Mark Twain one said, “Get your facts first, and then you can
distort them as you please.” When news of his demise spread like wildfire, Twain
astutely remarked, “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
Last week, Somali President
Hassan S. Mohamoud had his Mark Twain moment. When Turkey sent a special plane to
take Mohamoud to Istanbul, the Somali Government spokesman told the mass media
the president was having a medical check-up. Several Somali websites reported
that the president was suffering from a stress-related condition and he had
been placed in intensive care; others even floated the bizarre idea that he had
actually died.
After several days of silence, President
Mohamoud gave a five-minute interview to Radio Mogadishu. He was furious he had
been reported dead or was in intensive care. He contradicted his spokesman and
stated he had come to Turkey to visit his wife and children. And yes, he’d had
a medical check-up and the results were great. The president said he was healthy and did not need
to take an aspirin.
A simple question about his health
that required a simple answer morphed into a tirade against his rivals that
lasted several minutes. “These rumors and innuendos are the work of the enemies
of the Somali people,” he warned. “In fact, these gossip-mongers are supporters
of Al-Shabaab.” To emphasize his fitness, the president asserted, “I am 100%
healthy,” six times in five minutes. The repetition of the word “healthy” was
accompanied by a dire threat to his enemies. “I ordered the Prime Minister and
the Minister of National Security to investigate the people behind these false
reports,” he added.
For the president, this has been
a winter of discontent.
First, the West has abandoned his
government. Last year, his government was heralded as the best option for ending
Somalia’s two decades of chaos and anarchy. Western donors met in Brussels and
pledged $2.5 billion to help the country rebuild itself from the ashes of ruin.
British Prime Minister David Cameron convened an international conference in
London to help Mohamoud and his government. Mohamoud also got a warm welcome in
Washington, Rome, Tokyo, and other capitals.
Last July, the Somali government
suffered a setback when the United Nations Monitoring Group for Somalia and
Eritrea accused it of systemic corruption. The report concluded that 80% of aid
given to the regime was missing, and the Somali Central Bank had become a
“slush fund,” for the country’s officials. The bank’s governor was forced out
and replaced by Yusur Abrar, a former Citigroup vice president. Then, the
shocker came when Abrar herself resigned from her post after only seven weeks
in office. She accused top government officials of graft and of pressuring her
to open an account in Dubai so that funds from the Gulf States could be
funneled through it instead of being deposited in the central bank. It was
embarrassing for the government that Abrar had submitted her resignation in the
UAE where she felt safer after assassination threats against her in Mogadishu.
Her resignation was so damaging to Mohamoud’s reputation that Western donors
withheld all aid to Somalia. Mogadishu has yet to receive a penny from the $2.5
billion pledged by these Western donors.
Second, Turkey, the only
government that had been transparently providing cash aid ($4.5 million a
month) directly to the Somali Government cut its aid in late December, 2013. When a Turkish official was asked if aid would
be resumed, he said, “We have no such plans at this stage. It is not our
agenda.” Fortunately for Mohamoud, his government is still getting millions of
dollars from Qatar and other Gulf States, monies whose size and frequency have
never been revealed.
Third, Al-Shabaab has intensified
its bombings in Mogadishu, especially of the presidential compound. These
terror acts are unprecedented in their ferocity and frequency. The lack of
safety in the capital is a manifestation of the regime’s inability to reign in
the terror group. Recently, James Clapper, the American Director of National Intelligence,
accused Mohamoud of being weak and for heading a regime marred by chronic political
infighting. To add insult to injury, a confidential report by the UN Monitoring
Group for Somalia and Eritrea, that was leaked to Reuters this month, accused the
Somali government of diversion of arms to Al-Shabaab. “A key adviser to the
president, from his Abgaal sub-clan, has been involved in planning weapons
deliveries to Al-Shabaab leader Yusuf Isse Kabatukade who is also Abgaal,”
the report stated. These were weapons the government purchased as part of the
partial lifting of the UN arms embargo last year. This is not the first time
Mohamoud has been accused of having ties with Al-Shabaab. Last August, in an
interview with a Somali channel, former prime minister and current
parliamentarian Ali Khalif Galeyr accused Mohamoud of being in cahoots with
Al-Shabaab. According to Galeyr, PM David Cameron of Britain had withdrawn an
invitation to Mohamoud to attend the G-8 summit when the ties between Somali
officials and Al-Shabaab leaders were uncovered.
The reports of Mohamoud’s ill health
are indeed exaggerated. However, what is not in doubt is his growing isolation
from the international community, especially Western donors and Turkey, a
country that has been a stalwart supporter of Mogadishu. Mohamoud might claim
to be as fit as a fiddle, but his government today is ailing with endemic problems
of corruption, lack of financial resources, serious security matters, and poor
leadership.
(Reprinted with permission from African Arguments, February 18, 2014).
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