Sophia Tesfamariam
December 11, 2006
“…A government which needs foreign support to enforce obedience from its own citizens is one which ought not to exist; and the assistance given to it by foreigners is hardly ever anything but the sympathy of one despotism with another…” – John Stuart Mill
Resolution 1725 on Somalia has all the markings of US strong arm tactics, double standards, domination and manipulation. The resolution authorizes a regional force from the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the African Union (AU) to protect the weak Transitional National Government in Baidoa and provide training for its forces. It also authorizes partial lifting of the Somalia Arms Embargo of 1992. It is the result of a vitriolic and aggressive defamation campaign by the US State Department and Meles Zenawi, the deceptive leader of the genocidal vote rigging minority regime in Ethiopia, against the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).
The Security Council (SC) says that it determined “that the situation in Somalia constituted a threat to international peace and security”. It made this erroneous determination of the situation in Somalia based on:
1. The discredited 21 November 2006 report of the Somalia Monitoring Group.
2. Hysteria, hype and half cocked analysis by the US State Department.
3. Self serving assessment by the weak Transitional National Government and its ally in Ethiopia, the flip flopping deceptive street smart Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
This is yet another example of the Security Council’s bias and inconsistency in its treatment of issues relating to the region. The Security Council failed to take in to account the positive developments in today’s Somalia, which can hardly be considered a threat to international peace and security, except in the Islam phobic minds of Meles Zenawi, the deceptive Prime Minister of Ethiopia and his the latest ‘Zenawiphile’, Jendayi E. Frazier, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. This lopsided, unwarranted Resolution will increase tensions in Somalia and the situation will surely spiral out of control and out of Somalia. Therein lays the real threat to international peace and security.
Contrary to the picture that is being painted of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) by the minority regime in Ethiopia and its handlers, the UIC has been welcomed by the Somali people and many regional actors, because it has been able to restore peace and security in Somalia after 15 years of chaos and anarchy. The UIC which has the support of the Somali people is best poised to bring stability and reconciliation amongst the many Somali factional interests. The Somali people are also united in their rejection of Ethiopian or any other intervention in Somalia, which they fear will destabilize their country.
The SC said that it was “acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter”. In order to take action under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, Article 39 of the UN Charter requires the SC to:
“…determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security…”
Surely Ethiopia’s and Washington’s Islamophobic fears of “the formation of an Islamic State” is not the type of threat to peace and security contemplated by Article 39, is it? Would it have considered the formation of a fundamentalist Christian State just as equally threatening? I doubt that. Meles Zenawi, who has been described as “the most dangerous political arsonist in the Horn- a masterful post 9/11 Terror-preneur who will exploit any opportunity to gain an economic or a political edge”, is the only threat to peace and security in the region and Resolution 1725 gives him the green light to scuttle any future prospects for meaningful dialogue between the TNG and the UIC and peace and stability in Somalia.
Article 40 of the UN Charter is very clear in what the Security Council must do before it recommends the use of force. It says:
“…in order to prevent an aggravation of the situation, the Security Council may, before making the recommendations or deciding upon the measures provided for in Article 39, call upon the parties concerned to comply with such provisional measures as it deems necessary or desirable. Such provisional measures shall be without prejudice to the rights, claims, or position of the parties concerned. The Security Council shall duly take account of failure to comply with such provisional measures.
The SC has not issued a single call to Ethiopia to stop its violations against Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Instead of addressing the culprit, Ethiopia, which is aggravating the situation in Somalia, the SC decided to violate the inherent right to self defense and self determination of the people of Somalia, which is protected under the UN Charter. This Resolution lacks neutrality; it is pro-TNG and anti-UIC. It subordinates the rights of the Somali people to that of the TNG. It seeks to maintain an unstable status quo.
Resolution 1725 is as incoherent as the US policy on Somalia that is behind it. The Security Council begins by saying:
“… that the Transitional Federal Charter and Institutions offer the only route to achieving peace and stability in Somalia…Emphasized the need for continued credible dialogue between the Transitional Federal Institutions and the Union of Islamic Courts…”
The Transitional Federal Government of the Somali Republic was formed by an interim parliament formed in Kenya in 2004. The interim parliament chose Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed as the transitional President of Somalia and Ali Mohammed Ghedi as its Prime Minister in November 2004 and remained in exile in Nairobi until July 2005. It met inside Somalia for the first time on 26 February 2006. It has not been able to bring peace and stability to Somalia. The Transitional Federal Government is the fifteenth attempt to create a formal state; a clear indication that external prescriptions have not worked for Somalia, and will not in the future.
On 6 June 2006, the UIC after a two month long battle against the US-backed Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) took over Mogadishu, the Somali capital. Mogadishu ’s air and seaports were re-opened for the first time since 1995. The United States which was providing support to various warring clan factions inside Somalia for over two years, undermining the authority of the TNG, found itself on the losing side. Suddenly today, it belatedly decided to recognize the TNG and “prop it up”. The UIC has gradually expanded its control of Central and Southern Somalia, with little or no resistance, and has been able to stabilize areas under its control. Resolution 1725 seeks to arrest that expansion.
