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https://horseedmedia.net/2017/01/26/ethiopia-interferes-in-the-2017-somali-election-a-call-for-somali-action/

Ethiopia interferes in the 2017 Somali Election: A Call for Somali Action 


HORSEED STAFF - January 26, 2017 

On the 10th anniversary of its attempted invasion and occupation of Somalia in 2006, Ethiopia has moved to directly and openly dictate who should be elected the next President of Somalia. The Centre for Dialogue, Research, and Cooperation (CDRC), an Ethiopia-based organisation, published what it called an analysis of the political and security situation in Somalia in the context of the current elections in Somalia, particularly the presidential election due in early February 2017. The CDRC seems to be leading the naked Ethiopian charge at this crucial juncture in Somalia history. However, this analysis is highly misleading on multiple key issues.

At a time when the Somali people are trying to move away from a clan-based political system and look ahead to a future of democracy and elections based on one-person-one-vote, Ethiopia is emphasizing the importance of maintaining the clan politics and warning of catastrophe for the country and region if this system is changed. 

It is not only inaccurate, but also highly patronizing for Ethiopia to describe the clan system as the only one that offers the Somali people a “semblance of fairness, legitimacy and acceptability in the eyes of the Somali communities” and warns the world against “moulding Somalia‟s election process in an alien culture.” 

This, at a time when the Somali people are gearing up to the democratic principle of one-person-onevote as was exercised in the post-independence republic of 1960-1969, during which two parliamentary elections were held peacefully on one-person-one-vote basis. Somalia also carried out two presidential elections during that period, which had seen the first peaceful transfer of power in Africa by democratic means. 

Ethiopia, a great nation, in fact and fiction, can preach the world on many things, no doubt, except perhaps on democracy as can be attested to by its entire history of feudal domination and military dictatorships. The last general election attempt of 2015, in which the ruling party won all the seats in the parliament, was described by the world as “fake” and the “tragic demise of the multiparty system”. 

Somalia, by contrast suffers from a quest for individual freedom and representation, particular and peculiar to nomadic democracy, but unattained by even the most democratic of nations. In Somali democracy, not only every clan but every fifteen-year-old male has a seat under the tree. 

Regrettably, Ethiopia has now moved to directly intervene in the presidential election in Somalia through the veiled threat of the resurgence of Al-shabab terrorist activities in Mogadishu. Ethiopia is inaccurately claiming that the Hawiye clan, who live in and around Mogadishu, would not accept anyone other than a fellow Hawiye to become president of the country, contrary to the city‟s history and the Somali constitution. 

In a notably unprecedented fashion, Ethiopia is openly calling for a particular candidate to be elected if Somalia is to avoid sliding back into violence and lawlessness. It is unfortunate that Ethiopia is once again fishing in the dirty waters it had created a decade ago in Somalia, by playing the clan card in an unseemly and grotesque fashion that violates international norms, and by threatening to engage in an act that would break international law. 

While it portrays the Daarood in general and the Majeerteen in particular as „guests‟ in the Somali capital, overlooking its own Tigre Regime in Addis Ababa, it portrays the Hawiye as the guardians of Al-Shabaab who are willing to destroy the city again in order to prevent a non-Hawiye politician becoming president. This is an affront not only to the Hawiye clan but to all the Somali people. 

The message here for all the stakeholders in the Somali political process is loud and clear: 

Ethiopia will use all means possible, including terrorism, in order to manufacture the election of a Somali president of their choice. This is a message meant to incite elements of the Hawiye clan who are connected with the Al-Shabaab, and with the Ethiopian security apparatus in Somalia, to carry out acts of terror should they lose the election. It is even possible that acts of terror might be carried out in the run up to the election. 

This constitutes additional evidence of the fact that Ethiopia was the main power in the region that created the lawlessness in Somalia through the provision of weapons and ammunition to all the Somali factions who were engaged in the internecine fighting for a full quarter century. 

