PM. Ali Moahmed Geedi

I criticized Prime Minister Geedi's recent political gaffe on two politically sensitive issues that left an after-taste and rather bitter feelings among millions of Somalis who listened to the BBC Somali program on that fateful day of November 11, 2005.  One of the issues was his assertion that the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) would not mind if the rest of the international community accords political recognition to the breakaway region of Northern Somalia, also known as Somaliland.

But, the Prime Minister himself has effectively and correctly dealt with the issue in a more recent interview that he had given to the Sub-Saharan Informer on November 26, 2005 (Wardheernews, SSI Exclusive Interview with Prime Minister Geedi). He came out clean and was unequivocal on the territorial integrity of Somalia and the oneness and unity of the Somali Democratic Republic that was founded under the Act of Union of 1960. 

Unlike his earlier interview with the BBC's host, Yusuf Garad, Geedi was forceful this time; he was confident and argued with conviction, and was unambiguously rational.  He used all the right and politically pertinent language to argue for the sanctity and reconstitution of the Somali Democratic Republic with all its entities intact.  He was direct and even threw one counter punch against the secession-sympathetic interviewer.  A case in point is when the Prime Minister returned a question back to the journalist and asked: "Are you advocating for secession?" Disarmed, the journalist moved on.  Meanwhile, the premier seemed to have seized the moment by directly speaking to the hearts of his constituents – those millions who temporarily felt let down.

This was the finest moment of premier Geedi's and he had shown that he could be assertive and protective of the nation for which he is chosen to lead.

The interview with the SSI has exonerated the Prime Minister and by extension has informed member states of the IGAD, the EU and the United States that Somalia can't be broken up; rather, it shall be resecitated inclusive of all its regions.  No entity, he declared, can unilaterally choose to go on its own way.  If any region has to go, argued the Prime Minister, it would be based on the results of a national referendum where all Somali citizens participate and own the aftermath results accordingly.   

Indeed, that is the right way to go about.  No one can carve out an enclave out of the civil war-torn Somalia and nonchalantly pronounce “secession,” with the expectation that regional and international governments would rush and hand down recognition.  Any kind of secession or lack of must be preceded with an intensive national discourse and debate, a subject I will comment in the near future.

The Prime Minister's message must be heeded by all Somalis, but especially by neighboring countries - Kenya and Ethiopia.  These two countries must respect the territorial integrity of Somalia no matter how weak the country’s central government is at the present time.  Particularly, the opportunist ruler of Ethiopia, Mr. Meles Zenawi, who made a fortune or predicated his regime’s existence on his devious ability to undo Somalia, must heed this message.  Ethiopia has been double-dealing Somalia in that it had repeatedly defied and harmed Somalia's territorial integrity, violated its airwaves and harassed Somali civilians in the border area, while claiming to stand by Somalia’s effort to unify its country; it has been behaving exactly like the devious and deceitful character that the great Somali poet, Kamaan Bulxan, described, hence:  “nin baa baadida ku la daydayi daalna kaa badine oon doonahayn in aad hesho daain abid kaaye….,” or, Kenya’s silly behaviour of “waxna ha qaban qawdana maqashii.”

Prime Minister Geede must take the next step to bring this matter to a full closure: He must communicate the same message and political sentiment that he had unveiled in his SSI interview to the wider, non-English speaking Somalis.  It is this group of Somalis who heard Geedi's earlier troubling [BBC] interview in which the Prime Minister mis-spoke.

An opportune time for the Prime Minister to communicate his message to all Somalis is on the occasion of the New Year’s Eve at the latest, or earlier, say, on his earliest return to Jowhar.  It may be good timing if he could address the nation right before he departs Jowhar for his upcoming meeting with Mogadishu-based wing of the TFG in the port city of Kismayo. If he did that, he would arrive Kismayo with a more “political capital” at hand and Somali people’s public opinion would favorably swing to his side.

As to the issue of Somalis in Ethiopia and how the history of this region and its 4.5 million people was put into the prism of historical revisionism, it would, hopefully, be corrected in time.  Given the magnitude of the problems that Somalia faces, the political liability of the Prime Minister’s mishap on the Transitional Federal Government versus the question of Somalis in Ethiopia is not so severe.  Besides, Somalia is struggling for its survival; hence it is not politically prudent to burden it with the political weight of other Somali inhabited regions.  One must, however, remind the Prime Minister or other Somalia leaders not to try to speak/mis-speak for the Somalis in Ethiopia, but only offer them brotherly sympathy whenever provocative questions pertaining to them arise.

The Prime Minister's SSI interview shall exonerate him.  As James Joyce said, “mistakes are the portals of discovery” so would this mistake serve the Prime Minister as the beginning of a new era for caution and consultation prior to speaking on important national matters. One must wish the premier all the best, especially when he and his government are about to face off with the Mogadishu based sectarian group of the TFG in his bid to unify his divided government. 

Faisal A. Roble
E-mail:fabroble@aol.com

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