The whipping tail of two agreements {Nairobi & Djibouti}- Why we cry that Ahmadou Ould Abdalla fell foul of fairness?

1. Politics of Deception

From the creation of the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, in September 2007, the two top officials of the ARS were having intermittently contacts, with diplomats, particularly, from USA, Great Britain, France and the UN. Overt and covered meetings were held almost in all capitals of the region, between ARS leaders and diplomats these countries. The HQ of the Alliance in Asmara, seat of both Central and Executive Committees, was briefed on a number of these contacts, as dialoguing with International Community is permitted by the Constitution and political program of ARS. Some other contacts were maintained secret, having the two leaders kept for them. As we have mentioned in previous statements of the ARS, both the chairman of the Alliance for and the chairman of Central Committee went to Nairobi-Kenya, and on 4th of April 2008 signed an agreement with representatives from the Transitional Federal Government, in breach of ARS Constitution and political program, which require a preventive authorization for similar political decision. As it’s well known, Mr. Ould Abdalla, in his capacity as representative of Secretary General UN, has mediated this agreement. Nevertheless, we are certain that this arrangement has been master-minded and passed to Somali sides by the same group of diplomats, mentioned above, who brought similarly hard pressure to bear on them, for its signing. We are following, by personal testimony of members of the delegation of the two leaders, who were with them in Nairobi, that ARS representatives have note been given enough time to read the text of the agreement, and to discuss its exhaustively. Instead, UN envoy Ould Abdalla, similarly representing the view point of other influential countries and international agencies, under the umbrella of international community, was exerting maximum pressure on Somali head of delegation, to speed up signing of the agreement. The arrangement signed in Nairobi, which gave origin and framework to Djibouti understanding, in the subsequent phase, can’t be up graded to an agreement, since it looks like a dictation of terms to a defeated party. The arrangement imposes on the side purporting to represent ARS to accept a cease-fire, to condemn those resisting against Ethiopian occupation forces, and to disarm resistance fighters, without any concession from Transitional System or the UN.

1. Blind Arrogance

Present plight of Somalia is of Ethiopian making. Its proxy army is occupying Somali Republic proper from February 2006, and it has invaded the capital in December 2006. These occupying forces are fighting under the strategic umbrella of American Administration of W. Bush, within the so-called plan to “fight terrorism”. However, the pretext of their presence in Somali soil is that they are propping up the Transitional System to survive, and to enforce law and order on its behalf. While Ethiopia, despite lib services to W. Bush and the Transitional System, is pursuing its old imperialistic design to extend its hold on Somali shores of the Indian Ocean, and other weak spots of the country. Ethiopia, as every novice in the politics of the Horn Region knows, is interfering in the Somali affairs for the last 30 years, especially so during the last two decades, in which the state has withered. Factions, war-lords and anti-national politicians were created and armed by Addis Ababa, and were employed by the same to engage in internecine war and destabilization inside Somalia, while escalating the historical antagonism betw3een the two countries. Having jumped over this reality, the western countries imposed on Somalia an Ethiopian mandate, with the purported reason of helping the Transitional System, to introduce peace and order in the country. Such a decision was based on a malignant option conjured up to undermine Somali unity and sovereignty, and to inflict on the people further sufferance and dispersion, as Ethiopian brutality and heavy-handedness were predictable to all. The big powers patronizing Somali affairs, especially through UN Security Council’s directive ness, had never tried to come up with a reasonable and feasible solution for present crisis, consonant with the interest of common people, with the weak and needy, who are victims of Ethiopian merciless daily killing and destruction. Neither had they left Somalis to work out solutions for their own problems, capable of bringing forward peace and harmony in the country. The Court’s Administration, crashed with Ethiopian intervention, is a case to the point. The arrogant imposition of Ethiopian occupation has caused, in 28 months of warfare, more than 15 thousand people killed, wounded and maimed four times as much 2 million people displaced, and billions worth of crippled businesses and destroyed properties. Occupation forces’ atrocities and violations of basic human rights had been described as appalling, almost unanimously, by local and international human right organizations.

1. Triple failure

In front of this cruel devastation of Somalia by Ethiopia, an arch-enemy of our people, the big western countries continue to maintain a cool and cynical attitude towards the ever festering human tragedy in the country. Security Council Resolutions, issued from time to time, are almost repetitive and devoid of any meaningful guidance to tackle the war and consequent havoc in Somalia. Such resolutions, noticeably, reiterated their support to the transitional system, to maintain the statues quo ante, with implicit aim of legitimizing Ethiopian occupation, and as a tacit approval to perpetuate its criminal operations. These culprits, of the most ruinous war now taking place in Africa, are never mentioned in the documents of UN, let alone taking them to accountability. The UN which was considered in the past as a protector of weak nations, promoter of de-colonization and defender of human dignity and rights, has undergone such a huge metamorphosis to become insensitive to the plight of Somali people, suffering for so long, as a consequence of an unprovoked and illegal alien occupation. We are among nations who had been assisted by UN’s to accomplish their national independence, but ironically we are today compelled to defend our freedom and survival from an undeclared new mandate, which is curbing our sovereignty and oppressing our people, with UN consent. As the Ethiopians are waging a genocidal war, using tanks, heavy artilleries and different poisonous weapons, no body can fool the international opinion by trying to hide the true task for which this proxy army is deployed in Somalia, which is to wage a war of imperialist exposition. 

