Inspiring Elders and the Irrelevance of ONLF

WardheerNews Editorial
April 11, 2006

Seeing the pictures and reading the headlines about the visit of the elders of the Somali National State, Ethiopia, to London, England, was all the more inspiring and uplifting.  For those who did not follow the not-so short history of how the elders came to this point, the news sounded too good to be true, and could have passed as April Fools’ Day jock.  But it was not!

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Elders of the Somali Region welcomed At London’s Heathrow Airport by the Somali National State’s Community in Britain
WardheerNews and several other websites such as Somali Tribune and Xaajo.com and others from the region had carried special segments on the elders from the moment they arrived at the Heathrow airport.

This visit represents the culmination of a long process of grassroots effort and the tireless work of elders who refused to take no for an answer.  Assisted by a tripartite committee from San Diego, Ca, Toronto, Canada and Western Europe, the dream to bring the elders group to England and America has finally materialized.

As they say in America, watching both the making of sausage and political mediations are not pretty.  Likewise, the early phase of putting the elders group was as messy, tough and at times frustrating.  However, the end result is positive and inspiring.

Consisting of 10 elders representing the entire Somali National State, this delegation is both symbolic and substantive in the socio political development of the region.

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Some members of visiting Elders of the Somali Region & the Community of state in Britain

Symbolic it is in that this is the first time such a delegation, entirely consisting of traditional leaders of the community (Garaad, Ugaas, Sultan), assumed the ever-important role of conflict resolution ala Somali way.  While in London, the delegation would be talking to the ever belligerent, directionless and narrow-based Ogaden National Liberation Front, provided that the later accept the weighty call for peace.

In terms of substantive history, this visit reminds us another similar historic visit that elders from former British Somaliland Protectrate paid to England in the 1950s.  Although the two missions of said delegations are qualitatively different in nature, symbolically they invoke similar memories; that when it comes to peace making, Somali elders have vested interest in it and they own the skills to deliver it.  In British Somaliland, elders had traveled to England almost 50 years ago to carry a plea from the region’s people to the colonial seat of Britain.

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Today, Elders from the Somali National State in Ethiopia carry a message of peace and development both to the belligerent ONLF leaders and to the Diaspora community.

The elders’ message is simple:  we must give peace a chance to resolve our intractable and long conflict.  It is unfortunate, though, that the ONLF, whose structure resembles anything but a liberation front, is already inclined to refusing the peace offer.

No sooner the elders arrived than the supporters ONLF sadly mastered unbridled campaign of defaming the delegation and their honorable mission.  That is tantamount to a verbal and psychological terrorism.  In the past, ONLF has been accused of the killing of at least one elder in Qoraxay who opposed their position.

But those types of extra-judicial acts can’t be carried away here in the West without retribution for there are clear and unambiguous legal instruments in place; and that is why any body who did not approve the elders’ mission are reduced to only verbal acts.  Pro-ONLF websites here in the west had blasphemously characterized the delegation in undignified manners and we are not prepared to repeat them here.  Suffice it to say that ONLF is on the verge of missing a historic opportunity.

Borrowing what the erudite late Foreign Minister of Israel, Aba Iban, said of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), ONLF, in a similar fashion “has been consistently inconsistent.”  It said it represents the region’s people, but refused to include in its name the word “Somali.”  It said it stands for the gallant and honorable struggle of the people of the Ogaden clan, but refused to talk to that clan’s elders’ numerous times.  This prompts us to loudly wonder, as Dhoodaan, the firebrand and sage Somali poet would say, if our people had not called them to action, who asked the ONLF to claim the representation of the 4 million plus Somalis in the region?

If it decided not to talk to the elders, ONLF would further marginalize itself and render its activities more irrelevant in the affairs of the region outside its ineffective skirmishes, which end up hurting the very masses of the region that it purports to “liberate.”  WardheerNews editorial board considers a meeting between the elders and leaders of the ONLF a historic opportunity and must accordingly be utilized.

Even if some skeptics suspect of a hidden hand of the Ethiopian government for sending this delegation abroad, we fully recognize that the net result is positive for the following simple reason: the visit affords the Diaspora community a rare historic opportunity to strike a two-way dialogue with the supreme authority in the region–the elders.

We strongly recommend this dialogue, the first of its nature, to address many issues, some of which are:

  • The prospect and programs for re-instating the Somali districts seceded to the Oromia region, which is a neighboring but aggressively powerful region.
  • De-militarizing the region and more focus be given to development.

We urge the Diaspora community to engage the delegation in a civil and diligent way.  We also recognize the new regional government’s open mindedness to authorize and assist this delegation to bring such an important and prospective mission to the Diaspora community whose positive role in the affairs of the region has been instrumental in several contributions to education and peace-building.

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