Ethiopia: The View of the Diaspora community over key issues.
By Abdi Yare Kahin.
Many believe that the Diaspora Somalis from the Somali region of Ethiopia are divided over key fundamental issues concerning the future and direction of the Somali region of Ethiopia. These fundamental issues are: Should the region seek independence from the rest of Ethiopia, is the region well served within the current Ethiopian federalism, is the ONLF armed struggle hurting or benefiting the Somali region, is there a clan division/competition and is this hurting meaningful development or how significant will the clan competition/division affect the future of the region, are the current leaders serving the region’s interest or Addis Ababa’s interest, why is the region plagued by political confusion, is the region’s resources utilized efficiently and effectively, if not who is to blame, federal government or lack of educated human resource?. Where do they get most of the region’s news and do they trust their sources of news? What is their current information of the Somali region? With these questions, I decided to get the pulse of the Diaspora community interviewing as many as 18 individuals from six of the largest Somali clans in the region. I picked three individuals from each clan; their ages were from 23-73 years old, 5 women and 13 men. These individuals consisted of individuals who visited Ethiopia and the Somali region just 6 months ago to individuals who have not seen the region for the past 30 years, while 3 of them have never seen but trace their roots to the region. I decided to interview people I didn’t know of where they stood on these questions. I used friends to refer me to 13 of the individuals who were total strangers to me. I posted the questions to each of them, sometimes asking them to explain or expand their responses. Thirteen at least graduated from high school, 3 are college graduates.
Summary of their responses and opinion.
Should the region be independent of Ethiopia?
Majority of these individuals (13/18) said no, the region should be part of Ethiopia. Most of these individuals said on my follow up questions that their opinion is based on the assumption that Ethiopia will never allow the independence of the region while some (7/18) said the region was too integrated to the rest of the country to be independent. Others (10/18) believed it was in the best interest of the Somali region to be part of Ethiopia. A significant number (14/18) firmly believed on follow up questions that the region will disintegrate into inter-clan fighting and civil war similar to what has happened in neighboring Somalia were Ethiopia to grant independence now or in the future. Others (15/18) all non-Ogaadeen Somali Clans feared Ogaaden domination and said they would rather be part of larger Ethiopia rather than see the region disintegrate into clan fighting or competition. Most felt that being part of Ethiopia is a stabilizing force for the region and prevents the animosity that is built or generated following the political domination of one clan. The three Ogaadeen individuals felt Somali clans will find away to reconcile their interests while also admitting the possibilities of the region disintegrating into inter-clan fighting or chaos. When asked how they saw the fear of other Somali clans of their clan dominating politically and economically, all felt that it was unfounded and was based on government propaganda to divide among the Somali Clans of the Somali region.
Is the region served well within the current Ethiopian Federation?
Here again the answers and responses were mixed and mostly along clan lines. However, the majority (17/18) agreed or felt that the region is not served well by the current federal system but on follow up question to expand why they think so, most (14/18) contributed to two factors; lack of capable leaders to represent the region’s interest among competing regions and senior federal officials who still don’t want to see a prosperous Somali region or Somalis. Majority felt that there was inherent discrimination (to be more specific hidden colonist using their own words) still prevalent among the most senior federal officials and the senior decision makers in the current administration of Prime Minister Zenawi. However, most felt that Zenawi was perhaps more sincere of seeing a more prosperous Somali region, but most blamed powerful inner circle Tigrays who didn’t want to see the Somali region succeed and develop. Only a minority (7/18) felt that the prime minister himself didn’t want to see a successful, fully developed Somali region for fear of future secession. However, most blamed the deficiencies of the current Somali regional leaders and the intense clan rivalry and competition for impeding the regions interest and creating an environment of political confusion and political immaturity. Most agreed that the region’s problems and its challenges in the current Ethiopian federalism was both a function of deficiency with the Somalis leaders, controlling senior federal officials and immature, restrictive, contradictory federal system.
Is the ONLF armed campaign hurting or benefiting the Somali region?
To my surprise, this was the most opinioned, most heated topic and everyone had his or her view. Majority of the individuals (16/18) said that the ONLF armed campaign was hurting not only the region but the civilian population. All felt (18/18) that the government of prime minister Zenawi uses the ONLF insurgency not only to deprive the region of meaningful development but to violate the rights of the region’s population. Almost all of them (17/18) accused federal senior officials and government security forces in the region of fomenting and escalating the violence. The majority (13/18) said that control of state power by the National Party regime allows it the space to deny and cover up the role of the regime, its surrogates, the state security forces and the police in fostering and fomenting the violence. However, almost all of them (17/18) said that the ONLF campaign was ill advised, ill conceived and serves no rest. When asked if the ONLF campaign was all inclusive and supported by most clans as the ONLF claims, the majority reputed that claim as purely ONLF propaganda (advertisement in their own words). Most (14/18) said that while ONLF stated goals of self determination might be legitimate, the major objective and intended goal of the ONLF was purely tribal or clannish. The non-Ogaadeen individuals all agreed that ONLF was formed to establish and promote the Ogaadeen clan political and economic interest in the Somali region. When asked their view about the claim of non-Ogaadeen Somali clans that ONLF served its objectives already by enabling the Ogaadeen clan politician of milking the ONLF issues and using it to their advantage already, all agreed (15/18) that the both the political and economic domination of the clan can only be explained by the existence and the campaign of the ONLF. By contrast, 17/18) will not expect any near equal political sharing but rather were more pessimissive of the region’s future. Majority (14/18) expected the region’s clan rivalry and political confusion to intensify with the eventual take over by a federally mandated interim administration.
I will publish the results of these questions which were very interesting and my observation of this highly educating adventure next Saturday. Here are the remaining questions:How significant will the clan competition/division affect the future of the region, are the current leaders serving the region’s interest or Addis Ababa’s interest, why is the region plagued by political confusion, is the region’s resources utilized efficiently and effectively, if not who is to blame, federal government or lack of educated human resource?. Where do they get most of the region’s news and do they trust their sources of news? What is their current information of the Somali region?
Abdi Yare Kaahin
Minneapolis, Kilil5 Online.
VOA 13pm GMT
IslamOnline
