Thursday 24 March 2011
Sunday 13 February 2011
Revolution in Egypt, an example for Somalia?
Many have been wondering about how we can import the successful and peaceful Egyptian revolution that managed in ousting a long serving and deeply entrenched, corrupt and dictatorial regime to the Somali context.
But the move looks mere wishful thinking rather than practical one and even could be suicidal when you consider the fact that the two countries' situations are different in every way you look.
Egypt has been ruled unbroken by one despotic ruler for the past three decades and the country has been largely stable despite the existence of oppressive police brutality, the widespread human rights abuses as well as the lack of basic freedoms for the ordinary people. The north African country has been functioning as a state for the duration of the reign of ousted President Hosni Mubarak and most of the Egypt's contemporary history.
However in the case of Somalia, the matter is far more different as the country has been beset by solid two decades of civil conflict which saw the spread of gun violence, extremism, piracy and the disintegration of the country into separate regions where some have been vying for outright independence while others have been self-governing and advocating greater autonomy.
The southern and central parts of the war ravaged country has been the scene of twenty years of civil conflict which has been changing from a clan war fare to one based on ideology pitting Islamist extremists against alliance of moderate Islamists and secular liberals.
Islamists who control much of the important and politically as well as economically vital areas of the country would not tolerate any decent or opposition from the masses and would deal harshly any move in that direction.
The groups who advocate a very extreme version of Islamic Sharia law consider democracy as immoral ideology that allows for permissive and open country. They consider any one trying to bring into Somalia any thing they deem as a western value an infidel who deserves the highest punishment. So, any mass protests from the people calling for freedoms will likely be tantamount to calling for a mass murder on them that would make seem the Rwandan Genocide as an skirmish between equals.
Therefore Egypt Revolution, for all the good that have been realised through the sacrifices of its people and what they have so far won in terms of freedom and the prospect of democratic reform, could never be an example for Somalia. At least for the foreseeable future.
But the move looks mere wishful thinking rather than practical one and even could be suicidal when you consider the fact that the two countries' situations are different in every way you look.
Egypt has been ruled unbroken by one despotic ruler for the past three decades and the country has been largely stable despite the existence of oppressive police brutality, the widespread human rights abuses as well as the lack of basic freedoms for the ordinary people. The north African country has been functioning as a state for the duration of the reign of ousted President Hosni Mubarak and most of the Egypt's contemporary history.
However in the case of Somalia, the matter is far more different as the country has been beset by solid two decades of civil conflict which saw the spread of gun violence, extremism, piracy and the disintegration of the country into separate regions where some have been vying for outright independence while others have been self-governing and advocating greater autonomy.
The southern and central parts of the war ravaged country has been the scene of twenty years of civil conflict which has been changing from a clan war fare to one based on ideology pitting Islamist extremists against alliance of moderate Islamists and secular liberals.
Islamists who control much of the important and politically as well as economically vital areas of the country would not tolerate any decent or opposition from the masses and would deal harshly any move in that direction.
The groups who advocate a very extreme version of Islamic Sharia law consider democracy as immoral ideology that allows for permissive and open country. They consider any one trying to bring into Somalia any thing they deem as a western value an infidel who deserves the highest punishment. So, any mass protests from the people calling for freedoms will likely be tantamount to calling for a mass murder on them that would make seem the Rwandan Genocide as an skirmish between equals.
Therefore Egypt Revolution, for all the good that have been realised through the sacrifices of its people and what they have so far won in terms of freedom and the prospect of democratic reform, could never be an example for Somalia. At least for the foreseeable future.
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