Mogadishu (UM) – An extraordinary National Security Council meeting proposed by President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo last week was publicly boycotted by Somalia’s regional leaders after they collectively announced their decision to severe ties with the Central Government. The leaders of the five regional states in Somalia, unified under the newly formed Council for Inter-Governmental Cooperation (CIC), issued a communique under which they suspended their cooperation with the Federal government over alleged grievances about security, national resource sharing and allegations of interference by the Federal Government in local and regional affairs.
As a precondition, the Somali regional leaders issued a statement demanding for a third party mediator and guarantor and a secure venue as a condition to meet with President Farmaajo, days after they severed ties with the Federal government. In a joint communique, the Federal Member state leaders also want the meeting to take place outside Mogadishu claiming that Mogadishu was no longer safe.
The relationship between the centre and its regions is difficult everywhere. The matters of power and resource sharing are challenging in Somalia simply because of the clan structures that the entire political system is built on and the poverty that exists which exacerbates the competition for the scarce resources. Security is a major challenge for both the Federal government and its member states but there is no honour in the public nature of the fight on the part of the Federal member states. There is also great shame in their request for an outside mediator. Somali problems must be resolved by the Somali people in the Somali way which is dialogue. There is clearly misunderstanding and underlining mistrust between the Federal Government and Federal member states but this is all driven by suspicion rather than facts in most cases.
The Federal member states must be congratulated on organising themselves and cooperating to learn from one another but they must never forget that they are part of the wider Somali nation governed from Mogadishu by an elected president and a Prime Minister and a Cabinet their own MP’s have voted for. In the Cabinet, all the Federal member states are represented. In the national institutions, all the Federal member states are represented. In the security sector, again, all are represented. So if there is success or failure, it is common to all.
The issue of resource sharing keeps coming back. In the last Baidoa meeting between the Federal government and Federal member states a formula was agreed. Yet, it is the Federal member states that complain about the request to be more accountable for the fiscal transfers, albeit small, they get from the Federal government. It is they, again, who do not share their budget and resources with the Federal Government. And it is they who have yet to agree on genuine resource sharing believing that everything that comes must be split through the middle. This does not happen anywhere else in the world and it is not logical without a formula guiding it based on needs and available resources.
The Federal Government as a parent must engage with the Federal member states regularly and include them in major consultations. It must be more transparent.
In all fairness, President Farmaajo’s olive branch to the Federal member states was an act of grace but the response from Federal member states requesting a foreign mediation was unconstitutional, shameful and a crime against the people they represent and Somalis at large. This dangerous decision even divided their own leadership with some deputy regional presidents condemning the decision to call in foreigner to mediate Somali issues as unpatriotic move.
Yes, security must improve and more resources must be found and distributed. There must also be more accountability on both sides for Somalia to reach its national goals. However, there is common responsibility for all of these including defeating Alshabaab who no doubt have been given new motivation in their insurgency by this unfortunate and ill-timed saga. If the Federal member state leaders want Somalia to develop and move on to an era of lasting peace and prosperity as they claim, they must stop being an obstacle. History shows that foreign mediation, interference and dirty money has done nothing but undermine Somalia and its people. We cannot go back to this.