Somalia: A National Reconciliation The Only Way Out (Part IV) – OpEd
In August 1945, Japan was the recipient of the first atomic bombs ever used in war and rage. The bombs destroyed the two industrial cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They are where an Arab poet lamented, “If you want to know what Hell is like, ask the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki!” But what did the Japanese do after the terrible bombing which killed within a ten-mile radius every kind of life – animals, insects, people and vegetation? A million and a half people are reported to have died with tens of thousands simply disappearing. But the Japanese did not and do not bear any grudge against the Americans who dropped the bombs on those major industrial cities. They reason that this was only a response to Japan’s violence in the war itself.
The Americans and Japanese are two different peoples from two different continents with different cultures and religious belief systems, but the Japanese were truly magnanimous and adopted a realistic approach to the matter. They decided to move on and built one of greatest economies of all time in their lands and compete even today with the top economic performers of the world. The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were rebuilt and transformed, with only a few buildings of old left as they were on the atom bomb strike day as a reminder of the terrible atrocity that took place there.
The moral of the story is to remind Somalis that, although great suffering have been meted by differing clans on each other, whether in power or otherwise, they could forgive each other and more particularly since they are of the same Somali ethnic stock, having the same culture, language and religion. The legal systems or the legal profession in Japan is not as developed as it is, say, in the Americas or for that matter, in Europe. The Japanese prefer to settle their disputes on amicable basis, much like the old ways of the Somali, where the Tree, the Somali court of old, was a dominant feature.
It was the good old days when Somalis would admit their faults without shame and were respected and it truly represented the way to settle disputes. There was no blame game, which is currently prevalent in the Somali landscape, an odd and an alien culture, which has turned all clan quarrels in the country as something nearly unhealable.
Trust among the people gives rise to the unity many Somalis yearn for and is reachable. They need to manage their politicians and bring them down to earth to heed the cries of the people. Uniting again and working together is the greatest thing that would contribute to the success of the nation and its recovery from the chaos and anarchy, which has been its main marker and feature over the past four decades.
We know that there are those of us who are still traumatized and who are in the politics of the country. Their faces in TV screens clearly indicate that they are not well and need to be treated through mental health institutions, but unfortunately, it is most disconcerting to know they do not feel that way. Somalis need to know their people before they put them in positions of power. Those who do not and cannot forgive are generally a liability to the people and the nation.
They pull down the people and the nation and create a heavy pullback drag. The country and people need to look into the future and not look into the past, which is gone and cannot be recovered. Yesterday is but a dream, so says a Chinese wisdom, and tomorrow is a vision of hope. It is this hope that should be steering the people and not what so and so did, as many narrow-minded people constantly remind the people and the new generations, for whom those of three or four or five decades ago are dinosauric and irrelevant at present.
A group of people like the Somalis, who are disunited and are always at odds with each other over everything, however trivial they may be, can never move forward an inch. The track record of the last four decades in the Somali landscape is a clearly an evident demonstration. The nation seems to have stagnated. It was the pride of Africa once when many an African leader would pass by before moving onto major decisions, in the politics of the continent. It was a major help and a source or moral, military and financial support for many a liberation movement in the continent. Many countries that today, perhaps, laugh at the Somali situation owe their existence to Somalia.
Somalis need to know that fighting with one’s own brothers and cousins makes them their worst enemies. This represents destroying oneself as one’s enemies are always seeking to do. Somalia has many enemies, not only in the neighborhood but also in other parts of the world. They need to look into themselves at the individual level and correct themselves. It is the way the Somali nation can heal its wounds and it is the only way they can disappoint the enemies of the nation, who are presently relaxed and enjoying as Somalis tear each other apart like a bunch of hungry wolves.
The Somali people seem to be afflicted by a complex of having lost something. They keep complaining of other clans and leaders of the past or even the present leaders. It looks like a nation whose clan structure, which is one of its salient features, has been turned into its destructive tool – divided and unreconcilable! What are the clans looking for if one may ask?
In our view, it would look like it is political power, government jobs and positions, economic resources, social influence and in effect just material gains, that each clan is fighting for. In their simple minds, all of these could have been achieved had not this clan or that clan, not been in the way. But they should know it is only their fault. They should have been talking to each other in the traditional way, sending them delegates and peace missions to other clans to settle disputes and suspicious issues to create peace among themselves. Had there been peace talks among the people and clans, and had they settled their suspicions and created trust among each other in the natural way of the TREE, there would have been a united front to confront the complex life systems of today, which is far different from those of old – the nomadic one or the simple subsistence farming or the lonely fishermen along the vast coasts of the country.
A national reconciliation in Somalia is a must for the country is not at peace with itself and the clans seem to be drifting apart. They are being played by the enemies of the nation and by those, which Somalis considered in the past as unworthy and insignificant. And when we say a national reconciliation, it must be understood to be a Somali affair not involving other parties in all respects including finances, which seems to have mesmerized some Somalis through a few fistful of dollars used by NGOs and some Arab states but mostly by the United Arab Emirates to disturb the essence of being Somali. Somalis should learn who their real friends are and who their enemies are by now. The actions of many nations in the country have been marked and recorded for posterity.
Success is not just keeping one’s nose to the ground or feeling to have taken correct and right decisions on life matters. It is understanding one’s fellow brothers and friends and discerning them the kindness and respect they deserve and knowing the enemies and according to them the scorn they deserve.
They actually missed a national reconciliation to achieve peace in the country in the so-called peace conferences held in various cities of the Horn and East Africa. They were more on power-sharing arrangements pushed by foreign parties to select people they could control and indirectly determine the destiny of the nation.
The current state of affairs in the country warrants the need for a national reconciliation to create peace in the land of the Somali through its cultural values and belief systems, both of old and new. Somalis share moral codes of conduct and social values, which determine their behavior and interactions. These are generally respected codes of conduct and values and include kinships, hospitality, respect for the elders. These and others play important roles in uniting the population and define a Somali. It is what we shall address in the next article , including the processes and the traditional Somali model in this regard.