New Hope for Somalia?

Major fighting seems to be over in Mogadishu according to the government. In the past ten days Ethiopian and government forces have been battling militias over the control of two districts (2 out of 16) which were controlled by the militias. There was an earlier bout of fighting which claimed the lives of over a 1000 people (though the government "officially" denies this number). The government claims these were remnants of the Islamic Courts and the media bought into this idea (may because that sounded better!), however these militias weren't Islamic Courts. Both leaders of the Islamic Courts Hasan Dahir Aways and Sharif Ahmed as well as the spokesmen for the militiamen stated that these weren't Islamic Courts militia (though they were sympathetic to the Islamic Courts). The militias were almost all from Habar Gidir, a sub-tribe of Hawiye, it's clear that they didn't oppose the Ethiopian troops only but the government too, they simply didn't want to relinquish control over their areas in Mogadishu. The people behind these militiamen had a lot to lose if there was to be a functioning government in Somalia, from Mogadishu all the way to Kismayo the banana farms and many other resources, some were owned by individuals and the rest by the government, were operated by warlords and militiamen for the past 15 years, they've lost control over these farms since the Somali government together with Ethiopian troops defeated the Islamic Courts.

Militia spokesmen who called themselves "Hawiye elders" tried to justify why these militias were fighting the government by saying they were fighting to liberate the country from the Ethiopians or they were fighting against Darod tribe, however most of Hawiye tribe didn't and fully-support the government. The fact is these militias were killing innocent civilians in Mogadishu for the past 17 years, they opposed every government that came to Mogadishu including the last government formed in Djibouti and led by Abdiqasim Salad.

On the other hand, the government told Mogadishu residents to evacuate the city, then the Ethiopian troops started shelling any area which they were attacked from (it's true that the militias were hiding in populated areas). The US supplied satellite images to Ethiopian troops for the location of the militias, the Ethiopians had to onlyaim and fire.

The government made a grave mistake earlier in not disarming Mogadishu when they first came into the city, Mogadishu clans were ready to give up their weapons in exchange for security. Now, the government is confiscating weapons and doing house-searches. The powerful business community in Mogadishu who posses most of the weapons have made a deal with the government to hand over their weapons, that's a good news.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of refugees (about 350,000) who fled the city are facing food and water shortages. The UN is warning of a catastrophe and the government is asking refugees to return.

There's a reconciliation conference taking place in Mogadishu - which was delayed earlier for security reasons - within two months. If there's tangable results from the conference, which has the support of the international community, then I think there's a real hope for a lasting peace in Somalia. African peacekeeping troops are also on the way, the only issue holding them back now is funding (it was security before).

Much depends on how the government builds its institutions and disarm the capital city.

My friend has a "peace plan"

My friend Hishmat has an interesting and straight-forward "peace plan" between the West and the Muslim groups fighting against them. He also has the most amazing photo collection from Afghanistan, check it out.

Links for 2007-04-15 [del.icio.us]

• Iran 'enters new nuclear phase'
  Iran claims to have made a crucial advance in its nuclear development, the Russians say they aren't
• Filial piety key to Chinese jobs
  You must be nice to your parent to get a job, only in China :)
• Iran celebrates nuclear advances
  Iran claims nuclear advances, but the Russian doubt it.
• Captured Faye's coffin terror
  "One morning, I heard the noise of wood sawing and nails being hammered near my cell. I couldn't work out what it was. Then a woman came into my cell to measure me up from head to toe with a tape. "She shouted the measurements to a man outside. I was conv
• India names street after Afghan icon
  Naming a street Ahmed Shah Masoud, an interesting initiative by the Indians
• Middle East fears broken Iraq
  Iraq is at the top of "scary stuff" list of all the governments in the middle east
• In pictures: Fall of Baghdad - four years on, Introduction
  A photojournal of the fall of Baghdad, four years on.
• How to get a handle on the axis

Pathetic Aideed

Pathetic Aideed realized, after he was demoted and sidelined in the government mostly because of his inexperience, that the Ethiopians are committing "genocide" as he puts it. It wasn't long ago when he called the Ethiopians "our brothers" and called for the two countries to "wipe out their borders" and have a single passport.

Being associated with him will only damage the efforts of those sincerely fighting for the withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops.

Iraq: four years on

Though I follow Iraq closely, I try not to write about it because there are great Iraqi bloggers out there like Healing Iraq and Baghdad burning who have been doing an amazing job reporting and analyzing what's happening in Iraq for the benefit of all those interested. But four years on; hundreds of thousand of Iraqi lives lost and millions fled the country. Two links from BBC might shed some light on the current situation in Iraq and how are the Iraqis feeling about it.

