By Ali H. Warsame

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Historically, the Somali National Army (SNA) was founded on 12th April 1960 as a single national army post-independence, apart from Somali Police Force which was also formed on 1943 under the name of Police Corps of Somalia. SNA was also used to include both Somali Air Force and Somali Navy. The initial force of 5000 members was immediately formed after the independence which gradually and exponentially increased to later to become the most revered force in East Africa. It grew to become among the largest militaries in Africa in 70th and early 80th of the last century and It has reached its peak at the onset of Somalia-Ethiopian war in 1977. Although Ethiopian army vastly outnumbered, SNA swiftly defeated and overrun the mighty Ethiopian army and that eventually prompted the Soviet Union, which severed all its relation with Somalia at that time, to intervene and to bring in around 15000 Cuban troops to assist and defend Ethiopian army. That Russian intervention substantially changed the balance of power and the rest was history. On June 1989, just one year before the collapse of Somali Government, the International Institute of Strategic Studies estimated that the SN army comprised of just 4 corps and 12 division headquarters.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

Once the most powerful military in the Horn of Africa, the Somali National Army, voluntarily disbanded in 1991 when HE Omar Arte Qalib, the Prime Minister for Ali Mahdi government, enjoined the National Army to surrender to the Militia groups, namely the SNM in the North, USC in the South/Central and SPM in the South, same classical example of what happened in Iraq under Paul Bremer, the governor after the US invasion, when he officially disbanded 1 million well trained National Iraqi Forces. Just imagine high ranked officers trained in the US and the former USSR surrendering to angry and undisciplined militia.

This decision had a long-standing negative consequences in that:

– The official preference by the government of tribal militias over the national army and
– Loss of identity for the majority of the army servicemen who regarded their only allegiance is to the nation.

As none of the governments that followed had the capacity or the willingness to reverse that trend, the National Army servicemen and women either assumed civilian lives or joined the same tribal militias for survival or formed their own or left the country turning their back on any hope to assume their role again.

THE WAY FORWARD

For last 25 years, there has been efforts to establish SNA anew to take control of internal security of the country and there have been always 2 competing options, to integrate soldiers from clan militias into a national army or reconstitute a new recruits comprising of all clans, in other words, re-creation or reconstitution of all new NSA while rehabilitating the current clan militias to peacefully return them back to a civilian life. The successive governments since collapse of last Central government of President Mohamed Siyad Barre, tried unsuccessfully to transform the undisciplined militias to disciplined, trained and well equipped defence force to fight counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism. That option was always the military’s biggest challenge and it utterly failed thus far. AU commanders are already confirming that those militias trained to fight alongside AMISOM troops disappear when the fighting is over and also they lack self discipline.

As per intelligence based assessment, about 28000 soldiers, well trained and well equipped professional army is needed in Somalia to control internal security while roughly 11000 could be a good start. AMISOM forces can’t stay in Somalia forever and they should take the crucial task of building the capacity of the SOMALIA National army with proper equipment and leadership. Concept of training SNA is now an accepted fact and UNSC resolutions state that issue clearly. It is also a known reality on the ground that it will be impossible to defeat Al-Shabab and other extremists or insurgencies without competent and all inclusive SNA comprising of all Somali regions, clans and ethnicities, by constituting a force collected from all 18 regions under the last Central government in 1991 and that will eventually ensure to bring back the army which was once regarded as one of the Africa’s best armies.

THE CASE OF TURKEY

Turkey is an ideal option to be selected to train Somali National Army due to the fact that It has the capability and capacity to do so and it is also considered a neutral country as far as the sensitivities related to SNA is concerned. In addition to that, Turkey shares cultural and historical ties with Somalia and it will be overwhelmingly accepted by all local players in Somali politics, but it is essential for Turkey to look into the historical background of why the re-establishment of SNA failed so far to avoid mistakes of the past. Turkey should only train all inclusive SNA which is the only rational option.

Ali H. Warsame
Email: alijowjowle@yahoo.co.uk
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Ali  H. Warsame is former Puntland Minister of Education, Puntland Presidential Candidate of 2014 and the former CEO of Golis Telecom Somalia.