Could Turkey Succeed in Somalia Where the Rest Have Failed?
By Nuradin Dirie
In an article this week in the American Foreign Policy magazine, the Turkish Prime Minister urged the world to follow Turkey’s example in ending the suffering of the Somali people. Indeed, Turkey is putting its money where its mouth is. After a massive suicide bombing in Mogadishu last week killing as many as 70 innocent civilians and seriously wounding more than 100, the Turkish government immediately responded by sending huge medical planes to take the wounded to be cared for in modern hospitals in Turkey. This generous move was the latest in a series of initiatives to provide assistance by the Turkish government that can potentially bring Somalia back from the brink.
In August 19 of this year for example, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had already made history by becoming the only government leader who had visited Somalia with his family since 1991, when the Somali state collapsed. The Prime Minister was joined in the streets of Mogadishu by his wife, his children, and an entourage of cabinet ministers and their families. He ushered in hundreds of millions of dollars of humanitarian assistance from Turkey and the Muslim world in what is now known as a new strategy for Islamic humanitarian diplomacy. He also brought with him Turkish teams of relief and reconstruction experts, the Turkish ambassador to Mogadishu, and serious pledges to help Somalia. Soon, hundreds of university scholarships followed as well as the buildings of schools, hospitals, water systems, roads, and garbage trucks that are clearing the streets of Mogadishu.
Turkey is of course not the only country that is helping Somalia. Many Western countries have been there for Somalia for the last two decades, so were many Arab countries. The United Kingdom for example, is today the largest donor to Somalia, a position which until this year was held by the United States which is now the second largest. European Union countries also continue to spend hundreds of millions in Somalia.
But all their help and involvement have reached a limit where they are now just part of a list of donor groups to Somalia. But the country still remains the only officially failed state on the planet, and is experiencing the most catastrophic humanitarian crises in the world. The reason is that for all the humanitarian help the world has given Somalia, what is missing is a serious, honest, and balanced political engagement that can bring the country back to functionality. It is only then when Somali people can begin to take care of themselves.
Admittedly it was not for lack of trying, rather for the complicated factors that were involved. Many initiatives were proposed, tried, and unfortunately failed. In fact Somalia has defied all diplomatic, military, and state-building interventions that were attempted thus far. Somalis’ political reconciliations and state rebuilding exercises to this day are marred by complicated and conflicting national and international interests. It is political football watched and conflictingly cheered by the Somali people and played between regional proxy wars, global geopolitical agendas, jihads, and wars on terror.
Somalis cannot do it themselves alone. What they need is a big brother that is not part of those complications, yet interested enough to protect Somalis’ political process from these conflicting interests. Turkey is a very good candidate for this job. It has a wide acceptability in Somalia and could be trusted by all sides. They are an important country in NATO and a leader in the Muslim world. Turkey’s zero-problems foreign policy also won them many friends around the world including in the region where Somalia is.
What will end the suffering of the Somali people are political processes that can help Somalis rebuild their state. Undoubtedly, Turks will do great humanitarian and development work in Somalia. They can also do a better political and state-building job than has been done so far. The question is whether they want to politically fix Somalia? Whether they will be disheartened by a series of tasks for which they will not be thanked, and that they will most likely experience in a place like Somalia?Whether they are committed enough to succeed in Somalia where the rest have failed?
While all these questions remain to be answered, what is encouraging is the leadership the Turkish Prime Minister has shown in Somalia. Last month, half of his speech in the United Nations General assembly was regarding Somalia and how the world has failed it. This generated a great deal of euphoria in Somalia where people in the streets of Mogadishu are now saying that they finally got the big brother they were waiting for so long.
For all the wonderful jobs the Turkish government is doing in Somalia, it will be unfortunate if their help and involvement reaches a frustrating limit which will surprise both the Somalis and the Turks. Hopefully, they will not become just another donor in the list of Somali donor groups, but an active big brother that will steer the political process in a path that can rebuild the state of Somalia.
*Nuradin Dirie is an independent analyst specializing in the Horn of Africa with particular interest in Somalia. He was a former presidential candidate in Somalia in the 2009 Puntland Elections and also served as senior special advisor to the United Nations. For contact: nuradin.dirie@gmail.com
By Nuradin Dirie
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