US intervention in Somalia could be the longest-running US war. For more than 27 years, the United States has been involved in this never-ending war in Somalia.
Hargeisa(ANN)-US intervention in Somalia could be the longest-running US war. For more than 27 years, the United States has been involved in this endless war in Somalia, and this involvement has been in a tide, as there have been fights by US allies backed by the US Air Force, and sometimes this war is dormant for periods of time. Long, but never stopped.
From 2007 to 2016, the United States spent about $ 1 billion in aid for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). With reservations, the United States has provided Somalia with about $ 6 billion in aid since 2006.
The question is, what is the goal of the United States to spend all these billions? It seems not much. Somalia remains the most corrupt country on the planet, and al-Shabaab, a branch of al-Qaida, still exists in the country and is even stronger. In fact, Somali President Mohamed Abdulahi Mohamed, known as the Farmajo, whose government is well funded by the United States, does not control much outside the presidential palace.
But on the one hand, the situation in the country known as Somaliland, which has not yet been internationally recognized, looks quite different. It is a former British protectorate located in the far northern part of what was formerly the state of Somalia, before it was divided and civil war broke out. It was declared an independent state from Somalia in 1991. Somaliland formed its own government, drafted a constitution, and held parliamentary elections. So far, three heads of state have been elected. Although Somaliland receives little or no assistance and cannot obtain international loans because it is not recognized by the international community, it has been able to accomplish everything Somalia has failed to achieve. Somaliland has an effective and active government that provides security and many other services. The capital of Somaliland, Hargeisa, is perhaps the fastest growing city in Africa, where crime is low and unusual. Most importantly, al-Shabaab finds Somaliland hard to establish itself, impose its values and recruit its youth, at least for now.
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How does Somaliland manage to achieve all this while Somalia has consistently failed to provide security and stability to its citizens despite billions of dollars in aid from the international community? This question was addressed to the President of Somaliland, Musa Behe Abdi, in a recent interview. Abdi said: «The simplest answer to this question is the security we achieve in our country, it opens the door to the success of other things, and the second answer is that we do things ourselves and ourselves and our way, and we do not have a government system imposed on us from abroad, but we are developing our system, “It is still a process.”
Abdi was a pilot and an army officer, and a military attaché under the dictator, Siad Barre. As Berri became more repressive and tyrannical, Abdi defected from him and joined the Somali National Movement, which was fighting to overthrow Siad Barre and his regime to rid Somalia of its evil. The oppression and persecution of a land regime against Somaliland culminated when it bombed the city of Hargeisa and almost fully equipped it, despite being the largest city in Somaliland. It now contains many of the mass graves of the victims of the ground bombing, which have yet to be revealed and the identity of the victims.
Abdi said: «I was an officer in the regular army, and in the Somali National Movement, and although there are big differences between the two sides, but one thing was the same on both sides, is that trust between you and the people that make you succeed, and if you do not have hearts “You don’t have anything. In Somalia, the government of that country doesn’t have that confidence.”
In fact, al-Shabaab terrorist organization often enjoys the trust of the people more than the Somali government, although al-Shabaab is a brutal terrorist organization that never cares to kill civilians, use children in suicide bombings, and apply the harshest penalties one can hear against Civilians. However, this brutal organization is different from the Somali government, as it is more efficient in managing its affairs than the Somali government, it is predictable, it is less corrupt than the Somali government, and the result of the alarming security apparatus owned by Al-Shabaab, known as Omniyat. “He has the edge over most of Somalia,” said a security analyst based in the capital, Mogadishu, who did not give his name. In every government ministry, even in a security agency There is almost nothing that al-Shabaab does not know in Somalia, so their control is almost universal in the area of security and intelligence.
Michael Horton of the Jamestown Foundation
Somaliland needs aid and loans
“Youth are the most vulnerable to groups like the terrorist youth organization. We have to be able to invest far more than we do now in education, and we have to give them opportunities to work,” says Moussa Behe Abdi. To achieve this goal, Abdi’s government must bring in a lot of investment that will allow the creation of more jobs in the country, so as to ease the high unemployment rate.
“Yes, we want investments and we need aid and loans,” Abdi said. But we know that this aid can be a double-edged sword, and certainly it cannot make us corrupt, as in Somalia; but after nearly 30 years of independence and state-building, Somaliland is ready for meaningful aid.
Instead of continuing to provide millions of dollars to the government, which has been a failed state for decades in Mogadishu, the United States should acknowledge Somaliland’s achievements by providing the aid and investment Somaliland needs to sustain those achievements. In Somaliland, the United States could get a real ally in the region, knowing how to fight and defeat terrorist militia groups such as al-Shabab, while accepting many of the values that have made the United States what it is now powerful, great and wealthy. .
Cooperation between the people and government agencies to achieve security
Somaliland’s president, Musa Bihi Abdi, likes to drive, and often drives and navigates where he wants when he is in the capital, even in an armored Landcruiser. “We depend on our people for our security, they are the foundation on which we build everything,” Abdi said. “Yes, we have an effective police force, rapid response units and intelligence services. But most of all, it is the people of Somaliland who tell us.” What we want to know, and they know when a suspicious person enters their community that they should be reported to the security forces, they rush to inform us, and without this state of cooperation between the people and government agencies, the best intelligence services and most counterterrorism forces equipped with the best equipment, will fail to Achieve security and stability, of course there is nothing can a He replaces human intelligence, and that’s what we have here. He is a vigilant and cautious people who want to preserve the gains that we have struggled to achieve: stability and security.
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But despite Somaliland’s achievements in governance, security and stability, there are limits to what can be achieved, given the lack of bank loans from international institutions and little international assistance. Somaliland appears to be butting the wall, and cannot climb it without careful and thoughtful aid.
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Somaliland spends about 40% of its national budget on security, so little is left to spend on other equally important areas, such as education and health care. Youth unemployment is above 70%, and like many countries in the region there is a significant increase in the number of young people.