Middle East fears broken Iraq: neighboring governments are terrified of the mayhem in Iraq.

More than a million refugees from Iraq are in Syria, around a million more in Jordan and almost two million have been displaced inside Iraq.

The war between Shia and Sunni Muslims in Iraq terrifies people.

In Saudi Arabia last month a Shia engineer told me how worried his community had been during Ashura, the annual commemoration of the death of their martyr Hussein, the grandson of the prophet Mohammed.

"It's simple," he said. "Some of the Sunnis, the extremists, regard us as infidels. We're terribly worried that what's happening in Iraq could happen here."

When you travel around the Middle East and ask people about how the war in Iraq has affected them you get a combination of regret, anger and trepidation.

Last week I visited a senior Saudi security official, a general. I asked him whether the invasion by America, Britain and their friends four years ago had made Iraq into a recruiting sergeant for Islamist extremists.

He said it had, and explained.

"It inspires these people," he said. "Some of them think it is their duty to go and perform jihad in Iraq. They think they are supporting the Muslims in Iraq and actually protecting the Islamic civilisation and culture in Iraq."

Iraq Poll 2007 - with graphics: the poll reflects how much has the situation deteriorated since 2003.

Links for 2007-04-08 [del.icio.us]

• …My heart’s in Accra » The moving circus, the post-national, the Global Soul and the xenophile
  An excellent discussion on the immigrants economic or otherwise and their contributions in both ideas and economy.
• …My heart’s in Accra » The rise of the African aggregator
  It seems African agregators are getting better, and moving beyong BlogAfrica. Some classify blogs by coutry but people like Ethan or I don't write about one country or even about Africa alone, so what's the solution. How about non-Africans blogging about
• YouTube tries to resolve Thai ban
  YouTube is offering Thai authories away to block some of the material on YouTube.
• EU warned of 'Somalia war crimes'
  The Somali government and their Ethiopian allies are accused of war crimes in Mogadishu. Hundreds died as a result of the fighting.
• Africa: How we killed our dreams of freedom
  What happened to African liberation movements? Why is Africa still ruled by dictators? I don't agree with everything in the article but I think it makes couple of good points.
• Iran - Ready to attack
  US and Israel are ready for an attack, I've yet to read this but it's the latest of many articles warning of an imminent war.
• Iran and the West | Sailing into troubled waters
  A gloomy piece on Iran
• Russia's Muslims | A benign growth
  Islam is growing in Russia
• Soros's $8.5 billion buys a whole lot of words
  Soros finally speaks out against the Israel Lobby, the guys @ FP don't seem to be happy about it.
• Job burn-out 'ups diabetes risk'
  Don't work too hard lest you cause yourself diabetes
• 'Cheating' the search engines
  A good piece about the bloggers and geeks who're cheating the search engines and making our web experience that little less productive
• Edward Said : Between Worlds
  A classic about but Edward Said about multicultural, multilingual upbringing. He discusses these ideas further in this book "Out of Place"

The Kurds and Turkey

Few months ago I came across a BBC feature on tourism in northern Iraq or what's now called Iraqi-Kurdistan (check out this video). Again last week I listened to a discussion on open source radio - one of my favorite podcasts - about Iraqi Kurdistan. The guests were Qubad Talibani the son the Iraqi president Jalal Talibani, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman Chairman of Kurdistan Development Corporation (KDC), Peter Galbraith a former US ambassador involved with the Iraqi-Kurdistan government.

The message was an upbeat one, Kurdistan is peaceful and is developing fast and investors are pouring into the region; that's not including the energy sector (the big oil companies need no invitation). Everyone who has been to the region seems to reach the same conclusion, Iraqi-Kurdistan is nothing like the rest of Iraq. The Kurds, one of the largest ethnic groups in the world without a country of their own; they are estimated at 27-37 million and divided between Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. The Kurds have suffered greatly under Saddam.

The speakers talked about how the Kurds welcomed and still support the US invasion of Iraq. It makes sense because the Kurds, thanks to the Americans, were finally freed from Saddam's oppression. Iraqi Kurds made sure they had their own regional government which is, almost, completely independent from the rest of Iraq. Qubad Talibani expresses this:

When the U.S. came into the country, they were greeted as liberators, candy and flowers and food were thrown in the direction of our friends that came from afar. And I think that really created such a positive environment, to know that that danger against our people, the danger that was Saddam, was no more.

It's difficult not to be impressed with what the Kurds have achieved so far.

