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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 August 2000 Issue No. 496 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 August 2000 Issue No. 496
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Out of Arta
By Gamal Nkrumah
Violence in Kashmir marred celebrations marking India's 53rd Independence Day -- which also happens to be Pakistan's -- this week. The violence in Kashmir today is explicable though not excusable. All the protagonists must share the blame, including India, which has much to celebrate. The sordid realities of violent implosion in Kashmir cannot be hoodwinked by the universally-acclaimed strength of India's democratic plurality. Things are seriously going wrong in Kashmir and something must be done about it. President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti deserves international acclaim for initiating the Somali National Peace and Reconciliation Conference currently convened in Arta 40km south of Djibouti, the capital. Not so long ago the prospect of persuading Somali civil society leaders to get together would have bordered on the surreal. The focus of previous peacemaking efforts was on the warlords. The Arta conference reflects a wider -- and long overdue -- shift away from the traditional reliance on warlords to set the pace of political developments in Somalia.
There are grounds for guarded optimism. At least the sense of hopeless intractability that has surrounded the Somali political crisis until recently has begun to dissipate. Such initiatives have to be more warmly welcomed by the international community provided they are carried out in an all-encompassing and constructive manner as part of an overall package that pleases a majority of Somalis. "The Djibouti conference is not about excluding or marginalising anyone. All factions are welcome to join the peace process," Djibouti's Ambassador to Egypt Mahmoud Ali Youssef told Al-Ahram Weekly.
The Arta conference required strenuous security, logistical and financial effort at Djibouti's expense. The Djibouti government brought in 40 Somali singers, poets and comedians for entertainment purposes and to ease tensions. When Guelleh took to the podium at the United Nations General Assembly last September, he eloquently pleaded the cause of Somali peace and national reconciliation. Preparations for the Arta conference began in earnest in January 2000. Guelleh's top advisor Osman Ahmed was dispatched to Mogadishu and some of the provincial capitals in Somalia to win over the warlords who initially refused to cooperate and send representatives to Djibouti. Parts of the country have become less dangerous. The war-torn country's leaders now have it within their grasp to begin to make it safe.
Arta has emerged as a cogent and well-argued blueprint for national reconciliation. Peace in Somalia is of critical concern to Djibouti, a small Red Sea and predominantly Muslim country which has a precarious ethnic balance equally divided between ethnic Afar and Somali people. An oasis of peace in a war-torn region, Djibouti's economy plunged into recession after the outbreak of war in Somalia and other Horn of Africa countries. Djibouti has emerged as the main port serving the Horn of Africa, and it aspires to become the region's Singapore. It is, therefore, utterly dependent on peace in its hinterland for its economic survival.
Impoverished Djibouti desperately needs international financial backing for its laudable endeavor. "So far, Djibouti has spent $5 million on the conference which is estimated to cost around $30,000 per day. Moreover, Djibouti has undertaken to fly in thousands of delegates from the remotest regions of Somalia. Our national carrier couldn't cope. We had to charter planes to transport the delegates," Ambassador Youssef explained.
Arta is unquestionably the most participatory conference in Somali history. Under the auspices of Guelleh, himself an ethnic Somali of the Eissa tribe, some 2,000-3,000 delegates from all over Somalia representing a wide array of political and tribal groups converged on Arta. The delegates represented key segments of Somali civil society, including tribal and clan elders, women's and youth organisations, labour unions, professional associations, business and religious leaders. They were invested with setting up a National Transitional Authority and after weeks of tortuous negotiations have elected a Somali Parliament -- complete with a Speaker, Abdallah Diro Ishaak -- and are now proceeding to elect a president and cabinet ministers. Djibouti's neighbours have been supportive, albeit morally rather than materially. Ethiopia, Eritrea, Egypt and Yemen have all commended Djibouti.
In an unprecedented move, the Jeddah-based Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) gave its blessings to the Arta meeting and indicated that it will "fully support" any Somali government of national unity formed. The OIC secretariat issued a statement saying that it would back the new Somali president elected at the Arta conference and officially invite him to attend the forthcoming OIC summit meeting scheduled to be held in Qatar in November. The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the Arab League, which provided $200,000 for the Arta conference, likewise applauded Djibouti and its leader.
The Arta conference is undoubtedly a determining landmark in establishing the foundations of a new Somali political dispensation. Guelleh's dogged determination has been key to Arta's success. His efforts so far seem to have been crowned with tentative success. A Web site established by Djibouti called Somali Rebirth receives 5,000 hits a day and monitors deliberations in Arta. Djibouti has also set up two private Somali-language television channels that are beamed to the Somali capital Mogadishu and that air live the Arta conference proceedings.
