MOGADISHU— Somalia’s five regional administrators have unilaterally invited to their areas any foreign country or organization that is willing to work with them in addressing the security, economic and trade challenges their communities are facing.
The decision — reached after three days of deliberations in the western city of Baidoa — is the strongest show of defiance by regional politicians against the national government’s writ after the militant group of al Shabab. The government-run media gave the Baidoa gathering a wide berth, a move that underscores the distrust between the two sides.
“The council collectively stated that the first responsibility of the regional leaders is to address the economic, security, trade and social problems of the people of the federal member states,” said the politicians after their meeting that focused on security, national politics and the humanitarian condition of the country. “It is the solemn duty of these leaders to address those problems and hence welcome any entity that provides help in addressing these problems.”
The national government has not yet commented on the announcement. But Mogadishu’s continuous reluctance to smother the flames of discontent spreading through regional administrations and their growing gravitation toward foreign countries could shatter the public’s trust in President Farmajo’s leadership. Because most Somalis are hankering for an assertive administration that can restore the nation’s past glory and a bulwark against politicians who have no qualms about serving the interests of foreign countries and war profiteers.
Still, while the gambit of unilaterally inviting foreign countries and organizations to the Somali soil may seem to pose a direct challenge to the authority of the national government, yet the decision will have very little practical implications for the country’s foreign policy.
Despite its weakness, the Mogadishu-based administration has more powers and avenues of communication to resort to if it deems a foreign entity is interfering in the internal affairs of the nation.
In fact, the five regional administrations are more of a nuisance than a force to be reckoned with. They don’t have enough military, diplomatic and financial muscles to be taken seriously. They don’t even have control over all the regions they claim to be ruling and owe their survival to threadbare militias and African Union peacekeepers. Their administrations are also riven by corruption and mismanagement, and apart from the northeastern region, which is relatively peaceful, all the other four can’t venture outside major cities, which are themselves in the crosshairs of al-Qaida-linked group of al Shabab.
The statement by the politicians will only worsen the raging battle of supremacy between the central, Mogadishu-based government, which is the nation’s final authority on foreign policy and security matters, and regional politicians who would wish to autonomously run their own areas and enjoy powers of cutting deals with foreign countries and entities.
Wednesday’s announcement was also, in part, meant to provide moral and political support to the politicians in the northeastern Somali region who recently entered into trade and military agreements with the United Arab Emirates without the knowledge and approval of the national government in Mogadishu.
In their statement, the politicians openly sided with Abu Dhabi in the row between Somalia’s national government and the Gulf monarchy that was of late accused of undermining the authority of Mogadishu in its push to dismember the Horn of Africa nation.
The politicians dismissed as “pretense” the national government’s decision to take a neutral position in the ongoing Gulf crisis pitting Qatar against the Saudi-led coalition of four Arab countries that imposed an air, sea and land blockade on Doha.
They also decried what they said was Mogadishu’s “frequent destabilizations and the interference of the internal affairs of” regional administrations and faulted the national government’s failure to arm regional forces and its reluctance to recognize those forces’ role in the fight against terrorism.
“The increasing security challenges” in the country, they said, could be attributed to the absence of “decisive and collective determination from the Somali side,” something that will make — in their view — “difficult for the Somalis to take charge of their security.”
The adminstrators called on the national government and the international community to “supply and support regional forces in terms of military equipment, fire arms, ammunitions and trainings.”
In recent months, Somalis have been accusing the United Arab Emirates of trying to divide their country into clan-based fiefdoms by pitting regional administrators, especially politicians in the northwestern and northeastern regions, against the central government in Mogadishu. The UAE cut unilateral military and trade deals with politicians from the two regions to operate the ports of Berber and Bossaso and set up a military base there.
The deals irked the national government, which in March asked the United Nations Security Council to take action against Abu Dhabi for violating its sovereignty.
The UAE has since discontinued a financial support it was providing to the Mogadishu-based national army and closed an outpatient hospital it run in the capital.
“The council has expressed its dismay over the fast deteriorating relationship between the federal government on one side and the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the other,” said the politicians, referring to their bloc, which was formed last year in the coastal city of Kismayo.
The national government, they said, “must consult with the federal member states on foreign policy issues and decisions that would impact on the interests of the people of member states to avoid political conflicts.”
According to Article 54 of the country’s provisional constitution, the national government is in charge of foreign affairs, national defence, citizenship, immigration and monetary policy. But it also has to consult regional politicians “on negotiations relating to foreign aid, trade, treaties, or other major issues related to international agreements.”
The administrators claimed that the national government doesn’t share with them the financial aid or other assistances it receives from donor countries and financial institutions and called on those countries and institutions to allocate a portion of their support to regional administrations “to maintain the unity and cohesion of the country.”
The politicians warned that if the national government didn’t stop this “trend” of siding with Qatar, the “ brotherly relationship among the three countries” would be negatively impacted.
“The pretense of the federal government that it is neutral on the Gulf crises notwithstanding, it is more than adequately clear that the federal government has taken a side,” they said in their communiqué.
Mogadishu, they said, has to “take honest steps from her side to repair and improve this valuable relationship.”
The administrators urged the national government “to cease and desist” from interfering in the internal affairs of regional administration, which they called “destructive behavior.” Instead, they said, the government should ”focus” its “energy more on the liberation and the stabilization of the country.”
They also called on Somalis, the UN, donor countries and aid organizations “to provide emergency humanitarian assistance” to the citizens affected by the recent flash floods and heavy rains in the southern regions of the country, especially in areas near the Shabelle and Juba rivers.
The Baidoa meeting was attended by all regional administrators. They’re: Abdiwali Mohamed Ali Gaas, Mohamed Abdi Waare, Ahmed Mohamed Islam, Ahmed Dua’ale Gelle and Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden.