SOMALIA: UNPRECEDENTED MARRIAGE TO ETHIOPIA ERODES SOVEREIGNTY
January 18, 2021
By Faisal A. Roble
Awkward and discomforting stories emerging from Mogadishu of unabashed coziness of Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo with Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed symbolizes the erosion of Somalia’s fledgling recovery from collapse to a tutelage state of Ethiopia.
PM Abiy Ahmed (left) with President Farmaajo
Regrettably, subjecting Somali social psychology to the very force that colonized, humiliated, and massacred their forefathers is a clear vilification of the pride of Somalis; and this will be a poignantly agonizing legacy of Farmajo.
By casting his lot with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who is pushing an ideology of pax-Ethiopiana, Somalia is at the pinnacle of what the late Somali Historian, Said Samater, lamented “Somalia: too far from Allah and too close to Ethiopia.” Alas, Barkhad Cas’ wailing words “Aan ooye albaabka iixdha!” or when translated, “please give me privacy so I can cry” is a timely phrase for Somalis to invoke.
Before the collapse of the state, Somalia had a clear strategy towards its neighbors. However, since then, Somalia largely became a tributary state of Ethiopia by design. Ethiopia succeeded to access the inner sanctum of Somalia when it created its offices inside the presidential compound in Mogadishu as far back as 2007.
In December 2006, the erstwhile dictator of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, invaded Somalia with the tacit approval of the Bush administration and some of its leaders. A surviving member of that group who gave Ethiopia the green light to invade Somalia serves in an advisory capacity to Farmajo.
Both the United Nations and the African Union are culprits in this devious design of condemning future generations of Somalia to cede their hard-won self-determination to Ethiopia, Africa’s only imperial power that has colonized Oromo, Somali, Afar, Benishangul, and other Cushitic nations and nationalities.
The loss of Somalia’s sovereignty had partly happened because of a hastily concocted United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNISOM) which lasted between 1991 to 1995.
Per Resolution 733, 774 et al, what started as a UN mission to safeguard aid to victims of conflict is today morphed into the corrupt African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Besides Uganda, Ethiopian military establishment dominates AMISON’s operations which technically puts Somalia under the heavy hand of Ethiopian military establishment.
Ethiopian troops are over 5,000 registered by AMISOM, and another 2,000 soldiers outside the mandate of AMISOM. Combined, this is a mighty force that alters the balance of power in Somalia.
The “war on terror” sponsored by the United States under President Bush is also to blame for subjecting Somalia to this detrimental UN mandate, which gave its two neighbors of Ethiopia and Kenya the chance to come through the backdoor and dominate Somali affairs.
Since Farmajo took office in February 2017, the past intrusive hand of TPLF personified by one colonel Gebre has given way to Prime Minister Abiy’s total yet subtle domination of the Somali state. In the last two years, President Farmajo degraded Somalia to become Ethiopia’s sphere of influence.
In return, Ethiopia helped Farmajo to install the new president of Southwest with the murder of over 11 civilians. To make matters worse, Eritrean commandos serving Prime Abiy’s objectives were authorized by Farmajo to overthrow Jubbaland’s Madobe but to no avail.
Just like the Russian roulette, the Kenyan Major General George Owinow of Kenyan Defense forces passed last week the button to Ethiopia’s Major General Gerbi Reggase Kebada of Ethiopian National Defense Forces.
This came at the request of President Farmajo, an indication of his unabashed gravitation towards Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia.
Three interrelated developments during Farmajo’s reign indicate the deterioration of Somalia’s sovereignty and its free fall into the sphere of influence of its historical nemesis:
January 18, 2021
By Faisal A. Roble
Awkward and discomforting stories emerging from Mogadishu of unabashed coziness of Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo with Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed symbolizes the erosion of Somalia’s fledgling recovery from collapse to a tutelage state of Ethiopia.
Regrettably, subjecting Somali social psychology to the very force that colonized, humiliated, and massacred their forefathers is a clear vilification of the pride of Somalis; and this will be a poignantly agonizing legacy of Farmajo.
By casting his lot with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who is pushing an ideology of pax-Ethiopiana, Somalia is at the pinnacle of what the late Somali Historian, Said Samater, lamented “Somalia: too far from Allah and too close to Ethiopia.” Alas, Barkhad Cas’ wailing words “Aan ooye albaabka iixdha!” or when translated, “please give me privacy so I can cry” is a timely phrase for Somalis to invoke.
Before the collapse of the state, Somalia had a clear strategy towards its neighbors. However, since then, Somalia largely became a tributary state of Ethiopia by design. Ethiopia succeeded to access the inner sanctum of Somalia when it created its offices inside the presidential compound in Mogadishu as far back as 2007.
In December 2006, the erstwhile dictator of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, invaded Somalia with the tacit approval of the Bush administration and some of its leaders. A surviving member of that group who gave Ethiopia the green light to invade Somalia serves in an advisory capacity to Farmajo.
Both the United Nations and the African Union are culprits in this devious design of condemning future generations of Somalia to cede their hard-won self-determination to Ethiopia, Africa’s only imperial power that has colonized Oromo, Somali, Afar, Benishangul, and other Cushitic nations and nationalities.
The loss of Somalia’s sovereignty had partly happened because of a hastily concocted United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNISOM) which lasted between 1991 to 1995.
Per Resolution 733, 774 et al, what started as a UN mission to safeguard aid to victims of conflict is today morphed into the corrupt African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Besides Uganda, Ethiopian military establishment dominates AMISON’s operations which technically puts Somalia under the heavy hand of Ethiopian military establishment.
Ethiopian troops are over 5,000 registered by AMISOM, and another 2,000 soldiers outside the mandate of AMISOM. Combined, this is a mighty force that alters the balance of power in Somalia.
The “war on terror” sponsored by the United States under President Bush is also to blame for subjecting Somalia to this detrimental UN mandate, which gave its two neighbors of Ethiopia and Kenya the chance to come through the backdoor and dominate Somali affairs.
Since Farmajo took office in February 2017, the past intrusive hand of TPLF personified by one colonel Gebre has given way to Prime Minister Abiy’s total yet subtle domination of the Somali state. In the last two years, President Farmajo degraded Somalia to become Ethiopia’s sphere of influence.
In return, Ethiopia helped Farmajo to install the new president of Southwest with the murder of over 11 civilians. To make matters worse, Eritrean commandos serving Prime Abiy’s objectives were authorized by Farmajo to overthrow Jubbaland’s Madobe but to no avail.
Just like the Russian roulette, the Kenyan Major General George Owinow of Kenyan Defense forces passed last week the button to Ethiopia’s Major General Gerbi Reggase Kebada of Ethiopian National Defense Forces.
This came at the request of President Farmajo, an indication of his unabashed gravitation towards Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia.
Three interrelated developments during Farmajo’s reign indicate the deterioration of Somalia’s sovereignty and its free fall into the sphere of influence of its historical nemesis:
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