Conflict entrepreneurs in Somalia By Omar Abdulkadir Ahmed Fiqi |
Conflict is a disagreement between two or more groups on issues that matter to all of them and may be difficult to reconcile, leading to a competition for incompatible goals. These issues could be basic human needs that are necessary for social growth and development like food, water, shelter, land, security, recognition, freedom, identity, justice or interests other than basic necessities like political issues such power and status. Conflict is a natural part in human relationships and these relationships do change with societal dynamics and conflicts do influence those relationships to change.
However, once the conflict becomes protracted or intractable like the Somali case, there comes in some people who provide services to all opposing groups or sides. These are called conflict entrepreneurs who disregard the conflict and its impact on the society but concentrate in benefiting from the situation and tempt to make maximum profits by serving all the opposing groups and befriend with them all through bribing and tacitly agreeing special supports for each group. Proving services for all opposing groups in the conflict with the intention of making money without concern for its overall implications is the question of this topic and if such people or entities be recognized as conflict entrepreneurs in the Somali conflict, especially Mogadishu and the South in general. There is no doubt that the services provided by these conflict entrepreneurs contribute to the sustenance of the conflict and its prolongation. The unfettered accessibility to an equal services gives the warring groups equal capacity and an equal footing where no one can win the war, making the entrepreneurs only the winners whom their services are consumed permanently and continuously by the conflicting parties.
In the Somali context, there are indeed entrepreneurs who benefit hugely from the permanence of the conflict and certainly sustain the conflict and wish its prolongation. These entrepreneurs most likely intended originally, to fill the gap of the services missing in the absence of a proper government, but things changed with the dynamics of the conflict and the biggest users of these services today are the warring groups who have funds from outside and continuously engaged in their war efforts to achieve their intended objectives though always destructive and futile. Whether it is intentionally or inadvertently is a subject for debate; but one should contemplate the roles and influences of these entrepreneurs in the conflict perpetuation.
What is obvious, however, is the role these entrepreneurs play in the conflict negatively by indirectly helping the opposing groups to get stronger, smarter, effective and efficient as the products and the services of these entrepreneurs facilitate the wars engaged by the warring groups. The need of the services and the products in the conflict zones increases as the conflict escalates and the entrepreneurs always cope with the demand and make more money and expand the services ensuring its full utilization. One should ask what the situation might have been like should such services are not available to the conflicting groups, whom I think, would have otherwise, had difficulties in organizing the destructive wars and agendas, and I believe, as far as these groups remain the major and prime users of these services the cycle of action-reaction sequence will continue in an ad infinitum.
Now let us look some of the companies or entrepreneurs who may qualify as conflict entrepreneurs in the Somali context. The Telecommunication companies whom their services are available to all warring groups by providing the critical communication networks essential in organizing the war, the Hawalah companies whom their remittance services are potential risk in channelling huge cash to all groups involving in the conflict as far as they pay their high commission charges, the food importers who sell their commodities to all warring sides including delivery services, partners of foreign companies in off shore fishing groups, NGO entrepreneurs including contractors of WFP and UNDP who sell food aid to networks linked to warring groups, the ubiquitous FM radios that indirectly promote the agendas of the warring groups by giving constant coverage, fuel importation groups who donate and give credit to all the groups and of course the weapon traders who supply their weapons to all groups and even process special orders by putting extra money in obtaining such request. Apparently all these services facilitate the continuity of the war project and the anarchy while diminishing the prospect of peaceful transformation of the conflict and the providers of these services are potential conflict entrepreneurs.