The Security Council which had turned a blind eye for the last 15 years as chaos and anarchy prevailed in Somalia and remained silent as the Somali Arms Embargo was openly violated, adopted a Resolution that denies the people of Somalia their right to self determination, rights which are protected under Article 1 of the UN Charter. Article 1 of the UN Charter states the purpose of the United Nations as being:
“…To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples…”
Resolution 1725 is unjust, unwarranted, ill-advised, and provocative and it violates Somalia’s right to defend its sovereignty from Ethiopian aggression and the Somali people’s right to self determination. When the Security Council acts on matters affecting peace and security, it must do so within the confines of both the UN Charter and the inherent rights of its member states. Security Council resolutions may coexist with Somalia’s inherent right to self-defense, but they cannot abridge or trump that right. In my humble opinion, while Security Council resolutions are generally considered binding under international law, in this case the Security Council is violating its own principles and mandates. The U.N. Charter says that resolutions are valid as long as they are consistent with “the principles of justice and international law”. Resolution 1725 is not.
On the issue of dialogue between the TNG and the UIC, the Security Council urged:
“…the Transitional Federal Institutions and the Union of Islamic Courts to fulfill commitments they have made, resume without delay peace talks on the basis of the agreements reached in Khartoum, and adhere to agreements reached in their dialogue, and states its intention to consider taking measures against those that seek to prevent or block a peaceful dialogue process, overthrow the Transitional Federal Institutions by force, or take action that further threatens regional stability…”
I for one would be curious to see what type of measures the SC would contemplate taking against the people of Somalia. The expansion of the UIC to areas beyond its current control does not signal trouble for Somalia or the Region, and is being welcomed by the people of Somalia. The developments since June 2006 have been very positive and Somalia is enjoying some semblance of stability and normalcy for the first time in 15 years. Instead of interfering in the internal affairs of Somalia, the Security Council ought to rein in the belligerent aggressive minority regime in Ethiopia, who remains the primary menace to the Horn, and leave the Somali people to come up with their own solutions to their problems. What happens to the TNG is best left to the people of Somalia. It is not up to Meles or Jendayi, it is up to the people of Somalia.
As for dialogue between the UIC and the beleaguered TNG, personally, I believe the TNG has lost its credibility and integrity, thus its legitimacy in Somalia for failing the people of Somalia since its formation in 2004, its inability to consolidate its power and provide the stability and security its people have long been yearning. Today, the TNG is worse. It has betrayed their cause by aligning itself with the minority regime in Ethiopia against the people of Somalia. Some in the TNG leadership have vilified and maligned the UIC, and unashamedly justified (and even invited) Ethiopia’s intervention in Somalia, against the expressed wishes of the majority of the Somali people.
Unbelievable as it seems, the Prime Minister of Somalia’s Transitional National Government, Ali Mohammad Ghedi, in a move which brings to question his allegiance to the people of Somalia, and jeopardizing any future prospects for dialogue with the UIC, joined the anti-UIC bandwagon and openly called for the pre-emptive invasion of Somalia by Meles Zenawi’s forces, thereby threatening regional stability. Voice of America reported on 26 September 2006 that:
“… Somalia’s Interim Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi says his country is in the grip of a radical Islamic movement that is dominated by terrorists…”
But that was not all, at a Press Conference held in Addis Ababa on 5 December 2006, knowing full well that the TNG has been unable to assert itself beyond Baidoa, undermining the Somali peoples’ right to self determination, compromising Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and selfishly endangering the lives of innocent young Ethiopians who would be used as cannon fodder and minesweepers in Meles Zenawi’s aggressive war against Somalia, Ghedi said:
“…the Transitional Government is in a position to protect the people of Somalia from any enemy especially the terrorists who have transferred their forces from elsewhere to our country to destabilize the country and the Horn of Africa as well…Terrorism is a global issue. But, the so-called UIC with their allies in Mogadishu clearly targeted the country and people of Ethiopia. Therefore, it is the duty of the government of Ethiopia to protect the interests of its people and country. That cannot be compromised. That is our decision…”
Ghedi does not sound like a leader who is concerned about jeopardizing the peace and security of Somalia. On the contrary, he seems to be inviting instability. Whatever agenda Ghedi is advancing… it has nothing to do with the welfare of the Somali people, and it certainly is not about fighting terrorism. Ghedi knows the TNG is not in any position to “protect the people of Somalia from any enemy” especially when it is Meles who is their enemy and Ghedi himself is “sleeping with the enemy”.
According to Resolution 1725, the IGAD regional force would:
“…train the Transitional Federal Institutions’ security forces to enable them to provide their own security and to help facilitate the re-establishment of national security forces of Somalia…”
Conspicuously absent in Resolution 1725 is a call for Ethiopia to remove its forces that are in Somalia supposedly to “provide training for Somali forces”. Resolution 1725, in addition to Meles Zenawi’s declaration of war against Somalia, exacerbates an already tenuous, complex and intractable situation.
In my opinion, this Resolution on Somalia exceeds the Security Council’s authority, which, contrary to popular opinion, is not unlimited. The SC, once again compromising its credibility and integrity, has chosen to act in contravention of the purposes and principles of the United Nations, when it adopted Resolution 1725, which is not only diversionary and distractive, but also blatantly hypocritical and duplicitous. It will not preserve peace and security in the Horn of Africa; it will ignite a vicious fratricidal war and compound the suffering of the people in the region. It is a selfish, cruel and unjust Resolution.
Finally, the decision by the US State Department to take this unwarranted approach to the situation in Somalia is akin to “kicking a beehive to stop the bees from producing honey”, It is not the UIC that is a threat to international peace and security, but rather, the threat that will come from the crisis that Meles Zenawi and Jendayi E. Frazier have created and escalated in the Horn of Africa.
The rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle!