On independence, the speakers thought it was just a matter of time and formality before Iraqi-Kurdistan declares its independence. The problem is that Turkey was terrified from the onset about the possibility of Iraqi-Kurds declaring independence after the fall of Saddam but the speakers painted a different picture:

People imagine that Turkey is very negative towards Kurdistan, but in fact, in terms of foreign direct investment, Turkey is the largest single investor in the Kurdistan region, having invested up to two billion dollars in the region in the past few years.

Peter Galbraith goes a little further arguing that Turkey may not really have a problem with independent Iraqi-Kurdistan:

Among other Turks, there’s a recognition that maybe this isn’t such a bad thing for Turkey. After all, who are the Kurds? They’re secular, they’re pro-Western, they aspire to be democratic, and they’re not Arabs; in short, they’re very much like the Turks. And of course, if Kurdistan does become independent, it’s going to be dependent on somebody, and if the Turks play their cards right, that would be Turkey.

A Turkish diplomat I met sometime ago had a different view, he told me about how Saddam removed thousands of Turkman from Kirkuk, a hotly disputed city, by Saddam. But now thousands of Kurds were returning to the city to up their numbers and add the city to Iraqi-Kurdistan, something Turkey, the Turkman and the Arabs oppose.

Just few days ago Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani made this remark, threatening Turkey if they interfered in Kirkuk:

"Turkey is not allowed to interfere in the Kirkuk issue and if it does we will interfere in Diyarbakir's affairs and other cities in Turkey," Barzani told Al-Arabiyah television.

Diyarbakir is the largest city in southeast Turkey.

Needless to say that was a really bad move, this is how the Turkish prime minister responded:

They should be very careful in their use of words ... otherwise they will be crushed by those words ... Barzani has again exceeded the limits.

An even the State Department said the comments were "unhelpful". Ooops!

Contrary to what the speakers said, Turkey is worried about Iraqi-Kurdistan seeking independence, inciting the Kurds in Turkey or for Kirkuk to become part of Iraqi-Kurdistan autonomous region.

The Kurds are in a difficult position, none of the neighboring governments - that's Syria, Iran and Turkey - want to see independent Kurds in northern Iraq, and such comments can only damage the Kurd's newly found autonomy. Iraqi-Kurds don't want the Americans to leave but it seems that the majority of US population want US troops out. Again, the Kurds find themselves thin on friends.

Identity and global souls

I had a chance to chat with Ethan during AJ Forum about global souls or what he termed - for the time-being - "the forth world". The term refers to the group of people who don't neatly fit into predefined national borders, cultures or ethnicity; people who feel at "home" almost anywhere, Ethan says:

In that sense, I think of the moving circus folks as a subset of a larger group, the Global Souls that Pico Iyer wrote about in his 2000 book. The book is a skeptical, dark look at a group that Iyer, himself, is a member of: postnational people who for economic, romantic or xenophilic reasons break our stereotypes of what it means to be “at home”. But the Global Souls I meet are generally an optimistic bunch, proud of where they’re from, but at home in places far from their home nations, building friendships and relationships with people from different nations, races and religions.
Doha was a good place to think about post-national people, global souls, or whatever we choose to call this group of people. (I’d been weighing the term “the fourth world”, thinking of Jon Hassel’s wonderful jazz/electronica/world music experiments that blurred boundaries between worlds of music. But there’s instances of “fourth-world” being used to refer to indigeous communities within the first world, or to the poorest corners of the third world, meanings very far away from the post-national meaning I’m looking for.)

I would say that there's a distinction between economic migrants and those who end up living in a different, or multiple, countries, cultures and languages; to the extent that they become part of that society. The Nepalese or Filipino worker in Qatar is interested in his job and the opportunity it gives him/her to grow but learns only enough about the culture and language of the society that would make his stay comfortable, and almost alway goes back to his/her own country. This is the same for the Polish worker in Britain or the American engineer in Saudi Arabia.

There are others however who cross those borders. Take the example of Rasna Warah, a third generation Kenyan-Asian, her forefathers came from Lahore which is in present day Pakistan - but was then under British rule; is she Kenyan? Asian? Indian? or Pakistani?.
Edward Said is of this group, he spent his life between two cultures and two languages; Arabic and English. He explores this mixed existence in detail in his memoirs but this is what he says in his Between Worlds article:

I was an uncomfortably anomalous student all through my early years: a Palestinian going to school in Egypt, with an English first name, an American passport and no certain identity at all. To make matters worse, Arabic, my native language, and English, my school language, were inextricably mixed: I have never known which was my first language, and have felt fully at home in neither, al-though I dream in both. Every time I speak an English sentence, I find myself echoing it in Arabic, and vice versa.

My background is somewhat similar, I'm ethic Somali but I was born in Saudi Arabia, had my primary school in Somalia, middle and high school in Egypt. I'm officially an Australian - and attended university there - and now I work in Qatar. In terms of languages, I'm almost a native speaker of Somali and Arabic, and English isn't far behind. Just like Edward Said, I don't really know in what language I dream. My wife, a distant cousin, was born and raised in Qatar and only speaks Arabic while my two youngest brothers only speak English. With my parents, I dare not speak anything but Somali. And my father is an American citizen while I'm an Australian citizen.

There are millions of people who, just like me, ended up being part of many cultures, feeling at "home" in more than one place. There are also those who chose to be global citizens moving to different parts of the world or simply caring about a culture or place other their native ones; an American migrating to China or an Asian in Britain.

Ethan argues that Global Souls are good for the economy too:

I am - very, very slowly - starting to outline a book I’d like to write about xenophilia. It’s my argument that parochial, isolationist nationalism is an economically suicidal stance in an increasingly globalized world. The future, in a very literal sense, belongs to the post-national, the Global Souls, the economic migrants. They’re the best placed to create solutions to global problems, to invent new products for global markets, to build bridges and understanding between different nations. It’s not possible for everyone to uproot themselves and try becoming literally post-national, but the only obstacle to xenophilia in the age of the internet is lack of interest, desire to know what people in other parts of the world think, feel and believe. (This is deeply different from cyberutopianism, by the way, which believes in a single, unified, computer-mediated world largely shaped by 1960’s American hippie principles by way of Stewart Brand. Xenophilia believes that the world is made of diverse, culturally and socially different, yet interconnected spaces, and that the ability to encounter these different spaces without getting on an airplane is one of the most exciting aspects of the 21st century.)

There is a downside to this; when I'm asked the common question of "where are you from?" I learned to vary my answer based on the situation, so in an Airport the answer would be Australian, with a group of Somalis I would be Somali and with a group of Arabs I'm an Arab and so on.

Somalia: renewed conflict

One of many overdue posts, luckily I met a journalist friend of mine from Mogadishu in Qatar about a week ago, he give me insight into the current situation there. There was relative calm in Mogadishu for the past few days, most of the bodies laying in the streets were buried. It's estimated that more than 380 people died in the recent fighting in Mogadishu while thousands have fled the city.

The government and their Ethiopian allies have never fully captured Mogadishu, and the militias never left the city. Before the fighting began, there were tensions between the government and some branches of Hawiye - mainly Habar Gidir,which most ICU leaders come from. They objected to the governments' initiative to disarm the militias in Mogadishu, they also objected to Ethiopian troops, the "Somali Army" who're mainly from Puntland , and to the person of president Abdullah Yusuf whom they regard as anti-Hawiye. But Abgaal, another powerful branch of Hawiye, have made it clear that they fully support the government, Prime Minister Ali M. Gedi is from this branch.

The government have, so far, failed to disarm the militias or to fully take control of Mogadishu. To make matters worse, the Ethiopians seem to be calling the shots deciding who to fought and when. Ethiopian officers are having their own discussions with clan elders and reaching ceasefire agreements without the involvement of the government. In an interview with BBCSomali, a Hawiye elder presenting himself as "Hawiye spokesman", though many Hawiye leaders disputed this, have said that they have reached a cease-fire agreement with the Ethiopians without the government being even present at the meeting.

The governments' incompetence seems to have no limits, they have been hustling journalists and trying to censor what was reported, often coming up with ridiculous and laughable "rules". Recently, some journalists were jailed and Aljazeera bureau was closed. The media isn't exactly innocent either. Local radios often beat the drums of tribalism while Aljazeera comes across as pro-Islamic Courts. BBC Somali is even worse, they're still calling those representing the militias as "Hawiye spokesman" or "Hawiye elders", though other Hawiye elders have contacted the BBC to make it clear that they fully support the government and rejected anyone to claim to represent them. In an interview PM Gedi accused the BBC of bias and rejected any such a thing as "Hawiye elders". My point is that BBC should at least have made it clear that while they call themselves "Hawiye elders", they don't necessarily represent the whole tribe.

So what's next? the opposition to the government is growing, just recently Hussein Aideed, a minister in the government had a meeting with Sheikh Sharif of UIC and the former speaker of the house in Eritrea. There's a well-publicized meeting in London later this month attended by many prominent Somalis, all opposing the presence of Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu, former Somali prime ministers Abdirazaq Haji Hussein and Ali Khalif Galaydh are attending.

There's also a reconciliation conference in Mogadishu which scheduled for later this month, but it's still unclear whether it can go ahead as planned. Certainly the government needs to change its tactics but there's no sign that it will. Also Ethiopian forces must leave Somalia but instead they're increasing their forces. The militia in Mogadishu have to be disarmed but they've proved that they won't be giving up their guns easily.

Links for 03-04-2007

• China Schools - Re-education - Ann Hulbert - New York Times
  China's implementing western standards to improve the education system
• Woflowitz: The Next Crusade - New Yorker
  Wolfowitz has a new goal in sight, an intimate piece about one of the most important figures in Bush administration.
  
• Interview with Anwar Ibrahim - Aljazeera TV (Part 1)
  A recent interview with Anwar Ibrahim on Aljazeera, interesting.
• The Pope and Islam - New Yorker
  An interesting read on the Pope's changing relationship with Islam, I'm yet to read it all.
• We wish to inform you that Rwanda is open for business - FP Blog
  The Rwandan government is working hard to convince investors that Rwanda is indeed ready for business.

Quotable

"The real blame should fall on us -- we the leaders of the Arab nations", King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in the latest Arab summit in Riyadh

Links for 01-04-2007

• Palestinians cling to 'right of return'
  The most sticking point in any future negotiations with Israel, neither is likely to give up.
• Somalia's complex conflict
  An insightful piece into the recent fighting in Mogadishu.
• Web 2.0 wonders: StumbleUpon
  Excellent report on young web 2.0 innovators, StumbleUpon takes websufing to a new level.
• Things to do in Doha when you’re dead tired
  Ethan discovers that Doha isn't the most borning place on Earth.

AJ Forum: Parachute Journalism and Journalism of Depth

The first session of Aljazeera forum, moderated by Rageh Omaar.
Martin Bell, a veteran BBC reporter, made his intro remarks short and to the point, he praised Aljazeera English then talked about the need for news networks to stop engaging in cut-throat competition. Journalists, he says, must show sympathy to the people and suspicion of governments and politicians. Journalists he said have only two masters to serve, their audience and the truth. “I’ve been a politician. Believe me, they are seldom the sons of gentlemen”. In response to a question about the role of the reporter, Martin says it doesn't matter whether it's Western or Arab media, the reporter must strive to understand events and convey an accurate picture to viewers. He also praised the BBC and Aljazeera English for great and fearless reporting.

Dahr Jamail, talked about his reporting from Iraq and Lebanon and and his dismay at the state of the media in US post 9/11. He gave the example of a story he came across in Iraq, a man who died of torture in the hands of US army in Iraq, the medical reports showed the man had died of natural causes but the body of the man he saw told a different story, the head was smashed, face brutally disfigured and burns over his body. The US army insisted the man wasn't tortured. He offered the story to major news organizations in US, no one wanted to publish it, after few months he contacted Seymour Hersh and only then the story received the necessary publicity. He insists that main stream media in US isn't interested in hard-hitting reports and that's why people like him are reporting to alternative news sources like Democracy Now!. He praises blogs and emerging media in bridging this gap.

Fahmy Huwaidi, an well-know Egyptian journalist, talked about how journalists in the Arab world should be independent and objective but because of the authoritarian governments journalists aren't able to practice freely.

Samir Aita, Editor in chief the Arabic addition of La Monde Diplomatique says journalists need to understand the sociological and political realities of the places they're reporting from. He cites the the example of La Monde Diplomatique which is a network of itself (publishing in 64 languages). He says that parachute journalism is a necessity but reporting from the field is also required to decipher the tribal, social and political intricacies of news stories.

Abdel Wahab Badrakhan, editor elect of the Aljazeera newspaper, talked about Aljazeera and its contribution to journalism in the Arab world, but he also thought that Arabs can still learn a lot about the practice of journalism in the West. He, and others in the panel, criticized US governments's efforts to censor information. For some reason Badrakhan thought that Darfur was a good example of a story that wasn't covered well and fairly. The US administration created an official line mostly based on real incidents, then reporters only went on to confirm it. He asserts it could have been covered better, for example looking at it from different view points like the role of Southerners in derailing the peace process and the US-China oil interests in Darfur, he used Darfur as an example twice. In Iraq, we don't know for sure why the war was waged in the first place, something the media isn't investigating enough. Badrkhan talks about the US push for democracy in the Middle East which he says has ended in disappointment, and as a result the media in Arab world continues to suffer. On blogging, he says it's taking off in the Arab because people are looking for any, uncensored, sources of information.