By Ahmed Osman, Jijiga
Galbeed editorial

Leadership Crisis in Somali Region

From the oil fields of Somali Region, to the diamond and copper fields of Gambelas, to the rich mineral deposits of the Great Awash lake region of Afar, to the mountain ranges, plains and tourist havens of Oromo land, the country of Ethiopia is undoubtedly blessed. However, Meles Zenawi and his ethnic group are in control and looting by force. The recent killing of nine Chinese oil drillers illustrated how the Tigreans exploiting the resources of the country without involving the native people frustrated Ethiopian Somalis. The heart of the problem is leadership crisis emanated from Federal Government and the Regional state.

From these blessings, however, much sorrow has flowed. During the military regime of Mengistu Hailemariam, most Ethiopians did not benefit from the country’s resources. Ethiopian economy was geared toward socialist mode of production. It was primarily focused on cultivating raw materials for export, and roads, health care, and other infrastructure were available only in areas where those materials were produced.

The end of Derg regime unleashed struggles for political control, social emancipation, and access to resources — struggles that, in turn, have degenerated into conflicts and internecine wars. Retarded in its development, unbridled in its lust for power, steeped in official corruption, chaotic in its political engineering, Ethiopian regime of Meles Zenawi and his cabinet are now sprinting toward total collapse.

The regime of Meles Zenawi is not drawing a lesson from the past African leaders who were overthrown, who were killed and who were jailed because of their mismanagement and corrupted system of governance. He is pushing the wrong button since he is managing and ruling by forces. His memory is very short and shallow. He is also thinking in bush style of saber rattling instead of dialogue and political consensus.

When Tigrean People Liberation Front took the power, everybody thought that they learned a valuable lesson from their past guerrilla warfare and they did not dare to impose their will on the people, but their acts reminded us that power has been historically corrupting human being unless they follow rule of law, democracy and justice. For example, we have witnessed in Somali Region that many Tigreans origin have got rich in overnight. We are talking about millionaires. In other words, the Tigreans are only given permission to invest in Oromo, Somali and Afar regions while the natives are forced to be exiled, to be jailed on fabricated history and to be killed on the pretext of being part of terrorism and against peace.

History has showed that in the post-colonial period, many African leaders have exerted dictatorial control over their societies. Through their undemocratic policies, they have spread dissatisfaction among the people, which has manifested over time in nationalistic feelings and even popular rebellions. These political tensions, in turn, have generated fierce conflicts over resource control. The same scenario is currently unfolding in Ethiopia. In every region of Ethiopia, insurgents are fighting to liberate their lands. The people are forced to take arms to fight for their survival. Meles Zenawi is one of the worst leaders in Horn of Africa. He is ruling with iron fist and is imposing his ephemeral power on the people of Somalis, Oromo, Afar and Gambelas while his own ethnic group is looting the resources of the regions of these oppressed nations.

Much of the blame for Ethiopians recent spiral of violence belongs to generations of opportunistic and venal Ethiopian leaders, who have done little to develop their societies and emancipate their peoples. The so-called ministers of Meles’s cabinet are handpicked by the Tigrean and they are only there to be used against other ethnic particularly Amhara ethnic group whom the Tigrean is considered as threat to their power. For instance, Minister of Tourism, Mohamed Dirir, is a token that insults Amhara ethnic to be chauvinist and settlers; on the contrary, Tigrean are the real settlers and oppressor in Ethiopia. Their schemes are geared to dividing and ruling in the name of ethnicity empowerment while they field in any position their own ethnic group, Tigrean and its servants. All the key positions of Federal government are filled with Tigrean; they are 3.5 millions, but they have five Ministers and 71 members in the parliament; however, Ethiopian Somalis are 4 to 5 millions, but they have only one Minister in the Federal government. He is a yes man to their myopic and narrow political manipulation. The same could be said in any region of Ethiopia.

