Installing peace among quarreling family members like the clan quarrels of Somalia is not only difficult but may also instigate a reversal of peace-building processes, many have spent on for long periods, transcending even decades. The most difficult parts include creating stable political institutions and sharing of powers within a polity suspicious of each other, and often exploited for other ends by foreigners who may have their own agendas including international organizations like the UN and its multitude of subordinate organizations and other non-governmental organizations.
The peace processes in Somalia started in 1991 but remain unsettled and uneasy as of the date of this writing, despite the involvement of many parties both multilateral and bilateral and the expenditure of heavy sums collected from both local and many international sources. The clan-based institutions proposed in the last reconciliation process of the years 2001 to 2004 in Kenya, and which ended in the current federal infrastructure, has not so far assured peace in the country.
This brings forward the fact that it may have reached a cul de sac or a dead end and needs to be revisited. The mistrust among the political elite employing their clan affiliations and support remains a dividing paradigm and the country’s unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty has never been more in danger than at present.
The disregard for constitutional limitations and constraints among the political elite have been one of the major obstacles to instilling peace among the populace and hence the lack of trust among them. Trust in the country is and was a rare commodity over the past four decades, and although the people have generally the same ethnic background, political elites drive them apart and segregate them in regional clan enclaves, which they have created on the guidance of foreigners who do not wish the country well.
One can look at the member states of Federal Somalia and even those that do not agree to join them. Puntland was created with the help of Ethiopia and so was Southwest Somalia. Galmudug was created on the behest of Ethiopia and so was Somaliland and Hirshabelle states. Even the Federal Government was created with help of Ethiopia in Kenya, without which the current system would not have been in place. Who are they kidding these Somali politicians – their poor citizenry?
The Federal Government is at loggerheads with Ethiopia, its original sponsor, which now daringly claims to have signed an MoU with one man from one of the regions of the country, who does not have neither the power, legally or otherwise, or the ability to see it through, unless Ethiopia invades Somalia, which is doubtful.
It is where the country needs to work on – implanting trust among the people as they were before the advent of the ongoing competition for power, which seems to be........