A group of Shebab agents have managed to enter parts of Somalias Presidential Palace and stayed there for one to two hours today, July 8, 2014. They were mainly confined to a parking place close to the Prime Ministers office. I learned this after reading more than 20 articles written about the subject by media houses, both local and international. Anyone who pays attention to Somalias conflict and the conflicts of that nature notes a difference obtaining between the opposing parties. One group is motivated and and is willing to sacrifice both life and properties to attain its stated goals, while the other, in some cases, is not. It is not difficult to figure out which will win. Somalias Federal Government lacks something that is powerful enough to motivate itself and its citizens to sacrifice life and properties to realize peaceful and free Somalia, Evidence: somalicurrent/2014/06/26/reflections-on-southwestern-somalia-agreement-in-mogadishu/. This explains, in part, why it is unable to defeat Shebab located in the areas that it controls, despite having massive international support, more than 20, 000 troops. Imagine if it did not had an international support. The potential principle that would have allowed to motivate itself and its citizens, again and again, to produce cascade effect, would have been this: let the people determine their fate, let them consult about their relevant issues (Shura) and reach consensus ( Ijma), in addition to holding direct or indirect elections, depending on prevailing conditions and what is feasible. It has betrayed these principles, save elections expected some time in 2016, see above site for evidence. Instead it has supported non-popular forces and thus became less popular, and by implication more dependent on international actors for its own existence. Killers, experts tells us, require two factors for them to do their work: motivation and opportunity. The same applies also to saving lives; it requires both motivation and an opportunity to do so. A powerful principle or an ideology motivates people to engage in massive action intended to produce a desired effect. A principle or an ideology is not panacea.Action that implies to its commitment is needed on constant basis. What you have is less motivated population constituting the populace and the government itself. So that there is less motivation to go after the killers: absence of popularity has security implications. The common phrase that has emerged in the local press is this: unknown gunmen killed so and so and then they have escaped. Of about 15 people who were killed last week, and almost half of that number, at least, has been killed this week, only one case was solved, the perpetrators of the rest are at large, ready to repeat their acts. The Somali government alone cannot be blamed on this. The international community, and we have evidence for this, see the above link, have supported non-popular party, Sw3, at the expense of more popular party, Sw6, admitted the more popular party had more implausible agenda, still an agreement could have been reached acceptable to all popular parties, but that is not what have been pursued, see the above link for more information on this too. The solution is not that difficult; let the people consult about their relevant issues and reach consensus and then support the consensus and you have a legitimacy . People at this time will be motivated to provide information about the killers and more importantly, they will take active part in the management of their own affairs. Northen Galkayo was very much like Mogadishu, in terms of the political violence, though in smaller scale, before the idea of local council selected from the able members of the population was introduced. The council then elected a mayor and vice mayor. Since then that part of the city, which falls under Puntland state of Somalia, have remained peaceful. No reports of violance, despite paying attention to its security situation for months, while Mogadishu is soaked in blood. The southern part of the town was historically free from Shebab violence, relatively speaking, even though other forms of violence was quite prevalent. In any case, peace has prevailed in the southern part of the town too from sometime now. This part falls under Galmudug state of Somalia. I have noted similar trend obtaining where people have been empowered to run their public affairs without others imposing administrative structure, X-land or Y-state, on them or political leadership, appointments from top, see self-declared Republic of Somaliland.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 22:33:00 +0000