What remains to be seen is whether he can win all the warlords over. The Arta conference met with the wide scepticism and open hostility of some warlords from the start, thus lowering expectations of a historic breakthrough. After all, the Arta conference is the 13th such Somali national reconciliation conference since the country plunged into stateless chaos after the death of President Siad Barre in 1990.
Guelleh threatened to charge the recalcitrant Somali warlords with prosecution for crimes against humanity if they don't comply with the decisions taken in Arta.
Some warlords were won over. Attending proceedings at Arta is Ali Mahdi Mohamed, but his onetime rival-turned ally, Hussein Aideed the leader of the Somali National Alliance, is not. Unlike his father Mohamed who routed the US Marines, Hussein Aideed is struggling to create a political identity that resonates among the majority of Somalis. But, Aideed has stumbled through the past few years ceding the advantage to some of his rivals. Nevertheless, Hussein Aideed is still a power to be reckoned with, and especially if joined by other anti-Ethiopian forces. Landlocked Ethiopia has cultivated an especially warm relationship with Djibouti -- now its only sea outlet. Ethiopia, which has a large and restless ethnic Somali population, is embroiled in Somali domestic affairs. Some Somali warlords exploit the traditional suspicion among Somalis of Ethiopia. "We want peace and stability in Somalia. We support Djibouti's effort, but we are not working against any particular Somali faction," Ethiopia's Ambassador to Djibouti Zewde Sahlework told the Weekly. The reluctance of some warlords to opt for peace shows how difficult it continues to be to find a lasting solution to the Somali crisis, given the fractures in Somali clan and tribal politics.
The boycott of some warlords, Guelleh's detractors say, proves that passions are still running too high, tribal loyalties still too strong and the compromises too costly for lasting peace in Somalia. Puntland, Somaliland and other regional and provincial authorities set up unilaterally when Somalia collapsed into mayhem and murder could abort the entire peace process. Abdallah Youssef leader of self-styled independent Puntland in northeastern Somalia wants his people to pull out of the conference and bars them from travel to Djibouti. The authorities in Somaliland dismissed the Arta conference as a "pre-cooked political blueprint" and a "quick-fix". They remain adamant in their opposition to Arta and they should reconsider.
"The Somali peace and reconciliation conference cannot be held hostage by one or two warlords," Djibouti's Ambassador Youssef told the Weekly. The provincial authorities and warlords who reject Arta face difficulties, including international ostracisation, travelling down this obstinate road. Such intransigence is the natural response of more extreme groups who have no vested interest in peace. It should not be permitted to derail the Somali national reconciliation process that appears to offer the best chance of stability in many years.
Arta has provided significant political openings for Somali women. The conference has opened the debate over the position of women in Somali politics. For the first time in Somalia's history, over 25 women were elected MPs in the new Somali Parliament. "Somalia's women have suffered most from the war and statelessness. Somali women have borne the brunt of the breakdown of law and order. If the warlords and politicians had shut up about clannish tribalism, we would not have got anywhere near this mess," Aisha Sheikh Almi, a member of the preparatory committee of the Arta conference, and now MP, told the Weekly. "A democratic culture is now spreading fast, despite fierce opposition from some warlords. Women are the main beneficiaries of democratisation," she added.
It is important that Eritrea, Ethiopia, Egypt and Somalia's other Arab neighbours exploit this better climate to make further progress. Discreet and tactful pressure by the international community to build greater cohesion among Somalia's political and tribal groups is prerequisite. But patience is in the essence. The Somali reconciliation process is more likely to succeed if it is tackled slowly, stage by stage, and without trying to pre-empt the nature of any final agreement. Guelleh sets great store by his intensified collaboration with neighbouring countries. But the need for such outreach underlines the fact that tiny Djibouti cannot achieve everything on its own. Guelleh, with the help of friendly Arab neighbours, has to find some way of reaching an understanding with the warlords. The conflict of interests is not insurmountable. Positions must not remain irreconcilable. The warlords must ensure that the Somali people do not lose faith in the national reconciliation process. Otherwise the momentum for progress could be lost.
Arta may prove the last chance for peace. Somalia's leaders must not forget the lessons of the past. It is still early to talk of a Somali political establishment -- Somalis are trying and pick up the pieces and Somalia is not yet out of the woods.
