For some time, Western nations conveniently labelled Somalia a “failed state” to coat their stranglehold on the country. These nations and their organizations took for granted the ease of dealing with warlords and other corrupt Somali leaders who lived off the diversion of international aid and kickbacks.
For Europeans and North Americans, the world is still the same through their thickening lenses. Africans can still be bought with few cash and guns and they would deliver their brothers and sisters to the slave merchants. They would also sign off their lands to Western countries’ exclusive use with a promise of development and je-ne-sais-quoi.
In Somalia, the old colonizers are realizing a new kind of Somali politicians are leading the nation as they’re having difficulties dealing with Somalis’ strong patriotism and their uncompromising attitude when it comes to their sovereignty and their unity.
The world is changing and the US New World Order is falling apart but their hegemonic desire remains the same and their reach deadly but, for how long? America is like Joe Biden, trying to keep an upright position, a pristine look and concealing his shortness of breath.
The shackles of the unipolarity who dominated the last 30 years are gradually being undone. The multipolar world in sight would be a reprieve for historically oppressed nations, especially when the challenge to the Old World is coming from non Western countries with competing interests (i.e. Russia, China, and Turkey).
In this condition, any attempt for the aging and increasingly cash-strapped western powers to rush for African resources, in this case Somalia untapped Oil, to cushion their free fall would inevitably expose their insecurity to not be seen as weakening and would unmask their subterfuge.
Since the current Somali president, Mr. Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo came to power in 2017, Western foreign policy craftsmen are struggling to grasp the shift shaping the next world. Suddenly, a frail state like Somalia doesn’t want to be patronized, blackmailed with aid, threatened with sanctions, in order to be dictated behaviour.
The last few months, American and European representatives in Somalia ganged up to prevent President Farmajo from running for another four years term despite their warm relations with regional despots who make mockery of elections.
For example, James Swan, Donald Yamamoto, Larry André Jr, three former US ambassadors to Djibouti never uttered any discomfort with Djibouti president’s dismal human rights record and his sham elections since 1999.
Yet, they disapproved the Somali People’s Assembly’s vote on moving away from a corruption prone indirect election to the Universal Suffrage. They slammed the president for this parliamentary decision accusing him of maneuvering in order to “illegally” extend his term by two years and even advised him to step aside.
President Farmajo’s sin is to have stood up to the wishes of oil companies, and their countries of origin, who want him to renounce part of the Somali Sea to Kenya with whom they had signed contracts during the Somali civil war.
Their arrogance and unabashedly immoral behavior could be explained by their unchallenged monopoly on African resources, societies and politics. Something they took for granted since the Berlin Conference of 1884.
BBC, VOA, Al Jazeera, France 24, other western-led news agencies and countless tweets make so much noise like ominous birds but fail miserably to divide the country or create chaos. As a matter of fact, it gave Somali people great pride in their Parliamentarians and president’s steadfastness and dedication to the nation. This is the real audacity of hope.
Moreover, by tweeting incendiary statements, Americans and Europeans representatives in Somalia are intentionally stirring up unrest and political strife in the country. Unfortunately, this stance is consistent with a long foreign policy tradition of fomenting dissent and other deceiving tactics of weakening nations to achieve their interests.
They know this kind of actions will ultimately end up with armed clashes, dead, destruction, displacement of civilians, and their ominous “humanitarian intervention”. What they’re aiming at is the horror of 1991 at the height of the Somali civil war.
This is the exact scenario France had devised for Rwanda in 1994, they paid Hutu media to broadcast hateful materials against minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus, distributed arms to Hutu extremists, created a power vacuum by killing the president, and fomented a genocide that decimated up to a million innocents civilians, including political leaders who tried to stop this madness. France prepared and sent French troops to support the genocidal extremists. However, their dirty work had the opposite result and now France has gone from denying any involvement to admitting to “some” responsibilities.
It is a western foreign policy to use any means necessary (i.e. genocide) to get to their end and then, in some cases, “declassify” after half a century heavily redacted documents, shut the whole issue and compensate few surviving victims, admit after the fact and blame it on a “misguided” and “abandoned” foreign policy, or completely deny the issue in question, or shed crocodile tears.
In Somalia, their objective is to return to the failed state status that served them so well for more than two decades. All their energy and resources are spent to permanently dismantle the greater Somalia idea and abort the Somali National Army rebirth.
To achieve this, they launched a well-designed smear campaign against the legally elected MPs and the President of Somalia and even went so far as to encourage the Somali opposition to take up arms or form a parallel government. It’s the same tactic they used from their dark ages: establish a siege, get help from within, force their way in, and unleash carnage.
Somalis should consider the consequences of unseating violently the legitimate federal administration. That would mean foreign tutelage, American and European representatives at the helm of Somali affairs, the end of TurkSom, the cancellation of ICJ sea case and Kenya acquisition of the southern Somali sea, the fragmentation of Somalia through the constitution of Bantustans (i.e. Somaliland, Puntland, Jubaland…), policing the sea and land by mercenaries and a permanent presence of AMISOM, and the implementation of any vicious ideas that may come from parasitic think tanks.
Somalis should never let that happen and deter any attempt to pit citizens against each other for the benefits of Oil companies and sphere of influence (SOI) seekers. The Farmajo administration is currently in a diplomatic frenzy to stir clear from the West destabilization scheme.
Indeed, the federal administration has already succeeded in isolating Western diplomats who were hiding behind international subterfuge and is trying by all means to contain the oil-thirsty monsters. It also prevented hate speech by the opposition from escalating into violence, clarified any misconceptions about the government’s positions regarding the elections and welcomed the peaceful settlement of disputes. Finally, the administration works tirelessly to monitor the movement of money, weapons and mercenaries, and thwart attempts to undermine government institutions.
Regional leaders, traditional elders, religious leaders, women’s organizations and all patriots and peace-loving people are ensuring that polarizing political discourse does not undermine the hard-won peace. Somalis cherish “peace and milk” and they are ready to protect this stability by any means necessary. In the meantime, staying united and focused is the only way to defeat malicious individuals and foreign bodies.
