By The Editorial Board
A president’s leadership skills are tested when a crisis hits his country (as now is the case in Somalia.)
A good leader turns a crisis into an opportunity, while a bad leader — because of his ineptitude — allows it to metastasize into a disaster.
On Jan. 1, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had such a crisis that accidentally put him in pole position to become a national hero.
The illegal deal between Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia and Muse Bihi, the Hargeisa chieftain, presented the president with a rare opportunity to launch a noble mission to unite Somalis, foil the deal, prepare the country for a possible invasion from Ethiopia, consign the rogue entity in Hargeisa to history and start a careful process to tear down other clan cantons that have become the Trojan horses for the enemies of the nation.
At the time, Somalis and the international community were up against the deal, which unlawfully gave Ethiopia 20 kilometers of coastal land on a 50-year lease.
Somalis everywhere on the globe expressed outrage over the Ethiopian bid to annex a part of their country. The US, the EU and China, as well as many other countries, issued strong statements supporting Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Early blunders
But, unfortunately, President Hassan has failed to rise to the challenge.
Instead of seizing the Bihi-Abiy memorandum of understanding to teach Ethiopia unforgettable lesson, he has lapsed into his old habits of clan politics and self interest, seeing the MOU as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go after his political foes in Garowe and Baidoa, especially after his earlier attempts to oust their leaders failed.
The president has quickly picked a fight with Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed “Laftagareen” and Said Abdullahi Deni, the chiefs of Baidoa and Garowe respectively, as if they were the ones who went to Addis Ababa and signed the MOU with Ethiopia.
The head of state’s approach, which has already deepened divisions among Somalis, has exacted no painful punishment against Ethiopia and shamelessly outsourced the defense of the country to foreign countries, most notably Turkey and Egypt.
The president’s tactic has also conveyed a message that he has no qualms about exploiting a major national crisis for his own personal and political gains.
The president’s mismanagement of the Ethiopian assault on the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity has now escalated into a political war pitting the national government against Deni and Laftagareen, pushing the urgency to defend the country from Ethiopia to the back burner.
Both sides are at fault, but the biggest blame lies with President Hassan, who has been fueling divisions among Somalis since his re-election in 2022.
On Thursday, the national government appointed Gen. Asad Osman Abdullahi to become the country’s new police chief, a move viewed by many as an attempt by President Hassan to undermine the northeastern administration in Garowe, just days after its leader expressed a willingness to open talks with the president.
In another shameful attempt to hoodwink the public, the president’s allies, including Bashir Moalim Ali, the director general for the Ministry of Transport and Aviation, have also turned their guns on the inhabitants of the Laftagareen-led western region, accusing them of being sons of Ethiopia. At least two lawmakers from the region were barred from flying to Baidoa.
By contrast, the president has let Bihi, the source of the current tension between Somalia and Ethiopia, off the hook, blatantly prioritizing clan interests over the nation’s future. The national government has so far taken no legal actions against the traitor, nor has it imposed any sanctions on the rogue administration in Hargeisa.
Public disappointment
The president’s inept handling of the Bihi-Abiy-induced crisis was a huge disappointment to the citizens who were looking to him to solve their decades-old political, economic, security, social and development problems. President Hassan didn’t only fail to make use of the crisis, but he opted to create a new major political one that’s now eroding Somalis’ cohesion and their trust in the national government and its leaders.
The internal infighting is detrimental to the nation’s preparedness for an invasion from Ethiopia, whose leaders seem determined to plow ahead with their plan to actualize the illegal understanding.
While both Deni and Laftagareen are wrong to keep special relations with Addis Ababa, Somalia’s arch-foe, it’s President Hassan’s lack of leadership and early blunders that caused the current schism between him and the regional chiefs.
When the Somalia-Ethiopia tension erupted in January, the President has done little to foster internal cohesion to confront Ethiopia’s violation, nor has he demonstrated that he is worthy of the trust of Somalis by putting the country’s interest above his own political and clannish considerations.
In fact, the president has continued to play footie with Bihi, even after the man entered into the treasonous deal with Abiy. He has also continued to treat Ethiopia with kid gloves, allowing its troops to operate in the country, even after Addis refused to recognize Somalia’s sovereignty. The national government is yet to close down the Ethiopian Embassy in Mogadishu or ban the Ethiopian Airlines that brings the harmful Ethiopian drug, qat, to the country.
All these glaring missteps have signaled a weakness that Addis Ababa appears to be making better use of. Prime Minister Abiy is pretty much having his cake (his deal with Bihi) and eating it (keeping his embassy, troops and businesses in Somalia.)
The president’s mismanagement of the Bihi-Abiy crisis has attracted the ire of many Somalis, including Zakaria Haji Mohamud, who in a recent opinion piece published by The Somalia Star, called for the removal of the head of state to save the country from disintegration.
Suing for unity
At a critical time like this one, suing for unity among Somalis must be a priority, and president Hassan should do everything to win over all regional leaders — not undermine them. The country can’t afford to take its focus off the national imperative of confronting Ethiopia’s aggression.
The president shouldn’t allow Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy to benefit from Somalis’ misfortune and internal differences.
The onus to save the country from further polarization, lower internal political temperature and help Somalis focus on the defense of their country falls on President Hassan.
It’s incumbent upon him to restore the public’s confidence in his office. He should publicly apologize to the inhabitants of the western region for the derogatory words used by some of his sycophants who derided the few bad apples who held a rally to reject the deployment of the Egyptian forces in their region without their consultation as the “sons of Ethiopia,” which in the Somali context means “sons of a bitch.”
The inhabitants of the western region can hardly be pilloried for rejecting President Hassan’s expansionist clan agenda that aims to dispossess the locals of some of their lands.
President Hassan has to cease masquerading his clan designs as a national agenda.
Egyptians should be very wary of any attempt to use them as a tool to effect demographic changes in some parts of the country, as that will only put the lives of their solidiers in danger and doom their noble mission in the country.
Baidoa and Garowe are not against the country’s unity, nor do they have a soft spot for Ethiopia, but they are, like other regions, concerned about President Hassan’s self-interest and clan schemes.
President Hassan and Cairo must assure the Somali public that Egyptian troops, who’re expected to replace Ethiopian peacekeepers in 2025, will not be used to further clan or political interests during their mission in the country.
Egypt must be made aware of President Hassan’s credibility problem among many Somalis, including his own relatives, who are unhappy with his inefficiency, the corruption in his administration and his clan leanings.