Oh, Ogadeniya

During the so-called ‘Scramble for Africa’ in the late 1880’s, various European empires claimed different African territories and as a result lands with Somali speakers/Somali people were taken by different colonial powers. Somalia become one of the countries that was colonised by several super powers at once; Britain claimed Northern Somalia, Italy took control of Southern Somalia, France took Djibouti whilst the Ogaden was returned to Ethiopia in 1948 after it had previously belonged to Somalia under Italian rule in what was called the Italian East Africa. In the summer of 1960 both the UK and then Italy agreed to grant independence to its territories and thus the two main Somali territories joined to form a united Somali Republic on the 1^st July 1960. My view of this is (of course) bias to me being Somali so I have to point out that Somali people are nomads and that before independence and colonisation, there was never an officially established "Somalia"; only a large area inhabited by various ethnic races at one point or another but where Somali speaking people were always the majority and thus early on became known as Soomaaliya. 

As one of the starting points of independence, the new Somali government supported the right of all the Somali speaking lands to be united under a greater Somalia and thus there were often (and still is) a lot of clashes between the borders of Somalia and Ethiopia and Somalia and Kenya (due to the largely Somali-inhabited northeastern region of Kenya). So already we have a very fragmented national history where the maps created and redefined by external colonial powers drew borders that don’t accurately reflect the different people of the regions and often even the majority of each region and thus end up separating people, politically, who otherwise share the same ethnicity, culture, religion and of course language.

Literature wise, the novel that best highlights the plight of The Ogaden is the brilliant Somali author Nuruddin Farah's highly recommend book Maps. As a work of fiction, it deals more with the more complex psychological consequences of living in such a widely disputed area, being Somali but not quite in Somali soil according to official records etc. This whole ongoing issue has fueled my pre-existing obsession with borders and maps (beyond The Ogaden, Palestine or Tibet) and is one of the big reasons why I'm doing my MA in Post-Colonial studies. There are so many on-going border conflicts in different parts of the world (some unfairly lesser known than others) where simple lines, drawn by men, never regard the every-day reality of who is living there and how it affects them. Ethiopia and Somalia are of course neighbours endlessly fighting over literally a desert area between the two countries, metaphorically a child whose disputing parents end up neglecting and not considering what is best for it, in their fight for full custody. One of the more powerful quotes from Maps is when one of the characters says: "it is easier ridding yourself from a colonist beyond the seas than it is to oust an African one..."

It's important to note however that the Somalis in The Ogaden, although the biggest majority, are not the only ethnic race living in that specific region and so the question is: how do those other minorities (within minorities!) become identified in a map? In order for The Ogaden to re-join Somalia, it has to sacrifice its already established identity as a place not just inhabited by Somali speaking people. However, it also cannot remain in this current state of limbo under the umbrella of the Ethiopian empire that's not exactly doing all that it can and indeed should for the area it has politically claimed for strategic reasons. It's frustrating enough that Somalia doesn't get enough press coverage (unless you're a "pirate" - do you really think that people without aid will just quietly perish after being colonised and war torn?) the same way that other African nations and areas do whilst The Ogaden conflict remains swept under the international media rug.

This is a struggle I feel very strongly about both patriotically and emotionally; my grandmother was born in The Ogaden, in Wardheer, and a few weeks ago I asked her how she feels about it being politically seen as Ethiopia and, (my grandmother who has a habit of answering important questions in Somali proverbs and other sayings) said something that can best be translated as: "your landlord might own your home but he has never lived in it the way you have". Enough said.

For more basic information of the region, start here.

Chad Update: Gov. wins the battle for N'Djamena

The government is in full control of the capital N'Djamena, after the army successfully thwarted rebel attacks. The president who remained in the presidential palace, and refused French offers to escape the country, spoke to the reporters, and as expected, lay blame wholly on Sudan. The two countries have been exchanging accusations of the supporting each others' rebels.

Haru Mutasa, Aljazeera English reporter, was one of the few journalists to stay in the N'Djamena throughout the rebel onslaught. Here's her latest report.

Chad Update - Day 3: fighting resumes in N'Djamena

Fighting resumed in the capital N'Djamena for the third day. Earlier the government claimed to have pushed the rebels back (rebels say they've retreated from the capital to allow the civilians to leave). Aid workers say bodies litter the streets.

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.