Observer: Inside Villa Somalia: 72 hours with the president promising to rebuild his broken country

[bidenkulaha]

Inside Villa Somalia: 72 hours with the president of ‘the most dangerous country in the world’

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says the county’s factions can find peace, political Islam need not be violent and democracy can grow. Here’s his exclusive interview with the Observer

www.theguardian.com

 

[bidenkulaha]

Interesting paragraphs

On the third day the president is late again. Sitting on the asphalt at the airport, Mohamud has been held up by calls with military commanders. This, his aides say, is typical: he is almost always on the phone, receiving battlefield updates and taking an indefatigable interest in the minutiae of the new offensive against the jihadists. It is a strength and a weakness. His predecessor showed barely a flicker of interest in combatting al-Shabaab (his critics accused him of being more focused on eliminating political rivals), but Mohamud shows commitment to the fight. He is a micromanager who relies on a tiny circle of trusted advisers. But Somalia’s problems are too deeply entrenched, cutting across too many social and religious cleavages for any single person to provide a solution.

The president seems tired, pausing occasionally mid-conversation to gaze out of the window. His hours are gruelling: 20 hours a day, seven days a week. Yet as the conversation moves from the headline purpose of the trip (the inauguration of a new port in Puntland, the oldest and most powerful of the federal member states), to more philosophical questions about nation-building, he becomes animated. Mohamud has an academic bent, and reflects on what he considers to be the roots of Somalia’s troubles: the clans; the legacy of military rule; alien forms of violent Islam. “I believe a democratic state can be built in Somalia,” he tells me. “And that is the only way out.”

The threat from al-Shabaab is real – and unpredictable. Soldiers are pictured from within a secure vehicle during a journey around the Mogadishu.

Yet Mohamud is also a proud nationalist, and he bridles when asked about the tag that bedevils his country. “Yes, we were a failed state. But now there is a state, however weak it is,” he says. “The challenge is to move from being a fragile state to being a fully functional one.”


This will require what Max Weber, the German sociologist, called the “slow boring of hard boards” – the patient pursuit of incremental change, however long the road may seem. His goal is to “set the foundations” for recovery and, at his age, he knows he is unlikely to see that in his lifetime. But he believes change is possible. “The only agenda I have is to see Somalia back on its own feet,” he says. “There’s nothing else I want in life.”

The world has cottoned onto the fraud that was Farmaajo

Whether Mohamud is popular among the wider public is open to question. The jingoistic Farmaajo pumped money into public relations and has an active army of loyalists on social media. There is little reliable polling in Somalia, and journalists are far too constrained by security risks to assess public opinion beyond Mogadishu. The scene at the plaza is too stage-managed to provide a definitive answer. Within seconds of the president leaving the podium he is back behind tinted car windows, speeding along the tree-shaded avenue in the cavalcade to Villa Somalia.

The next day is the inauguration of a mass tree-planting campaign. The venue is a plaza in the old city centre, beneath the striking husk of Somalia’s first parliament building, destroyed during the civil war of the 1980s but kept in ruin as a memorial. In opposition, Mohamud helped to organise a march that was to end symbolically at its steps, to protest against the postponement of elections by Farmaajo. Farmaajo’s election shenanigans had tipped the country into a new crisis, and were part of what prompted Mohamud to run again for the presidency. But, before the march could begin, soldiers loyal to Farmaajo raided the hotel where Mohamud was staying – a move he considers an attempt on his life.

 

[GemState]

Good to see he's committed to a democracy, big redflag that he thinks political Islam will lead to anything good. But perhaps it's part of the growing pains.

 

[anon2]

Both (Farmaajo/HSM) were bad and are bad. HSM is a favorite of mainstream western and british media for some reason. Only way to maintain the very little semi-"sovereignty" (that some regions/parts/remnants of the old Somali Republic have due to Federalism) is to keep these autonomous states and not force centralization like HSM/Farmaajo have been trying to do or join any unions with neighboring countries. If HSM proposed a centralized nationwide police force and helped continue rebuilding the army instead disbanding some battalions that would be nice. Also training them all in once place that isn't the UAE/Ethiopia/Kenya/Eritrea that would be step in the right direction. I know some of you shill for HSM due to clan affiliation but it would be nice to see a little more criticism here or else you are no different than CBB, just my 2 cents.

 

[GemState]

Both (Farmaajo/HSM) were bad and are bad. HSM is a favorite of mainstream western and british media for some reason. Only way to maintain the very little semi-"sovereignty" (that some regions/parts/remnants of the old Somali Republic have due to Federalism) is to keep these autonomous states and not force centralization like HSM/Farmaajo have been trying to do or join any unions with neighboring countries. If HSM proposed a centralized nationwide police force and helped continue rebuilding the army instead disbanding some battalions that would be nice. Also training them all in once place that isn't the UAE/Ethiopia/Kenya/Eritrea that would be step in the right direction. I know some of you shill for HSM due to clan affiliation but it would be nice to see a little more criticism here or else you are no different than CBB, just my 2 cents.

5 years of Farmaajo and Shabaab were close to taking over xaafads in Xamar, less than a year of HSM and Hirshabelle and Xaradheere are both taken back.

f*ck this "Uh ackshually they're both as bad as each other mmkay?"

 

[bidenkulaha]

5 years of Farmaajo and Shabaab were close to taking over xaafads in Xamar, less than a year of HSM and Hirshabelle and Xaradheere are both taken back.

f*ck this "Uh ackshually they're both as bad as each other mmkay?"

