From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Jun 29 2010 - 07:40:27 EDT
Allies at odds over Somalia
By Afyare Abdi Elmi
Tuesday,June29,2010
The US and its main ally in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia, are pursuing
contradictory policies when it comes to dealing with Somalia's Islamist
movements.
While Addis Ababa is pursuing its traditional unaccommodationist and at
times hostile policy towards these groups, Washington is encouraging all
those Islamist movements that are interested in renouncing violence to
participate in the political process.
Last week, Ethiopia called a ministerial level emergency session of member
states of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). IGAD's
subsequent communiqué calling for a meeting of heads of state in order to
"re-engineer" the Somali peace process points to gerrymandering of the
crisis by Ethiopia, which seems to want to impose its proxies on the
Somalis.
This is an interesting development.
Backdoor intervention
For the past 20 years, Ethiopia has been heavily involved in the Somali
conflict, with interventions that have ranged from supporting warlords and
regional authorities through the provision of weapons, to a full-fledged
invasion in 2006.
Ethiopia was chosen by IGAD and the African Union as early as 1992 to play a
key role in helping to stabilise Somalia - and it is a role it is determined
to maintain for as long possible.
The international community, however, realised that the Ethiopian invasion
only worsened Somalia's security and humanitarian situation by creating the
conditions in which extremism flourished.
As a result, Ethiopia was pressured to withdraw from Somalia, moderate
Islamists were included in the peace process, the Somalia file was removed
from IGAD and the United Nations was tasked with leading the Somali peace
process.
However, Addis Ababa has been unhappy with the developments that have taken
place in the country since the Djibouti process - which resulted in the
formation of the current unity government - ended in 2009, and has sought to
insert its influence via backdoor means.
Re-appropriating the peace process
It has done this by exploiting the legitimate grievances of Somalia's
traditional Sufi orders, while sidelining the genuine representatives of the
moderate Sufi group Ahlu-Sunna Wal-Jama'a. It has also militarily supported
local warlords and empowered some pro-Ethiopian Somali politicians,
effectively forcing the leaders of the transitional government to share
power with them.
For Addis Ababa, this whole exercise is about securing politically what it
failed to achieve militarily in its 2006-2009 invasion - that is
re-appropriating the peace process and transitional government institutions,
and eliminating and/or weakening those Islamist groups that are part of the
transitional government.
In fact, Ethiopia has often sought to present all of Somalia's Islamist
movements and nationalist forces as extremists and terrorists, expelling
many members of these groups from the peace process it controlled between
2002 and 2004.
As a result of the Djibouti peace process, which began in 2008, besides
Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the Somali president and a well-known Islamist leader,
some 60 Islamists joined the 550-member Somali parliament. Moreover, of the
39 cabinet members, eight ministries were allotted to Islamist groups that
joined the government.
But, at least half of these ministers are no longer in the fold. Ibrahim
Hassan Adow and Ahmed Abdullahi were killed by suicide bombers, while others
have resigned. Many of those that remain are frustrated, in part by
Ethiopian pressure, and may not hang on for too much longer.
In fact, if Ethiopia's intrusion and control becomes more apparent, many
Islamists will quit the transitional government, while those interested
Islamists on the outside will choose not to join the peace process. This
will present an excellent opportunity for extremist groups to fill the
vacuum left by the departing Islamists.
Accommodation versus confrontation
Ironically, while the US' ally is advancing these counterproductive
policies, Washington is promoting a contradictory policy that aims to
accommodate moderate Islamists in order to isolate extremist elements.
In the early 1990s, author and professor Fawaz Gerges characterised US
policy towards Islamists as "accommodationist in rhetoric" and
"confrontationalist in reality".
During George Bush's 'war on terror', however, even the rhetoric changed,
with the US clearly engaged in a war against political Islam.
But by 2008, Washington had realised that its hostile policy was empowering
the extremist elements within Islamists movements at the expense of more
mainstream groups.
In an article that appeared in Foreign Affairs magazine in July/August 2008,
Condoleezza Rice, the then US secretary of state, said: "Although we cannot
know whether politics will ultimately de-radicalise violent groups, we do
know that excluding them from the political process grants them power
without responsibility."
Although this sentiment has not yet been articulated in a policy document,
it reflected a clear shift in Washington's policy towards Islamists.
The positive rhetoric of the Obama administration was an even clearer
indication that the US was becoming more pragmatic in dealing with Islamist
movements.
Even though the Bush administration initially endorsed Ethiopia's invasion
of Somalia, in 2009, the US pressured it to withdraw. It also accepted the
inclusion of moderate Islamists in the peace process.
Most importantly of all, Washington has been keeping Ethiopia out of Somalia
for the past 18 months.
Holistic approach
The reason for this is simple: The US does not want to provide al-Shabab and
other extremist groups with a legitimate cause, although Ethiopia would no
doubt like an international mandate to re-occupy Somalia.
Recently, Johnny Carson, the US assistant secretary of state for Africa, has
been keen to stress its support for the Djibouti process and its concern
that the transitional government make progress in the areas of security and
governance.
He also asserted that even though some members of al-Shabab are linked to
al-Qaeda, it is not "a homogeneous, monolithic ... group that is comprised
of individuals who completely share the same political philosophy from top
to bottom".
This is an advanced understanding of the ever-changing Islamist
organisations in Somalia.
There are indeed many within al-Shabab and other groups that can be
de-radicalised and rehabilitated if the central government functions well.
Many in Washington have also realised that it is the weakness of the
government, not the strength of al-Shabab that is responsible for the
current stalemate. They are, therefore, encouraging the Obama administration
to adopt a more holistic approach in Somalia.
I believe that Ethiopia's zero-sum approach will only produce the opposite
of its desired results, as it did in 2006. Indeed, it is in the interests of
regional states and the world community to work towards the full inclusion
of all of those groups that are willing to be a part of Somalia's political
system.
Ethiopia's efforts to impose opportunistic politicians will only exacerbate
the already difficult situation in the country.
In short, the US and the rest of the international community must not allow
the status quo of 2006 to 2009 to return to Somalia.
Imposing the short-sighted policy of eliminating Islamist movements from the
political process will provide extremist and violent groups with the
circumstances in which they thrive - and subsequently invite another
Ethiopian occupation.
This is an unacceptable scenario and the US along with the rest of the
international community should pressure Somalia's neighbours into supporting
the building of a durable peace and a functioning state in Somalia.
Dr Afyare Abdi Elmi is a professor of International Affairs at Qatar
University and the author of Understanding the Somalia Conflagration.
IN depth
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