A single photograph can eclipse a thousand press releases. On one side of the table sits the American delegation—postures rigid, expressions guarded, every movement a study in controlled diplomacy. Theirs is a language of power spoken through closed folders and measured gestures, a performance where confidentiality is the ultimate currency.
Across from them, the delegation representing President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud presents a jarring contrast. Notebooks lie open, blue folders are strewn about, pens scratch away without restraint. It is not transparency on display, but vulnerability. The inner sanctum of Villa Somalia appears laid bare for foreign appraisal. More alarming than the lack of discretion is the delegation’s composition: it resembles not a cabinet of state professionals, but an assembly of kin, where bloodlines seemingly outweigh institutional credentials.
This visual chasm reveals the core of Somalia’s diplomatic disadvantage. The Americans arrive with a unified strategy; Mohamud arrives with a coterie of clansmen. One side operates behind a shield of disciplined secrecy; the other parades a casualness that borders on negligence. While Washington ensures no word is spoken out of turn, Mogadishu’s representation ensures that even our weaknesses are on the negotiating table.
This is the essence of our political stagnation. We face international power brokers who operate with the precision of a state machinery, while our leadership counters with the informality of a family council. Negotiations in such settings are not between equals. They are between a well-oiled institution and a gathering in government attire, pretending to statehood.
Somalia deserves a delegation that meets discretion with discretion, strategy with strategy, and national interest with unwavering resolve. We must demand a government that understands diplomacy is not a family affair, but the serious business of safeguarding sovereignty. Until then, we will continue to bargain away our future at tables where only one side knows the rules of the game.
Warsame Policy & Media Network (WAPMEN) 