You said it better than I ever could. It’s like those stupid Bernie Bros who said there’s no difference between Clinton and Trump in 2016. I don’t like suffering such fools

 

[Hilmaam]

1 year of HSM or 5 years . keep using farmajo as excuse for 30 years of failure.

 

[Avalanche]

This guy got 20 kids

 

[anon2]

5 years of Farmaajo and Shabaab were close to taking over xaafads in Xamar, less than a year of HSM and Hirshabelle and Xaradheere are both taken back.

f*ck this "Uh ackshually they're both as bad as each other mmkay?"

That is just my opinion, Also I didn't say both were equally as bad as each other. I said both were bad. I think HSM is incompetent when it comes to foreign policy. Just like Farmaajo. Both don't realize that they carry weight and can use it to assure the sovereignty of the state they head but would rather just be competent with being vassals to Arabs/Kenyans. Somalis coast alone is a huge bargaining chip despite the instability issue and could be use to achieve some sort of leverage instead of just sighing off resources for nothing. Also if Al Shabab is fully defeated I will give credit where credit is due. I do think what the local militias were able to do is impressive defeating these terrorists is good for all of us.

 

[bidenkulaha]

Good to see he's committed to a democracy, big redflag that he thinks political Islam will lead to anything good. But perhaps it's part of the growing pains.

We need to complete this mufti council, that should reduce the impact random khawarij have on shaping Islam as most people can look at up to and respect their rulings.

Separate that from politics for sure. Too easy to abuse religion as a political device, similar to nationalism. Both are corrosive to good governance and we should aim to educate the population as well as not allow any avenues that can lead to populism to prosper in our future electoral system.

But HSM roots are in political Islam. UPD/damuljadiid is an offshoot of Ikhawn so it’s unreasonable to expect him to ditch it even if he might’ve mellowed over the years.

 

[bidenkulaha]

That is just my opinion, I think HSM is incompetent when it comes to foreign policy. Just like Farmaajo. Both don't realize that they carry weight and can use it to assure the sovereignty of the state they head but would rather just be competent with being vassals to Arabs/Kenyans. Somalis coast alone is a huge bargaining chip despite the instability issue and could be use to achieve some sort of leverage instead of just sighing off resources for nothing. Also if Al Shabab is fully defeated I will give credit where credit is due. I do think what the local militias were able to do is impressive defeating these terrorists is good for all of us.

Somalia’s coastline isn’t a bargaining chip. We don’t have control over it. Anyone can fish in it and we have no legal recourse or navy muscle to defend if.

So no, no Somali President has ‘leverage’. They are powerless beyond Banadir to select FMS leaders so Ethiopia and Kenya can decide on what they like and don’t like given they control most of the FMS’s. Hence why Farmaajo choose to be a complete Ethiopian puppet so he could use them to replace FMS leaders he didn’t like.

At least with HSM he is trying to reduce the influence our neighbours have over our foreign policy but he can only do that with international support from the US and waging a war on Shabaab so the SNA has more control over the other states even if they’re still puppets of Ethiopia/Kenya in the short term before they eventually have to pull out.

 

[johnsepei5]

Somalia’s coastline isn’t a bargaining chip. We don’t have control over it. Anyone can fish in it and we have no legal recourse or navy muscle to defend if.

So no, no Somali President has ‘leverage’. They are powerless beyond Banadir to select FMS leaders so Ethiopia and Kenya can decide on what they like and don’t like given they control most of the FMS’s. Hence why Farmaajo choose to be a complete Ethiopian puppet so he could use them to replace FMS leaders he didn’t like.

At least with HSM he is trying to reduce the influence our neighbours have over our foreign policy but he can only do that with international support from the US and waging a war on Shabaab so the SNA has more control over the other states even if they’re still puppets of Ethiopia/Kenya in the short term before they eventually have to pull out.

Ethiopia controls the fms?

 

[Rationale]

Somalia’s coastline isn’t a bargaining chip. We don’t have control over it. Anyone can fish in it and we have no legal recourse or navy muscle to defend if.

So no, no Somali President has ‘leverage’. They are powerless beyond Banadir to select FMS leaders so Ethiopia and Kenya can decide on what they like and don’t like given they control most of the FMS’s. Hence why Farmaajo choose to be a complete Ethiopian puppet so he could use them to replace FMS leaders he didn’t like.

At least with HSM he is trying to reduce the influence our neighbours have over our foreign policy but he can only do that with international support from the US and waging a war on Shabaab so the SNA has more control over the other states even if they’re still puppets of Ethiopia/Kenya in the short term before they eventually have to pull out.

Tigray war was a blessing, otherwise we would've been an extension of K5.

 

[0117]

Great article and HSM works 24/7 for the Federal Government of Somalia.I'm surprised he hasn't taken any breaks given his age.

A Somalian that stayed in Somalia post 91 and got to where he is now through his two decade long civil work.

Only a true Somalian and not a "diaspora" can guide Somalia to stability and a bright future.

Notice if you go on TWT about this article you'll see N&N bots complaining and sharing negativity.

How often does Somalia even get positive inghts in the news!

True qaran dumis they are

Tackling AS through finance,Idealogy and military

 

[Calaami]

Very nice article. Surprised nobody noticed HSM painted the Mogadishu faction leaders with the warlord brush.