Somalia- hindered by it's own government? Part 2

Back to Somalia. In this post, I’ll be looking at an EU initiative to train the Somali army, along with political factions inside Somalia.

Towards the end of 2010, the EU announced a new training program for Somali troops. It was well-documented in the international media, and was touted as one of the rays of hope for a peaceful Somalia. The recruits were portrayed as determined and motivated, and the whole thing positively reeked of a propaganda exercise. 

The best part about the training? It’s taking place in neighboring Uganda. What does that mean? In Iraq and Afghanistan, the coalition forces trained local government forces in the country, with exercises all over the two countries. The current Transitional Federal Government doesn’t control much, if any, of the country, and it certainly doesn’t have the space or the security to allow the new recruits or their EU instructors to work in relative peace. 

That brings us to the next topic for this post; how effective is the current government? The BBC recently estimated that there were about twenty governments in Somalia that could be considered semi-legitimate. What?! That sounds about nineteen too many! #TNREgirl is (perhaps naturally) quite confused. How can one country have that many governments? Well the answer to that is rather a complex one, but the gist of it is that a large number of states in the breakaway north have declared themselves independent.  (This is largely a result of the division of Somalia into a Northern protectorate and a Southern trusteeship under the Italians) Add to that the largely militant south, and the pirate belt, and there you have it. In fact, the names of some of the pirate organisations reflect how they consider themselves; one of the largest groups is called the National Volunteer Coast Guard. Bear in mind that the primary motive remains monetary, but it's not common to hear of intense nationalism within these pirate groups. 

The current Transitional Federal Government is of course the only one of these governments recognized internationally, but one only has to look at its current make up to discern exactly what the problem is. I turn to this rather convoluted explanation of the parliament.

“Each of the four major clans holds 61 seats, while an alliance of minority clans holds 31 seats. After an alliance with the Islamic Courts Union and other Islamist groups was formed, the Islamists were awarded 200 seats. Representatives of citizens' groups and representatives of the Somali diaspora hold 75 seats. By law, at least 12% of all representatives must be women. Members of parliament are selected through traditional clan leaders or shura councils.”

This is an unwieldy, archaic system that has hindered Somalia’s transition to democracy after the fall of Barre’s dictatorship in 1991. Intra- and inter-party friction is a well-known feature of Somali politics. Parliamentary reform to an equitably representative system is of the utmost importance. Analysts doubt the efficacy of Somalia’s government to do anything of value until this reform takes place.

"If you have a political class that is consumed by its own power games, where the politicians are at each other’s throats and day by day the situation looks hopeless politically, it is dangerous"

-Rashid Abdi, International Crisis Group