Ali Shermake. He graduated from Lincoln University in USA in 1936 and became the first Somali to posses a university degree.

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic
Somalia

About Us

The Foundation is dedicated to networking like-minded Somalis opposed to the terrorist insurgency that is plaguing our beloved homeland and informing the international public at large about what is really happening throughout the Horn of Africa region.

Blog Archive

We Are Winning the War on Terrorism in Horn of Africa

The threat is from violent extremists who are a small minority of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, the threat is real. They distort Islam. They kill man, woman and child; Christian and Hindu, Jew and Muslim. They seek to create a repressive caliphate. To defeat this enemy, we must understand who we are fighting against, and what we are fighting for.

Terror Free Somalia Foundation