Somalia on recovery path after decades of ruin

A picture dated April 20, 2001 shows Somalis carrying bags of sugar at Elma'an's beach, which is some 80km north of Mogadishu. PHOTO | PEDRO UGARTE | AFP

What you need to know:

  • Country to elect new president this year after containing al-Shabaab.

MOGADISHU, Monday

Ten years ago, Somalia was in a state of near-hopelessness as Mogadishu was conquered by a coalition of Muslim clerics who routed 11 notorious warlords and their militias who had ruled the city for one-and-a-half decades.

Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) set up offices in Mogadishu and caused UN-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) a lot of trouble. UIC would block the government from moving to the capital from Baidoa.

The government had no institutions such as Parliament, Cabinet, Judiciary or Presidency. Sadly, it was confined in the Bay region’s capital Baidoa.

Then the Ethiopians arrived. They teamed up with the forces of President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed waged a crusade that culminated in the expulsion of the UIC clerics and their militants from Mogadishu and in Central and Southern Somalia. President Ahmed was able to set up base in Mogadishu and in December 2006, he embarked on stabilising the country.

ARMED STRUGGLE

Despite the challenges, especially an armed struggle against al-Shabaab, TFG’s eight-year reign that ended in 2012, left an impressive legacy.

And now, the current government has committed to ensure peaceful transfer of power before the end of the year. A new Parliament composed of the Upper House and the Lower House will be formed by August 2016 after which the two houses will elect a president in September.

On the diplomatic front, major countries have re-established relations with the new Somalia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Somalia twice between 2002 and January 2015 when he promised more projects in health, education and infrastructure.

“We are going to build in Mogadishu the biggest Turkish embassy in Africa,” President Erdogan said while opening a new terminal at Mogadishu’s Aden Abdulle International Airport.

The US, China, India and Russia are among nations that have sent diplomats to Villa Somalia, the state house in Mogadishu.

Former British Foreign Secretary William Hague opened the UK Embassy in Mogadishu in April 2013.

Thus, what is happening in Somalia today is contrast of what was happening ten years ago when the TFG was unable to confront militants under Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys.

This year, Somali Finance Minister Mohamed Adan Ibrahim met International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde in Washington, DC, after which he said: ”We’re close to reaching a deal on debt relief".