Ethiopia is also attempting to alarm the international community, particularly the EU, to abandon the transition to democracy and maintain the 4.5 clan politics. Without question Ethiopia should not be allowed to manipulate Somalia‟s presidential election through intimidation. It is unacceptable for Ethiopia to imply that Al-Shabaab is nothing but the armed wing of the Hawiye clan, knowing full well that Al-Shabaab came to existence as a direct consequence of the 2006 Ethiopian invasion and occupation of Somalia. The involvement of foreign powers including Ethiopia in the activities of AlShabaab cannot be ruled out, a situation that calls for investigation by the United Nations. 

In summary, beyond any doubt Somalia is moving gradually toward sustained political stability based on democratic rights and principles. The reason it took so long for Somalia to emerge from the damaging civil war aftermath was due primarily to foreign intervention, in particular the government of Ethiopia that was directly supplying arms to all factions in the conflict. 

Today, Ethiopia is setting the stage for the manipulation of the presidential election under the threat of resurgence of violence and terrorism. This time it is far more dangerous, and the collapse of the federal government in Mogadishu could lead to the breakup of the country. 

Thus, all Somali politicians and parliamentarians should be guided above all by their conscience and the prioritization of the interests of the country in exercising their political rights. We call on all the Members of Parliament in both houses to vote their conscious and elect next president out of national consideration, not by foreign dictates or personal gains.They should not be at the beck and call of Ethiopia any longer. 

It is now time for Somalia to rise up and stand firmly on its own feet, grasping its destiny with the help of its true friends and without the interference of any foes.

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Ethiopia’s Electioneering in Somalia: Ethiopia is desperately trying to.. 

January 26, 2017 in Somalia 

Ethiopia’s Electioneering in Somalia: Ethiopia is desperately trying to 

By: Abukar Mohamed

Let’s start with the basic facts: Ethiopia is desperately trying to get Hassan Sheikh Mohamud re-elected as a president of Somalia. The evidence of this effort was encapsulated in a recent report by a think-tank affiliated with Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry and external intelligence. Ethiopia’s renewed agenda goes against the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the Somalis and their members of the Federal Parliament, as we witnessed in the recent parliamentary leadership election, where President Mohamud’s choice for first and second deputies of the House of the People were soundly defeated. 

There’s a simple logic to Ethiopia’s calculus: always work against the wishes of the Somali people by trying to impose your leadership choice upon them, because, as a deeply clannish, polarized and savage people, Somalis must be under the arm pit of the enlightened Tigray junta in Addis Ababa. 

Ethiopia’s electioneering in Somalia is nothing new. What’s new, however, is their tactic. When, in 2004, Ethiopia successfully strong-armed the warlord-infested parliament it concocted in Kenya to elect Col. Abdullahi Yusuf as the President of Somalia, its narrative was that the “Hawiye clan is reviled by Somalis and thus unfit to lead Somalia.” Hence the installation of a Daarood President who, at the time, couldn’t even set a foot in Mogadishu until after two years while riding an Ethiopian tank. At the time, Ethiopia’s propaganda machine, aided and abetted by Somalis suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, portrayed the Hawiye clan as a murderous, extremist and even terrorist bunch who are bent on pilfering both public and private resources, and who are inherently anti law and order. 

Fast forward a decade, and Ethiopia is selling the exact opposite narrative: that the Daarood clan are uniquely unqualified to lead Somalia, because they’re irreparably meek and periphery squatters. Furthermore, Ethiopia is framing the Daarood as super weak vis-à-vis Al-Shabaab, notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence that, in the Daarood-controlled regions (Puntland and Jubbaland), Al-Shabaab is either routed altogether, or being chased. Ironically, Ethiopia is now depicting the Hawiye as the only bulwark against Al-Shabaab and people of law and order, despite the overwhelming evidence that the terrorist organization is thriving in Hawiye-controlled regions (Galmudug, Hirshabelle & Benadir). And despite the fact that, the Hawiye outnumber any other clan among the top brass of Al-Shabaab. 

The point is not that Daarood is better than Hawiye or vice versa; it’s Ethiopia’s naked attempt to exploit the deeply clannish mentality of the Somali people by pitting major clans against each other to produce the same desired result: a perpetually weak and fragmented Somalia at war with each other. 