The forces deployed by Addis-Ababa in Somalia are composed of battalions trained by US army to counter guerilla warfare, presumably, with some Western rudimentary disciplines. However, the Ethiopian soldiery, which is largely indoctrinated with Abyssinians ferocious military tradition, is a brutal and licentious one. He looks at discipline with contempt, and doesn't believe in the practice of rules of engagement. These alien soldiers are taught to crash civilian population, in their own country. Repress dissention in bloody crack downs. The military usually handed down barbaric punishment on poor peasants for suspected muffled murmurs, in Ethiopia. In the war on Somalia, these alien troops are even harsher. They select their quarters inside densely populated districts, with a view to keeping the inhabitants hostages, pillaging, raping and imprisoning. They intentionally depopulate other districts, and occupy civilian houses, hospitals, schools and universities for the same purpose. In so doing they deprive the civilian population of basic social services, which could be available in such circumstances, just to inflict hardest sufferance on victims. When they are attacked they usually run up to their hiding- holes, to shower heavy artillery upon civilian population, and attacking all directions at random, with criminal intention of inflicting highest casualties possible. They can cowardly commit all sorts of violations to civilian population, killing included, without fearing accountability. As we have experienced, through these years of conflict, the war on Somalia, which is presumably an experimental one for future urban guerilla warfare, aims, inter alien at hard-hitting the civilian population, causing them maximum displacement and pain. Destruction of the economy and basic infrastructures are part of this kind of new- war, The evicted and the displaced which are leaving outside Mogadiscio, B/wayne, Baidoa and other towns are kept in hijacking condition. The ransom sought after by occupation forces is capitulation of Resistance forces on their conditions, as its being hinted this days in Djibouti agreement. Fortunately, our fighters will not surrender to enemy arrogance.

The huge losses and suffering of our people notwithstanding, it has become clear, in 28 months of resistance to aggression, that me triple objectives of Ethiopian invasion had ended up in failure. The ill-advised occupation has stirred up the unity of Somalis and their determination to defend their freedom and independence. Volunteers from all walks of life and regions are pouring daily into the National Front of Resistance. Consequently, the purported '"anti-terrorisf1 campaign, policing on behalf of TFG [never performed by Ethiopia], and the imperialist design to conquer Somalia, have all been smashed by Resistance Forces. It was a perfidious plan, from the outset, to entrust Ethiopia with the task of bringing forward peace m Somalia, while it was 'known, by ail countries interested in the Horn affairs, that it has always worked against the re-establishment of a Somali state. As mentioned above, Addis-Ababa has been for decades the exporter and source of instability and turbulence in Somalia. Ethiopia didn't help the transitional system either to spread peace and reconciliation in the country, as it was expected to do, in accordance with previous agreements, reached through the mediation of International Community. Neither was it interested in salvaging the Somali regime. Instead, Ethiopia has embroiled this system in her expansionist war, and shared with it the meager human "and material resources made available by foreign governments, to prop up the TFG. As a result of this policy, the transitional system which was born suffering from asphyxia, now is on its way to breaking up. In 4 years of its existence, the transitional system didn't succeed m controlling any part of Somalia, or to settle down fulfilling any governmental duties.'

1. Djibouti Agreement

This agreement should be correlated with standard behavioral reaction of big powers, dominating the Horn of Africa, and the world at large, who, in the first place, master-minded the so called Djibouti Agreement. Irrespective to the balance of power on the ground, and abstracting from condition of gain and loss of parties in a conflict, these hegemonic imperialists, blinded by unipolar world system, select and decree the winners of these confrontations, who are invariably their warder-protйgйes. The imperial powers dominating militarily and political landscape of our regions, decreed that ARS (real winner of the battle for Somalia) should be the looser, and the moribund regime of Mbagathi the winner, through above agreement. Geeddi Ababow’s Justice would come up with same verdict [the character is the famous |Biiur/Hakaba tyrant of centuries ago]. But this offending logic to human intelligence is becoming a universal norm in international relations. Shakashvili of Georgia, H. Ksrazai of Afghanistan, the military in Pakistan, premiers in Iraq, and other satraps throughout the Third World, are winners, because they are junior partners of US. However, the truth and people’s rights will prevail at the end. At Djibouti, the party claming to represent ARS has been imposed, as a loosing party in a two years old conflict, to sign a document in which they would stop fighting within 30 days from June 9th 2008, signing date of arrangement. Cessation of armed confrontation would follow to cover a period of 90 days, subject to renewal, for another time of the same duration. At the same time they would publicly dissociate themselves from any group opposing the arrangement. In a subsequent stage, the opposition to the agreement would be branded “terrorists”. In exchange of these craftily worked out conditions, the party which negotiated with TFG, obtained a vague promise to the effect that: < within a period of 120 days, from signing of the agreement the TFG will act in accordance with the decision that has already been taken by the Ethiopian Government to withdraw its troops from Somalia {after the deployment of a sufficient number of UN forces>,] We know by comparison that no UN peace keepers would be forthcoming, in the near future. From one side, the opposition offered to disarm itself, on the other legitimized Ethiopian occupation, without obtaining any concession from TFG side.

Consequently, Djibouti arrangement can't be up graded to an agreement reached between two equal parties in conflict, which should have been based on me simple formula of: GIVE and TAKE. It looks like, instead, a document of surrender. In this context, UNSG representative to Somalia Mr. Ahmed Ould Abdalla cannot claim that he has been an honest broker. In a fairer deal the ARS, which controls almost all

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