MOGADISHU (PP EDITORIAL) — The resignation of the Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Kheire after losing a parliamentary Vote of Confidence does not sit well with Donalad Yamamoto, the US Ambassador to Somalia. In a tweet the United States Embassy implied that spoilers had been behind the resignation of the Somali Prime Minister.
Given how the Speaker of the Federal ParliamentMohamed Mursal explained the causes of the resignation, it is clear that Ambassador Yamamoto has placed himself on high moral ground and thinks he micromanages the Somali political process. If a major super power claiming to be a supporter of state-building endeavours in Somalia expressly undermines the budding legislature by hastily tweeting about alleged spoilers, it is time to reduce Somalis’ expectations of the United States of America as a key player along with other countries in nurturing institutions of fragile Somalia.
The evolution of the Somali political system since 2000 has brought about a more complicated governance system. The bicameral legislature is the prime example of this trend. It was for Yamamoto to leave to Somali political leaders the task of working out a solution to the deadlock on the electoral model. No self-respecting legislature can allow its laws to be abrogated by sub-national administrations (aka Federal Member States).Ambassador Yamamoto is partly to blame for the rift between the Federal Government and Federal Member States.
For a long time he backed the Federal Government on security policies when some FMs questioned the wisdom of forming a national army in the absence of political settlement as specified in the Security Architecture unveiled at the 2017 London Somalia Conference. How can one believe Ambassador Yamamoto’s seriousness about his call for consensus-based political decision-making between the Federal Government of Somalia and Federal Member States? America’s economic and security interests, and the interests of Somalia to build accountable institutions do not coalesce. His intervention makes Somalia look like an occupied country. His role is not ambassadorial; it is gubernatorial, similar to the role of Paul Bremer in Iraq more than ten years ago.
US policies towards Somalia are unpopular among Somalis. Between the second half of nineties and the first half of nougties America financed warlords in Mogadishu, a complete reversal of the humanitarian intervention policy of 1992 that earned USA a reputation for making a bold decision to end man-made famine in Somalia.
Ambassador Donald Yamamoto should not have fallen prey to diplomatic delusion of grandeur by pursuing the failed diplomacy to come across as the diplomat issuing communiques that smack of superpower arrogance.
© Puntland Post, 2020
You must be logged in to post a comment.