Hours after the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) issued an aggressive statement on the political situation in Somalia, Kate Foster, British ambassador in Somalia, tweeted that she strongly supported the African Union initiative which was influenced by Kenya and Djibouti’s hostile intents towards Somalia.
This is not the first time that Ms. Foster, who presented her letter of credentials to President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo two months ago, has displayed this attitude of support for any malicious action from local mercenaries or foreign bodies.
Scanning local political landscape
Immediately after accepting her claim, she met with the Union of Presidential Candidates (UPC), the unofficial opposition to Mr. Farmajo’s administration, and explained that she had to meet with President Farmajo for procedural reasons and apologized to them because the UPC considered the president “illegitimate”.
Later, Abdirahman Abdishakur, a UPC member infamous for delivering the Somali Sea to Kenya in 2009, said the group was happy with her apologies and was ready to work with her from now on as “they shared common interests”.
After this tacit recognition of the UPC as a parallel government, the ambassador continued on her brazen tour. She surfed the political landscape as if there was no government in Somalia, no separation of powers, no hierarchy, like a newly appointed CEO touring his staff.
Her remarkable incivility, odd for a foreign ambassador, was widely felt as if she was making clear her country’s position and plans on the Somali election deadlock.
In her tour, she probed all the five regional leaders’ stances on these federal elections stalled by Puntland and Jubaland and saw how solidly the other regions, Southwest, Hirshabelle, Galmudug and Benadir, were behind the government’s position. She then met with cabinet ministers and the Somali Police chief.
UK undermining Somali sovereignty
In the process, adding her voice to Western representatives, she sent a warning to the federal government that Britain would suspend any aid it contributes to the rebuilding of Somali institutions if the elections were not held within the parameters that they had established.
From the start, upon meeting anyone she deems to hold some authority, Foster’s actions showed a total disregard for Somali sovereignty. It is unlikely a foreign ambassador in London would keep his job if he attempted to meet with British government officials and opposition.
Not only would the British Foreign Office expel the diplomat, but any locals he met would be investigated and put on a watch list for meeting foreign officials with questionable intentions.
Moreover, she clearly took a hostile position when it comes to the government. She met controversial individuals who are stirring unrest and openly calling for civil disobedience and army units to rebel.
Among these individuals are Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud and Abdirahman Abdishakur who shamelessly and continuously spit heinous speeches and even called on their clan to violently overthrow the democratically elected president.
The Federal Republic of Somalia’s president, Muhammad Abdullahi “Farmajo”, is the legitimate government – in fact more legitimate than the United Kingdom unelected queen – and would remain in that position until Somali people replace him according to their own established rules.
UK colonial tradition
When British diplomats are sent to African countries they carry at least two tools, a long tradition of misdeeds – slavery, colonialism, genocide, concentration camps – and a great dose of White Supremacist ideology. Current British representatives in Mogadishu are no different.
In fact, Somalia’s experience with the British “ways” span over two centuries and current ills took roots when British scouts and colonial officials soil its land. In 1884, the United Kingdom included the Somali territories in its share at the conference of European colonizers held in Berlin, also called “Scramble for Africa”.
Next, British colonial administration officials started the process of having Somali clans and sub-clans sign separately “treaties”, a bondage system, that give the British Empire control over Somali lands.
This divide and rule policy is not things of the past but is still used by British officials in Somalia. In 2019, Gavin Williamson, British Defense Secretary, referred Somaliland as a country in a tweet he quickly deleted after an uproar.
Last month, in one of her Somali sovereignty-bashing tweets, Mrs. Foster referred a meeting with Hirshabelle leader as a bilateral. And she didn’t bother delete or explain her statement.
The transfer of the Northern Frontier District (NFD), a Somali region, to Kenya is another British sin and still an open wound that makes waves even today. It is the very reason Kenya is emboldened to claim even the Southern Somali Sea.
Somalia once kicked out colonialism and can do it again
Today, the UK is supporting Kenya’s claim to the Somali Sea not because Kenya is an important member of the Commonwealth in the region, but mainly because UK oil companies (i.e. Tullow Oil) illegally acquired blocks in this part of the sea.
Therefore, all of the BBC’s smear campaigns against the incumbent president and Ms. Foster’s political interference with the aim of tampering with the patriotic message out of the current administration and fomenting unrest are attempts to cripple Somali economy and keep the country on a leash for a very long time.
Using threats, violence and other nefarious tactics in Somalia is a job description for a Western ambassador like Kate Foster but by pushing her arrogance to the next level the Somali government would and should give her the same treatment as Nicholas Haysom, another White Supremacist.
