A foreign policy is a major component of any country’s national infrastructure and statehood. It is a guide to a government’s relations with other states and the international community, and usually not only represents the values of a country and what drives it, but also its political and economic goals in a global space.
It may involve security matters, social matters, and economic matters and how a country contributes to the general wellbeing of earth, people, and life in general. It defines the behavior of states in an international context and relations among them. The intention of the article is not to present a lecture on the art and science of foreign policy but to review and perhaps define Somalia’s foreign policy while attempting to add on to its thought processes in the future, both the distant and the not-too-distant.
The Historical Context
In its modern setting, Somalia joined the world’s nations in 1960, when it was uniquely created by Somalis through the merger of Ex-British Somaliland and the Italian administered UN Trust Territory of Somalia to create the Somali Republic, with all the paraphernalia of what is today known as Federal Republic of Somalia, including its flag, its emblem, its anthem, its map and geography and location as the easternmost country of Africa jutting into the Arabian/Somali Sea and the northern Indian Ocean. It is bound on the north by the Gulf of Aden, on the west by Ethiopia , on the northwest by Djibouti, on the south by Kenya and on the east by the Indian Ocean.
The foreign policy of the country, in the 30 years the state existed before its collapse in 1991, was mostly devoted to the liberation struggles of the continent of Africa, including the Somali territories in neighboring countries of Ethiopia and Kenya and the French-colony of Ex-French Somaliland, which became Djibouti on independence in 1977.
Many argue that its foreign policy, in this regard, was mostly responsible for or a major contributing factor to the collapse of the Somali state. It created so many enemies across a large spectrum in the process, even antagonizing previous friends or joining unrelated and unsupportive organizations, like the Arab League, which had no interest in the wellbeing of the country. It could well have been the single most factor that led to the collapse, but its internal idiosyncrasies have also had a part.
This is ironic as the country’s population largely represent one ethnic group, with one religion and one language and culture, and at times, it is difficult to explain why so much violence and why so much antagonism among the same group of people occurs.
It is often said that family quarrels are difficult to quell. F, Scott Fitzgerald is quoted to have said that “Family quarrels are bitter things…They’re not like aches or wounds, they’re more like splits in the skin that won’t heal because there’s not enough material.” Somalis are but a large family whose quarrels are difficult to quench. Hopefully, they will find some solace in peace among themselves in the near future.
Perhaps Somalis will one day understand that the core of human existence remains to be the family, which brings life to into the world. It provides love and emotional stability. Certainly, the last three to four decades in the life of the Somali people were bombarded with stresses and many psychological challenges, which many have not been able to cope with. The fact that some still blame the old regimes that are dinosauric in Somali politics, clearly evidences, that the healing process must continue but needs support and nurturing.
There was no foreign policy per se during the anarchy years of 1991 to 2012, when the country was under the control of differing power centers across its length and breadth from warlords to religious lords and clan lords, along with interferences from countries and groups who do not wish the country well or mercenaries doing their businesses in the neglected country.
Current Context
The Federal Government of Somalia put in place in 2012, is a structure that Somalis have not digested yet. It is a system which is alien to its ethnically intertwined families and groups, where a niece and a nephew could be from another clan who cannot find a job in a state that is not from his paternal group or for that matter, no one can get a government job in a state which does not belong to his/her particular clan.
It is one of the idiosyncrasies of the country, which is internal, but which has repercussions on its foreign policy at times. This is, indeed, one of the idiosyncrasies the new system imposed by the international community have caused the country. Every clan enclave today thinks and acts as if it is a country, which thus undermines not only the country’s foreign policy but also its internal cohesion.
A country recovering from a long-drawn brutal civil war is not easy to manage and in particular when the governing infrastructure in place, seems to be dividing them although the people are just one group of people. This plays negatively on its foreign policy, where the federal member states or those who have opted to stay away, operate almost like independent countries with little regard for the global whole.
Perhaps, what the federal government missed so far remains to be the launching of a general reconciliation process of the people, putting the house in order before embarking on foreign policies and grand schemes. An internal healing process is as important as all the other processes of rebuilding a nation that lost its way for decades. In fact it is the most important.
This does not mean the country should not be involved in dealing with others. However, a major priority for the Federal Government should be making peace in the country and recreating trust among the people, to the best of its abilities. A reconciled population is better to manage and rule over than an anarchic population where every enclave thinks or believes the other is on its back and out to devour it.
Certainly dealing with others is important, particularly, when one looks at the major geostrategic location of the country and the interests many other parties would have in relations with it. It is where the foreign policy of the country should be pronounced and clear. Somalia is geostrategically located and it must deal with many parties from far and wide.
Its foreign policy should primarily aim at protecting the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and its relations with others should be measured against how much such and such a country impacts negatively or positively on this matter. Many countries are currently involved in dismantling Somalia or at best disabling it to ensure that it does not stand up on its feet as a sovereign country.
These countries include the United Arab Emirates, which deals undiplomatically with individual regions of the country without going through the Somalia’s Foreign Ministry or Federal Government in general. Obviously, there would be other countries, which may be supporting the activities of the UAE in Somalia, behind the scenes.
There is also Ethiopia, which has recently embarked on threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, through the signing of an MoU with one of the regions of the country. Ethiopia further interferes in the nation’ internal affairs by dealing directly with regional administrations of the country.
Ethiopia appears to be trying to export its internal woes to the outside and what is easier than Somalia as a target, in that country’s myopic attitude, with respect to its foreign policy in the region. Perhaps it is time a measure for measure was adopted with respect to Ethiopia and the other countries including the UAE. We must leave this for the Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs to manage and handle.
It is, indeed, the foreign policy of Somalia to protect and promote its national interests and values, which must, therefore, include ensuring peace and prosperity across the globe. Somalia’s painful experiences over the past four decades, have taught it to value greatly the pursuit of peaceful process to end conflicts and to refrain from interfering itself in the affairs of others. It expects others to do the same with respect to itself.
Somalia promotes dealing with others through bilateral, multilateral and other processes, to pursue trading, political, environmental and cultural interactions. Its foreign policy is handled primarily by the President of the Federal Government, its Prime Minister and its Foreign Minister. Its consitution, which is currently under revision generally outlines its foreign policy, which others need to respect as Somalia does to theirs.
Both external factors i.e. threats related to its geographical location, overlooking the major shipping route of the Suez Canal to the Indian ocean and its domestic issues related to the Somali-inhabited areas of the Horn of Africa, which involves several countries beyond Somalia play major roles in its foreign policy. Peace and prosperity for every country and resolution of conflicts through peaceful means remains to be the core strategy of its foreign policy. It is a country trying to recover from a long drawn civil war and it expects the international community to understand that its foreign policy is based on need and necessity in the face of the harsh environment it lived through over the years.
