The one good thing abouot Shabaab's Somalia today.

[grandpakhalif]

The article's main focus is to outline the negative affects of political tribalism. Al Shabaab eliminated this from the south, why are you guys focusing on Al shabab just because they did something good

[Mad May]

^ They havent eliminated tribalism, they are where they are because of exploiting clan rivalry

[grandpakhalif]

^ They havent eliminated tribalism, they are where they are because of exploiting clan rivalry

Maybe once or twice trust me Al shabab did not capture South soley on tribalism

[FAH1223]

Publish it dude

[Cinque Mtume]

Publish it dude

Indeed, there is a Shortage of Voltage!

We want more! We want more!

[Babygirl-]

They can do what they like but I would hate to be told what to do!! they seem to want to control every part of your life, bring peace & security & give people freedom.(to an extent)

[Cawar]

Publish it dude

Yeah..I think you should.

That doesn't mean you are right..but its a valid point of view.

[Murax]

I agree with Voltage, however the price is definitely not worth it. To be honest Somalia's qabil problem is overrated. Somalia's problem stems from the fact that the International Community not only does not give a crap about Somalia but happily fund and arm different factions. The goal is to get Somalia desimated and destitiute enough to the point Where Somalia is on its knees and will happily embrace pseudo colonization in exchange for some sort of stability. These Shabab idiots are nothing more than an agent and a tool amongst many.

[gedo_gurl]

Excellent post Voltage

[Voltage]

To be honest Somalia's qabil problem is overrated. Somalia's problem stems from the fact that the International Community not only does not give a crap about Somalia but happily fund and arm different factions.

So why did the C.I.A write this report in October 21, 1969 the day Siad Barre came to power, 21 years before he fell when they are talking about the 6 day confusion in the country?


http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/54644.pdf

International community and involvement is a symptom of the real cause of the division; political tribalism.

[Murax]

Voltage,

The MSB regime did not fall due to clan uprisings. Ofcourse the West fuelled the clan rivalries but MSB was in firm control as late as '86 after many clans already rose up. It is not really only the clan stuff holdling Somalia back necessairly but the fact that there are so many actors from the West, to Lybiya, Eritrea, Arab world etc. who for their own interests do not want to see a viable Somalia right now. A well funded 10,000 trained Army can capture from Raskambooni to Seylac and the West can come up with that, and boom Somalia Has a central authority. Look at Yemen, the Gov is in control of the key areas but the remote areas are in the control of tribes. The least Somalia can be is that if they got even a fraction of the aid money the Yemeni Gov receives to prop up their forces.

[Voltage]

Murax, I don't think you realize the magnitude of what's before you.

Yemen has never had 30K and thousands of other troops in its country. Somalia had. What did it solve?

How many countries in Africa have had a civil war? How many of them have gotten the sort of attention Somalia got when its civil war began? How many African countries are still stateless?

I don't think you appreciate the magnitude of political tribalism as it exists in Somalia.

My point for posting that C.I.A report was to show you that political tribalism is not reflective of Somalia post-1991 but before. Why did democracy fail? When that C.I.A report came out, Somalia was facing the civil war it faced in 1991 but earlier in 1969. The revolutionary regime prevented that from taking place. It was a temporary force against what was meant to be; the destruction of the Somali state under the pressure of tribes. By the time that government was coming to power, the army was divided, the political situation in the country was out of control, and civil war was looming. There were over a 1000 political parties formed under sub-sub-subclans. Democracy was a failure at that time because the people were illiterate tribal nomads who abused. This was not an exception, this was suppose to be what should have predicted the future of the Somali state.

[The_Emperior5]

I have a question for you voltage how long do you think alshabaab can or try to hide tribalism From the Somali society, humans always do what is forbidden. They will hold clan meetings in Somalia to undermine the so called Pakistani alshabaab regime. There 4.5 clan formula is not wrong the big clans share the pie and rule the country under justice , but you just cant separate clan from the government Somali people are just never going to accept that. But you can minimize it to some extend.qabil is every where in the Arab world in Europe in latin America they just use it in a civilized manner. While Somalis just need to learn and practice.

[IRONm@N]

Since they took over Kismayo it's more peaceful then Mogadishu, Puntland and Somaliland, there are assasinations/killing in Mogadishu, Puntland and even Somaliland but we don't hear anything in Kismayo.

[king of kismayo]

somalis have a tendency to Throw out the baby with the bath water just look at some of the comments that condemn al shabab while ingnoring al shababs positive contribution.
al shabab along side all the islamist groups who ever they are should be applouded for their archievments of pacifying and organising warlike clans of somalia and their ring leaders into a non qabiili based organisation , in turn that is a postive progress for somaliwayn because in the long run such organisation will give the bright and the right person in terms of leadership a platform to shine and emerge out of the hostile and murky waters called somali politics

we should take the good things from al shabab and get rid of the things that we perceive as absurdity and basic moral deviations.

I have feeling that just like 1920 and 1991 somalis will Throw out the baby with the bath water and in turn they will end up in political, social and geo-political stalemate, which will only empower inevitably the greater of the two evils which is ethiopia and foreign actors.

people need to grow up and see things in a pragmatic and interest based way
the answer is not gray and its certainly not as simple as people want it to be, things are more complicated then terrorist vs all those that where in stalemate for 20 years

its never good to view things in a inherently wrong vs inherently right way

good article