It is not Ethiopian Somalis that are governing Somali State, but a certain Tigrean , Abay Tsaye, who has the power to change the so-called President. Seven Presidents have been removed in the last sixteen years. In the same vein, Somali Region President, Abdillahi Hassen, who is the worst leader that somali regional state has known, is nominated because he married to a Tigrean lady. He does not have any a clue how to manage state let alone to express his opinion on public arena except echoing the statement of Meles, Sebhate and Abay Tsaye; the worse of Somali Region is the quotas style of sharing power. Former Minister of Federal of regional state, Abay Tsaye, has promulgated that Somali Region’s president should be from Ogaden clan, the Vice President must be an Issa clan and the speaker has to be an Isaaq; this is truly antiquity system of governance. In the 21 century, one can not share power through genetics, but it should be by merit. Somali Region is inhabited by many clans who live peacefully and share power for century.

Further, Ethiopian Somalis, Oromos, Afars and Gambelas do not have the right to manage its own regional state. Thousand of people of those regions are jailed, executed or forced to flee their land. The recent wave of killing in Somali Region is another form of stifling the rights of people. Meles ‘s happy triggered soldiers are prohibited food , raped women, strangulated elderly, and burnt villages in the name of fighting terrorism.

An elderly Ethiopian Somali lamented, “When Amhara was in the power seat, they limited themselves in the politics, but the Tigrean does not allow us anything; they loot the resources, they kill our children, they rape our women and they destroy the social fabric of Ethiopian-ness. It will take a generation to overcome their barbaric acts.”

On the election of 2005, the token Minister, Dirir and his thugs went to Somali Region and opposed that Kinijit could not be allowed to compete to any seat. To add insult to injury, four Ethiopian Somali parties were instructed to stay home in the election days and did not participate . Dirir and a few opportunists were giving money to the leaders of the parties and jailed some of them that questioned their acts. For instance, Western Somali Party leader, the brother of a well respected former Ethiopian Somali Politician Peter Roble, was harassed not to think about involving in the election. He was told that EPRDF is the only party in Ethiopia. This echoes the old one party style of Soviet Republic. Dirir and his gang fielded only EPRDF loyal members to take part in the election since they were implementing the order given to them by the TPLF thugs.

Moreover, the expansion of corporate dominance has accentuated the steady descent into near economic strangulation and political chaos. Many transnational corporations have acted as economic predators in Ethiopia, gobbling up national resources, distorting national economic policies, exploiting and changing labor relations, committing environmental despoliation, violating sovereignties, and manipulating government and the media. In order to ensure uninterrupted access to resources, TNCs have also supported repressive corrupted leaders such as Meles Zenawi and his warlords, and guerrilla fighters, thus serving as catalysts for lethal conflict and impeding prospects for development and peace.

In addition, the West has supported Meles and his kind of leaders by calling them “The new breed of African Leader”; however, the reality is far from it. Meles Zenawi and his thugs based upon one and only one party system is maiming and killing Ethiopian people.

At the advent of the new millennium, Ethiopia is hurting badly. Most parts of the country are embroiled in ethnic conflicts, violent wars for political and resource control, and cross-border conflicts. The opposition groups are in full geared to unseat Meles Zenawi’s regime and the biggest problem of this turmoil is the crisis of leadership in the Federal government and regional state. The current regime did not want to make operational what it couches in the constitution. On the contrary, a certain token Ministers and regional state official are implementing the instructions that are given by the Tigrean ethnic who are in the power seat. For example, for the first time in the Somali Region history, a Tigrean person is nominated in the security position. This shows how much woyanes people are violating the new constitution that they pretend Ethiopian people have endorsed.

In conclusion, the exploitation has resulted in serious environmental damage, developmental neglect, human-rights abuses, economic oppression, and inequitable resource allocation. These abuses, and the need for redress, are at the heart of the conflict in Ethiopia. In recent months, calls for emancipation by rebels of every region have grown louder. The only lasting solution is to redress the injustice and implement rule of law when all Ethiopian are permitted to participate in the process of power sharing. Western World should enforce rule of law, democracy and other form social equities in Ethiopia.

Ahmed Osman can be reached at [email protected]