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The stench of
corruption, embezzlement and scandal is hovering over the
conference hall in Eldoret that should lead the new Kenyan
government to call the Auditor General to examine whether or
not everything is on the up and up, and NOT a private auditing
firm as reported by the media. Members of the civil society
and Somali intellectuals should be represented at the Auditor
General’s committee to help examine the accounting books.
The Technical
Committee has no choice but to release all pertinent
information about the backroom deals and people on the take
and conflicts of interest. There is too much distrust, too
much ill will, too much meaningless talk and no visible end
result. Some delegates left the talks in a huff, saying it was
a waste of time, energy and resources, resources that should
have been diverted to the well being of the suffering masses
in Somalia.
In December,
the Technical Committee raised eyebrows among delegates and
European Union donors after it revealed last month that the
conference is in the red. And when the then Chairman of the
Committee, Mr. Elijah Mwangale was asked to explain the
accounting maneuver, he declined to comment for several days.
Last week, Mr.
Kiplagat, the “new broom” confirmed that there was no
money with which the Technical Committee could run the show.
Given the
track records of the warlords, I have never believed that one
more peace talks would produce any fruit. Veteran Somalia
watchers agree that with several powerful warlords vying for
power in order to maintain the status quo, it’s unlikely
that peace and stability will return to Somalia in the very
near future.
For the first
time the powerful faction leaders face competing challenges
from weaker fringe civil society. Members of the civil society
and the faction leaders are looking at each other
askance—pointing fingers, calling names, and sometimes
engage in fistfights.
It’s not an
image that will be easily erased or sanitized.
One observer
captures the environment in Eldoret perfectly with these
two-liners:
“Had the talks were held in
Somalia, guns would have been used to silence members of the
civil society--Mafia-style.”
But
that’s not the whole picture. Further complicating the murky
situation is the inability of the Kenyan hosts to exclude
certain shady characters from the venue of the talks. Reports
from Eldoret persist that agent provocateur in the pay roll of
Meles Zenawi whose cloak and dagger operations seriously
affected the smooth running of the conference from day one.
Paradoxically,
the same Meles Zenawi gave Abdiqassim, the TNG President, red
carpet reception with full military honour, accompanied by the
national anthems of the two countries on arrival in Addis for
the African Union summit, shelving his relentless refusal to
recognize Abdiqassim as the President of Somalia. Is this Mr.
Zenawi’s version of political yo-yo in the Horn of Africa?
Mr.
Zenawi, the game is over. There’s a new referee out there
now.
The
new Kenyan Foreign Minister, Kalonzo Musyoka told journalists
in Addis he has been able to identify the violators of the
ceasefire agreement, which he said are linked to the delegates
who are now attending in Eldoret.
Professor
Mohamed Abdi Gandhi, the prominent civil society member and
one of the very few intellectuals at the talks, said, “It is
long overdue. They (the
monitors) should have been in place from the beginning.”
Like
the Phoenix, Somalia must rise from the ashes of the clan
wars, peace talks or no peace talks. As our ancestors used to
say: The Miracle of Recovery is Possible.
M.M. Afrah
© 2003
Email: afrah95@hotmail.com
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Mr. Afrah is an outspoken Author/Journalist and
a member of the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
(CJFE) and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ). He contributes hard-hitting articles to Canadian and
international newspapers and magazines on the Somalia
situation "through the eyes of a man who covered the country
for more than two decades".
Many of us remember his critical articles in his
weekly English language HEEGAN newspaper, despite a mandatory
self-censorship introduced by Guddiga Baarista Hisbiga Xisbiga
Hantiwadaagga Somaaliyeed in 1984 and the dreaded NSS. I am
very proud to know that Mr. Afrah openly defied the draconian
censorship laws and went ahead to write what he thought was
wrong in the country. He received several death threats from
the warlords and was briefly held hostage by gunmen in 1993.
But he remained defiant and continued to send his stories of
carnage and destruction to Reuters news agency. He still is!
info@banadir.com
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