LONDON CONFERENCE ON SOMALIA: BUILDING MOMENTUM

 

The British Prime Minister, The Right Honourable Mr. David Cameron announced on November 24th, 2011 an International Conference on Somalia to combat piracy and lawlessness in the failed Somali state. Whether by coincidence or otherwise, on the same day, the Council of Ministers of the Indian Ocean Rim- Association for Regional Co-operation (IOR-ARC), http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2011/11/association-of-afro-asian-states.html issued the Bengaluru Declaration on the conclusion of its 11th meeting. Security and Diplomacy challenges were among the discussion topics highlighted and the following is an excerpt on the menace of piracy off the coast of and Somalia and how it should be tackled:


“Diplomatic and Security Challenges:


Security and diplomacy go hand in hand. Diplomacy is the ultimate weapon for security. The group noted that stabilization of Somalia will contribute to dealing with piracy in the region. As members take practical steps consistent with international law to combat piracy, IOR-RIM could serve as an effective vehicle for sharing information, experience and best practices. However, in order to combat piracy in the Indian Ocean region, this grouping should seriously deal with the Somalia piracy issue by immediate diplomatic recognition to the Republic of Somaliland and promote the democratically elected government of Somaliland. Strengthening the democratic government of the Republic of Somaliland will promote regional peace in the horn of Africa. It will bring enormous trade, economic and developmental benefits to the country and will discourage other tribes in the south and central Somalia from fratricidal ware-fare. To follow peaceful developmental agenda instead of allying with the Al Shabab and al Qaeda may ultimately become goal for Somalia.


It is an important co-incidence that the same day this regional meeting was held in Bengaluru, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced an international conference to deal with piracy in Indian Ocean as the UK considers it a core issue for that former super-power. The piracy problem in Indian Ocean should not be hijacked by super-powers and former super-powers to fulfill their geo-political agenda. We suggest that IOR-ARC should take a regional piracy containment multi-lateral initiative in which the Republic of Somaliland is an equal partner along with the law-less Somalia. While a dysfunctional Somalia is part of the problem, international recognition of the Republic of Somaliland is part of the solution of the piracy problem. If Southern Sudan could be recognized internationally as a new nation to prevent genocide in Africa, so should be the Republic of Somaliland. It would be strategically naïve, and indeed, myopic to continue to insist on territorial sovereignty of the failed state of Somalia that has already imploded more than twenty years ago.”


The two approaches to the scourge of piracy off the waters of the collapsed Somalia are diametrically opposed. After twenty-one years of fruitless peace and reconciliation conferences among the warring factions of Somalia, the proposal of Indian Ocean rim states is the most realistic and practical solution to the Somali crisis. This is out of realistion of the inescapable reality- Legitimacy of Somaliland’s reclamation of its sovereignty and the inevitable fact of two state solution.

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The first item on the broad tentative agenda ushers in an undefined broadly based representative ‘successor entity’ to the current transitional government, whose mandate expires in August, 2012. The issue here is to lend some credibility and legitimacy to the outcome of the conference. The transitional entity and its predecessors have one characteristic to all of them: Inability to exert any semblance of effective control over the territory of southern Somalia without external military intervention. A legal expert defined such a situation as follows: "When a sovereign state, from exhaustion or any other cause, has virtually and substantially abandoned the struggle for supremacy, it has no right to complain if a foreign state treats the independence of its former subjects as de facto established; nor can it prolong its sovereignty by a mere paper assertion of right.." The subject of legitimacy of the outcome is a matter of serious concern to the organizers of the conference.



Although the modalities of assembling the future building blocks of the ‘successor entity’ are not clearly defined, the evidence suggests that more than half dozen dubious regional governments will participate as equal partners of the transitional government. The question is: where does the government of Somaliland fit in the overall picture? And what is the position of the government of Somaliland? Before anyone attempts to address these questions, the government of Somaliland has to clarify the legal hurdle of the day-In October, 2000 the legislature of Somaliland enacted a law that prohibited any direct participation of any Peace and Reconciliation Convention held for the combatants in southern Somalia. This law is still on the books and needs to be revisited.


For the organizers of the London Conference, it is note-worthy to emphasise that the current top-down approach has been tested for the past two decades or so and the results had been nothing but bleak. This is the time to make a radical departure from the classical western model of conflict resolution and management. Without external assistance of the international community, the people of the Republic of Somaliland supervised the monumental task of resuscitating a war torn society. The Somali culture and tradition based bottom-up method of conflict management proved more practical and effective than the top-down western model. The bottom-up model empowers the grassroots; it is broadly representative and inclusive of all segments of society. Why not apply the same to the intractable crisis of Somalia?


However, more than twenty years later, southern Somalia is without a functioning government? The international community has been generous to underwrite the entire cost of these conferences? The question is: Why the peace dividend is so elusive? The answer is: The communities in southern Somalia have failed to take ownership of their problem. Unless the Somalis of the South take full responsibility for their conflict and devise a locally made holistic approach based on their culture and tradition, any externally imposed solution is a sure recipe for the proliferation of the current anarchy, the violence, and the human suffering of the civilian masses.


In conclusion, the sovereignty of Somaliland is not negotiable at the London conference and any attempts to that effect will never succeed. Whether the government of Somaliland partakes the conference or not is irrelevant; we shall never accept to become the sacrificial lamb of Somali unity.