Reconciliation Talks? Or is it a long awaited parliamentary session? December 02, 2005 By Abdulkadir Khalif.

The Jowhar camp said:

 “Yes, we will talk with our brothers and sisters in the Mogadishu camp. But first we will meet in a small way in Barre Hiiraale’s prison city. We will send 16 of our people and they will send 16 of theirs. After that we will reconvene in Jowhar for a final status talks.”

The Mogadishu camp replied:

“Yes, we will talk with our brothers and sisters in the Jowhar camp. But we must all go to Kismayu and be the guest of our friend and partner in crime Barre Hiiraale. If you think that is asking for too much, then think about coming over to Mogadishu and we shall be glad to host you at Hotel Saxaafi. Also make sure you come with an audited account on how you have been using the money you have been collecting recently.”

What is at issue is not whether there will be a reconciliation talks or where to convene the next session of parliament. What is at issue here is MONEY and how much of it is to be made or spent in Mogadishu, Jowhar or Kismayu. The warlords in Mogadishu know that they are loosing the political game and know only too well that a military confrontation is potentially disastrous for them. Last weekend, there was even talk of a looming conflict in Kismayu; but with IGAD ministers jetting into Jowhar, the warlords of Mogadishu thought better of that mission. They are now all out to frustrate the peace overtures that they themselves found impossible to reject. Kismayu they know is a no go area for a full parliamentary session. They also know that Jowhar will never come to Mogadishu. Therefore, according to their calculations, the meeting is dead even before it starts and they think they can blame that on Jowhar. Meanwhile, Barre Hiiraale is praying for some kind of get together in Kismanyu where he will be seen as a peace broker and where he will be able to pocket some cash from his friends in the UNDP. He also hopes that his colonial and tyrannical legacy in Kismanyu and the rest of the Jubbas could be forgotten…..he wishes.

Let me now look very critically at this issue and show why I think that the premises on which these talks are based are faulty, fruitless and a waste of precious time. Between the three cities, Kismanyu looks like it has more points than the other two. Both camps are willing to go there in some form or another. But while the Mogadishu camp clearly see it as an opportune avenue for an exit from their present predicament, Jowhar shies away from going there very quickly from purely ethical point of view. We all know that the people of Jubbaland are held hostage against their will by a foreign alliance called the JVA. The leader of that alliance is not a neutral broker for peace as he showed by attending the Baraawe land grabbing meeting and by failing to continue on to Jowhar after his rendezvous in Mogadishu. In the service to his alliance, he was able to go to Mogadishu and even Ceelwaaq where he stayed for nearly a month. But he is unwilling to go to Jowhar if only to be sworn in as a Minister in the Federal government. He therefore considers himself as either nominally independent from both or leaning towards Mogadishu. He therefore can not be an honest broker and he should not be rewarded for his crimes against the people of Jubbaland.

Mogadishu is out of the question for obvious reasons.

Jowhar should be a natural place of confluence since the whole world now considers it as the provisional seat of government. If that is too embarrassing for the Mogadishu warlords, then we should consider places like Balcad or Xuddur.

But there is a short cut to peace and an exit for the beleaguered warlords in Mogadishu if their “leader” Shariff Xassan would gather enough courage, visit and pacify Baydhaba and then call the full session of parliament there. But it is obvious from his utterances of the last few days that he has no idea where to turn to or what to do next. He has prayed hard for a way out and as happened many times before his prayer was answered by an invitation from the Libyan Parliament. He will be away for awhile and his camp will have a perfect excuse to stall the talks for the next few weeks. Meanwhile, Geedi will make several more trips to Nairobi and come back with a few more MPs in his little plane. Soon, the warlords in Mogadishu will have to take a decision and take one of the following steps:

• They will attack Kismanyu and depose the ruthless leader of the JVA and declare the whole region off limits to the government.
• Take all remaining MPs in Mogadishu hostages and stop them from traveling to Nairobi from where Geedi will package them for shipment to Jowhar.
• Surrender and go to Jowhar and fight a political, democratic battle in Parliament after they realize that their means of survival is being constantly squeezed dry.
• Sit it out for a little longer and see if the President can survive another year.
• The other dramatic but useful breakthrough  could be if the speaker Mr. Shariff just lands in Jowhar on his way back from Tripoli in the same fashion as his deputy Mr. Boqorre did. That really would be the end of this divide. It is really sad to note that an issue that depends so much on one individual for a resolution has taken so long.

But is that all we can do?

No. Suppose that we take care of the ethical question about going to Kismany? Suppose that Barre Hiiraale declares that he supports the government and flies to Jowhar and swears the oath of allegiance to the constitution and formally gets sworn in as minister by his boss Mr. Geedi? Suppose that Barre turns over his forces to the federal government and earns some forgiveness from the people of Jubbaland and also gets some legitimacy for his leadership? Would the meeting make many of the MPs less guilty? I personally believe so. I am a great critic and basher of Barre but I am prepared to give him the benefit of doubt if he is ready to come back to the mainstream. But unless he does that I will continue harboring my suspicion that he is a great hypocrite and a double dealer who would wish to ride two horses to two different destinations. He is fast running out of time and has to make up his mind as to where he really belongs. Between his heart and his mind, he has to follow one of them to the peril of the other. Either way, he will face the music, but the choice is his where he wishes to be buried.

I read about and took a good look at the pictures taken and ceremonies performed during the welcoming of the new Belgian Ambassador and wondered what more needs to be done to convince the Somali people and especially the ministers in Mogadishu that the country is well on its way to recovery and respectfulness. Jowhar should be declared the eternal capital of Somalia. After all what is there to be gained from setting up shop in the largely lawless, destroyed and dirty Mogadishu. The Somali people should not be held hostage because Mogadishu and its leaders can not put their acts together. We should ignore Mogadishu and continue with life with the rest of the country. We know that all the governmental institutions and buildings have been destroyed and will take a long time and lots of money to rehabilitate.

Much agonizing and prayers will also have to be undertaken to clear all the squatters now resident in those buildings in Mogadishu, not to mention those that have been appropriated for personal use by the warlords now holding up the recovery process. All those efforts and money could be better used to build a new capital and reward the city and people of Jowhar. Mogadishu I believe is the place where the sole of our country is buried and from where those soles will haunt us for a very long time.

MY ADVICE: Surround, Boycott, Blockade and Squeeze to death the Old City of Mogadishu and let it be buried under the sands of History. We can build a new well planned Metropolis around Jowhar.