There are many conflicts which are taking place in many parts of the world; hence conflicts make an important part of the current issues. It was week three when Dr. Foisy delivered an exciting lecture about conflicts. We learnt how conflicts happen, their nature and the best ways of solving it during the lecture. However, in this piece of writing I will focus on “The Somali Conflict” which resulted in the death, starvation and displacement of millions of people in the horn. I have chosen to share this conflict because my country, Somaliland shared three decades of destiny with Somalia.
Somali is located the southern part of what was called The Greater Somalia and it was colonized by Italy. Meanwhile, Somaliland or commonly known as British protectorate is located the northern part. Somaliland got its dependence on 26 June 1960 and four days later they joined Somalia. Nevertheless, dissimilarities between the two countries led the collapse of the union. The separation took place in 1991, and from that time up to now Somaliland become an independent country which has maintained peace and tranquility. On the other hand, Somali experienced one of the most traumatic civil wars in the continent and there is a widespread destruction of infrastructure. I would like to highlight the root causes of the conflict and then put forward on how it can be solved.
Though the root cause of the catastrophic civil war is argued, one of the biggest causes is tribalism. The country is ruled based on clans, and different clans compete fiercely over the resources and the power. This created hatred among different clans and the scarcity of resource in the regions add strains to the hostility among the clans. Furthermore, superpowers left behind enormous quantity of weaponry after the cold war. In addition to this, the constant flow of weapons to the country has turned the whole land of Somalia into an armed camp, and as result when the international community intervened in Somalia each household had more arms than food, and this is what kept the civil war going. And due to existence of different Islamic extremists such as Alshabab and the support they get other terrorist organizations like Al-Qaida made the situation worse.
The Somali civil war which is considered as the most horrendous civil wars which the continent witnessed has left huge impacts not only Somalia but also the neighboring countries. Millions of lives were claimed and up to the present day large numbers of people are dying. Thousands of Somalis fled to neighboring countries to seek asylum and many others lost their belonging and assets. The war crippled further the instable economy of the country, and 90% of the people depend on remittance from the Somali diaspora. Besides, some civilians experienced torture, rape and other things either from the Somali warlords or the AMISOM troops.
All in all, having experienced a disastrous civil war, Somalis can still turn over the situation and start building their country. This cannot be done if the people depend on foreigners and wait for them to solve the problems. Indeed, the international community cannot solve, rather it is the people who can change their destiny. All clan leaders should understand the importance of unity and team work, together they can achieve peace and solution. In addition to this, the transitional government should stop wasting time by asking aid from other countries. They should start building the bases for new Somalia and later the foreign aid and other things will follow. Lastly, every Somali should take the responsibility of restoring peace in his country specially the diaspora. The diaspora should come back to the country and bring the knowledge they get back to the country. I pray for peace for this weakened nation and as the writer I believe a peaceful Somali will contribute the economic growth of the region which in turn will also help my country and other neighboring countries.