Katherine McNamara, the editor of the online magazine Archipelago has now published the concluding chapter of my book Amnesty after Atrocity?: Healing Nations after Genocide and War Crimes on the web, with my permission and that of the publisher. So now you can read it here.
The hope is, obviously, that you'll be so intrigued by the arguments that you'll go and buy the whole book. Then you can come and discuss it here.
SOMALIA CAN BE RECONCILED
By Ndung’u Wainaina
Somalia is in deep crisis. The country is slowly but steadily degenerating into a state of anarchy, lawlessness and instability. This does not in any way write the country off yet. However, the conditions and environment prevailing in that country are disastrous. We are no longer talking of armed conflict and the associated causalities but a humanitarian crisis touching on the very existence of a whole society. The large portion of population existing as internally displaced persons while others piling up in the borders of neighbouring countries without basic rights like water, food shelter et cetera is demoralizing and devastating. Some have attempted to crossover borders but have been turned back or just hounded and locked up in police stations under very inhumane conditions.
The real problem facing Somalia is both political and over militarization. There has to exist a negotiated political agreement that is inclusive and defining power sharing arrangements and addressing the militarization issue in order to restore hope of sustainable peace. The current situation is unsustainable and the peace in Somalia will remain elusive and mute as long as Transitional Federal Government is not inclusive and recognized by all political groups including the Islamic Courts. Under the current environment, TFG is perceived by the larger segment of Somalia population as exclusive, discriminatory, undemocratic and serving foreign interests.
To many a Somalia people, TFG is illegitimate and operates through unorthodox methods of political discretion and relying on foreign forces to prop and defend it. This is the current source of insurgency and resistance against TFG. Politics of alienation and exclusion are destructive and can only lead to political closure, disenfranchisement and rebellion. Let international community cultivate political will of inclusivity that encourage and respect will of Somalia people to restore their life together. The prevailing atmosphere in Somalia is that TFG is a surrogate government while the countries purporting to intervene are dishonest and have a completely different agenda from that of securing genuine and sustainable peace for Somalia. For instance, United States of America is using the Somalia and neighbouring countries to conduct experimental test of effectiveness of her new military outfit Africa Command, AfriCom.
There is uncontestable evidence of illegal detentions, erosion of fundamental human rights and rule of law principles in the fight against terrorism now extend to Somalia and neigbouring countries and illegal extraordinarily renditions of people suspected to be associated with terrorism. These acts of transferring people outside legal processes primarily for interrogation without restraints of the law, holding said people incommunicado and denying them means to exercise legal remedy is a clear indicator of contradictions existing among countries involved in the attempts to resolve Somalia conflict.
Withdrawal of Ethiopia troops without proper transitional administration and peacekeeping mission is catastrophic but also continued remain of Ethiopia in Somalia will make political dialogue difficult and even close it forever. Constituting and deployment of peace mission for Somalia is a matter of urgency for the Untied Nations and African Union. The dilemma is that military intervention is elusive just like political. International community immediate recognition and support of Transitional Federal Government without assessing critically her legitimacy on the ground was fatal mistake which must not be repeated. The reconciliation conference intended to take place next month should solely have a single agenda of discussing cessation of hostilities and how to constitute a proper transitional administration mechanisms for Somalia. A government constituted without proper consultation and widest input lacks legitimacy and places democratic state which it is intends to establish at odds with those whose interests and rights it is expected to protect and serve. That is exactly the Somalia case.
At the moment, the priority is how to realize cessation of hostilities between the insurgents and TFG but not talking about peacekeeping. Peacekeeping is about ensuring existence of law and order when hostilities have stopped but at the moment Somalia is still at war and therefore any talk of peacekeeping is a lie. The peacekeeping that is ongoing is clearly biased and is actually defending the TFG and not protecting population which raise credibility and intentional questions of the whole exercise. A sustainable peace is premised on stopping armed conflict, absence of other forms of violence [structural, psychological and cultural], existence of mechanisms of constructively handling emerging conflicts and finally, the transitional administration[or government] has to enjoy high level of internal and external legitimacy.
Having stated above, the concrete agenda for Somalia peace process would therefore comprise of negotiating for a peace deal that first achieve cessation of hostilities between protagonists and create a broad based negotiated transitional administration/government. Untied Nations and African Union need to lead this process by providing technical and political support. Secondly, the United Nations-backed negotiated transitional government has to revisit Nairobi Peace Agreement and reopen for discussion and expansion to facilitate creation of interim constitutional framework that will enable holding of democratic elections. The transitional administration period and mandate in office have to be agreed upfront and spelt out in the interim constitutional arrangement.
Thirdly, an independent international peacekeeping forces [preferably UN/AU jointly set] to maintain law and order during the transitional period and thereafter if need be. Fourth, undertake an exercise of screening and integrating various armies to form one trained national army. The AU/UN has to be involved in the exercise to ensure the right procedure and training is followed. Fifth, a mechanism of re-establishing and reconstituting the civil service is negotiated and agreed to ensure the only people with correct human rights record are recruited. Otherwise Afghanistan-type of situation can arise which perpetually keep sabotaging the peace. Sixth issue is the resettlement and reintegration of Internally Displaced Persons and refugees. Closely related to this is the whole exercise of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of militias and combatants. Finally, the framework of truth and accountability need to be discussed and adopted in order to lay foundation for the reconciliation process.
Director, International Center for Policy and Conflict, wainainan@icpcafrica.org
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