Somalia: Disarmament, Compulsory for a Gun Toting Country at a Crossroads
Kainan Abdullahi Mohamed
10 March 2013
The UN Security Council in a surprisingly unanimous vote opted for a partial
lift of the 21 year old -virtually non-existent - arms embargo that dawned
on Somalia after the breakout of civil war. Since then, a steady of flow of
small arms has been funnelled into the conflict prone country despite the
Security Council having knowledge of the proliferation of small arms.
Knowing that, will that stop the conflict in the war torn country - who was
able to shrewdly import small arms during the embargo - which now has been
given the green-light to freely import?
I believe at this current juncture during the problematic early stages of
the Somali Federal Government (SFG), the initial issue before armament
should be country wide disarmament. Firstly and foremost in the capital,
where guns are found as easily as any other product such as soap and
groceries.
The Security Council reasoned that the lift of the arms embargo is so that
the SFG can build their national forces to diminish Al Shabaab's waning
control in southern Somalia. However the current array of militia forces -
who have not all been integrated into the Somali forces - battling Al
Shabaab, alongside African Union forces have made serious headway.
Do they need to be supported? Of course; however there are ways to support
forces without supplying the scandal prone Somali National Forces with small
arms.
The Somali National forces are actually far from what the moniker states;
the forces are not representative of the various regions and states in
Somalia. Regions bordering Mogadishu, was and in some parts are still
controlled by militias. Other areas have adopted the federal government's
name; however there has been no serious integration between the two. The
ex-militias have dropped the name but still remain loyal to clan and militia
ties as was the case in Bay region recently. After an administration change
by the SFG, 'government' forces loyal to ousted Governor Abdifatah Mohamed
Geeseey boycotted the new administrations' offices even refusing employees
access.
However that debacle did not stop the government from standing with the
admin change in the region and pushing for more regional and local admin
selection from Mogadishu, across Somalia.
A recent agreement by Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama and the SFG, calls to incorporate
ASWJ forces and military equipment into the federal government forces. The
agreement is a bid by the SFG to convalesce the Federal Government's control
in governing the country. However, insisting on regional and local admins
across the country and the incorporation of all militia forces, in a bid to
spread its authority across Somalia is a momentous task. If the SFG is
honest about reform, they have failed to improve the current ragtag Somali
National Forces.
Despite the Somali Federal Government's efforts to mend ties between
civilians and security forces and threats of harsh punishments to delinquent
troops, there is prevalent distrust by civilians of security authorities.
Especially Somali National Forces from Mogadishu, which is dominated by a
sub-clan.
Many of the top military commanders from the previous admin have not been
replaced despite the 2012 Somali Eritrea Monitoring Group's (SEMG) report of
government forces' blocking access to divert aid. It was reported that
former Transitional Federal Government (TFG) President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed
scolded many top military officials and threatened to sack them after
numerous reports of rape and muggings by military forces.
Although the judiciary has sentenced many low level military troops to
different crimes against civilians, its semi-clean record was blemished by a
recent ruling. Recently the judiciary came under fire internationally for
its conviction of journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur Koronto, who was initially,
sentenced to 1 year however his sentence was lowered to 6 months following
an appeal. He was found convicted of defaming the government among other
charges, after he interviewed a woman who said she was raped by military
forces. Oddly enough the woman - who was Koronto's co-defendant - was
granted her freedom after the appeal. Some journalists told me it's a clear
message to other journalists to lay off bad reporting of the Somali National
Forces.
The lack of military reform despite persistent controversy, the contentious
issue by the SFG - who oppose state formation processes - to build regional
and local admins, compounded with the fact that the independent judiciary
has been marred by controversy proves that political reform should be the
SFG's theme during its first year in office.
With a country divided by conflict and a pervasiveness of clan mistrust
there needs to be more trust building and confidence in the government's
role to ensure peace and tranquillity in Somalia.
As I said earlier, one way of building that trust would be to begin a
disarmament project starting in the capital and moving gradually across the
country.
Knowing that the SFG still hasn't gripped its full authority on Somalia
politically or militarily; why has the US has backed Somali President Hassan
Sheikh Mohamud's request for an arms embargo lift?
I believe that it's an ill-advised expression of solidarity and a quick way
to distribute small arms in a country torn by conflict. That being said,
whatever the reason for lifting the ban, at this critical stage without
collective tedious independent monitoring mechanisms, it could have serious
implications on the federal government's aspirations to lift Somalia out of
20 plus years of conflict and political infighting.
