In any corner of Somali-inhabited geography, tribal disputes and clashes are live non-stop. Lives are being lost with impunity, and properties and livestock are being destroyed daily. No accountability of any kind rendered. Even today, a country location called Harfo (North Mudugh), which is not far off from Puntland Capital Garowe, two close subclans are clashing for minor habitat issues that don’t serve the loss of human lives.
Now, even such tribal hostilities rage on with the instigation and participation of the fledgling national government. The recent armed conflict in Jubaland State between FGS and the Member State is the prime example. Arms trafficking, including heavy gun-mounted so-called “technicals” is unprecedented as a result of the UN lifting of Arms Embargo on Somalia. Talk about peace and nation-building in Somalia!
In 2005 when I was working briefly with the United Nations and World Bank on the Somali Research and Development Program (RDP) called Joint Needs Assessment (JNA), I have learned something that seemed odd and strange to me at the time. In my little capacity as the Technical Coordinator with a multi-national teams of experts to carry out this needs assessment as the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia was established in Mbagathi, Kenya, in 2004, I travelled with these foreign experts from UN and World Bank, or hired by them to conduct such research and assessment for Somalia’s needs to recover from multifaced destruction following the Civil War. In fact, the Somali New Deal, signed in 2013 in Brussels, Belgium, between the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) and European Union (EU), was based on JNA and RDP field works in Somalia. Abdirahman Faroole and Abdirisaq Jurile were ministers of planning and international cooperation of Puntland and the Transitional Federal Government, respectively, coordinating with our technical teams of Puntland State, South-Central Somalia and Somaliland administrations.
Upon landing on any Somali town, locally hired UN security staff was handy to give us security briefs on local issues. They always used to say that there was no peace in a tribal society, and human lives didn’t matter much there. I admit I was annoyed by the statements of these UN security personnel on local conditions and wrongly assumed that they were unpatriotic and even traitors. I was wrong.
From there, I learned that stupidity reigns supreme in a clan-dominated environment. There, neighbours and relatives fight to the last man. It could start any minute unpredictably without notice. Tribal conflicts and fights to the finish could be started by a single teenager, followed by the fall of numerous innocent people and bystanders. Unfortunately, this war within clans and subclans has been going on for centuries without any lessons learned. They couldn’t at least develop a mechanism or system for individual accountability. They continue to practise collective responsibilities for individual wrong-doing. That is why everyone is at personal risk of being targeted for belonging to a wrong clan. In fact, one of the biggest faulty lines of the famous Somali traditional leadership lies there. It is a wild world of savagery. You can now see this stupidity displayed in social media as unrestrained and mentally sick people contributing to Somalia’s social chaos and degradation of cherished Somali family values. Be careful!
That is the primative tribal society blessed with feeble rudimentary minds that we expect them to build a nation-state in Somalia. That is an illusion bordering on insanity. That is the reality we are dealing with. Welcome to the real world of Somalia.
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[This article has been updated after posting].
Warsame Policy & Media Network (WAPMEN) 