Greetings from Sunny Somalia

08-04-05

Hello All, Greetings from Sunny Somalia!

I haven’t written in a while, many apologies.

Okay, what is going on here? Maybe that is a good place to start. Well, no story of Somalia is complete without a look into the politics. The politics here really determine the state of the country. A quick summary of the recent activites:

• The 14th attempt to form a national government since the civil war in the early 1990’s has been the most successful yet, but has not worked completely.
• Nairobi, December 2004, a President, Prime Minister and Cabinet were chosen and accepted by the roughly 290 members of the transitional government (who represent Somalia, more or less, by clan lines, warlord influence and previous political positions.)
• The transitional government is trying to come back to Somalia, to start the process of governing a country without any working government for the last 13 years.
• The previous capital of Somalia, Mogadishu, (Mog) is felt not safe for the government. The President is not from there, and many people in Mog do not want him around. As such, the President has called for the assistance of foreign peacekeeper troops to come in, to help stabilize the country as the government comes back.
• There was much opposition to bringing in foreign peacekeeper troops into Somalia. Much of this opposition was from members of the parliament too.
• President Yusuf had a parliamentary vote on the peacekeeper troop issue to appease the parliament.
• The vote went against foreign troops, but Pres. Yusuf said, "we bring them in anyway." In a unpleasant manner, the transitional government in a hotel conference room in Nairobi, broke out into a large brawl, fist fighting, throwing chairs, and generally cutting hope of a political solution to this lack of leadership. (Kenyan news reporters filmed everything and it was all over the TVs in Kenya.) Good show boys!
• Instead of going to Mogadishu, two other cities have been chosen to seat the transitional government, until the minds and hearts of the people are won over and Mogadishu becomes safe for them to return. These two cities are Baidoa and Jowhar. (Baidoa is approximately 150 kms northwest of Mog, and Jowhar is approximately 100kms north or Mog. Spellings change depending on the map you use.)
• There is fierce opposition from some people that the government go anywhere but Mogadishu.
• Approximately a week ago, Baidoa was taken by some of these forces which are against the government going anywhere except for Mogadishu.
• Jowhar has been reinforced by pro-government groups. No fighting reported there yet. But lines are drawn and tensions have increased in Southern Somalia.
• Other activities for and against the government are happening in other areas around Somalia.
• These are interesting times here.

A note about the activities that are happening in Southern Somalia. Looking at a map of the country, it should be noted that these things are happening approximately 600kms away. Also, the space between that, and here, is not homogeneous and easily covered, but rather through a patchwork of clans and other areas of mixed loyalties. In other words, 600kms is a long distance. But, with MSF, much attention is spent on precautions, not being exposed to risks, so we are very conscious of what happens everyday in the south.

Now on to the work. The work goes slow.

Ah, Farah the driver just informed me that we must go. It is Friday, and the Friday prayer is most important for him not to miss. I'll be writing more soon, take care everyone.

Love,

Steve