However, to juxtapose the irony of being genuine business that benefits the well being of the general population by providing goods and services that are essential to every individual and at the same time giving major facilitation to warring groups that perpetuate the conflict to effectively sustain themselves is a dilemma in addressing the issue fairly. But, in the absence of regulatory authority which determines the terms and the conditions for the users of every service, unscrupulous entrepreneurs take advantage of the situation and made it available to everyone whether criminal organization engaged to undermine the peace and the security of the society whether it is illegitimate groups seeking power violently or whether it is a gang organization that is disruptive to the public order or any other abusive groups, while concerned only to their profits and at same time proclaiming in helping the country and the economy in this critical times. Therefore, in such circumstance where responsibility lies, I think, is every one's presumption, but in my opinion in modern societies nothing can work to benefit the people and the country without authority that regulates the norms of trade as human lust always exploits the situation to advance the insatiable human desires of greed and thus prior the establishment of law and order no enterprise would have a right of business that may jeopardise the return of legitimate authority and unless the right of peace to the individual citizen is granted, any business entity deemed a potential contributor to the conflict prolongation and the anarchic situation should be indicted and dealt properly when it is permissible.
Likely potential conflict entrepreneurs might be the media groups whom their role in Somali conflict perpetuation might be controversial, but what one should ask is, what would be the immediate need of changing the situation? Say, what is the likelihood of changing Mogadishu from its current conflict escalation to conflict reduction situation. Is the media useful in situations where opposing groups provide conflicting information that are mere propaganda or is it useful where it has a full freedom but under regulatory authority. What are the priorities in situations like Somalia? Is it focusing how to reinstate the collapsed political system and security or is it protecting interest groups who benefit from the conflict like the media, telecommunication companies, the Hawalah companies or any other business that is clearly supporting all warring groups irrespective of morality and legitimacy.
Wouldn't such dualism perceived an impediment to the changes necessary in achieving the goal of returning a functional government system. I think, the perceptions appropriate in peace time might not necessarily be useful in anarchic situations like the situation in Mogadishu where changing the situation from escalation to mitigation requires a deep analysis and identification of obstacles or blockages to possible change of the conflict that needs the removal of such blockages before a change is possible and the closure of such businesses might be an option if perceived as an obstacle and until stability prevails and the situation permits for these businesses to operate under authority that regulates them and to deprive the illegitimate groups the resources that allow them to wage the destructive wars.
Another relevant example worth of mentioning here might be the telecommunication companies who work with all sides in the conflict and even give away free telephones and airtime to top cabal in all groups and even pay unassigned cash to all groups including TFG periodically to evade proper taxation and accountability while they facilitate the war in many ways thus contributing to its perpetuation.
All the mentioned businesses may not be typical conflict entrepreneurs but independent mindedness and thorough consideration of how these business contribute to the conflict, especially the telecommunication companies, the Hawlah companies and the media particularly the radios will demonstrate more facts and whether these businesses are more useful to warring groups than to the general population, especially in the conflict zones like Mogadishu and the south-central. The business practices of these entrepreneurs should also be scrutinized to shed light their manipulations, bribing schemes, evading obligatory taxes, morality of serving all warring factions, influencing to maintain the status quo by resisting change and regulation and finally their role in perpetuating the conflict.
Criticizing these conflict entrepreneurs is neither easy nor safe because of the power and the influence they possess which can put one in danger as they do want the equilibrium undisturbed and the supply circle intact. The claim of neutrality in the conflict while serving the conflicting groups would be a mockery, irresponsible and morally compromising, and is tantamount to economic warlordism. This indeed warrants the matter to be debated intellectually in order to find a better and more suitable alternative. In fact most people have a positive picture of the businesses mentioned above and see them as successful Somali entrepreneurship which some instances excel over their counterparts in the region and beyond. But, analysing the situation from different perspective shows their role in the conflict and in my opinion this war would have ended long time ago should these service were not available to the warring groups.
My argument is, the immediate priority is the security of the country and brining back a functional political system and any business that is an obstacle in reaching such noble goal and supports the anarchy directly or indirectly should be suspended until the situation permits otherwise and they can operate under regulation and licensing. The people in the conflict zones have a dire need of security and government system and their priority is not whether these businesses flourish or not. They are willing to sacrifice temporarily the convenience such services provide to the more important goal of getting security and a governing system.
Omar Abdulkadir Ahmed Fiqi
E-Mail:oosaaf@gmail.com
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