Externalizing domestic crisis 

A major motivation of Ethiopia’s renewed intervention in Somalia is to externalize domestic crisis that has rocked the 100-million nation in 2016. Since 1991, Ethiopia is dominated (both literally and figuratively) by the Tigray minority, which, per official figures, are fewer than Somalis. They have a stranglehold on the politics, economics and, crucially, the security apparatus.

Through the EPDRF, the ruling party, which now controls 100% of Ethiopia’s rubberstamp “parliament”, the Tigray minority exploits its position of power to manipulate the rest of the major ethnic groups, principally the Oromos and Amharas. Increasingly, however, the TPLF (Tigray party) is looking for ways to distract both domestic and international attention away from the burning crisis at home. 

Somalia is the perfect theater of operations to do this, having been involved in various capacities since 1996 when Ethiopia’s troops first invaded Gedo region. Since then, Ethiopia’s stated foreign policy agenda towards Somalia was simple, if quintessentially colonial in nature: divide and rule. 

The Implementing Network 

No one is more qualified to implement this momentous task than Gen. Gabre, a cantankerous diminutive who’s been the de facto case officer for Somalia since 1991. Gen. Gabre rapidly rose through the ranks and, in 2006 as Ethiopia’s fully fledged military occupation got underway, he was promoted to the title of “Head of the Political Bureau for Somalia,” a rank that’s superior to both the ambassador and the commander of their forces. In recent years, Gen. Gabre, who freely roams around Mogadishu’s posh hotels and homes of power bases, has changed uniform. He was made the Special Envoy of the IGAD (another Ethiopian outfit) to Somalia, an assuming role where he could operate seamlessly within Somalia and among IGAD member states, to advance the stated objective of Ethiopia. 

But Gen. Gabre needs local enablers. Over the past few years, he has found three perfect moles to get his objectives across: Farah Sheikh Abdiqadir, an MP and President Mohamud’s closest ally, Mustaf Sheikh Ali Dhuhulow, an MP and a former minister known for his showmanship and Mohamed Jama Mursal Geelle, a new MP, Minister of Telecoms and, for several years, Gen. Gabre’s aide. Farah is the ringleader, assisted by Geelle and Dhuhulow. 

The Network is working hard to get President Mohamud re-elected, but their test case (Farah’s bid to be elected as 11st Deputy Speaker of Parliament) failed spectacularly. And they know that Ethiopia’s political projects have an unmistakable record of failure: Abdullahi Yusuf failed in 2004, so did their 2006/2007 invasion. Their 2009 attempt to get PM Nur Adde elected as president failed, as did their 2012 attempt to get PM Abdiweli Gaas elected President. 

In 2015, they tried to install Ahmed Abdisalam Aden (a former ally now backing PM Sharmarke’s bid for president) as the President of Galmudug failed miserably. In 2016, they tried to get Ali Abdi Waare as the President of Hirshabeelle, and it also failed. And now, in 2017, the writing is on the wall: their choice for President will also fail. 

With such a terrible track record, one would hope that Gen. Gabre and his Tigray bosses would learn a dear lesson: that Somalis, despite their deep divisions, have consistently rejected Ethiopia in the ballot box (and in the bullet box, too). 

2017 Presidential Election 

Now that the prospects of Hassan Sheikh’s re-election are practically nonexistent, it’s incumbent upon the newly formed Federal Parliament to elect a leader who will not kowtow to Ethiopia’s misogynist policy toward Somalia. In fact, that should be a litmus test for all aspirants. Credible candidates must make their stance against Ethiopia unequivocally. 

It’s very clear that the results of the 2017 Presidential Election will be the final coffin on Ethiopia’s meddling in Somalia. On behalf of the Somali people, I call on all MPs to not vote for Ethiopia. 

DontVote4Ethiopia 

Guul iyo Gobannimo. 

Abukar Mohamed-Wardi

http://kichuu.com/ethiopias-electioneering-somalia/